Location: Terra Colony Andromeda
North Sector - Draco Outpost - Cafeteria
Date: January 31, 2050
Time - 0200
Amanda let out a pained breath as she set the data tablet onto a tabletop before leaning back into the cushions of a couch. The tiredness in her eyes loomed like a weight that clung irritably to her every expression. She squeezed the bridge of her eyes, hoping to dash away whatever stress was there.
She’d been reading up on the assigned curriculum to pass the time, believing that the intricacy of explorer combat doctrine and the theoreticals of threat analysis would be enough to fill the void of time she now had. It all went over her head, and she did her best to absorb it all, though her mind was elsewhere.
Just when are they going to tell us already? I feel like we’ve been here forever.
It was already past midnight, and they hadn’t been given any other guidance on what to do, and only a few hours remained until the early sunrise. She relished the idea of bathing in the warm dawn, but that didn’t help much in the current situation as they were all indoors.
She felt stifled, eyeing whatever was around to fill her attention. The cafeteria facility they had been herded into was a long and wide circular corridor that outlined the outer perimeter of the larger, domed arena at the building’s center. It looked more like a stadium when she had seen it from the outside.
Students sat about divided up into their little clicks. Most decided to eat and drink their fill of whatever the cafeteria was serving, with the second largest majority making use of this freetime to sleep, which was somewhat possible thanks to how unorthodox this place was in its decorum. Unlike what Amanda initially pictured, it wasn’t the typical basic formation of rows upon rows of bland tables and chairs like any old school cafeteria.
It was instead a selection of creature comforts. There were tables and chairs to be used of course, but they were small and inclusive. And they had the option of taking a seat on one of the many couches or on one of the spots with soft rug flooring.
And they even have bean bag chairs.
Amanda glanced to her right, where a few paces away, Ikki, Stella, and Shisuki sat resting in quite fluffy and enormous chairs of their own. Ikki was slumped, back first, his heavily lidded eyes closed, and he had his head turned as if he was knocked out. The guy apparently spent an enormous amount of energy during the training exercise. He was a hard worker, Amanda had no doubts about that, especially because she knew his type after all these weeks of training with him.
Ikki was pushing his limits, trying to become something that others say he could never be due to his lack of talent. It was admirable, and worrying. By how Stella was fiddling with one of her locks of crimson braided hair and how Shisuki kept a keen sisterly watch over him, Ikki must’ve pulled some reckless stunt in his earlier fight with that blonde explorer from before.
“Hey, Richard?” Amanda nudged her couch neighbor. When she heard him grunt as he pushed up his reading glasses, she asked, “Who were they?”
Richard raised a brow at her. “You’re going to need to be more specific? Do you mean the foreign students who were being total asses earlier? Or were you asking about those military guys from before?”
“Neither, but I am curious about them.” Amanda shook her head. “No, what I meant was.. Who were those explorers? You know, the ones we fought?”
Richard tapped at his datapad. “Let’s see.. I have.. Arielle for the blonde one. Haruka for the ones with the antlers. And.. Sinder. She’s the one with the fiery wolf ears and the tail. They all have some impressive records.” He whistled to himself, sounding astounded. “They’re all ranked pretty high.”
“How high?” Amanda asked, her interest piqued. “It can be that much, right?” If those three were strong, then they must’ve been able to enter the stardepths. She’d want to ask them about their experiences, to get to know what she could expect to do in the future when it was her turn to go down there. And more importantly, what they learned about the star depths. “They all seem pretty young.”
“Well, looks can be deceiving.” Richard said. “I mean, look at Itsuki. He’s just one example of how you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.”
On that, Amanda begrudgingly agreed. The guy looked like a kid, but could hand your ass to you like he was a grizzled drill sergeant from hell. “So how high are they in the ranking?” She asked.
Richard passed over his datapad, to which Amanda scanned with a waking eye. First, her stare narrowed on the pad, then slowly her eyes widened. She was starting to wonder if Richard was messing with her. He wasn’t and he didn’t flinch when she gave him a curt look to provoke the truth from him.
“Jesus.” Amanda muttered, her attention going back to the datapad. “Guess you aren’t kidding around.”
Sinder, Arielle, and Haruka were all ranked in the top 500 in the world. To say they were powerhouses was an understatement. And we just got through a fight against them. And we barely won. Reflecting put into perspective both the gap in strength and experience. Amanda had a long way to go, as did everyone else.
We only won because we outnumbered them.. And because.. We had someone to even things out. Itsuki’s visage with his blank black eyes flashed in her mind, it was uncomfortable and unsettling to recall. Something is up with that guy. Something is.. Very wrong with him.
What she had heard during their fight with Sinder popped up all of a sudden like a bad dream. It wasn’t what Itsuki had spoken, it was what he was thinking.. Or.. what Amanda thought she could hear he was thinking. She wasn’t sure if this was a new power of her’s, a type of telepathy or mind reading. In any case, what she had heard gave her the chills.
Kill. It was the only thing on Itsuki’s mind. Kill, Kill, Kill.
Amanda wiped her face, stretching it down to untense the muscles in her cheeks. She decided she’d need to be more wary around Itsuki, and try not to piss him off.
Just then the doors to the cafeteria swung open as a new group of hungry people strode in. They were a restless bunch. From a cursory glance, Amanda guessed they were a range of ages, maybe 10 years old at the least to 30 or 40 at most. And just as mixed as their age range, their attire was the same. The young ones wore formal military uniforms, colored in crisp blues, browns, and black hues. The older ones on the contrary were garbed less formally in casual fatigues, crop tops, dress pants, T-shirts, or some with simple shorts.
image [https://i.postimg.cc/NFMrY4NN/1709438179953.jpg]
Amanda read the patches on their shoulders. She saw CSU, CAU, or CDU. They sure are a colorful group. And really, most of them are so young.
The new arrivals soon began to mingle, further crowding the cafeteria’s common area. Space was at least not an issue. There was plenty of room to spare. Everything here was built to such an enormous scale. This one building could likely house at least 100,000 people, maybe even more than that if it came down to it.
“Amanda!” A friendly voice turned her eyes away from the bustling entrance. She looked about, trying to find the one that called to her. She swore it seemed familiar. “Hey! Amanda!”
Her searching ended as she faced ahead as the source of the voice grew clearer and louder. Across the table, set at the foot of the couch, a young man with a lower brown cap smiled and nodded at her. Amanda didn’t know who he was and tilted her head, confused.
That deflated the young man, the positivity waning from his eyes. “Oh come on, you forgot?”
Amanda gave her best awkward smile. “Yeah, sorry. Been a long day.”
The young man chuckled. “Yeah, I hear you.” He dragged over one of the bean bags, gesturing to a few people nearby to join him, and sat himself down as they got chairs of their own. “Well, let’s get the introductions over. I’m Lieutenant Daniel.. Or well.. My crew calls me captain.”
Hearing that, Amanda repeated the word to herself. Captain.. Captain.. Captain. That was a familiar title, common, and specific to her somehow. Then she remembered. This guy was the leader of the group of trainees she had teamed up and fought alongside. To say they had a friendship was a step too far, though a comradely bond was a better description.
“Oh, it’s you.”
Daniel shot her a friendly smile and theatrically rolled his eyes. “Now you remember? I’m a little hurt, my crew says I have a distinct kind of face.”
Amanda didn’t know what to follow up with that. Daniel was good looking, yet to her, he was a 7 out of 10 at the most.
“Come on Daniel, stop messing with her.” Said another young man. This one was taller and had a mischievous air to his eyes. He seemed to know Daniel and joined him, taking a seat on the rug floor as he sipped away at a mug that wafted with the scent of coffee. “And the only thing distinct about you is the fact you smell like your tank everyday. These kids have enough on their plate, so let’s not tick them off with how bad you smell most of the time.”
Daniel protested, but the other guy ignored him and waved to a pair of young cadets who were trailing behind him. “Hey, you two, stop stalling and get over here.” He barked, then raised his cup to Richard and Amanda. “Name’s Cipher. Or should I say, S1. And these two are..”
Cipher gesture to the two cadets who were still mustering their courage. Of the two, the boy sat first, pulling the girl down with him onto one of the couches just adjacent to Amanda’s. The pair seemed no older than 15, yet they had a hard air to them that clashed with the gentle youth of their faces.
“I’m Arthur, my usual designation is Alpha 1.” The boy said, then patted the girl’s back. “And this is Bravo 1, She goes by Brianna. We’re both sergeants part of the CDU and CAU aerial support group.”
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Richard introduced himself. “Nice to meet you. Were the ones that pulled us out of that sticky situation from before? The one where we were cornered.”
“Nope!” Said a perky voice. A tall girl in a tight and sleek, purple flight suit somersaulted over the couch and set herself down heavily between Amanda and Richard. “That was me. I was the one piloting that big Robot from before. Name’s Shis.”
Amanda definitely remembered her, and not because she wreaked havoc with her TAC. No, she was memorable because she was the one being all flirty with Itsuki earlier. She was strange, and Richard thought the same, so he scooted over to give himself some space from her.
Cipher chuckled, finding their reactions to Shis amusing. “Sorry about her, she’s usually like this. But you’ll get used to it.”
Shis cocked her head at him. “Like what? You make it sound like something’s wrong with me.”
“Well, he’s not wrong.” Brianna muttered. “Maybe you should get your brain checked.”
Arthur found himself choking on a sip of water as he stifled a laugh. The conversation turned truly light hearted the next few seconds. Amanda found that at odds with how militaristically casual they dressed and how they had carried themselves. You’d never know that they were trained soldiers without seeing them in action yourself.
When out of their equipment, these people became.. Well, they’re people. They became.. Individuals. Not nameless soldiers thrown into a battle.
“So where are you from?” Cipher asked, jerking his chin at Amanda. “You don’t look local? You from the European Bloc?”
Amanda shook her head. “No, I’m not really from anywhere.”
“Really? A war orphan then?”
Amanda had no clear answer. Her past was shrouded due to the chaos of the starfall war. It would be inferred that she was a war orphan as she had been in an orphanage for the majority of her childhood life. “Something like that, what about you?” She asked. “Where are you all from?”
Cipher took a big swig of his mug of coffee, letting out a contented sigh. “Me? I’m from another Terra Colony called Sagittarius. Been here for about 10 years. How about you Daniel?”
Daniel perched his elbow on one knee and rested his chin in his hand, leaning on one side of his crossed legs. “I’m from a little place east of the European Bloc. Not really there anymore since settling the land had been rough.”
At that, Arthur and Brianna nodded. Amanda had read up on how difficult it was to live outside the Terra Colonies or the established borders of the Blocs. Stray monsters, remnants of the war, roamed what had been left of the habitable lands of the earth, most of which had been scorched by conflict or destroyed by the tectonic shifts brought about by the starfall disaster.
Not to mention the territorial disputes. Amanda thought. It’s a mess.
Toward the latter years of her travels around the world, she had seen how politically messy the world was. The establishment of the Blocs stabilized everything to a degree, but nothing was perfect. The squabbling between different kinds of folks bred conflict.
The altercation from before with those foreign students from Russka and Chinsui was only one example of what was happening all over the world. If that one incident were to be expanded to a national scale, Amanda could imagine the potential damaging conflict to come and see it all toppling over and hurting a great number of people. She had no illusions that Brianna and Arthur were just two out of maybe millions of others who had fallen on hard times.
“Must’ve been tough.” Amanda said, lowering her voice to be considerate of Arthur and Brianna. Again, she couldn’t shake off how young the two of them were. “And.. you’re parents?”
“Dead.” Arthur murmured. “Or well, that’s what the reports say from the officials who ran our town before it got torched.”
The good mood dropped and Brianna prodded Arthur in the side for being so blunt. He flinched as she coughed to get everyone's attention and break the rising tension.
“On another note, yes.. It has been tough.” Brianna said. “Adjusting to our new life here for the past years has had its ups and downs, but after a while, I’d say things are looking up. I think my parents would be proud to see how grown up I am now.”
“Grown up?” Cipher jokingly scoffed, “You’re still a trainee, and you’re not even an adult yet. You can’t even drink. Compared to me, you’re still babies.”
“Well, I’m definitely more mature than you.” Brianna shot back, puffing her substantial chest up. “At least I’m not a jokester all the time. And don’t forget, Cipher, you’re a trainee too!”
Cipher shrugged and gulped his coffee. “What can I say, being a fool is just my thing. Also, I’m a trainee by choice. Some of us older folks have to be held back to teach you younger kids. If not, your brains will rot.”
Brianna shook her head dismissively. “Whatever.”
Daniel and Richard broke out into a laugh, followed by everyone else. The bantering went on for minutes, filling the time with much needed invigoration. Amanda got to know everyone, as well as how they’d been trained. To her shock, Arthur and Brianna began with the CDU and CAU at the age of 10, and only recently started they’re field training. Today was their first real skirmish.
Child soldiers. Amanda couldn’t think of any other alternative to describe them. Hearing how the CSU, CAU, and CDU recruited its soldiers, it seemed illegal, yet she didn’t see any real ethical issue. The kids weren’t brainwashed into being mindless soldiers, nor were they stripped of any of their freedoms. They had the choice to leave the service, they all did. But Amanda still found it all wrong.
How could children make that decision?
She then realized that they had to. They had to grow up, and fast. Kids on their own who were pressured by their environment, had to become independent to survive. Look at herself. Amanda left her life at the orphanage when she got a handle on her powers, and with it she made a living, just like these kids. Like Arthur and Brianna.
Just as Amanda pondered through her thoughts, Dahlia and Mana joined them. In tow, Osamu and Gen trailed behind with Chisuke held up between them. Together, they threw Chisuke onto the other free couch next to Amanda’s before settling on the rug, making a little circle around the tabletop Amanda and the others used.
“Uh? Is he going to be alright?” Richard asked, pointing over at Chisuke. “Is he even breathing?”
“Yeah, he’s fine.” Said Osamu. “He just sleeps really quietly. It’s surprising, you would think that a brute like him would snore like a bear.”
Gen smiled and nodded his wordless agreement. At Chisuke’s side, Dahlia shifted uncomfortably as she set Chisuke comfortably. She seemed to be nursing him. Amanda saw the slightest frown in her brow, Dahlia seemed upset at how they were talking about Chisuke. There was definitely something brewing between her and Chisuke, or was it one sided?
Breaking out a deck of cards, Gen offered up a little entertainment. Poker was on the list of games, and they had time to kill. At first, the bets started with ration bars and then turned to cold hard cash. Working as full time soldiers, Cipher, Shis, and Daniel, all had money to spare.
Amanda got in on the game as well after a few matches went by, though her attempts to double her fortune played out as well as her luck with computers. To put it bluntly, it all exploded right in her face. Arthur and Brianna had a go as well, even though they didn't know how to play yet.
Again, they were only kids.
By the time of their 10th game, Daniel and Cipher opted to watch and pull their winnings out, probably wanting to give their younger crop room to grow and not take their money. Shis on the other hand dove right in without any shame, she taunted and threw the others off by bluffing her way through. She had a talent for being unassuming when she needed to be, not to mention random and almost omniscient at times, like she was able to read a person’s poker face flawlessly.
Just as Shis and Gen were in a deadlock on the most recent hand of poker, a clamor rose from the entrance, echoing off the walls. The students gazed in a certain direction.
A bell-like voice cut in. “Excuse me, may I have a word?”
Gen put down his cards. “Sure, what do you..” His words faltered as his mouth hung open. “Uh? Who are you?”
Amanda, sitting back on the couch after folding with her luckless hand, looked at the newcomer top to bottom. Now she knew why the students were making so much noise.
She’s a maid. Amanda was stunned. What the heck is a maid doing here? She noted the black and white outfit, the black, long sleeved gloves, black heels, and the alluring white stockings and lascivious garter belt. And a pretty one at that. Daring too. But, Again, why is a maid here of all places? And wearing all that?
The maid in question elegantly passed her attention to each of them. To Amanda, the maid’s mere gaze made her heart race, both from a sense of awe and a feeling of scrutiny that the maid seemed to radiate. Finally, the maid did a small curtsy, spreading her knee length skirt as she dipped her head. Her raven black hair fell and flowed like a glittering river down her back.
“My apologies.” She said, “Where are my manners? My name is Izuna.”
When she stood back up at attention, her golden eyes caressed each one of them, with her lips set into a tight smile. Gen and Osamu stayed quiet, which perplexed Amanda. It was like this maid’s presence had cowed them. She couldn’t blame them. She was in awe too.
“What can we do for you, Izuna?” Cipher asked candidly.
Izuna gave him the faintest of nods of acknowledgement. It seemed they knew each other. “I have a message and a question. First off, let’s start with the question. Would any of you know where Arielle is at the moment?”
“I saw her on the other side of the cafeteria.” Said Daniel. “Why are you asking?”
“Because I’ve been tasked by Master Itsuki to bring her to him for a meeting?”
“Master Itsuki?” Amanda muttered, keeping her dissatisfaction to herself. “So it’s like that.”
“Yes.” Said Izuna, picking up on Amanda’s tone. “Master Itsuki. You seem to know him?”
Caught, Amanda stuttered. “I.. Uh? Yes.. Kinda.”
It was difficult to talk openly with Izuna. This maid was intense and was probably the strict sort. She had beauty that drew every man and woman’s eye, except her aura was like a poisonous thorn. It was as though if you made a mistake, you would be set right with a crack of whip or pricked with words.
Izuna, deciding to put her attention elsewhere, turned to look at the other couch where Chisuke was sleeping. Dahlia stiffened up in her seat, doing her best to keep a straight face as she tried not to make eye contact. Inevitably, the maid’s pressuring aura forced Dahlia to concede. The poor girl’s hands trembled in her lap, then suddenly she blinked at the maid, as if a realization had dawned on her.
“Is something the matter?” Izuna asked. “You look pale. Do you need medical assistance?”
“N-no.” Dahlia managed the words the best she could. “I just.. Thought.. Well.. You look familiar.”
“Really?” Izuna looked at Mana then back to Dahlia. “I have met your friend, but not you, Dahlia. This is a first for me.” Her voice turned stern. “Right, Mana?”
Mana grimaced, glancing away with a cringe in her expression. Izuna let her stare pressure Mana a second more, then let it soften as it went to Dahlia and then Chisuke.
Cipher cut in. “So? About that message?” He asked. “Is it perhaps from Itsuki as well, Izuna?”
The maid shook her head. “No. I, as well as the staff, have been tasked by the facility’s commander with spreading the word that a briefing will take place in the next hour. You should all wrap up whatever business you have left and make your way into the arena’s auditorium.”
Cipher knocked back the last of his coffee, then got up from his spot on the rug. “Well, you heard her. Let’s go. If we wait too long we won’t be able to get any good seats.”
“Indeed.” Said Izuna. “I wish you all a good day.” With that last remark, she gave one last curtsy and turned on her heels, her short skirt swaying as her long flowing hair flourished behind her as made her way to the other side of the cafeteria.
She was perfect, in all except that intimidating air around her. The clamoring amongst the students grew once again as she cut across the floor, and a few leered with unhidden intent. Amanda was disgusted and considered giving a few of those boys a good talking to when the time was right. But she didn’t need to. With one sharp glare, Izuna put the perverted boys and their gazes back in their place.
The pecking order was set. Maid or not, Izuna was not below them, she was above them, a domineering force wherever she went. Some would be into that, and Amanda sure as hell confirmed that herself.
But I’ll keep that to myself.
The students’ clamor changed from awe to sudden fear and respect. The noise they made died out the closer Izuna got to them. She made a path, splitting the crowd like stubborn rock would in the middle of a rushing river.