Chapter 1
Quickly glancing around the room confirmed that it was clean enough for me not to get into trouble with dad. There was the pile of laundry waiting in the corner but it was not high enough to be trouble. The bed in the corner was tempting, but sleep would have to wait till evening. The holochair in the corner was turned off. Was I ever so happy to have saved allowance for that. Being able to have my games and even classwork be displayed all around me rather than a small arc in front of me really added immersion. My room really did look bare with only the closet as the last thing filling it. But it was fine as the holochair took care of the entertainment. Greg would probably be up for some space battles over the holochair later. Now that today’s class work was done excuses for not getting on with farm work ran out.
Walking through the living room “The amazing claim that magic is true for several of our neighbouring races, claim that has too much proof to be ignored” suddenly came out of the TV at a loud volume, damn dad can't you remember to change it back sane volumes, a quick wave of my hand and the TV stopped yelling and as i make it outside the tv turned itself off behind me making it eerily quiet.
Walking across the farm towards where dad was riding the soil processor in the distance. Wish he would replace the robot hand feeding the fertilizing mix into it but money was thin and government did not consider it an essential cost to cover. “Morning” I said while climbing onto the slow moving machine. All I got was a grunt from my dad Bert. Glad I ended up with his looks rather than his personality. Like me dad was built tall and wide with a face that hinted at stubbornness inside, though I did have black hair and blue eyes like mom. Grabbing the first of the heavy packages and hefting it into the processor's input knowing that for most of today that boring work is all I will have time for. The grass that grew on the processed ground if not used for crops was at least a lot nicer looking than the rock solid dirt that was there before.
Heading in for the evening my arms aching from the constant heavy lifting. Was I ever so glad that cooking was done by a fully automated kitchen. One of the few big things Bert was willing to dish out for. The period after mom died where he cooked was a nightmare, he probably could have burned water. I did learn to cook but I guess me cooking reminded him of mom too much.
Finally back in my room with a few hours to spare before I needed to go to sleep in order to be ready for one more day of lifting crap. Logging in enjoying the view as my holochair made a whole new world unfold around me. Still loving the spaceship theme I got the login to look like. Looking all around at the holographic spaceship deck around me. Moments later Greg appeared in the co-pilot's chair. “Hi slacker, finally ready to kick some pirate ass?” was Greg’s greeting. With a sigh of amusement, we got to looking through the servers but sadly did not have much choice as Azures selection of servers was rather low, being a freshly terraformed world the population was equally low unlike bigger worlds. A quick game of rock paper scissors later and Greg won the right to be the pilot for the first match, while I settled in to control the guns and missiles of our little ship.
Two hours later my system pinged reminding me to get ready for bed. Damn it, at least there’s all of tomorrow as dad lets me slack on the weekends. As long as I feed the animals in the morning that is.
“Greg, you up for more matches tomorrow?”
“Nah man mom is making a big deal of the whole magic is real thing. So I have been kindly invited to join them on protesting against it at the town hall tomorrow. As it obviously means the aliens are devil worshippers. And me not going would probably get my gaming setup confiscated.” The sarcasm and frustration in Greg’s voice was very evident.
“Good luck with that, and night” was all I had time to say as he vanished from view. Greg really got unlucky with his highly religious parents and their old fashioned views.
My birthday passed quietly with just a small happy birthday from dad. Bit annoying that Greg got his net privilege revoked for a while by arguing with his parents over magic. So I got to spend the morning of my birthday watching TV.The news was talking about some alien race we share borders with supposedly gearing up for war with someone, not that anyone knew who they were planning to conquer. And a warning against some kind of crystal, now highly illegal to import from our allied species the Zumbalians. It's weird because the bugs were the most law abiding species in the alliance. A quick glance at the clock confirmed that i'd have to get going to get to my citizenship test at the alliance fleet station in town. Ugh, a long walk to the station and then a full hour's ride was not my idea of a fun day. Quickly grabbing my tablet and folding it into my pocket while heading out. At least I will have something to read on the way.
The view of the town coming in to sight was amazing as always, as the automated shuttle was preparing to land. Just wish the crowds were not a thing. Growing up on a farm did not leave me prepared to wander through thick crowds of people. A short walk later I arrived at the fleet offices.
A big sign saying “Citizenship test here” luckily lead me to the correct door. There was a small line of people waiting outside.At least the weather was warm and away from the town center it was not too noisy. Walking over to the line of people at least the girl in front of me looked really attractive, long blond hair, good figure, a figure that I had to struggle not to stare at, this wait might not be too bad after all. Seeing me approaching she turned sideways and to my surprise started talking. “Hi, are you here for the test too?” her voice sounded highly frustrated. The frown on her face quickly ruined the first impression, the face was pretty but the frown…
Without letting me get a word in edgewise she went on “Of course you are, no one would be dumb enough to have anything to do with Starfleet if they could help it. I can't believe we all have to do some stupid tests and then listen to their recruitment speech or get fined for it. There are such better uses for my time.” she went on and on not letting me get a word in and just endlessly complaining about everything. No wonder the person in front of her did his best to not even look her way. Thankfully she got a phone call a few minutes later and swapped to talking about some kind of party to her friend.
Slowly, ever so slowly the queue moved forwards. In reality it was not a long wait, but in practice it felt like forever. Finally the girl who had not even given me her name before telling me about all her life worries and frustration was admitted in by the two heavily armoured marines at the door. The silence felt amazing,and judging by the amused smile on one of the marines faces in their big bulky power armor, they agreed.
Finally it was my turn. Looking around while heading towards the reception table the room was surprisingly nice with plants all along the wall. The table to the side was free with the worker there being a lovely looking redhead, though a quick glance showed that all of the tables had a fit and good looking individual on the other side. “Hi” was all I got out as she started talking. “Greetings, I’m Stefanie the system tells me you're Evan Thomas is that right? Asked the woman with a voice that sounded all too cheerful. I guess it's her job to make Starfleet look enticing to any candidates. “Yea thats me”
“Good, can you go over this for me and check that everything is correct.” she said while passing over a tablet towards me with a long list of info with checkboxes for yes/no/other. Leaning in to grab the tablet also gave me a quick view of the screen built into the desk that was not visible at all until i leaned over it. Showing that she was reading something on one side and the other side showed my face with info next to it, a face that was moving. Not a picture, an actual live view of me in here right now, with all kind of descriptions and numbers on the side. Not that there was enough time for me to actually read much of it. As i started going through the list on the tablet she just cheerfully answered my questions when a question or info on the tablet was not instantly understandable. While her smile never wavered and she seemed to be glancing down at her desk regularly reading whatever was on the side.
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A while later the questionnaire was finally done. Handing the tablet back she got up and told me to follow her. While heading out of the room i saw another woman enter and sit down on the chair she was on moments ago. Going through corridor after corridor of unmarked doors i was lead to a room with a treadmill and lots of exercise equipment. “The doctor will be here in a moment just go in there and swap into the clothes left for you.” She said while pointing at a door on the side. There was just a small changing room on the other side with a skin tight full body costume in there, probably with some kind of sensors built in. After getting myself into the embarrassing clothes and arriving back in the gym room, she had me do a huge list of exercises including running on the treadmill till i just could not anymore. The whole time she kept talking to me joking and cheering me on. After changing back, next was a video watching session she just sat next to me occasionally talking and commenting. Some of the videos were amusing some were downright disgusting. When i asked her about it she said it's to gauge my reaction to different topics.
After a whole set of tests she lead me to another door “Go in i'll just wait out here, See you in a min” Heading into the room all that was in it was four intimidating marines in corners their faces looking bored, and an old and tired looking man in a white lab coat standing next to a pedestal . “Good you're here mister Evan” he greeted me “Hi” was all i got out before he went on “Just a quick test just try to pick up the crystal here for a moment” wondering why a random thing like that would be a part of the tests, walking over i just grabbed it. And suddenly all that was visible was brightness, i could still see the crystal through my hand with my eyes closed. Even before i could react i felt myself pulled back. “Dont move! Just stay where you are!” Came a harsh sounding command from what i assume was one of the soldiers as the crystal was taken out of my hand. Slowly as my eyes cleared i found the room much more intimidating finding the scientist having moved across the room rubbing his eyes while the soldiers were surrounding me. Two of them holding onto my shoulders and the other two having pointed their very large and threatening looking guns my way.
Moments later one of them tilted his head to the side and moments later nodded as if listening to something and agreeing with it. Not that i could see inside their helmets anymore, the clear part at the front was now pitch black. The giant power armors they were wearing suddenly looked a lot more scary.
“Follow us kid” one of them said as they guided me out of the room while walking past the now confused looking woman from earlier. One of them told her they will take it from here and she is free to go. What followed was a worrying amount of walking through corridor after corridor until they finally led me through a door. “Sit on the chair kid” was the next order, though this time a lot less angry sounding.
Sitting down on the chair facing a table and a wall, wondering if it was like the table from the reception i glanced down at it. Moments later i found my attention pulled up onto the wall as it had suddenly changed from a wall to a full size window into another room. Though i quickly realized its a screen because in the room behind it a window was visible. Showing a view of a city from high up with the moon in the background and Azure had no moon nor a city that size.
“Greetings mister Evan I am admiral Ramirez” said the man on the other side. “Hi” i said nervously as the four marines now in the corners of the room were still quite scary despite their guns once again being pointed at the floor. Taking a closer look at the man in front of me, he had a ceremonial looking military uniform on with a whole pile of different symbols and decorations attached to it. His hair was gray and his face looked serious enough that it could just have well have been chiseled from stone. “Sorry if the marines scared you, the protocol for that test is not quite ingrained into everyone yet.”
“What the heck was that about putting a bright light in a test and then having me escorted around like some criminal.” now that the immediate scare was over i was getting angry.
“Now now there's no reason to get upset, the test showed the presence of a rare talent that we are on the lookout for. And for you that opens up some amazing opportunities” the old man's statement did make me more interested in what “amazing” talent i had that would make them rush me into this meeting.
“You have the gift for magic” the statement completely baffled me “Are you bullshitting me?” The old man must have lost a few marbles along the way.
“No i'm not as you say it ‘Bullshitting’ you. Magic in humans is something not much explored at this time so we have a offer for you to make a difference. For you to do something more with your life than just work on a farm. But for now just read what you are being offered” Forcing myself to calm down i glanced at the document that was now written onto the desk, a quick read proved it was everything i could wish. Wages started at more than the farm earned per year with danger pay showing even more shocking numbers. Confidentiality clause that had penalties so harsh i'd be looking at life in prison if i actively leaked info and the position itself would not be as a military officer or training for a marine but as a “Specialist Consultant”. With lots of little bits thrown in about what my rights are and about following orders.
“Why such an offer? This is not a standard recruitment offer” if the general was annoyed at my irritated tone of voice none of it showed in his face. “Magic as far as humans go is barely understood, but we can't neglect it. The pool of possible recruits is very low, so every single one matters”
A few more statements from the admiral about how i'd be helping the whole alliance or how i would be important. On the way out i got handed a copy of the contract in written format with a note about how i'd have to make up my mind by tuesday.
The way home was filled with thoughts of how i could have a much better life with money like that at hand and i'd get away from the farm and able to actually do something meaningful.
“Dad we need to talk” dad was in the house eating dinner with some put on the side for me, he just sighed. “I thought that might be the case, young men looking for adventure are the ones Starfleet rarely failed to recruit. Atleast tell me you're going to be based at the training camp near town so you can visit?” i guess dad pretty much expected me to escape the farm on first opportunity “What makes you think i want to leave?” that got an amused snort out of dad “I'm not stupid, i know you never really liked it here on the farm and we have not been that close since your mom died. Though i was hoping you would just try to find a job in town not sign up with the military”
“Not quite dad” i handed him the contract i was offered not really explaining what was so unique that i got offered such a contract. “Seeing as this thing is basically a giant pile of don't tell anyone anything as a written threat i guess you can't tell me why exactly they would give you that offer” a nod was all the answer he needed. “And you are thinking of going through with this?” after a quick nod dad with tears in his eyes gave me a hug “At Least even if you quit a year in you will be settled for life. Though with the bits about danger pay make sure you don't get yourself killed.” The few days till the phone call were awkward as dad tried his best to talk to me to constantly and interact with me. This was the most attention i've gotten from him since mom died. Yet all i could do was keep thinking of adventures in space, and how wonderful having magic is going to be.
A few days later the long expected phone call came, my answer was a clear yes. Quick explanations followed on what i was allowed to take, it basically rolled down to clothes you're wearing and a small amount of personal items that can fit in a single carry on bag with specific instructions not to waste space on clothes, that uniforms will be provided. But instead of instructions of where to go i was told to be outside by 8 in the evening.
Waiting outside a few minutes till 8 everything was quiet. A quiet humming noise in the distance, quick glance around revealed nothing until looking up. That was the scariest looking thing i've seen flying it looks like a set of guns attached to a giant engine. Moments later what i assume is a fighter landed on the front lawn. The door opens on the side and a ladder rolls down. A man wearing a helmet that i can't see into looks out. “You're the kid i'm supposed to ferry right?” don't get why they keep calling me a kid i'm 18 not 8. “Yea” he just nods at that while gesturing for me to climb in. A quick climb with my one bag containing just a few pictures of me and my parents and not much else. Climbing into the seat was awkward as it was definitely not built to be climbed in from the side.
After i got strapped in with some help from the pilot i was off. One last look at the farm and dad standing on the porch i was off to a whole new chapter in my life.