Robin sat in the canteen together with Keran. They both had big plates full of food. Much of it was fish, but Robin also saw many exotic fruits he didn’t recognize.
Two days had passed since the forced checkup and Robin was getting nervous. He really wanted to leave the planet as soon as possible. Luckily Keran had just informed him that their ship will arrive tomorrow.
“So the team configuration is done?” The man asked him.
“Yeah, I’ve checked all the profiles a few times and am mostly happy with the setup.”
“I heard Alaris joined in, taking the place of our pilot?”
“Your pilot” Robin scoffed, “Isn’t she also ‘your pilot’? I’m pretty sure she was listed as one of your best freshmen when I last checked.”
“Oh? Touchy topic?” Keran asked with a raised eyebrow after his snarky comment.
“Yeah, sorry… whatever. Besides the both of us, Niu will be there as pilot, the Vlasov siblings will also join, but the team leader will be Landom Walzor. He is from Seka Security and while he’s not as experienced as Pierce, I do trust him. The security team also has one pending slot for a friend of mine, we will see if she takes it when we get to Rucasur.”
“That’s not a problem and while I personally don’t think Walzor is a good choice for the role, I see where you are coming from and support that decision nonetheless.” Keran nodded.
“Thanks, much appreciated. There are two more positions I opened up.” Robin explained.
“Two? I only saw your request for Reed, but who is the other one for?”
“Timothy Reed, yeah. He is a capable researcher of alien technologies. I hope he’ll be able to learn a bit from you and your team, but also that he acts as a more independent unit - outside of your official assignment and more free to choose side topics we may encounter.”
“That’s pretty good thinking. My team only focuses on the Keeper monolith and I’ve more of a mentoring role. Having someone for the broader topics will help you in the long run. What’s with the last slot?” Keran once more agreed with Robin's decision.
“The last position, yes!” Robin grinned and made a dramatic pause, “It’s my personal security, a bodyguard if you will.”
“What? Why would you need a bodyguard? That’s a bit overkill, isn’t it?”
“Calm down, it’s not a big thing. I was working with Prof. Aurelius last week and really like the BWT Combat Drone. The project is about to be stopped since its uses are very limited. I do have a good connection with it however. It’s like an unusual talent that you need in order to be able to control it to a degree that makes it useful.” Robin said and shrugged. That wasn’t too much to ask, right? The drone would only start collecting dust in the lab - giving it to ROMAS is the obvious choice to make.
Keran thought this through a bit, until a frown crept on his face.
“And you do have this unusual talent, yes?”
“Yup, I was also surprised when we stumbled across that.” Robin nodded, his face pure innocence.
“Ugh..” Keran gave a deep sigh, “That’s a load of bullshit, isn’t it?”
“What? Never!” Robin exclaimed with fake exasperation and added a bit more earnest, “I went along with the checkup, even so it was clearly against the agreement. You could show some good will now.”
The officer from the UAS main HQ ignored the last remark and inspected Robin a bit longer.
“How certain are you in keeping control of the drone?”
“I’ve worked a lot with it over the last few days, I’m 100% sure I can make great use of it.” Robin said with conviction.
“Fine, but I’ll make sure its weapons stay here on Gaunus.” Keran finally accepted.
“What? What kind of bodyguard is unarmed?”
“You have the Vlasov siblings for that. Use the drone as a scout, pet, toy or whatever, but I’ll not let you take control over a fully armed combat drone!”
“Fiiine…” Robin conceded and went over the final team constellation in his mind once again. He was quite happy with it. Keran and his team were more like a second crew that would tag along with them, which left only Sevastian and Alena as new faces for the team. Hopefully they will get along well.
***
Already later that day, Robin was able to meet the siblings and he really hit it off with them. They were both in their forties and had blood-red hair. Alena was a tall woman with cold, piercing eyes. She didn’t talk much and observed her surroundings all the time. Robin was unsure if she was on duty at that moment or if it was just her normal behavior. Her brother, Sevastian, was quite the opposite of Alena. His eyes were squinted most of the time from joking around and enthusiastically talking about their awesome journey - he used his hands a lot while telling a story and as he was talking most of the time, he was kind of flailing his arms non stop. Sevastian was a real hulk, with broad shoulders and the biggest hands Robin had ever seen.
The siblings had traveled the Mereus Cluster for some time as mercenaries for hire, before they joined the UAS. This will be their first official mission and while Alena voiced some dissatisfaction about Walzor becoming the team leader despite having no real experiences, they didn’t make a fuss about it. This will be a simple mission anyways.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“I really need to see you having a contest in arm wrestling with my friend Patience.” Robin chuckled, “She also has a Class D - Enhanced Strength mutation and is always looking for someone to compete with!”
“Really? That’s great, when will we meet her?” Sebastian immediately was excited to find her for a brawl.
“She is on Rucasur, I’ll introduce you. I promise!” Robin laughed and looked at Alena.
“I don’t know much about your G-Anomaly though. Would you give me a rough roundup so I know what I’m dealing with?”
“It’s a Class C - Sharp Senses mutation. A multi-effect G-Anomaly. My senses are better than usual, but only to the level of the Class E mutations. In return it’s not only one sense that got enhanced, but many. In my case vision, smell, hearing and touch.”
“That sounds awesome!” Robin exclaimed at that wondrous G-Anomaly, which seemed to be pretty useful.
Alena only scoffed and said nothing but Sevastian jumped in to explain the other side of the coin.
“She cannot disable her senses - if she gets hurt, the pain is much more intense” He said soberly and then grinned.
“If you fart, she hears it from a mile away and has to live with smelling it too!” He loudly laughed while flailing his arms like crazy.
“Umm.. I’ll keep that in mind.” Robin awkwardly said, not sure how to answer that. Poor woman though…
After talking for some time, Keran motioned to end the meeting. It was time for the final preparations.
“I want to leave as soon as possible. Our first stop will be Rucasur where we will fetch the rest of our team, before we visit some moons on our way to Terulos. I’ll give you a complete briefing after take off.” Robin explained to the siblings and even Sevastian dropped his antics and listened in.
“Actually I wanted to go on a shopping spree, but I’m a bit short on time - would you be ready tomorrow evening?”
“Sure, why are we in such a hurry and what is missing?” Alena asked and Robin thought about it for a moment. He wanted to have an open communication with his crew, but right now was not the time.
“I’ll explain the circumstances in the briefing, okay?” He vaguely said, but believed to see Alena nod in approval, “As for shopping - well, on my way to Gaunus, we met some pirates and…”
“That’s so cool! You have to tell me everything!” Sebastian immediately caught on.
“Hehe, let’s keep the stories for the long, boring days of traveling” Robin laughed, “My point is, Walzor was with us and caught quite the hit. One reason for his survival was his armored suit.”
“You wanna tell me, you have no equipment?” Alea frowned and even her brother raised an eyebrow.
“Nope, everything came a bit out of the blue. I’ll get the stuff on Rucasur.”
“That won’t do. What if we are attacked on the way?” Sebastian mused, his goofy side completely gone.
“I also think that a bit more preparation wouldn’t hurt. Could you get them a suit and helmet, if I send you their profiles?” Keran asked the siblings.
“Sure, we will be at Jacko’s anyways later today. Do I put that on the UAS bill?” Sebastian said.
“Yeah, we will cover these costs for them… but no weapons!”
Sevastian just shrugged and looked back at Robin.
“Preferences for the color-theme, captain?”
Robin gave it some thought and grinned, “thank you for your effort! ...does it come in black?”
***
The following evening Robin walked through the many hallways and stairs towards the ocean’s surface, Keran by his side.
“Are you nervous?” The UAS officer asked.
“A bit, yes.” Robin said, “I’m not only starting to travel the universe, which I’ve always dreamed of, but I am also taking on responsibility for a whole crew, not just myself… even though you’re still around having the last word.”
“It’s good you see it like that, since it’s exactly the idea that you have to think about more than your own actions. I’m not some kind of permanent safety measure. I’ll only step in, if shit really hits the fan or else this endeavor will be all for naught. From a training perspective, that is.”
“Thanks, Keran.” Robin said and after a moment of silence he added, “Gimme a hit on the head before I do something completely stupid, will ya?”
“No worries, I’ve got you covered.” Keran chuckled.
When they walked through the last door and stepped out onto the platform, Robin saw Happy and the Vlasov siblings already engaged in a discussion that included a lot of flailing arms from Sevastian, giggling from Niu and glaring from Alena. All around them was the raging ocean, which was once again throwing big waves at them. Somehow it still had a soothing effect on Robin’s mind.
‘This feels just right. I hope we all will become a real team, not just in name.’ He thought when he saw the three joking around.
As the ship wasn’t here yet, Robin’s eyes fell on the three big crates that the siblings had brought.
“Hey folks!” Robin waved when they looked over and saw him and Keran approaching. “Have you already made yourselves known?”
“Yup!” Sevastian yelled over the wind, “You didn’t tell us we would have such a famous pilot aboard! She broke the long-standing record for the intergalactic test by more than 15 minutes!”
“Wait until you see her fly.” Robin laughed and returned the nod from Alena.
“Great to have you aboard, Happy!” He said and gave her a friendly slap on the shoulder.
“Thanks for… shaking me up.” Niu answered with a faint voice. He understood her, it wasn’t an easy decision to go against her family. But he stood by what he had told her. This was her best course of action, without closing too many doors for later developments.
“Is that the equipment?” He asked the siblings and motioned at the crates after Keran also went though a row of greetings.
“Exactly as you’ve ordered them, captain!” Sevastian gave him a sloppy salute.
“Great, now we only need to wait for…” Robin began but was interrupted by the swooshing of thrusters that drowned out even the howling winds.
The ship that was coming in for a landing was small to medium sized and completely white. Robin didn’t even spot a logo from the UAS. It was about 45 meters in length and formed like a rectangular tube, 20 by 20 meters. At its rear two thrusters were attached and four vertical thrusters were integrated in the bulky landing gear. He could see many windows and even a shutter that probably hid a small hanger at its belly.
Robin was a bit relieved when he saw a small turret on the top of the ship and on its bottom respectively. He had already read that the ship was extremely well shielded and had some weapons mounted - even if those were on the smaller side. It would extend the range of actions they could take in certain situations, so they wouldn’t be at the mercy of any random pirate.
The UAS IP Hubble - named after some ancient space telescope that mankind used to observe their solar system. It will be his home for the coming weeks and accompany him on his journey that is finally about to start.
‘Not quite a beauty, but practically for this expedition and my first proper trip. Everything I learn now will be taken into consideration when I decide on what ship I chose from the UAS after we checked the monolith.’ Robin thought and felt excitement well up in him.
“I’ll not make a speech here and now - we still have to gather the rest of the crew first.” He said and grinned, “So let’s go to Rucasur, then we will finally be ready to get started!”