“Alright ya sissy fucks! I got orders from high command! All y’all are gonna be ready for departure this noon!” The outpost commander shouted with an accent. He called all of the 101st company into the briefing room. It was quite out of the blue for all of them. But whatever it was, Ray and Zaya were ready.
The commander briefed them on the mission they were partaking in.
“Now, the admiral has informed me that all your asses are gonna be dropped onto a wasteworld. At noon, the transport ships from the Expeditionary Fleet are going here to get your asses. Get that? Then, by the time you arrive, y’all are gonna do what’s called a ‘Pod Drop.’ It was in your training, so you should know this. Further details are up to the V.A or something so don’t go asking me for questions, you fucks!” The commander said. All of the company knew not to mess with the commander, so they all nodded in agreement. Once the commander saw everyone nodding, he dismissed them. “Good, now pack yer bags. Ye got two hours till they arrive.”
And so, all of the soldiers went off to their respective quarters and began packing all their stuff. Ray and Zaya finished first, as they had already packed their stuff in a single duffle bag beforehand. Then came along a member with a meek attitude.
The guy was wearing his standard uniform, the same type Ray and Zaya were wearing. The guy looked already tired from running from the barracks and into the hangar where the rendezvous was.
Ray examined him and realized that it was a squad mate of his named Arlo.
“H-hello, Captain…” Arlo spoke with a tired voice. He was starting to sweat buckets. Indeed, Ray was a captain in the company. He and Zaya were both captains of their own squad. Zaya was in charge of squadron Echo-4-9, while Ray was the captain of squadron Liner-5. “A-am I intruding?”
“What? No.” Ray answered. “It’s just that you were very early, Arlo.”
“Need to be very early, sir. I’m clumsy and don’t do well under pressure.”
“I see.” Ray said. Though he needed to open a conversation fast since the atmosphere might get awkward as no soldier in their right mind would be there two hours early. “Anyway, why did you join the army, Arlo?”
“U-uh, I got fired at my last job back at Mordax Sikla. Was a factory worker there for five years.” Arlo answered as he fixed his messy blonde hair. Arlo, at first sight, wouldn’t seem to look like a soldier, he was one of the shorter guys and a dumb one too. So mistaking him for a young teen wouldn’t be further from the truth.
In fact, he was turning twenty this year and had already worked in jobs for eleven of his years alive. A child factory worker on Mordax Sikla, a planet in the Dhurthan region, owned by House Aran. It was an overworld, as the population reached billions. With that many people, crime was high, and many people came into poverty, Arlo’s family being one of them.
It was also considered a Factoryworld as the majority of people worked in factories.
“Why did you guys join the military?” It was Arlo’s turn to ask the question.
“Well, it’s because we’re orphans, and not a lot of places were accommodating to us.” Ray answered. He noticed that Zaya had gone somewhere, leaving only her duffle bag on the ground next to him.
“Must be tough, doesn't it?”
“Yeah, we traveled planet to planet before coming here.”
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“Rough. But that’s life for you.”
“Do you ever dream of being one of the nobles? Rich, powerful, and all that.”
“Every day. I also dream of marrying a noble, funny enough.” Ray chuckled.
“Does it comfort you?”
“Yeah. It makes you strive for shit, even if it sounds hopeless.” Arlo smiled. “Dreams are nice.”
From there, the conversation died down, with any chance of rekindling it gone. The two did make some small talk from time to time. But they just began sitting there in awkward silence. That was when Zaya decided to show up again after mysteriously disappearing.
“Zaya, there you are. Where’d you go?” Ray asked.
“Took a walk.” She said in a way that only her brother could hear her. Zaya was quite the dismissive type when people talked to her. She wasn’t really too shy, but she was shy enough to just answer with simple statements.
Silence took over as the ambient sounds of nature came. The strong and calm breeze entered the hangar. It was calming. Ahegany Prime was a nice agriworld that had a lot of nutritious soil and beautiful nature.
The essence of the planet showed when rays of sunlight came inside, shining it’s beautiful light at the three.
The three were just waiting there when Arlo heard footsteps.
“Randy’s here.” Arlo told the two. Arlo surprisingly had good hearing despite his time in the factories. He could tell who was coming based on their walking pattern. It was quite a feat for someone and a useful asset.
“Hey guys!” Randy shouted when he arrived at the door. Ray was confused. Randy’s uniform was dirty and stained with weird colors. On top of that, his hair was a mess.
“What happened to you?” Ray asked in confusion.
“Shit happened.” He said while smiling. “Don’t mind me, though.”
“It’s hard to do that when you look like that.” Arlo replied. “Just tell us what happened.”
“No way in hell.” Randy shouted.
“He got into a fight in the mess hall.” A person behind Randy said. The person was taller than him and had short black hair that was clean. His muscles were also showing to be nice and lean. He went inside the hangar and went near Zaya.
“Zaya.” He greeted.
“Marcell.” She spoke. Marcell then silently waited in the hangar.
Marcell was a member of Zaya’s squad, and he was the vice captain of it. Ray, Randy, and Arlo watched the two as they just waited there, doing nothing, yet they were comfortable with each other’s company.
Randy was malding, though. For months, he tried to get closer to Zaya, but in the end, she was not opening up to him despite his best efforts. Not once has she said his name.
“Ray, he’s malding again.” Arlo whispered.
“Get used to it, he’s just jealous.” Ray whispered back. As soon as they knew it, more and more people came into the hangar. The place became cramped as around 150 people were in one hangar.
The peaceful environment turned into a noisy one as the voices of the people joined in a destructive interference. Suddenly, the speakers blared as the PA announcer, the commander, spoke.
“All right, ya fucks, the transports are incoming, better make sure all of yer belongings are with ya. Anyone who stalls the transportation is going to have a field day with me. Get that?”
They all agreed that they should not stall the transports.
“Anyway, each transport must have ten squadrons in them. So better huddle up with your own squad as to avoid fucking congestion and confusion. That’s all. Best of luck to you fuckers. Some of you might die.”
The commander’s parting words were not comforting at all.
Moments later, the sound of thrusters and engines was heard from outside. Fifteen large transport ships had arrived and were landing at the airstrip.
The ships were a mix of Tharabyssian and Aranian variations, with the same comparison to the Zenith and Romulus. The fifteen ships all landed just meters away from the hangar. The crewmen from the outpost all came to the ships, ordered to refuel them all.
Once the engines of the transports stopped, the ramps of the ships opened, revealing large spaces that they would be in for the next five hours.
Ray and his squad quickly entered one of the ships, with Zaya and hers following behind. The ship they went to was an Aranian ship. To them, it looked like a ship meant for traveling to a vacation spot. Its white paint shone brightly. The Aranian's ships always looked like they were supposed to be normal ships, yet they used them for military use. The same cannot be said for the practical Tharabyssian ships.
The Tharabyssian ones were the exact opposite. Still, the blocky texture remained, and it looked like a flying brick reinforced with heavy steel and coated with silver paint. All of their ships looked like it.
And so, the orders were loud, clear, and followed. The 101st Expeditionary Company was on its way to E-759-R.