Drake sat gazing out of the passenger side window in the now very quiet transport. They were heading back the way they had just been, retracing their steps to the first Dome. It seems that farming wasn’t all that was there.

“I take it your not going to tell me much about my new life then?” Drake said without looking, he guessed that he’d be saying goodbye to Duke soon enough, after all, he had already revealed himself to be just a politician.

“You’ll experience it soon enough, induction is... Well, an experience all in itself! I’m sure your peers would agree with me, without saying any details of course” Duke looked at the guards who nodded respectfully.

“Is there anything you can tell me then? You’re very good at hinting crap but not following it up with actual details” Drake still wanted to punch him, badly.

“I can tell you that your commanding officer is called Trent, and you do not want to try any of this attitude with him. The Vanguard unit has a special way of handling discipline, even more so with people of...your background.” Drake saw that Gwen winched a little as Duke spoke, as if she was remembering past abuse.

“So I’m going to be a punching bag just because of my eyes...and I was told my life would be better”

“It’s only if you speak out of line, behave yourself and follow orders and you’ll be fine. Just ask your comrades here.” Duke waved his hand towards Cen, Sara and Ash, ignoring Gwen, an obvious omission. None of them looked like they wanted to talk. With the uncomfortable silence falling once more, Drake tried to settle himself for the uncompromising world he had signed up for. For Ava’s sake, he had to survive, given the clues he’d picked up, anything happened to him, and she would be liable to be taken as a slave. If he was going to get beaten, then so be it, if he was going to be the test subject for some experiment, so be it. As long as he lived and was there to see Ava at the end of it, then he would do whatever it took.

The first sign that he was getting close to the base was when Drake heard a low rumbling noise, the same he remembered hearing a day or so ago. His instincts were proved right when he saw the humanoid forms of Vector Units flying in parallel to the transport. There was three of them, two slightly behind the leader. They were so close to the ground that they were leading a dust trail as they flew over the dirt. Drake stared at them before they sped off, then over heard the others talking, having seen the mechs as well.

“Looks like Cody is doing the drills already, I should be out there in one of them.” Cen moaned.

“You say that but you’re in the same group as me, and we haven’t been outfitted for flight yet.” Sara corrected him.

“You two have heard the rumours about him haven’t you? He’s the instructor with the highest death rate with recruits...” Gwen added. Ash kept silent, though still looking at the others as they spoke.

“Yeah, those were the ones who weren’t up to much. Command always gives him the weaker pilots to wean out the useless ones, leaving only the strong.” Cen then noticed Drake’s attentive stare.

“Guess we’ll see where you fit in once we get you up there.” He smiled, before turning to Sara “My bet is he won’t.”

“You always have a crap view of Silvers... I thought I had shown you what we were capable of.” Gwen said, interrupting the reply that Sara had opened her mouth to say.

“Please Gwen, you proved yourself and no one else. For what it’s worth, I think he’ll survive to that point anyway...Only because he’s got something to fight for.” Sara said smirking. While without context her words could be seen as supportive, that last part, Drake knew that was being used against him. He felt his blood boiling as they all laughed, apart from Ash who just rolled his eyes.

“You all had something to fight for originally” He said sighing, like an adult with arguing children. This shut everyone up, giving a lingering atmosphere. Drake looked out of the window and silently pleaded with the universe to hurry up sending him to the next destination. He got his wish as in the distance, buildings appeared nestled in an artificial mountain range, casting pointed shadows over the various sized structures. Getting closer he spotted rows and rows of Vector Units standing like gatekeepers, more then he had ever seen up to that point. While the hospital had seemed off with it’s white and sterile nature, this, in contrast, was nothing short of oppressive. Again, part of him screamed for attention, wanting to highlight the force he had allied with, but it was put down, Drake wasn’t going to start going back on deals, especially not important ones like this.

The base was a sprawling complex, with roads even going under the ground, pointing to more under the surface.

“Don’t get too impressed, a lot of this is empty” Gwen whispered “The Atlantis Empire been in control of this place for so long but haven’t figured out the full purpose of this place from the sods who built it.”

“What’s the point then?” Drake asked as the transport went down a winding path which seemed to be heading towards what could be described as the central point of the base.

“To make it look like they’ve got strength, a big base like this, one of many, full to the brim of tech and troops...It’s a show of strength, like whenever they do their stupid parades. It’s all fake though. Hence why they allow people like us in, to fill up the numbers and...” Gwen cast a careful eye to see if Duke was watching, but his focus was else where. “a fresh stock for experimentation. There’s a reason this unit is called the Vanguard, as in first in line” The transport then came to a slow halt, outside a strange shaped building that had a series of slopped roofs. Outside were four flag poles, each bearing the crest of the Atlantis Empire on one side, and on the other, an emblem which he took to be fore the Vanguard.

The first thing that Drake noticed as soon as he stepped out was the smell, the air stank of oil and the chemicals used in fuel cells.

“Great, the wind generator is blowing all the shit from the engineering block this way...” Cen said with little fanfare as he got out next.

“I think they do it on purpose, the Dome controllers always need to have a laugh somehow.” Sara replied. Gwen didn’t say anything as she stood next to Drake, knowing she had already said more then she should have, and would have been castigated if Duke had been paying attention. Speaking of, Duke was the last one to leave the vehicle and he looked around in frustration.

“He’s late, Commander Tryon was supposed to be waiting for us.” It wasn’t noisy here, not like Drake expected a military base to be, all he could hear was the distant sounds of Vector Unit engines. He figured that they must be the ones they saw on their way in. After ten minutes of waiting a man walked confidently from the main doors, dressed in black formal military ware. There was no sign of regret on his face, which bore scars from his past. Ash lead his fellows in saluting the commander as he walked past.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

“At ease, Airmen Haskins, Airmen Harris, return to your scheduled posts for now. You’ll receive a new training rota soon.” Gwen and Cen saluted again and made to leave, with Gwen leaning in close to Drake.

“Good luck, you’re going to need all of it here.” She then left, heading a different direction then Cen.

“Excuse me Commander! We have been left waiting and instead of apologising, the first thing you do is bark orders at your dogs!” Duke said, incensed that he wasn’t being treat the way he thought he should. Tryon just laughed in his face.

“You should consider yourself blessed that I didn’t make you wait longer! I do not take kindly to being called out just to meet every recruit you throw my way. As part of the military oversight committee, you should know just how much work I have to do and the conditions I’m expected to do it in. I told you before about expecting things to go how they do at the capital. You’re on my turf.” Tryon showed no respect for the governor, yet Drake had a feeling that didn’t mean he was going to be his ally. Far from it, when Tryon looked him over, he sighed. “To make matters worse, you still don’t even consider our needs, you quite happily bring me these mongrels but what I want is the best from the other units...”

“You’ll have to make do with what we can afford to give you. Until you have viable results then you’ll have to settle for what scraps we can afford to give you.” Duke replied. “Now I’ll be taking my leave, I’ve done my part of this, now you do your part.” With that, he turned on his heels and re-boarded the transport which then drove off again after a change in drivers. Tryon didn’t offer him a salute as he left.

“Now then...Airmen Drake, congratulations...You just signed your death warrant...” There wasn’t any trace of irony in his voice, no sign that he was joking. His eyes fixed on Drakes. “Time to get you suited up. You’re training begins now.” Tryon beckoned Drake to follow him as Ash and Sara moved either side of him and pulled him into the building.

Inside he was decked out in a uniform like the others, given some equipment for his general use, and a tablet containing all the manuals that he was expected to obey. So far, so good he thought, he knew the actual training would be different but he didn’t know when that was going to take place. He flicked through the manuals as he was told to wait outside a room, with no one else around.

It was at this point that Tryon had left him to attend to other things, taking Ash with him. Sara seemed to know something was coming , as he kept asking what he felt so far, or how he was enjoying it.

However here, outside this room, she had left him. He had heard the door lock when she did. More waiting ensured but soon a man in a white coat, with a white surgical mask on invited him into a room that wouldn’t have looked out of place in his sisters hospital. Drake felt very uneasy here, and it didn’t help when from behind the door where he entered, another two men came forward and grabbed him, forcing him onto a table, pinning him down. If they had laughed about it, that would have made sense, but they didn’t show any emotion, quite the contrary, they were just going through the motions as if this wasn’t anything extraordinary. They held him down with plenty of force, keeping his face pointing up. What followed was painful, as the doctor took blood, and then proceeded to inject other substances into him, some into Drake’s brain, going through his eyes. Drake screamed, but that was cut short as he was muffled, allowing the doctor to carry on with the rest of the procedure.

When Drake woke up, it was night time, and he was in a small room, that contained a bed, a desk and a small cupboard. He became aware of footsteps moving periodically around outside. He groggily stood up and looked at his clothes that had been tattered, torn to allow access to his body. He fumbled for a light switch and turned it on, gasping at what he saw, for among the dried blood, he found a new symbol on his arm, a tattoo that branded him as property of the Vanguards. With no choice, he put on the uniform and laid back down, knowing that he was not going to sleep that night, not with his new life ahead of him.

-----------

“Oh Melody, what did you say...” Darren sighed as he paced the doctors room, Melody couldn’t reply, her jaw had been broken, and the man she had been booked to have a private appointment with had tried to stop her from ever talking again. She wore the bruises of his rage. At the moment, she was being forced awake to stop any risk of her lapsing into a coma. “How long will the injuries take to heal?”

“A week for the most severe, superficial ones will be healed by tomorrow night.” The Doctor then found himself against the wall as Darren furiously grabbed hold of him.

“Don’t bullshit me. You will do whatever it takes, no matter how much it hurts her, to get her looking like the perfect specimen she used to. You’ll will do this as fast as possible. I can not afford her to be not working for a week. The doctor nodded fearfully, then scurried off when Darren let go. He turned back to Melody, and placed his hand around her mouth and tightened his grip.

“I don’t want another repeat of this, otherwise I’ll just have sell you and move onto another girl, is that what you want?” He let go and wiped his brow, just as the doctor came back with more equipment. “I'll let you get back to work now...” He deliberately walked past the doctor who flinched, leaving Darren’s ego to swell.

The words from the Rebel Broadcast echoed in Melody's head, reverberating from each and every broken memory. Long had she wanted to be free from this but thought she could do nothing. The thought of someone else, a lost girl like she was, becoming just another plaything by sick individuals, it broke her. Before though, she’d sink deeper into despair, now, she knew she couldn’t let it happen, and she would fight to stop it happening to her. It wasn’t going to be easy, Darren had stamped out all of her self worth and confidence, but she had to try something. How many former friends had she lost to this system? How many murdered or committed suicide rather then be touched again. She was told to ignore them, forget them as weaklings, ultimate nobodies.

No longer would she do that, she would remember what they went through, their pain and suffering. Melody clenched her fist best she could, from now on, she would fight to be free, she had to stand. It was going to take time, she knew as much, her life was going to get worse, it always did. What would be different though is she would look for ways out, ways to help until she could really bring the house down on the people who brought this misery. Enough was enough.