Chapter 7 - Termination of MarsH2-3(7) - Shuttle Launch
A few shuttles landed inside the launch bays of the base as the civilians were organized into their tiers. The boy clung to Gaius’s leg while Gaius leaned on the barrel of his sniper rifle.
“Gaius! You must get out of that bad habit.”
Gaius spun around and saw a cloaked figure walking towards him, “What habit?”
The cloaked individual snatched the rifle away with a bionic arm, “Stop bending the barrels!”
“Gee, are all priests like this?”
A flickering green light underneath the hood glared back at him as the priest sneered, “Your stupid leaning makes us do more work.”
Two more bionic arms came out of the robe and disassembled the sniper rifle into its components before shoving them back into the capsule. One of the arms stuck itself into a cavity on the side of the capsule and lifted it up, “I’m leaving.”
Xavier ran over to the retreating figure, “Since when does a priest leave the temple?”
“Since when throw twelve pods into space?”
Xavier slapped his forehead, “Oh… We forgot the drop pods.”
The priest kicked his shin, “Lucky you we have scavenger probes otherwise you’d have a nasty fine to pay.”
Xavier rolled on the floor, “How much per pod?”
“A little less than a hundred credits per pod.”
“Uh… uhh.. twelve… twelve hundred… UGH that’s a fifth of my monthly salary. Ack! Stop kicking!”
Gaius chuckled as he headed over to the launch bays to find the boy.
The boy was sitting on a pile of used munition boxes while staring at the two groups of people. One side had civilians lying on hovering stretchers while the other had people scanning identification passes to board the shuttles.
The boy heard Gaius step behind him, “What’s the difference between a class zero and class one citizen?”
Gaius was surprised, “Where’d you hear about class zero?”
The boy pointed towards a corner where a perimeter of security personnel was surrounding a group of people, “They said that any class zero individuals that go over there would be treated as a citizen of the empire. Doesn’t that mean they aren’t citizens?”
Gaius nodded, “There’s multiple classes of citizenship. Refugees and slaves were called class 0 when the class system was introduced. It has kind of just stuck so it become part of official documentation.”
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“What’s the difference between say class one and class two?”
“Typical class one jobs make a hundred credits a month while typical class two jobs pay a hundred and ten credits a month.”
The boy’s eyes lit up, “What are we?”
Gaius smiled, “Most people who have been through the military are beyond the class system since we retain our military status until we are killed in battle.”
“Huh? So doesn’t that mean you’re always in the military?”
“Once you enlist, you can’t get out.”
The shuttle seemed small when view in the hanger. Once you got up close to it, it was like a towering skyscraper. It reached 75 meters tall and was 21 meters across on the outside with 27 thrusters on the bottom. A large tower was right next to it with a walkway that showed the entrance of the shuttle.
The five fins on the side of the shuttle were wiggling as the launch system prepared preflight checks. Tubes popped off the side of the shuttle as liquid oxygen, fuel, nitrogen, and heat sink had finished refilling.
Small head sized robots with welding tools flew around repairing cracked pieces of shielding. Three of the robots flew three large cylindrical boosters. While the boosters were calibrated to the habitat, the first door of the air lock opened revealing a space as large as the hanger.
Gaius grabbed the boy’s hand and started walking towards the base of the tower which had a large elevator. With Xavier, David, and two other marines, they walked into the elevator which brought them up to the walkway.
The marines walked onto the walkway making loud footsteps as metal hit metal. Inside the shuttle was a large light grey room with a bench wrapping around the edges. In the middle was an elevator and various compartments for food storage or other necessities.
Gaius and the boy sat down on the right side as the other marines found their seats on the padded bench.
A light above the door flashed yellow and then turned red as the large dark grey doors closed. Three silver bolts were locked into place through an electromagnet sealing the interior of the shuttle.
A robotic voice echoed into the chamber, “Welcome to the frigate class Orca-P Shuttle253. Please enjoy a pleasant ride. Launch procedures will be complete in 20 seconds.”
All the marines clicked buttons on their wristbands. A collective whooshing sound was released as they took their helmets off. One of the marines put up his hand, “Any music suggestions?”
The shuttle was transported by maglift to underneath the large exit hatch of the hanger. It was already open making it simple to enter. A group of technicians ensured that the magnets were secure before the shuttle was hoisted up into the hatch on the ceiling. Inside this space, a pad just big enough for a vertical launch frigate was prepared.
The boy peered out of a small rectangular window and saw that the hinges of the hatch behind them were on the floor. Over the blaring music he yelled, “Why are we on the door?”
Gaius made a motion of two fingers flying through another two shaped like a V.
“We fall through it?”
With a nod he pointed at the flashing lights above them as the music cut off.
An artificial voice announced, “Please remain seated for launch procedures. Depressurizing airlock. Prepare for launch.”
Seconds later a blue light appeared on the edges of the floor and a grinding sound reverberated across the whole ship as the two halves of the launch area started folding outward. A robotic arm pushed the ship out of the launch bay from its nose and then released the ship.
“Ship is changing it’s pitch and yaw, please remain seated.”
The boy suddenly felt himself jerked to the left as the ship spun opposite the direction of the habitat’s rotational motion.
“Brace for 5gs as we decelerate to orbital velocity.”
Suddenly a roar shook underneath his feet as he felt his cheeks getting pulled down from the acceleration. Slowly the feeling dispersed after a few seconds.
“Plotting trajectory to mothership class Punisher launch bay 2.”
The music started once again and many of the marines stood up to stretch while a few headed towards the elevator. Xavier waved at Gaius, “We’ll get there in an hour so do whatever you want.”
Gaius looked out the window at the slowly spinning quarter ring of burning metal that he had lived on for almost a century. He sighed, “Maybe it’s time.”
The boy looked at him after peering out the same window, “Time for what?”
“Time to meet the fraud.”