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I watched as the surface below grew larger, to the point that the corners of the world were no longer visible to me and instead it was the temperate rainforest’s large canopies. All I knew was that somewhere among this, people had managed to establish a civilisation.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" I heard a voice from next to me and turned to a man in his mid-forties with silver hair.
"Certainly different, that’s for sure." The man snorted; I rolled my eyes.
“This’ll only be a temporary home away from home, so don’t get too comfortable.” I turned to face our commanding officer. He was this menacingly tall, young spark with blonde hair. His hands remained clasped behind his back, looking as if he were standing at ease yet he was not.
There were nods of agreement from all inside the craft as the ground continued to enlarge below us until the eventual touchdown.
It was rough, as if we fell thirty feet to the landing pad. A familiarity when working in the military.
I got my first glimpse of the bastion in all its glory as the ramp came down and more sunlight flooded inside. The commanding officer turned a full ninety degrees in a single swoop as I could only see the glistening of sunlight against steel.
As my eyes adapted, the figures became better known to me; so did the world around them. They were of varied bulk, anatomy and height. I saw a Traveene on one side, and a familiarity rushed through my core at the sight.
Their fur was midnight black, with relaxed, amber eyes.
It was not as amber as my own, however. There was instead a pearlescent tinge thrown in, which contrasted their long, braided tuft of fur atop their head.
They wore this derelict suit of armour, with a pink nano-fibre jacket on top. It had reflective silver stripes all over it, and was evidently worn; the Galactic Defence Armada’s logo was faded to an almost unrecognisable degree.
Their glance briefly met my own, almost if they knew I was looking their way, only for me to avert my gaze.
And so did they when I checked again, their eyes locked on to the stout human by their side. They too wore the pink jacket and silver armour.
I felt the wrath of the uncertainty return to my side. I knew it was not the sight of the two ground crew doing their final checks and their chatter.
But it was of something I could not quite place my finger on and it left me clueless. So even without knowing what caused such a strong emotion, I pushed the circuit breaker of my mind and began to lose myself in my thoughts.
If only it were that easy, because I was greeted by the voice of my commanding officer in my face.
He was too close and I barely had enough energy to apologise. The emotion was still there, in presence and strength, but I knew I would have to let it eat away until I was in the right place to drift away in a daydream.
I unbuckled the restraints holding me to a seat of alloys, and the young officer extended a single hand in a gesture. When I did not grab it, he insisted with the usage of his words, so I accepted. He pulled my large frame up with ease, a strength someone this young should never need. He then let go of me, but kept his hands near in case I were to fall. I appreciated the gesture, noting how considerate this commanding officer was.
“Go,” he breathed; I nodded hastily. “It’s been a long day, and it’s going to get longer here on out.” My legs ached, and my feet too. A single thought now ambushed my mind, so I checked the location of my belongings. Then came the memory that I ensured it got into the cargo bay. Content with this, I turned and matched out of the seating area towards the metallic, reflective ramp.
When I finally exited the craft, my feet touched the grey material beneath my feet. It was like asphalt, but in an alloy form. It clearly had been mixed with something else to make it far superior, especially given what surrounded me.
In the middle of blue stripes were matte grey VTOL engines, dominating the area I was in. I knew those big birds are what I’d be flying in here on out, so I took time to examine one before I made my way over to the bunks.
Two weapon types, at a total of four weapons were purpose built for these cost-effective machines. The cockpit had a heavy, scanner-locked door that only the pilot for the craft could access. The four powerful VTOL engines were set on a hinge to allow for flying in different ways, especially mid-air.
But the thing that amazed me about them was their general efficiency and capability. Ever since I was a boy I had a dream of flying one of these things; their design really spoke for themselves, and whilst being common practice, it keeps survival rates higher than other craft. So for me, standing in front of one was an opportunity I could not pass down.
I had not been in service that long, maybe a year at most. Most of my time was spent behind a desk job away from the action outside of the training, so I have only heard of the stories and seen them vaguely overhead.
But I must’ve been out there for a short while. “You should return to your quarters.”
I hurled my body around like a gymnast to face the mysterious figure. Now I could only see the silhouette of a vaguely lit human being with a deep, feminine voice. “Oh, sorry.”
The woman shook her head, approaching the craft. On closer inspection as she stepped towards the floodlights that lit up the pad, she was almost certainly a pilot. “Dinner is still being served, by the way.”
I nodded in gratitude, before finally making my way towards the bunks. I passed more vehicles than I could count, using the pathways to navigate the areas around the blue strips of the landing pads. Given how close we had parked to the nexus; all I could hear was the sound of the wildlife behind the canopies, echoing through.
On my jolly way there, it started raining lightly. I would have fallen asleep to the white noise of rain had I have not been without decent protection. Nonetheless, I decided to jog towards my destination before the rain got worse. I had pretty much zero clue where I was headed; it was now too dark and the floodlights did not go out this far, so at this point I was just heading towards any light I could find.
As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I finally realised I had detoured; lucky me! I found a map this time not far along my journey, showing the entire facility and my current location. I deducted if I walked another five minutes west, I would then end up at the facility.
And that is what I did. Jogging through the increasing amount of rain puddling on the ground, in the dark, cold evening where the sun had now set entirely until I reached my destination.
And goodness, this destination sucked. Old walls that looked like they were made out of plasticine with vines growing on them were what I saw on the outside.
I now dreaded to find out whatever the heck was on the inside.
ns 18.68.5.85da2
