Sean opened his eyes, finding himself in a black space.
A piano is being played in one corner, Sean recognised the piece played to be Dmitri Shostakovich's Suite for Jazz Orchestra No.2, a piece that he had once loved listening to before he retired, but strangely, it's played in a way that is extremely chilling and creepy, not to mention the instruments of the entire orchestra being played when there is only one piano in this space.
Perplexed, he approached the figure in a white cloak playing the piano, roughly making out its silhouette to be that of a human, or an Angel.
The figure seemed to notice his presence and removed its hands from the keyboard, though to Sean's horror the piano still played on as the keys moved on their own, as if there is an invisible hand playing.
The figure looked at him, staying still, suddenly, a familiar voice started to resonate around him like a cinema sound system, scaring the living daylights out of Sean.
"It's good to see you, Sean…" the voice said, the figure removed her cloak and Sean saw an Angel female, ghostly as per their subspecies.
No, her entire face was devoid of blood, pale as a sheet, ghostly, even for an Angel. Sean darted to her head, seeing the exit wound of a full powered rifle cartridge, the wound's blood had dried up.
Sean collapsed, gasping in horror and guilt as the figure continued to advance to him, repeating those last words of hers like a broken record.
"Katya…" Sean muttered… "I am…sorry…" he gasped, tears of regret raining down his cheeks.
Artemis 14 "Ekaterina", or as she is nicknamed, Katya's spectre ignored his words, keep on repeating her last words as she backed Sean into a corner. Sean profusely apologised, but to no avail as soon Katya's spectre slowly cornered him into a part of the room.
Katya smiled. though the wound in her skull made the gesture grotesque. Her lips barely moved, but her voice surrounded him like a chant echoing through a cathedral nave:
"Do not be afraid, my child… Christ has trampled death by death, and I am risen with Him. Do you not see? Memory eternal… memory eternal… and so I shall never leave you."
Sean's breath hitched. The words were familiar, holy even. Out of the 14 members of Squad Artemis, Katya is the most unique in that she is the only one religious, a devout follower of the Eastern Orthodoxy Church.
Among the UNSSD SOC operators, Katya was considered virtue and the noble values of Men personified, hence having the moniker of the Saint Angel.
Yet the way she spoke made his blood turn to ice. The piano hammered out the music as if mocking a hymn, the phantom keys rattling harder with every syllable.
Katya's spectre leaned closer, her eyes pale lanterns. Her right hand formed a Three-finger cross sign, thumb, index, and middle fingers together for the Trinity; ring and pinkie fingers bent for Christ's two natures.
Suddenly, she transformed into her "true form", a being beyond human comprehension that makes the scariest of cosmic horrors written under the pen of H.P Lovecraft look like animals from a children's petting zoo in comparison. It is a grotesque amalgamation of parts, as if someone had taken random body parts of different animals and fused them into an artwork designed to be perversion to nature.
Strange runes then mixed together with Freyja's comforting yet creepy voice, forming a demonic chant of sorts, the same alien language that gave Sean's species the collective name of "Sellardraxians", which no one on Earth understands.
"Good to see you…"
"Stop…" Sean muttered, "I am sorry..." he begged for forgiveness.
For a brief moment Sean thought he saw a Deep Dweller behind Freyja's true form, eyeing him like a child observing his crayon drawing with satisfaction as if it is a perfect art piece. The Deep Dweller was then gone in a flash of purple neon light, resembling those found in Cyberpunk aesthetics.
"Good to see you…"
"Stop!"
"Good to see you…"
"STOP!!" Sean roared, violently awaking, breaking out in cold sweat. He panted, calming himself down. He blinked, observing his surroundings, finding to his surprise that they are in a space elevator, all of the remaining male cadets are here in a sleeper cabin as it rose to the Moon.
"Number 9, you, ok?" asked a concerned instructor. "Don't tell me the space sickness has already gotten to you."
Sean turned, cold sweat breaking out, noticing Louis fast asleep next to him. He calmed down, recounting how he and the rest of the 20 cadets after finishing HALO jumping and some more shooting drills and vehicle driving tests wrapped up training and went to bed.
So, can someone explain now why are they ascending towards Space?
Sean then saw Phineas waving at him with an amused expression, monitoring the cadets fastened into the sleeping pods with the rest of the medical team.
"What, did the anesthetics got you high and you saw cosmic horrors?" he laughed.
Sean forced a laugh, trying his best to appear normal.
"Care to explain to me what is going on, Wang Sir?" smiled Sean through gritted teeth.
"I'd love to, but I cannot," said Phineas.
Internally, Phineas had seriously considered injecting someone with a syringe of air when the instructors came to him and the rest of the medical team with a suggestion:
"You want us to slip a nozzle into their dorms to pump anaesthetic gas? Because you want to surprise them by bringing them to Gagarin Base?" asked Phineas.
Nanami smiled earnestly.
Phineas and the other doctors looked at each other. He then turned to Nanami.
"Give me a reason on why I shouldn't kick you out of this office?" asked Phineas with a smile contorted by anger.
"Because I am a hot sea lady?" asked Nanami with a grin. She noticed Phineas reaching for the reflex hammer on his table.
"Aww, are you really going to beat such a pretty and sexy lady in front of you over a small request, you are so mean~" she said sultrily, feigning tears.
Had Phineas not known that the Lita in front of him can tear a man into 2 with her bare hands he would have believed her.
Back in the present, after a long, awkward silence of staring at Sean, Phineas broke it.
"Number 9," he said, "I'd suggest you go back to bed, what's going to happen next demands a clear mind."
Sean's brain has recovered now, able to process information. A while later a smirk came to his face, after figuring out what training requires to be done in space.
"Let me guess, Doctor. Is it the Mechas?" he asked.
Phineas grinned. "I didn't say anything."
Sean and Phineas maintained their grins, both knowing that the opposite party had understood what the other is trying to say.
"Docking at cargo point 5 granted, we wish you a pleasant day," said the AI receptionist.
The cabin came to a stop, and the door opened, they are greeted by Franz and Herbert, standing on the floor of the loading bay. Such cargo points facilitate the delivering of supplies from Earth onto the Moon to be used on UNSSD's facilities and Earth's space colonies.
Herbert blew the emergency gathering whistle, and all of the cadets woke up, wanting to grab their gear, only to find themselves fastened in a cabin of a space elevator.
"Look around!" said Franz. "See where you guys are?"
The cadets looked around, still semi-asleep.
"Welcome to the Moon!" said Franz. "Today's training will be the first in a series of in-space operations training!"
"The first segment, centrifuge training!" roared Herbert.
The 20 cadets murmured at each other, shocked.
"DO YOU'ALL HAVE AN ISSUE?" roared Franz.
"NO SIR!"
"THEN GET YOU'RE A**ES OUT OF THERE!" roared Franz. The cadets immediately unbuckled themselves and floated out from the cabin in the gravity-less environment, moving as if they are swimming.
Louis and Eddie, together with the Litas, moved ahead of the rest and soon exited the cabin, immediately falling to the floor due to the artificial gravity of the base, having forgotten to consider it in their haste.
Franz and Herbert aloofly moved out of the way, allowing them to fall, looking with contempt at the cadets who fell face flat onto the metal floor. Louis crawled up, rubbing his face in pain, so did Eddie.
Phineas smacked himself in the face, exasperated. He immediately swam forward, adjusting his body to ensure that he will be able to catch his fall once he enters the base, moving to help the cadets up, only to be stopped by other instructors at the instruction of Franz. Franz and Herbert smiled at Phineas.
"Second Lieutenant," said Herbert, gesturing politely for him to step aside.
"Doctor, you are not needed here…yet…" smiled Herbert.
Phineas pushed up his spectacles and stepped away.
Sean and Albert used their subspecies affinity as Dracos and hovered down gracefully, walking forward. Carl then landed with a standard superhero landing next to them. The instructors then led the cadets in a march, with the medic team following behind. This scene drew curious stares from onlookers:
A Colonel and a Major leading, dressed in FROG suit variants of the UNSSD space camouflage uniform, Behind them are rows of sleepy boys and girls wearing shirts and shorts, then followed by medics, evident by their red cross shoulder patches on their space camouflage uniforms.
Louis peeked out of the windows of the base, looking in awe at the warships of UNSSD's Space Force taking off and docking in the adjacent military space station in the Moon's orbit: Gagarin Base, the home base of UNSSD Space Force Starforce 1, the sector fleet of Sector 1, consisting of the space from Mercury to the Moon. Sector 1 is considered the "Royal Guard" of Earth.
"An Einstein," muttered Louis in awe at the 1km long dreadnought leaving the space port, embarking on a patrol. The Einstein-Class heavy battlecruiser is an older Bethorian model that the Republic of Bethoras has helped Earth to produce domestically as part of GOMCA's 156 scientific and industrial aid to Earth post WW3, this behemoth carried enough firepower to blast a planet the size of Mars into glass with its armament of heavy fusion cannon batteries. It is powered by a series of fusion reactors whose output is enough to power the whole of Southeast Asia for 2 years.
"Too bad there aren't Planck-Class space carriers and Qian-Class assault ships here now, these are the vessels we will be frequently deployed on in space," mused Sean.
"I think I will just admire the Einstein for now," replied Louis, his head fixated at the windows.
(30 minutes later)
The cadets are all now dressed in space camouflage uniforms, standing in front of 2 gigantic machines. Most of them still sleepy.
Vera yawned loudly, her arms and serpentine tail stretching out exaggeratively.
Sean looked around, and is surprised to see Xiao Tian there.
"My name is Zhou Xiao Tian, nice to meet you all," he greeted. Excited murmurs resonated among the cadets; Xiao Tian's reputation really does precede him.
"As Tier 1 operators, you will also pilot UNSSD's Mechas as elite strike teams. Which is, an extremely fun job I assure you. After all, who doesn't want to get into a giant robot and beat the sh*t out of Eldritch abominations in space? Or tear apart a warship?" he grinned.
"Am I right?" he asked. The cadets nodded uniformly.
"But!" said Xiao Tian, walking around. "Before you can go and live out your cartoon fantasies, you need to be of the calibre. While you don't need to be at the levels of astronauts and your comrades in the Space Force and Air Force, the standards aren't really that much lower!"
He pointed to the machines. "These are centrifuges, they will simulate gravity forces. Now, all of you here have the potential to take over 9Gs, but we need to ensure that you really can."
"Any volunteers?" he smiled. "I need one from the ladies and one from the gentlemen."
Clara immediately stepped out while the male cadets all remained hesitant.
She saluted Xiao Tian. "Allow me, sir!"
Xiao Tian saluted her back. He always had an interest in Clara Park, number 101, the Korean Draco cadet tougher than granite.
But what interests him more than her personality is her military record, as he had read on her files. Before joining the selection for UNSSD SOC's Tier 1 Special Operation units, she was a member of the UNSSD Space Force's Tier 2 special forces, the Space Marine Shocktroopers.
And before that? A Mecha pilot.
Xiao Tian then turned to the male cadets. "Good! I see number 9 has volunteered himself!"
"WHAT?" exclaimed a confused Sean who had been caught up in his thoughts trying to remember how to stay conscious, not realising that that Carl and the 2 other cadets at the front row where he is standing at had all collectively taken a step back around him at Carl's suggestion, clearly wanting to make a fool out of Sean.
Upon realising he had been sabotaged, Sean gave an exasperated sigh, walking forward with a forced smile to Xiao Tian and saluted him.
An hour later, Clara and Sean are fastened up in seat of the cabins of the centrifuges, wearing anti-G suits, with wires on them to monitor their biometrics. Both of them has a red button on their sides which they can use to alert the controllers if they cannot take it. The end goal is to ensure that they do not lose focus, pass out or puke at above 9Gs.
"Ready?" asked Xiao Tian.
"YES SIR!" replied Clara proudly.
"Yes sir!" replied Sean, apprehensive.
"Bio-metrics of number 101 all normal, number 9's shows a moderate panic," reported the controller in a heavy Indian accent.
"Hit it, Singh," ordered Franz. Staff Sergeant Srish Singh pressed the button. The rest of the cadets watched from an observing room next to the control rooms, while the medics prepared themselves at the entrance of the centrifuge room.
"2Gs!" yelled Singh.
The centrifuges started spinning quickly, in a display of bad humour, Franz started playing "Spin, Spin, Spin" from Spidey Amazing friends on the PA.
"Oh, the King of Bast*rds and his messed-up idea of a joke…" cursed Sean, his mouth soon shut due to the gravitational force steadily piling up on him.
Clara started to feel dizzy, as if on a rollercoaster ride.
"Spin, spin, spin!" played the song.
"5Gs!"
Sean breathed, using the techniques which he had revised when the instructors taught them to the cadets in the hour before he and Clara strapped in.
"Let'em see you!"
Clara kept her relaxed smile, which can be seen through the glass shells of the cabins.
"7Gs!"
Sean and Clara tensed their muscles further, squeezing their leg muscles to try and get the blood back into their chests and heads to keep them conscious.
"Spin, spin, spin!"
Soon both Clara and Sean are making cartoonish expressions as they breathed, embarking on breathing manoeuvres to increase the strain in their chests, directly increasing blood pressure to keep them conscious.
They breathed through their chests, using semi-closed slow breathing.
"9Gs!"
"This is how you win, win, win!"
Sean feels that his chest is being pushed down firmly, as if his ribs are being crushed. His belly has already been squashed, and his face is flattened.
Clara held back her urge to scream.
"If you 2 cannot take it you can always press the button and give up!" yelled Herbert into the PA system.
Clara painfully locked her hands together, signalling her determination to stay on.
As for Sean, his brain is too focused on keeping himself conscious that he simply did not consider quitting, even as his face looks like its being pushed into a blender.