A New Beginning

by Alexander W Meurant

  As the breeze on his face started to take on a sharp chill, Sain shivered and he suddenly realized the temperature was dropping quite quickly. Casting a glance up at the darkening sky he looked over the sky that was tinged orange by the setting sun. He smiled, he didn't love this country, but he certainly liked it a lot more then Rindai and the empire, feeling as though he was actually so much freer in this near lawless land.

  He looked back down and noticed Lesha looking at him, a smile tugging at her lips, and for the first time he saw past her dark brown skin and actually took in the gentle features of the lieutenant’s face. She was rather pretty. She had a thin face with sharp features and full, large lips. Her eyes were brown and accentuated by slight make up around them. After a moment, he realized he was staring and opened his mouth to say something but was stopped as the vehicle came to a halt quite suddenly. A few people jumped into one of the rear carts, talking loudly in the Samite language. There was a lot of shouting and raucous laughter. Hearing some of their words Sain grimaced and Lesha just chuckled.

  "You will have to get used to the humor used by soldiers here Private Belford. It can be rather rough at times" she stated softly as the vehicle started up again and moved on. Sain blinked and frowned a little, just turning his head to look out over the darkening base. The moment lost between them, Sain did not say anything more, and instead he watched the route that the vehicle took, trying to commit it to memory. After a few minutes, Lesha spoke quietly.

  "The next stop is ours. This transport does the rounds throughout the day and night, and will always stop at every station, regardless if anyone gets on or off, it always stops at the same time and will never wait for you, even if the driver sees you running to catch it. It helps to encourage punctuality I think" Lesha said, giving Sain more information on the base. She stayed silent a few moments more before continuing.

  "There are also a few other transports around the base going to other areas, but this will be the only one you will need to know for now I think" she said smiling slightly now as she looked out of the cart absentmindedly.

  After a couple of minutes Sain felt the vehicle slowing down and sure enough it came to a halt and without a word Lesha stood up and stepped out of the cart, Sain following after her as he scooped up his sack and slung it over his left shoulder.

  Not even waiting to see if Sain was following, the young officer strode towards the nearest building and pushing open the door, she walked in, Sain on her heels. As he entered, he heard raucous shouts and laughter coming from down the long hall. He was instantly hit by a wall of smells, permeated by sweat and unwashed bodies. He crinkled his nose and as he followed Lesha down the hall he looked into the rooms on either side, many with doors slightly ajar or completely open. Of the ones that were, he noticed soldiers splayed out on their bunks, or sitting at low tables or simply just standing and talking to others inside.

  Hearing the shouts and laughter much closer, he faced forward and watched as Lesha walked into a large room. He walked in as well and realized it was some sort of common room. In the center was a rundown pool table surrounded by a group of people obviously enjoying a game. Around them were a number of other tables with their own occupants, playing cards or simply talking. At the sides of the room were a number of fridges and cupboards, and on the far wall was a television mounted to the wall playing some ancient movie that no one seemed to be watching, though a few people were lounging on some couch's nearby.

  As soon as Lesha appeared, many of the men looked at her and started calling out to her in their language and in a way, Sain was glad that he had yet to learn the insults of the common tongue. A tall broad Samite man with a close-cut beard bellowed a curt order and all the men stopped yelling at Lesha.

  The man said something that Sain didn't quite catch, about Lesha being the commanders second. Sain tried not to smile as a few men instantly apologized and the rest simply turned away, striking up awkward conversation with their companions. As the room became noisy again the large man walked over to Lesha and Sain. He planted himself before the duo, big beefy muscled arms crossing over his chest. The man stood a full head taller than the Sain and looked like he had enough muscle to out wrestle a bull.

  "Lieutenant Tayl, what brings you to my neck of the woods" the man spoke confidently as he scratched his belly beneath his loose-fitting shirt.

  "Well Major, I am here to deliver the recruit that the Commander told you of this morning. This is private Sain Belford, fresh out of training and now under your command" she said, gesturing to Sain.

  The man grunted and looked sidelong at Sain, who instantly felt a cold sweat form on his skin, he dropped his sack and raised his hand for a military salute and frowned as the large man's face broke into a grin.

  "Now now boy, don't worry about that, we are all brothers here, regardless of rank. I am Major Travos Ligare, commanding officer of the first Infiltration unit of the twelfth battle fleet, basically the special forces" he said, offering his hand to Sain.

  Sain dropped his hand from a salute and grasped the man's hand, his eyes widening suddenly as he felt his hand being crushed. Without hesitation he pulled power from his reservoir of magic and formed a barrier around his hand. As the force lessened, Sain looked into the Majors eyes and increased his own power steadily. A silvery sheen formed around the connected hands and the air above began to warp. The Major began to grin and he pushed back with his own power. After what seemed like an eternity Sain felt as though he was being overwhelmed by the man and he started to breath in shallow breaths, trying to hold the other man’s magic at bay. He felt like he was being tested and did not want to disappoint. Finally, the Major let loose a short bark of laughter and released his grip and magic, Sain following suit.

  With a strength of will Sain willed himself to stay standing and not sway and fall over. He felt dizzy enough. This magic battle felt nothing like the time's he had experienced previously. A memory came forth of the last battle he had let loose magic with abandon. The battle in the street against those armed men. He had felt powerful then, but that time was nothing like this. This was another mage and it brought forth the memories of his time back in Rindai when he had fought Ricky and that Police mage. He shuddered a little.

  Blinking, Sain suddenly realized the room was quiet and that everyone was looking at him and the Major, Lesha as well, but with wide eyes.

  The Major released another short bark of laughter before slapping his large hand onto Sain’s shoulder, making him feel like he had been walloped by a tree. He even felt his knees shake a little.

  "I like you boy, you have promise, I'll give you that. Welcome to the company. Everyone is here, though only half of these lazy bums are part of my platoon anyway" he laughed, sweeping his arm around the room, producing a few laughs from the men and rare woman inside.

  "I am sure you will fit in well, just respect your betters, listen to their advice and don't piss them off, and you will be fine" he said, his words followed by a deep chuckle.

  Lesha coughed quietly and the Major turned to look at her, his huge bulk a stark comparison to her slight build.

  "Well Major, I leave private Belford in your capable hands. The commander will want weekly reports but apart from that, all the operational decisions are in your hands. And on that note, I will take my leave" she said, smiling warmly, and with a final glance at Sain and the Major she turned on her heel and strode away in the direction they had come without so much as a backward glance.

  The major's eyes followed her and Sain was even tempted to turn and watched the young woman’s retreating figure but crushed the impulse as the Majors hand dropped onto his shoulder.

  "So, Sain was it?" the larger man asked suddenly.

  "Ah, yes sir" he said quickly, the words familiar ones.

  "Don't worry about calling me sir, except on mission. All other times, you can call me Trav, understand" the man said, letting go of Sain's shoulder.

  Sain visibly relaxed and let a grin play across h
is face, and he looked up at the man and nodded.

  "Gotcha, I'll remember that" he said, twisting the words somewhat as he tried to say them correctly.

  "Oh, I think we are going to get on just fine Sain, just fine indeed" Trav stated, and ignoring Sain’s faltering language he laughed again and slapped Sain’s shoulder hard, causing him to stagger a little from the force.

  Chapter 4

  * * *

  Niall stood silently in the docking bay of the military factory. He simply stared at the seven airships docked at their various points whilst the factory foremen and his subordinates stood there quietly, shuffling their feet a little nervously as Niall looked at their handiwork.

  Niall was especially interested in the largest of the seven, the Liston as it had been named, his personal ship commissioned by Phidel and gifted to him.

  "You say the Liston is the most advanced vessel in the empire. Did you include all my specifications though?" he asked of the foreman.

  The foreman cleared his throat and took a small step forward before speaking respectfully.

  "Yes m'lord, all your specifications were included, though I took the liberty of including the most advanced and functional upgrades of your requests, the missile launchers are the only things I have kept that you specified, obsolete as they are. I know how fond both yourself and Princess Phidel are of such weapons. The defense and information systems are top grade, the best the empire has to offer. I cannot say how they compare to the UFN systems though" the foreman answered Niall nervously, wringing his hands somewhat before him.

  Niall nodded and turned back to look at the Liston. It was larger than any other ship he had seen previously and just from eyesight it looked to be nearly twice the size of most battleships.

  "At this size, it can hardly be called a battleship though" Niall said quietly, the fingers of his right hand stroking the stubble on his chin as he mused to himself.

  "M'lord, it technically is not a battleship. To begin with it was only an experimental type, her majesty has declared it to be a first-generation Dreadnought. The only one of its kind. It can currently hold one hundred fighter class aircraft and fifty bomber and transport class aircraft. More than twice as much as any battleship in imperial service today. And as requested, it also has the energy cannon that was taken from commander Clovis in the campaign of Pagua. We reverse engineered it to improve efficiency and stability however. There are two of the cannons, one on either side of the ship near the exterior shield generators" the foreman stated, much less nervous than he had been earlier.

  "Is that wise, they are very large targets, and putting them right next to important systems" Niall queried, somewhat disturbed at that fact. He eyed the area mentioned and could see two slight protrusions that probably flared out further when in use.

  The foreman shrugged and looked at Niall without the slightest hint of the nervousness that had plagued him earlier.

  "They had to go somewhere my Lord, and besides, with the ships offensive capabilities, any potential threat will be hard pressed to target the areas. That and it's the same basic design as the other ships, just bigger and more improved" then man stated, enlightening Niall.

  Niall sighed and looked up at the Liston, its sheer size amazing, and he suddenly wondered if it could even fly. Not wanting to ask such a stupid question though he instead asked another, more expected question.

  "When will it and the other ships be ready for flight?" he asked turning to face the foreman.

  "All ships are undergoing final system checks and they are being loaded with supplies. All small aircraft are onboard already as are the maintenance crews. The pilots and flight crew are still arriving and are due to board in two days' time. Many are fresh recruits. The schedule is ahead of time, but the Princess did not want to rush departure" the foreman replied much more at ease now.

  "That is understandable, a fresh recruits first deployment is never an easy thing. Two days it is then, if there is anything you need to notify me of or any delays, a phone call will suffice" Niall stated whilst proffering his hand to the foreman.

  "Indeed, take care my Lord" the foreman said respectfully, grasping Niall’s hand with both his own and bowing his head slightly.

  Letting go, Niall turned on his heel and began walking along one of the walkways that would eventually take him to the other side of the factory, and to the boarding platforms of the ships. He was of a mind to inspect the Liston’s bridge. Coming to the end of the walkway, he passed under the bow of one of the smaller ships, one of the cruisers. Phidel had ordered the Liston, a dreadnought built, but also two other battleships, two cruisers and two carriers. The carriers were also new types, they carried only a small number of fighters, but a large number of ground assault gunships and armored vehicles. That and they had a number of heavy lasers and a single railgun as their main weapons. Their design did not make them ideal for air combat but they could still pack a punch if they had to.

  Hearing a heated argument to his right, Niall sighed and turned as he recognized the voice of Xie Li, and that of a guard at the boarding platform. He casually walked closer and came into earshot. The Lyesian researcher was waving a bunch of papers in the guard's face who was rightly irritated and from the look on his face, Niall judged him to be getting rather trigger happy.

  "Doctor Li, is there a problem" Niall spoke out loudly as he approached the scene.

  The small woman’s head whipped around at such an unbelievable rate, it looked almost painful. Xie li pursed her lips and pointed at the guard indignantly.

  "This man won't let me board this ship, he won't let my team on either, nor my equipment, yet I have the necessary paperwork right here" she said, walking up to Niall and waving said paperwork in his face.

  "Well Xie Li, I can call you that can I not. Did you presume to ask this fine soldier if he could actually read, and if he can, did you actually hand the paperwork over to him to view" Niall stated in a dry, almost sarcastic tone. He made a point of not actually looking at the small woman, aiming to irritate her. Instead he just looked over her head at the guard, who after a moment, recognized Niall and stood at attention, offering the knight a salute. He offered the man a smile and finally looked at Xie Li, who appeared to be simmering in anger.

  Niall reached out and gently took the paperwork from the woman’s fingers and flipped through the first view pages, glancing at them quickly. Coming to the final page, he found what he had been looking for. A blank spot that should have had a signature. His signature in fact.

  "I see you failed to actually get this approved Doctor. The world doesn't just work on your whims. If you had actually given this paperwork to our friend here, he would have been obligated to have had you detained. I don't know what it was like where you came from, but we take breaches of security very seriously here" he said, looking at Xie Li with a hardness to his face and a hint of steel in his voice.

  A look of rage briefly flickered over Xie Li's face and she instantly opened her to snap out some retort, but knowing she would, Niall cut her off first.

  "No matter, you are lucky I was here" he said and in a fluid motion he leant forward and plucked a pen straight from the doctor’s breast pocket and slapped the papers onto her forehead. Using the surface of her head as a hard backing, he scrawled his signature on the blank spot.

  "There, all done" he said, taking the paper from Xie Li's forehead and dropping it into her outstretched and frozen arms.

  With a smirk, he stared down at her. She seemed lost for words her rage was so great. Not wanting to let her have the last word, he pushed the pen back into her pocket and smirked again.

  Pushing past her, Niall walked up to the guard and began ascending the ramp and when he reached the man he spoke quietly.

  "If you want something done, sometimes you just have to be a bastard" he murmured to the man and received a chuckle in return.

  * * *

  "Rise and shine sunshine" chortled Travos as he yanked the covers from Sain’s bed,
pulling the youth out in the process.

  Sain swore loudly as his face collided with the bedside table and his body hit the floor. Hearing the major laugh, he stumbled to his feet and blinked blearily in the dim light, rubbing his brow where it was hit. As his eyes adjusted to the light, he saw that his roommates were still asleep, Travos obviously not intending to wake them even though they were in the same platoon.

  "What's going on Trav, what's the time" he asked, his voice croaky from sleep.

  "Nothing much, just an initiation of sorts, so come on" the huge man stated innocently before turning and waving a hand, beckoning Sain to follow.