And so went squadron five, leaving the dock and its people behind; All Francis could do was look forward and around him at the other stingrays, all being pulled by General Theodore’s titanic vessel.

  Within moments, the intercom made its statement, and Theodore’s voice became a flood over Francis’s vessel:

  “SQUADRON FIVE,

  WE ARE TO BEGIN ENGAGEMENT 12/25. I RECCOMEND SLEEP, OF COURSE; TOMORROW WILL BE A BIG DAY.”

  Engagement 12 was one of the less painful of the engagements; This was where the magnetic force of the main vessel was turned on, which contrasted the main materials, and had enough pull for General Theodore to be able to control his entire squadron.

  The /25 was in reference to the subgenre of Engagement 12; This is where the soldiers were recommended to sleep in their stingrays (How will be explained in just a moment), leaving their ships, honor, and lives to the general, who would still lead the ship forward.

  And so, Francis, knowing just as well as any of the other soldiers of squadron five that they would be fighting the dynasty in a few hours, opened up his control panel, Accepted the generals wire systems to link up magnetically to his, and opened the plastic door to the sleeping cot at the back of the ship.

  Despite all of these advancements in the stingray, sleeping quarters had been cut down to cots and a small window, a coffee maker, and a microwave. (This was used for soldiers to warm up cold meals that were stored in a fridge at the back of the ship) (Compared to the Dynastic’s sleeping quarters, which were much more comfortable; This was designed to give the soldiers more propaganda that IKO was taking care of them better than any other region would.)

  And so, Francis could still hear the engines running as he climbed into the sheetless cot and simply slept—His mind simply would not stay awake, yet it would go ahead of itself and wake up to the slightest crack in case of an ambush attack.)

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  Francis would awake to just this,

  ***

  The soft sound of static began to overcome the ears of Francis—Actually, no, it wasn’t soft in the slightest; It was loud and upset, maybe unforgiving.

  Francis knew the drill of what was to happen; He woke up and made a run for the control panel like a madman; He practically completely broke his own separators trying to fly on the controls; And it wasn’t until the shock ran out that he realized two things:

  Wouldn’t there have been some kind of announcement if there was a problem? Wouldn’t General come on the loudspeaker or something like that?

  Second of all...where the fuck is everyone else?

  It hadn’t taken a detective to notice that Francis was no longer surrounded by fellow soldiers, out to get one common enemy; For he was floating endlessly in a loop around a random part of Riconsilla...No, he had no idea where he was, and it seemed that the built-in Navigation had been busted in some kind of Collison free-fall; Actually, that was the third thing he noticed—what had happened to his ship.

  While the stingrays had been designed to withstand most collision, it had still taken some type of damage; Francis could see that on the check-up cameras.

  Frantic, he pulled up an RHD(Replayable Hologram Device) and started skimming through the recording.

  What could have happened? Why am I in the middle of space with no clear path of where anyone else—

  There.

  At around 4:00 A.M. A bullet of some sorts flew across the hologram; Enabling free-look, Francis watched in horror as a bullet hit the General’s Vessel.

  And another.

  And another.

  And another.

  And soon, the Generals ship Started to fly in circles; It seemed—He could see—that the general had no time to disable magnetic force; Within moments, the generals ship was down.

  And the magnetic pull made Squadron-5 go down with it.

  In a frantic pull, the hologram displayed as the pull was disconnected; Stingrays rammed each other like cars in a pile up; One started to smoke; Another exploded.

  The Holo went black.

  Then, a fire opened into Francis’s feet—he looked up; There it stood.

  There was smoke. The stingray went upside down. Franc is heard a scream.

  Even as he was blacking out, he could still hear that screaming.

  ***

  “WAKE UP, I SAID! GET OFF YOUR ARSE, SOLDIER 27!”

  Francis’s number.

  Francis woke up to the sound of General Theodore’s swearing and barking; No surprise there; Francis had overslept.

  Francis jolted awake, picked up the receiver; But he stopped himself. What would he say? He had to keep a stiff upper lip. Just the thought of what the general would think about complaints of a nightmare made Francis blush with embarrassment...