Futuristic The Flyaway Soldier

[PopcornPie]

Fieriba's eyes narrowed. "Don't you earthlings kill each other all the time? Don't deny it, we've...we have evidence. And don't you dare say that I'm not like the other IDS soldiers!" Her temper reignited. How dare he!? If anything, she was just like the other soldiers for being able to cope with Commander's shit so well! "I'll have you know I'm one of the fastest strikers in O-Row!"

Nanome gently pushed herself away from Fieriba. "It's not true for her, Welkin, but it is for me." She moaned. "I just can't seem to get things to go the way anyone wants. If we're on a stealth mission, my engine backfires and gets us caught. If we're trying to shoot someone down, I'll miss and hit an ally, or someone not even affiliated. Even on the ground, I get turned around." She lamented.

Tirides had taken a break from his stargazing to listen in on the conversation. "Hey." He cut in, reaching for Nanome's head. "You're a novice. You'll get better, but not if you talk yourself down like that." He smiled at her, but then turned to Welkin with a more serious look. "You say they see us as humans trained to kill other humans? Well, that's how we see them. Though our organization collects troops of all species, earthlings seem to be eager to take down any humans on our side." A ship passing by illuminated the room, making his heart jump. "Face it. In war, we all look the same to each other."

 

[Fortunate Son]

He sighed some, shaking his head. "Maybe so... I just... what is the oldest age of any of you? How old were you when you first saw combat?" He asked softly. He jumped to the controls when a ship flashed that clsoe to them. "What the hell? What was that?" He asked, trying to get a scan on the ship.

 

[Fortunate Son]

(Sorry, my internet has been down and just came back)

 

[PopcornPie]

"Meleiko is 21." Tirides rolled his eyes back, trying to think. "Fieriba is 16, I'm 18, Nanome's 15."

"I'm 16!" Mawzey had overheard them. "That looked like a delivery ship, by the way. We could be between trading outposts."

"17." Vixina purred. "And so is Hecca."

"I'm 16... Knowing our life expectancy, I'm pretty much in my prime." Another dry, weak chuckle came from Tikido.

"And we first pilot our ships around age 10." Meleiko finished.

"I'm the youngest one I know." Nanome admitted sheepishly, her cheeks turning a little pink.

 

[Fortunate Son]

He sighed some, "I know it makes little difference at this point... but the only two of you that would be allowed to join the EDF, or most any human military for that matter, would be Meleiko and Tirides. You have to be at least 18, considered an adult, before you can join." He then shook his head, "My God... you were all child soldiers... you should have been... should still be with your parents in most of your cases, in school, learning, having fun, doing things that teens and kids should get to experience at least somewhat... although I guess the galaxy isn't so kind."

 

[PopcornPie]

"Not at all." Tirides moaned. "Do you have any idea how unforgiving the enemies are? Even unaffiliated planets will take out soldiers from both sides."
"Earth military is weird, then." Mawzey crossed her arms, leaning up against the wall. "The idea is that we use our energy to the fullest, while our bones and muscles get a boost in growth." She tipped her head back proudly, showing off her little biceps.
"And we do learn." Nanome smiled reassuredly. "We learn the species' languages, and keeping our bodies at peak health, and the universe's history...probably the same things Earth schools teach."

 

[Fortunate Son]

"Do you learn what to do once you leave the military?" He asked simply, sighing some. "And trust me, I get shot at plenty." He said. "The question still stands, do you all want to go back? And if so, can you guarantee I won't be shot from the sky?"

(SOrry! Been super busy lately and been ahving internet issues.)

 

[PopcornPie]

All ten soldiers stared at Welkin with wrinkled brows and lips pressed together. There was a mindnumbing silence as they tried to process the questions, culminating in Vixina's meek response. "Once we...leave?" She tilted her head to the side, gently removing her bangs from her eyes. "What kind of overly permissive military is he from...?" No wonder Welkin was so far out here. He'd broken free, just like they had to to rescue Nanome. "That's what happened to you? The only reason I can see a military letting someone go willingly is..." She squinted, trying to find the slightest hint of age or terminal disease, but there was barely a wrinkle on his skin.

"You'll most likely be shot down. We don't take kindly to strangers. Even if they're helping us home. Especially if they're helping us home. You can probably guess why." Hecca looked around for any control panels. "Does this ship have escape pods? We can probably just pilot one to the mothership, explain our situation before they fire up, and...probably be beaten for our insubordination..." Sugoi whined softly, Nanome instinctively braced herself, and even Fieriba was trembling slightly.

 

[Fortunate Son]

"That's not happening." He said. "I'm not letting you all get beaten." he said. "So, now the question still really stands. Do. You. Want. To go back?" He reiterated. "Do you want to go back to your everyday military life... or do you want to experience some freedom and get to live a life that doesn't necissarily involve a high chance of death?"

(Sorry! had to cover three chapters of work for my summer class this week!)

 

[PopcornPie]

"I don't." Nanome spoke up. "There's so much we have to discover. This will be our only chance!" Tirides responded with a growl. "Don't start, Nanome." He held his head in his hand. "I guess we don't have much choice but to stay here. We're pretty much fugitives now." Mawzey came forward, curiously picking up the book. "So, basically, we're going to discover what's in this book?" Nanome nodded, but Fieriba snatched it out of the smaller girl's hands. "No, we're not. We're finding a way back...or a way to hide...ugh, this is so much harder than it needed to be..." She moaned, staring at the shrinking planets all around them.

 

[Fortunate Son]

Welkin took a breath, "Well, if you're going to hide. Rule number one... no more looking like you're in a military. That means we've got to find you all some clothes." he said. "Which means that you'll need money, and unless your superiors pay you, I doubt you have much money. So, I'll help you all get some clothes." He said. "In exchange for you working on my ship as its crew. I'll even pay you."

 

[PopcornPie]

Tirides fell silent. "This is still giving up on Commander. This is still betrayal." He stewed in his now crumbling loyalty, desperately trying to keep it standing. He joined Daminigo in leaning against the window. "We're not escaping, are we?" Daminigo immediately asked, fearful. "I mean, they're gonna wonder what happened to us, they're gonna investigate how we got out...what if they find out we're still alive?" Tirides closed his eyes and growled. Vixina joined the two boys, her voice steady. "Let's keep our chins up. If they find us here, they can say that we were kidnapped. We'll still be in deep trouble, but we won't necessarily have to say that we joined Welkin willingly." Suddenly, Tirides became excited, and he motioned for the others to come and huddle up.
"That's it, Vixina!" Tirides hissed joyfully. "Maybe we won't have to be fugitives after all! We'll take Welkin's offer, but as soon as we can get back with the IDS, we will, and use that cover-up!"
"But won't they beat us up for letting ourselves be kidnapped?" Sugino pointed out.
"Not as badly as if they knew we willingly gave ourselves up!" Fieriba clapped. "Honestly, I'd rather be locked up in my quarters than be careening through space with a stranger."
"At least we'll finally be getting some rest." Tikido chimed in. "And maybe that cranky old commander can finally get some beauty sleep herself!"
"Hey." Hecca nudged Tikido in the shoulder. "We patch all the holes in this plan first, then we joke about it later. Anyway, if we want to say we were kidnapped, we should do it in the form of a distress signal, rather than a formal note... "

The other eight continued to quarrel, leaving Nanome and Meleiko behind to face each other. "Nanome..." Meleiko wrapped her arm around the smaller soldier's shoulder. "You want to work for him, don't you?" Nanome slowly turned her head towards her. "I...I know they'll know that this was my fault. They're going to beat me worse than they'll beat the rest of you. I know I should be used to it, but I just don't want to go home and face it. Not when I've got so many questions about who I am." Her tone was shameful, bitter and disappointed in herself for roping her only friends into this mess.

 

[Fortunate Son]

Welkin just sighed some, and kept on flying, they were so lost, so confused, and he had no idea what to say or do to change their minds. Maybe it'd be better to just dump them somewhere, try to do something to get them away from him. He'd done just damn fine on his own, not getting others involved, especially not from either military groups. He just sighed some and ignored them all, not wanting to think about this.

 

[PopcornPie]

"You really, really didn't have to come for me." Nanome lamented. "This really is something I have to do on my own." Meleiko rubbed her back gently and calmly. "Nanome, it's too dangerous out here for us to do anything on our own. Take Nova over there. What if he turned out to be a killer? What if you were ambushed before you even found him? And it's not just you. We could've been shot down just as easily, and we could've still been in our ships when they were destroyed." She sighed, then brought Nanome a little closer. "Listen, I know Commander was hard on you, and you wanted to prove yourself, but there's a difference between being brave and throwing yourself into danger."

"But I wasn't trying to prove myself! I just wanted to prove something to myself..." Nanome's voice was weak, primarily from exhaustion. Meleiko smiled at her. "What you're trying to prove is interesting. I just wish you told us about it first. Then we could've discussed it." The older soldier said. "Then you wouldn't have had to fly off on your own, you'd still be safe, and I wouldn't have lost my mind looking for you...Oh, you scared me so much..." She nuzzled her cheek into Nanome's hair. "I didn't know where you'd gone, none of us did, and we were too scared to ask." Sugino crawled next to her, looking hopefully at her. "But now we're free to ask whatever we want, right?"

For a moment, Meleiko considered, then brightened up immensely. "Yes, that's right! We can actually ask whatever we want! Maybe we can find out where we came from!" She beamed down on Nanome.