Chapter 09

  Beyond the Bridge

  Mira awoke to the vibrations in her earpiece. Today was the day. The day she’d finally serve Ophiuchus in the Greater Blue Forces.

  She looked down at Atlas. She was 90% certain she was going to wake up to him still sitting in his bed, fretting about her mission. To her surprise, he was asleep. Not soundly as he fidgeted in what seemed like a bad dream.

  Undoing the latches that kept her in bed, she slipped onto the ground. Likely they had their earpieces silenced anyway, but she made sure to move in a slow, quiet manner. The last thing she wanted was for them to know her schedule had moved up.

  She walked towards her dresser and pulled on the outfit Castor had prepared for her: a custom-made Blue Forces uniform.

  The collared purple cloak was accented with a white-silver along the seams. It fit atop a darker purple shirt, parting around the metal ring, exposing the area of her chest below her ribcage. The feature was necessary for proper use of core flares on the battlefield.

  She picked up the bag she had prepared the night before. It had the couple of things Castor had asked her to pack: a few changes of clothes and a form of identification. Everything else would be provided at the station.

  She looked back at her sleeping friends, an ache filling her chest. Attempting to shake off the feeling, she headed towards the door. Reaching her hand around the handle, she cracked it open and slipped behind it.

  As she began to walk towards the edge of the dock, she heard a creak behind her. She froze. Pivoting, she fully expected to see Atlas in the hallway behind her, awoken by her silent patter.

  “Mira?” Stephen questioned in a whispered tone.

  Mira sank her head and released the pent-up stress in her chest, somewhat relieved. She turned to face him.

  He had closed the door behind him. “Where are you going?”

  “I’m leaving. We have to get to base.” She couldn’t lie to him at this point.

  “It's so early. I thought you were leaving in the evening?”

  “It was better if you didn’t know.”

  “So you’re leaving now? Mira, why didn’t you want us to know? We’re your friends.”

  She turned her gaze away from him, thinking of a response that wasn’t: I didn’t want to deal with it. “It would’ve… It would’ve held me back to see you before I left.”

  Stephen was taken aback by the statement. “Are you kidding? I'm sorry, but that’s bullshit, and you should know it.”

  “Fuck Stephen,” she groaned, clenching her fists. “I didn’t want to see you guys upset over it. Is that what you want to hear?”

  Stephen stood still for a moment and then began to approach her. “Mira, we’re your friends. You at least owe us a goodbye.”

  “It's not goodbye.” She seemed angry but not at him.

  He motioned if he could wrap his arms around her for a hug.

  She stifled back but eventually fell into him. She didn’t return the gesture but allowed him to embrace her. A single tear rolled off her cheek.

  “Good luck out there,” he whispered in her earpiece.

  She didn’t reply and pushed him away. Her tear glistened, floating between them.

  “I need to go. I’m going to be late.” She rubbed her eyes. With one final stop to glance back, she floated into the hallways.

  Stephen was left standing at the dock, unsure what to do.

  Mira retreated towards the bridging hall, flying through the wide corridors. It was empty. No one was awake yet.

  She landed at the towering doors. Clenching her fists and taking a breath from her nebulant, she tried to regain her composure before she entered the room and met Castor.

  The guard at the station eyed her.

  “What are you looking at?” she growled.

  The guard shook his head and waved his red flame to open the door. It unlocked, and the doorway began to spread open, creaking as it did. The large metal doors revealed the bridging hall behind it: a large circular room with a balcony circling the walls. In the center was a large pit not unlike the ones in the training halls. Instead of being used for training, it housed the swirling vortex of a space bridge.

  It wasn’t often they got to leave the Helyx complex. Everything they needed was inside of it, perhaps with the exception of real-world experience. They were particularly strict with Mira about leaving. She’d missed out on more than a few field trips. Her existence was supposed to be a secret to the Greater Systems until they were ready to unveil her in some grand event. And this was it, her unveiling.

  Castor, who had been looking up at the wormhole, turned to Mira as she entered. There was a man with him. She assumed him to be one of the centurions she would be working with. He watched her intently, holding a fist to his core.

  “You made it,” Castor smirked. His smile faded as he looked across her face. He clearly noticed the distress. “Was it the sleep?”

  “Yes,” she lied. “But don’t worry. I'm more than ready.”

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  He nodded. “Let's not waste any time.”

  The other man motioned for her to enter the vortex.

  She pointed back at herself, mouthing the question, “Me?”

  He nodded.

  She braced to jump off the ledge. Releasing her pent-up energy, she stepped forward. She closed her eyes and lunged forward, towards the swirling bridge. There was a quiet hum in her ear as she disappeared through, but then noises resumed, new foreign ones. They were almost overwhelming. She opened her eyes and glanced around.

  The room she had entered looked a lot like the one she was just in. It had an upside on size, though. The balconies around the vortex were further out than the ones in the Helyx room. A few people in varying blue uniforms similar to hers patrolled the vortex’s balconies, surveying her briefly as she entered.

  Her ears began to ring. She located the nearest ledge in front of her and stepped down onto the silver metal. Her feet felt heavier here, and she had to find her balance, wobbling for a second. From behind her, she heard a low whooshing noise from the bridge.

  She turned to see Castor, who was floating in the space she just was. She stepped forward and allowed him to land. He stepped down and patted her on the shoulder.

  With one final whoosh, the man Castor had been talking to entered the room. She could now see the three blue stars stitched just below his shoulder, denoting his rank as a legate in the Greater Blue Forces.

  Landing between them, he raised his hand to Mira, coated in a medium blue flame.

  “Legate Apollo,” he greeted. “Mira, I presume?”

  “That’s me, Legate,” Mira replied, illuminating her hand and taking his.

  He pulled his hand away. “We’re excited to see what you can do.” With that, he walked past the two of them and towards a doorway. He froze, turning towards them. “Castor, make sure to show her around. I'll check in later.” He whipped the door closed behind him.

  Mira turned to look at Castor. “Legate Apollo, is he…?”

  “One of two survivors from the raid on Aries Capital, Phrixus,” Castor replied. “Treat him with the utmost respect. You want to have his.”

  “When was he made a legate?” Mira asked. “I thought he retired after.”

  “He was promoted following my departure to train you, Mira. He’s now in charge of the most important legion in the Greater Systems. As far as replacements go, he was the best candidate outside of Pollux, but Pollux has been busy in Sagittarius for a while now.”

  Mira had neglected to ask him about stepping down as legate. He’d done it for her, she understood. She was of more importance than the Greater Blue Force's best legion.

  “Can we look around?” Mira asked.

  Castor smiled. “This way, watch your step. I know you’re probably not adjusted to the gravity here yet.” He was right about that. The gravity training mats at Helyx could never fully emulate the real thing, especially considering how variable true gravity was.

  “Are we on a planet?”

  “A moon, but pretty much the same thing,” Castor said.

  Unlike the hallways at Helyx, this building wasn’t equipped with gliding tunnels. She would have to get used to walking—conserve her energy.

  The walls of the building were made of earthy materials. Polished iron-oxide-rich rock made up the pillars and supports, while the rest of the structure consisted of a white stone peppered with gray and black.

  She could feel scents lingering on her nose. For so long she had been nose blind to the sweet scent of Helyx’s nebula dust. Using her nose was foreign to her, and yet here the air tingled. She breathed in and instantly coughed. The air burned her chest.

  “The air here is primarily methane. Rely on your nebulant,” Castor said, his eyes still up on the hallway ahead.

  They continued to walk through the halls, occasionally passing soldiers in uniform, most with blue insignias. Each stopped as they passed, holding their fists to their cores. Some eyes locked onto Mira’s purple uniform. The best legate in the Greater Systems and the strongest star in the galaxy were among them.

  It was a large facility. They passed by the soldier dormitories, a nebulant hall, an infirmary, a war room, and several training rooms before ending up at the staircase to the entrance corridor.

  Up the steps, they found the tall, domed hallway. Its width was twice that of the ones they had walked. At the end was a large gateway door surrounded by barred windows. Mira could see red rock through them.

  They approached the gate guard, and with a single nod from Castor, a flash of yellow light prompted the door to open. The lock clicked, and the door rolled upwards, scraping against the dust wedged in the crevices.

  The sound grated her ears through the static of the earpiece. She pulled out the metal nub, but the world around her did not sink into silence. She scoffed, tucking her earpiece into one of her shorts pockets. Noise properly functioned here.

  Castor began to walk, breaking Mira from her trance. Her first foot stepped onto the rock. Particulates of sand and dust hit her cheeks, almost painfully. Before her was a large platform with a large circular divot. It was for an exterior bridging outlet.

  “Welcome to TA77-C I,” Castor said. “This’ll be our home until we launch our attack on B-OBS-B.”

  Mira looked around. Ridges of rock surrounded the whole perimeter of the entrance building and outdoor facilities. Mira realized that the rest of the structure was underground.

  Her ears began to pound, and she almost went up to hold them. A headache had started to come on as her ears adjusted to a world of real noise.

  “Let’s get in the air.” Castor ignited his feet and launched into the air.

  Mira followed, alighting her own flame. It felt a bit different than flying in space. The gravity had a noticeable impact on her speed and required force to lift off. Below her, the red cliffs were interlaced with valleys of white rock. Her mouth fell agape looking at the world around her. She was here, out of Helyx for an important mission, like she’d always dreamed.

  Castor broke her viewing. “Our mission planet has roughly the same gravity, maybe a little more,” Castor yelled against the howling wind. “Give me ten laps around the perimeter… And while you do, I want you to consider why you lied this morning about your ‘sleep’.”

  Mira opened her mouth to argue, but Castor shut her down. “Don’t argue, just do it.”

  Mira looked into his eyes.

  His stern face implied he was certain of his observation. Mira obliged his request and turned to start her exercise. She could feel his eyes burrow into her back as she started. A feeling that she started to realize had become too familiar.

  BREAK

  Atlas awoke. He rubbed his eyes, sitting up. He still felt exhausted. The sleep he got was rough and restless. He looked across from him to see Stephen. He was reading his book. Atlas then looked up to Mira’s bed. Empty. A moment of worry arose in his chest, but he quickly tried to stamp it out, leading himself to believe she was just at practice.

  “Mira’s at training already?” Atlas questioned.

  Stephen looked at him and put his book down on his chest. “Atlas, I’m sorry—but she left this morning,” Stephen replied.

  Atlas’s heart dropped. “But I thought…,” he began.

  “Something came up. She had to leave earlier than she thought,” Stephen said, trying to cover for her.

  “Why didn’t she wake us?” Atlas questioned.

  Stephen looked away. “No time, I guess. I was lucky to catch her.”

  “Did she say anything?” Atlas asked.

  “Besides what I told you, not really. She wanted me to tell you that it was going to be ok, though. And that you have nothing to worry about.”

  “This is so like her. Dammit, I knew I shouldn’t have slept.”

  “Atlas, you’re just going to have to trust her. I do.”

  “I—I do too, but I don’t trust them,” Atlas said. He held his face in his hands. “Dammit.”