Chapter Seven:

Beta Quadrant, Sector 187, Pyillos, Archer, Sara Nubran Lunar Base.

May 1, 7215

As they landed, struts whining on hydraulic shocks, a voice came through the shuttles speakers. “We will be opening the door in a moment. Archer has enough air to keep you from instant suffocation. I would still advise you to take in a few deep breaths though. It will just take you longer to suffocate. When you exit the shuttle you will see a set of stairs some 20 meters from the landing pad.”

The static of the speaker broke off and with no warning the flashing lights of the gangway was the first clue they had opened the hatch.

Taking the disembodied speakers advice Brandon breathed in a few quick heavy breaths. On his third the sound of air escaping in a whistle let him know the cabin was equalizing pressure. With one last deep breath he unbuckled himself and followed a lean short woman of Asian descent who had already made it half way down the still lowering ramp.

The moonscape was incredible all on its’ own. The vivid blue sand like surface was a clear indication of a Cobalt or other mineral rich soil. The thin atmosphere allowed the stars to be seen clearly even during the daylight hours. That is, if this moon even had day and night cycles Brandon thought.

In the distance a forest of large blue capped mushroom like trees stood sentinel. Then spread across the surface much like weeds on earth a variety of red and blue leafed small plants could be seen growing anywhere open ground was exposed.

His sightseeing was cut short by the burning sensation in Brandon’s lungs, indicating that he need to move his ass or risk taking a breath of this alien moon’s air.

Hustling he followed the Asian woman’s short cut black topped head into the stairwell.

They went down the narrow stairs some two hundred steps or so before the stairs ended in a white concrete looking room. Bright LED style lights in a white-yellow provided a dim illumination of the 5meter cubed space. Set into the wall directly across from the stairs was a set of metal sliding doors with black and yellow tape on their elevator like adjoining edge.

Finally having to Breathe Brandon exhaled only to gasp. As he tried to breathe in his lungs struggled to pull in the thinner air. Then when he did manage to get a lung full it felt almost empty. His body telling him to exhale and breathe in a fresh chest full immediately.

The doors pulled open allowing entry to all five of the gasping and wheezing Titan Jocks in training. The doors closed a few seconds later. They found themselves in a small two and half meter-wide square room. As a sense of movement was felt in the chamber, nozzles near the ceiling began to spray a thick gas into the room. Warily Brandon and the others inhaled the thicker air. The mist filled the small area both fixing and creating an issue. They were all able to breathe easily once again, to their great relief. However, the mist was thick and sticky feeling. Both on skin and in the lungs. It also created an odd tingly sensation. As the elevator stopped moving a mechanical voice chimed. “Decontamination complete.” Then the doors slid open.

A long white hallway lit by some unseen light source yawned in front of them. The areas utter lack of anything was disconcerting. It gave no sense of distance or scope. No one could tell if they were looking at a short hall, or something that went on for eons.

The short Asian woman snarled out something in a language akin to Chinese or maybe Japanese. Then strode off into the hall. The others followed behind.

They walked for nearly half a kilometer, occasionally a dark side passage would join the hallway they were moving through. Once their hall even joined another one. Here the way was easy to know because the one direction at the intersection was lit up the other was dark.

Finally they reached an intersection where four other passages met. The room was semicircular still in the plain white. In the center of the chamber was a bank of elevators. Their shafts creating a pillar in the center of the large room.

After pausing to look around the Asian woman walked to the elevator bank and hit the call button. The light had barely flashed on when the doors opened, to reveal an elevator large enough to hold ten people with room.

Still oddly quiet the group stepped inside, only to pause.

The Asian woman spoke looking at the others. A dark Hispanic or maybe Latin looking man spoke in Spanish, “Sorry, I do not understand you. Do you speak Spanish?”

He made it obvious that his question was directed at the entire elevator as a whole.

Brandon understood him but did not see what the issue was yet. Looking over the shoulder of the short woman he saw the trouble. The bank of buttons must have had nearly 50 buttons. The light indicating which they were on was not the top although it was near it.

Brandon was about to use his limited grasp of Spanish to respond when a ding sound saved him.

The elevators call button dinged and a voice boomed out like the voice of god. “Do not push any buttons, cadets. You are waiting for the others. So wait and be good.”

“Others?” The tall blonde Scandinavian looking woman asked.

Brandon looked at the woman, and said, “That voice over the intercom was not speaking any language that I understood. Yet I understood it.”

The woman looked at him then considered, “ya.”

Short and concise. That is exactly what he knew of the warriors of that particular national group.

They continued to wait in silence for another ten minutes, then the doors opened. Years of battlefield wariness instantly had him on edge. Everyone in the elevator was tense and ready as the doors slid fully open revealing three more men and a woman. The newcomers were also dressed in the purple and silver military uniforms of House Nubran. Patches on their arms denoting them as Titan Jocks too. A 2-meter-tall man, lined with the types of muscles only acquired from years of intense work, glared at them His dark eyes narrowed as they settled on Brandon. “American?”

Brandon frowned. The man had the dark hair and complexion of an Afghan man. His demeanor was one of a highly trained soldier familiar with the battlefield.

The tall blond woman looked sideways at Brandon before she spoke. “Ya, he is. You have issue?” Her English was rough, but clear enough.

The Afghan man snarled, “A woman should be seen not heard. You can learn like this one.”

Brandon looked as the man shifted with his shoulder toward the woman behind him. She glared at the man’s back. Now that they looked it was clear the woman had a split lip, crusted with day old blood, and both eyes were black, if not swollen.

One of the men with the Afghan man stepped between the woman and the group I the elevator hiding her with his body. The other took a step away from the others. Giving himself distance.

Both of the women in the elevator saw the others state before she was concealed and instantly their already high tension went to the point of imminent violence.

Brandon glanced up looking for the speakers and cameras he knew was somewhere. He expected the oversight to intervene. But, As the Afghan man eyes met the short Asian woman he smiled a smile only found on those who like to hurt others.

“Oh she is a pretty one. I will enjoy breaking her in.”

The Asian woman snarled her muscles bunching ready to leap at the monster of a man. Brandon spoke loudly with a voice used to give orders over countless battlefields.

“Hey! Let’s calm down. We do not want any trouble. Why do you not head around the corner and take another elevator. A voice ordered us to wait for more people. They have been watching us.”

The Asian woman and the Slovak one glanced at Brandon quickly, but neither moved. One of the men beside Brandon stepped away distancing himself. The other moved up behind the dark haired Asian woman, in a sign of support. All of which Brandon noted with peripheral vision, never taking his eyes from the Fagan man.

The Afghan’s sneer flickered for a moment and his eyes roved around the area searching for cameras or speakers, just like Brandon had done earlier. He did not seem to have any better luck finding any, either.

“Just like a fucking American coward! Not only are you hiding behind your bitch!” He glanced another leer at the Asian woman standing at the front of the elevator.

“You also act all high and mighty. Fucking pretending to be serving some higher purpose. All the while you just walk over everyone else and expect them to accept it.”

The man stepped closer followed by his flunky. He reached for the short woman with a ham sized hand. All the while staring down Brandon. “Well, we are not in the desert anymore>”

In an instant the area broke into violence.

The Fagan man lunged to brag the Asian woman. She instead ducked under the reach and bound up in a flying knee, into the man’s exposed ribs. The man who had stepped up behind her moved forward blocking the Afghan’s flunky. The two men began exchanging quick jabs, blocks, and counter-blocks. The Slovakian woman moved to help but was taken off guard from the other man inside the elevator. The one Brandon had been wary of. He grabbed her left arm jerking it behind the tall woman’s back. With a twist he made her arch her back, shoving her well-endowed chest into the air... A shocked gasp of pain tore from her throat.

Brandon who was near the back of the elevator and not near the fighting outside the doors moved with a quick side step. Leaning back he used his small step to hit the man in the head with a side kick. The man’s head rocketed back, forcing his body to follow. The man crashed into the elevator’s wall and slumped to the ground.

The Silvic woman was pulled off balance but managed to pull her arm away soon enough to only be yanked to a knee. Brandon Spun to check the fight up front and smiled. The two men were still exchanging blows, both being fairly equally matched. The Latin guy was shorter but had more raw strength.

The woman at the back of the Afghan’s group had taken the chance to interpose a few of her thoughts on the matter at hand.

The Asian woman had both of the Afghan’s man’s arms locked with her own at her sides. The move making the much taller Afghan man look to be almost bending over to give her a hug. An illusion that was broken by the fierce head-butt she planted in to his downturned face. Meanwhile, the redheaded woman was laying into his exposed sides with quick kidney jabs. Brandon winced, that guy would be peeing blood for a week if nothing else.

A voice boomed from unseen speakers, “Enough!” The combatants froze. The instant reaction of a soldier given orders.

“It is good to see you having fighting spirit. You will have plenty of time to work out your aggression in your Titans. Now if your done playing get down here.” The speaker shut off.

Only then did Brandon realize more people had entered the elevator room. Perhaps another eight or so. They stood there watching the fight with mixed expressions.

“you heard the man, “Brandon heard himself saying. “Let’s get these ass holes off our elevator and head down.” Putting action to word he bent over picked up the unconscious man behind the arms and flung him with the help from the Slovakian woman out of the elevator.

As they did the two women and the Latin man stared at the Fagan man and his flunky.

“Bitch you get your ass back over here.”

The redhead smiled. Her lip breaking open to bleed again. A pink tongue licking the trickle of blood. In a surprisingly Smokey sounding voice filled with venom she spat, “Fuck off. You can take his ass. Let him be your bitch!” She gestured at the limp form and stepped in to the elevator.

Behind Brandon and the three others. Thirty tense seconds passed before the doors shut with a firm thwunk sound. No sooner had they shut than the Asian woman spun, “I do not need the help of any man! I am fully capable of dealing with my own issues. Never interfere in my affairs again!”

That said she spun back around to stare at the wall and closed elevator doors. All four of the others including the red headed woman stared open jawed at the Asian spit fire in shock. They briefly exchanged glances at one another.

Brandon and the other man in the group held a shocked expression on their faces. The blonde Slavic woman had a neutral expression, but amusement glimmered in her pale blue eyes. The red headed woman looked at the other three then burst out laughing. “Oh shit! You guys are fucking nuts! The good kind of crazy, but still fuckign insane!”

Her laughter followed them all the way down as the elevator quickly dropped in to the lower levels.p