Chapter - 02 : The team and The Drop

- - - - -

On board the Illiana.

"Officer on the deck !"

A sharp and stern voice of a female echoed in the dropship as all people present there took attention.

A figure walked past two lines of people consisting of 3 people on both the sides, all of which were holding various weapons and standing in attention. The figure itself was holding what appeared to be an assault rifle.

It was wearing a T-21 Mobile armour. A power suit designed for warfare. It was worn by the majority of soldiers during the war. Though it had many variants, the standard was the most produced and used. It consisted of three major parts. The arm region, the leg region and the trunk & head region. All of which had to be worn separately. The armour had a thick alloy breast plate covering the chest region with the name of the wearer printed on it along with some other information like unit name or number. Shoulder guards locked onto the shoulders while on both sides beside the neck were points to anchor additional equipment, weapons etc. The lower arms below the elbow were covered by the same type of allow albeit, thinner, which extended to the upper portion of the palm leaving the underside of the palm and finger free for maneuvering. The regions of the arm between the elbow and the shoulders were also left exposed. Similar arrangements were done for the legs. While thinner alloy plates in the shape of interlocking 'V' covered the remaining torso and groin regions and the butt as well. The interlocking was such that it didnt hamper movement. Again the inner side of the thighs were left uncovered by the armour for ease of move ment. The leg units which were basically armoured power boots enhanced the running and jumping power by two times. The entire armour was powered by 4 Archon batteries which were miniature versions of Archon generators, much less powerful and quite short lived yet versatile. The armour had an extra attachment on the back which comprised of a compressed air tank. Enough for one hour breathing even under high physical labour. Along with it a retro booster for emergency situations with a fuel tank having enough fuel for a 1 hour flight. The helmet comprised of three parts. The first part covered the top of the head while an singular attachment covered both the eyes. The second part covered the sides of the head and neck while the third extended from the side parts and covered the nose mouth and throat. These parts sealed shut to form the complete helmet. Once shut properly this helmet and power armour, coupled with the air tank, could serve as an space suit. There was no glass to look through instead, two pairs of micro cameras present on the eye covering displayed a 180° view of the surroundings. All of it was retractable into the armour as well.

Under this armour was a special skin tight resin based suit with metallic interlockings which covered the entire body except the head. This suit was a insulator itself. It could withstand vaccum and extreme temperatures. Its defence capability was very high as well. Coupled with the power armour this formed the Mobile Armour. Easy to move in yet highly durable. The figure's suit was coloured in a blue grey camo while the others' were grey brown signifying the difference in their ranks.

The women and men wearing these amours were called Troopers, since they technically didnt belong to an army. The union was born as an intra-glactic trade organization but during the exodus from earth as countries fell it took full power and became the one and only military force of the humans. The militia of the Union was called the Mobile Infantry due to the use of mobile armour. After the war these suits have also become obsolete but in their day, it was said that a man wearing this mobile armour, survived a trip from a Sonic minefield which would normally blow a whale to paste. He only lost his hearing capability but still better than being dead right ?

(A/N : Forgive my plagiarism but its a fanfiction, so thats how it is. The story itself is self made but some terms and tech used here are borrowed from "censored", "censored" and "censored" and also "censored". Youll see as you read on....)

The six others were wearing similar amours and a glance at them showed that these were all females.

"Training's over cadets. Your real life as troopers begins immediately. Today we are going to survey an unknown planet, code name : Eureka 101. The leading figure began speaking, also a female, her voice carried authority and discipline, " preliminary estimates show that The gravity is a bit more than twice the standard Terran Gravity but thats not much of a problem, since we are accustomed to 5x standard terran gravity. Intel estimates a possible existence of sentient creatures as well as lots of other unknown life forms. Which means we are going into a jungle we've never seen and heard of. So expect the unexpected. Our mission is to secure a safe location and set up an Forward Operating base. Once we have done that it would be easier for us to run our operations on this planet. Satellite imaging shows a high density of creatures in the vicinity of our landing spot. Its is a survey operation but....its better to be safe than sorry, so we are going in fully armed. Well be taking an APC (armoured personnel carrier) with us to have some extra safety . So prepare yourselves."

"Excuse me ma'am! I have a question ma'am !"

The girl with the stern voice was the one who asked her

"What is it Lieutenant ?" The lead looked at her direction and urged her to carry on.

" I was just wondering what exactly are we going down there for ma'am ? Shouldn't we repair the warp as soon as we can and return ?"

The lead shook her head and sighed

"Here is a little information for you lieutenant, the warp's blown, were stuck. And the reason we are going down there is to find anything that can help us fix it. Or would you rather stay your entire life cooped up in a battlecruiser ?" She asked coldly

"No Ma'am !"

( Lapis : The preparations are complete. We may depart anytime you are ready....)

As Lapis contacted her through her radio, She nodded to Lapis' words.

"All said, Watch out each others back, i want no one getting hurt! Do you get me !?"

"""""We get you ma'am""""" all of them echoed in unison.

The lead nodded. "Then Lock and load".

All the others loaded their weapons and turned on the safeties.

"Alright"

"lets do this"

"Lets go"

"Yeah!"

"Hmph"

"Fuu..."

As soon as they had finished their preparations they boarded the dropship. A few moments later a voice echoed across the dropship

"A... this is the captaim speaking. Welcome to the Union Airways. Please strap on your seatbelts and enjoy the ride. Ahh and one last thing. Though my code is I-407, i would prefer if you all addressed me as Add, Captain Add."

As the troopers looked at each other a bit surprised, the captain who was in the cockpit of the dropship moved on, making the last checks he instructed Lapis.

"Take us down Lapis"

"Yes host"

A flight bay door of the Illiana opened and a landing shuttle dropped from it towards the surface of the Planet.

- - - - -

A few hours earlier.

On board the Himmelreich. The living quarters.

On the Captain's orders, Lapis began waking up the 'Residents' of the quarters. In 8 cryo-sleep chambers lay 9 Neo - Humans. All female.

(AN : No they weren't without clothes as most of you perverts were imagining.)

The chambers were cylindrical in shape with a large glass window showing the people inside. They all wore skin tight overalls which only left their heads out. All the girls were beauties worth waging wars for. Slowly the cold sterilised air inside the chambers was brought to room temperatures. Then the oxygen masks covering the faces of the girls were removed. A small hypodermic needle injected nervous stimulants in their necks which slowly brought their minimised body functions to normal rates. Within five minutes, the girls began to wake up one by one. The chamber doors opened with a hiss as the air escaped.

"...Ugh..are we there already....?"

One girl asked. The others also slowly awoke and looked at each other. Some smiled some just nodded. They were all comrades. Fresh out of the same training institute. The war had ended but no one knew when another would start so the Union never took chances. They kept around a million troopers on standby at any given moment and another million as reserve forces.

"....Negative troopers, " Lapis answered via speakers installed in the room,

"...There have been some complications, please get refreshed and report to the briefing room in an hour..."

"What happened ?" Another one asked. "Where is the captain ?"

"The captain will address you in the briefing room." Lapis said and didn't speak further. She had a damaged battlecruiser to manage.

The girls though doubtful and a bit confused decided to do as told. They all took baths and changed into their cadet uniforms. They weren't officially troopers now. They would only be after they reported at their designated post and assigned to units. They were abroad the Himmelreich since it was going to the same planet where they were to be posted.

Then they had their breakfast, well sort of, the food being bland military rations, the staple food among troopers. They had basically grown eating this food. Within an hour all of them were ready and went to report at the briefing room.

- - - - -

At the briefing room the Captain was looking at a screen which showed the details of his 'passengers'. He was notified at the last moment that he would be carrying people too on the ship. Oh how the mighty had fallen a deadly battlecruiser in its day had been reduced to a passenger transport. Still orders were orders. But reading their data he gave a frown. These Girls were failures, literally unfit to be real troopers. Not that the union would tell them though. But since the Union had spent a lot of money to nurture each one of them so they didn't dispose them off but sent them to a far away outpost planet where they would spend all their lives till they died, which being a Neo human was tad bit harder unless of course another intergalactic war broke out. Luckily the Union strictly controlled birth rates. They had learnt from over population of earth after all. A relief or else the universe would soon swarm with humans.

But then came a dirty truth. The troopers unlike normal civilians were not born. They were grown. Made by combining selected superior genes and modified DNA, they were bred to be the perfect soldiers. Superior senses, stronger bodies, better minds. Polished from day one to be perfect, soldiers, scientists, engineers and the likes. But these girls were failures. Not in their physical or academic performances. But they had something which troopers weren't allowed to. They had 'emotions'. Emotions according to the Union made troopers less efficient. This reminded the Captain of when he too was a rookie trooper just out of boot camp. Not the captain of a battle cruiser, just a new scrawny private with a heart burning for battle and its glory. He chuckled as he remembered those days. Oh how good it would have been if he could have stayed that way forever. Lost in reminiscence he toured his memories.

He was among the first generation Neo humans bred almost 200 years ago. So he himself was two centuries old. Back then the galaxy was hell. Planets burning, colonies being wiped out. Units after units obliterated. He had survived through all that. His comrades though hadn't been so lucky. For troopers who had no parents their unit was their family. They lived as one fought as one and died as one. Abandoning your unit was considered the greatest taboo while dying to protect it was the noblest of honours. Two decades he had stayed in his unit. Those were the happiest days of his life. Some people died, some injured but they gradually began to get better. They understood each other's weaknesses and strengths. Every trooper took care of the others while the others took care of him. Back in those days, the union wasn't as strict on quality but quantity. The war was a big meat grinder. They had to throw troopers in faster than they were killed. So most troopers of first to the fourth generations had normal human psyche. They cared for their comrades, hated their enemies, wept for the dead and fought against un-winable odds to save the dying.

His unit soon rose the ranks. Under the able leadership of their Commander. She was a normal human. Still better than any neo out there. She taught him and his comrades how to survive in that hell. For twenty years she guided them. She was like the mother to around 20 troopers. This woman also taught him of Earth, their home. And it was then that all of them had sworn that once the war ended they would all retire and move back to Earth. A naive oath amidst a sinking ship it was. But it gave them hope. It gave them courage to keep fighting. To win.

They won battle after battle. Saved many brothers and sisters rose high in the ranks. Their unit became a legend at that time. Their names instilled a sense of fear and respect in all troopers of that time. They were the best. The best of the best. But sadly, they were good people. Too good to last....

" Host they are here..." (Lapis)

His trusted aide's voice broke him out of his trance as the doors to his room slid opem with a slight hiss. His back was facing the door so the new arrival hadn't seen his face. The captain wiped the tears which had unknowingly come out at some point of time and cleared his mind. He got up and Turning around he saw nine ladies standing straight shoulder to shoulder. The Captain checked the documents again matching the faces to their names. These days after the war had ended, the neo humans were allowed to choose their own names. They still had their official codes but a name was also allowed. They were all wearing the official cadet uniforms which were a light jacket and a pair of trousers, both made of the same tough and durable fibre, greyish green in colour.

Irisdina : A tall woman with a well sculpted face and long straight golden hair that resembled molten gold. Her hair reached till her lower back and was kept in place by a black head band. She had deep blue eyes like the sea which were enchanting, they had a strong sense of determination. Her body was a bomb, which even the dull uniform wasn't able to hide. Coupled with her height and elegance and the fierce determination in her eyes she gave the look of a war goddess. She was the commanding officer of this unit. Her rank : Major

Sagari - A girl with a disciplined look. Her long hair was dark purple and tied in a ponytail which still reached her lower back. Her eyes were of similar colour. And her figure was tall and slender with quite the curves at the right places. Her rank was Lieutenant.

Serena : She was literally a bombshell. Her body was enough to ignite flames of lust in any man with her over flowing bust and but. She had a calm disinterested face with long straight dark brown hair and deep blue eyes. She was as tall as Sagari and was from the research division. Though she had doctorates in all subjects of science, biology was her forte.

Lily : Another beauty with short dull blonde hair and green eyes with a hint of blue. She had a well balanced figure and gave off a gentle aura. She was known to be a cheerful person. Her rank : Sergeant

Page : A girl with shoulder length light blonde hair and turquoise hair. Her figure too was a bit excessively alluring. Her forte was surveillance and reconnaissance. While she also was an expert in stealth operations. Her rank : Corporal

Elin : A girl with short blonde hair tied in two twintails. She wore a blue workers cap on her head. Her light blue eyes had a childish glimmer in them. Though she had a short height around 4 feet 6 inches, but what she lacked in height she made it with her brains. She was from the mechanical department, her expertise in machines and weaponry. Any military machine or weapon you're having trouble with ? Name it and she has a way to fix it. Her intelligence had let her pass out from the training a few years earlier.

Leya : A silver haired girl with deep red eyes. Her height was around 5 feet a bit more than Elin, with a well proportioned figure. Her hair was tied in a pony tail. She specialised in heavy weapons and operating combat vehicles. She had licence of operating almost every military vehicle of the Union. Her rank : Corporal

Chiaki : A bright girl with straight short deep brown hair that almost looked black and hazel eyes. She was quite tall at 6 feet 4 inches with a well proportioned body. She was a field doctor. Her main job was to aid to injured troopers and give them first aid, but if need be she had the qualification to do complex surgeries as well. She was also an excellent soldier. Her rank : Medic

Miharu : A black haired girl with deep blue eyes. Her silky straight hair reached till her knees. This girl was a quiet and shy girl on the outside but her true self was a stern woman, always strict about morals and justice. She too had an alluring figure with large curves and a straight posture. Her expertise was in data analysis and strategy. She was very good in making accurate operation plans and had proven herself in many simulations. Her rank : Staff Sergeant

The Captain wanted to facepalm. These girls were troopers ? Don't joke ! They would be idols if they wanted to. The craze of the scientists for perfection was making each generation of the Neo-Humans more beautiful than the previous. He sighed once again and decided to forget about it. These girls were fifth generation. Each generation had notable upgrades from the previous ones. Since even with most advanced tech, working with DNA was quiet hard, only five different generations had been made till date.

"First of all, i welcome you abroad the Himmelreich. My code is I-407 one of the first generation, Captain of this ship. Nice to meet you."

"Thank you for the welcome Captain, can you please explain the situation now ?" Irisdina straightly cut to the chase.

The captain nodded and urged them to take seats. The girls did as told but they had slightly surprised expressions. One of the first generations !? These people were the oldest of the old. The first of the Neo humans. Very few lived till date, since most died during the war. Seeing one here naturally thrilled them. Ignoring their surprise he continued his briefing.

"As you may have heard from Lapis, we have run into some trouble. A passing gamma ray burst hit us mid warp and fried The tachyon units and left us immobile to warp. We are currently in an unknown part of the cosmos. The damage is not beyond repair, but we do not have the materials to repair our ship...."

The girls became a bit worried. Stranded in the middle of space, not knowing where, was not quite a good feeling.

"And that brings us to our present situation....Lapis if you will...."

A 3D map of the planet appeared before them.

"Good news is, we have a planet within reach. Preliminary studies show that the planet has potential minerals which can be used to repair the ship. So we maybe able to repair the ship and get it moving, but not anytime soon though......"

The girls began discussing among themselves. Irisdina being the superior officer decided to act. She stood up facing the captain with a stern gaze.

"So what do you suggest we do captain ?"

He smiled, quite expecting the girl to be the first to act.

"Well i do have a plan, but before that lets talk in private shall we. " He said briefly as he walked out of the room, Iris too sighed and followed. Outside, once he had made sure no one was eavesdropping, The Captaim began speaking,

"So Major, I have good news and bad news. Which would you want to hear first ?"

Irisdina narrowed her brows. She could not read through the bland expression of the captain but something was telling her there was a big problem going on...

"Good news first please...."

"Alright then, as i said that we might find proper minerals on the planet. And using some of the sophisticated machinery which we luckily have on board, we can repair the ship like new. Well thats the Good news."

Irisdina raised her brows, and asked

"And the bad news is...?"

"Well the bad news is, we do not have any excavation robots on board. So...someones got to go down there and mine out those minerals....."

He said with a wry smile. Irisdina quickly understood the meaning behind that smile and tensed up. Her eyes like a hawk were fixed on the Captain.

"So that someone is us ? You want me and my unit to go down on a god knows what planet to sesrch for metals and mine them ? What do you think we are ? Miners ? Workers ? We aren't trained or prepared for such a job. Not to mention who knows what kind of dangers we will face down there.... No way there is no way that my unit will go down there... Just no way...."

She was fuming as she walked past the captain with fast steps. She had to prepare her team for the crisis. Sure enough there were better ways to escape this crisis. They just had to think it up.... But right when she was about to enter back into the breifing room,

"And i have the worst news as well Major," the captain said in a solem tone, "....we are no longer in our galaxy, nor are we in any other galaxy close to the milky way.... "

Irisdina froze. Her steps halted. She had a bad feeling, a very bad feeling about this. The captain continued.

".....we are no lonver in the universe we're from Major. We are now, at this moment, in a completely different universe...."

Her mind went numb.

- - - - -

It had been around half an hour since the captain and the major had went to talk in private. Sagari, who was the second in command after Irisdins was getting impaitent. Just then the Major entered into the room followed by the Captain, her face visibly paler that it was half an hour ago, while the later was still wearing the same dull expression. She immediately addressed her unit.

"We are going down to the planet. The ship needs to be repaired at all costs. Although were not miners or repairmen, we have no choice to do it. The faster we do it the better, So all of you except Serena and Ellin, get into battle armour ! And report at flight bay 1 in 30 minutes. And Serena you and Ellin you are to stay on the ship till further orders. Dismissed!"

The Major issued her orders in a flurry. Then the captain began to speak.

"I have already posted one of our fast battleships in orbit to the planet. We'll use it as our temporary space station in orbit and operate from there. I will personally take you down to the surface. So saddle up ladies and get moving."

He began to walk out of the room when...

"Excuse me Captain !?"

Sagari vigorously called him.

"Yes Lieutenant ?"

"Sorry captain, although i get the situation somewhat, still shouldn't we be trying to contact the union as soon as possible rather than mining for metal ? , Further, I don't see why we have to follow your orders ? You are not our commanding officer ! Major please say something. Why do we have to do as he says ?"

She said in a matter of fact tone. The captain smiled wryly. He knew looking at her face, that this girl was underestimating him. Yet he played along. Major Irisdina on the other hand sighed at her subordinates behaviour but before she could stop her..

"Thats true...well then lets do it this way. Lieutenant, if you can land a hit on me within a minute, i will apologise to you all and let you do what you want. I will not attack you only defend. How about it ?"

Sagari was surprised. A mere captain was challenging her to a fight. That too when he was only a generation one. Granted he was quite experienced in life, but she had much superior physical specs. And in the training academy she was ranked in the top ten in hand to hand combat. She in-volountarily smirked.

"Are you sure Captain, i would not want to hurt a old man.." She said mockingly.

"...Don't mind my age lieutenant come when you are ready..."

The girls watched as Sagari took a fighting pose while the captain stood their yawning. This further irritated the former.

(Damn bastard trying to show off ? Ill put him down with one strike)

Next moment she lunged at him her fist aimed at his gut while ler leg was prepared for a flying kick. She neared him but he didn't make any moves. When her hand was just inches away from his neck...

"...Sagari stop this !"

Miharu shouted. She didn't like unnecessary violence.But it ws too late, the punch had been thrown. He would not die from it, being a neo human, but it would hurt bad.

(..Wha..?)

But at that instant the Captain neatly sidestepped, and caught her extended arm. She was stunned but instantly unleashed her kick, but to her shock, he ducked and her leg passed through air. Next he kicked her other leg breaking her balance and threw her face down on to the ground. Her hands pressed onto her back, Sagari was completely restrained. The girls were gaping wide at how easily the strongest of them was done in within ten seconds. That to so easily !

"You lost Lieutenant. Now cut the chatter and get into battle armour. And thats an order."

The captain released his hold and exited the room. Leaving behind 7 stunned girls and one shocked beyond belief. He sighed. He hadn't explained their situation in detail to avoid panicking the girls but it wasn't going well.

"I don't get paid enough for this...."

"....."

Only Lapis listened to his monologue.

"If we ever get back, i am going to demand a raise...if we get back that is...."

* * * * *