“Higgins, what the fuck happened?” Knight Halloway said in a light tone that betrayed the vicious barbs hidden underneath. A proud Squire stood before her in impeccable condition except for the blood stains on his black, steel knuckle gloves. Behind him, about fifty Dregs in varying conditions limped into the hanger and lined up in formation. Some only carried bruises or a black eye as their trophy. Others, like Roy, suffered several breaks and were looked at by the medical staff. Their limbs were coated in a slightly pulsating, viscous green material that were dark on the outside and glowing brightly closer to the center. Some of them were beginning to flake and break apart and they experimented moving their arms and legs, marvelled by how quickly it healed and how they weren’t in pain.

“I believe there was a minor dispute between the Dregs and the other G.U.N. recruits, ma’am.” More words spoken at once than the recruits had ever heard at once caused them to stop and turn their heads at the rich baritone that was Squire Higgins voice.

“A minor dispute? I see a good dozen broken limbs at least and some stab wounds as well. Care to explain how they got those?” She asked with one eyebrow raised and a quizzical look. Nonplussed, Squire Higgins answered in that same calm voice while his hands were folded behind his back.

“Plastic forks and knives if I recall. A group of criminal agents had infiltrated as G.U.N recruits to target one of the Dregs and had placed men between them and I, as a preventative measure.”

“How many?”

“Me or them?”

“You.”

“Around eight in the beginning, but I believe it grew to ten or fifteen by the end.”

“Condition?”

“Varied. At least three deceased and many others are suffering from concussions, lacerations, broken ribs, dislocated arms and possibly several cases of sudden L4 - L5 herniated discs. Though I’m under the impression that those are from degeneration and not from any recent trauma.” Laughing darkly, Halloway examined Higgins up and down, looking for anything out of ordinary. Seeing that he was otherwise fine, she seemed satisfied enough. With him at least.

“Good. Would be disappointed if you couldn’t handle at least that many. As for the rest of you, it seems group fighting isn’t your forte, so we’re going to finish every day with an extra hour of hand to hand combat.” The Knight’s statement earned a series of groans from the sore recruits.

Eyes narrowed, Knight Halloway yelled, “You can either spar with me or with the good Squire Higgins if you have a problem with it. Do we have a problem?” The recruits remained silent and the Knight glared at them momentarily before snorting and turning back around towards three large fighter ships.

“Squire Higgins, since you seem so spirited today, go arm the recruits and yourself in the oldest generation of Excalibur EVA suits they have. You’re going to be demonstrating ‘hooking’ for the rest of them.” The mentioning of hooking finally caused the Squire to react, a slight frown appearing on his face before returning back to the neutral look he tried to uphold at all times. To the Knight though, it was about equal to a grimace, something that earned a grin on her face. Though it didn’t take much to make her grin, another’s misery always did the trick. Saluting with his bloody glove hovering just slightly off his chest, he snapped his fingers towards the recruits and gestured towards one of the side passageways connected to the hanger. She watched as his black coattail trailed slightly behind him, looking the part as an impeccable G.U.N. officer.

She stared after him for several moments, not grinning or observing him for any errors that needed correcting, but staring nonetheless.

“Look at her, she can’t wait to anoint him so she can finally boink him, hehe.” One of the more vulgar Squires whispered loudly, probably Taliana, causing the Knight to blush furiously before turning her ire towards them.

“What are you three ogling at? Get those fighters checked and prepped, I want those birds out beside the facility in twenty minutes!” She yelled. Jumping to action, though not nearly as frightened as the recruits were, the three female Squires sprinted towards their ships before looking over the records tagged in the cockpit. They went through a series of tests and Knight Halloway headed towards the armory where Higgins had taken the Dregs. As she drew closer, she could hear loud noises from inside, she had an idea which ones were most likely.

“Get the fuck off me, I can do it myself!”

“Eh, don’t you have any suits a little, ya know, bigger?”

“Ay, this suits tighter than my ex-wife! I like it!”

Stepping through the doorway, the Knight could pick out the frustrated Bones, who was snarling at the technicians that wanted to check his vitals and work him into the suit. Meanwhile, still fat as sin but burning the weight quickly was Fat Mike, struggling to squeeze into a suit.

“Get one of the variable suits, a MK. II if you have too. Just make sure you remove the weapons and the main thruster.” Knight Halloway pointed to one of the senior technicians who nodded and hurried to the back, grabbing a few of his co-workers with him. On the other side was Billy, already entombed in a Genesis Excalibur suit like the majority of others, with the exception of Fat Mike. Billy was a funny man and there’s no crime against cracking jokes. But one thing about him bothered her more than anything else.

He was more child than man.

“Oh, give me something to punch! I don’t know, anything! I feel like one o’ those superheroes! Are my eyes glowin’?” Eyes narrowed, the Knight looked like she was about to yell them an order before she saw Squire Higgins undressing a few benches over. She watched as he removed his well kept cloak, folding it tightly and placing his cap on top of it in an empty locker. His short white hair stuck out at odd angles, no doubt slick with sweat from the earlier fight. The Knight swallowed hard as she continued to examine his upper body, which was covered in scars and tattoos of ancient gods and devils. She knew he had an interest in things like the occult and ancient religions, he was so focused in his studies that he never knew the other Squires watching him, which Halloway chose to listen intently to when they gossiped about him. She noticed a new tattoo on his chest, the ink fairly fresh with newly applied moisturiser.

It was a tattoo of a tree, it’s roots curling downwards toward his abdomen, red, dark as blood. It’s trunk was pale as his skin, only shaped differently by a brighter red outline that covered it and the rest of the tree. It’s many branches twisted upwards and bore no leaves. But as she stared long enough, she thought the branches were spelling something. And something inside her wanted to know what it spelled, pushing her towards it, but Knight Halloway broke free from her mental state as she walked forward a step. She shook her head as she remembered where she was, who she was. What she was.

She looked down at her hands and squeezed them tightly before closing her eyes for just a moment. Behind closed eyes, she saw countless ships that lined the skies of distant planets, burning cities and laying waste to conquered nations. They were no saviors or heroes, driven by that mad desire to fight and to control all the planets they could travel to. They would conquer or die trying. And many had died.

“Don’t be such a baby, Bones. Look, I’m already done! Just stop being a turd and let them do their job, that way we can just get out of these things a little sooner. Hopefully. Man, I wish I knew what the hell I’m looking at right now, too many windows.” Looking at her recruits, she couldn’t help but smile a little bit, especially at some of the young blood. Oh how innocent they were, the look of excitement on their faces at the prospect of a spacewalk. It was almost a shame that she planned on ruining that for them. But better today then in the future when they’re adrift in space and no one’s there to hear them scream. At least this way, they’ll be prepared in the event of a skirmish or any other major conflict, though she hoped it never came to that. The Fringe was a place of perpetual conflict and most likely they’ll all be sent there after she was done with them. It was her duty to prepare them properly.

She navigated around the bustling technicians and bumbling recruits as she made her way towards the back of the armory, where the armsmaster was stroking away at his keyboard. He stopped what he was doing and nodded towards her, pushing his keycard into a slot and turning the red knob beneath it. The sealed metal door with a large warning sign in the back of the room opened up briefly to allow the Knight entry before the armsmaster closed it behind her. Alone, Knight Halloway took a deep breath of the room. If the recruits were excited about a bunch of beat up exo-suits than their jaws would be hitting the floor now.

There were hundreds of suits lining the walls, of all different types. They were state of the art tools of war and only a Knight had the authority to allow others besides themselves in here, besides the technicians that did daily maintenance of course. There were suits with missles, laser batteries, explosive harpoons, suits designed for infiltration and even a few Cataclysm level suits though those had to be authorized by an Elder Knight at minimum. But Knight Halloway ignored all of them, instead heading towards a small, black frame. It looked more like a bodysuit than anything else, but the mass of the thing said otherwise. She placed her hand on the center of it’s chest and a dim violet light shone from underneath her hand. A moment later, the front visor of the helmet shone a similar dim violet before it began to move on it’s own. The metal hook the suit was attached to lowered itself until the feet of the frame touched the ground before disengaging. The suit then walked forward a few steps before presenting it’s back towards her, which it then unfolded outwards, revealing it’s cushioned innards for her to step into. She should’ve changed out of her uniform and changed into a fibered lining, but her mind was in several directions. Unlike her, for someone who was anointed under Elder Knight Benkis, maybe it was time for another psyche test. But for now, she decided to just strip to her bare skin and enter the waiting Excalibur suit.

It closed behind her, the cushion pressed tightly against her skin before a low whirring could be heard. Tests and all sorts of other notifications passed by quickly on the upper right of her visor, showing that everything was becoming online. Then, when that was done, the cushion inflated and wrapped around her limbs and digits, compressing her. Finally, a green light flashed in the upper right corner and a small diagram of the suit replaced it, showing green marks everywhere before it’s opacity reduced to just background image.

“Excalibur suit Mark VI - 0019AH443K2 has successfully calibrated. Welcome back, Wraith.”

***

“Alright, stop fuckin’ around and pay attention. In here it might be all fun and games, but out there? If you aren’t careful, you drift out and no one will be able to save you. The cost of a simple mistake is death. Understood?”

“Yes ma’am!” Knight Halloway paced from one end to the other while in her high-tec Excalibur suit, examining the recruit’s outdated and clunky versions for any obvious signs of malfunction. She was no technician, but she’d been in enough boarding parties to see anything out of the ordinary. When she was satisfied, she walked towards the center of their group where Squire Higgins was, wearing a similar version suit as the recruits.

“Ordinarily, only boarding members of an assault vessel or drop shock soldiers wear an Excalibur suit. These Mark IIs are clunky, touchy, and difficult to use. But master these and when you operate a newer model, you’ll swim in space like a fish in water. Today, we’re going to practice navigation and hooking. Get those down and you’ll be bouncing from ship to ship with no problems. Your suits are automatically equipped with mag boots and grips, standard procedure. Squire Higgins? If you’ll please demonstrate.” Nodding quietly towards her, he lifted his arm up with a closed fist, before bringing it downwards. Nothing happened at first, but before the recruits could turn to one another, the hanger doors began to open, revealing nothing but endless space. Roy and the others felt the air pull on them strongly for just a second before it disappeared and a weightless feeling made the bile want to rise in their stomachs. Roy looked down to make sure he wasn’t floating, surprised to see his feet still attached to the floor. Blinking rapidly, Roy looked up to see Squire Higgins motioning as if in slow motion the thumbs up towards somewhere above them. Turning around, he saw a man behind a glass panel waving from his station before getting back into his seat and resuming whatever he was doing before.

“Testing one two, testing. If you can hear my voice, raise your hands.” Static noise came from the speakers inside Roy’s helmet before Knight Halloway’s voice became clear. He raised his arm and so did everyone else, except for Bones who just held out two fingers. Rolling his eyes, Roy turned to face forward and looked impressed as Knight Halloway floated in mid air, small purple jets firing along the lining of her suit in certain locations. She had her arms crossed against her chest and glided across the room effortlessly as she confirmed everyone could hear her and ran through how the communications worked. Once done, she returned to the middle and addressed them again.

“Okay, now that you know how that works, we’re going to work on navigation. We’ll start here and then practice out there.” She said, pointing to the void outside the facility. “Your suits have a basic propulsion system and in conjunction with hooking you’ll get a lot of speed. Squire Higgins, if you’d please?” Stepping forward, two joysticks with a button on top and a trigger jutted from the bottom of his forearm and up into his hand. He gripped them and did a few tests. First he jumped a little and pressed the button on top, causing small jets of flame shoot out from under him, pushing him higher up. Then, he released the button and squeezed the trigger, causing jets in the opposite direction to push him back down to ground level.

Once he was a few feet from the ground, he controlled his descent until he’d stopped. Then, he’d go forward about five feet and go in reverse. Satisfied, he landed on the floor and nodded towards the Knight. He then crouched and jumped, aiming for one of the side walls. He used his jets to fly towards it faster and change the angle, so that instead of crashing into the wall he’d begin running alongside it. He didn’t sprint but leaped quickly, jumping towards the adjacent wall when he got close to it and building more momentum. He then jumped towards the ceiling, leaping along it’s surface above them until he jumped again, landing in front of them with all the grace of a professional acrobat.

“If Squire Higgins can perform like that in such an outdated suit, then I expect no less from any of you. But since you all got the gist of everything, I think we’re going to skip the training wheels session and go straight to the good part,” She said, pointing outside. “Now follow me.” Then, she flew through the shimmering barrier and waited outside beyond it in the void of space. A few people followed after a moment, but most were hesitant.

That was until Squire Higgins pointed at them and barked “move!” Then, they all made their way towards outside, afraid of the deadly Squire and what he might do if they didn’t listen. Shaking in his suit, Roy made his way at the back of the crowd, trying to quickly get an understanding of the navigation system before his safety net was taken away. One by one, his fifty fellow Dregs made their way outside until Roy was the last. Though he had mocked Bones earlier for being a baby about not wanting to be helped into his suit, he couldn’t help but feel like one himself as he stared out into that infinite space. Panting, he finally crossed the barrier and floating out there felt like he’d finally stepped into that dream he felt would be provided by the G.U.N. Spinning around with little grace, but taking in all the floating structures surrounding the place was something he’d never see from his place on Earth.

Looking up and down the megastructure that was the training facility, Sol Invictus, Roy couldn’t see neither the bottom or the top surface, just the side where many closed and some open hanger doors saw activity. The crackle of Knight Halloway’s voice woke him from his observational trance and he turned to face her, but somehow ended up upside down. Smiling, she addressed them all.

“Now, this is where we have fun.”