Arran followed the others to board the spaceships after being divided up into different platoons. Each platoon had an instructor serving as the platoon leader. As there were 50 instructors and about 12000 cadets, there were a total of 50 platoons, with each having 240 cadets at the very least. Each platoon was made up of a mix of cadets from different grades.The platoons were further divided into different squads, with there being 6 squads and 40 members in each squad. The squad members were selected from cadets in the same unit who usually trained together because they were already used to cooperating with each other.And these squads would be further divided into various teams depending on the objective of the mission that will be assigned to them later.The leader of a squad was usually the unit head of the unit that made up that squad. But in the case there was a squad formed by two different units, the unit head of the higher grade would serve as the squad leader.Arran’s squad
The company of cadets from the Kingsman academy was in transit to a temporary outpost created just for the purpose of the current mission. This outpost was located in one of the galaxy clusters where the Ludwig galactic travel company mainly based its main operations in.It was not far from the central cluster of the aeth civilization and would only take a day's journey to reach.During this time, the cadets were made to rest and prepare themselves, for when they reached the outpost, they would immediately be assigned their roles.Arran sat in meditation inside the transport ship as he tried to prepare himself for the mission ahead. He did not enter either of his dreamscapes, but instead tried to recall some details from the past.Eris and Charmy were sitting beside Arran in silence. Since the time in the royal council hall, the three of them had not interacted much. It was mainly because there hadn’t been any time for them to get together and chat.Still, despite that, the three made
The so-called central hub 1 was a large open area located at the lower area of the outpost, close to the loading dock where all the spaceships were parked. It didn’t take the cadets long to all file inside and line up in formation.The place was very large, probably as big as a stadium that could hold 50000 people. There were already others lined up inside the hall. The Kingsman academy was the last to arrive. As soon as they did, the doors to the hall were closed and everybody was locked in.All of this took five minutes, so there was still some time before the briefing would begin. The cadets used this time to look around their surroundings.Apart from the Kingsman academy, there were two other groups present in the hall. Each of their uniforms was different from the others, which was how you could tell where each group came from.The cadets from the Kingsman academy wore emblazoned black combat outfits with red linings in the pants and sleeves. Blue inscriptions that flowed faintly
The final encirclement of the aeth army was taking place and the operation would officially begin three hours from now. The cadets were given an hour to get their affairs in other as they were divided into groups by the officers of the outpost.Standard issue guns and spacesuits were handed out and various checks were made to ensure everybody’s preparations were ready. An hour from now, everybody would board different carriers and follow the attack and pursuit fleet to their assigned location.In the third hour, the operation would finally commence.Meanwhile, Arran managed to sneak away from the other cadets without too many people noticing. When commander Margo had called for him, a lot of people wondered about his identity. Fortunately, not many people knew about Arran’s middle name. Only a few of his close friends and some instructors knew about it, so with them covering for him, Arran made it out of the hall unnoticed.When Arran left the hall through a side exit, he was surprise
‘Why has everybody been asking me that lately?’Arran had a strange expression on his face as he heard commander Margo’s question. That she had taken time out of her busy schedule to call Arran just now I ask him this confused Arran for a moment as he couldn’t imagine why she would do that.Seeing Arran’s expression, commander Margo frowned and quickly asked him.“What’s the matter? Is there any problem?”Commander Margo’s concern for Arran was written clearly on her face as she thought Arran had encountered a problem.This startled Arran, which prompted him to quickly reply.“No, there’s no problem at all.”“Then why do you look like that?” Commander Margo asked, not giving up.“It’s really nothing,” Arran hurried to explain.“It’s just, when you asked me how I was doing, I was surprised. A lot of people have been asking me that same question ever since I embarked on this mission.”Knowing that Arran was not in any trouble, commander Margo sighed in relief. Then, with curiosity, she
Arran walked back to his group, following commander Margo’s instructions. Along the way, he was in a daze.Thinking back to what he’s learned from commander Margo, Arran was in a special state of disbelief. It was that feeling when you thought you knew someone very well, only to find out you didn’t know that at all.That is how Arran felt right now when he heard how old his old man was.3000 years... this was not a number many people could relate to when it came to how long one could live.All his life, Arran had grown with the idea that he would live a very short life and die after only 90 years. It was only when coming to the upper realm that he found out it was possible to live for a thousand years naturally.This was even without training and increasing the level of one's life to a different stage. But even then, the idea that he could live an almost immortal life was still strange, and he had yet to accept it. That was why, when he learned his parents were more than 3000 years ol
Arran, dressed in a black space suit, stared out the window at the endless stretch of darkness that was space and for the first time, he felt small and insignificant before the vast expanse.This was not the first time that Arran was looking out at space. But at other times, he had either been moving too fast to notice how vast and expansive space truly was, or he didn’t care enough to actually sense his own incongruity with the universe.But this time, Arran was completely stationary and had been like this for many hours. That is why the feeling suddenly struck him.After leaving the outpost, Arran and the other cadets had arrived at their designated location and were currently in the loading cabin of a battle cruiser that was parked on the route they were meant to patrol and set up an ambush in case any criminals ever make it to their side.Since then, they had been here for almost four hours already but were still yet to see hide or hair of any vessels quickly sprinting through spa
“Attention, all units to your stations. I repeat all units to your station. We have activity on our side. Prepare for battle.”With the orders given, it was as if life had been breathed into the station, as everything seemed to come alive all at once. The previously patrolling soldiers shuffled around even more frantically, and military personnel from all departments became incredibly active.Arran saw all this through his perception that was spread outside the ship. The biggest change was still with the cadets in the various cabins.Suddenly it was as if they had been injected with a pack of hormones as every cadet lost the nervous look.In its place, excitement for the upcoming battle took hold of them.Most of the time, one might not be nervous when they were active, but they would definitely be nervous about inactivity. The saying that an idle mind is the devil's workshop is very true because when one has nothing to do, all sorts of random thoughts can come into one's mind, causin