Fan Fiction ❯ The Vastness of Space ❯ Chapter 2 ( Chapter 2 )

I moaned as I became conscious. My side was burning with pain. Where am I? I looked around; I was in what appeared to be a hospital. It had that same sterile smell that they all had. I calmed down somewhat and fell back on my pillow. “I made it,” I whispered. A shadow flashed on the ground. There was a thick bulletproof window to the right of my bed. Two officers were standing on either side of the door that was next to it. I smiled, hopefully they'll be able to tell me where my team is. With my eyes still fixed on the officers, I sat up.

I stopped suddenly. How could I have been so stupid! Those officers were in blue uniforms and had on white armbands. The Alphen's uniform colors. I began to panic once again. I've been captured by the enemy? Then where's my team; have they been captured too? Is Dirk still alive? All the while that I was trying to figure out what happened I was holding my breath. Upon realizing this I let it all out. I began to gather my thoughts. All right, this is where your military training skills should kick in. I scanned the room. I don't think that they'd be stupid enough to leave my gun in the room, but hey I still need a weapon. I was desperate and even a fire extinguisher would help right about now. I found nothing but my torn up space suit and my clothes that I had on underneath it. Oddly enough, my clothes were perfectly fine and not torn or anything at all. Quickly I put them on; a red tube top with a sleeveless hooded black jacket, baggy low rise black pants, and matching shoes.

I had no idea what I was going to do, I didn't even know where I was. All that I knew was that I had to get to the ams pad. I waited for the right opportunity to leave, and finally it came. The guards were watching intently as a short-skirted nurse made her way down the hall past them. You can always count on men for stuff like that.

Moments later I was hiding in the shadows at the end of the hall. The foolish guards were still watching the nurse as she `accidentally' dropped a bottle and bent down to pick it up. I had climbed through the ventilation system in my room and had dropped silently down into the hall opposite the door. It was something that I had learned from a very old movie. You would think that people would watch movies more often. Now I just have to find the ams pad and get out of here.

Right at that very moment some very high ranking Alphen officials were coming down the hall at the same end of the guards and at first sight of the officials they stood saluting. They continued towards me. I opened the first door in front of me and jumped in. It closed right behind me. I put my ear to the door and listened. I could hear their feet on the metal floor. As they came closer I was certain that they had seen me, but to my relief they went straight pass the room that I was in and continued on. I let out a deep breath and sighed.

I turned and looked around the room. I assumed that I was in a locker-room because of the rows and rows of metal lockers. I immediately started opening them; all were empty until I got to the fifth one. Inside there was a spacesuit, helmet, boots, a gun and a knife. I put on the spacesuit along with the boots over my other clothes. I checked to make sure that the gun was loaded. A 45 caliber with six rounds. They're the same type of gun that we have only made a few years ago for the war. I then carefully stuck the knife inside of my right boot, then I put the helmet on and slipped out into the hall. I had no idea where I was, I could only hope that I was going in the right direction.

“You there! What are you doing up here?” I slowly turned around. A tall skinny man approached me, he appeared to be in his mid-forties. He looked furious. He took hold of the front of my suit in his fists, his knuckles white and a vain bulging near his temple. “Where have you been?! The captain will not have anymore of your incompetence,” he hissed. Then he threw me into the wall nearest him. “Your last failure to destroy Paige Falcon has deeply disappointed the captain. You had better keep to your word and deliver. Now go down to level K-16 and begin to repair those ams that came in from that last battle until your sent further instructions,” at that last command he turned on one heel and marched off down the hall muttering, “I can't believe how unreliable and incapable people are... and not even saluting their commander.”

Still I sit against the wall where he had thrown me. Surely he couldn't have been talking about that last battle, I wasn't even the target, Dirk was. And they couldn't have known which scorpion I was in to begin with. My mind was spinning with all of this new information. Slightly dazed I walked over to the nearest elevator and moved to the back corner once inside after pushing the button marked K-16.

“Level K-16. Please exit,” the automated voice said as the doors slid open to reveal the ams pad. I stepped out helmet and all. I didn't dare to take it off. There were many people running around in the same Alphen suit as the one that I was in which is to be expected since I was on an Alphen base. The ams pad design was similar to that of all of the Falcon bases. It had levels with balconies which greatly aided in the maintenance of the ams which were lined up accordingly. In the far corner was a hatch with some ams nearby. I began jogging towards the hatch ams and was relieved to see that I had gone unnoticed. I walked up to the scorpion nearest the hatch with nobody around. Panting I removed the helmet. “How do they breathe in these things?” I whispered.

I wasn't the only one that was hiding in the shadows. A few yards away, hiding behind another am was a young man, strong and extremely dangerous. He observed me from his hiding place. His eyes narrowed, I've never seen her before, could she be a spy? I shoved my helmet back on and grabbed the rope dangling from the am, then made my way up. “She thinks that she's leaving does she?” Adam whispered.

“I hate this helmet,” I groaned. I hoisted myself over the edge and opened the cockpit door. I climbed forward and sat in the chair. “Let's see now,” I started flipping switches and pushing buttons.

“Hello,” said a deep young mans voice. I looked up quickly. There he stood in front of the cockpit door -- blocking my exit. “Where do you think your going?” he asked his expression not changing. He quickly backed up as if expecting me to jump up in attack. He carried no weapon, instead an expression so heartless, and eyes that seemed so cold and lifeless that they could pierce through your heart -- those were his weapons, that's all that he needed. Despite his intimidating appearance I slowly stood up and approached him. His short ruffled brown hair matched his eyes and seemed to complete the man that stood in front of me.

I took off my helmet and put it under my arm. John. His name is John. It was made pretty obvious considering that there was a nametag on the front of his suit. Suddenly out of nowhere he swung at me -- and narrowly missed. “All right if that's how you want to play,” I whispered throwing my helmet into the cockpit. Before I had a chance to do anything he took the offence and threw everything he had at me. He was so agile and flexible in all of his moves which would prove to be a problem. Not one of us had landed a single blow on the other.

As we parted and looked each other over catching our breath he smiled. I narrowed my eyes at him, what's he up to? We both straightened up. “Very nice but let's get serious now,” he whispered. “You were holding back?” I asked stunned. “Of coarse I was,” with that he lunged at me. He landed a punch square in my nose and he backed off a moment as I doubled over in pain. He idly walked up to me and I stood up. “Not smart,” he whispered and elbowed me in the gut then planted a full contact high kick to the side of my face. I stumbled back in shock; I didn't see any of those moves coming. I threw myself at him and we continued in hand to hand combat. Somehow or another I had managed to get him in a headlock from behind, “It's not nice to hit girls,” I panted.

“You fucker!” I yelled and shoved him away from me. He had managed to get a hold of my knife and plunged it into my left arm between the shoulder and elbow. I stared wide-eyed down at the gapping wound in my arm. I glared at the man in front of me. How could he just stand there so calm and emotionless like that? My eyes wandered momentarily behind him to where he was standing: right on the ledge. I lunged at him and shoved him backwards. He stumbled back and fell with his arms outreached towards me; maybe to pull me with him or just maybe he was expecting me to pull him to safety from the 40-foot drop. And there it was -- finally some emotion on his face. Was it surprise?

I winked at him as he continued to stare at me on his way to the hard metal floor below. “What the hell? No, how could he have?” I whispered. He had done some sort of flip in mid air and grabbed onto the rope hanging from the am next to mine. “Damn it,” I whispered. He just won't give up. “I don't have time for this, someone is going to realize that I'm gone any moment now.” I spun around and ran into the cockpit and fired it up as the door shut behind me.

I put the helmet back on and maneuvered the scorpion to face the hatch. With the blaster I created a fairly large hole in it leading to open space. It seemed as though the entire Alphen base was going to shake apart. I turned and fired a few blasts at their ams that were lined up. “If they didn't already know that I was gone, they do now.” I said slightly amused. “That should keep them busy a while,” I whispered. I hurriedly flew out of the hole just as John fired up his am. He's going to be a big problem. I pushed some buttons and on the screen to the right showed my location. The nearest Falcon base from here was about 77 miles away, that should only take about 20 minutes to get there.

The screen showed John approaching from behind. “You won't make it away from here alive, I'll get you first,” came his voice over the intercom in a cold tone. I turned around and he slowed to a stop. “How reassuring,” I replied. “Just surrender,” he said in a casual tone as if it was nothing new. “Sure,” I said sarcastically. “Fine have it your way. But just so that you know, I'll be the last person that you see,” he replied as he shot at my left arm. I immediately retaliated. There was no way that I was going to let him win that easily.

There was an exchange of intense fire, then we both stopped. His image popped up on my screen. His head was hidden in the shadows, “well I'm surprised that you've lasted this long,” he inquired. “It's only been four minutes,” I answered slightly confused. “I'm aware of that,” he whispered with his head still hiding in the shadows with the only thing now showing being his fierce eyes. Something in his tone when he said that worried me. I shut off the radio contact between the two of us. His image slowly disappeared off the screen. I worked quickly as I sent a transmission to the Falcon base. “Hello, is this Falcon base 279?” I asked hurriedly. “Yes it is...”

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The year is 2218. A war is being fought between the Earth and the Space Order. Years ago a secret committee for the space colonies got together and began to construct an advanced army of piloted machines that resembled humans to aid in an upcoming revolt against the Earth's cruel ruler. These machines were made to start a war to end all other wars. The plans for the machines were stolen and made it to the hands of the Earth's ruler.

My name is Paige Falcon, Commander of the 8th Falcon team. My parents Relena and George were divorced two years before the war began because their opinions on the war differed too greatly. My brother went with my mother and I with my father. Relena re-married to the ruler of the Earth's military called `Alphens'. My fathers the ruler of the space colonies and the Space Order's military called `Falcons'.