Starcraft Fan Fiction ❯ Interstellar Explorers ❯ Thε ΜCΑ αηd Exσdυs CZ17 ( Chapter 1 )

Hello guys it's Chris here! I know for a fact I put more effort into writing than my brother, so I think it'd be fair if I put the writer of each story in its description. Just a thought! Enjoy my new story, this one is being written exclusively by me!

~ Thε ΜCΑ αηd Exσdυs CZ17 ~

Milo Flynn used to be scared of being out in the Atrium Dome at night, but that was years ago when he was just a child. The enormous dome was the largest segment of the Exodus CZ17 space vessel that he called home, and the super thick glass shield held back the void of infinite blackness. It was the Interstellar Medium, not the space between star systems but the terrifyingly massive zone that galaxies moved through as tiny disks of light. As a child if he happened to find himself walk out here after dark his eyes would be drawn upward into the nothingness, and within his mind was a frightening and primal understanding that he could never begin to grasp the depth of the universe he was drifting through. It was as if he could just get snatched up through the glass by the pressure and sucked away; out there his location and measurement of time wouldn't be relevant to anything. He would be more than lost, he would have no bearing to existence at all.

Still, that was years ago. Now Milo was sixteen years old and every now and then when the artificial sky was deactivated he would lay in the vast grassy field and look up. Some things about him had changed while some stayed the same: he still had the biggest collection of Gum Hero cards than anyone on the ship. He still carried around a sketchpad and pen sometimes, and he still had all his action figures. Over time the sky had also changed, now Milo had something to look at. Hyper-spacial travel left its place among theoretical physics about three centuries ago, now light-years could be crossed quite more comfortably. Milo remembered how impressed he was when the teachers explained that they could hyper-jump to a new location and then with a powerful telescope see themselves from before they'd even left. It also meant their spaceship wouldn't be visible to anything until the new light reflecting off it took the time to reach whatever view-port was watching. Yep, the speed of light wasn't considered to be so fancy nowadays. Milo could spend hours musing all the ramifications of modern science. Thanks to mankind's altering of the universe's speed limit, a trip that would have taken millions of light-years was over in just a decade.

Stars belonging to the NGC 4214 were beginning to show on one side of the sky. Any day now they would enter their targeted multiple stellar system. Milo was excited for the upcoming space travels, they'd learnt the theory all their lives but Milo hadn't set foot on a planet since he was a toddler. The excursions would be dangerous and he expected a few students and crews would stuff up and die. Then again, the Military Captaincy Academy or MCA for short, never let something as trivial as the safety of their students stand in the way of success. The very purpose of this space school was to collect children whose brain waves and genetics hinted great promise, then raise them into the greatest thinkers, fighters and leaders of the human race. The few who would not only survive but succeed in their trials would be assigned as commanders of great space fleets that would scour the universe for a planet like the home people themselves made barren so long ago. It was the year 2389, and humans have lived independent from a nursing planet for a very long time.

The Earth-based clock was set to two in the morning, but thanks to spacial relativity who knows what hour or day or year the people within the indoor colonies of the home-world were experiencing. The MCA was an indisputably strict organisation when it came to their rules, but they were very lenient about other things. For instance, Milo could be outside of his room and the entire Dormitory Dome in the middle of the night but he had to attend classes the next day. Also, students can fight to the death in specified training arenas so long as the result is reported, but killing someone outside would lead to the institution making an example of the perpetrator. In this place the strong were meant to survive and keeping up with your studies was the only option any of the teenagers had. But that didn't mean Milo didn't have friends or like at least some of his teachers. His room mate and best friend didn't have any problems sleeping, to his knowledge. So Elliot remained under the blankets in his bed while Milo stayed up on the grass looking for the new solar system they would soon be orbiting.

After a while he decided it would be best for him to go back, even if he didn't feel like sleeping. Wondering about his predicament Milo suddenly thought of a girl he'd started getting close to and felt a tingle of excitement at her name: Paige. It was one of the rules of the MCA that boys and girls weren't allowed to visit the other dormitories at night. However Paige was also a night owl and might still be in the Study Dome, where most students generally played games and socialised. As an inventor with a passion for robotics, Paige was probably working on an assignment in one of the labs. Milo didn't want to wake Elliot up, so making his decision he rose. Dusting off his long sleeved shirt and trousers he ran his hand through his brown hair. Milo's hair was curly unless he kept it short, fussing with it a bit he knew he'd have to get it cut again soon. Walking across the flat landscape he passed a few trees before reaching the pathway along the edge of the colossal dome.

He walked along the edge towards the next tunnel opening. Dim lamps beside him were the only source of light. While students were forbidden from harming each other it didn't stop some of the more sneaky ones who could do it without getting caught. The MCA hadn't put as much effort into stopping the violent 'hazing' as Milo would have thought. It was possible they considered learning how to defend oneself against attacks and how to do them without getting into trouble as another way of development, as well as weeding out the weak. The tests, assignments and challenges were all designed in a way to create a competitive environment between the students. Still, not everyone felt that way. Milo sure wasn't bothered about it. And even though students were ambushed at night it wasn't that common of an occurrence. Milo wasn't scared, but he was cautious. As he exited the largest dome in the space vessel he surveyed the shadows carefully. With fairly decent skill at the combative and physical classes he'd probably be able to take care of himself, unless he ran into a psionic.

Sometime during the twenty-first century a growing number of the population was beginning to exhibit psychic powers. A lot of testing was done and it seemed the reason was mankind's brains were evolving faster and faster, each generation was becoming more intelligent than the one before and it seemed the abilities being exhibited were due to advancing mind power. These people were simply referred to as psychics, although there is a whole spectrum of psionic prowess with people demonstrating specific paranormal skills as one extreme. People who were resistant to psychic influence were more common than those with actual powers. Milo was not a psychic and he was closer to the susceptible end of the spectrum. While the population percentage of psychics are very low, the MCA took a great interest in honing their abilities so as a result one tenth of the people on the Exodus CZ17 display some form of unnatural talent. A lot of those students liked to keep what they could do a secret but it wasn't too hard to figure out considering the psionics had additional compulsory classes.

The vast tunnel Milo was walking down was one of many and structured to keep the vessel in tact. The Exodus CZ17 was a collection of domes connected through bridge tunnels, the centre and largest segment is the Atrium Dome which connects to all the other main segments. Beneath the largest dome is the Stem, that giant mechanical tower is where all the maintenance and engineers operate to keep all the complicated systems functioning, including the nuclear core. It's also where the younger students lived before they were old enough to be moved up to the Dormitory Dome with the older kids. The bridge tunnels were always well lit and had a trolley system that only operates in the day, but Milo didn't mind the walk. Thinking about the ship's nuclear core reminded him of the amateur comic book he was making: 'The Adventures of Sargent Atom'. It was sort of embarrassing and Elliot was the only person he'd ever shown. Milo figured his best friend was the only one who shared his interest in comic books and superheroes, even if not equally. Never equally.

He'd been hanging out with Paige for a while now however, and she was sort of into that stuff. She was really cool. Maybe, if they started dating Milo would show her some of his drawings some day. She already knew he liked art, even if it was just sketching bad-asses from holo-games and films. Designing their outfits and weapons was the best part. It made Milo find himself envying the psychic students at times. They were sort of like superheroes, the next stage in human evolution. Whatever, he didn't get bent out of shape over it. They were just like everyone else, except a little more dangerous. Milo was almost completely sure that if he checked the empty robotics labs he would find Paige working. His last relationship was over a year ago, they dated for two years and didn't even have sex. Maybe it was just because of his age but studies were taking second place in his thoughts when competing against the opposite sex. But physical attraction aside, Paige was just a really cool and smart friend of Milo's. A friend that he often thought about boning. Pushing that out of his mind he didn't want to be seen in this bright empty corridor sporting an erection.

He did feel like seeing and talking to her. At the end of the tunnel when it opened up into the Study Dome, Milo found he'd been absorbed in conversational scenarios with her for about fifteen minutes. He replayed them until he knew exactly what to say, all the lines that would make her laugh. Looking back at it, he supposed it was just a nervous habit. Normally he was fine talking to people, Milo considered himself pretty easy to get along with. Talking to girls was easy and natural to him for some reason, and he had a lot of female friends. Moving across the empty front room he climbed one of the staircases at either end and headed down a white corridor. Identical labelled doors lead to chemistry labs... then biology labs... then the technology labs... Milo had to go around a few bends before he found the robotics rooms. He poked his head in a few well lit broad workshops. There were benches and tools scattered around them, mechanical limbs and entire doll-like people missing parts amidst metal skeletons hanging from the ceiling.

He closed the door, they had disturbed him when he was a child too. Only that feeling hadn't completed faded. The next door Milo tried he knew was the right one. He listened to the silence and heard faint clicking noises and the winding of gears. Closing the quiet door behind him he walked up to the metal railing and leaned over, getting a look around the corner. A girl was facing away from him, hunched over her project. A smile broke out across Milo's face and he turned down the stairs to meet her. Not even considering jumping out and scaring the living daylights out of her was one of the reasons why he got along with the opposite sex so well. When he climbed down the stairs and turned the corner she was still engrossed in her work. Walking to the nearest workbench he took one hand out of his pockets and rapped his knuckles against it twice to get her attention.

So this chapter has a very simple name, for the moment. I wonder if this was an abrupt time to end the chapter? Do tell me any opinions on this that you wish to share. I've already thought of the main characters and I'm looking forward to watching it unfold. Thanks for reading!