Chapter 2: Here Comes Voight
Veronica Voight sat in her assigned dormitory exhausted. Her entire flight to Earth had been stressful to say the least. Half of the Martian chosen weren't even happy about having to leave their families and homes behind. Some were suspicious about the motives of the UEC, questioning why they were so insistent about plucking the best and brightest from the colony. Veronica felt differently, after all her mother and father filled her with the romantic stories of green fertile fields, salty endless oceans.
Growing up on Mars meant making your own fun in an endless dull sea of red. For a child it was an endless indoor adventure, and Veronica often found herself sitting in her parent's lap listening to tales from Earth. So started the romantic stories, and when they ran out of those, they told her about their lives, about the birth of the internet, facebook, of the first space station. When they were taken from her, she heard the last of their stories from the friends that came to comfort her. She finally knew that they were not exaggerating when she saw the gorgeous blue ball in orbit. But it was the surface, when all of the Martian colonists stepped foot on terra firma and took a breath of non-recycled air that any initial trepidation faded.
And then the culture shock set in. It took Veronica a couple of attempts to refrain from bursting out in laughter at the Earthborn men, some of which didn't even have sideburns. She noticed right away that Earthborn had free flowing clothes, a fair complexion, and a strong sense of privacy. The thought resonated in her mind as she sat, alone in the small space assigned to her. She began to feel anxious and claustrophobic, and just as if he had been reading her mind, Luca and his two sisters opened her door and came in mid-laughter. Veronica couldn't contain her relief.
"Neeka! Oh these rooms are just awful, we feel so alone, can we be here with you? Lorde is scared that her dorm is closest to the Earthborn dorms!" One sister teased, pushing Lorde as she moved to sit down beside Veronica.
"Don't listen to a word she says, Neeka, Bella just didn't want to come by alone. Those Earthborn don't scare me" Lorde bragged. "Have you seen their sideburns?"
Bella's nose crinkled and she giggled. "What sideburns? How can you even tell the girls from the boys?" She sat next to her sister and for a moment the three girls looked at Luca. He rested against the door and scratched his spirals with typical Martian bravado.
"Their space suits aren't built like ours, and neither are they..." He boasted. Lorde grabbed the nearest pillow on the dorm bed and lobbed it at him, hitting him in the chest. They all had a laugh and the room grew quiet.
"It's pretty strange here..." Bella said, looking down at her hands. "I hope everything is OK back home..."
"Everything is fine, without all of us out there, there will be more food and oxygen for everyone. I think we had to come here to help supply the oxygen for the great farms. It's going to change everything for them out there..." Luca tried to reassure her, and they all nodded in agreement.
The Great Farm project was a commonly populated rumor among the colony at the time the candidates were being chosen. The Pioneers, their first generation, were on the council governing the selection process. They encouraged many to go for the promise of life 'beyond the suit'. Veronica knew though, as did all Martians that the birth of the first generation of Martians brought a great depression to the colony, as the limited supplies from Earth were stretched ever thinner. The most promising prospect to the colony now was the Great Farms, large open field greenhouses to grow crops that would ensure that their people would never go hungry again. These greenhouses needed a large quantity of cycling oxygen at first, and Mars was already rationing it. Veronica wondered whether his friend was right, and they were being budgeted out of their home.
"Those Earthborn today were nice to us. If all the rest are I think we will be OK. Everyone, including us, are here to learn." Veronica thought again of the blonde student that had approached her earlier.
"Whatever the case may be, I want to join the UEC. My life, my folks, it all can't mean nothing. If I can't be there to help Mars and our family myself I'm going to protect it. And that means putting the past behind me, for now."
"And what if it's not so simple? If they order you to attack Mars? What would you do then?" Lorde whispered. "On the colony, at my shift in the commons, I overheard someone talking to Adama saying that the mining shipments have been coming up short. Why talk to the head of the great farms project about mining operations? What if-?"
Luca's eye narrowed, he was getting upset. His glare was so fierce it caused Lorde to stop mid-sentence, a rare occasion. They all were thinking it already anyways. What if the great farms project didn't get the UEC funding the Martian command claimed it would when it was proposed. Luca worked the mines since he was 17, eleven years ago. In a Martian mining crew, each member is trained to collectively oversee the operations and he was no different. The mining crew was well respected by all the colonists, they laid down their lives to supply the colony with the ore and minerals needed to make the payments for the UEC supplies. He shook his head. "It just matters that we learn all that we can here, and take advantage of this opportunity we were given. If I could have given my dad my place in this..." He paused as the memory of his father gripped him, and regained his composure. "...I would have. He told me before I went to start fresh when we landed. You girls can see it how you like, but I tend to agree with Veronica." He lifted a fist and she bumped it, a gesture that had not lost it's meaning in space.
In the weeks following her arrival, Veronica began to adjust to her new home. The Earthborn were mostly respectful, but she couldn't really call it a warm welcome. It was a very subtle dance of prejudice that the Earthborn had been perfecting for millennia. Veronica and Luca matriculated into the military ward.
Lorde was surprisingly offered a place in both the Science and Logistics wards, despite her crazy conspiracy theories. She chose to accept the Logistics ward token, her sister Bella decided on the Science ward token. Veronica grew to enjoy her new classes. She discovered many of the secrets behind the day to day technical tasks she performed on the colony, and she developed an affinity for running the simulators before class. She shot for the higher scores with Luca, but they never ranked higher than fourth on the list. Luca told her the academy likely programmed them in to keep the students working harder. But talking amongst the other students they were told of a legend, of two students from Earth who were in the top spots, above the programmed in score. Rumors were that they still try to top their score in the afternoons after class. The Martian students tended to cling to the old survival habits. Rise with the sun and seek shelter at sunset. One evening, Veronica and Luca bundled up in their grey-green UEC academy jackets and walked out to the simulator room. The door read their datakeys and slid open.
A small group of students seemed to be huddled around a few players that were engaged in a simulation. She and Luca slipped in, dodging the eyes of the inquisitive Earthborn. As they approached the remaining two simulator pods, a short dark skinned Earthborn stepped in to stop them. She noticed his curly hair was almost as long as hers had grown in the time since she had left Mars. She also noticed the sad excuse for sideburns that made him look like a little kid, if not for his sickened expression. He looked slightly familiar, but she had seen so many faces that she couldn't recall why.
"Whoa whoa whoa Cyclops... isn't it past your bedtime?" The Earthborn was trying to make a scene of things. However, thankfully he was the only one. The other students seemed interested in seeing what the Martians could do, calling out challenges and taunts. Eventually, the offending Earthborn stepped aside, lips pressed together. Luca ignored the display and got into the simulator with Veronica.
"If he only knew..." She comforted Luca. He just shut his eye and let out an exasperated sigh. The simulators began to emit a low humming noise. The room around them and the burning eyes of the angry Earthborn disappeared behind the veil of projections in the simulator pod. Veronica tried to forget those hazel eyes, and as their pods synced they began to observe the other two pilots, labeled by the system with their initials HEH and GTG, finishing up the current simulation. Luca was experiencing the view of GTG, and Veronica was seeing through the viewscreen of HEH. They excitedly watched as the pods replicated perfectly the movements of their counterpart. Veronica tried to make sense of the mission through the action. The Martians immediately identified the Ship ID format and functional shape of the supply transports. They were of abnormal shapes and sizes, the main features were the large globular oxygen reserves trailed by a patchwork of interchangeable compartments. These held various supplies and machinery needed for colonies like Mars and the Moon, but also the new outposts set up further out.
These classified UEC outposts were commonly populated by the bravest volunteers in the Science and Logistics wards, and the simulated UEC outpost this ship was headed to was on Neptune. The sounds of explosions and warning tones interrupted her. HEH was under attack, his ship had a crippled shield integrity and was taking heavy fire from above him. She felt a strong G-Force pull and struggled to keep consciousness as HEH made an extreme evasive maneuver that sent him flying towards the network of connected compartments.
She couldn't help but whisper. "No... no...!" She thought of the times that their shipments had come up short, about what each of those interconnected cargo holds meant to her and her people. The simulation seemed almost too real to her.
"Neeka... NEEKA!" Luca called to her. "Are you OK?"
Veronica's hands went up as the fighter zipped into the web like network of supply canisters and machines, but he precisely maneuvered through them, banking hard to avoid a large mining excavator secured to the ship. He popped through the other side of the network at the rear of GTG and fired a salvo of missiles at the fighters on his tail. The sound of explosions surrounded her. From the front the fighters burst into bright molten slag that ricocheted off HEH's shield and hull. From behind, she heard a chirping alert, the ship told her that the transport had sustained damage. Pursuing fighters had not made it through the network, and crashed into some of the supplies. In total, about 8% of the supplies were calculated lost. The simulation ended, and she and Luca popped out of the pods along with the others.
She passed between the cheering group and stormed up to the Earthborn pilots who seemed very pleased with themselves and tapped one on the shoulder. Hector turned around and started to smile.
"Oh, hey! Voight, right? So good to see you out so-" He started, holding his hand out to shake. Veronica was surprised to see Hector again, and troubled. She took it, but her expression seemed to worry him.
"Everything OK?"
"YOU are HEH? Then why...? Wasn't the objective to protect the convoy? You almost crashed in there yourself, and you drew fire towards the transport. Do you..." Her fingernails dug into her hands. The memory of her frail malnourished mother looked back at her when she closed her eyes. "Do you even know what losing 8% would do to the people who depend on that?" She said, on the verge of tears, but she calmed herself quickly. "I admire your skill...but your choice may have cost a lot of people to suffer...I just wanted you to know that, for the next time you decide to show off."
"Whoa hey, calm down. I'm sorry, I didn't consider that Voight. I saw my friend in danger and I just did what came naturally to me. Most of the students here lose twice that on this new sim. There are two separate squads attackers on either side, and we both just tried to take a squad each on alone at once. It's just not possible. That is I guess, unless one of us doesn't make it..." Hector and Giuseppe looked at one another.
Giuseppe patted her shoulder reassuringly speaking softly so they four could hear. "As you said, our ultimate goal is to protect the transport completely. Would you like to run it again with us? Perhaps together we can find success."
She heard a scoff behind her. "The simulation scales with the number of pilots Haines. You add two more...people... and you're going to lose twice the cargo." Tarik warned, and then shot a glance at Luca. "Maybe more."
Luca grunted annoyedly at the insult. "We shall see." He turned to return to his pod.
Veronica looked a little embarrassed for getting worked up. "Hope we can be of some help. I didn't mean to sound angry. It just hit home for me. My mom... well I lost my mom to a supply shortage."
Hector's expression softened and he nodded. "Well let's try to make sure that won't happen again. Come on!" He said encouragingly. They all activated the simulation pods. After they synced the simulation began. The four fighters flew together in formation approaching a cargo transport. Four enemy pirate squads were in formation around it, guiding the ship off course to plunder.
"Is this some kind of joke, friends?" Luca said nervously, activating the ship comms. "I thought scenario involved Neptune."
A small pause. "TARIK!" A rare touch of outrage in Giuseppe's voice. Veronica saw the simulated target planet change from the dark red of Mars back to the dark blue of Neptune. Hector tried to stay out of it and ignore the chatter.
"Allright everyone, the way we usually start this is through a simultaneous strike on all four of these groups, to try and get their attention away from the transport. But if we pull too far away from the transport they will break off to try to destroy it." He explained. "Giuseppe, Luca, you're group A, Veronica and I will be group B." He saw the video feed of his friends in the HUD, they all nodded in agreement.
"Group A divides the top two squads and B takes the bottom. This time, we're going to alternate between targets, try to keep them chasing us. Let's do this!"
The four ships divided and Veronica grit her teeth as the ships began to reach top speed. They routed a portion of the engine power to reinforce their shielding, as they got into range, the pirate ships began to fire at the transport. The glimmering plasma dissipated when it connected with the shield relay protecting the cargo, but it would not last for long. The moment the chime of the target locks caused a major adrenaline rush. She flipped the switches on the missile control systems and let loose controlled bursts of missiles. The missiles soundlessly rushed to their target, and clashed against their shields. She saw the ships begin to turn and adjust to her position and the ship warned her of multiple enemy lock on signatures.
"You have to fire two missiles at a time, with a small delay. The first one hits the shield, and the second one can punch right through before it blows!" Hector called out. "Ok, Veronica, fly towards me. You take my group and I'll take yours. We'll switch again when we can!" Veronica understood and the two ships began to fly toward one another. On her radar she saw Luca and Giuseppe doing the same. Small course corrections were required to dodge the enemy fire from behind but soon the two ships passed with just a few hundred yards between them. She fired again, this time trying to match the pattern Hector had explained. She almost leapt out of her pilot seat when she saw the second missile destroy one of the three ships. Behind her, she saw the glowing explosions of two of her pursuing ships. The remaining bogey formed up with the two she left behind, and pulled away to attack the transport. She felt a pit in her stomach as she flew into formation behind Hector. They needed to stop the enemy ships from getting through the shield she thought, but how? Giuseppe and Luca had only taken care of two of their six targets and were in the same position they were in.
"We are doing quite well so far, all. I suggest we destroy the remaining ships and hope that we don't damage the transport in the process." Giuseppe said. Shortly after he lanced his laser through the hull of one of the remaining attackers. The four fired, and a bouquet of missile trails bloomed into explosions at the surface of the transport's shields. Each one of their missiles found a mark, except for Veronica. She quickly rerouted her shield energy back into her engines and launched ahead of Hector.
"Voight! Wait!" Hector called out, switching to full engines as well. Veronica didn't listen, edging closer to the lock on range of the boosting pirate. She heard the chime and fired all of her remaining missiles. They fanned out and converged on the ship and it exploded before it collided with the Oxygen reservoir.
Veronica cut the forward thrust and shot past the transport, barely avoiding it herself. "HECTOR!" She screamed "DO IT!"
She saw the ship approach the transport and then the signatures merged as Hector sped faster than before between the containers. Just as he reached the other side he fired his salvo of missiles and they peppered the hull of the remaining two fighters flying towards him. They blew up and the simulation ended. Her heart swelled with pride thinking they had done the simulation perfectly. But it was short lived as the ship reported the calculated loss was 5%. Apparently due to her last salvo. When the canopies opened everyone in the room was cheering and talking about how natural the Martians were at flying. But Veronica couldn't help but feel sad. It seemed that the loss of supplies was inevitable. She entered her initials in the third place spot above Luca, VIV. She examined his entry curiously.
"LUF? What is your middle name?" She asked.
"I'll tell you when we graduate." Luca said grinning.
Hector walked up to Veronica. "Voight, that was top notch! Very reckless though. You drained your shields just for the chance to get a lock. I don't think I would have risked myself like that." He tried to pursue conversations with her but she was drained. She and Luca headed back to the Martian dorms.
Everyone wanted to know about their time in the simulation room the next morning, and for weeks after. The Martians were surprised to hear how difficult it was to preserve the safety of the transport ships, especially Lorde. It had been a cause of growing resentment back at the colony, with some theories as crazy as trying to weaken them as the first stage of an assault. The Earthborn were just curious about how it was playing with the top students, and whether she had seen the new prototype fighter they had Haines and Glaisyer flying. She was proud to have given her people a good name here, but she kept seeing the last fighter she had chased, and the desperate face of her mother.
The four continued to run simulations together, improving their skills and teamwork. Tarik grew cold and distant around the Martian newcomers, but ever since his stunt reprogramming the simulator and a talk with Giuseppe he no longer made any rude remarks. Classes began to go smoothly, and just when she was beginning to get used to the routine her Marine training was over, and the exams were a week away.
Hector and Giuseppe joined the Martians in the mornings now, before class, to study. She and Hector were becoming fast friends, and she was so grateful when he was around. She wasn't sure but he made her feel more relaxed. Together they tried to cram for the famously difficult to pass written comprehensive exam. A failure of this test wouldn't just mean reassignment within the academy or a removal, it meant she was letting down her home. Her friends were all were rooting for her. She spent that week studying, and when she rested she dreamt of life in the UEC. Finally the day came for the final exam, and she touched the red lines on her shoulder. It filled her with confidence, and she walked into the class ready for the exam.
