Invasion

Chapter 4 - Training Day

29th May 2071

I wake up early again, what is it with me? I turn over. The first thing I see is Aurora, with her face only just coming out of the sheets. I turn over.

I hear some movement coming from her, and I slowly turn back over to see what's going on. Her eyes are open. She glances at me and smiles.

"What are you doing?"

"I've been awake for while, that's all. How was your sleep?"

"Good, 10 hours isn't bad"

"Ready for your training?"

"Yeah, but not looking like this"

She gets out of her bed, and opens the wardrobe.

"Where do they hide the spacesuits?"

"Somewhere near the top"

She searches the top level, grabbing something dark.

"Is this it?"

"It certainly is"

"Is it the right size?"

"Should be, it takes a while to go used to wearing. But don't worry, you'll eventually get used to it"

She takes it and closes the wardrobe door, then proceeds in the bathroom.

***

I let Aurora through, and close the door behind me. We both walk faster than usual, we're late.

"Time?" Aurora asks me.

"8:44. We're gonna have to eat breakfast real fast"

We both start running towards The Restaurant, I almost crash into a fellow pilot.

After running through a maze of corridors, we finally get to The Restaurant a minute later. I stop and slam my hand on a table, hopefully getting someone's attention. A waitress looks and me strangely, then comes towards us.

"Table for two?"

"Yes. Thank you" My breath breaks up the words.

"Right this way"

We follow her to a group of tables. She allocates us to a couple table, on the opposite side of the entrance.

***

After we get our food and scoff it down, and leave and pay, we run to the opposite side of the entire base; where the Western Hangar is located. I halt to a stop waiting for the automatic doors to open. Commander appears inside.

"You're late"

"Only by 3 minutes!"

"No need to yell, I don't mind if you're only 3 minutes late"

"Okay... Good"

"Come this way"

He walks off to the left, disappearing from my sight. We follow in an ordinary manner. Aurora steps forward to commander.

"What ship am I getting?"

"The TSG J72 Offender. It's similar to Brian's one"

"Okay... Is it good?"

"It has the latest technology, and all the modern day bells and whistles"

"Cool"

We continue walking through lanes of spacecrafts, dodging incoming pilots.

"Here they are"

Commands comes to a halt and turns towards two magnificent spacecraft. I gaze at mine, overwhelmed by how amazing it looks compared to my old 'Legend'. I love whoever designed mine, they did an excellent job. Aurora touches her ship.

"What are these made of?"

"Titanium with a graphene covering. It can handle almost a hundred bullet hits, and a RPG hit... Ish"

"Commander"

"Yes Brian?"

"What weapons do these ships have?"

"A single 100mm cannon with a fire rate of around ten bullets a second"

"Anything else?"

"I knew you were going to say that, yes. We have equipped your ship with four tactical matter seeking missiles, just for when things start to escalate"

"Nice, that should kick the aliens' arses... If they got any"

"We hope so"

I thought about the last words he said, We hope so. What does he mean? Is there something that we don't know about these aliens?

"Go on guys; Brian start your training session, and also get used to your ship as well. Because tomorrow both of you will be heading to Earth to fight"

Tomorrow?! Was this guy out of his mind? I haven't even tried out my new ship and Aurora has just come off from the simulator! She hasn't flow an actual spacecraft before! I want to argue against commander but there is no point, there's no way we are getting out of this.

"Okay sir, enjoy your day"

"You too Brian, see you later"

"Bye"

He walks off ever so casually, as usual. Why does he make everything sound so easy? I know he fought in the Third World War, and almost got killed, but... Was there something that changed him?

I take my mind of the topic, and focus on Aurora's training. She comes towards me, with a very confused look.

"Was he being serious?"

"He certainly was"

"Oh God. How are supposed to be professional military pilots in a day?"

"I honestly don't know. Maybe it isn't that hard"

"Doubt it"

We go into our ships, examining the similar features. Remember when I researched some stats of my ship? Well this masterpiece has a strength rating of 180 points, an advanced nuclear fusion rocket thruster with a top speed of 0.1% the speed of light, and even the cabin has it's own bed and bathroom. Aurora's is almost the same but with less strength and it's more agile; also the different design. I believe they are the greatest spacecrafts that TSG and Mars Infinity have ever created.

***

After our little admiration session with our ships, I began to train her with the basics. She did exceptionally well; she's certainly a natural. She took the VTOL launch and landing better than I did. Next up, flying tests. She was fast and agile, I understand why they made the Offender for her. I began to get bored, so I asked her if she wanted to shoot some targets, and as expected, she accepted my offer.

After many hours of training, and a few breaks, we head back to our room to get some good sleep.

I'm actually thinking that we might possibly do well, but I can't judge these aliens, I've never been in a close encounter with an extraterrestrial.

During the night Aurora and I couldn't rest. Our brains kept thinking about tomorrow, whether we live or die.

"Brian, do you think we'll survive this mayhem?"

"Probably not, but we should always try our hardest to say alive"

"I don't think I'm ready"

"You did great today, much better than when I first started"

...

She didn't respond.

"Brian"

"Yeah?"

"Why did you become a pilot?"

I let out a huge breath.

"Before my father left home to fight in his final battle, he told me something..."

"What was it?"

"To save the world from destruction"