He stood in the doorway, peering out, resting his pale, bruised forehead against the metallic frame that surrounded him, thoughts swept through his mind like a cold autumn breeze. Outside, a force greater than his own were trying to get him. He believed that they’re intent was to kill him, and although he wasn’t entirely sure, he wasn’t in a great hurry to find out.
“Scott” A voice yelled, booming from the end of the corridor, “Stop taunting them with your unfair advantage and come help me take off”. The Echoing voice came from the not entirely qualified, but immaculately beautiful Sarah, a young girl with a London accent, which appealed to Scott’s pathetic American lust for the seductive tone. She wasn’t the tallest girl, which also deemed attractive to the gullible Scott. He thought she was amazing, so he made the premature decision to hire her almost on the spot, creating the almost unparalleled creepiness that comes with the ‘my boss is hitting on me’, not entirely pleasant.
Scott rushed into the surreal cockpit like a dog being called on by his master. Primarily because he had the chance to see Sarah for a few milliseconds more that day, but also because under the 6 foot 3 shell, he was scared of all the big bad aliens out to get them.
Captain Scott McMillan however appeared, on the outside, hand in hand with the brave shell, mighty and admirable. Wearing a worn out brown long coat, a red shirt and brown combat trousers that added to the whole ‘expert space travelling hero’ look he was going for. He had fought in 2 intergalactic wars throughout his 32 years since birth, and wasn’t too keen on the idea of giving it up.
He had always been a man of impeccable adventure. At age 8 he was attacking 15 year olds who were picking on his big sister. At age 16 he snuck aboard his father’s federation ship to see the stars, unaware that he’d unknowingly signed up for his first war. He hid amongst the ‘soldiers’ who were the under-appreciated bait, laid out to protect the fully trained, slightly more indispensible soldiers from being easily destroyed.
He stole a drunk soldiers armour suit, which was possibly the most advanced thing he’d ever seen, and a low grade laser pistol that was ‘borrowed’ out of some unsuspecting soldiers holster. Poor young Scott seen human blood stain the ground and innocent men’s guts spray everywhere, painting the floor in the most violent red imaginable. His father sent unsuspecting brave men to their graves, and nearly did the same to his own son. Young Scott however, braver and more noble than any other being on the battlefield, fought off the most feared enemy that humans had ever encountered , known not by their official name but known by some humans as Quantums.
Scott’s first blood, a race now extinct, erased by the universe, an ignored memory of what once was. Quantums declared war on all other planets, bold if you’re an armada of planetary systems all banded together, or you’ve conquered vast galaxies. The Quantum however, had behind them 1 planet, and not a very big one. A race made up of ex-slaves to other planets, blacksmiths and rickshaw-pullers and shoe shiners. A race that had found an abandoned planet and set up shop, planning to attack everyone else, like a neglected child’s whines at a family dinner party.
The Quantum attacked Earth first; humans were new to alien encounters at this point and were at first frightened, but banded together, stood strong and voted to officialise the United Federation of Planets. A team banded together to protect Earth against any invaders. The UFP wasted no time in declaring war of any Quantum life forces, only to find out they weren’t the first. Hundreds, if not thousands of races all out for quantum blood, making humans an alliable race for most, and securing some safety for the novice planet. They Charged into Battle on the surface of Shakh-tar 9 (planet of the Quantum race, 5th to orbit Sahtarr: the planet of the oldest and wisest), making the most sizable dent in the quantum population, giving humans a feared trait.
“Extinction to anyone who dared attack” Scott said, passing the pasta over to set out on the table. “famous last words for humans, before the Rah-ki terraformed Earth , leaving us as a planetless species. Some of us jumped ship with Allied races to safer planets, and some of us ...”
“Some of us stole ships and ran for it” she interrupted, wearing an unmatchable grin on her face, playfully mocking his admirable risk for humanity’s safety. She chuckled; stabbing pasta with a fork like her life depended on it. “C’mon Traveller, eat something” she said playfully. “We still have a long way to go”.
