Voyage Of The Independence: New Life

ACT I: Pt.1: Surface of Dust

"It's been too long."

Dust danced around the mercenary's boots with the first few steps onto the planets surface. The harsh heat of late day beat against his bearded face. It was hot. Far beyond the summer heat he had remembered. He wasn't even sure if it could be chalked up to desert weather or just the thin atmosphere that barely kept the planet together. These days, some would call the Earth the second Mars. Referencing the planet's ancient death. To Adrien it was like walking into a house he previously lived in. If, however, the house had been abandoned, burned down, and buried in over six thousand years of time. Earth or not, there was no telling the difference between a dusted fire farm of an alien planet and the sandy ruins of the old human civilization.

He rose his head, letting the light wash over him. Flashbacks of his time in the desert. Stepping off a military plane decorated in heavy combat gear. Armed and ready to fight for someone else's country. Memories of his days in the Middle East. Though he operated almost all of the missions under the cover of night, Adrien still had plenty of time sweating the sun. There was a sense of nostalgia that came with it. The dry air, the wide valleys of dust and sand, it was like being deployed all over again. Compared to the enemies and terrain he faced on the daily, fighting minimally equipped humans to make ends meet would be a dream. Trading in the freedom fighter life for something much harder.

The trip down memory lane would have to wait. After spending a day triangulating the mess of signals from the surface, all he could gain was a general pin in center of North America. All landmarks and geographic information outdated and useless in deciphering the location of the distress signal. All scans were impossible to make out. This might have been Earth, but the planet he was familiar with was lost to time. This was no different than stepping into another alien world full of sand. Landing on new planets seemed to be commonplace in his life.

In his own practiced routine, Adrien pulled a dust mask over his nose and mouth, and double tapped a metal piece around his temple expanding visor display. Topping off the perpetuation by fashioning his favorite ball cap upon his head. Adrien was dressed for the occasion, hauling light armor and clothing. One primary weapon, two holstered sidearms, and several fragmented explosives. Underneath was short sleeve shirt. He wasn't taking any chances in getting heat stroke under the bullet proof exterior. Not only does this mercenary have to consider the possibility of hostile encounters, he also needed to prevent the environment from inhibiting his abilities.

The last thing he checked were a pair of dog tags, tucking the relic of his past behind his vest. There was no point keeping the tags anymore. If he were to die, there would be no one to collect them. No one to come looking for the body. They were just another piece of his past. A personal ritual he maintained out of sentiment, not necessity.

The heads up display in his goggles drew its own layout of the immediate area. Adrien turned his head from side to side while the tech optimized itself for ideal performance in the new environment. A standard startup calibration for new terrain and locations. However, before he even finished the sequence, the display's seismic monitor and motion warnings were triggered. With a wireless connection to the ship, the device would use the onboard radar as a focal point for its readings.

A series of explosions echoed across the valley. Over head passed a shimmering black air craft smoking like a chimney. Glowing hot from the ships center was a ten meter sized hole carved straight through it.. The craft's left wing collided with the dry-land and dug its own grave. Part way through its slide, the ship burst into plasma and molten shrapnel. Tech like that did not belong to this planet. As expected, not even a minute with his feet on soil and things are already blowing up.

This wasn't the strangest thing Adrien had witnessed within the first five minutes of landing. Not by any means the worse either, but it was troubling. What was even more concerning was that the signal he was looking for was coming from the smoldering wreckage. The radio signal which had been boosting the female's audio transmissions was coming from the downed craft.