Space bent around the ship like tight fabric, and the stars outside the viewing glass stretched into thin white lights across the endless void. Heinrich Wynn stood among a hundred other recruits, boots locked to the deck by magnetic grip around his ankles and feet. Felt tight like someone was grabbing on them but refusing to let go. He watched as Earth shrink behind everyone.
He thought to himself "Earth to Astra Primus, recruit to soldier, from a nobody to someone greater am I worth it?"
The ride to the Space Academy was smooth but cramped in a weird way. Dark matter travel made it feel that way, it was comfortable but felt unnatural. The transport vessel itself was a long, narrow spear of black alloy, its interior had seats and magnetic locks on the floor and rows of standing locks for those who wanted to stand and had steel reinforced lined walls. Every few seconds, the ship shifted that felt like a rollercoaster drop. Some of the recruits hated it, Heinrich being one of them. A girl two rows over did too he could tell by the way she clenched her jaw every time. However some didn't take it so well, A boy near the front had already vomited into his sleeve but tried to hide it. It made Heinrich laugh and gag. Another kid started whispering something under his breath like he was praying, Heinrich didn't judge he understood that fear was so everyone had included him but he knew fear could be used. He leaned his head slightly back against the cool glass feeling the cool air coming off the window feel soothing like when he first flip over your pillow and the cool air touches your face it relaxed him and within that relaxation eyes fixed on the fading blue sphere of Earth. Home yet, prison. Earth had been a place of survival for him he would go hungry for days. Loud noises from the upper city from the alleys and abandoned homes he had to live in. To him it was a place where weakness was punished. He had learned early that no one was coming to save him on earth, just him and his skill alone is all his has. Just then a faint hum deepened through the ship's frame, the dark matter core spiked again and made gravity shifted.
Heinrich smiled, just barely because he knew that he was closing in on the academy.
A voice cracked and broke the small chatter in the ship the ship's intercom ranged sharp like a whistle.
"Arrival in ninety seconds. Prepare for stabilization."
Heinrich straightened, rolling his shoulders once. He fixed his uniform—a stiff, dark fabric stitched with black threading along the collar itched against his neck. He ignored how tight it was he would fix it later to his standards.
"Ninety seconds" he thought He closed his eyes not to rest, but to think.
Beyond this ship is the gate way to power, rank, and influence. The ability to shape his life's outcomes instead of reacting to those others created. His dream of becoming Supreme Marshal was....Necessary for his own survival nothing else mattered. If humanity was going to survive the next war with Apeps whenever it would come, no matter what the politicians said it wouldn't be through numbers or brute force. Last we tried that half the human population was burned and killed for their pleasure. That was a warning that you must not ignore.
Heinrich opened his eyes.
Earth was gone from the window In its place was Astra Primus, a dark shape cutting across the stars, its lights came into focus thousands of them, arranged in layered rings and massive vertical structures that extended like pillars it was the size of the new city of Chicago but strangly it look like a mass cannon pretending to be an academy.
Massive docking arrays rotated slowly along its outer ring caused by dark matter cores creating artificial gravity, blinking lights guiding incoming vessels into position. Defensive cannons like jagged spires lined the station's edges, their barrels angled outward toward the infinite dark.
Heinrich studied them instinctively they looked to have range and coverage from blind spots.
"Good" he thought
The ship slowed and the ship and space seem to relaxed around them.
The vessel locked into the docking ring with a heavy, final clunk that echoed through the hull.
"Disembark."
The locks released their metal grip with a synchronized click. The recruits moved as one.
Heinrich stepped forward words the middle of the group. The doors opened and cold air rushed in but it seemed like hand sanitizer...Its sterilized air. He stepped onto Astra Primus floors and The assembly hall was vast. It seemed to swallow all the sounds and conversations alike, a massive chamber of steel and reinforced glass, its ceiling lost somewhere above in shadow. Thousands of recruits stood in ordered rows, forming precise lines under the watchful gaze of armed personnel lining the perimeter.
The Lancers.
Their armor was heavier than anything the recruits wore dark, reinforced, designed for war. Their posture and faces alone was enough to communicate everything: You are not like us. At the front of the hall stood a single elevated platform and on it Captain Kane Marks. Heinrich recognized him immediately, of course not from personal experience, but from military recruitment papers and whenever he sneaked by someone house he could see him on holotv. The man was… exactly as described. Grey haired around Sixty years old, Unyielding stare with broad-shouldered, posture perfectly upright, presence heavy enough to press down on the entire room without a word spoken. His uniform bore the markings of the 105th Lancer, lance insignia withe red tip. Heinrich caught a glimpse of something in his left hand, A small metal container....He was eating and they were Heinrich favorites Boston baked beans Heinrich laughed a little he was seriously eating In the middle of a recruitment speech. Interesting. He chewed, swallowed, then looked out over the assembled recruits as if measuring each of them in a single glance. When he spoke, his voice carried without effort.
"Half of you will not make it. No—let me correct that." He took another handful and put some in mouth. CRUNCH. CRUNCH "More than half of you....will not make it."
Fear moved through the crowd.
Kane continued. "This is Astra Primus. There are no second chances." "You are here because someone decided you might be useful or were brave or stupid enough to sign up."
He paused and ate some more and swallowed.
"Prove them right Or leave."
Heinrich felt the room settle into awkward silence.
Kane stepped forward slightly, eyes scanning.
"I fought at the Great Divide. Jupiter to Saturn. I watched colonizes burn, I watched good soldiers…..brothers die because they thought strength alone would win them the war."
His gaze hardened.
"It didn't." He paused then continued "The Apeps are not gone, They are out there waiting, watching learning ." The room shifted it fear and determination, The unspoken fear and hate for the Apeps. "And when it starts again, I don't need bodies, I need reliable weapons. Your first trial begins now." The words cut through the room like a blade. "Those who fail...leave immediately This is the Trial of Sekhmet."
Kane gestured once and one of the lancer pressed a button and the floor shifted. Panels slid open, revealing multiple combat circles—each one marked clearly, enclosed by low barriers, illuminated by harsh overhead light. Lancers moved quickly, distributing weapons. Blunted Short daggers. Heinrich took one when it was handed to him, its weight and balance were good. "You can choose your opponent or it will be chosen for you. Now. Fight."
Heinrich exhaled slowly and stepped into one of the circles. Across from him A boy, tall and muscular looked probably trained. His stance was structured and disciplined enough. Military background maybe. Heinrich tilted his head slightly. The boy raised his dagger, grip firm, posture textbook.
"Ready?" he asked.
Heinrich didn't answer just nodded his head.
The whistle came.
The boy moved first. Straight forward thrust a damn near telegraphed thrust. Heinrich side stepped it.
The blade passed his shoulder by inches as he pivoted, his own dagger already moving—not in a wide arc but in a direct line for his neck. Stopped short to gain one point. The boy froze stood shocked at the speed and brutal strike.
Heinrich didn't press the advantage and go for a second point instead He just stepped back and waited. Confusion replaced shock and then anger, The boy attacked again—faster this time, more aggressive. Heinrich shifted low, and during the boys strike, he rushed and drove forward with his shoulder into the boy's center mass. BAM! GASP!!!! Air left the boy's lungs in a sharp gasp. Heinrich followed instantly—dagger snapping upward toward the ribcage, stopping just before contact. Second point. The boy stumbled back still trying to catch his breath now full of fear and hesitation. Now was the time to press the advantage and Heinrich didn't give him time. He closed the distance, fast and unpredictable. A feint high then a sudden shift low, foot hooking behind the boy's ankle, pulling while pushing forward. The boy hit the ground hard. BAM! Heinrich dropped with him, blade already at his throat. Point Three. Done! The match was over. Heinrich stood, offering no hand, no acknowledgment, he simply stepped back. Heinrich didn't even look at him again. He looked over at Kane he knew The Captain had been watching. Their eyes met for a brief moment and then a Lancer called out from the side. "Assignment confirmed." A pause. "Bane Wing far right."
Heinrich exhaled once and turned right, walking out of the circle, blending into the darkness of the corridor to bane wing. Heinrich Wynn Void Recruit 818.