Endo-Stellarz:War on the Horizon

Chapter 5: Lunah: Part 1

(Rolund Hea Yong - GT 0932 151)

With the start of a new morning Ileen and I had nearly finished packing our belongings into the SS Dragoon, the ship I inherited from my grandpa.

"In a way I am going to miss this place." Ileen said looking at the campus.

"Personally I have grown a bit sick of it. Have you got everything?" I contributed.

"That should be it." She said as I looked out into the streets, many cars and spaceships gone from what were normally around and lines of people and the occasional alien branched out of multiple makeshift tents for the recruitment draft.

"Then let us leave this dump." I said after she walked in and I closed the door, possibly being the last time I would see Tharum. As I jumped into the pilot's seat I wondered why grandpa was so dedicated on getting five seats in the cockpit, I never got to ask him about that before he passed away, though it does help one feel less lonely to have friends when flying a ship.

We both straped ourselves in as I flipped the engine switch as the ship started up. The light hum of the engines filled the ship as we lifted off the ground slowly. "Onward, Palahdians!" I jokingly exclaimed as I shot the ship off towards our moon.

"That is so cringeworthy." Ileen chuckled looking out the rear view at the slowly shrinking planet behind us. After about a minute Ileen chimed in, "You do have oxygen kits on this ship, right?"

"Yes, but not really, it's one old model that tends to malfunction."

"Then how are we going to breath on Lunah?"

"I'm sure the depot has a landing area we can drop in with oxygen in it." I said, whilst not being entirely sure myself.

Not even two minutes later the SS Dragoon was flying in low orbit around Lunah. "What were the coordinates of the debot again Ileen?" I said.

"Don't worry about it we are almost there, just head a little further north, then you should see it." Ileen said as we both had our eyes glued to the window. Moments later an expansive building complex crawled over the horizon.

"There she is." I said as I directed my ship towards it, heading toward one of the openings in the roof of the complex covered with a light-blue watery-like barrier that I knew was an oxygen field.

I stopped above one of the openings and descended the ship down into it. Then we made touchdown as the ship landed in the large room, the field having slid around our ship as we descended. We felt a shake and heard a slight thud as the hover engines turned off. As we stepped out of our ship into the complex I could not help but notice that it was even quieter than I remember it being the last time I was here.

"Wait, doesn't Lunah have weaker gravity than Tharum? It feels the same." Ileen mentioned.

"They have artificial gravity generators." I responded.

"Oh, how could I forget." She smiled chuckling at her moment of confusion. As we walked out of the hangar into one of the hallways, the environment echoed of old stores and interpretations of "simple sci-fi" The steel-gray walls lined with white-yellowish light imitating Souhn's light emitting from bands near the floor and ceiling of the hallway. Further down the hallway were several storefronts as well as the occasional vending machine dotting the hall offering things from currency exchange to guns.

"How much did you say you have again? We might need to use more than just what I have in my account." I directed towards Ileen.

"My account is not that full, but I do have a couple thousand Luks on me just in case." She said pulling out a shiny coin.

"Let us hope they accept Nehd just so we do not have to worry about lugging around so many coins." I continued.

"So what was all we were looking for again?" She asked.

"Well first we need more food and water, perhaps an extra Nicke-cell, an extra capacitor for the ship so we can swap out the battery, maybe buy a new oxygen kit or two so we can repair our ship out in deep space without suffocating, oh and maybe a gun so we can protect ourselves out there." I listed off.

"I'll keep that in mind. Though if we were to get a gun, keep it for yourself, I don't want to deal with that." Ileen replied. We noticed a lone Zelian sweeping a store front up ahead. A Zelian is a being native to the Xlaite System and most populous species in Vesmica. They resemble an upright bug, but only hosting a pair of legs and arms, hosting many other similar traits to Tharum bugs, such as a stinger and wings. Though perhaps the most interesting thing about Zelians is their glowing antennae and eyes, as well as the little gem stuck within their chest.

The tan colored, blue eyed, and green chest-pieced Zelian looked up from his sweeping as his body gave the impression of surprise at seeing us. "Oh customers!" he said in a slightly croaky voice. "What are you two trying to find?"

"Mainly ship parts, food, oxygen kits, and maybe a gun." I said.

"Gun!? I can sell you that, as well as some other things you might find useful or have mentioned. Names Xan! Just Xan." He said joyfully.

"Has it been quiet here this whole day?" Ileen said.

"Oh, very much so, ever since the war started, while I have sold much more wares, the lack of anyone around the store bugs me." Xan responded. "But let's not get ahead of ourselves, why don't you come into my store?" He said directing his arms towards the doorway.

He proceeded to head back behind the shops' counter, the whole shop was painted in a yellowish-tan color, most of his shelves were nearly empty, including the wall behind him that was filled with hooks and nails, most of the hooks empty, while a few held small guns like pistols.

"So what brings you to Lunah?" he said tidying up something behind the counter.

"Well we were thinking about heading out of the DLT, for a vacation!" I never really was good at lying as Xan looked up at me.

"Oh I know why you are here." he said, "You are trying to avoid the draft, aren't you?" Before I could get a word in, he continued, "Don't worry I won't tell anyone, in fact you two look like you might need some help. I know if they tested you two; you both would turn up positive on being enrolled into the army. But I can feel that that is not who you are."

He went on, his hands waving as he talked. "I will see how I can help you, but I cannot let you get these things completely for free else the inspectors might find it suspicious, so instead I will give you two a discount." He put his claws on the counter before saying, "So where are you headed?"

"We've been thinking about heading to the Tayio System." I said.

"That's around 650 or so Galixes away, how fast is your ship?" Xan added.

"Around 5.5 Galixes an hour or so."

"So that would make your trip around... Five days long, give or take." Xan calculated. "Do you have COMs?"

"What about our Communicators?" Ileen said putting her hand on her hip.

"If you did not know the DLT can track the location of civilian COMs connected to the endonet that have been bought within the DLT. So if you keep those COMs you won't be gone for long." Xan explained.