*Before…

This...this is a solar system with more people than my brain can really get. Where mankind hasn’t had the limits of one planet and one ecosystem for a long, long time.

I’m like all the other “Farmers” and “Rock-hicks” just staring at it all as we’re settling into orbit over Kincade and I’m getting the socio-political term Galaxial even more now as I’m looking down on the daylight side of the colony and I can see cities.

Last stop to Grail.

If this is a colony even one of the biggest what will the fleet capital be like?

*And Now…

We all pick up OBC alerts from command with a briefing as to behave and how to navigate while here on Kincaid.

We’re going to be doing some on duty things here as part of our cadet packages and we’re to help with some of the new recruits here that we will be picking up as well as ROTC cadets and meeting with other recruiting ships as we make our final trip into Grail.

We’re downloaded App ware so there will be icons that point out public transports, bathrooms, Colonial Union buildings and facilities plus we’re downloaded schedules and things as well as maps that we will need.

We will be housed on base as well since we will be doing things there.

The rest comes in slowly as allowed content and I buffer that away and I go and pack getting my things ready for when we’ll be down there.

We’re required to be in full uniforms when we depart and that comes with an inspection.

So we’re all hard at work getting ready for that but also getting our quarters spotless before we leave because we know that they will be checked.

There is something soothing to me as I’m getting ready about being in the right uniform and doing all of the things that I have to do as a woman in the service to get ready like the regulation cross braid, it’s an interlocking braid that leaves room for the tail end to actually be tucked under the cross woven top section.

Anything longer is not allowed.

Most of us bridge crew and command track women wear our this way as well as medical the engineering and combat MOS types they usually go with really short hair.

I’ve had short hair for too long in my life.

It’s still very exciting for all of us as we’re dressed in our uniformed best and we have our duffs packed and loaded onto the cargo shuttle while we get picked up by a military skybus.

That’s a large multi-purpose shuttle a lot like a urban hover bus with all of the windows so the passengers can see outside and we’re marveling over the views as we’re getting picked up and flown in.

I love this part.

The sights, the space traffic with everything in orbit and in suborbit it’s alive, it’s like sims of schools of fish in a lot of ways and it has a dazzle to it like nothing else.

Then we hit atmosphere and there’s this re-entry pop that used to be the thermal cone but in these days once you hit a certain point of re-entry they pop the air drag with a burst from the shields and you’ve gone from the dazzling darkness to the most brilliant of blues.

I know that in this age of galactic travel that atmospheric things shouldn’t be that poetic but so far it’s just true.

It is the most unbelievable of blues up here.

And then there’s the view of the world.

This high up there’s this horizon curve to the view, this high up you can see the curve.

And just above the curve there’s this light refraction bit that’s just this optical illusion created by rotation.

But still there’s this sort of line of light not light there that’s called planet rise.

I’ve only seen this four times and that includes leaving home and it makes me take a moment’s pause to just take it all in.

And then it’s gone as we’re descending.

Kincaid is big.

Actually this is called Kincaid Metro as the capital here and it’s shocking a lot of us.

The city’s coastline must be at least three hundred kilometers and it goes inland just as far and it stops just short of mountains where we’re heading to but our pilots have orders for a scenic flight path so we’re seeing four hundred story mega buildings that look more like fortresses than tall skyscrapers and the traffic, even the civilian traffic is not just like hover vehicles in the air but sky vehicles which is basically shuttle like technology extended into civilian vehicles and is everything from transports to personal rides and even taxis in the stereotyped checkered yellow and black.

Home sky-tech vehicles were for the ultra elites and were pretty much just seem going to other ultra elites and that was usually on the public vid-feeds.

I have no idea how they keep track of it all.

Or change levels or lanes or any of those things.

I want to know though.

One it just looks as cool as it does daunting and scary, Two it would be amazing help towards learning better piloting and three while it sounds petty no one back home would know how to do this.

Then again I’m definitely sure that none of my family could survive PT training or anything else that I’m doing.

We’re all shifting from whatever our thoughts are to awe as we pass through a stable shield dome and we’re on the base.

It is not as big as the city but it is a base.

And unlike anything that I have ever seen.

We pass through the shield and over blast walls big enough that they can and are driving on top of them and I know that there is staff inside. Past that is just kilometer after kilometer of pavement and some sort of contruct I don’t know because it’s all pristine from what I can see.

Docking cradles with actual starships in dock nothing like our flagship but cruisers, battleships, corvettes and others that I have no idea how to designate are there.

And the buildings are like temples.

I mean it sounds odd but like these ancient human earth temples like a squared off pyramid and build heavily.

I’m definitely not an expert but you can literally see how heavy they are constructed. Things here even under a shield dome are built to withstand orbital assault.

And the base just keeps going.

There’s a flicker in my eyesight and there’s this old and very large Argonaut bio-mod soldier in my virtual window.

“Take a good look cadets because this is where you will be stationed first and foremost once we get you trained to where you won’t get killed on the first pass an enemy does.”

There’s more of his image showing us things in our links as we do a circular pass of the base and then we’re dropped off at this large armored dome that had these rings around it up and down of geodesic windows and it was very wide across and high too likely seven hundred meters at the top of the dome and three times that across at the base.

C.U.R. Arkcology.

Colonial Union Recruitment.

Arkology is sort of like this all in one living facility with both quarters and various form of shops and services for the service members here cadets like us and recruits.

We disembark on a hangar level and there are corporals and sergeants there to tell us where to go as well as various upper versions of them overseeing all of us and by meaning all of us we’re talking about not just our ship but others from the look of it.

In this area alone with those of us that have been picked up by ships and coming in by shuttle there are close to five hundred of us.

We’re getting looks.

Not other shuttles from other ships but us, we’re getting looks.

I heard whisperings of our ship name too as we’re getting assembled and sorted.

It feels sad being separated from my other bunkmates.

And they’re not letting us say much right now either it’s a grab your bags and move to your division.

And I’m out of Sense-nav and now in Command Track.

I get nods as they’re still from my ship and I know them from duty shifts and things with the bridge work and sec-bridge (secondary) and sense-nav and tactical plus well PT and sword work.

All command track learn swords.

Not all are allowed to carry them.

Actually just me.

But they all are shouldering shinai.

It’s kind of nerve wracking and kind of exciting as we’re here and there are so many of us and then shifted and sorted and then we’re called to attention.

And the ranked men and women prowl through us looking us over and they’re evaluating each of us and I think what ships that we came off of as well.

I get circled by three, three different Sergeants in this pass and looked at I think a few times by some of the others including a few older officers.

Then we’re getting called by groups and we’re assigned a Corporal or we’re assigned to them and we’re jogged off to the dorms.

“Jogged.”

It reminds me of when we were starting PT on ship and started the morning runs.

The only warning we had is him shouting.

“By the left!”

“Keep pace!”

Then he started.

We were lucky in that we seen some others muff it up and not take their bags and get a strip tore off of them by the hovering Sergeants.

We go up three floors of stairs with the Corporal shouting out. “In the middle no rails.”

Keeping pace, with bags.

I swing my duff up and on my back slipping the handles over my shoulders like a backpack.

I’m self conscious as hell and I go OBC and I do a group link text.

[Shoulder your Duffs, you’ll be arms free and better balanced and it’ll reduce bounce.]

There’s like a few moments after that and they all do the same as me.

I’m sort of feeling pretty self conscious from that.

And then it was us going all the way around.

The floor that we are on.

Twice.

Twice?

Second time around I start paying attention and doing OBC snapshots of what is there just in case.

And then up another floor were we are shown to the dorms.

Directly so no run through of this floor.

Command track, private bunks for each of us and it’s literally us walking in through this archway and we see not cots but like these crafted cubicles that are open with no roof to them but like a four foot privacy wall and there are other cadets there hanging out.

Well hanging out or waiting.

There’s more people watching even coming over to watch as we’re getting assigned and taking our bunks by the numbers.

I hear them say hushedly. “The Apollo.”

And I can feel eyes on me.

Not just us but on me.

And people whispering. “It’s her.”

Oh dammit.

People know who I am?

It doesn’t help when the Corporal McVarden says. “Bunk out here you’ll find instructions on the basics on your On Body Computers there will be orders at various points during your stay but this is going to be your last R and R before you all hit Grail.”

He moves to leave. “Stone!”

I say. “Yes Corporal!”

“Good call you’re the only one today that shared that with their unit.”

He walks out and someone pulls up on this long, long hover scooter thing and he hangs onto their shoulder while stepping on and it speeds off.

Okay as bad as it feels with everyone staring at me from other places those that showed up here with me are giving me a few smiles and thankful looks.