Another story by DarkLocustSlayer
Arrival[]
Seth stepped off the ruined old bus and right when he got off the last step dust blew into his eyes and obscured his vision to hide Pandora's shameful landscape. Seth cleared his eyes and his jaw dropped, but not in amazement. He was disgusted at the sight of this barren and seemingly lifeless world. He heard footsteps behind him and the screech of Marcus Kincaid's bus swerving away from the Steele Training Facility. The facility was surrounded by barbed wire and sentries. Seth and his friend Roland volunteered to be conscripted into the Crimson Lance hoping to find their fortunes despite the protests of their families. Seth had never been close to his parents who were too demanding. Roland was his best friend and shared his interests so they went together on the bus to get here to train to be soldiers. This facility was their home now, but outside this place was the real Pandora, where you would probably either die from the weather, raiders, or the planet's beasts.
"God dang' this certainly didn't look like the pictures on the brochure!" exclaimed Roland.
"Yeah, no kidding." remarked Seth.
Roland's light blue eyes skimmed everything he could see and there was a lot he could see. A world of nature was waiting to be discovered or looked upon. Seth straitened his ragged chocolate brown hair. The bus ride had shook his body to the extent that drunk driving could be better than that. That bus driver named Marcus was the worst driver he ever saw. Marcus would constantly speed up until he had to slow down because his bus might crash.
"Hey look." said Roland nudging Seth.
Two sentries walked up to them rifles in hand and one of them shouted, 'State your buisness!"
"We're the new trainees and we just got off the bus to get here." replied Seth.
"In that case, come with us before you become skag food like the last recruits who came." said the other sentry. When the sentry spoke about being skag food, Seth knew that fear penetrated his heart. Even Roland had a worried look on his face. The sentries turned around to lead them inside the facility while crunching rocks and dirt beneath their boots. Every guard here had a suit of black and crimson armor on, which was amazing compared to the leather armor that Roland and Seth wore. The Crimson Lance had to be prepared for danger. The two friends walked with the guards until they stopped in front of a huge door.
Seth saw that pipes, beams, guards, and sandbags infested the place. He could also hear the cry of verbal commands from the drill sergeants and chatter between the sentries. Smoke filled the airspace above the forge where weapons and other equipment are made. The cliff above the facility seemed to tower over them because the settlement clung to the bottom of it.
"What are you doing, get inside the command center!" yelled the sentry who led them. Roland rushed inside with Seth trailing behind him and both did not stall after that, or the soldiers might beat them. Inside were other men and women talking to each other. Seth guessed that they were also conscripts. Four Crimson Lance officers stood before the crowd each different from the other. One was a man about six feet with badges and medals encrusted in to his armor. He was clearly different and seemed better than the other soldiers. He was lean and fit with a rough tan face which bore hard-won scars. He also had a shaven head and a scowl that lasted a while. Seth didn't want to pick a fight with him. Beside the officer was his bodyguards with the standard armor and both of them clutched combat rifles. One of them was calm while the other was tense. They were probably not best grunts Seth looked at. The last person was an albino woman covered with blue tatoos and blonde hair almost as pale as her snow-white skin. Her hazel eyes semmed to peer right through Seth. She was an icon of leadership, bravery, and intimidation according to the talk between the new recruits.
Seth joined the crowd with Roland and swiftly blended in with everyone else. Then, all the people in the room were quieted by a couple of Lance defenders. the woman with the tatoos cleared her throat and suddenly, all eyes were on her.
"You are all here to be part of the Crimson Lance, right? If you are I, Commandant Steele, will be your commander, leader, and your priciple. All of you are also here to protect your families, serve your country, and abolish crime. My officers and I here to teach you to become the finest soldiers on this planet and you will, if you follow orders." said the women.
"Now join me my friends to be guardians and heros of this planet!" she bellowed.
Training[]
Everyone cheered at the end of her speech and inspiration fueled the fires in their heart. Seth and Roland were whooping and clapping with the others. Commandant Steele and her three acquaintances cleared a path through middle of the crowd and dissapeared through the front doors. The cheering halted a short while after that and many were taken away by drill sergeants and officers. Seth and Roland were lined up and followed their officer out of the command center and into the training compound. Seth eyed the trainees doing exercises and yelled at by their commanders. The pack of recruits were led through patrol teams and turret dens until they entered the compound and split up.
Their was a sergeant inside who told them to take their bunkbeds and go "friggin" sleep. At that point the distant moon was held high in the sky lighting the gloomy facility. People rushed to the bunkbeds and clamied them and in the end, Roland and Seth got the last one available. All of the recruits slept in one gigantic room, but the sergeants slept in a seperate building where all the high ranking officers slept in. Snoring and drooling people surrounded Seth and he peered down from his top bunk to see Roland in a deep slumber. He was scanning the internal structure of the compound and found two large windows of the sleeping area and two doors leading to different places. One door led to the training gallery while the other was to the outside of the compound where you could roam the facility.
After Seth's green eyes wandered the the place, he fell into a comfortable sleep.