Sector 56

Chapter 1

06/17/3016

---

"Welcome to the army, Private Victor Dahn. Schedule of transfer to S.C.A. Faithful will be three days from now. Please do what you need to do before transfer. Thank you."

Victor could not forget what she said. He always wanted to go to the army ever since he was young.

It wasn't an easy task, though. Not only was it hard, but his father opposed to the idea.

"Do you want to be a dead man? No? Then don't join! It is for your own good!" His father said.

Nevertheless, his mother and most of his relatives supported him, so after graduating college, he enrolled in military school. There, he learned to aim and shoot a plasma blaster, pilot and maneuver with the X-96, the common Sector 56 fighter, physically exercised, and learned what it means to be a member of the army. He graduated with his friends, Heide Parsons and Francis Hughes, and have successfully enlisted in the army.

Now, Victor, Heide, and Francis are in Alcas' Pub along with other newbies, celebrating their enlisting.

"All that hard work finally paid off!" Francis said. "Now, we can drink away our worries of dying in unknown land." He said as he orders another shot from the barmaid.

"There is a possibility that would not happen, you know." Heide said.

"But there is still the possibility of dying a sad death, am I right?" He said to her, starting a trivial argument about the odds of dying in war between her, then about something else.

"Stop it. We are here to celebrate, not this!" Victor tried to stop them. "Besides this is really a trivial matter to argue about, isn't it?" Victor takes a shot.

"Yeah, you are right." Heide said, with Francis nodding in silence, then said, "Well? Cheers to our future careers!"

"Yep, exciting..." Francis said.

"...dangerous..." Heide added.

"...and, um... honorable careers." Victor said to top it all off.

Clink!

After that, they talked for a good while until it reached 12 midnight in Earth time. They took their leave and returned to their homes.

As Victor was driving, he thought of the honors of being in the army and the number of enemy ships he will destroy, but never did he consider in his drive the dangerous risks of joining the army.

---

"Here is your paycheck. Thank you for working at Farja enterprises."

Freelancer Robin Mendoza gladly accepts his payment and takes his leave from the chat. Flying on his ship, he started to feel discontent. He wanted more, at least a permanent job with a steady amount of income. Not only that, he also wanted to live by himself, instead of his parents' apartment. He knows that they are rich due to their occupations, but he still wanted to be independent.

After that short reflection, he arrived at his parents double-floored luminous apartment oddly quickly.

"How was your work today, sweetie?" His mother said.

"Ok as usual." Robin said, just realizing that his income from the company is a bit lower than expected.

"You know, you could apply for a job. A permanen-"

"And fail the 5th time? No thanks."

"Are you saying you gave up?"

"No, it's just... just shut up."

"I am just trying to help you!" She said as Robin closed the door.

As he turned on the holographic TV, he started to reflect even more. His "job" is unstable, and he knows that this can't go on like this forever. How did he fail anyway? He had good grades, and he was still discarded! Why is life like this? Why are the people who did worse at school become successful? Why are his parents succesful and not him? Why?

"That turned deeper than usual," he thought to himself, looking at the family portrait of him with his mom and dad while in Sector 104. "I wonder how dad is doing in S.S.F. Chance?" He then focused on the TV, with the news channel.

So far, it is the story of some celebrities, how the economy is doing, and how the occasional group that opposes the gender-equality act gets punished by society. Nothing interesting, so far.

Then popped the words:

"The Mnetrin Pirates have struck again!"

"It's them again," He thought to himself. For with great power, also comes great challenges. The Mnetrin Pirates are one of them. Getting their name from starting out in the Mnetrin sub-sector 15 years ago, they are one of the most infamous criminals in not just the sector, but the galaxy.

Robin has heard them for quite some time now, but why did he just gain interest now? After looking for a reason, he found it in the valuables they stole. The thefts recently have started to gain in value slowly but steadily. From 200,000 Credits, to 350,000 Credits, to 400,000 Credits.

He then knew what to do.

---

"Nice doing business with ya," said the fellow trader.

"Nice to do business with you too," said Ella Wells, as she bids her goodbyes and starts to leave the trading post..

"Another profit," she said to herself, as she gets back to her cargo ship and flies into space. So far, life has had its fair share of triumphs and defeats for this average trader. She once sold something with a thousand credit profit, while the ship caught fire and was not able to be extinguished in time to scorch some of her wares. She once had a nice reunion with a childhood friend, just to be interrupted by some scouts of the Mnetrin Pirates.

As she takes flight towards her next destination, she sets the auto-pilot to a nearby wormhole, then goes downstairs. She got some snacks from the 3D-printing machine, and started enjoying them.

As she enjoyed her light meal, she thought of her family back home. Her sister and parents, her goodbye as she leaves for a better life, which is the life she lives, and some other memories from Sector 79. Though lonely, she is quite optimistic about everything, for she knows that something good will happen one day.

"You have arrived at your destination." The ship AI said. She went back to the wheel and lined up behind ships for the wormhole.

As she approached the wormhole, a guard ship went by, sending the message, "Name and occupation?"

"Ella Wells. Merchant." She replied.

The guard took a while, then the wormhole gate opened.

"You may pass."

She sped up as she went through. No matter how many times she has been through this wormhole, it always feels like a new experience for her, as she zooms past the surreal, green surroundings.

Though wormhole travel would take a second outside of the wormhole, it feels like ten seconds traveling through one. As she exits, she goes past the ships queing for travel and speeds up towards the rendezvous point of her next trading post.