Chapter 2: August 25th, 2350

“Are you serious?” Mizu replied to his divisional officer. He showed an expression of frustration and anger on his face.

“I’m afraid so,” the commander replied in a Southeastern Asian accent. He sat at his desk and put his hands together on the table.

It had been almost over a year and a half since the deadly attack on Batrice. Many things seemed to have changed as Mizu was a little bit older. He was standing in a small, luxurious office. Compared to over a year ago, Mizu’s attire was much different now. He was now wearing a UHN jumpsuit. The familiar red and blue colors of the uniform and black magnetic boots gave the testament that he had succeeded in his mission. In the center of his uniform was the rank insignia of a petty officer 3rd class. He was a little bit stockier now, with more muscle tone to his body. Even his hair was cut short slightly to fit military regulations.

“Ugh...” Mizu waved his hand at his divisional officer. “What? Did they make you bend over backwards and serve the rest of the COC for this?”

The commander seemed so used to Mizu’s somewhat playful antics that he didn’t take the comment too seriously. Mizu was used to this room. It was a pristine place. It wasn’t a large room, but the office consisted of a luxury-style red and blue carpet. The finely metal-crafted desk was positioned in the center, with several chairs lined throughout the area. Throughout the walls were several displays that depicted the live feeds of surrounding areas, including the vast hangar bay of Fort Batrice. One of the displays was a wall-mounted rotating picture display that showed photographs of the officer’s family and achievements.

Standing in a relaxed composure next to him was a taller woman wearing a military UHN jumpsuit. Being skinny, she was lankier in appearance. Her facial features were more reminiscent of a person whose bloodline followed from places such as Malaysia or Indonesia. Her skin complexion was darker than Mizu’s paler face, and her hair was also cut short so drastically that some would mistake her for a man by accident.

“Sir ... no offense, but what the fuck?” the woman almost angrily replied in a similar thick Southeast Asian accent to the commander. “We’re pilots. We take up the roles and responsibilities of helping move the shit around this station. Now you’re asking us to take up this role too?”

“I’m afraid so, Hamiza,” the commander replied to the woman. Mizu looked upon him. The commander was a seemingly understandable person that Mizu knew well. His facial features were reminiscent of a person whose ancestors came from Vietnam or Cambodia. Unlike the other two, he wore a prominent red and blue officer’s attire. He had a large handlebar mustache that he properly maintained as he looked upon the other two.

“Are you going to be informing the other pilots as well?” Hamiza asked with annoyance in her voice.

“Yes, I will, but that’ll be for tomorrow’s plan of the day,” Trai said.

“I can’t believe that you’re going to do this,” Mizu commented as he waved his hand at him. “Being a pilot is hard work as it is. Now you’re asking us to start taking up duty section watches?”

Trai simply sighed. “Look ... I’ll have to inform all of my personnel of the sacrifices they’ll have to perform. We’ve been lucky we made it this far, but there are over a hundred in my section that work with the hangar section. I’m responsible for the logistics chain, but even with Fort Batrice completed, the rest of the crew and staff are overtaxed as it is.”

“We know, sir,” Hamiza replied. “We already take up ten-hour shifts ... but this ... this is bullshit.”

“Hamiza, that’s enough. I’ve done as much as I could to defend our position, but the COC is crawling all over me. They see this department as free hands to start taking up additional watches while they try to resolve the technical problems on the station. Even if Fort Batrice is completed, they still need to work out the issues involved.”

“Do they want us to suck their cocks too?” Mizu asked.

“Heh...” Hamiza laughed.

“That’s enough from the both of you,” Trai remarked. “Look ... I sympathize with you two. Even I have to start taking up additional watches, too. You’re not the only one. I sympathize with the whole team that works on Fort Batrice, but my hands are tied on this.”

“Is that why you asked us to come here? Sir?” Mizu asked.

“Partly. I asked you two to come here because you two will be the first to take up the watches. You’ll be taking up the night watches and providing assistance to the MAs in station security.”

“Security?” Hamiza asked.

“Yes. Tomorrow, the T’rintar clan are sending their ambassadors to talk to the Prime Minister.”

“Again?” Mizu almost chuckled. “Now they want us to play guard dogs as we fly the shuttles back and forth to the station?”

Mizu thought about it as he heard the words being spoken. Being told that he was going to be taking up night watches was one thing, but the fact that the T’rintar clan was coming to the Batrice system annoyed him. Hamiza herself was even more agitated.

Hamiza herself shook her head. “It’s such...”

“I don’t want to hear it,” Trai interrupted. “I’m not much in the mood to hear the news either. They’re sending their best ambassadors to the capital of New Phnom Penh to talk to Heng Chanvatey. After they finish, they’ll fly their shuttle to come and check out the operational status of Fort Batrice.”

“We’re letting the enemy come and check out one of the most powerful battle stations that the UHN ever saw?” Hamiza asked.

“Well ... they aren’t precisely our enemy ... for the most part,” Mizu remarked. “More like having a bank robber come to a children’s birthday party.”

Hamiza gave a scornful look at him, but she understood its meaning enough that she dropped what she was going to say.

“Tomorrow,” Trai explained. “I want the both of you to make your regular trip to the Batrice Shipyards. Your schedule will be somewhat close to the arrival of the ambassador’s shuttle.”

“What landing pad are they coming into land?” Hamiza asked.

“Pad 2. You guys will be landing at Pad 1. I have to make sure that my staff are well prepared for the whole event. The supply department is promising the best meals that the ambassadors could ever have,” he cleared his throat. “I expect you two to be on your best behavior. Remember ... whatever we think about the Itrean clan, it’s up to us to stay out of politics as much as possible. That attitude ... even if it is mutual ... must be contained.”

Trai’s words were circulating in Mizu’s mind. He remained a little bit quiet at first as he considered the news. So much had happened in one year alone, and so much more information was available. The enemy aliens known as the Itreans had three clans ... the T’rintar, Aksren, and Shal’rein. The human race had chosen to ally with the T’rintar clan to have their protection against the other Itrean clans. There were insane rumors that the Itreans came from planet Earth and that they were the surviving descendants of long-dead life forms known as dinosaurs. Whether it was true or not didn’t matter. What did matter was that the ambassadors were simply carrying along with a peace treaty like it was nothing. His opinions only seemed to be tainted when he saw the mysterious group of alien women that began to show up at the space station. The wives of UHN personnel on duty were questionable of their true motives. As each day passed, more and more of these reptilian-like people were coming aboard the station. Hamiza’s opinion was even more aggressive.

“Fine ... orders are orders, sir,” Hamiza said, waving her hand. “But, I’d like to have my complaints on file dealing with this situation. With us getting less time to sleep, it’ll degrade our piloting skills. It endangers the lives of personnel on the station.”

“And you’re one of our best pilots,” Trai consoled her. “That’s why I’m happy to see you help train Mizu with your abilities. I want you two together, sharing the same responsibilities for everything. If the COC has to start forcing my people to work in other compartments, then I can at least try to keep my people together regardless.”

Mizu knew the divisional officer was telling the truth. Hamiza was one of the best pilots on Fort Batrice amongst the enlisted staff. Her abilities were so good that they put some of the officer pilots to shame. If there was anybody to learn from on how to fly a shuttle, it was her. Her rank of a petty officer 2nd class was a sign that she should be higher than that. Regardless, her mouth made her an obvious target. She didn’t hesitate to voice her opinion, and neither did he.

“I have to side with Hamiza on this too, sir,” Mizu replied. “We might as well be robots. Where is the time to get something to drink? Where is the time for the whole R and R shit? At this rate, they’ll find one of the shuttles running into the walls of Fort Batrice and point and laugh at the two pilots who can’t get any sleep, then blame us for a problem they made.”

Trai shrugged. “Let’s just say blame it on the Itreans for putting us into this. The enemy declared war on us over a year ago. Batrice promises to keep this station in full combat status. If the Aksren or Shal’rein clans ever attack us again, they won’t know what hit them. We must ensure that this station works so that more of our constructed warships can go and help the other colonies that rather ... recklessly decided that it was better not to have a military and play ‘hippie’ in the first place.”

Trai decided to keep the rest of his opinions confined. Mizu knew that Trai was more professional in the large meetings with the rest of the staff. He usually kept his views to himself, but he had more liberty to be vocal because only two people were present. Mizu felt inclined to agree with him.

“Aye, sir,” Mizu replied.

“Dismissed...” Trai remarked as he tapped his fingers on the desk. Both Hamiza and Mizu gave a salute to Trai, keeping the right hand placed on the forehead and eyebrow.

“Wait...” Trai told them. “Remember the new hand salute that’s being passed down. Batrice is changing its salute pretty soon. Honestly, I don’t care which way it’s done right now but do remember to salute the new way when you’re out there. With the ambassadors coming aboard, Fleet Admiral Baxton is watching everything with great interest. He prefers the new method over anything else and is adamant about it. The last thing that I want is to have the Fleet Admiral breathing down my neck because of stupid shit.”

Both nodded their heads before Trai waved them off. He was not angry but just giving them a friendly reminder. The two proceeded to leave as they reached the sliding door. When it opened, the two walked out of the hallway. Mizu looked at the door as it closed behind him.

Mizu and Hamiza were standing in the rather lavish hallway where the officer’s staterooms were. All along the passageway were the rows of different colony flags painted on the tile-like deck. They began their long trek down the hallway to reach the elevator that would lead to the central atrium below.

“Ugh...” Hamiza replied. “I’m going to have less time with my husband now ... fucking hell.”

“I agree that it’s bullshit,” Mizu said. “We now have to take up armed watches along with our daily chores.”

“Imagine having to tell the whole department that shit. All because of the fact that they still can’t fix the damn power blackouts on the station.”

Mizu sighed. Fort Batrice’s completion was monumental after a year of the attack, but there was a price to it, even with the rushed job. He could still remember the series of unannounced power shortages that were happening on the space station. It would be routine as the emergency generators would kick in before the main reactor would be fully active again. This would cause power failures and anomalies that would regularly hit the station. It was the final little kink in the chain that needed to be fixed, but it was taking months to resolve it. Engineers were doing their best to resolve the situation, but it was a headache to take care of.

“Those fucking engineers have been working on this for over two months,” Hamiza said. “The pride of Batrice is on the line to make sure this place works...”

“Maybe they’re getting too much pussy from the T’rintar women coming to here,” Mizu joked.

“Maybe they are ... then again, I do wonder if the Itreans are responsible for this shit.”

Mizu gave a questioning look as they got closer to the elevator. “What do you mean?” he asked.

“Well, the errors didn’t start to happen until the T’rintar clan started to come aboard.”

“Aren’t they supposed to be our allies?”

“It doesn’t mean shit. Don’t forget we blew up one of their spy ships less than nine months ago. They only see us as a way to save their species from extinction. They didn’t hesitate to bash Eutera to the ground before that too.”

“True...”

“Don’t tell me you’re getting soft with those Yuknans?”

“Ugh ... that word is so ... stupid,” Mizu remarked as he smiled and shook his head.

“What, Yuknan?”

“Yeah ... I just feel like I can come up with a better word or something to identify them.” They reached the elevator door as it slid open. They walked inside as they looked at each other. “Like ... I don’t know ... thieves or ... Akrit or ... Trinity of thieves or ... Men humpers or ... ugh...”

“Yeah, well, when you come up with a better word, let me know,” Hamiza said. She lifted up her left arm and tapped a button. A three-dimensional display activated, linking up with the elevator controls. She pressed the bottom floor as the elevator began to move downward.

“Sounds like the elevator needs to be worked on some more as well,” Mizu commented.

“What do you mean? ... oh ... yeah, that’s right ... that ear of yours.”

Mizu tapped his left ear. While it looked no different from any other ear, a slightly indented line was inserted correctly into his head. He could hear the tiny fluctuations in the elevator’s speed. The frequency of the sound it gave off while in motion indicated that it wasn’t operating efficiently.

“Damn nice that you got that shit,” Hamiza commented with envy.

“Hey, it isn’t my fault that you decided to get a pair of Tenix H-20s for augmented hands,” Mizu chided her. “All you need is one to pilot the latest shuttlecraft.”

“Yeah, and if I lose my other hand by accident, who’s going to be piloting those pile of moving gun boxes anyway? Certainly not you.”

Mizu watched as the elevator came to a stop. Its doors opened up to reveal the central courtyard of Fort Batrice. They stepped out as he began to remark upon the scenery. It was nothing new to him, but the area was one of the more ideal spots of the massive space station. Located in the northern large spinning drum, this was the place where civilians and military personnel got a chance to hang out. Using centripetal force, the great drum would spin to produce an artificial gravity for those who lived inside. This section alone completely wrapped around itself instead of being closed off like several of the departments and rooms. If you walk east or west, you would eventually walk around the entire drum and find yourself back from where you started.

This was the city of New Sydney. It was one of the two most populated locations in Fort Batrice, and it was an area where hundreds of thousands of individuals resided. The colossal station allowed not only military personnel to serve proudly, but their families could also be housed in the many military housing apartments that were built. Civilian personnel and commercialism followed in its wake to make homes here. Even if the space station was designed to serve as a military starbase first, it became an economic hub and powerhouse in the UWA.

Mizu and Hamiza were among the many of the individuals that lived in this location. It was a vast area. Looking up was the great central passageway that had the elevators that led to here. He could see closed-off sections that blocked the eye from seeing everything. However, numerous buildings were allocated to serve as apartments, housing, facilities, administration centers, stores, shops, restaurants, and more. Not far away was a park that had different trees and flora that grew for children to come and play.

“Another day in paradise...” Mizu remarked almost jokingly. They both stood on a street by the elevator. Due to the great size of the location, the roads were nothing like those in the capital. It was not large enough to house the typical civilian vehicles, but it was large enough for emergency vehicles to be moved through once the crowds of people got out of the way. The city construction consisted of squared sections to ensure that every piece of land was fully utilized in the space station. Massive tram systems were built, allowing people to get from one location to another more efficiently and quickly. It was late in the day. The space station itself even simulated day and night cycles for those who lived in worlds with similar environments. It was another reminder to Mizu that his timetable was about to get even busier.

“Yeah ... let’s go,” Hamiza commented as they began to walk down the street. “Finally done with the day, and the news couldn’t get any worse.”

The people who resided came from all walks of life. Some were UHN crews, as expected, dressed in various uniforms that indicated their position and role for the station. A mother, probably a spouse of somebody who worked on the station, would be pushing her hover stroller with her newborn baby. A couple of older civilian men would play mahjong on a store table. Another person would be walking and looking at a tablet while almost accidentally bumping into other people. It was, all in all, a relaxed environment. There were even advertisements that were posted in both English and Chinese all over the place. Within less than several months of its completion, the great space station had been turned into a starbase that would rival anything that the UWA had ever created.

“You feel like getting something to eat?” Mizu asked Hamiza. “I’ll pay.”

Hamiza shrugged a little bit. “Nah ... lost my appetite. Now I have to tell my husband that I’m going to be on duty watches on top of the shit that I already do.”

“I wonder if you can ask to be reassigned.”

Hamiza shook her head. “I’m not fucking running just because the jackasses tell us that the workload is going to increase even more. Besides ... I like this place.”

“Can’t argue with that.”

Mizu walked by a bread store. He looked at it briefly as before but noticed a sign that was posted on the sliding door. It stated, “No admissions for Itreans allowed. No applications accepted,” written in both English and Chinese.

“Starting to see that more and more often,” Mizu remarked to Hamiza.

“What?” Hamiza asked.

“The signs on these stores and restaurants.”

Hamiza looked at it while they walked past. “Oh ... yeah ... good riddance to those bitchin lizards.”

“Bitchin lizards...” Mizu commented with a smile. “I like that one. That actually should be the word we should use instead of Yuknans.”

Hamiza, for once, actually smiled a little from the comment, but she mainly was distracted with her own thoughts.

“Ugh ... at least cheer up a little bit,” Mizu told her. “That offer still stands if you want to get something to eat.”

“Tired...” she replied.

“Hmmm? Not even a little bit?”

Hamiza sighed. “Fine ... you win on this. Let’s go and get something small.”

“I know what cheers you up. A good chocolate shake can do wonders.”

“Yeah, whatever...”

“The translation to that is ‘yes, I would love to have some,’” he replied to it.

There was a gaming alleyway where students were playing music and hanging out. Mizu only remembered it as some electropop rap 2320s-style songs, having no idea what they were. They walked past it, before Mizu could see one of the Yutilian women walking in the crowd.

The Yutilians of the T’rintar clan shared an anthro-reptilian-like look. Compared to humans, they stood out a lot. They were much shorter and stood on two digitigrade legs. Generally, they had green-like scales that were mixed with varieties of other colors. This one was wearing the typical yellow and black shirt and dress, a favored style on Batrice. She had a dark blue feathered green tail. All the feathers that protruded from her arms and top forehead were the familiar dark blue. Next to her small pointed snout was an etched engraving of a lance next to her raptor-like eyes. It must have been some form of a religious marker on her face. Mizu noted that she was pregnant. Her belly protruded a little bit underneath her budding breasts that were kept confined by the clothing. She seemed to be carrying along with her business, but it was hard for her to do so. While some people didn’t care, a few people were giving her a look of annoyance at her presence. Even Mizu felt somewhat inclined by it.

He figured that this was one of the many UWAN Itrean Love-Finder women that were married to one of the men on the station. Mizu had only heard of the wild rumors that were involved with this form of supposed arranged marriages.

“Watch out ... UWAN Mail order bride,” Mizu told Hamiza quietly.

Hamiza only gave a scolding look to the alien woman. She said nothing else as they walked by.

They finally reached a small outdoor restaurant with the name “Bora’s Shake and Grill.” It mainly was a grab-and-go sort of place, but Mizu did enjoy the hangout joint that it seemed to appeal to. Even with only two tables, there always seemed to be that one table that was always available. Much as before, a couple was sitting at the table. They were just about to make the table vacant for the incoming two that were eyeing it.

“Perfect...” Mizu commented as they reached the small stand. Mizu noted that the crowds were relatively light today. The counter had a simple menu on display.

“Ugh ... I wonder when Bora is finally going to learn English,” Hamiza remarked quietly as she was nearing the counter. “Chinese may be the secondary language, but that doesn’t give an excuse not to learn English.”

Mizu almost shrugged when he finally saw Bora walk up to the counter. Dressed in his usual red and green grill attire, he looked at the two, bowed slightly, and addressed them.

“Nín hǎo. Nǐ jīntiān xiǎng yào shénme?” Bora asked them.

“Ummm...” Mizu thought about it briefly. “Yī fèn qiǎokèlì nǎi xī and ummm ... Zhà shǔ tiáo.”

Bora nodded his head. He walked behind his counter to go and fetch the order. Hamiza looked at Mizu before he tapped his left hand. The augmented hand projected a 3d image menu system as he checked out the order’s total cost. One batch of French fries and a chocolate milkshake were three mard. He went and moved his right hand over the checkout icon. With a simple press of the confirm button, the money was electronically sent to his computer register. After that, Mizu closed his hand as the projection image faded.

“Thank you,” Hamiza commented as Bora came out with the milkshake and a small paper bowl of French fries. Mizu picked up the fries while Hamiza took her chocolate shake. Bora smiled at the two as the next set of customers approached from behind to take their place.

The two personnel eyed an empty table before sitting down to face one another. The moment that Hamiza put her butt on the comfortable framed cushioned seats, she briefly closed her eyes as if she was relieved to sit finally.

“See? Good to sit down and relax a little bit,” Mizu replied.

She sighed again. “If I were any more stupid, I’d think that you were trying to make a move on me.”

Her gaze was as serious as it always was. Mizu looked at her. Her figure was something that he was used to looking at. She was not exactly the most attractive woman on the station and the ring on her finger was more than enough to tell anyone that she was taken. If anything, the small chest that she had combined with her very short-cut hair made her look more masculine to him than anything else.

“Can you blame me?” Mizu happily replied to her. He smiled and winked at her. “Just because you’re married doesn’t mean I can’t tell you that you are still sexy.”

She took a quick sip of her milkshake and relished the taste. “Nah ... I wouldn’t fuck you. Not my type.”

“Nah, you just prefer the big muscle man named Tim that you have sex with for two hours.”

She pointed her finger at him. “I never told you that,” she said as she grabbed a French fry and started to eat it.

“Nope, but you whispered it when you nodded off in the shuttle ride to Darwin Mega.”

“Ah, son of a bitch,” she said as she expressed some anger and looked away. “My husband always told me that I talk in my sleep. It isn’t that loud, though, but those fucking ears of yours.”

“You know it,” Mizu happily replied as he grabbed a French fry and continued munching it down. “Don’t worry about it,” he waved at her. “I won’t tell the others unless you want me to.”

“Fuck no,” she went and retook a sip. “So ... any luck with the women’s department.”

“Nah ... Grace said no when I asked her last week. Told me to go jump off a cliff.”

Hamiza chuckled a little bit. “At this rate, you might as well go and bang one of those bitchin lizards. Besides ... I’m not interested.”

“Ah, you wound me,” Mizu mockingly replied to her. “For that, I’m going to tell you that you prefer ivon dick to your husband.”

“Do that, and you die.” She paused as she shook her head, knowing he was joking. “Let’s watch what’s on the news.” She stopped as she was struggling to change the topic. She activated her left augmented hand, causing the table’s projection display to turn on.

“Too bad all this shit is a day old,” Hamiza remarked. “Fort Batrice and their damned rules about keeping things disconnected from most of the UWA.”

Mizu knew very well what she was talking about. Fort Batrice’s connection to the United World Alliance Network was strictly on an emergency channel only. Everything was carefully screened to ensure that nothing could be hacked. Anything they saw were recorded events only.

The table displayed a Martian news lady on the screen. The recorded past day’s broadcast showed that of the anchorwoman named Chenguang of the UWA Martian Central News. She was a familiar face for the UWA media. She would be sitting by her desk as she would tell the topics of the day. The table’s projection showed enough of the background of the media recording. The overhead lighting from Fort Batrice’s lights made it a little bit hard to see, but it was enough that Mizu could read the Chinese subtitles that turned on, along with the familiar ticker tape that rolled on the bottom. Chenguang also seemed to change her hairstyle regularly and as often as possible. Today, she was dressed in red and blue and had yellow dyed hair.

“Hello, everyone, and welcome to the UWA Martian Central News,” the anchorwoman said in her familiar Chinese accent. “Your center for all news throughout the UWA. Now, with the news.”

The screen began to depict a picture of the New Olympian flag. It had the familiar colored pinwheel with the black paw print on one side and diamond branch leaves on the other. The camera panned a little bit to show a silhouette of a stroller.

“We begin with today’s topic on adoption,” Chenguang explained. “New Olympia has announced a new set of rules today on the policies of adoption in accordance with UWA regulations. As many of you know, New Olympia holds the highest rates of adoptions in the UWA. After the recent court hearing of Amelia Yuki vs. Quincy one week ago, the New Olympian council has agreed to allow children under the age of ten to be returned to the former parents who gave their children up for adoption, to begin with. Controversy over families giving their children up for adoption and having to reclaim them years later has never been higher. Families that adopt children have voiced their opinions that once the family gives up their child, they should not have the right to reclaim the child and take it away from the adopting family that has spent years raising the child. Current Chairwoman of the UWA, Jia Xe Lee, commented that ‘As we stand on the issues of adoption, we must respect the rights of the original parents unless those set parents are unable to physically or mentally, provide the necessities of the children to be raised as any other child in the United Worlds’ Alliance... ‘“

“Ugh ... boring,” Mizu replied as he looked at Hamiza. She was busy drinking her chocolate milkshake while the man was eating his French fries. There wasn’t much left on his plate. He just wanted to make sure that Hamiza was at least in good spirits.

The picture on the background display for the anchorwoman changed over to show a flag of Mars. The familiar all-red background, white wrapped sphere, and the white four-pointed star were a common sight of Mars’ glory over the UWA. There was a brief silhouette of a Martian battleship. It was a unique one, however. However, this one was larger than the typical battleship, but the black logo made it challenging to tell what it was.