Earth was in peace. The wars were over and the countries were rebuilding. Laws were passed to make the lives of the people easier and more prosperous. A new space fleet, with the help of the entire world, was being built to explore the outer regions of the black void.

Chapter 1: I.F.

He excelled in every aspect of school, he caught on to a subject quickly and learned it effortlessly. The other kids hated him for it, always out shown, always one step behind. They let him know their anger and frustration regularly, from tripping him in the hallways, to knocking him around after school. They never directly assaulted him unless they were in their little gang, with enough people that rendered him unable to protect himself. He hated his life, there was nothing to look forward to, his parents were dead and his orphanage was beyond capacity and there was never enough of anything. The conditions were deplorable, springs poked from underneath the mattresses and dirt caked the walls and floors. He wanted nothing more than to escape. But the only form of escape for a child like him self was enlistment into the new space fleet. But you couldn't just walk up to an enlistment station and sign up, like the old days, you had to be selected by them. No one knew how they selected their recruits, and no one knew how they kept an eye on the possible recruits. So he stumbled around in the dark, continuing to excel in all his classes and hoping that somehow they would see his records and pick him.

Mazer sat in the classroom and listened to the teacher drone on about quantum physics. He payed no attention to her, but the teacher did not mind, for he knew the answer, he always knew the answer. He sat at his desk and doodled on the screen, drawing a terrain map of the swiss alps. "psst" whispered someone around him. Mazer looked up, scanning the room for the source of the sound. It was Jerry Wieland, one of Mazers' worst enemies. Jerry lifted his desk and pointed to it then to mazer. Getting the message Mazer looked down at his screen. Their was a message dancing around the bottom. "After School." He stared at it until it slowly faded away. Mazer looked back at jerry, who was innocently listening to the teacher. Mazer felt his heart pump faster in fear. What would they do to him? Mazer sat at his desk sweating, he'd never gotten a message from one of them before as to when they'd gang up on him, did they plan on doing something big? Really hurting him this time? His thoughts were interrupted when the com in the classroom went off.

"Mrs. Reincorn?"

"yes"

"is Mazer Rackham in class today?"

"yes"

"send him to the front office please, with his things"

"He'll be right there" the teacher said in a hesitant voice.

The com clicked off. Everyone in the room was staring at him with the same puzzled look. Mazer slowly stood up, gathered his books and walked out of the door. "What do they want me for? I haven't done anything." He continued to think frantically about what they could possibly want with him until he came to the door of the office. He stepped towards the door and it opened with a hiss. "Ah! There's he is." said the administrator. "Have a seat." he said pointing to a chair opposite another man, whom Mazer didn't know. "This is colonel Unis" the administrator continued.

"Hello Mazer." the Colonel said, extending a hand. With a handshake Mazer quickly introduced himself.

"To get right down to business" said the colonel, "we've been looking at your past academic record, and we, as in to say The I.F., believes that you are perfect for our program.

"The IF?"

"I'm sure you've heard of the new space fleet?"

"yes sir."

"It has been christened the International Fleet. And it has been established to protect us."

"Protect us from what?"

"I'm afraid that is classified." he said with a glance at the school administrator. "But we'd like you to go through the training programs and become a member of the I.F."

This was it, his dream had come true, he finally had a chance to leave his pathetic life. But should he take this opportunity? Leave everything he knew behind? Step off into some unknown land?

"I will do it sir."

"Alright, that's what i wanted to hear." The colonel jumped up from his chair. "And now if you'll follow me, we leave soon."

Mazer stood up, "what about school?" he asked the administrator

"I will inform them of your leaving. Don't worry."

Mazer turned and followed Colonel Unis out of the room and down the hallway. They walked past his classroom and Mazer could feel everyone's eyes follow him until they were out of view. Out side there was a car waiting to transport the Colonel and him to the waiting station. "Am i the only one going this trip?" mazer asked hesitantly.

"No, there are other boys that will be accompanying you to the battle station."

"The battle station?" Mazer asked as trees whip by out side his window. They seemed to be headed towards the coast.

"There is station up in space that has been built to train young kids, such as yourself, before they move on to the next step in their training."

Mazer sat in silence, pondering what kind of training there would be. After an hour the reached the Waiting station. There was a dozen are so check points that they were required to go through, all of witch required a pass key. That key seemed to be a ball that Unis dropped into a chute, it was then read by the computer, and spat back out on the other side of the gate. The further they went into the building the less people there were.

"It seems as if they're making sure we can't leave." Mazer thought to himself. This really was getting intense. It looked as if he could never go back to his past life... not that he'd want to.

Chapter 2: Launchies

The room was cold and had a sterile smell to it. The walls, ceilings, and floors were stainless steal, and there were no windows. There was one light that sent its' weak rays around the room, half illuminating it. The total effect was the feeling of being inside of a cave, cut off from the world around them. Mazer was sitting on the hard, cool, concrete bench. Ten kids just like himself also sat on benches just like his. They were all there on The I.F.s' invitation, awaiting the launch to the battle station. There was a murmur of conversation around the room as kids talked about what could be ahead. One kid got up from his bench and walked across the room to Mazer. He was about 4'9 and looked like he worked out often. Mazer, thinking the worse, tightened up. "Hey," said the kid in a friendly voice, "my name's Andrew. What's yours?" Mazer, realizing that the kid meant no harm to him, slid over on the bench to offer space to the new comer. "Mazer," he said as Andrew sat down."Mazer Rackham."

"How old are you?" Andrew asked

"I'm six"

"Me too."

Silence elapsed, both kids looked around the room, neither knowing what to say. After a minute or two Mazer broke the silence, "What do you think the Battle School is like?"

"I don't know, i don't think anyone does. We're the first kids to go up."

Mazer gaped in astonishment, "Wow, i didn't know that... what if something goes wrong, what if life support fails?" he said in a frightened voice.

"i don't know" was the reply. Both boys sat there thinking of all the bad things that could go wrong in this new, untested station. Their musings were interrupted when Colonel Unis walked into the room. "Hello boys" he said in a loud carrying voice that demanded attention. "You're here to go to the battle station and be trained in space combat. Many of you may be wondering why we need an army, and why you were chosen. To make it simple, we are being invaded. Invaded by a hostile species of creatures unknown to man. Other than that i am not authorized to tell you. You have been chosen because you're the best of your age. You will have to work hard, or be iced. We are not running a nursery school up there, no one is going to baby you. Now, if there are no questions we'll proceeded to the launch pad." Unis stood in silence until a portly kid raised his hand. "Yes, Greg." Unis said directing his attention towards him.

"Sir, what do you mean by iced?"

"Kicked out, sent earth side. Not a nice way to leave." Unis replied with a solemn face. "Now, if everyone would follow me." Unis strode out of the room, with all ten kids following him. They walked out of the building and climbed into the waiting bus that was to take them to the launch pad. Mazer noticed that Unis was on the bus too. "Sir," he said cautiously, "are you going to the Battle School too?" Unis turned and faced Mazer. "Yes, I've been appointed administrator of the School. Now go grab a seat." with that, Unis turned away. Mazer walked down the aisle, when he came to the seat that was occupied by Andrew, he asked if he could sit with him. "Sure." Andrew replied as Mazer sat down. "It's good to know i at least have one friend to help me along." he thought to himself. The bus rolled down the highway, and slowly the Launch pad came into view. Sitting on top of it was a gleaming rocket. It was tall, gray, and it had, what Mazer assumed to be the I.F.s' logo of a space shuttle circling the earth, painted on it's side. Steam issued from underneath the rocket as the cool air hit the shuttles hot side. "Would you look at that." Andrew said in awe. Mazer was impressed too, never before had he seen a rocket. He'd only heard about them in stories told in the orphanage. The bus pulled up to the docking station and came to a stop. "Alright, little launchies." Unis said as he stood up and faced the kids. "This is your last chance to chicken out and run home to your mommies. Who wants to do that?" No one raised their hands. "Good. I want you to climb out of this bus and load up on the elevator." He looked around "Hop To!" he yelled, and dashed out of the bus. The launchies scrambled out of their seats and dashed to catch up with him. The clambered in the elevator, it was a tight fit, everyone was squashed together. Unis punched a button and the elevator started its accent. The boys watched out of the window as the ground got further and further away, until the bus became nothing more than a speck. The metal doors slammed open to revel a catwalk to the hatch of the shuttle. "Not scared of heights are you?" Unis said jokingly as he stepped out of the elevator onto the walkway. The boys followed him carefully, their shoes making a clanging sound on the metal. Unis opened the hatch of the shuttle and ducked inside. "Everyone find a seat and latch yourselves in" He shouted as the boys followed in behind him. It was hard navigating through the shuttle, everything was on its side. The boys had to climb down the ladder until they came to an unoccupied seat and slide in. After mazer sat down he reached above his seat and grabbed the harness that would lock him in place. It made a clicking sound that was echoed from every seat as he pulled it into place. "Alright boys! This is it!" Unis yelled. The roar of the mighty engines filled the cabin as the com counted down the launch.

"5, 4, 3," it said in its even , calm tone. Mazers' hands began to sweat and his heart raced. "2,1," The rocket accelerated, everyone was forced back into their seat as g-force took over. The rocket shuddered and rattled its' way into space. The engines quited down and an eirey silence took over. Mazers arms floated in front of his face. "So this is what being weightless feels like." he thought.

"Welcome to Space little launchies." Unis had unstrapped himself and was talking to them upside down. No. Not upside down mazer realized. I can make any direction up or down.

"In a few moments we will rendezvous with the Battle Station. You will follow me to your bunks, I don't want anybody wandering off. In the mean time, enjoy the view" Unis hit a mashed a button at the head of the cabin and the steal outside of the rocked scrolled down to reveal two gigantic windows on either side of the capsule. There was a collective gasp from the boys as they took their first look at space. The entire world was laid out below them, the green of the land, the blue of the oceans, and the white of the swirling clouds. The boys stared at the magnificent image not believing their eyes.

Chapter 3: Beginnings

!coming soon!