Author's note

Hello everybody, this is my first time writing any sort of fan-fiction and I'm pretty new to how this all works and just trying to wrap my head around it all. Anyways this is a story about Starbound and it which mainly follows the main questline, but much more drawn out with some other stuff. Hope you enjoy.

Oh wait! Almost forgot may or may not contain various amounts of violence, gore and swearing etc, just stay tuned, but it might not be in the prologue though, so skip this one if I've written more and you don't like sorta boring stuff.

Chapter 1 - Prologue

The sound of another ship's engine coming to life seemed to drown out all of the voices in the nearby seats. Kaede, a Hylotl who had just said his goodbyes to most of his family, was trembling and restless with excitement. Today he was off to go to Earth, a once war-like planet filled with strife, but now was a jewel of the human civilisation. It was home to the Terrene Protectorate, an organisation of peace-keepers, consisting of many races. "Good morning ladies and gentlemen. My name is John Williams and I will be your captain today. This trip is expected to take around 1 hour, there should be little no space anomalies, black holes or other dangerous cosmic occurrences. Thank you for deciding to fly with Sub-par Space Travels, where our business is somewhat questionable!

As with all of the other ships this one whirred and hummed, then as the vertical thrusters turned on, Kaede could hear a cacophony of noises. But this didn't bother him as he loved to hear the sound of mechanisms and machines alike, work in unison. As he took out his water-resistant holo-phone to listen to music, he thought about how amazing life would be like on Earth.

Wouldn't it be cool if I was someone 'special'. Someone who would be the best physically and mentally. It would be great! I mean what if I get to graduate after only 3 years? He thought, but then he sighed. But... I'm not the fittest, though am I? I just sit around, reading books, playing games and occasionally doing work... Oh well. I think settling for 'being good enough' will do. He gave himself a half-laugh. Ahh I'm gonna be sooo bad at this, it'll be hilarious. But that'll be fine though cause I might get to meet new people, learn new things and hopefully just have fun. But then again... I dislike most people, am a introvert, already know too much and just keep most things to myself... This'll be a roller-coaster of an adventure! With that his thoughts trailed off to less important things and he dozed off to sleep.

Sometime later he woke up to a loud noise, startling him. His heart jumped fearing that something terrible had happened, but it was just on of his songs, reaching its crescendo, ending right afterwards. Gosh, I'm gonna have to do something about that thing. It's volume goes up and down like the sales of a good, but failing company. Badumtsss. Haaa I'm... not funny at all and should never attempt humour ever again. Realising that he was still on the ship he looked out of the reinforced glass window. It's gotta stand up to Faster Than Light speed somehow.

A quick glance revealed that they were still travelling at FTL speeds, as everything was blurred together into a multi-coloured background. The engines were still producing loud hums, whirrs and the occasional sputter. Kaede sighed in disappointment. Nothing see here folks... He kept listening to music, sometimes adjusting the volume and creating audible, but quiet beeps that the person beside him could hear. Speaking of... He turned around to look at who was sitting beside him, as he was only focused on his thoughts. Beside him he saw an Avian, with bright red feathers, hawk-like beak and white fluff that seemed to resemble eyebrows and a fancy looking suit and tie. This was a contrast to his dark blue skin tone, light green curved fins, which was similar to hair for a Hylotl, a plain red t-shirt and brown trousers. The avian was busy working on his computer, typing away at what seemed like graphs, with an array of colours and numbers. As Kaede didn't want to disturb him, he stared out the window, waiting for something exciting to happen. AGGGHHH I'm so boooored, wish I had charged my 3DH before coming here. Guess this is what I get for being lazy... Wish we would arrive already. Saying that he hoped that the ship would start to slow down, and provide him a clear view of the Earth. However his life was not a show and that didn't happen.

After 15 minutes of waiting and thinking of very little until he heard a sound. The sound was a low-pitched 'virr' getting softer and quieter. Then as the background of the outside started becoming more clear, Kaede's spirits were raised. He saw large landmasses, containing forests, deserts, mountain ranges and all manner of life. Although he didn't much care for the ocean as his home-world was full of aquatic animals and small islands. The water's always blue, but then again if they were red then people would think it's blood, or... jello... Depends on if you're an optimist of pessimist...

When the ship landed Kaede had to go through, what he though, was hours of waiting and having people check is documents. But afterwards he saw the welcome sight of tall buildings, various cars, ships and hoverbikes and a park adorned with many trees, benches and shrubs, with people walking their pets. But something that caught his attention the most was a structure that rose high above the clouds, coloured silver, black and orange with the words 'Terrene Protectorate HQ' splayed across it's largest wall. It orange banners with a white insignia strewn across it. The insignia was an upside down 'U' with a line going through the middle, and a tringle and trapezium on either side so it was symmetrical. Kaede reached the building some minutes afterwards and filling out sheets, receiving a uniform, brochure and manual; he was excited to begin his new life.

Kaede was assigned to dorm B1 on the 314th floor. The room was quite spacious and there were 3 sets of bunk beds, totalling 6 beds in total. Although the room seemed very empty and devoid of things. It seems that he was the first to arrive. As he started to unpack his various things: clothes, toiletries, some books, figurines and even a lava lamp, he heard the sliding door open. A human, with a large build, contrasted with a friendly face, along with brown hair came through the door. Kaede lifted his hand, opened his palm so it was facing the other person and waved slowly.
"Hi the name's Kaede, nice to meet you."
"Rowan," grunted the human, while holding out his hand.

Kaede shook it and continued on with unpacking. Over the course of a few hours the rest of his cabin members arrived. There was another human, Jayden, an Avian, Tepilih and a gaseous Novakid, Trix. Most of them conversed with each other, with Kaede occasionally joining in, but Rowan stayed silent and 'did his own thing'. Kaede left the room to explore the building. From what he could see while looking at a map of the building, the first few floors were classrooms, exercise halls, obstacle courses and shooting ranges. Although one whole floor was for special ceremonies, like graduation. The rest seemed to be recreational facilities and other dorms, which were split in males and females.
At the end of the day, after getting acclimatised with their new home, Jayden told them "We should all get to bed early, since training starts tomorrow."
"Yeah but I hear it's just theory, so you don't have to break your back just yet," added Trix.
"So you're telling me that we can just party pretty much?" joked Tepilih. He seems to be the funny one.
Jayden gave him a half-laugh and shook his head, acknowledging Tepilih's joke, "Yeah sure we can Tep."

In the morning Rowan got up first, brushing his teeth and exiting the dorm. Next was Jayden, who brushed his teeth and read the manual. Kaede woke up 3rd, but stayed in bed for a little while before brushing his teeth and reading a book. Wow I'm tired, but why am I? I mean I got a good... probably 7 or 8 hours of sleep. Man I don't get how people can be not dead after sleeping 2 hours. Coffee maybe? Probably. Tepilih woke up afterwards and hastily brushed his teeth while looking at the latest 'funny' videos on his holo-phone. The last to wake up was Trix, who didn't even bother to brush his teeth, much to the dismay of Jayden and Kaede.

The first day's lesson was indeed theory, like Trix had said. It was weapon, planet and life-form assessment, it tested what you already knew. But it wasn't entirely theory as it involved assembling weapons too. After what felt like days to Tepilih and Trix, even though it was roughly 3 hours. Afterwards they had to run a 15 kilometer course, followed by more physical exercise. Everyone seemed able to do it, but Kaede struggled, a lot. UUUGGGH I FEEL LIKE I'M ABOUT TO DIE. EVERYTHING IS PROBABLY JELLY BY THIS POINT. I DON'T SEE HOW PEOPLE CAN DO IT! I HAVEN'T EXERCISED THIS MUCH SINCE I WENT SWIMMING AND GOT CHASED BY A HUGE JELLYFISH. After more internal screaming Kaede was able to complete the activities, but not to the degree in which he did the theory. Lastly they were beamed down to non-hostile planet to examine and learn about the flora and fauna, in this Kaede excelled. This was mostly due to the fact he would constantly be reading about discovered life, whether on his device or a physical book. The day ended with Jayden, Tepilih and Trix conversing, but Rowan and Kaede stayed relatively quiet.

Over the course of 4 years they repeated this training of theory, physical activity and practical assessment. Although they would occasionally be assigned mock sword fights and scenarios, such as being stuck on a planet with little food and having to survive as a group. In the survival scenarios they all silently accepted Jayden as the leader. Tepilih and Trix were usually made to do such things as building a shelter and collecting heavy materials. Kaede would collect edible plant life and use his knowledge to get them out of difficult situations. Rowan however seemed to excel with all physical activity and most mental ones. At first most of them thought Rowan to be a sort of brute but discovered him to be intelligent and hardworking. On the other end of the spectrum were Tepilih and Trix otherwise known as 'The Duo' as they were known to be a bit distracted. As Tepilih would make horrible, but often comedic jokes or puns and Trix was capable, but slothful.

Over the 4 years however Kaede seemed to get along extremely well with Rowan. Kaede would help Rowan study or understand more difficult concepts, while Rowan invited Kaede to jog with him in the morning and very rarely go to the gym. The other 3 were their own friend group and didn't include Kaede and Rowan in their social gatherings, as the other 2 were less keen on meeting new people. The 6th member, never showed up but they saw that it was someone named Detani. Kaede was slightly saddened by that fact as he hoped the dorm would consist of an even amount of introverts and extroverts, but the thought soon passed.

Wow. It's been 4 years. That's like what? 365 x 4 + the extra leap year... A really high number. But... just wow. In those 4 years I could've read so many books. But instead I had to go 'training'. I'm really not sure it was worth it to be honest. It probably will be. I mean we get Matter Manipulators. They'll probably not be as good as the ones the higher ups get and might be run using mini hamster wheels, but it's still cool. I mean you can pretty much dig, mine or well... for a lack of a better word manipulate anything that isn't too big, I think so anyways. They haven't given much detail to be honest. Anyways I'm actually sorta giddy. To quote something I once read: "I figuratively can't wait!"

Author's note (again)

Well that was chapter one everyone! I hoped you enjoyed and didn't get bored. I hope to release more this week, but I also have school, and really shouldn't have written this on a school night after playing Starbound religiously. Oh well. Anyways, again I hope you enjoyed. Also a day after I released it I went over and redid some of the grammar and talk-y bits. Lastly I want to thank... the 5 WHOLE PEOPLE, wait no 4 cause one of those was me, you may or may not have read this.