Prologue 1

Earth Federation Station, 2350

"This night is pretty peaceful, I wish I could be still enjoying my sleep" Kash yawned as he continued walking. He had received an important summons to the captain's quarters. Looking around he saw the hallway was deserted except for the occasional random soldier or scientist walking about. He looked out to the windows and seeing the view of space never failed to awe him. He still couldn't believe that he was stationed at the Earth Federation Station. Not too long ago most people didn't expect to be in space let alone have a station be built as a first line to defend the Earth.

Making it to the metal door at the end of the hall, he looked at the familiar tag on the door: Fifth Squad Captain's Office.

As he approached the fingerprint reader, he heard a faint talking coming from behind the door. Deciding to ignore it, he was about to knock when he heard what sounded like a woman yelling "I'm all wet". Looking at his watch he knew if he wanted to avoid being yelled at for being late, he'd have to open the door now. Slowly he pressed his right index finger and covered his eyes as the door acknowledged him and opened.

"Lieutenant Kash Howard reporting in," he said. "My apologies for interrupting you Captain Xela."

"Lieutenant, why on earth are you covering your eyes," said Captain Xela calmly. "And no need to apologize, I'm just about done here."

Slowly uncovering his eyes he saw Captain Xela wearing a robe and a female soldier drying her upper body with a towel.

"Not sure why you had to splash me with water Captain, only people with clearance can get in here," she said as she stormed out the room.

"Sorry sir," said Kash while clearing his throat. "I thought you were doing something else."

"It's not my fault you have a dirty mind Lieutenant," he said while looking at the clock in his office. "You're on time as usual, please take a seat while I get dressed."

Kash watched Xela move towards the hallway that led to his room. He was about to sit down when he saw a file on top of his desk. What got his attention was the words CLASSIFIED was in a bright red color that would draw anyone in. He quickly grabbed it and began reading while keeping an eye at the hallway the captain walked into.

"Project 3PD" muttered Kash while sitting and flipping pages. "What is this all about?"

Still keeping an eye on the hallway, he continued to flip pages not realizing someone was creeping up on him. Out of nowhere he felt something wet and with no time to react had a wet towel on his head. Peeling the towel off, he turned and went pale as it was his captain who did that.

"How on earth did you.." said Kash but was cut off by Xela.

"Did you forget I can leave my chambers from different routes," laughed Xela as he snatched the file away. "I just went around to catch you in the act of reading classified information soldier."

With file in hand, Xela grabbed his captain jacket from his chair and motioned for Kash to follow him. Leaving the room the two began to walk down the long corridor which leads out of the fifth squad offices. As they walked Kash cleared his throat to cut the silence in their walk.

"Where are we going captain, you never did tell me why you called for me?" questioned Kash.

"The big man wants to talk to us," responded Xela.

"What did we do that he wants to talk to just us?" questioned Kash.

"I never said it was just us two," responded Xela. "He wants to talk to the other three squads as well."

"When was the last time we all were in a room together?" wondered Kash.

Xela pondered that question for a moment. It has been a while that the four squads had to meet in front of the big guy and it's usually saved for some situation.

The two arrived at the central hub where the Earth Federation Station's Portal filled almost the entire room. The portal was used to travel to different locations to find and eliminate potential threats to the earth. Kash has only used it when the Research and Development squad made adjustments and wanted to test it. Both the captain and lieutenant of the squad usually agreed that sending in someone from the search and rescue squad; his squad, was the perfect choice. Still in thought he didn't realize that the lieutenant of the stealth ops had just come out the portal device with a prisoner in hand. When prisoners are brought, they usually have their eyes, ears and mouth bound.

"Lieutenant Hien," said Xela.

"Captain Xela, Lieutenant Kash," said Hien saluting. "Did you receive the summons as well?"

"Yeah we're on our way there right now," said Kash. "Where is Captain Hiryu?"

"The captain is probably there already, he is usually the first to arrive," said Hien. "I need to get better to catch up to him."

"We'll see you in a bit then Hien," said Kash.

"Captain, Lieutenant," said Hien saluting.

They watched as Hien took the prisoner away towards the second division area. The two walked towards the elevator that takes you to the first division. Kash watched Xela performed the steps to allow access to the elevator; used his eye for the retina scan, used his hand for the fingerprint reader and said his full name and title for the audio. With all of that done, the doors opened and both men stepped inside.

As they went up, Kash looked at Xela and saw he had his eyes closed in thought. Not wanting to break his train of thought, he kept quiet as they rose to the top.