Chapter One: Welcome to Pandora

I step off the DAHL shuttle, shielding my eyes from the bright Pandoran sunlight as I take in a deep breath of the dry air. "This could be worse." I say to myself before I'm jabbed in the back by the stock of the Guard's rifle.

"Keep moving!" she shouts. I comply without protest, following the other inmates made miners. I start thinking about how I got here.

We were all given a choice: become miners for DAHL or become live targets in their shooting range. Most of the inmates that knew anything about Pandora chose the latter. Those of us without a clue, however were boarded onto the first shuttle off of the space station and taken to this lawless planet. They briefed us on the way here. God, I hope I made the right choice.

After walking for nearly an hour on the desolate, featureless terrain, they stop us so we can be given our water rations. Not soon enough for some, two of this group of fifty fell on the way here. None of us cared, we just stepped over them.

We line up side-by-side behind a truck carrying a DAHL canteen for each of us. They call out our numbers, not our names.

While I wait for my number to be called I think back to the accusations that sentenced me to death. I had no memory of ripping those people apart with my bare hands, no memory of bathing in their blood and wearing their faces as masks but they had evidence of all of it. I fought and fought for my freedom but to them it only proved my guilt.

The day they finally convicted me was the day I lost my name. I had barely gotten off a shuttle just like the one that brought me here when they told me to go to the barracks. On the way they told me to go, I had to pass through a checkpoint. The "checkpoint" was a tattoo station. They marked my chest with something I couldn't see. "You are now—"

"033112! 033112, come get your fucking canteen!" the quartermaster shouts, waking me from my reverie.

I walk up and take the canteen from him, noticing my number engraved on the surprisingly advanced water container. "Thanks." I grumble before walking to the water truck to get it filled up.

The guard here smiles at me as she fills my canteen; she was nice to me on the shuttle too. "Try not to spill it." She says with a somehow cheery attitude.

"I won't," I respond, trying to make my dry voice sound kind "thank you." I walk back to the group wondering how many people will die before we get to the transport station.

No matter how many sips I take from my canteen it never seems to empty, which is really great in this desert. I've lost track of the amount of time we've been walking but the light is beginning to recede. After a bit longer our guards tell us that it's time to set up camp.

It takes some time but we get up temporary barracks. I'm just settling into my sleeping bag when the kind guard from earlier finds me and asks if I'd like to come with her. I'm taken off guard by her request but agree and follow her to her tent.

Once we're there she starts to disrobe. I stand there watching, realizing why she wanted me to come with her.

She stands there in her undergarments and looks at me expectantly. "Are you going to undress or am I going to have to do it for you?" she giggles. A giggle? Why is this lighthearted girl here among these hardened soldiers and convicts?

"Yes ma'am." I put these questions aside and take off my pants, the only clothing I have. We quickly embrace and go at it like wild beasts. An hour later we lay there in her cot, her head coving my number as she lights and smokes a cigarette making me cough a bit.

"Sorry, I can put it out if you want" she smiles up at me, my arm around her.

"No, it's fine… what's your name?" I ask realizing that I never got it.

She giggles "Darla. What's yours?"

"Krieg" I chuckle slightly.

"You know, I could get you a position as a guard"

"Really?" I ask "And how is that?"

"My father is in charge of this operation, he'd do anything for me. That's why I'm here in the first place, I wanted an adventure."

"You shouldn't have come to Pandora but I'm surprisingly glad you did. I take it we'd share a tent if I said yes."

"Well yeah…" she blushes.

"I'm in."

"Great, you'll probably get your upgrade in the middle of the day tomorrow" she smiles, nuzzling my chest, displaying a great deal of trust to a convict she just met.

"Alright, we should get rested up"

"Ok, good night Krieg"

"Good night Darla"

We slowly slip out of consciousness, enjoying the warmth of another person in the cold Pandoran night.