Chapter 2: Terra Venture

Karone couldn't help but awe at the view from the shuttle as it flew out of Earth's atmosphere. The sight for the magnificent blue sphere with its blots green and yellow, no one could deny it was a once in a light time sight for some. True she had seen it many times from the Dark Fortress but now she could appreciate it for what it was. This was a world of bueaty, not one for conquering. The rest of the ship also seemed to bring the reaction out from inside her, peer pressure perhaps, either way she now realised what a sight this was.
Karone was the first to stop looking out the window, after all unlike the rest of the ship she had seen it before. She was at the back of the shuttle and could see everyone on the ship. When she first got on the shuttle she'd played a game in her head where she had made up life stories for everyone on board, oddly she felt like she knew them all now.
For the occasion Karone had gone with a black leather vest and pants, with heeled boots that reached halfway up her legs. She had put on a sliver choker and matching bracelets rather than wear her locket, which had the picture of her and Andros as children in it. She will always love and treasure it, but wearing it only reminded her of Astronema rather than Andros.
Suddenly a young man in red shirt and black hair brushed past her holding a bag.
"Sorry" he said before moving on down the shuttle to an open seat. As he sat down Karone couldn't help but notice that he hadn't been on the ship at lunch, was he a stowaway. No one else seemed to notice or care so she shrugged it off and enjoyed the rest of the flight.

Upon arrival Karone and the rest of the passengers exited the shuttle and where guided to large structure, resembling an airport. Walking out of the long corridor she spotted two grown men, one old the other fat, crying and hugging each other.
Ignoring the two she continued on, spotting the man that had bumped into her up ahead. Still unsure of him she kept her distance behind him, following him down the escalator. It was then two guards from below shouted and pointed at the man in front of her. In a panic the man jumped over the escalator and ran back up the way he'd came. Intrigued by the man Karone decided to follow, hoping to find an adventure perhaps with this guy. She jumped over to the other side of the escalator also, cutting off the guards that were in pursuit of him and now her.
She followed him through the building, losing the guards easily in the process, before finally catching up to him. She grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around to face her.
"Hang on a minute" said Karone staring intently at the man.
"You're not a guard" pointed out the man.
"No but I'd like to talk" explained Karone still holding onto his shoulder.
"Maybe later I'm busy" said the man pushing Karone's arm of his shoulder before turning to leave, but he ended up walking into a young blond woman wearing battle gear. Both fell to the ground and Karone let out a giggle. The man glared back at her and she stopped, but continued to smile. She helped him up and both then helped up the girl he'd knocked over.
"Hi" said the girl looking into the man's eyes and he responded with the same answer. For a moment the two stared at each other as if they'd just found true love. Karone was about to make a joke but was cut off by a man, in similar battle gear to the girl, who stepped in between the red shirted man and the girl.
"Back off" said man glaring angrily at the other. The stowaway was about to start an argument with him but then noticed guards heading his way and ran.
"Sorry about him" said Karone before running after him. They continued running for a while before the stowaway spotted the guards gradually surrounding him from all sides. He would have been caught if Karone hadn't grabbed his arm and dragged him towards a helmet rack. She grabbed one helmet and tossed it to the man before grabbing one herself.
"Smart" said the man approvingly, but Karone had no time to respond and dragged him behind a wall where they quickly changed into battle gear, to blend in. They walked out past the guards, who were completely unaware of them. The two grinned at each other but their victory was short lived when the Commander spotted them.
"Where do you two think you're going?" shouted the Commander causing both to freeze. "Get in line" he ordered and the two fell in behind the line of soldiers that was marching through the building, back out to the landing platforms.

It wasn't long until they were on one of many shuttles filled with soldiers, sitting side by side, flying to the moon. With nothing else to do but wait to be caught, Karone turned to the stowaway and began chatting to him.
"So what's your name?" asked Karone, the stowaway looked at her a moment, considering whether to answer or not.
"Leo," he finally said "and you?"
"Karone" she answered. The two smiled at each other before a soldier dropped a blaster on Leo's lap and then Karones. "What are these for?" whispered Karone to Leo, so no one over heard.
"I don't know" answered Leo just as a voice came over the intercom.
"Prepare for landing" and with that everyone started strapping in, including Karone and Leo.
After a surprisingly quick landing the whole ship was rushed out into a battle simulation. Karone and Leo followed a small group around to the back of a small hill, which provided cover for them. It was then Karone realised that the man in charge of the group was the man who'd been with the girl Leo bumped into. She nudged Leo and indicated to the two from before and both ducked, hiding their faces.
"Alright, Kendrix and you two" ordered the man pointing at Karone and Leo "stay here. The rest with me" ordered the man running out screaming with the rest of the soldiers. While Leo and Kendrix waited for further orders, Karone looked back to see a bomb behind them.
"Leo!" shouted Karone in a panic, both Leo and Kendrix turned back to see the bomb also.
"Move!" shouted Leo dropping his gun and grabbing Karone and Kendrix by their arms' and pulling them with him. They ran over the hill and jumped in the air as the bomb went off behind them sending them towards the ground.
After recovering the trio removed their helmets and it was then that Kendrix realised who Leo and Karone were.
"It's you two" she said as her friend came running over shouting her name.
"Kendrix! Kendrix are you ok?" asked the man in a panic hugging her. He then spotted Leo and his expression changed from panic to anger.
"You, you're the stowaway" he says angrily pushing Leo back.
"Hey calm down" said Karone getting between Leo and the man.
"Kai stop" pleaded Kendrix grabbing his arm. Another soldier then came running over the towards them, to find out what all the arguing was about.
"What's going on? Are you guys ok?" he asked in a commanding tone as he examined the situation. As he slowly looked from face to face, his turned to shock when he saw Leo. "Leo?" said the soldier in confusion.
"You know him Mike?" asked Kai still enraged with Leo.
"Of course I know him, he's little brother" confessed Mike, and everyone turned to Leo. Mike grabbed his brother and pushed him away from the group to try and talk in privet. "I told you not to come" said Mike keeping his voice down and under control.
"Why shouldn't I!" shouted Leo so everyone could hear, "Why do you get to go and see the universe but I don't?" asked Leo.
"This isn't a game Leo" warned Mike still trying to keep his cool. Leo was about to continue his argument when a portal opened up at the top of the hill and a girl came out, rolling down. She came to a stop by Mike and Leo who looked at her confused; she in turn looked back up at them. She slowly got to her feet and looked around at the group before making an attempt to run away, but Leo and Mike were faster and managed to grab her.
"Hold on a second" said Mike as he and Leo held the girl, trying to calm her down. She managed to break free of their grip but didn't runaway as Karone, Kendrix and Kai had surrounded her.
"Where'd you come from?" asked Karone concerned but the girl stepped back from her, her face showing her fear.
Before anyone could say anything else three strange creatures came through the glowing green portal. They looked like bugs but humanoid in shape. Mike and Leo stepped in front of the girl and adopted a fighting stance. One of the bugs easily knocked both of them aside, while the other two blocked Karone, Kendrix and Kai from assisting. The creature went to grab the girl but Mike and Leo weren't done. Both got up quickly and charged at the creature trying to tackle it to the ground. But it was to strong and threw them round into the girl. With the other two distracted Kai and Kendrix both charged and tackled one of the bugs to the ground. Its partner went to assist but Karone stepped in between them. The bug then took a step back unsure of whether to attack or not. Did it know who she was, wondered Karone.
She pushed the thought from her mind and advanced on the creature attacking with a fast round house kick. The bug took the hit and rolled away towards the other two to regroup. Karone and the others did the same, surrounding the girl so that the bugs couldn't get near her.
But rather than attack, the bug that Karone had hit looked as if it was talking to the other two. The three creatures then jumped into the air and curled up as wings shot out of their backs. Within seconds they were back through the portal and the group let their guard down.
"Who are you?" asked Mike as he and the others turned to face the girl.
"I'm Mia" she said, sounding unsure of herself. "My home planet Mirinoi is under attck-" she froze as if she'd only just realised the words that had come out of her mouth. She started walking but stopped when Kendrix asked "Where are you going?"
"I have to go back and stop Scorpius from getting the Quasar Sabers" stated Mia, as if it were her duty or destiny.
"But why?" asked Karone. Mia didn't respond, but did stare at Karone, fear in her eyes.
"Who cares, we've got to help her" pointed out Leo as he walked towards the portal, however Mike pulled him back stopping him.
"We'll help her. You're staying here" said Mike in his authoritative tone, "So are you" continued Mike pointing at Karone. "Kai you stay with them while me and Kendrix go through and help the girl" Kai nodded and moved in between Karone and Leo so he could grab either of them if they tried anything. "We'll be back soon" promised Mike as he and Kendrix followed Mia through the portal to what seemed to be a forest on the other side.
"Come on" said Kai pushing Leo ahead of him, while he walked beside Karone, his mistake was focusing too much on Leo. Before Kai could react, Karone had already spun quickly on her foot and hit Kai hard in the leg tripping him up.
"Let's go" said Karone to Leo as she ran for the portal with Leo close behind.
"Wait!" was the last thing either of them heard as the jumped through the portal, which snapped shut behind them.