A/N I DON'T OWN SKYLAND.
This chapter is shorter but that's the only way I can properly separate the story.
"I'm sorry," the old woman said as she stood in front of her house on a rickety wooden front porch, "I just don't have the water."
Mila rolled her eyes. She had heard that excuse about a hundred times already and she had only been two weeks on the job. She stared at the shaky elderly woman with gray hair who remained planted in front of the door to a ramshackle wooden cottage; she still wore dusty pink slippers. She stared apprehensively at the guardian before her. Mila shook her head tiredly; the woman was behind on her water payments. She would unfortunately be forced to arrest her.
The Sphere had started by giving her a few easy tasks for her first weeks of being a guardian, like collecting taxes from those who refused to pay, before she could start real missions. The brittle, yellowed grass crunched under her shoes as Mila shifted her feet; she was standing in the middle of a deserted plateau which featured dried crops and brown potted flowers drooping from the jars on the wooden steps. This had once been a lush agricultural land, she could guess, however, the weather had clearly not been favorable for the people living on this block this year. For this reason, she had been out demanding taxes all morning in the miserable area, getting few results. No, Mila didn't find the supposedly 'small' jobs easy at all.
She had seen terrible things in her limited time traveling around Skyland. People were living in poverty and eating garbage scraps. Children were working like slaves in the fields to make extra money for the family. The worst of it all had been a ten year old boy trying to raise his sister alone on the farm because the father was deathly sick and bed ridden. When she had demanded the water tax he had reluctantly handed her his water bottle.
And she had taken it. It was either that or arrest the poor children. The result; Mila felt horribly guilty. She would never voice her opinion about this however, for that would mean that she was disloyal to the Sphere. No, she would not risk it. She had worked far too hard to throw it away; she was terrified to end up like Katie...
She replaced her anxious thoughts with a suitable alternative; anger. She was tired of hearing excuses! She had heard them all and it was starting to get on her last nerve.
"Lies." She snarled, making the woman jump nervously. "Give. Me. The. Water."
"I don't have it." She argued, the wrinkles around her eyes crinkled as she winced.
Mila signaled to her personal brigs and two of them lead the elderly woman away; she instructed them to be gentle with the frail old lady. They'd probably only send her to a retirement facility if she told headquarters that the woman was senile so it wasn't so awful... was it? She shook her head to clear her thoughts as she walked ahead towards her gleaming, pointed grey ship and the brigs followed behind, pulling the protesting elder along.
Soon, she was settled in front of the controls of her S-15 patroller, and the woman had been brought into an accompanying patroller manned by the two brigs. Mila ordered the brigadiers towards the nearest block which would take care of such issues and started her own ship. Her anger faded and a pang of guilt settled somewhere in her chest. No! She had to stop feeling like this! She had to be conditioned, strict and unflinching. Such weak, emotional feelings would only lead to complete disaster. She had been lenient enough compared to other guardians.
It was in such moments that Mila reminded herself of the Sphere's objectives; peace, prosperity and progress. Unpleasant tasks like these had to be fulfilled to reach those objectives; therefore she was helping the world.
Everything's fine. She told herself. Everything will be fine. Everyone struggles in the first weeks of their new jobs. It has to be so.
Her shift ended later that morning so she flew back to her new quarters on a small Sphere block which was dotted with the usual sleek, shiny grey buildings speckled by large glass windows. She docked her own patroller next to the countless, identical S-15's and went to the cafeteria for lunch. The circular cafeteria, whose roof was a large window, was big enough to sustain a few hundred people so it was quite a feat to find someone you knew amongst all the tables. She grabbed her plate and miraculously spotted her friend, Oslo, in the crowd so she joined him. She could recognize that wispy blond hair anywhere; he was sitting alone at a table with his back to her. Since they worked in adjacent squadrons, they resided on the same block for the time being. She hadn't spoken to him since the graduation ceremony seeing as he hadn't gone to that night club afterwards. She plunked her tray on the table in front of him; making him jump nervously.
"You're sitting in my seat." She joked, her sapphire blue eyes glinted playfully.
"Mila." He stated tiredly, but with a hint of amusement.
She laughed and sat down."So, how was your second week so far?" She asked as she bit into her sandwich.
"It was very... dull I must admit..."
"Me too." She admitted, secretly happy to know that she wasn't the only one miserable in her new job.
"There's been no action so far!" He complained and he squeezed his water bottle so hard that water squirted out and rained down on people sitting at the table behind him.
Mila smiled as an argument sparked between colleagues at the adjoining table; Oslo was oblivious.
"Yes, I know. I'm getting tired of collecting water." She said, trying to continue the conversation over the loud dispute. Eventually, the quarrel faded and Mila was finally able to chat with her friend; she could talk openly to him, she trusted him. She was slightly disappointed when he recounted his week and she realized how strict and formal he had been, whereas she had struggled and been polite or even considerate with some people. She had done the best she could to help the taxpayers; after all, wasn't that what the Sphere was supposed to do? Lend help and guidance to avoid chaos and war?
At least, that's what they told us at the Academy... She thought sadly. She lifted her eyes and met Oslo's grey ones watching her intently, almost staring at her... He looked away quickly and his pale face reddened for the fragment of a second. Just as she was about to ask him what he was thinking, something unexpected happened.
Just then, both of their receiver phones bleeped loudly. It was a code that each student was taught. Judging by this peculiar ringing sound, they were needed for a special mission. Oslo smiled and Mila dropped her sandwich in disbelief. It was finally happening! What she had been training for her whole life; she would be going on her very first mission! Suddenly, all her fears and worries melted away, replaced by happiness and excitement.
"I can't believe it." She said, her words slightly muffled by her mouthful of bread.
"Yes!" Oslo exclaimed loudly; some people stared grumpily in the boy's direction. "Let's go." He said, standing up eagerly.
They rushed to command central immediately, situated a few minutes away from the cafeteria, and were welcomed by an esteemed, high ranked guardian. The woman led them aside, out of earshot of all the other workers sitting in front of consoles, managing data in the metallic room.
"You have been chosen for an important mission." The guardian started without delay, speaking formally. "You were both promising students at the Academy and this is your chance to prove yourselves worthy."
She motioned towards a large computer screen where a map was displayed. "A rebel attack was led a few hours ago against a water carrier. One of the pirate vessels was shot down and landed on the block. The ship is empty now."
The woman pointed out a random spot on the detailed map and when her finger touched the screen, it enlarged the area to show an image of the crash; the picture was blurred but Mila could recognize the metallic outline of a hull sunk into sandy terrain. "It's a Sphere controlled area and we have canceled any flying... Therefore, it's certain that the rebel is still hiding somewhere on that block." She paused and glanced at them, somewhat disapprovingly. She sighed. "You are assigned to capture him." Her tone suggested that she didn't have much faith in them but that didn't keep Mila's heart from beating wildly.
An image of the pirate in question flashed on screen and replaced the map; he was a young man about their own age. She was impacted by how young he was, how casual he looked, as if he had no conscience. Mila immediately found his careless expression extremely irritating.
"His name: Marcus Farrell, one prominent figure in the resistance. Bring him back to us for questioning. We want him alive." She finished in a tiresome voice.
Mila and Oslo bowed curtly and walked out after they had received all the instructions. After taking an hour or so for preparations, they met up and rushed to the docks, chatting excitingly along the way, and they climbed into their S-15's.
"This is going to be something to remember." Mila said on her radio from inside her ship as she buttoned the control panel to start the ship.
"Yes, we'll make that pirate wish he'd never been born." Oslo's voice sounded over the radio on her console and she glanced out the window to see him sitting in his ship a few yards away from her own docked S-15.
"You sound like a psycho right now Olli did you know?" She said, grimacing at him from her window and making a twirling motion with her index finger over her head to propose that he was a mad person.
"Oh, ha-ha."
They took off, half-racing each other to their destination which was half an hour's flight away. They weren't supposed to use Sphere equipment for leisure but as she was having a moment of free-time with her friend, her loyalties seemed to fade somewhat. Sooner than she had expected, they had arrived at the busy city block and they docked with permission from a Sphere worker over the radio.