Chapter One: Ren
The year is 2103; it's been nineteen years since war was declared between the United Nations of Earth, a coalition of many countries on earth dedicated to advancing humanity, and their enemy, whom they have dubbed "The Centauri Empire."
In the year 2071, an exploratory ship named "The Orion" ventured to the Alpha Centauri Star System in hopes of finding habitable territories for humanity to expand. Humanity has a few territories in the solar system, but only one planet, Earth. There was an attempt to colonize Mars in 2042 led by an insane billionaire businessman who owned a car company, but it failed within five years of the attempt, and he called the project off.
When the exploratory ship finally reached the Alpha Centauri System in 2077, we learned that we weren't alone in the universe after all. The ships signal went permanently offline, and the only transmissions that made it back were those in panic.
"We....first...contact...they....engaging....help."
Those were the final words of the captain of the Orion ship.
Afterwards, the United Nations of Earth panicked and made ships even more advanced than the Orion, but this time meant for combat. Countries around the world pooled their resources together; even countries that hated each other worked together for this project. The result was the invention of ships able to carry a small army and jets that could be flown in space for combat.
Only two years later, in 2079, the United Nations had a small fleet of these ships to guard Earth itself in preparation in case the enemy decided to attack, and on a day in the year 2084, it happened. Three ships from the invaders entered the solar system. It was a bloody battle that took place over one of Neptune's moons, Triton. The battle lasted for over four hours, and there were over 2000 casualties for the United Nations of Earth. It was the day that war was declared between Earth and the now-dubbed "Centauri Empire."
The United Nations of Earth began to fight the Centauri Empire's forces on the outer edge of our solar system, defending the solar system as best they can for years. Despite heavy losses due to the Centauri Empire's superior technology.
After years of war and thousands upon thousands of deaths both Earth and the Centauri Empire were forced to adapt their war strategies. The jets Earth had used in space combat had become inefficient in most battles due to their limited combat potential. So Earth's top scientists invented a new way to combat the alien threat. Humanoid machines capable of human-like combat motions while also being able to navigate space flight were invented. After many tests and failures, finally, in the year 2094, the invention of the Sentinel came and was mass produced on a near global scale. Every ship would be outfitted with between 150 and 225 sentinels.
The United Nations of Earth made a strong push after the Sentinels started to impact the battlefield; however, the Centauri Empire was not one to back down. They developed their own version of the sentinels and mass-produced them even faster than Earth could. They were dubbed "Centurions" and they evened up the battlefield making the war end up in a stalemate for years.
In 2103, there are now several academies on Earth that test students from ages 16 to 18 who want to join the military. Every year, captains from ships all around the solar system recruit 18-year-old graduates to be crewmates on their ships in various roles to help support their ships. Most importantly, though, they scout the sentinel pilots in training who will be fighting on the frontlines to defend our galaxy.
*On the ship UNS Eternity, current location: near Earth's moon Luna*
"Maam, we should be arriving back home within the hour." a deckhand said, looking at the captain.
"Good, take us into the New York City port." the captain said.
The captain was a woman in her mid-thirties with long black hair and blue eyes, whose beauty was nearly impossible to match and whose body was both seductive yet authoritative.
"I wonder how he's doing..." the captain thought to herself.
*New York City Space Military Academy, Earth*
*BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP*
"Ren time to get up!" a boy with short brown hair and brown eyes said.
"5 more minutes..." the sleepy boy said.
"No, it's time for the final exam, and I'll be damned if you sleep through it." the boy said.
"Fine, fine..." the boy said, sitting up out of bed and rubbing his eyes.
"Now get dressed, Ren; the captains are flying in soon." the boy said.
"I'm awake, Tyler; how much time do we have anyway?" Ren asked his roommate.
"About fifty minutes until check-in; I already got a shower, so get one quick; Lily and Scarlet will kill you if you're late you know." Tyler said.
"Fair enough, we got any clean towels?" Ren asked.
"Yeah, there's some in the closet I washed yesterday." Tyler said.
"Thanks..." Ren said as he stepped into the bathroom.
After about ten minutes, Ren was done with his shower and got dressed in his school uniform, which was basically a white dress shirt with a black tie and dress pants with dress shoes."
"Alright, got everything?" Tyler asked.
"Yeah, I should anyway." Ren answered.
"Good, let's get going. I sent a text to Lily, and they were picking us up some coffee from the cafe." Tyler said.
"Good, I'm going to need it." Ren responded.
The two left their dorm room and walked towards the main campus of the school. Surrounded by people in similar uniforms but with different colored ties, every color represented what the student was studying. The black ties for Ren and Tyler meant they were third-year sentinel pilots, while underclassmen sentinel pilots wore gray in their uniforms. There were also other tie colors as well: green for ground forces, red for engineering, gray for sentinel mechanics, blue for ship pilots, and yellow for handlers on the ships.
There were other subjects as well, but they mixed with other classes.
Ren and Tyler arrived at the main building, spotting two girls waiting while sitting on a bench, one of them with long blue hair holding a tray of coffee cups, the other girl had long red hair and was sitting next to the blue-haired girl, both of them having black ties on their shirts, the same as Ren and Tyler. The only difference in uniform is that they had skirts instead of dress pants like the boys wear.
"Hey girls" Tyler said.
"Oh, hey guys, we got you your coffee." the girl with the blue hair said.
"Thank you, Lily." Tyler said.
"Hey, what about me? I went too." the girl with the red hair commented.
"And we appreciate it. Scarlet, really, I could barely get out of bed this morning." Ren said.
"Rough night?" Scarlet asked.
Tyler laughed and said "Yeag right he just read his light novels all night, after all you know he doesn't go to the parties, despite those girls that keep asking him. Lucky bastard. Save some for the rest of us!"
Ren smiled and said "Don't throw the blame on me that you can't get a date; that sounds like a skill issue."
Tyler's shoulder dropped, and he put his head down.
"But you don't even say yes to any of them; I don't understand it." Tyler said.
"Well, what do you expect, Tyler? He's good-looking, and as one of the top three sentinel pilots overall, he is exceptional. Meanwhile, you're just...average." Scarlet said teasing.
"You didn't have to phrase it like that..." Tyler said.
"It's okay, Tyler; you shine in other ways. After all, you are the best friend someone could have." Ren said trying to cheer up Tyler.
"Yeah, yeah...I guess I am a pretty great friend." Tyler said proudly.
"Anyway, it's almost time for the test; let's get going." Scarlet said.
"I hope we all pass, guys; if we aren't on the same team, good luck!" Lily said looking at everyone.
The four walked into the auditorium, where over one hundred of their classmates were standing. Ren, Tyler, Scarlet, and Lily joined their respective homeroom classes and waited for about fifteen minutes before an older man in his late forties walked to the podium wearing a military uniform.
"Good morning, boys and girls of this prestigious academy. Today is the day that will shape your future. Many of you will go to serve on our prestigious spaceships; if you look to my right, these sixteen men and women all serve as captains of our most important ships, protecting our galaxy. Each of them has seen combat against our enemy and has returned time and time again. There are also over fifty other captains currently watching the broadcast of your test. Perform well in both the written and simulation exams, and I have no doubt you will impress these captains, as they will do everything possible to recruit those they feel fit their troops. I wish each of you the best of luck in this endeavor."
The crowd of students applauded the speech. However, Ren noticed something out of the corner of his eye. A beautiful woman in her early to mid-thirties wearing a captain's uniform was sitting there looking around the crowd, but she stopped when she came to where Ren was sitting and had a surprised look on her face, but she quickly looked away when Ren noticed it.
"What was that all about?" Ren thought to himself.
However, his thoughts were quickly disrupted when two generals approached the podiums. One of them started speaking.
"Listen up recruits, under your seats is a piece of paper; if you have a red piece, you will follow my colleague, Former Captain Mason Davies; if you have a blue piece, you will follow me; my name is Former Captain Louis Marshall. We are both retired captains of our space fleet who know how to serve as instructors as well as in the reserves. Today in our mock simulation battle, we are going to play a classic game of capture the flag in the sentinel pilot simulators. We have split all of you evenly as close as we could, except for one of you, who we flipped a coin. So seat 175; just know, it was heads."
That joke at the end got a couple of laughs from the students, although not many people knew it wasn't a joke.
"So everyone, now we split for the mock examination; get your papers and get prepared." Captain Marshall said.
Ren looked under his seat, and there was a blue piece of paper. So he got up and walked to the blue side of the students and saw a familiar face among them; Scarlet was also in the blue group. Ren spotted Tyler and Lily over with the red group, meaning they would be facing each other on the simulated battlefield.
Tyler and Lily waved at the group, and Ren and Scarlet waved back.
One thing all four of them understood was that during this test, even if they were facing each other, they wouldn't hold back since this was important for their future.
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