Chapter one
We live on Isora; it’s not the nicest planet in the universe, but its home to millions of us.
I am one of them.
I’ve wanted to be a knight my whole life. My parents finally gave me that chance.
I had packed all the things I needed. Food, maps, compass, and more food, my mother loves to cook. So as I was walking out the gate to our farm, my father runs out carrying a cloth-wrapped bundle. “Wait up! I’ve got something for you!” He yelled, finally catching up to me. He handed me the bundle and I began to unwrap it, before I finished, he grabbed my hand and said some words of encouragement. He was like that, especially during the winterfest. Always stopping people from opening their presents to give them little tidbits of advice. He finally lets go and I finished unwrapping it. It was a calibur, polished until it shone, with a pale scar along it when it had been re-forged. My father pointed to this, saying how that came from when he was waist deep in the water hacking at the retreating morai’s boats. He then gave me a massive hug with scarred hands that nearly enveloped me. Then I was on my way, tears running down my face as I left the only place I ever knew.
The trip to the recruitment center was uneventful, although I did see a Morai scouting party at one point. Needless to say, I hid under some trees until they passed. As I walked into the town I was astounded at the size of the recruitment center, it was barely bigger than the barn! I walked in and asked the secretary where I should sign up. She pointed me to a wall of computers, which I was never exposed to, so I had to ask her for help. She ended up complying after I stammered through my reasons, blushing the whole way. After I signed up she directed me toward a barracks down the road. “What about me getting accepted?” I asked her. She looked up from her computer and told me that they didn’t worry about whether I would be accepted or not. I went to the barracks without another word. Several of the residents there would mock me for being a useless country bumpkin, until I lost my temper at a particularly nasty insult and threw the offender out a window. Then I was left alone. Three weeks later a young sergeant came looking for me, I had been assigned to the Skylark. As I exited the recruitment center with my new Spiral brigandine and sallet, the latter under my arm I heard the secretary whoop with joy in perfect synchronization with the young sergeant. Who were both revealed to be leaning over the computer staring at it. When both of them ran outside yelling, again in perfect sync “We’ve won! We’ve won!” Repeatedly, I had no idea what they were talking about. “The war is over! We won!” They yelled now. I stopped the secretary from dancing with the sergeant who continued to whirl even without a partner and asked what was to become of me. She told me I would still serve on the Skylark. So I set out to the docks about three miles from where I was and walked at a brisk pace towards it.
Three Weeks Later
I dropped into my bed under my obnoxious roommates, exhausted from the seemingly endless work required to prepare the Skylark for her voyage. Since the heavy-lifting cranes were out of order due to a vicious Morai attack, most of the work had to be done by hand. I was assigned to help the cooks get the numerous supplies and cooking utensils into the kitchens, which of course were the farthest thing away from the cargo doors. Although the work was strenuous, it also had better benefits. There was always a bit more on my plate at dinner. My roommate walked into the room, as fresh as ever since he was assigned to the medics all he had to carry was rather light boxes of medicine and cloth for bandages. This is two days till departure.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Two Days Later
As I watched the departure from my window in the cabin I was amazed at all the different things the takeoff crew had to do. First there was unhooking all the nearly 2-foot thick metal cords that kept her from falling over. Then attaching extra fuel tanks to get her out of the atmosphere, and finally backing slowly into the metal bunker in which they would be safe from the massive exhaust. As my father used to say: “Ten-thousand tons going up, ten thousands tons of air going down.” And we were off!
Arrival
When I was started out of my sleep by the evac order, I wondered why. Then I noticed that most of the hallway was on fire. My roommate would have already been out of the room, since he was working, so he was safe. Which was good. As for myself, well that was a different matter. I grabbed several personal belongings, including my sword and ran toward the escape pod launcher, after I exited the hallway and came around the corner I noticed a lot of other traffic going in that direction. I decided that adding myself to the throng would only slow them down more. So I took a shortcut through the vents. When I got into the hanger everyone was milling about and looking confused as they waited in line to get into a pod. I saw several knights I knew, such as my roommate. And finally I was in an escape pod. Right as it launched another blast hit the ship, throwing it askew and launching me off in a random direction into space, I blacked out.
Pretty good. I like reading about different knight's trip on the skylark. Keep it up, looking forward to next Chapter