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Chapter One: Deceiving Purpose   Orbiting high above the busy atmosphere of Earth is the Sol Imperial Force's military space station. Near the primary docking ring is a tower that monitors the entire station. Is the young ambitious General Sneer who had hand picked the two candidates on two priorities. One was that they had no ties to the Imperial Military nor Intelligence.  Two they where disposable no-bodies in the Empire with skills he needed to complete his grand plans. The shuttle carrying the two soon starts to make it's final approach to Docking Ring Two. Two elite guards are standing by the airlock waiting for the two volunteers. The shuttle docks and air pressure and gravity between the station and the shuttle equalize.   Soon the two step off the shuttle and walk a few feet before looking at the two elite guards standing in front of them. They stood there for a few moments before one of the the guards motioned them to follow. All four walked silently as the station was a buzz of activity. Personal running around in preparing for a large event apparently. Soon they take an elevator which quickly wisps them up to the Monitoring tower. Going through the interior halls while passing by rooms filled with people crunching numbers and finalizing reports before they walk into a large area that wraps around the outer edge of the tower is the viewing deck. Overlooking the station docking ring and a nice view of earth is the General.   "Guards, you are dismissed." General Sneer says calmly as the two guards escorting them left. "Arin Yale, Class three feline pilot and Zai Renn, a long lived cyborg who's original species is human. We know all about you both." Sneer says turning around. "Yale, you've been taking our scout frigates out for joy rides in the asteroid field. Reen, you are a weapon designer and bounty hunter and with your life span which we tracked down to at least seventy years if not more. So do you two know why you are here?"   "Well to be standing in front of a General of the Imperial Military. I'm guessing we either did something incredibly stupid or stupidly impressive." Renn says pushing his glasses up on his nose.   "Not sure why I'm here. Sure a general doesn't want to waste time with a minor joy riding pilot." Yale said. calmly.   "Renn is more close to the guess. I had picked you both out of hundreds of potential candidates for a very special mission. You Yale are one of the best pilots I found outside the Imperial Military." Sneer says snapping his fingers as an assistant comes up handing him a data pad. "Flying through the fields is no small feat even for experienced pilots with no computer assistance. Which makes you the most skilled civilian pilot I've even seen. As for you Renn. You've been designing weapons for decades and do a bit of bounty hunting on the side. You are a skilled fighter." Sneer says signing the pad before handing it off to the assistant. "Both of you would excel in the military but you aren't. I have a mission for you both. One requiring a skilled pilot and an experienced fighter. If you both choose to accept. You'll be given your own ships and any criminal and financial records will be wiped."   Renn and Yale look at each other before they spoke together. "We accept."   "What is this mission?" Renn asks.   "Yeah what is it?" Yale follows up.   "This mission is highly classified. If you speak about it to anyone. Even your mother or loved ones. We'll have you executed and your family and loved ones you told executed as well. Do you both understand?" Sneer says calmly while looking at the two.   Both Renn and Yale nod.   "Good. Now the mission." Sneer says snapping his fingers as the plated window covers go down and the room locks up. Lights dimming as a large screen pops up behind the general. A thin human female with large thick glasses walks up next to General Sneer. "We have lost contact with a science vessel at this planet." He says as the screen first shows the Sol system before zooming out then zooming back in on a far off star. Then a few large planets zoom by before stopping at a planet that looks like it's been inhabited for a very long time. "We have not released the acknowledgement of this planet to anyone besides high command and a few scientists. We code named it Wasteland." Sneer says before he steps aside for the scientist takes over.   "As you can see the planet is dotted with cities that dwarf any city on earth. They are interconnected by some sort of elevated rail system. Any questions?" She asked.    "That planet looks like it has living beings on it. Why haven't we heard about it?" Yale chirps in as the scientist stares like he just told you look.   "Our scientists over the planet have not detected any sentient beings moving on the planet over the past five years." She said.   "Five years? How long has the military known about this planet and not sent several vessels along with the science vessel?" Renn says.   "That's because it's filled with automated machines apparently carrying on their programming and the wild life are not friendly." Sneer says quietly. "Anyways..." Sneer says as the scientist interrupts.   "General what about..." She says before the general gives her a stare before she nodded. "Nevermind Sir."   "The ship was hit by asteroids and was damaged so bad the crew had to abandon ship. Landing on the planet's surface. Where we do not know. Your mission is as follows. You will use our latest battle cruiser outfitted for this mission to go to this planet and rescue any surviving crew. That is priority one. Your secondary objectives are to recover all black boxes as well as the blue and orange boxes from the ship wreckage. I will let our scientist here give you your optional objectives." Sneer says giving the scientist the lead.   "Your optional objectives are to gather any working tech from the mega cities and samples of the local plant and animal life. As well as recover anything that might look like weapons for study." She says before changing the screen to the ship. "This is the brand new ISS Phoenix. It's been fitted with two extra cargo bays. One contains two special vehicles and spare parts for them. The other is to store all optional objectibes in sealed containers for transport. However you are not going to travel to this planet via normal means. You will be going to this planet via an experimental jump gate. It will shunt you to this planet theoretically in three months rather then three years. The ship will fly itself if it detects it's off target after exiting jump space and  you will be thawed from cryo-stasis when you have arrived in orbit above the planet. After completing the objectives. The two internal cargo bays have been refitted with cryo-stasis pods for the survivors of Crew 102. Note we put enough pods for crew 102 if they all survive and yourselves. After that, you will use normal jump drive to travel back to this station. Any questions?" She asks speaking in a calm well planned voice.    "What special vehicles" Renn asks politely.   "Those would be the new Atlis units we've been developing." Sneer says with a sort of pride in his voice. "These two units are prototypes and they are MBS-A and MBS-B. They are state of the art armored mobile suits designed to work in space as well as on planet surfaces and come equipped with a 155mm rifle and missiles. Sealed cockpits that are separate of the main power source prevents pilot loss in case of main power failure. They also eject the pilot encasement 5 miles away if the core goes into meltdown. Don't ask about what powers them or I'd have to execute you two." Sneer says before smiling. "The mission starts now. Please follow our scientist to the ship for preparations for cryo-stasis."   "Yes General." They both said as he leaves them with the scientist.   "This way gentlemen." She says as the room unseals itself before making her way to the elevators.     (Ok it's up and I'm leaving the next part to you both. The gate is at Pluto's Deep Space Research Base and I hope you both like how it's going so far.)