Chapter One

setting up the story. some main characters are introduced. all first-person.

"Union Runners, starboard side!" The call crackled through the headset attached to my ear. I glanced to the right and saw the sleek silver hovercycles, called Runners, pulling up alongside me. Their plasma guns opened up, and I could hear the sizzle as they passed over my own cycle.
    "Lia! Need some cover here!" I shouted, gunning the engines and pulling ahead of the Runners.
    "Got it!" A girl's voice answered, and soon I heard the thumping of propellers as the huge helicopter passed overhead. I zoomed ahead to get away from the blast, but the heat wave still hit my exposed back as the plasma cannon on the helicopter shot at the Union soldiers. One was hit, and as it veered wildly out of control, the other two pulled away and began to head back to the command post where we had first picked them up.
    I breathed a sigh of relief and tried not to think about the Union soldier now being fried alive as his hovercycle crashed around him and the engines began to fizzle. With luck, he was just a drone, and he wouldn't feel any pain.
    "Nice work, Lia," a man's voice told us over the headset. It was Dusty, second-in-command to the rebel base Beta, situated smack-dab in the middle of the Saxet Desert.
    "Thank you, sir!" Lia chirped into the headset. "I thought it was pretty fancy flying, too, if I don't say so myself."
    I could imagine Dusty rolling his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Just get back to base before you have to waste any more of our plasma. Dani, you alright?"
    I focused on the twin spires of rock approaching rapidly on the horizon. "Yeah, I'm good, Dusty. Little singed, but still whole."
    "Good. We'll meet you back inside." There was a click as Dusty turned off his mike.
    "Jeez, he seems a little grumpy today," Lia commented, as the helicopter soared over me. It flashed between the rock formations and disappeared, and I quickly followed.
    "I dunno," I responded, skidding to a stop and jumping off the cycle. "That's just Dusty. You did use a little more firepower than really needed, though. The machine gun probably would've been enough to drive them off."
    The helicopter neatly landed on the landing pad, and a girl about the same age as I was jumped out. Lia was a little shorter than me, and a lot louder, with her hair always dyed at least four different colors simultaneously. Her flight goggles were around her neck, and she jumped off the landing pad and landed neatly, grinning at me.
    "I suppose," she said, brushing some dust off of her skirt, compiled of random strips of cloth sewn together. "But it was more fun that way."
    I rolled my eyes. "I don't think Dusty accepts 'fun' over plasma," I responded. Lia just shrugged and grinned.
    "I'm his favorite and he knows it," she said.
    "I wouldn't be so sure of that if I were you," a voice spoke from behind us. Turning, we watched as Dusty approached from the command room on the other side of the secret hangar.
    Dusty was a tallish redhead of about thirty. He was louder than Lia and twice as sarcastic. Being a leader wasn't really his style, but he took the job on with determination and succeeded at it better than he believed he did. He was toughened from years of fighting against the Union, so he knew them almost as well as they knew themselves. His little Keeshond, Freakie, never left his side, and as he strode over to us, the small dog trotted behind his master faithfully, tongue lolling out of the side of his mouth.
    "Aw, c'mon, you know you like me," Lia called, grinning widely at him. Dusty snorted.
    "Yeah, as much as I can really enjoy someone who dresses like a laundry load. Anyway, Dani," he said, turning to me and effectively cutting off Lia's protests, "what intelligence did you gather?"
    "Seems like the Union's getting bolder," I responded. "There's been an increase of robot troops to the north, and in the south they've even deployed basic Union infantry. They still haven't found us yet, but they're trying like hell."
    Dusty nodded. "Well, if they want hell, we can give 'em hell," he responded with a wicked grin. "But it looks like we may have to transfer bases soon. Don't want 'em getting too close to our position."
    I nodded. "Should I inform Cranky about the new info?"
    Dusty nodded. "Tell him to be ready in a week."
    I raised my eyebrows. "That sounds a bit hasty. Cranky won't like that."
    Dusty flashed a grin at me. "Tell him if he has a problem with the deadline, he can take it up with me." With that, he waved a hand and turned away, Freakie trotting along by his side.
    Lia raised her eyebrows at me and patted my shoulder. "I'd love to go with you and all," she said, beginning to edge away from me as she spoke, "but I have to, uh, do some stuff. See ya and good luck!" With that, Lia turned tail and ran down the hall that led to the dormitories.
    Sighing, I shook my head and made my way in the opposite direction to a small office, tucked away from the bustle of the main hangar.
    Enclosed within that office was the Hangar Director, Robert Cornwell. He was a short, stumpy man of about sixty years of age, with a bushy but well-trimmed moustache that he kept in order at all times. Cornwell was also one of the grumpiest people on the face of the planet, earning him the nickname of Cranky. Cranky was angry at everyone and everything every waking moment of the day, and people did their best to keep away from him when they could.
    Cranky's job was to make sure that every single transport vehicle under his command (which was all of them) was in good working order, and that when the time came to move again, he got us going pronto. Usually that took him about two weeks or so, but recently Dusty had been pushing him to wrap it up in twelve days, or ten. This was definitely the shortest one yet, and I knew Cranky wasn't going to take it well.
    I stood awkwardly outside Cranky's office until he noticed me and waved me in with an impatient gesture. He was working busily on some kind of paperwork, barely glancing up as I entered his office. I hoped it wasn't too important, because I really didn't want to be the messenger responsible for the destruction of some valuable paperwork of his.
    "What?" Cranky barked without preamble, placing his pen on his desk at leaning back in his chair. I shifted nervously and cleared my throat.
    "Dusty's ordered another transport, sir," I said quickly. "Union troops are getting too close for comfort. He says to wrap it up in...seven days."
    It was dead silent. I watched with growing fear as Cranky's face turned a rainbow of colors before deciding on a nice purple.
    "What?!" Cranky screamed, banging his fist on the table. I jumped and took a couple of steps back as Cranky heaved himself out of his chair, eyes burning.
    "Does that no-good, lousy, ridiculous excuse for a grunt leader realize how hard it is to run everything in this godforsaken hideout at once?" Cranky ranted to himself, storming out of his office without another look at me. Hesitating for a moment, I followed after the man, keeping a good distance back so as to remain unnoticed.
    Everywhere in the hangar, people who noticed Cranky's advance mysteriously disappeared on the spot. Pilots quietly ducked behind their aircraft, and anyone passing through quickly decided to take the scenic route. Cranky on a rampage was a frightening thing to see, and no one wanted to be in his way.
    Cranky wasted no time in crashing into Dusty's personal office, which was located on the opposite side of the base. He was the only person on the entire base who would dare enter Dusty's office without waiting for permission. Doing so would be like inviting an entire squadron of Union troops to march over your face and then shoot you in the gut afterward. But then, if Dusty was one squadron, then Cranky was two.
    Dusty looked up calmly from a book he was reading. I suspected he hadn't really been reading it, as the book was upside-down, but I didn't comment, mostly because Cranky was too loud to be heard over, anyway.
    "How do you expect me to get this ridiculous load of slackoffs moving in a week?" Spittle was flying from Cranky's mouth, and his screams echoed down the hallway, surely alerting more of the rebels that Cranky was in another rage.
    Dusty closed the book and set it down calmly. Cranky stood with his fists clenched, puffing and glaring at him fiercely.
    "I'm sorry," Dusty said, "But we just don't have the time anymore. The Union's got us on the run, and I can't just sit around for two weeks waiting for us to get everything together."
    "Maybe if you would do a better job at training your damn grunts when you send them on scouting missions, we would have more time to go!" Cranky retorted, pointing an accusing finger in Dusty's face.
    I winced behind Cranky's back. Dusty was extremely sensitive about the quality of the rebels under his command. He was always worried about us, though he never really showed it. To insult his soldiers like that was a direct hit to his pride.
    Dusty stood up from his desk. His jaw was tight. Freakie whined from his place in the corner, as if he would sense his master's growing anger.
    "Well, if I'm doing such a terrible job with my recruits, then why don't you be second-in-command?" Dusty asked, too pleasantly, stepping aside and gesturing to his desk. I looked between the two of them, wondering whether or not it was time to bolt.
    A vein in Cranky's temple was throbbing. "No," he said shortly. "That's your job. I'm telling you to do it better next time!" Abruptly, he turned and left the office.
    Dusty blew out a long sigh and rubbed his face with his hands. Freakie stood up from his bed and trotted over to his master, sitting down in front of him and looking up expectantly. Dusty chuckled and bent down to scratch behind his ears.
    "I'm sure Cranky can get it done in time," I offered hesitantly, unsure whether or not it was the right thing to say. To my relief, Dusty laughed and looked up at me.
    "I know he can," he agreed, standing up and rolling his shoulders, as if to free himself of a particularly heavy burden. "He's the best we've got. That's why he's doing that job. I just wish he wouldn't make it so damn difficult every time." Dusty sighed again, and a voice piped in from the doorway.
    "Maybe one of these days he'll just have a heart attack and keel over," Lia said cheerfully, poking her head into the office. "All that shouting can't be good for his heart."
    Dusty chuckled and shook his head at her. "I doubt it," he said, walking out into the hallway and looking at us. "That man's as sturdy as a rock. I don't even know how old he is anymore, he's been around so long."
    Dusty's voice sounded tired, and as I looked more closely, I could see circles under his eyes.
    "You must be exhausted," I realized out loud. Dusty shrugged.
    "I'm always exhausted, trying to look after kids like you," he said, grinning. Lia scrutinized him closely.
    "Do you ever sleep?" she asked at last. "Because it certainly doesn't look like it."
    Dusty frowned at her. "I'm fine," he said, waving us off. "Now go. You should be packing up for the move, don't you think?" Before either of us could protest, he was off down the hallway, Freakie trotting faithfully at his heels.
    I sighed and turned to Lia. "Just another day, eh?" I said with a wry smile. Lia raised an eyebrow.
    "Are you kidding me? I'd kill for just another day," she said. "Now c'mon, I've gotta make sure they didn't clean out my room yet. If they touch my stuff I'm gonna land on them with my helicopter."

Author's Note

i'm sure its the same old song and dance for you all, eh? so i won't ask again. anyway, hope you liked it.