Head to the Dropship

The doors closed behind me.

Deck C. Dropship bay. Meet the new ensign. Take her planetside. Easy enough. A glowing yellow line appeared beneath my feet and led me through the bright corridors of the Azure Dawn. Apparently the ship’s computer had already determined I was the sort of officer who needed directions drawn on the floor.

I reached Deck C a few minutes later and stepped into a hangar filled with sleek dropships, cargo crates, technicians and four security officers wearing red. I immediately felt bad for them. Sure they’re nameless NPCs but no one’s fate should come down to what color your laundry is.

Then I saw her. And immediately stopped caring about the red shirts. She stood beside the nearest dropship wearing the Federation’s sky-blue minidress and thigh-high black boots, a tablet tucked beneath one arm. She was short, blonde and almost offensively beautiful, with enormous green eyes, full lips and the kind of soft, curvy figure that made the uniform look considerably less professional than it should have been.

She looked almost human except for the halo floating above her head. That probably should have been the first thing I noticed. A perfect circle of white-gold light hovered six inches above her blonde head, glowing with the clean artificial brightness of an LED ring light. I’d seen Angelites in the original game, but the graphics hadn’t adequately prepared me for standing three feet away from one. Especially one built like this. She noticed me staring and smiled. Somehow that made things worse.

“Lieutenant, It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Ensign Lilith Cherubim, Lily.” She held out her hand. I shook it, trying very hard to look her in the eyes. I failed. Her smile tightened. “Something wrong, Lieutenant?”

“No.”

“You keep staring at my uniform. Are there any elements not up to Federation code?”

“No, no your uniform’s perfect. You’re perfect.” I kept looking her up and down, taking in every inch of her tempting curves. Lily’s halo brightened. Her cheeks turned faintly pink. Interesting. I pointed above her head. “Does that thing change color when you’re embarrassed?”

“No.” It became noticeably brighter.

I grinned. “It absolutely does.”

“It’s a bioelectric regulator.”

“And you’re regulating very hard right now.”

She folded her arms beneath her chest. That was a tactical mistake. My eyes betrayed me again. Lily caught them this time. “The Captain told me you were an experienced officer.”

“He did?” I’ve only existed for about three minutes in this world so that was a bold faced lie.

“He said you’d be the perfect person to mentor me.” That bastard was funnier than I thought. Lily handed me her tablet. A holographic planet appeared above it, almost entirely covered in brilliant blue ocean with thousands of tropical islands scattered across its surface. “We received a distress signal six hours ago. Automated Federation beacon, no identification attached. It’s transmitting from this island.”

She enlarged a speck of green until a mountainous tropical island filled the display. The beacon pulsed deep inside a dense jungle while our designated landing site blinked on the beach several kilometers away. I looked at Lily. Then at the jungle. Then at the four redshirts climbing into the dropship. This felt familiar. It was an early mission in the first game with just a few slightly tweaked elements. Like Lilith, she wasn’t;t here last time but those red shirts definitely die.

Lily stepped toward the dropship, then glanced over her shoulder at me. The movement sent her blonde hair spilling across one shoulder while that ridiculous halo followed perfectly above her. “You coming, Lieutenant?” I watched her climb aboard. The minidress was very short, her panties were black. I suddenly loved the Federation.

“Right behind you.” Very deliberately.

I climbed aboard after her and took the seat across from Lily while the security team sealed the hatch. The engines rumbled beneath us. Lily strapped herself in and caught me staring again. Her halo brightened. She narrowed her eyes. “This is going to be a long assignment, isn’t it?”

I grinned. “I certainly hope so.” The dropship doors sealed, the deck vanished beneath us, and a moment later we plunged toward the blue planet below.

The dropship skimmed across brilliant blue water before settling onto a crescent of white sand. Beyond the beach, dense jungle climbed toward the mountains, the distress signal blinking somewhere beneath that endless canopy. The hatch opened with a hiss, flooding the cabin with hot tropical air. Lily hopped down first, boots sinking into the sand as she stared excitedly at the alien wilderness ahead. I followed with the four redshirts filing out behind me, rifles ready. Lily looked back, halo glowing beneath the sunlight. “So, Lieutenant. What’s the plan?”