Worlds Apart

Fusion

The rest of the night goes by relatively peacefully, but tomorrow is an entire other story, only accented by the time Einar has finished suiting me up with three dutch braids laced over the shallow side of my hair again as she and Apache have awoken Eadric and I to ready us before the sun has even ascended the horizon. Apparently there is an urgent reason for this as Eadric and I are rashly called to the meeting hall by the pair of royal guards. This standard group of three braids seems to be my guardian's go to whenever we are put in a rush like this and unfortunately I do not have time to smear the coal black around my eyes as Apache barely finishes Eadric's standard paint before more guardsmen, this time from Superior, are pounding on our door to urge us to hurry.

Jackie is the first to approach me when we enter the dim room, her eyes glazed over from likely looking at screens for the last couple hours. "So, the teams I sent throughout Superior to look for the hydro generator... there was no luck."

"What do you mean? You couldn't find it?" I ask, astounded. No hydro generator... no water, no means of fueling the algae farm, and no way to survive for the first six months locked up in here rather than the full six years.

"Well, that's just it. We located it, but its shit-"

"Busted, Ms. Jones, it's busted." The superior of engineering corrects her, oddly calm.

"Oh, right, yeah, that." She mutters with a roll of her eyes towards her aging superior.

He has lightly tanned skin, friendly brown eyes, and grey, cleanly cropped, short hair with a worn, navy jacket of the engineer uniform that Jackie has never once bothered to dawn. From what I remember in the couple career day classes he taught, he seemed pretty cool, a fact that becomes obvious when he smirks towards Jackie's reaction before turning to David to consult on and layout a field operation with him.

"Basically, without the proper pieces to replace it, there's little we can do here." She concludes once sure he has busied himself again.

"And that's why you currently have a bulletproof vest on?" I retort, noting the layered, black guard vest designed for light, sleeveless armor to go under like the black tank top and matching padded cargo pants she now wears. She has replaced her fabric, fingerless gloves for the short, padded gloves of the standard guards uniform as well, a good adjustment of the standard guards uniform. Her bronzed arms are muscled, hinting towards her gradually intensifying training regime as does her sun lightened sandy brown hair still pulled back into her intricate, twisted high ponytail.

"Sure," Jackie grins, aware of my assessment over her attire and excitable manner.

"Actually," Alice cuts in, stepping up to us in similar attire set over a skin tight black, three quarter henley shirt and a pair of lighter wear black padded skinny jeans, "we're being sent on a mission to retrieve something from the Dropship."

"Which is?" Eadric questions impatiently from my side when no one seeks to further explain things for him.

"We've decided to use replacements parts from the subpar hydro generator they supplied us on the Dropship. We're being sent there to retrieve it." She explains for him.

"A mission for resources." I summarize.

"Right." Jackie agrees. "But even then, we can't be sure the parts will be compatible with that shitshow of a-"

"Ms. Jones," the engineering superior warns again, now apparently finished conversing with David as both of their eyes are now on us it would seem.

John steps in then to clasps the man's shoulders mockingly. "It's alright, Robert, just take a note from our friend David here and have some faith." He urges before walking past him to meet us.