Chapter 1
Jason sat in his seat, the mechanical whine going on around him. The cockpit was bathed in a blue light from a display in front of him. The display showed the numbers 2:56, which decreased with each passing second.
He extended his hand over the console interface just under the display. It came to life, producing holographic controls and options. His hands danced over the controls, with each touch producing a different set of controls. With one last touch system names appeared on the display. after each one came the expected "....-OK".
He checked through all the system. Everything checked out. The display showed the time of 1:22. He closed his eyes and let out a long breath. He forced himself to be calm. He opened his eyes. The time was now 1:01. A second later and the blue light had turned red. Now the numbers filled up the whole display, with a millisecond counter.
He rearranged himself in his seat and fastened a harness around him. He put his hands either side of him finding the joystick with his right hand and a sliding throttle with his left. He felt his body lurched forward slightly. As the ship he was in slowed down. "We're here,� he thought. 0:19.97. There was a rumble.
From out side the ship you could see several circular ports open. The vacuum of space drew out the air inside, instantly freezing the moisture into small ice crystals. 0:05.29. Jason took a deep breath and braced himself.
0:00.00.
From space, pods emerged silently from the ports, 10 in total, using rocket boosters to propel them away from the ship and towards the awaiting planet. When the pods hit the atmosphere, their noses began to glow from the heat caused by the friction of the air on the pods.
Inside his cockpit Jason clung hard to the controls as the pod shook. The temperature inside the cockpit raised to 40oc. He was sweating from the heat. At 120,000 feet an alarm sounded. The pods broke away revealing their contents. 10 3 story humanoid robots, with the firepower of a medium sized army of human soldiers.
"So far so good", Jason thought. "But we're not out of the woods yet. An alarm sounded franticly. Missiles. Jason engaged the maneuvering thrusters on his robot, as did the other 9 to evade the incoming fire and stop from smashing on the planet surface.
They landed down and split up into pre determined formation. There were robots already there to meet them, in the only way an enemy could. They raised their weapons and opened fire. The disadvantages of a day attack, but it had to be done. Jason had expected this, and so did the other nine.
They quickly took out the welcome party and set off towards the nearby base. Their objective, destroy it. He knew the base was on alert now, and sure enough the base's hangers opened up to reveal more robots. They engaged the defenders. Jason used his main gun to take 3 out in quick succession.
Ahead of him a small group of about 5 of the defenders were grouped together. He flicked a cover on the joystick and held down the button. Crosshairs started appearing on the robots. 1...2...3...4...5. He let go of the button and there was a shudder as several missiles were launched at them. They quickly disappeared in the ensuing explosion, leaving only a cloud of smoke where they were.
Jason allowed a small smile to creep onto his faced, but it quickly disappeared when the threat indicator pointed right to a robot who had its gun leveled with him. He wouldn't have time to take it out. Fear shot through him. Suddenly a blast hit the robot and it fell down. One of his team stood nearby with a gun smoking. He knew who it was and he would thank them later.
A young male voice came over the radio, �More!�. And sure enough more appeared. But these were different to the others. They were bulkier, slower and look older. It took a second but Jason recognized them, just as the young pilot who spotted them raised his weapon. "Stop!" he yelled.
It was too late. The weapon fired, hitting one of the new robots. There wasn't even time to blink. A bring white flash emanated from the robot and filled the screen. "A nuclear reactor", Jason thought. The screen died. A message was displayed on screen.
You Died
System Terminated
All squad Destroyed
Mission Failed
Simulation terminated
Jason cursed and slammed his fist into the console.