Night Sky:: Pt 2:: Juventus

III

The sky is blue that day. "Good thing I landed this charter job through the hills on such a day", he thinks as he shifts in to a higher gear; It is a good day. It could be said that olden times were best, but he would not say that. He has never known good times, no good old days for him, each and every single time of his long years have been a struggle, a death race or a fight for survival. Childhood on earth used to be all fond memories. Not anymore. Not for at least four hundred years. When the world ended and the dark ones came.

The world as it was known ended. 

The firstfruits were reborn.

The sky is blue today, that is good. the vehicle he drives bounces and slides on the uneven dirt; enormous wheels spin hell bent on getting through the surface of the rolling hills and lightly forested area of the southern parts of Thessalonica. He drives without paying too much attention to his surroundings. Some humans would consider these parts of Earth even beautiful, so long as you keep away of the elder cities and stick to cruising the yellowish grass, the red dirt, or stroll under the shadow of green trees.  Still, he does not mind, but the blue, the blue of the sky is good.

The vehicle he drives is a monster of a truck, several axles and eight wheels. He is not riding alone. There is a humanoid sitting next to him; but he does his best to ignore his presence, because, well... because next to him to him on the open cockpit vehicle sits one called Lt. Riley; an alien,  a damned Crovite, The Law. He has lived enough to have seen his share of the galactic law enforcers known as Raven. Mostly aiding the Federation of United Nations on earth but god knows why; they could have just as easily decide to throw their lot in with the Severed Nations.

He drives. He ignores his Raven co pilot, he just wants to get there as soon as possible. Being in the open during the day was a risk, awe inspiring though the day might be; but now the day was fading, and the blue of the sky deepening, darkening, growing even more beautiful, in his opinion.  He is fifty years old and he has ever known this life; The life on earth reborn.  A life in which a federation of nations, The Feredarion, represents earth amongst the myriad of races, species and filth of  the galaxy at large. this United Federation of human nations does not comprise the whole of the human species; There is the Severed Nations, humans that were left resenting, left behind to die, denied their human birthright, made outcast. One could never know where or when the terrorist countries of the Severed Nations would attack a city, destroy a convoy, bomb a peaceful colony; or at least that was what it was commonly said on the Federation controlled cities.

But those are not the complete human kind, are they? No, there was also Them: The whispers, The shadows, The lurkers in the night called The Firstfruits by fanatics of old beliefs. There were few of them now, about to be eradicated by both Federation and Severed Nation forces;  but still they roamed and haunted the alleys and dark places of some olden abandoned cities. Like the one just a few kilometres from where they were right now: Toulouse. 

He shifts uncomfortably on his seat as he glances on the direction of the city, "You know, Lt. Riley, this is not very safe" He says without much interest in actually engaging in conversation with the alien. "That city up there, can you see the towers and buildings?". Lt. Riley turns his metallic orbs he calls eyes towards him, "Yes Mr. Juventus, I can see it," The Crovite replies while staring and unnerving him, "I also know its called Toulouse and I could tell you about  four hundred years of its history and that of these parts you now call Thessalonica" His gray eyes deprived of pupils do not quit, he stares as if to make madmen of all humans, starting with him, and continues, "We will be safe from The things called Firstfruits for a few more hours; do not worry my friend, I will protect you in any eventuality, for you are now under the protection of Raven by order of the Federation of United Nations. Nothing will come to harm us.” He adds with a little smile on the corner of his lips.

He stares back at the alien’s face. The resemblance to humans was uncanny. What could possibly had come about in the universe for something like two species millions of light years apart evolve to basically the same anthropomorphic appearance? He had discussed this at length with Charles, back at the Federation head quarters in Thessalia. But he did not dwell too much on it. The answers frightened him something fierce. So He continues to drive in silence and time seems to hang, to slow and float about him as the sun starts to acquire a golden tint.

He turns the wheel on his all terrain vehicle to avoid a segment of the dirt road that had been flooded, he is sure it could pass trough puddles without effort; but getting dark, and not sure of the depth counts as an unnecessary risk in his book, and he always kept that book open when on a job. He does not slow down, but applies pressure on the pedal instead. They round a yellow grass hill that is starting to turn golden in the setting sun as they drive by; The vehicle does not slow down its frantic race, and at the bend in the road just after the golden hill, they now see the lights and buildings of their destination: Thessalia, the largest Federation city on these parts. His job is about to be concluded. The deal was to take the alien from a northern Federation landing site and in to the city’s Federation building, receive some form of package in return to take back north to Stuttgart’s Federation facilities.

The city comes closer. Its towers loom. Its lights flood the surrounding hills and forests. He takes the vehicle off the dirt road and in to the pavement of the City’s main street. A walled city, like most of them are in the world today. He had seen pictures of those cities mankind used to have, four maybe five hundred years before. Not the same. He had not known good old times. He drives through city blocks laden with  tall spires of buildings creating canyons of concrete and steel; and in those canyons and through them people lazed about in apparent tranquillity. Yes, the world that the Federation had created after the chaos of the old world seemed best, just seems best; safe from the dark ones, safe from the Severed Nations.

He veers off the main street and navigates through neon lighted  streets. After a few turns and twists, they arrive at a tall building with glass panels on all sides and on all floors. The eagle symbol of the federation adorns the entrance in gleaming silver metal just above the doorway in to the main lobby. Just above the metal eagle, and also in gleaming silver letters, the word VALOR can be read. A word that strikes not only fear but also hate, respect, honour and courage on the people of earth, depending on where you are standing when you see it. Valor, the military arm of the Federation. Worthless pieces of shit in his opinion. But he is not here to make opinions, but to escort this alien in to tht Valor building and specifically in to the offices of one LTG. Morris.  

They walk down the silvery aisle in to the main lobby. The turbolift takes them to one of the highest floors. He remains silent when they exit the lift and walks without a word trough the destination aisle until they are in front of the office of this Lieutenant General Morris. Riley glances at him before entering the office, “Mr. Juventus, if I might say so, I appreciate your transportation service and I can see you are a man of both honour and courage, some of the most desirable characteristics found in earthlings.” He smiles under those metal orbs of eyes. “ I meant to ask you before, while on the road, but did not find the gall." Juventus shifts his body and feet under the uncomfortable stare of Lt. Riley, "but How does my Earthspeak sound to you?”. The Crovite continues and smiles apparently in earnest.

 He does not respond. He looks down and up the aisle they are in, it is empty. He tries to restrain his arms, but it is in vain. With a forceful shove, he takes both his arms up and grasps the Crovite’s head with all his strength. His arms bulge from tensed muscles, He stares right in to those gray eyes. “Listen, Lt. Riley, if that is even your name,  we are about to be done here, and I’ll be one happy maggot  once I’m rid of you. But you want to know how your Earthspeak sounds?” He takes both his thumbs and starts applying pressure on the alien’s eye sockets. He does not know why he is so enraged, or perhaps he does, having learned the purpose of the Ravens visit on earth’s orbit one or two nights ago, just before he landed the charter job. 

He knows the Crovite can easily snap his spine in two with his bare hands, rumours said they could lift a transport vehicle in combat, and some have been seen leaping up to second or third stories. He does not care. Severed Nations or not, those were humans they were about to take on board an alien ship in to god knows what destination. “It sounds like the wailings of an unnatural space creature trying to smile from behind a flesh mask.” He regains control and lets go of the Crovite’s head. He walks down the aisle, back towards the turbolift without looking over his shoulder. The Crovite massages his head and eyes in soft movements of his hand as he watches him go back down the hallway. 

He does not care about the job anymore. Payment be damned, he would request a funds transfer later on. He also does not care about the package to be transported back north; next assignment be double damned, He thinks as he enters the turbolift. He takes a deep and long look in to the city around him through the glass walls of the lift as it slides down level after level. The city shines, a luminous living entity. And now, suddenly, after fifty years, to him, Mikael Juventus, former member of Valor, chief of operations of the Red-eye transport Co. The city also resembles a huge metal monster.

It is late.. He sits on a bar stool in the darkest joint he could find. He has to wait until morning comes to drive back north. The music is a loud and horrible electronic garble. He would never understand music not performed by acoustic instruments. He glances up again. It is late. Perhaps too late. But no, after a long drink, he glances upward again, and through a clear glass ceiling.. there it is. IT is not too late,  looking upwards he can see an enormous space shuttle bearing the symbol of the Raven. A few kids on a booth behind him clap and cheer as they too look up. “Look, a Raven craft”, they say as if they were seeing a chariot of a god. He tries his best not to punch those kids in the face. After what he has done that night, that would be an easy job.

After leaving the Federation building he had roamed the streets for some time. Night had come and still he had been roaming aimlessly at first, but then, slowly and unconsciously his steps had taken him to where he knew was  the Federation prison. As a former officer in Valor, he had known when and how to approach the facility. Then he had found them. The prisoners. Her.

There, everything had begun.

He glances up and sighs. “Good luck girl”. He says in a hushed tone as he gets up and transfers credit to the bartender for his drinks. He stumbles towards the door, but his mind is racing with the possibilities and enhanced by alcohol. He leaves the bar and exits out in to the night sky, where the stars are no longer identifiable from orbiting  ships and carriers. But that particular night the stars were shining in all their glory. Drunk, he continues to stare at the night sky, waiting to double check if he is actually seeing stars or stationary ships.

They are stats.

No ships in orbit that night, but one. A massive Raven carrier up there somewhere in the night sky.

The same night sky to where a thousand human souls were being taken off world right now.