W.A.R.S: Back in the future

The Trio

“Bomb!”, Devin shouted as he started laughing maniacally. Meanwhile, his friends already improvised a means of taking cover thinking there was an actual bomb.

“Oh, would you look at that, sons of the senior ranking soldiers fell for that”, Devin said mockingly but still maintaining his smile.

“But he's right guys…” said Jiori as everyone else turned to look at him. “This is Arthion for crying out loud, how in the bouncy galaxy could we have fallen for that?” he continued. Raaul and Devin were laughing, coincidentally but unfortunately at a different occurrence, none of them knew this anyway.

“Wait, Jiori don't tell me you still believe the bouncy galaxy story our guardians told us when we were little” he said this as his laughter subsided.

Devin all of a sudden stopped laughing as he realized Jiori wasn't laughing at the same thing he was, he felt like a total doof but didn't show it.

“Not like I still believe in it, I just add it to certain words in my sentences to make me look cool” Jiori said with a light blush.

“And yet they say you've grown” said Devin while looking away from Jiori in a bit of annoyance.

Raaul and Jiori, son's of one of the high ranking soldiers while Devin’s father was the lead scientist of the time travel department at Xymerion. The trio were very good friends and this was known throughout out part of the Zorvathian void if not all of it, though other kids have it to be because of their guardians’ fame. Devin’s guardian involved him in work activities and most times his presence usually came in handy. Devin though recalcitrant towards his father's work and other things related, was smart as regarding the things of the present day Zorvath because he was from the future, a bit too intellectual for his age as most people said. He’s nice but has his mood changed with any slight occurrence, his friends say it's because he misses his home void. No one actually knows.

Raaul and Jiori, as children of the best soldiers on Zorvath, accompanied their guardians to Kronar most of the time and took part in cadet training; they stood out even among the rest of the cadets.

“But let's look at it this way, everyone on Zorvath seems happy and no one expects what happened over a thousand light years ago to repeat itself. Not in this era when everything is so developed and all '' Raaul said with a mixed feeling of doubt and a little touch of confidence

“Yeah and it's not like the race banished over a thousand lightyears ago are just going to swoop in out of any random wormhole or just warp in from the null vortex unannounced without the knowledge of W.A.R.S agents like your dad's right?” added Devin as they both turn to Jiori.

Jiori was looking at them with sympathy, like he knew something they didn't but didn't know how to tell them either.

“Right, they've got everything under control” he said as he forced himself to smile to avoid suspicion from his friends.

Jiori was from the Planet Arthion. He had all the myths and ancient stories concerning the Zorvathians at his fingertips, every legend, prophecy or anything there was to know about it. Though his father was a soldier and he was zealous about that too, he also liked going to the libraries to gather information and from the looks of things he gathered a little too much of it.

“I guess it's time to get going, we'll see tomorrow Xymer's Nova is almost out of sight, that hag of a guardian should be worried about me by now” Devin said as he set the timer for his warp belt setting the coordinates for Xymerion otherwise called home”

“Later De…” Raaul was about to say Later Devin but before he had the chance to say so, Devin had already warped back. “He sure has a lots of those!” amazed by the way Devin uses the warp accessories his guardian makes for him.

“I mean look at him, so cool” Jiori concurred but with increased tenacity as he tried to conceal the fact that something was really going on in his head.

“You don't look good Jiori, are you sure you're okay? You know if there's anything bugging you you can tell me. I an Devin are here for you” Raaul said as he tried to lift up his friend’s spirit.

“I'm fine, you guys are awesome friends, I know. And you're right, something’s bugging me…” when Jiori said this he noticed that Raaul was all ears ready to hear what he had to say next…“I had unfinished work at home so I was thinking of how to get back to it on time without getting my guardian angry and without having to make it look like I'm chasing you guys away, you're the only friends I have” he continued with a fake sob that Raaul immediately fell for.

“This shouldn't be an issue Jiori, we all have guardians, we understand these things, just be sure to tell us, who knows? We might even come around to help you, afterall,what are friends for? No matter what this void has to offer, D,J,R will go through it together” Raaul said trying to convince his friend who was literally lying to him.

“Thanks Rauul, you're the best. I'd better start walking before it's late, I'm sorry I won't be escorting you to the hangar bay today, please pick no offense.”

“It's totally okay my friend” I'm not using the public cruiser today. My guardian suggested that I test out a new tracking device this morning he says he'll receive my coordinates once I just press this button on it so I hope this doesn't fail like the previous device he tried test running if not I'll be staying a while on your planet” Rauul said as he giggled.

“You're welcome to stay at my place…” Jiori said ironically

“Anyways I've got to get going, goodluck with your location device thingy.”

“Alright bye” saluted Raaul as he waved back to Jiori who was waving at him as he had already begun his journey on foot back to his home.

Xymer's Nova was already setting in and poor Raaul was waiting for his own cruiser to pick him up, from standing to squatting and from squatting to sitting and pacing back and forth on the grass. He kept changing positions till he stopped to think “What's going on? Haven't they received the signal?” He kept soliloquizing that's when it dawned on him that he never even pushed the button on the device to begin with. He did so and not long after he did, a Quayon warped in and lowered it's altitude and the pilot yelled at the top of his voice mentioning the rank of Raaul’s guardian for Identification purposes “Hop on kid, warp commander Rayne sent me” he said as Raaul stepped on the moving holo-platform that had him levitating till he reached the cruisers entrance.

“Are we good to go kid?” asked the pilot.

“Good to go, good to go, sir” replied Raaul with a salute to the junior officer.

“Easy kid” said the pilot warmly. “By the way, I'm Astro Lieutenant Craig, nice meeting you, your dad's been saying much about you lately…”

“Really, he does?” Says Raaul who let the talk slip up to his head.

“Yeah, infact we're headed over to his base at Kronar, everyone really wants to see you again, since you and your pal ditched cadet training, everyone can't hold their questions anymore”

“Ouch!, that was not the homecoming I planned” Raaul said sheepishly caressing his scalp “but what gives? I'll meet everyone so that's fine with me”

This conversation took place while the pilot was waiting for the Antimatter Propulsion Systems to generate enough sound energy for hyper speed warping. With this process completed.

“Brace yourself kid, we’re going in hot” the pilot says as he turns on the Nav computers and engages the auto pilot mode.

Raaul turns and puts on his safety straps from both sides.

The thrusters let out a sharp swooshing sound as it left the planet Arthion.

Meanwhile, Jiori has not yet gotten back home, so many thoughts were running through his mind while on his way home, it felt like he was almost going crazy just when he thought he was going through a lot already, the shocker came…