Chapter 3: Chapter 3

I stood in the large lobby of the spaceport. Thousands of people were traveling through, including small amounts of nonhumans. Large billboards filled the giant ceiling playing vids of various advertisements, and some were even recruitment videos for the various branches of armed forces. The ambient hum of hundreds of conversations filled my ears, and the light cyan and violet lights filled my vision in sickening displays of excess.

Dozens of kiosk filled spaces along with a few buildings selling various goods and services, though at an extortionist rate. I tightened my grasp on my bag and started pushing my way through the enormous crowd, catching a few questioning looks from a multitude of civilians. Order neophytes were rare to be seen outside of mars and without a knight.

The looks, however, played on my nerves a little, but I shoved that feeling down and pressed onward through the throng of people. Each time someone bumped into me, I grew a little more annoyed, mainly since that meant that I would have to re-adjust my uniform. But I bared my feelings and quickly pushed through the throng of people. I really hated how packed this place was.

I neared a small military flight kiosk that was thankfully empty. I nodded to the droid attendant, who glanced up at me. "Hello, welcome to the JFK spaceport. My name is X32, and I am the attendant droid. What can I do for you?" Its metallic voice easily cut through the noise of the surrounding area, and it affixed me with two eyes that looked like miniature cameras.

"Hello X32, I am here to confirm my arrival and get directions to the departure zone." I brought my watch to bear for the droid to scan as I spoke and save time.

"Understood. Please wait while I confirm the flight information." The droid took my hand and scanned the watch with a cone-shaped beam of red light that came from its eyes. I stood there patiently waiting as it did its job while looking around the spaceport. This was my first time here, and the sheer number of people was a bit nerve-racking. I clenched my bag a little tighter, and the droid glanced up back at me and retracted his white plasti-steel fingers.

"Your flight is scheduled for a nine pm departure, Senior Neophyte Kade. Please head over to elevator six-two-five-four. Your stop will be at terminal five-zero-five. I have been ordered to inform you that all Senior Neophytes have been ordered to report to Knight-Sergeant Valentine. He will be stationed outside of the terminal waiting for your arrival." The droid shifted his attention back forward, making it clear that the conversation was done.

I thanked the droid for his work and quickly crossed the large lobby. Alright, elevator six-two-five-four will get me where I have to go. I walked to a map kiosk and looked it over to find my location. I was on the bottom floor. The elevators were on the far west side of me. It would be a short journey to get there because of the sheer size of the port. I quickly glanced at my watch and saw that I still had a few hours, so I was set. I could either take a skywalk or an elevator pod. I could even walk, but I don't think I was in the mood to do something like that.

With my plans set, I fell in line behind a small grouping of people, waiting to get onto the nearest skywalk that would take me in the right direction. I received a few side glances from a few more civilians as they looked me over. I ignored them since it wouldn't be worth my time to deal with it. Besides, I had to be careful since any action I took from here on out would reflect on me and my position in the Order.

I stepped onto the auto walk and let it carry me through the port. I stared in awe the further I went in at all the scenery. There were countless business and kiosks that decorated the first floor with an even more enormous number of people visiting them. I have never seen so many people packed into one area. I felt most of them were colonists departing Earth, probably heading to one of our newest colonies in the Knossos sector.

It made me proud watching my species expanding out into the stars like this; it made me even prouder knowing that I would protect them as a knight. I stepped off the auto walk and crossed the small walkway to get to the next. This time I bumped into a nonhuman. An Avian, to be exact. One of humanity's closest allies, though that didn't detract that there was xenophobic tension between us at times, though, with the amount of legislature that has been passed the last few years, there have been rumors that the Avians may start to play a more prominent role in our politics and militaries.

The Avian twisted its head towards me and regarded me with its beady black eyes. The mane of inky purple feathers adorned its face and neck, ruffled slightly. "This one gives greetings to the neophyte of the order named Kade." Its voice was a mix of strange squawks and squeaks punctuated its words. It was hard to tell the gender of an Avian by its voice alone, but by the color of its feathers, I would guess that it was a female.

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"Hello there," I replied and gave the avian a slight nod. I wasn't sure why she was talking to me. Most Avians kept to themselves.

"This one is traveling to the terminal known as five-zero-five and is unsure of where to go. Would you grant this one assistance?" The Avian twisted her head slightly and clacked her pale beak together.

A tiny spark of confusion twisted in my mind as I regarded the bird. "Terminal five-zero-five is the Order departure zone. Are you enlisting?"
"Yes, yes. This one has enlisted into the Order. This one has lost its birth mother and has nowhere else to go. A knight picked me up off my birth street, took me under his wing, and found me a new birth home.." She squawked at me, and her feathers ruffled a bit more.

Upon hearing that, I regarded her a bit more closely. She wore a tunic that matched her feathers and freed her arms. Contrary to the Avian name, they couldn't actually fly. They just got that name because of their bird-like appearance. She had a small neck and looked about as skinny as most Avians I have met. Her face and body looked like someone combined with all the traits of a human and a raven, which was a bit atypical of race.

She may be a hybrid or have traits like that from further up her gene pool. "I see. I am heading there now, and I will happily take you there." I had nothing against nonhumans, especially avians. This was a cold universe, and hating everything out there was not good. We had few allies, and the more we shunned would be, the less we could rely on in the future. Though that was how I felt.

The Avian's feathers flattened, and an excited chirp emanated from her beak. "This one thanks you. This one hasn't made very many friends in the past. This one wishes to become friends with the human known as Kade."
Ah, she was excitable. It wasn't a bad thing, by any stretch. I also felt some sort of kinship with the avian. She seemed to have a rough life, and I just wanted to wrap my arms around her and tell her it would be okay, though I would be loath to admit to doing something like that. "I would like that. What is your name?"

"This one does not know her name. This one's given name is Raven." She clicked her beak together as her black eyes lit up. Why was she so precious? I would have to keep her in my squad to protect her from the others. Not everyone is kind to nonhumans in the Order, even if needed. It was a sad reality, one that I wanted to change.

"That's a beautiful name. My full name is Rhea Kade, by the way, but just Kade works." I told her as we stepped off the platform and walked towards an elevator pod. We only had to catch a few more to reach the elevators that would lead to our terminal.

She tilted her head and nodded her head. "Yes, yes, this one will only call you Kade." It was always odd, listening to avians talk. Teaching her standard must have been a nightmare. I had a feeling she must be directly translating what she wanted to say, which was causing the strange sentences. But it was okay. We would work on it.

I nodded and flashed her a smile instead of continuing to talk.
Sometimes I much rather remain silent. It was better just to listen and watch. I glanced once at my new companion and looked her over. She only had a small bag that she had fitted over her back and a small watch on her pencil-thin wrist. The Order would take any species, but the mortality rate for the implant surgery was high. It was even higher for nonhumans, but it wasn't something I thought about. That was a little way away, and I would cross that bridge when I got there.

A small yawn escaped from my lips, and the desire to use the restroom rose in my stomach. I glanced at my clock and saw that I had some time before I needed to reach the terminal. It was now or never, since I had a feeling that once I arrived, I wouldn't be able to use it again for quite some time.

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