Chapter 1

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The cold morning wind whipped around Lieutenant Jackson’s thermal body suit freezing him to the bone. How could anyone live on this hostile planet he thought to himself? The people of this planet had adapted to the harsh conditions and didn’t require a thermal suit. Jackson looked extremely alien.





No matter the environment one million people still lived here and to his dismay he had to screen every single one of them.





Jackson yawned, rubbing his once bright blue eyes, trying to keep from falling back to sleep. He could still hear the alarm that had awakened him this morning at 3 o’clock after only two hours of sleep. That was the longest he had slept in three months and it didn’t look like today would be any different.





This had been his life ever since he joined the military right out of college at the age of 22. Back then he was a naïve kid who wanted to travel the stars. Have a better life the recruiter had told him. Hell, this was a better life than the one he lead growing up on the streets of the Capitol but not by much.





The wind picked up again. Jackson thought it might have been colder this time but he could never tell on this planet. It all felt the same.





The three guards who were assigned to him today were already setting up in their posts. He could see them checking their weapons. Making sure they were ready on a moments notice to quell any attempt to harm him.





“Teams in position?” Lieutenant Jackson called out of the headset.





“Roger sir” They responded at once.





“Alright, let’s make sure this stays a routine day.”





Jackson stood in the middle of the city’s town square. You couldn’t really call this a city, Jackson thought. He was surrounded on all sides by rundown wooden houses and stores. Jackson scanned the outlying building. The remnants of the city’s former glory could still be seen in the ruins of once proud marble statues of Ancient Gods worshipped in better times.





Jackson began preparing for the new group of citizens he had to screen. He grabbed his portable DNA screener from the table and looked around the packed city square. There were five hundred people from this group, group 156. He had been at this for over three years now. Going to different planets, screening the entire population. He hoped that this would be his final group. He prayed this group contained the person the Empire had spent twelve years trying to find.





“Everyone please remain patient.” He said through the sound system.





He could tell the crowd was getting impatient. It showed on their faces. He could see the hatred in their eyes. Most had been woken from their sleep just like he had. But lack of sleep wasn’t the only reason these people looked like they were ready to kill Jackson and his team, no, this particular city on this planet, officially named N255B, did not like the Empire one bit. Rumor had it that the mayor of this city and other local government officials had dealings with the Kaza Federation. Jackson knew that none of this had ever been proven but he could tell by the looks in their eyes that this city was not friendly.





The first two civilians to step forward were a mother and her small child. She was around his height maybe taller, with brown hair and brown eyes. Jackson almost dropped the DNA screener as he lost his balance, a shocked look upon his face. He blinked once and realized he was seeing things. Jackson thought to himself, I could have sworn that was my wife. Jackson had not seen his wife since joining the military those many months ago. His wife was with child when he left. Jackson wondered how long it would be till he saw them again but realized he shouldn’t keep his mind occupied with such sad thoughts, it only made the days go by slower.





Jackson pointed to the I.D. scanner, “Scan both your identification card and your son’s please.” He told the woman.





She walked up and slid her I.D. first through the scanner and then next her son’s. A green light appeared on the machine signaling to Jackson they both had been accounted for in the system.





“Please stand still while I administer the test.” He told the woman.





The woman had a suspicious expression on her face but stood still anyways.





He held out the screener and pointed it towards her eye. A red beam of light flashed directly over her retina. The woman winced with pain.





“The pain will only last for a few minutes,” Jackson explained to the woman, “and your vision will be blurry for the next few days.”





The woman shot him a glance that made his knees tremble. Jackson almost reached for his side arm but hesitated. If I fire on this woman I would start a riot and there are only three armed guards to control this crowd, he thought to himself. His hand slipped away from the firearm at his side.





“Next I will administer the test to your son.”





Her eyes widened. The look on her face showed Jackson she had forgot about him testing her son. “No! Not my son, I will not submit him to such pain.” The woman cried out.





The crowd turned to look at the source of the wailing. Jackson looked around and could see the growing restlessness in the crowd that outnumbered his men well over 100 to 1.





Jackson saw that the armed guards assigned to him were slowly moving their rifles from their sides to firing positions. Their guns were shaky.





Jackson thought to himself, one wrong move, one accidental pull of the trigger, one civilian dead and the four of us will meet the same fate.





This was a powder keg waiting to explode and Jackson knew he had to keep the peace.





“Stand down” Jackson called out into his mouthpiece.





“But sir…” one of them started to argue.





“But nothing.” Jackson yelled over the intercom, “We don’t want to cause a riot here, so stand down”





Jackson looked around and saw the guards releasing their holds on their rifles.





“Ma’am, if you do not comply with ordinance 112 section 18 that states all citizens of the empire will submit to mandatory DNA testing, I will have to arrest you and in prison they will test your son anyways.”





“Alright, do as you wish.” The woman reluctantly agreed.





Jackson pointed the screener into the little boy’s eyes and the same red flash that went into the woman’s eyes went into his. The boy cried out in pain that caused his mom to start crying.





The Lieutenant felt no remorse in his heart. If that was his son he would shed a tear as well but it was not. He checked the results of both Mother and Son. The results took a little longer than usual and Jackson thought maybe that was a good thing. Maybe he might have found what they have spent so long looking for. Maybe. Just maybe.





It took 5 min for the results to come in. Jackson opened the results and scanned through them. Negative.





“Shit, both negative.” He cursed silently to himself.





Jackson had a feeling this was going to be a very long day.





“Next!” He called and the next civilian stepped forward.








It was reaching midnight when Jackson finished off the last of Group 156. Other than the Mother and Son, it had been a routine day and Jackson was looking forward to getting back to base.





He finished packing up his equipment and looked over his shoulder checking to see if transport had arrived yet. Damn, he thought to himself, late as usual.





Jackson figured this would be a great time to take a nap and pass time till the transport arrived. He sat back into his chair and closed his eyes.





Jackson was woken to the sound of boot steps coming up behind him.





“Sir, transport has arrived.” Private Martinez informed him.





Lieutenant Jackson sat up, shaking his head trying to clear the fog that seemed to have consumed his mind.





He finished gathering up his belongings and walked towards the transport. The military sent a HTV or human transport vehicle to come get him.