Long Times and Changes

Chapter 1 - introduction

"Congratulations. You survived." The monotone voice said. The robot had always sounded unimpressed, as it had been for years already. The team lined up, shoulder to shoulder. For the most part, they seemed human. In fact, three out of five of the members were. The alien - a very obvious sight, towered over the members at 7 feet tall. The other one, the group was under the illusion that he was human, as of now. With eye mods. Eye mods were common in this day and age, and this guy just so happened to have yellow ones.

"You will be boarding a carrier to Planet 6727B within 5 minutes after I let you go. Abella," the girl with blonde, braided hair straightened herself, "you are assigned team leader. You will have information sent to you, and it is your choice how to use it."

"You are free to leave." The droid finished, before turning to exit.

"Planet 6727B? What's that?" One of the human males, Erik asked.

"I believe it's Droid terminology for Planet Greenstripe, or Gohuokan." Abella answered. "We don't have too much time. Does everyone have their supplies? Azita?"

The white armoured alien nodded in confirmation, "Yes, ma'am."

"Erik?"

"Yes ma'am!"

"Qi?"

"Yes ma'am." The female standing at Abella's side said.

"Nevi?"

After a pause, the male responded. "Yes, A..ma'am." He adjusted the mask that covered half of his face, up to his nose.

"Then let us proceed to the carrier." Abella took the lead. The group did not walk in an orderly line; they had tried, but it just fell into a mess, so Abella allowed them to walk in a cluster. She didn't mind, either way.

The carrier was a black ship with wings out the side. They were in orbit with 'Greenstripe's' moon as of now, so transportation would be quick. Getting on, they took their seats and buckled up, Abella alerting the pilots to take off. The ride was pretty good; some light conversation in the group here and there.

When they landed, the doors opened. The group exited and approached what seemed to be their contact on this planet, a four armed, bulky, lizard like alien. "I assume you are the team sent here?" He asked.

"Yes, at your service.."

"..Sel." He finished. Sel blinked one of his yellow eyes. "You have recieved the information?"

"I have," She pointed to her device on her arm, one that worked as a communication device and a storage device.

Self nodded, as if pondering. "I see. To the rest of your team..they are?"

"Abella. I'm the team leader."

"Qi. I work in a lot of things. Combat, recon.. etc."

"Erik. I-I'm the medic." He had never seen an alien of this appearance before.

"I am Azita. I am the same as Qi, but I specialize a lot in languages."

Nevi looked up, seeing how he was the last to speak. "Nevi. I like guns."

Sel seemed a little bit annoyed how vague Nevi was, but he let him off the hook for now. "Currently, as it is nearing the end of the day, nothing will currently be done today. I will set you up with my Advisor tomorrow and he will tell you more information, but as I said, it is rather late."

Abella nodded. "So where will we be staying?" Sel turned around, gesturing to the walled town a little ways back from the shipyard. "Past the gates is a hotel. It is hard to miss. Just tell them that 'Sel sent you' and you'll be on your way. For now, you are free to look around the town, and get to know it. I would suggest not staying up too late, though. We will meet early."

Sel turned tail, walking off to the town. The group watched for a moment, before Erik said, "I guess that's our call to start heading in?"

"Yes," Abella smiled. "Let's go to the town."

They began to walk, Qi by Abella's side as usual, Nevi attempting to walk beside Abella as well but Qi's stare was weirding him out so he stuck to the back, near Azita. Erik was in the middle of all of them.

Nevi kept his eyes focused ahead. Azita also somewhat creeped him out, but at least Azita didn't have a grudge to hold. Qi did. He didn't like that one bit.

A light rumble entered his thoughts - or interrupted him rather. Slowly, he placed his hands to his abdomen in attempt to muffle the noise, but it was no use. Azita seemed to not have noticed somehow, but he heard a light chuckle. Probably Qi.

"Nevi," Abella said, her back turned as they still walked to the gates. "Did you eat at all today?"

With a slight wince, he responded. "Yes, I'm sure I'm fine-" but his stomach seeked to embarrass him today, as it protested again. He opted to stay silent for now.

The group went past the gates and into the town, Abella slowing pace to look around. "Azita, take Nevi to get something to eat and meet us back at the hotel."

"Yes, ma'am." Her response was almost mechanical. She forked away from the group, taking Nevi with her.

"What do you desire?" Azita asked.

"Excuse me- what?" Nevi asked in confusion.

A sigh escaped Azita's hidden mouth. "What food do you request?"

"Oh..right.." Nevi paused, thinking. "Something small. And sweet. Maybe not too small, but not large.."

"You humans are so vague." Azita muttered. "Stay." She commanded, and walked off, leaving Nevi in the crowd. Alone.

He didn't have too much of a problem being alone, though. It was just all the people. It didn't bother him that much, but just a little. He waited a few minutes, his stomach seemed to quiet down with some gurgles here and there. He leaned against a lamppost.

Azita returned with a small, white wrapping and handed it to Nevi. "I hope you are good with this. Because I am not fetching something else for you. We need to go to the hotel."

"..yes, of course." Nevi said after observing the item handed to him. It was like bread. It was white. Kinda had the feeling of a biscuit, but it was a bit tricky with gloves on to actually know. It was fair sized. Nevi mastered the ability of lowering his mask and turning away while walking and eating, not letting anyone see his face- or the bottom half of it, anyways. Not that Azita was interested in watching him, either.

He noted the bread was slightly sweet, but also thick. A bit tricky to swallow, but still delicious. He licked a few crumbs from his fingers and mouth before sliding his mask back up.

"Mm, delicious." He had to find out where Azita got that bread. And he had to hope it wasn't only available on this planet. Azita glanced in his direction, then back again. "It is the hotel." She stated, letting him go first.

The group was sitting in the lobby, waiting for their last two members. Erik seemed to have brought his book with him, and stopped reading to put it away once the others entered.

Qi stood up, brushing her shoulder length black hair behind her face. She approached the front desk. "Sel sent us."

The reptile nodded, typing something into her computer. "Do follow me." She stood, gesturing the group to follow.

"Each room can only fit two people each. Unless someone is willing to take the floor, of course. Here are your keys."

"Tetekey," Azita spoke. The lizard seemed to smile, and said something to Azita, before turning away.

"So, who's staying with wh-"

The door opened. "I'm exhausted," Nevi blurted out as he entered one of the rooms.

"I'll room with him, I suppose.." Erik stepped into the room.

"Azita, are you staying alone?"

"Yes." She simply said, leaning over to get through the doorway, then closing the door. With a nod, Abella looked at Qi, then entered the final room.

Nevi had fallen onto his bed right away. "Are you sure you're not gonna change?" Erik called.

"As I said," Nevi yawned, "I'm tired, and I like to wake up ready for the day."

"Alright then.." Erik said.

Tomorrow was gonna be a long day.