8 Tera Nova

Flying towards the sky, the pilot pulled out of Earth's atmosphere, before engaging the main thrusters and setting course for Jupiter. Earth was no longer the main hub of human life, but it was never abandoned, as it was now the front line world, from which the Tamarain invasion came in.

Being a no man's land, Earth was a dangerous place to stay. Yet, some people had refused to migrate to the new human world. Jupiter served as an entry point to the new world. They had a secret portal set up in a region of Jupiter that was constantly ravaged by raging sandstorms.

Reaching Jupiter's orbit, Commander Landon had a small thought for his captive and therefore, ordered his jailer to open up a channel to his cell. Seeing the screen appear on one of his room walls, Henry raised a brow, wondering what his captor wanted now.

'' Mister Calvert, I believe you have never left earth. Am I wrong ? ''

'' That is correct Commander. Why do you ask? ''

'' I am not a monster and I think you should see our new world, even if just this once, with your own eyes. ''

Turning around, he ordered his comms technician to switch on the front cameras on the ship and display them to the prisoner's screen. What Henry saw next, brought tears of joy to his eyes. Passing though a sandstorm, into a purple-ish portal and back out into space, before him was no longer the big rock called Jupiter. He was now in front of a magnificent planet, with so many different colors on its surface.

The water bodies were comprised of teal colored water, with some dark blue streaks in many places. It looked as though the water itself had veins, visible from space. The land had a beautiful mix of light green, pink and cyan patches all across its surface. It was like paradise seen from above.

''Welcome to Tera Nova Mr. Calvert. You at least got to get out of that crap hole we used to call home. Many don't get that chance. I hope you enjoy your stay, as short as it will be. '' Turning around, Commander Landon nodded at his subordinate and the channel was shut down.

'' Wait ! '' Henry yelled, desperate to see more, the screen upon the wall vanishing as it had appeared. With tears welling up in his eyes, he felt it had been even crueller for his jailor to show him this splendid world, which he would never get the chance to experience himself.

Now steaming on the inside, Henry sat back down on his bunk bed, planning his escape. He had hope. His hope was slightly dimmed by the fact he was going to jail and most likely end up executed for crimes he had yet to be charged with. Henry knew he was innocent, but he had to admit, his story did sound sketchy to anyone hearing it. He was found on a blasted battlefield, with 9 Tamarain bodies lying around, him unharmed. Even if he did tell them the truth, they really had no reason to believe him.

However, Henry was planning to make a mad run for it as soon as they would take him off the ship. He was no wanted criminal after all, so he kept the hope that they wouldn't hunt him down so much.

He soon felt the ship shake a little, which meant they had landed. Hearing his cell door open, he saw his 2 goons from earlier step into his room, guns drawn.

'' Get up scumbag, your death awaits you. '' said Ensign Gamin.

'' Your time is up. '' added Ensign Duncan.

'' Gentlemen, we meet again. '' Henry said, a smug smile on his face.

He had planned on these 2 fools being his guards of the ship. They clearly underestimated him and he would use that fact at his advantage. Knocking them out would be easy and then all he had to do was run for it. Or so he thought.

Finally getting of the ship, he saw before him a huge building that looked like a big concrete block. A well defended concrete block he noted as he started counting the many automatic sentry turrets latched upon the walls. This was obviously a maximum security prison. His window of opportunity getting shorter by the second, Henry decided to act. He started taunting his 2 guards aggressively.

'' You're fools if you think I won't escape from this place. Ensign Gamin was it, I bet you I'll be out of here in a week. ''

Smiling from ear to ear, he watched on as his escort started gritting their teeth.

'' Stop talking prisoner. '' Ensign Duncan said, clearly more disciplined than his colleague.

'' Ohh? So you're actually disciplined. That means you're merely a follower in his mischief. ''

'' He said shut up, piece of shit! Unless you want to die now? It would be such a shame if you were to try running and I'd have to shoot you right here and now. '' retorted Ensign Gamin.

'' HAH! I bet you can't even aim correctly. Otherwise you wouldn't still be a foot soldier right? Or are you satisfied with your miserable life as it is. ''

Seeing Gamin's eye twitch, he knew he had reached the tipping point. All he needed to do now, was push him over the edge.

'' You act tough, but I bet I could take both of you down with my bare hands! ''

'' OKAY, THAT'S ENOUGH!! '' Ensign Duncan snapped. Walking over to Henry, he wacked him in the face with his rifle. He then bent down on the fallen man and un-cuffed him.

'' Start running. '' he said, getting back up and looking at Henry.

'' OHH HELL YEAH! Were doing this! '' excitedly added Gamin. He skipped forward to Henry who was still on the ground and kicked him straight to the stomach. Or at least he tried. As soon as he was close enough to the downed man, his leg got swiped and he ended tumbling forward to the ground. After the leg swipe, Henry sprang up, fast as lightning and threw a punch to his other guard.

* BAM *

Ensign Duncan was instantly knocked out. Leaving henry with just Gamin to handle. Grabbing on to the still falling guard, he charged towards Gamin, using his buddy as meat shield. Not wanting to harm his colleague, Ensign Gamin hesitated to fire. That moment of hesitation caused his demise, as Henry lugged him his meat shield and dove in to whack him out of his boots. After 3 consecutive punches to the nose, Gamin fell unconscious.

Henry quickly got up and bee-lined away, not wanting to stay a moment more in front of that doom box. Having ran for about thirty seconds, he thought he was out of danger. Only the second he thought that, Henry heard a booming sound and felt a sharp pain to the back of his head.

The booming sound was actually a sonic boom, caused by Commander Landon. The Commander had seen everything happen through his soldier's body cams and had got out of the ship when things went out of hand. Stepping out of his ship, he saw his escapee a few hundred feet away, running for it. He had bent down and leapt at such incredible speed. Breaking the sound barrier and catching up to his fleeing target in a single second, Landon hit him behind the head to knock him out.

Seeing this from an spectators view, one would understand right away why Landon was a Commander by now. His physical strength had long since passed the limit of a simple human. He had been enhanced to be able to fight on equal footing with high-class Tamarain fighters.

Landon was one of few super soldiers that hadn't gone rogue in project GoWSS. And seeing how Henry had just outclassed 2 trained soldiers, while clearly being a civilian, had him harboring doubts about his nature. Deciding to bring him in for interrogation and shine light on the situation, he lumped Henry's unconscious body on his shoulder and brought him into the prison himself.

Once in the prison, Commander Landon Strapped Henry into a containment chair, in an interrogation room and went into the next room across a double-sided mirror. He then contacted his superior to get clarification on the present situation. He wanted an explanation. There shouldn't have been any new super soldiers coming out of earth. And yet, there Henry was.