~First Glimpse Of Raven~
As I pushed myself to the designated corridor, I noticed others began to join me. I floated down the hall, enjoying the lack of gravity, when suddenly I crashed to the floor. The loudspeaker crackled to life. "We have now entered the orbit of Raven, and you will begin to feel the effects of the planets gravity on you." I heard various moans and I got up, with a puzzling difficulty. I came to the conclusion that it was the fact that my muscles had not been used in 20 years. I looked behind me, and among those following me was the Russian wall of meat. He got up with ease, not surprisingly. I took a moment to marvel at the size of the man, he looked like he could bend a steel girder, then eat it. I got up and walked I to what looked like a hangar. Inside was my commanding officer, and multiple ships. They were standard J-class short transport vehicles, but they had a ring attached to the front with two bulbs that pulsed in the dim light. The dual thrusters were going through vigorous testing to make sure that they still worked after all this time.
I got in line with the others and we all saluted the officer. He looked like a man who spent his days in the office, not the field. He had a bit of a belly, and he didn't look to be in his best shape. "At ease," he said with a low raspy voice. "You men gathered here today are some of the best in the world, formed for one purpose. You, every one of you, will be heading down into unfamiliar territory to explore Raven, and to put a stop to the civil war, by any means necessary. But, you already knew that, didn't you?" he said expectantly. The men responded with a "Sir, yessir!" in unison. He nodded and began pacing. "This," he said, taking out a remote and hitting a button on it, "Is Raven." The first layer to the hangar door opened, revealing a bright view of an off-white planet. "That is the surface of Raven, men. Tested and confirmed at 400° Celsius, that is a hellhole. Men, you will see the surface of the planet for about ten minutes into your descent, then you will begin the drilling. Each of these ships have been equipped with a laser drilling system, to drill through the crust of Raven and into the real world, where the civilization is." He went on to talk about how the natives would be expecting us, but that does not mean that we were going to be entirely welcomed. Each team would be positioned over different parts of the planet, so more ground would be covered faster. The officer then proceeded to assign us to our teams. Among my team were two other men and the Russian, who I often caught staring off into space. Literally. We were then rushed off down another corridor to meet the rest of our team.
