S1, 01 Doing My Bit (August 20, 2015)

**August 15th 2094**
Oxford, Earth

A young man sits in their apartment looking out of the window over the city. In the black of night, he wasn’t able to see much apart from the bright lights of the city, the nightlife and the travelling people. But the one sight that interests him the most is that of the Imperium Starships that were coming into landing.

This interested him, not only as the ships were beautifully designed but his brother Jon is an engineer on ‘The Overseer’ which is a satellite station orbiting over Earth. Today he was due to be returning after a 6 month tour of duty.

It was at this moment, the young man was taken out of this moment of thought as a call began to come in from this computer.

He walked over to the computer. The call was coming from this brother. In a moment of excitement, he answered the call.

Jon: “Hey Kayne! How have you been?”

Kayne: “I’ve been good bro. Looking forward to seeing you again.”

Jon: “Me too! I can’t wait. Oi, isn’t recruitment day next month? You’ll be old enough this year. Have you got your papers all filled out?”

Kayne: “I haven’t yet,no. I’m still deciding if I want to enlist or not.”
Jon’s face turned to that off annoyance.

Jon: “Oh come on! You have to join. We made a promise to Dad that we would do our bit”

Kayne’s mind went to thoughts of the promise that both of them had made to their dad. Their father was an Officer in the Imperium military that had gone missing. Since then, their mother had to be placed in a home as she just couldn’t cope with the grief and lost her mind. After that Kayne and Jon were always there for each other when they were growing up. Then when Jon turned 18 about 5 years ago, he left to join the military and now Kayne had become the same age so it was this turn to enlist but Kayne doesn’t know what to do with this life.

Jon: “Alright, do it for me man. When I get home I will go through it with you and sort it all out with...”

Jon was suddenly interrupted as Kayne’s screen began to go static and loud bangs could be heard.
Kayne: “Jon? Jon? What’s going on!?”

Jon: “It’s… Marauders! (Screen flickers in and out of static) ..e Overseer … er attack!”

Kayne face suddenly filled with shock. He knew about Marauders and what some of them have been capable of in recent years.

Kayne: “Jon! You need to get off the ship!”

Kayne could see the panic happening around Jon. Soldiers and officers running around. A loud alarm with the phase “All crew to battle stations!” being played repeatedly. Kayne got more and more worried.

Kayne: Jon! What’s happening?

Jon quickly turned back towards his communicator. A message could be heard in the background. “The Marau… boarding the Overseer… going down.”

Jon: Kayne! We are gonna have to have a rain check on that meet up. I love ya man! I will see…”

The call cuts out. Kayne’s face was full of terror. He knew what had happened. His brother is most likely dead. Kayne glares over to the papers while still in a moment of distress.

Kayne: “No! Oh god no! Please, no! Jon! Jon! Please, come back. Don’t go.”

**August 15th 2095**
Oxford Imperium Recruitment Center

It had been a year since Jon’s death aboard ‘The Overseer’. Kayne had spent a year grieving and thinking the same thing over and over in this mind.

After standing in a line for what seemed like hours, eventually he found himself standing by a small window, looking at an officer with some papers in front of him.

Recruitment Officer: “Name?”

Kayne: “Kayne Arrowsmith”

Recruitment Officer: “Age?”

Kayne: “19”

Recruitment Officer: "Reason for joining?"

Kayne: “I’m here to do my bit”

Recruitment Officer: “Right. Please pass forward your papers. Thank you, Mr Arrowsmith. We will contact you." In a dismissive tone.

Kayne turned away. He thought of Jon and what he had just put this name forward to do.

**Kayne’s Apartment**
2 Days Later

A message had arrived from GI. With a feeling of nerves, he opened the message.

“Dear Mr Kayne Arrowsmith,
We are happy to inform you that you have been accepted to become a new recruit of the Galactic Imperium Military.
A transport will be arriving at your local spaceport to take you to the Cadet Training Center on Soateria. Please arrive at 8:30 tomorrow with the completed paperwork attached to this message.”

After reading the message, Kayne finally relaxed and smiled. Tomorrow he will be heading to Soateria to begin to do this bit.

### BONUS:

*Thanks for reading my intro to TI. Please note that this intro was made quickly in order for me to start building the large set for the next episode, so that's why the images aren't as clear as they could be.*

The original cover photo.