System Jumpers. Officers trained in exploring the deepest darkest places hidden away in the cosmos. Their task? To find where the universe began.

There is knowledge of an old myth that derives from generations upon generations of explorers. There is an old tale, and it goes, that "at the very origins of the universe you shall uncover the truth," while vague, many believe this with absolute certainty. Due to the fact there is an old relic out there somewhere, with those exact words written across it.

Many believe if you find the origins, you'll have the ability to shape it to how you see fit.

Planet Yuvius. Early morning. Precipitation crashing down hard, with harsh winds howling in and around homes. In a bedroom a boy, Raiga woke up to rain pelting against his windows.

Looking outside with his solemn brown eyes, Raiga noticed the dull grey sky and dim weather; however, this wouldn't bring him down as this was to be, the first day of his training to become. A System Jumper.

"Raiga! Come on; you'll be late!" The man shouted up to him, "Alright Uncle calm down; I'm getting dressed" he replied, dressing into a black hoodie with which matched his trousers.

He hurried down the stairs, grabbing his hat from the hanger, slapping it amidst his black hair, sprinting out of the door, just as the rain started to slow down.

Yuvius wasn't the most beautiful nor technologically advanced place in the galaxy, it was often murky and acted as a mass industrial planet for others in the solar system; however, the planet for years, continued to be a perfect place for SEAC to have a base of operations due to its high production in Jumpships.

SEAC is a well-known corporation through the planetary system for training students to leave and find habitable planets in other galaxies. They're starting a new year of recruitment and training for thousands of adolescent teens.

Running amidst the wet, muddied, hiemal market. Raiga ran vigorously straight towards the SEAC building.

"Watch it, kid! If you knock over my basket again, I won't serve you the next time you want poultry!" The man snapped, pointing his chunky finger at Raiga. "Come on Ramon, you'll get more meat you're a butcher after all" he chuckled as he continued to sprint.

Raiga finally reached the SEAC building.

Raiga Approached the huge marble building, as various overhead Jumpships whizzed off into outer space, Raiga gazed in amazement. No longer able to contain his excitement he charged into SEAC.

The space centre buzzed with life, different groups of people, of all different ranks scuttling about like their lives counted on every waking minute.

Looking around Raiga couldn't keep still; it was like he was a child again that could no longer control his enthusiasm. Walking up to him, a tall slender woman wearing a deep blue office top and darkened black skirt patted him on the shoulder, "Hello my name is Emily I'm the receptionist here at SEAC, are you here for the inauguration?" She queried.

"Yes, my name is Raiga Ozumo, I'm in Womack's class?" He responded twiddling his thumbs, yes, you're right it's floor one A, and it's the third room along.

He ran off, clambering up the stairs to the first floor, making it into the classroom.

Wandering into the classroom, he surveyed the room, spotting an open seat Raiga approached a girl with blonde shoulder-length hair. She was wearing a pink top with a small animal on the front, sporting a white high waisted skirt.

"Hello, is it okay if I sit here?" Seemingly very timid, she proceeded to give a simple nod to indicate acceptance.

Minutes later, after everyone had finished mingling and making friends, their teacher Womack strolled into the classroom.

"Now as some of you know I am Womack, I've met a few of you before; I work with some of your parents" he stated, browsing the DNI checking the names of all his new students.

Womack stopped what he was doing and looked up at his class. Everyone seemed to be stunned. The average-sized man had a nasty large burn along the left side of his cheek, carrying himself around as though everything to him, was a task. Womack wore a ripped blue jumpsuit, with white tones.

"It's just a burn nothing more, get over it," Womack cautioned, scowling at the trainees.

"Now you all came here to be System jumpers correct? Well, I want to know what exactly you think a Jumper is can anyone tell me"? Raiga quickly shooting his hand into the air, knowing the answer, shook it around in anticipation. "System jumpers venture out to unexplored Solar Systems finding habitable planets humans can colonise" Raiga boasted with a smug grin on his face.

"SEAC, Space Exploration and Colonisation, well done you just summed up everything you're all going to learn over the next three years." Womack gave Raiga a little nod of approval.

Two hours had passed, and Raiga learned the ins and outs of what being a System Jumper involves, such as building your ship, survival training, the ability to navigate outer space and so much more.

"Raiga could I please have a word with you before you go home if that's okay?"

"Yes, of course, sir" Raiga stopped in his tracks turning to him befuddled.

"Raiga why would you like to be a System Jumper? Thinking for a second Raiga asked himself the same question. "To be frank, for fifteen years of my life, every day I've woken up, helped my uncle change the oil in the turbine, open the scrap yard and attempt to build a ship by hand. I want to see everything; I want to push my limitations and make my father proud" He confessed, rubbing the back of his head letting out a nervous laugh.

"Well I'll make sure that happens," he said giving off a warm and friendly smile, "now go on you better go," he commanded, leaning back on his chair with Raiga stepping out of the door.

Leaving the SEAC building, Raiga felt the harsh cold touch his skin. Yuvius on this night was wetter and increasingly more gelid than it had been all year round.

Raiga was strolling home through the market, working on pacing himself and trying not to slip on the frost. Raiga glanced over to see someone struggling to break off the bolts to Ramon's butcher stand shutters. "Hey! What do you think you're doing?" He shouted.

Turning around, a rather large fellow gives Raiga a haughty stare. "Oh, you know... Just rough times, how about you look the other way and there will be no problems" The stranger passively remarked, with a quick sneer.

"Rough times? The way I see it, you're going to take all the money from the cash machine and rob a hard-working man blind!" Raiga accused him scowling at his noticeably red hair.

"You don't know what you're getting into pal turn around and run home before I make you eat grit" He threatened. Squaring up to Raiga, he was clearly ready for conflict.

Running out from the rear of the stand, a smaller boy comes out from the dark. "Hey, Colt I broke the lock off the door... Wait, who is this dude?"

"Just go back to your home Sam, I can handle this," he said, pointing off into the dark.

"B... But Colt, it would be best if you had this for your si..." Sam stuttered.

"Go home now!" he commanded, still giving Raiga a fierce stare. Sam bolted home like a startled animal.

Both boys were standing opposite one another. It was a battle of the eyes. Who would move first? Suddenly Raiga charged toward Colt almost slipping on the frost. Before Raiga could regain balance, Colt shoved him into a wire fence with dominant force.

"You're quite dimwitted, I gave you a chance to march on, and you wasted it!" Colt hissed pointing at him. While attempting to get to his feet, Raiga snapped back at Colt.

"That man doesn't deserve this. You're scum." Before Raiga had time to notice, Colt had thrown a punch bruising his left eye.

Raiga yelped and folded into the ground like paper, no longer able to fight back. "Scum? Don't make me laugh." Colt booted him in the ribs and sauntered off back home.

Raiga couldn't stand, he writhed in agony. Wrapping his arms around his knees, he curled up in a ball and whimpered. He could feel the icy wind run along his body. He shook uncontrollably.

After around ten minutes, Ramon came by and found Raiga sobbing in the cold. "Raiga? Completing the fold, he fainted and lost consciousness.

Opening his eyes, Raiga groaned. His body ached. He was in someone's house. He looked around confused. "Where am I?" Raiga questioned. "You're awake, so are you going to tell me who did this?" Ramon demanded, handing him a glass of water.

"Ramon? How did you know I was out there?" He asked, sipping down the water.

"I didn't; my alarm went off, so I ran to check it out, then I found you" Ramon started to chuckle under his breath,

"what's funny?" Raiga muttered sitting up. "You are just like your father, he always picked fights that had nothing to do with him as well, he had a temper too, you should work on that."

Raiga stared at him angrily. "Hold on. Did you know my dad? Why didn't you tell me? I've been coming to your stand for months now."

"You was young, and it wasn't the right time, a lot happened. Its nothing you tell a child." Ramon passed him an old worn-out picture.

In the image, a younger Ramon in space gear and what looked to be, Raiga's father stood proud, smiling with an arm around each other's shoulder.

"Stand up follow me. I want to show you something." Raiga stood up and followed Ramon.

Now in his workshop. Ramon ripped some dusty rags off a large machine. It unveiled a Jump ship; it had a grey body with rugged edges and red streaks running around the wings.

Raiga stepped forward, stunned. "Wow, it's an ST40 one series, what an old model." Raiga leered in amazement.

Ramon wiped off dust revealing the logo "four zero one" underneath "I thought you'd like it; I've held onto it for year's collecting dust."

"I don't understand, why are you showing me this?" Raiga questioned, inspecting the ship's laser cannons.

"Your father and I were building it, something I couldn't bring myself to fix after what happened," Ramon murmured looking at the floor, almost as if he was ashamed.

"What happened to my dad Ramon? I'd like to know."

Ramon took a deep breath. "On our final mission, before he retired, we got sent out to check an anomaly on the boundaries of the solar system, turned out a small fleet of Vikans managed to break through our radars almost undetected, SEAC sent us and two others to check what was going on and only I came back. Your father got hit and fell to a planet called Itiri, I tried to go after him, but before I knew it, a Vikan had punctured my fuel tank. I barely made it out by the skin of my teeth." Ramon confessed everything and put his hand on Raiga's shoulder. " we sent out many search parties after, but no remnants of him were found I'm sorry, Raiga."

"I get it you have a daughter; you couldn't risk her not having a dad." He smiled slightly. "Don't worry about it, thanks for telling me. I'll have to wrap my head around it though; I wish I could talk to him now."

Ramon rubbed his beard. "So, I thought if you want, we could fix this thing up? He offered. "after all, I'm sure your dad would want you to have it."

Raiga's face lit up with a huge smile. "Sure."

Ramon walked over to the garage door and pressed the button. The shutters screeched while opening slowly. "You better get going quick, your uncle will be worrying where you are. Come back tomorrow after SEAC training we will get started then." 

"You got it, old man." Raiga snickered rapidly sprinting out of the door into the cold once again. "who do you think you're calling old? I'm only forty-two!" Ramon fretted, pointing his large fingers at Raiga yet again.

At his worn-down house, Raiga climbed up the side pipes of his home, slowly lifting the window wide open, he dropped in being as quiet as he possibly could trying not to wake his sleeping uncle.

Raiga shut the window behind him, changing into his nightclothes he got into bed and closed his eyes, almost instantly entering a deep slumber.

Meanwhile in the city, Colt had just gotten home, he dwelled in a three-floored apartment in a shady part of town. Walking through the front door, his father immersed in the joys of Galactic Television.

The rather large, but slightly hunched, father stood up from his chair marching over to Colt. "Where do you think you have been at this hour?" His father now up in his face, Colt hung his head low in fear like a cowering animal that knew he had done wrong.

Colt took a small step back. "I was with a f... friend." He gulped. "With your friends!? With everything that's going on with your sister, do you think it's acceptable to stay out this long?"  Colt's Father yanks him by the arm and drags him into a room at the back of the house.

Pushing the door slowly, it creaked wide open. "Look! Your sister is fighting for her life, and you're out having the time of your life yet again!" he shouted. Glancing over Colt sees his small, frail. sister laying on a bed with a ventilator strapped to her mouth. The room was bleak, and all you could hear were the sounds of his sister struggling to breathe.

Colt pulls his arm from his dad's grasp. "Get off of me!" he yelled as he ran toward the front door, ready to leave.

Colt rips the door wide open, the cold crept in and infested the home. "Colt!" he stopped in his tracks and turned to his father. "If you step out of that door, then you are never welcome here again." He threatened, staring at the boy.

Although his father made himself clear, Colt defiantly stomped out of the door and slammed it behind him.

Waking up a few hours later, Raiga opens his curtains to the outside being bright and dry for once, although still being a slightly chilly.  Charging down the stairs, Raiga swiped a slice of his uncle's toasted bread "thanks uncle Conray."  His uncle frowned, as Raiga charged on out of the door.

Now at Ramon's butcher stand, Raiga contemplates buying some Rangit, a small, fluffy, three-eyed, animal that was easy enough to cook even if you were inexperienced.

Raiga grabbed the small animal. "Hey, Ramon How much for the Rangit?" Raiga pondered.

Ramon rubbed his beard in thought. "You know what, because it's you, twenty-five pieces." He said, being blunt. "twenty-five? that's the average price."

Ramon scowled at Raiga. "Alright grumpy, here, twenty-five." He placed many hexagonal shards on the table, receiving his food.  "See you later tonight, Ramon."  Raiga smiled, giving him a wave and nodding back.

Raiga reached his classroom and sat in his usual spot next to Lily. "Your dad is always grumpy, he charged me full price for a Rangit... I thought we were friends." At that moment, Lily started to laugh at Raiga. "He charges me full price, and I'm his daughter" Lily giggled.

Womack suddenly burst into the room. "Good morning everyone I hope you're all eager to learn." He asked, placing his Digital Notebook Index onto the table. Womack seemed to be in a relatively good mood today, but you could never know for sure, the man was hard to read.

On the DNI Board, there was an image of a large carrier Jump Ship. "By now I'm sure you have all noticed this Ship, you can probably guess what you use it for, anyone?" Womack questioned.

Several hands shot into the air, eager to answer Womack's question, including Raiga's.

"Lily how about you, do you have any idea what you use this ship for?"

Lily jumped up startled, "I err...umm is it used for long-distance travel?" Lily hesitated twirling her hair around her fingers. "Correct However, most Jump ships travel immense distances deep into space with ease, this one can carry a heavy load, but at the cost of fuel due to it needing one extra compulsor engine."

Womack taps on his DNI, zooming into an engine. "The XF model takes up twice the amount of Laxium fuel than any other carrier ship SEAC has manufactured," Womack explained shutting the DNI board down.

Raiga stuck his hand into the air. "Sir, what about vehicle mods?" he asked the now gloomy teacher. "Mods have been made recently illegal; due to the unreliability and inability to tell when one can fail and compromise your whole ship."

Womack dragged himself to the door and pulled it open. "for the rest of the day you are going to be pairing up with a second year, and you'll be learning from your partner how to repair an engine in a pinch, come on everyone follow me."

Almost instantaneously ,everyone leapt out of their seat trotting on out of the door following their teacher. Behind the large space Centre, their lay a large warehouse, from the outside it looked unused. Yet the pupils walked on in to see another set of pupils. Attached to mini cranes, roughly twenty broken compulsor engines were sat in a line, this obviously looked like they were the student's job to fix today.

Standing in the centre of the room, a slender yet well-built woman controlled the space.

"Everyone here thinks they can make it as a System Jumper, well I'm here to tell you that at best, maybe half will leave Yuvius."  

Womack's students turn to each other a little discouraged. The class started to mumble to each other. "Everyone shut up!" She stares toward the exit, "if you want to give up, you know where the door is."

Raiga turns to Lily and folds his arms. "She Is the complete opposite of Womack; I'm almost glad he's our teacher, she is stern!" Lily nodded in agreement.

Womack stepped forward. "okay, my class come to me, and Bree's students you go to her, and you will be assigned your partner," He declared reaching for his DNI.

After ten people, it came time for Raiga to get partnered with a second year. He turned around to Lily "I guess I'll see you later then?" he whispered, stepping forward. Lily let out a simple, "okay" with a nervous smile and moved on to find her partner.

Womack ran his finger down the list; he breathed out a long sigh. "You okay sir?" Raiga consulted trying to peak at the list. " I can't seem to find your name... ah here we are you are with a boy called Colt."  Raiga's eyes widened, and he took a step back. "Who again sir, I misheard you" Raiga gulped in disbelief.

Raiga then started racing his eyes around the room, concerned, he began looking for Colt, he felt shook with apprehension. An unexpected tap on his shoulder caused a shiver to glide down Raiga's spine. Raiga felt an overwhelming force press down on him like he was held down by worry.

He turned around to face Colt standing over him like Raiga was his prey, and he was the predator. Raiga swallowed his fear and got up in his face. "Move!" Raiga ordered scowling into Colt's angry eyes. Any Warmth that once remained in them left long ago.

Colt didn't change his stance; he just moved closer, "or what? Are you going to make me?" He teased with a smirk on his pale face prodding Raiga.

Soon after Bree moves on over to the two looking as though they were about to scrap once more, "You two, I hope we don't have a problem with the pairs we've put you in do we?" she asked intensely. "No M'am not a problem here," both boys let out, breaking eye contact with each other.

"Good" Bree presses her hands on to their shoulders. "This isn't a fight club, while you may learn basic combat, it's for defence only so I suggest you settle your problems now if you want a career in Space travel!" Bree asserted walking off to aid others.

While Colt and Raiga try and bring themselves to work together, Lily and another girl seemed to make progress on repairing their engines.

"Jane, can you please hand me the Fluid Pump," she held out her palm expecting the tool to be in her hand "actually, Lily it's the Nano Valve you want, it allows the pistons to open and for the Laxium to pass back into the junction fluently."

Lily lifted her head out from under the engine.

"You know your stuff Jane," Lily praised the girl. Jane had a brown skin complexion and wore black goggles, she seemed to be very well informed about how to build and tinker with Jump ships; she looked like she had been doing this for years.

While Lily and Jane got acquainted, Raiga and Colt seemed to have difficulty finding where to start. "What are you even doing here, Colt?"

Raiga raised an eyebrow grabbing the first tool he saw on the desk. "I need to make a living somehow, do you think I'm just going to get a dead-end job sweeping the floors of SEAC?  I don't think so."

Raiga raised the engine and started to tinker with the underside of the machine. "You're doing it wrong; you need to yank the gasket then screw it in." Raiga glanced at Colt, confused. "here pass me the Nano Valve."

Raiga hesitated, but in the end, Colt just snatched the tool and pushed him out of the way to get underneath the broken engine.

Colt quickly dealt with the fuel bleed and moved on with the piston replacement.

"Alright fair enough, you know your stuff," Raiga admitted crossing his arms.

"Well, to be honest, you at least know which tools we need I'll give you that," Colt carried on smacking the piston in place. "we need some foam gel to seal the piston in place, and we're done, have they told you what you're going to be doing with it after yet?" Raiga shook his head.

Colt looked at him and gave him a devious smile. "What is it?" Colt left to re-join his class and left Raiga a little concerned. "What an ass."

Everyone regrouped, and Bree got ready to announce next weeks task. "Okay, you're most likely wondering why we've asked you to fix up an ST forty engine," Bree also had a menacing grin on her face she seemed to enjoy this part of teaching. "Well isn't it simple? you're going to use them."

Everyone looked at each other in doubt, how could they pilot a ship? They had no training.

"Don't worry your partner will be there to supervise, they've all done this before."

Raiga raised his hand, "How do you expect us to pilot when we don't even know if either of us has fixed our engines correctly?" Raiga had raised a question everyone was thinking.

Bree glared at Raiga. "Well, you better hope you fixed them properly then, or you'll be plummeting to the ground won't you."