by Z D Dean
“If you’re not too busy, could we get this meeting started?” Samix chided.
While shooting a scowl of his own at Samix, Zade shifted his attention to the meeting and sat attentively waiting for Samix to begin. Samix started the brief by explaining that the deep scanners had identified a planet that may have high concentrations of exantium in it. As Samix droned on about the different materials in the crust, Zade queried the ship data stores about exantium and found that it was a strong lightweight metal use, by the Unity, in all spacecraft. Zade shifted his attention back to Samix as she was closing out the list of other possible minerals on the planet. The planet had a climate signature similar to ones that supported large reptilian life. Samix closed with the mission statement and timeline. Zade was to use a team of SSILF to escort Axis to the surface where he would run tests and identify the estimated concentration of exantium. The target planet was one of four of interest and would be the first stop after the deep space scan was complete. Estimated time until orbit was seventy-two ship hours. Samix finished, waited for questions, and headed for the door.
Zade hustled past an anxious Axis who was rambling off questions, as he tried to catch up with Samix.
“Captain, you have a minute?” Zade asked, as he jogged up beside her.
“You have my ear until I get back to the command deck, security officer.” She icily replied.
“I just wanted to apologize for what I said…though earlier. It was just some dumb trooper humor, won’t happen again. Are we still good?”
“Noted, security.” Was all Samix said as she entered the command deck closing the door behind her. Zade still standing at the bottom of the stairs that led to the command deck, turned and headed to the medical bay. Knowing the routine, Zade ditched his blouse and undershirt on a nearby chair as he climbed into the medical bed and waited for Jorloss to prep him for the nanite work.
“How long have you known the captain?” Zade asked.
“We’ve been friends since childhood. Was just dumb luck that we got stationed on the same ship. Why?” Jorloss answered as he did a final review of the program.
“Just wondering. Does she hold a grudge?”
“You’re worried about her being angry at you for what you said.”
“What the hell, she told you about that?”
“Yea, told me over dinner that night. It seemed a little crude but funny if you ask me. You know she is one of the better looking Xi’Ga. Not sure why you’d run away through miles of razors and acid if you saw her naked. The women of your species must be amazing.” Jorloss said shaking his head as he started the aesthesia.
With the anesthesia starting to take hold, Zade realized his joke must have translated wrong. Samix thought Zade had made a joke about how hideous she was. “Wait…no” was all he got out before he dozed off. Zade awoke from the second, and final, bout of nanite changes to Jorloss hovering over him with a worried look.
“You were under longer than expected. The ship is already in its final orbit.” Jorloss said as soon as he saw Zade’s eyes open. Zade had hoped to have enough time to redesign the SSILF he would use for the landing party prior to the actual landing, but based on what Jorloss just told him, Zade didn’t suspect he would have the time. Jorloss insisted on running a function check on Zade’s new senses and, although initially irritated, Zade consented. After the checks Zade was happy that all sensory improvements had an on off switch, especially the smell and infrared.
After Jorloss was satisfied that everything was implemented properly Zade headed to the robotics lab to get ready for his first mission. As he turned out of the front stairwell, he could see Axis waiting by the door to his lab. As Zade closed with Axis, the small alien flew into a storm of scatterbrained questions about the mission, mainly why couldn’t he get into the lab to get SSILF to help him move his equipment. Zade opened the door while he calmed Axis down. After stepping into the lab, Zade headed to two of the maintenance SSILF on the wall, and asked Axis if they would be sufficient.
“Well, I need all of them. I have a lot of equipment.”
“Axis I need to keep some onboard in reserve. How much stuff do you have and how quick do you need them by?”
“All the equipment is ready to move into the cargo bay, there is about six crates.”
Jesus, just like a POG, take enough shit on mission to start a small community.
“All right, I have to fabricate more for the security party anyway. I will send three to your lab as I complete them. Two haulers and a loader. If there’s nothing else, please get out, I have a lot of work to do.”
Obviously satisfied with Zade’s plan of action Axis made his way out of the robotics lab, leaving Zade to begin on the laundry list of tasks for the mission. First, Zade pulled up the specs for the maintenance variant SSILF. After replacing the arms with a second set of legs, Zade bent the SSILF over, turning it into a new variant, the pack mule. Zade would fabricate two of these and use them to carry Axis’ gear. As the two large fabrication tubes began work on the pack mules, Zade connected with the one maintenance variant SSILF in the lab. Quickly wiping any earlier programming, Zade instructed it that its main mission was to load and unload the new pack mules, finally informing it that it should take all orders from Axis. After briefing the SSILF, Zade pulled up the specs for the new railgun he had been working on. So far it was the exact same weapon that the combat SSILF carried with the addition of a self-contained power source. The power source was capable of powering two hundred shots, so Zade figured he would go through almost three power sources per magazine of pellets. Zade then adjusted the stock to more closely resemble firearms he was used to, which had trigger assemblies. The last thing Zade included before fabrication was a targeting sensor that, when paired with Zade’s interface, would display a targeting reticle in Zade’s field of vision when pointed in the direction Zade was looking.
Zade sent the model to the small fabrication machine as he grabbed the 1911 from his workstation. The weapon currently had a full, eight round magazine in it, and Zade found that both extras were still in working order. Zade took everything and started a layout on the table closest to the rolling door. The pack mule SSILF and railgun finished at the same time. After adding his new primary weapon system to his layout, he instructed the pack mules to follow the maintenance SSILF to the terraforming lab. Just as he finished moving the two additional power sources for the railgun, he received a message from Axis.
“Wow, these are brilliant. By adding two extra legs, you have essentially doubled their carrying capacity. I can’t believe we didn’t think of it earlier. What are you going to call them?”
“Pack Mules” Zade replied without removing his attention from the combat SSILF he was designing for the mission. After seeing how useful they were in combat last time, Zade planned on using them as forward observers, to identify threats. After identifying the threats Zade would be able to engage or maneuver as needed. This particular variant still carried a weapon, but that is where the similarities stopped. Zade improved the sensor suite and movement speed on the new observer models. And finished by coating the whole SSILF in paramagnetic paint, which would act as adaptive camouflage. Once on the ground, Zade would send the observers out in every direction to act as a perimeter, as they spotted movement Zade would be alerted. While watching their sensor feeds, if a threat was spotted Zade could instruct the SSILF to engage or do nothing and allow Zade to engage the target.
After instructing the two large fabrication tubes to begin fabricating three of the observer SSILF each, Zade started looking at ancillary yet necessary equipment that he would need for the mission. After sending designs for a sling, load carrying belt with appropriate pouches and thigh holster, and a couple of signal flares to the small fabrication machine he received a message from Samix informing him that the last orbital scan was complete and he was required in the ready room for final brief.
Zade entered an already buzzing ready room. On his way up he felt the harmoni
cs of the ship change indicating that they had started through the atmosphere towards the surface. Everyone on the crew was present with the exception of Mur. Upon seeing Zade, Samix began by explaining the situation and objective. The planet was currently going through some form of dinosaur period with the dominate species consisting of large reptiles. The planet averaged one hundred degrees Fahrenheit which made it ideal for the creatures. This planet also seemed to be undergoing some geological changes, as there were hundreds of underground vibrations recorded during the orbits. The ship would be landing in the only accessible area near the research site, about three kilometers away. Axis and the security team would have to move to the research site on foot, while Samix, Jorloss, and Mur stayed with the ship for control purposes. With that she turned the floor over to Axis who explained that he would only need an hour at the site to collect the required information. After Axis portion of the brief Samix instructed Zade to brief the security plan. Zade informed everyone about how he intended to use the new SSILF as observers. He would be going out with six but there were three extras in the lab if they were needed. After Zade completed is portion Samix informed the crew that they had twenty minutes until landfall and headed back to the command deck.
As Zade and Axis headed back down to their respective labs, they gamed any possible situation that may arise. Zade learned that although Axis appeared to be a simple scientist, after his last landing he had decided to carry one of his people’s protective side arms. Zade entered the robotics lab and was startled to find that none of the observer SSILF were standing by the rolling door. Moving towards the now quiet fabrication tubes, a sense of panic began to form in Zade’s stomach. As a last-ditch effort, Zade decided to look for any heat signatures in the lab, after bringing up the thermals he could see the six heat signatures lined up across the back of the lab. They had their camouflage on and even though Zade was only two feet away from them he couldn’t see them without his new thermal vision. Zade instructed the SSILF to turn black while he kitted up. After one final inspection of the SSILF to make sure they didn’t have any defects, Zade engaged their camouflage and headed into the cargo bay to meet up with Axis.
Chapter 7
Trailed by the cloaked SSILF Zade entered the cargo bay. Axis was already stationed by the rear ramp reviewing the equipment he had loaded on the pack mules. As Zade walked up beside the small alien, he could tell that Axis was anxious about going onto the planet.
“You ready for this?” Zade asked
“Just another walk in the park.” Axis replied nonchalantly, although his body language and nervous ticks betrayed his worry.
“We’ll be fine. Just stay inside the security and focus on getting your work done.” Zade said trying to calm Axis.
Either Axis was too nervous to notice that Zade appeared alone, or he had full confidence in Zade’s abilities. Either way Axis didn’t seem to have a problem with the team apparently lacking any additional SSILF help. While the two waited for the ship to land, Zade did one final check on the SSILF, first on the camouflage, by cycling it on and off, and next on the sensor feeds by viewing them sequentially through his interface. Just as Zade was finishing the sensor check, Samix walked into the cargo bay.
“We are not going to be able to land; the tectonic activity is too strong.” She informed the landing party.
“So, what are we doing then, heading back into orbit to wait the tremors out?” Zade inquired.
“No luck. We’re going to keep the gravitational drive engaged and stay at a hover.”
As she finished Zade could feel the atmospheric buffering on the ship stop. The ship had finally broken through atmo and was on its final approach. Another few minutes passed before the ramp began to lower. Zade walked to the end of the still moving ramp to survey the landing zone. The first thing he noticed was how fast the clouds, on this planet, were ripping across the sky. Next, he took a quick survey of the dense jungle surrounding the landing zone. Not expecting to notice any large reptiles with his thermals, Zade utilized them none the less. It was going to be a hard trek to the site, the jungle was extremely well developed due to the high temperature, long days, and oxygen rich atmosphere of the planet.
Satisfied that he wasn’t going to be sending any of the SSILF directly into the waiting jaws of a velociraptor, Zade ordered them off the ramp to set the perimeter. The camouflage worked great, as the SSILF landed the only way to identify them was by the slight disturbance their bodies caused as they crossed through blowing debris. The improved speed of the new observer variants was impressive, they had a five-hundred-meter perimeter established before the ship even settled into its final hover height. Happy to see that the observers’ feeds were unpopulated, Zade stepped off the ramp into the maelstrom caused by the ship’s engines. Looking back up at the open ramp, expecting to see Axis, Zade noticed that the ship was hovering at just over three stories above him. The skeletal and musculature improvements made the jump feel like nothing more than stepping out of the back of a pickup truck.
While watching the ramp for the other half of his landing team, Zade saw a frightened blue face peak over the edge of the ramp. Samix, worried that Zade had inadvertently fallen, peered down into the fray. Upon noticing her Zade waved to indicate that he was fine and motioned to send Axis and his equipment down.
“I thought you fell off the ramp. Why the hell did you jump from this far up?”
“Just wanted to see how the new modifications were working. Plus, I needed to be down here to pull security before Axis came down. Where is the little guy?” Zade replied.
“He’s trying to find a way down. He, unlike you, is not dumb enough to just jump out of a moving spaceship.”
“Tell him to send the SSILF out the door. They’re capable of making the jump, and their impact dampening hardware will protect the equipment. On a different note, do you have something onboard that we can use to cut through this jungle, I didn’t think to make anything in the lab?”
After Samix’s face receded back into the cargo bay, Zade began a quick patrol around the perimeter of the landing zone. As he walked around the outer edge of the landing zone, Zade peered into the dense foliage. The jungle was dark, the trees blotted out almost all of the sunlight. Since he had touched down, the planet below his feet had been constantly vibrating. From what he could gather, the vibrations were changing frequency and intensity, but most importantly they seemed to be coming from the opposite direction of the objective. After completing one full sweep, Zade headed back to the ramp. Entering the maelstrom under the ship, Zade could see three distinct heat signatures below the ramp. Samix had sent the remaining SSILF pack mules and maintenance variant out while Zade was patrolling.
Zade moved the SSILF out of the way just as a rope dropped down from the lip of the ramp. As he did so, Zade made a mental note about changing the head structure of the pack mules. The two on the ground still had the humanoid heads and faces however, to be able to look up their necks were bent at a grotesque angle making them eerie to look at. As soon as Zade got back on the ship, he would change them to more closely resemble the head of some naturally four-legged animal. Zade turned to see the rope dangling from the ship and immediately shot a message to Samix.
“If we have ropes, why are we parked so far away from the site? You could have just flown us over it and let us rope out of the ship.”
“For two reasons. First, roping into an objective is a direct-action tactic, taught only to troops at the Military Academe. Second, I figured a nice jaunt through that miserable jungle would give you time to reflect on both your position and station aboard this ship.”
“Are you serious about yourself right now? I have already apologized about the joke. Plus, sticking me down here, I understand, but risking the safety of one of your scientists.”
Samix, with a smirk, disconnected the rope Axis had used to get to the planet and hit the button to close the ramp. On the ground Zade could see the rope come loose and stepped over to pull Axis
out of the way of it. After making it to the ground Axis began to unbuckle his harness, while standing directly under the now freefalling rope. Axis’ frustration at being handled turned to surprise as he watched the rope slam into the ground, leaving a large divot, right where he had been standing. Setting Axis down, Zade headed to the pack mules where two machetes had been hastily attached to the top of the crates of equipment.
After handing one of the machetes to Axis, Zade checked on the observers. Seeing still clear screens, Zade began heading towards the objective with Axis behind and the SSILF bringing up the rear. Based on the sun’s location over the horizon, Zade estimated that they had, at best, four hours of sunlight left so he set a hard pace.
It seems passive aggressive knows no bounds. At least this punishment is just a walk in the forest, if I would have done that back home, to a female superior, the punishment would have been worse.
∆∆∆
Samix, thoroughly proud of herself for putting Zade in his place about his insolence, disconnected the rope Axis used to get down to the planet, closed the ramp and headed to the galley. With the ship hovering geosyncraticaly with the planet, she would not be needed on the command deck until Axis and Zade returned to the ship. Mur would continue monitoring the team’s progress and running further tests on the planet, meaning that she could relax for a while.
As she headed to the galley a ship alert popped into her field of view. Mur had finished analyzing the crust vibrations and noted that, unlike standard tectonic activity which propagates from a single point, these vibrations seemed to be moving down fault lines. Excited that she may have found a unique planet whose tectonics were different from any other known rocky planet, Samix ensured that the data was uploaded to the data drone. Samix walked into the galley where Jorloss was already eating.
