by T S Paul
Chapter 10
The Precious Jewel colony ship had ten super lift shuttles and one scout ship on board. The shuttles could carry 300 people at a time or 250 tons of equipment. All of our scientific readings showed that the planet below us was habitable. It had an oxygen-rich atmosphere very close to that of pre-industrial Earth. It was a very pretty world similar to history vid pictures I had seen of Earth before the wars. I chose to take the first team down. Johann was left in command of the ship. As a precaution I locked out the main systems and secured them with a special code. I trusted my team, but did I truly trust them with my ship? Our landing team consisted of scientists, engineers, and a few colonists. Their task was to evaluate the planet, look for a good settlement spot, and see if the local fauna was edible. At the last minute I included a small security team as well. I definitely wanted to come back alive from this little adventure.
The ride down through the atmosphere was bad, the shuttlecraft was tossed around like a 'leaf on the wind' as the high winds threw it from side to side. As we broke through the stratosphere into the troposphere the violent winds subsided and I was able to take my eyes off the controls and check on my team.
"Are you OK back there?"
"Sir, what was that? That was the worst trip ever."
"For some reason the higher air levels are more dense than the stratosphere on this planet. That was a really wild ride! How did everyone do back there?"
"Sir, six of the scientists and four colonists died."
"What? Why? It wasn't that bad, was it?"
"Sir, I am afraid that it was, we don't notice it because of our modifications, but the regular humans took a battering. It seems that the older ones are affected the most."
"Damn, this is going to make bringing down the rest on the colonists a problem. We'll have to figure it out later. Bag the bodies. We will take them back up with us. The others will wish to mourn their dead." I returned the the cockpit and resumed the flight downward.
Landing the shuttle reminded me that we needed to get a piloting school going as soon as possible. The planet was very much like Earth. Large mountains, rivers, lakes, and dense looking forests covered the surface. As the ship landed in a small valley, I could see what appeared to be bird-like creatures and other small jumping creatures.
My on board sensors all had green lights signifying that we could breathe the air without mask on. I clicked the switches that opened the shuttle cargo doors. My security team exited first and set a perimeter. They were followed by the scientific team led by Chief Science Officer Xandrie 001. The colonists were the last to exit. They stayed huddled near the ship as if afraid of the sky. It dawned on me that some of them had never seen the sky before, having been born on the ship.
Xandrie was an anomaly among the ships officers. She was a woman. The Program had very few successes with women. Most did not survive the tanks. Her whole life was dedicated to science. On the ship she kept to herself and studied terrestrial biology and herbology. She was our expert on all things planetary. I had not been happy about bringing her along, though. She was very distracted all the time and had a tendency to ignore her surroundings when concentrating. I assigned her a permanent security guard before setting her loose.
So far everything was looking pretty good to me. The soil samples all checked out and the area where I landed looked to be a good spot to set up the colony. Hearing a roar in the distance, I spun around. Grabbing my binoculars I began to scan the forest. I could see the trees moving as if an enormous animal was pushing through them. I yelled at the security team to get back to the ship!
"Commander! Get your men back in the ship. We don't know what we are dealing with here." The civilians didn't have to be forced back inside. Anything having to do with nature freaked them out. The security team took up positions around the shuttle. The Commander broke out the heavier weapons and distributed them to his men.
"Did we get a head count? Are all the teams back yet?" We could not afford to lose anymore scientists.
"Sir, Xandrie and her escort have not reported in yet!"
Damn it to hell! I pulled out my communication device. "Xandrie! Xandrie drop what you are doing and return to the shuttle, NOW! That is a direct order!" Silence. I just knew bringing that woman along was a bad idea!
Another roar, this one a lot closer echoed across the small valley. A large reptile burst from the trees in pursuit of a smaller long necked creature. Dinosaurs! This planet had dinosaurs on it! Wonderful. Directly in front of us the very large shuttle sized creature attacked the smaller one, tearing off large chunks of its hide, and began to feed. My radio crackled, I pulled it out and tried contacting Xandrie again. "Xandrie? Get back to base now!"
"Sir, I read you we are on our way back now."
"Be advised that there is a large predatory dinosaur 50 yards from the ship, so be very careful."
"Dinosaur's really? I need to see that specimen."
"Xandrie, wait ..." As I watched Xandrie and her escort exited the forest just to the right of the feeding predator. I watched in near horror as our chief scientist actually approached the creature.
____
Xandrie ignored the danger in front of her. Cretaceous period planets were very rare. Only one had ever been found before by scout ships. Her fingers just itched to get a first-hand look at that creature. There was so much that could be learned. She felt a hand grab her arm. She turned to her guard and scowled at him. "Let. Go. Of . Me!" She turned back to watch as the creature in front of her ate. She reached into her knapsack and withdrew both her tablet and her cameras. She switched on the record function and began making verbal notes. Her camera drone made soft clicks as it took pictures from multiple angles. Xandrie was ecstatic! This was an entirely new species, and she got to name it! Wonderful. The large reptile looked up from it's meal as a small shiny bug circled it's head. From the corner of it's eye it saw two bipedal creatures that it had never seen before in its life.
From the turret on top of the shuttle I watched as Xandrie's guard tried to remove her and she brushed him off. She walked even closer to that thing and began to record it. It boggled the mind that she would be this stupid! Suddenly the large predator looked up and stared directly at Xandrie. I began yelling into my radio. "Get out of there! Xandrie, get out of there now!" The security officer began to run toward the ship. The large creature seeing fleeing prey attacked with lightening speed and smashed him to the ground. A quick bite and the man was gone. Xandrie looked frozen in place by his sudden death. She had no time to run as the creature turned and ate her too. Man was apparently tasty to these creatures.
Seeing the death of his man and Xandrie, the security commander opened fire. Explosive projectile weapons made short work of the large reptile. At least we knew that this planet was habitable. But we would need armed troops to fight off the 'natives.' I made a note to start training a Militia force.
Chapter 11
Setting up a starter base and prepping for the colonists to land took several months. We built armed outposts on the edges of the valley leading toward the new colony. So far the native animals have learned to fear us, but that could change. It took time, but we intended to make the valley as safe as possible for the civilians. Using the modified mining equipment we had dug out a colony that we could be proud of. The surrounding mountain range contained rich veins of metals and silicone, they would be excellent resources for the colony. The good news is that the stored seeds from the ship were viable and would grow on this planet. Feeding the people would not be the looming catastrophe that I had worried about. No, what I had to deal with was much, much worse.
I met with the new colonial leadership council in my Ready Room. The five older colonists glared at me from across the table. They did not like me in the least. In their eyes, I was the one that had killed their loved one and had presided over the trials of many others. I was the enemy. And now I had to tell them about the future. Some of it was really good, the rest really bad. I was ab
out to give them more ammunition for the We Hate Sam Club.
Normally the Captain of a Colony ship would have kept the colonists informed of the status of the colony site as it was readied so they could prepare as much as possible prior to landing. In this case, such preparation might have included some weapons training. Given all the problems I'd had with security, I'd decided all that could wait in hopes of putting off any reckoning until after they were all off my ship for good.
I leaned forward and met all of their eyes. "The colony is almost complete and will be ready for occupation soon. We have explored the planet and have found lots of large predators and prey animals. No other people or any sign of other ships. The other four colony ships that jumped with us have not shown up in this system." The councilors all looked at each other and began to talk.
I made stopping motions with my hands. "Please, let me finish. As I said, the other ships have not appeared. They may have gotten lost, been sabotaged, or had different orders than mine. I don't know. Earth Gov sent me here to found a colony and use it to send materials back to Earth." I had their attention now and it did not look good.
"The coordinates that we used and the information that our orders contained were not the same ones. The numbers matched up, but not the systems or the star charts. This colony is not supposed to be on a planet. We are supposed to be in orbit mining the asteroid field. This system does not have one of those. So we are off-grid when it comes to Earth. Don't worry, this will not be a dictatorship. I have no intention of ruling as a king, or even ruling at all. This is your planet, not mine. But some really hard decisions remain."
The councilors had wide eyes now. I was the enemy and I was giving them the planet. They had no idea what to do.
"First the bad news. The ride down to the planet is excessively trying on the human body. Remember the first trip down? Humans in both the old and very young age range are at extreme risk. That leaves us with some hard choices. This ship. Do we keep it in orbit to provide the colony with support and communications? Or do we land it. The humans that are at risk can stay on board if it stays in space. If it lands, they may die. While the ship has power to last for many years the shuttles, do not. They have a finite number of trips they can make before running out of fuel. We had planned to make our own fuel from materials mined in the asteroid belt which we don't have."
Finally one of the councilors spoke to me. I was beginning to think they'd forgotten how.
"What are you and the other ship's Officers going to do?"
I smiled at them. "That is an excellent question. There was a scout ship included in the cargo hold. It can transport ten. All of the command staff and most of engineering have chosen to leave with me. The rest including the security team is staying to help you. We have may have lost or injured brothers out there somewhere. We wish to find them. You are safe from Earth, for now. Use your safety wisely." I stood up from the table. "Let the command staff know what to do with the ship." I turned away and left the room.
It would behard for them to see that I was not the monster that they made me out to be. The command staff and I had one last night on board the ship. The new colonists had chosen to cut all ties with Earth and have us ground the ship. They could use it to jump start the industry on the planet and build that much faster. We were leaving. According to the star charts, the nearest colony was two jumps away. If they were accurate it was only a 'short' hop of two years. We still had plenty of supplies and had told an untruth to the colonial council, Earth did know where they were. They alway did.
To be truthful we wanted to be as far away as we could be when the Program and the Illuminati came in search of us.
We had plenty of time to run as far away as we could.
This ends Sam 0256's story for now. We first met Sam in book 3 of the Athena Lee Chronicles. Ghost ships of Terra. He had befriended Athena Lee, the series main character. Sam is important because his story is the story of what happened on Earth. And Earth is the focus of the next major story arc in Athena Lee's adventures. Look for book 7 of Athena's adventures soon. She will be visiting Mars.
I started writing in February of this year (2016). My good friend Michael Anderle kept pushing me to put words on paper. So I did. The Forgotten Engineer was my first try at writing fiction. I have written some non-fiction for both the Witches Voice and for the Magical Almanac. But that was not fiction. I will be the first to admit that my early writing had a few misspellings and typo's. An English major I am not. In fact, that was one subject that I did not excel in during college. I have a BFA in Telecommunications along with a Culinary degree. I'm an old Radio guy that like to cook. I now am working with an editor and several Beta readers.
Please check out my other books in the Athena Lee series and visit my Blog for Wilson Wednesdays every Wednesday for a free Short story.
Prequel: The Lost Pilot
1. The Forgotten Engineer
2. Engineering Murder
3. Ghost Ships of Terra
4. Revolutionary
5. Insurrection
6. Imperial Subversion
7. TBD - Due in June 2016
8. TBD - Due in June 2016
9. TBD - Due in July 2016
10. TBD
Wilson's War
And lots more to come!
I had a special character in this story. Xandrie. Xandrie is based on a real person, that of author Xandrie Kovak, she is a fellow author and has asked other authors to kill her! In books, of course. So far several others have killed her too. Check out the OMG they Killed Xandrie website for more info on this and maybe find a good book or two to check out.
Last but not least the reviews.
I get lots of reviews, some good, some bad, some funny ones too. Here are some of the best ones.
4.0 out of 5 stars Paul has gotten so much better with his writing and this is just his first ...
ByAmazon Customer on May 5, 2016
Format: Kindle Edition
Paul has gotten so much better with his writing and this is just his first series. The Athena Chronicles are a great serial type space opera yarn. Don't expect hard science or political commentary. Just expect a great story, a writer settling into his stride and some great action.
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome read
ByTD Webbon May 2, 2016
Format: Kindle Edition|Verified Purchase
I just spent the entire night reading all five books ,can't wait for the next. I just couldn't put them down wanted to know that came next. The characters are great, Wilson is so eighties lol awesome. Yeah there are some typos oh nobody is perfect and they didn't take anything away from the story.
5.0 out of 5 stars This series gets better every time a book is added.
ByN. Kingon April 30, 2016
Format: Kindle Edition
The author has done a fantastic job. Once you start reading it is impossible to stop until the end. I' am looking forward to the next book .
4.0 out of 5 stars Would make a great Televison show
ByJames Mockon April 28, 2016
Format: Kindle Edition
I love the idea of the main hero being an Engineer. The books are short but they come out very quickly. I really must say that the description of Athena wading into a crippled ship and saving it (earlier book so not much of a spoiler) was really well done, at least for me. Bravo.
I look forward to the next installment. Same Athena time, same Athena channel.
Copyright (c) 2016 T S Paul
This book is a work of fiction, All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Sometimes both.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the author.
Cover designed by Michael T. Anderle
Digital Artw
ork by Scott Richards
Check out his Fantastic art here!
Editing by Diane Velasquez. Dorene Johnson, and David Brims
Formating and writing done with Scrivener
Special thanks to Michael and to my wife Heather who keeps me grounded and to Merlin the Cat, we are his minions.
