Original Work Terra Novae Spes - Epic 2

PROLOGUE – TERRA NOVAE SPES


EPIC 2 –Forward, Always forward


Command log of Commander Benjamin Mark Nash
Date: June 14, Year 1
Location: Colony of Novae Spes

“We’ve managed to carve out our colony in this new land just as hoped. Environmental conditions have been ideal for what we thought they would be as the probes indicated. However, the wildlife hasn’t been very accommodating to us setting up a peaceful settlement as we’d hoped. I wish the probes had given us more data on them before we landed so we might have been able to set up our colony outside their range. Which we still aren’t sure of. I don’t think the Novus Group leadership would have picked our location if they knew in advance. Of course, we more or less picked our own location, so nobody to blame but us.”

“Regardless, we could and probably should have struck sooner and maybe headed off this latest attack by the species we’ve taken to calling the Raptors. There is obviously a long scientific name for them which I’m not even going to try to include here. It’ll be located in the Science Directorate archives and logs, so I’ll leave it at that. This species has proven to be our greatest challenge so far as they are far more powerful than any other creature we’ve found either on the Earth in recorded history or on any other settlement in the galaxy. We’ve managed to keep them at bay, but not without the high price of losing some of our critical settlers. Each loss has been a personal blow to me and I can see now my inaction in not moving against them sooner may have caused the latest round of deaths. But I know I can learn from my mistakes and we will strike. We will strike as many times as is necessary to keep our people safe from this threat.”

“I can only hope we discover their nests or whatever they use to live in soon. I believe if we can strike where they live, we can keep the danger away from here. I’m not a fan of using the ground forces to go in, but Major Tasha Hayden has volunteered to lead the way and I feel confident in her abilities to take the fight to them. She’s come a long way since that scrawny young soldier I met so long ago and become the strong leader I knew she was destined to be protecting us all. I can’t count the many times I’ve thanked God for making her my first choice to come along and take her rightful place as leader of the Security Forces.”

“Truth be told, I can’t think of a more talented group of leaders I’ve ever worked with in my entire life. Grady Stafford has proved his worth in Engineering time and time again and his hard-earned reputation for doing the best work has not been undeserved. I think Cyrus Hendrix, former Chief of Engineering on the Santa Maria, has complimented him extremely well and if we are to be finished with the colony expansion by the time Expedition 2 arrives, it will be because of them both leading and pulling their section behind them to accomplish great things.”

“Doctor Kurt Sweeney has also proved his reputation as a miracle worker as the farms are now starting to produce early crops for our first harvest on Novae Spes. He’s also been extremely helpful in finding new items for our diet here and it seems like he’s finding something almost weekly that will supplement our existing food supplies. Quite tasty items as well as we’ve come to really enjoy some of the fruits and vegetables of Novae Spes. One thing is for certain, we aren’t going to starve while he’s at the helm of Agriculture.”

“Of course, our Science Directorate has been a huge help in that realm as well. Doctors Javier Santiago and Angeline Weber have been instrumental in identifying the new flora and fauna of this planet as well as working with everyone to understand the basic dynamics of the planet we’ve chosen as our new home. What I think everyone appreciates more than anything is the way they have broken things down into simple terms, well, mostly that is, and explained it at a level we all can understand. Their teams, again, are great at figuring out the little things about our new home, but also the way they continue at it day in and day out with eagerness.”

“Of course, we’d be way behind in construction and nearly everything else if it wasn’t for our young and talented Services, Infrastructure and Technology Team leader Rachelle Marchand and her assistant, former First Officer Charity Steele of the Santa Maria. Both have motivated their teams to not only keep the lights on, but the food flowing and even dabbled in the recreation department which we’ve overlooked in planning. While Rachelle has her moments where we all want to wring her neck, she is exactly who we needed on this expedition and Charity provides that serious side to Rachelle’s carefree streak. However, when the times call for it, they both roll up their sleeves and dig in with everyone else to get the mission accomplished. And that’s something we’re all grateful for in the long run.”

“Rounding out the folks that have kept everyone on track, Doctor Mary Blevins has been probably been one of the most talented doctors I’ve ever had the pleasure to be around. Hard nosed when she needs to be, but with a work ethic that should be the industry standard, she’s defied death by saving so many colonists as well as the ship’s crew alive on the way out here I don’t know if there ever was a better choice. She is by far integral to what we are trying to accomplish out here and she’s another one I’m glad someone had the foresight to add to our team on the initial group sent out.”

“Truth be told, I could go on for hours with the individuals who have made this place work. Each and every person has chipped in and made it their goal in life to establish our settlement here and survive. Not simply working day in and day out, but with a purpose I’ve rarely seen before. I hate to use the cliché ‘wartime urgency’ in regards to the level they are performing at, but frankly, I can’t think of another term that fits as well as that term.”

“There seems to be a dark cloud hanging over the colony at the moment. One that I’m utterly familiar with from my time in the military. A sense of despair and defeat. It’s not overwhelming, but is riding the undercurrent of emotions in the colony. I’m considering other items which may be helpful in keeping it from coming to a head, but the main thing will be a successful strike or strikes against the Raptors. Once we get a few of those under our belts, I think everything is going to take a turn for the better. The leadership is doing their best to keep morale up and I’m grateful for the extra time they take forestalling what could be a complete collapse in our new society. The coming weeks will be critical for us, that’s for certain. But once we get past this challenge, I feel like we’ll be home free.”

“Overall, I couldn’t have asked for a better leadership team nor the colonists themselves. Each and every one of them have showed they are the absolute elite in their fields and with such talent at our disposal, we certainly will be able to build for the follow on Expeditions unless something unforeseen comes along. Which it always does when we least expect it…” concluded Commander Ben Nash as he finished his log for the day.

 

CHAPTER 1



The colony was slowly recovering from the Raptor attacks, though the colonists were rolling up their sleeves and pushing forward with a drive Commander Ben Nash had seen rarely before. They were focused and determined, not unlike a population enraged over a sneak attack by an enemy. It seemed everyone had one thought on their mind and that was to survive at all costs. They knew rescue wasn’t coming anytime soon and knew they had to weather the storm posed to them by the indigenous species. While their numbers had been reduced, they decided collectively to pitch in wherever help was needed and get through the current crisis.

Ben held a meeting of his section heads that evening as each of them reported on the status of the work that had been accomplished by their respective divisions. It was positive enough in light of what happened as they took their turns going over what they had learned or accomplished in the previous days since the attack.

“So, the traps are laid?” asked Ben to his Engineering Directorate.

“We’re still working on some of them, but we identified the natural lines of drift from Security and got them first. The rest are coming together nicely and should be done in the next few days,” said the Chief Engineer Grady Stafford as he showed the aerial photos of where the traps were and the different types.

“And these are far enough out not to be a concern for future building?” asked Ben.

“For the five year plan, yes,” said Cyrus Hendrix, the second in charge of the Engineers, but in reality was Grady’s equal and treated as such. “Obviously, that’s something we’ll have to play by ear as we go along.”

“That five year plan is based on us expanding the colony here instead of expanding out to other places,” said Allen Smith, the former Captain of the ship Santa Maria which had transported the initial colonists to Novae Spes and Ben’s second in command. “If we continue with our plans of opening a second or third settlement in the mountains and the coast, we should be fine with any future building plans.”

“The space isn’t good for agricultural use,” said Doctor Kurt Sweeney, the Director of the Agriculture section. “We were consulted as well and the areas were either too far away for us to farm or were not the types of soil we were looking for.”

“What kind of traps have we set?” asked Ben as he turned to Major Tasha Hayden, the Commander of the Security Forces.

“Old style traps for the most part,” said Tasha as she brought up her own set of pictures. “Mainly pits with either large boulders just made to break legs and intermixed some large punji style…logs with them.”

“When you say logs?” asked Allen.

“As in large wooden spikes crafted from the local trees we weren’t going to use for building,” said Grady. “We ran them through the lathe and sharpened the ends to where it should give a nasty stab when one of those things falls on it.”

“Are they in all of them?” asked Ben. “And are they anchored?”

“No,” said Tasha. “We supplemented them with the aforementioned boulders and rocks.”

“It could make it easier to get out,” said Ben.

“Or it could break a leg and render them immobile,” said Tasha. “Regardless, the plan is to eventually put in the spikes into most of the traps.”

“And yes, they are anchored for the most part,” said Cyrus. “They were driven into the ground but we aren’t using concrete or anything to keep them in place.”

“Should we be?” asked Ben.

“I think we’ll be okay,” said Grady.

“Any leftover metal from the Santa Maria that could be used for a more permanent solution?” asked Allen. The ship had been dismantled for materials not long after landing though there was still work to be done on that front as the skeleton of the ship still remained outside the colony walls to their south.

“Doubtful,” said Cyrus. “Everything we have is earmarked for either building materials or being reformed into materials we can use.”

“We haven’t mined enough to create anything new?” asked Tasha.

“Not in the quantities we need,” said Grady. “Truth be told, we’d need a five fold increase in mining capacity in order to get the materials you might want.”

“Perhaps that’s something to keep in mind,” said Ben as he moved on. “Medical? Your report?”

“The patients in the hospital are recovering well,” said Doctor Mary Blevins, the Chief Medical Officer in the colony. “We’ve had some additional injuries, mainly from Engineering, but those have been simple visits with easy treatments.”

“Those wounded in the last Raptor attack are progressing well and most should be discharged this week for continued convalescent leave at home,” she concluded.

“Including Sergeant Major Whitaker?” asked Tasha referring to Kendrick Whitaker, the Senior Enlisted member of Expedition 1 brought out of retirement by Ben.

“I’ve had to get his wife involved,” said Mary with a brief chuckle. “He tried sneaking out twice and has been up and around while he should be resting. So, I got Gale to make my orders stick.”

“She’ll certainly do that,” said Ben with a chuckle as Gale Whitaker wasn’t one to be trifled with nor ignored when she put her foot down.

“She would have made a good nurse,” said Mary.

“As if she isn’t the only one that gets cranky when patients don’t do as they’re told?” asked Ben with a subtle smile.

“Well, had a Commander which will go unnamed listened to me in the first place…” said Mary with a grin and mirth in her eyes.

“Regardless, everyone injured in the attack will make a full recovery?” asked Ben.

“Obviously, we’ll have some physical therapy for some of them after they recover,” said Mary. “But they should have full recoveries when it’s all said and done.”

“Keep up the good work, Doctor,” said Ben as he moved on. “SIT?”

“Other than continuing our duties in helping get the support side of the house lined up, we’ve been working with the other sections helping wherever needed,” said Rachelle Marchand, the Director of the Services, Infrastructure and Technology Team, or SIT as it was abbreviated.

“Which is?” asked Ben.

“Helping with the Engineers, Security and Medical,” said Rachelle. “I’ve got my folks cross training with Mary’s folks in helping augment them in a time of need.”

“The Aviation section has continued to do the daily sweeps and recon flights,” said Charity Steele, the Deputy Director of SIT. Again, she was just as much of an equal of Rachelle as Cyrus was of Grady and had a dynamic working relationship with her partner.

“Have we identified any locations yet?” asked Ben.

“Not yet,” said Doctor Javier Santiago, the Director of the Science Department. “We’re still working on that full time.”

“Anything else major to report on the science front?” asked Ben.

“Well, we have several intriguing things we’re following up on,” said Javier with a grin. “But it’s probably a lot of boring stuff to the majority here.”

“Oh, I’m sure you guys were just all kinds of giddy,” said Tasha with a sigh.

“You need more giddy in your life,” said Javier with a grin and returned to addressing the group. “We’re still looking and the personnel Tasha sent us have helped us narrow down the possible criteria for possible nesting sites.”

“But it is far easier to locate them once we know what we’re looking for,” said Doctor Angeline Weber, the Assistant Director of the Science Department. Even though she had an astrophysics background, she had taken the role of directing the geoscience areas while Javier had taken on the life science areas. Both crossed over when they needed to but, again, worked well together as co-directors when the need arose.

“We need to keep at it,” said Ben. “I have a dumb question though…”

“None of your questions have ever fallen into that category,” chuckled Kurt.

“There’s always a first time,” chuckled Ben. “The question is, could we build something like a moat outside the colony?”

“Fill it with alligators?” chuckled Grady.

“With spikes or other harmful traps,” said Ben. “I’m somewhat serious.”

“No,” said Grady. “I mean, we could, but eventually we’re going to grow past it regardless of how many additional colonies we have planned.”

“How long would it take?” asked Ben still musing over the idea.

“Far longer than getting the additional housing and facilities built,” said Cyrus.

“I’ll take your word for it,” said Ben. “I do think it might be worth looking at in the long run especially for the new colonies where support will be more limited.”

“We can look at it,” said Grady. “Truth be told, it’s not a bad idea especially given the Raptors have a good leaping ability.”

“We’d have to plan for some serious infrastructure with that,” said Rachelle.

“How so?” asked Grady.

“Well, this planet has plenty of insects just like Earth did. Those very same insects that can carry disease back and forth to our fellow colonists here,” said Rachelle.

“Rachelle does have a point,” said Javier. “The Novae Spes equivalent to the mosquito does like to breed in watery areas and can carry the NS equal of malaria.”

“This can cause problems,” said Ben.

“Our malarial drugs work pretty well against it,” said Mary. “We’ve had a couple of cases that were headed off quickly by the timely application of existing drugs.”

“Good news,” said Ben.

“I mean, we can look at it, but again, that’s a pretty significant diversion of resources we could use in other areas,” said Cyrus.

“Back burner item,” said Ben. “Anything else?”

“Nothing on the agenda that we didn’t hit,” said Allen as he looked over the agenda. While he was second in charge, he also served as an informal Chief of Staff that helped Ben keep from getting bogged down in one area and helped take care of the minutia items that didn’t need the direct attention of the big boss.

“Okay, meeting adjourned,” said Ben. The group started collecting the items they brought and having some small side bar conversations before heading back to their respective sections. Ben and Allen decided they would visit the various sections that day and check in on the current projects many had working. Security was the first section they arrived at since it was nearest to the command center and found Captain Anton Sokolov conducting a tabletop exercise for the gathered troopers. He noticed Ben and almost called the room to attention, but Ben waved him down and motioned for him to proceed. Tasha joined them in the back of the room as well as she saw Anton not skip a beat as he added the next phase of the exercise.

Anton continued allowing the younger leaders to go through the exercise and injected his thoughts at different points or asked why they would do certain actions. Ben saw his methods were sometimes different than the Western trained militaries, but would be just as effective as what they were trained for. Eventually, the exercise was completed and he had the group return to their seats as he went to the head of the room.

“A good exercise,” he stated. “While your tactics would work, it is always good to have different options in your playbook that might make it easier or more efficient in the end. Always be looking for that additional tactic that might throw an adversary off balance and help you achieve victory in the end. Now, let’s go around the room and recap.”

“I noticed you were training for human opponents,” said Ben quietly in the rear of the room.

“We can’t go on the promise this place will be secret forever,” said Tasha. “Chances are the location will eventually leak and we need to make sure we are trained for all possible combatants and not just the Raptors.”

“Let’s hope they come in peace,” said Allen.

“We can hope for that but still be prepared for war,” said Tasha. “George Washington.”

“He was right,” said Ben. “Anything else of note?”

“No,” said Tasha as she quickly recapped everything that was going on in her Directorate.

“I see Nick Griggs is getting back into the swing of things,” said Allen.

“He’s still a couple of weeks from field duty, but he’s progressing well,” said Tasha. “He stopped trying to gut through it and listened to the doctors for a change.”

“Well, he lives with one, so that’s probably helpful,” chuckled Ben as the Lieutenant was married to one of the doctors assigned to the Medical Directorate.

“She keeps him straight,” said Tasha with a chuckle. “Anyway, anything else I can help you gentlemen with?”

“Actually, yes,” said Ben with a pause. “I didn’t want to bring it up in front of everyone else, but I figured I have you cornered and can swear you to secrecy.”

“My lips are sealed,” stated Tasha.

“Okay, how’s your manpower? I need an honest, no joking analysis,” asked Ben.

“It’s doing okay especially with the supplementation from other sections,” said Tasha. “Why?”

“Would you still have enough if you lost a dozen or so?” asked Ben.

“We could make do,” said Tasha. “Again, why?”

“Because I’m thinking of turning on the tropical research mission,” said Ben. “As a means of diverting everyone’s attention away from the problems going on here.”

“I think that’s an outstanding idea,” said Tasha. “Yes, I can do without a few folks to secure that mission if you allow it to proceed.”

“I need a bottom line number,” said Ben. “Again, keep that under wraps.”

“Won’t tell a soul,” said Tasha. “When?”

“A couple of hours?” asked Ben. “Is that sufficient?”

“More than enough,” said Tasha.

“I’ll catch up with you later then,” said Ben as he departed with Allen.

“I didn’t know you were thinking of heading back out,” said Allen after they departed.

“Truth be told, it’s a spur of the moment thing,” said Ben. “These folks have been working their tails off the last little bit and I think a reward might be in order before we go into combat.”

“Like a port call before you get shot at?” asked Allen.

“The same principle, yeah,” said Ben as they headed to the SIT compound. “Your thoughts?”

“If we can pull it off with the decreased manpower, I’m all for it,” said Allen. “But each person has to understand this is only temporary and they cannot divert their attention away from the big picture here. We still have an enemy lurking out there.”

“We certainly do and that’s the kind of foot stomp we need to do with them,” said Ben as they arrived at the compound and headed for the office area. “Big picture wise, it’s a huge morale booster right when we need it.”

“Gives folks something to work harder for,” said Allen as they caught up with Charity who was going over flight schedules and picking crews.

“Got a minute?” asked Ben as he came into her office and closed the door.

“Why do I get nervous when you two come into the room and close the door?” asked Charity.

“Because you probably have a guilty conscience,” chuckled Allen.

“That… could be true,” chuckled Charity. “What can I help you gentlemen with?”

“This stays in this office between us,” said Ben as a start. “I mean it, no Rachelle.”

“Loose lips destroy ships,” said Charity as she was curious. “It’s just us.”

“You think you could do without two pilots for an out of colony mission?” asked Ben.

“We’re in a steady rotation for the most part and that just means a little more work for those left behind,” said Charity. “Why?”

“And do you think Rachelle could hold down the fort in case the combat craft were needed?” asked Allen. “As in directing them into hostile fire?”

“That… is probably going to be a no,” said Charity. “It’s honestly something I’ve never trained her on and probably should have by now, but I’ve taken care of the military side of things.”

“How long would it take?” asked Ben.

“I couldn’t tell you,” said Charity. “I don’t even know how much she knows to start with.”

“We are considering turning on the tropical mission,” said Allen. “However, you’re supposed to be the second in charge and that means you’d be out of pocket for three to five days.”

“In which we could get attacked again and we have the initial planning for a Raptor strike,” said Charity with a sigh. “I couldn’t do it.”

“If you were to find a suitable replacement?” asked Ben.

“The only people that could even have close to the knowledge I’ve worked on both before and since being here are Tasha, you and Allen,” said Charity. “So, unless one of you wants to work for Rachelle for a spell…”

“How deep is the planning for the strikes?” asked Allen.

“Initial stages,” said Charity. “I mean, we don’t even have a target location yet nor what we’re dealing with. So, it’s bare bones thoughts in my head.”

“So, nothing major could be done until we get a target location?” asked Ben.

“Probably not,” said Charity. “Regardless, I’m still in charge of keeping up the crews and getting the gunships ready to fly if or when another Raptor attack comes in.”

“You certainly could schedule in advance,” said Allen. “And launching said combat craft could easily be done by Tasha, Ben or myself.”

“I’m away sunning myself on a tropical island while my troopers go into combat?” asked Charity with a scoff. “Not going to happen.”

“Trust me, any offensive strikes would wait until everyone was back,” said Ben.

“I’ll…give me some time to think it over, okay?” requested Charity.

“I’d like to know by this afternoon,” said Ben. “And as a reminder…”

“No Rachelle,” said Charity. “If she knows, everyone knows.”

“Most of the time not intentionally,” said Ben. “But something like this would certainly excite her enough to slip even if she isn’t going.”

“I’ll let you know,” said Charity as Ben and Allen headed over to the other person they knew could keep quiet about it. Grady was working in his office for a change and had a sour look as he was checking over specifications for one of the new projects.

“You look disturbed about something,” said Ben with a chuckle.

“I don’t like shining a seat with my ass,” said Grady as he motioned the two into his office and towards seats. “Even at my age, I still like getting my hands dirty with the boys and girls.”

“I still enjoy being a shooter myself,” said Ben. “Though when I turned 40, it started hurting a lot more the next couple of days.”

“I think 30 is the great equalizer though,” said Grady. “I remember the days of being able to work all day, party all night, catch a two hour nap and be back at it again the next day. Then I hit 30 and figured out your body starts rejecting such ideals even though your mind says it’s okay.”

“I think you hit the nail on the head,” said Allen.

“Pun intended?” asked Grady with a laugh.

“I was hoping someone would notice,” said Allen with a laugh.

“So, what can I do for you gentlemen?” asked Grady as he sat back and sipped at his now cold coffee. He made another sour face and sat it off to the side before turning back to them.

“We’re thinking of putting the tropical mission back into play,” said Ben.

“Oh?” asked Grady. “We’re mainly consultants and whatnot on a mission like that. Checking the area for potential construction later on. Honestly something we could do after the first exploration mission there.”

“I was thinking everyone has put in overtime as of late and it’d be a nice diversion from the looming threat in the colony,” said Ben. “Kind of showing them everything will be okay in the long run.”

“I like the sentiment,” said Grady as he thought it over. “Everyone has put their shoulder down and shoved through the problems, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea to give them a taste of what’s on the other side of defeating these creatures.”

“One of our primary missions here is to explore and prepare for the follow on colonists,” said Allen. “Overall, I think we’re really focused on getting this place up and running.”

“Ignoring the exploration aspect?” asked Ben.

“Not ignoring it, per se, but we haven’t gone out as much as we probably should have,” said Allen. “Obviously, survival was at the top of the list, but we do need to prepare for long term settlements in other locations.”

“Allen is correct,” said Grady. “I think we’re going to get this place done on time and maybe even ahead of schedule.”

“Meaning?” asked Ben.

“Meaning we can probably start looking at construction at new locations,” said Grady.

“Or improving things here like hard paths and roads,” said Ben.

“Obviously the ‘nice to have’ list would be worked on as well,” said Grady. “But I have this funny feeling we’re going to have more colonists than expected on Expedition 2 and beyond.”

“How so?” asked Allen.

“Families that aren’t taken into account during recruitment for one,” said Grady. “Those can add a whole lot of new faces into the equation. I mean, take me as an example. Dani and I were still just talking over getting remarried when Novus recruited me. So, instead of one person on board, we suddenly have three additional mouths to feed.”

“You think Novus is going to permit that?” asked Ben.

“If they want someone bad enough, they surely will,” said Grady. “Mark O’Reilly nearly blew his top when I mentioned I got remarried. His initial plan was to assign Dani and the kids to come on Expedition 2. I told him to take his offer and shove it. They suddenly got spots on this Expedition and I never heard another word about it.”

“You’re a different matter,” said Ben. “Being a Director I’d imagine you got some latitude.”

“I think they are being extremely selective on colonists choices and aren’t willing to accept no for an answer without a real good reason,” said Grady. “I’d tend to think those kinds of decisions were more easily made seven years ago on Earth and not thinking about us poor sods having to deal with the ramifications seven years later on Novae Spes.”

“He’s right,” said Allen. “At least half the ships are in transit by now and we won’t know how the selection has changed in that time.”

“I thought it was a ship per 15 Earth months?” asked Ben.

“It is supposed to be, but the best laid plans of mice and men,” said Allen.

“I’d be shocked if we don’t have additional corporations and nations on the way already,” said Grady. “Word will get out eventually.”

“Not an easy feat to get here though,” said Allen. “Basically, you have to specifically design a ship for that journey. It had to be provisioned enough, sturdy enough, yet easily taken apart in the end if they do it the same way we are.”

“I’d imagine refitting them for that isn’t easy,” said Grady.

“Not really,” said Allen. “We are getting slightly off track here though.”

“I’d tend to think we need to start looking harder at other locations for building,” said Grady. “While the tropical paradise might be nice to visit, I’m not sure about a permanent settlement.”

“We’d eventually do it,” said Ben. “Well, maybe our grandkids will settle it.”

“Long term thinking,” said Grady. “Anyway, I think the idea of going down has merit since everyone does tend to be expecting the worst to happen.”

“I like the idea personally,” said Allen.

“Grady, I was thinking of replacing Angeline with you,” said Ben. “Which is why I came here in the first place.”

“Why me?” asked Grady.

“Adult supervision,” said Ben. “Let’s face it, an old fart like you would put a damper on the kids thinking it’s just a vacation.”

“In reality, science and exploration aside, it is,” said Grady. “Regardless, it’d be unfair to Angeline to pull her out of her mission.”

“No reason we couldn’t send them both,” said Allen with shrugged shoulders. “Have Grady be the lead while Angeline and Charity still go.”

“I’m okay with that,” said Ben.

“Danielle won’t be too happy about me heading for a tropical paradise while leaving her behind with the kids,” said Grady with a chuckle.

“Other than interior design with SIT, what else is she doing?” asked Ben.

“Working with the schooling aspect with Claire Smith,” said Grady. “She’s been volunteering at the hospital as well getting trained up as an EMT.”

“Well, there you go,” said Ben. “She goes as an additional med tech.”

“Our boys?” asked Grady.

“I’m sure we can keep up with them for a few days,” said Allen. “How old again?”

“13 and 15,” said Grady. “Old enough to stay on their own, young enough to need some adults looking in on them daily.”

“Claire and I wouldn’t have a problem with that,” said Allen.

“Okay, I’m in,” said Grady coming to a snap decision.

“You want to run it by your wife first?” asked Ben.

“She’d kick me in the shins if I said no,” said Grady. “I’ll ask the Hendrix’s to keep up with the boys while we’re gone. No offense, Allen, but they’ve looked in on them in the past and my boys are comfortable with them and know they aren’t to push the limits.”

“One thing though,” said Ben. “Not a word of this even to her until we make it public.”

“I understand the commotion that would happen if word got out,” said Grady. “I’ll keep quiet until such time as I can brag.”

“When will you announce it?” asked Allen.

“Probably tomorrow,” said Ben. “I just wanted the key players in place.”

“Tasha is a key player?” asked Allen.

“No, but she’s already thought through it and came to the same conclusion it’s not a bad idea,” said Ben. “She would have contacted me by now if she thought we shouldn’t push through with it. Security manpower is critical and we needed her on board in order to do it.”

“Good point,” said Allen.

“Until tomorrow then?” asked Grady.

“We’ll have a meeting at breakfast and announce it,” said Ben. “Try and act surprised.”

“Oh, I’ll be giggly as I can be,” said Grady with a chuckle.

“Later,” said Ben as he and Allen departed. “You okay to take oversight of the pilot section for a few days?”

“Yeah, shouldn’t be a problem,” said Allen. “If I know Charity like I know Charity, she’ll have everything wrapped up by the time she leaves.”

“Which will be in three days to answer the question you were about to ask,” said Ben.

“That quick?” asked Allen.

“We already had that mission airborne and in sight of the island,” said Ben. “I’d imagine the plan will just need some dusting off.”

“Good point,” said Allen.

“You really think it’s a good idea?” asked Ben.

“I can’t think of anything that would help morale any more than that,” said Allen. “Save beating those things way outside the walls.”

“Hopefully we can perform a one-two punch on that front,” said Ben as they arrived back at the command center. “You have anything you’re involved in?”

“Closing out the last logs on the Santa Maria,” said Allen.

“I thought you did that some time ago,” said Ben.

“As each individual section shuts down, I have to officially close them out as Captain,” said Allen. “Which some sections took a little longer than others.”

“I understand,” said Ben. “I’ll leave you to it.”

“You?” asked Allen.

“Checking out the munitions expenditures,” said Ben. “I’d like to make sure we have enough of the heavy stuff in stock to last this year.”

“We talked about repurposing the plasma cannons from the ship,” said Allen.

“Which I’m still considering,” said Ben. “Even though that’s probably going to be a lot of work. What about the missiles though?”

“Those are designed for exo-atmospheric flight,” said Allen. “I’m not even sure they’ll be useful in this environment.”

“Oh?” asked Ben.

“They are anti-ship missiles,” said Allen. “It’s a bit of overkill.”

“I don’t think there is such a thing,” chuckled Ben.

“It’ll do the job for certain,” said Allen. “We planned on putting them into storage and I’m not even sure the gunships can carry them.”

“That big?” asked Ben. “I know what they are, just not how large.”

“Fairly large,” said Allen. “Again, they are designed around capital ship engagements and one will dismantle a frigate and smaller fairly efficiently. A couple of hits on a destroyer or better will likely put it out of commission and in need of heavy repairs.”

“Let’s go ahead and put them into storage,” said Ben. “Any other weapons that might work?”

“Potentially the pulse electron cannons can be adapted for ground use, but they are power hogs,” said Allen. “Mounting them to a gunship might work as well, but that’s a heavy piece of equipment and they’d likely only be able to carry one.”

“Give it some thought and let me know,” said Ben. “I’ll catch up with you later.”

“Until then,” said Allen as he returned to his duties. Ben continued through the afternoon getting caught up on his administrative duties and placing an order with the kitchen in the early afternoon. He went through his memory of what was needed and made the request which would be “taken care of to the letter.” He finished up the afternoon by sending out a message to the Directors calling for a meeting at around the time they would be having dinner. All responded though a few were curious why he would call for such a thing right at dinnertime. Allen came in with a puzzled look on his face as Ben explained his reasoning. Allen nodded with approval as they finished up the time before supper talking over the business that concerned them both. Eventually, the crew from SIT arrived and started making sure everything was prepared and the first few Directors showed up.

“Right before dinner?” asked Javier as he took his normal seat and Angeline grabbed the one next to him. Mary also took her seat across from them.

“I have everything worked out,” said Ben as others started arriving and took their seats.

“Oh?” asked Rachelle as she took her customary seat along with Charity.

“Trust me,” said Ben as he accounted for everyone and sent the message to the kitchen staff they were all prepared. They came in with the cutlery and dishes for everyone and placed them at the individual seats along with pitchers of water and tea for the table.

“What do you have going on?” asked Tasha as she moved slightly and the server poured her a glass of sweet tea. “Thank you.”

“A little thank you for everyone,” said Ben as he saw the kitchen staff bring in salads for the opening course.

“This is… interesting,” said Mary as she thanked the server as well.

“It’s been a while since we had a formal dinner with each other and just had the opportunity to talk,” said Ben. “So, I had the kitchen whip up your favorite dishes and figured we could have an informal meeting along with a nice dinner.”

“Very thoughtful,” said Kurt as he looked over the salad. “Looks like the stuff we’ve been raising out in the gardens.”

“It is,” said Ben. They passed the opening course in small talk as the servers collected the plates as the individuals were finished and brought in the next course.

“And how in the world do you ever remember my favorite soup is Sancocho?” asked Javier as he saw everyone got their favorite soup as Javier looked it over. “And how did you know I liked it with the oxtail and chicken?”

“I have a good memory for such things,” said Ben.

“Now, I know for a fact you’ve never seen me eat wonton soup,” said Rachelle. “But it is my personal favorite.”

“Let’s just say your Novus files were a little more complete than you thought,” said Ben.

“It’s exceptional,” said Javier. “My compliments to the chefs.”

“We obviously aren’t done,” said Ben as they continued chatting over their dishes as well as other small talk. Eventually, the main courses came in and they again were the favorite dishes of the gathered directors.

“This is really thoughtful,” said Tasha as she was served her own personal favorite, pork saltimbocca with saladaise potatoes on the side.

“Italian for you too?” asked Mary as she looked over the plate brought.

“Have you ever had saltimbocca?” asked Tasha as she impatiently waited for everyone to be served before jumping into her dish.

“Can’t say that I have,” said Mary as she sniffed curiously at the plate. Tasha cut a small piece off and handed it over after Mary gave up her fork. Once it hit Mary’s mouth, she attempted to switch plates with Tasha with a laugh.

“Nope!” said Tasha with a laugh as she guarded her plate.

“That is nothing short of delicious!” stated Mary as she was served her own dish.

“Maybe next time,” said Tasha with a grin.

“If there is a next time from a very thoughtful Commander?” asked Mary.

“Maybe,” said Ben as he saw the final two dishes come in for him and Allen and they got down to the main course.

“One thing missing…” said Kurt as he dove into his steak done to perfection.

“No wine yet,” said Ben with a chuckle. “Of course, we’d need grapes for that.”

“Which we have studied the local area and there is a potential for vineyards in the future on the slopes of the mountains,” said Kurt. “Not a reason they shouldn’t grow.”

“You would instantly become every woman’s hero with that,” said Angeline.

“Except it’s out of the secured areas at the moment,” said Kurt. “Any vineyard keepers we would need would likely have to live outside the colony.”

“Speaking of outside the colony,” said Ben as he caught everyone’s attention. “I’m putting the tropical mission back into play.”

“For real?” asked Angeline after a brief pause as everyone stopped and looked at Ben.

“Yes,” said Ben as he nonchalantly took another forkful of his dish.

“Same people as before?” asked Rachelle who was utterly surprised.

“Same leadership, yes,” said Ben. “If you want personnel changes, that’s on you.”

“Can someone pinch me?” asked Angeline. “I’m for sure I’m dreaming.”

“You guys and in turn your individual sections have been busting their tails to get everything done,” said Ben. “We need something to shoot for in the long run and what better reward than a so called research trip to a tropical island?”

“When?” asked Rachelle with excitement even though she wasn’t going out.

“Three days,” said Ben. “Unless, of course, you need more time.”

“We can be ready,” said Charity who showed surprise at it happening so quickly even though she knew it was coming.

“What about the Raptor strikes?” asked Tasha.

“Obviously, we’ll play that one by ear,” said Ben. “One addition to the leadership team will be Grady to go down and survey the area for a more continuous rotation in the future.”

“I don’t think he trusts us,” laughed Charity. “Ben’s sending down adult supervision.”

“That’s exactly what I’m doing,” said Ben with a laugh. “Seriously, I’m looking at an R and R facility in the future and who better to decide if it’s feasible than the Chief Engineer?”

“Wow,” said Grady. “I’m honored.”

“I’ll need your initial plans by noon tomorrow,” said Ben.

“What kind of rotation will we be looking at?” asked Allen.

“Depends on the Raptor strikes as well as the other out of colony missions,” said Ben. “But I’m thinking every week or two might work until everyone is through at least once.”

“I’m liking that,” said Charity with a twinkle in her eye. “Of course, I wouldn’t want my pilots to bear that terrible burden of having to fly down there that often.”

“And of course infrastructure needs would need to be carefully studied,” said Rachelle with the same twinkle in her eyes.

“Oh, I’m sure everyone will find an excuse to go,” said Ben before it got out of hand. “But we do need to make sure all our people rotate through as well without diminishing the primary mission of getting this colony prepared for Expedition 2.”

“A little vacay never hurt anyone’s desire to work a little harder and get into the rotation,” said Javier. “My folks certainly wouldn’t mind studying a different location and relaxing later.”

“It’s settled than,” said Ben. “I’ll need pre-prep tomorrow.”

“I think many of us will have it done tonight,” said Kurt.

“Trying to be the teacher’s pet in order to get assigned to the second rotation?” asked Mary with a grin.

“That certainly could be a motive,” laughed Kurt.

“Tasha?” asked Ben. “You’re awfully quiet.”

“Frankly, I’m going to be limited on the amount of personnel I can send,” said Tasha. “Not until we get augmented by follow on forces and the threat of the Raptors subsides.”

“I know,” said Ben. “Which is why I’m asking for every section to pitch in and help with every other section during these times to replace those going. If Medical needs another tech, someone can help by giving up that body that helps free that person to go. Same with Security, Ag, SIT and everyone else.”

“I think Ag should be self sufficient enough not to worry about needing augmentation during those periods and we could certainly lend a helping hand into other sections,” said Kurt.

“Even with food production as a critical item?” asked Ben.

“Mostly, we’re doing maintaining work on the crops we have planted and won’t need significant help until harvest, in a couple of months,” said Kurt.

“Same with SIT to an extent,” said Rachelle. “I mean, we have spurts of heavy work, but we’re following the Engineers at the moment and getting everything installed once they finish new facilities and homes.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I have you all here fat, dumb and happy at the moment,” said Ben as dessert was brought in. “We can work these things out before we leave.”

“We can do that,” said Tasha who called up the manpower numbers on her tablet while waiting for her piece of pecan pie which was brought in short order. “Another one of my favorites.”

“A favorite of several of you actually,” said Ben.

“You folks have good taste,” said Tasha as she dug right in. The other Directors continuing chatting while they finished up and coffee was brought in. They went back and forth getting the necessary manpower switched back and forth between the individual sections to ensure nobody was down more than necessary.

“So, we have a plan?” asked Ben after they seemed to be finishing.

“I think we’re good to go,” said Rachelle. “Though one thing remains unsaid.”

“Which is?” asked Allen.

“Very simply, thank you,” said Rachelle. “It’s like we’ve had a dark little cloud hanging over our heads since the last Raptor attack and I think some form of normalcy will help all of us push through this with increased morale. Once we add a successful Raptor strike or two and I think you’ll see everything get even better.”

“My thoughts exactly,” said Mary. “I know I’d much prefer treating sunburn cases to the emergency surgery of another attack. But Rachelle is correct that we need a little boost in our morale and I think this will hit the spot.”

“I’ll need your initial travel lists tomorrow,” said Ben. “Anything else?”

“We can release word of this?” asked Charity.

“Yes,” said Ben. “One of the other reasons I locked you in here and swore the kitchen staff to secrecy during this meeting. Obviously, afterwards you can let everyone know. But I felt it prudent while this was going on to keep them on a short leash.”

“Probably a good idea,” said Rachelle. “They do love to talk.”

“Oh, I’m not sure they are specifically guilty of that,” said Allen with a laugh.

“Are you saying I tend to run my mouth?” asked Rachelle.

“How’s the pool coming?” asked Ben.

“Ah, yeah, about that,” said Rachelle with a guilty smile. “Anyway, I’ll speak for everyone and say we’ll have our names to you by tomorrow.”

“I won’t hold you back from spreading the word,” said Ben. Everyone finished up their coffee and had some minor meetings in the aftermath, but the majority of the Directors headed back to their sections and the word spread quickly. As Ben departed, he saw smiles on nearly everyone as he passed them. He knew they needed something to work towards and this mission was exactly what they needed in the long run to keep pushing forward.

 

CHAPTER 2



“I need to have a talk,” said Charity as she and Rachelle returned to the SIT compound and found Ryan on alert.

“Am I in trouble?” asked Captain Ryan Kingston as he was suddenly guarded over both his bosses cornering him.

“Not any more than usual,” said Charity. “The tropical zone mission is back on.”

“Oh?” asked Ryan.

“Yep,” said Charity. “So, please start forming up the flight plan for a shuttle ride down.”

“What brought it back into the picture?” asked Ryan.

“Commander Nash seems to think we need the diversion,” said Charity. “Something we all agree with.”

“Can I make a request?” asked Ryan.

“That depends,” said Charity as she suddenly got worried.

“Can you pick another pilot as primary?” he asked.

Both Rachelle and Charity were slightly stunned over the request and looked at each other. It got uncomfortable for a moment while Ryan just looked at them.

“Did I say something wrong?” he asked.

“It’s just…” started Charity and her voice trailed off.

“You are passing up on the opportunity to check out a bunch of women in this colony in a romantic location bee-bopping around in bikinis?” asked Rachelle point blank.

“I’ve got work to do here,” said Ryan as he motioned at the flight manuals for the gunship.

“Do what?” asked Charity.

“I know how to fly this thing, sure,” said Ryan. “Pretty damn good at it if I might add, but I’m woefully inadequate on the emergency procedures. Well, not as much up to speed as I should be and I’m trying to fix that.”

“You realize you could take that manual with you while you’re there?” asked Charity.

“And get distracted by said women bee-bopping around in bikinis?” asked Ryan. “I’m sure I’ll get a chance down the road to fly a group down if the rumor mill is true?”

“We are looking at sending more regular rotations down in the future and if this place checks out,” said Charity. “Still doesn’t change the fact you are willing to give up the first opportunity to check the place out.”

“Look, work is work and play is play,” said Ryan. “I’m all about playing hard, but only when the job is done.”

“I…” started Charity as this was a side she didn’t think she’d see from Ryan. “We can find a replacement, but are you sure you don’t want to think it over?”

“We’re in a situation where everyone has to be at the top of their game,” said Ryan. “While I appreciate the offer to stick with who was picked before, I really need to get this done.”

“I see,” said Charity. “Okay, but I’m still going to list you as backup.”

“That’s fine,” said Ryan. “I’m pretty positive you won’t need to replace the primary.”

“I’ll let you get back to it,” said Charity as they departed. “That was totally weird.”

“There’s something going on,” said Rachelle. “Him giving up the opportunity to go to the tropical paradise and check out a bunch of women he’d normally be flirting up?”

“He has his reasons, I suppose,” said Charity as they came into the pilot ready room where the pilot staff was absent. Rachelle checked the location of their comm units and found them working in the warehouse at the moment. She and Charity headed over and found them assisting with sorting the personal containers for the colonists.

“Hey, Scooter?” asked Charity as they came up to the group.

“Hey, Tinker,” said Lieutenant Nancy “Scooter” Owens as she directed one of the container boxes to another area. “Can I help you?”

“I’ve got a mission for you,” said Charity. “You leave in two days.”

“Okay,” said Owens. “What’s the deal?”

“You’re flying the shuttle on the tropical mission,” said Charity. “You’ll need to pick a copilot.”

“I’m… what?” asked Owens as she got over the initial shock.

“Prancer gave up his seat and you’re moving up to primary,” said Charity.

“What did he do wrong?” asked Owens.

“Nothing,” said Charity. “He gave it up voluntarily. Are you in or not?”

“Can I leave and pack now?” asked Owens.

“I think that can wait until tonight,” chuckled Charity. “Pick a copilot.”

“Wasn’t Gator in the right seat for that?” asked Owens referring to Krystal Zamora.

“She was,” said Charity.

“I’m not taking that away from her,” said Owens.

“I’ll let her know,” said Charity. “Get me a flight plan by this afternoon.”

“Will do,” said Owens as she headed to the pilot ready room and started to get ready. However, something felt off to her and she headed out to the landing area where Ryan continued his study in the flight manuals.

“Prancer?” asked Owens as she entered the gunship.

“Hey, Scooter,” said Ryan as he looked up. “Can I help you with something?”

“Yeah…” said Owens as she looked for a way to phrase it.

“I gave it up voluntarily,” said Ryan as he knew why she was there.

“Why?” asked Owens.

“I have my reasons,” said Ryan. “Look, there’s nothing more in the world that I’d like to do than sit around on a deserted beach with a lovely lady and sip mimosas. But I’ve got to get this done before even thinking about going to a tropical paradise.”

“I see,” said Owens. “Nothing I can help with?”

“Honestly, no,” said Ryan. “This is something I should have gotten done a while back, but kept putting it off.”

“Paying your penance by not going?” she asked with a grin.

“Something like that,” said Ryan. “Look, they’re in good hands with you in the left seat and you always have Charity around if something happens and your copilot freaks out.”

“How did you know I was keeping Gator?” asked Owens.

“Why would you replace her?” asked Ryan. “I know she’s still a rookie pilot in the great scheme of things and she just took her first solo flight yesterday, but she’ll be okay for a down and back trip like that. If I were you, I might even have her fly part of the way.”

“Okay, I just had to ask,” said Owens.

“I understand,” said Ryan. “Have fun.”

“Oh, I’ll be on my best behavior,” chuckled Owens.

“Is your boyfriend going?” asked Ryan.

“We’re kind of on a pause at the moment,” said Owens. “So…”

“So, you get to get to allow other eligible bachelors to vie for your attention,” said Ryan with a grin. “Have a personal oil boy for your tanning session.”

“I would never!” she exclaimed.

“Sure,” he said with raised eyebrows.

“Well… maybe,” she said with a sly grin. “Either way, thanks.”

“No problem,” said Ryan. “Have a mimosa in my memory.”

“Or two,” she grinned. “Take care.”

“If you take Shuttle 5, make sure that backup throttle control is fixed,” he stated. “It was jamming up the last mission.”

“Will do,” said Owens. “Later.”

“Have fun,” said Ryan as he got back into the book.

“You gave up a mission to the tropical islands to study your flight manuals?” asked his WSO, Lieutenant Sammy “Gopher” Sutton. “Seriously?”

“I need to be in top form,” said Ryan. “Next I’m going to be switching over to your side and learning those systems.”

“You feeling okay?” asked Sutton.

“Yeah, I’m as good as I can be,” said Ryan. “What questions can I answer about the left seat here? You just took your solo flight as well.”

“I…” started Sutton. “Okay, I did have a few questions about the power out emergencies.”

“Let’s talk through them,” said Ryan. “Good practice for me as well.”

There was an air of excitement in the colony as everyone waited for their section heads to announce the rotation. Mostly, it was the same personnel as before with a few swaps here and there with those who were wounded in the last attack. It didn’t take long for the Directors to get the lists to Ben who checked them over.

“Is Kingston in trouble?” asked Ben as Rachelle sent her list.

“Nope, he gave up his spot,” said Rachelle. “I was there when he did it.”

“He what?” asked Grady who knew Ryan by reputation mainly.

“Said he needed to dive into his flight manuals or something,” said Rachelle. “Nancy Owens is taking the lead and of course, Charity will be there as well.”

“Yeah, she’s not giving up that spot,” said Ben.

“I’m sending over a guy to survey for your landing pads,” said Grady. “Mark Bennett.”

“I’m not going to be back for a while,” said Rachelle. “I’ll let Charity know.”

“If she can tear herself away from the clothing printer long enough,” said Ben.

“Now that’s just silly,” said Rachelle. “We picked out her outfits way before now.”

“I’ll bet you did,” said Ben with a chuckle. “Thanks for the list.”

“No problem,” said Rachelle as she headed off to the Agriculture section to see about their current supply problems. As promised, the engineer found his way into the SIT area and finally came across Charity working in her office.

“Hi, I’m looking for Rachelle Marchand?” he asked as he knocked politely on the doorframe.

“She’s out and about,” said Charity without looking up initially. “Can I help you?”

“I’m here to do the survey for your landing pads,” said Mark Bennett.

“I can help you,” said Charity as she finally looked up. “We haven’t met before, have we?”

“No, I don’t think so,” he said and politely walked over. “Mark Bennett.”

“Charity Steele,” said Charity with a smile. He was around her age and had rugged features about him that caught her eye almost immediately. “Nice to meet you.”

“You too,” said Mark. “So…”

“So?” asked Charity.

“Mind showing me where you’d like them?” he asked.

“Yes, of course,” said Charity. She closed up the file she was working on and headed out with him to the current landing area where most of the craft were parked.

“We’d like to keep it here if that’s possible,” said Charity.

“Nice even spot,” said Mark as he looked it over. “We’ll have to put in a temporary landing area for you while we put in the concrete.”

“Somewhat nearby if possible,” said Charity. “We maintain a ready response.”

“You understand we’re also building hangers as well for at least half the fleet?” he asked.

“No, I don’t think I remember that,” said Charity.

“It was an addition,” said Mark. “So, even the temporary space will end up being used.”

“I’m just glad you don’t have to put in a runway,” said Charity.

“Most certainly,” said Mark. “Let me get my toys out.”

“Need some help?” she asked.

“You know how to operate those things?” asked Mark.

“Not really,” she said. “But I am good at lugging things around.”

“You probably are in better shape than me,” said Mark.

“What makes you say that?” she asked.

“Well, I know you have to keep yourself in shape to be a pilot and even in that baggy uniform, you look slender,” said Mark. “Just an observation.”

“Thank you,” said Charity with a smile. “So, you need some help or not?”

“I’ll accept,” he said with a smile as she appealed to him as well. He unloaded his survey equipment from the vehicle he was using and had her grab the last bag before setting everything up and getting started.

“Mind if I stick around?” she asked.

“Sure,” said Mark as he checked the reading on the instrument. “Boring work though.”

“It’s strange we’ve never met,” she stated.

“I’ve kept to myself for the most part,” said Mark. “I don’t get into the social scene as much.”

“How come?” she asked.

“Taking care of my teenage daughter for one,” he chuckled.

“I didn’t realize you were married,” said Charity.

“I’m not,” said Mark. “Single parent.”

“I didn’t even realize we had any of those,” said Charity.

“Only way I’d come was if I could bring her with me,” said Mark. “Even if she’s a handful.”

“I doubt she’s that bad,” laughed Charity.

“You were a teenage girl once,” said Mark with a laugh. “Let me interview your father and see what he has to say on the matter.”

“I’m afraid I was a boring teenager focused on getting into the Air and Space Academy,” said Charity. “Focused on school and not into the ‘cool’ things kids my age were into.”

“I see,” said Mark as he recorded some measurements and got the ground penetrating ultrasonic device ready to go.

“What’s that?” she asked.

“I need to see how solid the ground is underneath in order to support several tons of concrete pad along with the ships,” he replied.

“Ah,” she stated.

“You certainly seem interested,” he stated.

“I’m a Deputy Director,” she stated. “I should be familiar with what other sections are doing.”

“Smart,” he said.

“Thank you,” she replied with a smile.

“And you?” he asked as he recorded some additional numbers. “Husband? Boyfriend?”

“No, I’m as free as a bird,” she stated.

“Seriously?” he asked.

“Being First Officer on a ship means I wasn’t really able to have a relationship,” she replied. “And I’ve always been married to my job so I never really pursued anyone.”

“I just might have figured a nice looking lady like yourself would have a bunch of guys chasing after you,” he said with a smile.

“That’s quite forward of you,” she remarked.

“My apologies,” he said and continued his work. The silence after several moments was almost unbearable as she watched him work.

“I didn’t mean it in a bad way,” she finally stated.

“Neither did I,” he replied without looking at her.

“I mean, I appreciate the compliment,” she stammered.

“Look, you’re very attractive, but I didn’t mean it in a flirty manner,” he said as he finally looked at her. “I’m just here to do a job, ma’am.”

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I was a bit harsh. Bad habits, I guess.”

“Trust me, you’re safe around me,” he chuckled and recorded another set of numbers.

“Yeah, if I had a nickel for every time I heard that,” she laughed.

“So, you do have a bunch of fellows vying for your attention?” he asked in a serious tone, but she saw a brief smile come over his face.

“Actually, no,” said Charity with a laugh.

“Fine, when do you want to do dinner?” he asked.

“Excuse me?” she asked in surprise.

“I mean, I might as well ask you to a friendly dinner,” he stated.

“That is quite bold,” she stated.

“And?” he asked.

“I’ve got this trip to the tropical zone,” she stated.

“I see,” he said and finished up with his survey.

“So… maybe when I get back?” she asked.

“So, we can do that as friends,” he said with a smile. “Nothing more.”

“As friends,” she agreed with a return smile. “What else can I help you with?”

“Can’t think of a thing,” said Mark as he prepared to leave. He loaded up the bags he brought and returned for the case that was sitting in front of her. Picking it up, he gave her a nod and a smile before turning to leave.

“Hey!” she exclaimed before he started walking.

“Ma’am?” he asked.

“Thank you,” she stated.

“For?” he asked.

“For asking me out,” she blurted out.

“It’s not an official date,” he stated.

“Well, no,” she said. “But I don’t exactly get asked out very much.”

“I guess I’m honored to be the first?” he asked.

“Perhaps,” she said with a smile.

“We’ll see after your trip,” he smiled back. “I have to get back to work.”

“Yes, of course,” she stated. “Bye.”

“Bye-bye,” he smiled and hopped into the cart and headed off.

“Not a bad looking catch,” said Rachelle as she walked up behind Charity.

“How did…” started Charity and her voice trailed off.

“You’ve got this glowy thing about you right now,” said Rachelle.

“I do not!” protested Charity.

“And a little spring in your step,” said Rachelle. “Let’s face it, he’s a handsome dude.”

“I’m not spring stepping,” said Charity sourly.

“Okay,” said Rachelle. “He’s still a good lookin’ guy who asked you out.”

“How do you know we’re going to dinner?!” exclaimed Charity.

“Well, I didn’t, but you just confirmed it,” said Rachelle with a cheesy grin.

“I so hate you sometimes,” scoffed Charity.

“Again, the few times I’ve met him, he seems like a nice guy,” said Rachelle. “Reserved, but always polite and says hi.”

“You trying to play matchmaker with me?” asked Charity.

“Nope, seems like you’re doing okay on your own,” said Rachelle. “Now, I do have to have that talk about the leadership on an out of colony mission not fooling around with the hired help even if you do find him on a deserted beach.”

“Say what?!” exclaimed Charity.

“He’s been picked to go to the island with the engineer contingent,” said Rachelle. “So, no fooling around with the nice looking guy while you two are alone.”

“He didn’t mention that,” said Charity.

“Did it come up in conversation?” asked Rachelle.

“Well, no,” said Charity. “Actually, I did mention it.”

“And?” asked Rachelle.

“He didn’t say anything,” said Charity.

“Maybe he is just shy,” said Rachelle.

“He seems anything but,” said Charity. “He was quite forward.”

“Well, maybe that’s what needs to happen to get you out of your shell,” said Rachelle. “Having a gentleman friend as a minimum would be nice.”

“I’ll at least do dinner,” said Charity.

“And let me plan the wedding and bachelorette party?” grinned Rachelle.

“I don’t want anyone else planning something like that,” laughed Charity.

********************
​

“Yeah, she seems nice,” said Mark as he walked back into the compound with Grady.

“Charity is one of those nose to the grind kind of people,” said Grady. “But I’d bet she has a playful side to her that is screaming to be let out.”

“I’m not looking for a relationship right now,” said Mark with a chuckle. “I do like redheads though. So, she scores on that point.”

“I’d classify her as more auburn than red,” said Grady.

“I think I can agree to that,” said Mark. “I guess I have the next few days to figure out if she has that redhead temper.”

“Not that I’ve seen,” said Grady. “Regardless, she’s a nice gal and could use a guy friend.”

“Again, I’m not looking for a girlfriend,” said Mark with a laugh.

“Guys and girls can be just friends,” said Grady.

“Not really,” said Mark with a laugh.

“Okay, you got me,” laughed Grady. “You have the readings?”

“Best place to put it is where they are parked currently,” said Mark as he got out the tablet and showed Grady the data. He wondered if he had been set up by Grady to bump into Charity and furthermore, if his boss was playing matchmaker with him. However, she didn’t seem uninteresting at their first meeting and he’d play it by ear. He felt he had been single long enough and wouldn’t mind having some female companionship again. One thing he would do is discuss it with his daughter who he thought the world of. As he and Grady discussed the groundbreaking of the landing area, Mark’s mind wandered back to Charity and wondered if she really was interested.

********************
​

“Why not?” asked Tasha. “I’ve met him and he’s a nice guy.”

“That’s what I said,” said Rachelle.

“I don’t know,” said Charity with a sigh. “I’ve just been out of the dating game for a long time and I… I don’t know.”

“You’re afraid,” said Tasha.

“No, I just… I’m not a social creature, okay?” asked Charity irritably.

“Need some pointers?” asked Rachelle.

“Your pointers would be to wear hooker boots and short shorts,” said Tasha with a laugh. “Look, did he seem like he could carry on a conversation?”

“I don’t know,” said Charity with a sigh.

“Was he nice?” asked Tasha.

“Yes, he seemed nice,” said Charity. “Sense of humor as well.”

“Well, there’s a start,” said Tasha.

“Should you even be talking about relationships?” asked Charity. “Especially given you and a certain scientist have beaten around the bush enough that it’s a pile of chips?”

“Yeah, but we’re talking about you right now,” said Tasha with a grin.

“Yeah, for all of the five minute conversation we had, he seemed nice,” said Charity. “And yes, I’m at least interested in him enough to have dinner and talk.”

“No midnight rendezvous on the beach?” asked Rachelle with a cheesy grin. “Tasha can give you pointers for that.”

“How in the hell did you hear about that?!” demanded Tasha.

“I hear about everything, girlfriend,” said Rachelle with the same cheesy grin.

“Nothing happened!” protested Tasha.

“Perhaps,” said Rachelle. “But you could at least tell Charity how to set up for the mood.

“He’s a guy, so his mood is automatically set,” said Charity.

“As if we women aren’t bad enough,” said Rachelle. “Anyway, enough poking at your social lives. You came over for a reason?”

“Yeah, about the trip,” said Tasha as the three walked back into the SIT building discussing what was going on as well as Charity reassuring Tasha the gunships would remain on their alert status with good pilots behind the sticks. It seemed everyone had a little extra spring in their steps as the weather was changing and things seemed on the uptick for the colony as a whole. Everyone was looking forward to the mission to the tropical island chains and what the future might hold.

 

CHAPTER 3



“Well, round 2,” said Allen as they watched as the shuttle was being prepared for the mission to the tropical island. Sections were coming in and seeing off their personnel as well as helping them pack the gear for the trip. The pilots had already checked over the shuttle as Charity started counting noses of the assigned personnel heading out.

“Mister Bennett,” said Charity formally as the engineer that had caught her eye came in and stowed his pack.

“Ms. Steele,” said Mark with a smile.

“You didn’t mention you were going on this trip,” said Charity.

“I didn’t want you to think I was being forward because we were going down together,” said Mark as he placed the backpack on the floor pallet.

“I didn’t think you were being too forward,” said Charity.

“I’ll be professional,” said Mark as his daughter came forward to him and gave him a hug. “I want you to be on your best behavior while I’m gone.”

“I promise to have the parties cleared out by then, Dad,” she said with a grin.

“Ms. Steele, this is my daughter, Nicole,” said Mark as he introduced them and ignored the comment. “Nikki, this is Ms. Steele, Deputy Director of SIT and Chief Pilot.”

“Hello,” said Charity politely. “Please call me Charity.”

“Nicole,” said Nicole Bennett with a smile and shook her hand. “I go by Nikki though.”

“Which do you prefer?” asked Charity.

“Either is fine,” said Nicole.

“You have arrangements for her to stay with someone?” asked Charity.

“Doctor Chambless and his wife promised to look in on her,” said Mark. “However, this will be the first time she’s stayed solo for an extended period of time.”

“I mean, I’m 15 so it’s not like I’m incapable of fixing cereal in the morning and heating up soup for supper,” said Nicole as she looked over the shuttle.

“It won’t break, I promise you,” said Charity with a smile.

“She’s possibly interested in becoming a pilot someday,” said Mark.

“Oh?” asked Charity.

“Maybe,” said Nicole.

“You ever sat in the cockpit of a gunship?” asked Charity.

“No!” exclaimed Nicole.

“No better time than the present,” said Charity as she looked to Mark for approval.

“Be my guest,” said Mark. “I need to get the rest of the things stowed anyway.”

Charity walked over with Nicole and headed into the alert gunship where Lieutenant Sam “Redeye” Gonzales gave her the three minute tour and let her sit in the pilot’s seat. Charity could see more people were arriving and needed to get back to her duties and Nicole thanked the alert pilots for showing her the craft. As they headed back, Charity sent her back to her father as she started checking off additional personnel that had arrived.

“Is that the woman you mentioned the other day?” asked Nicole as she headed back to her father.

“It is,” said Mark.

“She seems nice,” said Nicole.

“You’re just saying that because she let you sit in the pilot seat of a gunship,” said Mark.

“Well, yeah,” said Nicole with a laugh. “I want you to be careful.”

“I want you to behave yourself,” said Mark.

“I promise,” said Nicole. “Bring me back a seashell?”

“If they have such a thing on this planet, sure,” said Mark as he took his daughter in a hug.

“I’ve got to get to school,” said Nicole as they released the embrace. “Mrs. Smith is going to be mad about me being late.”

“No, she won’t,” said Allen who was passing by and overheard the comment. He quickly typed out a message to his wife and told her the reason for the absence.

“Now I really get to be late,” grinned Nicole.

“Nicole,” said her father in a warning tone.

“Can I at least stick around until you launch?” she asked.

“Sure,” said Mark as he knew his daughter was studious enough to make up for lost time.

Eventually, everyone was at the shuttle and everything was loaded as Ben stepped forward yet again to brief the crowd.

“There’s an old cadence my instructors used to make us sing while running in formation. It went ‘here we go again, same old stuff all over again.’ Which does seem to apply in this situation,” said Ben as an icebreaker and omitted the colorful language sometimes used. The crowd chuckled as Ben broke into a smile and continued. “Now, this is first and foremost a research trip, but I’m sure Mr. Stafford, Doctor Weber and Ms. Steele have built in some down time for everyone while they are there. But the mission, first and foremost is to come home alive and not take unnecessary chances.”

“Furthermore, we need to identify whether or not this island is suitable for a long term base of operations in the Novae Spes Tropical Zone,” said Ben as their faces lit up. “So, while it’s going to be nice having sand and surf for a few days, we need to make sure we identify any hazards we might have in establishing a more permanent base for future rotations of pure rest and relaxation trips. For all our fellow colonists.”

“So, without further ado, I’ll turn it over to them and get this show on the road,” said Ben as he motioned to Grady. He stepped forward and addressed the group in his booming voice.

“Okay folks, say your goodbyes and get loaded,” said Grady simply. Directors and other section leaders said goodbye to their comrades as well as the families hugging as the colonists quickly loaded onto the shuttle. Eventually, Charity accounted for everyone and gave Grady a thumbs up before boarding herself with Angeline.

“We’ll see you in a few days,” said Ben as he shook Grady’s hand.

“I’ll keep them in line,” said Grady. “See you then.”

Grady headed into the shuttle which closed up and the systems came online. Everyone moved back slightly from the shuttle area as the craft lifted off and headed immediately south towards the tropical islands.

“That shuttle is as close to max weight as any we’ve launched since doing cargo runs,” said Allen as he saw it lift slowly away.

“There’s extra people on board,” said Ben. “Over 40.”

“We’ve only got 30 seats on board,” said Allen.

“They found a way to add seats,” said Ben with shrugged shoulders.

“Not entirely safe,” said Allen. “But I trust Charity in that regard since she wouldn’t let them fly if it wasn’t safe to do so.”

“You realize you just made everyone’s day?” asked Tasha as she gravitated over to Allen and Ben who continued watching as the shuttle disappeared from sight.

“By making a promise to send people back?” asked Ben. “Yep.”

“I think this is just what we needed,” said Tasha. “I originally was opposed to it but saw the spirits of everyone get uplifted when I mentioned it was back on.

“Once we hit the Raptors a few times, I think you’re going to see an explosion of higher morale,” said Allen as he saw Nicole was still there. “You need to head onto school.”

“Yes, sir,” said Nicole.

“I’m probably going to be in trouble with my wife for allowing you extra time,” said Allen. “So, let’s not make it doubly bad by dragging in later than she expects.”

“I’ll let her know it isn’t totally your fault, Mr. Smith,” said Nicole. The remainder of the group broke up and headed to their work stations as the shuttle continued south as the pilots adjusted the course for a suborbital jump to the island. Charity peeked over their shoulders and saw everything was right on the money as the speed built up and the shuttle entered the upper atmosphere and continued to climb.

“Looks perfect,” she stated over the intercom.

“The previous group down identified a possible landing area on the northwest side of the island,” said Krystal “Gator” Zamora as she checked the heading again just to be safe. “Of course, you know this because you were there.”

“I know that wasn’t easy for ya’ll to turn back,” said Nancy “Scooter” Owens from the pilot’s seat. “Especially since it was in sight.”

“Yeah, let’s hope we have better luck,” said Charity as they continued. Everyone on board seemed to have tempered their excitement for the moment, but conversations were still being had between the different sections as they reached the apex of their jump and the weightlessness set in for a few minutes.

“I’m curious about one thing,” said Charity as she buckled back in next to Grady.

“Why was I added to this trip?” asked Grady.

“Honestly, yeah,” said Charity.

“It’s nothing against you or Angeline, that’s for certain,” said Grady. “Two reasons though. First, Ben felt like we needed a little more adult supervision on this trip and I’m here to help you and Angeline rather than run things. Second, he came to visit me last night and told me it was a reward for what I’ve done so far. I mean, I’ve broken my ass getting everything going so far and he wants me to relax a tad.”

“I was just curious,” said Charity. “I wasn’t sure the trust was there.”

“He trusts you but wants to make sure you have the support you need if some of these folks get out of line,” said Grady. “Basically, you get to be mom and I get to be the mean dad.”

“Right,” said Charity as they tipped over and started decreasing their altitude towards the island. The excitement picked back up as they gradually decreased their altitude and reentered the atmosphere. The ride was a bit bumpy for several minutes until they stabilized and headed straight in for the islands. Additional islands were seen on the horizon as they descended lower and their speed decreased towards the landing. Smiles were seen as they dumped their speed considerably coming in towards the island which was just a speck on the horizon at the moment but growing rapidly as they approached.

“Everyone, we’re starting our landing run, please make sure you’re strapped in,” said Gator over the intercom as she checked the path. “Five degrees to port.”

“Five degrees,” said Scooter as she adjusted the heading. The island loomed in the screen as they located the potential landing site on the northwest side right next to a nice beach with a mid sized cove that might serve as a natural harbor.

“Nice open area,” said Scooter. “Activate the landing gear.”

“Activating the landing gear,” said Gator as she activated the controls and waited as they cycled through the process and showed all green. “Down and locked.”

“Down and locked,” confirmed Scooter as she brought in the shuttle and slowed rapidly before touching down hard on the beach.

“That was a little rough,” said Charity.

“I lost the horizon when the sand blew up,” said Scooter. “The sensors went wonky as well.”

“Anything break?” asked Charity.

“We’ll give it a good check,” said Scooter.

Charity headed back and saw Grady waiting for her prompt. She realized he was waiting on her and Angeline to take the lead and would be in the support role as he mentioned. Charity headed over to Angeline who looked for the lead security member. Captain Anton Sokolov was seen and motioned back through the crowded shuttle.

“Captain? Can you sweep and clear the immediate area?” asked Angeline.

“Yes, ma’am,” said Anton as he started gathering his troopers.

“Cayman 1, this is Novae Spes 1, we show you as down. What’s your status?” asked Ben over the communicator.

“Novae Spes 1, this is Cayman 1, we are safely down and establishing Wonderland base,” said Angeline. “We’ll be in contact once we sweep the local area.”

“Copy that, Novae Spes 1 standing by,” said Ben.

“Captain Sokolov, if you would?” asked Angeline. Anton nodded and sent out his troops to secure the immediate area. The breeze came into the shuttle almost immediately with the smell of the sea and the local vegetation. The shuttle had been slightly chilly during the flight but was suddenly being warmed by the tropical air permeating the cabin.

“Shall we take a look?” asked Charity as she motioned to Grady and Angeline.

“I think someone’s slightly excited,” chuckled Grady.

“Like you aren’t?” asked Danielle Stafford.

“I’m just better at hiding it,” said Grady with a chuckle.

“Don’t let him fool you,” said Danielle who went by Dani. “He’s about to bust.”

“Let’s not have that happen inside our nice clean shuttle then,” said Angeline as she headed to the ramp with the other two in tow. They saw the Security Forces entering into the tropical foliage and continuing to sweep the local area. Stepping out, the sand squeaked as they walked five meters away from the craft and took in the sights.

“This is absolutely breathtaking,” said Angeline with a smile. “About as close to perfect as I think we can get here.”

“I’m thinking we mutiny and just set up our own colony here,” said Charity with a grin.

“You certainly wouldn’t have any shortage of immigrants,” laughed Angeline.

“I like the area we’re in,” said Grady. “The cove makes it easier to build a dock for boats we might build in the long run.”

“You’ve already created about six months worth of work in six minutes, haven’t you?” asked Angeline with a chuckle.

“Perhaps,” said Grady with a sly smile. “It’s for a good cause though.”

“That it is,” said Charity as Anton came back over to them.

“How far inland do you want us to check?” he asked.

“I’d say three hundred meters would be a good stopping point to start with,” said Angeline. “But mainly the area here around this cove along with the other finger of land on the other side.”

“We are already two hundred meters in and coming up on the clearing we saw in the satellite imagery,” said Anton. “We’ll go slightly past that.”

“Sounds good,” said Angeline as she brought up the overhead shots of the island and saw the location he had mentioned. “Until then, are we okay to bring people off the shuttle?”

“Yes, just please do not send them into the jungle,” requested Anton.

“I’ll keep them here,” said Angeline as she returned to the shuttle. “Okay gang, you can deboard but only immediately outside the shuttle and down to the water. Do not go into the vegetation until we call it all clear.”

The passengers came off the shuttle in an orderly fashion and immediately started looking around with smiles on their faces. Even the normally excited Science team members took a moment to look around and go down to the ocean where the waves were lapping at the shoreline. Smiles were seen on everyone’s faces as they took in the sights of the tropical zone of the planet.

“Are we even going to get any science done?” asked Charity with a laugh.

“I’m sure they’ll find something to be excited over,” said Angeline as she saw Doctor Charlotte Griggs go to the shore and take a sample of the water. She headed over and saw Charlotte testing the water with a field test unit and looking over the data.

“Well?” asked Angeline.

“Slightly less crap in it than the other coastal mission,” said Charlotte. “Same salinity factors though and not potable in its current form.”

“By crap you mean?” asked Angeline.

“The coastal mission was near a marsh which had a lot of decayed plant and animal matter in it along with all the other bad water stuff,” said Charlotte. “This water, other than being saline, has less parts per million of the items we found on the coast.”

“So, a de-sal plant is all that will be needed?” asked Angeline.

“I don’t see why not,” said Charlotte. “Obviously, we’ll have additional testing to be done, but overall, we could run the water here through our processors and have clean drinking, cooking and bathing water while we’re here.”

“Did we bring any storage units with us?” asked Angeline as Grady came up.

“We have two 2,500 liter storage bladders,” said Grady as he nodded at the conformal cargo container on top of the shuttle added for the mission. “Which should provide us plenty of water while we’re here.”

“Including for a shower?” asked Angeline.

“I can dedicate one specifically for that, but I would ask people not get crazy with the water usage,” said Grady. “We can process up to 400 liters per hour with the de-sal unit we brought.”

“So, over twelve hours to fill them both?” asked Angeline.

“If we want to set them up, yeah,” said Grady as he saw a school of fish in the cove near the beach and pointed them out. The Science contingent immediately took to photographing the area where they were seen and waded out slightly in the water to get a better picture.

“Let’s watch getting into the ocean, folks,” said Angeline. “We have no idea what sea creatures are lurking.”

“Yes, Doctor,” said one of the scientists as he stepped back onto the shore. Anton continued calling in their progress and had not encountered any hostile creatures but had found evidence of animals living on the island. They reached the initial probe that had been sent during the initial discovery of the planet and saw it hadn’t fared that well in the tropical environment.

“It’s corroded at certain points,” said Anton over the communicator and shared his video feed. “It is a wonder it is still transmitting with the branches growing into it.”

“Any signs of tampering other than weathering?” asked Charity.

“Negative,” said Anton. “Perhaps they should have landed it in the clearing.”

“It was autonomous,” said Charity. “It landed where it wanted.”

“We have about an hour left of clearing, but the area up to the clearing is okay,” said Anton. “If people wanted to stretch their legs a bit.”

“I think we’ll keep them here until you are finished and reestablish a perimeter,” said Angeline.

“I am leaving troops in observation posts as we explore,” said Anton.

“I understand,” said Angeline as she turned to Charity. “Want to take a group up to the clearing?”

“Is that where we’re thinking of establishing camp?” asked Charity.

“I was thinking either there or on that small peninsula over there,” said Angeline as she motioned over Grady to get his opinion.

“I think either would be fine,” said Grady. “We are closer to the shuttles here, but the inland area might provide more protection in case of storms.”

“I checked the forecast before leaving,” said Angeline. “We should have clear skies the whole trip.”

“I’d say staying closer to the support base would be best,” said Grady.

“I agree,” said Charity.

“Sounds good,” said Angeline as she checked her communicator and saw Anton had almost reached the spit opposing them. “Captain? We’re probably looking at the area you’re coming up on as the base camp.”

“How far inland?” asked Anton.

“Maybe where you’re at,” said Angeline. “Anything?”

“We have seen a rodent type of creature and plenty of birds,” said Anton. “Again, nothing more serious than that.”

“If you could, please check that area very closely,” said Angeline and turned to Grady. “Want to head over to meet them?”

“Let me grab our weapons,” said Grady as he returned to the shuttle.

“I’ll take a group up to the clearing,” said Charity as she retrieved her carbine.

“How long will you be gone?” asked Angeline.

“Until their curiosity is fed, I’d imagine,” said Charity. “Maybe an hour or so?”

“Keep in touch,” said Angeline as she was handed her carbine by Grady. She designated Nancy Owens to keep control of the personnel at the shuttle before she and Grady headed over to the spit of land where Anton was slowly making his way towards. They checked out the shoreline and into the trees that appeared to be the Novae Spes version of palm trees as they looked over the top of the peninsula towards the ocean on the other side.

“I just picked out the spot for my retirement home,” said Angeline with a sigh. “This view is… it’s just breathtaking.”

“I’m thinking of filing for early retirement myself,” chuckle Grady. “I guarantee Dani will go along with it after seeing this view.”

“Except you won’t quit until the job is done,” chuckled Angeline.

“I made a promise to Dani when we got remarried the last job I’d do would be to build our retirement home,” said Grady. “I honestly can’t think of a better location than this.”

“Well, there are other islands in this chain,” said Angeline. “Maybe we could gift you one.”

“Or all of them,” said Grady with a grin. “I think we should be okay here for an encampment. This is way above the tide levels even at high tide.”

“I was just looking at that same thing,” said Angeline as she looked down. “We’re what? Seven or eight meters off sea level?”

“About that,” said Grady. “Though I would suggest sleeping inside the shuttle tonight until we get this place more fully explored.”

“I agree,” said Angeline. “Though tent camping is certainly possible if there’s nothing dangerous found on the island.”

“I’ll have the pilots start converting the shuttle when we return,” said Grady as Anton and the final three troopers came into view on the far side of the spit. They walked towards them and arrived in the middle at around the same time.

“This place is paradise,” said Anton. “I cannot wait to bring Tanya and Tatyana here.”

“I think we all have someone we want to bring,” said Grady. “It’s secured?”

“Yes, no signs of hostile creatures that we found,” said Anton. “I would say to keep everyone close if at all possible.”

“We plan on staying in the shuttle tonight,” said Angeline.

“How far out do you want our security?” asked Anton.

“I would prefer to have a little warning, but not so far they cannot be supported,” said Angeline.

“I was thinking 150 meters or so?” asked Anton. “However, if this is to be our base of operations, we can secure it easier with less people.”

“Maybe even move the shuttle closer before setting up everything?” asked Angeline. “There is another area closer where it might fit.”

“I’ll check the ground area before doing so,” said Grady as he looked at the direction Angeline was staring. “It’ll be a tight fit, but I think it being closer might be better.”

“Charity?” asked Angeline over the communicator.

“Just reaching the clearing,” said Charity. “Getting through that foliage wasn’t easy.”

“We’re considering moving the shuttle and would need your expertise,” said Angeline.

“I’ll head back,” said Charity as she designated one of the science team to “keep control of everyone and don’t let anyone wander off.” Charity headed back and saw the group on the far side of the beach before taking off her uniform shirt and tying the arms around her waist since she was seriously starting to warm up. She eventually joined the pair as they met her halfway on the newly proposed landing platform.

“Yeah, I can move it in here,” said Charity. “Not that I don’t trust my pilots, but this will be tricky with the trees being so close.”

“We were thinking of setting up the camp here on this spit,” said Grady.

“I’m sorry, the what?” asked Charity.

“Spit of land,” said Grady. “A small peninsula.”

“Right,” said Charity. “I’m glad we decided to before we unloaded everything.”

“We planned on everyone staying the night in the shuttle to begin with,” said Grady.

“There will be a problem with that,” said Charity.

“Lack of space?” asked Grady.

“Lack of beds for certain,” said Charity. “At least a dozen short even if we cram them all in.”

“So, some are going to have to stay outside anyway?” asked Grady.

“Unfortunately,” said Charity. “I mean, we could use floor sleeping, but that blocks exits in case anyone needs to go out in the middle off the night.”

“Maybe put the tents beyond the shuttle on the ocean side so they could come in if there is danger?” asked Angeline.

“Smart,” said Charity. “Until we know more about the local wildlife that is.”

“We’ve got five days and four nights here,” said Angeline. “I doubt we’ll be sleeping inside the whole time.”

“Depends on what we find,” said Anton. “I’d like permission to send out long range recon patrols this afternoon after we get a little more settled in.”

“I’d certainly like to send out the science element with them,” said Angeline.

“Tell you what, let’s get the shuttle moved then come up with an agenda for the next couple of hours,” said Grady.

“I think that’s smart,” said Charity.

“Let’s do it then,” said Angeline. “Charity, you move the shuttle while the rest of us collect everyone and get them over here.”

“You want the cargo ramp facing the… spit here?” asked Charity.

“That’d be best,” said Angeline. “Is that harder?”

“Not for a pilot with my mad skills,” said Charity with a grin. The group broke up and started collecting everyone and bringing them over to the peninsula while Charity grabbed Nancy Owens to help her while she moved the shuttle. Eventually, everyone was corralled on the other side as Charity activated the engines on the shuttle and lifted off slightly.

“You’re going in reverse?” asked Nancy with her eyes opened a little wider.

“Well, it’s easier than taking this thing out and coming in over the peninsula,” said Charity as she turned on the rear view cameras. “I’ll need you to spot me on the right.”

“Yes, ma’am,” said Nancy as she started looking out the right side of the shuttle and Charity started moving it slowly in reverse. It didn’t take long to cover the 150 meters as Charity got as close to the tree line as she could to give them enough space on the new landing area.

“You’re about two meters away from those top branches,” said Nancy as she checked the side view cameras from her station. Her voice grew in pitch as Charity eased the shuttle in. “Meter and a half… a meter… half a meter!”

“Too close?” asked Charity as she brought the shuttle to a stop.

“I might have an issue launching straight up, but I can swerve her big ass out over the cove instead,” said Krystal.

“Could Gator launch?” asked Charity.

“I don’t want to speak for her, but if she launched in the manner I just described, yes,” said Nancy. “I’ll go over that with her.”

“We’ll call it good then,” said Charity as she brought the shuttle down gently and landed on the new patch of ground.

“I can see why you’re the boss,” said Nancy as Charity lowered the cargo ramp and found the leadership element waiting to start unloading.

“Oh?” asked Charity.

“I would still be trying to line this thing up and land it,” said Nancy. “Certainly not as close to the trees as you did.”

“Well, we’ll just have to work on that, won’t we?” asked Charity.

“Yes, ma’am,” said Nancy. “Do you want me to start converting the beds?”

“Let’s see what we’re going to offload, but yes, we’ll need to get that done,” said Charity as she headed over to Angeline and Grady.

********************
​

“Nice flying,” said Ben as he continued to watch the live stream from the island.

“As stated, anything from a glider up through an ultra-large cargo carrier, she’s the woman you want in the pilot’s seat,” said Allen. “That place is beautiful.”

“I haven’t seen a frown since they landed,” said Ben.

“We’ll all get our turn eventually,” said Allen.

“Obviously, we will need additional research and survey trips,” said Ben. “But how many?”

“I was wondering the same thing,” said Allen. “We could ask Javier and Tasha.”

“Let’s do,” said Ben as they headed towards the Security compound and requested Javier join them. They found Tasha checking out the views on her computer which showed the live stream of Anton as he discussed the location of the encampment.

“I rarely get jealous,” said Tasha as they approached. “But I’m seriously jealous.”

“It’s beautiful,” said Ben. “I like where they are setting up camp.”

“It’s probably where I would have put it as well,” said Tasha as Javier joined them.

“Yes, Jefe?” asked Javier as he came in.

“So, they’re on the ground with no indication of any harmful wildlife yet,” said Ben. “They have five days to determine if there is any significant threat from the wildlife. The question is, how many trips is it going to take to cover the island and make sure it’s safe?”

“From a wildlife perspective?” asked Javier.

“From a science perspective,” said Ben.

“I don’t know if that’ll be done in the first dozen trips,” said Javier.

“I’m sorry?” asked Allen.

“For wildlife and things like that, I think a couple of trips down should be sufficient,” said Javier. “Maybe three to be certain with extended patrols for security and science checking out the area. Now, for the full spectrum of possible diseases and harmful plants, we won’t be done for a long time with in depth studies.”

“I’m more worried about the obvious parasites and harmful wildlife,” said Ben.

“Depending on the troop commitment, we can cover the island in a few days,” said Tasha. “Obviously, putting in sensors would be ideal to see what moves back in behind us.”

“Do we have enough for that?” asked Ben.

“We could strip some from the probe and we have some science packs in reserve we could use,” said Javier. “Depends on how much coverage you want on that island.”

“But foot coverage?” asked Allen.

“Will greatly depend on how often the science teams want to stop and sniff the flowers along the way,” said Tasha. “If we are just doing a pure recon where we’re trying to move quietly, that’s probably going to be a few days to cover everything. Probably give ourselves a week just to be certain. But again, we move at the lowest common denominator.”

“Which would be my guys getting excited over finding something new,” said Javier. “However, if we sent a senior handpicked member to lead them they can help keep the distractions down to a minimum.”

“So, at least two more research trips?” asked Ben.

“Or an extended single trip,” said Tasha.

“Of which you’d love to volunteer for,” said Ben with a chuckle.

“I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t love it,” said Tasha. “But I’d probably prefer to send down Anton again since he’ll be most familiar with the terrain.”

“I think either one of you,” said Ben. “No matter what, that’s something we need to be thinking about in the back of our minds as we move forward.”

“We’re considering continued missions even with the Raptor threat?” asked Javier.

“No, that’s still a front burner mission,” said Ben. “But we have to plan for the future.”

“Agreed,” said Javier. “Overall, this is a science mission, but even science can be fun.”

“I have this feeling these folks are having a blast,” said Ben as he motioned to the screen.

********************

​

“Let’s get that hose run,” said Grady as he helped unroll the water bladder along with the other members of his team.

“Need some help?” asked the Nancy.

“I’d love it,” said Grady. “I think Mark could use some assistance with the showers.”

“I’ll help him if you want to help here,” said Nancy to Krystal.

“Got it,” said Krystal as she helped unroll the hose down towards the water. Nancy headed over and found Mark Bennett setting up the portable showers.

“Need some help?” asked Nancy as she saw him setting up the platforms for the showers.

“Yeah, can you hold down that corner?” asked Mark as he started linking together the two bases.

“Sure,” said Nancy as she held down the corner he specified. He managed to get the two blocks lined up and connected to each other along with the drain system.

“Okay, walls now,” said Mark as he continued pulling items out of the kit and putting them in place. He showed her the proper placement of the items and they worked together putting up the sides until he stopped and looked at the kit.

“Great,” he said with a sigh.

“Something wrong?” she asked.

“Yeah, some yahoo decided not to include the separation panels,” said Mark.

“Which means?” asked Nancy.

“Which means you have two showers with no separation between them,” said Mark.

“Cozy,” said Nancy.

“So, either we find something to separate the two or we end up with one shower,” said Mark.

“Could we put up like a curtain or something?” she asked.

“We… might have something that’ll work,” said Mark. “I think we can finish it up and check the shuttle for something.”

“What’s next?” she asked.

“Plumbing fixtures,” he replied and started getting the items out. However, just as he was picking up the shower heads, something caught his attention. “What is that?”

“What’s… oh,” said Nancy as she turned and saw a furry brown animal that looked like a large plump rat staring at them. It didn’t appear to be frightened by them and was watching them curiously at the moment.

“Doctor Weber? Can you please come to the shower area? We just found a new creature,” asked Mark over his communicator as he kept an eye on the creature. Angeline came over with Charity, Charlotte Griggs and one of the science team members and saw the population had increased in that time. There were now three of the rodents looking at the curious intruders on their islands.

“It looks like a Cuban hutia,” said the scientist. “They are sometimes called banana rats.”

“Are those dangerous?” asked Angeline.

“No, they’re pretty docile,” said the scientist as he moved a little closer. The creatures sniffed at him suspiciously and stepped forward a bit.

“Have you been eating?” asked Angeline.

“I have half a ration bar in my pocket,” said the scientist. He pulled it out and the rodent-like creatures immediately took notice of the item in his hand. Which also drew two more into the crowd looking at him.

“Interesting,” said the scientist. “Have we broken out the capture units yet?”

“Not yet,” said Angeline. “That was scheduled for tomorrow.”

“I could just about capture one right now,” said the scientist as he started to lean forward.

“Stop!” ordered Angeline. The scientist stopped leaning forward, but not before the creature ran up and jumped, snatching the ration bar out of his hand and running off with it. The other creatures immediately followed it away hoping to get some of whatever it had taken from the intruders.

“I wasn’t going to do anything,” said the scientist. “Just see how close I could get.”

“Seems like you were close enough,” said Angeline as she called up the colony.

“We saw it,” said Doctor Chuck Dawson as he answered the call he knew would be coming. “Obviously, we’ll need a specimen to look over, but it appears related to the rodentia family.”

“They appeared fearless,” said Angeline. “They certainly weren’t afraid of us.”

“Good olfactory senses though,” said the scientist.

“You going to try for a capture?” asked Chuck.

“I can’t see why not,” said Angeline. “Seems like baiting them isn’t hard to do.”

“Okay, obviously, rodents carry diseases sometimes so be careful handling them,” said Chuck. “Otherwise, they tend to have sharp teeth and claws so be mindful of that if they are awake.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” said the scientist as he looked into the trees trying to see if the creatures might reappear. However, after several minutes, they decided to continue setting up base camp.

“Having rodents will cause problems with storage?” asked Angeline after she returned to find Grady getting the final touches on the water purification system.

“Maybe,” said Grady. “We have containers we can lock the stuff up in. How big of a critter are we talking?”

“Maybe two to three kilos,” said Angeline.

“So, not exactly small,” said Grady. “I think our lockboxes will be okay.”

“They have teeth as well,” said Angeline.

“They are hard plastic and steel,” said Grady. “I’m not sure they can chew through those.”

“Fair enough,” said Angeline as Mark came up.

“We have a problem,” he stated as Charity joined them as well.

“Which is?” asked Angeline.

“Someone forgot to add the extra panels into the shower kit,” said Mark. “Which means we either go with one shower for everyone or I can rig a plastic tarp of some sort as a divider only.”

“We have some extra plastic tarps in the emergency kits of the shuttles,” said Charity.

“How big?” asked Mark.

“Maybe three meters by three meters or so,” said Charity.

“That’ll work though I’d need to trim it up,” said Mark. “It’ll ruin it for emergency use.”

“We have plenty in storage,” said Charity. “Let’s grab it.”

Mark and Charity went over to the shuttle and found the emergency kit as well as the tarp. Holding it up, she noticed it was translucent instead of opaque.

“That’s not going to work,” said Mark.

“Why not?” asked Charity. “You can see a figure through it, but nothing detailed.”

“I guess we could make the showers with a flip sign for males and females,” said Mark.

“They were originally coed?” asked Charity.

“Yeah, because the hard sheeting prevented seeing inside the other,” said Mark.

“But with the sheet?” asked Charity.

“One could potentially peek past it unless you want me to fuse it into the current panels,” said Mark. “Which will cause a lot of work to get it off in the end.”

“I think we can just hang it,” said Charity. “Besides, we can pass our girly shampoo back and forth this way.”

“Ulterior motive?” he laughed as they headed back to the shower area.

“You betcha,” said Charity with a grin. “Is everything ready on those?”

“Just need to run the water line and get the bladder filled as soon as I get this sheet hung,” said Mark. “So, give it about twelve hours or so.”

“I’ve gotten a little sweaty running here and there,” said Charity. “I was hoping for something a little sooner.”

“It depends on how long it takes the de-sal plant to work,” said Mark as they arrived and he started taking measurements.

“Maybe a dip in the ocean then?” she said with shrugged shoulders.

“Weren’t you saying we needed to be mindful of the sea creatures?” he asked as he got the measurements and started unfolding the tarp. Charity helped him lay it out, but he doubled it back over for a little additional privacy.

“Actually, that was Angeline,” she replied with a grin. “So, you best hope the science teams have been at work identifying harmful ocean creatures.”

“Because you’re going for a dip?” he laughed as he cut the tarp to size.

“Just maybe,” said Charity with a grin. “Luckily, Science brought one of their drones with a dipping sonar with them and can send it out over the cove here.”

“Good point,” said Mark as he had no idea how to hang the tarp. Eventually, it hit him he had all the materials he needed right there and used some of the tarp to make two sandbags and some cordage to use between the two. He burned some holes into the original tarp and saw they should hold without ripping before running the cordage through and tying it off to the two homemade sandbags. He placed the entire creation inside and allowed the sandbags to drape over the sides of the shower which caused the tarp to stay in place though with about a hundred millimeter gap at the bottom.

“It’ll hold?” she asked.

“I don’t want to nail it down necessarily,” said Mark as he looked at his creation. “I think it’ll hold for normal use.”

“So… what’s next?” she asked.

“You really are eager to get a shower,” he laughed.

“You have no idea,” she laughed as she saw him hooking up the final water hoses and drain lines. He ran the drain into a trap that would treat the water before returning it to the storage.

“All set,” he stated as he gathered his tools for the trip back to the shuttle.

“I like the shade you thought of,” said Charity as she helped gather the items and looked upwards at the trees providing some cover.

“I honestly wasn’t thinking that far into it, but it works,” he chuckled. “I do have the covers I could put on for rain and whatnot.”

“We’re supposed to have good weather the whole time we’re here,” said Charity. “I think the open top design will be okay.”

“Are we on our own for lunch?” he asked.

“We are,” said Charity. “Field rations.”

“Oh, joy,” he chuckled.

“I’d tend to think there’s at least one you like,” she laughed.

“Maybe so,” he stated.

“Is it okay if I join you?” she asked.

“Not a problem whatsoever,” said Mark. “You’ll have to show me where the rations are anyway.”

“Right over here,” said Charity as she headed over and found the food storage that had been unloaded from the shuttle. However, as they rounded the corner, six of the rodent creatures scampered away from the storage area.

“Looks like they found the food,” said Mark and noticed she was a little pale. “You okay?”

“I just don’t like mice or rats,” she stated shakily. “They gave me a startle.”

“Well, we need to make sure we’re locking up the food,” said Mark. “You have a preference?”

“Anything Asian,” she stated and calmed down slightly.

Mark managed to locate two of the ration kits and handed her a chicken lo mein pack. He grabbed a seat next to her looking out over the lagoon and the peace it seemed to bring to everything around them.

“This is almost perfect,” she stated as they dug into their packs.

“I think it’ll be even better if we can turn it into a vacation spot,” said Mark.

“Or a retirement home,” said Charity with a smile.

“Early retirement home?” he asked.

“Maybe,” she grinned and opened the main course.

“I’ll obviously have a few years to get Nicole kicked out of the house, but I think I’d join you,” said Mark as he sipped at his canteen.

“She does well in school?” asked Charity.

“Top of her classes before we left,” he replied with pride.

“What does she want to do when she finishes school?” asked Charity.

“She’s split between pilot and doctor at the moment,” said Mark. “Truth be told, she’s not sure like most people her age.”

“I can help her on the pilot side of things if that’s the direction she goes,” said Charity. “If that’s okay with you.”

“She already looks up to you,” admitted Mark. “Not that she’s said anything, but she knew who you were and the role you have in the colony.”

“Wow,” said Charity. “I didn’t know that.”

“She was pretty happy meeting you this morning,” he stated.

“I didn’t get that vibe,” she replied.

“Trust me, she was excited,” said Mark.

“Maybe I can see about giving her an incentive ride in one of the recon patrols,” said Charity.

“You’d become her favorite person of all time,” chuckled Mark.

“What about you?” asked Charity. “What’s your story?”

“My story?” he asked. “How long do you have?”

“Until lunch is over for the moment,” she grinned at him.

“You won’t believe where I came from,” said Mark. “Or why I became an engineer.”

“Try me,” said Charity as she looked at him.

“Okay, you asked…” he stated as he grabbed at his main course from the ration and started telling his story. The pair sat talking through the remainder of lunch finding out a lot more about each other than they knew in the start. But a new friendship was created that day between the two of them and they promised to continue the storytelling after they finished with work that evening.

The remainder of the base camp was established as the team knew the quicker they got everything set up that afternoon, the easier it would be to start on the research they needed to do for the trip. It was found they only had 26 beds that would work in the shuttle which made them set up additional tents on the area along with the field kitchen and work areas. The camp went up quickly as the scientists were able to start some basic research early and sent the drone out over the cove finding nothing of interest save some schools of fish in the local area. They also quickly sent it around the island scanning for large threats and came up with nothing except at least a dozen secluded beaches, inlets and smaller coves.

After recovering the drone, everyone decided to call it a day and start fresh the next morning after a good night’s sleep. Anton dedicated four of his staff to the overnight watch and one in particular to the tent area to alert the occupants there in case of trouble. Night was setting in as several fires were started around the area and Charity figured out her two pilots were not exactly world class cooks. Luckily, the field rations they brought along were premade for the most part and only needed additional seasoning set out on the line for the team to take at their leisure.

As the sun dipped below the horizon, Charity, Grady and Angeline made one last round of the camp making sure everything was secured before turning in. Excitement was evident in everyone as they looked forward to starting their research the next day and exploring what appeared to be a true paradise.

 

CHAPTER 4


“Day three,” said Ben as he read up on the reports from the island from the previous day.

“They are heading deeper into the island today,” said Allen as he sat across from Ben and sipped at the cup of coffee. “Security and Science are continuing to check for dangerous creatures.”

“I’ll admit, they are behaving themselves from what I’ve seen,” said Ben. “The trio of leadership has done a good job on keeping people on mission.”

“That they have,” said Allen. “Maybe a reward is in order?”

“What are you thinking?” asked Ben.

“Well, they are scheduled up through tomorrow with tests and everything and have a few extra supplies. Maybe an extra day and night there for them just to relax might be in order?” asked Allen. “Obviously, behaving themselves would be key.”

“I don’t have a problem with that,” said Ben. “You know it’ll be requested on additional trips out though.”

“Big difference is this is an island where we can control the danger from the wildlife,” said Allen. “It’s not like going to the coast or inland where we know for a fact there are dangerous predators and other harmful items.”

“If, and only if, it’s clear as of tomorrow, I’ll agree to it,” said Ben. “Security has been ranging deeper and deeper into the jungle areas of the island, so there’s the potential to find something any second. If it does happen, I’d like them confined to the immediate area around the encampment and the cove.”

“I don’t think they’d have a problem with that,” said Allen.

“We can let them know at the next check in,” said Ben.

“Which actually is in about ten minutes,” said Allen.

“Yeah, it’s Grady this morning, right?” asked Ben.

“I believe so,” said Allen. “He’d be the most objective in my opinion.”

“Charity certainly has stepped up into the leadership role though,” said Ben.

“Yes, she has,” said Allen. “I mean, it was there all along. And as much as I like her, Angeline isn’t really a leader in most aspects. She tends to be a follower by nature.”

“She can put her foot down when she needs to,” said Ben.

“But she hasn’t needed to or hasn’t done it yet,” said Allen. “No disrespect intended.”

“No, I think you’re correct,” said Ben. “Of course, Javier makes up for what she might lack. And maybe she’s just following his lead for the most part.”

“That very well could be,” said Allen. “She hasn’t been placed into a pressure situation yet.”

“Let’s hope she never needs to be either,” said Ben. The two continued through the morning agenda and were called by the Command Center with the morning check in from the excursion. They patched through the channel as Ben saw Grady and Angeline on the call with the ocean behind them.

“That view is out of this world,” said Ben.

“Good morning to you too, boss,” said Grady. “Nothing new to report from last night save those rodents being a little more persistent.”

“Bad?” asked Ben.

“Bold,” said Angeline. “They do love their people food.”

“I’d hope our guys aren’t feeding them,” said Ben.

“No,” said Angeline. “They are just getting bolder when going after our food. Snatching it out of our hands practically.”

“Has science completed their study?” asked Allen.

“Yes, and nothing harmful that we can tell,” said Angeline. “Just a Novae Spes rodent.”

“Nothing else?” asked Ben.

“There are about a dozen new types of birds we’ve seen and we sent in the analysis last night direct to the Science Department,” said Angeline. “There’s one that’s a meat eater which apparently feeds on the rodents here.”

“Just the rodents?” asked Allen.

“We just caught sight of it yesterday,” said Angeline. “A team is going out to study it today.”

“How large?” asked Ben.

“Probably between five and seven kilos,” said Angeline. “Wingspan on some are about a meter or so.”

“That’s a good size bird,” said Ben.

“But not likely to be threatening to humans,” said Angeline. “The rodents and fish are plentiful enough to where they should continue to shy away from us.”

“Got it,” said Ben. “And how is the potential R and R site survey going?”

“I think we’ve got us a dandy location here,” said Grady. “For starters at least. The clearing off the beach is a prime building location. However, we located a stream towards the eastern portion of the island that might be a potential source of freshwater for us, so we’re having Science check that out this morning on their patrol.”

“Move everything eastward?” asked Allen.

“I couldn’t tell you until we check out that area,” said Grady. “The geologist with Science thinks the ground is sturdy enough here that we’ll need minimal disruption of the environment to get things started. But the eastern portion of the island is a bit more rocky, so, we won’t know until it’s more fully explored.”

“We anticipate another trip for that,” said Ben.

“For the record, I’m thinking where we are is the best place,” said Grady.

“Why?” asked Ben.

“The cove provides a nice natural mini-harbor and the area near the coast is flat and high enough to build easily,” said Grady. “I mean, a freshwater source might be nice, but we can get plenty of water processed through a de-sal plant to support up to 300 people.”

“That many?” asked Ben.

“Conservative estimate,” said Grady. “I’ve got my guys running numbers on that.”

“That’s nice,” said Allen.

“One other nice thing about this location,” said Angeline. “This area tends to be in the leeward side of any storms coming in from the ocean. It’s been hit by tropical cyclones, but they mainly move in from the south so we miss a lot of the storm surge in this location.”

“Has it flooded before?” asked Allen.

“Not that we could tell and it appears it’s been a while since this place was hit,” said Angeline.

“Which means it’s due,” said Ben.

“Or it is just out of the path of most tropical cyclones,” said Angeline. “Obviously, we’ll need a lot more years of weather data to see if that holds.”

“We’ll keep that in mind,” said Ben. “Anything else?”

“Nothing I can think of,” said Grady. “Any instructions for us?”

“You have Charity nearby?” asked Ben. “We’ve got a proposal for the three of you.”

“Yeah, hang on,” said Grady as he disappeared. Angeline continued informing Ben and Allen of a few things they had discovered while they were there until Grady returned with Charity.

“Am I in trouble again?” she asked as she sat between Grady and Angeline.

“Aren’t you always?” laughed Allen.

“No, that’s Rachelle actually,” said Charity.

“That’s pretty accurate,” laughed Ben. “So, what’s the weather supposed to be like in three days’ time?”

“The day after we leave?” asked Angeline as she pulled her tablet out and checked. “Partly cloudy maybe, no rain that I can tell. Nice temps.”

“So, if you were delayed a day, you wouldn’t be flying back in bad weather?” asked Ben.

“Not from this end, no,” said Angeline. “Why?”

“You’ve got two more full days of research,” said Ben. “Well, today and tomorrow and were projected to leave Saturday morning. How would leaving Sunday grab you?”

“You want an extra day of research?” asked Grady.

“No,” said Ben.

“So… what do you suggest we fill that extra day with?” asked Charity.

“Maybe just relaxing?” asked Ben.

“Wait, you mean a day off?” asked Angeline.

“You don’t have to, of course,” said Ben.

“As in tomorrow is our last day of research and all we’ll need to do is plan a little fun the next day before packing up and leaving a day later?” asked Charity.

“That’s the skinny of it,” said Ben. “I mean, you could come back as planned.”

“If either of these two say a word that agrees with us coming back on schedule, you’re going to see a crime committed on this feed,” said Grady.

“So, you’d like the extra day?” asked Ben.

“Like is one of the words we’d use,” said Angeline with a huge grin.

“Here’s the conditions,” said Ben. “You don’t announce it until tomorrow evening after everything is said and done. Two, nobody gets out of control. Three, you have to remain in and around that cove and lagoon area. Four, nobody gets out of control. Five, you have a little fun and relax as much as possible.”

“We agree,” said Angeline cutting off the others.

“Again, keep it to yourself and if something were to happen you’d need to leave early, so be it. Plus, I do need a detailed threat analysis from the areas you’ve already checked,” said Ben.

“You’ll have it,” said Grady. “What brought all this on?”

“Trial basis,” said Ben. “Just seeing how well you behave when you have nothing to do.”

“Oh, I’ll keep the kids in check,” said Grady. “Even if it means tying some of them up.”

“Including Charity,” said Allen.

“Her first,” said Grady with a laugh.

“I’ll leave you to it and look forward to your check in tonight,” said Ben.

“See you this evening,” said Grady as he ended the transmission.

“That seemed to go well,” said Angeline after the transmission ended.

“An extra day? Nothing to do but lay around and get a tan?” asked Charity.

“Which you’re already getting a good tan going,” said Angeline. “Making me jealous.”

“You are already have a dark complexion so you’re going to be marvelous by the time we leave,” said Charity.

“Regardless, word about this does not leave the three of us until tomorrow afternoon,” said Grady. “We do need to keep our folks on mission here.”

“We’ve got two full days of research planned,” said Angeline. “I’m thinking we pop that on them tomorrow night before dinner.”

“Best time in my opinion,” agreed Charity.

“Okay, hopefully everyone brought extra sets of underwear,” said Grady.

“Skinny dipping is an option,” said Angeline with a grin.

“My wife already tried to get me to go our first night here,” said Grady with a sigh.

“Really?” laughed Angeline.

“I reminded her we had no idea of sharks or shark-like creatures on this planet and a naked corpse would make for some interesting questions,” said Grady. “She relented.”

“Maybe we should mention it again,” said Charity with a grin.

“You really want to see my fat ass out there splashing around?” asked Grady.

“Umm, let’s table this discussion until later,” said Charity.

“Okay, who’s doing what today?” asked Grady as they divvied out the tasks for the day and who would be accompanying which team. Eventually, they had everything set and headed their separate ways and tried to conceal the good news about staying an extra day. Grady got his pack ready and went out with the security team that morning to check out the stream that had been discovered the day prior and hopefully trace it back to the source. Charity joined the science team for a change and proceeded with them to check some of the areas that had already been looked at and to see if they could locate the eagle type bird they had discovered the day beforehand. Angeline was staying around and holding down the fort at the base camp while going through the meteorology data from the different probes and trying to see how safe any future settlement on the island might be. Each headed their separate ways as the expedition got down to business for the day.

********************
​

“Well, we’ll know in a couple of days whether the R and R facility idea will work,” said Ben.

“I think we’ll be fine,” said Allen. “Though an ancient movie keeps popping into my head.”

“Which one?” asked Ben.

“An old World War Two based movie named ‘Mister Roberts.’ The liberty scene from that keeps popping into my head,” said Allen with a chuckle.

“Mind you, I don’t have a palm tree to toss into the ocean,” said Ben with a chuckle.

“You’ve seen it?” asked Allen.

“A long time ago,” said Ben. “Regardless, there needs to be a pressure valve release for these folks before they get to that level.”

“An island would be a good place for it,” said Allen. “Your plans for today?”

“Yes, it would be a good place,” said Ben as he checked his schedule. “Science briefing in a half an hour, Ag an hour and a half after that and working with Engineering this afternoon.”

“Doesn’t sound exciting,” said Allen. “I’ve got SIT this morning and working with Medical this afternoon. So, I’ll likely be bored with you.”

“At least there’s Rachelle for entertainment,” said Ben.

“She can be that,” said Allen.

“You think anyone would miss me if I hop on a shuttle and head down to keep the island under control?” asked Ben with a twinkle in his eyes.

“Who’s going to run this place when I fly you there?” asked Allen with a laugh.

“Let’s just leave without telling anyone and see if the rest figure it out,” laughed Ben.

“Yeah, we might not have a warm return,” laughed Allen as he stood to leave. “I’ll catch up at lunch, okay?”

“See you then,” said Ben. Allen headed over to the SIT compound where materials continued to be sorted and distributed into the new housing units or to the individual sections. Even with the dismantlement of the Santa Maria there were still tens of thousands of tons of supplies that still needed to be sorted and delivered. However, it appeared Rachelle had a good system going as he entered the large warehouse and was surprised to see what looked like a small grocery store produce section set up near the front.

“Hey second to the big boss man,” said Rachelle as she came up to Allen.

“Is this new?” asked Allen.

“The produce section?” asked Rachelle. “Yeah, three days ago.”

“It actually is a produce section?” asked Allen.

“More or less,” said Rachelle. “Basically, the kitchen gets first dibs on the fresh foods, we can the majority of the rest for winter and the remainder is put here for people to grab what they want for at home cooking.”

“Did we get a notice about this?” he asked.

“I’ve had your wife in here every day since it opened,” said Rachelle. “She didn’t mention it?”

“She might have and I missed it,” said Allen. “Is it popular?”

“Very much so,” said Rachelle. “Some things more than others, but everyone seems happy to pick up some fresh items or get substitutes from the food processors.”

“Like meats?” asked Allen.

“For starters,” said Rachelle. “And increasingly, coffee. Our stocks are running low on that.”

“That’s a crime if I ever heard one,” said Allen. “Who thought of this?”

“Kinda shared between one of my guys and me,” said Rachelle. “I had the idea, he made it happen and got the word out.”

“Who?” asked Allen.

“Neal Cross,” said Rachelle. “He was up front when you came in.”

“I came in the side entrance,” said Allen.

“Well, let’s go meet him,” said Rachelle as they headed up front where a bored looking individual was sitting. “Hey Neal.”

“Rachelle,” said the man named Neal. “Mister Smith.”

“It’s Allen, please,” said Allen as he shook his hand. “We’ve met briefly before.”

“But didn’t really get to know each other,” said Neal. “Neal Cross.”

“Allen Smith,” said Allen. “You came up with the idea of the grocery store in here?”

“Rachelle thought it might be a good idea since we had some leftovers from the food supply,” said Neal. “I just thought of a way of distributing it in a way people were familiar with.”

“And my wife is your number one customer?” asked Allen.

“She’s the most picky,” laughed Neal.

“So, other than this, what do you do here?” asked Allen.

“I’m actually one of the counselors, but I am a jack of all trades,” said Neal. “In title, I’m the Housing Placement Specialist, but tend to work wherever I’m needed.”

“Housing placement specialist?” asked Allen.

“Basically, I find people living quarters,” said Neal as he welcomed one of the residents in and showed them towards the grocery area. “I know it sounds like a job that shouldn’t be full time, and it’s not really, but I determine the best ‘fit’ for them as well as having to locate and expand quarters for those who get married and have children along the way.”

“Best fit?” asked Allen.

“I’m trying to match up neighbors with like minds for lack of a better term. Which will become even more evident once Expedition 2 gets here,” said Neal. “Say we get a hoop of new scientists in; I’ll try to find them quarters somewhat close to other scientists instead of plopping them down in the middle of a fourplex with nothing but security around them.”

“Makes sense,” said Allen. “Though I don’t think it should be completely compartmentalized.”

“And that’s the trick; finding a careful balance,” said Neal. “I figured you and Commander Nash prefer to have our folks mix and mingle somewhat, so I’ve been trying to designate the living quarters with a few here and a few there in order for the colony to be able to have familiar neighbors, but also folks they might not normally associate with.”

“Interesting idea,” said Allen.

“It’s better for the social interaction to have something like that,” said Neal.

“And this is your position?” asked Allen.

“Part time at the moment,” said Neal. “I work with SIT or get seconded to Ag or the Engineers or whomever. Plus, I’m in charge of getting our local tavern up and running along with alcohol production for the colony.”

“Oh?” asked Allen. “I didn’t know we’d started on the tavern.”

“Work in progress,” said Neal. “It’s right out here if you’d like to take a look.”

“Please,” said Allen as he headed outside and saw the rough outline of the facility that was being built during the down time of the colonists. Two people were out working in the area and acknowledged Allen before getting the brief tour.

“When is it going to be up and running?” asked Allen.

“I’d say in two more weeks we could have drinks being served across the bar,” said Neal. “Maybe another month on the walls and fixings.”

“Not bad,” said Allen. “You said you were a counselor?”

“Yeah, but not licensed before I left,” said Neal.

“But you have that training?” asked Allen.

“I do,” said Neal.

“Suddenly, I find you licensed again,” said Allen. “We need a counselor.”

“Honestly, most people are good about opening up to each other,” said Rachelle. “We certainly put it out there Neal is available, but the majority deal with it inside of friends and family.”

“Which actually works better,” said Neal as they headed back to the lobby of the SIT building.

“I guess it’s nice have a multitalented person around though,” said Allen as another person came into the lobby area and looked a bit nervous.

“Good morning,” said Neal politely.

“Hello,” said Tanya Sokolov politely as she approached the front desk at SIT.

“How can I help you?” he asked.

“I here for food?” asked Tanya hesitantly.

“You here for a grocery run?” asked Neal.

“Sorry, English still no good,” said Tanya with a sigh. “Slow speak, please.”

“You need food for house?” asked Neal.

“Da, please,” said Tanya politely.

“Come with me,” said Neal as he motioned her to follow. Rachelle and Allen tagged along behind to see how the process worked. Neal led her into the newly designated grocery area and looked around for a basket. “Anything in particular?”

“Sorry?” she asked as she accepted the basket.

“Please,” he stated as he waved his hand over the shelves. She looked through and picked out certain items she knew but found several items she wasn’t familiar with.

“This is?” she asked as she pointed it one of them.

“It’s a Trappist potato,” said Neal. “Understand?”

“Trap-pist poe-tay-toe?” she said with confusion.

“Like this,” said Neal as he pointed at the Earth potato.

“Ah, yes, good,” she stated. “Is… different?”

“Like a potato with a hint of garlic,” said Neal. “They are great pan fried.”

“I’m sorry,” she said sadly.

“Cooked in a skillet?” he stated and showed her one of the skillets meant for the home units. “Cook in this.”

“Oh, yes, on plita,” said Tanya. “Er, top?”

“Yes,” he said.

“What meat go with?” asked Tanya.

“Fish is best and you’re in luck,” said Neal as he reached behind the small table and retrieved a fish caught from the local river. Handing it over, she grasped it by the gills and hefted it slightly.

“Dva kilo, this one,” said Tanya as she looked it over. “Is good?”

“Very good,” he said. “Anything else?”

“Da, another… umm, beside?” asked Tanya as she looked over the items.

“Side dish?” he asked.

“Yes, more food for plate,” said Tanya.

“Whatever you’d like,” said Neal as he waved his hand again.

“This is… cabbage?” she asked as she found something she was familiar with.

“Yes, it is,” said Neal with a smile.

“I got English word right,” she laughed.

“Your English is going great,” he replied.

“Ehh, must speak, no much Russian here,” said Tanya. “Husband help, daughter very good, but I… no good.”

“I might have just the trick,” said Neal as he went inside the small storage container at the area. He dug around for several minutes before coming back with a small device and handing it over.

“What this?” she asked.

“Universal translator,” said Neal before turning it on and changing the settings. Pointing the device at one of the cucumbers, he hit the button and the device analyzed what he was pointing it at and spat out the Russian word followed by the English translation.

“Ogurets… Cucumber… Ovoshchnoy… Vegetable,” said the device.

“That amazing,” said Tanya as her eyes opened wide.

“It’s yours,” he said as he handed it over.

“Sorry?” asked Tanya.

“You take it,” said Neal. “It is not being used.”

“I cannot!” protested Tanya.

“Check this out,” he said as he changed one setting and spoke at the box. The Russian translation came through the device as quickly as he stopped.

“No, it… too much!” protested Tanya as he tried to hand it over.

“I’ll give it to your husband then,” said Neal.

“No, please,” said Tanya.

“We want to help,” said Neal. “You’re part of our family here.”

“I thank you very much,” said Tanya. “Will help daughter?”

“It certainly will,” he stated.

“I will take,” said Tanya. “Umm, how much for fish?”

“Trade will be helpful,” said Neal.

“Trade?” she asked.

“We need help in the reception area,” said Neal. “Help with greeting people.”

“Ah, please say here,” she said as she held up her new device. He repeated the request and it translated into Russian.

“I no much help,” she said. “English no good.”

“It will get better with time and this will help,” said Neal.

“Yes,” said Tanya after thinking it could probably help, but she was still slightly embarrassed about not being able to communicate with others. “I help.”

“Tomorrow?” asked Neal.

“Um, wait for husband return?” she asked. “I speak to him?”

“Yes, of course,” said Neal. “When are they due back?”

“Day after tomorrow,” said Rachelle.

“I can wait,” said Neal to Tanya.

“Yes, he want me to… umm, make myself… useful? Work to help?” she asked.

“I’m sure he didn’t quite put it that way,” chuckled Neal. “Yes, you will be a big help.”

“Thank you,” said Tanya.

“No problem,” said Neal. “Anything else?”

“Nyet… no,” she said with a brief smile.

“I’ll see you out,” he said and motioned towards the door. She bagged up the items she collected and walked outside with him. They passed by an area under construction and her curiosity made her stop and look.

“What this?” she asked.

“Our new bar,” said Neal. “Tavern?”

“Umm, tavern?” she asked as he nodded at her new device. He said the words again and it translated them into Russian.

“Ah, yes,” she stated. “Good.”

“Yes,” said Neal. “I will need help there too. A waitress.”

“Waitress,” she spoke into the device and it spat out the Russian word. “Yes, I will help when I can and English improve.”

“It will help your English if you are around it more,” he stated.

“Yes,” said Tanya. “I will speak you soon with job.”

“Until then,” said Neal with a smile.

She returned the smile and he saw as she was departing, she was already putting the translator to work pointing it at different items and discovering the new English words and repeating them. It didn’t work perfectly but would be good enough to help her get by as she learned the more complex English words.

“That’s not really a translator,” said Rachelle.

“It’s not,” said Neal. “But I was able to reprogram it to serve as that purpose.”

“Thoughtful,” said Allen. “She’s kept to herself for the most part and probably because her English wasn’t that good.”

“She has helped where she could and her English is improving,” said Neal. “But a little help can’t hurt at all to speed up the process and get her more involved.”

“Not easy learning a language on the fly,” said Rachelle. “I’ve always been lucky in that regard, but my brain is wired differently.”

“Actually, that’s the best way to learn. My parents were Russian,” said Neal. “Came over after the Central Asian War and settled in Nebraska. They had to learn English the hard way. Adapt or go hungry.”

“You speak Russian?” asked Allen.

“Fluently as well as spending a year in St. Petersburg speaking it with the natives,” replied Neal with a nod. “But I’m not going to let her know I speak it. She needs to learn English to help adapt to the colony here.”

“Still is nice to have a friendly voice around,” said Rachelle.

“It is,” said Neal. “However, I can be the sole friendly voice she hears outside her family or she can have a whole bunch of friendly voices when she learns English.”

“Kinda thoughtful,” said Rachelle as they walked back inside. “We all need a friend like you.”

“And an even better counselor,” said Allen. “You helped in a subtle way.”

“I saw something that could help,” said Neal. “Everyone needs someone to talk to and spill their guts and most do to their friends. Everyone has that around here except for her. Sometimes problems come to me, sometimes I seek them out.”

“Like I said, thoughtful,” said Allen. “How’s alcohol production?”

“I need more bottles,” he said. “The still is being far more productive since it got fixed by Mary. I’m running a bit short on the ones we need.”

“For a non-drinker, she knows how to brew some booze,” said Rachelle.

“Now if only we had some beer…” suggested Neal.

“Yeah, small steps,” said Rachelle.

“You are thinking of a beer vat?” asked Allen.

“Probably the next ‘nice’ thing to have on our list,” said Neal.

“Ben mentioned that the other day,” said Allen. “If you get the time, check into what it would take to get a brewery up and going.”

“Absolutely, sir,” said Neal with happiness.

“Now, put me to work elsewise,” said Allen.

“Well, I’ve got plenty of folks working inside,” said Rachelle. “But I was going to give the guys a hand outside with the tavern.”

“Sounds good to me,” said Allen.

********************
​

The next two days seemed to fly by with the research team at the island though they had made outstanding progress in the exploration and cataloging of items unique to that area of the planet. Charity finished up with the science team in helping take some core samples from the elevated portions of the island and headed back into the encampment area. Along the way, about a dozen of the rodents checked them out and a couple had followed them for a time, but eventually shied away as they came closer to the camp. Charity found Grady and Angeline had already started getting the different sections assembled for the announcement she knew was hard to keep a secret.

“Hey guys, let’s go over to the group before we stow the stuff,” said Charity.

“Roger that,” said the security team lead as the group made their way over to the rear of the shuttle where Angeline and Grady were climbing on top. She quickly joined them and climbed the external ladder as the last of the personnel gathered up.

“We making the announcement?” asked Charity quietly.

“I can’t think of a better time,” said Grady as people were still gathering.

“How’d the nature walk go?” asked Charity.

“The stream will be unsuitable for our purpose,” said Grady. “We’ll end up drying it up and robbing the local ecosystem of whatever it needs that comes from the stream.”

“No well sites?” asked Angeline.

“Not without wrecking the small aquifer here,” said Grady as he saw everyone had gathered up and were waiting patiently. “It’s de-sal only at this point.”

“Who wants to give the announcement?” asked Charity.

“Grady gives a hell of a pep talk,” said Angeline. “I nominate him.”

“That sounds perfect,” said Charity.

“Okay,” said Grady as he turned to the gathered team. “Okay folks, if I could have your attention for a couple of moments please.”

The individuals got quiet and turned towards the shuttle, waiting to hear what they assumed was going to be the orders to start tearing everything down to leave the next morning.

“First off, I’d like to thank each and every one of you for being on your best behavior in what has undoubtably been one of the most distracting places we’ve been to so far on the planet. You rolled up your sleeves and got everything we set out to accomplish and even a few more things we hadn’t planned on,” he started.

“But we got word from the colony yesterday morning and we have one more task we’ll need to accomplish before we leave. This task will be probably the most challenging one we’ve had since we’ve been on this island and we’re going to have to dig deep down and use our best discipline to get it accomplished before we leave,” he stated as he saw some looks of curiosity on the faces of the gathered teams.

“Tonight, after dinner, we will end up putting away all our testing gear, our sensors and anything related to work and getting them ready for transport back to the colony. Because as of tomorrow morning, we are officially on a day off and will be leaving on Sunday instead of tomorrow as planned. Now, I know this is an extreme hardship, but you’ll have all day tomorrow to rest, relax, play in the water and do nothing associated with work,” he finished with a grin.

“You’re saying we are staying an extra day?” asked Nancy Owens.

“Yes, ma’am,” said Grady. “A full day off here in this paradise. Now, we will be limited to the local area around the cove and the encampment, but I think the beaches here provide a good enough area to play around in.”

“A whole day?” asked one of the scientists.

“A whole day of nothing but surf, sand and fun,” said Grady. “We’re even opening the lagoon up to swimming since we haven’t seen any creatures large enough to be a threat.”

The gathered group started growing large smiles on their faces as the news took hold in their heads. Plans were already being made for what they would do on the day off as Grady finished up his pep talk.

“Now, we are setting the standard for those who follow us here,” he stated. “This island is likely to become our vacation spot from the colony and we don’t want to do anything that would jeopardize that potential future by doing something stupid. So, we will need to be on our best behavior and look out for one another tomorrow to make sure we can continue coming down here and enjoying what this island has to offer.”

“So, y’all best behave yourself tomorrow since one ‘ah, shit’ can ruin it for everyone down the road. And I will tell you, I think everyone likes this place so we’re going to be plenty mad if one person screws it up for everyone,” said Grady. “So, mind your manners, take care of each other and enjoy your day off tomorrow.”

The group immediately started chatting each other up over the announcement and heading their separate ways. Charity, Grady and Angeline got down from the shuttle as they made individual plans in their heads for the next day.

“One thing we’ll have tomorrow,” said Angeline as they walked towards the kitchen area.

“Oh?” asked Grady. “The fruit we discovered?”

“Yep,” said Angeline with a grin and showed them the item. “Have a taste.”

Grady and Charity bit into the slices of the fruit and their faces immediately changed as they were surprised. Larger bites were taken until the slice was consumed and they immediately looked for more.

“Wow!” exclaimed Charity.

“I’ll say!” said Grady.

“We brought back enough for dinner tonight,” said Angeline. “I might even make a run tomorrow for some additional samples.”

“That’s not work by any means,” said Charity. “I’ll be glad to help out.”

“Science checked it out?” asked Grady.

“And medical,” said Angeline. “Charlotte found no signs of anything harmful.”

“Except whatever chemical is making me crave more?” asked Charity.

“It’s good, isn’t it?” asked Angeline as she stole one of the remaining slices and handed over the last one to Grady.

“I don’t get another one?” asked Charity.

“Half,” said Grady as he broke it in half and handed the piece to Charity.

“Wow,” said Charity again. “This makes it worth the trip if nothing else.”

“Okay, what else needs to be done?” asked Grady.

“We’ll probably get some of the gear stowed tonight and ready for shipment, though we won’t be able to get it loaded until the morning we leave,” said Charity.

“Same thing with striking camp,” said Angeline as most had taken to staying inside tents while on the island since there was little to no danger in staying outside the shuttle.

“Let’s get our teams working on that,” said Grady as he looked out and found the individual sections were already on that task. “Scratch that, they are way ahead of us.”

“They really want that day off,” said Charity. “Obviously, we’ll still have some significant work to do the morning we leave.”

“But if we can get a head start tonight, that’ll be great,” said Grady. “Okay, nothing else tonight except the evening brief to the colony and dinner.”

“And a shower,” said Charity.

“Core sample digging not to your liking?” asked Grady with a chuckle.

“It doesn’t help when that thing starts blowing sand all over you,” said Charity.

“Important work though as we need the geological study for a future base here,” said Angeline.

“That makes it worthwhile,” said Charity. “Okay, I’m going to grab a shower.”

“See you at dinner,” said Grady as they headed off to check on the individuals who were in extremely high spirits that evening. Tools and instruments were being packed away with smiles knowing the next day should be schedule free for everyone so long as they finished what they could that evening.

 

CHAPTER 5



The mood was positively electric that evening as the team finished packing away the gear that would be unnecessary for the next day and preparing themselves for dinner that evening. Charity headed to her tent as she saw most of the items had been completed and saw the shower area looked clear at the moment and decided to beat the crowds by getting hers in early. She decided her personal items could wait until the next day as she found a change of clothing and tossed it into her small pack. Grabbing her towel and shower kit, she headed towards the shower area, checking the sign as she headed up the path that was becoming fairly well worn since their arrival.

She reached a stake where the sign for the showers had been artfully drawn with “Cowgirls” written on one side while “Cowboys” was written on the other. Seeing the sign was flipped to the female side, she proceeded to the showers and quickly doffed her gear and uniform before hopping into the shower and turning on the water. She heard the shower running in the opposite stall and heard the water shutting off at certain points as the person was practicing water conservation as they would get wet then soap themselves up. However, she decided since she had been working hard with the core samples, she would treat herself to a little more water than that right then.

Since the bladder was sitting out in the sunlight, she had two options of warm and hot with the water flow. She took a quick minute to rinse off and started washing her hair and rinsing out the sand that had been blown into it earlier that day. She kept her hair shorter, though still shoulder length as many pilots did and finished up rinsing it out before shutting off the water and turning around to grab her washcloth and body wash. As she looked up, she saw one of the rodents had decided to check out the surroundings and was perched on top of the shower stall looking at her curiously.

Charity gasped and let out a minor scream before involuntarily backing away through the plastic sheeting that was set up between the showers. She finally realized what she was doing when she bumped into the person in the next stall and quickly spun around to find someone she wasn’t expecting. However, as she turned, she tripped on the small lip between the two showers and fell right into the arms of the person in the next stall.

Mark Bennett had a surprised look on his face as she had much the same as he had kept her from falling onto the floor. He held her by the upper arms, though not squeezing hard as he kept her upright as she looked up at him and paused for a brief moment in time.

Charity recovered in short order and closed the small gap between them since she wasn’t properly dressed at the moment and neither was he. Instead of going back to her stall, she wrapped her arms up and shoved her body against his to protect her and his privacy. He was backed into the side of the shower and slipped slightly on the wet floor. He grabbed her around the shoulders to keep her from slipping as she continued to push into him. Eventually, they recovered long enough to speak to one another.

“What are you doing here?!” she exclaimed.

“What am I doing here?” he asked. “I flipped the sign over to the men side before coming up here!”

“It said females!” she protested.

“It did not!” he protested in return.

“It so did!” exclaimed Charity.

“Okay, leaving that debate to the side for a minute, what are you doing in my shower?” he asked.

“I… there’s one of those rat things in my shower,” she stated haltingly as she finally realized just how little apparel either of them had on. He managed to slowly push himself away from the shower though she didn’t let herself be pushed away. He managed to pull back the sheeting and peeked into the shower, not seeing anything.

“Looks clear,” he stated.

“It was on the top,” said Charity.

Mark looked once again and didn’t see anything. “I think you’re safe. You probably scared it away when you screamed.”

“I…” she started to say and blushed up.

“Yes, we’re probably both embarrassed right now,” he said with a chuckle.

“I screamed like a little girl!” she exclaimed softly.

“Which is somehow worse than barging in on me in the shower?” he chuckled softly, remembering he still had his arms wrapped around her. He started to let his arms down, but she pushed herself in a little harder to make sure they didn’t separate. He stopped moving and left his arms around her mid back for the time being.

“We probably need to figure out a way out of this predicament,” he stated softly.

“Yeah,” she said and blushed up once again. She peeked around trying to figure out the best way of doing so and protecting her modesty at the same time, but nothing immediately came to mind. Just as he was about to speak, the door to the adjacent shower was heard opening and closing as someone prepared to get into the shower.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she muttered under her breath as the shower was heard coming on and a uniform was heard being tossed onto the small bench. They heard the unknown person get into the shower and start it up as Mark chuckled softly.

“It’s not funny,” said Charity under her breath and her eyes flashed in annoyance.

“It is a little,” he whispered with a smile.

“Who is it?” she whispered. He managed to pull back the curtain just enough to see long blond hair and a distinctly female figure facing away from him.

“Female,” he mouthed as she sighed. He decided the best defense was a good offense.

“Ma’am?” he asked politely through the curtain.

They heard a gasp on the other side and the water shut off immediately.

“Who is that?!” demanded a female voice as they heard her scrambling for a towel.

“It’s, uh, Mark Bennett,” said Mark. “We kind of have a situation here.”

“The sign said the showers were open to the females!” protested Charlotte Griggs.

“I told you!” blurted out Charity and immediately regretted it.

“Umm, Charity?” asked Charlotte.

“Yes, Charlotte,” said Charity in a tone.

“You two are in there together?” asked Charlotte. The sigh from the other side of the curtain was all the evidence she needed to answer her question.

“I… didn’t mean to intrude on your shower together,” said Charlotte.

“We weren’t showering together!” protested Charity.

“Okay,” said Charlotte in an unbelieving tone. “Just give me a minute to get dried off and dressed and I’ll let you two finish up.”

“It’s not what it looks like!” protested Charity.

“Oh, I’m sure,” said Charlotte as she got out of the shower portion and started drying off.

“We are still in a predicament,” said Mark.

“Close your eyes, please,” requested Charity. Mark did so as she scampered back into her side of the shower and heard Charlotte depart. She quickly dried off and got her civilian clothing pulled on and headed out to prove him wrong. Charlotte was waiting outside with a knowing smile on her face.

“It’s not what it looks like!” protested Charity. “There was one of those rat things in my shower!”

“And your first thought was to jump into the next stall?” asked Charlotte with a grin.

“I just reacted, okay?” said Charity in a tone and a sigh.

“I have to say, it’s not a bad looking knight in shining armor to save you from the big mean rats,” said Charlotte with another grin and Mark appeared.

“Just stop,” said Charity with a frown. “Now, we’re going to go look at this sign and show him he was wrong.”

“Please,” said Mark as he waved them ahead. Charity and Charlotte headed down the path and turned to the sign, checking it closely and finding it indeed had “Cowboys” showing on the front.

“I swear to you it was on the girl’s side!” protested Charlotte.

“I saw the same thing!” protested Charity.

“The evidence points otherwise, ladies,” said Mark. However, as soon as he said it, a breeze came through and flipped the sign several times before it ended up back on the female side.

“You were saying?” asked Charity in a tone.

“We probably should have weighed this down,” said Mark as he saw it was light enough to get flipped in the wind.

“Whomever put it in should be beaten,” said Charity.

“Fine, I’ll smack myself later,” said Mark. “Look, I’ll wait here while you two get your shower and find something to fix it after you’re done.”

“That’s fair,” said Charlotte. Charity didn’t say anything as she headed back up to finish her shower as Charlotte took the opposite side from her.

“You saw my clothing and whatnot in the stall, right?” asked Charity as she resumed her shower.

“People have left their things up here a couple of times,” said Charlotte from the opposite stall. “I didn’t think anything of it when I saw the empty stall.”

“Nothing was happening,” said Charity.

“And it would be a crime if it did?” asked Charlotte. “Mark’s your age and is pretty good looking with a good head on his shoulders.”

“Well, we certainly wouldn’t be doing it in a public shower!” exclaimed Charity.

“People try to find privacy wherever they can,” said Charlotte.

“Except it wasn’t happening!” exclaimed Charity as she finished up.

“Again, nothing wrong if it did,” said Charlotte as she finished as well.

“I just know how it looks,” said Charity with a sigh.

“You know, you have far worse choices,” said Charlotte.

“I guess so,” said Charity as she dried off and put her clothing back on. Heading down the pathway, she saw Mark fixing the sign and anchoring it down to where it wouldn’t flip.

“Fixed,” he stated. “Hopefully, it’ll hold until we leave.”

“Let’s certainly hope so,” said Charity. “Can we please keep this between us?”

“I won’t say a word,” said Mark. “I promise.”

“Swear to me you won’t,” stated Charity.

“I swear I won’t tell a soul,” he replied. “It was a little funny though.”

“No, it wasn’t,” said Charity.

“The look on your face was priceless when you figured out it wasn’t another woman in the next stall,” said Mark with a chuckle. “Which might have been more embarrassing.”

“You looked a little surprised as well,” said Charity thinking the situation did have a funny side to it even if it was embarrassing.

“Well, I wasn’t expecting a naked woman to come barging in on me, no,” said Mark.

“Did you…” started Charity and her voice trailed off.

“No, everything happened so fast I didn’t see anything,” said Mark.

“I just… I’m modest, okay?” she stated as they reached the camp.

“Your modesty was preserved by you slamming me into the wall,” said Mark. “You hit pretty hard by the way.”

“I wasn’t exactly thinking straight,” she replied in a chuckle.

“You apparently really don’t like those things,” he laughed.

“They just made public enemy number one in my book,” she grumped.

“It could have been worse,” said Mark. “I mean, it could have been someone a little less understanding than me.”

“True,” said Charity. “At least let me buy you a drink to make up for my lack of social graces.”

“I’ll accept after dinner,” said Mark with a smile.

“Thank you for being understanding,” said Charity with a smile of her own.

“It’s what friends do,” said Mark.

“They sure do,” said Charity. “Until later then.”

“Until then,” he said and turned to walk away but not before they both looked at each other a little longer than normal. Just as she was departing, she ran into Angeline who was preparing for a shower herself and almost ran into her.

“You okay?” asked Angeline as she grabbed her towel from the line on the tent.

“Yeah, I just…” said Charity and stopped.

“You just what?” asked Angeline.

“Between friends, right?” asked Charity. “Just us?”

“Just us,” said Angeline.

“I had one of those rat things looking at me from the top of my shower and I overreacted,” said Charity. “I busted through the curtain between them and happened to find out the sign had gotten blown around and found a guy in the next stall.”

“Oh?” asked Angeline as her curiosity was piqued.

“Yeah,” said Charity with a sigh.

“It was that handsome gentleman I just saw you with?” asked Angeline.

“Mark Bennett, yes,” said Charity. “We kind of ended up in the same shower stall.”

“Did you now?” asked Angeline neutrally. “I might assume neither one of you were dressed for a social meeting?”

“It was an accident, okay?!” exclaimed Charity.

“I have to say, those strong arms of his are just made for a girl to swoon into after seeing a harmless rodent peeking at her in the shower,” said Angeline as a wisp of a smile came over her face.

“He does have nice arms,” agreed Charity. “But we’re just friends.”

“And now you’re a bit flustered?” asked Angeline.

“Well, I wouldn’t say flustered,” said Charity.

“Look, you can have a gentleman friend without it getting weird,” said Angeline. “And who know? It might lead to something nice in the long run.”

“Maybe,” said Charity. “You’re starting to sound like Rachelle.”

“She’s pretty smart for a youngin,” chuckled Angeline.

“She’s annoying sometimes…” said Charity as her voice trailed off.

“Thinking of something?” asked Angeline.

“Have they named that rodent yet?” asked Charity.

“Nothing formal yet,” said Angeline. “Why?”

“I’d like to formally nominate the name ‘Rachelle Rats’ as official name for them,” said Charity.

“I’ll certainly take that under consideration,” laughed Angeline. “She’ll be thrilled.”

“I think we all need a new animal named after us,” said Charity.

“That very well could happen,” said Angeline. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to shower. Maybe I’ll get lucky and have you man in there to protect me from the rodents.”

“Oh, I do hope so,” said Charity sarcastically.

“Do you mind sending in the evening update to Ben?” asked Angeline.

“I’d be happy to,” said Charity. She returned to the shuttle and got on the communicator to call up the colony. It didn’t take long for the command center to respond and patch Ben into the call. He was in an informal staff meeting with the Directors and some of the alternates.

“Good evening,” said Ben as he answered the call. “You are looking extremely tanned.”

“Well, we’ve been working out in the sun a lot,” said Charity. “I think we all will come back nicely tanned.”

“It’s going to make most of us jealous,” chuckled Tasha.

“These beaches are made for tanning,” said Charity with a grin.

“We’re locking you in a dark closet when you return,” said Rachelle with a frown.

“Anything of note to report?” asked Ben to get the call back on track.

“Grady seems to think using the stream as a water supply wouldn’t be a good idea,” said Charity as she explained the reasoning. “But he’ll be able to put in a tower and cistern large enough for any expanded trips we make in the future.”

“I’ll defer to his opinion on the matter,” said Ben.

“He sent the details for construction,” said Cyrus. “It’s actually not as much work as you’d expect save getting the materials to the island.”

“That’s good,” said Ben. “How’s the security coverage been?”

“The Security troops were able to cover about half the island since we’ve been here,” said Charity. “Nothing of note except the rodents and the meat eating birds.”

“Nature balancing itself out,” said Javier. “Those rodents are interesting.”

“We found an informal name for them,” said Charity. “We’ve taken to calling them Rachelle Rats since we are naming things after colonists.”

“Really?” asked Rachelle.

“Yeah, sis,” said Charity. “We named it for you.”

“That is too cool!” exclaimed Rachelle.

“I’m not sure it’s meant as a compliment,” chuckled Javier.

“They’re cute and cuddly,” said Rachelle. “Just like me.”

“We’ll discuss that when you return,” said Ben. “What else?”

“We found a surprise today which we’ll be bringing back,” said Charity.

“What kind of surprise?” asked Ben.

“That wouldn’t make it a very good surprise, would it?” asked Charity with a grin.

“Harmful?” asked Ben.

“Not at all,” said Charity. “Believe me, you’ll like it.”

“You have us anxiously awaiting,” said Ben. “Are you sticking to the plan tomorrow?”

“Yes, sir,” said Charity. “Down day for everyone here. Sun, surf and relaxing.”

“With a fish fry?” asked Tasha.

“Well, we’re missing our two premier chefs when it comes to that,” said Charity. “Unless you want to send down Chuck and Ryan for a day trip.”

“Your pilots aren’t up to speed on that?” asked Ben.

“They may be good flyers, but they have a lot to learn about cuisine,” said Charity. “Something I intend to rectify when I return.”

“Maybe we’ll send Ryan and Chuck next trip,” said Ben. “No harmful creatures in the waters?”

“Not in the cove or local area,” said Charity. “The science drones identified a possible shark-like creature, but it’s not coming that close to shore.”

“How far is not that close?” asked Ben.

“A click offshore is as close as we found,” said Charity. “It seems to like the deeper waters.”

“You’re certain?” asked Ben.

“We’ve been keeping an eye on the cove and closer in to shore fairly heavily,” said Charity as she shrugged her shoulders. “We’ve checked and rechecked those areas in particular since everyone is planning on going swimming tomorrow at some point.”

“I see my bathing suits are being put to good use,” said Rachelle with a smile.

“They surely will be,” said Charity as the dinner bell was heard ringing in the background.

“Sounds like chow time,” said Ben. “Anything else?”

“No, the sections have loaded their daily reports onto the server so they should be available by now,” said Charity. “Anything majorly interesting will be in there.”

“Sounds good,” said Ben. “Stay safe.”

“You too,” said Charity as she ended the call. She headed towards the field kitchen area where Nancy and Krystal were in the middle of trying to finish supper.

“Need help?” asked Charity.

“I became a pilot so I would make enough money to not have to cook,” grumped Nancy.

“Everyone pitches in,” said Charity as she washed her hands to help. “Let’s see what you’ve got going on here.”

“We have a mess, that’s what’s going on,” said Krystal with a sigh.

“Why did you ring the bell?” asked Charity.

“We thought we had enough and found out it was undercooked,” said Krystal.

“Let Mom get in there to help,” said Nancy as she brought over the pan of undercooked chicken.

“Mom is about to school you both,” said Charity. “Get the flattop fired up and get the bar-be-que sauce out. We’re going old school grilling.”

“Yes, ma’am,” said Nancy. It didn’t take long for Charity to discover the cooking was almost complete and some quick turns on the grill were all that was needed to finish everything up. The line had formed and was waiting patiently while the pilots quickly shuttled the finished main course out to the waiting masses.

“Can I get mine without sauce?” asked Angeline.

“No barbeque?” asked Krystal.

“If you could,” said Angeline. Krystal returned with a plain chicken breast and put it on Angeline’s mess kit before moving onto the next person.

“Probably the first time in years those pilots have worked that hard,” said Grady as he and his wife joined Angeline near the beach. Mark also came over and requested to have a seat with the small group and was waved into the nearest dug out spot in the sand berm.

“They’ve done okay,” said Angeline. “Though the fish fry tomorrow might be interesting.”

“I heard all about Ryan and Chuck’s fish fry from the coast,” said Grady. “Those gals better do it up right.”

“I might need to jump in and help,” said Dani. “They don’t season anything for nothing.”

“I’m sure they’d appreciate the help,” said Angeline. “Though I think Charity is taking issue with it before then.”

“I would imagine she’s going to have cooking classes for her entire pilot staff,” said Grady. “They were ill prepared for cooking for an entire excursion.”

“It’s something we can let her take care of instead of putting it in the mission reports,” said Angeline. “She’s aware of the problem and will rectify it.”

“I hope so,” said Grady.

“Grady! You leave those poor girls alone!” exclaimed Dani.

“You know me and food,” said Grady.

“He got spoiled by my cooking,” said Dani.

“Did I ever,” said Grady.

“Though I will say, he’s eating healthier here than he ever has,” said Dani.

“Speaking of healthy,” said Angeline. “I noticed something missing for dessert…”

“Dessert?” asked Grady. “Oh! The fruit!”

“Fruit?” asked Dani.

“Remember the old Bible tale about the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden?” asked Grady.

“Yes, of course,” said Dani.

“We found it here on Novae Spes,” said Grady as he got up and headed over to the kitchen. Just as he was arriving, he saw Charity putting out the pan with the fruit on it.

“We overlooked it,” she stated as Grady grabbed three and she raised her voice to speak to the group as they ate. “Okay folks, forgive our forgetful streak. We have a new fruit we’ve identified and have enough for everyone to at least have one for the moment. Come and get it.”

Several of the team rushed in since they had already sampled the new fruit and grabbed one before heading off to enjoy it. Others seemed a little hesitant until they took their first bite and they were hooked.

“This stuff is great!” exclaimed Dani with her mouth full as she wiped the juice from her chin.

“Best thing I think we’ve discovered so far,” said Grady as they were joined by Charity.

“Mind if I pop a squat?” she asked as she saw everyone had been served and got her dinner.

“Please,” said Grady. “We were just discussing the fruit.”

“I think we need to take some back,” said Charity.

“Or a lot back,” said Dani. “It’s delicious!”

“That it is,” said Charity as she looked at Mark and smiled briefly. He smiled in return as he was finishing up his piece of fruit and looking at the pit.

“Otherwise, I saw most sections were getting a lot of gear packed up,” said Grady. “I think moveout time will be minimal day after tomorrow.”

“I was wondering if we should take the showers back with us,” said Mark.

“You thinking of leaving them here for the next group?” asked Grady.

“The plan is for additional people to follow us, no?” asked Mark. “Of course, finding those two extra divider panels to put in would be nice.”

“Or we just build showers here out of local materials and bring back the portable units for use with other excursions,” said Grady. “The trees here might make good base materials provided we slap on a coat of polyurethane or even some old fashioned varnish.

“We’d need the woodworking kit,” said Mark. “But I think that’s something we could do fairly easily.”

“See if you can come up with some schematics,” said Grady.

“Now, boss, you know I would never want to put work on anyone else and would come back to make sure it happened,” said Mark with a grin.

“Obviously taking one for the team,” chuckled Grady.

“Of course,” said Mark. “I’d surely be devastated to volunteer.”

“I’d bet,” chuckled Charity. “Maybe even some screens?”

“For keeping out birds and whatnot?” asked Dani.

“Something like that,” said Charity. “It does make me wonder what we should be leaving for the next excursion coming down here.”

“When is it planned?” asked Grady.

“I don’t think it’s on the boards yet,” said Charity. “In any case, how many of the water bladders do we have at the colony?”

“About 100 or so,” said Grady.

“That many?” asked Angeline.

“They were originally for temp storage in case our water treatment plant took longer than expected,” said Grady. “They wanted to make sure we were well hydrated.”

“So, we could leave them and not worry about it?” asked Angeline. “I’m just thinking of saving space on the return trip and any future excursion here.”

“It’s not really up to us, but yes, we can do without them in the colony,” said Grady. “But the de-sal plant may have to come back with us.”

“Maybe we should be looking at what we could leave,” said Charity. “Provided we get approval and we plan the next trip.”

“Nothing that would be critical in the colony?” asked Grady. “I don’t think that’s a bad idea.”

“Let’s bring it up tomorrow when we call,” suggested Charity. “Drain the bladders but leave them in place for the next trip.”

“Or just toss in some stabilizer and call it good,” suggested Grady.

“It’ll be okay for how long?” asked Angeline.

“Six months,” said Grady. “I hope it isn’t that long before our next trip.”

“I think leaving it full wouldn’t be a bad idea,” said Charity. “Though I would suggest bringing up one more to put in the shade so it doesn’t get as hot as those in the sun.”

“That’s workable,” said Grady. “We’re still going to have a lot of items to return until we start building more permanent structures here.”

“You think that’s the plan?” asked Mark.

“If I know Ben like I think I know him, that’s been the plan all along,” said Grady and saw the expressions on the other’s faces. “Oh, don’t look surprised. You and I both know he’s been looking at this place since before we even arrived.”

“As a vacation spot?” asked Charity.

“And a long term base of operations or outpost,” said Grady. “Let’s face it, we’re going to run out of space in the colony and any future settlement we build quickly. And the more spread out we are, the better chances we have of survival in case one was overrun by a hostile species.”

“Which we haven’t really encountered yet,” said Angeline. “I mean, one we haven’t been able to beat.”

“You think he’s going to make a permanent presence here?” asked Dani. “I’d hope you might volunteer for that position.”

“I doubt you are going to get any shortage of volunteers for that,” laughed Angeline.

“Probably not,” said Grady with a laugh. “Doesn’t hurt to toss my name into the hat.”

“You’d better,” said Dani. “Now, husband dear, can you walk with me?”

“Absolutely,” said Grady as he retrieved both their items and they departed. Angeline wasn’t far behind as she excused herself to head out and get prepared for the evening.

“Just you and me, kid,” said Mark as he looked over at Charity.

“Just you and me,” said Charity as the sun started going down.

“Would you like me to wash up your kit?” he asked as he put his mess kit together.

“No, thank you though,” she said with a smile. “Besides, I have to run back to my tent to grab something for you.”

“Oh?” he asked.

“I do intend to make good on that promise of a drink,” she stated.

“I don’t want to put you in an uncomfortable situation,” he stated.

“I wouldn’t have volunteered if I was uncomfortable,” she stated as she gathered her items. “But we’ll need to move quickly if we are going to make the sunset time.”

“Indeed we are,” said Mark as he headed back and quickly washed his mess kit along with her and returned it to his tent. She headed for her tent as he went back towards the beach facing the west and the glorious sunset that was approaching. Along the way, he made several side trips picking up dead and driftwood for a small fire later on since the insect population had been coming out in full force, but tended to stay away from the fires they had been building at night. He felt like he had gathered up a sufficient amount before seeing she hadn’t returned and headed back up for just a bit more.

“Gator?” asked Charity from her tent as she finished tearing apart everything looking for her bottle of the moonshine they had produced.

“Ma’am?” asked Krystal.

“Have you seen my bottle of Shine?” asked Charity.

“Yeah, it’s over here,” said Krystal.

“What are you doing with it?” asked Charity.

“You gave it to me yesterday and said you weren’t going to need it,” said Krystal meekly.

“You’re right, I did,” said Charity. “Sorry.”

“I haven’t broken into it,” said Krystal. “You got a hot date, boss?”

“As a matter of fact, I promised one of the engineers a drink tonight,” said Charity. “Nosey.”

“Good luck,” said Krystal with a grin.

“Good grief, we’re two friends having a drink!” exclaimed Charity. “I owe it to him for what happened earlier!”

“Oh?” asked Krystal as Charity had slipped.

“He… helped me when I got scared by one of the Rachelle Rats,” said Charity.

“Rachelle Rats?” asked Krystal.

“Those rodent things,” said Charity. “Anyway, the details are none of your business.”

“We have some lemon-lime soda in the cooler at the kitchen,” said Krystal as an apology for being too forward with her boss. “It mixes well with the Shine.”

“Thank you,” said Charity as she headed for the kitchen and found a sufficient quantity of the lemon-lime soda and put it in a chiller bottle as well as grabbing two cups. Seeing she had been away far longer than she wanted since she had searched several times for something that wasn’t there. Heading back to the spot they picked out, she found Mark building up the small fire lay as the sun started dipping lower into the horizon.

“Planning on being here a while?” she asked as she returned with the items.

“The fire makes a good insect repellant,” said Mark. “Don’t want to get eaten alive.”

“And here I thought it was your romantic side coming out,” she grinned as she prepared the two cups for the drinks.

“Look, you said a friendship was there and that’s the way I’ve tried to keep it,” said Mark. “No hidden agenda other than watching this sunset and having a drink.”

“I was just kidding!” she exclaimed and put her hand on his arm. “Friends, right?”

“Friends,” he nodded. There was a silence that came over the two for several minutes until Charity decided they should move on.

“That’s a nice fire you have ready to go,” she stated.

“I wouldn’t be much of an engineer if I couldn’t even build a basic fire,” he stated as he put some of the inner bark of the predominate tree on the island at the base. He got his small torch out and the bark ignited almost immediately while catching the kindling and the larger fuel.

“Looks like you get to keep your job,” she stated and handed over one of the drinks she mixed. He accepted it as the sun started touching the water and the brilliant reds, oranges and yellows continued their dance over the ocean to their front.

“I think that’s something that would never grow old watching,” she said with a sigh.

“It’s about as peaceful as I think I could ever get,” he said with a sigh as well.

“Round two?” she asked as she refilled her cup.

“Sure,” he said with a smile as she moved a little closer to the fire to get some light. She managed to get everything in the cups before pouring in the soda and swirling it around. They started talking, the little things people talk about as the moment of the sunset had passed and night was falling rapidly. They saw several others fires on the beach, but none of the spots were that close to each other as couples that had recently become an item wanted a little privacy as they also welcomed the night. Eventually, Charity and Mark drifted closer to each other while still speaking as he added another couple of pieces of wood to the fire.

Eventually, they were sitting far closer to each other than they had been originally and he looked over at her as she was looking at him. Out of instinct, he reached out brushed the hair away from her face where the wind had blown it and caressing the back of her head. They both came in at the same time and kissed deeply for several moments. She didn’t seem to object at first, but eventually withdrew with a groan.

“Mark… I…” she stammered. “I’m sorry. I don’t think I’m ready for that.”

“I’m sorry for putting you in a bad situation,” he stated.

“No, it’s my fault really,” she stated.

“Look, I’m going to put it all out there,” he stated. “I like you. You’re a great woman and the past few days have been really nice with you around. But I can accept if this is only going to be a friendship.”

“No, I mean, I don’t know,” she stated. “I like the idea of being friends.”

“Friends only then,” he stated and moved slightly away from her.

“Friends don’t typically kiss friends,” she stated and he saw her grin in the firelight.

“Friends kiss,” said Mark.

“Not on the mouth and not like that,” she stated. “Which was nice by the way.”

“I haven’t lost my touch?” he asked with a chuckle.

“Yeah, you hit the mark,” she stated and he saw her grinning a bit more.

“Oh, that’s the worst pun,” he laughed. “Friends?”

“To start with,” she stated. “There is something here though.”

“You want the truth?” he asked.

“Friends don’t keep things from each other,” she stated.

“Honestly, you’re the first woman since my ex-wife I’ve become close to,” he stated with a sigh.

“So, I’m the rebound girl?” she asked.

“I think the statute of limitations has run out on that,” he chuckled.

“How long has it been?” she asked. “You never mentioned it.”

“Almost six years since I last saw her,” said Mark.

“And nobody in that time?” she asked. “You seem like a good catch.”

“I was too busy with my job and raising Nicole,” said Mark. “Having full time work and a full time daughter tends to make any social time disappear quickly. Single dates with those my coworkers would try to hook me up with and little more.”

“Want to know a secret?” she asked.

“Are we swapping secrets now?” he chuckled as she took his hand. They slipped their fingers together as she noticed how rough his hands were from the manual labor he did. But she also noticed he had a gentle touch as he wasn’t squeezing her hand enough to hurt.

“Maybe,” she stated. “You’re the first guy I’ve been social with in eight years.”

“First guy?” he asked.

“First person period,” she stated with a sigh. “Being a First Officer, there were extremely limited opportunities to have a social life on the ship.”

“No boyfriend or significant other left behind?” he asked.

“I was dating a pilot on a Navy destroyer until about three months before we left,” she stated. “He set out on a convoy escort trip to Omega Sagittarii and that’s the last I heard from him.”

“Well, his loss,” said Mark.

“Yep,” she said as she gently rubbed his hand with her thumb. “Look, we’re both kind of getting back into it. Let’s take it slow, okay?”

“Slow can work,” he stated with a smile.

“But I just have to know one thing,” she stated as she leaned over and kissed him once again. They stayed there for several moments before slowly withdrawing.

“Did you find out?” he asked softly.

“Yeah, I still remember how to kiss,” she said with a smile.

“You aren’t half bad at it either,” he said with a grin. “Of course, I need a little more testing to determine whether or not that holds up in the long run.”

“Oh, do you now?” she asked as her eyes sparkled and she grinned.

“We’ll keep it at friends,” he said.

“Again, friends don’t kiss,” she stated. “So, I guess you are my gentleman caller?”

“I haven’t called on you yet,” he stated.

“Something we can rectify when we return,” she grinned. They continued their small talk throughout the evening as the couples eventually started withdrawing to the main area. They were one of the last to leave as the fire died down and he walked her back to her tent.

“Thank you,” she stated as they arrived. “For understanding as well as being a gentleman.”

“I think you’re worth the wait,” he said with a smile and he dropped her hand he had held the way back. “Good night, Charity.”

“Not without a goodnight kiss,” she stated. They met for one last goodnight kiss and she almost invited him into her tent, but she realized the alcohol was lowering her inhibitions and she caught herself before making the proposal. They eventually parted, both smiling and holding hands as he backed away.

“Night,” she said.

“Night,” he smiled back and headed for his tent.

 

CHAPTER 6



“A day off,” said Charity with a sigh as she helped her pilots get breakfast going.

“For some at least,” grumped Nancy. “We still have to slave in the kitchen.”

“As well as the security troopers that are on duty,” said Krystal.

“You’re just saying that because your boyfriend is on duty,” said Nancy.

“Gator, you got a boyfriend?” asked Charity.

“Well…” she stated slyly. “We kinda hit it off here.”

“Which one?” asked Charity.

“Martin Hutchins,” said Krystal with a grin.

“The one with the dreamy brown eyes?” asked Charity.

“That’s the one,” said Krystal with a grin. “And how is your man this morning?”

“My man?” asked Charity.

“I saw you on the beach with that engineer,” said Krystal.

“We’re friends,” said Charity.

“Seems like a good kisser for a friend,” said Krystal.

“My personal life will be off limits, young pilot,” said Charity with an annoyed look.

“Yes, ma’am,” said Krystal as she gave her a grin. Charity couldn’t help but smile herself as the excursion personnel started waking up and heading for breakfast. It was a simple affair that morning as eggs, toast, bacon and fresh fruits were left in the pans for them to gather what they wanted. Fruit juice and coffee were also left in larger containers at the line as more people came out and welcomed in the morning. Eventually Grady and Dani came over and got their mess kits filled with what they wanted.

“No cheese?” asked Grady.

“Ran out last night,” said Charity. “How are you this morning?”

“Doing well,” said Dani. “You?”

“Just great,” said Charity.

“If I got kissed like that, I’d probably be great too,” said Dani with a grin.

“Oh, my God!” exclaimed Charity under her breath. “Does everyone know?”

“Not everyone was sleeping when you returned from the beach,” said Grady.

“Told you, Tinker,” said Krystal from the grill as she got more eggs going.

“We’re friends,” said Charity as she saw Mark coming up. He gave her a smile as he approached which she returned.

“Good morning,” he said with another smile.

“Good morning to you,” she smiled in return.

“I was going to ask if we were going to run low on food,” said Mark.

“We’ve got enough to get through today and tomorrow morning,” said Charity. “We always pack a little extra just in case.”

“Regardless, we’re doing a clam bake tonight,” said Dani as she finished up buttering her toast.

“I’m sorry, a clambake?” asked Charity.

“A tradition from the old Northeast United States,” said Dani. “Grady will help me prep for it.”

“You all get a day off, I get to work,” said Grady with a sigh.

“You’re objecting to my clambake?” asked Dani.

“Not in the least,” said Grady. “I’ll probably enlist some help though.”

“I’m game,” said Mark.

“I can help too,” said Charity.

“Count me in,” said Angeline as she walked up. “For whatever we have going on.”

“Clambake,” said Charity. “Of which I have no idea.”

“Plenty of what we need out here,” said Angeline as she was familiar with it. “The local version of seaweed is non-toxic as well.”

“It’s settled then,” said Dani. “The coastal mission got a fish fry; we’re doing a clambake.”

“I’m completely in the dark here,” said Nancy.

“I’ll learn you up, kiddo,” said Dani as she and Grady headed over to eat their breakfast. Charity gave Mark one more smile before heading back into the kitchen to find Krystal and Nancy already looking up the meal on a tablet.

“Well, we don’t have clams or lobsters or… what’s a quahog?” asked Nancy.

“Hard shelled clam,” said Krystal as she looked it up on another tablet. “I mean, we do have the local equivalent and the large shrimp thing that we caught.”

“I think fish might be substituted for some of that since we have plenty around,” said Charity. “Obviously, we’ll take our lead from Dani.”

“I guess so,” said Nancy.

“Don’t worry,” said Krystal. “You’ll still have time to go show off your booty in that bikini to that med-tech that came along.”

“Hope so,” said Nancy as they put down the tablets and started fixing some fresh eggs for the next wave of the group that came to the kitchen.

“I’m thinking the field rations for lunch today,” said Charity. “You two have earned a little playtime here as well.”

“That would be nice,” said Nancy. “We have been on our best behavior.”

“Yes, you two have been good to go,” said Charity. “Tell you what, I’ll finish up here and you two go eat and shower or whatever.”

“You sure, Tinker?” asked Krystal.

“Go for it,” said Charity with a wave of her hand. The two departed the kitchen and headed back to their individual tents where they collected their shower gear since they had eaten before everyone had come into the line. Luckily, nobody was in line at the showers and they made sure they flipped the sign and it stayed in place before heading up. Charity continued cooking to order as others came in and she was joined by Angeline, Grady and Dani to help out before long. As they were finishing up and starting to clean, Grady’s communicator beeped at him.

“Morning check in,” said Grady as he looked at his watch. “We’re ten minutes overdue.”

“Might as well answer,” said Angeline as she put a pot in to wash. Grady activated the communicator and put the image up to the 3D version where they all could talk and continue cleaning while they reported in.

“I see why you are a bit late,” said Ben.

“Part of the process,” said Grady. “We’re all good here as folks have kinda just trickled in. I guess they are taking the day off and sleeping in.”

“The heat isn’t a bother for such a thing?” asked Ben.

“It’s really pleasant here in the morning, but the portable air conditioners really help,” said Grady. “Otherwise, it was a quiet night last night with nothing new to report.”

“Nobody wants to continue research?” asked Ben.

“Nope,” said Grady. “I’ve got one of my engineers setting up a beach volleyball net, Doctor Griggs has graciously volunteered to be the lifeguard for the swimming events and we’re going to set up an old fashioned clambake tonight.”

“I’ve heard of those, but never partaken,” said Ben.

“Plenty of room to land the gunship you and Allen hijack,” chuckled Angeline.

“We… might have discussed that,” said Ben with a chuckle. “Okay, you folks take it easy today and get some well earned playtime.”

“Anything in the colony we need to worry about?” asked Charity.

“We think we have a lead on a Raptor nest,” said Ben. “Other than that, it’s been quiet.”

“Oh?” asked Charity.

“Nothing that can’t wait until you return,” said Ben. “Now, enjoy some time off and spend a nice day with that gentleman you met.”

“How…” started Charity.

“Big boss hears everything,” said Ben with a knowing smile. “If you need anything, give us a holler.”

“Will do,” said Grady as he ended the transmission. “I’m not sure who’s more excited about this. Us or him.”

“I think he knows word is going to spread quickly about what a great time we had when we get back,” said Angeline. “It’ll be something to work for with everyone else.”

“That it will,” said Charity. “I’m curious about that Raptor nest.”

“Put it out of your mind until we get back,” said Grady as they finished cleaning and brought out the ration case for the lunches. “No sense worrying over something we have no control over.”

“He does have a point,” said Angeline as she turned to Dani. “Now, can you walk us through what you are thinking for tonight’s meal?”

“Here’s what we’ll need,” said Dani as she outlined her list of items she would need.

“Lot of work,” said Grady.

“Worth it in the end,” said Dani. “I think we can spend the morning relaxing and hit it up this afternoon. Probably get some help along the way.”

“I can help,” said Mark as he returned to wash his mess kit. “I overheard you saying something about a special dinner tonight?”

“I think we just identified our fire builder,” said Charity. “I can help.”

“Now, we only have so many of the shellfish things around here, so I was thinking of supplementing with some regular fish,” said Dani as she continued outlining her plans for that evening. Eventually, everyone had a role they would perform as they finished up and headed on their way. The morning passed lazily as the excursion members took the time to partake in swimming in the cove and sunning themselves. A fairly intense volleyball game started up and they found Charlotte Griggs was a little better at playing than she let on. Apparently, she had been on scholarship for the sport when she went to college and routinely schooled up the others in the game. That was until Anton came over and joined in the fun as he had been a member of the Russian Airborne team at one point in his career. It was a colossal match between the two that eventually ended in a draw between the teams playing. The excursion members headed for lunch at different times, grabbing a ration pack and continuing to enjoy the day off in the tropical paradise.

As the afternoon started, the leadership plus Anton, Mark and the two pilots started working on the dinner for that evening. They found Anton was an exceptional fisherman as he pulled in two dozen good sized fish from his homemade pole and had them ready to go after a couple of hours of work. Grady and Dani managed to find the shellfish they needed at a rocky area just outside the cove and came back with four buckets of the abundant creature that had already been tested thoroughly by the Science and Medical personnel. The pilots enlisted the help of one of the engineers who in turn got several others to help them trap the large shrimp-like creature and soon they had almost 30 of the creatures waiting for the bake.

Mark and Charity had spent the afternoon finding the rocks and firewood for the pit they had dug out that afternoon. Before long, everything was coming together nicely as more of the members looked on with curiosity at the goings on. The pilots were getting the potatoes, corn, onions and celery ready and placing them off to the side to be put into the firepit as soon as everything was ready. At some point, nearly everyone pitched in a little to help out as they saw the evening meal was going to be something special.

“Let me know when to light this puppy,” said Mark as he finished laying out the fire to Dani’s specifications.

“The rocks are dry, right?” she asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” said Mark. “Just need to light it up.”

“I think I hear stomachs growling already,” said Grady.

“It’s your own stomach,” said Dani.

“Maybe,” said Grady sheepishly.

“Might as well get it started,” said Dani. “We’re as prepped as we can be.”

“Need help?” asked Grady as Mark moved in.

“Sure, you can get the other side,” said Mark as he started the fire at several points and the fire spread rapidly through the pit and they both added pieces of firewood at points that was burning a little quicker. Just as they had it going and sustainable, Charity reemerged from the woods with Anton carrying sacks of the newest fruit for their diet.

“I’m glad you thought of that,” said Grady. “That stuff is good.”

“Plenty of it here on the island as well,” said Charity. “I wonder if it’s on others?”

“Next trip down, they should bring a gunship for day trips to other islands,” said Angeline as they watched the fire heat the rocks per Dani’s instructions. “I mean, if we could find an island to turn into a grove of those things…”

“We can mention it in the after action,” said Grady. “But I do like the idea.”

“I don’t know who you’re trying to fool,” said Dani with a snort. “He’s hoping to come back down and help plant the orchard.”

“I mean, I wouldn’t want Kurt to have to work that hard,” said Grady.

“I doubt you’re going to have any lack of participation with that,” said Charity with a grin.

“I don’t know,” said Grady. “Kurt’s one of those guys who will outwork anyone with him.”

“I haven’t been over there that often,” said Charity.

“Trust me, he’s a beast when it comes to the task at hand,” said Grady. “But I think he might slow down a bit in a place like this.”

“I think we’ve all slowed down,” said Mark as he fed more wood onto the fire. “I did look it up earlier and this calls for hardwood.”

“If we do something like this in the future, I’d say we probably should bring some down with us,” said Grady. “After we get an outpost going though.”

“I’ll volunteer to stick around and check the island for any local sources,” said Mark.

“You’d run out of food,” said Charity.

“I have a fishing pole and I can find that tree with the fruit,” said Mark. “I’ll be okay.”

“Nobody else around?” asked Angeline.

“Solitude is nice sometimes,” said Mark and glanced at Charity. “Other times, it’s really nice having someone around.”

“I was thinking the same thing,” said Angeline as she gave Charity a silly grin.

“Anyway, I can’t think of a reason we couldn’t come back,” said Grady.

“No threats we have found, nice even shelf well off the beach in case of bad weather, water supply readily abundant and it seems like the fish are easy to catch,” said Grady. “Looks perfect for long term sustainability and a future outpost.”

“I don’t think you’ll need to convince anyone here,” chuckled Charity.

“Grady, can you keep an eye on the fire? I’m going to go grab a quick shower,” asked Mark.

“Sure, go for it,” said Grady as he added in another piece of wood. The conversation continued until the rocks were hot enough for the Novae Spes version of the seaweed. They got the rocks ready and put down the plant before loading in the food.

“Now, I can’t speak to how well the fish will do,” said Dani. “But everything else is hopefully close to the Earth’s sea creatures and will come out perfect.”

“I think people are drooling right now,” laughed Angeline as they had attracted a small crowd watching what was going on.

“About an hour or so,” said Dani to the crowd.

“It’s close enough for check in,” said Grady as he looked at the time. He called up the colony from the firepit and waited for someone to answer. Eventually, a controller replied and patched him into Ben’s line. However, they made a mistake and he found Tasha on the line instead.

“Grady?” she asked. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, they were supposed to patch me through to Ben,” said Grady.

“What do you have going on in the background?” she asked as she could see over his shoulder.

“Old fashioned clambake,” said Grady.

“That’s it, I’m hijacking a shuttle and coming down,” said Tasha.

“Who are you going to get to fly it?” asked Charity.

“If I showed your pilot staff what you’re planning, I’d have no shortage of volunteers,” said Tasha with a laugh. “Everything going okay?”

“Perfect day today,” said Grady.

“I can tell,” said Tasha. “Hang on, let me transfer you over to Ben.”

“You take care,” said Angeline. “We’ll think of you as we’re having our delicious clambake.”

“I so hate you right now,” said Tasha with a frown.

“Later, tater,” said Charity as the screen changed and Ben appeared.

“I see the clambake is going well,” said Ben as a way of a greeting.

“Should be in about 45 minutes,” said Grady. “Again, nothing crazy to report.”

“I see you have company,” said Ben as he nodded at the camera. Grady turned and saw about a dozen of the Rachelle Rats watching the area with curiosity and hoping to snag a tasty treat from one of the invading species.

“Those things are fearless,” said Grady. “Pesky, but not harmful.”

“Can you grill them up?” asked Ben with a laugh.

“We hadn’t thought about it, but it might be worth a try,” laughed Grady.

“Everything on schedule for leaving tomorrow?” asked Ben.

“Yeah, we’ll break camp at first light and head out as soon as we’re packed,” said Grady.

“I’d almost expect some to drag their feet,” said Ben.

“Nah, I think they’re ready to head back to civilization,” said Grady.

“Speak for yourself!” exclaimed Charity.

“Otherwise, we’ll give the full up brief when we return, but there is no reason we can’t continue coming back here and continuing to explore,” said Grady.

“Eventually build an outpost?” asked Ben.

“Obviously, we’ll need to do some geological surveys, but yeah, it’s suitable,” said Grady.

“I can’t wait for the full report,” said Ben as he knew he didn’t need to waste more of their time by chatting them up. “Give us a yell if you need anything.”

“Will do,” said Grady as he ended the call. The small talk continued as others filtered in around the firepit and waited anxiously for the meal to be done. At 45 minutes, Dani started checking the items and found it needed about ten more minutes. She informed the group it was time to grab their mess kits and get in line. The pilot staff already had the tables set up for when everything was ready and anxiously waited themselves for the meal. Eventually, the tarp was pulled away and the smells of the food hit the crowd as the leadership started putting everything in its proper place at the serving tables. The crowd moved forward and was able to get a little of everything which ended up filling the mess kits. They headed for comfortable seating overlooking the lagoon and were amazed at the delicious meal.

“No shellfish, please,” said one of the med techs as they came through the line.

“Allergies?” asked Nancy.

“Yes, ma’am,” he stated.

“We have the normal fish as well,” said Krystal.

“That’ll work,” said the tech as he received a little larger portion to make up for the lack of the shellfish on the plate.

“I think everyone is happy,” said Charity as she observed the crowd and saw the smiles.

“Fresh cooked seafood is always the best,” said Dani.

“Line is almost done,” said Grady as he headed to the tent and returned with both their mess kits. “It’s about time to sample what we did.”

“And so it is,” said Charity as the others headed to get their kits and returned to find the line had died down completely. The pilots were already making up their own plates as the leadership got the leftovers. However, there was still enough to go around for anyone who wanted seconds.

“Oh, that’s good,” said Dani as she sampled the clam-like meat.

“More tender than the Earth variety,” said Grady. “Hon, you did it up perfect.”

“So, you’ll keep me?” asked Dani.

“For the moment,” chuckled Grady.

“Something I’ve never asked,” said Dani.

“If I knew about the trip when I asked you to remarry me?” he asked.

“I…” started Dani as her voice trailed off.

“I had my suspicions when Novus asked me for a resume,” said Grady. “I knew a little from the rumors they were looking for a new planet to colonize and keeping it a secret. The only way they could do that is if they kept it completely off the radar and send people to stay.”

“Now, I knew it was possibly going to be a one way trip and thinking of never seeing you or the boys again was just not going to happen. I never fell out of love with you the time we were apart and saw I could be a hard to live with bastard that was away far too much,” he stated. “So, I made sure I changed some of the things I knew I was doing wrong before coming here and wanted to make sure you and the boys were safe as well.”

“I never fell out of love either,” said Dani after a moment. “Yes, you were a hateful cuss from time to time, but I probably didn’t help in that regard.”

“Well, babe, we finally get to be a family,” said Grady as he reached over and took his wife’s hand. “For better or worse, you’re stuck with me.”

“I certainly could come up with worse locations,” she chuckled. “You’re working just as hard as you always did but at least you’re coming home at night.”

“I made a promise to you,” he replied. “I’ve never broken a promise to you.”

“Except for the perfect kitchen you promised,” she chuckled.

“What doesn’t our kitchen have that you wanted?” he asked.

“Hickory doors,” she stated.

“Yeah, that’s… going to be a little harder to do,” he chuckled.

“Otherwise, nothing,” she stated with a grin.

“I love you, Danielle,” he stated as he took her hand again and squeezed.

“Love you too, you hateful cuss,” she stated and got a kiss from him. “One thing though?”

“Yes?” he asked.

“Beard trimming when we return,” she stated and ran her fingers down his beard. “It’s getting a little shaggy.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he stated as some of the excursion started filtering through the line for seconds and eventually the pans were completely empty of the food. Everyone thanked the leadership for putting on the great dinner as Mark started building up the firepit once again.

“You thinking of a beach bonfire?” asked Angeline.

“We’ve already got the pit,” said Mark. “And plenty of dead wood around.”

“And what if people want a more private environment?” asked Charity.

“Then they’d need to seek out a fireplace on the other side of the spit,” he stated.

“I wonder if anyone thought of that?” she asked.

“Depends,” said Mark.

“On?” she asked.

“Whether or not you have any of that moonshine left,” he stated with a grin.

“I might have about half a bottle,” said Charity.

“Well, I might have built a fire ready to light on the other side,” he stated.

“Did you now?” she asked. “Hoping for the opportunity to watch another sunset with a lady?”

“Perhaps,” he grinned.

“I think that might be arranged,” she stated playfully. “I’ll see if I can find you someone.”

“Let me know how the search goes,” he stated as he helped take the dishes back to the kitchen to be cleaned. He had to chase off a couple of the Rachelle Rats from the kitchen area, but got the pans loaded into the washer. As he turned to head back, he found Charity behind him filling a thermos with the lemon lime soda they brought along.

“Find anyone?” he asked.

“Everyone else said no,” said Charity. “So, out of pity, I’ll do it.”

“Oh, that’s thoughtful of you,” he chuckled.

“Come on,” she stated. “The girls can finish up this.”

“Is that an order?” he asked. “From one of the duly anointed members of the ruling council?”

“It is,” she stated as she saw a few others heading over the berm and the sun started to dip lower in the sky. “Now, obey or you’re in big trouble.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he stated as he washed off his hands and joined her heading to the beach. On instinct, he reached out and took her hand finding she reciprocated the gesture by grasping his a little more fully.

“Just friends,” she chuckled.

“Of course,” he stated as he gently rubbed his thumb on her hand. They came to the spot where they had been the previous evening and she saw he wasn’t lying and had already built a fire ready to be lit. They sat in silence holding hands as the sun started yet another majestic display of colors in the sky and on the water. Before the sun completely went down, he lit the fire as the local insect population was already out and about.

“I like you,” she stated as the sun disappeared.

“I like you too,” he stated.

“I mean, I know I said we should take it slow, but I really like you,” she stated.

“The feeling is mutual,” he stated.

“Fine, kiss me,” she ordered.

“Don’t have to tell me twice,” he stated as he pulled her to the ground as they let passions envelop them rather than thinking twice about it.

“Maybe a blanket might have been helpful,” she stated after they were done and she felt the sand in her hair.

“I’ll remember that next time,” he stated with a smile.

“Guess I’ll just have to lay my head right here,” she stated as she snuggled in close to him and laid her head on his shoulder.

“Seems perfect,” he stated as he took her hand and interlaced their fingers.

“You have rough hands,” she stated as she rubbed her fingers on his.

“Part of the job,” he stated.

“But a gentle touch,” she stated with a sigh.

“Can I ask you something?” he asked.

“Sure,” she stated.

“Why the sudden change?” he asked.

“One of the kids earlier was saying something about ‘you only live once’ while performing a backflip into the water,” she stated. “While I freaked out and told them not to do that again, it did remind me we only have each other and there was no reason for me to be alone when I have someone I liked and didn’t mind getting to know better.”

“You say kids like you’re an old woman,” he chuckled. “You kids get out of the street!”

“I feel old from time to time,” she sighed.

“You’re only as young as your heart lets you be,” he stated and kissed her on the forehead. She gave a content sigh and smiled as they continued cuddling next to the dying fire.

“Last night stirred up my romantic side,” she stated. “So, just go with it.”

“I can do that,” he stated as they continued the small talk as the fire finally died down and little more was seen than the coals which were burning quickly.

“You realize we haven’t even touched those drinks?” she asked eventually.

“True,” he stated. “Want a nightcap?”

“Didn’t go to the trouble of mixing it to let it go to waste,” she stated as she sat up and filled the two cups. She handed one over with a smile as he made a toast.

“To really close friendships,” he stated.

“Or the start of a nice relationship,” she countered and tapped his cup.

“To a nice relationship,” he agreed.

“Cheers,” she stated as they drank to that.

“Only enough for one apiece?” he asked as he took another sip and added a couple of pieces of wood to the fire.

“We drank a little more last night than I planned,” she stated as she sipped.

“I wasn’t feeling it though,” he stated.

“I mixed them a little weaker than normal,” she stated. “I only had half a liter.”

“It was relaxing though,” he stated as he took another sip. They continued talking for several more minutes before finishing off their drinks and deciding to call it a night. He walked her to her tent where she shook out her hair to get the sand out of it and ran her hands through it several times. Coming back up, her hair was a mess which he chuckled at.

“What?” she asked.

“Looks like you have a bad case of bed head,” he chuckled.

“And when have you seen me just waking up?” she grinned.

“Hoping maybe?” he said quite directly.

“Not here,” she stated. “Especially with my girls being so close.”

“My tent is a little further away from others,” he suggested.

“Let’s take that a little slower, okay?” she asked.

“I can wait,” he said as he leaned in for a goodnight kiss. It lasted a little longer than planned as they finally withdrew from each other.

“Wow, boss!” exclaimed Nancy. Charity looked at her in annoyance as the mood had been interrupted.

“Go away!” she said in exasperation.

“Yes, ma’am,” said Nancy with a grin as she collected whatever she came to get from her tent and departed.

“Cheering mom on?” asked Mark with a grin after Nancy got out of earshot.

“Guess so,” said Charity with a smile. “I’ll catch up in the morning, okay?”

“Good night,” he said and snuck in one last peck on the lips.

“Good night,” she said with a smile. Mark backed away and she blew him another kiss, feeling quite young right then. He returned it and moseyed off to his tent, thinking of how nice social contact was with a good woman. Charity grabbed her shower items since she had been both working that afternoon and the sand on her skin was going to annoy her to death. Heading up the path, she saw quite a few couples spending time that evening and quickly showered with the battery lights on making sure no Rachelle Rats were intruding on her quick rinse. Eventually, she dried off and pulled on shorts and a t-shirt before heading back. Seeing another couple, she made a snap decision in her mind and altered her course towards the edge of the camp.

Charity heard Mark inside rustling around as he prepared for bed. She quickly put her towel on one of the guy lines and went to the front of the tent. Unzipping the tent flap, she headed inside without any hesitation as Mark looked up in surprise. He was down to just his shorts and she saw again he was in good shape.

“Is it morning already?” he asked.

“No, I got lost going back to my tent,” she stated as she sat her shower items off to the side.

“You did, huh?” he asked.

“And I think there were Rachelle Rats waiting nearby,” she stated as she went over to his sleeping bag and laid down on it.

“Uh huh,” he stated.

“Plus, I think your air mattress is comfier than mine,” she stated as she ran her hands over it.

“Do you now?” he asked.

“Yep,” she stated and looked at him in the faint light of the lantern. Not even thinking about it, she doffed her shirt and tossed it to the side along with removing her shorts. She slid under the sleeping bag and looked at him again. “So, unless you want to toss me out, I’m thinking I’m home for the evening.”

“I can handle protecting you from the evil rodents,” he stated as he removed his shorts and slid under the sleeping bag with her. Their lips met once again as their hands started exploring each other on a far more personal level than friends typically do.

 

CHAPTER 7



“Good morning,” said Angeline as Charity came up to help get the kitchen packed up. They were on rations that morning since they didn’t want to worry about cleaning before they left.

“And a good morning to you,” said Charity with a smile.

“I came by your tent earlier to see if you wanted the last cup of coffee,” said Angeline.

“Oh, I was probably at the shower or something,” said Charity.

“Oh?” asked Angeline with a grin.

“I guess,” said Charity.

“Is that why your pink towel was hanging from another tent this morning?” asked Angeline.

“I’m not the only one with a hot pink towel,” said Charity.

“I didn’t realize Mark had a pink towel as well,” said Angeline with a grin.

“I can’t lie worth a damn,” said Charity with a sigh.

“I think we all are happy to see you happy,” said Angeline.

“How do you know I’m happy?” asked Charity.

“Because you’re not normally a morning person,” said Angeline. “But this morning you’re all kinds of smiles and glowing.”

“I am not glowing!” protested Charity. “Am I?”

“Maybe not glowing, but you do have that look of satisfaction,” said Angeline.

“Maybe,” said Charity with a sly grin.

“Good,” said Angeline.

“We need to find you a man now,” said Charity.

“It’ll happen eventually,” said Angeline. “So?”

“I’m not going to kiss and tell,” said Charity as she blushed slightly.

“But the romance will continue when we’re gone?” asked Angeline.

“Most definitely,” said Charity as Grady came over and started a new pot of coffee.

“We just cleaned that,” said Angeline.

“And I’m going to get it dirty again,” said Grady in a growl.

“Honey, don’t get between him and his coffee,” said Dani as she started picking through the ration packs. “He’s not even human until he’s had a couple of cups.”

“I am human,” he stated as the machine started. “Just not a tolerable one.”

“That’s the truth,” said Dani as she waited on her turn for a cup as well. “How was your evening yesterday?”

“Slept like a baby,” said Angeline.

“The same,” said Charity.

“I’d hope so,” said Dani. “Especially given the circumstances.”

“How many people know?!” demanded Charity.

“Know what?” asked Grady as he got his cup and sipped.

“Nothing, dear,” said Dani. “I happened to notice on my way to the shower.”

“Oh,” said Charity.

“Did something happen?” asked Grady.

“Nothing you need to worry about,” said Dani with a tone.

“If you say so,” said Grady as he wandered off to take account of the remainder of the items left to pack up.

“Thank you,” said Charity.

“If you don’t want it to be public knowledge yet, I can understand,” said Dani.

“Please,” said Charity. “Rachelle will be bad enough pestering me for details.”

“Nah, she’ll be happy like we’re happy,” said Angeline as Mark came up to visit the coffee maker as well.

“Why did I even clean it?” asked Angeline.

“Hold on, mister,” said Dani as she got her cup. “I was in line first.”

“Yes, ma’am,” said Mark with a laugh. “Good morning to you two.”

“Good morning, Mark,” said Angeline. “Sleep well?”

“I was out like a light,” he stated, not realizing both Dani and Angeline knew.

“I’d say you don’t look well rested,” said Angeline as she got a dirty look from Charity.

“No, I slept good,” said Mark as Dani finished making her cup of coffee and he started on his.

“Well, good,” said Angeline as she saw Mark give Charity a wink and a smile out of the corner of her eye. Charity grinned slightly again before returning the wink.

“Plans for this morning?” asked Angeline as Grady returned.

“Waking everyone else up and getting packed up,” said Grady. “It shouldn’t take long as we got a good head start yesterday and the day before.”

“What are we leaving anyway?” asked Charity.

“I kept thinking about the shower idea Mark brought up and I think we can leave that,” said Grady. “The water bladders for sure. After thinking about it, leaving the de-sal should be okay since we have a couple of others in storage. And I think that’s about it unless you had something else in mind.”

“Nothing pops into my head,” said Angeline.

“Not here either,” said Charity.

“If something comes up, we can discuss it,” said Grady as others came into the kitchen area and grabbed their rations for the morning meal. “Otherwise, I think we should start striking camp.”

“Agreed,” said Angeline. She and Charity went around and made sure everyone was awake as well as making sure they knew as soon as they ate to go ahead and start taking everything down. Charity directed the packing of the shuttle while Grady and Angeline saw to the dismantlement of the camp they had occupied for a little longer than planned. Everything moved somewhat quickly as the tents were easy to pack away and the other community items were neatly stored. Eventually, the camp looked barren as the final items were loaded into the shuttle and everyone started taking account of their respective sections.

“Are we going to leave the water bladders full?” asked Angeline as she looked towards that part of the beach.

“Yeah, I put in the stabilizer,” said Grady. “They will be fine where they are at.”

“Scooter? We’re set,” said Charity over the intercom as she closed up the rear hatch with a sigh and started making her way towards the front.

“Aye, ma’am,” said Nancy as she started the engines and slowly lifted the craft off, making her way gently away from the trees and out over the open ocean. Once she was clear of the obstacles, she quickly gained altitude as they headed back to the colony. The ride back was quiet as everyone knew they would be back to work after they arrived. But the extra day was good for them as everyone was refreshed and had plenty of stories for the individuals back at the colony.

“We’re making good time,” said Charity as she looked over the pilot’s shoulders.

“Should be back in time for lunch,” said Krystal as she checked the monitor.

“Having unloaded the shuttle, of course,” said Charity.

“Of course,” said Krystal. “I wonder if Ryan’s going to be pissed about turning this down.”

“I’d say he’s going to be in line for a flight down eventually,” said Nancy. “Coming up on zero-g. Everyone make sure you’re strapped in please.”

Everyone made sure their belts were in place as Nancy hit the apex of her suborbital jump and made a slight correction towards the colony. Eventually, they were on their way back down as Nancy called the colony to request landing.

“Scooter, you are clear,” said Ryan over the communicator. “Temp pad 5.”

“Pad 5, copy,” said Nancy.

“Get a nice tan?” asked Ryan.

“You betcha,” said Nancy as she imagined Ryan having a large grin. “You’re going to be so jelly when we return.”

“I’d bet,” said Ryan with a laugh. “See you when you get closer.”

“Roger that,” said Nancy as she decreased her speed as she got closer. The colony walls were seen as they came in a little lower and slower until she finally brought the shuttle into almost a hover and crossed over the walls. She saw Ryan at the pad giving her the signals for landing as she brought in the shuttle and landed right in the middle. He put the safety streamers on the necessary points and gave her the shut down signal.

“We’re home, folks,” said Grady as he unbuckled his belt and started lowering the cargo ramp. Almost a dozen and a half individuals were waiting to help unload and more were showing up as the excursion started filing off. They greeted their fellow colonists with large smiles as everyone wanted to know “how it was” as the excursion members filled them in on the trip. Spouses and significant others were around to greet their loved ones and took the packs and baggage from them to carry.

“You got a tan, baby,” said Nick Griggs as he collected a hug and kiss from his wife. “I think you got even more beautiful while you were gone.”

“I can’t wait to take you there myself,” she smiled. “It’s perfect.”

“I already planned a romantic evening on the beach with you for when we go,” he said with a grin. “Did you find a nice spot for it?”

“Plenty of secluded beaches we can do that on,” she grinned as he collected another kiss and grabbed her pack.

“Looking mighty rested there,” said Ben as he, Cyrus, Rachelle and Allen approached.

“Like you wouldn’t believe,” said Grady as he shook hands with them. “That extra day was downright great in my opinion.”

“I figured it wouldn’t be time wasted,” said Allen as Charity and Angeline came over and said hello as well.

“Not at all,” said Grady. “We’ve got a bunch of stuff to unload here.”

“It’s taken care of,” said Ben as he saw the sections immediately claiming what belonged to them and taking it off the shuttle. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to get you folks as well as those you feel are necessary for a quick after action before you write the final report.”

“I think we can do that,” said Grady. The leaders quickly picked those who would be able to contribute the most to the briefing and followed Ben to the large conference room. They saw Tasha, Kurt and Mary were already waiting as the other leaders said their hellos.

“I’m so jealous of you!” exclaimed Mary. “Look at your tan!”

“It was really nice,” said Charlotte with a smile. “Utterly perfect.”

“I’d bet,” said Mary. “Of course, I only get freckles in the sun.”

“Which are kinda cute,” said Rachelle as she took a seat along with the rest of the excursion.

“Okay, I just want to get some initial thoughts before we start the in depth review of the trip,” said Ben. “Just what pops into your mind up front.”

“It’ll be a short talk,” said Angeline.

“Well?” asked Ben as the other staff found seating.

“Can I use a single word to describe the situation?” asked Angeline with a grin.

“I’d hope for more than a single word,” said Ben with a laugh.

“Heavenly was going to be that word,” said Angeline with a grin.

“Which could mean a lot of things,” said Allen.

“First off, the temperatures were as expected, between 25 to 30 degrees Celsius during the day and down to around 16 to 20 at night. Weather was absolutely perfect save the one brief afternoon rainstorm we had that wasn’t forecasted,” said Angeline. “But generally mild temperatures that weren’t oppressive and downright comfortable.”

“Perfect landing conditions for a shuttle on the beach and enough room in the lagoon to make a dock for surface craft if we ever build them,” said Charity. “There’s plenty of space inland to create a hard surface landing pad if we wanted to, though bringing in materials would be a little difficult and time consuming. “Obviously, we could start by clearing out a forest and putting in a hard surface later as materials are transported down.”

“What kind of total surface area are we looking at?” asked Ben.

“85 square kilometers, give or take,” said Mark after being prompted by Grady. “It looks to be tectonic in origin, limestone being shoved from the sea floor up by plate tectonics. Could be volcanic in origin, however, no cinder cone or active volcanism is going on that we discovered. Surface is remarkable stable and the beaches are white sand types which would be unusual for the type of island if it was volcanic.”

“Why is that unusual?” asked Tasha.

“Because the islands of volcanic origin tend to have darker sand from the erosion of the volcanic rock,” explained another member of the science team, a geologist. “Basically, we’re looking at island that are very similar to the Bahama chain before most of them were taken by the sea.”

“So, we aren’t worried about this island sinking or erupting?” asked Allen.

“Not at all for the moment,” said the geologist with a chuckle. “From studying the other locations from the probe data before we got here, there are no indications of any volcanism in that area at all. Perhaps there is some tectonic activity, but the probe even showed that to be minor compared to other areas.”

“And the terrain?” asked Ben.

“Vegetation is typical for the area and resembles what the South Pacific Islands once looked like. Dense jungle type of vegetation with what appears to be the Novae Spes version of a palm tree. We brought back some samples for additional testing, but it doesn’t appear to be as sturdy as the trees we’re finding on the continents at the higher latitudes,” added Angeline.

“What kind of elevation overall?” asked Javier.

“Gentle sloping from the beach to a height of about five to six meters. There is a hill we thought to be a former volcano that reaches almost 200 meters high on the eastern part of the island. But again, no distinctive volcanic traits,” said Mark. “There is a nice flat area about a half a click off the beach that would serve as a good place for an outpost if we decide to build. It’s about 15 meters or so in elevation from the beach.”

“So, multiple high points in case of storms,” said Javier.

“Yes,” said Mark. “Otherwise, the lagoon we camped at had a nice spit, or a small peninsula, that was close to seven meters above the other areas of the cove that sloped towards the water. Plenty of space for at least up to 50 or more single person tents along with the landing area for the shuttle. Plus, an additional landing area on the other side of the lagoon where we touched down originally.”

“Any other significant land features?” asked Ben.

“There is an additional lagoon, or maybe a small lake on the southeastern side,” said Mark. “Testing indicates it’s salt water, but there is a small strip of land that keeps the ocean out. It could be dredged out and the land removed to create a larger harbor than the cove. Several streams that were reported that drain to the ocean none of which we would be able to use for fresh water without harming the local ecology. Another lagoon on the southern side almost in the middle which we didn’t get the chance to explore and some small ponds throughout the island likely fed by rainwater.”

“Did you get the chance to climb the hill?” asked Allen.

“No, just some overflights with the drone,” said Charity. “It was just beyond our exploration area for this trip.”

“Any other wildlife you discovered?” asked Ben. “Harmful or otherwise?”

“Nothing harmful we found, but we’ve left survey packs behind to determine if they were just good at hiding while we were there,” said Angeline. “Other than the species of rodent, we didn’t find much wildlife other than it, small reptiles and birds. That rodent-”

“You mean the cute and cuddly creature named after me?” asked Rachelle with a grin.

“Yes, the Rachelle Rats are extremely bold and not afraid of us at all,” said Angeline.

“Not harmful though?” asked Ben.

“No, just a pain,” said Charity. “As in they will come right up and snatch food out of your hands if they take a notion to.”

“Do they bite?” asked Rachelle.

“Only if provoked,” said Angeline. “Which we tried not to do. But swatting at them to chase them off did produce one bite on a security team member.”

“He’s fine though,” said Charlotte. “Nothing a Medipatch and a little antibiotic didn’t take care of. We learned yelling at them made them go away.”

“But not dangerous?” asked Ben. “I’m making sure for future excursions.”

“Just annoying and fearless,” said Angeline. “But we did find something else…”

“Care to share?” asked Ben as Angeline grabbed a bag she brought with her. The group looked at her as she pulled out several pear shaped, yellow fruit and passed them around.

“Doctor Griggs and I tested it and there are no harmful toxins,” said Angeline. “Go ahead, have a bite of the forbidden fruit. I washed them already.”

The group nibbled at the outside until they got a taste of the fruit. Small bites quickly turned into larger bites as they gobbled down the fruit like it was the best thing they had ever tasted.

“Wow!” exclaimed Tasha with Rachelle nodding in agreement as she was devouring hers.

“Be careful, there’s a pit in the middle,” said Angeline as she saw the group was nearing the center of their treats.

“Yep, found it,” said Cyrus as he worked his mouth. “Not easily chewed on.”

“No,” chuckled Angeline as they had learned the hard way as well.

“Okay, you found it, you name it,” said Ben while chewing.

“I’m not that creative and I’ll leave the scientific name up to the botanists at the moment,” said Angeline. “But how about Yellow Novus Fruit for the meantime?”

“Too bad awesome is already taken in the dictionary,” said Rachelle as she finished up. “Got any more?”

“No, just that for now,” said Angeline. “But it grows fairly plentiful on the islands down there. We even spotted a few islands where we could start some orchards if we had the notion.”

“I’d say there’s a notion to do that,” said Kurt as he finished up. “I’d gladly volunteer.”

“Other than that, nothing really remarkable about the island in particular,” said Angeline.

“This is remarkable enough,” said Mary as she heard Rachelle clear her throat a couple of times. She looked over to see Rachelle shaking her head side to side and attempting to cough. However, her face was growing blue as she started having difficulty breathing. “Are you okay?”

“Hard to breathe,” wheezed Rachelle and tried taking in larger breaths. However, her airway was becoming blocked as she reached up to her throat.

“Anaphylaxis!” exclaimed Mary as she and Charlotte immediately rushed to the aid of Rachelle and lowered her to the floor. “Go to the med station and grab a Duanephrine shot, an IV and a breathing kit. Grab my field surgical kit as well!”

“Got it!” said Charlotte as she ran out of the room as everyone wanted to help but wasn’t sure what to do at the moment. Luckily, the med station was nearby and Charlotte reappeared with the items as well as two med techs in less than two minutes. And just in time as Rachelle’s airway completely closed. The two doctors worked furiously to insert the breathing tube into her throat and place an oxygen mask over her face. They popped the anaphylactic shot into her arm as Rachelle involuntarily gagged on the tube but was able to get some oxygen into her lungs to relieve the symptoms momentarily. They gave the shot time to work as they applied a medical pack to her wrist and got the stretcher ready to move.

“Rachelle, don’t try to talk, but we’re going to get you to the medical station and fix you right up, okay?” asked Mary as she saw the shot was working and taking the swelling of her throat down for the moment. Rachelle weakly nodded as the med techs placed her on the hover gurney and quickly departed the conference room. Mary accompanied the patient out of the room as Charlotte quickly checked the remaining members of the command staff to see if any of them showed the same signs and symptoms of having a severe allergic reaction to the fruit.

“I’m so sorry!” said Angeline. “I didn’t know this would happen!”

“None of us did,” said Charlotte as she checked each of the members one by one. “We all ate it on the island and nothing happened to us.”

“How long would it take for symptoms to appear?” asked Javier.

“I don’t know which is why each of you that didn’t accompany us to the island will need to go into the med station for observation as a minimum,” said Charlotte. “If any of you start feeling like your breathing is getting difficult or an itchy feeling in your throat, let one of us know immediately. Let’s get going to the clinic please.”

The group filed out as they had learned to trust the medical staff implicitly and walked into the temporary structure for continued observation. By the time they arrived, they found Rachelle was already in the surgical center being worked on by Mary. Charlotte left the group for a moment to call in additional med techs for the observation period on the remainder of the group and left the two techs that weren’t assisting Mary to watch over the group.

“About how long on the observation?” asked Ben. “For my knowledge as I have no place else I need to be at the moment.”

“Anaphylactic shock can take some time, but as quick as that reaction came on, I’d dare say not long at all,” said one of the techs. “Couple of hours, four at most.”

“Is Rachelle going to be okay?” asked Ben.

“They’ll pump her stomach and keep her on oxygen for the time being,” said the tech. “But the Duanephrine shot seems to be working and she’s breathing on her own at the moment.”

“I feel horrible!” exclaimed Angeline.

“Ma’am, there’s no telling who’s allergic to what until it happens,” said the tech. “I’m deathly allergic to any kind of shellfish, but I didn’t know until I ate a crab once.”

“We’ll have to figure this one out,” said Ben. “That was pretty severe and I’d hate for it to happen again.”

“However, there’s been about forty of us that have eaten it so far with no ill effects,” said Javier. “That’s if the team that went down all had some.”

“We all did,” said Angeline as Charlotte reappeared.

“Rachelle is going to be just fine and the swelling is abating at the moment,” she stated. “We’re going to keep her overnight and continue to watch her, but for the moment, it looks like the worst has passed.”

The team breathed out a sigh of relief, but knew they would have to be careful going forward with any new fruits or vegetables they found on the planet until entirely positive their bodies could handle something tasty.

“Can I see her?” asked Angeline.

“Maybe in a bit,” said Charlotte. “Stomach pumping does tend to upset one’s system. Let’s give it a few hours if that’s okay.”

“Sure,” said Angeline.

“Is there some kind of test we can run to see if others will have that same reaction?” asked Allen.

“Possibly,” said Charlotte. “We’ll have to isolate what specifically caused the reaction in Rachelle before we can come up with a test though.”

“Until that time, let’s mark that off the diet list,” said Ben. “Just until we know others can handle it with no problems.”

“Which sucks because that’s good stuff,” said Tasha.

“It is, but I’d rather not see someone die because they ate something we knew in advance could be harmful,” said Ben.

“No, I agree,” said Tasha. “The original forbidden fruit.”

“Well, while we’re waiting, you want to finish up the briefing?” asked Grady.

“Right here seems as good a place as any,” said Charity. “Provided, we should hold off on any big SIT decisions until Rachelle is back.”

“You’re the number two in that department,” said Ben. “You should be comfortable with making decisions in her absence. You’ll be fine as there are no major decisions at the moment.”

“Yes, sir,” said Charity.

“So, did you guys name it?” asked Tasha. “The island I mean.”

“No, just calling it the island for the moment,” said Angeline.

“Why not Rachelle Island?” asked Tasha.

“She’s the one that kept bugging us to go there,” said Allen. “It’s fitting.”

“I want my own island as well,” said Ben with a chuckle. “But yes, we can call it Rachelle Island as long as she’s okay with it.”

“You considering that research and R and R station?” asked Cyrus.

“That’s why we sent the team,” said Ben. “And so long as there isn’t anything else extremely hazardous to our health there, I’d dare say we’ve got us a vacation spot.”

Grins erupted around the command staff as they knew the island would be just what they needed for some quality down time.

“There’s a ‘but’ here, isn’t there?” asked Tasha as she knew Ben better than most.

“Yes,” said Ben. “Two things actually. First off, you were only able to cover about half the island in recon patrols, yes?”

“Less,” answered Anton. “Maybe a third in depth?”

“And I’d wager a wild guess that wasn’t really as in depth as we’d like,” said Ben.

“We covered it as much as we can,” said Anton. “The vegetation on the other hand was not as helpful in being able to see far.”

“So, before we start building up a beach house, I’d like to get additional coverage on the island from different angles,” said Ben. “At least to where can call it safe.”

“We did leave some infrastructure in place at the cove,” said Grady. “The next trip down won’t have to worry about taking water bladders.”

“Or showers,” said Mark.

“However, it’ll be harder to cover the eastern portion of the island from that western side,” said Tasha. “I’m not saying it won’t work, but on foot will take far longer.”

“So, we use the shuttle to move us to the eastern, northern and southern sides and push in from there,” said Javier. “It can be shifted easily, right?”

“If we park it in the original spot, yes,” said Charity. “I backed it up towards the trees so we could work out of it on that… spit where we made camp.”

“Why did you pause?” asked Cyrus.

“It’s just weird calling it a spit,” said Charity.

“Could call it a small peninsula,” said Ben.

“I could,” said Charity.

“Anyway, I’d like full coverage on the island before we start building up down there,” said Ben. “I’m certainly not opposed to the outpost, but…”

“There’s always a but,” said Tasha with a sigh.

“There is,” said Ben. “I won’t have the engineers build something we all should be helping with. I’d dare say the shipping containers we used as living quarters when we first got here would work perfectly for temporary or even permanent quarters on the island. But everything else should be on all the colonists to help build.”

“I think that’s fair,” said Kurt. “If we are going to take advantage of the site, we might as well put in the work to make it comfortable.”

“How about a week, a Novae Spes week that is with three days of work and four days of relaxing?” asked Grady.

“A week out of pocket here?” asked Ben.

“Five days then, two of work, three of being a beach bum,” suggested Charity.

“That sounds like a winner,” said Mary as she came out of the surgical area.

“You listening in?” asked Ben.

“You’re talking loud enough for me to hear,” said Mary. “And for the record, Rachelle thinks the idea to name the island after her is perfectly okay.”

“Doubt she’d object,” said Ben. “How’s she doing?”

“She’ll be okay,” said Mary. “We’ve got a lot of tests to run to isolate the specific chemical that gave her that reaction, but she’ll be up and about tomorrow for certain. I’ll probably keep her at least a day just to make sure.”

“Want me to start drawing up some plans for a resort?” asked Grady.

“If you could,” said Ben. “Though it’s not to interfere with your duties here. We’ll likely give it a couple of weeks of monitoring to make sure we didn’t miss anything.”

“And I can come up with a supply timeline to transport the containers and supplies,” said Charity. “As well as a rotation schedule of all major departments.”

“You think we’ll need heavy security?” asked Tasha. “Meaning the heavy weapons we are normally carrying on the out of colony missions.”

“Doubtful,” said Angeline. “But we should take that into consideration after we’ve monitored the island a little longer. So, for the next couple of missions, I’d say yes. If we don’t discover anything worse than the Rachelle Rats, I’d say you could leave your heavy weapons behind.”

“Fair enough,” said Tasha. “Obviously, we’ll play it by ear.”

“Okay, that’s settled,” said Ben. “What else?”

The group talked through some of the items they had discovered while the med techs continued watching over them. After a couple of hours, the danger zone had likely passed and Mary gave them explicit instructions to “get your backside back here if you start feeling like you can’t breathe” before dismissing them. The group went their separate ways as Charity and Mark met up briefly outside.

“So…” she stated.

“So?” he asked.

“Obviously, we’re back,” she stated.

“We are,” he said in a confused tone.

“I mean, I wasn’t sure if this was just a vacation fling or something,” she stated.

“No, I felt like we might carry it on back here as well,” he stated. “Unless you… don’t want too, of course.”

“No!” protested Charity. “I just… I’m dumb.”

“Anything but,” he chuckled as he saw Nicole walking up. “I would like the opportunity to discuss it with Nicole if that’s okay.”

“Absolutely,” said Charity. “I’ll call you later, okay?”

“I look forward to it,” he said and got a quick kiss before his daughter arrived.

“Dad!” exclaimed Nicole. “How are you?”

“Great!” he exclaimed as he took her in a hug. “How are you?”

“I survived,” she laughed. “Hi, Ms. Steele.”

“It’s Charity, please,” said Charity. “I’ll let you two catch up.”

“Talk to you later, okay?” asked Mark.

“Absolutely,” said Charity as she departed with a smile.

“You gonna tell me something?” asked Nicole who was very perceptive.

“I might have made a friend while I was there,” said Mark.

“The way she looked at you, it’s more than a friend,” said Nicole.

“Well, a lady friend, yeah,” said Mark.

“Is that an old person way of saying girlfriend?” asked Nicole with a grin.

“I’m not that old, you know?” he stated.

“So… girlfriend?” she asked with another grin.

“We might be seeing each other socially, yes,” said Mark. “I wanted to talk it over with you before anything though.”

“Why?’ asked Nicole.

“Well, it’s just been you and me for a long time, kiddo,” said Mark. “I want to make sure you’re okay with me seeing someone.”

“Why would I have any say in that?” asked Nicole.

“I… it just seems like something I should talk over with you,” said Mark.

“I think it’s cool, Dad,” said Nicole as they arrived at their townhouse. “I’m not going to be around forever nor the little girl you sometimes pretend I still am. Eventually, I’m going to move out, get married and you’ll still be here. I don’t want you lonely either.”

“I’m not lonely!” he protested as they headed inside.

“No, but you could use a girlfriend to spice things up in your life,” she grinned yet again.

“I’m not sure Charity is spicy,” he chuckled.

“Look, she seems to be okay,” said Nicole. “Give it a whirl.”

“You sure?” he asked.

“Again, not my decision to make,” she stated. “For the record, I am perfectly happy with you dating around. I mean, it gives me time to have parties while you’re gone and invite all the boys over to court me.”

“Uh huh,” he said. “Except there is a distinct lack of boys your age.”

“There’s a few,” she sighed. “And no, I’m not into the Smith boys.”

“Oh?” he asked.

“Just not my type,” she stated. “Nothing wrong with them, but I guess I’ll have to wait until the next Expedition gets here to see what’s available.”

“That’ll give me less gray hair in the meantime,” he chuckled. “And yes, I recognize the fact you are growing up and are not a little girl any longer. But you’re always going to be the little girl in my heart.”

“Of course, Dad,” she said with an eye roll and a smile as he grabbed her around the shoulders and pulled her into a hug.

“Missed you, kiddo,” he stated. “I can’t wait to take you there.”

“Tell me all about it,” she asked as they headed home. The other members of the excursion also spread the word that evening and over the next week and got those who hadn’t gone excited over the possibility of heading down again. There was still important work to be done, but it gave people something to shoot for in the long run.

One person in particular was bugged over something that evening and decided to recheck his work. Being a professional, he decided to get a second opinion and sought out his counterpart in Security as he waited politely outside the temporary quarters.

“Hey Chuck,” said Captain Jerome Irwin. “Can I help you?”

“I’ve got a nagging feeling about something,” said Doctor Chuck Dawson. “You mind helping me set my mind at ease?”

“With the Raptors?” asked Jerome.

“Yeah,” said Chuck. “Just something in the data we looked at today.”

“Do I need to get formal?” asked Jerome.

“Nah, we can do it at our lab,” said Chuck.

“Let’s do it,” said Jerome as he grabbed his weapons and headed out with Chuck. They arrived at the Science buildings and headed into Chuck’s personal office where a larger monitor was started up and Chuck started bringing up some of the drone surveillance from two days ago.

“Okay, see this?” asked Chuck.

“Yeah, minor cave network,” said Jerome. “We looked at it.”

“We did,” said Chuck. “However…”

Chuck started bringing up the data on the advanced lidar system and showed Jerome what was bugging him. Jerome looked it over as well as the pictures taken by the drone and thought on it for several minutes.

“This is thin, Chuck,” said Jerome. “Could be just foliage or something getting in the way.”

“This data is stereo in nature along with the pictures,” said Chuck. “Plus, there was a brief thermal reading as it passed by.”

“Thin,” said Jerome.

“Look, either the entrance to that cave got five meters smaller or something was standing in the way of that lidar and tripped that IR sensor,” said Chuck.

“Nothing on the pictures,” said Jerome as he looked.

“That side was in the shadows,” said Chuck. “Lighting could have been better.”

“Is there a drone heading anywhere near that location?” asked Jerome.

“Not for several weeks,” said Chuck as he looked up the planned flights.

“Anything close?” asked Jerome.

“We could task this one heading out tomorrow morning, but it’ll put it about 70 kilometers out of the way,” said Chuck as he brought up the flight path of another recon craft.

“Cut the dogleg off the planned course and it puts it within 25,” said Jerome. “Tell you what, let’s do that and get several passes.”

“That’ll cut down on the time on the next run,” said Chuck.

“So?” said Jerome. “I’m not seeing it, but it is something.”

“You getting a gut feeling on this one?” asked Chuck.

“No, but I’d rather cover all the bases,” said Jerome. “The data is odd, I’ll admit that. But it could be anything. Let’s do it just to cover all our bases.”

“That’ll work,” said Chuck as he started reprogramming the course for the drone the next morning. He needed approval from the Security Director since the drone was one of the security owned ones. Jerome called up Tasha to get her approval.

“You guys get something?” she asked from the comforts of her new living room.

“Maybe,” said Jerome. “We need to check just to be sure.”

“How sure are you on this?” asked Tasha. “That’s going to cut the mission by at least a couple of hours tomorrow.”

“Chuck has a hunch,” said Jerome. “I’m not feeling it, but like he said, it is something that should be checked into.”

“We’ve got nothing so far,” said Tasha. “It’s not going to hurt anything.”

“You’ll approve it?” asked Jerome.

“Is he there?” asked Tasha.

“He is,” said Jerome as he handed over his communicator.

“Major,” said Chuck.

“Doctor,” said Tasha. “How confident are you on this?”

“Not extremely,” said Chuck. “But like Captain Irwin said, it’s just a gut feeling.”

“I tend not to argue with those,” said Tasha. “Okay, I’ll approve it.”

“Thank you,” said Chuck. “I just want to make sure we didn’t miss anything.”

“If you’re right, we’ll all owe you a serious thank you,” said Tasha.

“Maybe,” said Chuck. “Until we find more at least.”

“There is that,” said Tasha. “Are you going to be checking it live?”

“We could,” said Jerome.

“Please do,” said Tasha as she was seen typing. “I’m going to give you both control of the bird so you can alter the programmed course just in case.”

“That’ll work,” said Jerome. “I won’t keep you.”

“I’m just having a boring evening getting caught up on my reading,” said Tasha. “Night.”

“Good night, Major,” said Jerome.

“Good night, Chuck,” said Tasha.

“Have a pleasant evening, Tasha,” said Chuck with a brief smile. She ended the call and went back to her reading, though the thoughts of potentially finding a Raptor nest was clearly forefront in her mind. She put the book down and thought about what that meant and already started making plans in her head for a strike if it came down to it.

“Well, we’re on the hook now,” said Jerome.

“I hope I’m right,” said Chuck. “This is getting old.”

“Sometimes all you need is a lucky break,” said Jerome. “Maybe we just got one.”

“I’ll see you in the morning, okay?” said Chuck.

“Until then,” said Jerome as he departed. Chuck went over his data yet again to make sure there wasn’t something he had missed

********************​

“You seeing this?” asked Chuck the next morning.

“I can’t believe your hunch played off,” said Jerome. “Let’s bring it back around again.”

“No faith in me?” asked Chuck.

“I’ll admit, it was thin,” said Jerome. “But real life happens to be that way.”

The pair continued watching as several Raptors were seen outside the area Chuck had identified the previous evening. What they thought were caves were actually burrow entrances to where they lived as several of the creatures were seen outside eating and moving away from the nest.

“Now?” asked Chuck.

“Now we get your boss and my boss on this,” said Jerome as he called up Tasha on the communicator. She was doing morning PT with one of the platoons, but stated she would be right there since Jerome stated it would be urgent. Javier was easier to track down as he came in from the dining hall and popped into the office.

“You get something?” asked Javier.

“We did,” said Chuck. “We might want to wait for Tasha. She’ll be along shortly.”

“Mind bringing me up a picture to let me know?” asked Javier. Chuck brought up one of the best photos from that morning as Javier looked it over.

“That’ll do it,” said Javier as Tasha arrived and slightly out of breath.

“You okay?” asked Chuck.

“Morning run,” said Tasha as she wiped her brow with a bandana. “What do you have?”

“Lady and gentleman, I present the first probable Raptor nest,” said Chuck as he brought up the pictures, the accompanying data and the video stream.

“How many?” asked Tasha.

“We counted 13 so far,” said Jerome.

“At the same time?” asked Tasha.

“Different times,” said Jerome. “They were coming out and foraging.”

“I’d bet this is one of the nests,” said Javier.

“Concur,” said Tasha as she looked over the pictures once again.

“Now?” asked Chuck.

“Now we get additional data,” said Tasha. “Where is the drone?”

“Orbiting about 30 kilometers away,” said Jerome. “We didn’t want to keep it overhead and possibly spook them.”

“Let’s get some additional passes,” said Tasha. “We need everything we can before we send in a strike or a manned recon mission.”

“Will do,” said Jerome as he sent the commands to the drone.

“Otherwise, great job,” said Tasha. “You two ready to brief the Commander?”

“I’d wait until we get another couple of runs,” said Chuck.

“Okay, but be prepared,” said Tasha. “When will you know?”

“Maybe in a couple of hours,” said Jerome.

“Stay in touch,” said Tasha as she departed thinking they might have caught a lucky break. She contemplated telling Ben right then, but decided to wait for more data to come in. Hopefully, they had a valid target and could start going after the Raptors in their homes instead of being completely defensive in nature. She knew such things kept them safer as taking the fight away from the colony kept everyone safer.

And Tasha knew safety was key to survival.

 

CHAPTER 8



“This is great work, guys,” said Javier as he looked over the pictures and data taken from a camera pod. An additional overflight had taken place at high altitude by one of the gunships and the area had near constant drone surveillance watching the creatures.

“We probably need additional flights,” said Tasha as she looked over the additional pictures where at least fifteen Raptors were seen outside a central area.

“We could use the geological survey pod in addition to the other pods on a gunship,” said Javier. “These look like openings into underground areas.”

“Concur,” said Captain Jerome Irwin.

“Set it up for this evening?” asked Tasha.

“I’d suggest tomorrow morning again,” said Chuck. “It seems like we caught them coming out of their dens or whatever for the morning feeding.”

“He brings up a good point,” said Jerome.

“Let’s do it,” said Javier as he made a call to have the geological survey pod delivered to the SIT landing area. Tasha started putting a team on alert to go with the gunship crew since each recon flight had at least a fire team of her troopers on board in case it went down. Charity and Rachelle were called and informed of the development and Charity began formatting a mission for one of the gunships to perform a recon mission.

“Hey,” said Tasha softly as Chuck looked over the data for what seemed like the millionth time.

“Ma’am?” he asked and gave her a small smile.

“In case nobody told you, great job on this,” she stated with a smile of her own.

“I just want that threat gone,” he stated.

“Because of what you did, we may have that chance,” said Tasha.

“Thank you, Major,” he stated.

“You’re awfully formal,” she observed.

“I just… we haven’t talked much as of late,” he stated.

“And that’s my fault?” she asked.

“Probably mine,” he chuckled.

“Maybe we can talk about it when it’s all over?” she suggested.

“I’d like that,” he said with a warm smile. Tasha returned the smile and grabbed Javier before getting ready to head over to Ben’s office to deliver the news as well as inform him of the next flight. But they didn’t get far as Ben had appeared in the doorway as if he knew they found something and was waiting to surprise them.

“That’s a bit creepy,” said Tasha.

“You all find something?” asked Ben.

“We think we have a viable target,” said Tasha as she and Javier reversed course and rejoined the others in the room.

“Show me,” said Ben as they took him from the top of what they’d found and the actions they wanted to take. He studied the photos and data himself before reaching the same conclusion they had reached, but needed further information.

“I was going to get approval for additional recon flights,” said Tasha.

“Are we sure this isn’t another dry hole?” asked Ben. “This was maybe just a feeding area?”

“The data points to a Raptor den,” said Tasha as she allowed Jerome and Chuck to talk over the points of why they were more confident in this target than the last two areas that had promising leads. Upon completion, Ben found their intelligence was likely correct and they should proceed with a manned recon flight as a minimum.

“Approved,” said Ben. “How far out is this?”

“250 kilometers give or take,” said Tasha. “If this is the nest that’s been sending them against us, they’re going a bit out of their way to let us know we aren’t welcome.”

“Are we assuming this is the one?” asked Ben.

“No, we believe this is a nest, not necessarily the nest,” said Tasha. “Whether or not this is the specific one doesn’t matter. We can use this one to study and identify more down the road.”

“When are you looking at sending in a recon flight?” asked Ben.

“This evening if that’s okay,” said Javier. “High level sensor runs as not to spook them.”

“Let’s do it,” said Ben as the formal planning continued and he observed for the most part. He saw they were planning multiple manned and unmanned recon missions at different parts of the day in order to make sure they had all their bases covered before moving into the strike portion. Eventually all the details were worked out and Charity called in the crew that would fly the initial recon mission.

“How far and what kind of outload?” asked Lieutenant Sam “Redeye” Gonzalez as his WSO Lieutenant Monty “Waco” White looked over the plan.

“We’ll outfit you with a cannon pod and a missile pod for self defense, but you are to take no offensive actions,” said Charity. “We’re there to peek around, not to engage.”

“I assume we’ll have backup?” asked Waco.

“You assume correctly. I will be flying backup with Biscuit,” said Charity referring to one of the youngest pilots, Lieutenant Courtney “Biscuit” Rowe. The SIT pilot staff had cross trained into the individual roles of pilot and Weapon Systems Officer although some still had a steep learning curve. Rowe was one of the staff that was taking a bit longer to go from WSO to pilot, though she could handle most situations. However, Charity wanted to evaluate her on this mission to see where she might be lacking in her training and give pointers along the way. Additionally, her normal teammate pilot, Dylan “Yukon” Roy, was still on the injured list from spraining his ankle during the second Raptor attack.

“I’ve got two teams on standby that have been training in extraction missions,” said Tasha. “We’ll have them on the backup ship. I’ve also got a team on the gunship in case it goes down for some reason.”

“Good thinking,” said Ben. “Anything else?”

“Just mission briefing,” said Charity.

“I’ll sit through it if that’s okay,” said Ben.

“Can’t say no to the Commander,” said Charity as she got everyone seated and went through the briefing. It didn’t take long to go through everything and iron out the details. The meeting came to a close as Ben gathered the group in the aftermath.

“You guys have done great getting us this far,” said Ben. “If it turns out to be a significant colony of Raptors, I will call a meeting to discuss it with the leadership and move forward. But I want you to stress to your pilots they are not to engage. Period. I want this to come as a complete surprise to the Raptors.”

“I’ll be up there playing cowgirl and herding them,” said Charity.

“Otherwise, good briefing,” said Ben as they departed. He gravitated towards Tasha as they departed towards the dining hall for the lunch meal.

“Charity would have made a damn fine pilot in our unit,” said Tasha.

“Yeah, even though she was a commercial pilot, she has that eye for combat ops,” said Ben. “However, when it comes to combat finesse, she’s eclipsed by one in particular.”

“Yeah, I looked up Moody’s record as well,” said Tasha. “Impressive as hell.”

“If this works out, I’m thinking of assigning pilot staff permanently to the Security Directorate,” said Ben. “Maybe even moving the entire flight division over.”

“I would say that’s not a good idea,” said Tasha. “Not at the moment at least.”

“How come?” asked Ben.

“Because at the moment, the pilots are mainly making shuttle runs. Sure, we have gunships that are flying combat missions, but overall, the majority of the work is hauling cargo and people which is more or less a service support issue. Plus, Charity is cross training them on combat operations for those who haven’t flown the gunships before,” said Tasha.

“But you’d have more direct control over them,” said Ben.

“I would,” said Tasha. “But they’ve never declined support when we requested it. And honestly, Rachelle needs Charity to balance her out. Regardless, we could promote someone to squadron leader, probably Moody, but Charity already has the respect and attention of her pilot staff and the rest of SIT.”

“However, we have moved into combat operations,” said Ben.

“Of which we both know deployment and employment of said aerial assets. However, again, those are few and far between. I have been training many of my people as Tactical Air Controllers as well as Charity bringing in the pilot staff to train with us and they are melding great, so it’s not like we aren’t paying attention to the skill set,” said Tasha.

“I’ll give it some thought, but it’s still in the back of my mind,” said Ben.

“Maybe after Expedition 2 gets in or even one of the later ones when we have more pilots,” said Tasha. “Maybe then we can break them out into specialized areas. But for the moment, they need to be able to go from flying a gunship on a combat mission to flying a shuttle full of scientists to remote locations.”

“The combat mode is a different mindset,” said Ben.

“Of which most are reverting back to their military years or they are coming along nicely moving from commercial to combat pilot,” said Tasha. “Overall, the pilot staff can perform both missions and I trust them to have my back.”

“Normally a commander would be eager to have control over the aerial assets,” said Ben.

“Normally, we would need control over said aerial assets,” said Tasha. “However, in this place? We don’t need control over them except in certain tactical instances. We leave them under the SIT Team for the moment for Adcon and Opcon, but we gain limited Tacon during missions. Just like the Air and Space Force assets we used to have.”

“True,” said Ben knowing she was referring to Administrative Control, Operational Control and Tactical Control. However, since all the ground military assets were under one umbrella on Novae Spes, he still considered it potentially necessary to have all the military capable assets under one commander. A point he brought up.

“Yes, when we need combat assets, we need control of them,” said Tasha. “However, we also would be responsible for scheduling the flights, supporting teams in the field and the normal boring work of flying back and forth like a passenger liner. That’s just additional work we don’t need right now and it has worked well in SIT. Why mess up a good thing?”

“I’ll give it some thought,” said Ben as he saw Tasha was making a good case to let the situation continue as it had. Charity had taken the lead in the pilot section and done a good job of scheduling and training the pilot staff up on the new rules of being both a combat and transport pilot. He also knew Tasha had her hands full with normal security duties and scheduling and didn’t need to worry about another section at the moment since she was down yet more manpower after the recent Raptor attack. They arrived at the dining hall where lunch was being served and quickly grabbed whatever was available before sitting down and eating mindlessly.

“Deep thoughts?” asked Tasha who hated the silence.

“I’m about to declare war on an indigenous species that’s lived here for who knows how long,” said Ben with a sigh. “And I know that decision could lead to their extinction. I’m not sure how I feel about that.”

“They attacked us, remember?” asked Tasha.

“I think you said it best, if these things moved into our neighborhood, we’d fight back,” said Ben. “Is that what they are doing?”

“You think they can be reasoned with?” asked Tasha.

“I don’t know,” said Ben with another sigh. “If they are communicating, we probably have a duty to find out how and attempt to communicate back.”

“If they are even somewhat intelligent, perhaps the strike is a way of showing them we aren’t going to just turn the other cheek,” said Tasha. “Perhaps it gives them pause for thought about the situation as a whole and postpones the next attack they have planned. Maybe, just maybe, they see they are outmatched and adopt a live and let live policy.”

“But we won’t know that for certain,” said Ben. “Perhaps they will attack in force the next time instead of coming at us piecemeal.”

“We’ll defend ourselves,” said Tasha.

“And if there are thousands of them?” asked Ben. “Again, I worry about provoking them into an overwhelming attack we cannot counter.”

“So, what would you have us do?” asked Tasha. “Wait for the next attack? Destroy them piecemeal? We only have a limited amount of missiles to start with. Our carbines and light machine guns are iffy at best against them. We could pack it in and head for another location and start fresh out of range, but we still don’t know what that range is.”

“Overall, I think the course of action we are taking is best. Not because of the soldier mindset, but because I know it’s the right thing to do. To take the fight to them rather than wait for them to come to us. We are protecting our species right now and they started the fight with us by continuing to come after us. It’s the right decision,” said Tasha.

“I know,” said Ben. “As much as I said I would be happy causing the extinction of an existing species in order for us to survive, I still have issues with it.”

“You know what that makes you?” asked Tasha.

“What’s that?” asked Ben.

“Human,” said Tasha. “Look, you don’t have all the answers. We collectively don’t have all the answers. But I do know we need to protect ourselves in order to survive. Because, as you’re fond of saying, we are the last hope for humanity.”

“I know,” said Ben with another sigh. “Regardless, I was hoping for a fresh start here.”

“I think we do have a fresh start and you’re not acting like you normally would have,” said Tasha. “Back in the old days, you would have ordered recon and strikes as soon as the first attack came in. However, you hoped it might get better. Until it got personal by Kendrick getting hurt. Now? Now you’re ready for blood.”

“I am, but at what cost??” asked Ben.

“Remember when you told me I can’t second guess myself in front of the troops?” asked Tasha.

“This isn’t second guessing myself,” said Ben.

“No, well, yes, it is,” said Tasha. “I’m a trusted confidant of yours so it’s a little different. However, I know for a fact you know in your heart this is the right thing to do. But that brain of yours is getting in the way. What’s causing it?”

“Kurt told me we were upsetting the balance of the planet by taking the Raptors out of play,” said Ben. “Even the short time we’ve been here, we’ve already caused changes.”

“Which would have happened anyway,” said Tasha.

“I know,” said Ben. “But we are going out of our way to change it now.”

“And the alternative?” asked Tasha.

“We continue getting hit and have to stay behind the walls of the colony most of the time,” said Ben. “Which really isn’t an option.”

“So, we have to fight for our right to live,” said Tasha. “Which is what we’re doing.”

“I know,” said Ben.

“Stop thinking so deep into it,” said Tasha.

“Yeah, that’s going to happen,” said Ben with a laugh.

“Maybe you need something to take your mind off it,” said Tasha. “Like a hobby or a good woman or something.”

“Or something,” said Ben as they were joined by Mary who requested to sit down.

“By all means, please,” said Tasha. “We aren’t having a serious discussion.”

“I wondered why those items were specific,” said Ben as he looked at Tasha and got a grin in return. His own personal moment of crisis had passed as the conversation ducked into other areas to include the medical staff identifying the Novae Spes version of the common cold which had hit a couple of members.

“No ill effects though?” asked Ben.

“Sniffles, aches and pains,” said Mary. “Nothing worse than a cold on Earth.”

“Not like Jovian flu?” asked Tasha.

“Not anywhere near it,” said Mary. “Thankfully.”

“A couple of folks are down from it?” asked Ben.

“Limited duty with instructions for rest, liquids and chicken soup,” said Mary.

“Does chicken soup actually work?” asked Ben.

“No, but I’m not telling them that,” said Mary with a laugh. “However, it is the first virus specific to Novae Spes we’ve identified that’s infected a colonist.”

“There are more out there?” asked Ben.

“Hundreds if not thousands probably,” said Mary. “Luckily, you have a talented medical staff which can identify such threats in advance and take care of them.”

“That we do,” said Ben. “And I have yet to thank each and every one of them for the bang up job they’ve done with the incoming casualties. There’s a lot of people that would have died had it not been for you and your staff.”

“You also have a bunch of resilient people out here that are determined to live,” said Mary.

“I was just telling the Commander most of us out here will do whatever it takes to survive,” said Tasha. “Especially in light of the attacks we’ve had.”

“I abhor violence as a doctor, but I know it has its place,” said Mary. “But I’m all about visiting some violence on that species if they continue attacking.”

“Including wiping them out?” asked Tasha.

“If that’s what it takes for us to survive, so be it,” said Mary. “Pardon my ‘top of the food chain’ comments, but there comes a time when we have to do what we have to do.”

“Well said,” said Tasha as she looked at Ben.

“Did I say something wrong?” asked Mary.

“Nothing at all,” said Ben. “Tasha’s just being Tasha.”

“That covers a lot of ground,” laughed Mary.

“I’m not sure if I should be insulted right now,” laughed Tasha as she saw Ben’s moment of crisis had passed and he knew his path forward. Furthermore, it would be the path forward for the rest of the colony which needed to happen. The trio finished their lunch and departed their separate ways as Ben got caught up with various administrative tasks that afternoon and waited for the flight to set off that evening. Eventually, he found it was close to dinner time and headed to the mess hall once again and found the pilots that were flying the mission along with Charity eating and joined them. The pilot staff was mainly young and brash like most pilots were at that age, but entirely confident in their ability to fly what seemed like an easy mission to detect a threat against the colony.

Eventually, dinner concluded for them and they headed in for a final mission briefing which was joined by the other parties that would be involved to include Javier, Angeline, Jim Kirk and Chuck as well as Tasha and the security teams that would accompany the gunships into the area. Charity ran the briefing from the top and Ben was impressed with the professionalism of the pilots who asked good questions about the situation as a whole. Charity finished off the briefing with a small pep talk of her own.

“Overall, we’re just there to peek around and not engage. There will be plenty of opportunities later on for us to get some individually, but we need this data in order to identify new nests and we don’t want surprise to be lost before we strike. Stay at high level and just get the data back. The residents here are counting on you guys to get the information they need to survive,” she stated and turned to the support crew. “Same goes for you in case of trouble. We will go in and rescue our comrades in arms and bring them as well as the data back. Nothing more than making sure they’re alive at the end in order to fight another day. Any questions?”

The teams heading out didn’t have any and Charity turned it over to Ben for final comments.

“I’d like to echo what Charity said as well as thanking each of you personally for this. The information you will obtain on this mission will help us come up with the best ways of defeating the largest threat we’ve faced since being here. Not only that, but your mission will be saving lives in the long run. It’s that kind of important. We’ll be able to plan and kick these things right in the ass when we get done and take the fight to them for a change. I know everyone wants to fight and avenge our lost and we will have our opportunity to do so. But at the moment, we must identify the environment we will fight in,” said Ben. “Come back safe.”

The pilots headed out and started pre-flighting the two gunships they would be using as the Security Forces started gathering the items they would take. Each person was equipped with a three day pack capable of sustaining them in case both ships went down even though there was a remote chance of that happening. Eventually, everything was loaded and the crews prepared to depart. Charity and the other pilots turned to Ben for the final approval.

“Go,” he said simply as they headed into their various ships and started engines. He stood near the landing pad as the ships launched and headed inside where the Science and SIT teams were setting up a real time data link and screens to show the progress of the mission.

“Worst part right now,” said Ben.

“Waiting? It always is,” said Tasha as the monitors started coming on one at a time and other security members joined the group. They were the ones trained in intelligence and information analysis and found convenient seating near the screens as they came to life one at a time and waited for the inputs from the various platforms being carried by the gunship. The ships were calling in progress reports even though it wasn’t that far figuratively speaking and were keeping their speed below the speed of sound as they headed north.

“Go ahead and get your gadgets warmed up, Waco,” said Charity over the comm.

“Roger,” said Monty White as he powered up the various pods attached to the exterior of the gunship and the links started downloading through the satellite feeds to the colony. All the pods were in perfect working order as Charity called in the next important portion.

“IP,” she stated simply over the comm, indicating they had reached the Initial Point of the recon. “Heading to Point Alpha for orbit.”

“Hope not to see you until we’re on the ground at the base,” said Redeye. “Beginning run.”

“Stay safe,” said Charity as she went to a higher altitude and orbited in a large circle around the target area. The gunship gained a slight bit of altitude as the sensor data indicated they were almost over the area they had identified as the Raptor nest. Gonzales put the ship in a low power state in order to mask some of the sound of the engines as they crossed over the target area.

“We’re getting good data,” said Captain Jerome Irwin as he looked over the data. “We have five…six…seven Raptors on the exterior at this time.”

The remainder of the group leaned in as if getting closer to the monitors would make the resolution any better. Chuck and Jerome both looked at the screen at the same time and saw something they needed a closer look at.

“What directions will the gunship be coming from?” asked Chuck.

“Cardinal compass points, though we can ask for additional vectors,” said Jerome. “You thinking that’s an entrance.”

“Two of them right outside,” said Chuck. “I’d say that’s the entrance to the den.”

“Concur,” said Jerome as the gunship completed its first pass and headed for a west to east run. Additional data came in and the computers started building a detailed 3D model of the terrain as Jerome went to work labeling the items they had found so far.

“Looks to be more of them,” said Chuck as he pointed at the screen.

“Yeah, at least two,” said Jerome. “We’re going to need an east-west run and a north-south run for certain to get a good stereo graphic. Maybe more.”

“Tinker, we’re going to need a reverse run on the two planned routes in,” said Larissa Moody who was acting as the air traffic controller for the mission. “Possibly more.”

“Redeye, any signs they notice you?” asked Charity.

“Negative, Tinker,” said Gonzales.

“Plan on two additional runs from north to south and east to west,” said Charity.

“Wilco,” said Gonzales as he lined up for the west to east run.

“Yeah, that’s two entrances,” said Jerome as he looked over the data and labeled them on the screen. “We caught a Raptor coming out.”

“Concur,” said Kirk. “Familial units maybe?”

“Possibly,” said Chuck.

“I’m sorry?” asked Jerome.

“Possibly the Raptors live by families in the dens,” said Kirk.

“We should increase the area if we aren’t detected,” suggested Jerome.

“You thinking there might be more nearby?” asked Kirk.

“It won’t hurt,” said Jerome. “The scanning path is fairly narrow and it would be best to take a look at other directions.”

“Good idea,” said Ben who had been quiet during the time.

“Tinker, request additional runs on southeast to northwest and reversed as well as northeast to southwest and reverse,” said Larissa.

“We don’t want to spook them,” said Charity.

“It’s a request from Novae Spes 1,” said Larissa.

“Roger,” said Charity. “Let’s get done with the other runs before that.”

“Concur,” said Ben as Larissa relayed the comm. The gunship made the two other passes and the area became even more detailed with eleven Raptors visible now.

“I wonder if they are a nocturnal hunter?” asked Kirk. “It seems like a lot of them coming out.”

“Or they realize they are being watched,” said Chuck.

“The gunships have a sound reduction mode they are in,” said Larissa. “There’s a chance of them being detected, but it’s remote.”

“We could use the data,” said Jerome. “If there are other nests nearby, we need to know.”

“We should take the risk,” said Ben. The scientists agreed it would be best to get more data on the area in particular and concurred as the gunship lined up for the additional runs. They managed to just start the third run before seeing a problem.

“Command, I think we might have been noticed,” said Waco. “They are gathering in the center and looking up.”

“Did we get the data we need?” asked Ben.

“We’ve got enough for a strike,” said Jerome.

“Cancel the last two runs and bring them home,” said Ben.

“Sneaky 1 and 2, Novae Spes 1 relays mission complete. Bring yourselves back to the barn,” said Larissa. “Acknowledge.”

“Redeye copies,” said Gonzales.

“Tinker copies,” said Charity. “Keep the cameras rolling until we get to the colony.”

“Roger,” said Waco from the gunship as they headed for higher altitude and joined up with the gunship which was just coming from the north. They headed on a straight line path to the colony as the troopers in the rear were relieved they didn’t have to perform the rescue mission they were training for that close to the home of the Raptors. They were about halfway home when the gunship called Charity without call signs.

“You getting our data?” asked Waco.

“Negative,” said Charity as she loaded the data onto the screens. She saw twelve large hotspots on the thermal camera and immediately switched to lowlight cameras.

“Command, are you getting this?” asked Charity.

“Roger that,” said Jerome. “Appears to be Raptors, but we need a closer look.”

“Redeye, bring it about and give us a low level run,” said Charity. “A hundred meters.”

“Roger,” said Gonzales as he turned the ship and descended towards the ground. He passed over the group of hotspots fairly slowly as the Raptors on the ground looked up at the sound providing a positive identification to the teams in the colony.

“A dozen Raptors about 115 kilometers from here,” said Jerome. “They are heading in this direction as well.”

“Walking or running?” asked Ben.

“Unknown, but they appear to be moving in this direction,” said Jerome as he ran back the footage and showed Ben they Raptors were indeed on the move and heading south.

“It’s doubtful they cover that distance in a single day,” said Ben.

“Regardless, we caught them with their hands in the cookie jar,” said Chuck.

“I’d like to deal with threats a good distance out if possible,” said Ben.

“I can work on that,” said Tasha. “Only a dozen of them?”

“That’s what it appears to be,” said Jerome.

“I will come up with a plan,” said Tasha. “I just need all the footage coming out.”

“There could be an opportunity here to capture one alive for study,” suggested Javier.

“You think it will willingly go along?” asked Ben.

“Well, after Tasha takes care of the other eleven, we could get a capture,” said Javier.

“Do you have a unit capable of capturing one?” asked Ben.

“Probably, though it depends greatly on the size,” said Javier. “Plus, we’ve been working on some possible tranquilizers.”

“Tasha?” asked Ben. “What are you thinking?”

“I’ll need to take a close look at the terrain leading up, but here’s what was on my mind,” said Tasha as she outlined the bare bones of the plan already forming in her head.

“Work out the details, but you are cleared to proceed,” said Ben as he liked what he heard.

“Permission to work with Tasha for a capture if it becomes possible?” asked Javier.

“Also approved,” said Ben. “Though containment will be worked out before bringing that thing in the colony.”

“We will,” said Javier as he moved over to Tasha.

“You know what I’m looking for?” she asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” said Jerome. “I’d suggest keeping a drone nearby to monitor them all the way.”

“Doctor Dawson?” she asked.

“We certainly can give you one for that purpose, Major Hayden,” said Chuck formally. “I’ll get one set up immediately.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” said Tasha with a nod. It was decided the gunships would orbit the area at a high altitude and continue to monitor the Raptors until the drone got to the location and took over. They were stopped at the moment since the two overflights by the gunship had given them something to think about. Eventually, the drone was launched and headed north at full speed, covering the distance quickly enough and went into a medium altitude surveillance mode as the Raptors had begin their march south once again.

“Sneaky 1 and 2 returning to base,” said Charity as they headed south.

“I want continuous coverage on those things,” said Ben. “I want a drone in place before the other comes home.”

“We’ll take care of it,” said Chuck as he and Jerome continued watching the footage from the gunship as it headed south.

“That looks perfect,” said Jerome as an area came into view on the screens about 40 kilometers north of the base.

“Perfect for what?” asked Chuck.

“An ambush,” said Tasha as she came over. “Upwards sloping terrain and wide open area with little or no cover until you hit the south woods here. That’s our Bastogne.”

“Maybe a different historical reference?” asked Jerome. “Waterloo?”

“Whatever works, it’s a good spot for my plan,” said Tasha. “How long until they hit that location?”

“We’re going to need better data before giving you an estimate,” said Jerome. “They are moving a little slower than they did before. Probably because of the overflight.”

“Regardless, we think they’re moving towards us?” asked Ben.

“It’s not exactly a direct line, but close enough,” said Jerome.

“Tasha?” asked Ben.

“I’ve got a plan forming in my head,” said Tasha as she briefly explained.

“Risky,” said Ben.

“But worth the reward if we can pull it off,” said Tasha.

“You going in with air support?” asked Ben.

“I was thinking an attack in conjunction with,” said Tasha as she explained further.

“Depending on the speed, you’ll have to act quickly,” said Ben.

“This is the direction we want to move?” asked Tasha.

“I’ll call an emergency meeting tonight,” said Ben. “But I think after the last attack you aren’t going to have anyone objecting.”

“I’ll wait for the call,” said Tasha as she saw Ben fiddling with his communicator and sending out the meeting request. The flight crews from the recon mission were just landing as Charity checked her communicator as she stepped off the gunship. It didn’t take long for everyone to agree to meet and those in the command center gravitated towards Ben. It didn’t take long for the other section heads to appear as Ben motioned towards the conference room. They all entered and Ben closed the door to start the meeting.

 

CHAPTER 9



“Security and Science have identified two opportunities to kill Raptors well away from the colony,” said Ben as he started the leadership meeting without any pleasantries. “One is a dozen of them on the march towards the colony here that we located a little over a hundred kilometers away. The other appears to be a nest of them around 250 kilometers away. We are here to discuss this as a whole and whether we want to proceed with both strikes.”

“I’m all about destroying them before they hit us,” said Kurt. “Hell, I’ll even volunteer to go out if needs be.”

“We’re going to hit the one coming at us as far away as possible,” said Ben. “We’re here to discuss the other one.”

“What is there to discuss?” asked Grady. “Hit the damn things.”

“It’s not that simple,” said Ben.

“Basically, it’s the home of the Raptors,” said Javier.

“And?” asked Grady.

“And that means we’ll get others in the line of fire,” said Javier. “The young and babies even.”

“Look, we haven’t gone out of our way to provoke them save landing on this planet,” said Grady. “We never found any evidence we plopped our asses down on their grounds, right?”

“Not that we could tell, no,” said Javier.

“Children grow up and learn from adults,” said Angeline. “I know it’s distasteful, but we are looking at the long term security of the colony here.”

“But it could provoke them further,” said Kurt as he changed his position from the bravado he showed only moments earlier. “If they killed one of our children, we’d all be on the warpath heading north.”

“They probably wouldn’t hesitate to kill our children,” said Tasha.

“Which is why we are going to discuss this rationally and reach a decision tonight,” said Ben. “We have a limited window on this and need to start planning tonight if we’re going to pull this off before they arrive.”

The discussion was lively as the leadership all agreed the dozen they found heading south would be hit, but they hit snags when discussing hitting the nest of them.

“Look, it ain’t about the children, but it is about the children,” said Kurt. “Morality aside, such things could hurt us more significantly in the long run if we go in and start killing their progeny. Who knows if this is the only nest of those things? If they have others and even potentially allies, they could march on us in force.”

“We’ve had our hands full defending against up to ten of them,” said Mary. “Can we defend against 50? 100? More?”

“The walls have kept them out so far,” said Tasha. “But Mary does have a good point. If they attack us in force, we’ll need everyone capable of bearing arms to fight them off especially if they attack us from multiple directions.”

“How much advance time would we have?” asked Charity.

“Depends on a lot of factors,” said Javier. “This is the only known nest at the moment. There very well could be more of them we are unaware of. Or even larger ones.”

“How many are in this nest?” asked Cyrus.

“We don’t know,” said Ben. “We’re still working to collect that data.”

“I think it would feel good to hit them at their front door for a change,” said Mary, taking an unusually aggressive approach.

“Any other opinions or objections?” asked Ben.

“Again, hitting the baby Raptors and children might not be the best idea,” said Rachelle. “But it’s far better than waiting for them to attack us again. We’ve turned the other cheek too long.”

“I think it’s dangerous either way,” said Kurt who seemed like the most vocal opponent of hitting the nest. “Regardless, it’s something we haven’t tried yet, so might as well.”

“Allen? You’ve been suspiciously quiet,” said Ben.

“How long before we can do the strike?” he asked simply.

“Charity?” asked Ben.

“Depends on the factors as well as the coordination with Tasha,” said Charity.

“Factors?” asked Ben.

“On how overwhelming you want it to be,” said Charity.

“We are a go for a first strike against the Raptor nest we found?” said Ben as he felt the group had reached the agreement to put the “live and let live” policy to the side for the moment. He looked at everyone in the room and each gave him a nod of approval. However, he saved Kurt for the last since he had led the opposition.

“Kurt? I don’t want division in our ranks about this,” said Ben.

“You’ve got a majority vote,” said Kurt.

“I do,” said Ben. “But at the same time, I don’t want you thinking you have to go along with it silently and be unhappy about it.”

“I mean, if they are as intelligent as we believe them to be, we probably should end up trying to learn how to communicate with them,” said Kurt. “But on the same token, they haven’t exactly gone out of their way to do that for us. If this strike and capture are successful, we have the opportunity to learn from them and possibly even learn to communicate. I’d a conditional go only from the aspect we have that opportunity even if we are striking at their children as a byproduct of that strike.”

“We do have a duty to learn,” said Ben. “We also have a duty to stand up to them. They’ve hit us several times at home and perhaps, as you stated, if they are intelligent, they’ll recognize the fact we have that capability too and back off.”

“I’m just hoping we don’t start a war against a species we know so little about,” said Kurt.

“We’re already at war,” said Ben. “We need intelligence to tell them that.”

“Again, I’m a conditional yes,” said Kurt. “But only if we continue the path of trying to figure out a way of telling them we both can coexist here.”

“I agree with that,” said Tasha even though the conversation was between Ben and Kurt.

“As do I,” said Grady. “We’ve all lost someone so far and will continue to lose people if we don’t act by striking out. The walls keep us safe, but for how long? We should be more offensive in our methods instead of thinking passive defenses will save us.”

“Well, my work area is outside the walls, so I’m all about stopping them further out,” said Kurt.

“Okay, we proceed with the two strikes and revisit the conversation after we’ve captured and studied one of them,” said Ben. “Charity? You’re in charge of the assets for one of them.”

“I’ve been thinking about it for a while and have a semblance of a plan in my head,” she replied.

“I’d say two gunships with full weapons loading and your best pilots in the cockpit,” said Ben. “But I’ll leave the details on that up to you.”

“Well, one will be me,” said Charity.

“No, they will be your two best pilots and not a section head,” said Ben. “I know you’re capable and have the trigger time against them, but I need someone back making the hard decisions on the next strike and the strike after that.”

“I’ve got the experience and know the tactics,” said Charity as she looked for an ally in Allen. However, he subtly shook his head and his eyes told her not to push the matter.

“I know you do and I’m grateful you are willing to step up,” said Ben. “But we need all pilots to get some seasoning in combat time and this seems like a good opportunity.”

“Yes, sir,” said Charity as she started thinking of which pilots and weapons officers to send.

“Any final objections?” asked Ben as nobody answered and a consensus was formed. “We’ve had four attacks and one attack likely being attempted against the colony since we’ve been here and I see no other alternative.”

“We’ve been too passive as Grady stated,” said Mary, surprising them all. “I think we’re all in agreement active measures need to be taken at this point.”

“Any further questions?” asked Ben. “I’d like to see details on the strike by tomorrow morning.”

“We’ll need a final recon flight,” said Charity. “To help firm up the targeting packets.”

“Approved,” said Ben. “Tasha? I want a rescue team ready to pick up any downed crewmen if for some reason one of the gunships goes down.”

“Already on my mind,” said Tasha. “I’ll get with Charity on the details.”

“We’ve got work to do,” said Ben as the meeting broke up. Rachelle naturally gravitated towards Charity, feeling quite out of her depth right then.

“Hey, sis,” said Rachelle.

“I hope I wasn’t overstepping my bounds,” said Charity as an apology.

“Not at all,” said Rachelle. “I really have no clue about the military side of things. But I’m really glad to have you around to help me through it.”

“It’s something I should have taught you,” said Charity.

“It’s something I’ve avoided for the most part,” said Rachelle. “I respect each and every person who’s ever worn a uniform, but it’s just not me.”

“You might be in that position one day,” said Charity. “Especially if things keep going the way they are going.”

“I know,” said Rachelle with a sigh. “Let’s gather the pilot staff. I take it you have an idea of who to send?”

“Yeah, I think I do,” said Charity as she sent out the alert for all flight crews to meet at the SIT headquarters. Charity and Rachelle arrived just as the final Weapon Systems Officer was walking in and taking a seat. Charity went to the front of the table as Rachelle took a seat to the side and watched as Charity quickly took control.

“Commander Nash has approved a first strike against the Raptor nest we found to the north,” said Charity. “We’re here to plan that strike.”

“About time,” said Captain Ryan Kingston with agreement from his counterparts.

“Two gunships fully loaded will be sent on a mission to hit every Raptor they can find,” said Charity as she looked around the room. “And I do mean every Raptor.”

“They eventually grow up,” said Lieutenant Sonya “Pyro” Griffith as she understood the implications of what they might find. “We understand.”

“Piloting Gunship 1 will be Captain Larissa Moody,” said Charity. “With Captain Brad Henley as her Wizzo.”

“Got it,” said Larissa as she nodded to Henley.

“Gunship 2 will be Lieutenant Sam Gonzales with Lieutenant Monty White as his Wizzo,” said Charity. “We’re going to have another two recon flights. First, a nighttime flight which will be piloted by Lieutenant Sonya Griffith with Lieutenant Nancy Owens and a daytime flight which will be piloted by Moody and Henley. We’ll finalize the departures tomorrow morning after we get approval from Commander Nash.”

“Let’s go ahead and start a preliminary planning session on what we know,” said Charity as she saw Ryan making a beeline towards her. She stepped away from the group that already started looking over the terrain and photos of the area.

“No offense to my fellow pilots, but why am I not being included on this mission?” asked Ryan Kingston very bluntly.

“Because I picked the crews which I felt were best for this mission,” said Charity.

“There’s only three of us that have flown against them with actual combat time,” said Ryan. “You, Runt and me. You aren’t going, but you have a brand new crew going out?”

“Because everyone needs to be capable of going up against them,” said Charity.

“However, this is a mission which needs experience,” said Ryan. “Again, no offense to the rest of the pilots, but you damn well know I’ve already flown against them and come out winning.”

“You have,” said Charity.

“Look, Runt is a great stick and a great choice and Cajun is a great Wizzo for her,” said Ryan referring to Larissa Moody and Brad Henley by their call signs. “But let me fly Number 2 on her wing in case something goes wrong.”

“Everyone needs the chance to go up against them,” said Charity.

“But right now, only three of us have,” said Ryan. “And guess what? We kicked those things in their ass.”

Charity looked him over and saw nothing short of raw confidence coming from his stance. She also knew such a mission did beg for experience even with it being a somewhat easy “milk run” which shouldn’t encounter any issues. She made a snap decision to replace the second crew with Ryan and his Weapon Systems Officer on the second ship.

“Change of plans,” said Charity. “Prancer will be flying Number 2 with Gopher as his Wizzo.”

“Oh, thanks, Prancer,” said Lieutenant Sam Gonzales sarcastically. “Asshole.”

“Hey, I know what we’re going up against out there and know you need some experience flying this mission,” said Ryan irately. “This isn’t the kind of mission you send out a bunch of rookies hoping for the best.”

“Yeah, because some of us obviously can’t hack combat on our rookie flight,” scoffed Larissa Moody with a roll of her eyes.

“I’m well aware of what you did on your first combat mission, sister,” said Ryan forcefully. “That’s why I’m perfectly happy flying with you for this one.”

“Oh really?” asked Larissa sarcastically.

“Yeah, because I know my ass is going to come home with you out there with me,” snapped Ryan. “You’re going to do everything you can to bring everyone back home and frankly you’re the best pilot in this outfit. I’m damn proud to fly on your wing as number 2.”

“Oh,” said Larissa and got quiet.

“Look, some of you must think I’m an egotistical bastard to lobby for this mission,” said Ryan angrily. “But I’ve been up against them; I know how they move, how they react and how fast they are. I want to kill those hateful bastards just as much as everyone else in here, but I’m using logic for a change in knowing you need some experience in fighting those things out there rather than sending out everyone for a participation trophy.”

“Now, other than your own ego and pride getting in the way of wanting this mission, anyone else got a valid reason for me not going and making that request to Tinker?” asked Ryan with a frown and a touch of anger in his voice. The entire group of pilots got quiet as Rachelle and Charity were quite stunned at the situation since Ryan seemed fairly easy going most of the time. But he was seriously worked up over this mission in particular.

“Anyone else have any discussion on the crew assignments?” asked Charity after a moment of uncomfortable silence. Ryan and his WSO joined the group as they didn’t say anything to him and joined in helping the planning of the strike. The pilots studied the ingress and egress routes along with the area around the Raptor nest as Larissa came up with her ideas on the strike.

“I’m thinking time on target flight profile from the east and the south,” said Larissa. “I’ll come in from the south and you come in from the east.”

“I had another idea,” said Ryan as he pointed at the photography. “Early morning since our thermals will be at their best. I come in low over the nest and give them a good look and move to the north and hover just out of reach. You sneak in from the east and start blasting them as they come out to figure out why the asshole is hovering just outside their nest.”

“How close are you talking about hovering?” asked Charity.

“Ten meters maybe?” said Ryan.

“Too close,” said Charity. “We already know they can leap pretty high.”

“Make it twenty then,” said Ryan. “I want their attention and to make them think I’m easy prey. Runt sneaks in and starts blasting them before they can figure out what’s hitting them.”

“I’ve got another idea on that,” said Larissa. “I like the idea of him playing the bait, but I was thinking a Specter maneuver might work pretty well.”

“Can we outfit the gunships for that?” asked Charity.

“We’ve got two firing ports in each side,” said Larissa. “Put two of the .50 cal miniguns and we use the plasma cannon that can be trained to the side. Don’t we have the gun pods that are trainable as well?”

“We do,” said Ryan as he thought about it. “Yeah, I like that.”

“As soon as I start hitting them, you open fire as well,” said Larissa.

“I don’t want you that close to the ground without rear security,” said Charity.

“Well, let’s put in some door gunners,” said Ryan. “We’ve got plenty of miniguns to go around and they can warn us of incoming threats.”

“Three of the 6.5s?” asked Charity.

“Why not?” asked Larissa. “They’re there more for protection rather than engagement. Give Prancer the full missile load as well a centerline 30 mil pod. Give me two of the trainable 30 mil pods for the left wing along with the two miniguns on the port side and the missiles on the right wing. A trainable centerline plasma cannon and I’m set.”

“I start picking off what she can’t get by making passes on the exterior,” said Ryan.

“You know what would be perfect for this mission?” asked Larissa.

“Yeah, it would, but we aren’t getting any A-110s anytime soon,” said Charity referring to the anti-armor aircraft specifically designed around its central gun system. A worthy successor to the vaunted A-10 of the 20th and 21st centuries, it had been flying in various Air Forces for over 60 years and still was considered the best at the mission it performed through various upgrades to the craft.

“Pity,” said Larissa. “Anyway, I think we have a workable plan here.”

“I agree,” said Ryan. “After Runt gets done with her angel of death routine, she can hit the stragglers with her missiles.”

“Push forward with it,” said Charity as she allowed her pilot staff to work out the details. Eventually, they worked out the minor details and had as many questions answered that could come up. Tasha came into the room at the end and started planning the rescue teams that would orbit just outside the strike zone, but be ready to pick up the pilots and crew in case of trouble. She was brought up to speed on the plan and gave an evil grin as they got into the details.

“Wish I had a couple of pilots like you guys when we went into Iran,” said Tasha.

“I’ve got some good kids working for me,” said Charity with pride. “Okay guys, anything else?”

“Nope, I think we’ve covered everything,” said Larissa. “We’ll write it up for you to brief the old man about.”

“Your mission, your briefing,” said Charity. “Get prepped for it.”

“We’ll make you proud,” said Larissa.

“Thank you,” said Charity as she motioned for Ryan to come over away from the group and speak privately for a moment.

“You got a little passionate,” she stated. “That wasn’t ego talking.”

“No, it was not,” said Ryan with a sigh. “And yes, Redeye and Waco would have been perfectly fine flying this mission. But this was something I needed to do.”

“Care to explain why?” asked Charity.

“It’s personal,” said Ryan.

“I don’t want you going out there trying to settle a score,” said Charity. “It clouds the mind.”

“Between us?” asked Ryan.

“If you want it to be,” said Charity.

“Remember the security trooper that was killed in the first attack? Katy Church?” asked Ryan.

“Of course,” said Charity.

“We’d been kind of seeing each other,” said Ryan. “I know I’ve got a bit of a reputation for bouncing from girl to girl, but she was different. She wasn’t having that and made me focus on her. Something I was glad to do. She wasn’t as quiet as people thought and was quickly making me into a one woman guy for certain.”

“You never said anything,” said Charity.

“We wanted to keep our relationship private for the moment,” said Ryan with a sigh. “It was just too early in the mission to be getting serious about anyone we thought. She was a beautiful woman inside and out that just balanced me perfectly and she was stolen from us all.”

“So, it’s revenge,” said Charity with a sigh. “I’m not sure that’s the best idea either.”

“I need to extract my pound of flesh for her death,” said Ryan. “I’ll be cool, calm and collected on the mission. But I want a shot at making them pay for killing a woman I was beginning to fall in love with.”

Charity let out another sigh as she looked at him. However, he helped plan a good mission and his suggestions to the overall plan improved it rather than taking away. She reluctantly agreed to his continued participation although she wasn’t entirely comfortable with it. He headed back to the table to discuss the finer points of the mission and prepare the briefing to give to Ben when they had everything settled. Eventually, everything was finalized and Charity made an appointment first thing in the morning with Ben to go over the plan.

“And your strike?” asked Charity.

“Here’s what I’m thinking,” said Tasha as she went over the recon photos. “You hit the nest, we hit the ones on the move. A gunship as backup, but this will primarily be a ground fight.”

“You’re taking a huge risk keeping them on the ground that long,” said Charity. “There are other threats out there.”

“Which we can deal with,” said Tasha. “If we plan this right, we kill eleven of them and capture one for Javier and his scientists to poke at.”

“The whole thing is risky,” said Charity. “But I do understand the need for us to study a live one.”

“I’m not taking any chances with that,” said Tasha. “Anyway, who’s our gunship support?”

“I’m thinking the crew I pissed off,” said Charity.

“Oh?” asked Tasha as Charity briefly explained.

“So, it’s kind of the consolation prize,” said Charity. “Especially since Ben won’t let me fly.”

“Ryan lobbied hard for the mission?” asked Tasha.

“He has personal reasons,” said Charity.

“I mean, he’s a decent pilot from all accounts and ended up doing a decent job on the second attack,” said Tasha. “And Larissa is top notch.”

“Yeah, I think they are the two best crews,” said Charity. “And truth be told, Redeye and Waco will be perfectly fine for you. It’s the others that need just a bit more training.”

“I think we all could use some extra training when dealing with those things,” said Tasha.

“Truth,” said Charity. “Anything else?”

“No, I’ll let you know the times and requirements for my mission,” said Tasha.

“Ben is going to let you go?” asked Charity.

“I don’t know and I haven’t asked him,” said Tasha. “Forgiveness rather than permission kind of thing since I’ll spring it on him last minute.”

“He’ll be pissed,” said Charity.

“Nah, deep down, I’m like the daughter he never wanted so he can’t stay mad,” laughed Tasha. “Anyway, I’ll let you know as soon as I have everything worked out.”

“Okay, catch up with you later,” said Charity as Tasha headed back to her compound where many of her team leaders were looking over the data they received and planning individually while waiting on Tasha to appear. She strolled over to the 3D image of the grounds they had selected and saw nothing had been put down.

“Nobody has any ideas?” she asked.

“We were more or less waiting for you,” said Captain Kendra Moore. “We’ve all got some ideas, but didn’t want to start bickering unless Mom was around to keep the kids in line.”

“Right,” said Tasha. “Tell you what, let’s go around the room and talk this through. We don’t have much time to plan and prepare, but we’ve got enough to make this work.”

Tasha went through each of her team leaders asking for their suggestions which mainly focused on a linear ambush of the Raptors as they entered the large grassy area though a few had some different ideas on how it went down. Tasha saw a decent plan developing at the moment as she reached the last team leader and started putting her forces into play on the 3D image.

“Now, we have a backup gunship, but I’m thinking we need to take this entirely on the ground. We’re the baddest bastards and bitches in the entire galaxy and we don’t need any air support for something we should be able to do in our sleep. However, I did have this idea,” stated Tasha as she outlined the wrinkles in her plan.

“I like that,” said Anton.

“Yeah, it certainly works for the overall plan,” said Randy Whitaker.

“What you’re going to need is some old style cavalry for those flanks,” said a voice to their rear. The group turned and found Kendrick had entered the room quietly and was watching the planning before deciding to enter his comments. The gathered leaders applauded his return even though he was still supposed to be on house rest for another week.

“Does Gale know you’re here?” asked Tasha.

“She does not,” said Kendrick. “Our little secret, okay?”

“She’ll kill the both of us if she knows you’re up and about,” said Tasha.

“My body is healing, not my mind,” said Kendrick. “I can still help plan.”

“Roger that,” said Tasha. “And your idea?”

“Cavalry was used to help secure and attack flanks in the old days as well as being used as a counterattack force if and when it was needed,” said Kendrick. “My idea was to have some mounted units ready to move into the flanks if and when you need that force.”

“Show me,” said Tasha as Kendrick moved several pieces on the planning board and added a couple more. Tasha saw his mind was in perfect shape and his suggestion helped secure the force if they ran into trouble.

“That certainly works,” said Tasha. “Opposition?”

“You are not going to get any from us,” said Anton. “I might even suggest taking the alert fire teams off the gunship and putting them into that role.”

“Mounted means they get around easier,” said Captain Jerome Irwin. “And have the ability to pick up any stragglers or wounded if we have it.”

“That’s a good distance back to the colony if we had to move on foot for some reason,” said Noah Taylor. “It’d be nice to have some wheels for part of that.”

“Is there a route back home?” asked Samantha Whitaker. “Especially with the river?”

“We’re about to find out,” said Tasha as she saved the file they were working on and gathered the images and maps for the area around the colony. They eventually found a path back to the colony as well as a place to ford the river even though it added another 30 kilometers to the trip.

“It’s going to require a bit of coordination to get there at relatively the same time,” said Kendrick. “But overall, I think it’s best to have those mobile assets.”

“Absolutely,” said Tasha. “Okay, I’m going to start picking teams for the individual missions. We’re going to need the four best for the LP/OP duty which will be highly dangerous. If anyone wants to opt out of that job, let me know in advance.”

Tasha headed out as the remainder of the team leaders studied the overall plan and started picking teams in her head for the mission. As she reached the back of the conference room, she found Ben had snuck in at some point and had observed the planning.

“How long have you been here?” she asked.

“Since just after the start,” said Ben. “You need better lighting in here.”

“Let me guess, you’re about to turn me off for the mission,” said Tasha.

“Nope,” said Ben.

“I was expecting more of an argument,” said Tasha.

“How often have I sent you into dangerous situations in the past?” he asked.

“Plenty, though this one is different,” said Tasha.

“Specifically, how?” he asked.

“Well, we’re way out beyond the perimeter and I know you canned Charity from her strike mission because you wanted to keep the leadership back,” said Tasha.

“The reason I canned Charity was because I need that leadership she provides to help you plan for this one,” said Ben. “She would have been all kinds of wrapped up in planning that individual strike and wouldn’t have been able to focus on helping you. Your individual mission does need leadership and someone to think on their feet. I think you’re best for that.”

“Oh, okay,” said Tasha.

“Having said that to say this, you do need to stay safe out there and leave leading the charge into the machine gun nest to the younger cats,” said Ben.

“If motivation and leadership is required, I have to set the example,” said Tasha.

“That’s one thing,” said Ben. “However, if you get into a position where you have to make tough choices like sending out a decoy team, you will sit your ass back and let others take that on. That item is non-negotiable.”

“Yes, sir,” said Tasha. “Otherwise?”

“I think it’s a great plan,” said Ben. “I do like Kendrick’s idea of the cavalry.”

“He would have fit right in with those old cavalrymen on horseback,” said Tasha.

“However, let’s not make this your Little Bighorn,” said Ben.

“Nope, we do our thing and kill each of them, save one for study and let Javier and… his science team poke and prod at it,” said Tasha.

“You were about to call them nerds, weren’t you?” asked Ben.

“No, I was actually about to mention Chuck,” said Tasha.

“Any movement on that front?” asked Ben.

“No,” said Tasha. “But it will be out of my mind during the mission.”

“When you get back, I’m going to lock you both in a container and wait for either one of you to come out or you request a marriage certificate,” said Ben with a chuckle.

“Has medical been alerted to the carnage that would happen?” asked Tasha with a grin.

“Anyway, the science team wants to send a representative,” said Ben. “I approved it.”

“That changes planning,” said Tasha.

“You thought you were going with only security?” asked Ben.

“I’d planned on it,” said Tasha.

“Add the person into your plan,” said Ben.

“Is Marci going?” asked Tasha.

“Don’t know, but since zoology isn’t her primary field, I doubt it,” said Ben.

“Bummer,” said Tasha. “I could have used a decoy to stand in the middle of that field.”

“Uh huh,” said Ben.

“Anyway, let me go add that wrinkle into the planning,” said Tasha. “Anything else?”

“Nope, just the full brief when you get done with it,” said Ben. “And get Kendrick home before Gale finds out he’s missing and comes after all of us.”

“Absolutely,” said Tasha as she returned to her planning meeting and gave them the new info and worked to plan around it. Ben headed back to the command center where it seemed quiet in the immediate surroundings of the colony, but they all knew danger lurked outside the walls as well as the danger coming their way. The sensor operators as well as the posted sentries in the towers continued their vigil watching over their charges as the teams worked well into the night planning the missions to help put a stop to the attacks at least temporarily.

 

CHAPTER 10



“Good briefing,” said Ben as the pilots and security had finished discussing their plans for the incoming Raptors as well as the strike on their nest. He had asked questions throughout the briefing and found each group utterly prepared for the individual missions. “I do have some questions about the nest.”

“Yes, sir?” asked Jerome Irwin.

“Have you identified any features that would be useful in locating any other Raptor nests?” asked Ben. “Specifically, if we have to do this again?”

“Actually, we believe we’ve got some identifying markers that will help us locate them,” said Jerome. “We also cross loaded the data to the SIT Team and they are coming up with a program to identify the possible locations by scanning the data we’re imputing after the recon missions.”

“How long on that?” asked Ben.

“I don’t know, sir,” said Jerome. “The programming aspect might take some time.”

“However, you can eyeball it and find them?” asked Ben.

“It’ll take a lot longer, but yes, we can,” said Jerome.

“Major Hayden? You mind putting a team on that to help?” asked Ben.

“I can work on that,” said Tasha with a nod.

“Timeline?” asked Ben.

“We’re evaluating data, but the ground forces will need to move quickly in order to get everything set up,” said Tasha. “We’ve identified routes in we can take the vehicles including places to ford the river.”

“You planning an overnight trip?” asked Ben.

“Not if we can avoid it,” said Tasha. “Out and back if the projections hold on their ground speed. We should catch them in the early afternoon.”

“I did miss something in your briefing,” said Ben.

“Which was?” asked Tasha.

“Protection for the Science team going with you,” said Ben.

“Team?” asked Tasha. “You mentioned a representative.”

“Representative as in group of three,” said Ben.

“I didn’t realize they were sending more than one,” said Tasha.

“Who else is going to try to capture the creature?” asked Ben.

“They could train my guys to do it,” said Tasha.

“Javier requested, and I approved, a team of three to go with you and assist in the capture,” said Ben. “So, that team needs to be included in your planning.”

“Great, I get to babysit not one, but three scientists while trying to conduct a combat operation,” said Tasha with a sigh. “Who did Javier request?”

“Himself, Jim Kirk and Chuck Dawson,” said Ben.

“Chuck is going?” asked Tasha.

“That should be a good enough reason for you to secure them,” said Ben.

“If I don’t plant him in the middle of the field as bait,” said Tasha with a scoff.

“I doubt you’d do that to a friend,” said Ben. “Even one you’re on the outs with at the moment.”

“They are all armed,” said Tasha as a condition and ignoring the comment.

“Even Kirk agreed to a pulse electron rifle,” said Ben. “What other conditions are you going to apply before you work them into your plan?”

“Not a thing,” said Tasha with a sigh.

“We’ve done missions where we had to protect traditional non-combatants before,” said Ben.

“Different world, different rules,” said Tasha. “We could plan around the problems then and somewhat think like our adversaries. Raptors are too unpredictable and there’s just too much we don’t know about them to properly secure a non-combatant team.”

“I’ll give you that, but you are smart enough to be able to overthink the situation for them,” said Ben. “Be the protective mama bear out there and keep them alive.”

“I’ll do my best,” said Tasha.

“When are you looking at going?” he asked.

“Probably in the next two days if they keep their speed up,” said Tasha. “I will have to send out recon teams to make sure the river crossing areas work out.”

“You might want to get with the science team in case there are other threats out there,” he suggested. “The plains lions for example.”

“Good call,” said Tasha. “I’ll head over there now and give them the mama bear speech.”

“When this mission is successful, we will probably continue hitting them in their nests,” said Ben. “I’ll also resume the remaining off colony science missions on this continent when we determine the threat is negated or at least manageable.”

“Everyone will be happy about that,” said Tasha. “By your leave?”

“Let me know if you hit a snag,” said Ben as she departed and headed to the science compound. Heading inside, she found Javier, Chuck and Kirk working on a capture unit along with one of Grady’s top electronics experts.

“Hey guys,” she said as she walked up. “Is that the capture unit?”

“Yes,” said Javier. “Just finishing the settings.”

“You think it’ll hold?” she asked.

“Probably,” said Javier. “We’re also planning to shoot it with tranquilizers.”

“You found something that will work?” she asked.

“Theoretically,” said Chuck. “Based on the body chemistry and physiology, we ran as many simulations as we could, but we won’t know until we actually use it.”

“Theoretically?” she asked. “That doesn’t instill confidence.”

“Between the two, we have a high probability of capture,” said Kirk. “The tranquilizer will assist rather than be the primary method.”

“We aren’t moving that thing until it’s out cold,” said Tasha. “For certain we aren’t bringing it into the colony until I’m certain it’s not going to escape.”

“The containment field should work,” said Chuck.

“Should?” she asked.

“We’ve never tested it on something that large,” said Chuck and immediately regretted it.

“So, we have an unproved tranquilizer and a containment field that we aren’t sure will work,” said Tasha. “Ben knows this?”

“He is aware,” said Javier guardedly.

“You are going to bring this thing into our living areas without knowing for certain?” she asked.

“We had a thought about that,” said Javier as he outlined his plan.

“No,” she stated one he was complete.

“It may not be up to you,” said Chuck.

“If I know Ben like I know Ben, that’ll be his answer too,” said Tasha. “We aren’t crating that thing up and sending it to an unexplored island where it can get loose and hunt you guys at its leisure. The answer is here in the colony or not at all.”

“Grady should be able to fashion a cage for us,” said Kirk. “That’s the plan for here.”

“Look, the island, I don’t even know which one you picked but I know none of them have been explored yet, isn’t the best option. First off, does it have a good landing area? Second, can we get a gunship in to take that thing out if or when it gets loose? Third, I’ve got to dedicate at least 20 personnel and heavy weapons while you’re there, SIT will have to support a dedicated long term mission there, Engineering will have to build infrastructure, etcetera. I could go on, but you get the point.”

“We… didn’t think that far into it,” said Chuck. “It was just an idea.”

“If we had the facilities built already, I’d say go for it,” said Tasha. “But we have such a limited window here I’m not thinking it’s a good idea. Speaking of, you said the engineers are fashioning a cage for the in colony work?”

“We plan on using the tranquilizer and containment system until they get it up and running,” said Javier. “Cyrus assures me he can get it built in under six hours when we capture one.”

“Why not before?” asked Tasha.

“Because we aren’t sure of the size of the creature we want,” said Kirk. “If the Raptor’s too small and it could get a running start and bash its way through. If it’s too large for the cage, we have to start over.”

“Ben knows this?” she asked.

“He’s been apprised,” said Javier.

“And he bought off on it?” asked Tasha.

“He’s not comfortable, but we managed to sway his opinion,” said Javier.

“I’m not comfortable with this,” said Tasha.

“You already planned on having guards surround the thing every minute of the day,” said Javier.

“It’s still a huge risk,” said Tasha. “I’ll go with it for now, but I’m going to have to rethink the security arrangements until that thing gets in an unbreakable cage.”

“You came over for another reason though?” asked Javier.

“Yeah, I’m sending out recon teams to make sure the route we picked out will work,” said Tasha. “I’m just checking on other threats they might face.”

“Plains lions?” asked Chuck.

“That’s one,” said Tasha. “Along with whatever other nasty items we find.”

“The plains lions have eluded us for the most part,” said Chuck. “They aren’t shy, but it seems like they know we are a threat and have stayed out of sight while we’ve been out.”

“So, it’s safe from them?” asked Tasha.

“I’d be willing to bet they won’t attack one of your vehicles,” said Kirk. “Plus, the firepower you carry should be enough to bring one down easily.”

“Anything else?” she asked.

“Most carnivores we’ve found in the local area are small enough to be scared off easily,” said Chuck. “If you’re wondering about the dog-cat thing, they don’t inhabit this area.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask about that,” said Tasha.

“It appears they are in the coastal areas only,” said Chuck. “We’ve gotten plenty of pictures of them with the probe we left behind and we haven’t found signs of them here.”

“So, it’s safe to send out the recon team?” she asked.

“I would say so,” said Javier. “Would you like one of my team to go along?”

“If you think they could identify threats in advance, it’s not a bad idea,” said Tasha.

“Chuck?” asked Javier.

“Sure, I’ll go,” said Chuck.

“Not Chuck,” said Tasha. “I want him here advising the rest of us on the plan as well as where he and the rest of you will be during the capture mission.”

“I’m the head of the zoology section!” he protested.

“And also one of the few specialists on the Raptors,” said Tasha. “Along with being on the capture team. You don’t go. Period.”

“We’ll find someone to replace him,” said Javier interjecting as he saw Chuck was about to argue with her. “Jim? Could you do it?”

“I’ll need to get packed,” said Kirk. “But yes.”

“Yet another expert on the Raptors,” said Tasha with a frown. “Come on, guys.”

“You’re going to have to pick one of us three,” said Javier.

“Fine,” said Tasha with a sigh. “Doctor Kirk will be fine.”

“Thank you,” said Javier.

“Doctor Kirk, if you could meet us at my compound by 1500 please,” said Tasha. “I should have departure instructions in the next hour.”

“Anything else?” asked Javier.

“No, I think that’ll do it,” said Tasha. “We’re having a meeting at 1500 for last minute details on the capture mission. I’d like for your team of four to be there.”

“We only have three,” said Javier.

“Three primaries and whatever backup you decide on,” said Tasha. “I get this feeling you have a backup planned in case one off you can’t go.”

“We do,” said Javier. “They’ll be there.”

“Thank you,” said Tasha as she departed and headed straight for engineering where she had this feeling she was not going to like the answers she got. She managed to find both Grady and Cyrus in one of the conference rooms going over blueprints for one of the buildings.

“You guys got a minute?” she asked.

“Yeah, sure,” said Grady as he turned to her.

“I want to talk over the Raptor cage you guys have planned,” said Tasha.

“Ben already approved the plan,” said Grady. “He was here when we were going through it with Javier and his team.”

“I’ll bet he doesn’t know we’re going to be relying on a tranquilizer that’s only been used in computer simulations and a containment field that hasn’t been tested as well,” she stated.

“He’s… aware we plan on using both until we get the cage fashioned,” said Grady. “However, I don’t think Javier mentioned neither the tranquilizer nor the containment system have been tested on a live creature.”

“Yeah, that worries me,” said Tasha. “How long on the cage?”

“We can actually start work before you guys get back,” said Cyrus. “We just need the weight and dimensions before starting to work.”

“Which means?” she asked.

“Between four and six hours,” said Cyrus.

“That’s fairly fast,” said Tasha.

“I’ve got teams practicing on getting it fashioned quickly,” said Cyrus. “They’ll start before you even get back. Might even be done, I don’t know.”

“And it’ll hold?” asked Tasha. “Look, I’m worried about this thing getting loose and eating someone in the colony.”

“We’re overengineering it,” said Grady. “We know the risks.”

“Okay, just checking,” said Tasha. “Sorry for the intrusion.”

“No, I’d probably do the same thing,” said Cyrus. “You be careful out there.”

“Will do,” said Tasha as she headed back to the headquarters to voice her concerns to Ben. She found him leaving to visit the SIT section and walked with him towards their compound.

“I need to talk to you,” she stated as she approached.

“You having second thoughts?” he asked.

“More like concerns,” she stated and outlined her issues with the containment system as well as the tranquilizers the Science team was going to use. “I’d hope you see the dangers there.”

“I know Javier is overselling the capture unit as well as the tranquilizers. But I also know you are smart enough to see when it isn’t working and take appropriate action,” said Ben. “I have full confidence in your ability to determine when or if the situation is out of hand and take that creature down to keep your troops safe.”

“You have doubts as well?” she asked.

“No, but I allowed you to go on that mission for a single reason,” said Ben. “I want to make sure someone out there knows the proper time to blow that thing apart. Science will probably try all the way until that thing is chewing on them to capture one. I need someone level headed making a tough decision to prevent that from happening.”

“You want me to take it down if I feel it isn’t working?” she asked.

“I felt like you’d do that anyway,” said Ben.

“I hadn’t thought that far into it, but I will if the situation warrants it,” said Tasha. “I just wanted to make sure you were aware of my concerns.”

“I do these things for a reason,” he stated as they arrived at the SIT area. “Anything else?”

“No, just making sure you were aware things could fall apart,” she replied.

“As much as I’d like having one to study and determine what methods we could use that would work better for our defense, I tend to like having everyone around even more and put their safety ahead of research,” said Ben. “The first mission is the safety of everyone and stopping that threat before it reaches our front door. Second is capture.”

“I promise to bring everyone home alive,” she stated with resolve.

“Good, now go kick ass,” said Ben. Tasha departed feeling a lot better than she did before the meetings since she knew Ben had given her a green light to keep everyone safe instead of continuing to try for a capture when it could turn sideways. She was heading back to her compound when she was approached by Chuck carrying the capture unit launcher.

“Tasha?” he asked.

“Sir?” she replied.

“You got formal,” he chuckled.

“Sorry, my mind was elsewhere,” she stated with a brief smile. “What can I help you with?”

“I’m going to be practicing with this thing and I was hoping maybe you had someone available to give me some pointers on my technique,” he said.

“Pointers how?” she asked.

“Firing stance, tricks, target acquisition and things like that,” said Chuck. “If you want, I can come back later.”

“No, it’s good to practice,” said Tasha. “I take it you got the short straw and got to be the one that gets eaten first?”

“I volunteered for it actually,” he said.

“I’ve got nothing at the moment,” she said. “I’m not sure we can go to the firing range though.”

“This is an inert version,” said Chuck. “It won’t harm anyone and an open field will do.”

“Sounds good,” said Tasha. “Unless you want someone else to help?”

“I’d prefer to be trained by the best if it’s all the same,” he said with a brief smile of his own.

“Okay, when?” she asked.

“Now?” he asked.

“Works for me, just let me let my command know where to find me,” she stated as they walked into the security facility and into the growing command facility. She brought up the colony map including a current overhead image and found a suitable location for them to practice on.

“I’ll need a rover team with MMVs in about an hour and a half,” she told the controller and pointed at the picture. “Have them meet me at this location.”

“Will do, ma’am,” said the controller and annotated the order on a notepad. She and Chuck departed and grabbed an MPMV to drive the short distance to the location and passed by the pool being created by the engineers for the featheroos.

“Interesting they put it somewhat in the middle of the colony,” she remarked, making small talk as they drove towards the makeshift range.

“Apparently, the other ground was going to be claimed later on for housing and this was the best suitable location. Plus, we wanted the main featheroo area somewhat central in the colony as not to keep them on one side or the other,” explained Chuck.

“And when are we bringing them in?” she asked.

“If the pool works, maybe another week?” he stated. “The huts are built…there’s one of them and we’re ready for them to move in when and if they want.”

“You think it’ll work?” she asked.

“They seem very intuitive and have accepted us as partners rather than an invading species. I think they will understand what their purpose is when we get them settled in,” he said.

“I like the idea of having a guard dog force,” she stated.

“I think we all like that idea,” said Chuck. “Speaking of moving in, you like your new home?”

“Yeah, it certainly is better than a converted cargo container,” said Tasha. “Though not truly a home yet.”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Well, it needs a more personal touch, but the fact I’ve never really had a home I could call my own doesn’t help matters,” she stated.

“You’ve obviously lived places,” he stated.

“Lived, sure, but nowhere I could really call home,” she said with a sigh. “I mean, I had places I lived growing up and on to the barracks or base housing when I joined the military and the dorms when I was in the Academy, but nowhere I could put a nail in the wall without someone giving me an evil eye. So, it’s unusual having a place I call my own and ‘home’ since I’ve never really had that before.”

“I see,” he said seeing she didn’t seem comfortable talking about it.

“What about your new home?” she asked.

“Two or three weeks or so the engineers say,” he said. “Since I’m a division head more or less, I get a little better quarters, well, maybe a little larger.”

“Still in the cargo containers at the moment?” she asked.

“Yeah, since the families get first crack at the units, the single quarters were second priority,” he said. “But I’ll make up a proper bachelor pad before long.”

“I’d bet,” she chuckled as they pulled into the open field. Tasha grabbed several boxes from the back of the MPMV and set them up in the field as makeshift targets for him to learn his aim on. She returned to find him setting everything up on the device and checking the practice rounds to make sure they were inert.

“How many did you bring?” she asked.

“All of them,” he stated. “Looks like ten of them.”

“Good,” she said. “More practice between having to retrieve those things.”

“I didn’t think we’d need more than ten or so,” he said in a confused tone.

“You’ve never trained with me,” she said with an evil grin and held out her hand. “May I?”

“Please,” he said as he handed the launcher over. It wasn’t exactly a heavyweight system, but weighed about five kilograms and had a good balance. She threw it up to her shoulder several times getting a feel for the system before loading a practice round into the chamber at the end of the barrel assembly and continuing the exercise. She was unfamiliar with the system, but saw it used compressed air as the propellant as she readied the unit and fired it at one of the boxes. She hit somewhat close, close enough that he saw it would have been effective, and saw her looking at the launcher rather than where it landed.

“Looks to be about three seconds on recharge time,” she said. “Bring the other rounds please.”

“I thought I was going to practice,” he chuckled as he retrieved the other rounds.

“If I’m to instruct you, I need to know how this thing works so I can be the best damn teacher in the world,” she stated as she loaded another round in and left the others nearby. She went into rapid fire mode and started launching and reloading them as quickly as possible, seeing if the launcher would recharge while she was reloading. She found it took about four seconds to reload and recharge before the next round was available.

“Okay, that works,” she said as she saw him looking dumbfounded. “What?”

“You just went ten for ten on a system you’ve never picked up before,” he said in amazement.

“I like weapons,” she stated. “Big deal.”

“Wow,” he said.

“Anyway, you’ve got about four seconds between launches for the thing to recharge and get reloaded. It’s a decent recoil, but nothing a big boy like yourself shouldn’t be able to handle,” she said as she handed the launcher back. “Now, we’re going to practice launching and reloading first. I don’t care as much about accuracy right now, but do try to hit what you’re aiming at if you can.”

“Easy,” he said as they went out and retrieved the practice rounds. As soon as they returned, he set up the cartridges and got ready as she prepared a stopwatch on her communicator.

“You are timing me?” he asked. “Really?”

“You want the best instruction I can give or do you just want to fool around?” she asked in a tone as her eyes flashed anger at him.

“I came to you, remember?” he said in his own tone.

“Fine, we do this my way or no way at all,” she stated. “My range, my rules and my training methods. Accept it or I train up one of my own.”

“I… your rules,” he said as he saw she wasn’t to be argued with.

“Okay, you’ve got ten shots and one is already loaded. Rapid fire those ten while I time you,” she said as she stepped back and got the timer ready. He wisely followed her instructions as he was slow to aim the first shot, but managed to land it near the target. He was moving fairly slowly in the reload as she urged him on.

“Faster! Must go faster!” she shouted in her best instructor voice. “There’s a Raptor coming to kill you right now! Get that damn thing reloaded, Mister!”

He managed to get the round reloaded and fired again, going into the reload cycle without being prompted. She hit the split timer on her communicator as she saw he was having trouble.

“You’re trying to load it backwards!” she shouted. “Turn it around!”

He fumbled with the round, dropping it to the ground before retrieving it and managing to get it loaded and fired. He repeated the process eight more times before she hit stop on her timer.

“Pathetic,” she observed. “22 seconds on the first, 39 on the second, 23 on the third and the rest average out to around 19 seconds. But at least we have a baseline.”

“This wasn’t what I was expecting,” he stated sourly.

“First, proficiency will cut that time considerably,” she stated in an even voice. “These things are fast and the faster you are at reloading and getting another round on target he better chance you have at a capture. Second, if you drop a round, leave it and get the next one up. Trying to locate it takes far more time than just going to the next in your pouch.”

“I don’t have pouches,” he stated.

“Good point,” she said as she called up Rachelle on her communicator and requested she come to the practice area. Rachelle told her it would be about ten minutes as Tasha went back into her instructor mode. “Now, when it comes to the sights, this thing is an area weapon. You don’t have to have it right on target when just close will do. Learn to put the halo…the big circle on target quickly and fire rather than trying to be as precise as possible. Ignore the smaller dot and go with the large circle”

“It needs to be somewhat close,” he said.

“Did you see me hit the target ten times?” she asked.

“I did,” he replied.

“Then you learn to do it the way I just described,” she stated. “Let’s work on that without rounds. You can just use the launcher itself with the compressed air charge.”

“So, as soon as the target comes into the halo, fire?” he asked.

“Gentle squeeze of the trigger like you learned with your other weapons,” she said. “But yes, as soon as that thing is on target, fire the launcher, recharge it and wait eight seconds before repeating the process.”

“Eight seconds?” he asked.

“I’m taking my best times and doubling them for you,” she stated. “Look, I’ve got years of learning on the fly to pick up weapons I have no idea how to use and learning quickly on how to use them. I’ve never used that thing until today and managed to have an average time of four seconds from launching to having it reloaded and launching again. Eight seconds isn’t an unrealistic target for you to achieve in the time we have nor learning it on one system.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said as he prepared to do as she instructed. He learned to aim the launcher quickly and pulled the trigger as soon as the target came into the screen of the holographic sight.

“Squeeze, don’t jerk,” she said patiently.

“Right,” he said as he repeated the process another twenty times. Rachelle had rolled up on her utility cart and came over to them.

“That’s a nice cannon,” she laughed. “I’ll bet Tasha is in love with that thing.”

“Tasha just wants Chuck to be as proficient as possible so Chuck doesn’t get eaten,” said Tasha with a laugh as Chuck continued and the ladies walked towards the MPMV. “He’s doing okay though and will be fine when I’m done with him.”

“Actually, I was talking about Chuck,” said Rachelle with a grin. “He’s wearing tighter pants.”

“You are horrible,” said Tasha with rolled eyes. “Anyway.”

“Anyway, you asked me out here and not to check out your future husband?” asked Rachelle.

“How long would it take to come up with web gear pouches for these things?” asked Tasha as she went over and retrieved one of the rounds while ignoring the comments.

“How many?” asked Rachelle.

“Say six?” asked Tasha. “No, make it twelve. Enough for two web gear setups.”

“Maybe a half an hour?” asked Rachelle. “How tough?”

“Call it 600 denier nylon,” said Tasha. “They have all sorts of sharp edges.”

“Yeah, call it an hour to be safe,” said Rachelle. “You want the standard attachment?”

“Velcro and MOLLE, yeah,” said Tasha.

“Easy,” said Rachelle. “Open top or like a strap system?”

“Open top with an elastic retaining band on the pouch itself,” said Tasha. “Enough to keep it in place when moving around, jumping and whatnot.”

“I might have to fool around with the design some, so will tomorrow work?” she asked.

“I’d prefer to be able to practice this afternoon,” said Tasha.

“I’ll put a rush on it then and use you all as my guinea pigs,” said Rachelle. “Do you have a spare rig so I can get the sizes right?”

“Swing by my supply area and they can grab you one,” said Tasha as she typed out a quick message for them to have one waiting.

“Okay, I’ll be back soon,” said Rachelle. “Don’t start having wandering hands on his stance or snugging up your body to his to adjust his legs.”

“Oh, I’ll try to be on my best behavior,” said Tasha with a smirk and rolled eyes. Rachelle gave her a wink before departing and Chuck turned back to Tasha. She involuntarily looked him over and did happen to notice he was wearing tighter blue jeans that day and his lower figure was more pronounced.

“Are you checking me out?” he asked as he saw her eyes wander.

“No, I was checking to make sure you put the safety on!” she exclaimed. “Unlike you, I’m not a pig that has those sorts of thoughts constantly.”

“I thought we moved past that,” he stated.

“No… I… I’m just kidding around,” she stammered. “Friends can kid, right?”

“Are we still friends?” he asked.

“I know we stopped talking after our little tiff,” she stated. “But I… honestly don’t have that many people I call friends, but you’re one of them. At least that’s what I thought.”

“Okay, friends then,” he nodded. “Anyway, I think I’m ready to move back into the live rounds if that’s okay.”

“Sure,” she stated. “Now, I’ve got four boxes set up. Let’s say two rounds each at the far boxes and four at the nearest box.”

“Okay,” he said as he went to the MPMV with the rounds stacked neatly on the hood.

“But you’re going to do a round a single round apiece at the far one, move in to the next and one at the closest one before repeating the process,” she instructed.

“Not going to make this easy, are you?” he asked with a chuckle.

“The things worth learning with me are always challenging,” she stated.

“I’ll say,” he said as he prepared the launcher.

“Go ahead and load your first round,” she instructed. “You’re going to go out with a loaded launcher, so practice like you’re going to play.”

“Right,” he said as he loaded the first round and readied the launcher. He saw her retrieving her stopwatch function again and vowed to make better times this round.

“Fire,” she stated. He swung the launcher up and engaged the farthest target as she instructed before locating the next round and loading it up. However, the launcher paused longer than usual on the recharging of the compressed air and it took longer for him to engage with each shot. By the time he reached his 10th shot, the launcher was taking almost 15 seconds to recharge. However, he had landed seven of the ten on target and she saw his accuracy was improving considerably.

“Let me see it please,” she requested as he put the launcher on safe and handed it over. She looked it over before finding the problem and pulled a piece of the stock to the side.

“Micro screen is clogged,” she stated.

“I’m sorry?” he asked.

“Basically, this thing is using regular air to compress as the propellant. It’s drawing all the air it needs through the stock here, but this screen keeps out dust and whatnot. It’s clogged up,” she stated as she removed the screen and showed him. She retrieved a canteen of water before washing it off and quickly drying it with a bandana and reinstalling the device. Testing it, she saw the normal recharge time went back down to around three seconds.

“That’s it?” he asked.

“Yep,” she stated as they went out and retrieved the canisters. “And when we get back, you get to repeat the process and see where your time actually is.”

“This wasn’t exactly how I saw my day being planned out,” he chuckled.

“Am I keeping you from anything?” she asked.

“No, you’re helping keep me alive,” he said with a smile. “That makes it perfectly fine.”

“The colony needs you,” she said. “Okay, ready for the rapid fire?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said.

“Fire,” she ordered as he scrambled to load and fire the first round, making considerably better time on the next attempt before he finished and Rachelle had returned and pulled her vehicle up to Tasha with the new web gear setup.

“Eleven seconds between shots,” said Tasha. “Not horrible, but not as good as I know you are capable. Go ahead and collect the canisters so you can impress Rachelle.”

“Got finished a little ahead of what I thought,” stated Rachelle as Chuck went to retrieve the canisters. “I brought it by for the checkout before I made more.”

“Let’s take a look,” said Tasha as she was handed one of the pouches and saw it was expertly crafted and should work fine for the intended purpose. Tasha quickly attached it to the web gear rig Rachelle had brought with her and headed over to wait for Chuck to finish the collection of the rounds.

“How’s he doing?” asked Rachelle.

“Well enough to survive, I think,” said Tasha. “I’ll make him better though. Better than he thought he was going to be when he arrived today.”

“You’re a good teacher,” said Rachelle. “Or that’s what my folks tell me when they get instruction from you.”

“I try to put my dark side in check when dealing with civilians,” said Tasha as Chuck walked up.

“Except yelling at me,” he said with a half a smile.

“Because you became a combatant as soon as you volunteered for this mission,” she stated.

“There are three of us going,” he replied.

“And the other two very well should have come out as well,” said Tasha. “Anyway, toss this rig on so we can take a look at the pouch Rachelle came up with.”

Chuck put on the rig and started adjusting the straps with Tasha finally assisting and getting it snugged up. The pouch was located on the lower portion of the rig as Tasha loaded a practice round into it and saw it would stay put with the elastic band, however, would come free easily with additional pulling.

“Just one?” he asked as he pulled at the round and saw it come loose.

“Rachelle plans on making five more,” said Tasha as a patrol came up with their MMVs. “Two on the bottom and one on the top giving you seven chances to get that thing.”

“Hopefully, I only need one,” he stated.

“You can hope for the best, but we’re going to practice for the worst,” said Tasha as she turned to Rachelle. “Looks good. I just need eleven more.”

“You got it,” said Rachelle as she departed once again to finish manufacturing the pouches. The security team walked up as Tasha was preparing to have him fire once again.

“You asked for us?” asked Sergeant Moshe Avraham as he was joined by Staff Sergeant Jodi Walker.

“I did,” said Tasha. “You guys get to play the part of ferocious Raptors coming to kill Doctor Dawson here. Eli, you get to ride your MMV towards him to simulate an attacking Raptor.”

“And me?” asked Walker.

“You get to retrieve the rounds he fires and run them back to the vehicle,” said Tasha.

“On my own MMV, right?” asked Walker.

“On foot,” said Tasha.

“I’d save time by using the vehicle,” said Walker.

“You would,” said Tasha. “However, call it physical training in lieu of administrative actions for when you were caught sleeping on post.”

“I… yes, ma’am,” said Walker as she knew Tasha was going to be fair, though would run her ragged that day. However, physical punishment as opposed to a loss of rank or privileges was preferred as it only lasted one day.

“You didn’t know I heard about that?” asked Tasha.

“Truthfully, I’d hoped you hadn’t,” said Walker with her face blushing.

“And why is that?” asked Tasha as she motioned Walker away from the group.

“Because I didn’t want you to think less of my abilities,” said Walker in a low voice.

“I won’t,” said Tasha. “However, I will tell you this. You will have to work ten times as hard as everyone else to get my confidence in your abilities back.”

“I won’t let you down,” said Walker.

“I know you won’t,” said Tasha. “However, weren’t you a softball player at one point?”

“I was,” said Walker.

“Head over to SIT and check out a catcher’s mitt or appropriate glove,” said Tasha.

“I’m sorry?” she asked.

“It’s going to be easier to retrieve them if you catch them,” Tasha explained. “Plus, it keeps them from getting too dinged up.”

“Oh, right!” exclaimed Walker as she headed towards the SIT compound at full speed on her MMV. Tasha headed over to Chuck who was rubbing at his shoulder.

“Getting a little sore?” she asked.

“It doesn’t kick that much, but repeated blows do tend to wear on you over time,” he stated.

“How are you shooting it?” she asked. Chuck showed her the placement and she adjusted it slightly to the left, right into the natural pocket of his shoulder.

“Better?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said as he threw the launcher up several times. “Why didn’t I think of that?”

“Because you didn’t have me as a teacher the first time,” she said with a grin.

“True,” he stated with a return grin. “Regardless, do you have any pain killers?”

“Yeah, hold on,” she stated as she dug into her web gear and came up with two non-prescription pills and handed over her water bottle as well.

“You don’t have cooties or anything, right?” he asked.

“I’ve had my shots,” she grinned.

“Okay,” he said as he took the pills and washed them down with some water. He rubbed at his shoulder again as Tasha saw she would need to help.

“Stand still,” she said as she started rubbing at his shoulder, getting it from both sides as he grunted at the quick massage she was doing.

“How many credits do you want for this?” he asked with a pleasured grunt.

“I’m sure I’ll come up with something,” she chuckled and continued. She went for the entire time as Walker came back and showed Tasha the softball glove she had retrieved and headed over to her partner while they waited.

“Okay, tough guy,” said Tasha softly as she finished and let her hands gently fall away. “Any more and you’ll fall in love with me.”

“Just one more minute?” he chuckled and rolled his shoulder.

“We’ve got more training to do,” she said. “Moving targets.”

“That would be helpful,” he said as he prepared to get underway, but Rachelle came back in her own vehicle.

“Hey guys,” she said as she bopped over and handed the web gear to Tasha. “Chuck, why do you have a silly grin on your face?”

“Because Tasha has great hands,” he said with the same grin.

“I probably don’t even want to know,” chuckled Rachelle. “Anyway, mind if I stick around and check out how it works in case of trouble?”

“Yeah, no problem,” said Tasha as she handed over the web gear to Chuck. He put it on and adjusted it slightly while Tasha retrieved the rounds to put into the pouches. He snugged it up just right as Tasha made one more adjustment and earned a smile in the process. She helped him fit the rounds into the pockets and saw it was a nice setup.

“I’m worried about getting to the bottom pockets,” he stated as he started pulling them slightly.

“Go for the top pockets first,” she suggested. “Okay, ready for moving targets?”

“Lets do this,” he said confidently.

“Okay, Moshe, you’re going to be our Raptor and move towards the MPMV here,” she stated. “Let’s start slow and get faster as time goes on. Jodi, you’re going to catch the rounds as Doctor Dawson sends them out. Helmets on, both of you and Eli, you can swerve if it gets too close.”

“How far?” he asked.

“Start at a hundred meters,” stated Tasha. “Start at 10 KPH and I’ll tell you when to speed up.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said as he and Jodi headed out into the field.

“Okay, Chuck,” said Tasha as she turned to him. “You’ve already been conditioned to grabbing those from the hood of the vehicle. Now you have to learn to grab them from the pouches on your web gear. Okay?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said as the pair reached their starting point. “Should I engage that far out?”

“Depends on the winds,” said Tasha. “These things can get blown around, so take that into account as well like you’ve been doing. But overall, yes, engage as far out as possible.”

“Will do,” he stated. Tasha motioned the pair forward and the MMV started moving as Chuck took aim and had to adjust for the moving target. His first shot was well off course as he immediately went into reloading and grabbed at the first round in his web gear. Tasha was impressed he had transitioned so quickly and offered her advice.

“A little more lead,” she said as he aimed for the second round. “Bit more.”

Chuck launched the second round a little closer to the MMV and it was caught by Walker as she stowed it into her pack. A third round was almost perfectly on target as the MMV was getting closer and Chuck went into reloading once again. Tasha didn’t stop him as he needed the practice and was right where he needed to be as Walker caught the final round and the MMV pulled close to the pair.

“Two out of four,” observed Tasha. “And a reload time of eight seconds. Pretty good.”

“It’s not easy judging the speed at longer distances,” said Chuck as he reloaded the rounds into his vest as well as the launcher.

“No, but you want to get that thing stopped as far out as possible,” said Tasha. “We’ll go at slower speeds again and then start to ramp things up.”

“That works,” he said as Tasha instructed the pair of security troopers to return to the start line once again and prepare for the second round. This time, Chuck managed to get five rounds off and would have made hits with three of them.

“Your reload times are around the same, but your accuracy is improving,” observed Tasha. “Let’s go with varying speeds now.”

“Up to how much?” he asked.

“You said these things might be capable of up to 40 KPH. I’d say that’ll be our upper limit for this exercise,” she replied as she instructed the security troopers to vary the speed, but no more than 35 KPH and no less than 10. They headed back to the starting point once again and the exercise got underway once again with his accuracy suffering somewhat with the new speeds, but he was compensating quickly enough that 50% of his shots would have been close enough for the field to engage. They ran through the varying speeds three more times and Tasha knew his shoulder likely would be getting sore by that point.

“Okay, you’re hitting almost two-thirds of the time,” she stated. “Let’s call it a day.”

“One more time?” he asked. “I really need the practice.”

“I don’t want to have you sore tomorrow when we go out,” she stated.

“I’m good,” he stated. “Just one more time.”

“Let’s do it,” she said as the security troopers returned one more time and Chuck prepared himself for the incoming “attack.”

“He seems to be doing pretty well,” said Ben as he walked up to Tasha and Rachelle.

“How long have you been standing there?” exclaimed Rachelle as she jumped slightly.

“Through the last two sets,” said Ben. “Good job on bringing him this far.”

“He’s a good student,” said Tasha with a polite nod and instructed the troopers to move forward once again. Ben watched as Chuck hit with four out of five shots and might even have gotten off a sixth shot had he not been stopped by Tasha.

“Okay, let’s call that a day,” she said as Chuck cleared the launcher and put it on safe. The compressed air expelled itself from the chamber as he slung it.

“Remember to clean out the screen,” she told him.

“First thing when I get back,” he nodded politely at her and added a smile for good measure.

“Chuck, you’re looking pretty good on that thing,” observed Ben.

“Tasha is a great teacher once she figured out to stop yelling at me,” he grinned.

“And our Tasha does like to yell,” said Rachelle with a grin.

“My instructor days kicking back in,” said Tasha with a grin of her own. “No, mad props to Chuck for being a good student and putting ego to the side.”

“It’ll keep me alive,” said Chuck as he gave her a smile.

“You ready for tomorrow?” asked Ben.

“Yeah, I’ve got teams prepping the supplies and getting ready to send out the advanced team in the morning to scout the route in,” said Tasha. “The main convoy will follow in the afternoon.”

“And the science team?” asked Ben.

“Will follow on the gunship once we get settled in,” said Tasha.

“It appears you’ve thought everything out,” said Ben. “Save one point.”

“How are we getting it back here?” asked Tasha as Ben nodded. “I worked it out with Charity to have two gunships sling load the cage, bring it to us and sling load it back.”

“I figured you had something planned,” said Ben.

“We only get one chance at this and I wanted the gunships for extra security in case that thing gets froggy in the cage,” said Tasha. “That’s also why I wore Chuck out today since there is no tomorrow to train.”

“He looks like he might be able to keep going today,” said Rachelle.

“No, I think I’m good for the day,” said Chuck.

“I wasn’t meaning firing,” said Rachelle with a grin. “Let’s face it, shooting big guns has stirred both your hormones and you both look like you’re ready for some private one-on-one instruction for between the sheets maneuvers and employment of launchers.”

Both Chuck and Tasha blushed up as Tasha’s mouth also dropped open. Ben had to turn to the side and bite his lip as Rachelle gave them both a cheesy grin. The security team wisely didn’t say anything as Tasha finally found the ability to speak.

“I’m seriously going to kill you,” she stated with a frown through the blush.

“You and me both,” said Chuck as he frowned at Rachelle as well.

“What? You don’t like those tactics?” asked Rachelle with another cheesy grin.

“I think you’ve pushed as far as you should,” said Ben. “Regardless of any impromptu nocturnal activities, both need a good night’s sleep before heading out tomorrow.”

“Chuck is coming on the gunship,” said Tasha. “I already said that.”

“Javier asked if he could come in with the convoy and I granted that request,” said Ben. “Hence, he’ll be heading out with the main force tomorrow.”

“Make no mistake though, this is probably the most important mission you all have done since being here and the fate of the colony might rest on your ability to capture one of those things for study,” said Ben. “Best of luck to all of you.”

 

CHAPTER 11



Everything went as planned and the advance convoy departed the colony at first light the morning before. They had a planned route they had gained from the map and images, but knew they needed an on the ground look to ensure the path would support the main convoy that would depart as soon as they found a suitable path. Led by Captain Jerome Irwin, they headed immediately northwest towards a likely ford spot in the main river to the north.

“Now we wait,” said Tasha as the feed from the convoy was being played live in the command center. “Which will kill all of us.”

“True,” said Ben. “Did you get some rest last night?”

“Yeah, as much as I could,” said Tasha. “Though I’m still going to beat Rachelle within a centimeter of her life.”

“The comments were a bit abrupt,” chuckled Ben.

“Chuck was finally reaching out to make amends for my social awkwardness after the coastal mission,” said Tasha with a sigh. “I had planned on asking him to dinner to see if we could pick up where we left off.”

“And her comments ruined it?” asked Ben.

“I didn’t want him thinking there was anything more to it than a simple dinner between friends,” said Tasha with another sigh. “So yeah, she kinda ruined the moment.”

“I’ll talk to her about that,” said Ben.

“Don’t bother, I already did,” said Tasha. “She apologized and didn’t realize relations on that front were still kind of strained.”

“Are things going okay on that front?” he asked. “Science as a whole rather than your individual relationship with Chuck.”

“I’ve been trying to do better, though we haven’t had many opportunities as of late for me to interact with them on more than a few moments here and there,” said Tasha.

“And you’ve taken your humility pill and washed it down with a dose of kindness?” he asked.

“I’ve been a good girl,” said Tasha. “Except where Marci is concerned and I’ve tried avoiding her at all costs.”

“Probably smart,” said Ben. “Anything here that needs my direct attention?”

“Not really,” said Tasha. “You have something to do?”

“I need to run by the clinic,” said Ben.

“Something wrong?” she asked.

“Nope, just checking on my people,” he said. “If anything changes, let me know.”

“Will do,” said Tasha as she continued monitoring the progress of the convoy as they looked for a ford in the river. Ben headed for the clinic and found it was fairly quiet and found they had a med tech at the front entrance now.

“Can I help you, Commander?” she asked.

“Yeah, I was coming in to see Doctor Blevins,” he stated.

“You have an appointment or for other reasons?” she asked.

“Other reasons,” he stated.

“Let me see if she’s free,” said the technician as she checked the schedules.

“When did they put in a check in station?” he asked.

“A few days ago,” said the tech. “People were wandering the halls aimlessly and we decided to have a station for check in as well as directing people to the right places.”

“Smart,” said Ben.

“Yes, sir,” said the tech. “She appears to be available and is in her office. Do you require an escort?”

“No, I’m sure I can find it,” said Ben. “Thank you.”

“Have a good day, sir,” said the tech as Ben headed for her office. He came to the door and found her looking over a computer lost in thought over something. He knocked softly and she looked up at him with a smile on her face.

“Ben,” she said with a smile. “Please come in.”

“I’m not interrupting?” he asked.

“Not at all,” she said. “Just studying some test results on some of the pollen we discovered some folks are getting the sniffles from.”

“I was wondering about that,” said Ben.

“Nothing a normal dose of antihistamine won’t take care of,” she stated. “Were you just coming for a professional call to see how we are?”

“Not really,” he stated. “May I come in?”

“Of course,” she stated. “Have a seat.”

Ben did as instructed and went to the chair on the opposite side of her desk. He looked uncomfortable as she finally initiated the conversation.

“So… you have a reason for being here,” she stated.

“I’ve got a few issues,” he stated, shifting uncomfortably.

“Symptoms?” she asked.

“Irritability, not sleeping well, upset stomach, occasional neck pain,” he stated.

“Let’s go to an observation room,” she ordered as she rose. He followed her into the clinic as they found an empty room and he was instructed to “lie down on the table and not move.” He did as requested as she placed a med bracelet on him and started studying the data she was receiving. She took a blood sample as well, watching him wince as she put a small cotton patch over the area with a piece of medical tape. She sent the blood sample off to the lab for testing, but already had a good suspicion of what his condition was.

“That’ll take a few minutes, but I’m going to go out on a limb and say it’s going to be clean,” said Mary as she hadn’t annotated anything on a tablet yet.

“Okay,” he stated.

“If I was a betting woman, I’m going to call it stress as your condition,” she stated. “You appear to be far better rested than the last time I treated you as a doctor, but the signs are there.”

“I don’t think I’m stressed,” he stated.

“With everything that’s going on, I’d be shocked if you didn’t have some stress,” she stated. “Between the Raptor attacks, your friend getting hurt on top of that and this upcoming mission, stress is taking a toll on your body.”

“I have been a bit worried over the Raptor strike,” he admitted.

“Probably a whole lot more than a bit,” she stated. “I’m talking as your doctor here and there are no secrets with us.”

“I’d hope you can keep our secrets,” he grinned.

“Of course,” she chuckled. “Regardless, I think this mission is wearing a bit more on you than you let on. You have a somewhat untrained force for what we’re dealing with and you’re worried about taking additional casualties.”

“That thought crossed my mind on more than one occasion,” he admitted.

“I’d bet it’s more than a passing thought in the back of your mind,” she stated. “Look, Tasha is great at her job and the security folks were handpicked from some of the best in the galaxy. I’d bet this mission goes down without a single casualty.”

“I won’t say they are unprepared,” he stated. “But they are untested. That does cause me a bit of apprehension over what’s about to happen.”

“Do you think we should wait for the Raptors to make it to the wall and fight them off there?” she asked. “Potentially take more casualties if they happened to get into the colony?”

“Absolutely not,” he stated.

“Then it has to go down this way,” she stated. “I’d bet your stress level goes down once we have a successful airstrike and this ambush too.”

“Maybe,” he said.

“Plus, when we get this successful attack under our belts, I’d bet you will resume all the off colony missions as well,” she remarked.

“That’s the plan,” he stated.

“So, as your doctor, I’m going to highly suggest you take a rotation down to that tropical paradise and get some much needed rest,” she stated. “You’ve earned it.”

“Everyone here has earned it,” he stated.

“They have,” she stated. “But that doesn’t mean you get to deny yourself the opportunity to take some time off and let Allen run things for a few days.”

“I’ll consider that,” he said with a smile.

“Good,” she said with a return smile. “Now, let’s see how these two missions go down and then reevaluate you in the aftermath. Sound fair?”

“Nothing to help me sleep?” he asked.

“I can give you a prescription, but let’s see how your body reacts to removing some stressors first,” she stated. “If it continues in the aftermath, I’ll write it myself.”

“Okay, fair enough,” he said with a smile. “Thanks for taking the time to see me today.”

“My door is always open for you,” she said with a warm smile. “And remember, I’m a shoulder to cry on if you ever want to open up.”

“I’m not sure crying is what I want to do,” he chuckled.

“Okay, just opening up helps too,” she stated. “Having the ability to at least talk through our problems helps others give options we might not think of ourselves.”

“True,” he said as he rose to leave. “Thank you, Mary.”

“It’s truly my pleasure,” she said as she came around and gave him an unexpected hug. She knew human contact sometimes helped with stress and was happy to see he wasn’t uncomfortable with the situation and grabbed her by the waist and squeezed back.

“What’s this for?” he asked softly.

“Because,” she stated as she squeezed his neck gently and withdrew enough to look him in the face. “Physical contact helps with stress as well.”

“Does it?” he asked as she put her head on his shoulder once again and squeezed him.

“Everyone needs a hug every once in a while,” she said as he felt her smile and faced him again.

“I’ll admit, it is nice,” he stated with a smile as he received a warm smile in return. Their eyes locked for a brief moment in time as they smiled at each other once again and started moving their heads towards one another. However, just as they started moving in towards one another, one of the med techs came around the doorway and knocked before seeing the two in each other’s arms and her eyes popped wide open.

“Excuse me!” exclaimed Isabella Lopez as she turned to depart as quickly as she had arrived.

“Izzy!” exclaimed Mary as she and Ben dropped their arms and moved away from each other at the same time. “It’s okay.”

“I am so sorry for interrupting your private moment!” she exclaimed and blushed up.

“It was just a simple hug,” said Mary who seemed a bit flustered and blushed up.

“You told us you wanted to see Lieutenant Jackson before his next therapy session,” stammered Izzy as she was worried she had interrupted a potential opportunity for her head doctor to open herself up personally. The entire medical staff had been rooting for Mary to finally take that great leap of the heart with Ben, but didn’t want to push the issue.

“Yes, yes I did,” said Mary. “Anything else, Commander?”

“No, I’ll catch up with you later,” said Ben who didn’t seem flustered at all.

“If you need anything, don’t hesitate to call,” she stammered as he gave her another smile.

“I certainly will,” he stated as he grabbed his items and departed. As he was leaving, he looked over his shoulder and saw Mary looking back at him as well as she gave him another smile. He decided to head back to the command center and check on their progress, feeling better than he did when he had walked in.

“Doctor, I am truly sorry,” said Izzy as she blushed up once again.

“We were two friends sharing a hug,” said Mary.

“I understand,” said Izzy. “I just thought…”

“We were about to get a little more intimate?” asked Mary.

“Perhaps not intimate,” said Izzy. “Maybe share a kiss?”

“No,” said Mary. “The Commander and I are professionals first and both of us know better than to do something like that while on duty.”

“There’s always off duty,” suggested Izzy.

“There’s too much going on right now for personal relationships,” said Mary.

“Oh, of course,” said Izzy. “People can’t have a personal relationship amidst their professional life. I guess Aaron and I won’t work out.”

“Not like that!” exclaimed Mary.

“The Commander is a very handsome man that seems very nice,” said Izzy. “I would tend to think you could do far worse.”

“I could,” said Mary. “And that’s as much as I’ll speak of the matter.”

“Yes, Doctor,” said Izzy as they arrived at the room where Lieutenant Aaron Jackson was waiting. Izzy gave him a quick smile of her own having already met him with a kiss earlier.

Ben arrived at the command center seeing the vehicles heading across the river and up the bank on the other side. He headed over to Tasha who was finishing her communications with the recon team and put her headset on the table.

“Found a way across?” he asked.

“We did,” said Tasha. “Why do you have a guilty smile on your face?”

“I have a guilty smile?” he asked.

“Like you’ve been up to something,” she stated. “I’ve known you far too long for you to hide it. Spill the beans, Mister.”

“Sometimes a hug makes everything better in this world,” said Ben with a smile.

“You are correct,” said Tasha. “Now, who were you all hugged up to?”

“None of your business,” he stated with a frown.

“It was Mary, wasn’t it?” asked Tasha, continuing to prod.

“Again, not your concern,” he said with another frown.

“She’d be a good stress relief as Rachelle puts it,” said Tasha.

“And how do you know I’m stressed?” he asked.

“You’re showing the signs of it,” said Tasha as she looked back at the monitor. “Again, I’ve known you long enough to recognize when there’s far more going on in that brain of yours than you let on.”

“I did talk to Mary and that’s the last words on the matter,” said Ben. “Now, bring me up to speed on what’s happened.”

“We found a ford here,” said Tasha as she pointed at the map. “So, not too far out of our way and the convoy is heading north once again.”

“There still seems to be several other water obstacles in the path,” said Ben.

“There are,” said Tasha. “But far shallower and we should make good time.”

“Okay, when does the main convoy leave?” he asked.

“Probably in the next four hours,” said Tasha. “Everyone got the alert message and is preparing at this time. We’ll rally up in three hours.”

“In case I don’t get to say it, good luck,” said Ben.

“I have this feeling you’re going to be out there shaking hands with everyone as you traditionally do,” said Tasha. “Provided you aren’t getting a personal stress relief session from the doctor.”

“I thought I said we weren’t discussing it,” said Ben with another frown. Tasha saw she had pushed the matter far enough and went back to monitoring the convoy. Eventually, Ben’s stomach started growling and he headed to the mess hall and grabbed a quick bite to eat. He sat alone in his thoughts until he was joined by an unexpected visitor.

“Hey boss,” said Rachelle as she plopped down at his table.

“Miss Marchand,” said Ben with a nod.

“I only get called Miss Marchand when I’m in trouble,” said Rachelle. “What did I do this time?”

“Nothing significant I can think of,” said Ben. “Feeling guilty?”

“I probably should 24-7,” said Rachelle with a laugh.

“And the extra hours in the day you omitted?” he chuckled.

“Those are the ones I’m allowed to be naughty,” she grinned as she took a bite of her sandwich.

“Anyway, nothing of note except you messing with Tasha’s reconciliation with the Science Directorate,” said Ben. “She’s trying to play nice with Chuck Dawson. Cut her a bit of slack, okay?”

“I didn’t realize they were still in that little tiff,” said Rachelle. “They seemed friendly enough when I was out there yesterday.”

“Little steps with Tasha,” he stated. “The same with him too. There is mutual attraction there, but she’s not exactly eager to jump back into the dating game.”

“Their body language was extremely telling,” said Rachelle.

“She was going to invite him to dinner on her own, but you didn’t help in that matter,” he said.

“Yeah, I got out of line,” said Rachelle. “I’ll apologize to them both.”

“Nature will eventually take its course,” said Ben. “Or maybe it won’t. Regardless, ease up a bit on them both.”

“I’ll focus on you instead,” said Rachelle with a grin.

“I’d prefer you not,” he laughed.

“Okay, I’ll be a good girl,” said Rachelle with another grin. “Regardless, there are some good choices out there for you.”

“Other than the one everyone is pushing?” asked Ben.

“I won’t say names, but you appear to be quite the catch for several of our most eligible bachelorettes out here,” said Rachelle.

“You included?” he laughed.

“Nah, it’d never work out,” she said with a sigh. “Now, if you were ten years younger, I’d make you mine and dare anyone to try to take you away.”

“I’m sure,” he laughed. “Anyway…”

“Anyway, if you want, I could make some inquiries,” said Rachelle.

“I’m not too far out of the game that I can’t woo a lady,” he laughed.

“Yet, you don’t try,” said Rachelle.

“Being the big boss makes it complicated,” said Ben with a sigh. “I remember when I was but a wee young soldier and the pool of eligible bachelorettes as you say was far larger. But as I climbed in the ranks, that pool got a bit smaller for me.”

“Except you were focusing on the military only,” said Rachelle.

“Because not a lot of civilians understood that when we got the call to go, we had to drop everything and leave,” said Ben. “A lot of prospective spouses found that a little hard to work around and still be there when you returned. And personal problems on a mission was bad.”

“A distracted soldier is a dead soldier,” said Rachelle thoughtfully.

“There is a lot of truth to that,” said Ben. “Especially in Tasha’s case.”

“I didn’t think of it that way,” said Rachelle. “I wasn’t smart pushing that, was I?”

“You were just a bit more overt than she’s used to,” chuckled Ben. “And I flat guarantee you Chuck wasn’t prepared for that either.”

“I bet they’d be great together,” said Rachelle. “He’s just as stubborn as she is and wouldn’t take any of her shit.”

“We’ll have to see how that one unfolds,” said Ben.

“Now you on the other hand…” said Rachelle with a grin.

“Need to be off limits for the time being as well,” he laughed.

“So, I’m free to at least line up eligible dates for your social calendar for when you do finally jump back into the game?” she grinned.

“Let’s hold off for the moment,” he laughed once again as Chuck appeared and sat with them.

“Hey, guy,” said Rachelle. “I’m really sorry about yesterday.”

“About what?” he asked.

“The comments about you and Tasha,” said Rachelle.

“I’ll admit, they were far more forward than I’m used to,” he chuckled.

“I like the both of you, so I was thinking a little push was needed,” said Rachelle.

“Tasha is a friend and nothing more,” said Chuck. “We more or less friend zoned each other.”

“She needs a nice guy friend as well,” said Rachelle. “But still, I am sorry.”

“Rachelle, I trust you to say what’s on your mind and it’s appreciated by most people around here even if they don’t say it,” said Chuck. “But if you’re going to play matchmaker, you should try for the biggest game on the planet.”

“Apparently, I’m not supposed to assist a certain Commander in his pursuit of courtships,” said Rachelle. “He thinks he can do it all on his own.”

“Of which I can at the right time and place,” said Ben as Tasha came in and sat with them as well. “Conversation ends.”

“Did I miss the good conversation?” she asked.

“Nothing that can’t wait for poker night,” said Rachelle with a twinkle in her eye.

“Chuck, how’s your shoulder today?” asked Tasha.

“A little sore, but I think it’ll be fine,” he said as he involuntarily rubbed at it.

“Show me,” said Tasha as she prepared her lunch.

“I’m not stripping down here in the mess hall!” he protested.

“You can pull your shirt sleeve up, silly,” said Tasha. “It is a t-shirt.”

“Oh, right,” said Chuck as he sat down his fork.

“That’s a disappointment,” said Rachelle. “I’d bet there are a few ladies ready to toss credits his way if he started stripping.”

“This is a private dance that I paid for,” said Tasha with a grin as Chuck slid up his sleeve and she saw serious bruising on his shoulder. “That’s going to hurt even worse tomorrow.”

“What the hell did you do to him?” asked Rachelle as her eyes popped wide open.

“Trained him to keep himself alive,” said Tasha as she rose from the table and went over to Chuck. Standing behind him, he had a confused look on his face until Tasha started poking at the area gently trying to see how bad it was. She eventually found the right spot and he winced at her touch.

“As soon as we get done here, you and I are going to the clinic,” said Tasha. “No arguments and not later, we’ll see if they can do anything to help.”

“Yes, ma’am,” said Chuck as she started massaging the area around the shoulder. “Isn’t this a little public for a massage?”

“I dare anyone to come over here and say anything,” said Tasha as she continued.

“Does that include me since I’m already here?” asked Rachelle with a grin.

“No, but your witty inputs on the subject will lose your place in line if and when you request this from me down the road,” said Tasha.

“Wow, you are pure evil,” said Rachelle dejectedly, though her eyes sparkled.

“Yep,” said Tasha with a grin of her own. “I’m the mean girl you get to do the mean things you don’t want to do yourself.”

“Which probably doesn’t leave a lot on the table,” said Chuck with a grin and winced.

“Too close?” asked Tasha.

“Yeah,” said Chuck. “Let me go ahead and eat and we can go to the clinic.”

“Okay,” said Tasha as she gave him a smile for allowing her to help once again. She returned to her seat as Ben and Rachelle finished, but stuck around just for the conversation. They were chatting over the little things when they heard an elevated voice a nearby table making a comment which was directed at one of them.

“I really hope that if I ever start publicly feeling up some random guy like some Directors, I won’t get in trouble,” stated Marci Dubose in a loud voice.

Ben could see Tasha starting to boil over as her eyes turned cold and she sat down the spoon for her soup. However, she was stopped from an unexpected angle.

“Just let it go,” said Chuck with a half a smile and a shake of his head.

“I’m trying,” said Tasha with a frown.

“You’re the better woman than she is,” said Chuck. “Prove it by ignoring it.”

“She’s just jealous she can’t get a hot guy like you to sit around long enough for her to massage,” said Tasha as she resumed eating.

“That’s the spirit,” said Chuck.

“She just called you hot and that’s all you are going to say?” asked Rachelle.

“We’re friends,” said Chuck. “Friends can call each other hot. Let’s face it, she’s smoking hot herself and all the other dudes in this place were jealous she was feeling me up.”

“God, we need to get these two married,” muttered Rachelle loud enough for everyone to hear. All four laughed at the comments as they moved on in the conversation. Eventually, they were finished as Chuck was about to leave.

“Did you forget?” asked Tasha.

“No, but I didn’t realize I needed an escort to the clinic,” he stated.

“I need to know if they think you’re capable of firing that thing tomorrow,” she replied and elevated her voice and looked over her shoulder. “Now, let’s head to a more private location where I can touch the areas that would get me into trouble in public.”

“Tasha…” said Ben with a look as Marci shot a dirty look in her general direction.

“That’s playing nice,” said Tasha.

“Better than the alternative, I suppose,” said Ben as he and Rachelle started heading their own way and Tasha and Chuck headed for the clinic.

“Can they not see they are good for each other?” asked Rachelle as Ben was due at her office for an update on the SIT Team.

“It can take a while to click,” said Ben. “Plus, she’s not going to dive headfirst into a relationship given her past.”

“I guess married and divorced three times would make anyone hesitant to get involved,” said Rachelle. “The question is; will Chuck wait for her?”

“We have to let nature take its course and see what happens,” said Ben. “Now, I did happen to notice the groundbreaking on another facility.”

“Shower and changing room for the pool area,” said Rachelle as she started bringing him up to speed on a broad overview of the works in progress.

Tasha and Chuck came into the hospital and checked in for him to get looked at. They waited several moments before one of the techs took them back to an exam room where Chuck jumped on the table and Tasha took a seat. Eventually, both Charlotte Griggs and Mary came in to check on a person they considered a friend.

“Chuck, is everything okay?” asked Mary and noticed he wasn’t alone. “Hello, Tasha.”

“Mary,” said Tasha with a smile.

“I’m okay, but Tasha insisted I get checked out,” said Chuck.

“Only family is allowed in the exam room,” said Charlotte. “Sorry.”

“Really close friends don’t count?” asked Chuck.

“No,” said Charlotte.

“I’m okay with her being here,” he stated.

“Okay,” said Mary, ending the discussion. “What’s wrong?”

Chuck explained what happened and was informed to remove his shirt by Mary.

“This is the part I was waiting for,” said Tasha with a grin.

“And this is why only family is allowed,” laughed Mary.

“I’m not going to let you two ogle him when I have the chance to as well,” said Tasha.

Chuck sighed deeply and shook his head, though giving her a brief smile in the process. He removed his shirt and Tasha could see the bruising was more significant in better light.

“You did a number on him,” said Mary as she poked and prodded around the area earning a wince every once in a while. She put a scanner up to his shoulder on both sides and checked the screen to see if there was anything she couldn’t see from a visual exam.

“Just some deep bruising,” said Mary. “I can give you pain relievers and a cream to help with the swelling, but time is going to be the best doctor in this case.”

“Can he perform the mission or do we need to sideline him?” asked Tasha.

“I’m okay,” said Chuck.

“I’d prefer to hear it from the resident medical experts,” said Tasha. “Doctors?”

“No physical reason he can’t do it,” said Mary. “No fractures or anything. It’s just going to be sore and I wouldn’t suggest repeating whatever training you did until after the bruising has gone away.”

“We’re departing in a couple of hours,” said Tasha.

“Chuck, you’re okay with this?” asked Mary.

“I’ll be fine,” said Chuck.

“No macho side showing out?” asked Mary pointedly.

“No, but this is too important for a little pain to keep me from going,” said Chuck.

“Is there anyone else trained to do whatever you are doing?” asked Charlotte.

“No, I was the lucky guy who got subjected to this physical torture,” said Chuck.

“If you had an alternative, I’d almost suggest letting him heal,” said Mary. “But if you feel like you can make it, I won’t give him a red card and eject him.”

“Sounds good,” said Chuck as Mary prepared an ointment to put on his shoulder. She gently rubbed it in and he noticed the pain was already subsiding.

“It has some lidocaine in it,” said Mary as she worked it in. “Temporary, but I’ll give you pills to take when it wears off.”

She finished up as Charlotte fetched the bottle of pills from the auto-dispensary and handed them over. She went over the instructions with him and gave him a quick antibiotic shot to help.

“Much to our dismay, especially Tasha, you can put your shirt back on,” said Mary.

“No credits for stripping in front of three ladies?” he grinned.

“Well, one of us is married and the other is off the market,” said Charlotte with a laugh and a roll of her eyes. “Leaving only one for you to pursue.”

“I didn’t realize Mary was looking around,” said Tasha with a grin.

“She’s the one off the market,” said Charlotte with a grin.

“Chuck and I are friends,” said Tasha as she turned to him. “Anyway, are you packed up?”

“I was finishing when I stopped for lunch,” he stated.

“Go ahead and finish up please,” she said politely. He departed as Tasha waited around with the two doctors and closed the door once he was out of the room.

“Okay, truth?” asked Tasha. “This is too important for this privileged medical information BS. I need to know whether or not he can do what he needs to do.”

“How many rounds did you fire yesterday?” asked Mary.

“At least a hundred,” said Tasha. “Probably closer to 150 or so.”

“He’s got maybe four or five shots at best out of that thing before the pain will start back in and cause his aim to go off,” said Mary. “Truth be told, I’d sideline him if we had an alternative.”

“Unfortunately, we just don’t have the time,” said Tasha with a sigh.

“Who’s backing him up?” asked Charlotte.

“I am,” said Tasha.

“I’m slightly less worried at this point then,” said Mary. “You’re the most badass chick we’ve got in this colony and you having his back means he’ll make it through alive.”

“You are both badasses in your own right,” said Tasha. “Nobody else I’d trust with my life if I ever got hurt.”

“I really appreciate that,” said Mary.

“Speaking of, who’s our doctor heading with us?” asked Tasha.

“You didn’t request one,” said Mary. “Luckily for you, I figured you might request one and I have two on standby to go.”

“Which are?” asked Tasha. “I really think we’ll only need one.”

“Charlotte or Doctor Chambless,” said Mary. “I think your combat medics will be fine for everything else as well as assisting the doctor if they need it.”

“Both are excellent,” said Tasha. “The decision is yours.”

“You ready to go?” asked Mary as she turned to Charlotte.

“I’ve got to get home and changed along with the inevitable lecture from Nick to keep myself safe, but give me a half an hour,” said Charlotte.

“I would have taken him had he healed up,” said Tasha. “But that hardheaded husband of yours tried overdoing it and getting back into shape before he was ready.”

“Something I remind him about constantly,” said Charlotte with a frown. “I make the rules now on his level of physical therapy.”

“I’d bet it’s not easy being married to a doctor,” laughed Tasha.

“He knows better than to cross me,” said Charlotte with an evil smile. “Anyway, where are we meeting and when?”

“My compound in two hours,” said Tasha. “You ever been in the field?”

“No,” replied Charlotte. “However, Nick has been giving me tips and tricks.”

“Pack light,” said Tasha. “If there’s nothing else, I’ll get going.”

“Be safe out there,” said Mary. “We wouldn’t know what to do if you weren’t around for poker night.”

“I’ll bring back everyone alive,” said Tasha. “And hopefully, bring back something for the scientists to study as well.”

 

CHAPTER 12



“I’d almost forgotten how dark it gets in this place,” said Javier as the ambush teams had arrived at their designated spot and set up several hours before. “Without the lights of the colony, it gives new meaning to the words pitch black.”

“That it does,” said Tasha as she looked over the tablet with the imagery of the incoming Raptors. “They seem to have settled in for the night.”

“Still on a path at us?” asked Javier.

“Yes, sir,” said Tasha. “They’re running constant surveillance on them in case they move during the night. Though such a thing would make it harder for the capture.”

“I thought you brought lights?” asked Jim Kirk who came over to the conversation.

“We did,” said Tasha. “Though that depends greatly on getting them to stand still in the beam.”

“True,” said Kirk. “Your missiles have a heat seeking function, yes?”

“They do which would come in handy during a nighttime attack,” said Tasha. “Or tomorrow morning before the ground starts heating up. Of course, if we attack at night, the chances of capturing one alive go seriously down.”

“I thought Chuck was a good shot?” asked Javier.

“He is, though for daytime shooting,” she replied. “We didn’t get the chance for nighttime practice nor using night vision sets.”

“My mistake,” said Javier. “I should have gotten him over to you sooner.”

“None of us really thought of it,” said Tasha accepting the apology.

“Otherwise, what’s the plan?” asked Javier.

“Standard security setup,” said Tasha. “A third up, two-thirds down, everyone gets woken up an hour prior to daybreak for stand-to.”

“Stand-to?” asked Kirk.

“Military term for everyone being in defensive positions and ready for battle as soon as the sun comes up,” said Tasha. “We aren’t expecting them to come in until well after dawn, but old habits are hard to break.”

“It’s a good tactic,” said Kirk. “And us?”

“I’d like to keep at least one of you up as well,” said Tasha. “Divide your shifts into thirds.”

“I’ll let Chuck know,” said Javier as he headed towards the area they had made their hasty camp at. There was enough moonlight to guide him around the trees, but not enough to keep him out of the low brush and weeds.

“I will tell you, I much prefer the lab to this,” chuckled Kirk who wisely had followed Javier and let him discover the tripping hazards first.

“Scientists and military have been doing this for centuries,” said Javier as he finally put on his night vision set and checked the ground to his front. “Without all the neat toys even.”

“Regardless, I’m a daytime creature and one that likes four walls and a ceiling,” said Kirk.

“What kind of chances do you think we have?” asked Javier.

“25%? Maybe 30% chance of pulling it off,” said Kirk as they arrived at Chuck’s shelter.

“That low?” asked Javier.

“Untested capture system, untested tranquilizer and a creature that’s shown higher intelligence than normal adds up to diminished percentages,” said Kirk. “Nothing against Doctor Dawson’s abilities, but there are too many factors working against us to claim any higher percentage.”

“You think we shouldn’t try?” asked Javier.

“No, I still think we need to move forward,” said Kirk. “But I do think we need to be pragmatic about our chances and let Major Hayden make some tough choices if it comes down to it.”

“Tough choices?” asked Chuck.

“She can and likely will take down our target if it presents a direct threat,” said Kirk. “Her primary mission is the safety of her team, including us, and the safety of the colony by stopping that pack from getting anywhere close to the colony. If we can’t get a successful capture, I’d bet she takes down the last creature on her own.”

“I’d hope she gives us a fair chance at capturing it,” said Chuck.

“I think she will since she knows the study of said creature is important in developing additional counters,” said Kirk. “But I also know she has the protective instincts of mama bear and will thrash anything threatening the settlement.”

“Well, we’ll have to see tomorrow,” said Javier. “She would like one of us to be up at all times, so it gives us the opportunity to get some quality sleep. Who wants first watch?”

“I’ll take it,” said Chuck.

“I’ll take the middle,” said Kirk.

“And I’ll be last,” said Javier as he looked over his watch and got the times for each to wake the other up. “We only have two shelters up, so let’s go ahead and not worry about the third.”

“You want to hot bunk?” asked Chuck.

“Might as well,” said Javier.

“I’m sorry, hot bunk?” asked Kirk.

“Use the two available instead of putting up the third,” said Javier. “You wake me up and use my sleeping bag and shelter.”

“Ah, got it,” said Kirk. “Good term as well, you will have warmed the bag up already.”

“It is slightly chillier up here for some reason,” said Chuck. “Anyway, I’ll be back in a few hours to wake you Kirk. I’d suggest you get some sleep.”

“Gladly,” said Kirk as he and Javier headed to their shelters. Chuck gravitated towards the central area designated as the makeshift command post for the operation and could hear several of the soldier snoring as he went along. The night vision system showed several of the shelters up and a few moving around here and there getting ready for the sleep. However, Tasha had set out a guard force of a third of her personnel to keep watch for nocturnal threats. Eventually, he made it to the area she was using at the back of a MPMV and saw her sending in a status report to the colony.

“Quiet out here,” he said softly.

“Very peaceful,” she replied and reviewed the report before hitting the send button. “If it wasn’t for the potential for Raptors to pop up at any given moment, this would make a good training area for my folks.”

“Always looking at different uses for the grounds?” he asked with a chuckle.

“I’d be derelict in my duties if I wasn’t always trying to hone their skills,” said Tasha. “I mean, think of it this way, do you still use the scientific methods from 50 years ago?”

“Of course not, technology has advanced giving us better options,” said Chuck.

“Same thing with us as new training methods and tactics can be developed,” said Tasha. “Think about warfare several hundred years ago when they lined up across from each other and started shooting. Kinda silly, no?”

“True,” said Chuck.

“And your skills in the lab would deteriorate if you didn’t use them, correct?” she asked.

“You sold me,” he chuckled as he put up his hands.

“Regardless, we need to continually train and this area seems to have what we are looking for,” said Tasha. “Again, if not for the Raptor threat.”

“Maybe some place down south instead where we haven’t seen Raptors?” he asked.

“Terrain and vegetation are different,” said Tasha. “Not to say we can’t and shouldn’t look at multiple environments for training areas, but this matches what we have around the colony and is far enough away for shooting not to be bothersome.”

“And the tropical training area?” he asked.

“Oh, I’m setting that one up personally,” she grinned.

“Let me guess, multiple trips and major time spent figuring out the threats?” he chuckled.

“Absolutely,” she chuckled. “How’s your shoulder?”

“Sore,” he stated. “The pain meds are knocking it back though.”

“I should have started training you a long time ago,” she replied.

“We didn’t have this plan ready for a while since we didn’t think of using it until we knew we could modify it,” he stated.

“I do have a question about that,” she asked.

“Please,” he said with a waved hand.

“Why not use two of them and increase the chances of capture?” she asked. “Or as a minimum, make the shield twice as hard to get through.”

“It doesn’t work like that,” said Chuck. “Not insulting your intelligence, but how familiar are you with shield technology?”

“The principle behind it I know about,” she answered. “The technology, not so much.”

“Basically, it emits an energy barrier that isn’t easily countered,” he stated. “Now, the problem is if you introduce another barrier with a frequency even a thousandth of a percent off, they start cancelling each other out and the units themselves try to adjust the frequency of the shield. When that happens, the beams basically cancel each other out even more and you get a cascade failure in the whole system.”

“Can’t you adjust the frequency to that degree?” she asked.

“Unfortunately, no,” said Chuck. “We can go with a hundredth, but trying to nail down the frequency to that level is almost impossible.”

“How come?” she asked.

“Because the unit will shift the frequencies up to a tenth of a degree due to external conditions like humidity, temperature and other environmental factors,” he said. “So, yes, you can program them to be right at the same frequency where they wouldn’t cancel each other out, but as soon as you launch, they are already modifying themselves.”

“Take that option out,” she stated.

“Doesn’t work that way,” he explained. “The barrier bases its strength on about a dozen environmental factors that make it stronger. If you ignore that, you end up with a barrier that won’t be as strong as it could be.”

“How do you work around it?” she asked.

“Build a larger unit,” he said with shrugged shoulders and winced. “Basically, we’ve modified these as far as safety will allow us without causing a catastrophic overload. In order to get increased power, we have to build a bigger unit.”

“Someone might of thought of that before we left,” she remarked. “Now come here.”

“I’m sorry?” he asked.

“Come over here and let me work on your shoulder,” she stated in an authoritative voice.

“I’ll be okay,” he stated.

“You aren’t going to win this battle with me,” she said in an even tone. “Now sit your backside in this chair and let me work on that shoulder.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he said without further argument and allowed her to work his shoulder gently. He grunted as she worked around the sore spots and found himself enjoying it before long.

“You ever consider doing this full time?” he asked with a chuckle.

“Nah, I’m lazy,” she chuckled in return.

“Certainly not a word I’d associate with your name,” he said. “It feels really good.”

“Don’t get any ideas,” she stated.

“Like more chocolate cake for sessions of this?” he chuckled.

“Okay, maybe there is some latitude with your thinking,” she giggled. “Seriously though, I just want to make sure you are prepared for that thing when it comes on its attack run.”

“I think I need a few more months of practice for that,” he stated. “I’ll be lucky if I don’t pee my pants when it starts roaring at me and bearing down.”

“I doubt you’re that bad,” said Tasha. “Regardless, we’ve got your back.”

“That’s nice to hear,” he said as she continued before her hands got tired.

“You got your quarter’s worth,” she said. “Feel any better?”

“Absolutely,” he said as he rolled his shoulder. “Daily sessions of this for at least the next several weeks and I’ll be in fine shape.”

“I doubt a bruise will last that long,” she chuckled.

“I wouldn’t want to tempt fate on that,” he said with a silly grin. She smirked at him, though her eyes were playful as she saw an incoming message from the colony with Ben reminding her to be careful and keep an eye out.

“When are you taking your down time?” he asked.

“In a few hours,” she stated. “You?”

“We worked out a rotation in thirds so we all get some rest,” he stated.

“I don’t know why I bother since I’m normally keyed up and can’t fall asleep,” she stated. “I end up taking kitty naps more than anything.”

“It’s still rest which you need,” he stated.

“True,” said Tasha as Charlotte came over.

“You’re awake?” asked Tasha.

“Mary messaged me on how we were doing,” said Charlotte. “And I have the call of nature.”

“No cleaners?” asked Tasha.

“I’m not sure of the spot,” said Charlotte.

“I can show her,” said Chuck.

“No, we can do a girl’s bathroom run,” said Tasha as she dug into her pack and found cleaning wipes that would double as toilet paper. “You mind monitoring the comm?”

“If someone calls, what do I say?” he asked.

“Easy, ‘please let me find Major Hayden’ and come get me,” she chuckled.

“Right,” said Chuck. The pair departed with Tasha helping guide Charlotte since she didn’t bring any night vision with her. Even though they had planned out the operation, there were still a lot of logistical holes she wasn’t entirely comfortable with. Eventually, they found a suitable spot and Tasha had Charlotte go into the clump of bushes to relieve herself.

“Is Chuck doing any better?” asked Charlotte as Tasha heard her belt being undone.

“I think so,” said Tasha.

“I saw you giving him another massage and didn’t want to interrupt,” said Charlotte.

“It wasn’t that kind of massage,” said Tasha.

“No, I meant like actually helping instead of sensual,” said Charlotte. “Unlike others, I know you aren’t eager to move forward with a relationship and won’t press it.”

“Very thoughtful, Charlotte,” said Tasha.

“Having said that to say this, he is a good man and you do care for him on more than a professional level than you’ll admit,” said Charlotte.

“I’d only screw it up,” said Tasha. “That’s what tends to happen.”

“Keep thinking like that and it will happen,” said Charlotte as she finished up. Tasha handed over a plastic bag for the wipe as Charlotte came back out.

“Just being me and overthinking it,” said Tasha.

“Eventually, you’re going to be faced with a choice of going with your instincts and won’t have the time to think,” said Charlotte. “You’ll know if it’s right then.”

“Maybe,” said Tasha as they returned and found Chuck patiently waiting. “Anything?”

“Not even a beep or a bloop,” said Chuck.

“Beeping would be okay,” said Tasha with a grin. “Blooping would be bad.”

“Mind if I stick around a few?” asked Charlotte. “I am pretty awake right now.”

“The excitement of being in the field?” asked Tasha.

“Yeah,” said Charlotte. They continued the small talk for another hour before she started yawning again and vowing to get some sleep this time.

“I’ll see you back to your shelter,” said Chuck. They headed out and again he guided her towards her shelter and around the tripping hazards.

“How’s your shoulder?” she asked.

“The meds you gave me are helping,” said Chuck.

“And Tasha’s massage?” asked Charlotte.

“Extremely helpful,” said Chuck with a smile.

“She’s a good woman,” said Charlotte fairly boldly.

“She is, though we’re just friends and nothing else,” said Chuck.

“Good relationships start as friends,” said Charlotte. “Nick and I started out and I told him we’d be nothing but friends. But eventually it took and I fell in love with him. Sometimes these things tend to work out naturally.”

“She has a lot of great things going for her,” said Chuck. “But also some things that would drive me up the wall.”

“One of my aunts used to tell me it wasn’t the things we liked about a person we loved,” said Charlotte. “But rather the things we disliked about them became the things we endeared over time. Maybe the same here?”

“Who knows,” said Chuck. “Regardless, she’s complicated.”

“Aren’t all women?” asked Charlotte with a laugh.

“Good point,” laughed Chuck. “This is you?”

“I think so,” said Charlotte. “They all look the same.”

“I doubt anyone would object to you crawling into their sleeping bag,” laughed Chuck.

“Explanation to Nick would get a bit complicated,” she laughed. “See you in the morning.”

“Yes, ma’am,” said Chuck as she got into the shelter and he turned to leave. However, just as he had taken a single step, he heard a male voice from behind him.

“I would hope we get introduced before you finish undressing and we start cuddling,” said Kirk.

“I’m so sorry!” exclaimed Charlotte in an elevated voice as Kirk shushed her.

“I’m flattered, but you aren’t my type,” said Kirk with a chuckle as Charlotte grabbed her things and stepped out of the shelter.

“I truly am sorry!” stated Charlotte in a hushed tone.

“They all look the same in the dark,” said Kirk. “Good night, doctor.”

“Bye,” said Charlotte as Chuck could see she was blushed up in the night vision.

“Maybe I should peek in and check before you go in next time?” he suggested.

“Yeah, that would be good,” she said as she pulled back on her uniform top. Eventually they came to the shelter she thought was hers and he peeked in and found the sleeping bag empty.

“I believe this is yours,” said Chuck.

“I hope so,” said Charlotte. “Because if that happened to me, I’m not sure a scream wouldn’t be in order.”

“Without waking the rest of the camp, sure,” he said. “Night, Charlotte.”

“Good night, Chuck,” said Charlotte as she entered the shelter and started prepping for bed once again. Chuck headed back to the MPMV where Tasha was watching the wood line to the north.

“What was that yell about?” asked Tasha.

“Apparently, Charlotte and I both mistook an occupied shelter for hers,” said Chuck with a laugh. “The current occupant had other ideas.”

“I’m not sure why they would,” said Tasha. “She’s beautiful.”

“It was Jim Kirk,” he replied with a chuckle.

“Oh, yeah, that wouldn’t work,” said Tasha with a laugh. “You found hers?”

“I hope so,” said Chuck. “Else she will get a big surprise.”

“There are always funny stories to be told after a field deployment,” said Tasha. “This is one I’m sure we’ll pass on.”

“I’m not sure Nick would understand,” said Chuck.

“If it was anyone but Kirk, no,” said Tasha. “But seeing as he wouldn’t have any interest in having Charlotte in the same sleeping bag, it makes it funny.”

“True,” said Chuck as a silence came over them as they watched the surrounding woods as well as the stars that evening.

“It’s getting a bit chilly tonight,” said Tasha as she looked in the MPMV for her jacket as the minutes seemed to take hours to go by.

“Angeline said it was supposed to get down to between 8 and 11 degrees tonight,” said Chuck.

“Good sleeping weather though,” said Tasha. “As soon as I get the chance for bed.”

Eventually, he found it was time for him to wake Javier and headed off to where he thought the shelter was located and managed to find it on the third try without waking anyone. He gently woke Javier who groggily asked for ten minutes to get woken up and dressed. Chuck returned to the MPMV where Tasha already had her relief in place.

“Just send the status report every three hours,” she stated. “Otherwise, nothing is amiss.”

“Good deal,” said Captain Jerome Irwin. “Chuck.”

“Just waiting on Javier to drag his backside over here,” said Chuck. It took several minutes before Javier appeared with a yawn and saw the coffee maker sitting on the tail of the truck.

“Is that thing on?” he asked with another yawn.

“Ready to go,” said Tasha. “Chuck, you’re cleared to get some sleep.”

“Got it,” he replied and headed off to where he thought Javier’s shelter was. He found an empty shelter and saw a pack inside that looked to be in the same place he put his, but no occupant and headed inside to get ready for some sleep. He stripped down to his t-shirt and removed his boots before making sure the military poncho was spread out and unrolling the ancient poncho liner that had a couple of modern enhancements. He had just rolled up his jacket as a makeshift pillow as he heard someone outside coming into the shelter.

“One of us is in the wrong place,” he stated as Tasha appeared.

“This is my shelter,” she stated. “My pack and my underwear that won’t fit you in my pack.”

“Sorry,” he stated and tried to get up, but found her in the way in the smaller shelter.

“You heading somewhere?” she asked as she removed her jacket and uniform top.

“To find my shelter,” he stated in a confused tone.

“You can stay here instead of bumbling around in the woods waking everyone else up,” she stated as she put her uniform top over her pack and started removing her boots.

“Not exactly a lot of room for two here,” he said with more confusion.

“Those poncho liners are okay, but not nearly as warm as they could be,” she replied as she saw he had started the heating element in it, but knew it likely still wouldn’t be warm enough for a single person. Or that was the excuse she gave herself as she continued disrobing. “So, tonight I get to train you in buddy heat for field purposes.”

“Umm, what?” he asked.

“Look, we’re friends, right?” she asked and received a nod. “Battle buddies will use the same bed to preserve body heat in times of cold weather and it’s getting chillier. So, you can stay here and we can keep each other warm.”

“I…” he started to say.

“But don’t get any ideas,” she stated. “Just for warmth.”

“Right…” he said with confusion.

“Get comfortable,” she stated as she had removed her boots and put them where she knew she could get at them quickly and sat her rifle against her pack.

“Tasha, I…” said Chuck and his voice trailed off.

“You’re welcome to join me instead, mate,” said Senior Sergeant Noah Taylor from an adjacent shelter. “So long as it makes you shut up about it.”

“See?” asked Tasha as she shoved him back into a lying position.

“Maybe not so rough,” he chuckled in a whisper realizing others were nearby. She laid down next to him as he tossed the poncho liner over them both. Just as he was adjusting, she backed into him and snuggled in close.

“I can feel if you start having untoward thoughts,” she stated.

“I…” he stammered.

“Go to sleep, Chuck,” she said as she reached back and pulled his hand over her side. He got comfortable and squeezed at her stomach before she snuggled her shoulders into him.

“How can this be comfortable and uncomfortable at the same time?” he muttered.

“Because you’re a perverted pig?” she asked, but he could feel her smile.

“You wouldn’t have me any other way,” he said with a chuckle.

“Well, I’m pretty sure you’d have me any way you could,” she said. “Pig.”

“Seems like you have me right where you want me,” he stated. “Who’s the pig now?”

“This isn’t me being a pig,” she stated. “This is training.”

“Oh, yes, of course,” he said with a chuckle.

“Admit it, you knew this wasn’t your tent,” she stated with a chuckle. “Hoping to find me vulnerable or something, I’d bet.”

“I don’t think you’ve ever been vulnerable,” he said with a smile. He could feel her smile as she adjusted slightly and he could feel her relax.

“This training will be nice for warmth though,” he said. He tried to get comfortable, but something he noticed was driving him up the wall. “Can I make one more pig comment?”

“Do you like your fingers intact?” she asked as she moved her hand over his.

“Your hair smells really nice,” he said.

“I just washed it before coming out here,” she said and he felt her smile again.

“Smells like strawberries,” he said and took a deeper sniff.

“That’s the scent it has,” she stated.

“If I start chewing on your hair while you’re asleep, don’t get mad,” he said and she felt him smile as well.

“That would be a little… peculiar,” she stated as he heard her hold back a giggle.

“I dearly love strawberries,” he said.

“I see,” she said. “I’ll remember that.”

“Would it be weird of me to stop you and sniff at random times in the colony?” he asked.

“That depends,” she said and smiled again.

“On?” he asked.

“My little secret,” she said and he felt her grin naughtily.

“I thought friends kept each other’s secrets,” he stated.

“I’m not sure we have secrets out here,” she stated. “However, it wouldn’t be like totally weird or anything, but some warning would be in order.”

“Like now?” he said as he sniffed deeply. “Nice.”

“You are horrible,” she said as she giggled softly.

“Can you two just go ahead and get it on and knock off the flirty chitchat?” asked Noah Taylor from the adjacent shelter. Chuck felt Tasha trying not to laugh again as he bit his lower lip himself. However, Noah interrupted them again.

“I can hear you trying not to laugh, it’s not funny,” he said in his impossibly thick Australian accent.

“My, someone is cranky when Olivia isn’t around to tame the beast,” muttered Tasha loud enough for him to hear.

“Olivia might say the same thing, though she wouldn’t be as gruff about it,” said Olivia from the same shelter Noah was in. Tasha tried not laughing once again, but ended up letting a giggle slip and snorted at the same time.

“Oh, dear,” said Olivia quietly. “She’s giggling like a little girl.”

“We’re never going to get any sleep,” said Noah with a sigh. Eventually, Chuck and Tasha settled in and Tasha was out like a light quickly as she had trained herself to do many years prior. Chuck took a bit longer to go to sleep, even though the strange feeling of being uncomfortable and comfortable at the same time was still evident. But eventually, he dozed off and was deep in sleep before he knew it.

********************
​

Tasha awoke the next morning about a half hour before she would be woken up by whomever had the duty at the time. Her initial disorientation after waking up didn’t last long and she remembered she had company helping keep her warm. Chuck was still peaceful under the poncho liner though he had rolled over away from her at some point in the night. Apparently, she had rolled towards him and had her arm draped over his side. She stretched out as best as she could as Chuck rolled over on his back in his sleep and started snoring again. He had done it once during the night and she managed to get him rolled over without waking him. This time, she decided to try another trick instead of possibly waking him.

“Roll over, baby,” she whispered softly in his ear. He mumbled in his sleep, but continued rolling over and still hadn’t woken up. She smiled at the scene before brushing his hair away from his forehead and looking around for her uniform top and thermal shirt. She managed to locate both before slipping them both on and heading over to the MPMV adjusting her web gear as she walked along. Coffee was the first order of business and the watch officer, Noah Taylor in this instance, knew his report could wait until she got a cup going.

“I do hope you got plenty of rest,” he said as he was joined by Olivia who had relieved one of the perimeter guards for a bathroom break. “Some of us sure didn’t.”

“Sorry about that,” said Tasha who knew sleep was valuable.

“Oh, Tasha, I didn’t realized you got married and we interrupted your wedding night,” said Olivia with a silly grin.

“I’m sorry, what?” asked Tasha after taking a sip of the coffee.

“Major Tasha Dawson,” said Noah with a grin. “It does have a ring to it.”

“I have no idea what you two are talking about,” said Tasha in a mood. Noah just nodded at her uniform top and she saw she had grabbed Chuck’s by mistake.

“Son of a… I’ll be right back,” said Tasha as she set her coffee cup down and stomped back towards her shelter.

“Noah, dear, you shouldn’t have nodded at her shirt,” said Olivia with a chuckle. “I’d like to have seen how long it would have taken her to notice.”

“About as much time as it would have taken Chuck to wake up and try to put hers on,” chuckled Noah. “She’s got it bad.”

“Yes, she does,” said Olivia.

When Tasha arrived at her shelter, she found Chuck had woken up and was holding her shirt with a confused look on his face.

“I think-” he started to say.

“I grabbed the wrong shirt,” she stated and gave him a look and handed his to him.

“Good morning to you too,” he said with a smile.

“I didn’t mean to come off gruff,” she sighed. “Good morning, Chuck. Sleep well?”

“Like a baby,” he said with a warm smile. “You?”

“You’re very warm,” she said with a return smile. “Sorry about the shirt.”

“Simple mistake,” he said. “Thanks though.”

“For what?” she asked.

“For letting me smell strawberries all night,” he said with a grin.

“At least I didn’t wake up to you chewing on a strand of hair,” said Tasha with a return grin. “See you in a bit?”

“Gotta get cleaned up first,” he said. “But yes.”

“Okay, I have to get the morning report,” she stated with another smile and departed. He grabbed his field cleaning kit, established a long time before during one of his research trips, he had the bare essentials to keep himself feeling human and headed for the area dedicated as their latrine. Tasha retuned to the command MPMV and got her status update from Noah and Olivia as she sipped at the coffee.

“Quite night then,” she said when Noah finished up.

“Except our sleep getting interrupted,” he said sourly.

“Again, I’m sorry,” she stated. “We’ve got about 45 minutes until stand to; you want to catch a nap before then?”

“I just might,” said Noah as he wandered towards the passenger seat of the MPMV. However, Olivia stuck around and made her own cup of coffee and returned to Tasha.

“Did you sleep well?” she asked as Tasha looked over the log.

“Like a baby,” said Tasha as a small smile came over her face.

“Oh, love, you just don’t even realize it,” said Olivia.

“Realize what?” asked Tasha.

“Just how bad you have it,” said Olivia.

“How bad I have what?” asked Tasha with confusion.

“He is good for you,” said Olivia forcefully. “You are like this totally different person when Chuck is around. Like a switch has been flipped and the big heart I know you have pops open.”

“We’re just friends,” protested Tasha halfheartedly.

“You may be friends, but deep down, you know I’m right,” said Olivia. “We’ve known each other for years and I can see it plain as day.”

“Let’s face facts here, I’ve never been good with picking male companions,” she sighed.

“Maybe he picked you this time?” asked Olivia. “Destiny or whatever, but you and Chuck were put together here to give this a whirl.”

“I’m not really comfortable talking about this,” said Tasha.

“Again, we’ve been friends a long time and friends speak their mind,” said Olivia. “Chuck Dawson is a good man that seems to be a proper companion for you.”

“I meant like right now,” said Tasha. “We’re getting ready to go into combat and I don’t really want to think about personal relationships at the moment.”

“I understand,” said Olivia. “But when we get back, you really need to explore the outstanding opportunity put right in front of you.”

“Maybe…” said Tasha as her voice trailed off.

“That’s all I’m going to say on the matter, but you’re my friend and I want to see my friends happy. He provides that spark of happiness for you. I mean, when’s the last time you giggled like a little girl?” asked Olivia.

“It has been a while,” said Tasha with a chuckle. “And he was really comfy.”

“I’d bet,” said Olivia with a laugh. “He has those shoulders just made to sleep on.”

“You realize I can hear your conversation?” asked Noah from the front.

“Baby, you know I’m yours and you’re mine,” said Olivia. “But you two have completely different body types.”

“Maybe I should sleep with him once to see,” grumbled Noah as Chuck came past him. “I’d avoid the area, mate. It’s girls’ time.”

“I’m sorry?” he asked as he stopped.

“You’re about to get it,” said Noah as he tried for a few more winks of sleep. Chuck was confused as he headed to the back of the MPMV where Tasha was found making another cup of coffee and gave him a slight smile as he passed.

“Have enough there for one more cup?” he asked.

“This one is for you,” she said. “French vanilla creamer and artificial sweetener, right?”

“Exactly the way I like it,” said Chuck with a smile as he took the offered cup and sipped.

“Well?” she asked.

“Perfect,” he said with a smile and took another sip.

“I prefer my coffee like my woman,” said Noah as he gave up on sleeping and came back for a cup of coffee to shake the early morning cobwebs.

“I’m sorry?” asked Tasha.

“Hot and full of alcohol,” said Noah with a straight face.

“Just for the record, I’m not full of alcohol,” said Olivia with a frown at her husband.

“But you are hot, love,” he said with a smile.

“Seems like both the men here this morning are pigs,” said Tasha with a smile and Charlotte Griggs walked up.

“Are the men being men this morning?” she asked as she wiped at her face and went straight for the coffee machine.

“Aren’t they always?” asked Tasha with a laugh. “You’re up early.”

“Someone tried to crawl into bed with me,” said Charlotte with a sigh.

“No screaming?” asked Olivia.

“Nah, she was good looking,” said Charlotte with a grin.

“Which was?” asked Chuck.

“One of Tasha’s girls, Zoe Kent,” said Charlotte.

“She does have that cute thing going on,” said Olivia.

“We need to better establish a base camp next time,” said Noah.

“If we were staying here more than a day, yes,” said Tasha.

“Regardless, I let her have my sleeping bag and figured if I was up, I’m up,” said Charlotte.

“Good thinking,” said Tasha as she prepared another cup of coffee for the ever growing group. General chitchat continued until it was time for stand to and the three security personnel went waking everyone in the camp to prepare. Chuck headed for his team members and woke Kirk and Javier before the others got to them.

“Time to get up,” said Chuck as he poked his head into Kirk’s shelter.

“Got it,” said Kirk with a yawn. Javier was a little harder to get into the land of the living as Chuck shook him several times before he woke up.

“Cold out there,” said Javier as he pulled the sleeping bag over his head.

“Hot coffee at the command MPMV,” said Chuck as enticement.

“I’m not sure that’s worth it,” said Javier in a grumble as he pulled the sleeping bag back.

“Regardless, everyone is getting into position,” said Chuck.

“Why are you so chipper this morning?” asked Javier with a grunt as he sat up.

“Because he had a comfy sleeping mate last night,” said Kirk as he wiped at his face.

“You got lucky out here?” asked Javier.

“No! I didn’t get lucky,” said Chuck with a laugh.

“Don’t let him fool you, I heard the whole exchange,” said Kirk.

“So, who was it?” asked Javier.

“A gentleman never tells his secrets,” said Chuck with a grin. “Anyway, I’ll meet you two over at the command vehicle.”

“Right,” said Javier as he prepared for the morning and dug out his jacket. Kirk gravitated over to him as Chuck disappeared.

“For the record, it was Tasha,” said Kirk.

“About time,” said Javier. “The way those two played around with each other, I never thought it would happen.”

“She was even giggling,” said Kirk with a chuckle.

“Oh, that I wish I’d seen,” said Javier as he laced up his boots.

“What’s the plan for us?” asked Kirk as he shifted the subject.

“I’m not really sure,” said Javier as he finished up. “I’d assume Tasha wants Chuck and his cannon at the ready. For us? I’m not really sure, but we’ll find out.”

“I need to make a stop along the way,” said Kirk.

“Both of us probably,” said Javier as they stopped for the call of nature before heading to the command vehicle. They passed the security troops along the way taking up positions and saw Chuck slinging the capture launcher over his back.

“We’re here,” said Javier as he moved towards the coffee machine. The only personnel left at the vehicle were Charlotte, Kirk, Tasha and Chuck.

“I’ve got the security troops heading into place,” explained Tasha. “I’ll keep you four here until after stand to and request you help in breaking down camp.”

“Won’t be a problem,” said Javier as he got into his cup of coffee. “Anything to eat?”

“We’ll break out the rations after stand to,” said Tasha.

“Got it,” said Javier as he sipped again. “And then?”

“We wait for our prey to move,” said Tasha. “And take them down.”

 

CHAPTER 13



“Approximately two kilometers,” said Javier as he observed the drone feed and did a quick calculation on how far out the Raptors were from their position. They continued to wait to spring their ambush as the Raptors continued their steady march south, but stopped every once in a while before continuing forward. Time seemed to stand still as they patiently waited for their most important mission of the expedition so far. After stand to that morning, they had packed up the entire encampment and were prepared to move without any delays.

“Quite out here,” said Javier as he and Tasha carefully watched the field that would become their battleground. “As still as it can be.”

“Like nature knows we’re about to disrupt the entire landscape,” said Tasha as she checked the feed from the drone. “About five minutes.”

“Still a dozen?” asked Javier.

“Yep,” said Tasha. “They took a little longer eating than I would have preferred.”

“Interesting to watch,” said Javier as the time seemed to slow down even further.

“Three minutes,” announced Tasha over the radio as she saw her teams prepare for the battle. Everyone she could see was watching the far tree line closely waiting for the word to unleash the hell they brought with them. She could see the Raptors stop momentarily and sniff at the air, though continuing on after a brief pause. The first emerged from the woods into the clearing and looked around before the remainder of the group came forward into the clearing.

“Interesting they stopped to make sure it’s clear,” said Javier.

“Jay, not now,” said Tasha as she looked over the group. “Pick the one you want.”

Javier took the rebuke in stride since he was fairly nervous and normally got chatty during those times. He looked over the group of Raptors and identified the one he felt would be easier to capture with the modified containment units. “That one, third from the left.”

“All forces, do not engage the third from the left,” ordered Tasha as she designated it with a laser aiming device. “Do not fire on the one currently being designated.”

She didn’t receive acknowledgments from the group, but knew they had heard her since they were well trained and highly disciplined. The Raptors slowed their progress crossing the field, but eventually got into the far edge of the ambush zone. However, Tasha wanted it perfect as she waited until there was no chance of escape. Another 30 seconds ticked off the clock as she saw it was now or never. “Designating initial targets.”

She aimed her carbine and activated the laser again, designating the four largest creatures since she wanted them taken out first. She moved quickly down the line and saw they were in a prime zone for the ambush.

“Open fire,” she said emotionless over the radio. She heard the four medium launchers fired their missiles towards the designated targets. The missiles flew out at over the speed of sound and covered the six hundred meters quickly before hitting all four right in the center mass area between their arms with devastating results. The other Raptors appeared stunned by the explosions before looking at the light smoke trails of the missiles and growling at the far tree line and starting to move that way. The missile teams were already in the process of reloading as the remainder of the forces held their fire.

“Bravo Team, engage,” said Tasha as the three heavy machine gun units engaged the charging creatures. “Cavalry, start your maneuver.”

Four of the MPMV vehicles headed out of their hiding spot and quickly flanked the Raptors, pouring additional fire on the right side of the Raptors. Several turned to see the additional threat to their side and began to charge that way, though three were stopped cold by the medium range missiles that hit them. The machine guns had wounded another two of the creatures as the MPMVs moved in closer and engaged with short range missiles, ending their struggle to escape.

“Alpha Team, hold your fire,” said Tasha as she saw there were two remaining and were trying to escape. “Cavalry, go for capture after taking the one down on the east.”

“Acknowledged,” said Lieutenant Randy Whitaker as he opened fire again with two of the vehicles, pouring fire into the retreating Raptor she had designated. The remaining MPMV raced forward as Chuck Dawson got the capture unit ready in the turret and aimed it towards the remaining Raptor. It stopped and gave him a perfect shot as he fired the containment unit and saw it track right at the Raptor. It growled as the other three MPMVs raced to block its path to the far tree line and safety. The containment unit came open and started the process of capturing the creature, though the Raptor was able to leap and hit the unit before it could finish deployment. The other vehicles fired the tranquilizer darts at the creature, hoping for hits and wishing it would go down quickly. They saw two hit as the Raptor growled at each of the vehicles and slowly turned around looking at them.

Chuck had prepared another capture unit and fired it at the Raptor, seeing it track where it was supposed to yet again. This time the unit was able to deploy as it slowed the Raptor inside the zone and looked to be working. However, the Raptor struggled enough to escape the energy area and got loose once again. The tranquilizers didn’t seem to be having an effect either as it didn’t appear to be slowed down. The Raptor looked at Chuck’s vehicle with a snarl and immediately headed in that direction at a full charge as he quickly tried to reload the device for a third attempt. He fired quickly and saw the Raptor dodge away from the incoming device and charge straight at them. Chuck quickly reloaded once again as training kicked in and he fired again, seeing the capture unit deploy and the Raptor getting through the expanding field once again.

Chuck immediately went into reload again and saw the Raptor was dangerously close. He had just finished reloading the launcher and prepared to fire when it was hit broadside by a short range missile ending the charge and dropped dead fifteen meters in front of the vehicle. He turned to see Tasha holding the launcher of the short range missile with a wisp of smoke coming from the rear as she saw it had been effective. However, Noah Taylor sent a single round from his sniper rifle through the head of the creature just to be sure.

“I could have gotten it!” exclaimed Chuck as he tossed the launcher into the vehicle.

“It would have covered that distance in less than two seconds,” said Tasha as her eyes flashed anger. “You would still be trying to reload while that thing was killing you.”

“I could have gotten it!” he repeated.

“The tranquilizers weren’t working and it broke containment twice,” said Tasha reasonably. “Nothing was working and that thing wasn’t going to stop.”

“I might have gotten one more chance,” said Chuck. “We need to study a live specimen!”

“It takes about six seconds to reload and fire that thing and it was only twenty meters away,” said Tasha. “You think it’s going to wait while you finish loading and firing?”

“No… probably not,” said Chuck.

“I did what I had to do in order to bring everyone home alive from this one,” said Tasha. “Now, we didn’t accomplish one mission objective, but we fulfilled the primary mission of keeping everyone alive and stopping the threat before it hit the colony. That includes scientists that think they could get that one last bit of data before the experiment blows up in their faces.”

“I… you’re right,” said Chuck.

“Damn right I am,” said Tasha as Javier approached as he saw the personal conversation was coming to an end. “Now, is there anything you’d like to study with these?”

“No, nothing we haven’t seen already,” said Javier.

“Let’s get everything packed up,” ordered Tasha in a loud voice and started seeing to forming up the convoy and calling in the gunship to pick up the non-security personnel. Javier went to collect the used containment rounds so hopefully they could be recharged and used again.

“Tasha?” asked Chuck from behind in a quiet voice.

“Yes?” she asked.

“Thank you,” said Chuck with a serious look.

“I can’t afford to lose you trying again when the danger was right there in your face,” said Tasha.

“You can’t afford to lose me?” asked Chuck in a questioning tone.

“We can’t afford to lose you,” said Tasha. “You’re far too valuable to the colony to be killed when I had the power to save you.”

“I see,” said Chuck in a quiet tone.

“It’s not about you, Chuck,” said Tasha wondering if her words were a Freudian slip. “Everyone in this colony is valuable and we need everyone to be kept alive.”

“Regardless, I appreciate you swooping in and saving me,” said Chuck. “I should have seen the danger, but I was too focused on trying to capture one alive.”

“It’s what I do,” said Tasha. “Go ahead and pack up please, you’re going on the gunship.”

“If it’s all the same to you, I’d like to ride in the convoy,” said Chuck.

“Why?” she asked.

“I like being out and about,” said Chuck. “Who knows what we’ll encounter on the way back.”

“It might not be safe,” said Tasha.

“I can handle myself,” said Chuck.

“Okay, gather your stuff,” said Tasha as the gunship landed and the other two scientists got on board. Javier checked for Chuck and turned to Tasha.

“He wants to drive with the convoy,” said Tasha with shrugged shoulders.

“Keep him safe,” said Javier.

“I always do,” said Tasha as she instructed the pilot to take the others back to the colony. She had already sent the message for a successful mission, but would call with details on the ride back. She saw the minor items they had were already loaded and the convoy was already formed up as the gunship lifted off and headed south towards the colony.

“Everyone ready? We aren’t missing anything?” she asked as she walked over to Whitaker.

“Negative, ma’am,” said Randy. “We’re ready to go.”

“We’ve got a long drive, let’s head out,” said Tasha as she took her seat in the lead vehicle, seeing Chuck was already safely stowed in the back seat. “You sure you wouldn’t rather ride in one of the other vehicles? Might be more comfortable.”

“The safest place on this planet is right behind you,” said Chuck. “I’d rather stay close to you if it’s all the same to you.”

“Was that a compliment?” she asked.

“Yeah,” said Chuck.

“Thanks,” said Tasha as the lead vehicle rolled out and headed back on the known path to the colony. Once underway, she called Ben who was anxiously awaiting her call.

“You’re a bit earlier than I thought,” he said over the screen.

“We weren’t able to capture one,” said Tasha. “It broke the containment field twice and the tranquilizers weren’t having any effect.”

“No chance of a capture?” asked Ben.

“Not without losing Doctor Dawson,” said Tasha. “It was eyeballing him for a mid-morning snack and wasn’t stopping.”

“Until you put a stop to it,” said Ben as he saw Chuck make a face over the camera. “Chuck?”

“I might have gotten another shot off,” said Chuck.

“Before or after that thing killed you from being too close?” asked Tasha with anger in her voice as she didn’t want to rehash it right then.

“I was already reloaded when you decided to blow it up!” he objected as the events replayed in his head. “I could have gotten off one more shot!”

“And I would have had to shoot that thing while it was on top of the vehicle and endangered you and Lieutenant Whitaker since you’d be inside the danger radius of the blast,” she growled.

“Or more likely G.I. Jane just wasn’t going to let anyone else have a chance at doing the right thing,” he said in response with his jaw jutted out.

“Oh really?” she growled.

“I think that’s exactly what happened,” he said angrily.

“Driver, get out. It’s about to get personal,” said Tasha with a jerked head and without taking her eyes off Chuck in a stare of rage.

“Yes, ma’am,” said Zoe Kent as she popped the door quickly and stepped out.

“How dare you,” growled Tasha as her eyes turned to pure ice and she moved closer Chuck while throwing her “knife hand” within 50 mm of his face. “I was tasked to come out here and keep everyone safe to include bumbling scientists that couldn’t sense the danger coming at them full speed. Furthermore, I was tasked to come out here and stop this possible attack against the colony. On both accounts I did what I had to do and accomplished those goals.”

“You want to sit there thinking you are some big bad ass because you got a few hours of training and got a little closer to the action than most. But I saw what danger you and Whitaker were in and I decided to make sure you were kept safe by taking down that creature that wasn’t being stopped by ineffective devices and faulty tranquilizers. Yet, you want to sit here and blame me for saving your worthless backside when I’ve been in countless situations before where dumb asses like you just don’t realize the danger they have themselves in?”

“Don’t even think you’re going to try to convince me or anyone else how I’m suddenly the bad girl in this situation by doing what we all agreed to do before we came out here. You better understand you only have the luxury to blame me because I decided to take the next logical course of action in ending that fight before it even began. Otherwise, you would have been chewed up, spit out and that thing moving on to its next target without me doing what I did. Of course, your macho side is showing out with the same thinking some hotshot pilot believes in thinking they can save their fighter all the way until it smashes into the ground. You were not only on a crash course, but you were taking one of my fine troopers with you as well as the rest of us having to deal with that thing once it got into its blood lust mode.”

“So, don’t even think comments like that are going to win anyone to your side when the rest of us that watched as that thing was going straight at you know better and everyone else would have gladly said ‘thank you’ in the aftermath. Until you realize the simple little facts that thing wasn’t getting stopped and I saved your life and thank me for it, you can shut up,” she growled.

“Excuse me?” he asked.

“You heard me,” she stated with the same icy stare.

“Tasha, I…” he started to say.

“Unless an apology is coming out as your next fumbled words, you get the hell out of my vehicle and ride back with someone else,” she said. “And that’s Major to you.”

“Ta… Major,” he started to say.

“Get out,” she repeated while pointing her finger at the door. “Now.”

Chuck wanted to argue further, but saw she didn’t seem in the mood for discussion. He wisely grabbed his pulse electron carbine and pack before stepping out and heading down the procession of vehicles to find a seat.

“Major Hayden?” asked Ben from the communicator after he gave her several moments to cool off as he could see the anger in her face.

“Yes?” she asked in a tone.

“Want to continue our discussion later?” he asked.

“If we could,” she stated with a deep sigh. “All the camera footage was uploaded onto the server and I can have one of my guys start building a recap of everything.”

“I’ll take a look at the raw footage,” said Ben. “How long before you get back?”

“Maybe four hours, three if we’re lucky,” she said.

“I’ll see you then,” said Ben as he signed off. Tasha sighed deeply again and got out of the vehicle to wave her driver back. Zoe popped into the driver’s seat and got ready to go.

“You waiting on something?” asked Tasha after almost a minute had passed.

“Your permission for the convoy to go, ma’am?” she asked.

“Yeah, sorry,” said Tasha. “Let’s roll.”

“All units, this is Archangel Alpha, rolling at this time,” stated Zoe over the communicator and put the vehicle into gear and rolled south.

“Back to the drawing board?” asked Ben.

“I’m not sure we’ll be able to safely capture one with the models we brought,” said Javier as Ben had called him for a more objective look. “We’re already maxing out the power as it is and any more could set the device into overload.”

“See if you can come up with a bigger unit,” said Ben.

“I’ll check to see what we can do,” said Javier. “Otherwise, a few of our folks have Tasha to thank for being alive.”

“She and Chuck might not be talking again for a while,” said Ben.

“They got into it?” asked Javier.

“It was fairly one sided,” said Ben with a chuckle. “That boy knows when not to argue though.”

“She made the shot at the right time,” said Javier. “Any closer and they might have been caught by the blast of the missile.”

“Oh, he’s keenly aware of that now,” said Ben with a chuckle.

“Not a person I’d want to make mad,” chuckled Javier.

“The Raptors or Tasha?” asked Ben with a hint of a smile.

“Yes,” laughed Javier.

“What did you do with the dead creatures?” asked Ben.

“Left them,” said Javier. “My team doesn’t need the parts and I can’t see a reason to lug them back just to bury them later. Buzzards need something to eat.”

“Do we even have buzzards on this planet?” asked Ben.

“We do have carrion eating birds,” said Javier. “They’ll be well fed.”

“Okay, you should be back well before the convoy,” said Ben. “We can recap when we get everyone back and go through the footage and everyone’s had a shower.”

“Okay, see you in a bit,” said Javier as the gunship continued south.

At the convoy, Tasha directed her command to have a drone provide aerial coverage of the convoy as they made their way back. She was still slightly concerned being this far out of the protective walls of the colony, but there was no indication of any additional aggressive creatures like the Raptors anywhere near the colony. But one thing they had determined was it was good at hiding and she had this feeling the fight wasn’t over with at the moment. However, they made it to the river in good time near the same location they needed to ford it at as the convoy came to a halt.

“I think we’re about half a click away from the crossing,” said Zoe Kent. “To the west.”

“We’re stopping why?” asked Tasha.

“Gut feeling,” said Zoe. “I can’t explain it.”

“Archangel? This is Tasmania,” said Noah Taylor over the communicator. “Check out a disturbance to our two o’clock.”

“What do you see, Tasmania?” asked Tasha.

“Possibly a large feline creature. Plains lion maybe?” he stated as Tasha looked out and saw something within the tall grass peeking out at them. She could only see the top of its head, but it did appear to be cat-like. Weapons were trained in that direction as Tasha directed the drone for an overhead shot of the unknown creature and alerted Javier on the communicator.

“Feline for sure,” said Chuck without being prompted.

“Ask him if he thinks he can get a capture,” said Tasha to her driver.

“Doctor Dawson, Archangel lead requests to know if you could make a capture on that creature?” asked Zoe over the communicator.

“We’ve only got three shots,” he replied.

“Can he or can’t he?” asked Tasha with a tone.

“Doctor, could you make the capture?” asked Zoe, wondering why she was the go-between with the two.

“I’ll need to be closer,” said Chuck.

“Move him into position,” said Tasha. Zoe repeated the orders as one of the vehicles peeled off the convoy line and went about 50 meters into the long grass. She saw Chuck appear in the turret and was handed up his launcher. Just as he was aiming and adjusting for the wind, something caught Tasha’s eye in the drone feed.

“Check fire! Check fire!” she exclaimed over the comm. “Do not fire on that creature!”

Time seemed to stand still, but one of the security troopers kept Chuck from firing the capture round. He dropped into the vehicle and got on the communicator.

“You’re stopping me again?” he asked angrily.

“Check out the overhead feed, hero,” said Tasha with a tone as her eyes turned to ice again. Chuck looked at the feed and saw several smaller creatures moving around the lion. He immediately recognized them as her cubs as they stayed behind the protective wall her body created. The mother was ready to attack, but didn’t want to leave her cubs behind and rush an unknown threat.

“We’ll get pictures, but no capture,” said Tasha. “Rejoin the convoy.”

“Yes, ma’am,” said the driver of the vehicle as they backed up towards the convoy. Eventually, they were ready to get back in line and Tasha ordered the drone to orbit the location while they were fording the river. It took several minutes for each of the vehicles to safely cross and form up on the south side of the river, but eventually they were prepared to continue south. They made better time coming south as the route was established now and the terrain wasn’t difficult to cross. Eventually, the walls of the colony were seen from the top of a hill and everyone relaxed slightly as they picked up the pace slightly. Eventually, they were at the outer edges of the farms and headed down the well established paths the exterior patrols often took and towards the west gate of the colony.

The gate swung open after Zoe called ahead and the convoy drove through the colony with people coming out to see if they had captured a Raptor and showing disappointment when they didn’t see the vicious creature. The vehicles came to a stop outside the security compound as Anton came over to the lead vehicle and other colonists started forming around them and clapping for the returning troopers. More people came up and the crowd started cheering as the normally reserved security personnel started grinning and waving at them. Eventually, the crowd started moving in and shaking hands and thanking the troopers for helping stop the threat before it got to the colony.

“It is good to see you all in one piece,” said Anton as he saluted Tasha.

“It’s good to be back,” said Tasha as she had used the previous three hours to cool off from her one sided argument with Chuck.

“We will get the vehicles and equipment squared away,” said Anton.

“Thank you,” said Tasha as she turned to the gathering forces. “Debrief in one hour at my compound. Go dump your gear, get showered and changed. Dismissed.”

“Major?” she heard from her rear and recognized Chuck’s voice.

“Doctor?” she asked before slowly turning.

“I… I’m sorry,” he said in a meek voice.

“Bet that hurt,” she stated as her eyes turned to ice once again.

“I’m trying to make amends here and I was wrong,” he said forcefully.

“Damn right you were wrong,” she responded in the same voice and softened it before continuing. “Look, I understood how important what we were doing was, but you nerds didn’t seem to understand the more important mission was to keep everyone alive.”

“Nerds? Really?” he asked with a scoff. “This is the most potent threat we’ve ever faced in an off-world colony and we need to study the damn thing in depth. Forgive me if I was willing to risk myself to capture one of those things in order to make your job of killing or capturing them easier. That’s not the nerd side of me; that’s a pragmatic, objective look at the situation as a whole and I was willing to go the extra kilometer in trying to help everyone.”

“It wasn’t stopping!” she objected.

“I felt like I had one last chance to try!” he exclaimed. “Looking back, you probably made the right call, but I felt like I had to at least try one more time!”

“I did what I thought was best,” she stated as her own anger was rising slightly, but she looked at it from Chuck’s point of view and saw why he was arguing.

“No, you thought my nerd side was flaring up and I didn’t recognize the danger coming at me,” he said coldly. “Yes, I’m keenly aware of what danger those things pose.”

“It wasn’t your nerd side,” she said with a sigh.

“I can see some things will never change with you,” he said. “We’re not being nerdy in our desire to study the threats posing facing us. We are being responsible in taking on some of the danger so you don’t have to down the road.”

He spun to leave once again as anger came over his face as well. However, she made a snap judgment in her mind as she understood what he was thinking in regards to how important the study of the Raptors was.

“Chuck?” asked Tasha.

“Major?” he asked in return without turning.

“It slipped,” said Tasha. “I’m trying not to be so…”

“Gruff? Condescending?” he asked as he turned to her.

“I wasn’t going to use those choices, no,” said Tasha with a frown.

“You could say you are sorry and be done with it,” said Chuck.

“Sorry for saving your ass?” asked Tasha.

“This isn’t going anywhere,” said Chuck as he threw up his hands.

“Damn right it’s not,” said Tasha as looked defiantly at him. She knew both sides of the argument had merit, but hated losing an argument.

“Look, I came over to apologize as I recognize what you did probably saved my life,” he said as his voice softened and he extended the olive branch. “But I didn’t realize it at the time and I wasn’t being objective.”

“You had target fixation,” said Tasha calmly. “You’re no different than a rookie infantryman with their first enemy target in sight or a pilot thinking of nothing but a kill. You were locked into that thought process and saw no other danger even though it was charging at you full speed. I made a decision to end that danger.”

“I… you’re right,” he said.

“You’re welcome,” she said.

“I already thanked you for possibly saving my life,” he said.

“I wouldn’t mind hearing it again,” she replied and crossed her arms.

“Seriously?” he asked.

“If that was your intention from the start, you would do it,” she stated. “Otherwise, you just came over here to argue more and get me really angry.”

“Look, I apologized up front and told you I wasn’t thinking big picture. I did tell you why I was thinking what I did and what my chances were. If you can’t accept that because your ego is getting in the way, this conversation is over,” he stated and turned to leave.

“Oh, you don’t walk away from me like that!” she objected and followed him.

“Don’t like me getting the last word?” he stated without turning and continuing on.

“This isn’t over!” she objected and followed him.

“Yeah, it is,” he stated and finally turned around. “Your ego is getting in the way of your objectivity in this case and you can’t see things from my point of view. I’m not going to change that nor will I even try because you’ll just find something else to argue about. So, this conversation ends here and we’ll go our separate ways unless you plan on continuing to argue with me while I’m in the shower,” he stated as she realized they were at the door to his temporary quarters.

“This argument isn’t over by a long shot, buddy,” she objected.

“Okay, let me get my shower stuff and a clean change of clothing,” he said as he went inside the container and dropped his pack and rifle but left the door open.

“This isn’t over, Doctor Dawson,” she objected as she saw he wasn’t going to continue.

“Probably not, Major Hayden,” he stated as he grabbed at a towel and yanked it from the bar where he had it hanging. “But I’m at least going to get a shower before your briefing where I’m sure I’ll be berated even more for my decisions.”

“I’m not planning on berating you for your decisions,” she stated in a softer voice.

“Sure as hell seems like the only bad decisions made today were on my part,” he stated. “I guess bad decisions on both our parts could extend to last night as well.”

“Oh, you thought there was something between us last night?” she said with a smirk.

“I know there was,” said Chuck in a soft voice. “I can flat guarantee you never have asked some random person that before and we both were content in that situation. However, you just have to have the last word and you’ll never admit you liked the idea of me staying.”

“Oh, don’t even get conceited like you’re the greatest catch on this planet,” she said with a frown. “And don’t even act like you didn’t like the idea as well.”

“I’ll admit I did,” he said. “I thought we were past the childishness I threw out after the coastal mission and were getting a fresh start and I wasn’t going to hold back. Now, can you admit the same or is your ego going to get in the way again?”

“I used you for warmth,” she stated adamantly. “Nothing more.”

“Then the conversation is over,” said Chuck.

“No, it’s not,” she stated as he started walking away and she followed him. “This isn’t over.”

They walked the short distance to the shower facilities and he stopped at the door and looked at her. She realized the shower facilities were not coed and he simply shrugged his shoulders and opened the door. She had a thought of following him in and finishing the argument and seeing if what they started the night before might be salvaged, but common sense got the better of her as she saw one of her troopers coming out having showered and changed.

However, she hated to lose an argument and shoved open the door on sheer impulse and went inside finding him already disrobed at the shirt level. Captain Jerome Irwin started coming out of his shower and caught a glimpse of her before wrapping himself up in the shower curtain.

“Uh, ma’am?” he asked.

“Stand fast, Captain,” she stated with a pointed finger and looked at Chuck who was setting his shower items out. “Well? Want to continue?”

“You set a deadline of an hour,” said Chuck. “Now, unless you want to continue and save time by showering together and continuing the argument, at least let me have fifteen minute of peace to get cleaned up. Now, I will admit I don’t have that nice smelling shampoo you use, but at least you’ll be clean.”

“I will not!” exclaimed Tasha.

“So, go get cleaned up yourself and we’ll meet afterwards,” said Chuck. “Maybe in that time you’ll come up with a better argument than making me apologize again for the same thing I apologized for once already.”

In a non-verbal way of saying he was finished for the moment, he removed his belt and started removing his boots. Standing up, he looked right at her and started to remove his pants as she scoffed and gave him a dirty look.

“Fine,” she stated in a huff and departed the shower facility.

“Is it okay to come out now?” asked Jerome.

“Yeah, Jerome, it’s okay,” said Chuck with a scoff thinking of how stubborn she was.

“You and the Major got into it again?” asked Jerome as he came out with a towel wrapped around his waist.

“She does like to argue,” said Chuck with a slight laugh. “And positively has to have the last word in the conversation.”

“That she does,” said Jerome with a chuckle. “Of course, we don’t get to argue with her like that, so you have an advantage over us.”

“I’m not sure if it’s her personality or the woman in her that has to win the argument,” said Chuck with another scoff, but a hint of a smile as he got into the shower.

“Both probably?” asked Jerome with a laugh.

“There is that,” said Chuck with a laugh.

“It’ll blow over,” said Jerome. “She likes you enough to try to make peace.”

“It got personal this time,” said Chuck. “I’m not sure it can be salvaged.”

At her quarters, Tasha dumped her pack and carbine on the floor as she walked in and ran her hands over her face before grasping at the hair on top of her head. She let out a growl thinking of how angry she was at him, but disappointed at the same time. As she headed into the bedroom area, she wondered how much she was disappointed in him or at herself for pushing too far once again. She was very comfortable with him the evening prior and had planned to continue that avenue once they returned, but both their egos got in the way and they ended up in yet another argument based on their strong personalities.

Getting in the shower, she continued to sigh and shake her head as the morning replayed in her head over and over and where she, and he, could have done things differently instead of being stubborn and having to win the argument. She decided to let things blow over for a couple of days before seeking reconciliation yet again and giving it one last try.