Warrior One - Fleet Action Pt. 08

The four calmly walked down to the table. Gillian handed Michelle the device. Michelle stepped back and saluted Gillian. Gillian returned her salute and watched her and her flight move off to discuss their mission. Gillian picked up the fourth device and the paper. She read the name on the paper and smiled.

"Caster, flight leader with Hunter and Rider. I have the device, no need for you two to come down here," she told her flight. They both nodded. Gillian turned toward the Admiral and pointed at the fifth device. He shook his head. Gillian nodded.

"Marines sir?" she queried.

"Right. Listen up. Each, scout ship will carry four Marines. Each destroyer will carry ten more Marines than their standard complement. The extra Marines will drop where the scout ships land on the planet. Colonel Owens, you are assigned to Commander Saraid. Pick your other officers and high-ranking NCOs assign them to the other scout ship leaders."

"Aye, aye, sir," replied Laff.

Gillian turned to the Admiral, saluting him and turning to go. She marched up the aisle to her two teammates. They found a secluded spot and sat with the team to discuss what and where they would be going. Soon a gaggle of Marines joined them. As his scout ship squadron sat going over their next mission, Ezra picked up the last device. The paper under it had Warrior One printed across the front. Standing, Ezra gathered his officers by eye and marched up the aisle to the doors. Their shuttle was waiting for them in the same location as all the scout ships parked. Ezra made his way to Warrior's shuttle, climbed inside, followed by his captains. They were rising out of the landing area as the scout ship pilots and their Marines came out of the building heading to their ships. He also saw the eight destroyers that would be accompanying the scout ships on their missions.

Chapter 178

As Gillian and her scouts walked to their ships, she had a thought.

"You do know the Admiral was joking about a couple of days didn't you?" she asked.

They all stopped dead in their tracks, all looking at Gillian. Even the Marines had stopped and were looking at her.

"How long then?" Michelle asked.

"As long as you need to determine the viability of the planet. Take about a day or two in each spot you stop and look around, carefully. I would hate to lose any of you. That goes for you Marines too," she shouted so they could hear her.

"Yes, Ma'am," Staff Sergeant Glen said smiling.

"Did you hear something different, Colonel?" Gillian asked Laff.

"No. When I asked, he said it was up to you, but he didn't expect us to be back for at least a month if not longer. The destroyers have enough food for two months on the planet."

"That's what my impression is. This will not be a quick scan, people. We will look at the entire planet, which we are responsible. We will walk on its surface as well as fly over its surface. We fly the most sophisticated scanners ever built. Use them."

"Aye, aye, Ma'am," her pilots yelled.

"Good. Now let's go. Who has our destroyer assignments?" Gillian asked.

"It's in your holograph," Dax said.

"Oh. Well, let's get aboard our ships. We'll meet our Destroyers in space."

At Caster's ramp, Colonel Owens assigned the men with him to the Hunter and Rider. The Colonel and Staff Sergeant Glen would be in Caster along with two others Gillian had never met. Once inside, she looked at Colonel Owens with a raised eyebrow.

"Ah, yes. Corporal Evans, Private Simms, Commander Gillian Saraid the ship Caster's captain and pilot."

"Men," Gillian said.

"Ma'am," they both said.

"Okay, find a place to sit, the floor would be good, and don't touch anything. Cass, are you ready?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Are we clear for takeoff?"

"Not quite yet, several ahead of us. May I download our mission parameters, ma'am?"

"Of course," Gillian said, setting the device in the slot on the control board.

A few seconds later, the device slid out. Gillian grabbed it before it fell on the deck. She smiled to herself.

"Notify all ships, prepare for takeoff," Gillian said.

"Hunter, Rider, Wulver, and Nóra have been notified."

"Thank you, Cass." Cass had just let her know which destroyers were to accompany her on this trip. Gillian smiled as she looked out the port.

"We have permission to lift Commander," Cass said.

"Lift," Gillian said.

Cass rose straight up and then moved forward once they were above the rim of the pit, which they parked.

"Destination course calculated," Cass said.

"How many jumps?" Gillian asked.

"One."

"How far is it?"

"Twelve hundred light-years," Cass said.

"Are all the ship ready?"

"They are."

"Jump."

"Jumping in four, three, two, one, jump."

The shutter in front of Gillian closed. They were in hyperspace.

"How long?"

"Six hours."

Gillian didn't say a word, just thought about how fast they were going to accomplish the trip in that amount of time in one jump.

"Commander?" Laff queried.

"Yes, Colonel?"

"Where are we going?"

"Cass?"

Chapter 179

The shuttle landed on Warrior One last, taking all the other captains and their first officers home. Ezra and Phinn were walking together to the bridge. When they both walked in at the same time, the yeoman didn't quite know what to say. Ezra waved at him to sit back down and walked to his chair. He slipped the storage device into the slot.

"Fain, I have something for you," Ezra said, still not quite sure of himself when talking to his ship.

"I see. Reading," the ship's voice came from the speaker system that almost surrounded his head.

"Navigation?" Ezra said.

"Sir?" Eric Nolan said.

"I have the course, sir," Fain whispered.

"Send it to navigation."

"I have the course, sir," Eric said smiling.

"Comms notify all ships, where is Wulver?"

"Comms, aye."

"Wulver was assigned to Commander Saraid, sir," Fain whispered.

"I see. Who did we get to replace her."

"Narvla, sir," replied Fain.

"Ah, yes, I see her."

Comms, all ships report ready," Ensign Flannery said.

"Very well. All ships, ready to jump," Ezra said signaling Commander O'Connor with his hand.

"Jumping in, five, four, three, two, one, Jump," she said.

All screens went blank for just a split second, then started to fill with new information.

"Where are we going?" Phinn asked as he stood to Ezra's side.

"It's the planet Dax and Pól stumbled upon. It seems the inhabitants have space flight, just not interstellar flight. We are to make first contact with them."

"Yikes. Two for three ain't bad," Phinn said chuckling.

Ezra chuckled along with him hoping things went well.

"How long to get there?" Phinn asked.

"Fain?" asked Ezra.

"Ten hours and fifteen minutes."

"Be there by morning then," Ezra quipped.

"We will," replied Fain.

Smiling, Ezra sat back in his chair.

~~~~ WO ~~~~

"Ma'am," Caster whispered.

"I'm up, Cass," replied Gillian.

"Yes, ma'am," Cass said softly.

Gillian rolled her shoulders, hearing all kinds of cracking and grinding. Well, that's what she gets for sleeping in her chair. She really had to put that requisition in for new padding. Rising up, she looked behind her. Four bulky and huge marines filled the floor of her ship. Nobody had even thought about taking the bed. Not even Lafferty Owens. Now how to wake them all up.

"Reveille?" asked Cass.

"No," whispered Gillian as she climbed out of her chair. "Gentlemen, it's time. We'll be coming out of hyperspace in fifteen minutes."

Gillian said the last loud enough for it to be heard by everyone. Trouble was, no one moved.

"Reveille, Cass," said Gillian shaking her head. "Not too loud, though."

"Yes, ma'am."

A trumpet sounded reveille. All the marines sat up eyes wide, groaning as they woke.

"Shut it off, Cass."

Quiet filled the cabin. Smiling, Gillian made her way to the fridge and got a protein drink from inside. She opened it and took a swig. All the marines were looking at her.

"There's plenty in the fridge. If you want one, grab one," she told them.

She hurried back to her chair to avoid getting trampled. The Colonel called for attention and they all froze. He walked between them, opened the fridge and took a bottle out, and handed it to the marine farthest away from him. He did the same for the other two. He was the last to open a bottle and chug its contents down.

The other marines all sat back down on the floor. Laff, moved up beside Gillian at the control console.

"They can use the fresher if they need to. I just ask that they not make a mess. Cass will know who made the mess," Gillian said smiling up at Laff.

Gillian tried not to giggle as Laff told his men about the fresher. Even though it was a self-cleaning ship, its cleaning resources were on the limited side. After all, it was a one-man scout.

"How long," Laff asked.

Gillian touched one of her screens and a countdown clock appeared. Laff nodded.

"Thank you," he said. "One minute to normal space," he told his men.

When the clock reached zero, the shutter opened. They were three AU's out from the planet Caster and Gillian had discovered on their original scouting mission.

"What's the situation on the planet?" Laff asked.

"No life down there, but there are structures. We will have to make a low flyby in the atmosphere so Cass can see if there are any toxins or is any nastiness down there."

"Go ahead then, Ma'am," Laff said.

"Cass, have Jordan follow us down. Better to have both ships sample the place. Tell the rest to remain in orbit until we get back."

"Done. Do you want to fly or should I?" asked Cass.

Gillian heard Laff gasp as he knelt beside her.

"No you go ahead," Gillian replied.

"Here we go," Cass said as she nosed over and down toward the planet.

Gillian could see that Hunter was right beside her. She smiled as she watched Laff's face in the dark screen above the board. She had to stifle a giggle.

Chapter 180

Fleet One came out of hyperspace three AUs out from the star.

"Weapons stand down, Shields off," Ezra called out.

"Aye, aye, sir," they both answered.

"Sensors, three ships headed our way. Looks like they came from the third planet."

"Are their weapons armed? Shields up?" Ezra asked.

"No, sir. Their weapons are not armed. They appear to have neither shields nor hyperdrive."

"Thank you, Mister Dwyer," replied Ezra. "Comms?"

"Nothing yet."

"What frequency did Caster hear them?"

"98.154 GHz, I'm listening on all known frequencies, sir."

"Well, Phinn, what do you think?" Ezra asked.

"I don't know. Maybe we should say hi," replied Phinn.

"Comms, I'm picking up what appears to be chatter between the ships."

"What are they say?" Ezra asked.

"I haven't the faintest idea, I've never heard this language before, sir."

"Candle?"

"I've never heard it before either, sir."

"Get Quinlan up here," Ezra said.

"Yes, sir," replied Candle.

~~~~ WO ~~~~

Half an hour later, Caster was back in space with Hunter, in orbit with the other three ships. Gillian was waiting for the analysis of the planet's atmosphere and any contaminants that might be on the ground.

"Cass?" Gillian asked.

"Still working on it, ma'am," the ship replied.

Gillian heard Laff grunt as he still knelt beside her. She could also hear the other three Marines as they talked softly among themselves.

"Ready, ma'am. No discernible contaminates, either microbial or other. No poisons that we don't already know about or any unknown heavy metals."

"So we are good to go?" Gillian asked to confirm her ship's report.

"Yes, ma'am. Of course with caution. Where would you like to ground?" asked Cass.

"Colonel?" Gillian asked.

"This is your show Commander, me and my marines are along for the ride." Laff chuckled.

"Great. On the outskirts of that second city, we passed. The one that seemed to be the most intact of them all we saw."

"Yes, ma'am. The other ships have been given the coordinates."

"Execute," Gillian said.

The ride down was once again as smooth as the last time. Gillian stifled a giggle as Laff held on for dear life. After a few seconds, he sat down hard on the deck.

"Are all entries this rough?" he asked.

"I don't feel a thing," Gillian replied. "Of course I have never experienced reentry other than in my chair here."

Laff grunted, looking up a Gillian.

"Where do you want to land, ma'am," Cass asked displaying the ground below.

"Hmmm... good question. There. Is that a park on the outskirts?"

"It is, ma'am."

"Then put us down there. It should be big enough for all of us, to begin with," replied Gillian.

"Three minutes to touchdown," Cass said.

Gillian could feel Cass braking, as they got closer to the park. At the end of three minutes, they were hovering at the edge of the park. The other five ships were down either on the ground or hovering.

"Ground us, Cass," Gillian said.

Cass eased herself down until the landing pads sank into the snow below.

"You're on lookout duty, Cass."

"Yes, ma'am," replied Caster.

Laff was up, looking out the port. He groaned, turned to Gillian, and frowned.

"Snow? You had to pick the cold side?"

Gillian giggled as she climbed out of her chair. Going to her closet, she grabbed her helmet and combat gear and suited up. Laff watched her.

"You're going out there in that? Won't you freeze?" he asked.

"Does your gear have built-in heaters?" Gillian asked.

"Of course."

"Well, so does mine. How long are your power packs good for?"

"A week. Yours?"

"A week."

"You guys ready to go?" Laff asked his men.

"Yes, sir," they said in unison.

Gillian opened the hatch and led the way out. The snow wasn't all that deep, only a couple of centimeters. Once all the marines were out and headed toward the trees, although they were bare of leaves, Gillian tuned back to her ship.

"Close it up, Cass," she said.

The ramp withdrew and the hatch closed. Nodding, Gillian followed the marines. The trees were on the dense side. There was barely room to slip through them.

"We'll wait here for everyone else," Gillian said squatting behind some type of ground vehicle. Not only was it covered in snow, but also a good deal of dirt and grit. "Hmm..."

"What?" asked Laff.

"Just wondering how long it's been since whatever happened, happened? And could it have been some type of volcanic event?"

"Good questions, answers to which we will probably never know," Laff replied.

Chapter 181

"Anything Quinlan?" Admiral Nichols asked.

"So far, nothing. I would like to try broadcasting in several different languages that we know."

"Okay, but not Gar."

"Of course, sir," Quinlan replied.

"Let's try K'lar first," Quinlan told the Comm officer.

"What do I have it say?"

"Hello, we are not here to do you any harm."

"Admiral?"

"Send it."

"Aye, aye, sir... sent."

"Any reply?" Ezra asked.

"Just the same gibberish... I mean language as before."

"Okay, now let's try French. Same message," Quinlan said.

"Sent," Ensign Flannery, replied. "Nothing."

"Try Denebian," Quinlan said.

"Sending... Holy... we have an answer."

"Well, what is it?" Ezra asked.

"Hello, we are glad to hear that. Are you Denebian?"

"Send, 'No we are not. We are human, from Earth. What species are you?'," Ezra said.

"Sending... no answer yet... wait... here it is. "We are @#$!@#%. It didn't translate, sir."

"I heard. Well, they are oxygen breathers if they come from the third planet. Ask them which planet is theirs."

"Sent... 'The third planet.'"

"Send, 'Would you like to meet there or on a ship of your choosing?'," Ezra said.

"Sent... 'Wait, we need time to confer.'"

~~~~ WO ~~~~

"Everyone who will be staying on the planet is with you, the destroyers are lifting to cover us," Cass said in Gillian's ear.

"Good. Colonel, set up camp or take a walk?" Gillian asked.

"I'll have fifteen of my men stay behind and set up camp. The rest of us are at your disposal, Commander," Laff said from behind his helmet face-shield.

"Advice, Colonel?" Gillian asked.

"Go ahead."

"Keep us together or split us up?" Gillian asked.

Dax and Torrance watched the interplay of their superiors. The marines just watched their surroundings as the two officers talked.

"Advice, keep us together for this first time or at least until we determine there is no threat lurking in the darkness," Laff said ominously.

"Gee, thanks Laff," Gillian said rolling her eyes. "All right, get your men in the order you want them, we'll move out together, straight down this street," Gillian said.

Laff nodded, turned to his top kick, and nodded, pointing down the street. The top kick called out names and the order they would fill. Laff was in the middle with the pilots. Snow crunching underfoot the group moved out in an orderly and military fashion. Looking behind her, Gillian saw Cass rise up and peek over the tops of the trees. She didn't move in any direction but up.

Five minutes later, they were far enough down the street to see what was blocking it up ahead. A plant of some type had grown out of the buildings up ahead and at street level, the growth was big enough to block the street. The upper branches looked to have been sheared or blown off. Gillian held her hand up, fist high. She took a knee. Laff was beside her in an instant.

"What, Commander?" Laff asked.

"Just a second Colonel. Cass, have Wulver swing around to the summer hemisphere and report on flora growth and fauna there," Gillian said softly into her shoulder mic.

"Yes, Ma'am," Cass replied.

The group heard Wulver roar overhead on its way to the warmer hemisphere.

"Why?" Laff asked.

"Does that look natural to you Colonel?" Gillian asked.

"I'm from a big city..."

"Kind of like this?"

"Yes."

"Have you seen trees that grow sideways through buildings like that?"

"No... but..."

"Take my word for it, trees grow straight up unless something knocks them over, then their branches grow straight up toward the sun until the food and water run out. Those looked like they were searching when winter hit."

"Shouldn't we investigate then?" Laff asked.

"We are. Wulver will be reporting back," Gillian said, stopping when Cass whispered in her ear.

"Ma'am Wulver says the flora is just normal. The fauna also looks normal, different, but normal. They are flying slowly over a large rain forest and everything is green and beautiful."

"Good to hear. Tell her to stay there and scan as much as she can. In fact, send Hunter to join her. I want to know everything there is about the summer side. Then I want you down over this bunch of deadwood scanning," Gillian said.

"Yes, Ma'am."

Hunter went screaming overhead on its way to join Wulver. Caster floated just above the buildings stopping above the limbs and branches down the street. Laff didn't say anything. He just squatted there look at everything.

~~~~ WO ~~~~

Fleet One floated in space waiting for a reply from the aliens, with who they had just made first contact. It had been ten minutes since they had a message from them. The comms were busy with traffic between the ships in front of them and the planet from which the ships had come. The voices sounded excited, not fearful at all, just excited. Then communications shut down between the ships and the planet. Ezra waited patiently.

"Got it," Quinlan called out.

"What do you have, Commander?" Ezra asked.

"We can now translate their language."

"Into English?" asked Ezra.

"Of course, sir," Quinlan replied.