Chapter Three
The rest of the first night on B4-D4 had been uneventful. Most discussion over what had transpired in the denser part of the woods was between the three scientists, sequencing the DNA from the two creatures and trying to make sense of it. The marines, on the other hand, had decided to leave the subject alone for the time being as there was nothing more to be said.
Though this code of silence kept the more experienced marines satisfied, the newer recruits were left with a sense of both anxiety and adventure towards the prospect of exploring the planet further.
"You think Squad Three found anything?" Private Jessup asked his bunkmate, Private Peterson. Richardson woke at the sudden noise of conversation.
"Who knows?" Peterson replied as he finished putting on his boots. Richardson tried blocking the beams of sunlight coming through the slight opening between the tent flaps. Usually on any other deployment, marines were meant to be up and ready at sunrise. However, with the addition of the civilian scientists, schedules had been all but thrown out of the airlock.
"I guess we'll find out when we meet up with them," Jessup shrugged as Richardson sat up on his cot. "Oh, mornin', sir."
Richardson ignored the pleasantries and peered past the tent flaps to get a glimpse on the outside. The only two people up and about were the pilots, sitting on the loading ramp and munching on energy bars. "I'm guessing the civvies aren't up yet?"
"No, sir," Peterson answered. "Corporal Nelson and a few others are awake and on the ship, though."
Richardson stared at his silver wristwatch, which read 1633 hours Earth time. This meant that he'd been asleep for the past nine hours, which was an unprecedented amount of downtime as far as he was concerned. Richardson sighed as he got up and began searching for pieces of his armor.
"Do they make any MREs with bacon, sir?" Jessup asked, rummaging around his rucksack for breakfast.
"No way in hell. You'd have a better chance getting something edible from whatever's out there," Richardson motioned towards the trees. "Dammit! Any of you seen my boots?"
Both of the rookies shrugged, prompting Richardson to continue tearing the tent apart.
"I thought I placed them under my- what the hell?" Richardson said as he reached under his cot. What he pulled out were definitely not combat boots, but bright blue high heels. "Who thought this was funny? Give me back my boots, Jessup."
"I didn't take 'em, sir! I swear," Jessup answered quickly, turning to Peterson. "Did you, Walter?"
"Heck no."
Richardson gritted his teeth. "I'm going to pick at random if you don't figure it out."
"Sir, I don't know what to tell you," Peterson said carefully. "Jessup and I didn't touch your boots. They probably have spares on the ship, though."
Richard sighed in exasperation as he looked once again towards the ship and back to the two men. "I'll let it slide, but if any of my gear starts 'disappearing' again, you're both going to get shot in the foot." Leaving the thought to simmer in the rookies' minds, he walked barefoot to the transport, wincing in pain as his foot continuously landed sharp sticks and small rocks.
Walking up the ramp into the cargo hold, Richardson could already tell that something was up. Nelson, the appointed squad leader, was at the comm station near the rear of the ship, the ear piece covering one ear, his left hand on the other. Not wanting to interrupt, Richardson opened one of the armory lockers as silently as he could. He could see spare helmets and weapons, but no boots.
Three lockers later, he finally found a pair of boots. Thankfully, the footwear was "one size fits all", eliminating the need to look for something of his exact size. These armories were meant to keep a unit clothed and armed for months at a time, even in a heavy combat zone.
As Richardson began putting the boots on his feet, Nelson finished his call and hung the earpiece on the station.
"Calls from command?" Richardson asked as he forced his left foot into a boot.
"Wesner and Squad Three want us to meet up with them closer to the edge of the forest and set up an outpost. We're splitting the squads in thirds and placing each part to a post. He wants to make sure that the area within the triangle is secure," Nelson answered.
"Anything from the rest of the squads?" Richardson grunted as he slid into the other boot.
"Nothing yet. I'm sure the Captain will give us an update when we meet up," Nelson assured. "We're leaving in three minutes."
"Nice, do you want to give the wake up call?"
"I've got it. Grab a candy bar from that pile over there. Pilot's brought that and a bunch of other contraband with them," Nelson said as he walked into the ship's cockpit and keyed on the intercom. "Plans have changed, Marines! You've got two minutes to get your crap together!"
Richardson smirked before peeling the wrapper of one of the candy bars.
The trek through the woods was rather uneventful when compared to the previous night. The area was well lit and the only animals to be heard were birds. Insects were very scarce, but this may have been a symptom of the cold weather on B4-D4. If it was anything like an Earth winter, most animals would be getting close to hibernation.
"Boy, It's chilly," Nguyen pointed out as most of Squad Two marched themselves to their rendezvous point.
"Your powers of observation are amazing, Leo," Nelson commented a few meters ahead.
"I'm just saying, why couldn't the Clarke drop us off on the other side of the planet? Or near the equator?" Nguyen responded.
"Because people are usually smart enough to wear more than a tank top," Nelson answered, noticeably putting an end to Nguyen's complaints. Most of the soldiers were indeed not wearing much of their armor they had arrived in. The only people fully clad were Nelson and Jessup. Even then, Nelson hadn't equipped his helmet or backpack.
Considering the weather outside, it was odd that the trees had not even begun to change in color. It was as if the place was frozen in time.
"Jessup, you're lagging behind," Nelson called over a comm channel to the idle soldier. "Feeling bloated from those MREs already?"
"No, sir. I'm just looking at this really weird mound of dirt over in this clearing," Jessup replied, still anchored to his spot. "It's like something was digging a big hole in the ground."
"Well then, it sure as hell wasn't Rich. His latrine hole was microscopic," Nguyen muttered.
"No, it's not a latrine. It's more like a mole hill..." Jessup trailed off.
"Rich, Nguyen. Go take a look and get Jessup's ass back in gear," Nelson ordered. "Alonso, show me the coordinates of the rendezvous again."
The two jogged straight towards Jessup, simultaneously getting a better view of the clearing. Standing almost smack in the center of the elliptical space was a very large mound of dirt and a equally large hole.
"Think it's another one of those animals?" Jessup asked.
"No, it looks a lot like a hole my dog made when he buried his crap," Richardson answered with a raised eyebrow. "Question is: where's the dog?"
No sooner had Richardson asked this question had a dog-like being popped head-first out of the hole. It wore a gem encrusted collar and a vest of sorts around it. It patted away the dirt that had settled itself on the dark red vest and began digging another hole right next to the first one. Though initial reactions were mixed, Nguyen was the first to point out the obvious.
"That is one ugly ass dog," Nguyen said, his face contorted in disgust.
"You can say that again," Richardson agreed.
"That is one ugly ass d-"
"Shut up, Nguyen," Richardson sighed as he walked into the clearing, closely followed by a wary Jessup. "We need to get one thing addressed here. How and why does this dog have a collar and vest?"
The other two shrugged, providing no suggestions to explain the oddity.
"You think Intelligence forgot that they sent a colony ship here?" Jessup offered as they neared the recently created hole, dirt flying out rapidly like ice from a snow machine.
"I have no idea," Richardson responded simply as he peered down the dark opening. "Maybe if I call for him he'll come back up?"
Rex the Diamond Dog was feeling rather uppity that day. During his late afternoon nap the day before, he had inadvertently come up with a brilliant idea. He had been fed up with constantly having to share his claims with the few dozen other members of his pack. Hiding his finds didn't seem to help very much, the others always somehow finding his secret hiding place under his sleep mat.
His idea was that instead of digging in the already mined out areas outside of the Everfree Forest, he would start his own operations within the expanse of trees. The ground was actually much softer and easier to dig out, and the trees shaded him from the intensely bright sun.
His first dig within the forest had yielded nothing, but Rex was sure he would eventually reap the crystalline fruits of his labor. After finally making his way completely through a particularly dense layer of bedrock, a noise came from the surface. It wasn't one of his packmates, thankfully, but the noise seemed to call to him for some reason.
His curiosity piqued, he decided to inspect the source of the sound.
Richardson whistled sharply down the burrow, beckoning to the canine that had dug down into. "Here, boy. Come here." He called.
Almost instantly, the gray-furred, vested dog popped its head out of the hole, causing Nguyen to fall on his backside in surprise. The canine stared at Richardson for a good few seconds, and Richardson did so as well. He noticed that the dog's forelegs were considerably larger and more developed than its hind legs. It opened its mouth in a way that could almost be called surprise.
Without warning, the dog dove back into the hole. Dirt rapidly filled the hole like lava flowing upward in a volcano, creating a massive cloud of dust that both blinded and disoriented the two marines. Richardson coughed violently as he tried getting the dust particles out of his eyes.
The cloud of sediment had dispersed a few seconds after and the chorus of coughing became gradually softer and slower.
"Should've worn a helmet," Jessup said rather triumphantly, patting his covered head. "Need help, sirs?"
"I'm good," Richardson waved off the Private as he coughed a final time. "We should tell Nelson what happened. Those dogs didn't just get up and dress themselves. He probably went back to his owner. If only we could track him..."
"Right," Nguyen coughed. "Let’s get back."
Rex had panicked, there was no denying it. He had fled out of a mixed sense of fear, surprise, and joy. The first two feeling were reasonable and expected. These creatures that had called him out of his claim were at least thrice the size of him and were clad in metal clothing similar to the guard dogs of his pack. Simply put, they looked outright intimidating.
His third emotion, joy, was something of an entirely different nature. One of the three two-legged things was wearing rubies on its metal helmet! They had shone radiantly in the sun's beams, almost as if they were making the light themselves. If these things were so casual as to put rubies on their clothing, who was to say they didn't have great stashes of gems hidden where their pack was?
He wanted desperately to reach these stashes as soon as possible. The only problem was that he had no idea where the creatures kept their gems, much less where their home was.
Just like during his sleep the previous night, an idea woke him from his daydreams with a smile. He needed only to simply follow these beings until they arrived at their homes and sneakily rob them of their crystalline beauties. He waited a few moments before loosening himself from his mound of soil and followed the departing bipeds.
The trio of marines regrouped with the rest of the team further away from the small clearing. Nelson frowned at a datapad Alonso was holding up for him.
"Hey, Nelson," Richardson said as they approached. "We've got something weird going on here."
"Join the club," Nelson grunted, snatching the tablet from Alonso's hands. "The Clarke must not have taken a good look during the geographic scan. The mapping it made has a lot of blotted out sections on it, like someone had decided to turn it off during their lunch break."
"Meaning what, exactly?" Nguyen asked, shouldering his rifle.
"Meaning neither we or the Captain can-"
"The Captain can't do what, Corporal?" came the unmistakable voice of Wesner. He and his own cadre of troopers came from the stretch of trees on Richardson's right, all of them fully geared and armed. "I had hoped a little map error wouldn't have provided you too much trouble. We've been waiting for you five for the past half hour."
"Sorry, sir," Nelson saluted.
Wesner looked over the piece of Squad Two, obviously noticing the lack of armor the marines wore compared to his group. Any mention of it, however, was withheld. "We might as well set up here. I assume you've brought your half of the equipment?"
"Yes, sir," Nelson responded, turning to his group. "Set up the barricades and sentry turret." The four other marines nodded and took off their bags of various objects such as tents and compacted cots. The members of Wesner's group did the same.
Wesner pulled Nelson aside and spoke as he watched the men erect their new outpost. "My understanding from the red-flagged report I received from Doctor Carsiri last night is that there is a little bit more to encounter than what he provided."
"There's not very much to say, sir. Richardson spotted some animals and shot them. Not much beyond that."
"Fair enough," Wesner said. "I had hoped you might be able to provide me with a reason why your site in particular was near so many of the creatures while every other squad had a fairly peaceful night on B4-D4."
"I... really can't offer too much. Richardson might be able to, though," Nelson answered.
"Alright then," Wesner sighed. "I've kept you long enough. Go help unpack." Nelson saluted and Wesner returned the gesture. Once the Corporal was a good distance away, Wesner pulled out his personal command pad, a device meant to help commanding officers better manage their troops and communicate with them.
He opened up a recent message from Squad Seven which was located in the Central Desert region of the supercontinent.
The message itself was comprised of only two parts. The first was a photo taken from a scouting mission sent out just a few minutes ago. It showed a small predominantly yellow equine creature with a blue mane. The being in particular was wearing a stetson similar if not identical to the ones commonly associated with the old Southern United States. Emblazoned on its hindquarters was an image of a sledgehammer.
The other part of the message was a simple caption that read: Prepare for Section Three? Wesner typed his response on the holographic keys of his tablet. Negative. Remain-In-Shadows. Wait for orders. Once Wesner had finished and sent his reply, he walked over to the construction site to micromanage the team.
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And we have first contact! Although, not in the way I anticipated. Personally, I'm surprised they managed to make it through the night unscathed. Seriously; that forest is a death trap.
well, shit is about to hit the fan.
MOAR!
What should I do with my lagging behind, sir?
*Taken outside and shot* Totally... worth it...
*dies*
Just wait until they see a settlement...
wonder what they're reaction'll be when they figure out their little "doggie" is one of the sentient creatures around that neck of the woods. GRANTED, Diamond Dogs are NOT the smartest but they are sentient nonetheless. my supervisor at work is a few bars under the average Diamond Dog
, so low inteligence isn't unknown in the universe
2596448 Fixed.
Looks like base camp is going to get a visitor
The plot thickens?
2596933 Because the fact that my profile picture tells you what I've been playing lately? Yeah. You'd be right. :)
I have only one complaint of note: chapter 4 seems to not exist. Is there a way you could fix this error?
i.qkme.me/3rf2ez.jpg
Rex is gonna get his ass whooped with a sentry gun.
This is my favorite genre of stories, as well as the one I write, First Contact! I like it. Keep up the good work.
Sentry going up
I don't believe an explanation is necessary.
1673 does not exist as a time.
No explanation required.
"Noticeably"... Who noticed that? It seems a bit of a strange word to use, but that's just my opinion.
2597019
And what game is it from?
2598185
They failed to bring the Jack Daniels too...
2599121 Star Wars KOTOR
More plz
You have my curiosity hooked… but at the same time I’m a little put off by the ‘Scientists and Jarheads never get along’ trope you’ve got going on. And no satellites deployed? Unusual since they’ve essentially just been dumped there.
2604801 either we are looking at the type of humans that goes out in the universe chanting "GENOCIDE, MINING, GENOCIDE, MINING" who don't give two shits anout anything that isn't valuable or human.
Or they are just really not expecting to find intelligent life to the point that they simply don't know what to look for
Used the word "into" twice
2686926 It seems like 8 minutes over acceptable 24 hour time.
2686926
Actually, 16:67 is 24-hour time (which is common in most countries outside North America) and 1667 is military time. (Military time omits the colon and is always four digits, prefixing a zero if necessary. so 3:30 would be 0330 in military time.)
3288880 the issue here was that the time 1667 or 1673 can't exist due to the fact that these numbers have more minutes in them than an hour can hold. ie 1667 is actually 1707