by Trent Falls
“What’s our speed?” Shin asked, looking over the model floating above the table.
“Eighteen thousand MKH.” Lieutenant Zao answered.
Shin turned his eyes to the side. He looked to make sure the guards were watching John and Julie, which they were.
“Where’s the planet?” Shin asked.
“The computer is still working on extrapolating an orbit.” Zao explained. He tapped a few commands on the touch-sensitive surface.
Julie walked to the broad window and looked out. It was like being on a great ship searching for land. “One of those spots is the planet?”
“Yes.” Shin answered her indirectly.
“Jules, come on.” John tried to pull her away gently from the window.
“She’s fine where she is, Sergeant Carn.” Shin noted, again speaking to them
indirectly. “You’re all perfectly safe here.”
John smirked at Shin, who wasn’t paying attention. Safe?
“We should be coming up on the planet in a few minutes.” Shin noted aloud.
“The Nanjing is reducing speed and staying back as planned.” Zao added.
“Tell Captain Sands to keep at general quarters.” Shin instructed. “Redirect one of our squadrons of GV-55’s to maintain watch over his ship.”
“Our fighters are launching now.” Zao replied. His hands worked over the touchscreen controls. His eyes read more data as it came in. “We’re getting our first visuals back on the planet.”
“Put it in the main field over the Ouija board.” Shin commanded.
Zao’s hands tapped again over the glass touch sensitive surface of the main table. The image of the modeled HD209458 solar system was replaced by a single planet in the holographic matrix over the main table. The hologram of the planet was large, about the size of a beach ball. A strange kind of mist trailed behind the planet as it moved through space, kind of like the mist from a comet’s tail only drifting away much more slowly. The planet itself seemed unremarkable. It was mostly comprised of ocean with several large chains of islands.
The sight of the planet struck something very primal in John. He took a step back from the holographic table at the sight of it; gripped by sudden fear.
Captain Shin noticed John’s reaction immediately.
“You okay sergeant?” Shin asked John directly.
John didn’t answer. He simply stared at the hologram of the planet.
“Sergeant Carn.” Shin pressed, more demanding.
“John?” Euler ventured to ask. John’s sudden expression of terror was even enough to make Euler worry.
“You recognize this.” Shin noted to John.
“I don’t know.” John said vacantly, his eyes still fixed on the hologram of the planet. “I can’t remember.” John winced.
“Let’s try some topography.” Zao tapped a few instructions into the table.
The image of the spherical planet was replaced with a flat holographic vertical screen. The holographic image showed a number of islands from satellite view. They were map quality, showing terrain elevation and general foliage distribution. All of the land masses were islands.
“Do any of these land masses seem familiar?” Zao asked John.
John watched the islands pass by on the holographic map from left to right, as though he were hovering high above them. John strained to think. He winced.
“No.” John shook his head. He seemed to be genuinely trying to remember.
Shin and Euler walked over to the table to look down on the numerous windows of data displayed on its surface.
“Man, there are massive biologic readings down there, especially in the oceans.” Zao observed. “There are three cetacean species down there on par with the blue whale.”
“There isn’t any kind of giant squids or anything that can crawl up on land is there?” Shin asked, half jokingly.
“I don’t think there’s anything there that size capable of walking out of the ocean, no.” Zao answered.
“How about it, John?” Euler asked John directly.
John was shaken from his confusing memories and looked up at Euler.
“Any giant squid capable of walking up on land and killing us?” Euler asked.
“I don’t know what to believe now, Scott.” John answered, turning his eyes away from the merc. “You saw Dekker’s memories of this place. If those memories are real then you probably know more about this place than I do.”
“There seems to be what resembles organized patterns of energy on the planet.” Shin noted as he read the data displayed on the table top. “No signs of technology, though. Strange.”
“Well, I guess there’s only one way to find out what’s really down there, isn’t there?” Euler noted to the group.
“Yes.” Shin noted plainly to no one directly. “I think Sergeant Euler is correct.” Shin’s eyes turned up towards Zao. “Is your ground team prepared?”
“Yes sir, they’re ready.” Zao answered obediently.
“Good, we’re heading down to the planet.” Shin noted.
“Captain Shin” Councilor Agrev spoke up. “Given that we’re in a relatively unexplored part of space it might be wise for you to remain on your vessel.”
“My Executive is a good officer. He’s been in command for most of this mission.” Shin replied in his defense.
“Commander Lee is not the captain of this vessel.” Agrev argued back sternly.
“With all due respect, Councilor, I believe I can better ascertain a direct threat to my vessel by being on the planet itself.” Shin pressed back. “Besides, I’ve been closely involved with this mission since the Council approved it and assigned Sergeant Euler to my command. I must see this through to the end.”
Agrev gave Shin’s defense some thought. “Alright.” Agrev finally agreed.
“Zao.”Shin turned towards Zao, who straightened up and looked back at Shin as his name was called. “Are we ready to go?”
“Yes sir.” Zao replied.
“Good. We’ll bring Carn and Miss Stevens with us.” Shin stated.
“No.” John protested sternly.
Shin turned to look coldly back at John. “Mister Carn, you are in no position to negotiate.”
“I said no!” John grew more defiant.
“The girl remains with us.” Shin argued. “Any threat that might exist on that planet will be shared by her. That is unless there are any threats you care to alert us about now.”
“I told you I don’t remember what’s down there!” John glared back at Shin. “You all seem to think I’m holding out on you but I’m not. I genuinely don’t remember.”
“All the same… the girl comes with us.” Shin said back coldly.
“It’s alright uncle….” Julie began.
“Stay out of this Jules!” John ushered her back.
Julie retreated back towards the broad window to space behind her.
“We will have a full commando team on the ground with us.” Euler reassured John. “Fully armed with grenade launchers, smart missiles, and laser snipers.”
“You want me to bring my niece into a war zone?” John asked Euler back sharply.
“You want to leave her on a ship full of Xen without you?” Euler argued back.
John gave the idea some thought. It hadn’t occurred to him that Julie could be in danger remaining on the ship. Shin seemed to be a professional outwardly, but then John remembered that Shin and his men probably had a direct hand in invading Dekker’s ranch on Kappa Ceti Five.
Julie again approached her uncle slowly. She could see he was gripped by indecision and still a little angry.
“I’ll be okay.” Julie finally spoke in a calm tone.
John looked over at his niece; his daughter. He was her adopted dad. He couldn’t let her be placed in harm’s way. She had already been through enough over the last few weeks.
“Honestly, Uncle John. I’ll be fine.” Julie nodded in a warm voice. She reached out and placed her right hand
on his shoulder.
John calmed down. His choices weren’t very good either way.
“Fine.” John replied in a calm tone. “Let’s just get this over with.”
Shin raised his wrist com and entered in a call code. “We’re on our way down. Get the expedition team ready to fly.”
“Aye, aye sir.” A voice replied over the wrist com,
Julie took a step away from her uncle and turned back towards the window. Her attention was immediately fixed on a glowing white dot growing steadily larger in the center of their field of view.
“Oh my God!” Jules breathed. “Look!”
Everyone in the room, Shin, John, Euler, Agrev, Zao, and Hedges, all walked towards the panoramic window looking out to space. The glowing sphere that was the mysterious fourth planet of HD209458 continued growing in size.
The planet looked to be glowing white from a distance, almost like a star itself. As the Ao Shun drew closer the dark blue oceans became clearer through the glowing haze. The atmosphere of the planet appeared thick, trailing away as it moved through space almost like a veil of mist or ice. As the planet grew even further in their field of view several of the green island chains became noticeable. They looked like blemishes in the dark blue surface of the planet. The light from HD209458 reflected off the ocean surface in the same way it did on Earth, Proxima Five, and Xin’Shi. The clouds moving over the planet were thin at the equator. Thicker bright white clouds hung over the poles. There weren’t any major land masses for the clouds pass over and get pushed higher as they would on Earth and the colony planets. There didn’t seem to be any visible storms except one near the northern pole.
“Amazing!” Agrev breathed. “The atmosphere trails off into a mist.”
“The planet has a thick atmosphere but surface pressure is similar to sea level on Earth.” Zao noted. He had an almost childlike curiosity in his eyes. “We could stay here for years and learn about how this planet works!”
“How did it evade our sensors?” Shin asked the question almost gravely. “Refraction from the trailing atmosphere? An intermediate radiation surge from something in the star system?”
“I hate to say it sir, but I honestly don’t know.” Zao noted. “Perhaps if we could bring in a few of our officers from our engineering staff….”
“No.” Agrev stopped him cold. “No one else is involved in this.” Agrev walked away from the window back towards the door to the situation room. “There are already enough people who know too much about this mission. We should go now. Go down to the planet and figure this out once and for all.”
“Yes.” Shin forced himself away from the window to follow Agrev. “We should get the ground phase of the mission started. Lieutenant Zao.”
Zao followed hesitantly, trying to urge Euler, John, and Julie to follow.
Euler continued to have his eyes fixed out the window towards the blue planet surrounded by the halo of white mist. He was standing immediately next to John.
“You know, John. This mission.” Euler began. “The whole time I’ve thought of how the Norn could be like European explorers landing on the new world. How the people of our planet might have seemed to them like the Native Americans. What would it have been like if natives in the west could have sailed for Europe a thousand years before the discovery of the new world?”
John looked away from the planet to turn his eyes towards Euler. “The Conquistadors annihilated the indigenous populations of South America. They took their gold, infected them with small pox, and made slaves of whoever remained.” John took a step towards Julie to usher her away. “Come on Jules.” He noted to her quietly before looking back over his shoulder at Euler again. “I’d be careful what you wish for, Scott.”
Euler watched John and Julie follow Shin and Zao out of the room. He turned to take another quick look at the planet outside ahead of the ship. Somewhere on the surface, he imagined, the Gods were waiting.
Euler then turned towards Agrev’s bodyguard, Hedges, and walked with him out of the situation room.
Chapter 24
About twelve Xen special forces soldiers prepared themselves in an isolated hangar bay. Behind them were three Xen personnel shuttles and a pair of gunships, all on standby power. All of the special forces operatives wore black. The typical weapon most carried was the Xen RF-5A; an assault rifle. Three of the soldiers carried an AL-100 laser rifle, used primarily as a sniper rifle. A few of the RF-5A’s had either a grenade or a smart missile launcher attachment.
The men themselves were the elite of the Xen military. Each man was visibly in peak physical condition. Aside from physical strength they carried a number of weapons on their web belts to make them each a formidable adversary; grenades, a 9mm sidearm, and a combat knife with an 8” blade. Their faces were marked with streaks of dark black greasepaint.
Shin, Zao, and Agrev entered the hangar bay first, walking directly towards the line of waiting shuttles. John and Julie followed along with Euler and Hedges.
John eyed the special forces soldiers as he passed. A few of them made eye contact with him. Though he knew the odds were against him John’s training still kicked in. He eyed the special ops troops. John silently sized them up. He considered their weaknesses. He thought of a way to get an advantage on them, if the need would arise.
A few of the Special Ops soldiers, of course, returned John’s silent stare as they continued their preparations.
“Alright, let’s double time it!” Zao shouted out to the soldiers. “It’s show time!”
The special ops soldiers hurried to complete their gear prep. The laser snipers slung their power packs onto their backs and hoisted their weapons before running off towards two of the shuttles. The special ops commander checked the last of his men before urging him with an upturned thumb to get his ass on the transport.
John kept his eyes on Julie for a moment. She didn’t know what she was in for. John, for that matter, didn’t know what lied ahead. He had flashes of memories in his head. He didn’t know what was real and what might have been imagined. John remembered Alex. Alex had done something to his head. Alex was one of them! No. He couldn’t remember.
John looked out to the personnel shuttles that waited for them in the center of the hangar. Two special ops soldiers were flanking John and Jules, herding them with Euler towards one of the transport shuttles. The side doors of the shuttles were open. Their repulse emitters hummed at standby power. John looked beyond the craft as they approached, catching sight of two Xen assault gunships. The sight of the gunships was somewhat amusing for John. If the Xen and Euler were right, and the Norn were on the planet, John didn’t imagine a few gunships would really be of any use against a far advanced group of extraterrestrials.
John and Julie were escorted to the transport shuttle in the middle. They weren’t unlike standard helicopters or any other troop shuttle. Julie stepped up into the cabin of the craft, followed by her uncle, then Euler and two of his men. The two Xen special ops soldiers took up the last two spots on the two rows of forward and reverse facing seating.
The door slid shut, sealing with an airtight hiss. John slacked his jaw a few times to compensate for the increasing air pressure in the cabin. Julie did the same based on his example.
“It’s been a while, huh?” Euler looked to his old war buddy, slacking his own jaw slightly in almost a yawning manner.
“I wouldn’t have come out here ever again if it weren’t for you, asshole!” John shouted over the growing whine of the repulse emitters.
Euler responded with a deep satisfied laugh.
Julie and John buckled themselves in, as did everyone else in the cabin. The pilot and copilot were visible through a narrow passage to the front. They worked over the controls of their craft in a practiced manner, preparing to take flight.
“Phoenix One Five. Ready for takeoff.” The pilot of their transport spoke aloud into his helmet com.
“Copy Phoenix One Five. Remain on standby until launch window.” A
staticy voice called back over the com.
“Copy that control.” The pilot remained steady. The identical shuttle transport ahead of them powered up as well. Its airframe shuddered as it throttled up while remaining on standby.
In a few moments clearance to leave was granted.
“Phoenix One Five. Proceed on flight plan. Good hunting.” The air traffic controller called back over the radio.
“Copy control. See you soon.”
The pilot pushed forward one of the power levers in his center console. The hangar deck slowly lowered away from the helicopter-like shuttle as it took flight. Julie looked ahead, seeing the other transport in the lead flying only several feet ahead.
“Don’t worry, Ms Stevens.” Euler noted Julie’s apprehensive expression. “These guys do this day in and day out.”
“Don’t talk to her.” John sneered angrily at him.
“John! Lighten up!” Euler grinned. “In a few hours you’ll be thanking me! Trust me!”
The shuttle transports hovered higher off the deck, turning out into the main landing and takeoff tunnel of the carrier. Once in the tunnel the lead transport picked up considerable speed, followed closely by the transport carrying Julie and John, then the transport in the rear. The feeling of acceleration pushed those facing forward, John and Julie included, back into their chairs. Euler and his two men, who were facing backwards, were pushed hard against their harness belts.
“Damn it! That’s why I hate taking a reverse seat!” Euler noted aloud.
The enclosing metal square of the launch conduit flew away at their sides, leaving only open space ahead. The transport surged on, gaining more speed as it followed the lead transport. Julie looked out to the side. For a moment there was nothing but the star-filled black of space. One of the Xen gunships pulled alongside. A pair of missile pods were set on racks at the side of the aircraft. Repositionable gun turrets bristled all over the gray steel body of the gunship. It was quite the intimidating sight as it flew through space at their side probably a dozen or so meters away from Julie’s window.