On to Tau Ceti

by David McCahan

  Glory raised her hand “General we have been listening on this with the Collective and they would like to escort these missions in spirit form. They could patrol the perimeter and alert any sensitives along on mission if they observe something. Also while they can’t directly affect the Spiritusraptor they can move objects to block or discourage them if needed. In spirit form there is no danger to the Collective from them that we can think of.”

  “Good suggestion, I approve. Colonel Unbuntu please include at least two sensitives on each shuttle to communicate with the Collective.” Jeff looked to Jasper for acknowledgement.

  “Yes Sir, I agree that is a great idea.”

  “Very well then dismissed”

  “Alpha 3 and 4, set down in the open area to our north. Alpha 6 take up position on the hill to the southeast and we’ll do the same on the hills to the west.”

  “Acknowledged Alpha Leader” was the response from the other shuttles to Lt. Sato’s orders. As an extra precaution it had been decided to use a pair of shuttles to set off at a distance from the shuttles studying the animal life on Atlantis and serve as perimeter sentries and armed assistance if it should be needed.

  Alpha Leader also had Colonel Callaghan and Saoi onboard serving as liaisons to the Collective as they performed top cover in spirit form. He set the shuttle down on a hilltop facing away from the two shuttles with the Geo Sciences team and the Marine escorts. There were two Marines in full powered battle armor suits in his shuttle as well. “Colonel, safe to open the hatch?”

  “Lieutenant the Collective report the same as your sensors. No Spiritusraptors in the area. You’re clear to open the door and let in some fresh air.” Glory answered.

  Geo Sciences had already certified the atmosphere safe but not so much on the predator front. In fact, the extra shuttle support was added after a nearly disastrous animal study mission, in a supposedly safe area, was surprised by a Spiritusraptor which the Collective and Marines were barely able to hold off while the personnel escaped in the shuttle.

  Lt. Sato remained at his station to use the shuttle’s sensors to monitor for any movement seeing as infrared has proved useless. The rest of the personnel took up positions around the shuttle to surveil visually.

  “Alpha 3 and 4 your perimeter is secure. Clear to proceed.” Hiroshi said over the com channel.

  “Acknowledged Alpha Lead” Lieutenant Greg Elmore acknowledged the order and then opened the side hatch and lowered the rear loading ramp.

  Jasper then turned to Adam Gerard “There are several of the local Gazelle just south of here. Let’s see if your Marines can tranq one for us to get a blood draw and scans on.”

  “All right, Damien, Jen and Jorge let’s head to the south and get the good Colonel something to test with.” Adam called out as he got in the rear passenger seat of one of the 4 wheel buggies they were using to surround and catch one of the speedy Atlantian Gazelles. They headed off to the south at top speed. If it weren’t for the grave situation the ride would be a lot of fun. As is they needed to be on top of the animals before they could react. The infrared scanners picked up the fleet footed animals easy enough. It was baffling why the big dino couldn’t be tracked. Previous missions had captured smaller animals and those blood tests showed which tranquilizer should be most effective. At least the biology of those small animals was close enough to Earth norm that a standard animal tranquilizer should work.

  The buggies popped into the clearing and were on either side of two Gazelles (they appeared very similar to an Earth Gazelle and so the naming stuck) before they could turn and run. The passengers were in the rear so that they could take a position standing in the center to shoot the tranquilizer darts. Jorge and Adam both took aim and shot. Jorge’s Gazelle made a sudden turn and his dart missed. Adam’s dart hit perfectly and so they slowed to allow the dosage to take effect. Of course the dosage was an estimate and may not work at all. The animal did begin to slow after only 100 yards and then stopped. Instead of laying down however the Gazelle dropped on one side struggling to get up and let out a loud bleat or bawling sound.

  Seeing the animal in distress from the hilltop vantage point where they landed the shuttle Colonel Unbuntu keyed his com “Captain give it another dose. We were conservative on dosage and it looks like the dosage was too small.”

  “Acknowledged” was all Adam said and then gave a hand signal to Jen to move in. She pulled the buggy in close and Adam put another dart on target. Soon the Gazelle quieted down. “Quarry secured, bring the shuttle in.” Captain Gerard called into the com.

  Alpha 3 stayed in place to keep watch from the landing site and Alpha 4 took off with the bio team and equipment to examine the tranquilized animal. In seconds they were putting down next to the Marines.

  Quickly blood was drawn and the mobile scanner setup over the Gazelle. It would take several minutes to do a complete bio scan.

  Nearly at the same time Glory and Saoi were alerted by the Collective to movement south of their position and Lt Sato picked up something on the shuttles motion detectors and alerted Glory. “Colonel, we have incoming hostile.”

  “Acknowledged, let’s get out in front of it.” While they all entered the shuttle and the doors closed Glory opened the com. “Incoming hostile from heading 185. Alpha 3 and 6 form up on Alpha Lead to intercept. Alpha 4 get all personnel inside and then get airborne.”

  The 3 shuttles formed up and took positions in front of the oncoming raptor which was already within 100 yards of Alpha 4. The Spiritusraptor almost got there ahead of them. Lasers were unlocked just in case but they hoped the 3 shuttles appearing in the path would be enough to hold the beast up. It stopped for about half a minute looking at the shuttles and then to the prone Gazelle. Suddenly though it broke to one side and before the pilots could reposition it was past them and pouncing on the poor animal. At least it felt no pain but was hard to watch just the same. Alpha 4 had left the scanner and buggies, secured all personnel and lifted off while the raptor was eyeing the shuttles so they had at least bought enough time.

  “Lieutenant, let’s head back to Columbia. Nothing more we can do here now.” Glory gave Hiroshi a pat on the shoulder as she stood behind him looking at their ghost.

  “Yes Ma’am, flight is headed for home.” Hiroshi acknowledged the order and all four shuttles formed up and lifted towards orbit. The Spiritusraptor paused its meal to watch the shuttles leave.

  “General we did not get the full scan results but enough information there to go along with the blood samples that we can surmise a possible tranquilizer type and strength to try on one of the Spiritusraptors.” Jasper Unbuntu reported to the assembled senior staff. “Of course we won’t know if their physiology is similar enough to work until we try.”

  “Thank you Colonel.” Jeff looked to Adam and continued “Captain Gerard have you completed plans to dart the specimen for the bio team?”

  “Yes Sir, we’ll use four shuttles to surround the dino and then position Marines in the side hatches of which ever two shuttles can get a shot from behind. They tell us it’ll take at least two doses to put one of these nasties to sleep but we’re planning on four to be safe. Once we get it down then we can move in and secure jaws, legs and arms to allow the bio teams to do their work. The trick will be to do this without attracting any more dinos. To that end four more shuttles are going to drop fireworks several miles away from our landing team to distract any other curious beasts.”

  “If I may, that is what is most worrisome about this mission. Somehow the Gazelle’s struggles or calls alerted that raptor even though this was the far northern part of the reported range. We had not detected any at all but it must have been close to get there in those few minutes.” Jasper interjected.

  “The Collective were only able to detect the Spiritusraptor around 500 yards out. They will add to the number screening the surrounding area but they are not finding any success being able to actually sense them.” Glory offered. “At least we are not seeing true rapt
or behavior in that we’ve only encountered solitary specimens and not packs of them. Hopefully they are territorial and so we’ll only need to handle one at a time.”

  “I can certainly second that motion. Being on the ground and seeing that dino coming up on us fast by itself was plenty for this old Marine. Seeing three or four of them coming might have been enough to cause me to piss my pants.” Adam said with a wink.

  “You know I was thinking that I was feeling a bit sorry for myself being stuck up here instead of participating, but given that these beasts can scare a seasoned Marine into loss of bladder control, I’m beginning to like my vantage point.” Jeff responded “So with that, good hunting!”

  As the attendees filed out of the room Jeff moved over to Saoi and Glory. “Glo, I know we really need these scans and blood samples to have some insight into our dinosaur like foe but I’d sooner just setup a polar outpost and cede the temperate zones to it than someone get killed down there. The first sign of trouble and you get everyone out. Clear?”

  “Yes Sir, we’re one on this!” Glory paraphrased the Collective.

  “Yes we are. Go get ‘em.” Jeff said and then headed for his station in C&C.

  Glory took Saoi’s arm and then headed out of the conference room. “We have a couple of hours before we board the shuttle so let’s go see what’s for lunch.”

  “Yes a very agreeable idea.” Saoi thought back.

  As they walked along Glory was thinking of when they had merged on the way down to Atlantis and how blissful that was.

  “You were not easy to rouse back to the present then.” Saoi thought to her as he picked up on her thoughts.

  “Can’t keep anything from you now can I?” She let him feel the lighthearted meaning flow to him in her thoughts. “I did want to talk about that though. When we merge into the Collective that feels different. Did you feel the same thing?”

  “Yes, I have no recollection of feeling like that before.” Glory could feel his slight confusion on his emotions concerning this experience. “Perhaps it is the individuality that you bring to the Collective. We were always the Collective and never the one. Now I am I and not We and can experience feelings and connections as myself.”

  Glory absorbed his feelings and emotions behind his thoughts for a moment. “Are you saying you have emotions that made our merge different?”

  “I know I have never had those feelings before. What do you mean by emotions?” Saoi asked.

  Glory thought for a while as they continued and then focused on her emotions during the merge. She was comforted and wrapped in …… was it love? As in she was in love with Saoi.

  “Love? Can you think on this for me to understand?” Saoi asked Glory.

  She had not meant to be so open but their link was so strong they were always in each other’s thoughts and Glory blushed in embarrassment. Then she realized that she could not imagine her life without his presence and thought of love and let him have her understanding of the subject and her feelings. There it was again. That joy of being together, to be one. She joined him and he joined her and nothing else existed, for a minute.

  “Earth to dreamy. Hey, you two going to stay out here or get something to eat?” Glory was brought back to reality by Rhonda’s taps on her shoulder. She looked to Rhonda standing there with an amused look on her face and then realized that she and Saoi were standing face to face with their hands on each other’s arms in the middle of the dining hall entrance. Not quite an embrace but close. Glory’s blush in embarrassment rivaled the bright red of her hair. She took a step back trying to recover her composure and looked at Rhonda.

  “Oh Rhonda, um yes we are on our way to get something to eat. Care to join us?” Glory said looking between Rhonda and Saoi and the floor (looking for a place to crawl under and hide).

  “While that would be very entertaining, to say the least, I’ve already eaten and am on my way back to my office. You two enjoy your meal and I’ll catch up with you later.” Rhonda said as she patted Glory on the shoulder and headed out of the dining hall.

  Glory looked at Saoi and then gave him a little nudge towards the food line. “Ok ok, sheesh pushy much.” He said through his vocalizer which brought a smile to her face as they began moving again. Privately he thought to her “We will listen on this more when we are alone.”

  “Yes we are definitely one on this!” she returned his thought.

  “Hiroshi, the Collective have spotted one for us about 20 miles out at a heading of 275.” Glory seated behind Lt Sato was coordinating between the Collective scouting for a lone Spiritusraptor to tranquilize and the shuttles for this mission.

  “Yes Ma’am, Alpha flight turning on heading 275. Beta flight fanning out to take up a 20-mile perimeter for our diversions.” Hiroshi reported.

  “Captain, prepare your gunners.” Glory looked back over her shoulder at Adam Gerard and he responded with a nod. “No wasted words from that one.” She thought and saw Saoi look over at her with a slight grin and a wink.

  The side hatches slid open and a Marine in full armor belted in on either side of the shuttle. “Colonel all gunners report ready” Adam reports.

  “Thank you Captain.” Glory responded and then opened her com. “Alpha flight proceed and surround quarry when spotted.”

  Glory stayed merged into the tactical system of Columbia and could “see” the positioning of all eight shuttles but Columbia showed no sensor detections of the Spiritusraptor. Saoi provided the connection with the Collective and relayed those details to Glory. “Quarry two miles ahead. Target stationary but seems aware of our approach.”

  The Collective could see the raptor raise up and look attentively in the shuttles direction. It did not appear to be thinking of fleeing but instead seemed squaring up to defend its territory. Alpha lead slowed approach and the other three Alpha shuttles moved to surround the target.

  It seemed odd to Glory that the Spiritusraptor didn’t look around at all four shuttles but just seemed to concentrate on her shuttle. It never took its eyes off of her. Saoi took her hand in comfort and she welcomed his presence and touch.

  Alpha 6 and 9 were in firing position, two gunners released safeties and squeezed the triggers. At that instant the Spiritusraptor leapt into the air in the direction of the command shuttle. It had not even twitched until then and so the sudden move caught everyone by surprise and before Hiroshi could react it landed on the top of the shuttle. The sudden weight brought the nose to the ground. It began tearing at the metal of the shuttle. The pounding and scraping sounds were both deafening and terrifying. Suddenly rocks and boulders began flying in and hitting the attacker from all sides. Finally, something seemed to startle it and it jumped off the shuttle and backed away. The gunners were still in good firing position and fired again. This time the raptor did not jump away but instead the darts hit home. They quickly fired again and now had four doses of tranquilizer hopefully putting the beast to sleep.

  “Fire again.” Captain Gerard commanded his Marines and quickly two more doses were delivered.

  Glory looked at Adam who simply said “Not taking any chances Ma’am.”

  Glory nodded and said “Acknowledged.”

  The Collective held their fire with the rocks seeing that the Spiritusraptor had backed off and now had six darts in its neck. It looked around more slowly now and then the legs gave out and it flopped to the ground on its stomach. It lifted its head for a moment and then dropped back to the ground with closed eyes.

  “Bravo Flight begin your diversions. Alpha Flight land and disperse your Marines to secure the target.” Glory barked the orders in quick succession.

  The concussion of the fireworks could be heard as the Marines set to securing their very dangerous foe. The speed with which they hog tied the animal with steel cables would have made any Earth cowboy proud. Now would they hold if needed?

  “Target secured, bring out the equipment and get the blood draw.” Glory directed the science team.

  Considerin
g the size of the creature they were using a pair of scanners. The scanners had been mounted to motorized carts and were quickly wheeled into position. In the meantime, techs were drawing blood and taking saliva swabs.

  As the scans were started Saoi suddenly was alarmed. Glory got the message from him and opened her com again. “Incoming! Incoming hostiles! Multiple hostiles just passing the diversion shuttles. Captain loosen the cables so that it can free itself eventually. Leave the scanners to continue on auto, load up and get airborne.”

  Glory quickly pulled up the status of the shuttle they were in as the hatches were closed and they began to lift off. There was sensor damage but everything else showed green. They would not know about any hull breach until they were nearing space but for now they were air worthy. Alpha flight lifted off and took up stationary positions 300 foot above the Spiritusraptor to observe the incoming raptors. Are they coming to help? How did they know to come?

  It was amazing how fast they covered the distance and in a couple of minutes the first of the trio was onsite. It stopped for a second and then dove in for the kill.

  There was a collective gasp from everyone onboard. “Well looks like they’ll kill anything they can including their own species.” Adam observed.

  A few seconds later the other two arrived and a battle between the three ensued. It didn’t last long and soon two Spiritusraptors were driven off and the victor went back to the feast. Glory was not sure whether this was the first or one of the other two. In the fight the scanning equipment was trashed and so the shuttles turned for home.

  Once they reached the upper atmosphere they held station to check pressurization. Several punctures were found and patched but structural integrity appeared intact. Pressure suits were donned just in case except for the Marines whose armor was space worthy for short durations.

  “Ok Lieutenant. Let’s take this bird to roost.” Glory tried to relieve some of the tension they were all feeling.