Stowaway (Redleg in Space Book 1)

by Z D Dean

  Zade had left a small ship clock readout in his field of vision, and because of the old army saying, “if you’re early, you’re on time,” he was the first person in the ready room. While he waited the last 15 minutes for the others to arrive, Zade put his feet up and began looking through the database’s weapons designs. After Jorloss was done changing his body, Zade would have to begin working on developing a usable kit for both him and the SSILF. Zade was so distracted by modifying the current railgun design to include its own power source that he didn’t even notice Axis and Samix walk into the room.

  “If you’re not too busy, could we get this meeting started?” Samix chided.

  While shooting a scowl of his own at Samix, Zade shifted his attention to the meeting and sat attentively, waiting for Samix to begin. Samix started the brief by explaining that the deep scanners had identified a planet that may have high concentrations of exantium in it. As Samix droned on about the different materials in the crust, Zade queried the ship data stores about exantium and found that it was a strong, lightweight metal used by the Unity in all spacecraft. Zade shifted his attention back to Samix as she was closing out the list of other possible minerals on the planet. The planet had a climate signature similar to ones that supported large reptilian life. Samix closed with the mission statement and timeline. Zade was to use a team of SSILF to escort Axis to the surface where he would run tests and identify the estimated concentration of exantium. The target planet was one of four of interest and would be the first stop after the deep space scan was complete. Estimated time until orbit was 72 ship hours. Samix finished, waited for questions, and headed for the door.

  Zade hustled past an anxious Axis who was rambling off questions to himself as he tried to catch up with Samix.

  “Captain, you have a minute?” Zade asked, as he jogged up beside her.

  “You have my ear until I get back to the command deck, security officer,” she replied, icily.

  “I just wanted to apologize for what I said…though earlier. It was just some dumb trooper humor. It won’t happen again.”

  “Noted, security,” Samix said, as she entered the command deck closing the door behind her.

  Zade, still standing at the bottom of the stairs that led to the command deck, turned and headed to the medical bay. Knowing the routine, Zade ditched his blouse and undershirt on a nearby chair as he climbed into the medical bed and waited for Jorloss to prep him for the nanite work.

  “How long have you known the captain?” Zade asked.

  “We’ve been friends since childhood. It was just dumb luck that we got stationed on the same ship. Why?” Jorloss answered as he did a final review of the program.

  “Just wondering. Does she hold a grudge?”

  “You’re worried about her being angry at you for what you said.”

  “What the hell? She told you about that?”

  “Yea, told me over dinner that night. It seemed a little crude, but funny if you ask me. You know, she is one of the better looking Xi’Ga. Not sure why you’d run away through miles of razors and acid if you saw her naked. The women of your species must be amazing,” Jorloss said, shaking his head as he started the aesthesia.

  With the anesthesia starting to take hold, Zade realized his joke must have translated wrong. Samix thought Zade had made a joke about how hideous she was.

  “Wait…no. That’s not what I….” was all he got out before he dozed off.

  ∆∆∆

  Zade awoke from the second, and final, bout of nanite changes to Jorloss hovering over him with a worried look.

  “You were under longer than expected. The ship is already in its final orbit,” Jorloss said, as soon as he saw Zade’s eyes open.

  Zade had hoped to have enough time to redesign the SSILF he would use for the landing party prior to the actual landing. Based on what Jorloss told him, he didn’t suspect he would have the time. Jorloss insisted on running a function check on Zade’s new senses and, although initially irritated, he consented. After the checks, he was happy that all sensory improvements had an on-off switch, especially the smell and infrared.

  After Jorloss was satisfied that everything was implemented properly, Zade headed to the robotics lab to get ready for his first mission. As he turned out of the front stairwell, he could see Axis waiting by the door to his lab. As Zade closed with Axis, the small alien flew into a storm of scatterbrained questions about the mission, and why he couldn’t get into the lab to get SSILF to help him move his equipment. Zade opened the door while he calmed Axis down. After stepping into the lab, Zade headed to two of the maintenance SSILF on the wall, and asked Axis if they would be sufficient.

  “Well, I need all of them. I have a lot of equipment.”

  “Axis, I need to keep some onboard in reserve. How much stuff do you have and how quickly do you need them to move it?”

  “All the equipment is ready to move into the cargo bay now, and there are six crates.”

  Jesus, just like a pouge. Take enough shit on mission to start a small community.

  “All right. I have to fabricate more for the security party anyway. I will send three to your lab as I complete them. Two haulers and a loader. If there’s nothing else, please get out, I have a lot of work to do.”

  Obviously satisfied with Zade’s plan of action, Axis made his way out of the robotics lab, leaving Zade to begin on the laundry list of tasks for the mission. First, Zade pulled up the specs for the maintenance variant SSILF. After replacing the arms with a second set of legs, Zade bent the SSILF over, turning it into a new variant which he called a pack mule. Zade would fabricate two of these and use them to carry Axis’s gear. As the two large fabrication tubes began work on the pack mules, Zade connected with the one maintenance variant SSILF in the lab. Quickly wiping any earlier programming, Zade instructed the machine that this SSILF’s main mission was to load and unload the new pack mules, and informed it that it would take all orders from Axis. After briefing the SSILF, Zade pulled up the specs for the new railgun he had been working on. So far, it was the exact same weapon that the combat SSILF carried with the addition of a self-contained power source. The power source was capable of powering 200 shots; he figured he would go through almost three power sources per magazine of pellets. He then adjusted the stock to more closely resemble firearms he was used to, which had trigger assemblies. The last thing he included before fabrication was a targeting sensor that, when paired with his interface, would display a targeting reticle in his field of vision when pointed in the same direction he was looking.

  Zade sent the model to the small fabrication machine as he grabbed the 1911 from his workstation. The weapon currently had an eight round magazine in it, and Zade found that both extras were still in working order. Zade took everything and started a layout on the table closest to the rolling door. The pack mule SSILFs and railgun finished at the same time. After adding his new primary weapon system to his layout, he instructed the pack mules to follow the maintenance SSILF to the terraforming lab. Just as he finished moving the two additional power sources for the railgun, he received a message from Axis.

  Wow! These are brilliant. By adding two extra legs, you have essentially doubled their carrying capacity. I can’t believe we didn’t think of it earlier. What are you going to call them?

  Pack mules, Zade replied without removing his attention from the combat SSILF he was designing for the mission.

  After seeing how useful they were in combat last time, Zade planned on using them as forward observers, to identify threats. After identifying the threats, he would be able to engage or maneuver as needed. This particular variant still carried a weapon, but that is where the similarities stopped. He improved the sensor suite and movement speed on the new observer models, and finished by coating the whole SSILF in paramagnetic paint, which would act as adaptive camouflage. Once on the ground, he would send the observers out in every direction to act as a perimeter, and as they spotted movement, he would be alerted. While
watching their sensor feeds, if a threat was spotted, he could instruct the SSILF to engage or do nothing and allow him to engage the target.

  After instructing the two large fabrication tubes to begin fabricating three of the observer SSILF in each, Zade started looking at ancillary yet necessary equipment that he would need for the mission. After sending designs for a sling, load carrying belt with appropriate pouches and thigh holster, and a couple of signal flares to the small fabrication machine, he received a message from Samix informing him that the last orbital scan was complete and he was required in the ready room for final brief.

  Zade entered an already buzzing ready room. On his way up he felt the harmonics of the ship change, indicating that they had started through the atmosphere towards the surface. Everyone on the crew was present with the exception of Mur. Upon seeing Zade, Samix began to explain the situation and objective. The planet was currently going through some form of dinosaur period, and the dominate species consisted of large reptiles. The planet averaged 100 degrees Fahrenheit which made it ideal for the creatures. This planet also seemed to be undergoing some geological changes, as there were hundreds of underground vibrations recorded during the orbits. The ship would be landing in the only accessible area near the research site, about three kilometers away. Axis and the security team would have to move to the research site on foot, while Samix, Jorloss, and Mur stayed with the ship for control purposes. With that she turned the floor over to Axis who explained that he would only need an hour at the site to collect the required information. After Axis’s portion of the brief, Samix instructed Zade to brief the security plan. Zade informed everyone about how he intended to use the new SSILF as observers. He would be going out with six but there were three extras in the lab if they were needed. After Zade completed is portion, Samix informed the crew that they had twenty minutes until landfall and headed back to the command deck.

  As Zade and Axis headed back down to their respective labs, they brainstormed possible situation that could arise. Although Axis appeared to be a simple scientist, after his last landing he had decided to carry a protective side arm. Zade entered the robotics lab and was startled to find that none of the observer SSILF were standing by the rolling door. Moving towards the now quiet fabrication tubes, a sense of panic began to form in Zade’s stomach. As a last-ditch effort, Zade decided to look for any heat signatures in the lab. After bringing up the thermals he could see the six heat signatures lined up across the back of the lab. They had their camouflage on and even though Zade was only two feet away from them he couldn’t see them without his new thermal vision. Zade instructed the SSILF to turn black while he kitted up. After one final inspection of the SSILF to make sure they didn’t have any defects, Zade engaged their camouflage and headed into the cargo bay to meet up with Axis.

  Chapter 7

  Trailed by the cloaked SSILF, Zade entered the cargo bay. Axis was already stationed by the rear ramp reviewing the equipment he had loaded on the pack mules. As Zade walked up beside the small alien, he could tell that Axis was anxious about going onto the planet.

  “You ready for this?” Zade asked.

  “Just another walk in the park,” Axis replied nonchalantly, his body language and nervous ticks betraying his worry.

  “We’ll be fine. Just stay inside the security and focus on getting your work done,” Zade said, trying to calm Axis.

  Either Axis was too nervous to notice that Zade appeared alone, or he had full confidence in Zade’s abilities. Either way Axis didn’t seem to have a problem with the team lacking any additional SSILF help. While the two waited for the ship to land, Zade did one final check on the SSILF, first on the camouflage by cycling it on and off, and next on the sensor feeds by viewing them sequentially through his interface. Just as Zade was finishing the sensor check, Samix walked into the cargo bay.

  “We are not going to be able to land; the tectonic activity is too strong,” she informed the landing party.

  “So, what are we doing then? Do we head back into orbit to wait the tremors out?” Zade inquired.

  “No luck. We’re going to keep the gravitational drive engaged and stay at a hover.”

  As she finished, Zade could feel the atmospheric buffering on the ship stop. The ship had finally broken through atmosphere and was on its final approach. Another few minutes passed before the ramp began to lower. Zade walked to the end of the still moving ramp to survey the landing zone. The first thing he noticed was how fast the clouds on this planet were ripping across the sky. Next, he took a quick survey of the dense jungle surrounding the landing zone. Zade also used his thermals to scan the area as well. He did not actually expect to notice any large reptiles, but was mildly disappointed he couldn’t see any. It was going to be a hard trek to the site. The jungle was extremely well developed due to the high temperature, long days, and oxygen rich atmosphere of the planet.

  Satisfied that he wasn’t going to be sending any of the SSILF directly into the jaws of a waiting velociraptor, Zade ordered them off the ramp to set the perimeter. The camouflage worked exceptionally well, and as the SSILF landed, the only way to identify them was by the slight disturbance their bodies caused as they crossed through blowing debris. The improved speed of the new observer variants was impressive. They had a 500-meter perimeter established before the ship even settled into its final hover height. Happy to see that the observers’ feeds were unpopulated, Zade stepped off the ramp into the maelstrom caused by the ship’s engines. Looking back up at the open ramp, expecting to see Axis, Zade noticed that the ship was hovering at just over three stories above him. The skeletal and musculature improvements made the jump feel like nothing more than stepping out of the back of a pickup truck.

  While watching the ramp for the other half of his landing team, Zade saw a frightened blue face peak over the edge of the ramp. Samix, worried that Zade had inadvertently fallen, peered down into the fray. Zade waved at her to indicate that he was fine and motioned to send Axis and his equipment down.

  I thought you fell off the ramp. Why the hell did you jump from this far up? Samix said angrily in Zade’s head.

  Just wanted to see how the new modifications were working. Plus, I needed to be down here to pull security before Axis came down. Where is the little guy?

  He’s trying to find a way down. He, unlike you, is not dumb enough to just jump out of a moving spaceship.

  Tell him to send the SSILF out the door. They’re capable of making the jump, and their impact dampening hardware will protect the equipment. On a different note, do you have something onboard that we can use to cut through this jungle? I didn’t think to make anything in the lab.

  After Samix’s face receded back into the cargo bay, Zade began a quick patrol around the perimeter of the landing zone. As he walked around the outer edge of the landing zone, Zade peered into the dense foliage. The jungle was dark. The trees blotted out almost all of the sunlight. Since he had touched down, the planet below his feet had been vibrating constantly. From what he could gather, the vibrations were changing frequency and intensity, but most importantly they seemed to be coming from the opposite direction of the objective. After completing a full sweep, Zade headed back to the ramp. Entering the maelstrom under the ship, Zade could see three distinct heat signatures below the ramp. Samix had sent the pack mules and maintenance variant out while Zade was patrolling.

  Zade moved the SSILF out of the way just as a rope dropped down from the lip of the ramp. Zade made a mental note about changing the head structure of the pack mules. The two on the ground still had the humanoid heads and faces. It made their necks bend at a grotesque, unappealing angle that made them eerie to look at. As soon as Zade got back on the ship, he would change them to more closely resemble the head of some naturally four-legged animal. Zade turned to see the rope dangling from the ship and immediately shot a message to Samix:

  If we have ropes, why are we parked so far away from the site? You could have just flown us over it and let us r
ope out of the ship.

  For two reasons. First, roping into an objective is a direct-action tactic, taught only to troops at the Military Academe. Second, I figured a nice jaunt through that miserable jungle would give you time to reflect on both your position and station aboard this ship.

  Are you serious about yourself right now? I have already apologized about the thought. Plus, sticking me down here, I understand, but risking the safety of one of your scientists?

  With a smirk, Samix disconnected the rope Axis had used to get to the planet and hit the button to close the ramp. On the ground, Zade saw the rope come loose and stepped over to pull Axis out of the way of it. After making it to the ground Axis had started to unbuckle his harness, while standing directly under the now freefalling rope. Axis’s frustration at being handled turned to surprise as he watched the rope slam into the ground, leaving a large divot, right where he had been standing. Setting Axis down, Zade headed to the pack mules. Two machetes had been hastily attached to the top of the crates of equipment.

  After handing one of the machetes to Axis, Zade checked on the observers. Seeing clear screens, Zade began heading towards the objective with Axis behind and the SSILF bringing up the rear. Based on the sun’s location over the horizon, Zade estimated that they had, at best, four hours of sunlight left so he set a hard pace.

  It seems passive aggressive knows no bounds. At least this punishment is just a walk in the forest, if I would have done that back home, to a female superior, the punishment would have been worse.