Lauren had gone down to the planet two hours ago and was currently giving a sitrep to how things went on Earth to the people down below. In the meantime I held command at the bridge as we were busy deploying the communication buoy and some orbital defenses as well. Aside from that we were also preparing to send more supplies down to the planet too. In summary, we were rather busy. But, thanks to the excellent crew, even during this busy time, things felt completely in control and no one was having issues breathing.
Another two hours later things had calmed down considerably as most things we could do from the bridge had pretty much disappeared. At that time Lieutenant Zu signalled that there was an incoming transmission from the planet below.
“Put it on the screen please, Lieutenant.” I nodded at Zu who nodded back.
An image of Lauren appeared as she struggled to position the camera at the building they were currently at. “Can you all see me?” She asked.
“We can, Commander. Very clearly in fact.” I replied. The new communication infrastructure now allowed us to transmit clear video messages back and from the planet below which wasn’t possible before thanks to the atmospheric interference. “How are the other doing?”
“They are doing rather fine, aren’t they, Jacky?” Lauren looked to the side after which our tall Dokazuuk friend appeared in front of the camera.
“We are thriving, Lieutenant-Commander." He said in his best English. “We could not have hoped for a better fresh start after our planet got invaded.”
“Good to hear.” I smiled. “I take it all the supplies managed to land safely and not just the camera?”
Lauren nodded. “We are currently helping them distribute the supplies after which Jacky is going to take us to look at the security at the vault entrance. Could you prepare some automated defenses to be sent down in addition to what we already sent? Ten turrets should suffice.”
“Ten? That’s quite a lot, isn’t it?”
Lauren nodded. “While I was explaining what happened back on Earth, a couple of people raised some concerns and I thought a couple of turrets would put their mind at ease. As for the number, let’s just say we are calculating in the growth of the colony.”
“Then I will notify the hangar bay to prepare a couple of drop pods.” I replied while I took out my holo stick. I immediately got to work on the order. “Anything else, Commander?”
“Not right now.” She replied. “Jacky, do you have anything to ask or say?”
“Not really.” Jacky replied. “But I have to say it was nice seeing you again, Lieutenant-Commander.”
“It was nice seeing you too, Jacky. Make sure the Commander doesn’t break anything while she is down there, okay?”
“I will try, Lieutenant-Commander.” He laughed.
Lauren rolled her eyes. “We will be signing off now. I’ll send another status update in two hours.”
And like that the communication down to the planet was cut off. The turret order was sent away to the hangar only moments later.
After that little happenstance, it once more got really calm on the bridge. The only thing we could do was perimeter watch as the teams were executing their separate tasks.
This lul in operations made it fun for some of the bridge crew to fly a camera drone around the planet to look at the surface below in more detail.
Occasionally I would look over to the images the drone was showing and the imagery was really impressive. Untamed lively forests with birds and other small wildlife. Poles with pristine icecaps. Mountains with beautiful white caps and countless huge waterfalls and other kinds of natural wonders.
“Hey Lieutenant-Commander?” Zu, who was currently controlling the drone, looked back at me.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“Yes, Lieutenant?”
“Have you ever visited the Niagara falls back home.”
I shook my head. “I haven’t.”
“What about the Giant’s Causeway?”
“Haven’t visited that one either, I’m afraid. I haven’t seen any natural wonders actually. Not in person at least.”
“You haven’t?”
There was a very good reason why I haven’t but I wasn’t about to spill that secret right now. “I probably will one day, but it’s not for now.”
“Oh. You should definitely make some work of it then.”
“Well, we can see new wonders that we discover ourselves while doing our jobs.”
“I know, but that’s not the same though.” Zu replied. “Earth is and will always be our home. It’s different when you go exploring. It doesn’t really feel like ours, does it?”
“I suppose so.” I lied, but instead of staying on the defensive in this conversation, I tried a tactic that Lauren had taught me, going on the attack. “What about you, Lieutenant? Have you visited any of the natural wonders?” At least that way the attention wasn’t set square on me.
“I have actually visited multiple! I think it would be easier to name the ones that I haven’t visited yet.” She replied. “I have an entire series of pictures of them if you want to see.”
“Let’s look at them after the shift.” I smiled. “How about we all go take a drink after this is over so you can show it to everyone who shows up.”
Both Zu and quite a few other officers on the bridge reacted quite enthusiastically to that proposal. “I would very much enjoy that, Lieutenant-Commander. No backing out of it when the Commander returns, okay?”
“I definitely won’t.” I smiled. “I’ll make her join as well.”
“Ahah.” Zu laughed. “I’m already looking forward to it.”
The shift progressed calmly with Lauren checking in on us a couple of times before mentioning that she was going to return back to the ship soon. She had checked out the vault with Jacky to make sure nothing had changed in the time between visits. According to her and Ellie everything still looked pretty much the same as last time which was reassuring to hear. We didn’t want any changes to occur because that generally didn’t mean anything good when it comes to things like these. Sudden changes on alien tech, never a good sign if you ask me.
When she then ultimately came back to the ship, just as our shift ended, I told her about the drink I had offered to the bridge officers.
“Do I really really have to?” Lauren protested, though I could see from her smiling expression that she was taking her protest very seriously.
“Yes, you do. It’s been a while since we hung out after hours, it’s good for group cohesion. Besides, I promised and I’m not going to break that promise.”
“Alright then.” Lauren gave me a kiss. “Let me go and shower first though. The heat was rather icky on the planet.”
“Sure, I’ll go ahead already then?”
She nodded. “I’ll come as soon as I’m done.”
And so I went to the officer lounge to meet up with the bridge crew who had already ordered some tapas by the time I had arrived.
I had taken place at the table next to Lieutenant Zu and Lieutenant Bailey.
“I see no Commander yet, LC?” Zu smiled.
“She’s coming in a bit, needed to shower first.”
“She didn’t need to.” Zu shrugged and took a bite from one of the tapas that she had put in the middle to share.
“Shilin, I don’t think you want to be sitting right next to a marine that has been on a rather hot planet for 10 hours in a closed off space suit, even if that suit is somewhat cooled.”
“I think she smelt good…” I replied. Slightly uncomfortable talking about the odor of my girlfriend, although I couldn’t help but defend her. “I don’t think they did much physical exercise down below.”
“That’s because you are used to how she smells though, LC.” Bailey replied.
“Oh, are you saying I stink, Lieutenant Bailey?” Lauren said, her voice coming from behind me.
I swear I could see the hairs on Lieutenant Bailey’s arms stand up straight as we all turned around to face her. Lauren was standing there in a white t-shirt, combat boots and a camouflage pants, having her arms crossed and looking sternly at Lieutenant Bailey. Lauren’s beret was sitting on her head ever-so-slightly skewed.
“I-I-I promise I didn’t mean it like that…” Bailey stuttered.
Lauren continued staring at Bailey for a couple of seconds in complete silence before she cracked a smile. “Don’t worry, I’m kidding. I was pretty sweaty, Like you said, that suit helps but it’s not supporting of a very bodily good odor.” Lauren walked to me and gave me another kiss on the cheek. “Thanks for defending me though.”
I smiled at my girlfriend. “You are back fast, I just got here.”
She shrugged and smiled back. “I’m pretty good at showering quickly.” Lauren’s hair was tied back in a ponytail and it still had some water dripping off it. She clearly hadn’t bothered to use the hair dryer. Then again, this outfit and that rougher look really did fit her extremely well though.
“So, what are we all drinking today?” Lauren sat down across from me and popped open the holographic drinks menu. “I think I’ll go for some apple juice with ginger to get something refreshing in me. What about you?” She looked deeply into my eyes without breaking eye contact whatsoever.
“I… I’ll have the same.” I nodded meekly.