Day 0002

Horse Head Nebula

RJ86 Expedition

2nd Primary Planet

01/22/2352, Dawn Local

0530 GST

“Sarge...” Partain said through the door to Rocky’s room.

“What is it Corporal? Come in, no use yelling through the door.” Rocky answered, thankful that they had filtered out the mix of helium so his voice didn’t squeak.

Partain poked his head in, Rocky was shaving in the reflection of his terminal screen. His bare back was a patchwork of scars, modern medicine could have erased them, but he must have chosen not to get the treatments. Partain thought a new wave of respect and interest for his senior NCO.

“Well what is it Corporal?” Rocky demanded.

“Sssir, it’s about Smithson. He disappeared out of our module before I woke up.” Partain stuttered.

Rocky sighed and put his shaving kit away. Smithson had a habit of taking off on his own, whenever he could get away with it.

Rocky gritted his teeth as he pulled on his camo, as infuriating as it was to ride herd on Smithson, he had to admit, man was an artist, and his medium was death. He could paint a picture with blood that would haunt you for life, make you weep in one moment and grind your teeth in rage the next. Some of the things they had done in the line of duty still came screaming back even when Rocky was awake. The times they had been in the thick of it out weighed the good times by a large margin. In the thick of it, in the mud, and blood and tears, shit no ever one expected to survive.

Smithson and he had been the last generation to serve when earth was still a hot pot of supposed conflict, tiny nations competing for a tinier slice of the worlds dwindling supplies of natural resources. Then the advent of Cryo sleep had changed all of that.

Now man could extend his time to travel through the stars. He gently massaged his back, the cold made the old injuries ache. He had volunteered after his first tour of duty, three years of sweat and blood in one godforsaken desert after another before he lucked out and caught a blast in the back sending him stateside for the first time since boot camp. While he waited to heal he had volunteered for the first military Cryogenic sleep procedures. His mother had died before he had enlisted, he didn’t know of any other family, so he had volunteered to help the new family that he had earned. One year, the first trip under, then a year of testing. Then a two year freeze before waking up for another year of testing, finally they had put him under for ten years, only one of the hundred who had signed up for the Cryo test had any negative side effects, so it was determined to be safe and man had left earth for the stars.

Rocky sighed, the first hundred had all earned a presidential commendation for their courage, rocketing them up the ranks, he had been the youngest Gunnery Sergeant in the Core’s history. Now he just tried not to think of how many years it had been since his birth date.

If Smithson was slipping through, well the Core took care of its own. Rocky thought, he shook his head to clear his mind from its bleak thoughts, there had to be an explanation, the man was a goddamn hero for Christ sake.

“Well Partain, I’m sure he just got a jump on scouting the perimeter before chow.” Rocky said buttoning on his uniform. The Arctic Camo was still crisp and new.

“Let’s go grab a bite ourselves.” Rocky said leading the way out of the command center, and Smithson better have a damn good reason for taking off like this. He thought silently.

“Morn’n sergeant Rocky. Just finished breakfast, first come first serve.” L. Adams said, she smiled as she brought out a tray of processed protean paste and freeze dried vegetables.

“Thank you kindly, Ma’am.” Rocky said taking a generous serving of both. “Fresh processed soy, just like momma used to make.”

“Don’t you sass me young man!” She said in a matronly voice, waving a serving spoon at him threateningly. He ducked and chuckled Partain smiled and took his own tray of food.

“Adams, have you seen Smithson yet?” Rocky asked sitting down in the tiny chow hall.

“Yeah I did, he was coming out of the armory with his gear and some M.A.G. gloves, Molecular Adhesion Gloves; said he was gonna go scout the bluff above us to the south.”

“Thank you, see there Partain? He checked in with one of his battle buddies before leaving. Be sure you always do the same.” they ate in silence as the rest of the squad trickled in. Smithson was the last one in; he faded into view as he came through the perimeter detection screens.

“Smithson, come see me in the command tent as soon as you’re done with breakfast.” Rocky said setting down his tray in the cleaner. He walked back to the command tent and into his room to finish writing his report on the first day of the expedition. In short order, Smithson reported in.

“Sit down Staff sergeant...” Rocky said gesturing to the one chair in front of his desk. Smithson sat with a clatter, his battle gear rattled against the hard un-padded chair.

“So mind telling me what the hell got you out of bed before chow?” Rocky demanded.

“Well, Gunnery Sergeant I had a feeling that something was watching us. South of camp, near the base of that glacier. So I figured I would go take a look without making a big fuss about it. I grab a set of Molecular Adhesion Gloves and climbed that bluff to take a look.” Smithson said formally.

“Damn it Joseph! We’ve only been here 20 hours and your already wandering off! We have no idea what the hell is out there we have to work as a unit or someone is gonna get killed.” Rocky said, barely below a bellow. He was thankful that Carpenter was on the roof setting up the comm array. “You of all people should know that.” Rocky said quietly.

Smithson surged to his feat, Rocky was a second behind. They stood staring at each other for a tense second. Smithson’s shoulders slumped and he sighed.

“Your right Rocco. It won’t happen again. It’s just, I had this feeling that something was there, watching us.” Smithson said sitting back down.

“Well did you find anything up on that bluff?” Rocky asked.

“Nah, nothing, no tracks, no heat signatures, nothing but the giant ass glacier.” Smithson said.

“Well we can scan it once we get the Sat comm all set up. Carpenter said it should be fully functional by 1300.” Rocky said sitting back down slowly. “You want to lead a patrol? Or keep an eye on things around here while I go stretch my legs?” Smithson considered it for a few seconds, until a smile stole across his face.

“Nah you should lead it, I did my sightseeing this morning. You should check out that glacier, never seen one in this warm of climate before. I’ll keep an eye on the Comms and the new guy.” Smithson said.

Day 0002

Horse Head Nebula

RJ86 Expedition

2nd Primary Planet

01/22/2352, Early Morning Local

1137 GST

Rocky sealed his helmet on as he led the way out of camp. They were headed north to scout the terrain, and get mineral readings around the thermal vents clustered there. Snow and ash had blown in and the storm was limiting Comms distance.

“Everyone stay within line of sight, can never tell how well the suite comms will handle weather like this. Make sure all of your seals are good on your suite. You don’t want to get doused with some nasty chemical in these active geothermal areas.” Rocky said. taking his own advice he checked his suite a second time to ensure a good seal. The combat suits they had been provided where state of the art, a little flashy for his taste. Ceramic/carbon crystal lining to disperse laser fire, under polymer triangles to absorb kinetic damage, and a layer of Plasteel plates on the outside for added protection. It was bulky as hell, but at least it was light he thought grudgingly. Everyone checked out fine, and they marched out. Their skin tight M.E.R.C.s boosted their strength and speed so they were moving at a good pace, close to 30 kilometers per hour. Easily they bound over any but the largest boulders in their path. The C.A.T.S. could push it to nearly 50 kph if they needed to or go air born at nearly 200 Kph. The terrain was barren, rocks littered the ground and ancient lava flows rippled like frozen waves along the ground. Thermal scans showed them the hot spots to avoid so no one plunged through into an active magma tube, or pool of semi-molten rock.

The snow finally tapered off, and visibility and comms improved. Rocky wiped the particles of ash off his faceplate, the vents replaced the snow with thick wafts of ash. Grit on his gloves left score marks across the surface of his faceplate. He would have to polish it later to get the scratches out he made a mental note. He silently cursed whatever office had decided that this bleak little dust ball of a planet had to be explored. They neared the active vents, slowing as visibility fell again from the thick billowing smoke and ash went up out of the vents, it nearly blocked out the sky.

The sun suddenly broke through and the air lit up, the particles around in the air caught the light causing the air to shimmer with tiny motes of colour.

“Carpenter, are you getting this?” Rocky asked.

“Sorry sir, the storm is blocking Vid feed from your helmets; all we are getting is audio and static.” Carpenter answered from back at base.

“What is it Sarge?” Smithson asked over the base comms line.

“You’d have to see it to believe it.” L. Adams said, as awe filled her voice. It was rare to find natural beauty on this scale Rocky thought as they all stood transfixed by the prismatic spray of sunlight. Soon the sun was hidden again behind the shifting fog of smoke and ash.

“Wow, that was amazing.” Partain said.

“No, really?” J. Adams asked sarcastically.

“Stow it marines. Martin grab a sample of that smoke coming from the vent. Savage give him a hand. Get a core sample too.” Rocky ordered. Martin moved carefully over to the vent, the ash and snow seemed to part around him, shifting away, the air around the group cleared.

Odd, Rocky thought; must be some weird air currents around here from the heat rising. Rocky studied the ground and the snow accumulated there, it seemed to shiver. He chalked it up to micro quakes from the vents that he could just barely feel through his thick heated boots. He bent down to take a closure look. His thermal scans showed the ground temp to be about 1 degree C, slightly above the freezing point. Maybe this isn’t just water, Rocky thought reaching down to grab a handful of snow. He scooped some into his hand, making sure his E.A.L., Electromagnetic Arc Lasers was clear of the ground. EALs where temperamental as hell if their muzzles got dirty. He stood back up and scanned the snow closely; making a fist he squeezed it into a ball. Clear fluid oozed out around his fingers, slower than water would have, the snow didn’t crush the way regular snow did either, more grainy, almost like salt crystals. He turned to ask Martin about it just as the clouds shifted again to let the sun shine through.

“Sarge, take a look at this. We are getting some really strong electrical interference in the vent.” Martin said capping off his test kit.

“Savage hold still I’m gonna climb on you and take a peek inside.” Martin said scrambling up her robotic leg, he stood on her bent thigh and leaned over the vent cautiously.

“Martin. Get…” Rocky didn’t get to finish the order. The sun flared brightly nearly blinding him. His helmet darkened to compensate automatically, the dancing motes of light above the vent surged together forming into a sudden dense cloud. The sunlight refracted, bouncing around the cloud in a prismatic arc. Faster and faster the light shifted until all of the colors but blue had been bled off and a thin beam of a blue laser lashed out. As if directed, the beam scythed across Martin. He managed to pull his head out of the way just in time, but his leg and arm didn’t make it. In a flash they were severed, to tumble spinning into the air. His arm flashed into flame as it fell into the vent, and his leg landed with a meaty thunk among the rocks as a huge explosion of electrical energy arced out of the vent and sent Savage flying back as her CATS ground the charge, leaving a smoking crater of collapsed heavy armour around her CATS chest.

“AAAAAAAAAaaaaaAAAH” Martin screamed in pain, and then fell instantly silent as he landed on the stump of his severed leg and blacked out. The rest of the squad fell to the ground. Partain opened fire with his E.A.L. the red laser beam shot out wildly as he fell to the ground flailing. Everything slowed as Rocky’s body released adrenalin, his M.E.R.C. enhanced the effect. He tracked the laser bolts as they sailed over his head. One of the bolts hit the oscillating cloud above the vent, it struck something. Ricocheting at a right angle, it intensified. Narrowing the bolt struck something else, bending back along its path a full 180 degree turn. Rocky had never seen a laser deflected like that in combat. The beam struck Partain’s rifle, cutting the end off, narrowly missing his hand.

“FALL BACK!” Rocky heard himself yell. “Alveraz grab Martin and Savage and get the hell back to base!” Alveraz responded without a word, his C.A.T.S. grabbed Savage roughly by the arm. Her leg that Martin had been standing on clattered to the ground. Rocky saw the full extent of her leg; it was cauterized just below the knee, white bone sticking out of the end, her C.A.T.S. staunched the flow of blood, forming a tourniquet automatically to stabilize its wounded pilot.

Martin was in worse shape; his right arm from just above the elbow down was gone. His thigh was cut cleanly in half, thank god whatever had hit him had burned the wound closed or he would have already been dead.

“Hold your fire Damn it! Something there is deflecting the lasers!” Rocky order angrily. He rolled forward slinging his rifle onto his back in one swift practiced motion; the magnetic plates there grabbed it holding it firmly in place. He grabbed Martin’s amputated leg. Scrabbling in the rubble he snatched up the hunk of melted Plas-steel and flesh that was left of Savage’s limb as well. Then he moved back from the vent as fast as he could crawl on elbows and knees. The rest of the squad took cover behind rock formations.

“Rocky, Rocky! What’s happening!?” Smithson’s voice came over the comm.

“We were attacked by something. Need an evac! Martin and Savage injured. Get a shuttle down here! Partain isn’t gonna be able to handle this with our facilities alone. Prep the medical supplies; we’re falling back to base ASAP. Alveraz enroot with wounded.” Rocky answered, battle calm clipping his words out sharply as time slowed for him to process every detail of their danger.

“Roger that! It’ll be ready as soon as they are here, get Partain back as fast as possible. None of us are certified for truly catastrophic injuries.” Smithson clicked off.

“Partain! Get over here.” Rocky order loudly as he covered their retreat, the squad fell back with practiced ease. Partain sprinted over bent low behind any cover he could find.

“Roger Gunny!” he started, to apologize about losing his weapon but Rocky cut him off.

“Shut it. Listen to me, take these.” He shoved the recovered remains of Savage and Martin into Partains shocked hands. “Safety override, Authorization code Alpha Mike Mike Echo Zero Niner Niner Two. Got that?” Rocky demanded as they fell back, L. Adams covered them.

Partain nodded struggling to contain the bile rising in his throat at the limp remains of his comrades in his arms.

“Enter it into your combat suit and get your ass back to base as fast as possible.” Rocky ordered. Partain punched the code into his suite, the head lamp switched from blue white to bright red.

“What’s the code for?” Partain asked as his suite started to whir loudly.

“It takes off the safety regulators on your Merc you should be able to push your speed up to 80 kph. Move it Marine, Savage and Martin need you at base now!” Rocky said loudly.

Partain nodded, he blurred away as he accelerated to top speed leaving them behind, he streaked away towards base to try and save his comrades.

Day 0002

RJ86 expedition, 2nd primary planet

22 Jan 2352, Mid-day local

1504 GST

Partain ran, faster and faster, he practically flew over the rugged alien landscape, in great leaps and bounds that where only technically different than flying, his amplified muscles let him soar over 50 meter canyons they had spent hours trudging around without breaking stride. The M.E.R.C.s drove his legs like pistons, two unexpected pricks in the back of his neck nearly made him stumble. His heart raced, the suit flooded his systems with artificial adrenaline and other drugs to boost his reflexes. Soon he was taking 100 meter leaps through the air clearing hills and canyons alike. He was filled with wonder at the technology that he had never fully exploited until now. His mood sobered as he focused on what he would need to do as soon as he got back to base, the heavy weight of the severed limbs he carried in his arms seemed to grow as he contemplated the shrinking odds against Martin and Savage.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

He skidded to a halt outside camp; scooping up a pile of snow, he buried both of the legs to halt the metabolic decay of the limbs. He took a deep breath as he pushed his way into the med-pod. The door frame cracked as he forgot his heightened strength the override code had granted him. Pausing he remembered what his instructor had preached to them over and over again in training.

“Breath. When the shit gets thick, stop. Take three deep breaths, then deal with the situation one step at a time.” Partain stripped off his MERC, and jumped into the sterilization shower and climbed quickly into scrubs. His mind raced as he helped Alveraz lift Martin onto the operating table. Savage was stable; her C.A.T.s doing fine keeping her unconscious. It had cinched tight restricting the blood flow in her missing leg; if her lungs stopped it would automatically begin chest compressions, the CATS were designed to put their operators in medically induced comas until recovery teams could reach them if their operators lost consciousness.

“she’s was probably better off in that suit then on my table with the limited supplies I have available.” Partain thought desperately, his eyes snapped back and forth as he scanned the stump of Martin’s leg.

“Alveraz, get out now, you’re contaminating my operating room. Sterilize then get back in here” Partain said without looking up from his assessment, he used a Laser scalpel to cut the uniform away from Martin’s leg, then carefully cut the skin tight MERCs off with surgical shears. Alveraz stumbled back out into the hallway watching through the window into the med bay, staring at Savage’s prostrate form on the floor; her suit had made her too heavy to be supported by flimsy government issued operating table so they had propped her wounded leg up above heart level to help as much as possible.

“Built as always by the lowest bidder.” he thought bitterly as he studied the rag tag assembly of medical equipment; helplessly he crouched in his CATS as it cycled through its deactivation protocols to release him from its embrace.

“Alveraz, Alveraz! Focus! Get out of that suite! You can’t help from in it.” Partain said calmly. Alveraz crouched trying to will the machine to open and release him as fast as possible, the automatic systems check and purge was going at glacial pace. In the Med-bay Probes and other operating instruments descended from the ceiling as the AI booted up to assist Partain in his triage. Minutes ticked by as Alveraz struggled to get out of his suit and then sterilized and into scrubs before rushing back into the operating area to help any way he could.

Partain worked calmly and swiftly, he treated Martin for shock, stabilized his vitals, and cleaned the wounds no sutures where needed as the attack had sealed off the stumps, with quick surgery they should both be able to reattach his leg.

“Alveraz help me get him into the emergency med pods. The protein bath should help to finish clearing up his shock.” Partain said as exhaustion began to set in. That was all he could do for them with what he had available on the surface; reattachment would be impossible except on board the ship. The medpods put their patients into a shallow version of hyper sleep, slowing down the progress of grievous wounds so that the personnel in them could be evac-ed from the front lines back to full medical facilities. Cleaning off the blood he peeled off his scrubs, he checked on Savage. She was still stable, but unconscious. The suit was treating her for shock; just as well as he would have, possibly better, he cleaned her wound as best he could with her armour blocking most of his efforts.

“Sergeant Smithson! What’s the status on that Evac shuttle?” Partain yelled still working on Savage’s leg.

“ETA 6 minutes Doc.” Smithson said calmly.

“Roger that Sarge.” Partain mumbled.

Six eternities later the shuttle touched down, Partain turned over the treatment to the Doctors on board and showed them where he had put the limbs on ice. The Doctor in charge was a Major; he looked surprised at his quick thinking to put them in the snow bank.

“What happened to his arm? You couldn’t recover it?” The Major asked.

“No sir, it was destroyed...in the...att....um, incident.” Partain stuttered out, he was still confused about what had actually happened the Major nodded, appraising Partain’s blood stained clothes and hollow eyed stare.

“You did good son, we’ll take it from here.” The Major said heading towards the evac shuttle.

“Good job corporal, this will definitely be going in your file. We may just be able to save the both their legs.” The other Medic said as he passed Partain working the medpod out the door and into the shuttle.

Partain finally sat down and hung his head as the medical squad piled back into the shuttle and lifted off. His hands started shaking as the drugs in his system wore off, and the effects of the attack started to sink in. Staff Sergeant Smithson came out of the Comm control room and helped him to his feet.

“Come on Doc, Gunny’s gonna want to talk to you when he gets back. Let’s get you cleaned up.” He said, Partain looked at it him glazed eyes.

“I could sure use a drink.” Partain said finally, taking the offered hand, he struggled back onto his feet. He grimaced knowing that his body was going to call in its tab real quick after the extra chemicals and effort that the run back had used; if he stopped moving for too long his muscles would cramp up until he was a twisted ball of agony.

“That’s the spirit.” Smithson said.

“Couldn’t have said it better myself.” Alveraz chimed in coming over, as the shuttle lifted from view.

Three hours later the rest of the squad got back, Rocky led the way into the chow hall where everyone was gathered quietly. A bottle of whiskey sat open on the table with glasses set out for everyone. Rocky plopped down tiredly into one of the seats.

“Staff sergeant, Report.” Rocky said as he tossed back a shot of whiskey.

“Well Gunny, the fly boys showed up about twenty minutes after Doc started fix’n up Martin and Savage.” Smithson said nodding towards Partain who had already had a few drinks, if his slumped form was any indicator. “They brought a Major down with them; he said our corporal did a bang up job getting our boys stabilized for transit up to the ship. They took Martin into surgery as soon as they docked, Savage woke up about then mad as hell that she had fainted like a sissy girl Smithson made air quotes around Savage’s angry statement. It was good to hear that she was still her old self.

“What did they say about the leg?” Alveraz asked slurring his words slightly. Smithson looked grim and didn’t answer right off; the grouped braced themselves for the news. Smithson threw back the last of his drink before he said anything.

“They couldn’t save it, Doc, er… Partain did everything right, they said, but whatever energy weapon severed it slagged her suit as well, it caused to much soft tissue damage from them to salvage it. They were able to save Martin’s leg, but since we couldn’t recover the arm they are going to ask him what he wants to do when he wakes up. Both of them should be able to take calls by tomorrow.” Smithson said soberly.

“Damn it! I hate how the drop us on these god forsaken rocks without even scanning the whole damn surface or setting up a Satellite network!” Rocky yelled slamming his glass down hard enough to shatter, it sending shards flying he stood up angrily.

“Whoa ease down there Sarge.” Laura said. She was standing next to Adams with one hand gripping his shoulder tightly. “It could have been a lot worse, what happened anyway?” Laura asked.

Rocky sighed; he had been replaying the events all the way back to base, wishing he had the time to check the video recorded by his helmet.

“Alveraz go grab the mem-stick out of your suite so we can pull up some video on what happened.” Alveraz held up the memory stick from his CATS he had already pulled it.

“Haven’t looked at it yet though,” He said handing it to Rocky. Rocky pulled down the Vid screen they used to watch movies from the ceiling and plugged in the mem-stick. The picture flickered and came in showing their trek out; he skipped ahead until right before they were attacked.

They silently watched as Martin climbed up onto Savage’s C.A.T.S. leg to peer into the vent. Over head the cloud of ash and snow shimmered in the faint sunlight and began to shift. Rocky slowed the video down, watching the cloud twist and stream against the air currents. The cloud shifted until it intercepted the bright shaft of sunlight, refracting it. Rocky heard himself yell for Martin to get down, just as the light lanced out hitting him and Savage. Rocky backed the recording up to when the cloud of ash first started moving against the wind.

“What does that look like?” Rocky asked quietly. No one answered right away; he played a loop of the cloud shifting as soon as they came into the valley with the vent, up until right before Martin and Savage got hit.

“Sslooks like a swarm of bees or something.” Partain said slurring drunkenly.

“Yeah, almost like those floating particles is some kind of insect.” Gomez said he moved closer to the screen for a better look. Rocky silently agreed with Partain. The activities of the cloud of ash looked too coordinated to be random, even without the way whatever it was refracted light to amplify the sunlight until it was a blue laser.

“Wrap it up, we are sending this up to the Fly boy scientist to get it checked out see what they think. Until we get orders otherwise, everyone is confined to base.” Rocky said, everyone grumbled a little as they went back to their quarters, unhappy about what had happened to their squad. Rocky motioned for Smithson to stay behind.

“Get the uplink going, send this up to the ship when it’s in range.” Rocky said as he put his head in his hands.

“Roger that Sarge.” Smithson paused as he went to walk past, he squeezed Rocky’s shoulder briefly without saying anything. Rocky took what support he could out of the gesture, and let the events of the day wash over him.

Any emotions drained off his face as he thought about all the things that went wrong with the mission. Could anything else possibly go wrong today? Rocky thought to himself as he got up to go check on Smithson in the comm room.

“Sarge I uploaded the data, but we are getting a huge amount of interference now, almost like someone is trying actively trying to jam our transmission.” Smithson said turning away from his static washed screen.

“What’s causing the trouble? Didn’t they get the Satellite network online?” Rocky asked sitting down to study the struggling computer.

“Yeah they got it up to relay our signal so we don’t have to wait for the ship to be in orbit above us, but the signal is degrading from our end. There’s not enough weather to account for the signal propagation problems. Since we use a laser emitter groundside, it should punch right through the ionosphere.” Smithson said as he tried to boost the signal strength. “I might have to go outside make sure that ash and snow hasn’t covered the transmitter.” Smiths said.

“Alright we’ll go check; I don’t won’t anyone wondering around alone, not after the cluster fuck today has become.” Rocky said.

Rocky and Smithson suited up quickly, Rocky checked in with the parameter defense network to make sure that nothing had crossed into camp while they had been inside. Everything came back negative so he opened the hatch, and led the way, gun out and on high alert. Snow and ash whirled around the weather had taken a turn for the worse, damn planets, with their unstable air and filthy terrain. Rocky thought angrily. Smithson banged caked ice and snow off the rungs to the access ladder beside the hatch and climbed up nimbly.

After a few tense seconds his voice crackled over Rocky’s helmet speakers.

“Uh, Sarge look up.” Smithson said

Rocky whipped his head up, above him dancing in the blanket of white streaks of green and blue twinkled, they reminded him of the Auroras back home, when charged particles hit the ionosphere they made coloured ribbons of light. The light green ribbon stretched from the north all the way to right over the base camp.

“Smithson get your ass down here!” Rocky yelled as the stream of light was forming a ball above the Satellite uplink dish on the roof.

“Almost done, it was iced over!” Smithson yelled back, he finished scrapping the dish clean and turned the power back on. He glanced around at Rocky’s yelled commands to get off the roof. Above him, the green ribbon coalesced into a round shifting blob just as the laser comm link flared on. It was visible as it shimmered through the falling ash and snow. It struck the green cloud and was absorbed. Smithson turned and ran, he leapt off the roof and Rocky grabbed him neatly out of the air and swung him into the hatch. The doors slammed shut right behind them. Rocky punched his fist into the emergency lock button, and the base sealed itself and alarms started blaring. Smithson ran into the comm room and brought up outside visual on all the screens. Above them the cloud shifted down towards the roof, it flowed out and blanketed the comms array.

“Contact lost.” Smithson said quietly.

Rocky looked sharply at him, and then went back to studying the screens. The green cloud had settled down on the power exhaust vents and on the comms array.

“Look at that, it’s only on the laser array, it’s not on the microwave or any of the backup systems.” Partain said somewhat more soberly.

“Yeah look at that stuff, it's shifting and crawling around.” Laura said

“Smithson, can you enhance this image any?” Rocky asked.

“Yeah, I can get 5x magnification on it gimme a second.” Smithson said as he fiddled with the screen, Rocky checked the comms array. The laser was still sending, but nothing was coming back, so the signal must not be getting through. He scrolled through the signal options and switched on the back up signal, a microwave burst was being compressed to send in a burst transmission. He quickly typed up an emergency message for the captains eyes only, once he hit send he went back out to see what they had been able to get from the enhanced view.

Smithson and everyone else had taken off their helmets, but where still dressed in their tac-gear. The image on the screen was at its highest magnification, the green tinted cloud was displayed, it rendered them all speechless.

The cloud was indeed moving, it glittered just like snow, but it shifted and flowed almost like water. At the magnified level they were studying it, Rocky could just make out that the cloud was comprised of tiny snowflakes. They twinkled and sparkled in the diffused light filtering through the clouds no two exactly alike. The blanket of green snow rippled and shimmered as it flowed and pooled.

“What’s it doing?” Alveraz asked quietly, wonder evident in his voice.

“Its blocking any laser emissions from us, that’s for certain.” Rocky said sitting back down. “I sent off a high pri message off to the ship but it’s gonna be at least 15 minutes till they come around the horizon.” he told them.

They watched in silence as the green swarm, of whatever it was, continued pooling around the exhaust ports and the laser array. As they studied the green mass, Rocky saw that they surface of the green pool had tiny crystal spines waving in the air.

A message arrival chime broke the silence that had settled over them. A satellite live feed popped up on the screen they were studying. It showed the base from the air, and the control center on the ship in orbit. Rocky activated the message in the comms office. It was from the ship’s captain,

“Sergeant Rocky, your troops are both awake and responsive, there needs are being well taken care off. As for your report, the science department has taken quite an interest in the events unfolding planetside. We are now performing a scan of the base in all spectrums to try and determine what is going on. We are also using the other satellites to look for any similar energy signatures to those recorded at the sight of the attack. I’ll keep you informed of any findings, and if the situation deteriorates any further, we’ll evac your people ASAP.”

Rocky sent his acknowledgement of the message and went back into the conference room to the see what was on the screen. The over head image flashed through different spectrums of light and radiation.

“Smithson, pull up the other Sat feeds. Let’s see if they can find any more of these things on this rock.” Rocky ordered the other satellite images quickly popped up on the screen, near the poles where the glacier formations where the thickest, temperature readouts well above freezing where being recorded. “That one, bring that one up.” Rocky said pointing to the southern pole Sat feed. Smithson brought the image up, and beside it the technician’s face that was analyzing the data popped up as well. The tech’s voice came over the speakers as he announced his findings to his section controller behind him.

“Temperature is well above freezing, the whole pole is covered by it. The structure isn’t right for ice. It’s too dense; Switching scans to get a more detailed image of the atomic structure.” The technician said calmly. The read outs flashed as the Tech changed scanners from passive to active. The whole surface of the pole lit up. Blinding them it flashed with light, oscillating in colours, the glaciers seemed to glow from within as the Satellite scanned with what should have been invisible laser light. The readings bounced back flooding the screen with data. Suddenly it cut out to be replaced by static.

“What happened?” Rocky asked.

“I don’t know the feed just cut off!” Smithson said, he pulled up another that was scanning the North Pole, just as it cut out as well.

“What the hell!” Smithson said. He pulled up the last feed besides the one currently over head scanning the base. It was near the equator it had shifted view from the surface off the planet to look at the North Pole. An immense beam of light still flared out into space. It stretched all the way to the surface of the planet.

“Oh. My. God.” Smithson said slowly, as he watched the streams of data coming in from the satellite."Look at that heat! That beam reaches 250 light-seconds off the surface! If it gets much hotter it could flash burn the entire atmosphere right off this rock.” As suddenly as it had appeared, the beam cut off completely.

“Play it back, see where it came from.” Adams said frowning thoughtfully at the screen.

“Without a third satellite it’s impossible to triangulate the exact position of the beams origin,” Smithson said, “but if we use the sun as a stationary point we can get a rough area for it, accurate to within 500 miles.” Rocky winced; their satellite triangulations where usually with 500 meters for rough work and 10 meters for most targeting coordinates. “It came from the area of the pole with the thickest ice sheet.” Smithson finished quietly.

“That sheet is generating some kind of internal temperature regulation; look at the air temp of that region.” Alveraz said pointing at the screen, “the air temp is way below freezing just like you’d expect for that region on a planet with this kind of axial tilt. But the surface temp is a few degrees C above 0.” How is that possible over an area that large?” he sat down again his question ringing loudly into their collective thoughtfulness.

“We have to go check it out.” Smithson said a hint of excitement in his voice. Everyone jumped up and started arguing, trying to be heard, Rocky slapped his hand down flat on the table startling everyone into a brief silence.

“He’s right, we can’t risk the shuttle coming down, they’d be flying blind, without instruments, instruments that use lasers and the communication satellites are toast, so our communications are sporadic unless they put up new ones, which I doubt the captain will do without a much better understanding of what the hell is going on here.” No one argued with him so he continued.

“All of the tech we have with us uses light, except for our microwave back up communications and our short range radios in the our suites. Obviously something here has a much more fundamental understanding of light and light amplification than we do. This implies that there is some kind of intelligence out there that is just as curious about us as we are about it.” Everyone was nodding agreeing with his speech silently.

“This tells us that we are dealing with at least some kind of thinking being, something that has desires, goals, and dreams regardless of how alien those things might be. Everything we have seen so far indicates that these events are too reactionary to be considered natural reactions to our presence. If it thinks it can be reasoned with.” Rocky ended quietly.

“Or killed, just show me where it keeps those thoughts.” Martin said pulling out his combat knife threateningly; his feral grin was echoed by most of the squad.

“Right, or that.” Rocky agreed readily, his tightly controlled anger for the losses they had suffered already threatened to boil over.

“Comms link back in range, what do you want me to send up Sarge?” Smithson asked quietly, his hands poised ready to type out a message for encrypted transmission.

“Tell them what we have discussed already and tell them that we will be sending out a full exploration exposition under cover of darkness.” Rocky held up a hand warningly to forestall any arguments, silenced fell as Smithson sent their message and waited for a reply. After a few minutes a red light indicated that a transmission wa coming in. Smithson tried to bring it up on screen but there was too much static and the audio broke on and off completely undecipherable.

“What’s’ going on?” L. Adams asked quietly.

“No idea, but their signals so weak we are hardly getting any of it, which doesn’t make sense since they’re at their closest point of their orbit.” Smithson said trying to filter out as much static as possible with little success.

“Try establishing a comms line with them on a steady beam.” Alveraz suggested. Smithson tried, but their signal strength bled off before it even reached the ionosphere. “Pull us up on the sat feed.” Rocky said, fear finally crept into the edges of his thoughts and shivered up his spine at this latest development. The base swam back into view as the overhead lens refocused on their tiny outpost, “Now switch it to infrared.” Rocky ordered quietly, his intes scrutiny was unnerving the rest fo the squad, but he was too focused to notice. Everyone but him gasped as their command module lit up, the beam of their communications clearly visible on the enhanced image. The ribbon of glittering particles stretched back to the vent they had been attacked at, it terminated ver their communications gear, and intercepted their communications emissions bleeding off most of the signal to send it pulsing back over the kilometers to the vent. The heat read out of the beam indicated that it would be visible to the naked eye as its intensity was amplified over the distance, intensifying the farther away it got from their base.

“That’s impossible, how are they adding strength to the beam?” L. Adams demanded, “It violates the law of the conservation of energy!” Smithson peered intensely at the screen for several long minutes, he re-focusing the image several times before speaking at last.

“The beam is really any stronger. The energy isn’t being added to or converted, it simply getting more efficiently transmitted and focused. Our communications gear is really in efficient compared to most laser emissions, the wide beam width and spread spectrum transmissions adds in a lot of redundancies to ensure that the message can punch through bad atmospherics or most jamming.” most of the squad looked at him blankly and he rephrased some of his answer quickly. “Kinda like sending morse code with hand grenades instead of flashlights, just to make sure they see, feel, and hear, your message.”

“Can it. Smithson, Martin I need you two to check out the rest of our sensor gear. There should be equipment in the subsurface exploration packs for sonar scans. We need that out here ASAP.” Smithson and Martin snapped to attention before rushing out of the command module at a fast trot. “Adams-ess, you two enlisted from the asteroids right?” Rocky asked pulling down a tablet and an electronic pen to start drawing with.

“Yup, my pappy was an asteroid miner with one of the big multinational companies out there, he retired with full pension.” J. Adams said proudly, the accident rate in the asteroids was astronomically high surviving to retirement was quite a feat in that line of work, rocky reflected.

“Glad I remembered that bit correctly, I need you to dig us up everything you can from the command modules memory banks on the specs for those mining lasers.” Rocky ordered without looking up, both Adams’s came smartly to attention before rushing off to their shared quarters and the two terminals there. “The rest of you get some rest, we are moving out ASAP once the sun is completely down for some Night-ops maneuvers regroup at 1930 GST.” Everyone dispersed gratefully to their bunks as the groups adrenalin petered out, Alveraz came back in to collect Partain from his stupor.

“I’ll stick the Doc in the protein bath from the last Med-pod Sarge; I know how the overdrive can zap your strength.” He said carrying his blood stained comrade carefully away. Rocky just nodded absorbed by planning their next mission and the alterations they would have to make to their equipment. I pray my hair brained scheme is even possible, Rocky thought as he finished his schematics, glad he had taken those courses in electrical engineering to pass the time on his first space voyage decades before.