A synthetic female voice spoke instructions over the intercom, as Alar pulled his helmet over his head and fit the visor into position. He was still questioning how he had gotten into this position even as he pulled a small pistol from the wall and placed it into the holster that was at his side.
Yesterday felt like it had happened months ago, and his conversation with Eira while sipping his coffee seemed like it occurred in a distant time, despite it being barely a day prior. After their discussion, he had gone to his normal briefings with his work section, and later with his security squad. It was during the latter that he learned that leadership had decided that additional security would be joining the diplomats for their initial descent to the planet. His unit was selected as part of this additional security. Not because they were a specialized or highly trained unit, but instead because they had not been assigned to any other groups yet, and were meant to act as an additional “show of force”, that was for some reason deemed necessary.
So, Alar had gone from being a member of a small construction crew that would have only landed on the planet after everything had been organized and settled, to being one of the first humans to set foot on this new world within the span of about 12 hours. After this sudden reassignment, Alar and his unit had spent the remainder of the day frantically getting up to speed with everything that was going on, despite them not playing any role in the actual diplomacy, and had been briefed on everything from tent assignments to ambassadorial gift giving. Alar remembered almost nothing from any of these meetings, and before he knew it he had been briefed, gotten a fitful night’s rest, and was being equipped and outfitted for descent.
Departure in 1 hour, 46 minutes.
The female voice on the intercom stated calmly, shaking Alar free from his thoughts and focusing him back on his current task. He found gloves that fit comfortably, and went to the desk where the bot attendant scanned his credentials before providing him a two handed coilgun that emerged from the wall. He placed a few additional energy cells and magazines into his belt and pockets, double checking everything before concluding that he was as prepared as he was going to be, and exiting the room.
He emerged from the equipment room into a large open area with rows of seats in the center and monitors spread throughout. The room had multiple hallways spreading out from it that Alar knew led to different docking bays containing the atmospheric entry pods they would use to descend to the surface. The main ship would remain in orbit indefinitely, as it had no means of landing given its size, and all persons and supplies would be dropped down in these types of pods or, eventually, larger barges that would carry the equipment they would use to build their new world.
Alar was not the first to enter the room, and about 80 other people were already present. Some were seated, and others were standing throughout the room, observing data scrolling across the different screens or fidgeting with their equipment. He sat in the seats near the back of the room and waited for their final briefing to begin. The people within the room consisted mostly of crew members in their dark blue uniforms, with the majority of that group appearing to consist of diplomatic and scientific members of the crew, given their lack of weaponry and equipment. Near the front, standing next to the largest grouping of screens and a small podium, were three people deep in conversation, Alar knew these were high ranking members of the crew and military, given the regalia on their flight suits and overall demeanors.
Two of them were men, both on the taller side, about the same height as Alar, and both had the typical short cropped military haircuts and lack of any facial hair. One was of darker complexion than the other, but they were otherwise relatively indistinguishable. Both gave off the air of being someone who had spent a great deal of time within the regimented world of the military, and both additionally appeared to be accustomed to being listened to without question. The third was a woman, also tall, but shorter than both men by about half a head. She had a tight slicked back ponytail of dark brown hair and even darker brown eyes that flicked between the two men with intense focus as she spoke. She had a small pistol holstered to her side, identical to Alar’s, and was the only one of the three with a visible weapon. She appeared to be providing some sort of information to the pair that they did not seem to enjoy hearing, and Alar saw their expressions darken as she continued, becoming slightly more animated as she did. After Alar had observed them for a few more minutes, their conversation eventually ended and the first of the two men nodded briefly to the other two and approached the podium. The room had, since Alar had arrived, maintained a consistent buzz of chatter and small talk, but without the man having said anything, the chatter had quieted almost as soon as he had moved forward, and Alar even saw individuals who were previously standing or observing screens begin moving towards the seats in the center of the room. While Alar had been seated, about 20 more people had entered, bringing there number to just under 100.
“All descent personnel please be seated, so we can begin the briefing” the man said with a brisk tone. He turned back towards the man and woman, who had now positioned themselves immediately behind him, still standing, and asked a question of the darker skinned man. Nodding at his response, the man at the podium surveyed the room briefly before speaking again.
“Thank you. My name is Commander Micha Engle, and I am the commanding officer in charge of the descent crew. Behind me is Lieutenant Commander Devyn Harris, head of our diplomatic unit, and Lieutenant Ayla Forning, head of descent security and intelligence” the man and woman both nodded from behind the Commander before he continued. “While the vast majority of you are intimately aware of who I am, and most of you have been apart of this unit since before we left earth, there are some new faces among us. Specifically, two new security units that have been determined by Captain Tate to be a necessary addition given the complexities that have unfolded over the last few days” the Commander stated before pausing as an audible whisper began emerging from multiple sections of those currently seated.
“Quiet down please” the Commander continued, “Let me be clear, while I am happy to oblige the Captain, I do not believe that these additional personnel are necessary, and I have made that clear from the start. In fact, given my insistence, and unwillingness to affect the security protocols and procedures of any other units going forward, these additional units are, as you probably have already determined, civilian units that have been pulled from non-essential work sectors” as the Commander spoke, a few heads turned towards Alar and others in their grey flight suits briefly, before the Commander continued his monologue.
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“This is not to belittle those present, as all have received adequate training and are, I am sure, competent to assist us in the execution of our mission. However, as I have said previously, I do not believe it will be necessary, as I remain confident in our ability to succeed despite these minor setbacks that have unfolded.” The Commander waved his hand in front of the podium and made a quick gesture that changed all the screens behind him to the same image, a large list of about 40 different drones, each with a different name and code representing it. This list was not strange in and of itself, as Alar had seen thousands of similar lists within his own profession, and drone or robot operation and status reports were extremely common in any briefing or report that one viewed on the ship on a daily basis. What was shocking, however, was the yellow text highlighted on about 75% of the drones listed, indicating some sort of malfunction or systemic error within the drones themselves. More shocking was that another 10% of the drones were highlighted in red text, indicating that the drones were completely destroyed or no longer operational. Of the five or so drones that were green, meaning that they were still functioning normally, all of them had either PENDING or PRE-DESCENT labeling them, indicating that they had not yet been deployed.
The Commander allowed those present to view the list for a few seconds longer before speaking again. “This is a list of the pre-descent intelligence gathering drones that have either been deployed or are awaiting deployment prior to our departure. The majority have been sent down within the last 48 hours to scout our planned landing area, record data and information about the environment, and garner close-up video and images of the inhabitants below. As you can see, these drones and bots have run into some issues subsequent to their entry into the atmosphere” he paused, looking over the list once more himself before continuing. “As you are all aware, our information on the planet has indicated thermal, gravitational and electromagnetic irregularities of unknown origin. Our most recent assumption is that these irregularities are a component or characteristic of the planet itself and its environment, but while unknown, are not anticipated to affect livability or our habitation of the planet. This assumption was corroborated by our drones upon atmospheric entry, and initial readings and levels show that oxygen, methane and carbon dioxide levels are anticipated to be equal to or safer levels than those of earth…”
A more positive murmur spread through those seated, as Engle continued “However, almost immediately upon entry of the drones into the lower portions of the planet’s stratosphere, our communication with the drones was almost entirely cut-off, and all further readings and imagery were unintelligible or disabled entirely.” The positive murmurs ceased more quickly than they had started and agitated whispers immediately replaced them.
“Settle down, settle down” Engle said as he tried to calm the crowd. “Our scientific and intelligence teams have assured me that the cause of this disturbance is almost certainly correlated to these unknown environmental factors, and is in no way indicative of any issues with the local inhabitants or the livability of the planet itself. And realistically…”
“ATTENTION AHEAD” a sharp female voice screamed out from behind the Commander. The group of around 100 hundred or so people had devolved as the Commander had been speaking into additional whispers and murmurs that had begun to intensify as he continued. All the voices immediately silenced however, as soon as Lieutenant Forning had called them back into focus. “Thank you, Lieutenant,” the Commander said. “As I was saying, realistically, given the anticipated technological levels of the native inhabitants, it is almost impossible for the disturbances in our communication to be anything other than environmental, and despite the Captain’s determination that additional security measures should be taken, I firmly believe that all prior logistical plans will occur seamlessly and without interruption. Now, given your apparent ability to focus effectively upon the Lieutenant, I will turn things over to her to discuss the logistical modifications that will occur…”
Alar inadvertently zoned out the Lieutenant as she began discussing increased rations and tent placements. While he was not an expert on drones, and he also did not know the exact type of drones that were listed, he did have a general idea of what it would take to make them malfunction and cease communicating with the ship. All drones had at least three redundant layers of shielding, and at least 8 different mechanisms to transmit a signal and communicate with wherever they came from. Alar knew this to be true of construction drones, that could be visually monitored the vast majority of the time they were on a site, so he imagined that drones that were equipped to enter an atmosphere, travel from the ship down to the surface, and send critical data back, would be even more advanced and protected.
As he thought about this, completely at a loss as to what could possibly create the level of disturbance necessary to affect all of these drones, he noticed a pulsing notification in the corner of his visor. The visor had been synced to his personal communication device that all on board the ship possessed, and while nowhere near as elaborate as the ones back on earth, these devices had basic text, voice and visual communication, amongst an assortment of other features. He visually commanded the notification to open and read the message.
Eira:
I will have a summary of all of the briefings you miss while you’re down there. Make sure you are still in one piece when I land so you can read them.
Alar smiled as he read the message. He had not been able to meet Eira or anyone else from his work sector after his security meeting the day before, and had not even been able to attend the final briefing that evening, instead being sent to a separate briefing specific to the descent teams that lasted until late in the evening. Everyone in his sector had been informed of the reason for his absence, and he had received a few other messages throughout the night and morning with well-wishes or questions, but he had been too nervous and too distracted to respond to most.
Looking forward to it. He typed back, refocusing on the Officer speaking in front of him. She finished her presentation and switched the screens from the drone list to a breakdown of the pods they would be descending in. Alar was in the third of four pods, each carrying around 25 people and their necessary equipment. After she was done speaking, he and everyone else got up and began making their way down the hallways and towards their assigned areas.
Departure in 23 minutes. The cool female voice continued her countdown over the loudspeaker. Alar took a deep breath and tried to push aside his concerns and nerves.
The time had come.