Far away from the human ‘landing’ site, another ship had a difficult encounter with the ground, an even harder one. The starship had embedded itself in a mountainside making a deep hole in it.
The Bugs almost immediately started blurting out of their ship’s carcass in search for a place to install themselves. Unfortunately for them, they had landed in a revendicated area.
The mountain was part of the Reptilian Kingdoms’ Union and even is the Reptilian peoples weren’t expansionists, they were strong warriors and always fought to defend the countries of the Union.
Soon a war would start in this part of the world.
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Three days after the ‘landing’ the newly promoted major Kyle Barnes had finished assembled his fifteen men team. They were almost ready to leave the immediate vicinity of the ship.
The major’s team was constituted of 25 men and women, they could be gathered in three types of people. First, the major and the people specifically appointed to join him. James Romia, a tired doctor that had worked non stop in the last days. Claude Jirn, a young communication officer. And Millie Evans, the youngest mechanic on board.
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The second type of men was composed of those that fought alongside the major during the Bugs’ attack and were still in good enough condition to travel. Among them were the two last survivors of the major’s original team, one of them was the newly promoted captain George Flint and would serve as a second to the major. The lieutenant Paul had been posthumously promoted to the rank of captain. Five other trained soldiers who had joined him from other teams before the Jump and seven civilians who had been woken up for the fight. The young secretary that asked what an E7 planet was and the professor who answered her back then were both parts of the team.
The last type was the seven new members of the team. There were two soldiers trained in surgical domains to assist the doctor if need be. Kyles had also requested one of the few historians specialized in languages, the Earth citizens had long unified themselves under a common tongue and very few people still spoke more than one. The last two were simple soldiers that volunteered to the expedition.
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When Klop had arrived at his village, everybody knew that stranges stars had fallen from the sky, but nobody knew more. So the elders saw Klop and heard his story about the stars being flaming balls of metal, at least one of them, and that one had crashed on the side of the Hi mountain.
The elders had consulted the oracles and the signs were disconcerting. It seems like the Spirits could not agree if the falling stars were good or bad news. In any case, they were a sign of great changes to come.
Later the elders decided to form a small team that would go and investigates the location where the nearby star had fallen. Klop was chosen to lead the way and he was not entirely pleased by that. He would have preferred to stay in the security of the village’s vicinity.