Chapter 3

Major Hunter was reviewing the most recent intelligence about the new system as the two 'specialists' continued the briefing. The dropship's troop compartment was cramped with all his unit's equipment as well as the 'specialists' briefing materials. Hunter looked up from his file and gazed around at his team. A little top heavy on senior NCO's, but a well-experienced group. The 'specialists' were going on about how a first contact was to be handled carefully, politely, and with the utmost discretion. Like there was any other way? Hunter thought to himself. The trip to the fleet would take another four hours at this speed. At least he could get some sleep. Long ago he had developed the ability to sleep with both eyes open during long boring briefings, as most soldiers will do, which is exactly what he was doing now.

Lieutenant Waters had just motioned two troopers inside the open hatchway when his inter team commo buzzed. He glanced at his HUD to see who it was.

"Sergeant Wilkes, what's your status?" Waters asked. Wilkes, the senior noncom of the unit, had taken command of the other half of the platoon in Water's absence.

"Sir, we are outside what appears to be the engineering spaces. It's sealed up tight. No way to gain access unless we use breaching charges." Wilkes reported. "There appears to be a lot of shielding in this area. I don't have contact with the dropship transponder."

Waters was watching the two troopers wave their light around the interior of the compartment as he responded.

"Very well Sergeant. Reverse your sweep and move forward. Notify me of any more survivors. Waters out."

He motioned the medics forward into the darkened compartment as he followed Basha inside. He checked his HUD and verified that he still had contact with the transponders but not the dropship. Using his suit sensors he analyzed the interior of the compartment and concluded that it had been heavily shielded but for what purpose. He waved his own light around the area and was amazed to see moisture seepage running down the walls.

Ahead, he could see the troopers had tossed out light sticks to illuminate as much of the room as possible. He switched his visor setting to thermal and looked around the room. The ambient temperature was low enough allowing him a good look at his surroundings. A maze of ducts and pipes flowed out of the walls and deck all the way to the overhead. Around the base of the pipes, he took note of the blankets and empty ration cartons scattered about.

Unidentifiable garbage and 'other' piles of junk were scattered about. Waters was glad that his suit was sealed as he realized what some of the garbage was. He looked away and continued towards his men.

"Sorenson, where are those life signs?" He asked the senior medic.

Sorenson, the medic who had examined Basha, waved his scanner around the compartment before replying.

"Unknown sir. Way too much back scatter in here to lock down the signal." He reported.

"Do what you can. We're too bunched up in here."

Waters switched channels to address the other troopers. "Paxton, watch those corners. Spread the men out more. Morrison, throw out more light sticks. Rice, watch our new 'friend' very close." Waters ordered as he continued his thermal scan. Rice, and his fire team buddy, Valdez, moved up to be on both sides of Basha as they moved through the compartment.

Sergeant Wilkes and the rest of the platoon continued moving forward until they reached a large, four-way intersection. He formed a defensive perimeter as he checked his position in relation to the dropship and Waters. Looking down the corridors, he took note of the thick, boot top dust that coated the decking.

"Corporal Loe. Take a squad and recon that corridor." He ordered as he motioned down the passageway to the right. "Corporal Axtell. Take second squad down this one. I'll take the rest of the squad down the other one." He glanced at the chrono setting on his HUD. "Meet back here in 20mikes." He said as the squads spilt and moved down their assigned corridors. Wilkes squad lingered a few seconds as a directional beacon was set at the intersection. The squad moved along the corridor, stirring up the heavy dust that hung in the air at waist level making it almost impossible to see the deck plates. The fine dust coated the trooper's boots up to their thighs as they moved along the deserted corridor.

"Sir! McAfee reports telemetry signals lost with the entry team!" The TAO announced to Captain Winslow. The captain started and turned from his conversation with Greerson. Now what? Greerson watched as Winslow typed on his screen.

"Ryan, Winslow here, what's the status with your entry team? We just lost telemetry."

"Yes, we just confirmed that ourselves. We still have contact with the dropship, but not the entry team. The Algearian ship had a power surge a few seconds ago, we're still analyzing it, then no signal." Ryan paused as new information flashed on his screen. "Wait, we just reestablished contact with Waters. He says he has over twenty survivors. They appear to have been living in the maintenance spaces of the ship." Ryan scanned down the page.

"He states the ship is large enough to accommodate several hundred crewmen, and is heavily shielded from sensor scans. I'll pass on his full report when he gets back. Ryan out." Winslow looked back at Greerson, shaking his head.

"What have we gotten ourselves into?" Greerson just puffed on the cigar in the corner of his mouth.

Waters guided the survivors with Basha leading, towards the dropship. They were a ragged bunch. Most were almost emaciated from the lack of food and very pale from little to no light. The clothing they wore was torn and frayed, mostly patched together by hand. His mind recorded these facts as his suits sensors and cameras recorded their condition as well as the ship's interior. How could these people have gotten to this state? This ship was large enough to feed them and, according to Sergeant Wilkes, there were living accommodations for hundreds of crewmembers. Yet, they seemed afraid of the ship systems. Even if the primary systems went off line, the secondary systems were more than enough to survive with, let alone make repairs. This entire situation was extremely unusual.