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CHAPTER 45

December 10, 2099 (Earth timeline)

December 10, 2099 (Ship timeline reset to Earth)

approximately 4.24 light-years from Earth

0 light-years from Proxima, aka Fintidier

“As soon as we land, everybody exits the shuttle as quickly as possible. Ingress and egress are the most vulnerable points of operations. While we don’t expect hostilities, we’ve also never been here before. So, we’re going to move forward with each step, expecting hostilities until further notice. I want the drones immediately deployed the second we crack the door. Our first footpaths will be checked by the drones for anything unusual: booby traps, tripwires, and so on. While we don’t expect to have issues here and this is expected to be a cordial invitation, we’re not taking any chances. We are doing a complete sweep before letting the rest of the crew drop down.”

Commander Rogers swiped to the next image. A path was highlighted in light green from the landing zone, marked LZ, toward the objective location for the Tactical Operations Center, marked TOC. He marked several positions with red X’s and continued talking.

“You will take cover at this point here by the entrance to the quarantine housing unit. We move to this specific building here in the quarantine quarters at full pace. Intel and Ord teams will all sit tight right there until my team completes sweep and clear. At that point, we’ll call in you specialists to sweep the quarters for transmitters, CBRN”—chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear hazards—“of any sort, and any other forms of INTs”—intelligence collection devices—“or hidden surprises. We’re doing this with Mission-Oriented Protective Posture Environment suits until the bio teams approve the atmosphere for standard uniform. Nobody removes the MOPP-E—and I mean nobody—or cracks a face shield until bio gives the all clear.” Commander Rogers paused and scanned the hangar bay. All eyes were on him and paying close attention.

His plans all along had been to drop in, sweep the area, check it for hazards and eavesdropping, and then bring in the first wave of crew. He knew that the scientists were all very eager to get off the spaceship as soon as possible, but he had been sent there to keep them safe and he figured if all those people waited seven effective years to get here, a few hours more wouldn’t kill them. If he skipped those few hours it might get them killed. And he wasn’t going to let that happen on his watch.

“Victor, you have any details from the ISR you want to fill us in on?” Rogers turned to the Russian intelligence expert.

“Nothing particularly interesting, Commander Rogers. Being at nighttime here is best for infrared sweeps and we have identified zero persons thus far on this continent as has been expressed by their leadership. There are some local animals we’ve detected, only one of which seems large enough to be of predatorial concern,” Tarasenko explained. He switched the data-screen view to show a different area of the map. “Also, there are no signals here either. The area is completely radio silent unless the Fintidierians make contact. The area is fairly quiet from ambient radio. We might pick up some of their old amplitude modulation radio broadcasts as they do have an ample ionosphere. Which reminds me, the planet has a strong magnetic pole oriented even closer to geographical north than on Earth. Old-school compasses will work well here.”

Tarasenko swiped the slide to the next one and pointed out a couple of locations. One in particular he circled and spent more time on.

“All the power for the facility appears to be coming from this location, here. It is the only main heat source anywhere. It appears to be a geothermal vent that is running three turbines. By my estimation, the thermal vents are supplying roughly twenty kilowatts of power, which is being transferred via these large power lines here leading to this building. I suspect those lines are carrying power from the geothermal turbines to charge a battery bank that must be inside. Multiple lines then run from this building underground across the complex. I am guessing that this is how all the lighting and other systems here are powered. What you might have noticed from the images is that the lighting is very dim.”

“I caught that, Vic.” Rogers nodded.

“The Fintidierians have different eyesight, I believe. Having evolved in predominantly infrared light, they must see farther into the IR than we do and less of the visible. Contact lenses will be required until we get some of our own lighting in place,” Victor added. “And I would recommend that security teams maintain their IR contacts while on duty.”

“Understood,” Rogers said. “Anything else?”

“Nyet.”

“Very good. Dr. Ash, as soon as we get in place, you start the electric infrastructure. I say we take down a couple of our own generators so we aren’t dependent on the Fintidierians.”

“I have three one-hundred-kilowatt fission generators loaded and ready. Also, we’ve got a complete tactical operations center compliment of Wi-Fi, uplink/downlink equipment, Vic and I have put a package of sensors together, and Chief Jones and I have a bag of goodies with us in case things go sideways,” replied Dr. Carol Ash, the New Zealand Special Forces war machine subject matter expert.

“Master Chief Jones, what about medical?”

“We have a full combat field kit packed as well as about three pallets’ worth of gear that Doctors Kopylova and Thomaskutty had prepackaged as the first field hospital gear. We’ll take it and find a place to set it up. The map that the Fintidierians sent us show this building here on the southwestern side of the runway to be a hospital ward. We’ll check it and see if it makes sense to be a hospital or not.”

“Petty Officer Third Class Visser?”

“Aye?”

“Once we’re down and unloading, you and PO1 Slater will take the ATVs and the drones and maintain perimeter. Understood?”

“Hooyay!”

“Alright, then. We’re good to go. Let’s move out.”



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