Chapter 3
April 21, 2009
The
doors of all the pod's opened automatically to reveal that all the ten
pods that had made it from the ship had landed in a clearing covered in
a lush blue/green coating of a grass like nature. There a forest of
large trees with leaves of a similar color surrounding them in the
distance.
As the crew that had helped Major Lambert looked out into their new surroundings some the others had started to venture out and explore their nearby surroundings.
‘I’ll go and see if I can find a doctor to help you sir’ said a young female officer.
‘Thanks Sergeant.’ He replied with a struggle.
The young Sergeant exited the pod and looked around at the other crew looking for a doctor.
*
Dr. Gregory assembled what was left of her team 'We should split up split up and move from pod to pod checking for injured crew. Nurse Holt you come with me we'll take the pods furthest away. Dr. Francis you and Nurse Day you take the closer ones.' she said before turning to open the pods storage unit pulling out medical supplies and sharing them out. 'We'll have to get what supplies are on the other pods as we get to them.'
The young Sergeant spotted Dr. Gregory coming out of a pod just a few meters from where she now stood and shouted her. ‘Dr. Gregory, Dr.’
The Dr. looked over to where the voice was coming from then with Nurse Holt headed towards the Sergeant
‘What is it sergeant?’
‘It’s Major Lambert. He was badly injured during the attack on the ship. We just managed to get him to safety.’
Dr. Gregory and Nurse Holt followed the Sergeant to the pod Major Lambert was in.
*
Some of the crew had ventured as far as the forest edge. Dr. Benson the ships botanist was examining some vividly coloured flowers that were growing in the shadow of the trees. ‘Jim this place is amazing.’ He shouted over to one of his colleagues who was heading in his direction.
‘I know the colours of the flora. Who would have guest that grass could look this beautiful.’ Came Jim Dean's reply
‘I’ve never seen anything like it before since I started this job. We’ve got to explore further and get samples.’
‘We better find out who is in charge and see what they think. Looking at the sun it won’t be long before it gets dark. It’s pretty low in the sky now.’
‘Your right Jim lets head back to the pods and see if we can find out who is in charge.’
The two of them headed back towards the pod they had landed in looking for the highest ranking officer on their way back.
‘There’s Lt. Colonel Johnston.’ Jim said pointing to his left as they got closer to the pods
Dr. Benson changed direction and headed over to where Jim was pointing.
‘Lt. Colonel’ he said as he approached.
‘Yes Dr.’
‘Did the Colonel make it?’
‘No.’ replied Johnston with a sad tone of voice.
‘That means you are in charge. Can I ask? Can my team survey the plant life in the morning?’
‘If we have not been rescued or attacked then I think it would be good. Our mission was to survey the planet and now we are on it, it would seem the most likely form of action to take.’ How much daylight do you think we might have left?
‘My colleague Jim Granger recons it will be dark soon I suggest we erect the pods survival tents and get ready to bed down for the night.’
‘Thank you Doctor.’
*
Dr. Gregory finished examining Major Lambert, put down her medical scanner and opened her medical kit bag. ‘I’m afraid its badly broken and you have lost a lot of blood’ she said ‘I’ll have to operate as soon as possible if I’m to save it.’
‘Do what you have to Doc. I didn’t fight to get off the ship just so I could die on some alien planet millions of light years from home.’
While the Major had been speaking Dr. Gregory had set up a drip with a blood substitute in it and connected it to his left arm and injected a sedative and pain blocker into his right. A few moments later the Major was sedated and she was ready to operate.
*
Dr. Benson walked back over to the pod where Jim was waiting.
‘What did he say?’
‘We can start at first light tomorrow if we have not been rescued.’
‘I doubt there will be a rescue party for a while. It is more likely that the enemy will come for us.’
‘I was trying not to think about that.’ said a young man who had just emerged from the pod.
*
The ESS Infinity rocked with the force of an explosion. At the same time the crew watched as one of their missiles got through the enemy ships shields and exploded.
‘We’ve hit them Sir!’ came the voice of the weapons officer.
‘Great work. Where did it hit?’
‘It doesn’t look like we hit any of their major systems. Their powering up weapons again.’
‘Aim for their weapons. See if you can disable them.’
‘Weapons aimed and firing.’ the weapons officer replied as the Infinity was hit again.’
‘Sir our shields cannot take much more of this.’
‘What about the enemy ship. Did we hit their weapons?’
‘Scanning now sir. They took a direct hit to their energy beam weapon. It’s not powering up any more.’
‘Great work. Now lets see if we can finish this fight. Do they have any other weapons?’
‘There is no sign of them powering up anymore weapons systems and…Wait a minute there is an energy fluctuation. Sir they’ve fired a missile.’
‘Returning fire.’
The ship rocked with the force of the missile detonating against the ships hull.
‘Shields are at a critical level.’
‘Will our armour plaiting protect us?’
‘It my have done against the energy weapons as it would have defused it, but I don’t think it will take many hits from these missiles. Sir their shields are failing.’
‘Fire.’
‘Already done sir.’ Replied the weapons officer as a missile entered the viewer headed straight for the enemy ship and exploded.
‘Direct hit to their missile launcher. Sir! They’ve set a course and are heading straight for us.’
‘Evasive manoeuvres and try to disable their engines.’
*
Lt. Colonel Johnston moved about the landing site checking on the surviving crew before getting all the team leaders together for a meeting. ‘We should get the survival tents erected and check what rations we have. Hopefully we will be rescued soon but I want to make sure we have enough supplies in case we are here for a while. Dr. Benson and his team are going to survey the plant life’ He said. Looking in the Doctors direction before continuing ‘Hopefully you will find some edible plants as there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of animal life around here.'
'There could be life on this planet. The conditions are perfect. We'll get started as early as we can.'
'OK lets get the tents up and get some sleep. Let's hope the Infinity is OK and can send a rescue party.'
The senior crew headed for their pods.
*
An hour later as the sun was setting behind the trees all the tents were erected. As the crew got ready to bed down for the night Lt. Colonel Johnston walked around from pod to pod checking all the emergency transmitters were sending out a signal.
*
Jim Dean stepped into his tent unfolded his sleeping bag and laid down
As the crew that had helped Major Lambert looked out into their new surroundings some the others had started to venture out and explore their nearby surroundings.
‘I’ll go and see if I can find a doctor to help you sir’ said a young female officer.
‘Thanks Sergeant.’ He replied with a struggle.
The young Sergeant exited the pod and looked around at the other crew looking for a doctor.
*
Dr. Gregory assembled what was left of her team 'We should split up split up and move from pod to pod checking for injured crew. Nurse Holt you come with me we'll take the pods furthest away. Dr. Francis you and Nurse Day you take the closer ones.' she said before turning to open the pods storage unit pulling out medical supplies and sharing them out. 'We'll have to get what supplies are on the other pods as we get to them.'
The young Sergeant spotted Dr. Gregory coming out of a pod just a few meters from where she now stood and shouted her. ‘Dr. Gregory, Dr.’
The Dr. looked over to where the voice was coming from then with Nurse Holt headed towards the Sergeant
‘What is it sergeant?’
‘It’s Major Lambert. He was badly injured during the attack on the ship. We just managed to get him to safety.’
Dr. Gregory and Nurse Holt followed the Sergeant to the pod Major Lambert was in.
*
Some of the crew had ventured as far as the forest edge. Dr. Benson the ships botanist was examining some vividly coloured flowers that were growing in the shadow of the trees. ‘Jim this place is amazing.’ He shouted over to one of his colleagues who was heading in his direction.
‘I know the colours of the flora. Who would have guest that grass could look this beautiful.’ Came Jim Dean's reply
‘I’ve never seen anything like it before since I started this job. We’ve got to explore further and get samples.’
‘We better find out who is in charge and see what they think. Looking at the sun it won’t be long before it gets dark. It’s pretty low in the sky now.’
‘Your right Jim lets head back to the pods and see if we can find out who is in charge.’
The two of them headed back towards the pod they had landed in looking for the highest ranking officer on their way back.
‘There’s Lt. Colonel Johnston.’ Jim said pointing to his left as they got closer to the pods
Dr. Benson changed direction and headed over to where Jim was pointing.
‘Lt. Colonel’ he said as he approached.
‘Yes Dr.’
‘Did the Colonel make it?’
‘No.’ replied Johnston with a sad tone of voice.
‘That means you are in charge. Can I ask? Can my team survey the plant life in the morning?’
‘If we have not been rescued or attacked then I think it would be good. Our mission was to survey the planet and now we are on it, it would seem the most likely form of action to take.’ How much daylight do you think we might have left?
‘My colleague Jim Granger recons it will be dark soon I suggest we erect the pods survival tents and get ready to bed down for the night.’
‘Thank you Doctor.’
*
Dr. Gregory finished examining Major Lambert, put down her medical scanner and opened her medical kit bag. ‘I’m afraid its badly broken and you have lost a lot of blood’ she said ‘I’ll have to operate as soon as possible if I’m to save it.’
‘Do what you have to Doc. I didn’t fight to get off the ship just so I could die on some alien planet millions of light years from home.’
While the Major had been speaking Dr. Gregory had set up a drip with a blood substitute in it and connected it to his left arm and injected a sedative and pain blocker into his right. A few moments later the Major was sedated and she was ready to operate.
*
Dr. Benson walked back over to the pod where Jim was waiting.
‘What did he say?’
‘We can start at first light tomorrow if we have not been rescued.’
‘I doubt there will be a rescue party for a while. It is more likely that the enemy will come for us.’
‘I was trying not to think about that.’ said a young man who had just emerged from the pod.
*
The ESS Infinity rocked with the force of an explosion. At the same time the crew watched as one of their missiles got through the enemy ships shields and exploded.
‘We’ve hit them Sir!’ came the voice of the weapons officer.
‘Great work. Where did it hit?’
‘It doesn’t look like we hit any of their major systems. Their powering up weapons again.’
‘Aim for their weapons. See if you can disable them.’
‘Weapons aimed and firing.’ the weapons officer replied as the Infinity was hit again.’
‘Sir our shields cannot take much more of this.’
‘What about the enemy ship. Did we hit their weapons?’
‘Scanning now sir. They took a direct hit to their energy beam weapon. It’s not powering up any more.’
‘Great work. Now lets see if we can finish this fight. Do they have any other weapons?’
‘There is no sign of them powering up anymore weapons systems and…Wait a minute there is an energy fluctuation. Sir they’ve fired a missile.’
‘Returning fire.’
The ship rocked with the force of the missile detonating against the ships hull.
‘Shields are at a critical level.’
‘Will our armour plaiting protect us?’
‘It my have done against the energy weapons as it would have defused it, but I don’t think it will take many hits from these missiles. Sir their shields are failing.’
‘Fire.’
‘Already done sir.’ Replied the weapons officer as a missile entered the viewer headed straight for the enemy ship and exploded.
‘Direct hit to their missile launcher. Sir! They’ve set a course and are heading straight for us.’
‘Evasive manoeuvres and try to disable their engines.’
*
Lt. Colonel Johnston moved about the landing site checking on the surviving crew before getting all the team leaders together for a meeting. ‘We should get the survival tents erected and check what rations we have. Hopefully we will be rescued soon but I want to make sure we have enough supplies in case we are here for a while. Dr. Benson and his team are going to survey the plant life’ He said. Looking in the Doctors direction before continuing ‘Hopefully you will find some edible plants as there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of animal life around here.'
'There could be life on this planet. The conditions are perfect. We'll get started as early as we can.'
'OK lets get the tents up and get some sleep. Let's hope the Infinity is OK and can send a rescue party.'
The senior crew headed for their pods.
*
An hour later as the sun was setting behind the trees all the tents were erected. As the crew got ready to bed down for the night Lt. Colonel Johnston walked around from pod to pod checking all the emergency transmitters were sending out a signal.
*
Jim Dean stepped into his tent unfolded his sleeping bag and laid down
Posted by Amy Laverick. Posted In : Story
