Solar Warden, Jakob Waechter [book club suggestions .TXT] 📗

a cover behind some rocks, the turtle faced aliens appeared with rifles and started to fire at once.

The drones tried to accelerate through automatic heat signature threat detection which defined a threat situation. But the acceleration was too low. 12 aliens fired continuously till no signal was coming out of the cave.

Five minutes later the relay combat drone headed automatically back to the Icarus.

 

Owens and Newman reached the Icarus before the others squads and their escort. They went into the bigger hangar. One of two in the middle part of the ship. It took some time till the breathable condition could be established. Then they opened the exit and shut all system down. Cooper and his stuff prepared the anchors for the gears in a case of artificial gravity loss. Owens and Newman went for the decontamination followed by the infirmary. The standard medical tests were made. Then they headed to their quarantine quarters to rest a bit.

After the others arrived everyone was back on board the Icarus.

A team was observing the Gray. He did nothing. Just lay down on the table. He didn't even close the eyes. The team was ordered to disturb him if he tries to sleep. But it seemed he did not need to. Later as he still did not move much they decided to disturb him with more questions. They just asked the same what the Commander asked but a bit louder. The Gray did not react. He just lay motionless on the table with open eyes.

Meanwhile the team leaders and Newman were in the briefing room of the quarantine zone. Ryan which condition was much better was connected remotely because of a higher quarantine level. Also the Captain used the remote connection. This was a procedure separating the landing party from the ship’s crew to secure the ships operation from unknown danger brought from the planet. The debriefing began.

“We have successfully gained some intel and equipment. But lost our stealth. They know now we are from Earth as Major Ryan reported. Now is the question have we gained enough to fly back?” With the first words the Captain started the debriefing. He was on the main screen of the briefing room split with Ryan.

“Well, the other question is what can we gain more by what risks,” Knight added.

“I checked our cave scans. The mining equipment is quite impressive. It is surly a key to establish a base on foreign planets and even on Earth it would have an enormous value,” Newman advised.

“Yes, those machines are small enough to fit into a shuttle. But how do you think we should secure the area. I don't recommend to fly a shuttle into the cave. Going in there, hacking the machine, moving it out will take quite some time. Also we don't know where the aliens came from.” Knight was worried.

“The combat drones can cover to some point the outdoor area. We could even risk to fly into the cave with them. That for sure would raise the risk of losses,” the Captain replied.

“They already shot one down outdoor,” Knight moaned.

“That was a programming problem. We could not make such a needed update for ground attack scenario over wireless connection. Now we can prepare that for further landing operation. In the cave it is a different case. I would like to avoid sending combat drone into the cave,” the Captain answered.

“True, but if they change their attack pattern we might have to adapt to an unforeseen situation. That means in a critical phase we would be enforced by this, to give more information out about our drone communication as we would like. I mean we cannot do that operation without man and so calculate drone losses in, by denying a needed direct commanding. Also as more we do with the drones, we have by such enemy the risk the drones could backfire,” Newman advised.

“So what do you suggest Newman. Use ground troops to secure the cave. Stay with the limited ammunition of the alien rifles?” the Captain asked.

“That might work as long there are not more of that turtle faces as we spotted last. Even our weapons can kill them as long they have not the armor. But we have to expect there are more and they might use the armor again,” Knight added.

“Exactly and here comes now the important part, we have to make more preparation and analysis before we can act. Yes, this takes more time. I guess at least one or two days. The analysis of the cave scans is not done yet. We just looked over it. We have a part of this armor. That has to be analyzed. The alien weapons seem to use energy only. Maybe we can reload it. Also we found not Ryan and Caine's helms. That means either the aliens are good in hiding them or they have an entrance to another or same secret location in the forest. On the route to the cave we would have spotted them. Also the aliens which shot down the surface drones in the cave must have come from there,” Newman replied.

“What about our capture can we get information from him or it?” Freeman asked.

“It looks like not. The only option is to punish some aliens trying to rescue him. That would mean he has some value. But we don't even know if they know he is imprisoned there. Also there is a little possibility that hunger or thirst drives him to talk. Still we might gain some minor intel of his behavior. I don't think he helps us retrieving the machines,” the Captain answered.

“Also we should check their behavior losing their turtle faces that easily and not punishing us for that. Maybe the genetic analysis will tell more. I guess they are also all clones. Then we have the hybrid thing again. And they seeming not much interested on us from Ryan's report. Except for taking samples from us. What should we expect from that?” Newman added.

“I guess a superior arrogance. But because of that we should be extremely cautious,” Ryan suggested.

“I don't get this behavior with the armor. Why did he run out of the building with it? Did they really thought he was invincible with it and they under estimated us? Or did they want to make our progress slower with that. This makes just no sense. He could just have bought more time waiting in there or even hide the armor from our guns to use it at a much better opportunity. They had the cameras in there. So why?” Pearce asked.

“Good question. That they under estimated us do not make sense. More they didn't care. Which leads to the arrogant behavior again. I guess the best option is to sleep over it. With more analysis results tomorrow we should have a better picture to act accordingly.” Knight decided to skip a plan for an early ambush.

“Yes, also we can evaluate the risks and benefits again. Well done. The next meeting is tomorrow morning at 10 ships time. Good work all and dismissed.” The Captain finished the debriefing.

 

The alien kept its silence. Then on the next ship day the meeting occurred. Watkins had some results and assumptions to report.

“We have now the genetics of the plants. The newer ones must be from Earth. But we also found different genetic signatures in the past. That means there was a kind of terraforming. How they did it is still unknown. We guess it was made with biological warfare measures. The former plants and microbes we found had a different evolution that results also in a for us not common DNA signature. This can be to us and the aliens dangerous or deadly. But therefore much more research time is needed. From some stuff in the lab we seen they alter our plants to produce certain fluids where we don’t know exactly what they are for. Our best guess it’s for nourishment. The fruits genetics is not fully done but other test shows they are from Earth. That would mean we don't need the suit protection at the land area. We cannot be sure because we have no probes of everything. But for areas close to the oceans, lakes and rivers I would still recommend protection. The air should be no problem. Drinking unfiltered water there has major risks. Now to the alien’s specimens. There we still don't have full genetics. Our fast tests show both are clones as most expected. The brain of the Gray is more sophisticated, this means it has a higher evolution and capacity. The devices in there are different and smaller. We can also assume they are advanced. For specifics Dr. Newman will conduct further analysis. That mean we can still not tell what the implants are for. They could be just cyborg like brain enhancement. Faster thinking more memory or whatever. As we know they are clones, there are much more possibilities so calling them hybrids suits more. They could also be just organic robots with some control interface or they transfer the consciousness with it. That's all what we have for now.” Watkins was finished with her report. She was also in the conference room with Newman and the squad leaders.

“Good work and thank you Dr. Watkins.” The Captain had a question, “What about the cave do we there need protection?”

“We have seen no plants or animals. Even fungus could not be detected. For the last we have our detection limits. It is possible that former original lifeforms existed. So I would say unfiltered breathing has higher risks. But we know at the entrance part the aliens operated. There it could be as save as the other land regions. Sadly, we know how they waste their turtle faces. There is still the question do they care much about a minor danger of toxic spores. Most likely there would be an allergic reaction. If treated at once this can be controlled. But we know in combat operation such could be deadly,” Watkins replied.

“Yes, their behavior we cannot understand fully. We only can assume that we now know they are clones and hybrid clones. That they have not much value. Sure the Gray with his implants have some more tactical value. But I assume they are all fully replaceable,” Commander Knight concluded.

“We can only counter that by using drones. But these losses we also cannot replace here. When we run out of combat drones the ship’s protections is compromised. We have then get back to Earth.” The Captain had his concerns. “Also the combat drones are one of our ships main protection measure. Their primary design is for air and space combat. I can only provide a limited amount for our retrieve operation. The ships protection has the most priority.”

“We have other drones we can waste more if needed. I guess all checked the cave analysis report. We have located a hidden door. That means when we go down we can scan further for such doors. We have enough of our unarmed surface drones to even waste them. But now we might be able to search the cave while we guard the door with the remote sentry option of the bikes. Then we also have to search the forest for another hidden entrance. This would be the main danger losing them. I will after the meeting analyze the armor to be sure the bikes Gatling gun is effective. Else the sniper rifle would be useful. That means risking people. But that we might not avoid. We need also to hack the machines we want. That also needs a small team. Then after checking the armor I've plan a test with the alien rifle to determine how it works on low level and how we can load the energy module. That means we should have results till our next meeting. That will give us the opportunity to engage tomorrow,” Newman suggested.

“That leaves us with the possible second entrance in the forest. We have to find that