Planet Hunting

Posted on Sat Jan 9th, 2010 @ 2:22am by Commodore Edward Fannin

1,465 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: POWERING UP THE STATION
Location: TIBERIUS V
Timeline: Current

ON

A hunting they will go, a hunting they will go. The crew of the NES Destiny had been all but bouncing off the walls since the start of the mission, then again after nothing but deep space patrols who could blame them. The ambassador, Captain Fanin and Will had been brought aboard as planet by planet was visited.

"There she is sir" Will said, pointing to the planet directly ahead on the view screen, "should be paradise."

Fannin shared the excitement of the Destiny's crew. "That would be Tiberius IV."

"Drop ship crew prepare for deployment" Captain Ferral said into the coms, "gentlemen, I believe you have a flight to catch."

"Indeed captain" Noel said heading for the lift with Will following tight behind along with the captain. Seconds later the group emerged onto the deployment deck of the drop ship, which was actually mounted to the bottom of the NES Destiny.

[Dropship Explorer - Deployment Deck]

The deployment deck was a large section at the bottom of the craft, it was wide and open with room for equipment in the center and seats against the walls and the option to attatch more stuff via deck riggings. Presently the deck had three skiff's ready to go out the hatch just behind them, though there was room for more.

"All crew secure for departure" a crewmen said, pretty much sending everyone to a seat or station somewhere should Murphy's laws come into play. "Do not release your harnesses until instructed, when we reach the DZ do not wait, go."

Edward was ready...

The ship shook as the docking clamps released and the large craft was dropped into the planet's atmosphere. For a few seconds it felt like they weren't going to stop in time, then it came back to a calm pace and pretty quickly after calmed down.

"We are over the DZ, mount up!" the crewmen bellowed, "do not make me wait for you!"

Will and Noel loaded onto the craft pretty fast, Noel wound up sitting on the floor and strapped to the back bulkhead. The engineer took the pilot's seat and immediately got the craft started with the exception of the back boosters; a set of cylinders mounted only when needed that provided quite a kick to flight.

Fannin hadn't made a drop in years, he recognized the feeling of his stomach attempting to force it's way into his throat...

"Hang on Captain!" Will said, angling the craft and letting it back down the ramp into a good hundred foot fall to the ocean and the depression from the drop ship's thrusters. As soon as they were down he kicked in the main jets and bolted out of there before the water came filling back in. Once on the open water he flipped a series of switches and the boosters on back started to rotate with a sqealy whine, a boom and then they were ready to go.

As he was just along for the ride The Captain was thinking how much he took the Transporter system for granted.

"Captain have some fun while we're down here" Will said before turning back to the controls, "we'd have taken the transporters but that doesn't let us see the place." A land mass approached far ahead, he kept going up to the last minute, banking the craft about ninety degrees onto its side before leveling and banking to the other side to swing along onto a beach, climb and skim over a forest. "Ambassador, where do you wanna head?"

"Find us a good spot to stop and check out the woods" Noel answered, though unfortunately a tad to late to see that spot. Weapons fire shot over the craft, causing Will to jerk into evasive manuevers.

"Captain, my impression was that these planets were uninhabited" Noel said, looking over his shoulder and the bulkhead behind him to see the three or four Orion craft marking their six.

Fannin was very disturbed, "Well it was my indication this planet was Uninhabited as Well Ambassador Noel. I suggest we get the vessel to a safe area as soon as possible."

"Commander Couter to NES Destiny, we've got tangoes down here, some support would be nice" Will said into the coms, banking right just in time to evade a salvo of shots.

Fannin had finished his communication to Typhon Command on his padd....

"Five by five, its not much better up here" came the reply, "Delta squad is enroute angels fifty, spiking range in five."

"Any chance they got beam riders with em'?" Will asked, evasives would only work for so long.

"Negative" came the reply, "Destiny out."

"This is gonna get rough" Will said, "Captain, we've got some rockets in back, think you can get a bead on those bandits?"

Captain Fannin had a better Idea... "Commander Couter that won't be necessary."

Within seconds after Fannin spoke Twelve Razor Fighters appeared on either side of the shuttle... Twelve more had scattered and destroyed the Orions chasing the Ambassadors small vessel.

=A=Splash three tangos Captain we'll be standing by for CAP.=A= Commander Henning of the 96th Starfighter wing had received Fannins Message and was standing by...

Captain Fannin nodded to the Ambassador, "That should solve that Issue for now Sir."

=A= Delta Squad to Couter, sorry we're late, got bounced by another flight on the way down. Looks like the Feds beat us here. =A=

=A= You may yet be of use, switch to configuration Romeo and start scanning the area for a good LZ for the cities. =A=

=A= Roger =A=

Seconds later the squadron could be seen flying over the skiff and then splitting up. The craft had narrow bodies that seemed to get longer as they flew over head, the elevators were in the front and the wings far in back. Then as quickly as they came, they disappeared into the clouds.

"Will, this seems like a good place to set down" Noel said as they came by a section of forest. To the planet's credit the trees were large, though not as large as those from his homeworld.

"Aye" Will said, slowing down and circling a small section of forest before touching down in a clear zone. The engines cycled down to a low setting but were still running with the exception of the back boosters.

Noel got up and jumped over the side, looking around the forest, "well captain, this seems as good a world as any that we have found, it would seem the ideal place for us to set up."

"Outstanding, I'm very sorry about the Hostiles Sir. I will have this area checked to ensure that won't happen again." Fannin was please it was to Noels liking.

"Don't worry about them, we have fighters that can handle them just fine" Noel said, "we only have an explorer with us after all, less weapons and more brain. The cities have much better defenses."

Fannin looked to the large forest, "When do you think you'll be arriving here.?"

"The cities have teh best engines we could build" Noel said, "I'd say within two weeks they'll be in orbit and ready to land."

The boundaries of this grant are 500 kilometers from this point I'm standing on. The UFP lease here has no limit as to it's length. The actual boundaries are being downloaded to you now Sir."

"Very good, if that is all I believe I should get back to the ship and begin directing surveys to prepare for the cities" Noel said, "there is yet much work to be done."

The Danube was Landing with a Marine escort for Fannin. "If there is anything else you require please contact me. I shall leave Commander Couter with you as a liaison Officer to Me.

Will was pretty much ecstatic, he hadn't been to his homeworld in well over four years and now a good piece would be coming here. "Thank-you sir!" he said, "finally see something of home and no damn holodeck to mess it up!"

"Very good captain," Noel said, then opened his communicator, "Noel to Destiny, our deal is struck. Send down servey teams and whatever is needed to ready the planet for colonization."

"Right away sir" Ferral answered, "shall we notify Nal Ta?"

"Immediately, there isn't much time to waste" Noel said, "and those governors wouldn't hear it to have a message sent more than a minute after we were ready.

Fannin boarded the Danube and was returning to Typhon after a very interesting day...

Work began on the colony, it would take time and lots of hard work, but soon there would be two thriving cities and their surrounding areas on the new world. Only time would tell if it was actually a good idea.

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