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Chapter 53

Chapter 53

 February 1st, 2158 (station time)

"Has anyone seen Eamon?" Taavi repeated a little more sternly.

There was a brief pause before Suke spoke, "The last time I saw him was maybe six hours ago in the labs."

"Do you want me to check the labs?" Logan offered.

Taavi didn't respond immediately, instead he was focused on entering a command into his DNAC.  "Yes, please."  Taavi replied to Logan.  "Josh, would you please check the sleeping...  Damn it!  He's cut his connection from the communication grid."

Logan hesitated another moment to find out if his instructions were about to change.  But when he didn't receive any more attention he turned and headed to the storage area.

Entering the storage area, Logan was dumbstruck with the sight of Nassor , Chuck , and Aashif attaching a mini-gun to the forearm of Gantulga's mech.  He wasn't sure how much time had passed, as he stood there staring, but he new it was probably a minute or two.

The expedition was scientific based.  Designed to covertly learn as much about the planet as possible in as short a period of time possible.  Now, it seemed, that it has become a military operation.

Logan knew that the mechs were capable of both offensive and defensive capabilities, but never assumed that either would have to be used.

Coming back to him self, Logan felt disoriented.  It was as if a fundamental law of physics had just changed, and he was left trying to figure out what the potential outcomes were going to be.

Glancing over at his own mech, he remembered how he refused to allow any offensive equipment to be installed.  Now Logan wondered if he had acted to rashly, not knowing the potential dangers that he and the rest of the team faced.

Gantulga entered the storage space and began to assist by removing weapons from crates and placing them on the ground, were Aashif and Chuck would collect them and haul them to the mech to be installed.

He felt a little better knowing that Ed had talked him into installing a collapsible shield on the left arm that could be used to block projectiles.  However, that little bit of comfort left him far from feeling good about his current state.

Logan wondered if the other scientists on this trip had any offensive equipment on their mech.  He began a brief survey of the mechs in the room when he noticed something.  Or rather, he noticed the absence of something.  The space in the storage room designated for Eamon's mech was empty.

"Taavi," Logan said into his DNAC.  "Eamon's mech is gone."

Logan didn't receive a confirmation from Taavi, instead Ganturla's DNAC bipped.

"Go head," Gantulga said into his DNAC.

"How much flight time do you have on the drone?" Taavi asked.

"Just under forty minutes," was Gantulga's reply.

"I need the drone to begin a search protocol, use what ever search pattern you think would be best.  Eamon and his mech are outside somewhere, and we need to find him before anything else does." 

Gantulga began entering the data into his DNAC.  Aashif was also on his DNAC; Logan assumed that he was activating the new hardware on Gantulga's mech.  Chuck had begun placing another set of weapons out in the center of the storage room.  Once Aashif finished on Gantulga's mech, he helped Chuck bring the hardware out.

Logan wondered which of the mechs would be the next to be outfitted, when the door leading outside opened.  Quickly, Mike entered the storage room and parked his mech in the center of the weapons and ammunition.  Without fully powering his mech down, Mike climbed out and began to attach a large machine gun to the shoulder of his mech.