Finding Darkness

Chapter 12 It Begins

"This is strike group commander, Silvar. We have been given a very singular task. Our orders are from flag Captain Vapade himself. We are to capture the genetic carrier intact. I know you've all been briefed on this mission or you wouldn't be here, so I will spare you the particulars. This, my clutch mates, should be a simple snatch and grab. We land, we search and retrieve, and we come back, that's all. I was given a briefing on what might be a minor problem, so if things go bad, keep your eyes and ears open for new orders." Silvar, a medium height Rougarian officer, stepped back from the communication station affixed to the bulkhead of his drop-ship and turned to his company of Saltek. His transmission had gone out to all the fourteen landers in his small armada, so he would address his company personally.

"Fellow warriors, we have a chance to end these cycles of endlessly orbiting this world in one day. With the genetic material from this one hybrid, our scientists will be able to cut the cleansing process to a matter of days instead of the years its turned into." He saw the questioning glances from under the heavy brows and answered their unasked question.

"I know this is a large force for a retrieval mission, but this is proof of the importance the Prince has placed on us and our mission. We have no way of knowing exactly where our prey will be found. What we have is a proximate position. So we will have to drop over a wide area and conduct our search. Once the target has been retrieved, the drop-ships will land and we all return to the carrier. Any questions?" Silvar was not one of those commanders who ruled with an iron fist. He took the considerations of those under him seriously. Because one lesson he learned early in his military career is that no one is perfect, the more sets of eyes that could be brought onto a problem, the sooner a solution was likely to be found.

"What condition does our quarry have to be in upon retrieval, sir?"

"Our science personnel need it alive. Beyond that, use your discretion."

"Yes, sir."

"We should be entering the atmosphere in just a few minutes. Stay where you are and await my return." Turning, he slipped into the small passage leading from the troop bay to the ship's cockpit.

Silvar had always wondered, as he turning his body to the side and slipped sideways down the cramped passage not for the first time, why, with the vast amount of technologies, from hundreds of conquered worlds. Why the engineers that had designed the class five troop lander couldn't have made this passage a little wider?

"What's our time at the drop point?" He asked, squeezing his slender frame out of the tiny passage.

"Commander, we are," the pilot looked at a few of his readings." Still on schedule. We will have you within jump distance, in thirty earth minutes.

"Good, do you mind if I stay up here until then?" He rubbed his shoulder. "That passage is going to kill me one of these days."

"Tamar?"

"Yeah, what now?" Tamar rose from her bed, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

"I was just wondering. How many troops do those Rougarian drop-ships carry?" Malachi asked from the other side of the small hotel room they had commandeered. 

"We've seen them crammed with as many as ninety before. Why?" Her head dropped back onto her pillow.

"Because we have fourteen of them dropping into upper orbit as we speak."

"Oh, okay. Let's talk about it in the morning. I'm tired." It took a second for what he'd said to sink into her sleepy brain.

"What did you just say?" She sat upright, her covers flying off.