Humanity in the Deep

Part 3, Chapter 5-6

Kat put three in the heart and two in the head of the target before she noticed someone tapping on her shoulder. She took off her ear pro and holstered her weapon.

"Good job, you're as good a shot as I am, if not better. On a range, at least," Adrian Mosey said.

"Thanks."

"I am glad at least one person is taking this seriously. Our lives could depend on your skill and dedication."

She squinted at him.

"Sorry, been talking to the council too much, developed some bad habits.

"Speaking of," he said, "they approved hiring people as marines. A sergeant's billet is yours if you want it.

"Even with the locals giving us some ring material, the council is getting nervous."

"No success on getting more material?"

"No, were getting enough to get by, but no more than that. We will never leave as things are now. And no luck at all with heavy metals for the plate."

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"Iceball is confirmed at thirty meters per second."

"Launch pods. Tell the Churchill to push off but do it slowly, I don't want to frighten our hosts."

The captain was looking at the tank which showed the local ships around the Erikson as small red dots. It also showed one dot heading to the Erikson. What they were calling the iceball was a chunk of ring material from the gas giant they were orbiting.

"Pods one through three are away." The tank was showing the three small service pods moving to pick up the iceball.

The tank shows the three pods slowly moved to surround the iceball. They paused as data from them started to read out over screens.

"I don't trust this," his military adviser, Adrian, said.

"I don't either, but I don't think things will get better until we can have a real conversation."

The data from the pods showed that the iceball was good, nothing harmful in it.

"Launch the Churchill, keep her fifty meters from the ring."

"Aye, aye, sir"

"I feel like a dog on a one-meter leash; I keep expecting the collar to get tighter," Adrian said.

The captain nodded curtly, agreeing.

"Churchill is at fifty meters off docking ring, sir."

"All three pods report ready to move the Iceball to the Churchhill."

"Any activity from the quarantine ships?"

"Slight increase in radar, that's it." Which could mean anything.

"The pods and Churchill may proceed."

The pods pushed the iceball next to the Churchill. People in suits exited and used lasers to cut it up into small enough chunks for the Churchill to process.

He turned to Lt. Moisey and said, "How are your marines?"

"As well as can be expected, although I wish we had some gravity to train in."

"No, it was a good recommendation on your part to not start the rings up, they're too easy of a target. One hit on either when they are moving would be all it would take."

After the iceball was loaded, the captain said, "You want to join me when I talk to the translation team, Lieutenant?"

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