And There Was Another✔️

Chapter 28: Derelict

"Well, this is our ship," Seth said as they finished cycling through the airlock.

It had been a bit of a miserable trek from the base back to their ship, as they'd ended up leaving it where Yex had initially parked it. He made a mental note to make sure and have the pilot land on a real landing pad next time. Nova and the five personnel from the base that had been tasked to help on this mission all kicked snow from their boots and brushed it from their armor.

"So, I wanted to ask, who's in charge?" he asked.

They all looked at him, then four sets of eyes turned towards a fifth man who looked a bit older. "You are," he said.

"I am?"

"We all saw what you did out there, and Fielding said you knew what you were doing. So you're in charge," he replied.

Seth just nodded. Well, it would be easier this way, he supposed.

"Let's do introductions. I'm Sergeant Seth Kast. This is my...associate, Nova. She kicks ass more than I do. Your turn," he said, studying each of them in turn as they introduced themselves.

The man who had spoken, who the others looked up to, was also a Sergeant. His name was Jensen and he had pallid skin and a dark beard. Their pilot, a woman called Weston, was silent, gaunt, and grim, her skin a paler shade of Maya's. There were a pair of soldiers that were almost polarized in their physical traits. PFC Jackson was maybe a few inches over five and a half feet tall, built more for speed than strength, his skin dark, expression flat. Private Spalding on the other hand was a huge hulk of a man, his skin as pale as the snow outside the ship. He had a few inches even on Seth, and he looked like he'd seen a ghost.

Probably he'd just gotten out of boot. This might even be his first posting. What a bad place to get a start on your military career.

The last member of the squad was their technician. Her name was Private Kato. She was tall, wiry, and had an air of immense calm about her.

"All right, now that we're introduced, let's get to business. Follow me," Seth said.

He led them into the main chamber. "Cockpit's that way," he said, and Weston nodded tightly and marched off. "Everyone else, armory's this way."

He continued leading them deeper into the ship. By the time he'd gotten them to the armory and everyone began to spread out, hunting for extra resources on top of what they'd already brought with them, the ship was powering up.

"What kind of intel do we have on this place?" Seth asked.

"It's a sister site to our base here, and it's not nearly as large, maybe about a third as big. It was abandoned about a year ago due to budgeting concerns, I think, and after one preliminary maintenance check, because I think they intended to come back at some point, no one ever got back to it, not even to salvage, due mainly to weather and, again, budget. We have a schematic of the place and we know exactly where we need to go. Kato knows precisely what we need," Jensen answered.

"I talked with your ithorian tech. He's a genius," she replied simply.

"He is," Seth agreed.

"We also have a few secondary goals," Jensen said.

Seth hesitated. "What kind of secondary goals? I thought this was going to be a simple in and out mission."

"I'm sorry, Fielding kind of unloaded it on us last second. They are secondary, so if you say no, we don't do it. But we're kind of in a desperate situation, and that place is a potential gold mine of resources, so we could really use them."