VL-624 *Before the incident*

[Michael Hobbar]

Alpha 01, ,VL-624
October 20, 2757
1134 hours local time
98 degrees Fahrenheit
36 Celsius

The last of the Hestrel AE/ STV-224 shuttles flew off into the bright sky. Geroge Whitman watched as they flew off, "George stop day dreaming and help me with these containers." his foreman Carl Truman yelled. He looked behind to see Carl around a group of dock workers telling them where to go, what to do. "Sorry boss." he said and trotted over to the area casually. They were all currently in the landing pad of the colony. There were only three fields for the transports to land, two of them were three miles away and this one was literally only fifty feet away from the main colony site. Whitman had a yellow jump suit with a black stripe going down the very center. "Alright, Rachel, Nikon, Paul take these food stuffs to the storage room and tell Paula to sort these out herself. I don't want to waste our time going through each box. " he said in a booming voice. The three of them took off to grab large containers and carry them by hand. The colonists had only been here a week and were still trying to get the most basic things put down on the planet. They didn't have any machines to help move the containers. "George, and Bill, your with me. We're going to help carry these pieces of the prefab wall to where the engineers started laying the stakes." he said


George walked over to the large number of boxes, each box had to be carried by two people. Bill was the odd one out and did what he could. He grabbed one of the ends with both hands and lifted it with Bill. Slowly they carried over the supplies to the small area that the engineers were still digging. A lot of engineers were on this job, in fact all 100 of them were currently setting up the walls. Everywhere parts of the wall could be seen around the consturction site, either put together and placed into it's proper place on the ground or still being assembled. George carried it to a spot one of the engineers directed him to. Each engineer had a had hat on and was wearing a black jumpsuit with a red stripe. "Right here, there we are. No...no Franklin not there!" a foreman was yelling off in the distance. Setting the box down onto the ground, George looked back up towards the wall area and saw a group of engineers placing another part of the wall into the ground by their hands and a few hand tools. The good thing about building these colonies is that everything was already built, they just had to be put together. It was like a giant puzzle. Within a few weeks the rest of the wall could be finished and by December the colony itself should be online. "Hey Outerer, get a move on. This colony won't build itself!" Carl yelled at George. Carl sighed and headed back to get more materials.....



"And we're still working on that power planet. Damn if I know why they suggested we actually build one they could of sent is with some generators." Pham Taun listened to the head engineer Jaun Torez was talking. "It's not your fault Jaun. I blame the person who came up with the original idea. When do you expect it to be finished?" he said. "Well if all the supplies come down on time, by the end of December. We're just starting with the wall, and that was the first thing we started when we came down. So we can complete that by the end of the month. And by the end of November all the buildings should be completed for everyone to live in. I know the Roosevelt wants us to get everyone off as soon as possible but I can't work magic..."

They were in Pham Taun's room on the exploration ship Roosevelt. The room was not that big it only had room for at most three people. There was a small bed with a sink and toilit in another room. Showers were shared by everyone. "Actually we may be able to help you with the manpower problem. I can actually order the Special Security force that we have to get to work on the Dam while you work on the wall. Just send someone to keep an eye on them while they build it....but don't let them get the better of you if they say 'I don't know how to build this.' They help in building projects all the time so this should be good for them. Besides they need the excercise." he said. "Ok, that'll really help us. With that we can focus our efforts on the wall, they'll need only a few people to supervise them." Juan got up off of the bed to leave before he turned and asked "How long will the Roosevelt stay in orbit?" he asked. "If we're lucky till December. But I don't know to be honest." Taum said back "Why?" "Because they're our only means of supplies and shelter at the moment." Jaun shot back. Taum nodded and Jaun walked out the door.

[Michael Hobbar]

Alpha 01, ,VL-624
Janurary 7, 2758
1134 hours local time
94 degrees Fahrenheit
32 Celsius

Pham Taum sighed as he heard the latest reports on the current food crisis. "And this means that the colony will have to be on food rations for a while sir. Now in mid May, the Roosevelt will return with fresh supplies including food stuffs. But as of right now, our green houses are only able to produce maybe half a pound of vegtiables in three weeks. We have a limited supply of live stock, fourteen cows and seven pigs." Jessica Palmer said as she sat in the chair. The meetings had been bad for the past few weeks. During the first two weeks the constant problems with the power plant had caused people to burn wood to stay warm at night. Then the constant lack of SS security with the scientists who were trying to study the planet life while outside the colony, not including the SS personal who injured a driver with a pistol because she wasn't driving as fast as they had wanted. Taum had one problem after another and now this.


He looked slowly over the room. There were five people in total. Pham Taum, the leader of the colony was not much of a leader persay. He wass 5'12 had short black hair and was in his mid forties although he looked like a person in his early 20's due to rejouvination drugs. His brown eyes were very large. He only got the job because his cousion had bribed the colonial office. He was shrewed, hot headed, and lacked leadership. Most of the meetings he had missed because he was almost always in the bar talking to pretty ladies. Jessica Palmer was head of agriculture production and water management. She had pretty long black curly hair, with freckles and a small nose. She was 5'9 , in her mid 30's , very friendly and almost always tried to solve problems herself. Juan Torez had short brown hair and was the head engineer for the colony. At least the dam was finally providing power for the rest of the colony so it wasn't his problem! Shawn Segal was the head of the communications and shipping for the colony. Essentially his job was to direct supplies from the orbiting ships to the colony, keeping track of supplies and maintence of the shuttles and vehicles the colony would use. He was in his mid 50's and had thinning black hair. He had a hawkish nose, and 5'3. And finally there was Major Harold Blake in charge of the SS detachment for the colony. He was in his mid 40's and had short blonde hair, he was usually silent during the meetings.


"Agreed, everyone should be on rations for the next three months. Palmer I want you to find a way for everyone to be able to eat but to also conserve our food stuffs. Segal, any specific date which the Roosevelt is supposed to return to the colony?" Taum said. Segal sat up straighter and held out his hands "As for a specific date I have none. The month of may, near the end of it is when she is scheduled to return to the colony. She'll be carrying over 500 new colonists as well as food. This also means more materials to build the housing units that we'll need for it." he said and thought to himself 'Well didn't Palmer aleady tell you when the Roosevelt would arrive you freaking asshole?!' Taum nodded slowly. Torez cleared his throat and spoke up. "Major Blake, I've gotten a report last night from one of the workers over a the dam." Major Blake slowly looked at Torez with a vengence almost ready to explode, he knew what the man was about to say. "One of your buffoons got into a fight over security protcols when my workers showed the wrong I.D. The worker was going to get the correct ID when he was hit in the jaw with a side arm. His jaw is now broken. Just tell me: Who the hell is protecting us? I don't mind proceedure, but breaking a jaw over an ID is just ludicrious!" he started to say in a higher voice. "Explain yourself!" Jaun now yelled "TOREZ!" Taum said in a booming voice. "I'm sure could care to explain!"

The Major nodded in Taum's direction. "Your report is correct but it left out some details. First off, the ID was not correct and when the guard asked politely, the worker struck a blow to my security officer. Second this worker was under some sort of drug, I suspect it was Xal. His skin was pale white, his pupils dialated and he kept on talking about some horror flick, saying that the killer was here. He also had a bottle of wine that was half way empty. So don't tell me it was all my security officer's fault. I have disciplined the officer, but necessary force was requied to bring the worker under control. The worker has since been sent to a holding cell. If you wish you can speak to him.” Major Blake said in a harsh tone. He hated it! He and his people were always the problem for one reason or another. He disciplined his people harshly and although there had been a few screw ups it was to be expected. No matter what he did, one of these incompetent fools would blame him for something. Torez sighed and smiled “Fine, fine.” He said quietly. Taum looked around the room. “Anything else to discuss?” he said politely. They all shook their heads. He quickly dismissed the meeting.


George Whitman forced the spark plug on even if it didn’t fit. His hands were very greasy from trying to fix the damned truck. Dockmen on beginning colonies also maintained the vehicles, shuttles and off loaded supplies. He was near the landing pad, which was now complete. The landing pad could fit only one shuttle, it was a octagon shape. Surrounding it were steps. There was also a vehicle bay off to one side which housed the four vehicles: Two trucks and Two Recon Jeeps for the SS troops. It was a open air bay with only a roof offering protection. On the other side was the control tower, which was small. It was a two story building, one story had office, bed, work room while the second floor had the controls of the tower. The tool shed was also next to the control tower which had a small space to park a vehicle to have maintence. A large storage compartment contained the basic tools for repairing the vehicles, any more needed to be taken from one of the storage bays, just outside the walls of the landing pad. Finally fixed after a day he closed the hood. This truck had been out a week ago and barely made it back. Some idiot got into a ditch and damaged the axel. Luckily they had some help when a near by SS recon vehicle spotted them. The scientists hadn’t counted on their vehicle breaking down. Closing the hood of the truck, George let out a long sigh and wiped his hands. Looking at his watch he saw that it was about time for his hour lunch. He put down a tool on the table and started to walk out of the landing pad area. A few people were around off loading cargo , getting into vehicles. As he walked out a recon vehicle passed him by, with four SS troops inside.

A few minutes later he arrived at the housing areas. They were more like apartments, four stories high and could hold a hundered people each. Entering the ground floor there were a few people inside, the hall was a light cream color with a few lights for people to see. On either side of him were doors, that housed families. Sometimes families had to have more than one living area. After going up to the second floor he opened his unit B5. The door slid open to a medium sized apartment his small entertainment room was obvious with a small couch and the holographic television. Walking in to his right was the kitchen and to his left was the bedroom for him, his wife Rachel and their six year old daughter Josie. Rachel was on the couch watching a kid film with Josie when he walked inside. “Hey” she said and got up from the couch. She had blonde hair and a small nose, at 5’3 tall. He nodded in her direction. “Hey honey.” He said and made his way over to the kitchen to make himself a sandwhich. “So did you finally fix the truck? Or are you going to have to work on it some more?” she said as she walked into the kitchen and kissed her husband. “Nope I finally fixed it. I’ll probably service one of the recon vehicles next.
Hopefully it won’t be that bad as this. Jesus, how can you break your own axel?” he said and shook his head.

“Well some of us aren’t good drivers. Josie got into the cat’s face again and has a small scratch on her cheek but other than that everything’s been fine around here. Tommorrow night I’m on the third shift again. Can’t believe Mary did that.” She said referring to her job at the power dam. She was one of the engineers assigned to the dam who was in charge of the electrical systems. “Again, come on can’t Paul fill in?” he said. “No, Paul is out with the flu, he won’t be back for three weeks.” She said. He finished making his sandwhich and walked up to her and started to eat it. “Paul, that guy needs to get fired, always getting out of work one way or another!” She sighed and went over to the couch. “What?” he said “Nothing.” She said. He sighed. “Alright I’ll lay off it.” He said and took another bite of his sandwhich. “Daddy!” Josie said when the television went to a commercial. She was a small blonde as well. She ran up to him and hugged him as hard as she could. “Hey sweetie! Mommy tells me that Mr. Fluffy scratched you? Were you bothering him?” he asked. “No daddy I was only trying to make him smile. I pulled his whiskers so he could smile, Mr. Fluffy looked sad.” She said. “Sweetie what did mommy and I say about that? Don’t bother Mr. Fluffy. Have you gone outside today?” he asked “Yeah mommy and I went to see Ms. Zucker and Thomas. Thomas and I played tag outside. Jenny wanted to come but she had to stay inside because she has a cold.” She said. “Ok, go and watch some television I’ll be there in a second.” He said and ran his fingers through her hair. “Ok!” she said happily and went back to the television. He thought to himself that he was a blessed man. Everything was finally ok. He had a steady job and his family was safe here. No ARM terrorists to worry about.


But no one knew but fifty miles away there was another colony on the planet. And it wasn’t human………….

[Creator]

Alpha 01, VL- 624,
New Saigon, 1805 hours
May 16, 3358

98 degrees Fahrenheit
36 Celsius

The meeting room was very quiet as the Colonial Administrator of New Saigon Pham Taum read over the latest reports of what the head Geologist Dr. Haun Du delivered to him a few hours before. The table was full of other members of the Colonial Administration Board. Each department was present because this report would soon concern the entire colony. Head of Medical Administration , Dr. Kirk Lewin off in the far left corner of the table was present, Head of Ecology Dr. Regine Linz sitting next to him and the Head of Astronomy Dr. Erin Brock was also next. On the other side of the table were the Head of Oceanography Dr. Matthew Cunningham, Senior Administrator of Communications Khurshid Amirmoez, Senior Administrator of Maintenance and Material Cathrina Amadei, Head of Engineering Jaun Torez, Head of Agriculture Jessica Palmer and finally the head of Special Security for the colony Major Gerry Blake.

The quietness in the room suddenly broke as Pham Taum looked over the table slowly. “Doctor Du, could you please explain what the satellite has found? The report that you have just shown me is stating that there is a large amount of energy at a specified location on the planet.” He said leaning forward as he spoke. “Of course Administrator. What Satellite KX-87 has found seems to be a underground heat signature of some sort. Now the satellite that currently orbits VL-624 while it has many instruments has only had one pass over this part of the terrain. After all, we are still trying to get a larger database of the geographic features of other places in the planets. We have only covered Five percent of the planet, we only have sixty seven miles that have been scanned by the satellite. KX-87 cannot read what kind of energy it is nor what is the source of the heat signature. I believe you will be more surprised by what I have to say about what you did not read in the report. Lights off” He said.


The conference room for the meeting was large and on the far side of the wall was a screen for viewing halographic images or films. The lights dimmed and the screen popped on. “This is what was detected by the satellite.” The image that came onto the screen showed in high definition the area of where the energy spike was seen. The center of the image showed some sort of excavation site. There were numerous small vehicles within the picture in what was supposed to be an area of fertile grassland. The image then grew larger and the vehicles also grew they were all a light red color and there were what looked like to be people near them. “This photo was taken seventy two hours ago. As you can tell there is activity in this grass field. We do not know who these vehicles belong to. They might belong to pirates, some religious colony founded before we came here or it is possible it is ARM.” He said. Someone gasped very loud and another chuckled. “I do not want to alarm anyone but I believe if this is a small detachment of ARM then they will not fair well against our local SS force.” Major Blake said speaking. “I have One hundred and Fifty highly trained personel ready for any sort or confritation with the ARM.” He then sat back in the chair. “Umm thank you Major Blake. As we zoom out.” He then said, the image then expanded.

It now showed what looked like more activity towards the west near what looked like the remains of an old city. There was a very large excavation going on near the city with a large metallic object over four of the city blocks. There were more vehicles and what looked like to be a small camp of some sort near the outskirts of the city. “The large metallic object that we have taken images of looks like to be temporary shelter for the dig site. Who ever is digging down there they have also found this energy spike. The energy comes from below that structure that was built. Before anyone asks questions please remember, I have only been able to study the image for two days and this is what I’ve been able to make out. This might be a large band of pirates, and yes while the vehicles look unfamiler I do not doubt for a second that these are in fact looters. Administrator Taum, Lights on.” He said and the lights turned back on.

“Thank you Dr. Du. Do any of you have questions?” he asked. Jessica Palmer spoke up first “This new energy source we do not know what it is powering but we have evidence of activity. What if this is the ARM setting up some sort of underground structure. And of all places to pick in the middle of a ruined city it does not make sense to me. How far away is this power source?” she asked Du. “Fifty two miles north west of New Saigon.” He told her. “I’m asking because if it could be secured by Special Security I could over see food production on that site and it would greatly help our low power output for our green house that we have set up.” She told everyone. “Yes that’s all very nice and all but shouldn’t we tell the Republic about this? Send in the SDC and SS to take out the ARM on this planet.” Amirmoez said loudly. “I’m saying this, for all we know those lunitics could be creating some sort of super weapon and wipe out New Saigon!” he said even louder. “Don’t be ridiculous Amirmoez, Special Security can take care of it by ourselves we don’t want-“ Major Blake started to say but corrected himself “We don’t need the SDC here. I propose in three days I send a small scouting force that will gather more detail then what the satellite has shown us, give us an idea of what we’re facing and then send in the appropriate force. There is no need for the site to be damaged.” He added.

Dr. Cunningham gritted his teeth and looked at Major Blake with a scowl on his face. The Major might be speaking of taking care of the area and how his soldiers were professionals. They might as well be night security guard men who couldn’t find an ass from an elbow. Cunningham had a right to be upset. Anytime something of any law enforcement issue and now a military one, Major Blake would act as if only he existed on the planet who could save the stupid scientists from themselves. But he pushed those thoughts away for now. And he would have his revenge.

Taum then cleared his throats breaking away everyone’s inner most thoughts “I agree with Major Blake on this matter. Until it has been scouted by Blake do not mention this to your subordinates. Palmer and Amadei try to see what we could use to build a new structure to power our production of food. Dr. Du try to get more information on the site and then give it to Major Blake, Amirmoez once Special Security has secured the area from the people who currently occupy this space then and only then are you to send off a message to Earth.” He then got up “Now I do believe it is time for supper, they are supposed to be serving some more salad so don’t rush all at once.”