Page 5 of Protected By the Alien Commander

4

Doshax

I pulledmy helmet off and breathed deeply of the crisp, clean air which was unlike the slight chemical smell of the air in my ship. I took another deep breath as I turned in a circle, scanning the horizon for any identifying landmarks, signs, or anything to tell me what this planet was. But there was nothing as far as I could see except orange dirt and rocks with a few scraggly, gnarled and twisted short trees thrown in.

Mentally, I started my report on the situation as I packed a bag full of rations and the lone two bottles of water I had. The liquid reclamation system was supposed to have negated the need for emergency water supplies. The IGS obviously could not think of everything. No analyst could have expected an entire squadron of ships to go dead without an EMP missile exploding or to crash on an unknown planet that appeared out of nowhere as if it had been cloaked.

I patted my blaster in its holster on my pants, double-checked the sensor was in my other side pocket, hefted the bag on my shoulders, and paused as I stared at the glint in my ship’s cockpit.

It was the ceremonial knife given to every IGS service member with their uniform. Its surface was black, polished and carved with a ring of planets, stars and the IGS logo. Even though it was for decorative purposes, it was made out of the same incredibly strong but tensile metal as the rest of the military’s finest weapons. I grabbed it and attached the holster to my thigh. On a planet that looked this primitive, a good knife could mean the difference between survival and a painful death.

And I sure as herrex was not going to die.

When I had scanned the landscape earlier, a large clump of green in the distance had caught my attention, and I headed there now. That was the only grouping of live vegetation I had seen. Therefore, it had to be next to water.

As I walked, I kept my eye out for pirates, my squadron, and anything that moved, as well as any sign that this planet had sentient lifeforms. A memory of my grandfather rose in my mind, my only relative still alive thanks to pirates, telling stories around the campfire during one of our tribe’s annual pilgrimages to the Plains of Ocren. It had been a typical story to scare the younglings, about an abandoned planet with strange disappearances and odd technological disruptions. The planet was named Yazell, and it was located in Delta System.

A shiver ran up my spine, and my quills rose. I was sure the story was just that, a story, but I could not help but notice that a technological disruption had occurred when all ships in the vicinity had died at once. And we were currently in Delta System.

I shook my head. Get it together, Doshax. You’re a commander, and your squadron is relying on you to find them and lead them out of whatever this mess is.This was no time to start believing ghost stories for younglings.

The vegetation was not noticeably any closer, so I picked up my pace to a jog. The environment was hot and dry with a faint breeze. The only movement I had seen were large birds riding the currents by the cliffs far away to my left. I did not know what direction that was because my wrist computer was not working. That was not entirely correct. It was on, but every single metric was inaccurate. It couldn’t tell the time, day, direction, altitude, or location of the closest IGS station. Any communication feature flat out did not work. The connection to the IGS-Net was gone as well. It was useless.

No, I was not going to note the similarity of my situation with grandfather Qulek’s ridiculous tale.

I kept expecting a holo-sign to pop up like on every other planet in the IGS. When you got within 0.3 klicks of one, it would appear in the air with information on features in the vicinity, news, and a button to request assistance. Even in Designated Wilderness Areas there were holo-signs at landmarks. There was a beacon you could attach to yourself to turn off the holo-signs if you wanted to completely cut yourself off from civilization. But I did not have one of those. Herrex, every military member even had an emergency beacon implanted under their skin upon entry into the IGS military. There should have at least been a notification on my wrist computer, or failing that, an IGS ship overhead by now.

My quills rose, and I pulled out the scope for a quick look around. I scanned the landscape while turning in a circle. Nothing jumped out as unusual, but something was out there. I felt like I was being watched.

I put my scope away and jogged towards the vegetation, which was growing taller and wider every klick I left behind me.

I hoped my men were doing well. All were highly trained and would have been able to glide their crafts to a survivable landing. How many survived, and in what condition, I did not know. That was not the only danger they would face. Pirates were not known for their kindness and charity, and crashed pirates were probably meaner than usual. I shoved down my pangs of fear for my squadron. I would find them, and I would find them alive.

What had originally been a clump of green in the distance was now a too-straight row of extremely tall bushes. They were at least three times my height, and I was over seven feet tall. The wide leaves came to a point far above my head. Someone had to have planted that vegetation; nothing natural grew in a line.

I pulled out my blaster and held it as I approached the green plants. Either the pirates had a base behind that row of towering vegetation, or the IGS had a secret research and development installation. If it was the latter, I could have a fleet of air cars looking for my men in minutes.

Finally next to one of the plants, I noticed short, thin barbs stood up on the edge of each leaf. They snagged my flight pants as I ducked under and stepped over them, but I was not worried they would rip a hole in my suit. Nothing could tear nano fabric.

I got tired of pulling my clothing off the flaxxing barbs, lowered myself to the ground, and crawled on the orange dirt under the leaves. I moved at a faster pace and quickly reached dirt that changed to a darker red-orange and was slightly damp. I was near water. And where there was water, there were predators. Or other beings, like pirates collecting water for survival.

I raised myself off the ground and carefully, silently crawled forward. I saw a glint of light between the leaves and stilled, pulling out my blaster.