Author Notes:

Just a heads up, I wrote this story a few years ago... it never got past the first chapter unfortunately. But I plan on reviving this, I'm working off the original paper that the story was printed on (with A LOT of grammar errors) so please forgive any errors

To be honest, being new to this new has made me rather nervous, I've gotten high praise for my stories on other boards.. so I'm hoping I do a good job on this one, again.. Suggestions, comments, are of course welcome.

Pre Story Details:

It's been a year since Conestoga 5 was launched from a planet it's colonist's called "Iso", in it's long voyage it's found many planets to settle on but not a lot that have the resource's to sustain it's crew... a crew of over a thousand and growing

Where the word's that another officer said. Many where glad that the blight was gone, never to return.. or so many thought, who would've guessed that the ship Eden had made was taken over by the blight? Or that there was in fact something that lived on the planet, just remained unseen...

The hanger bay doors blew open. The landing craft flew out, each carrying enough droids and materials to make the buildings required to sustain a small crew

As the shuttles passed through the atmosphere I noticed something eerie on the horizon

"It seems someone was here once", I said as I gestured toward a far away mountain

My co-pilot looked at me. "An old building of sorts", he said

I was the Conestoga's helmsman, making sure the ship stayed on course, but over the year I was delegated to other tasks soon searching co-commander, a rank below the captain.

"Katisan", my co-pilot said. But I was lost in thought, recalling the memories long past... recalling the loss of my wife... my daughter... and my son... who where left behind due to a mechanical malfunction in the last evacuation of Plymouth colony 751

The blight had somehow followed us.. and with it came Eden, our ancestors said they had left Eden behind 45 years ago. But it seems they where wrong

The war that took place a year ago cost us almost everything, we had lost a lot f our resources, a lot of our men, a lot of our technology. It was only when we found a crater that we could finally begin to rebuild, that crater shielded us from the blight, and ultimately, from EDEN.

We had managed to build a ship, and launch it into space, once again starting a new life else where

The thousands that where left behind by a stupid malfunction.. I prayed everyday for the souls lost

"KATISAN!!!", my co-pilot yelled.

I jumped almost through the ceiling, where in reality I just bumped my head so hard it gave me a headache.

"Whaaaa?", I said a bit startled

"Idiot", he said. "Find us a landing zone"

I only glared at him before moving toward the sensor station. Checking the scans from the satellite I found a convenient location for our touch down

"Coordinates are being patched to the helm", I said as I typed in the required commands

The co-pilot smiled. "A crater.. several mine's, and only one way in which is through a rather narrow canyon", he said. "Good thing is if it comes to it, it'll be VERY defensible"

"Lets just hope we don't have to use weapons", I said with a heavy sigh as I took my seat

I piloted the shuttle toward the crater. It was HUGE, word's being beyond comprehension, it was at least 9 miles in length and 10 miles in width. it's center was flat, but it went down a whole 3 miles.

"What ever caused this was monstrous", I said as our shuttle slowly lowered itself into the crater

"The walls are made out of a mineral that the sensors can't scan", another officer said. "Whatever it is, it has sensor shielding abilities so we should be rather safe"

I nodded

As our shuttle neared the ground I heard the landing struts release themselves from the undercarriage and fall to the ground, I didn't hear anything, which was food cause it meant the planet wasn't terraformed.. and it also meant NO BLIGHT!

"Man... did you hear that?", I said

The co-pilot looked at me, then out the window. "Hear what?"

"Exactly", I smiled

He only rolled his eyes. "We've touched down"

"Good" I said and made my way toward the aft compartment. We already had our suits on so it was only a matter of attaching some extra oxygen tanks to our already depleting packs

The back door's opened, the sand on the ground was still and never moved even when we walked

"One small step for man", the co-pilot said jokingly," A giant leap for man kind"

This time, I rolled my eyes. "You are such an idiot", I said as I looked at the robot that moved its way out of the drone compartment

"Began construction of the command center here", I pointed toward an area on the map

~Instructions received, proceeding to area~

"Man.. ancient hardware", I said

"Might be ancient, but the darn things still work", the co-pilot, or rather, Johnson said

Johnson walked toward the walls and ran his glove covered hand over the surface. "Stuff is smooth as glass", he said

"A meteor hitting the ground normally does that", I said while still relaying orders to the other 50 robots

"No no, this smoothness isn't possible with a meteor strike", he said

I then recalled the picture of the broken down building we had seen while heading here. "Wait... couldn't this place have one been a testing ground?", I said

"If it was, there are no ill-effects anymore", he said. "Besides, those buildings looked.. odd", he placed a finger on his chin. "Remind me to ask the captain if we could take a closer look"

"After we get the base up, don't forget", I said and began to walk back toward the shuttle. "It'll be weeks before we get this base up fully operational"

He sighed. "You're right"

(ooc: Ok, I'll post more.. but my hands are hurting, I'll post another chapter tomorrow. This first chapter was never this long, I've added to it. I've also given more detail in case anyone here has seen the original chapter, although I doubt it since the original chapter appeared only on one board)

End chapter 1

Johnson and I had stayed in that crater for a few weeks, living off the barracks that had been made alongside the command center. The small outpost still wasn't fully functional

We lacked one very important resource which we overlooked: Rare Ore

"Damn", I said as I drove the surveyor over the rough terrain. "Inside that crater it's nice and smooth, but out here it's very different", I said as the vehicle hit a bump. My seat jumped a few inch's then settled back into its normal position, the shocks absorbing most of the bump

My vehicle made its way toward one of over twenty site's that we saw that might have deposits. It was odd really, the deposit's where giving off a radiation signature that shouldn't even be PRESENT on the planet

~How's it looking out there Kat?~

I grabbed the comm. Link that was situated next to me, looking around and slightly lowering my head I pressed the send button. "Pretty barren", I said. "I've surveyed several site's already, however most are radioactive and quite frankly, I don't want to risk it"

~They shouldn't be… there are no signs of missiles being used on this planet~

"I don't know about you, but I'm getting a-", I said before slamming on the breaks of my vehicle. As the tire's stopped turning, the vehicle continued to move due to momentum, after a few feet it stopped when it hit a rock

~Kat?!~

I mumbled, my head had hit the steering wheel so hard that it had momentarily knocked me out.

~Are you alright Katisan?~

"I'll live", I said as I pulled myself off the steering wheel and lay'd back against the seat. "Remind to install air breaks when I get back"

I heard a chuckled over the radio, followed later by the sounds of someone moving something:

~You mean the air breaks that I have right next me~

I sighed. "Smartass", I said as I unlocked the door and got out. I switched to my inter-suit comm. so Johnson could still communicate with me

~So, why'd you stop so suddenly~

"Hold on", I said and made my way toward the ledge I had been near when I stopped my vehicle before. As I neared it I saw dust rising from the ground. "I thought there was no oxygen on this planet?"

~Atmospheric sensors detected none~

"Then explain this", I said as I turned on my suit's camera and beamed the signal back to Johnson

--

Johnson nodded. "That is interesting", he said as he moved over to another sensor station. "But still doesn't make sense"

He began to think about something that he had seen a year ago on there other planet. "Katisan, remember a year ago when we where out mining rare ore and discovered an unknown vehicle traversing the area's between the base and the mining site?"

~What about it?~

"Think about it.. dust appeared behind that vehicle, but the moment the dust got 6 feet behind the vehicle it suddenly stayed in mid air", he said
~Wait… you're kidding me.. these must be the same vehicles from before~

"Must be, I suggest you get back to the outpost. I found an uncontaminated Rare ore deposit inside this crater", he said

~Why didn't you tell me before?~

"Perhaps it's because one of our workers just happened upon it?", he grinned. "Besides, you needed the run anyway"

~And what about these unknowns?~

"No life signs right?"

~Right

"Then there just drone's, probably from another civilization somewhere, and there not armed so I wouldn't worry about", he said. "I'm not even going to list it in my log's or reports"

~Perhaps that's a good idea, no need to stirrups a hornets nest back on the Conestoga~

"In that case, see you in a few", he said and closed the transmission. "Hmmm, perhaps I should though", he said. "Workers 6 and 12 report to the robot command center"

He watched as robots 5 and 12's indicator lights blinked green on the robot control panel

After a few minutes the workers arrived, imputing some new commands. The robots accepted and made there way toward the robot smelter and began to unload the required the materials then made a bee-line toward the narrow canyon

"Setting up a sensor grid in that narrow canyon, and around the top of this crater should help in case any unknowns get curious", he said and looked toward the sky. He could see the Conestoga orbiting directly over them, providing a line of sight power line to there power dish generators

"As long as no storms or something that can disrupt that power beam line we should be ok", he said and made his way toward a RPG lynx one of only a few that where sent to the surface

Him and Katisan weren't the only two sent to the surface, there where at least 35 other people there doing various tasks to help get the outpost online. Out of the 35, 10 where in Microwave Lynx tanks patrolling the outside perimeter and making sure thing's where safe

Another 5 where in EMP and RPG Panthers patrolling between a heavy metal mine and the base entrance, although all where armed with a cloaking system that helped hide there true positions.

Johnson knew, though, that they'd have to start on the residential sections soon. He also knew that at there rate they would end up without a crew

"6 weeks before we have everything", he said. "That's far to long", he said. He turned his commuter on and relayed a message back to the command center, ordering the girl there to request more crew. He then hung up and waited

--

I mumbled. "Idiot had a site already and yet still had me come out here", I said and punched the controls to get my vehicle moving

My vehicle moved over the terrain with the same speed as before. Hitting the same bumps as before, and causing the same headaches as before

It took about 30 minutes for me to get back. As I neared the entrance I could see several shimmers of light move on the ground, "Looks like the panthers are still making there rounds", I said. I stopped my vehicle for a scan by one of the panthers

~You're clear~

I heard the driver said. In the past I had read that these combat vehicles's where once controlled by the robot command center, well, in a sense they still are. Just not these ones, only time the RCC take's over is if a war is in progress so that men can be cleared up.

I looked through the window and watched as the panther that had scanned me re-cloaked and took up a position near the entrance, it's turret turning ever so slowly in one direction, then changing directions and moving the other way.

"There on the ball", I smiled and drove my surveyor through the narrow passage. It didn't take me long to notice the changes on the walls. "Looks like Johnson's been busy", I said and noticed several of our engineer's bolting the sensors in place

I drove the vehicle up to the garage that had just been completed a few hours ago. Driving it onto the pad I keyed in a sequence that took it down 3 levels and into a storage place for me to park it. I opened the door and took off my helmet, breathing in the fresh air. For once I could consider it fresh since no one else had been in here, although it DID have a metallic taste to it. "Think I'll talk to one of the engineers to have that checked", I said and tossed my helmet onto a rack and made my way toward the elevator

As the door's closed, I punched in the required code to get to the top level. The elevator hummed to life and began to ascend to the surface, the wait lasted only a minute when the door's opened up. I wasn't used to this, no life anywhere, except for a few drone's making routine repairs here and there

"Man, I don't think I'll ever get used to this", I said as I made my way down the corridor and toward the tube's that connected the Garage to the other sections of the base. I turned the corner and made my way toward the command center, when I got there I was prompted to key in a sequence of letters and numbers. I typed in the code I had been given before and the door's opened. I walked in and looked around; it was just as barren as the terrain outside.

"Good morning Sir, If I had known you where going to be here I'd have made you a cup of coffee", the lady at the communications station said as she checked several other computer screens

"You're the only one here today?", I said

"Captain won't let us have any more crew", she said. "I think he wants to try and salvage as much as he can from the Conestoga 5"

"A losing cause", I said and rubbed the back of my head. "That ship is falling apart"

She shrugged. "Don't tell me that", she turned in her seat back toward one of the vid screens. "Tell the captain"

"I plan to, now where's Johnson?", I asked

The lady looked out one of the windows. "He's overseeing construction of a few residential units for our people when they come down"

I nodded. "That's good that's good", I said. "I think I'll retire for awhile", I yawned. "It may be morning, but I've been up for the past few days"

"Night then, I'll let you know if anything comes up", she said

"You do that", I remarked and made my way toward the quarters that where adjacent to the command center, I opened the door to my room and fall onto my bed. "This is one hell of a change from what I'm used to on the Conestoga", I said and soon fell asleep

End Chapter 2

Chapter 3, Detail Chapter
4 weeks to 2 months

The next few weeks to two months where uneventful, everything was quiet and we had managed to build up a pretty good outpost, we had enough residential buildings and recreational structures to last us a few years… as long as the birth rate didn't sky rocket to being over a thousand babies a month

The weeks before we only had 35 people operating the base, now we have well over 600 and climbing, although slowly

Our research lab's where in full swing, testing out the new minerals that where discovered on the side of the crater walls and outside the narrow canyon

And speaking of that Canyon, thanks to some Ingenuitive workers, the canyon was widened a bit to allow for vehicles to go to and from without needing to hug the wall…

To make up for the slight lack of defense, several turrets where constructed and placed on the side of the canyon walls, the turrets types where naturally EMP. Thanks to Plymouth having there spiders, the spiders where placed in a whole near the main entrance, where four EMP towers where built, but well hidden.

Several more turrets where built, including a few MSG and Thor Hammer, the technology was stolen from Eden well over 50 years ago and reverse engineered, it's secrets torn apart and then rebuilt. Unlike the TH that was used against Plymouth back when the first Conestoga escaped earth, this one was at least three time's more powerful, utilizing more power than the previous of course, which explained why only two where built and built inside the crater in an area that allowed for crater wide defense

Another addition to the defense, where two openings in the canyon walls that overlooked the canyon floor below, at least 6 stories off the ground, each one had a human operated RPG turret. While the other towers where operated via the command centers

There where four garages near the entrance that where both filled with EMP and Spiders. Most of the base was comprised of civilian workers and scientists, hardly any military presence except for the entrance

As for inside the crater itself

The lab's and MHD power generators where located farthest away from the entrance, and where surrounded by several barriers and a few turrets. Again, this was the only area other than the entrance where a military presence was known

Although we weren't in any hurry, a spaceport was already in the works. Although it would take a few years to actually complete a fully functional one, unlike the one's we made over the years that where simple and allowed for a quick evacuation

One thing we had in abundance was space, enough space to allow for several years of expansion, among the crater where 6 high class ore mines, one rare, 2 lava and 3 common.

The lava mine's where used to extract some of the more valuable metals from the lava itself. While rare and common where naturally used for construction

Another form of minerals found where used in the construction of shielding device's for the power and lab units

Another area of the base that was hidden from view from space, where the network's of tunnels being built underneath. The tunnels where to be used to get vehicles to and from the base, to the back of the base and to the top of the crater, like the turrets, the tunnel entrances where also well hidden from view only someone extremely lucky would be able to happen upon them

In addition to the sensor network at the top of the crater, a shielding array was built in the center of the crater, which was a good four mile's from the outpost itself

To accompany the arrays shielding abilities, a line of emitters where already in the planning stage to help in the defense of meteors, the emitters where placed a few feet below the edge, just above those emitters a line of walk ways where to be built to help guard them further. The shield array would project a barrier of light and energy over the crater itself, no only shielding it from meteor strikes, but also from any prying eyes or satellites

I never really understood WHY the captain wanted us to build defense's on a planet that was suppose to be barren, perhaps he was just being cautious, or maybe it was because we had always had dumb luck, every planet we had tried to colonize for the past 35 years had always had either Eden, or a rouge group on it.

We where hoping Eden was gone, we had left them to die on the previous planet. So we of course prayed that they where gone for good.

End Detail Chapter

Chapter 4

I slept in my bed, now that we had a fully functional residential sector. It had been 8 months and 10 days now since our arrival, we had a large supply of Rare and Common ore's, and an ample supply of Heavy Metal and other unknown minerals that our research staff where still working on

~Katisan? You awake?~, Came a buzz from my personnel communications badge

I yawned as I opened my eyes. Looking around the room I wondered where that voice came from. "Must've been the rats", I said again before yawning and turning back and pulling the sheets over my head

~Katisan… wake up, you're shift~, Came a voice from the same badge as once before

Once again, I opened my eyes and got up. But again I thought it was nothing and just went back to sleep

A second later I heard an ear piercing sound that literally cracked the windows of my room. The sound was loud enough to make me jump out of my bed and get my work clothing on, I tightened the buttons and put my badge on

~You're awake~, I heard as I put on what seemed like headphones, both side's covered my ears. Another part of it was a small rod like object that came down near my mouth, which allowed me to talk back to who ever was talking to me "Yes, I'm awake", I yawned. "What time is it?"

~0500~

I yawned again. "Why the hell you wake me up one hour before my shift starts?", I said as I walked out of the room and down the halls. I looked on both side's and saw other people, some where getting there children ready for schools, others where like me, heading to work or getting ready for work

As I exited the structure and entered a network of tube's that connected each and every building like web, I noticed a lot of activity outside the building and coward one of the military structures that was located on the far side of the crater. Despite the fact that my job was to monitor the entrance to this crater, as all military personal have to do at some point, I did take interest in all the commotion

"Johnson? What's with all the commotion today?", I said over the mike

~I don't know, they haven't said anything. Oh! I forgot, the captain wants you to take a scout out along with two remote controlled surveyors and scan a few area's for our science boys~

I sighed. "Very well", I said and made my way toward the garage

It only took a few minutes and I was in the garage, checking my scout and making sure it was in tip top shape

"We added a new sensor system to the scout, so you should be able to scan a fairly good distance", a tech said

"Looks familiar", I said as I checked it out
"It's the same one that the military scouts use", the tech said as he made some fine adjusts to the shock absorbers

I smiled. "How far do you think?", I asked

"50-70 kilometers", the tech said. "Maybe further if you shunt more power to it"

"I see", I said and closed the door. The techs nodded and moved away from the scout, I drove the scout toward the lift, parked it, and watched as the walls flew past me as I was lifted to the surface

Arriving at the surface, I drove the scout off the lift and onto the rocky sand. I saw two vehicles approach me from the far side of the RCC; quickly making them out as surveyors

I typed in several commands to the surveyors and began to make my way toward exit. I drove past a few manned RPG turrets. I drove past them and headed out of the canyon and into the valley, upon reaching the valley I turned toward the first waypoint on the map

"Hmm, good 45 minute drive", I said and sat back in my seat and allowed the scout to continue coward

30 minutes would pass before I encountered a problem that caused me to stop my scout and get out, looking over a large crack in the ground. "That's odd", I said and looked at the map. "A bridge is suppose to be here", I said and knelt down, looking over the edge I saw the bridge… or rather what remained of it. "something must've snapped", I said and walked back to my scout. Getting in and slowing the door I turned my CB on

"Johnson, need another route, the bridge is out", I said

~Bridge is out? It was there just this morning~

"Well it isn't now"

~Very well, take the western route~

I sighed. "Ok", I said and hung up on him. Turning my scout I made way west, following along the crack until I came across another bridge. There where scaring marks on it, and also molten rock that littered the ground near it. "That's odd", I said and was about to check it when my warning light came on. I looked around and noticed several silhouettes approaching from the other side of the bridge. At first I thought they might've been cargo trucks from our group, but a shot across my cockpit quickly told me other wise

I shunted power to my engine's and sped off, the surveyors still following close behind. I reached for the CB, "Johnson Come in! I'm under attack!", I yelled. But got nothing except static

"Damn it", I yelled and tossed the CB onto the ground. Several more shots rained over my scout and landed several feet away, one shot managed to land mere inches and lifted my scout. It spun 3 time's before landing on all fours, "Damn it damn it damn it damn it", I kept repeating those words as I drove. "Who the hell are these freaks", I said as I saw a massive explosion to my right, one of the surveyors have been hit and gushed into flames. It's circuits liquefying and the auto destruct came into place, the starfire charge that was embedded in it exploded with enough force to case a tiny crater

I cursed. "There going to be pissed at me", I said as I rounded a bin and made my way across a dormant lava flow. "Lava? Here? Now I know something isn't right", I said as I felt the bumps. "Why do I have a bad feeling", I said as I spun my tire's and made it across.

"Johnson! Pick up please", I yelled over all comm. "Anyone out there? I'm under attack god damn it!", I yelled as my frustration rose

Weather it was a miracle or not, the last remaining surveyor was still with me. What I saw next made my blood turn cold, a lightning shot across the top of my scout literally boiled the armor away

"Shit less", I said as I drove my scout in a pattern. "No doubts… that was a thor hammer weapon", I yelled. Suddenly my sensors picked up a lock, although I didn't know where, as I rounded the next bin, that's when I saw where. "Oooooh…. Shit…", I said. A few feet in front of me, was a tank with the thor hammer weapon on top of it, it continued to build up a charge before firing-

End of Chapter 4

Start Chapter 5

I covered my eyes in anticipation of the blast, for the few seconds that my eyes where covered, I could see my children, my wife, my friends who had died in the last few wars that we had been apart of… my life flashed before my eyes

What seemed like forever, was only a few seconds. I noticed that I was still in one piece, upon opening my eyes I found out why, the surveyor that had been behind me was now in front of me, it had taken the full force of the bolt. It's armor melted and boiled away even after the bolt had hit

Not wasting any time, I shunted power to the drive engines and drove right past the tank. It's turret trying to keep up, but by the time it had turned in my direction I was gone.

The drive back from that point on was filled with me trying to repair some of the damages to the internal structure of the scout. Blown out circuits, a pressure vale that decided to burst, among other things.

~Ka….. Laveron to Kat~

I looked over at my communications console, at first, I figured it was just a bug somewhere: perhaps a reply of a previous log

~Katisan…. This is base Laveron to Katisan~

The communications console lit up and I walked over to it, I typed in a series of commands that brought up a screen. "I can't reply, just receive", I said with a sigh. "Blasted bolt melted the transmission antenna"

I moved my chair over to another console, "My FOF tag isn't functional either, that means the turrets will probably regard me as a hostile", I said with a bit of concern in my voice

As I switched out different components, I noticed the tag appeared on the system; however I lost all sensor output and input. "Well, at least the turrets will be able to regard me as a friend… now I hope I'm heading in the right-", I said

Before I could respond, another explosion rocked the scout; I ran over to the window and looked out. "Damn it!", I yelled and took manual control of the scout

I swerved a few time's to avoid the including rail gun rounds. "Railgun, Thor's hammer, all I'm missing now is an acid cloud", I said… and got what I did not wish for

A cloud appeared several feet in front of me. "Me and my big mouth!", I yelled and spun the scout, the edges brushing up against the side of the wall, the cloud was now above me and corroding the wall, causing piece's of it to fall to the ground below

"If I don't get my butt out of here, there won't be anything left to drive", I said before taking another hit. The scout over turned and the next thing I saw was blackness

I don't know what went on after I blacked out, only that upon waking up my scout was upright, the walls that I had smashed into looked unharmed, all the internal components that I was fixing where fixed and, upon getting out of my scout and checking around, the armor that HAD been melted away was now in one piece, in fact so much so that not a SINGLE scratch was left on the scout, it looked as if nothing had occurred, but in my mind I knew flat out: Eden was back, they had more advanced weapons than before, and sometime after myself blacking out they did something to my scout

What got me even more confused, was the database of the scout, it was full of information from the site's I was suppose to survey. I walked back into the scout and checked the clock

"0900", I said while stretching. "I was out for …..", I began to recall. "An hour"

~Katisan this is base Laveron~

I walked over to the comm. console and noticed that I was able to transmit and receive. "This is Katisan", I said and released the transmit key

~Bout time, where've you been? Been trying to reach you for an hour now~

"Something that need's to be brought to the attention of the captain", I said and inputted the coordinates of the base

As I neared the base I began to worry, What if they bugged the scout, for all I know I could very well be leading them back to my base , I thought to myself and got back on the comm.'s

"Johnson, can you come out here please in a microlynx?", I asked over the comm.'s

For a few second's, I wondered what Johnson was doing.

~Already in a microlynx, was already on my way to look for you when I picked you up on the scanners~

"Then please rendezvous with me at the follow cord's", I said and transmitted the latitude and longitude to him

I arrived at the rendezvous point and waited, after a few minutes I saw a vehicle approaching, but not from the direction of the base. I closed the hatch and warmed up the engine and waited, after a few second's I recognized and sighed in relief. Opening the door I walked toward the now parked microlynx

"You don't normally ask for me to come to you, what's up?", he asked

"Just shut up and let me drive", I said and pushed him out of the drivers seat. Closing the hatch we drove back to the base

"Why are you leaving the scout behind?", He asked. He noticed that I wasn't smiling, in fact, I had a worried look on my face, and the last time he saw said look was a year ago when we where fighting Eden. "Perhaps I shouldn't ask and just wait, knowing you you're probably going to alert the captain to something, and I have this odd feeling I know WHAT you're going to tell him", he said

"Then shut up and let me drive", I said

This time, the trip was uneventful; we arrived at the entrance and passed through the canyon, proceeding toward the garage. I parked on the lift and sighed in relief, "Thank god that nightmare is over", I said

Thanks to my rank, and experience, I had full access to the military wing and it didn't take long for me bring everything up

"Mechon", I yelled as I took off my suit

"Yes Sir?"

Mechon was the base computer; he operated every part of the base from the basic needs of the citizens, the education of the children and the defensive shield that was overhead. He was also in charge of the base defense turrets that now ringed the top of the base just below the shield

It was the one thing I really didn't like, since we had been through so many wars, we didn't trust anything or any planet that we settled on. Even the planet before, where we had actually made the outpost WITHOUT the defense's, was a grave mistake and almost costed us our lives

"Alert base security that we might have a possible threat approaching, light up those Thor Hammer turrets and turn on our spiders. Power up the EMP cannons and get ready to block the entrance", I said

A few nano-seconds based before the base alarm went off, several tank's that where dormant before suddenly came to life and proceeded straight to the entrance

~This is a code one red alert, all military personnel are to proceed to there designated positions. Possible threat approaching the base~

A few more minutes went by before I arrived at the military command center. "This had better be good", the captain with crossed arms, I could tell he was shaving when the alarm went off

I walked over to him. "Eden is back", I said. Just that word sent the officers in that room running toward there own stations

"Not possible", the captain said. "We left Eden to die a year ago"

"Then explain why it took so long for me to get back, or why have several mine's disappear over the past few days"

The captain sighed. "That was due to several earthquakes"

"I thought this planet was dormant?", I said with a hint of annoyance in my voice

He nodded. "not according to our scans, the plant has been acting like this for about 10 months now"

"So, two months before we arrived, all this started", I said while thinking. "Still that doesn't explain th-"

"Hostile scout approaching it…. What the … it's armed?!", One of the officers yelled

"Serial number J583AI-1", the officer said

"That's my scout", I said and ran over to the sensor panel. "But it IS indeed hostile"

The officers turned to the captain and he nodded, as the scout approached the base entrance, the RPG turrets that where set up opened fire.

However, the rounds just BOUNCED off the scout's armor. Although the officers missed it, I did not. A shield?, I said and made a mental note to review the footage later

Every RPG round fired continued to bounce off the scout, finally after numeral shots an EMP blasted disabled the scout

Upon being disabled, a trio of spiders appeared from within the wall and where about to take over the scout when it exploded. The shock was so powerful that it blew the spider's closed to it apart and others away.

"I didn't realize that scout was armed with a star fire", the captain said

"All vehicle's have a small star fire charge embedded in them, for Eden, it's to prevent us from taking over there vehicles", One of the officers said. A bit surprised that the captain didn't know

"Now that that's over, stand down on the alert", He said

"What about Eden?", I said

"There is NO Eden, they died", The captain said

"How can you be sure?", I said

"Look, the only reason I'm not going to have you court marshaled and striped of rank is because we need you", He said. "Anymore false alarms and you're through", he said and walked away

Something's not right, just a year ago the captain was always concerned about the safety of his base, I said to myself as I made my way out of the military CC, holding onto a small micro-disk

"Katisan", Johnson yelled as he came up to me

"You saw it didn't you?", I said

"The barrier that the scout somehow brought up?", Johnson said as he looked out the window

I sighed. "What do you think Johnson? The captain doesn't seem the least bit concerned that we've lost over a hundred people already to these so called "Earthquakes" "

"I didn't want to say this before", Johnson said. "But, I have this odd feeling that isn't the captain"

My ears perked up high. "I'm listening", I said

"Not here", he said. "I have a scheduled trip to the Heavy Metal Mine 30 Kilometers tonight. Join me", he said. "And don't worry; due to the importance of this mine, we will have at least 5 escorts with us"

I nodded. "I'll meet you at the garage at 1900 hours. In the mean time, I need to get back to work"

"Oh? What's you're job today?", He asked

"I need to check the shield grid and patch a few holes", I said. "I'll talk to you then", I said and stuffed the disk into my pocket

I walked into the transport vehicle that would take me to the shield array structure. That scout was indeed equipped with a shield. But Eden doesn't have the technical know-how to create such a barrier, and the shield it had was similar to the one we have above the base, I said to myself as the vehicle continued toward the array

When the vehicle docked with the tube I got out and made my way toward the entrance to the structure itself. Upon opening the door's I saw a bustle of activity. "What's wrong?", I said

"Grid A-9 is failing!", yelled one of the controllers. "We also have meteors incoming to that grid!

End Chap

Chapter 6
I ran over to one of the grid control consoles, and noticed instantly that it was locked out. "Who locked this console?", I yelled back at the controller

"We don't know!", he yelled. "It was locked when I got here"

I mumbled, knowing full well that this particular console controlled the power flow to the grid. Too much power would short it out, while not enough would shut it down, either way the result was the same; No Shield.

"Are the grid control pod's still active?", I asked while looking up through the protective glass window's that ringed the control center. As I looked through them I noticed one of the grid's flicker every few seconds

The controller looked around and pointed. "Use that pod to manually control the grid, be warned though, those pods are used strictly for precision", he said and moved to another station. "You'll have 5 seconds after the first meteor hit's to change position, it'll be a best guess estimate", he said

In another wing of the control center, where 6 pods, in the case of an emergency each control a series' of 26 letters:

Pod one controlled grids A through M, while Pod Six controlled N through Z. The other three pods, Pod's Two, Three and Four, controlled different letter groups and made the job easier on pod's one and six; thus if the operators of either pod failed to notice something coming to there zone's, one of the other three pod's could assist

I jumped into Pod 1, seeing how that's where the first meteor was headed. The hatch closed, a screen appeared and I felt the pod rise

~Don't worry, you're pod is just changing position~

I put my headset on. "Worried? Do I look worried", I said with a hint of worried ness in my voice. The screen lit up and showed the grid's I was to control, the observatory made a connection to my systems

~Katisan, this is observer Helo~

"Go ahead", I said as I positioned the laser toward the grid's

Outside the array, the residents in the outpost watched a tiny beam of red light ejected itself from a shield array dish and up toward the grid, where ever the beam landed a large square appeared that was 50x50, naturally that was in square miles.

I listened in on the frequency that was given to me

~Ok, Kat, change beam to position F-5~
I nodded and typed in the commands and used the joystick, luckily thanks to the interface it told me where F-5 was and weather or not I lined up. As the beam struck that area, the square lit up

First, a dull red, then it shimmered to an amazing orange, then yellow, finally settling to an eerie blue as this was happening I could see a flaming dot appeared in the sky.

"We have an incoming", I said and boosted the power to the grid", I then noticed something odd. "Control, why isn't any power being fed?", I said

I heard a rattle in the background, "Control?", I said once more but got nothing. I cursed and, despite it being against protocols, I drew power directly from the Tokomak itself. Although I knew instantly that I would blow several, of not a hundred circuit relays

I saw the square light up to a bright green, which meant that it was at full power. "Good", I said and watched as the meteor smashed into the barrier, it's fragments shattering upon impact

A wave of heat brushed over the square and towered the array, I felt the temperature rise several degrees and glanced over at the internal monitor. "105", I said and unbuttoned my jacket

The other meteor was coming in fast, but that's not what worried me. "My god that suckers big", I said. "Observatory how big is that thing?", I said but got no answer. "First the controller, now the observatory

Back at the observatory

"What do you mean we lost communications with the array? That guy NEEDS our trajectory data!", Yelled the head observer

"I don't know sir, one minute we where in contact, next it was like someone cut the line", yelled one of the communications crewmen

"Re-establish or else we might have some dead on our hands!"

Back at the Array

"Now, since I have no data, going to have to make a best guess", I said as I watched that meteor using the telescopes on the Array itself, which where normally used to target incoming projectiles like missiles and such, but in this case it could also be used for this type of job

I was finally able to pin point the location where that meteor was going to fall. "Research Lab…", I said and shunted more power to the Array's transmitters. I could hear the sound of something burning and knew distinctly that I had little time left before I blew out the circuit relays in this place. I re-positioned the beam and, as the square grew larger, I could also see the meteor growing ever larger by the second

Finally, after a few seconds of waiting, the meteor struck the barrier so hard that the ground shook, but the strike also caused every relay in the array to explode.

My monitor shattered and felt the hot glass ran on my face, burning my skin, I covered my face as other circuits blew in the pod itself

Outside the array, explosions doted the array, one explosion came from the tube itself which caused it to blow outward, which also caused a chain reaction that nearly lead to the Tokomaks, but thankfully Mechon shut down all connections, which in turn; throw the outpost into darkness

I really don't know how long I was out, only that upon waking up, I saw that I was on the ground, but still in the array, the arrays fire suppression system had kicked in and gutted the fires. After 10 minutes the systems reactivates and pumps oxygen into the building. I must've still been in the pod when the system turned on, or else I'd be dead due to lack of oxygen

"Mechon…", I coughed while getting up, noticing the blood on my hands. "Status?", I said

~Shield Array building is currently offline~

"Tell me something I don't know", I said as I made my way toward the doors. "What's the damage"

~Array has lost over half it's transmitters, which will make it hard to protect the outpost from any more meteor at least until there repaired~

I nodded. "Why hasn't anyone from the DIRT arrived yet?", I said

~Unfortunately, when the meteor hit, it caused a chain reaction which sent a surge through a series of networks that resulted in the tube's connecting this building, which supplied vital power and oxygen, causing them to explode~

"Then explain how you're talking to me", I said while trying to find a way to open the door

~When the explosion occurred I was already in this Array's computer system~

"Which in turn, allowed you to shut down power to all vital systems to preserve what little was remaining", I said and smiled. "Ingenious"

~I was programmed to survive, but I had noticed that you where in here~

"I appreciate you trying to save my life", I said. "Now, mind explaining why we have full power?"

~Checking~

I waited

~Connections with the power and oxygen plants have been re-established~

"That explains it", I said and was able to open the door. On the other side where workers from the DIRT

"Sir you ok?", a medic said while walking up to me

I looked at him. "Do I look ok to you?"

"Well.. umm"

"That was rhetorical question", I smiled. "I'm fine other than the burns on my safe"

"And the cuts on you're uniform", the medic commented. "You're lucky"

"How so?", I said curiously

The medic put his med kit down and asked me to sit down while he treated my wounds. "If you had been off by one inch, then the power grid would've been destroyed", he said

I cut it that close?, I said to myself while deep in thought. "What about the controller?"

The medic, "We found her…", he said with a sad expression

"Where?", I asked while getting up

He got up in response. "You shouldn't"

I looked at him. "Other than these burns, am I still able to do my job?"

"Well.. yes.. but still, you shouldn't over-exert yourself", he complained

"Still, what happened to her"

"We don't know, we found her body in the tube, or rather, half of it", he said

"Half?", I looked at him
He looked away and didn't say a word, obviously very disturbed by what's happening. It was unheard of for a grid like to fail so unexpectedly, epically when the people operating it have been doing so for awhile. "Show me", I told him

Looking around, he nodded. "Follow me"

We made our way toward one of the transports that connected to the building. "I see the connections where destroyed", I said

"Luckily when the explosions occurred Mechon shut down all relays to this section", He said

"Thus, saving it", I smiled. "Glad he was made"

I noticed by looking at the medic that there was something else on his mind. "Something's worrying you huh?"

He nodded. "I'm not a scientist, but if I didn't say so, I'd say someone tampered with the mechanic's of that array"

I chuckled. "That's exactly what I've been thinking as well", I said and lowered my head in thought. someone did tamper with the alignment controls and whoever it was was also responsible for that controller's death , I continued to think. Something tells me things are about to get worse, what worried me even more, was that I kept thinking that the captain was involved but I had no evidence to support my accusation

It seems that I was in such deep thought that I didn't feel the medic tap me on the shoulders a few times

"Where here sir", he said.

I was jolted out of my thought process and looked at him. "Ah.. ok…", I said and got up. We walked down one of the shafts that lead back toward the scene where the body of the controller was still laying. The smell made me gage but thankfully they had an extra mask

"You're right", I said as I examined the body. He was also right, half the body was missing. I didn't really have much experience with this but I did my best to find something that could help me, "Can you have the body moved to the hospital?

He nodded.

"Good, check it", I said

"Always"

"Also, just for safe keeping, don't put this in you're logs", I said and walked away

"Don't put this in my logs?", The medic said and raised an eye-brow. "Why?", he shrugged. "Must be a military thing", he said while attending to the job at hand

"That was disgusting", I said as I took the mask off. "Don't think I'll eating dinner anytime soon", I said. "First I get attacked, then the shield grid suffers a malfunction", I ran my hand across my forehead. "This is all so tiring", I said and clicked my badge. "Let the shift manager know I'm heading to my quarters"

~Why?~

I yawned. "Cause I'm tired and need some rest", I said

~I'll let him know~

Although I could tell that the guy on the other side wanted to know why, I also knew he would tell the shift manager that I was just sick and needed a bit of time to rest

A few minutes passed before I arrived at my quarters and throw off my jacket. "Going to have to ask for a new one", I said as I noted the burn scars.

I laid back in my bed and smiled. "Nothing beats a nice bed", I said and soon fell asleep. Unaware of what will happen in the next few hours, unaware that my stress level will be tested, unaware that I will find answers to some of my pressing questions

End Chapter 6

Chapter 7

I heard the sound of an alarm and woke up instantly, running toward my closest and throwing my cloths on and running out of my room. Flipping the comm. on my pad as I went

"What's wrong?", I said as I ran down the corridor

~Some of our scouts are picking up a large group of unknown's heading toward the base from the north~

"Some of our science team's are in that direction, have they been alerted?", I said as I stepped into the elevator that would take me to the ground level

~negative, as far as we know, there dead~

I cursed. "And where the hell was there escort?"

~The captain didn't think there was anything wrong so he had them go without one~

"Damn him", I said and waited for the doors' to part. I ran out and down the tube that lead to the command center

~The captain wants you and Johnson to take a scout out and survey the area where the unknowns are~

"Bullshit", I said and was almost to the CC when the door's slammed shut and denied me access. "This isn't like you Mechon"

~Sorry sir, but the captain has denied you access to the CC until you've accomplished the mission given to you~

Once again, I cursed under my own breath and made my way toward the garage. I didn't know what was wrong with Mechon, he was acting as if some of his subroutine's had been taken offline, which is what I think might've happened

I entered the garage and saw Johnson already prepping a scout, although I noticed some difference's instantly

"Two mini-microwave turrets", I said.

The suddenness of my voice caused Johnson to jump, he looked over his shoulder, panting. "Would you not do that please", he said

I smiled. "Why?"

He just sighed. "Because the next time you do that I might be armed", he tightened and bolt and got down. "Everything's ready to go"

"If you don't mind, I want to take a slight detour", I said and gave him a pad with the location of where my 'slight detour' would be

"The observation tower that we spotted months ago when we where looking for a site to settle down in", he said with a nod. "Mind if I bring along some of our scientists?"

I shrugged. "Don't mind"

He smiled and got on the comm. and relayed the request to a few of our friend's in the scientific community. A few minute's later they arrived with the equipment needed to properly check that tower out, although they had to make it seem like it was survey equipment used for mining since if anyone found out what they actually had, they'd get in trouble and so would we

I climbed about the scout, Johnson and the scientist's got in a moment later and we closed the hatch. I started up the scout and drove it over to the lift, where the lift took us to the surface and we made our toward the entrance to the outpost

Stopping just a few time's to let other vehicle's through, then we made our way through the canyon, "The captain is dismantling some of the weapons we put up", I said after noticing that some of the RPG and spider's where no longer in the area they had been in a few days ago

"I don't know what's on the captain's mind, he seems to be acting strange", Johnson said as he rubbed his chin while thinking. "You think the constant evacing is finally getting to him?"

"Don't know", I said as I turned out of the canyon and toward the tower, a good 3 hours would pass before we would arrive.

"Kat", Johnson said

I looked over my shoulder. "Yes?"

"I brought along a map from one of our survey satellites that we had launched into orbit a few weeks ago. This map never made it to the captain prior to my order", he said and set it down on the table

It didn't take long for me to notice a few thing's different from the maps we had at base, from this one. "So, there are at least a few other craters near by that the general population doesn't know about", I said and tapped my finger on the northern crater

Johnson nodded. "But there's more", he said and overlaid another map that was transparent

"A base?!", I said as I noticed that the same north crater that I had taken interest in also had a base in it. "Eden?"

"Seems so", Johnson said. "Not there main base though, appears to be an outpost of some sort, and telling by the account of refining structures, I'd say it's a mining base"

I nodded in agreement. "And there's no doubt in my mind that they'd leave us alone if we just waltzed right by them"

"Nope", he said. "The map also show's a build up of assault units to the south"

"Wait", I said. "That area is where our sensor concentration is the heaviest, so why aren't the base sensors picking them up"

"Because", one of the scientist's said, "Someone disabled the sensor's in that area"

"Make's since", I said and looked out the window. "So, someone in the base doesn't want us to see them coming"

"We have another problem", Johnson said. "If the build up continues, then we won't be able to beat them back, and with our base defense's being dismantled it'll prove to be a real challenge"

I sighed. "Let's think about this, we still have another hour before we arrive", I said and laid back in my chair and continued to monitor the sensor scan

The three hour's passed like nothing, the talk we had before lasted almost two hour's with everyone exchanging ideas and suggestions.

It was a hard reality to face, but it seems the captain was indeed involved in something, but we still didn't have any proof to back up our claims

As we neared the tower I noticed some commotion at the top and stopped the scout, backing it up into a cave that was just big enough to hid the scout

"Why'd we stop?", Johnson asked

"Eden up ahead", I said and shut off all the sensor's and power systems, after 10 minute's the ground rumbled and a convoy passed us.

"Yet, that's Eden alright", Johnson said after spotting several Thor Hammer lynx's

"Some sensor trucks with them as well", I said while watching a few trucks with sensor's dish's on top

We waited another 30 minutes before moving, we made it to the top and noticed no one around. We made our way into the tower; I placed my hand on one of the consoles and pulled it away. "It's warm"

"Alright", Johnson said. "Let's make this quick, we don't know when Eden will be back"

I walked over to the communications console and started it up. I accessed the computer core and noticed a lot of erasers in it, "someone tired to erase the core", I said as I inserted a mini-disk into a small drive that was connected to the main frame. "Starting file retrieval program"

After a few minutes I sighed. "I could only get about 600 gigabyte's of information, everything else is lost", I then noticed something. "This file seems to be a communications log of some type"

"Lets check it out", Johnson said and leaned on the back of the chair I was sitting in

I nodded and opened the file; most of the log just contained information from robot-trucks and other RCC controlled vehicles from the Eden base. But as we scanned the log more closely we did notice scant trace's of information from our own CC

"No doubt about it", I said. "Someone has indeed been communicating with Eden", I back traced the log and found a match. My ID number was listed as the source code for the transmission, but Johnson knew I couldn't be it since I've been around him and others more than being alone, plus I rarely ever went to the CC and only when ordered

Johnson smiled. "Someone's trying to frame you", he said

"Kat!", I heard a yell from over my comm. unit and made my outside

"Yes?"

One of the scientist's was working inside the scout when the communications console lit. "The captain wants you"

I walked inside and over to communications and placed the headset on. After a few minute's I turned it off, and shunted all power away from the communications system

"Something tells me thing's just went from bad to worse", the scientist said. I only nodded

"Johnson, we got trouble heading our way", that's all I managed to say before an RPG wound hit the ground roughly 10 feet away from the scout

End Chapter

Chapter 8

The scout tipped over and fell on it's side, causing the equipment inside to come crashing toward my side, and ultimately into my face

"What the hell", I yelled as I tossed some of the equipment off me. I managed to make my way toward the hatch and opened it, and found myself staring down the barrel of an RPG tiger. "Well.. this is swill", I said in my now soaked suit

I heard a sound from outside and in back of the tiger, then the words. "FIRE IN THE HOLE", instantly made my shut the hatch, a second later I heard an explosion which caused the scout to fly into the side of the observation tower, it's rear end sticking out like a soar thumb

"I need a new job", I said. The explosion had tossed me from the door and into the console, "today just isn't my day"

"Yours?", The scientist said. "At least you don't have a god forsaken headache", he said while clutching his head.

"I take it you hit you're head on the hull", I said

"Brilliant deduction Sherlock Holms", the scientist said

I managed to get the door open, and almost fell the angle that the scout was in made it so that the hatch was facing the ground, luckily not to far and I was able to just jump down. I looked over and saw the broken wreckage of the tiger tank

"Someone was busy", I said as I strolled behind the tank and saw the remnants of a body. "And it seems someone tried to escape", a grin forming on my face

"Tried", Johnson said. "But failed", he to grinned. "Sorry about that Kat, but I didn't want either him or this tank to be here", he said. "So, I stuck a starfire charge into its engine"

"Right next to the liquid coolant reactor", I thought. "Nice", I smiled. "Now, what's next? Our scout is… well… a little out of place", I looked up at it

Johnson sighed. "Everyone's ok, a few bruise's here and there but other than that", Johnson said and looked around. "I wonder who sent them"

"The captain", I said and walked back into the observatory. "Apparently where so involved in this that he decided to have us eliminated"

He shook his head. "I already know we won't be allowed back in base", Johnson said

"Who said we where going back to base?", I grinned. I sat down at the communications console and started replaying some of the few recording that the decompiler was able to retrieve. "Can you fetch me some image's from the satellites?", I asked

Johnson nodded. "Sure", he said and walked over to another computer and started typing in commands, it didn't take him long to break into the main base's computer core, grab the images, and break the link, all in under 5 second's, so fast that Mechon wasn't even able to trace it, although there was no doubt that he would notice the break in, just not the source or the destination. "Here"

"Thanks", I said and looked them over. Turning in my seat and leaning against it, "Get a hold of 'Fort Knox' for me please", I said. I heard a few chuckle's in back of me:

When we landed, we had three seed factory's at our disposal, one was naturally used in the crater while the other two where used to create a mining and research outpost. Over the course of the year both base's had grown to quite a size, however both where located in excellent defensive positions which made almost impossible to get near it without either base's AI knowing

Mining Base Delta, which was known for it's high concentration of Rare ore, was stationed roughly 80 kilometers south, southwest of the main base. Every month two convoys would arrive, each carrying enough rare ore to keep the main base in operation for over a year.

The base was also known for it's low concentration of common ore, which luckily the main base had an ample supply of common ore extractors that gave enough.

MBD was not run by any Tokomak's, it's power came from the solar sat's and geothermal power plants that where in the area

One engineer once said. "I didn't know we had another 'Fort Knox' on this planet ", he's right. The base was defended by a series' of defensive turret's and EMP missile sites.
Another feature of this base, was that there was always anywhere from 20 to 40 defensive vehicle's in the area at any given moment, another person said the defense's where overkill, but seeing how it was the only rare ore mine within 400 kilometers- well, that pretty much speaks for itself

Another base that was considered, "Fort Knox", was the research and development, or RnD base. Commonly called "Research Base Omega"

Omega being it handled extremely dangerous experiments. Experiment's with which the main base didn't dare try

The base itself was ringed with a series' of sensor and EMP towers. An army of spider's and scorpions helped guard the base from any threats that came near it

If someone was to look at the base from afar, they would indeed fail to notice the many 'unique' defenses that the base itself created

Thanks to the fact that it was a "development" base, it was also considered a "test site" where new technologies could be tested

One such technology was a pop up Thor Hammer turret that utilized a new type of power coil and energy transfer system. The turret's where buried in the ground, there top's covered with debris or anything to conceal them

There where easily a hundred of these hidden in the base and the surrounding area.

Another piece of 'unique' technology was the Energy transfer array; the array was used to transfer power to and from the Mining base. Both base's shared the same sector, and both shared the same defense's, but both where run by a different AI and staffed

Each base had about over five hundred colonist's that worked there, some where engineer's, other tech's, more where scientist's and miners, defender's, and some where just family

Another thing about both base's was that they could also be mistaken for "easy pickings" which is what the base commander's wanted

Both base's where established sometime after the main base went online, although it's well known that relationships with the two base's and the main base are at a breaking point due the captain's tyrannous actions.

Getting there would be a problem, another thing about the base was that the outer most defense's, which ringed the base at the 20 km mark, where operated by Mechon, who would no doubt try and stop us

We also had yet another problem, how to convince the base commander's that the captain was a fraud and a traitor, the commander's aren't stupid and there sure to be suspious, epically since they'll no doubt get the warning that we'll be coming

But, we did have a few tricks up our sleeves, we may have lost the scout, but we did have another idea. If we used the observation post to send a false signal back to the main base, claiming that we where dead and that they should send a party to check on us, we could snatch the vehicle's they send and use them to get to the two base's

I nodded. "Shall we try it?", I said

The scientist's nodded. "Nothing else we can do, there's no doubt we'll be targeted as well", one of them said

"Finally, an adventure that we can die for", Johnson said

"I certainly hope not", I commented as I typed in the required commands to create the false signal. After a few minute's I laid back and wiped the sweet from my forehead, "Done"

"How do we know it'll work?", one of the scientist's asked

I grinned. "Because, if I guessed the captain right, he'll want PROOF", I said in a certain voice

Meanwhile, back at the main base

"Sir, incoming transmission from the assault unit", a female's voice blurred over the loud speaker

The captain smiled. "Lemme see it", he said and read the report, a grin creased his face. "Send our the recovery team's, I want proof that the assault unit accomplished it's mission.. and I was the body's to show what will happen when someone betrays us"

"Yes sir", the women said, although a hint of awareness could be sensed in her voice

Back at the tower

Everyone was hiding somewhere; I myself was hiding in the APC while clutching the detonator for the series' of EMP mine's we planted. The mine's themselves where stored in a secret compartment in the scout

We heard the tall tail sign's of a lynx motor heading toward us. The remains of the tiger had been pushed down the hill. The only way they'd see it is if someone literally looked over the edge

The lynx's moved up to the tower and there driver's got out

"I don't see any body's", one driver said to his partner

His partner knelt down and examined the dirt. "Well, something happened", he said

"Oh?", the driver knelt down. "Hmm explosive marks"

"Just one problem"

"What?"

"These marks are consistent with a starfire remote charge", the guy said before looking over his shoulder… just in time to get hit over the head with a bar that was taken from the wreckage of the tiger

"Who the he-", the driver said before he was someone slammed something into his chest, his rib's caved in and he fell to the ground; unconscious

"Shall we get going?", I said and picked up both body's and put them in back of the lynx

The scientist's walked over to another lynx that once belonged to the men and piled in.

Thankfully the lynx was still on or else I'd have to try and get the start up codes from the two unconscious men, who no doubt would never talk

I drove the lynx down the hill and made our way toward the mining sector
"How are we going to get there? The convoy's take at least a month to get from there to the main base.. won't we take the same amount of time?", the scientist in my lynx asked me

"Nope", I said

"Then how?", he asked

"Because, we'll be taking a shortcut, there IS a breach in the line of defense's that NO ONE will think anyone will cross.. and for good reason", I said

"How so?"

"It's a lava plain", I smiled

End chapter 8

Chapter 9

Our scout shook as we traversed plain, the lava plain was still quite rocky even after a new coating had covered it several days before

"The temperature outside is still quite high", said one of the scientist's as they monitored the outside temperature

I rolled my eyes. "The hull is secure, don't worry, it won't get TO hot in here", I smiled as I looked out the window. "Looks peaceful out there", I said. Although I could see the gun emplacements that dotted the horizon

"Where within 50 mile's of the nearest RPG tower", I yelled over the comm. line

~Roger that, I am already tracking the two towers that I see on the scanners, have they noticed us?~

"Negative, where within the scanners blind spot, so they won't know about us until where right up to them, which I don't plan on getting THAT close", I said as I looked at the counter nearby. "15 minutes before the RCC and Command Center discover that we are not who they seem to believe"

My expression turned from being a grin, to being a look of shear terror. On the horizon where hundreds, if not, thousands of RPG Tigers, "HOW THE HELL THEY KNOW WE WHERE COMING?!", I yelled as I swerved and avoided an RPG round that impacted the ground where we had just been at seconds ago

Johnson came up behind us. "Damn, still too far to send the cancellation codes", he said as he watched my scout avoid another RPG round. "We can continue to avoid round after round but sooner or later one will hit there mark", he said and watched the horizon, in the distance he could see the flash's of light and smoke from the barrels of the RPG cannons, it would take at least a minute for the rounds make it to them, but since the Tigers where AI run the AI had a tendency to correct the trajectory of the shells

And besides, the shells where AI controlled anyway, made life difficult for the enemy. Perhaps we where just lucky, neither myself nor Johnson got hit as we ran the gauntlet and made it into the canyon. The code's we sent seemed to have worked cause none of the towers that ringed the top part of the canyon tracked us, then again, they where to high and we where to low to be even a threat

As we passed through the canyon, the base came into view, as well as a few Thor Hammer turrets that tracked our movement

"If we get hit by one of those, it's over", I said as I kept one eye on the turrets and another on the road. For some reason, neither the towers, nor the Tigers that patrolled the base, fire at us

We drove up to the command center, a group of lynx tanks approached us, scanned our scout, then proceeded back on there assigned patrol route. "Ok, that's not normal", I said as I watched several cargo trucks roll by, fully loaded with Rare Ore, Heavy Metals and Common Ore

I walked over to the air lock and looked around. Even though the planet did have oxygen it still wasn't enough to survive on, so command still preferred enclosed buildings at least until Eden completed its Terraforming efforts. I slid my card across the control panel, typed in my command code, and the door's opened. "Something's not right", I said as I drew my side arm. The scientist's and Johnson followed close behind, outside door closed, the air cycled, and the front door opened

The reason we where left was answered soon enough, everyone was running around. Alarms blurred and red light's flashed. I retracted my sidearm and placed it back into it's Holster, "put you're weapon away Johnson, something tells me we'll be of use here"

~Units from Main Base are approaching from the North West, they have hostile intent, all civilians are to evacuate to the shelters~

I looked over my shoulder. "Guess that answers my question", I said as I ran toward the command center

As we entered the staff looked at us, apparently they all heard about what we had done cause two guards at the far end brought up there assault rifles and where about to let loose when a voice boom across the room

"Hold you're fire!", yelled a voice that I recognized all to well

"You not dead yet?", I said with a smirk on my face. I watched as the commander of this face walked out from behind a set of computers

"Its take's more than a punch to the head to kill me", he smirked right back at me. "Nasty business you got yourself into", he said as he sat down. "You and You're friend there killed over 400 civilians a few hours ago", he said then smiled. "Although, that of course is a life, considering when the information was imputed"

"The Captain seems to be unstable", I said with a shrug

He shook his head. "He's not unstable, more like he's not him", he said. "After we arrived a few of my officers discovered a few recording that our captain tried to hide.. it seems our captain isn't our captain at all, he's an imposter from Eden", he said then grinned. "But, then again, you knew that from the start

I just folded my arms and looked away

"Sir! North West defense line is taking a heavy pounding. Where losing tigers at a steady rate", one of the gunners said. "I can keep them busy, but I'll need someone else to control beta squad"

Thanks to the new system that was created four years ago, human's can control a series' of squads consisting of a number of vehicles. This make's it easier for human's to scout area's of a sector that are to hot for a human to handle

They're capable of controlling the squad's from base, although the effect it has the eyes is strenuous. If you stay to long in the view, you risk damaging the inner part of the eye-ball, thus it's always recommended that the commander never stays in the view for no more than an hour, after that they must let there eye's rest for a day before they'll be allowed back on the viewer

Each squad comprises only four vehicles, since the view is split into several different panels. Each panel display's information for each vehicle

Think of it, as a virtual reality simulator, where you can control you're character and do a series of motions. Well, in this case, the person is actually in a giant simulator ball that rests on a platform, depending on how many squads are active, is depending on how many of these pods are active

The person who is inside the pod can look around and see everything around them, this is thanks due to the small camera's that are placed not only on the vehicle's themselves, but also on a small camera drone the size of a fly that fly's around the field, this tiny machine is also controlled by the human commander

Due to the power required to run these units, only 12 can be active at any given time, due to the power requirement's that they have. Although, it has been said, that 6 of these pod's can potentionally bring down a medium sized base, while 12, can mean certain death for the same base with little to no problems

I looked over at the pod and noticed the commander in there, "How's she holding up?", I asked

"We've been fighting the main base's attack force for the better part of the day; here life sign's are erratic and fluctuating. I need someone to take over for her", he said with clasped hands.

I looked at Johnson. "Sounds like fun, never been in one before"

"That's because the main base doesn't need them", the base commander said as he got up and strolled to the window. "Main base has an advanced AI that can control them, we don't. Our AI is set up strictly for defense, not offense, and differently not defense, offense and regular base operations", he sighed. "We had to take the AI offline after they", he pointed toward the approaching forces. "Tried to invade the computer system"

Looking away, I smiled. "Then why not let myself and Johnson have a crack at the systems?", I said and grinned

He looked over his shoulder. "You're an intelligence commander, although not many people know that, not even those closest to you", he said whilst noticing Johnson's expression. "And it seems you never told those who cared for you"

I sighed. "I had my reasons", I said

"Which where good, epically since the information that's stored in you're scouts data core suggests that Eden is building a fleet of ships at least 90 Astronomical mile's away from Laveron", he said with a grin

I looked away and at the window. "You intruded into my system", I said. "Smart"

"Not really, we have observers in the main base who where monitoring you", he smiled. "So we already know you know what we know"

"I see", I said with a sigh and walked over to one of the pods. "Let's stop the chit-chat and just defend this base, after words, we can talk all you want", I said as I walked into the pod and closed the door behind me. It was dark, and in some cases, a bit freaky, until a hundred view screens came on and displayed the surroundings of one the camera drone's assigned to this pod

I notice that I was speeding over the ground at a very fast pace. "I see", I said and looked to my right, suddenly the view began to turn and I was spinning, I then looked forward and the drone stopped and went forward. "So that's how it works", I said. I looked to my left and the drone turned left, right and it turned right. I then looked down, but nothing happened, I then thought about looking down and the drone began to descend toward the ground below. At a certain point it stopped its decent and stay there, not letting me go down anymore. "Must have a set position", I said and thought about it moving up, the drone then ascended toward the sky. "Now that I understand that, how do I get the visuals for delta squad", I said and as if magic, the details appeared and several screens changed to show the view points from 3 of the tiger tanks and at least 2 from the panther EMPs

"I wonder why the Captain didn't install these, would've proved effective in monitoring everyone's movements", I grinned. "Something akin to big brother back in the 20th century", I chuckled. "Then again, such things don't exist in this time", I looked around and smiled. "The enemy is approaching from the east now", I said

~I hear ya~

I heard Johnson's voice, seems when you speak a-loud you can communicate with the others who are also in pods, or even with those outside.

~I'll handle the Northeast side, you handle the east side~

I nodded and steered Delta squad toward the east, arming there turrets and getting ready for battle. I noticed several additions to these vehicles, several of which the main base didn't have

"Shields, re-active armor, re-tractive armor", I whistled with satisfaction

~That's because this base, although a mining colony, is also a testing center, I wouldn't doubt it if they've intentionally kept this technology from the Captain due to the rumors~

I had to agree with Johnson, some of these improvements would certainly prove effective in battle, perhaps, even in the regular defense of natural disasters, like storms and the natural lava flows that fished that way through the city

After all, two such rivers did flow through the base, which actually added to the defense due to the bridges that where built, which could easily be destroyed

The tube's that where built, where built to withstand the intense heat from those lava flows, which mean's they could be built UNDER the lava flow itself, and where able to conceal the presence that a tube network did run under the rivers

In fact, perhaps it was a good idea, I didn't see any tube's above ground and the satellite image's showed none anywhere in the base. So that left me with just one option; that the tube's where under ground.

Maybe that was a good thing, cause with the tubes underground, it made things tougher for the enemy. They couldn't use the tunnels as an entry point for there marine's, smart in my opinion.
I maneuvered Delta squad into the ravine and got into a good position to attack the approaching tanks. Funny really, 29 tanks against a squad of only 5, suicide in my opinion

Perhaps, it was suicide; I was after all going up against five times the number. I watched as the enemy tanks made it into the ravine, there turrets where moving about and looking for something

They drove right past my tanks, and didn't even bother to scan the darkness of the side's. I positioned the drone just above the top part of the ravine, then sent the code's to open fire

Within seconds, the numbers went from 25 to 4, the last four ran off, all being lynx's so I couldn't catch them. I smiled, then laughed

~I take it you beat the crap out of them?~

I nodded, although I knew Johnson couldn't see it. "I like how the commander of this base set the defense line up, make's it hard for the enemy to tell where someone or something is

~Defense Line's secured, no enemy units are approaching the base. Congratulations on a job well done~, blurred over the general comm.

The pod's viewers turned off and the entrance opened up. I walked out and toward the window, "how long do you think it'll be?", I asked

The commander shrugged. "Perhaps a few days, maybe even weeks", he said. "Either way, it gives us time to strengthen our line of defense", he began to walk toward his office. "Please follow me", he said

Continuation

I walked into the commander's office and took a seat, the commander himself walked over to a coffee maker and made himself some coffee. "So, what's the word on what you've found?"

"You said it yourself, you've been watching me," I said and put my arm over the shoulder of the chair.

"Is it true about that fleet though," he said with a sigh as he looked over the papers of mine

I didn't answer the question, since it was rhetorical question either way. He just nodded, "What do we do?"

"I was one suggestion," I said. "The same shield technology used back in the main base, or rather, 'Laveron' as the commander like's to call it, came be used here right?"

He nodded. "With a few improvements to some of our plants we should be able to construct one in a matter of days"

My position shifted. "Have you ever heard of an old earth game called 'Ground Control 2'?,"

He looked at me. "No, I haven't," he said

"Well, I feel like where repeating what happened in that game," I said. "A city trapped on a planet, with only its defense shield as protection against bombardments from space"

"Only one difference," he said with a grin

"And that is?"

"I plan on altering the shield parameters so we can fire out," he said and walked over to his computer, typing in a few command's he brought up the schematics for the shield array that was in Laveron. After a few minutes, he turned the monitor around and I whistled

"That's a nice improvement, lets just hope it works," I said as I got up. "Now, I'm the only person on this base that have any knowledge of how such a weapon would work, so if you'll excuse me," I then left the office

I walked out of the structure, Johnson was waiting for me in the tube and it didn't take long for me find him. "Been waiting long?," I said as I passed him

"Not really," he said and began to follow me. "So, what's the plan?"

"Help them build a shield array, with a few improvements," I tossed him the data pad"

I heard him emit a low whistle as he checked and re-checked the schematics. "This'll take days," he said

I smiled. "That's why where here," I said and walked into the RCC control room. "We'll take over," I said to one of the operators

He nodded and left. After the door's closed, I ran my card across an access slot, which locked out the building. "Now, let's get to work," I said and took my seat at one of the operations control stations

I typed in a series of command's that sent several dozer's to a position roughly in the middle of the base itself. "Use Lava to power the control system," I said

"Gotcha," Johnson said as I sent the command's to retrieve a power control system from storage. "We'll use Lava, but how?"

"Heat and Steam," I said as I watched the cameras. "It'll take a few hours for the dozers to clear a good sized piece of land for the structure," I said and looked at Johnson. "start on the connection's and power supply relays"

"Got it," he said and started typing in the required commands

Several days would pass as the basic foundation was set up and the building's outer walls will put up

I rested in my chair, both myself and Johnson had decided to stay in the RCC, in a sense, we took it over.

"Foundation is 98% complete, the outer walls are 70%," Johnson said as he typed in command after command. It was when I suddenly heard the typing stop is when I got worried

"What's wrong?"

He looked at me with a worried look. "Scanners are picking up activity in high orbit; observatory is picking up numerous ships as well"

I raised an eye-brow. "Eden?"

"Apparently", Johnson said as he checked the database but kept on finding no match's for the ships, which was natural seeing how they'd never seen a starship other than the Conestoga 5 and its predecessors. "Scanners are picking up a target lock-", he stopped. "There targeting US and the COMMAND CENTER!!!!"

I cursed, the shield array wasn't even half done and already they decide to attack

"Something's odd", he said. "There not firing, just targeting"

"Then lets take the little time we have left and get this building complete, only a few more days, lets just HOPE they decide to WAIT", I said as I furiously typed in command's to the hundreds of worker drone's we had been given

Our work continued, despite being under the eye-ball of Eden. We had managed to get the 3rd floor done, install the generators, and install the control computer without them noticing

The hard part, though, was training these people on HOW to use it. Both myself and Johnson have known how to use this type of technology for many years, 25, we where taught at a rather young age when, at the time, survival was important and everyone needed to work hard, including children

Luckily, that isn't true anymore, or rather, I hope it isn't. The fact that Eden managed to build a good sized fleet without us knowing donates to there stealth activities.

Two more days passed, and we managed to get the building itself. Now all that was left where the 6 gun towers an-

"INCOMING!", came a yell over the emergency loud speakers

Several points of light slashed into the ground, severing a residential unit in half, and killing most of its inhabitants.

"Damn it!", I yelled as I watched the visual displays. "Someone must've told them"

"Shield array is only at 90%, look's there just firing wildly"

He nodded. "Maybe, it's also possible there trying to find it. We can power up the shield right now, but as for the gun's themselves, at least another two or three days"

Johnson cursed a few time's and started powering up the array's shield emitters. "5 minutes", he said and smiled. "Thanks to them being 90%"

I looked at him. "We got a problem", I said

"What?"

Up in orbit

"Sir! We've pinpointed what appears to be a shield structure"

"Good, target that building.. and destroy it"

"Yes sir!"

"After that… lets test our new missile… they escaped the last planet we used it on… I doubt they'll manage an escape this time"

"Yes sir!"

On one of there ships, moat's of red and orange light's collected alone a lateral line under the ships, not plasma by nature, more like a cutting torch laser used on the hull of the Conestoga when it was built in space

Only difference was.. this was far more powerful.. and far more deadly

The line's heated, then discharged.

Back in the colony

"We've got incoming fire!", I yelled as I watched the visual displays as several light's flared to life in the night sky. "And what ever it is they just fired, is heading straight for US!"

End Chapter

Chapter 10

For you're eyes only

My hands danced across the controls as I fought for every centimeter of air above the base. Fortunately the idiot's who fired the lasers didn't calibrate them correctly, instead of causing damage to the barrier, it was actually feeding it

"Bring the barrier up in grid 9." I said as I moved to another station

A barrier of red light appeared above the laboratories in that section, a beam of yellow light pierced the night sky, causing the cloud's in it's path to burn away, and struck the barrier, it made a swiping motion, like a cutting torch, in an attempt to find a hole. But after a few second's of not finding one, it soon faded

"There probing the barrier." Johnson said as he typed in more command's to the workers that where installing the cannons. "Cannon one will be operational in a few minutes, I've got every worker on it"

I nodded. "We've got an incomplete power flow to grid 10, if we don't fix it we'll lose power complete"

"The geothermal plants must've taken a hit, because we should have power." Johnson said as he rolled over to the communications console , putting the head set on he listened

"Tokomaks have taken a hit! Where leaking plasma here!"
"Hull armor on A-9 is heating up! If we don't do something, that entire structure will burn away!"
"Vehicle factory reports a power problem, must be due to the attack above"
"Medical Center is hit! Dear god someone help us in here!"
"University is hit! We got children in here damn it! Someone get the DIRT teams down here please!"
"Nursery's taken serious damage! One of those beam cut a hole in the side! We've got dead here… mostly children who where playing… some adults to.. we need help please! Someone!"
"The AI in the Robot Control Center is reporting an insufficient power usage! Someone fix it!"

Johnson snarled at the damage reports, if not that, then at the amount of dead. "Kat, we already have an estimated report on casualties. I swear Eden just doesn't give a -"

"Don't worry! All we need is to get the power back up!" I yelled as I tried to draw power from all non-essential systems, but it still wasn't enough

Johnson sighed. "I think I can get us more power, I'll have to overload the Tokomak's fusion core"

I looked at him. "Are you nuts? Those Mak's aren't like the one's used in the past! They use Fusion and Plasma, if you make one wrong mistake you'll blow up the entire power grid"

He looked at her with those starn eyes. "Better than losing the whole base because we didn't try"

I was beat, he was right. "Fine, just hurry"

He nodded and ran out. I watched at him leave, perhaps for the last time. I turned back in my chair and started rerouting controls to my station

I then put the headset on. "Array Station 1 to all structures, please shut down all power that is not needed to run the structure itself, keep life support online." I said and heard a few acknowledgements

A few minute's passed as the gun was installed, it's own generator came online and started feeding power into the charge chamber. "Charge is at 25%" I said to no one in particular

Then came the warning light, "Shit" I said as I focused all power to the grid directly above me

Cloud's burned away as another beam struck the barrier, it then spread across, and to my horror, broke through

System's exploded to my left as the beam cut one an incomplete cannon in half, severing it's charging chamber and rendering it useless

I cursed. "Someone is defiantly telling them our shield frequencies," I said as I tired to get more power, but to no avail

~Kat! I'm at the Mak, thing's are hot down here, I'm going to run it at 120%~

"Ok, please try and not pass 150% or else you risk a fusion core breach." I said

~Not to worry, these Mak's are pretty far from the base, if they go, they won't harm the base~

"The lack of power will," I said as I smiled at the power indicator

The power level went up, 80% then 90%, 100% then 110%. I typed made a rough estimate of where the enemy was, then sent the firing code's to the cannon

I watched from a camera as a charge built up into the chamber, then moved forward slowly, a second later it was spat out from the front and made it's journey across the sky

Meanwhile, in orbit

"Sir! We have an incoming energy mass"

"Where from?"

"Grid 90, the base we are assaulting, I don't understand this"

"Plasma will impact the rear destroyer in 10 seconds"

Back on the ground

I watched the view screen as the plasma arched it's way toward the ship in orbit, splashing across it armor, and severing it in two

Smiling, I began to build up another charge; I heard a warning light and looked over my shoulder. "Johnson! There targeting the Mak sector! GET OUT OF THERE!"

~Not yet, almost done~

"Get out of there!" I yelled as I punched the firing key and fired another plasma charge at the ships, a second later; a beam of light burned the sky

I watched as it disappeared over a mountain

~Ok I'-~

I heard several explosions, and watched from the view of a tiger tank that was in the Mak district

The beam made a cutting motion, severing two mak's in half and exposing there core's, the super heated liquid, upon contact with the outside air, exploded outward, causing a chain reaction that caused the entire area to explode

I stayed there, looking at the screen; I couldn't believe what I had seen. The power indicator to my left dropped like a rock to 0%, the lights in the building suddenly turned off. All I could hear for the few minutes after was explosions outside the RCC; knowing full well Eden was taking advantage of our lack of power to strike at our important structures

My eye's where glued to the screen, never in my life had I seen so much death. With communications cut, there was no way to know how many people where dead, or how far Eden had actually gone. My hand rolled up into a fist, "Bastards," I said with an angered look. "So, this is you're game then, fine, if that's how far you willing to take this war.. then lets get it on"

End Chapter 10, End Part 1

Begin Part 2

Chapter 11

Six Months… that's how much time has passed, six god forsaken months since Eden assaulted the colony and laid waste to several buildings

If it wasn't for the power surge that occurred five minutes after we lost the power sector we probably wouldn't be alive. The shield wall suddenly came online and since then we haven't been able to take it down

It was as if someone was feeding an infinite amount of power into the relays. We finally contributed it to an unknown phenomenon and decided not to mess with it. Because we all knew Eden was still up there, watching us and waiting for this wall to come back down

The good thing, yes, the good thing was that thanks to the wall we've been able to repair the base. Sadly, the battle brought upon deaths. We lost over 200 people, including the base commander and my friend, Johnson

No one else at the colony had much experience in being a base commander, so someone just decided to step up to the plate. I didn't because I had more important stuff to worry about, like Eden

They'd pulled a fast one on us, and assaulted the base. Damage reports had come in, 4 Residential units had been completely destroyed, each housing 25-30 families. We also lost the entire energy block, that right there hurt us cause our turrets where put offline

Perhaps, the most damaging, was naturally the lose of the commander. Although someone did step up which is a good thing, it will still take us awhile to get everything back up into working order

I did, however, have a new partner. Her name was Hikowa, although she is quite young (13) she's considered the best in her field (damn child prodigy's) she was assigned to me because of how hard I was taking the lose of Johnson

But, that was to pass, for now we had the plan's to start our own space program once more; however there was a problem, we needed to deal with the main base first

Fortunately, I knew all the code's to get into its main frame, and then some. So we where almost ready to strike back

Was I scared? Yes I was, it wasn't normal for Eden to strike out at us like that. But that wasn't what worried me the most, what did was the amount of viral infection that was spreading across the planet

"The Blight is back" I said to the new commander. Naturally he didn't believe me until word got back from a few scout's confirming the fact.

So, the blight is indeed back and ready to kill us all once more. That would mean we'd have to start our evacuation once more, and escape to yet another planet. However the more we ran, the harder thing's became, and with Eden's fleet in order, it'd be a lot harder to escape; perhaps impossible

Wait, nothing's impossible, just not probable. Who knows, maybe we'll catch a lucky break, right now we had to concern ourselves with Eden and Plymouth. That traitorous idiot took over the main base that we had set up over a year ago, and now no doubt he was forcing people to join the military

But hey! War's hell and thing's happen, but perhaps we can turn the tide's of battle. I knew the main's main security code's and could shut down the defense shield, drop in a few commandos, and get out.

That's where thing's would get hairy, we had air power now thanks to new discoveries in aeronautics have allowed us to retire our cargo trucks to more important job's, like working the mine's that ran deep under the mining base

We now had air cargo transports, which where good because they could hold more minerals and where capable of carrying one of the new mineral's we've discovered. It was funny though; this new mineral was discovered quite by accident. When the blight eroded ore it turn's it blood red, infecting it and making it useless due to it's infection properties, yet, if step's where taken to carefully extract certain ore's in it, we could make a barrier that actually RESISTS the blight more effectively than blowing up a Tokomak.

We had a wide array of Tokomak's stationed around the base; each set to blow up the minute the blight came close. Granted an EMP wave would rush out and disable most of the vehicle's guarding it, but that's the price to pay for survival

Am I thinking too much? I think so, I thought about using the infected ore and right now a shield was being developed to better withstand it. I know the shield around the main base will protect it but not for long. Its shield properties aren't the same.

That shield could protect its inhabitant's for a few days, but after that the blight would completely cover it and once the shield went down, there'd be no survivors. There was naturally a draw back to having such a shield, the blight would cover the entire shield and suck the energy being emitted, but that's not all, the blight can travel across and under the ground, meaning a shield would practically be useless unless you found a way to extend it under ground

That is why we where building a new barrier, one that extends above and underground. Its completion is near, and once that's done, we'll strike and take back the main colony