50. planet alpha

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"Here's what we know." Bellamy announced to the small group of us that were gathered in the mess hall. "Eligius III was a colonizing mission. According to the file, the mothership went to five planets that met necessary conditions for life, dropping mission teams on each one."

He stood with his hands on his hips as he addressed us. "Monty picked Planet Alpha for us because it's the closest and probably the most like Earth."

"Probably?" Murphy questioned from the seat across from me.

Shaw, who had just made his arrival along with Raven a few moments prior, spoke up. "We have to assume they couldn't know for sure until they got there. We can scan the atmosphere from the bridge."

"Actually, we can't." Jordan advised. "None of the equipment we used to monitor the Earth is working. I'm guessing it's interference from the ionosphere."

Bellamy didn't look fully discouraged. "Bottom line is, we won't know it's survivable until we get down there."

I let out a humourless laugh. "Sound familiar to anyone?"

Murphy cracked at smile at my comment as Raven spoke from beside me. "What about radio signals? Anything from the ground that says the mission team survived?"

"No radio signals."

"Likely also the ionosphere." Jordan explained. "There is an ultra-high-frequency ping on radar, faint but--"

"A rescue beacon." Shaw concluded, realization sparking in his expression. "We used them on Eligius IV to--"

"Great." Emori cut in. "If there's a beacon then that means someone's down there, right?"

"Not necessarily. They're solar so--"

"They can last forever." Raven mumbled, finishing Shaw's sentence and diminishing Emori's hope. 

"How long ago did Eligius III get here?" I wondered, shifting the discussion slightly. 

Jordan gave a small nod. "Hard to tell since they never radioed back, but best estimate--200 years, give or take."

"That's a long time to wait for a rescue." Murphy muttered. 

Silence fell across the room as we all weighed our options-currently, there weren't many on the table.

"I trust Monty." Echo finally declared, her declaration not being met with any immediate protest. 

"Great." Bellamy announced. "Then it's settled. We land at a distance, give us time to acclimate. We'll wait for them to come to us."

"Let's talk about guns." Clarke advised. "If we have them, we'll us them."

Bellamy let out a small sigh. "We're taking guns." he assured. "We're also taking nonlethals. Now, Eligius IV had gas grenades and shock batons to control the criminals."

"Look how that worked out." I muttered, earning a quick glance from Shaw. 

"We won't shoot first this time." Bellamy finished, either not hearing, or choosing to ignore, my comment. 

"In that case, Clarke should stay here." Raven argued.

"Raven," Bellamy started. "You're the one that's staying here."

I watched as shock rippled across her face as she looked over at him. "What?" she demanded. "Like hell I am."

"Look," Bellamy reasoned. "We can't take both our pilots. And since we'll be flying blind until we're below the ionosphere, it has to be Shaw."

"That's not all." he announced, not giving Raven a chance to argue as he shifted his focus. "Jordan, you're staying, too."

"Me?" he wondered, slightly dejected. "Why?"

𝐒𝐀𝐋𝐕𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍─𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐥𝐚𝐤𝐞²Where stories live. Discover now