23 Beyond Common Sense (1/2)

For a moment, everybody present couldn't help but silently watch the unbelievable scene take place with a sense of wonder and awe, despite the actual seriousness of the situation.

The ship itself was gargantuan in size, from just a rough estimate they guessed the ship had to be a size between that of a frigate or a light cruiser class spacecraft.

Calling the ship a 'rustbucket' was in no way an exaggeration, in fact, it might even be an understatement.

The ship wasn't even symmetrical nor did it seem to have any defining pattern or seem to follow any sense of aesthetic apart from appearing as a ramshackle piece of trash that shouldn't be physically able to life off the ground, let alone successfully travel in space.

The method of how the ship was even able to move in the first place was literally just a plethora of shoddy thrusters and boosters of varying sizes that were haphazardly mounted onto the tailend of the ship, all of which provided the thrusting force that propelled the ship downwards onto the planet.

Soon, the silence was broken by Tanner. But this time, he had much less to say.

”What... What is it?”

No one, including the normally cold but composed Kim Fern dared to open their mouth and answer his question .

Tanner himself probably already knew the answer, it was just that he felt the urge to seek confirmation from others.

With a grim frown, sergeant Armando Larimer took it upon himself to speak on behalf of everyone else.

”Only one species would willingly build, fly and crash such a ship that was not only capable of space travel but had the capability to warp as well.”

He felt his subconsciously teeth grit together as he spoke, as if the very mention of that accursed species awoke a deep hatred as well as a deep fear from within him.

”Orkks.”

Everyone involuntarily shuddered upon hearing the answer that they hoped was untrue. It was only Armando and Fern who managed to keep their composure and even then, one could see the beads of sweat dripping down their necks and foreheads.

One of the technicians, seemingly having recovered from the shock of the Orkk frigate ship made a nervous gulp before he spoke.

”Should I inform command sir?”

”Negatory, if it's within the planet's orbit or atmosphere then all of those at command should already be informed by now.”

Armando didn't know why, but he felt that his voice was weaker than it normally was, that it carried less authority than before. Perhaps the discovery of that orkk ship making its towards the planet had a larger impact on him than he originally thought.

Nevertheless, he still could not forget his duty as the patrol team's leader and as the squad's sergeant.

”Yes sir!”

Almost immediately, the technician opened up a transmission log before proceeding to call Stahl and his group.

”Private Stahl this is field technician Reins, do you copy?”

However, Reins got no response from the other side other than silence.

Soon, the grim frown on Armando's face grew as he speculated the fate of his colleague.

On the other hand, Reins continued attempting to establish communication with Stahl even if all of his actions may be in vain.

”I repeat, this is field technician-”

...

”-Re-Ins, do-O yO-u coP-yy?”

”Yes yes! I copy damn it!”

While standing next to his broken scout bike, Private Timothy Stahl repeatedly attempted to communicate with Reins on the other side, hoping that the rest of his patrol team could save him using the MSV they had stationed at the outpost.

”I copy! I repeat! I copy!”

However, to his dismay, he got no affirmative response from the other side. What he received instead was nothing more than the sound of the transmission ending which was soon followed by complete silence.

Soon, tears started to fill Timothy's eyes as he collapsed on his knees before he started sobbing.

”Damn it! Oh God why! Why have you forsaken me like this!”

Normally, he wouldn't break down like this. He was a trained and drilled soldier of the U.P. military after all.

He had food to last for a week or so and he was taught how to survive in the wild, including and especially in the vast wastelands of the planet.

But the harsh wilds wasn't the only thing he had to worry about.

With a cautious but fearful gaze, Timothy surveyed his surroundings.

For once in his entire military career, he was glad that he was surrounded by nothing but barren wastelands for miles on end.

After confirming that he should be safe for now, he turned his attention towards his broken scout bike.

The scout bike itself was actually a km-19 hover bike, which utilised limited anti-gravity propulsion technology to 'hover' above whatever surface the hover bike was traversing.

Such a bike without wheels didn't have to worry about different terrains, since it would always remain on a suspended state above the ground, thus making it a reliable yet versatile scouting and reconnaissance vehicle.

However, in order for the bike to be able to hover above the ground while at the same time, maintaining its high speed, the chassis of the km-19 was lightly armoured while the bike was equipped with a limited weapons system.

And that meant that the km-19 hover bike was extremely fragile, with one well placed shot being able to disable the bike in its entirety.

When he glanced at that singular massive gaping hole that penetrated the bike's fragile chassis and though the bike's gravity systems before coming out the other end, Timothy knew that the thing was pretty much dead weight now.

This scout-bike in particular was his personal favourite, having grown attached to it after using it to get himself out of multiple bad situations within the wastelands.

But at the same time-

”Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!”

He couldn't stop himself from repeatedly and angrily kicking the broken scout bike, despite knowing that doing so would gain him nothing.

After releasing all of his pent up stress, Timothy sighed before he started walking down the general direction of where his outpost was.

Hopefully his squad hasn't fully abandoned him yet.