File 4.1 - Back to Task

Night almost finished with its hold over the Earth by the time the truck made it back to the transport. Rinn kept them out of sight and placed caution on being followed. They couldn’t risk a compromised mission by the wrong people discovering them. It meant a longer time back to the transport, but it was worth it.

When they stepped out of the truck without the Commander it made everyone left behind feel like the worst happened. Wells immediately made it clear that Callein was fine, but didn’t get into details with them. He seemed bothered, leaving it up to Rinn to cover things. “That’s the situation with the Commander,” he concluded, after giving everyone a brief summary of the events at the clinic. “We’ll need to break him out at some point, but right now he needs to recover.”

“What about the mission,” asked Schir. She shrank a little when she got looks from everyone. They all thought the same thing, but said nothing. The question gave voice to something none of them wanted to think about.

Pushing forward, Rinn looked up at the transport, as they stood in the hangar. “We continue with the mission. It doesn’t stop without the Commander. There are two objectives we need to complete in the time before we get the Commander. The first is maintenance, repairs and resupply on the ship. Going through the atmosphere really trashed the ship, while we’re working in an alien environment and technology there should be something we can find to fix up the ship. Second is the primary mission assigned to all of us.”

Tension filled the hold after Rinn’s last statement. They all knew it had to begin soon. The risk they all accepted for the mission. “Investigating and testing the defenses of Earth.”