Artificial Earth

                                 33

Earths temporary outpost
4 hours after
last transmission

       INSIDE THE SPACE CRAFTS REAR SECTION, LIEUTENANT Briggs and his team together with twenty men from Bravo team were preparing to move out. Alpha team is composed of  fifty-one men in full battle gear including the lieutenant, they will be securing the perimeter while twenty men from Bravo team, also in full battle gear will head further out to scout the area.
      "Sgt. Andrew...Is everything in order?" lieutenant Briggs asked.
        "Yes Sir, Equipment were checked and double checked." the Sgt. replied.
          "Good. I'll take the right side while you and the others take the left, that way we cover more grounds and finish early." Briggs pointed out.
            "Yes Sir."
    "Who's in charge of Bravo team?" Briggs asked, turning towards the other team.
      "I am Sir." answered one of the men.
        "Your name.."
         "Sgt. Meyers Sir."
          "Is your Team ready?"
          "Sir yes sir!"
         "Sgt. Meyers...I want you and your men to be careful out there." the lieutenant said.
         "Thank you Sir." Sgt. Meyers replied.
    "Okay let's do this, open the exit way." Briggs ordered.
       The exit door opened and a twenty foot ramp automatically slid out of the craft. Bravo Team went out first, riffles drawn.
        "Left flank clear." one of the commandos said, holding his position down the ramp.
         "Right flank clear." another commando said from the opposite side of the ramp.
          "Front all clear." another commando said, kneeling with one knee and pointing his riffle straight ahead.
          Sgt. Meyers and his team went down the ramp, followed shortly by lieutenant Briggs and his men.
         "Bravo Team, move out!" Sgt. Meyers ordered, moving forward, disappearing into the high grass.
       Lieutenant Briggs watched as one by one, Bravo Team entered and disappeared from view.
    "Goodluck Boys." he thought.
     "Okay, Sgt. Andrew!" he called out.
      "Yes Sir!" Sgt. Andrew replied, "Alpha 2nd Squad follow me!" he added as he walked towards the left side of the Craft, leaving the lieutenant and twety five others.
      "Okay, unload the equipment and set up those barb wires..." Briggs ordered. "Perkins! Set the trip wires over that area and motion sensors up on those trees. Murray! Get the lasers and mount them beside both sides of the ramp! ICE! I want eyes on every corner of this ship, Patch! Your in charge of security, sweep the area, move people!" Briggs commanded. "It'll be dark soon, I want this area safe and sound now!" he added.
      Lieutenant Briggs walked a few paces forward to look around and assess the environment. High grass and tall trees surround them, in the distance were mountains, the sky was cloudy and the air was cold, he shuddered. "This is a good spot." he thought, "We can use the trees and high grass to our advantage. Keep us hidden from view. With no intel or information about the inhabitants for years, lord knows who or what's waiting for us out there. Be better for us to work quietly and be prepared for anything." he told himself. "Technology has evolved and grown over the years, lasers, crafts, weapons, almost everything....but limited,  resources such as crystals, minerals and various chemicals to create are not easily found and harvested, plus the cost and manpower to look for the resources have rocketed. Only private companies with billions can afford to fund technology, even the government and military sets limitations in aquiring and developing hight tech weaponry.Intelligence gathering suffered most because of cost cutting." he thought. "I would have to talk to Major Willis again, ask for more information regarding this mission before we head on out there."

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First Lake
Sheriffs Station
7:15

        INSDE THE ARMORY, MEN AND WOMEN FROM First Lakes finest were seated and were waiting for the briefing to start. Thirty-five officers in blue and fifteen in black from Special Action Forces.
      "Is everyone here?" Sheriff Gilbert asked Deputy Monroe.
       "Thirty regulars, five detectives from the exchange program with Emerald City and fifteen from Special Action Force." Deputy Monroe replied.
        "Where are the others?" Gilbert asked, looking around.
         "Three squad cars are rounding up people and bringing them to 14th street, that's an additional six men, the rest were on leave." Monroe explained.
         "Call them in."
         "Tried already, can't reach them."
          "How many missing?"
          "So far Twelve."
           "Dammit!"
          Sheriff Gilbert turned towards his audience. "Okay...I'm aware that most of you here haven't slept yet and are pretty much exhausted...I'm one of them and that includes Deputy Monroe here. I'm asking you people to hold on a bit more, we will take shifts resting after we bring the folks in and secure the church. Now, I want you all to suit up and gear up, last we heard, those creatures out there are multipying, killed several folks already. I'm giving you permission to shoot to kill on sight, do not hesitate to use extreme force, understand?" Sheriff Gilbert said, looking at the officers.
      "Sheriff....what about the civilians?" One of the officers asked.
       "We're meeting some of them near the grocery store on 14th street, gave them permission to carry guns, we'll need more men, so i'm temporarily authorizing them as a civilian unit. They'll be in charge of security while we take a quick nap and charge up."
        "How about food and medical supplies?" another officer asked.
         "I'm assigning Henry, Darlene and Hanna to handle the distribution and keeping of food resources. Detectives from Emerald City will gather medical supplies down at the drug store while our Special Action Force would look for a suitable place outside the church where they could ambush these creatures. Any more questions?" Sheriff Gilbert asked, "Okay, Those of you who have families here go call them, If you can't contact them go fetch them and bring them over the church, let's go.......You all know what to do. Monroe, Nelson, you two ride with me, were heading down the grocery store and talk to them civilians."

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The Old Catholic Church
7:15 a.m

       FATHER GOMEZ, DAVE, LOU AND HAL WERE standing at the entrance of the church, watching as people slowly started entering the gate.
      "Here they come.." Dave said, looking at the people walking towards them.
    "Dave and I will greet them, you two usher them inside." Father Gomez said.
 The wind outside was howling, lightning was flashing fiercely as the rain poured on and on. Without warning, a lightning bolt struck a power converter on top of an electrical pole just outside the walls of the church causing it to explode, splitting the pole in half before it fell on top of a car, blocking the road and taking out the electricity. Sparks flew as the loose electrical wires danced like snakes, luckily no one was inside the car.
     "Get those people inside!" former sheriff Davey Hart shouted, running over to help, followed by Hal, Lou and the priest.
     "Go! Get inside the church!" Dave shouted over the noise of the rain, motioning people to hurry.
       "Father...You get back inside and tend to those folks, we'll take care of this.." Davey said, father Gomez nodded them headed back inside.
        "Okay, Hal...I want you and Lou to go outside the walls and see if you can go way round the other side of the blockage and signal the cars approaching, tell them they have to leave their cars and go on foot." Davey said, "I'll ask Tim and Martin to help me find a way to shut the main power source, meantime, you tell people to keep their distance from those live wires." he added.
   "Sure will do sheriff....I mean Dave." Hal replied, running off ahead.
    "Tim! Martin!" Dave called out as he approached the shelter of the walls of the church at the gate.
     "What can we do to help?" Tim asked as Dave strutted towards them.
     "You two come with me, bring your riffles with you, we're going to have to find a way to shut the main power."
    "That would be south from here, first lake's energy transmitter, but that's near the lake." Martin said, obviously a little less happy about it.
     "I know....look I can't give you any gaurantees that it will be safe out there..." Dave said.
      "We're in....A lot of good people...friends died trying to help out, we're not backing out from this fight." Tim said.
      "Let's just pray we don't come across any of those creatures...We stick together and try to stir as far as possible from harm, you guys already have first hand experience with these creatures, I'm sure that will come in handy." Dave remarked, moving towards the gate.
       "We have to keep our eyes open and be alert, those creatures are quite intelligent." Tim said, following Dave.
       "I wouldn't mind coming across one of them, been dying for some payback." Martin said.
        "You'll get your chance, but for now, let's just get the job done and hope we don't get killed in the process." Dave concluded, heading out in the rain.

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Authors Note

Hi there! How do you like the story so far? I've added more characters to make the story more interesting, expect more surprises to come! So please keep reading! Thanks 'ya all!
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