It had been only an hour or so while Ridge was getting ready and preparing with the other soldiers that Caroline had quickly returned with the list. At this point, Ridge was gathering with the six or so soldiers as well as the three scientists, prepping to leave.
"Here you go, commander," She said bluntly, handing over the list via the wrist panel. Ridge, receiving it, turned around in surprise, and nodded, "Thanks, I'll review the list when we get back. We're gonna take the scientists and grab fauna samples and test the air, while I'm gone, you and Yayha will watch over the ship. I don't expect to be gone for longer than a day at most."
"Understood, sir. Good luck and stay safe."
After wishing Ridge and the others good luck, she left the platform room they were in and returned to work on repairs or whatever else was necessary to do.
The current room they were in was essentially a loading platform on the bottom of the ship and was typically used for ground forces, as well as mining vehicles or military vehicles that would mostly have a greater effect on the ground rather than floating in space, although most vehicles also had a sort of suction or magnet technology that kept them grounded to whatever surface even in space.
Turning around Ridge grabbed his weapons and after one final check faced the others, "Okay, there are a total of ten of us, what I would like is for two soldiers to defend a scientist at all times, I will also be free roaming around the group going wherever I'm needed, but while I don't think I need to remind a majority of you Im still going to say it, don't fight alone, if you see an enemy immediately retreat and regroup, we will all be stronger together than apart, we also can't afford to lose more people from the ship."
"Finally, do one final check on each other's equipment and make sure we have everything, I don't want to be in the middle of something when my team can't respond with the appropriate measures because they forgot something," Finishing his small speech the others within the platform resounded with a yes sir and began to check one anothers equipment. George, the newly promoted captain, also took the liberty of checking Ridge's equipment one more time, and after getting an all clear, Ridge fiddled with his wrist panel and eventually connected to a signal.
"Berkay, how long till we touch down?" he asked. The speakers on the panel were slightly muffled, so Ridge brought his wrist to his ear and focused. Luckily, he soon heard what he wanted, "Touchdown in two minutes, you'll feel us parking up."
With the signal call disconnected, the others hearing in quickly got into a circle formation surrounding the scientist and waited to be lowered.
Two minutes passed by quickly, and before the group knew it, they felt the ship shaking, so they made sure to steady themselves and keep their balance. The scientists themselves had almost fallen, but luckily, nearby soldiers who had this sort of training kept them steady.
The speaker within the platform room emitted some static but eventually cleared up, "Sir, the ship has touched down and parked, you can disembark, we'll make sure everything stays safe here."
Hearing Yayha over the speaker, Ridge walked up to the very back left of the platform, where on the railings of the platform that were close by the wall, there was a panel lying flat. Ridge, seeing this, began to interact with it.
On the screen, a depart button back to shine and after pressing it down the platform shook for a second and then began descending.
The other soldiers kept their weapons ready, and the scientists were also kept within the circle as they lowered. Putting the panel down, Ridge joined them and kept watch.
The group was lowered slowly, and Ridge, now helmeted, looked around. The only sounds audible were the respirators on their helmets and an almost inaudible wind that seemed to howl. Of course, the platform itself was emitting a mechanical lowering sound that kept things relatively loud.
Looking around, the blue-green fauna seemed similar to grass; however, unlike as observed earlier, Ridge also noticed as they lowered that there was an almost second layer of flooring hidden underneath the plants, the coloring of the new flooring seemed more like the accustomed dirt brown they were used to. It appeared that any small animal could hide underneath this grass, as such Ridge warned the others who had also begun to notice the change, "Keep an eye out on the grass, it's more like a covering than actual grass growing from the ground, anything small could be hiding underneath it."
Finally, after a minute of lowering, the platform landed on the ground with a thud, and going back to the panel, Ridge pressed down on the lock button. Essentially, what that did was make sure that only he and a few others with access could start the platform once again to rise back into the ship.
Looking up, Ridge also made sure that the shielding of the ship was intact, which it was luckily. This shielding was a pale blue color that was only activated when there were openings within a ship, either in outer space or on planets such as this one. It ensured nothing could enter unknowingly and acted as a sort of wall.
This particular technology was primarily used to fight against insects and birds, which had reportedly kept on getting inside ships so frequently when landing on planets, that a scientist who was working ended up getting bit by a mosquito like creature, which, in turn caused him to fail an experiment that could have propelled his career to new heights.
Fortunately for him, he had become so angry at the bug and determined to ensure it never happened again that he made a new technology, one that ended up giving him the same achievements and riches, if not more, than what he was seeking originally. Though Ridge wasn't exactly sure if this was all true or not.
The soldiers, in the meantime, had spread out in a circle and had their rifles raised in all directions. They also rolled out a couple of probe balls that scanned the surroundings for any life.
"Alright, let's get to work," Ridge said while clearing his head from distracting thoughts.