The probing or surveillance drones that the soldiers released ended up scanning nothing of actual value; however, Ridge had the soldiers keep them out while they walked around and grabbed samples just in case.
"Let's get moving, Scientists. Let us know whenever you want to stop to grab samples, and, um, for efficiency's sake, let's just have Lind be the one to tell us," Ridge said while looking around.
"Got it, sir. I will make sure to inform you of when we need to collect samples. The first few that need to be collected are what we are stepping on, and then we are also testing the air quality right now," Lind replied quickly while rapidly disassembling a few test kits that would be used to test the air quality.
With time passing, the soldiers slowly expanded their search range with the surveillance drones. Adhering to Ridges' orders, they also made sure to stick to the scientists like glue. The air had been tested to be safe to breathe, but for fear of airborne pathogens, everyone decided to keep their helmets on; they then successfully tested the grass-like plants that were almost like moss and determined that they were safe to touch and even ingest. The team moved further away from the platform to test more fauna.
The surveillance drones that had been rolled out earlier were continuing their scans of the surrounding area and, more importantly, getting under the grass to spot any creatures that may be around.
One of the soldiers was looking at his wrist panel that was receiving the transmitted image of one of the drones, and noticed something peculiar that the drone had almost gone over before he stopped it manually.
Taking a closer look, he squinted his eyes and saw a hint of purple sticking out of the ground. Walking over to Lind, he shared the wrist panel video.
"What do you think this is?"
"I am not sure, let's head over there with the others after finishing up in this area. Could be something important." Lind replied while examining the footage.
The soldier also quickly transmitted the video to him before tapping on the side of his helmet to connect a call to Ridge, who wasn't very far, but due to the orders of strictly staying by the scientist's side, he wanted to play it safe, and at the same time, he didn't want to shout.
The call connected, Ridge casually answered, "What's the matter?"
"Sir, we have found with a drone a speck of purple that, in my opinion, looks almost like a crystal in the ground, though scientist Lind didn't make any assumptions. Instead of splitting from the group, we wanted to contact you to get your opinion on whether we should check it out together." The soldier replied.
Ridge, hearing this, was slightly interested and decided to check it out, though first he needed the scientists to complete their work.
"There are others on this channel from the team that can hear me, so I will say it here, we will check it out for sure, before that, however, make sure to finish up the remaining samples of the fauna. As mysterious as this purple thing could be, at the end of the day, it's not as important as cataloging the plants and life on the planet," Ridge replied.
The others followed his orders and simply continued as they were. The initial soldier who had found the crystal also made sure to keep his drone in the area.
The wait wasn't very long, and soon enough, with enough collected samples, the group moved closer together and followed the drones to the purple shard or crystal that had been spotted earlier. Ridge took the lead, and the scientists themselves weren't far behind with the entire group of soldiers surrounding them.
This method of moving was most certainly slow, but unfortunately for Ridge, he had experience with the consequences of being lax.
Once upon a time while still in the space of the federation he had been assigned a mission with the previous commander to take out a group of pirates that had been smuggling and pillaging stolen goods from a major trade route of the federation that connected some of the further mining stations on the outskirts of the territory to the main planets that needed those goods. Of course, the main planets also provided population as well as living supplies along this trade route to the outer stations, so traffic was generally heavy.
While on that mission they had scouted the pirate group residing on a planet that hadn't been colonized, once they landed the ship and lowered the platform to disembark, they followed the same protocols that were being done today, however this time after sending out the drones and seeing nothing, Ridge had ordered the men to break formation and move towards the marked target they scouted with the battleship.
This lax attitude led to an ambush in which many of his men were being picked off one by one without putting up much of a fight. This kept going till eventually one of the soldiers noticed that the drones were being hacked by something and showing different images from reality.
During this time, that report had made Ridges' heart drop, and immediately he ordered the rest of the men to group up closer and move together. By then, though the group had already lost around ten or so soldiers and he needed to retreat to the landing point to call for more reinforcements before eventually he got revenge and took out the entire pirate group. Nonetheless, the lesson had been dealt, and turned a simple mission into heavy losses for the ship.
Scanning his surroundings, he kept himself cautious, and finally, they made it to the purple speck in the dirt. Kneeling, Ridge grabbed his sword and, with a slicing motion, the top layer of the fauna was cut off, clearing the space and allowing the group to see the item.
Picking up what looked like a rock, Ridge threw it at the object while he had his group retreat slightly.
Once the rock hit the shard, the only sound was a dink that resembled glass, but fortunately, no other reactions occurred.
Nodding at the scientists, they began to dig out the object and saw that it was a lot deeper and bigger than it looked.
"Let's dig this thing out and set up a small camp beneath the ship. I don't want this thing inside until we figure out what it does and or could do."
Hearing Ridge, the scientists nodded and kept digging. Finally, after a few minutes or so of clearing dirt, they had managed to dig the purple shard out, or at least what was a shard had become a large rhombus-shaped crystal that held some weight to it.
"Let's just get some of the drones to carry it together," One of the scientists said while also examining the crystal.
Ridge nodded, "Have the drones come back to carry this, we can relax a little now, just make sure you are always with your partner."
The group began operating, and after the drones had been recalled by the soldiers, they began to assemble into a small wagon-shaped vehicle that had the crystal placed atop it.
Because the fauna was somewhat in the way, the soldiers had also begun using their swords to clear the way back to the ship and make a path for the crystal.
The entire sequence of actions took around twenty minutes, and finally, when they reached the platform, Ridge began to contact the others on the ship.