For the third and final time, they walked back down the same halls, only the difference this time was the two extra people.
Taking a couple of turns and avoiding the fires and junk, they made it outside, moving straight to the cliffside where they had initially come from.
Putting down Commander Becke, the two soldiers sat down to rest for a bit. It wasn't that the commander was heavy or anything; it was just more of an energy preservation thing.
"Ok, here's what we'll do, I am gonna set down a couple of anchors at the top here and create a make-shift pulley. Using the stretcher, we can wrap him up and tie him in place to slowly lower him down. There should be enough rope to make it all the way down, but since it's a cliff, there are bound to be some winds, so we will need to be extra careful, " Ridge said extensively.
"Or we could literally just take him to the right and go down the slightly bumpy pathway that leads down," Caroline exclaimed while pointing.
Looking over to where she was pointing, Ridge was surprised to see that there was indeed a pathway, though of course it wasn't actually manmade. From the looks of it, there was probably a river of some sort that ran through here and down the mountain for who knows how long before drying up.
"Huh, ok, that works as well, let's keep moving then."
Saying this, he led the others to the path, and they started their descent quickly. Generally, they would be more cautious, but Ridge wanted to get back before the night fully set, the primary reason being the dark. After all, the dark isn't what was scary; it was what's in it that made Ridge more cautious. Unfortunately, he didn't know what was in it either, so his fears of the unknown certainly didn't help.
While they walked down the old river path, the group was rather silent; there wasn't much to speak about, and as for the newcomers, well, one was unconscious, and the other was closely guarded, despite coming from the same origin as them.
This continued for around twenty minutes, until finally someone broke the silence, "Well, do you expect there to really be some sort of danger in the dark, Commander?" Caroline asked while breaking the silence as they walked on, leaving the river pathway and into the forest.
"Yes, although we scouted a good majority of the area from the base, in reality there could be cracks and crevices all over the place being used to hide any thing, really, not to mention the tall trees that we can't exactly individually climb and check, even with drones it would take ages and still wouldn't be a good sweep of the area."
Ridge replied while making sure to keep an eye out for things that could be hiding, as he mentioned, before the silence could resume. George then spoke up.
"It's probably best that we start thinking of making fortifications to the base, honestly. I am thinking the likes of turrets and possibly more weapons that we could manufacture."
"Sure, it's a good thought, the problem is the materials, and the processing of said materials. I know there is a deposit as marked by the commander on our first few days here, but we still need to manufacture mining equipment capable of extracting those minerals," Caroline replied.
"Hm, do we not have enough stored materials on the ship for anything besides the base itself?" he answered back quickly.
Caroline, seemingly thinking, fell into silence once more, and Ridg, hearing this, contemplated the same question, only in a different manner than both of them. A much broader one.
The materials and manufacturing questions really brought to his mind the goals for the base. After setting up the building itself, Ridge really had no idea or plans other than surviving. He hadn't contemplated the issues of food, making weapons, or even how to grow the population. Tricky questions all with tricky answers, most likely.
He then shook his head slightly. When he got back to the base, he would see what they had stocked up and then decide on a future endeavor. Probably after resting, though.
"We have more than enough for just a singular goal, so we either manufacture weapons or we manufacture and create an extraction machine to mine on the planet," Caroline said.
"I see, how tricky," George replied.
Letting out a quick sigh, Ridge looked back briefly, "We will create the mining equipment first. When we get materials, it will be easier to do many other things, so make that a priority for you and your team when we get back, Caroline. George, you make sure to help her, if necessary, of course, otherwise your main goal is to simply guard the base from anything hostile."
"Got it," said George, and Caroline replied immediately after, "No worries, it shouldn't be too hard since the supplies were originally meant to go to a mining outpost anyways, the only downside is that the equipment will essentially be permanent and can't be moved as easily."
"Understood, for now, I have no plans to leave the planet, so we can just make do and continue gathering materials until we can build as much as we want. Let's continue moving. We will discuss any specifics at the base if necessary. I don't want to be too distracted while we are still out here," Ridge said.
For who knows how long, they walked and walked through the forest, only occasionally seeing some markers that the base and Ridge himself had put down while scouting to make sure nobody would get lost if they wandered, though of course it wasn't advisable to wander alone.
Finally, they made it to the base, the people there were still working and constructing not only extra appendages to the main building, but also clearing ground and creating pathways or roads for vehicles to move on, small or big. It was now at this point beginning to look like a colony outpost that was for sure.
Reno, who was a newcomer, also saw this sight and was slightly amazed at how quickly they had managed to adapt and create a base from nothing, especially after crash-landing. These thoughts brought her back to her own crew, who were all but seemingly dead, and she shook her head and sighed. Best not to compare, she thought to herself, while also looking at the battleship just above the base that was in much better condition than her own frigate.
Getting back before the star had set, they quickly attracted the attention of the others who were still mingling around and doing any necessary work on the base.
Before anyone could come up to ask any questions, however, Ridge waved them off, and they immediately threw away the idea of gathering towards the returning party.
"Do you guys have a room set up within the base for all your medical and research needs?" He asked Lind.
"Still needs to be worked on, but we do have a room currently available," She said.
"Okay, you two soldiers follow Lind to the medical room and take care of the commander," he said as they moved to the base.
"I would like to be with the commander as well, sir, if that's acceptable," Reno said quickly as the soldiers began to move out. Ridge simply nodded. He didn't actually require any more important information from her, so he felt it was in his best interest to just let her be with her commander to reassure her.
Finally entering the base, Ridge had walked back to his room while the others peeled off from him one by one to go do their own activities.
Just as he was about to relax, a knock sounded out.
Sighing, he got up and opened the door. Outside were a couple of the scientists that had been left behind, "Sir, we have some preliminary results in regards to that crystal we found when we initially landed on the planet."
Hearing this, Ridge's irritation immediately dissipated. "Well, take me to the lab, or whatever is set up."
Nodding in affirmation, they led him outside and just a little ways away from the main building, to a new but smaller building that was still under construction off to the side. There were already signs up that also clarified it was a laboratory.
"When did we build this?" Ridge asked as they got close, "It was something that we asked from the engineers with the spare materials that they had, we don't wanna do experiments or research possible viruses in the main building, for example. That's just a disaster waiting to happen," One of the scientists, Hopi, answered.
"Makes sense, I guess," he replied and then quit the small talk.
Entering the building, they passed through a disinfecting room and, after being sprayed, entered the building. The sight wasn't really grand, but it had all the basic looks of a laboratory within the federation. Cabinets here and there, some glass beakers, what looked like microscopes, things of that nature, though to Ridge, it didn't really appeal to him. What did catch his attention, however, was the crystal that was lying within a transparent box.
"So what was it that you guys found?" Ridge asked while observing the crystal.
"Well, for starters, the crystal's color has changed. Initially, it was purple, and now it has taken a more bluish color with a red hue mixed in. Second, we managed to scrape some of the material off of it in small quantities and tested it through one of our preserved machines from the federation. We managed to gather a sort of spiritual element?" Hopi said hesitantly, while leaning and observing the crystal.
"Spiritual element? What do you mean by that exactly?" Ridge asked curiously.
"Well, long story short, the federation has already been testing and prodding into the more mysterious substances of our universe, and one of those substances that was discovered had a spiritual element to it that was influenced primarily by certain people who had a higher mental capacity than average. Or I guess in the military's case, it was a stronger will than the average person. The influences to be even more specific were things like telekinesis, or fire control," Hopi replied.
"I would label that as more supernatural, no?" Ridge said while looking around the crystal.
"Yes, basically, those final examples I gave, though, weren't as literal as they sound. By fire control, I simply meant that a person in a room filled with the mysterious substance who had a strong will was merely able to slightly heat up the palm of their hand. As for the telekinesis, the person merely moved a small piece of paper that was the size of my nail," Hopi said while grabbing some data from his wrist panel.
Ridge nodded and waited for Hopi to finish what he was doing, "Anyways, getting back on topic, this crystal seems to essentially be a dense form of that mysterious substance. It has no effect on us as of yet, but I think we may be able to do some more experimenting once the lab is complete and we have all the needed tools to research it," Hopi said after looking up and letting out a long sigh.
"Understood, is that all you guys have for now? Just the confirmation of what it is," Ridge said.
"Basically, and we also brought you here to essentially raise our budget, although in this case it would be the amount of time and energy spent on building up the lab with our engineers and using materials that are currently stockpiled," Hopi replied with some hope in his eyes.
"Unfortunately, I can't do that, Hopi, at least for now, I can't, we are currently going to be using the stockpiled resources to finish up the base, and then finally construct a mining facility in the south where we found a mineral deposit," Ridge said, which immediately made Hopi disappointed.
"Got it, well, this isn't really a priority right now anyways, just a scientist's curiosity, I won't see you off, I will continue the work here and notify you if something more extraordinary happens," Hopi shook his head and continued to work through his data and doing whatever it was scientists do.
Ridge, seeing this, smiled halfheartedly in response and left the makeshift laboratory and walked back into his room. No one seemed to bother him this time, and he finally lay his head down to rest. Not before taking his off suit first, of course.
When he was walking back, the bases' purifiers had already been up and running, and the engineers working on them had also told him that the air was purified and safe to breathe in by now. So trusting their words, he took his helmet off and breathed in deeply.
Letting out the breath, he nodded and cracked his neck before lying down fully to go to sleep.
Another day survived, he thought to himself before going into deep sleep.