Chapter 211: Outsiders! Red Alert! [Part 1]
Cillin’s side was almost done with its work when they received the notice that the mining operation was complete.
The flying transport had transported the tree species and raw materials they selected back to the spaceplane. The gray cat and its gang were also very satisfied with this trip, considering that they had stuffed themselves with so much food that they looked like a ball.
“Let’s go. We can come back later if we need anything else.”
Cillin gathered everyone over this side and returned to the mining location. A moment of inspection later, they got up the spaceplane, returned to the starship parked outside the planet and began the return journey.
Every team’s op time was different from each other. When Cillin and the rest had returned, there were still three teams who were busy mining energy ores and metal ores.
“How’s the reward?” Shawton looked at the group of people who were unloading the goods not far away and asked Cillin.
Cillin smiled back at him. It was obvious that he was more satisfied than usual.
“It’s okay. We didn’t find any good metal ores to mine, but the energy ores we found are acceptable. More importantly, we’ve transplanted some important plants that will save us a lot on medicinal raw materials cost. The medicines’ bioactivity and quality are not bad.”
They had turned in the report of that planet’s detailed situation to the technical team. The Sixth B Squadron’s technical team would integrate the information the ops teams had gathered during their operation and complete the star map. Every once in a while, they would report the integrated information to the relevant personnel among the A Squadrons so that Vanguard could enjoy a more in-depth starmap layout of the region they were in. This would make future operations more convenient.
After chatting with Shawton a little about his trip, the duo arrived at Sigma’s little garden.
In the past, there were only some rather primitive local plants that were grown in Sigma’s little garden. Although the garden had a lot space, there wasn’t much content in it at all. The idea had sprung in Sigma’s head after it watched some videos released by the media, but it quickly discovered upon execution that there were only a lot of weed and not much flora species on the planet. It looked nothing like the colorful and pretty gardens in the videos.
This time though, Sigma’s little garden was enriched.
They had also acquired some fish eggs that were preserved and raised in specialised fish breeding grounds and gave them to Sigma. Cillin was sure that the addition of these fishes and new tree species would give this little garden a whole new look in the future.
Right now, the gray cat and the animals spent almost the entire day throwing one terrible suggestion after the other at Sigma’s little garden. They practically had next to no gardening experience at all and were completely talking out of their asses. Thankfully Sigma had specifically researched into this field before, and Czedow was around to provide support. More than 90% of the tree species had been successfully planted.
There were also some eggs in Sigma’s little garden. They were the Lovages’ eggs. The Lovage guardian beasts had entered a breeding season, but Sigma was the one who incubated and hatched the birthed eggs. Currently, the garden’s environment was very suitable for the incubation of the synthesized beasts’ eggs. They could just be left at the garden without need for temperature or humidity control.
A few days later, seven second generation Lovages were born.
The Lovages are omnivorous, and Sigma said they could eat a lot of things and withstand hunger. However, these newborns weren’t as hunger-resistant as their adult counterparts. Since the Sixth B Squadron didn’t have any meat to spare them, they had no choice but to keep the little Lovages on a vegetarian and nutrient diet, replenishing the various nutrients they needed to grow.
Cillin had determined that the first generation Lovages had eaten meat before, and the majority of their meat-based meals were humans too. This was because the Lovages had looked at him like he was a familiar food back when he first ran into them.
These newborns looked at humans with pretty friendly eyes though. Perhaps the chip that functioned as their brain contained such a program. Still, these little fellows still hadn’t taken a life or eaten meat before, and he couldn’t bring them out on a mining operation because they wouldn’t leave the planet. Therefore, Cillin was pondering if he should capture some ‘insects’ in the future and have them enjoy their first taste of flesh.
Cillin didn’t set out to find his ‘insects’. This was because something happened on the planet before the next operation arrived, just a short while after he came up with the idea.
On this day, Shawton was going through the ops teams’ status reports and preparing a summary. This was because the A Squadron was sending a few people over to inspect on their progress and reward them with material resources based on their merits.
Shawton was engrossed in reading when he suddenly received an emergency notice from a squadron member.
“Commander, a spaceplane is headed our way. We’ve not received any replies to our warning messages except for a looping distress signal. What do we do?”
Normally, all unidentified flying objects were given warning first and then shot later if the warning call was unheeded. However, this spaceplane had been sending out a continuous stream of distress signal without responding to any of their communication requests.
“Are there any life signs on the ship?” Shawton asked.
“The scanner indicates yes, but these life signs aren’t clear. They’re also almost completely stationary. No other signs were detected besides these.”
“The scanners found nothing else on the spaceplane?”
“No, at the very least the spaceplane’s exterior does not contain any parasites or viruses.”
Shawton thought for a moment before asking, “How long will it take to reach here?”
“About five minutes. Looking at its trajectory, it will land outside the base’s domain if it reaches on our planet. The coordinate is…”
The squadron member sent some of the data he analysed to Shawton.
“Watch them closely.”
By that Shawton meant that they would allow the spaceplane to descend, but also enter into a state of readiness themselves. They would treat this spaceplane as a threat regardless of whether it actually was one. Better safe than sorry.
“Will do, commander,” the squadron member began to do follow up work after the report. He sounded a little excited, and was obviously looking forward to cure some of his accumulated boredom with this unknown target.
Shawton connected to a different channel after cutting communication with that squadron member.
“Attention to all teams, attention to all teams, an unidentified flying object will be reaching our planet in…”
Shawton notified everyone inside the base about the incident. Everyone knew what they should do to deal with such a situation.
Some people who were just about to catch some sleep jumped out of their beds and ran towards outside excitedly, meeting up with their own team members.
Cillin was just checking in on the growing trees inside Sigma’s little garden, noting that some trees were starting to grow fruits already. When he heard Shawton’s announcement, he put down the fruit in his hand and walked outside.
The blue line on Sigma’s face flashed once, and it quickly learned about the situation through the base’s scanner. But unlike in the past, Sigma didn’t need to do anything this time. The Sixth B Squadron would handle the situation themselves. Sigma was very curious how the Sixth B Squadron was going to deal with this, and so it let the little Lovage jumped down from its arm and left the little garden.
Team members gathered and assigned roles to themselves. There was no need for in depth explanation since they had coordinated themselves like this many times already.
“Okay, that’s all. Now go. Watch out for your defenses.”
Cillin’s fully armed team ran out impatiently the second he was done talking.
“What is it, Tico?” Cillin frowned and asked when he saw Tico still standing at the same spot.
“Something’s not right.”
Tico pointed at the the rabbit hiding inside her coat’s front pocket with her chin. The rabbit was currently drooping its ears and burying its head deeper into Tico’s pocket. It looked like it was trying to hide from something.
Cillin turned on his communicator after he saw the rabbit’s behavior, “Attention to all team members. Red alert! Red alert!”