Chapter 1

January 5351 The Jollic Galaxy

AJ

The Interstellar P4 Transport ship flew through space, thousands of stars passed by in the distance. AJ had been on the ship for almost five days. She was in a private room at the top of the ship in the Sergeants quarters. She sat at a desk and looked over documents, an overview of the planet she was assigned and files of potential team members. She was headed to an Intergalactic Exploration Force Base on the planet Shrendder-X9. She was asked personally by Commander Harkin to head the Alpha Expedition Team.  I’m so excited! She thought. This was her first big assignment. She had already picked her weapons expert and second in command for the team, Nor Arngaard. She had worked with him on several other bases, and they had been dating for several years. Nor had suggested a young man by the name of SP, a blossoming young cartographer that couldn’t get away from The Station. AJ looked over SP’s file, the headshot of a shaggy haired twenty-five-year-old was looking sorrowfully back at her as if something haunted him. He had a successful resume if she ignored his last semester at the Academy. She placed SP in the maybe pile.

 AJ leaned back in her chair and looked out the window into the darkness of the Jollic Galaxy, stars glimmered in the distance. She checked her watch, it was almost time for the sergeants meeting. AJ grabbed the files that made up her pile of candidates. She took a deep breath, stood, and left her room. She walked down the wide hallway flanked with the other sergeants’ rooms and made her way back to the stairway that led to the conference room at the back of the ship. She felt a buzz and checked her com, a message from Nor. Hope the meeting goes well, and you get the team members you want. She smiled, he was sweet. She climbed the stairs and entered the conference room. It reminded her of a picture she had seen of the Space Needle back on earth. The room was a large circle with glass windows all around. In the center was a large circular table filled with other sergeants sitting around talking, comparing notes and thoughts on the new planet. AJ nodded politely to some of the sergeants she did not recognize and then walked to the table and sat between Antonio Flores and Tiera Holpeck. They were chatting about the base, aptly named the Treehouse as Shrendder-X9 was a planet covered in dense jungle. AJ listened as she organized her files.

“Hi AJ, what team did you get?” Tiera asked happily, turning to face her. Teira was bubbly, an intricate iridescent tattoo ran up her arm. “I got assigned to Team Theta.” Excitement radiated from her smile.

“Alpha Team.” AJ said confidently, she sat up a little straighter as she looked around the table and noticed all the other sargents she had beat out to become leader of the top squad. There were grizzled veterans with at least twenty years of expeditions under their belts and others she had learned from at the academy. 

“Congratulations!” Tiera said, a twinge of jealousy flashed across her face. “You deserve it!” 

“Thanks Tiera.” AJ said, smiling. Tiera nodded and joined a conversation about the mystery of the lost ship whose last known location was around this star system. AJ shrugged and looked over to Antonio. “How are you Antonio?” She asked. 

         Antonio lifted his gaze from a file with a photo of a woman with curly red hair and thick glasses. “I am doing well AJ, how about yourself?” He asked. Antonio was muscular and stern, his voice rumbled. Antonio thoughtfully stroked his goatee. 

         AJ smiled. “Doing well, I never liked deciding who I want on my team.” She rifled through her pile of potential team members, scientists, tacticians, people in the top of their class. She always struggled to choose off of paper, she did better meeting people and choosing that way. Antonio nodded and looked at some of the people in her pile, he removed three manilla folders and put them on the floor. 

“You won’t want any of these.” He said.  At that moment a tall broad man dressed in the signature Intergalactic Exploration Force Commanders uniform, a silver suit with a thick black tie strode into the room, his medals jingled as he walked. The room fell silent as he reached the table. Behind him was a small woman with long straight red hair and a tablet. AJ noticed the woman had an artificial left leg as she walked with a slight limp. The commander and the woman stood at the table, he looked around and gestured with his large hands for the few people attempting to stand to remain seated.

         “Thank you for coming, everyone.” The commander's deep voice boomed the introduction through the glass room. “We will be arriving at the base shortly. The purpose of this meeting is to introduce you to the other team leaders and to familiarize yourself with the planet and the base.” He gestured to the woman next to him, she appeared mousey next to the large commander, but AJ saw a ferocity in the woman. “This is Rayn she is the chief communications officer for the base.” Harkin said. The red-haired woman waved to the room. 

         “Hello.” Rayn said. A collective hello echoed back from the group. Rayn pulled out a remote and activated the holographic screen in the middle of the table. Shrendder-X9 flashed onto the screen in large block letters. 

         “Thank you Rayn.” Commander Harkin said. Rayn nodded and stepped back. “Shrendder-X9.” The Commander continued. “This planet is near Star XT9-1TRE, it has a breathable atmosphere and its main ecosystem is rainforest.” A picture of a dense jungle with colorful four-winged birds and a vast array of rainbow flowers of all sizes came onto the screen. “Due to the density of the foliage satellite imaging has been spotty.” He continued. A satellite image was now on the screen, and it was a sea of green. “Our mission is to gather as much knowledge as we can. This planet is teeming with life that we can hopefully learn from.” A picture of the base popped up onto the screen, it was a large five story glass biodome. “This will be our new home. Construction has just been completed and we will be the first to arrive. More inhabitants will be arriving throughout the month.” Commander Harkin said. “Any questions?” He asked. AJ looked around the quiet conference room. 

         “Is there any intelligent life on this planet?” A woman across the table from AJ asked. 

Commander Harkin shook his head. “From all the scans and analysis done on the planet there have been no indications of intelligent or hostile life. It is an unexplored jungle so be aware while you and your teams are out collecting samples.” Harkin looked around the table then glanced at his watch. “We have three hours before we land.” Commander Harkin said. “I assume each of you has selected the members you would like on your team.” Rayn walked around the table handing out manilla folders to each of the team leads. “Please place the files of your preferred team members in the folders. You’ll be notified of your team after we land. Thank you.” He said. AJ looked through the files she had brought one more time. Rayn handed her a folder labeled ALPHA TEAM. AJ took a deep breath, and put four files in the folder, Nor Arngaard, Tairn Dwaga, Farris Nguyen-Cortez and SP Smithe. This should be who I need. She thought. Gasps and murmurs filled the room. She looked up from her folder and saw that everyone had stood and walked to the windows for a better view of their new home. In the distance she could see the planet approaching, a small green orb surrounded by the blackness of space. “It’s so green.” AJ heard. “It’s beautiful. Another said. “An emerald marble in space.” 

   “Enjoy the rest of the flight, we will meet again soon.” Commander Harkin said. He stood by the door and collected the manilla folders from the sergeants as they left the conference room. AJ handed Commander Harkin her folder and headed back to her room to prepare for landing.