With a week having passed and it now being the 28th of the second month, they were down to just about 5,121 units of food and 2,836 units of purified water.
Having surveyed the exact location of a deep pocket of water underground with more than enough to supply them for a lifetime or longer and, of course, built a treatment plant above it to purify it, they didn't have to worry about the second number.
On the other hand, they had roughly 74 days of food left without rationing it for 57 people. A little longer than two months. The problem was that Ridge knew they didn't bring any sort of seeds or method of producing food on their battleship. After all, they weren't assigned any kind of colonization mission, and for the most part, ships within the Federation, especially battleships, only carried extra metal, wiring, ship ammunition, and a couple of trailblazers in case an outpost needed help being built.
Walking through the hallways of the base, he made his way over to the clinic. Entering, he was met with the sight of a couple of scientists seemingly engaged in some research; what it was, Ridge honestly couldn't understand. He also saw behind a slightly opened curtain Becke, who was still in a coma, hooked up to a tube of what was likely some type of solution keeping him alive and healthy. Hearing the noise of the door opening, one of the scientists, Ryan, had gotten up from his desk, which held a makeshift computer system. "Commander," he spoke, "What brings you here?"
"I wanted to discuss with you the food situation and if we can rely on local fauna or animals to eventually make up for our lack of stored food in around two months."
"Sure," the scientist said before leading him to another smaller room further inside the clinic that seemed to closely resemble a meeting room. Though based on the amount of paper stamped on the walls, with a bunch of data scribbled here and there, he surmised that this was the place they compiled all their research together.
"I'm surprised you guys are still using paper; why not just use the database on your wrist panels? The communications array has been constructed so the signal on this planet for a good distance around the base is strong, and the extra power needed for charging is more than covered with our advanced solar panels," Ridge said as they sat down across from each other with a metal table in between.
"It's just a matter of convenience to write down thoughts that can come from nowhere, plus the federation has always encouraged paper backups. Once we finish a research topic, we typically add it into our database on the panels after the fact," Ryan replied.
"Now then, about the food, so you've come over here to talk primarily about the local fauna?"
"Yes and no, I'd like to know if there are perhaps other methods we could use, but I guess this will most likely be about the local food on this planet, yes," Ridge explained. He was still hoping that they wouldn't need to go foraging, just for the fact that it increases the percentage of something going wrong, and losing members so early on would be very detrimental to progress.
"Hmm, to be frank, although we did manage to sample some of the foliage and other things nearby the base, there wasn't anything that could actually be used as food. Artificially modifying them through computer simulations to have some sort of satiating effect similar to wheat or barley in coro led to no results as well. As for the local game or animals, from what I can tell, even you haven't encountered any during your early scouting missions, so until we get a sample, preferably a live one, I honestly can't answer your questions effectively right now," Ryan replied after a moment of contemplation.
Such a long-winded explanation could be briefly summarized in Ridge's mind to a simple no. They were stuck with what they had currently stored. Letting out a sigh, Ridge sat up from the chair, and Ryan closely followed, "Okay, once we finish the mining outpost and organize the labor needed, I'll take some soldiers from the base and one scientist; we'll go exploring deeper into the forest."
"Understood, Commander. As a side note, Becke's health for the most part is now in the green; realistically, he could wake up at any moment now. Though of course the human body is a mysterious thing even for our current technology, so we'll keep a close eye on him and notify you of any changes," Ryan said while leading him back out of the room.
Nodding Ridge followed and continued on his own out of the clinic room. Shaking his head slightly in disappointment, he got back to work. With the treatment plant completed, a good five laborers had to be designated employees to run it efficiently. Luckily, the coro federation favored automation heavily, so the number of people needed to run most things was very minimal. This is also the reason why most ships didn't have large crews. Even the colossal or colossus-class ship, which was their largest designed and built, needed only around 10,000 people.
The day passed quickly, with most of his time being focused on the mining outpost, doing his utmost alongside some of the engineers to get it up and running. Though he was mostly there because only his authority allowed the engineers to essentially command the others at will to get the job done. Occasionally, due to being in such a rush, a crew member here and there got into arguments, but luckily nothing ever came of it with Ridge around.
By the end of the day, Caroline had reported to Ridge that the laboratory had been finished and that the clinic had been moved there as well. On his own side, the mining outpost was around 63% completed, the roads around the base had been completely paved and compacted, and finally the trench for the future wall surrounding the base had been dug out.
A sense of civilization was beginning to arise on this planet. On his way back from the outpost with a group of people, he was discussing mundane topics like the weather and what they would eat for dinner though it was likely just going to be the same block as it has been since they got deployed even before this situation, when, out of nowhere, an urgent ping hit his wrist panel, and after quickly opening it, he got the message from Yayha simply saying, "Look Up!"
Confused, he quickly followed the instructions and noticed immediately that yet another ship was entering the atmosphere of the planet and burning up, as it seemed to be on a course to crash. Its design clearly indicated it was another coro battleship like theirs, though this time he distinctly noticed that it was much more damaged and there seemed to be colors of what could only be fungus on the side of the ship.
His face darkening, "Let's get back quick!" he barked out and immediately began to run towards the base. Luckily, being a soldier himself, he was able to make it back within half the time as some of the others and noticed that George had already assembled a team of ten soldiers holding plasma rifles.
Noticing him, George ran up quickly and handed over his weapons: the flamethrower and a knife; the flamethrower he had conveniently left at the basic armory on the ground to work more efficiently. "Commander, your orders!"
"We'll head over immediately to the crashed ships' location and try to find survivors. Good initiative bringing over only ten soldiers, excluding yourself; however, I want you to stay here at the base with the remaining soldiers and guard it. I'll take these guys and keep in contact with the wrist panel," Ridge ordered quickly while making sure he had everything he needed.
"Yes, sir," George replied with a solemn look on his face, though Ridge could obviously tell that he wanted to get in on the fighting as well, if there was any to be had that was. Unfortunately, someone needed to be at the base who could command the soldiers and make sure it was safe and sound when they got back, so there was no better candidate than George himself.
Nodding to him, he then turned to Yayha and some of the others who had now gathered around, "I'm leaving you in charge of everything else regarding the base until I get back. If you need help, lean on Caroline; after all, she has some experience leading others."
"No problems, sir, I await your safe return," he exclaimed aloud, saluting. The crowd that had gathered at this point also stood straight and gave him a salute. Returning it, he saddled his gun onto his back and set off towards the direction of the crashing ship.
Previously, the second ship, the frigate holding Becke and Reno, had crashed in the north, where there were mountains and hills they had to climb. This time the ship was crashing more towards the west, near the lake or ocean that Ridge had found when he first scouted the place.
The soldiers followed after him and into the forest of tall trees and foliage up to their knees. The foliage itself, while very inconvenient, only slowed them down a bit and just meant that they had to use more energy to walk through it. It was very similar to walking through snow in that manner. Cutting it up would simply take too much time, so Ridge settled for just walking through it and occasionally on top of it when it got too thick.
At the front of the group, Ridge kept his eyes out and made sure to have H.C Heart keep tabs on the location they needed to go with its long-range scanners. Looking down at his wrist panel occasionally to make sure they were going the right direction, eventually, after who knows how long, they heard a booming sound that seemed to echo through the tall trees.
It was very likely the ship finally crashing, from what Ridge could hear. Based on the sound alone, he also surmised that they landed on the beach itself rather than in the water. He wasn't sure exactly, but this was a good sign since it made their rescue operation much easier, though for the crew on the battleship, he imagined the landing was very rough.
Meanwhile at the now crashed ship....
Beep..Beep..Beep... Within the bridge, some figures had seemingly been knocked out cold from the impact, yet a few of them immediately got up at the sound of the alarm and rushed to the door of the bridge. It had a makeshift barricade of junk and furniture, and on top of that was a light machine gun. The RMG-18 "Hailstorm" was a kinetic weapon used to suppress large crowds of enemies, but slightly heavy to carry and also uses up quite a bit of ammo.
Attached to the machine gun was a detachable drum which held the ammunition for it. One of the men who had gotten up early immediately reached for it and, after a split second, began to fire. Letting out a long spray of bullets into the dark.
Looking closely, however, the flashes of light revealed a crowd of screaming humans, or what used to be humans. Attached all over their skin, and especially their head, was some type of fungus. Though no one cared to find out what it was, all they knew was that their friends were deceased at this point.
The loud bursts of gunfire eventually woke more and more of the crew, and one of them, in particular, wore a uniform indicating his status as commander.
Shaking his head, he got up groggily and staggered over to a metal table that had seemingly survived the crash. Looking around, he noticed at least seven others who had managed to survive. The bodies on the floor that hadn't moved, even to indicate that they were breathing, numbered roughly thirteen. Some could still be underneath rubble, but he couldn't tell.
"Commander! Commander! What's next!" shouted what looked to be a soldier who was bleeding from his head.
Closing his eyes and shaking his head once more to clear the loud ringing, he sharply opened them and focused. Now wasn't the time to be lollygagging.