Following up the chaos caused by saboteurs in First Haven, everyone living in the settlement until now prepared to leave the area and join crewmates who gathered in the Industrial Caves.
Since they already managed to get used to the current place, which was especially the case for colonists, it was not an easy task to organize the move. People, personal items, vehicles, resources and so on - there were so many things to do for this whole process to be successful.
Being aware of how big of a task this is, John worked together with the settlement's committee to divide the workload among available staff for the move to be done smooth and fast.
One of the main points of their plan was getting Ursus back operational and able to move around - having run analysis for moving all the items from First Haven, this was the only way for carrying everything from here to Industrial Caves in one go. Of course, this came with a number of problems to resolve, and it was not only understanding Sveta's thinking when she disabled key functions, but also finding someone to operate this colossal mecha.
The first part, that is regaining full control of the systems and making sure it could move around, ended up being the easiest thing in this plan with Marlow's engineering skill applied. However, finding an operator was a completely different matter - as Ursus class mecha were expensive and sold only to authorized organizations, and required high-level qualifications, the number of people with papers to pilot them was highly limited. Even among the crew involved in the Future project, there were only two operators assigned per a single unit - main pilot and their backup. However, due to incidents that happened on the way, these numbers were lowered, which was also the reason why Glitter was responsible for the unit stationed in First Haven.
Knowing the complexity coming with the Ursus' piloting, they started with another review of the personnel available in both settlements, but - without a surprise - did not find anyone with appropriate qualifications. It was not that unusual - after all, majority had their own machines assigned and, hopefully, got stranded somewhere around the planet or, in worst scenario, ended up dead due to various circumstances. People from First Haven would have been really lucky to find someone being a backup operator within a limited group of crash landing survivors.
Without pilots having the necessary papers, all they could do was to check among all available mecha pilots, looking for those with the most versatile skillset. Owing to that, they found several potential candidates, from among whom they picked two and assigned them to the job alongside John, accompanied by several people acting as support staff - the main reason was to provide aid in managing lower priority systems, while the main operators would focus on maneuvering.
In this setup, Marlow was mainly supposed to supervise the whole process, issuing orders and monitoring the personnel - as the events in First Haven had to be mentioned to colonel Ryan McRae for him to provide required support, he was highly concerned about the safety of people and equipment that remained. Given how special Ursus was, higher-ups would have never allowed for the mecha to get into the hands of any potential conspirators, therefore John gained authority over the giant's move to the next location with the condition of being obliged to destroy or, at least, immobilize it should there be a possibility of Ursus falling into wrong hands. Having this in the back of his head, major had no other choice than to select a position that would allow him to have a full visibility over all the data processing within the mecha's main framework, therefore the main control room and seating with operators made the most sense.
It may sound obvious in such circumstances, but John made sure to have at least a few people he could trust onboard in case of trouble, thus he got Martin, Stan and Andy all involved. Moreover, one of the pilots they selected was part of military group, which gave them a much better visibility on the man's profile than it was for the other operator, who came from colonists group, being an ex-miner with experience working on industrial version of Ursus in the past. In case some third party was to cause any trouble, this should be enough people to react - of course, Marlow hoped this time it will not come to this.
Once all the works related to making the mecha properly operational again came to conclusion, and major confirmed every other point being covered with high ranking officials from First Haven - Jeanne Dubois, Connor Cunningham and Arkadiusz Wilkowski, they called everyone for departure, leaving the settlement in a set order and creating a secure column to proceed smoothly through the route towards the Industrial Caves.
The way they structured the group was supposed to provide the best possible coverage from military personnel located up in front, in the back and on the sides to the civilian core in the centre. In this setup, the first military group were Brawlers, located in the spearhead, the second were Savages placed on the wings of the formation, while the very back was Ursus. Placement of units was purely tactical, making use of their respective traits - of course, Ursus itself was powerful enough to cover for such a group in normal circumstances, but since they did not have a real operator for that machine, they could by no means hope to achieve the results matching these of a professional, therefore - rather than trying to pull it off - they aimed to have different people and equipment split the tasks to ensure the safety.
Their column was not condensed. Quite contrary, they kept bigger distance between the key parts of the group, having Brawlers visibly ahead of the rest, while Savages were running in irregular intervals on the sides. Moreover, Ursus was marching far in the back - not only because of its lower speed and shockwaves made by its legs, but also because it was people on its board that made sure the First Haven's entrance is properly secured.
These units passing before the collossal mecha were much quieter and harder to notice by any living being on the New Gaia. On the other hand, Ursus was both easily noticeable, yet scary for most of the creatures on the planet so it was hardly possible for anything to attack it, unless it was some mega fauna predator from the highest threat level. Only these creatures could potentially cause damage to this mecha's armor according to research human scientists conducted so far, but were also among animals that would usually focus only on food and defending their territories and, as far as they were aware, no such creatures inhabited areas they were supposed to pass through.
Obviously, despite the high unlikeliness of such situation occurring, everyone was still extra cautious as to not step on something's tail, especially in circumstances where they could possibly come upon other people who might have supported parties for whom the success of Future project could become a potential hindrance. So far, John was pretty sure there were not many, if any, people aware of RuzDet's interest in the New Gaia, though most people around already figured out there are different parties involved in this whole expedition, only they did not know which companies exactly had their people mixed in. Either way, this made the crew extra alert, which situation had both positive and negative side - on one hand, they could expect to get reports about suspicious behaviors much faster, but at the same time, some could overreact and cause unnecessary commotion.
Marlow expected he ended up being one of the best informed people around, while being unable to easily share this information with others due to serious note Sveta left him after she left among the chaos caused in First Haven. This made him extra aware of potential dangers awaiting everyone participating in the Future project, but given all the concerns related to how trustworthy people are, he could only make the necessary moves in silence, thinking of solutions on his own. Because of that, even though this whole plan seemed perfect for everyone who supervised the preparations, John ended up being under a significant amount of stress, which apparently started showing on his face.
- Ease up a bit, John - it was Martin who spoke to him - I get this is an important task, but you look way too tense. It's almost as if you were holding something inside for way too long. Like, you don't have trouble with taking a dump or anything?
It took Marlow a moment to digest his friend's words among all this thinking he was going through.
- And here I thought you finally started behaving more appropriately and became a responsible adult - he immediately got back at Johnson - Still, I get and appreciate your concern, yet I feel all fine, just tired after all this work we had to put in.
Exhaustion point was only partially true, but John had to steer this conversation away from his true thoughts as to avoid teelling everything to Martin - after all, the amount of stress it was putting major under was tiresome and he was absolutely sure the moment he shares the info and his concerns with someone, he will definitely feel better. However, even though Johnson was among the people Marlow considered as potential targets with whom he could speak about everything Glitter left him, this was still not time and place for doing so, regardless of whether his friend was in any way connected to RezDet, any third party or none at all - there were simply way too many people around.
- Maybe you should get a short nap, major? - Andy, who was listening to this conversation, suggested that to John - We have plenty of security in place. Besides, if anything happens, we can just wake you up.
Hearing that, Marlow quickly shook his head.
- I don't think this will be necessary. I should be able to manage to stay awake until we reach the Industrial Caves. And, in case I start feeling worse, you can expect me to take a moment of rest, but expect you or Stan are going to take over for me.
Both sarge Krawczak and Szarak immediately confirmed their readiness to take on that duty if necessary, which looked straightforward and honest, making major Marlow feel even worse about his inability to trust them with what he received from Sveta. He definitely had to share this knowledge with someone for the ease of his mind.
In the end, the whole move from First Haven to Industrial Caves was concluded without any major incidents - there were some small technical issues like specific vehicles requiring fixes either due to malfunction or damage caused by transportation, but none of these significantly affected their plan as they included the time needed for fixing potential problems in calculations, therefore the whole group reached their destination before the dusk, which was extremely important for everyone to settle before it gets dark.
Upon their arrival, everyone had an individual spot assigned for setting up a new home in Industrial Caves - of course, a home had a different meaning depednding on how a specific person lived on this planet so far, thus there were those who just needed to put their pods on transporters somewhere on ground, as well as those for whom there had to be a different suuport in form of a temporary shelter or help with building something closer to a regular house. Fortunately, the crew already staying in the area got enough of a heads-up to make arrangements to house additional people.
Every person from the New Haven was taken into account for having an assignment in the new place, whether it was participation in scientific work or regular field work to obtain various resources, including food reserves. It goes without saying that each such person was to be given time to adjust to the new place and, overall, learn about the area as to avoid any potential accidents since this place was still considered quite a mystery.
While this place was new to them, many showed an interest in the plans higher-ups had for it and noticed a big potential in this area. Even people from colonist group, who had to ditch their hard work so far, seemed less reluctant after seeing how well developed this site was, despite it being still an early phase of the adjustments the crew started to make. Obviously, signs of positive attitude were one thing and it still did not mean this change would be easy for everyone. Still, John felt less worried now, despite it was only the first impression the group he brought had about the Industrial Caves.
Shortly after their arrival, major Marlow went to meet colonel McRae for a brief talk.
- Hey, John, good job making it here without issues on the way - Ryan welcomed him with words of praise - Please, have a seat. You want something to drink?
Marlow shook his head in response.
- No, thank you, I'm fine. If I'm to be honest, I feel a bit exhausted after all these recent events and it seems getting anything now could make it harder to get a decent sleep afterwards.
McRae nodded and poured a drink only for himself.
- Got it, you have a right to get a moment of rest. I think you can get a day off, even two, if you feel that's more likely the time you need. You did a good job, so you deserve it.
John sighed.
- I don't think it was such a great job. After all, we lost one of the camps and I couldn't do anything to prevent it. However, I would appreciate this time off either way.
Ryan took a sip of drink he poured before speaking:
- And you will get it granted, just submit the request and I will immediately approve. Still, your assessment here is off from my perspective. In the end, I sent you with a specific mission, which was getting us people to support the current works in this area, and you did exactly that. Events that took place at the same time were something you couldn't foresee as you didn't have enough intel, so it's expected you were caught off guard. Of course, if you pulled off some great move to get those guys taken care of, that would have been even better for our case, but I saw the report and I can't really blame you - being betrayed by someone you trusted, that's a tough thing to go through... - colonel stopped talking for a moment, looking at the glass, appearing as if he was suddenly deep in thoughts - Either way, the plan we have in place for this area could have as well caused the First Haven to be abandoned sooner or later, thus I cannot consider it a huge loss, no matter how rough it may sound. It's just me being honest here, John, no hard feelings. Though, I do feel bad about people and resources we've lost. After all, we - as military - are responsible for the safety of our crew.
Major Marlow carefully listened to what his superior was saying so far and some small phrasing used by colonel McRae caught his interest, and he felt this was something he should try to dig into sooner than later.
- You've mentioned intel, and I heard some rumors circling among the crew - John started the topic carefully as the matter was sensitive - Do you perhaps know anything about a specific group trying to hinder our mission here on the planet? There are supposedly people who joined the expedition solely to represent interests of their employers rather than these of Future project. More than that, people from the New Haven mentioned there were individuals unregistered in the crew who arrived there and caused minor incidents. So far, I know of several such cases happening during the course of my participation in Future project, but I would never expect someone who is not registered in our system to be here on the New Gaia.
With each word John said, Ryan's face was losing his positive mood to finally wear a serious look. Once Marlow stopped talking, McRae drank everything he had left in his glass, took a deep breath, most likely to collect himself, and sighed before saying anything.
- I won't lie to you, John, I had some information related to what you just mentioned and you surely remember our previous conversations about different factions being involved in the whole project, which aim to secure their own profits. This is very likely related to what you reported and, while I don't have much data about unregistered passengers, this part of the report I received is something that picked my interest, so rest assured, I'm going to investigate. Having said that, before I can properly talk about it, I want to have individual conversations with Arek, Connor and Jeanne. I don't think we can have a proper discussion about this topic before that, so I'd prefer if we could continue later on.
Though disappointed by not getting more out of this meeting, Marlow agreed to speak with McRae again on a later date and left his quarters after confirming two days off to rest after recent eventful days.