The science team aboard The Ghost was nearly as caught off guard as Durontus by the new Gargantua’s energy attack. The command deck was a flurry of video screens, data-crunching applications, and live footage. Information was pouring in through the team’s monitoring systems, but before they could decipher it, they had to overcome the natural human reaction of shock and wonder at the spectacle they had just seen.
A bout of silence hung in the air for a short time until Hansen broke it. “Well?” he asked of the brightest minds he and Emma could find. Even Dr. Perry herself, patched into the command deck via video feed and receiving all of the same information as the crew, was still formulating the situation.
“Durontus’ vitals are steady. Looks to have taken moderate-to-severe damage on his right flank from the unknown creature’s attack,” reported one of the crew.
Falk breathed a sigh of relief. He knew Durontus was resilient, but with the great power these creatures possessed, one could never easily guess the devastating effects until post-battle. Their adrenaline compensated for so much of the shock to their systems that injury data was often unreliable in the field.
“What about that attack?” he followed up with quickly to keep the team on their toes and to bring a rhythm to the chaos. It was a strategy he had used during his corporate years.
The atmospheric officer directed Hansen’s attention to a screen with sensorial readouts from the remaining drone machines. “We’re picking up heightened radiation levels, almost certainly caused by the creature’s energy discharge. Data seems to point to it being solar in origin.”
Dr. Emma Perry crunched several lines into her computer terminal, cross-referencing the drone readouts with hundreds of databases from around the world. Her event protocol always began with classifying the physical makeup of the new Gargantua and finding the closest occurrences of those features known to humans in nature. This analysis acted as an anchoring point for developing defensive strategies to fight the creature should Durontus lose the battle.
“The unknown must have something like chloroplasts somewhere in its biology to be able to use the sun’s energy. The closest species we have is the spotted salamander and the oriental hornet. Both utilize solar power in some manner,” Emma reported after gathering a complete thought.
“Nothing that uses it offensively or aggressively, though?” Hansen asked.
“None in that manner,” Perry confirmed. “At this point, I would hypothesize two viable strategies. Either damage the unknown’s solar absorption method or lure the unknown into an area with no direct sunlight.”
“One sounds more insane than the next,” remarked Falk. “But, that’s usually the case in these scenarios.”
Emma shrugged and continued to type in and assess the situation. “So far we’ve got lots of question marks on the unknown’s biological material. The drone sensors are reporting inconsistent data. Tell Dan we’re going to need some local samples of the unknown’s exterior.”
Hansen picked up his satellite phone to radio Krieger who had already taken to the field with his team. “Krieger. Emma needs direct samples from the unknown. We’re bringing the uplink needles online now.”
“Copy that,” came Krieger’s even tone. “Beta squad is approaching the unknown’s perimeter. I’m heading over to Big D to assess his wounds.”
“You and your men stay safe,” said Hansen.
“Report to you in ten,” he responded.
“Captain Hansen,” spoke a crewman on the command deck. “Durontus is back on his feet. The creatures seem to be preparing to engage once more.”
Each member of the science team held their gaze fixed to the drone footage monitors as the serpent-like Durontus and the dragon-like unknown raced towards each other with rage in their eyes.