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Then he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts.
Zechariah 4:6
Report
The sun dipped low, casting long shadows through the trees as Kristen and Mayumi tore out of the forest at a dead run. Their boots pounded the alien dirt, kicking up clumps of green moss, their breaths puffing in the cool air after months of scraping by on the moon they had recently named “Eden.” The camp loomed ahead—log walls rough but sturdy, smoke curling from the chimney like a lifeline. Four months of survival had honed them, but what they’d just found hit like a gut punch.
They skidded into the clearing, panting, and Wade was already at the cabin door, his slender frame tense, one of their two pulse pistols holstered at his hip. His eyes locked on Kristen, taking in her flushed face and the wild urgency in her stride. Jay poked his head out behind him, wiping greasy hands on a rag, his usual smirk fading as he caught Mayumi’s grim look.
“Talk to me, Kris,” Wade said, his voice steady but softer than a commander’s bark, the tone of a husband who knew trouble when he saw it.
Kristen sucked in a breath, wiping sweat off her brow with a dirt-streaked hand. “Skravak skeleton, babe,” she said, still catching her wind. “Western ravine, its about five klicks out. Smaller than those monsters we fought—two meters, tops. It looks to be Bio-engineered, with cybernetic junk plugged into its spine. Been dead maybe two hundred years, maybe more.”
Mayumi stepped up beside her, clutching their jury-rigged scanner, its faint buzz cutting through the quiet. “That’s not the half of it,” she said, glancing at Jay—her husband—with a mix of focus and unease. “Five klicks past the bones—ten from here—we spotted a structure. Comm array, at least six dishes, built for deep-space chatter. It’s alive, Wade. Dishes shifted while we watched, catching the sun off the main reflector.”
Wade’s jaw dropped, his hand freezing halfway to his stubbled chin. “A structure?” he blurted, eyes wide. “Here?”
Jay tossed the rag aside, stepping out with a stunned laugh. “You’re kidding me, right, hon? A comm array? On this rock?” He ran a hand through his hair, grease smearing, his shock plain as day.
“Dead serious,” Mayumi shot back, tapping the scanner’s cracked screen. “No life signs, no movement, but it’s powered up—active realignment. That’s no rusting hulk.”
Kristen’s mind raced. “Something’s weird, Wade,” she said, locking eyes with him. “That skeleton’s not natural—someone messed with it, big time. And the array? It’s human-made but advanced tech, all sleek and functional, but no humans anywhere. Doesn’t sit right.”
Wade scrubbed a hand over his face, shaking off the shock as his brain kicked into gear. “Inside, all of you,” he said, stepping back from the door, his tone firming up. “Lay it out—every detail. We’re not jumping into this blind.”
They piled into the cabin, the warm smell of woodsmoke mixing with the tension hanging thick. Jay slung an arm around Mayumi’s shoulders, half for comfort, half to steady himself, while Kristen stayed close to Wade, her hand brushing his arm. This wasn’t just a report—it was a wake-up call, yanking them out of the cozy routine they’d built. Whatever was out there, skeleton or structure, it was real, it was close, and—Lord help them—it might be their escape or… their doom.
The Debate
Jay slammed his hands on the table, the crack echoing off the log walls as Kristen and Mayumi’s report sank in. The air hummed with tension, their report still ringing in their ears. Jay leaned forward, elbows planted on the table, his restless energy crackling like a live wire.
“We’ve waited long enough, folks,” Jay said, his voice sharp, hands gesturing wide. “Skravak bones, a comm array—something’s cooking out there, and I say we go now. Grab the pistols, hike out, and see what’s what. Sitting here’s just begging for trouble to find us first.”
Wade leaned back, arms crossed, his pulse pistol a quiet weight at his hip. His eyes flicked to Jay, steady and measuring, the leader sizing up the moment. “Slow down, Jay,” he said, calm but firm, like he was talking a man off a ledge. “We don’t rush this. We’ve got training—we need to use it. Two pulse pistols, maybe a dozen shots between ‘em, and some homemade bows won’t cut it if we stumble into a mess. We think first, move second.”
Jay snorted, glancing at Mayumi with a half-grin. “C’mon, babe, back me up. That array’s active—you saw it. Could be our ticket off this rock, or at least a signal to Command. We can’t just twiddle our thumbs.”
Mayumi hesitated, her scanner resting on the table, fingers tapping its edge. Her sharp eyes darted between Jay’s impatience and the device’s cracked screen, her mind clearly snagged on the array’s mystery. “It’s tempting,” she admitted, voice soft but thoughtful. “Those dishes are high-grade—could reach half the sector if they’re online. But…” She trailed off, wavering, caught between curiosity and caution.
Kristen slid closer to Wade,—a quiet show of unity. “I’m with Wade on this,” she said, her tone steady, practical. “We’ve got two pistols and barely any rounds left in ‘em—one clip each, tops. We burned through most of our ammo getting here. Charging in half-cocked could leave us dead—or worse, stranded with nothing. We need a plan, not a sprint.”
Jay threw up his hands, exasperation leaking through. “A plan’s great, Kris, but time’s not our friend. What if that array’s broadcasting right now? What if someone—or something—knows we’re here?”
Wade’s gaze hardened, and he straightened, his voice dropping an octave—a hint of rank creeping in. “That’s exactly why we don’t leap, Jay. We’ve got one shot at this—literally, with the ammo we’ve got. You wanna risk Mayumi and Kris over a hunch? Or leave us defenseless if the Skravak aren’t as dead as that skeleton?” He tapped the table once, firm. “We recon it right.”
Mayumi nodded slowly, her indecision firming up as she squeezed Jay’s arm. “He’s got a point, hon. That array’s got me curious—real curious—but we’re not equipped for a firefight. Not yet.”
Jay slumped back, grumbling under his breath, but the fight drained out of him. Kristen caught Wade’s eye, a flicker of confidence passing between them—holding the line on logic not emotion. The debate settled into a taut silence, the fire’s crackle underscoring the truth: haste could kill them, but the array’s pull wasn’t going away. They’d need more than guts to face it—they’d need a strategy.
Resource Assessment
The fire cast a warm glow across the cabin as the crew spread their gear on the table, a meager arsenal laid bare under the flickering light. Wade ran his fingers over the edge of a hand-forged hatchet, its blade chipped but sharp, while Kristen sorted a pile of arrows—fletched with alien feathers from Eden’s bird-things. Jay hefted one of their two pulse pistols, its sleek casing dulled by scratches, and Mayumi stacked a handful of crude knives beside a coil of salvaged wire. Four months of scavenging the Scout’s wreckage had given them this: a survivor’s toolkit, lean and mean.
“Knives and hatchets, one each,” Kristen said, her voice steady as she tallied, glancing at Wade with a wife’s quiet trust. “Bows, three—maybe fourty arrows. They’re good for hunting, but very questionable for a fight.”
Jay flipped the pulse pistol in his hand, popping the clip to check it. “Two of these beauties,” he said, a wry edge to his tone. “One clip each—ten shots apiece, twenty total, assuming they don’t jam. Trigger discipline’s gonna be our best friend.” He set it down, trading a look with Mayumi that said he wasn’t thrilled.
Mayumi unrolled a tattered schematic of the Scout’s remains, pointing to a scrawled note. “We’ve got wire, some hull scraps, and a half-can of thruster fuel—leaky, but usable,” she said, her mind already turning. “We could rig snares or tripwires—slow something down if it comes at us. The fuel might make a decent flare—or a distraction if we splash it and light it up.”
Wade nodded, rubbing his jaw as he eyed the pile. “Traps are smart,” he said. “We’ve got no numbers, no firepower to speak of. If we’re trekking ten klicks to that array, we need ways to even the odds. What about a decoy? Rig a bow to fire on a trigger-pull, draw attention off us?”
Kristen smirked, picking up a hatchet. “Or we go low-tech—sharpen stakes, plant ‘em around a choke point. It worked for our ancestors, might work here. Anything to buy us time with only twenty rounds of ammo.”
Jay leaned back, arms crossed, his earlier fire simmering down. “Yeah, okay, I see it,” he said, softer now. “We’re not exactly a strike force. Still don’t love sitting on our hands, but…” He trailed off, then stood, facing the team with a sheepish grin. “Look, I’m sorry, alright? Got hot-headed back there, pushing to run out half-ready. I shouldn’t have questioned you like that, Wade. I guess the stress of the past months has got me a little on edge. Once you make the call, I’m in—all the way.”
The room stilled, the crackle of the fire filling the pause. Wade met Jay’s gaze, his expression softening—he was his leader, but more importantly a friend and a brother in the faith. “Appreciate that, Jay,” he said, voice low and warm. “Your pushback keeps us sharp—don’t ever stop. But your loyalty? That’s what keeps us alive. Thanks for sticking with it.”
Kristen gave Jay a nod, a small smile tugging her lips, while Mayumi squeezed his hand, pride flickering in her eyes. The gear sat between them—scarce, battered, but theirs—and survival demanded they make it enough. Creativity would be their edge, and Jay’s apology sealed the bond they’d need to wield it.
The Questions Emerge
Wade paused mid-scratch, the charred stick hovering over the slate as he muttered, ‘Why’d we miss it?” The gear inventory lay scattered around them, a stark reminder of their limits, but now the crew’s attention turned inward—chewing on the unknowns Kristen and Mayumi had dragged back from the ravine. Three questions loomed like shadows, and Wade wasn’t letting them sit unanswered.
“First up,” he said, tapping the slate, his voice steady but edged with concern as he glanced at Kristen. “Why’d our orbital scan miss that array? We swept this moon top to bottom from the Scout—active comms should’ve lit up our boards like a flare.”
Mayumi frowned, cradling her scanner like it held the key. “Could be cloaked,” she said, her tone analytical but tinged with unease. “Some kind of dampening field—high-end tech, military-grade. Or it was dormant ‘til recently, and we just got lucky—or unlucky—catching it awake.”
“Or someone flipped it on after we crashed,” Jay cut in, leaning forward, his eyes narrowing. “Maybe they know we’re here. Watching us, waiting.” His fingers drummed the table, restless and paranoid.
Kristen shifted closer to Wade, as she picked up the thread. “Second question’s bugging me more,” she said, voice low. “That structure’s human—clean lines, functional, our kind of build. So where’s the crew? No tracks, no signs, nothing. It’s like they vanished—or never showed up.”
Wade nodded, scribbling it down, his jaw tight. “Abandoned outpost, maybe. Left to run on auto. But if it’s human, why no distress call? No marker? We’d have picked up something in the sector logs.”
“Unless it’s black-budget,” Mayumi said, her voice dropping, sharp with realization. “Off the books, no records. It’s tied to that Skravak skeleton—bio-engineering’s not cheap or public. Someone’s hiding something big.”
Jay snorted, a bitter edge creeping in. “Yeah, and question three’s the kicker: where’s the rest of those Skravak? One dead runt, modded to the hilt, but we’ve been here four months—nothing’s sniffed us out. That’s not luck, that’s creepy.”
“Too comfy,” Wade muttered, almost to himself, scratching the slate harder. “I let us get too settled, that’s a fool’s move. If they’re out there, hibernating or cloaked like the array, we’re sitting ducks.”
“Or they’re gone,” Kristen said, quieter now. “Wiped out by whoever built that place. Maybe the experiment’s over and the lab’s shut down. But that array’s still talking to someone—what if they’re coming back?”
The room went still, the fire’s faint pop the only sound as paranoia took root. Wade set the stick down, the slate now etched with their fears: a silent array, a missing crew, a Skravak ghost town. Each theory spun darker—jamming tech, a deserted base, a lurking threat—and the questions gnawed at them, unanswered but insistent. Whatever they faced, it wasn’t random, and the truth felt closer than they liked.
Mapping the Plan
The cabin’s table was a war zone of scratched lines and smudged charcoal as Wade traced a recon route onto the metal slate, his hand steady despite the stakes. The firelight danced over the crude map—ten kilometers to the array, a daylong round trip through alien wilds. Kristen leaned in beside him, her shoulder brushing his, while Jay and Mayumi hovered close, the crew’s focus sharpening like a blade.
“Stealth’s the name of the game,” Wade said, his voice low and firm, the husband-turned-leader laying it out. “Ten klicks is a haul—we travel light, stick to cover, and cross no open ground. We leave no tracks, make no noise. We set up a surveillance position right here—” He tapped a jagged ridge two klicks shy of the array. “It’s high ground, good lines of sight.
“Just like the tree in the mountains!?” Jay reminded Wade of his unconventional approach to reconnaissance back in Ranger School. They both chuckled at the memory.
Wade finished the briefing, “We’ll watch for two days before we even think about getting closer.”
Kristen nodded, her eyes tracking the route—warriors in sync. “Two teams, two shifts,” she said, practical as ever. “Wade and I take day one—hike out, set the post, hold it overnight. Then you two—” She glanced at Jay and Mayumi. “—head out day two and relieve us so we keep eyes on the facility at all times. Four eyes per shift leaves no gaps.”
“Works for me,” Mayumi said, her tone crisp as she studied the slate. “That ridge’ll give us a clear view of the array’s layout—dish alignment, power hum, anything moving. We’ll use the scanner, tweak it for range. We need data, not guesses.”
Jay cracked his knuckles, a grin tugging at his lips despite the tension. “Fine by me. We’ll start looking at early warning devices to set around the camp and prep it for better defense while you’re gone. But if we’re splitting the pistols, who’s carrying? One per team, I’m guessing?”
“Exactly,” Wade said, tapping the map again. “Kris and I take one pulse pistol—ten rounds—for the first leg. You and Mayumi get the other. Bows and knives for backup. We’re not hunting trouble, just answers.”
Kristen straightened, her hand brushing her Bible in her pocket before resting on the table. “One more thing,” she added, her voice steady. “If it goes sideways—ambush, Skravak, whatever—we need a signal. I say we rig a flare with that thruster fuel Mayumi salvaged. Lash it on an arrow to light up the sky. Bright enough to see from camp if we’re in deep. And… give it some kind of report so that it can be heard too.”
Wade’s eyes met hers, a flicker of pride passing between them. “Good call, hon,” he said, scratching a flare symbol onto the slate. “Last resort only—means we’re running or fighting. Whoever’s at camp preps for trouble if they spot it.”
Jay nodded, his grin fading to a serious line. “Two days watching, two teams to split the difference—tight plan. Let’s do it! Let’s just hope that array doesn’t start talking before we’re ready.”
Mayumi squeezed his arm, her sharp mind already on the trek. “It’s ten klicks of unknown,” she said. “Stealth’s our shield. We stick to it, we come back with something—intel, at least.”
The map sat finished, a lifeline etched in soot—two days, two teams, one ridge between them and the truth. Wade set the charcoal down, his gaze sweeping the crew—his wife, his friends, his fellow Rangers in this mess. “Kris and I move at first light,” he said. “Pack lean, stay sharp. This is recon, not a raid.” The plan is set, and we need to get some sleep before we head out at sunrise.
Looking on High
The cabin’s fire had settled to a dull red pulse, its warmth barely holding back the night’s chill as the crew stood around the table, the recon plan etched into the slate like a battle line. Gear was sorted, roles assigned—Wade and Kristen for the first trek, Jay and Mayumi guarding camp—but the weight of the unknown pressed down hard. Jay shifted, his usual restless energy stilled, and he rubbed the back of his neck, glancing at the others with a quieter look.
“Hold up a sec,” Jay said, his voice softer, almost hesitant. “Before we crash out, let’s pray. Read something solid—get our heads right. You’ve got ten klicks of who-knows-what tomorrow, and I’d rather not lean on just our two pistols and some luck.”
Wade’s eyes softened, a flicker of gratitude crossing his face as he nodded. “Good call, Jay,” he said, his tone warm, leader to friend. “What’ve you got?”
Jay fished a worn pocket Bible from his jacket—edges frayed—and thumbed it open. “Proverbs 21:31,” he said, clearing his throat. “‘The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but victory belongs to the Lord.’ Figure that fits—we’re gearing up, but it’s His call in the end.”
Kristen smiled faintly, “Perfect,” she murmured. “Let’s pray, then. Wisdom, skill, protection. We need it all.”
Wade went first, bowing his head, his voice steady and deep. “Lord, you’ve brought us this far—providing us with everything we need on this place of beauty but now danger lurks in the unknown. Grant us wisdom to see what’s ahead, skill to move quiet and smart, and your protection over Kris and me tomorrow. Shield us, guide us.”
Kristen followed, her tone firm yet tender. “Father, you’re our stronghold. Give us wisdom to read the signs out there, skill to use what little we’ve got—those bows, that pistol—and protection from whatever’s waiting. Keep us sharp, keep us safe. Protect Jay and Mayumi as they defend the camp.”
Jay grinned at Mayumi, a spark of his usual self peeking through as he took his turn. “God, you know I’m antsy, but I trust you. Wisdom to not mess this up, skill to keep camp tight and shoot straight if I gotta, and protection for me and my girl here—and those two crazies heading out. Hold us up.”
Mayumi squeezed his hand, her voice calm but fierce as she closed it out. “Lord, you see it all—the array, the risks. Grant us wisdom to understand what we find, skill to rig what we need and stay alert, and protection over every step, out there and back. Your victory, not ours. We pray these things in Your name, Jesus.”
The crew said a firm “AMEN” together.
The prayers hung in the air, a quiet strength settling over them as Jay tucked the Bible away. Wade clapped him on the shoulder, a silent thanks, and the crew turned to their bedding—salvaged mats and blankets spread near the fire. Wade took the first two hour watch. No room for complacency in their newfound awareness. They doused the embers, the cabin dimming to a soft gray, and each sank into their spot: Kristen in her place. Jay and Mayumi curled close, her head on his chest.
Silence took hold, broken only by the faint hum of the alien night beyond the walls. Wade’s mind churned as he sat just outside the cabin door, pistol in his lap—routes, risks, Kristen’s safety—his lips moving in a wordless plea. Kristen traced the empty spot beside her, whispering thanks for Wade’s steady heart. Jay stared at the ceiling, praying for guts to match his bravado, while Mayumi’s thoughts drifted to the array, begging clarity through the dark. They’d armed their souls as best they could; now rest was their last prep before the dawn broke and the recon began.
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ToBeLikeJesus 