A week later

A quarantine was set up around the mysterious zone while the Marines investigated. After a lot of trial and error it was found to be a cube, ten miles wide and ten miles long. A basic set of drones also revealed that it extended those same ten miles upward. Jessie kept you up to date on the findings but there wasn't really much to tell. It was far too risky to venture inside without a means of communication. Regular talking seemed to work fine inside but there weren't enough personnel to form the human chain that would be needed to safely investigate. In the end the zone was ruled a no go until more experts could make their way out to take a proper look.

As for you and Jesse your mission continued apace, despite her jokes about it you did actually find a plant that seemed to have aphrodisiac qualities. Its access was forbidden by the colonial chairwoman Brittney Tanya. The IAA had formally declared their intent to challenge the UCA for control of the world. That left you in a unique position.

In most cases where a colony war happened the civilian population would enjoy a protected status. They could be captured but unless they consented they wouldn't be touched in any other way. The need to quickly send out a colonizing mission for Hadley's Hope however had involved using a large number of retired military and people like you who'd been attempting to join. To do this you'd signed a colonist consideration military contract.

The advantages to the UCA were that they would have a ready supply of both enthusiastic younger colonists and a group of older more experienced ones who could be sent quickly. The advantage for the colonists was that they would get special consideration after their contract was up for joining the military and they would also be paid more while on the colony. It was generally understood that most of them would decide to just remain in the colony afterwards, some becoming militia. The extra money for something that appeared low risk had been an extremely appealing factor for many of your age group. The retirees were getting double their pensions and a promise of land and a home on any planet they wanted.

What it meant however, was that they surrendered their protected status in an invasion. Further you were locked to the colony for five years. That meant if the IAA won you couldn't leave unless they let you. Which they wouldn't. There was plenty of other legalese that had to do with various treaties and the way your documents had been written but in the end it meant the same thing. If the IAA won. You were theirs for five years. When you had signed your contract you'd been assured that it was unlikely that would happen. The colony was far out of the way, months away even. The idea that someone else would try for it had barely even crossed your mind.

Now facing that was your reality. You didn't really have time to focus on it however as your work kept you occupied. Whenever you weren't out in the jungle Jessie had to leave to practice her general warfare skills as well. The UCA was sending a proper battle-group to defend the colony. The war wouldn't start until both sides deployed but the Marines would be expected to participate. They had been kept busy during the construction of the sonic and physical fence by a specific species of pack hunter that was an ugly mixture of a tarantula and a dingo but now they were mostly just dedicated to helping you and others map the jungle safely.

As you finished sending your latest sample scans to the science department for further analysis Jessie entered the room.

"Get ready, we're being sent into the dead zone." She announced.

"What? Why?" You asked looking at her in surprise, sure if they were going to look at it Jessie made sense but sending you along certainly didn't.

"Because one of the scientists noticed something funny and we're expendable." She said giving you a smile that let you know she was paraphrasing.

You threw an already analyzed sample at her which she avoided with ease, laughing as she exited the room to get herself ready.

After a moment of rubbing your eyes you reluctantly got up. Trying to decline would be big trouble. You were almost willing to risk that just to avoid going. Almost.