Adrian Shephard Chronicles

Chapter 1- Arrival and Briefing

Private Adrian Shephard looked out the helicopter window as it flew over the Nevada desert toward his new job in the Marine Corps. His commander wouldn't tell him what it was when he'd accepted.
A metal barbed wire fence appeared out of the chopper window and Adrian wondered where they were. The desert stretched again for another minute or so and asphalt took over. The chopper decelerated and came to a stop and hovered above the ground.
Adrian could see men running around under the chopper and moving various objects out of the way so the Osprey could land. The helicopter descended and landed on the asphalt. The door slid open and an MP beckoned for Shephard to come with him. He got up and jumped out of the chopper as the blades became quieter and finally stopped. Adrian and the MP strolled across the landing platform and stopped at a door where a man was waiting.
"Hello private Shephard." said the man. He was in a lab coat. Adrian saluted recognizing him as a superior officer.
"Hello sir." he said.
"Welcome to the military installation, Area 51."
"Thank you sir."
"Please follow sergeant Derms to the briefing room." Adrian saluted and followed the MP through a door that led into the Nevada complex. They walked through a complicated array of hallways and wide corridors. Soldiers and scientists passed them periodically.
Without a word the MP swiped a card and opened the door. Adrian walked in and found himself facing a dark room.
"Welcome private Shephard. Please have a seat." said a voice from a conference table. Two other men were sitting on the side of the table and Adrian took a seat between them. "This is lieutenant Daniel Hanz, and corporal Julian Fine." said the shadowy man sitting at the end of the table. About ten minutes passed and the door opened again. Another man walked in. "Welcome Private Lorenz. This is private Adrian Shephard, corporal Julian Fine, and lieutenant Daniel Hanz." said the man. "Please have a seat." Lorenz walked over and sat next to Fine. "Very good. We are all here. May I take this moment to say that I hope you all had a good trip here, even if it was on an Osprey." said the man. "First of all, everything that is said in here is completely off the record. So feel free to say anything anytime." Corporal Fine took this at heart and spoke up.
"Sir, why are we here and what is this about?" The man chuckled.
"I will explain that in just a minute."
"Who are you sir?" asked Private Lorenz. He chuckled again.
"I am General Faraz Likens." he said, stepping into the light. It lit up his features and the soldiers could see that he was indeed the legendary General Likens.
"Why are we here?" asked Hanz.
"Hold on lieutenant Hanz, I will answer questions in a moment. Let me explain things first." said the general. "Recently you signed an agreement for an unspecified job. Well, that job is here, at Area 51. You see, only the very highest members of the government know about what we do here." The general paused, took a sip of water, and brightened the lights. "I am sure you all have heard of the Black Mesa Research Facility located in New Mexico." he again paused to see their answers. All of them nodded yes. "Six years ago the great minds there developed a device that would allow us to travel to other planets."
"Sir, that is theoretically impossible." said corporal Fine.
"That is why we chose you corporal, your masters degree in theoretical physics is already serving you well. If you would explain?"
"Um," he hesitated. "Theoretically it is possible to travel between two points in space and time through a wormhole or warp field, but it supposedly would take more energy to maintain one than there is in the universe.
"Well, our great minds at Black Mesa made a transporter that actually allowed us to travel to an alien planet. It only allowed us to go to one place, but none the less we work with it. What we found there was a race called the Sa'ni, that closely resemble our past. They are about as advanced as ninth century Islam. That is, around the time and place the story of Aladdin took place." He took another sip of water. "We've been studying them now for about six years. You have been called here to be added to our collection of combat teams we send there. That is your now specified job." He looked around the room. "I'll take questions now."
Adrian spoke first. "Why would you need combat teams sir?"
"Good question private Shephard. We do everything we can to not interfere with their culture. We take all precautions for our presence there to remain secret. Once in a while something will happen. In example, a science team will get captured and since it is a somewhat primitive culture, they will want to execute them for witchcraft. It will be your job to rescue them. That's what we use combat teams for."
"Sir, are the natives of this planet like us?" asked Fine.
"Yes. They are exactly like us. Is that all?" The soldiers remained quiet as they chewed over the information they had just heard. "Congratulations, privates, corporal, you just made lieutenant, lieutenant, you just made major. Your service here will not be considered active for forty-eight hours. Please take that time to learn your way around the main sections of the base and get to know each other. Dismissed." The general walked out of the room.
Four MP's entered the room and separated the soldiers. They led them to their rooms. The MP unlocked Adrian's door with the key card and handed it to him.
"Welcome to Area 51." said the MP before he turned and returned to his post on the landing field. Adrian turned and looked around the room. It was nice, almost a five-star hotel type room.
A map of the main sections of the base was sitting on the table. The bed was made very neatly and the room even had a small kitchen with a coffee maker and a microwave. The base had a cafeteria, so the kitchen was mainly for snacks and coffee.
Adrian walked over and sat on the bed. He decided this wasn't going to be so bad, even if he didn't understand it. He wondered what kind of animals he would meet on the other planet. With that thought, he plopped onto the bed and fell asleep.