by Tom Chattle
Chen finished dressing the moment before, a voice bellowed out from near the waiting shuttlecraft.
"Okay, assholes, time to fly." Bauer's second-in-command, Gunnery Sergeant Ellis Hayes, marched across the deck toward the shuttle, donning a helmet over salt-and-pepper hair.
"Guess that's our cue." Chen chuckled, leading Moreau to stand with the nearby gaggle of Marines.
Bauer crossed over from a weapons crate and held out a pair of compact M95 plasma pistols. "You think you can handle these?"
While not nearly as powerful or long-ranged as the heavy M221 rail-rifles the Marines carried, the plasma pistols could still do some damage when wielded correctly. They weren't usually standard for ship-based crewmembers, but every individual who had been through basic training was familiar with their use.
Chen took the weapons and handed one to Moreau. "I think we'll manage them."
With a curt nod, Bauer gestured to the shuttle. "Well, all aboard, then."
- 12 -
2208.02.19 // 18:02
Marine shuttle, Arcturus System
Chen ducked under the open rear hatch and picked one of the sturdy jump seats that lined each side of the shuttle's cargo cabin, facing inward. She adjusted the restraints, pulling the rigid harness down over her head and locking it in place with a solid click. Designed to handle the rigors of atmospheric drops, the seat felt oppressive, forcing her deep into it—not at all like the freedom she had in her command chair back on the bridge.
She shifted to try and get comfortable and examined the inside of the cabin. The MCV-38 combat shuttle was hardly designed for comfort. A sparse, utilitarian craft, it was the workhorse of the Union Marine Corp, lightweight and cheap to produce.
Moreau settled in next to her, hesitantly repeating the actions of her commanding officer. The ensign definitely seemed less on edge than she had before, even with heavily armed Marines filing in past them.
Once they were all aboard, Haynes and Bauer entered, sitting directly across from Chen. Bauer took on a whole different look in combat gear, Chen noticed. Her sleek, platinum hair was hidden beneath a bulky, camouflaged helmet, pale-skinned face partially obscured behind the half-deployed face visor, communications gear, and nutri-feed system that let its wearer operate for long periods without needing to remove the protective gear. Once situated, Bauer glanced across at Chen, waggling her eyebrows cheekily when she saw her looking. A smile tugged at Chen's lips. Maybe the Marine had gotten over some of the irritation at her coming along after all.
With everyone in place, Haynes gave the pilots the order to lift off. The high-pitched whine of the plasma engines spooled up slowly, then the shuttle rose ponderously off the desk. Warning lights flashed across the hangar bay, and the pilot eased the heavy vehicle around, goosing the maneuvering thrusters in tiny increments until they pushed through the atmo-barrier—a shimmering shield of energy that held the precious atmosphere inside, separated from the harsh void outside. Within seconds of leaving the safety of the Valiant, the shuttle was up to speed, tilting its stubby nose over toward the planet below.
Even at the immense speeds they were moving, the roiling, turbulent atmosphere seemed to take an age to fill their entire horizon from one of the tiny viewports between the seats. Chen was just getting comfortable with the ride when they must have touched the outer reaches of the storms that lay below them. The shuttle jolted abruptly from a sudden wind shear, and Chen's stomach headed straight to her throat. Moreau's arms shot up, and her fingers went pale from the intense grip she had on the harness that held her in place.
A distorted voice crackled over the intercom. "Hold on, boys and girls. We're going to do our best up here, but it's gonna be a rough one."
They descended, and it only got worse. The shuttle dropped into the cloud layer, and their last views of space disappeared, the viewports now filled with thick, gray clouds. Heavy rain lashed the outside hull, audible even over the strained whine of the engines. Huge bolts of lightning seemed to congregate around the shuttle, formed by the turbulent wake of the dropping vessel. The inside of the cabins strobed with harsh white light, the internal lights dimming every few seconds from the massive electrical energy outside that interfered with the shuttle's systems.
Chen turned her head to Moreau. The woman looked like she was about to be sick, her eyes clamped shut and a grimace on her face. Even Bauer across from her seemed uncomfortable, her gaze darting between the windows on each side of Chen. About the only person who didn't seem to be bothered was Gunny Haynes. His eyes closed, it appeared he were in a peaceful slumber, heavy breaths misting the inside of his visor. His snoring was audible even over the roaring of the air outside.
Chen loved flying. She'd wanted to do it ever since she was a child. Whether it was somehow her father influencing her from beyond the grave or just the same innate desire he must have had, the family friends she grew up around had made it inevitable. Her favorite uncle had been her father's roommate throughout his time in flight school, back before the last war when it was just the Earth Star Fleet. He'd taken her for many suborbital flights as a child—at least when her mother allowed them. Chen had piloted her first lunar hop at age twelve and spent the next few years traversing the skies and local space around Earth as much as she could.
A sudden deafening bang rocked the shuttle, and the power flickered momentarily as they dropped through the clouds. The free-fall that followed only lasted a few seconds, but it was the last straw for poor Moreau, the contents of her stomach emptying forward onto the deck.
This was not flying as Chen knew it. This was trusting someone else to not get them killed hurtling through deadly storms. However much she liked to be in the air—the complete lack of control Chen had at this moment terrified her more than she'd care to admit. Forcing her eyes open, she locked her gaze onto the Marine lieutenant across from her.
Bauer's face was bone-white, her breathing rapid, anxious stare boring into the gridded deck before her. Another explosion shot Bauer's eyes up to fix onto Chen. At that moment, Chen wished she could read what was going through Bauer's mind. The desire to reassure her warred with Chen's own rising levels of worry. The shuttle plummeted sharply, engines screaming at full power to try and stabilize their meteoric trajectory toward the harsh terrain below.
Chen squeezed her eyes shut to try to take her mind off the ride. When she'd first taken command of the Valiant, she'd made sure to review the files on all of the senior officers—as well as many of the others. Bauer's had been sparse in detail but, like many officers across both the Fleet and the Marines, she was too young to have seen any action in the last war. Her records had indicated that Bauer had run a few anti-piracy operations, but mostly training exercises.
There had been one notable incident outside New Berlin on Mars—where she had grown up—but the details were mostly redacted. Chen had been meaning to ask her about it, but it had never seemed like the right time.
A warning tone screamed from the cockpit. The cabin lights died, then the ship lurched to one side and gravity seemed to vanish. It seemed impossible that they hadn't plowed into the surface yet. The lightning outside illuminated the shuttle with a constant, random strobe—highlighting the pale faces of those within.
They must have been hurtling toward the surface for less than a minute, but it felt like an eternity to Chen. She screwed her eyelids shut and focused on the straining of the ship. The shuttle began to pull up, and she felt the weight in the pit of her stomach. Slowly at first, it wasn't long before they leveled out, the ride still bumpy, but as calm as a summer pond compared to the chaotic rollercoaster ride they had just been through.
The voice that came over the intercom was strained and jittery. "Everyone good? Few heavy lightning strikes hit us." A nervous laugh. "I don't think this planet much wants visitors, but we'll be touching down in a moment."
Stony silence gave way to relieved sighs, a few Marines chuckling.
Gunny Haynes lifted his head. "We down yet
? Seemed bumpier than normal."
What tension remained among the Marines broke, and most of them burst out into guffaws of laughter. Chen wasn't quite sure if Haynes had really been asleep; the perfect timing of his awakening made her suspect the whole thing had been an act for this very purpose.
The shuttle banked into a wobbly turn, and Chen glanced over at Moreau. The poor woman looked like she had blacked out sometime after throwing up. She reached over and nudged Moreau's shoulder gently. "Ensign?"
With a groan, Moreau's eyelids flickered open, and she brought up a sleeve to wipe residue bile from her lips. "Oh no, did I pass out?" The woman jerked her head back and forth around the cabin to see if anyone had seen.
Chen smiled at her. "I don't think anyone noticed. They were all pretty preoccupied with the uncontrolled free-fall these Marines seem to count as flight."
The engines changed pitch, and the shuttle flared to land before settling to the ground with a lopsided jerk. Immediately, all the seat harnesses unlocked and then swung up and out of the way for disembarkation. Marines jumped out of their seats, grabbed their stowed rifles and packs, and lined up behind the boarding ramp.
Chen secured the re-breather mask that hung around her neck to her face, then helped Moreau out of her seat, doing her best to avoid the slick mess on the floor. "Come on, we've got a celebrity to find."
- 13 -
2208.02.19 // 18:29
Marine shuttle, Arcturus System
The ramp lowered with a whine, and the biting cold wind slammed into the landing party. Rough particles of dust zipped through the air, and Chen squinted to protect her eyes. She ducked under the metal frame, jumped the short distance to the ground, and almost stumbled at the harder than expected impact—a product of the higher gravity of such a large plane. She shivered, pulled her jacket tighter, and scanned their surroundings. The dim half-light the weak star cast upon the rugged landscape made it difficult to see far.
It reminded Chen of her planetary excursion training on Mars. Still deep within the multi-generational task of terraforming, Mars remained a barren wasteland, but it was survivable with only warm clothing and an oxygen mask. At least for a while. A few weeks on the ground there had been enough for Chen not to want to go back anytime soon, and this place seemed even worse, albeit cast in shades of blue rather than the warm, rusty tones of Mars. The comforting metal hull of a starship was far preferable.
Bauer's Marines fanned out past her, and Chen began to long for their heavy-duty garb. Compared to her thin utility clothes and re-breather mask, the enclosing armor of the Marines with their internal environment controls was enticing.
"Chilly?" Bauer smirked from behind her faceplate.
"Oh, not at all. It's practically sunbathing weather." A gust of wind buffeted the party, and Chen pulled her arms tighter. Not only was it frigid, but the higher gravity of the super-Earth class planet made every movement feel just a bit more tiring, weighing down on every muscle. Even taking a deep breath took more effort than she was used to.
Bauer chuckled and consulted the holo-map that projected from the back of her armored gauntlet. "Sensors put the main debris location about a mile or so east of here." She pointed ahead of them. "I checked in with the Valiant, let McCann know we'd landed."
Chen peered into the gloom but couldn't see much. Wispy fog scudded across the barren gray rock that made up much of the immediate surface. Nothing was visible past fifty meters or so, their surroundings dissolving into a murky haze. She turned to Moreau. "Start scanning, see if you can narrow down the area from the orbital scans."
Moreau nodded, shrugged the boxy portable scanner she had been carrying off her shoulder, flipped open the interface, and powered it on. After a few moments, she bobbed her head. "There are some major rock formations to our east. As Lieutenant Bauer stated, most of the debris appears to be scattered amongst them." She frowned at the device. "Still no life signs, though."
Chen had been hoping scans from the surface may have detected what they couldn't from orbit. It didn't seem like they would be that lucky.
Bauer turned to the idle Marines around her and raised her voice. "Okay, Marines, let's do this by the books. No hostiles detected, but I want everyone on maximum alert." Inclining her head toward Haynes, she let him take over.
"All right, take your thumbs out your asses and get a move on, people." He marched out, rifle held idly in one hand, using the other to gesture at Marines. "Giovanni, get your ass in gear." He locked on to one poor trooper who was dawdling behind. "Jesus Christ, Strahovski! Stop fucking around and move out!"
Moreau edged closer to Chen. "Does he have to be so...abusive?"
Bauer must have heard her and laughed. "Don't worry, Ensign, I won't set him loose on you. These Marines just need a bit of rough discipline sometimes." She motioned for the two fleet officers to follow the Marines, who were now advancing into the mists.
An icy gust of wind hit Chen, and she staggered, her boots crunching through the shale-like substrate. The Marines around her hefted huge storage packs with ease on their backs, their armored exo-suits making the bulky cargoes look as light as feathers, even in the powerful gravity. When the mists thickened and the ambient light dimmed, they activated the lights integrated into their rifles and swept the beams back and forth through the gloom.
"This planet isn't much to look at, is it?" Chen murmured, doing her best to not sound disappointed. Although it had been hard to see through the clouds from orbit, the world had seemed more alive than their current surroundings.
"Rock formations are just ahead, ma'am," Moreau said, consulting her scanner. "The terrain should start to change."
Just as the ensign promised, rugged chunks of rock soon emerged through the mist, thrusting out of the gray gravel. They would have to come up with a name for this planet, Chen thought—something more interesting than the usual nomenclature. By exoplanetary naming standards, it would have simply been "Arcturus b," designating it as the first planet of the Arcturus star system, the massive, far-off star itself being "Arcturus a."
Like cliffs emerging from a misty ocean, the rock formations appeared in full. Looming above them, their size slowed the landing party. The Marines entered a break in the jagged peaks with caution. An eerie howl echoed around them, the strong winds that raced across the plains they had come from funneling through gaps in the rocks.
"Why would the landscape change so abruptly?" Chen wondered out loud.
Moreau consulted her scanner for a minute. "It's not clear, but there are low-level geological disturbances continually pulsing out ahead of us. My guess is whatever is causing those has affected the terrain."
A Marine at the front of the group stopped abruptly, holding up a fist beside his helmeted head. Immediately, the rest of the Marines froze. The Marine crouched down to look at something, then turned and gestured for Bauer and Hayes to come over.
As the other troopers settled, kneeling into ready positions, Bauer started forward. "Come on, let's see what he's got."
Following along, Chen and Moreau gazed around them. The rock formations were unsettling; their jutting forms seemed somehow unnatural. Goosebumps prickled Chen's arms under the insufficient insulation of her jacket sleeves. With what little light made it through the fog being halved by the towering cliffs, it was increasingly hard to see the treacherous terrain on which they were walking.
"What've we got, Makati?" Bauer pulled up next to the crouched Marine.
He leaned back, holding up the object he'd found for the lieutenant. "Debris, LT." He turned it around in the light from Haynes' rifle. "Looks like an engine part or something."
"Good eyes, trooper." Bauer patted the Marine on the shoulder with a gloved hand. "Well, we're definitely on the right trail." With a few quick hand gestures, she motioned her troops to resume their slow march over the even rougher terrain.
A few minutes later, Moreau glanced down at a blinking light on her scanner. "There's a major concentration of metals r
ight ahead, ma'am." Her head snapped back up. "Along with some residual power readings."
That was a good sign. "If there's still an intact ship with power, that greatly increases the chances of us finding anyone alive down here." Chen sucked in a breath; made harder by the uncomfortable re-breather mask she wore. She tugged on the straps where they were digging into her skin. "We need to find them."
"Agreed." Bauer nodded. "Okay, double-time, Marines, stay alert."
The group picked up the pace and made their way through the rocky chasms, the trail of debris getting larger and more frequent. They rounded an outcropping of rock and came to an abrupt halt. Moreau gasped at the scene of devastation that spread out before them, and Chen's expectation of finding survivors plummeted.
- 14 -
2208.02.19 // 19:14
Wilde Star wreck, Arcturus b
Despite the destruction, the wreck of the SS Wilde Star was still recognizable. What was once a magnificently modern and expensive rift-yacht—instantly familiar to anyone who watched Wilde's shows—was now a twisted wreck. Formerly an elegant craft, smooth oval belly tapering cleanly into gently curving wings like a giant ray, it was now a smoking ruin. The main hull seemed relatively intact—bent and battered, but intact—wedged precariously into the side of the cliff face. The engines and wings, however, were scattered and shredded across the side of the narrow gorge they found themselves overlooking. Some of the larger parts had burnt out, but the fires were long since dead, only ashen metal and scorched paint remaining.
Chen ignored Bauer's warning it could be dangerous, steadied her breathing, and started toward the hull. She skidded down the loose scree slope and edged along a narrow rock ledge. After she skirted around a jagged chunk of metal, she examined the hull. The egress hatch had to be somewhere close. She located it half-hidden behind some loose hull plating and threw it aside, then tapped at the keypad with no success.
