This entire year had been nothing but one steaming pile of Galashit after another, and Yulik was sick of it. He was tired of following idiots; he was tired of being ignored, and he was tired of being underestimated.

The quartermaster had shared this sentiment, and Yulik had her full support; now, all that was left to do was to snap this fool’s neck and be done with it.

The former First Officer fell from his clawed hand and to the ground; his body had been broken easily in their duel; in truth, it had only gone on for as long as it had because Yulik had been having fun slowly taking him apart. The game had run its course, however, and now it was time to show everyone who they were dealing with.

Yulik retracted his claws, and, standing at his full height, he addressed the crew.

“Our former captain was a moron who led us from one disaster to another, aided by this enabling coward” Yulik pointed at the first mate’s body, which was already attracting some insectoid life.

“From Reshun to the Jio belt, we have suffered setback after setback, but we will climb our way to the top, get off this rock and back to doing what we do best.” On cue, the quartermaster cheered, and the rest followed suit.

“Now we needed to find the survivors’ pods and follow their escape plan; we will either blend in with the castaways or take over the rescue party and fly to freedom”, Yulik stated. Another cheer went up, though this time it was not staged; any promise of rescue was better than the hopelessness of a few moments ago.

“Gather up all the supplies you can from the crash site; we’re going to need them!” he ordered. The… no, his crew followed his command now that they had a purpose.

Yulik, for his part, surveyed the land, got his bearings and began to plan.

Rocking back and forth on his clawed digitigrade legs, Yulik could tell this would not be easy. The air was bitter, the weight on his shoulders was distracting, and he knew some of the crew would not make it out alive.

The quartermaster approached; she was a spindly insectoid with deceptively vicious jaws; her name was not pronounceable by Yulik’s tongue and vocal cords, so everyone just called her Click.

“Captain, are you sure you don’t need a respirator?” she asked, her voice slightly muffled through her breathing device.

“This is not the first Deathworld I’ve been on, and that was a class 5; I did not need one then, and I do not need one now”, he explained, his voice completely lacking in emotion, though deep down, he was annoyed.

Another underestimation, the lack of curiosity among other species, was laughable. How in the void did they even manage to invent the wheel? Let alone spaceflight? Just like the old Captain, too many risks when not needed and not enough when it was.

“At least he had enough honour to go down with the ship,” Yulik thought.

“Are you certain there will be a rescue party?” asked Click, “Standard procedure when crashlanding on a Deathworld is to assume everyone is dead or will be by the time help does arrive.”

Yulik chuckled, “Indeed, tell me did you check the crew and passenger manifesto after we boarded?”

Click rubbed her back legs together; those limbs were often used to convey meaning, happiness, sadness and the like. Right now, the sound she was making indicated confusion.

“Why would I…” she tried to ask, but Yulik cut her off.

“It’s a good habit to get into, it was the first thing I did, and I learnt something exciting,” he said.

There was a pause for dramatic effect until Click’s patience was worn thin, and she asked, “well, what was it?”

“One of the passengers was from a little blue world called Earth; heard of it?” answered Yulik.

Click back legs began to sound again; this time, it was the ringing of dread. Every pirate had heard the tales of entire raiding parties reduced to jibbering wrecks from just a single human; their strength, speed, endurance and resistance to pain and harm was legendary.

Most of it was no doubt exaggeration; no species could survive leaping from ship to ship without a suit, but even the plausible stuff was still a nightmare.

“You’re certain; maybe it was a typo?” Click offered, grasping at any straw that meant she was not sharing a planet with a monster that was quite rightly enraged at her.

Yulik chuckled once more, “No typo; while you were all engaged in a pointless firefight with the marines, I was accessing the ship’s systems, and I saw her; I saw what she did to Qinz.”

The other members of the pirate band were starting to crowd around the two now, having finished their assignment in record time. However, all the optimism Yulik had filled them with was slowly draining out.

“Nearly tore his jaw off with a casual backhand, was not even trying to hurt him, not really, the female just wanted him gone”, explained Yulik, miming Madeline’s action from the recording he had seen.

“So you see rescue is coming; the standard human procedure assumes alive until proven dead,” said Yulik.

“Even so, even if we can take this lone Human down, the rescue party will also be made of humans, and do you know what their soldiers can do? Have you heard of the one-week war?” asked Click, her legs rubbing vigorously now.

Yulik had, most people had, a shining example of how not to wage war, the thing had actually lasted two days, but it took one week for the surrender order to go through. The humans had charitably included this time and thus the one-week war.

Considering the war had been against an interstellar criminal cartel, not a state, and the humans had the support of a dozen other galactic powers, probably helped. The Homornes Cartel had had their hands in just about everything, from drugs to modern slavery.

Not anymore, though; once they attacked a human freighter, the human governments declared war, and the entire galaxy gave them their backing. It had been so swift that Yulik suspected that the humans had been planning it for some time and just need a casus belli.

“We will succeed; survival is an act of sheer will,” stated Yulik.

“How?” demanded Click.

Yulik unsheathed his claws, and everyone tensed up. He approached the nearest tree and dragged his claws down the bark.

Everyone stared wide-eyed as Yulik’s nails did not splinter as expected but rather shredded the iron-hard bark as if it were paper.

Staring directly into Click’s compound eyes, Yulik said, “Because she’s not the only Deathworlder on this planet.”

***

“Deep breaths, Madeline,” she told herself as sweat poured down her forehead and into her eyes. Wiping it away, she quickly checked her PDA, “almost there”, she said between gasps, pocketing it once again.

At least she would be fit and healthy by the time she was done, Madeline thought before nearly tripping on an exposed root. The lower gravity gave just that split second more time she needed to right herself before slowing down to a gentle jog.

“Steady pace now, girl; you want to get there alive after all,” she told herself.

Roger pinged, which meant she was close now; Madeline stopped, peering through the trees; she tried to find a hint of white.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Yet she saw nothing after two minutes; Madeline rechecked her PDA. She was looking in the right direction. Keeping her PDA out, she slowly walked towards it. The fact that her PDA was receiving a signal from it meant that the lifepod had not broken up in the atmosphere and had not been too severely damaged during the descent and landing.

Madeline was so focused on her P.D.A. she did not notice the puddle ahead and stepped into it.

As the water soaked her feet and socks completely, Madeline thought, “perfect, just perfect, you could have sprung for a waterproof spray, but no, you just had to buy an extra bottle of wine a week.”

Looking around, she saw many more puddles, which slowly merged into ponds and finally, in the distance, the ponds joined.

“A swamp,” said Madeline.

Adjusting her view to compensate, she discovered why she had not seen the lifepod; three-quarters of it was submerged, all pods had floatation devices in case they landed on ocean worlds or in a lake, but the trees but have damaged the mechanism.

Madelin pinched the bridge of her nose; it was just one thing after another.

Was it worth taking off her shoes? There could be sharp sticks or stones under the water. Not to mention fish analogues that might mistake her toes for tasty grubs. Keeping them on it was then.

The water quickly drew up to her waist, and she would need to swim before long. Luckily the water was slow-moving, there were plenty of rocks and tree roots to rest on, and it was clear, which meant her clothes would not be caked in mud while nothing could sneak up on her.

Even weighed down by her clothes, Madeline was in her element; she loved swimming, visiting the local pool at least once a week, even if she was no athlete. The cool water also lowered her body temperature, making her feel refreshed.

Madeline found her morale improving, and all from a sixty-second dip.

Approaching the pod, Madelin climbed onto it and banged on the side.

“Anyone alive in there?” she shouted.

Pressing her ear against the pod, she could hear someone inside.

“Look, I know you’re scared, but I just ran two miles to get here. Do any of you know how I can inflate the airbags? That way, the door can open without you being flooded with water,” Madeline called.

Once more, there was mumbling, but eventually, a voice said, “I’ll check my P.D.A.”

Thankful that claustrophobia and a rumbling stomach were overriding caution, Madeline waited patiently for a reply.

After a few minutes, whoever was in the pod shouted, “There is a release mechanism on the side of the pod.”

“What does it look like?” asked Madeline.

“It’s contained in a red box,” the person said, “I can’t even see red”, they added, a tiny sliver of panic in their voice.

“It’s fine, I can; just wait patiently while I find it,” said Madeline.

“Like we can do anything else,” said a second voice.

The first voice shushed them and told them not to be rude; Madeline just chuckled.

Bobbing gently on the surface Madeline prepared for the dive. Taking in deep breaths and breathing out slowly, she steadily increased her lung capacity. In between, she dipped her head beneath the waterline and opened and closed her eyes.

After roughly two minutes, Madeline felt she was done and dived. The swamp was not particularly deep, but it was easily half again deeper than she was tall. Carefully inspecting the pod's side, she examined the smooth metal for the red box.

Moving slowly and deliberately allowed her to remain underwater for over a minute, but eventually, her lungs started to burn, and she surfaced. Repeating the breathing mantra, she submerged once more and repeated her inspection.

On her fifth dive, she found what she was looking for; Madeline had overlooked it before, as it was embedded into the structure instead of sticking out the side. Madeline probably should have asked for clarification.

Madeline was about to pull it when she noticed something from the corner of her eye. Scanning the water, she felt her heart rate rise; something was moving through the tree roots.

It could not be huge, but it did not need to be big to take a chunk out of her arm. Her lungs started to complain, but Madeline was worried that if she surfaced, whatever it was would attack.

Eventually, Madeline determined it was better to take the risk than guarantee drowning. Taking a quick breath, she submerged again. Whatever it was had left the roots, and Madeline relaxed.

It was a fish, covered in large brown scales, though it had ten pairs of fins, thin and delicate like the ray-finned fishes of Earth. Madeline supposed it was taking advantage of the high water level to search for food inland. Its mouth was small, and it moved slowly.

It was probably carnivorous, but the fish’s choice of food was much smaller than her. Madeline relaxed, pleased she was not in danger and a little embarrassed she had worried over nothing. Turning back to the release, she pulled it with a sharp tug, and the skirts appeared and quickly filled with air, carrying it and Madeline back above the water.

Sighing in relief, Madeline moved to the emergency door release and shouted, “Better put your rebreathers on because I’m opening the door.”

As the door opened, Madeline wondered what the hell had happened to her. She had never been a pushover but was hardly a take-charge survivalist.

Maybe it was the company she kept; everyone else being physically weaker than Madeline might be giving her a little power trip and, therefore, a confidence boost. On the other hand, maybe she had always been suited for this kind of thing and never noticed.

She supposed it did not matter; all that did was that it was working.

***

Thirty people, thirty people, had survived planetfall, and now all their lives were in Madeline’s hands. At least for a day. She would do her best, and that was all she could do.

Many different shapes and sizes were dotted around Madeline. Insectoid to mammalian. Reptile and amphibian. Scaled to fuzzy and slimy to parchment dry.

Gathering them all on a stable mudbank, they planned their journey. It was difficult; many of them could quickly get hypothermia from prolonged exposure to the cool swamp water, not to mention a cut could be lethal to anyone of them.

Examining the water, Madeline tried to find anything she could use. There were plenty of sticks in the water, but none were big enough to float upon, nor could they be lashed together to make a raft.

Boat was out; maybe they could use the roots to keep above the waterline. Perhaps but many of them lacked the grace or finesse of a human, and wasn’t that a weird notion? Plus, breaking a neck or arm would only take a single slip.

Last resort, then. Looking around, it seemed the only viable option was to brute force it and swim.

The other survivors were of a different opinion; however, “You want us to swim in that?” a feathered serpentine octopus hybrid asked incredulously.

As the snake alien eyed the water hesitantly, Madeline said, “Wenul, was it?”

Wenul’s octopus-like arms that ran along his back like spines waved from side to side, which was the equivalent of a head nod in his species.

“I get it; it is not ideal, but there is no food here, no shelter, and if the water level rises, we will have an even greater distance to swim”, explained Madeline.

“So it is better to do it on our terms than wait for the option to be taken from us?” asked another alien who looked like a scaled-covered cow.

Madeline pointed at them and said, “got it in one.”

The lizard cow’s scales rattled, not an all together unpleasing sound, like maracas, which Madeline assumed was akin to a blush.

Madeline again looked at the water, now focusing on what she could pull out instead of putting in. She smiled; plenty of large branches would serve as floatation devices for the less aquatically adept species.

Without hesitating, Madeline stomped into the swamp. At first, some thought she was leaving them or leading the way, but as she dragged the boughs back to land, it did not take long for the survivors to realise her plan.

“There we go; now you have something to hold onto if you get tired,” Madeline smiled. The born teeth were a little unnerving for many of the aliens present, but none took any offence, realising from her actions that she was most likely not mad at any of them.

Quickly inspecting her PDA, she determined the route they should take. The lake they were all meeting up at was roughly four and a half kilometres away. Considering the xeno's sub-par physique, it would probably take about a day and a half to get there.

Looking up at the sky, Madeline knew they needed to get moving; the day was fading, and they could not be caught out here at night.

“Ok, everyone, grab a stick if you can’t get someone who can help you!” Madeline ordered, walking directly into the water.

“And try not to make too much noise, we have no idea what’s lurking in this swamp, and we can do without the attention!” she added.

As usual, Madeline led the way; entering the water gave everyone else confidence, and they followed. She could not swim too far ahead; however, not only did she need to keep the splashes to a minimum, but she also needed to keep an eye on everyone else.

The water was not cold, at least by Madeline’s standards; even so, it was not exactly warm either, and it could very quickly sap the heat from your body.

Already many of the other survivors were slowing down, and Madeline often had to double back and carry them to rest points on exposed roots.

It was difficult, slow, and Madeline was swimming four times the distance as everyone else. Despite all this, they were making progress. A charming elderly couple from a Class 7 (H) was picking up the slack; in under an hour, they could see the shore.

“Just a little further, and be mindful of the ground; it’s soft and waterlogged; the last thing we need is someone falling into quicksand,” explained Madeline.

These last few words pushed the group on, and they were finally out of the water. Some shook the water from their bodies, rolled in the dirt; Madeline wrung her hair and clothes while the rest shivered.

They were not going anywhere for a while, and they all needed to be warmed through before night fell. Without missing a beat, Madeline immediately started to gather firewood. She needed to trek some distance to find anything dry and suitable kindling, but finally, she brought back a large haul of wood.

Her ragtag band of survivors had clustered around a bare patch in the canopy, letting the sunlight dry their skin and warm their backs. Madeline knew they needed to be careful; few species had any natural protection from ultraviolet rays.

Utilising the skills she had picked up throughout the years, Madeline lit the fire in a shaded spot where the world's sun could not reach.

However, Madeline did not rest on her laurels, borrowing one of the survivors’ scanners and meticulously analysing the surrounding vegetation and fungi for anything even remotely edible.

She was exhausted, running, swimming, saving, more swimming, hauling, and finally foraging. The worst part was it was not over yet; four members of her little group were carnivorous.

Rubbing her tired eyes, Madeline looked at the water. There were fish in there and hopefully would find nothing to fear in a fishing line or spear. Now all she had to do was make a fishing line or spear.

“How hard can it be?” Madeline asked herself.