“See? I’m not half-bad,” Zer-Dasht proclaimed as the shuttle propelled away from Argo. Several screens surrounded the front window, some displaying real-time images of other areas around the shuttle and the rest displaying sensor data.

The rear view camera showed the graceful form of the Argo fading away as they approached the ball of white and blue below them. Beni Delta, a small, rocky planet with such a harsh climate, not even the Kremel had bothered trying to colonize it. Its two seasons were winter and blizzard-winter, the climate never reaching above freezing.

“This shipwreck happened decades ago, but as far as we can tell, we’ll be among the first to attempt any kind of extraction from it,” Nippy informed them. “The weather can be very touch and go, so if a blizzard-level storm forms anywhere within a hundred miles, we’re to return to the shuttle and fly into orbit until it passes. Captain Tave wants to take as little risk with this mission as possible.”

He was just regurgitating all the information from their briefing the night before, but Lusac didn’t mind the reminders. It was smart to stay fresh on everything, even if it did force him to remember the unfortunate incident back in the mine with Quniwel.

Still, Lus remained firm that he’d done what he had to to keep himself and Wsr safe then, and obviously the Captain trusted him some amount still or else he wouldn’t be back in the field so soon.

“How sure are we that we’ll even have access to the wreck?” Dasht asked as the ship approached the planet’s upper atmosphere.

“Very. That radiation emitted by the engines that we were able to track to get the coordinates will have kept things warm inside the ship and around it.”

“So I’m guessing only you and I will be able to enter the wreck, Mister Nippy,” Hlnwr glanced at Lus and Zer-Dasht in a very obvious manner. “We wouldn’t want the weaker ones getting radiation sickness.”

Nippy laughed. “It’s only a problem if they’re exposed to it for more than a couple of days. The few hours we’ll be searching the ship won’t hurt anyone. We wouldn’t have brought them if they couldn’t take it.”

Dasht shot a quick glance over his shoulder to Lus that showed equal discomfort about going into the radiation. Captain Tave had made it sound more like a fuel leak during the briefing, but this sounded a lot less safe, especially for Zer-Dasht who would be the most sensitive to that kind of thing.

“Everyone hold on. This atmosphere isn’t the most friendly,” Zer-Dasht grimaced as he refocused on piloting the shuttle. Out front they all had a clear view of the heavy storm clouds their shuttle was plunging into.

Lusac grabbed the arm rests on his chair, though they were awkwardly far apart for him since the seat was designed to fit a Kremel, and he did his best to convince himself that Zer-Dasht was actually a good pilot as their ship began to rock back and forth, heavily jostling the occupants.

“I thought we were going to avoid the storms,” Hlnwr said with a tight voice.

“There are always storms on this planet. This one is actually on the light side for what it normally produces,” Nippy replied.

“I’d hate to see–ugh–what a real blizzard is like on this rock then,” their pilot added in, his eyes bouncing between the window and all the screens. “Maybe we should return to orbit until this clears up.”

“All our data suggests this is the best window we’re going to get,” Nippy’s eyes were on the front window, and his posture was tense. “Keep going.”

The shuttle continued to shudder against the winds and clouds, throwing Lus against his seatbelt.

“Dasht?” Nippy said with clenched teeth, voicing the concerns on everyone’s minds.

“I’ve got it. I’ve got it,” he assured them, but the way the shuttle bounced told a different story.

Hlnwr made a noise, and Lus glanced over to see bits of green coming from his mouth as the vomit surfaced. He’d never known a Kremel to get airsick, especially not one who had the tough reputation of Hlnwr, but it did explain why Hlnwr was so rarely called upon to join the off-ship mission teams even with his excessive strength.

They cleared the clouds but only to drop into a whirlwind of white as the snow storm raged around them.

“Coming in a bit fast, don’t you think?” Nippy said as the shuttle dove downwards towards the steady blanket of white that Lus interpreted to be the ground.

“No–argh–backseat piloting please.” Zer-Dasht’s face contorted with effort as he tugged hard on the steering stick.

Lus was no expert in piloting, but he happened to agree with Nippy that the ground was coming rather fast.

No, scratch that.

It was coming in really fast.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“Blast it all. The landing thrusts froze up. This shuttle wasn’t meant for these kinds of conditions. Everyone brace for impact,” Zer-Dasht called out.

Lusac closed his eyes and looked away as the shuttle tipped up just enough to avoid landing headfirst into the snow. Instead they skidded across the sheet of white, a spray of white covering the entirety of the front window and cameras.

“Blast it,” Nippy shouted. “That shouldn’t have happened. Dasy-Jonil inspected this shuttle just last night to confirm it would hold up.”

Smoke floated through the air, making the entire interior of the shuttle hazy and bringing the acrid smell of melted plastic with it.

“The temperature is way below what we were told to expect.” Zer-Dasht motioned to one of the few sensor screens that hadn’t gone offline. “Someone somewhere screw up, Nippy, but it wasn’t me. This was impossible to navigate. Not even Oaty could have handled this.”

Lusac undid his seatbelt, ignoring the aching in his ribs from the crash. “I’m going to check out the damage. What systems are offline?”

“It’d be easier to tell you what still works,” Zer-Dasht said dryly. “Minor sensors and lights.”

“Great,” he muttered as he went back to the small maintenance hatch. Part of the reason he’d been brought on this mission at all after what happened back in the mine was because of his technical skills in repairs. They were supposed to come in handy on the abandoned ship, but nature had other plans for the team it seemed.

As he unlatched the door to the closet that held access to all the systems, black smoke poured into the space. Coughing, Lus grabbed one of the air masks and slung it over his mouth and nose before grabbing the headlamp and toolkit that waited on the inside of the door.

He glanced around, counting the number of charred panels he saw and realizing that he was way out of his depth. It wasn’t that he couldn’t handle major repairs, but this was essentially rebuilding the shuttle’s entire circuitry from scratch, which was beyond his maintenance skills. Given enough time he could probably figure it all out, but he didn’t think they’d last that long.

Food wasn’t a concern thanks to the extra rations Nippy stuck in his backpack for [Strength] training, but there was little chance this small, damaged shuttle could sustain them against the raging weather outside.

Lus considered their situation and decided the two most important things would be life support to clear out the smoke and keep the interior warm against the blizzard outside and communications so they could get help from the Argo.

When he stepped back out of the hatch to inform the others of his diagnosis, he found Nippy already waiting at the back with crossed arms.

“Will you be able to fix it?” the Kremel asked.

Lusac shook his head as he pulled the air mask off. “Not everything, not with our limited resources and time. At best, I can repair the systems we absolutely need to sustain us until the Argo sends help. I think life support should be the top priority, and then I’ll worry about communications.”

Nippy nodded. “I agree. Let us know what you need.”

“Will do.” Lus replaced his air and stepped back into the closet which was still leaking heavy amounts of smoke. Sighing, he dug into his bag to remove the necessary tools and began his work.

He started by sealing off anything leaking smoke and then moved on to actual repair work. It was slow going. Not only was he trying to salvage burned out wires, but he also had to find creative ways to reroute power without blowing himself or the shuttle up. The air in his mask got stale towards the end of it, so Lus simply took it off and dealt with the fumes until he finished getting life support mostly on.

The heating wasn’t going to be able to run above fifty percent of its usual power, and the carbon scrubbers were struggling to clear the smoke out, but they would have some amount of clean air and heat to keep them alive for a few hours until the Argo rescued them.

Lus stepped out of the closet to give himself a few breaths of slightly fresher air and update the others on his progress.

“Good job, Lusac. You actually managed to get something to work,” Zer-Dasht said.

He coughed for a few seconds as Nippy slapped his back before responding. “Not my fault you made such a mess, Dasht.”

“How close are you to getting comms back up?” Nippy asked.

Lus shrugged. “I haven’t touched it yet. I wasn’t kidding when I said it was a mess. Hopefully it won’t take too long, but I can’t make any promises yet.”

“Well maybe you should be working on that instead of wasting time out here,” Hlnwr said from the chair he had yet to move from.

“Sure. Because I wouldn’t want to inconvenience you at all, Hlnwr,” Lusac rolled his eyes. He took a few more deep breaths of the clean air. “Alright, yeah. I’m going to get back in there. Wish me luck.”

Back in the closet, Lusac pulled open the covering to the communication wiring and silently cursed. It was even worse than he expected. There was no way he could fix the whole system, but he might be able to get the direct comm back to the Argo up, which is all they really needed.

It took even longer to get anything functioning in the circuit board, and eventually Lus had to face the facts. The comms system was beyond repair with the parts they had on hand. If they were going to contact the Argo, they’d need to find a new internal antenna as well as some extra fretrics.

Taking another air break–the closet had horrible ventilation–Lus returned to where the others waited in the main area of the shuttle. Nobody looked happy, so what he had to say was only going to suck more.

“I can’t fix it,” Lusac declared as he wiped his greasy hands on his suit. “The internal antenna is completely shot. We’re not sending any messages until we get a new one.”

Nippy stood up, slapping his knees as he went. “I guess that leaves only one option: everyone suit up. We’re going to the wreck.”

Hlnwr followed suit, but he obviously had no idea why Nippy was suggesting this. Zer-Dasht, however, was a lot less eager and remained in his chair.

“And why do you think that death trap will do us any good?” he asked as he stared up at the mostly blank screens.

“Where else are we going to find a new antenna? Besides, it’ll be good for us to get up and move, and it’ll save power too,” Nippy explained.

Lus understood the logic, and while he was as hesitant as Zer-Dasht about going into the radiation field, he didn’t know that they had any other choice if they ever wanted to escape this planet. Without comms, the Argo would never find them, and Lusac wasn’t willing to die here. He’d had things to do with his life, like becoming the most powerful [Chef] alive.

They all pulled on their winter gear and then followed their fearless leader out into the blizzard.