Day -1
“Finally, the ships’ rattlin’ is almost over. That hummin’ sound almost drove me to murder!”
“Hah! You think that humming is gonna stop when we have to recycle this damn engine for the lab?”
“Well yeah, we’re gonna set it up far away from the main buildin’. I don’ care what those geeks said, that shit was the worst part about this trip!”
“Isn’t listening to those ‘geeks’ sorta what we were sent here for?”
“No! I mean, yeah, kinda, but we don’ have to do exactly what they said, it’s their boss that we’re workin’ for and they said we could make ‘reasonable’ modifications to the plan as things happen. Frankly, I’d say the Engine hummin’ like that is a risk to our mental well bein’!”
“Hey! If that’s what they really said then I don’t mind being a little further from that sound as well. Sleeping sure would be a lot easier. Can’t wait to feel stable ground, too. I was worried that the Gravigen would finally give out for good before we landed. I’m tired of the constant shifting”
“Nothin’ like getting the bare minimum for a ship, amirite? This thing is basically a forklift with rockets attached to it. Anyway, we should get the crew together for one last meal before we land. We ought to celebrate a little!”
Day 0
*Bzz*
The intercoms blared to life.
“Good Morning Crew! Today is our last day in space! I’m incredibly excited to announce that we made it 2 days ahead of schedule which will give us a little bit of extra time to prepare! It’s going to be a busy day today starting with this mornings’ preparations. Marc, I’ll need you to put everything into ‘safe landing mode’. I think everyone would like to have something to eat off of still, after we land *chuckle*.
“Next, I need Adam to collect the tools and parts that we will need to recycle the ship into the lab. Also, if you wouldn’t mind- and I know it's a bit of extra work- would you be able to set up the support beams and stuff early for the satellite launch pad? I think everyone is a little anxious to talk to their families so I’d like to get communications up ASAP.
“Mila, just get your lab supplies ready to move. We gotta store that in a safe place as soon as we can. This planet is supposed to be rainy and I don’t think the higher ups want us to set half a million dollars worth of equipment out in the rain while we build a place to sleep.
“Lastly, Everett, help Mila with those supplies, she can be a clutz sometimes. I’d honestly rather the equipment get rained on than for her to drop something.
“Alright you guys, you know what you have to do! We will be skipping breakfast this morning but be ready for a good lunch on Planet 67-72656564, Our new home! God what a shitty name, we’ll come up with something better over lunch.”
*Bzz*
The Ship was alive with movement, the most movement it had seen in a single morning since the trip started, over 6 months ago. Excitement to be on solid ground again after so long, to breath fresh air, to feel the cool breeze on their skin again, permeated the normally dull atmosphere within the hull.
“Hey Mila, what can I help with? I know you don’t really need my help but, Captain's orders, I guess.” Everett Chuckled sheepishly “Sorry Quinn is being an ass still, I figured he’d chill out a little bit before we made it here, but I guess not.”
“It’s okay Eve, The Captain is just a bit old fashioned, I don’t think there’s really anything that will change that.” She responded, her voice gentle as usual.
To Everett, it amazed him that Quinn could dislike Mila to the extent he did. Quinn said to Everett the first day on the trip, “Don’t for one fucking minute think that Mila won’t stab us in the back for any small little thing. She is with those lab rats and they don’t give a single fuck about us. Listen, I know you’re new to this so let me give you a piece of advice, if one of these lab rats tries to get you to let your guard down, tell them to go kick rocks. They don’t care about you, they just want to see you fail.”
It seemed to Everett like overkill in the moment, and Mila had done nothing but prove to be a solid crew member the whole trip. She often went above and beyond her required tasks, and even remembered Adams birthday. They didn't exchange any gifts but she still set up a little party with a cake made out of chocolate flavored granola bars. It tasted pretty much nothing like chocolate and had the texture of sawdust but the party helped everyone feel a little more at home.
“I guess you’re pretty excited to talk to your daughter, huh, Eve?” Mila looked up from the machine she was dismantling.
“You know it, that’s pretty much the only thing I’ve been thinking about the last week. She’s gonna be turning 8 in 13 days and I’m lucky enough to actually be able to wish her a happy birthday so far away! Maybe I’ll even make a cake.” He responded, enthusiastically.
Mila chuckled and shook her head back down into her work.
“Do you want to meet her? I think she would really like you. You’re a lot like her mom was, in a lot of ways, actually.” He looked back down into an empty wooden crate.
Mila felt her face heat up a little, and glanced back up towards Everett but he wasn’t looking at her.
------------
“FUCK SHIT FUCK AUGH!”
“What!? What!?”
“YOU CRUSHED MY FUCKIN’ FINGERS, YOU FUCKWIT!” Marc ripped his hand away from the supports.
“I thought you said you knew how to put this thing together but you keep putting your fingers in stupid places.” Adam snapped.
“Ugh, well if you’d fuckin’ tell me what to do instead of just movin’ shit around randomly, I wouldn’t have my fingers in weird places!” Marc retorted with a finger in his mouth.
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“Look, I work better on my own with things like this, trust me, Marc. Go grab an Ice pack for your fingers and chill for a second. I swear, you and Quinn are the most overwhelming micromanaging supervisors I’ve ever had.” Adam shooed him away with one hand while trying to fit a screw with the other.
Marc Stood up from the floor where they were working and sighed,
Shit, what an ass. He thought to himself.
He meandered down the short hall from the rec room to the medical ‘closet’ as it was known. A tiny room with just enough space for the storage containers full of first aid and other short term medical supplies that they might need. They certainly weren’t getting any thorough medical check-ups in here, anyway. He shoved some of the cluttered paperwork out of the way from a mini fridge and popped it open. Inside were 3 ice packs and various vials. He grabbed one of the ice packs and rested his now warm fingers on them and looked around the room.
This will all be gone later this afternoon. He thought to himself. I Doubt Mila will miss it much, but I think I will, a little.
Back in the Rec Room, Adam almost had the Support beams completely put together, when Quinn came through the door.
“Oh Adam, great, you’re almost finished! Leave that for now, we are arriving sooner than I thought so we should get ready for landing. Bundle that up and then go buckle yourself up. Where did Marc go?” He blurted.
“Idiot smashed his fingers so he went to medical for an ice pack.” Adam replied without looking up.
“Adam, that is your supervisor, enough with the snide remarks. We are landing today for christ’s sake, so try to be less… like that.”
“Ugh, sorry Captain, it’s just that he’s sorta been hovering all morning. I just need some space is all.”
Quinn didn’t respond, instead he just turned to the hall leading to medical and looked for Marc.
“Are you alright? I need your help in the cockpit.” He called out while turning into the room.
“Yeah, I guess I’m fine.” Marc responded while shoving something into his jacket pocket.
“Good, try not to crush your fingers anymore, alright, mate? Anyway, c’mon.” Quinn waved for Marc to follow. He led him back to the Cockpit where there was a large glass bottle with brown liquid in it and two glasses.
“Whiskey, from my old man. Do you drink?” Quinn asked while popping the top off and pouring a small amount into a glass.
“How in the hell’d you get that onboard?” Marc scoffed.
“Secret. Now, do you want some or not?” Quinn chuckled while pouring another glass without waiting for a response.
Marc took the second glass.
“To finally landing, and to being the first people on this new rock!” Quinn toasted and tapped his glass against Marcs’.
They both sipped their drinks in silence for a moment.
“I sure am lookin’ forward to gettin’ off this ship. I can’t wait until we are better established. Be nice to see my wife again. What was it, like a year, and then they can send our families? Too long, but I’ll be strong for her.” Marc looked down into his drink and swirled it around.
“Not too long really, if you think about it. Honestly, I was enjoying the peace and quiet from just the five of us.” Quinn looked at Marc with an odd look on his face. He was smiling, but his eyebrows were furrowed. If you couldn’t see his mouth, he would look almost angry.
“Well, no sense n’ worryin’ about it right now. I’ll get to see them after our work is done.”
Quinn set down his glass next to his chair and sat down. He fiddled with his computer for a moment before pushing down a button on the control board.
*Bzz*
“Alright Crew, we are arriving a little sooner than I thought! I hope everyone was able to get everything situated this morning because we need to be ready to land in the next half hour. Everyone should finish what they are doing and do one last check to be sure things are secured before landing. I want everyone seated by 1300. Once you are seated, we will be landing on a region that our scans back on Earth determined for us. I know we’ve gone over it before but I just want to remind everyone, we are going to be landing in a large field. Signs show a presence for plant life similar to grass. Though it is similar, it is not the same, so DO NOT TOUCH IT OR TRY TO EAT IT. We have no idea what it actually is or if we are allergic to it or if it has any micro organisms living in it. I trust you guys aren’t that stupid but I am just following policy.
“I also want to say again how proud I am of us. This was one of the longest trips that Reyda-Con has ever funded and we handled it incredibly smoothly up until now. Really, our job is almost over. We get that Lab built and send the Satellite up and we have communications. After that, we just need to wait for Team 2 to drop the landing pad and we have a fully functioning and staffed base of operations!”
*Bzz*
It didn’t take long for the crew to finish their final checks and get seated. Quinn watched as the dead man switches lit up for each of the chairs, indicating that people were seated. First Quinn, then Marc right beside him. Then Milas light blinked on, and Adams. Quinn watched and waited for everyone to take their seats but noticed Everetts light wasn’t coming on.
Puzzled, he reached forward to the control panel again and pressed the intercom button for the storage room where Everetts seat was.
*Bzz*
“Oi, Everett, what’s the hold-up, mate?” He asked.
“Sorry Captain, some boxes fell over in here and I’m just getting everything back where it goes.” Everett responded, out of breath.
“Ah, don’t worry about that right now. We can clean up any loose items after we land. As long as it’s nothing too important anyway.”
Everett didn’t respond, he just grunted and his light flickered on.
Quinn took that as an all clear so he let go of the intercom and proceeded with landing.
“Taking readings, Captain. It looks like the weather is pretty calm right now. If we are ready to land, now is the perfect time to do so.” Reported Marc.
“Copy, initiating landing procedures. Sealing all doors. Sealing vents. Enabling Local Life Support. Final check for seating… confirmed, everyone is seated. Re-Entry mode, enabled. Retrograde Rockets engaged. *Thud* Oof, quite a bit of turbulence, huh, Marcus?”
“Retrorockets tend to be that way, Captain.” Marc chuckled.
“Entering Upper Atmosphere.”
“Careful, it seems like the wind is pickin’ up. Clouds are formin’.”
“Copy, I think we will be fine.”
The Ship creaked and groaned as gravity seemed to increase rapidly as their momentum slowed.
“Disabling Gravigen. Local gravity only.”
“Captain, winds are pickin’ up way faster than they should. I’m not sure what’s goin’ on.”
“That’s alright, mate. The ship’ll hold just fine, might be a little bumpy though.”
“Are you sure we won’t be blown off course?” Marc asked
“Not entirely, but I’ll try not to let that happ-” The Ship lurched suddenly sending paper off the Control Board and one of the glasses to fall on the floor.
“Shit, the winds are too strong, we should have waited for a better opening.” Quinn shot out.
“Clouds are comin’ in strong now, visibility is pretty low. We are coming into the lower atmosphere. I don’t know if you can deploy the chutes here, we might be taken far off course, will the retrorockets be able to slow us down enough?”
“No, the Retrorockets won't do enough on their own, we need to deploy the chutes.”
“If the chutes are deployed in this sort of wind, they could be torn off though, couldn’t they?”
“I guess it’s a possibility but what other choice do we have? They are designed for re-entry so I'm sure they can hold up. Deploying chutes”
The Ship lurched again, this time hard enough for their heads to whip forward. Suddenly, they felt The Ship roll to one side.
“Captain, port side chutes have failed, backup chutes unable to deploy.” Marc frantically searched his control board for anything that might help.
“We are entering way too fast, this isn’t good. Okay, I’m going to attempt a crash landing. Initiating landing gear. Enabling forward thrust.”
The Ship began rattling as if it wanted to come apart. On the exterior cameras only clouds were visible and the flickering orange of flames. The remaining parachutes tugged the ship as it picked up more horizontal speed which caused it to list to the right, almost uncontrollably. The Cockpit was filled with the sounds of blaring alarms and indicators, washing the Captain and 2nd Hand in red light.
Quinn pulled the controls back up and took the Ship out of landing mode, angling the ship up a small degree so that the landing gear would hit the ground at the back first. He held that position for what felt like hours while the controls tried to wrestle themselves out of his sweaty hands.
“Captain, the indicator for Everetts chair has gone dark!”
The light flickered out. Everett isn’t in his chair anymore? What could that idiot be doing right now? Quinn thought to himself.
*Bzz*
“Everett, what’s going on in storage?”
The only response was screaming and clattering sounds.
“We need to focus on landin’, Captain! Mila will have to take care of him when we land!” Marc shouted over the sound of the alarms.
Finally, the shaking and balring of the alarms got to be too much. The Controls jerked out of Quinns hands which caused the ship to pull right suddenly. His head collided with something hard and then the world was dark, the only sensations, a tingling in his arms and legs and a swirling fog in his mind.