It was supposed to be a simple job: six scholars, seven soldiers and a run-down mining station in the Avirian outskirts. The brains just needed to investigate the mystery crystal and maybe get a sample or two while the brawn sat around and chucked space rocks at each other. In. Out. Easy. As the blood splattered across Javina Hollingsly's helmet, she knew there was no "easy" anymore.
***
If there was one thing to know about Javina "Halls" Hollingsly, it was that she hated flying with every fiber of her being. A ten-minute trip from the fractured moon of Millik to one of the planet's many orbiting stations would send her stomach into a tizzy for at least a week, but the three-day trek to the outer world of Avir was the embodiment of a living nightmare.
Javina regretted all the times she could've jumped ship: when they stopped for supplies at Tovarro Station or for that amazing Chyl liquor on Vensha. Hell, she probably could have pulled some strings to wing a stay on Flightline Omega like all the other UIFH - United Itinerant Forces of Humanity - soldiers wanting a change of pace after the war was over. The Atania galaxy had a lot of great places she could hide away if she really wanted to. Instead, she was clamped into one of the many oversized harnesses on the Durrigan, listening to the sounds of debris dinging the thinly sheeted hull. The occasional thunk turned into what sounded like a heavy downpour as the shuttle bobbed through the asteroid field hanging in Avir's orbit. Her stomach churned.
The roar of the asteroid rain continued to pick up as Javina closed her eyes and thought back to when she had actually seen rain falling from the sky. It seemed like years ago at least. Life as a soldier meant seeing planets in every corner of Atania - some for the better, many for the worst. Something as trivial as rainfall was an experience to her. She yearned to feel the cold splash of droplets roll down her face and smell the humidity in the air. Something about the sensation made her feel more alive. Suddenly, the Durrigan dropped and thoughts of rain became images of crashing waves.
Javina shuddered and her eyes snapped open to the crimson light of the emergency beacon filling the hull. Sweat beaded her almond skin. The shuttle shook violently and she dug her nails into her palms as a distraction. Sprigs of her brown corkscrew curls jumped out of the bun she had pulled them into. As she reached up to fight with her harness, a familiar hand clasped down on her arm. "Don't worry, it happens all the time."
"If it wasn't for you, Jat, I wouldn't be in this hell hole," Javina snarked. The lights flickered back to their usual dim yellow.
Jat laughed, his normally soft beige tone reddened by the action, and his thin frame vibrated slightly with the shuttle. "You owed me for saving your ass back on Sivit. Those locals were really upset that you burned down their shrine."
The cold gray of Javina's eyes locked onto the warm hazel of Jat's. It was times like this that she just wanted to punch him as hard as she could. He was a good friend though, her best, and she knew that his smarmy charm was just to distract her from the raging debris storm outside.
"One," She responded sternly with a raised finger. "I was just trying to show their customs some respect. How was I supposed to know I lit the wrong torch? Two, why would they keep a bucket of fuel right next to open flames? That's just asinine."
Jat failed to hold back a smile and scratched the ash brown stubble on his chin to try and cover it. "Just try not to burn this station down too, yeah?"
He looked around briefly and pointed his thumb towards the opposite end of the hull, where a woman with porcelain skin, copper-colored hair and a white dress that hugged her body just a little too tightly was sitting.
"Speaking of open flames," He muttered to Javina. "I'm going to try my chances with that science girl down there."
In the midst of her rainy thoughts and intellectually stimulating conversation with Jat, Javina had completely forgotten about the other nine people around her. The rest of her team stayed seated to her left. Zec was passed out with a flask in his hand and trails of liquor running down his salt-and-peppered beard. Vhaz stared at her knives as she hastily sharpened them into fine points. Cragin and Roxli bickered about what species was the best lay.
On the right side, the scientists and scholars formed their own clique. Givety went over the same engineering plans for the thousandth time. Yeno and Takeo discussed developments in a new form of bioelectricity. Pirzy was researching the flora and fauna of Avir. Finally, Irys, the current apple of Jat's playboy eye, sat across from Pirzy and dictated her notes.
Javina pointed to Pirzy, nudging Jat's shoulder with hers. "I didn't know you had a thing for older women," She said coyly.
Jat's smile flipped and he rolled his eyes. "You're a bigger asshole than me. You know that, Halls?"
The shuttle's motion smoothed and Javina knew she should take the moment to check on their travel time. She disengaged her harness, slowly standing in case another drop was imminent. Once she felt comfortable, she turned to Jat.
"Smart girls are too good for you anyway," She teased, wanting to get the last word in before moving towards the ship's bridge.
Clicks and clangs began to fade as the Durrigan slipped through the last of the asteroid field. A hiss of air escaped the bridge's rusted doorway as Javina approached. She stepped in, ducking down to avoid the low-hanging frame. Qerod, commander of her unit, looked back to acknowledge her presence.
"Feeling restless, Halls?" He asked in a deep voice, hands behind his back and a knowing smirk emphasized by his chiseled jaw. The navy blue of his commander's uniform accentuated his russet skin nicely. Javina's eyes traced the outline of his broad shoulders.
Driscoll, leader of the science team, turned from the Durrigan's controls and flashed a smile of his own at her. "Qerod and I had a bet going on how soon into that asteroid storm you'd come barging in here. I said five minutes, he said as soon as we got out. Guess he knows you better than I do."
Javina didn't know which part was worse: that both men were making bets on her torturous discomfort or that of all the people in the galaxy who could possibly fly the Durrigan, it had to be her ex. She could easily handle the awkwardness that presented itself with the situation, but his smile always made her uneasy. It had a cold undertone to it, a way of luring you in until it was too late. Javina knew what really slinked beneath the surface. Driscoll's bright smile widened against his pale skin and his blueish-green eyes drilled into hers. He let out a slight chuckle before turning his attention back to the controls. He was fully aware of how he made her feel.
Qerod pointed out the window at the small indigo-colored moon ahead of them: Golah, home of UIFH mining station 27-A. One of sixty-five similar operations across the Atania galaxy, Station 27-A was designed to mine precious minerals from derelict planets and the moons around them. It was business as usual until the crew had stumbled upon some kind of amorphous solid buried deep in Golah's surface and the UIFH, naturally, wanted to know what the hell it was. Thus, Driscoll's science team was dispatched with Qerod's assigned to tag along for some peace of mind.
"She's beautiful, isn't she?" Qerod asked, breaking the awkward tension.
Driscoll gave Javina a sideways glare. "And dangerous."
Javina cleared her throat and stepped up to Qerod. "Sir, I just wanted to check on our arrival time and determine if you need any support wrangling our assets."
"Why thank you, Halls. Always on top of things," Qerod complimented. He clapped his hands together. "While you're here, let's talk about our game plan."
Qerod moved toward the Durrigan's holo-table and pulled up a three-dimensional map of the station. It was nestled between the bases of two massive mountains that formed part of a much bigger range. Dark spots that symbolized ice storms passed over the model.
"Diagnostics sent to us indicate Golah's atmosphere is unable to exchange and hold heat, meaning that the conditions we'll be working in would essentially be like going out into bare space," Qerod explained. "While we have plenty of protection for that, we need to ensure that the only time that protection is removed is in the safety of the station. In addition, the object we're being sent to investigate is buried about two-hundred feet below ground."
Qerod zoomed into the model and rotated it sideways. The station, comprised of six satellite buildings and a four-story main base, sat on top of what seemed to be a network of caverns. A singular stretch of tunnel ran from the bottom of the main base down to a centralized cavern that looked like a bowl. The rest of the network spiderwebbed out from it, like cracks spreading from the impact point of a broken glass.
"Is that a crash site?" She questioned, moving in for closer inspection. "Do they think this thing belongs to one of the others out there? The Chyl or Ixr or whatnot?"
"The full details are out of your classification range," Driscoll answered snarkily from the side. "But, to answer your question in the most barebones way, no. The UIFH believes it's something entirely unknown or a really well-kept secret. That's why we're going in to check."
'You didn't have a problem telling me classified details when we shared a bed,' Javina thought about telling him, but bit her tongue. She let out a quiet exhale. He was only doing it to get under her skin.
"So do we know what to expect? Is it really just simple reconnaissance?" She asked Qerod directly.
He shrugged in response. "The crew that was there before had no worries, no casualties, no problems whatsoever. They said they were just unprepared for a full extraction and analysis."
"Extraction?" Javina's eyes went wide. "Are you telling me we have to blow that thing out of the ground?"
Both men stayed silent.
"Oh, there's no way," Javina uttered. She pressed her finger against the marked site. "That right there is not only connected to who knows how many fractures, but also sits under an asininely large swath of very heavy buildings. Even the slightest break in the central structure of those caverns will cause everything to tumble and everyone to die!"
"The UIFH understands that and are well aware of the risks we're running," Qerod answered. He looked at Javina with amber eyes that oozed trust and comfort, then placed both hands on her shoulders. "That's why they're bringing us too, Javina. It was no accident. The UIFH wanted the best. They wanted you."
Javina knew she should have seen the writing on the wall and mentally kicked herself for not realizing it beforehand. She clasped her hands around Qerod's and thought about letting them linger, about sending him a subtle hint, but knew for a variety of reasons she couldn't. Instead, she patted them and stepped back over to the map. She leaned in, the blue and purple of the hologram illuminating her face. There was a singular point that seemed untouched to the cavern's northern end. If she was able to examine it up close, and with a lot of luck, she felt she could get the job done.
Javina turned to face her superior and the man who thought he was superior to her. They both needed her to survive. In a way, it felt kind of nice. She stared at the map again, then steeled her resolve.
"If I do this, the UIFH better give me a raise and a Venshan vacation. I'm talking about a beachside cabin and all the hard liquor I can handle."
Qerod let out a small laugh. "Yeah, ok. I'll see what I can do."
A siren suddenly blared as the lights in the Durrigan shifted to emergency red once more. The ship started to rumble violently. Javina felt the acid build up in her throat.
"What's going on, Driscoll?" Qerod's voice boomed as he looked out the ship's window.
Driscoll swiveled his chair toward Javina and Qerod with a look of panic. "A meteor just struck Golah. The resulting debris is going to hit us in three minutes!"