Welcome to my first story after two or three years of absece. This is the first time I am publishing a story for the TF fandom. I would love to hear from you on tumblr at gotlostinthefandom . tumblr . com if you want to get involved in the development of the story.
The first three chapters after the prologue are pre-written and I will use the time that has given me to go over your comments and ideas and see how i can use them to improve the story.
This story will definitely contain multiple pairings and may turn into a two or even three part series as it develops. I have two general arcs already planned but very loosely which allows for your ideas to be woven in also. If you are uncomfortable with slashthen please refrain from this story for while it will not be the center of the plot it will be present and at times it will be stressed and prominent. There might be violence and gore later on but I will put in warnings at the beginning of the relevant chapters if anything squicky becomes a topic or point of focus.
If there is anything wrong, offensive, or disrespectful please notify me and I will either explain why its there (if it was intentional) or remove it. Thank you and please enjoy the story!
Prologue
Will ran a hand over his face as he looked at the data on the planet they were approaching. It was quite large to put it simply. One point five times the area of Earth and one point eight times the size of Homestead II, and one point four times the size of Cletus Proxima. Labelled NW2043 the planet itself was much like Earth and orbited 11 Leonis Minoris.
He could see it if he glanced out the ship's, the Magister's, window. It had one supercontinent that covered about two thirds of the planet. The meager amount of data they had on the planet said that it was mostly forest and grassland with generous and impressive land formations. He could see from the window a reduction in the greenery where it was closer to its southern icecap, as it seemed that the continent stretched down to the southern icecap, making a tundra.
Weather readings from about fifty years ago, when the planet was still of interest, indicated stable weather systems and reliable hurricanes on the eastern and western edges of the continent near the equator. While the center of the continent experienced seasonal storms with high wind and torrential rain or blizzards depending on the season.
The planet's gravitational pull was apparently oh point nine nine three four eight nine four times that of the Earth despite the planet having more volume. That was apparently due to the numerous and extensive crystal and mineral caused hollows in the crust that make the planet appear more massive and can cause dramatic changes in the landscape over a relatively short period of time on the geological timescale.
The continent itself has a massive mountain range running along the length of it. It seems that most of the natural formations stem from there. Not surprising really.
"Burning the midnight oil, man?" Epps chuckled from the doorway of the office room.
"We're in space, Epps," Will said. "Everywhere is midnight."
"Not for long," Epps glanced out the window. "Will be some time of day when we land. What's the rotation cycle of this planet anyways?"
"Didn't you do your homework?" Will looked back down at the screen of the tablet. "Uh, twenty six hours give or take a few minutes."
Epps made a considering face. "Alright. Not as bad as Cletus. Donelly's gonna have a field trip. Cletus is twenty hours. What's a year?"
"Fifteen months," Will said as he made a face. "Winter is four months of blizzards, Spring is two and a bit months of lighter typhoons, Summer is six months of summer showers, and Fall is two and a bit months of light typhoons."
"That bad?"
"Not… really, I guess I'm just tired." Will stretched. "It's not that frequent from what I have read. There are sunny days and partly cloudy days but storms are frequent."
"Great," Epps laughed as he sauntered to the door. "Wet season every season. I wonder what this planet's version of mosquitos are."
"I don't," Will said flatly.
"Go to sleep, man," Epps waved a hand as he stepped through the door. "Even Fig took a break from talking about gator meat to take a nap. We land in eleven and a half hours."
"Can't wait," Will mumbled as he spun in his chair slowly. "Ugh. I miss cable TV." None of that holographic stuff, not until they manage to remove the blue undertone in every. Single. Goddamn. Image.
He brought his chair back to the desk and picked up a rectangular box that was about a foot long and about five inches wide. It had been given to the team during the mission brief but none of them really bothered with it after Will had tossed it on his desk that first day of their travel. It was basic cardboard with a stamp saying 'sensitive' in big red letters. Will had never seen something labelled as sensitive before, 'fragile' sure, 'heavy' sure, but not 'sensitive'. He opened the lid to see… a horn.
It was like a cow… horn? Maybe. Not really. It was straight, thick at the bottom and ending with a point. The base fit the width of the box and the horn stretched from the top to the bottom of the box. What was odd though was the bright, glossy teal colour that it was. He wondered exactly what animal it belonged to. Had belonged to.
After all the glossary had no description of whatever creatures they were meant to find. Which made their jobs only slightly difficult. He could see why these things sold for so much on the black market though. A shiny piece like this and from an exotic planet. A relatively unknown exotic planet at that. Oh well, they'd find the critters sooner or later. There were no time constraints on this mission after all.
Glad to be out of view from his crew, Will blew a halfhearted raspberry before dragging himself out of his chair. He stretched his arms above his head and groaned when he heard a loud pop. He let his arms flop down as he went to drop face first on his glorified cot. He'll think more tomorrow. Maybe.
.o.
Will awoke to an irritating blipping sound coming from his computer along with a regular blue flash. He cracked an eye open and looked at the screen.
-Three minutes to usual alarm-
Will rolled to his back. "Dismiss morning alarm," he said groggily.
~Yes, sir~ an at times almost disturbing robotic voice said.
Will sighed and grumbled when the blipping and flashing were only replaced by another.
-Suitable landing zone selected. Awaiting approval-
"Show me," Will said. He squinted as a slightly blue-tinted hologram of a topographical map appeared in the middle of the office. He sighed again and pulled himself to his feet after stretching. He shuffled over to the map and looked over it. It showed a mostly forested area but a clearing near a lake had been highlighted slightly yellow. "What's the area of the clearing?"
~Two point nine five three six eight two square miles, sir~
"Approve it," Will said as he yawned.
~Yes, sir. Landing procedures will begin in four hours, seven minutes, and twenty eight seconds. Shall I wake the crew~
"Might as well," Will said as he remembered that he didn't need to change his clothes since he slept in them. Even though Sarah would probably beg to differ.
He headed down to the mess hall where he saw Epps already with a cup of coffee in his hand. The TV screen was playing a recent movie from Homestead II 'based on a true story' apparently. Some romantic crap if you asked Will.
"I hate landing procedures," Epps grumbled in greeting.
Will grinned as he set the jug to boil. "I slept well, thanks. How about you?"
Epps only glared at him as he took another sip and then a bite of his toast. "Fuck off."
Will finished making his coffee and plopped next to Epps. "You watching this one again?"
Epps rolled his eyes. "It's a good movie," he sniffed. "A real tearjerker."
"Oh yeah, totally," Donelly strode in. "You know what brings me to tears? The fact that there's, what, five thousand people on that ship and only one medical pod. Terrible plot device. Brings me to tears every time."
"Oh, bugger off, why don't you," Epps glared. "Let a man enjoy his drama."
Donelly raised his arms in surrender. "Whatever makes you happy."
The 'morning' carried on like that as the crew slouched their way into the hall and straight to the boiling jug. After that first boost of coffee and a first bite of space food they started actually conversing with people rather than with hmm's and ugh's. The movie was soon forgotten by Epps in favour of getting Fig to shut up about his momma's gators back on Earth, his families was one of the ones that hadn't relocated.
It was quite a bustle for only fourteen people.
~All crew to the control room~
There goes the pleasant morning. Four hours passed in a blink.
"I still hate landings," Epps hissed before downing the last gulp of his fourth cup. He tossed it in the recycler and followed the crew out of the hall.
"Alright," Will grunted as he plopped in the Captain's chair. They were a few minutes off from entering the atmosphere. "Did you all catch up on your briefs?"
A chorus of 'nah's and 'nope's greeted him and one mockingly enthusiastic 'I heard it's gonna rain' tied the symphony.
"Ok… so, yeah, it's gonna rain," Will said. "That's about all there was to it. There was also a very shiny horn from one of the unknown animals we are meant to track. Very shiny, easy to see why it sells for so much."
"Yeah, but what is the animal?" Margaret 'Maggie' Madsen said. She was the youngest among them and she was interning under Donelly in Communication's Management. She was a bright young woman and she roomed with Angie, zoologist and a killer marksman with a tranquilizer gun, and Gaby, criminal investigator and also astonishingly good with knives.
"That is a very good question and unfortunately one we do not have the answer to," Epps muttered with a roll of his eyes.
"We don't need to necessarily find the animals, do we?" Fig asked. "We just find the bad guys, do our thing and leave."
"Not quite," Gaby said. "If we can find a good population of the animals we can wait out the poachers instead of having to search for them."
Angie nodded next to her. "Not only that but we need to examine populations in order to determine the extent of the damage that poaching has done and whether or not further action needs to be taken to stabilize populations."
"And to do that we'll need to stay and monitor populations for a while to work out their breeding habits and treat any that have been injured by human means." That was Anthony Taylor. He was like a super-vet or something. He's treated animals on Earth, and Cletus, and Homestead II. Will didn't know anything about the guy personally but he was close with Ferny Manchez because they were cousins or something.
Ferny on the other hand was a top-notch tracker if his CV was anything to go by. Will had no idea how they became so close but it had something to do with Ferny's aunt's pet trappersnapper which wasn't taking well to Cletus' climate after moving from Homestead II. Will didn't know what a snappertrapper was but it didn't sound like a good pet. Who was he to judge though?
~Commencing atmospheric entry in thirty seconds. Please ensure that all personnel is seated and strapped in~
"I hate this," Epps gripped the straps over his chest as the first shudders of entry shook him.
"You and me both," Maggie said with a frown.
The ship continued to shudder as the external temperature counter began to rapidly rise from sub-zero. The flecks of orange and red were visible around the wings when Will peeked out of the window. Another shudder pushed him back in his seat and he looked at the digital clock on the wall. They'd need to set it to the day cycle of NW2043.
It took about fifteen minutes for the ship to touchdown. A mandatory holovid from the base of the ship, both inside and out, displaying the deployment of the landing gear. Six metallic legs, three under the main hull, two at the back under where the engines were, and one under the nose of the hull. The legs touched the ground and dipped down about halfway, absorbing the shock, before stilling.
"Magister," Will said as he began unstrapping himself. "Set up a perimeter and report nearby wildlife or artificial structures. Begin defrosting procedures on the dogs."
~Yes, sir~
At once the crew all took up their designated jobs. There was a time for complaints and this was not it, the complaining would happen in about two hours after they orient themselves.
"Alright everybody, we need communications set up, equipment check." He counted on his fingers. "Fence up for the dogs, find that dog food and the kennels, and let's get that greenhouse set up." He clapped his hands. "Let's get to it."
Will went with Fig, and Epps to set up the greenhouse on the upper level. The Magister 5 was a big ship, it had a lot of levels. Five, to be specific. Each level was, without the separated rooms, between three thousand and five thousand square feet. The top was the greenhouse, a single chamber with a glass roof. Under that was a three sectioned level with the command center, the rec area/kitchen/mess hall, and the engine room. Under that were the sleeping areas/office rooms and the bathrooms. Under that was the infirmary/lab/vet office. The bottom level was the storage area and ship exit. Very large ship for only twelve people.
With a simple command the metal panels and insulation separated to expose the thick glass to the outside world. It was cloudy outside, as was expected but most of the plants they'd brought preferred the shade either way. The plants were all pulled from variously sized stasis cells and set up in their designated spots, labels and all.
"Wonder what kind of veggies they've got here," Fig said. "Or fish. I like fish. Think there's any fish in the lake?"
Epps chuckled. "Probably not the kind of fish we're used to."
"Let's just hope there's nothing big enough to eat us," Will put in his own two cents. Not that that was a valid form of currency anymore but whatever.
"We'll just send in the drones to check the water out," Epps shrugged. "They're water proof, aren't they?"
~Yes, Mr Epps~
"Thanks, Mag," Epps patted a wall.
~You're welcome, sir~ Epps simply handled the machine better than Will.
"I think we should put the bell peppers with the tomatoes," Will said as he carried the pots.
"Not if they're red," Epps shot. "Johnson's gonna mix 'em up again and I'm not up for that argument."
"How the hell do you mix up peppers with tomatoes?" Fig asked from where he was planting the avocado tree.
"Who knows?" Will moved the tomatoes next to the cucumbers.
The greenhouse door slid open then and Maggie stepped in but remained near the entrance to stay out of their way. "Captain?"
"Call me Will, Mags," Will wiped off his hands on his pants. "What is it?"
Maggie glanced down at her tablet momentarily. "There is interference with the signal from the drones when they get farther than five hundred feet. Donelly and I speculate that it may be because we're sitting on a large metal ore deposit from what our scans could get. The ore might be causing magnetic interference."
"Well, what can we do about it?" Will asked. "The comm. satellite had already been deployed, magnetic interference shouldn't be a problem in the thermosphere."
"Yes, but getting the signal from down here to up there and vice versa will need to be done by laser messaging," Maggie explained. "Any microwaves will get too distorted by the magnetic field to be useful. Using lasers however will be a very time inefficient system because we'll need to wait for clear weather or we'd need to send a comm. drone some six thousand to twenty thousand feet high depending on what kind of clouds we're dealing with."
Will just looked blankly at the wall for a few moment as he processed this. The sounds of digging and stomping had stopped behind him as they waited for his response. "Well, uh… the drone method would be risky since we'd lose the ability to track the drone beyond five hundred feet and it could get hijacked. I guess we just do the lasers and send as much info out as we can on a clear or at least patchy day."
"Alright," Maggie frowned as she began typing and started walking out. "We'll get to setting it up and we'll keep you updated." The doors shut behind her.
"Well at least we have some form of communication," Fig shrugged. Then almost as an afterthought he added. "Even though we'll be totally isolated in winter. Wait, Magister, what season is it right now?"
~This hemisphere is currently about halfway through spring. The northern hemisphere is approaching winter~
"Great," Fig said. "So we've just missed the blizzards."
"Alright," Epps tossed the last now-empty pot in the small storage closet. "We're done here. I'm gonna go help with the fences." He strode out quickly, barely remembering to put away his gloves.
"Is he OK?" Fig wondered.
"Yeah," Will waved him off. "He's just eager to get out some."
.o.
Will wasn't really prepared for the outside. Not at all.
The vary air itself was jarring. It was so… clean. Fresh. Crisp. The words didn't do it justice. There was no pollution to sully it and clog their noses.
The grass was odd for an entirely different reason. It wasn't really grass, which was understandable considering that they were on an alien planet. Each 'blade' of grass was composed of numerous segments varying in size from as small as the nail of a pinkie toe to the size of the nail on your big toe. Some were longer than others and some really long ones bent and touched the ground and seem to have taken root again.
The grass was wet with dew though most of it had fallen to the ground when the Magister had landed. Will could already feel the edges of his pant-legs growing wet as he walked through the grass. The clouds swirled above them ominously, hinting a storm. A distant rumble was heard as the winds picked up.
Will helped Marty finish setting up the last fence post. The fence was only around the ship for now, enough to let the dogs roam around, they might expand it later. "Looks like it's gonna rain, fellas. Let's head in. Good work today."
The crew traded humorous words and shoves as they headed up the ramp. Marty and Ferny's dogs hopped around their feet. There was only three of them though. "Yo, where's Mindy?" Fig asked.
"She's in Taylor's office," Marty said with a frown. "Wasn't waking up from stasis properly. But I'm not too worried," he said to dispel the depressing mood. "She's a tough girl and Taylor says she'll most likely be fine."
They crowded into the kitchen as the dark clouds sealed up any last patches of blue sky. They all had their tablets with reports to fill and then hand to Will along with a cup of hot chocolate. The rec room had enough couches for thirty people so it was difficult to crowd with only twelve, eleven actually since Taylor was still downstairs. The TV was switched onto a saved comedy flick. It was almost like being back home.
Feel free to hit me up on Tumblr at gotlostinthefandom . tumblr . com to help me further the worldbuilding of this story. I am very excited to be writing this after almost a month of planning. I would love to hear any suggestions, speculations, and questions. Thank you for reading! Next update should be sometime next week!