Doning a spacesuit is a task that does require a certain level of concentration. I checked all the joints, confirming their integrity. Next to me the other members of the landing party where doing the same. As we would not need the helmet right now, I did not done it but connected it to my belt that already held my other equipment, namely a scanner and a plasma gun. Around me the other members of the landing party where doing the same thing.
I stepped over to Rick, checking his suit.
"This seal is not airtight, that could have gotten you killed." I twisted the connector until it snapped into place.
"Thanks." He answered subdued. "Are these weapons really necessary?"
"Better have them and not need."
"Right."
I checked the rest of the landing party. The two deckhands where already in their suits, having checked each other. I was delighted to recognize Serge and Tony. Pet'l was just finishing when the captain entered the small changing room with Dr. Schmitz in tow.
"All right, listen up everyone.
We don't know exactly what we are dealing with here, be extra careful. There could be radiation pockets, so watch out for them with your scanners. You all have body cameras so we'll be looking over your shoulders. I have the second pod standing by with an emergency crew. Let's hope we won't need it. Dr., care to add something?"
"Yes, thank you.
You're about to explore a destroyed alien outpost, at least we think that's what it is. As long as you don't approach the center of the radiation where the base was any closer than 2km, you should be safe. Have a careful look around. We don't know who these people were or what exactly happened down there. Who knows what you'll find down there? I envy you so much!"
"Thank you Dr." The Captain interrupted. "Ensign 9 is in Command from the moment you board the shuttle-pod until you return to the ship. Follow her orders as they're mine. Understood?" She looked around the men, getting nods from everyone around. "You better get going then. Remember, we'll be watching your steps and listen in."
We exited the changing room and entered the small launch bay that contained the shuttle-pods. Entering the port pod I took the pilot seat and started the preflight check. During this Rick came into the cockpit and took the copilot seat.
"You don't mind, do you?"
"Of course not. Enjoy the view."
"I plan to."
Obviously hie ego was not bruised that much or he was just being the usual dick.
I finished the preflight check and called back to the rear of the pod.
"Airlock secured?"
"Airlock secured, Aye." Tony answered.
With that confirmed I called the bridge.
"Shuttlepod one to bridge. Preflight check complete, requesting permission to launch."
"Pod one, permission granted. Safe journey."
"Initiating launch procedure." I stated as I turned to a small side console.
"De-pressurizing launch bay." I activated the controls and waited for the process to finish. A slight vibration could be felt through the deck-plating as powerful pumps evacuated the air to store it for later use.
"Launch bay de-pressurized, opening launch door."
As I turned back to my flight controls the signal flashed for the door being open.
"Ready to go."
I winked at Rick and depressed a control. A slight jolt shook the pod and we were lowered through the door down. As we crossed the threshold of the hull the vista of the moon appeared.
"Wow." I heard from Rick and the guys who had come up to the cockpit to have a look. Pet'l was still in his seat concentrating on his scanner.
"Looks pretty cool, doesn't it? Strap in, I'm launching."
After everyone had confirmed that they where secure – Rick of course needed to be told extra – I launched the pod. The coupling disengaged and pushed it away from the ship. I engaged the thrusters to gain a safe distance and ignited the small but powerful sublight engine. Getting the ship on the calculated trajectory to get it to the landing site.
As the ship accelerated away from the Hermes we where pushed slightly into our seats. Rick become eerily quite.
As the pod entered the thin atmosphere slight turbulences started to shake the pod a bit. After some adjustment the pod leveled out and the turbulences eased off. I cut the engines.
"Pod 1 to Hermes, loosing contact in 20 seconds."
"Hermes to Pod 1, confirmed. See you on the other side."
"What does this mean? We'll loose contact with the ship?" Rick asked.
"Yes. As we are way to fast to land directly at the site we have to bleed of speed first. We do this by completing one full orbit while steadily loosing altitude. The atmosphere, although even thinner than that on Mars will slow us down. Add in some break engines and we're good to land. But for the next 10 Minutes the moon is between us and the Hermes, allowing no contact." I answered.
"And if something happens to us in that time?"
"Then the Hermes will know only shortly afterwards."
This did not really calm Rick down as I could tell.
"Relax, this is just a normal landing on an unknown moon, nothing I haven't done before." I smiled at him. He seemed to relax a bit.
"We have lost contact with the Hermes. Weather conditions are stable so far. All looking good."
The pod flew smoothly through the atmosphere.
"Igniting breaking engines in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1."
As the engines ignited we where pushed back from our seats slightly as the pod began to bleed of speed. A slight vibration made itself felt.
"All good. We're exactly on trajectory. Time to target: 7 Minutes."
"When will contact with the ship be reestablished?" Rick asked through gritted teeth.
"1 Minute to go."
"Hermes to pod 1, please respond." Exactly on time the call came in.
"Pod 1 to Hermes. Reading you loud and clear. How do we look?"
"Trajectory is looking good. You're spot on."
"Thanks Hermes. Pod 1 out."
I looked over to Rick who had finally relaxed a bit.
"Told you."
"Cutting breaking engines, switching to antigravs."
The vibration died as gravity returned to a steady 1g.
"Approaching landing site. I'll perform a flyover so we can have a look."
The landing site came up and the pod turned to circle it.
"Looks very much like in the scans. Do our Sensors find anything else?"
Rick started to work the console in front of him. After a while he asked me: "Ensign, that large square in the center of this valley. What does that look like to you?"
"I'd say a landing platform."
"I'm inclined to agree. But, shouldn't it be covered in ice?"
"I think so, yes. Thermal imaging shows no heat signature. It is as could as the surrounding ice. So it is not heated, at least currently."
"Right, can you set us down? I'd like a looks close-up."
"Sure, should I land on the platform?"
"I'd like to have a closer look first, so no.."
"Right."
Adjusting the course of the pod I widened the circle to look for a good landing spot.
"I'd like to land in the valley and not on top of the ridge. Would make things a bite easier. See the spot over there?"
I pointed to a patch of flat ice that looked level and was not far from the platform.
"That looks good to me. A bit of a tight fit, you think you can make it?"
I just smiled back at him.
"Easy."
I turned the pod and aligned it with the narrow valley, reducing speed and altitude. When the pod skipped the edge of the valley where it widened out I fired the breaking engine carefully reducing speed. I slowly moved the pod over the flat patch and halted the forward momentum. Carefully we descended to the ground. The walls of the valley never came closer than 10 Meters to the pod.
The pod touched the ground and settled on the landing gear. I kept the engine idling while carefully turning down the antigrav. Everybody was tense, listening for the sound of ice caving in while keeping a lookout on the sensors. As I turned the antigrav of there was still no sound that I could hear.
"Ok, we have landed, looks like we're stable."
"Pod 1 to Hermes. We have landed and prepare to exit the pod."
"Hermes to pod 1, confirmed. Please check your suit-cameras before exiting the pod."
"Pod 1 to Hermes, confirmed."
As I looked around everyone was getting ready to leave the pod. They attached and secured their helmets and turned on the cameras integrated into the suits. I got up and checked the seal on Ricks Helmet before attaching my own helmet. Making sure my camera was transmitting I opened a channel to the landing party.
"All right. Everyone ready?"
After everybody had acknowledged I called the ship.
"Pod 1 to Hermes, please confirm camera signals."
"Hermes to pod 1, confirmed. Receiving you loud and clear."
"Pod 1 to Hermes, Preparing to exit the Pod."
I looked to Tony who was standing next to the hatch and operating the small console installed there.
"Evacuate the atmosphere."
He operated the controls and a low-level vibration was felt throughout the pod as the air in it was pumped into storage tanks, from there it could be used to rapidly reused to fill the pod with breathable air again.
After the vibrations had stopped we looked at each other.
"Pop the hatch."
Tony was the first to exit the pod. After some Moments he called back.
"All clear, you can exit."
One by one we exited the pod and took in the surroundings. The cliffs of the valley looked very different than from above. It looked nothing like a snow-covered landscape at all. The platform was not visible from our vantage point.
Pet'l stepped forward, scanner in hand.
"Intersting."
"What is it?"
"Scanners show almost nothing, something must be interfering with them."
"The nuclear radiation?"
"Not even nearly strong enough for that, but I can't get a read on the cause."
"All right, everyone. Proceed with caution."
"The platform is this way, follow me."
I closed the hatch of the pod and took out my scanner to verify that the pod was stable which only took a moment.
We all started walking in the indicated direction with scanners active. Visibility was good. The moon only had a very thin atmosphere, mostly consisting of nitrogen, methane and argon. After a short walk we arrived at the platform.
Standing at the edge it very much looked like a landing platform consisting of metal with a rough finish, measuring about 10 by 10 meters.
"I have something." Pet'l called out from the middle of the platform.
After we walked to him he explained further.
"There is some kind of structure beneath the platform, maybe to anchor it in the ice."
I consulted my scanner. It showed flat and broad beams that reached far into the ice, anchoring the platform.
"It looks like it, yes. These beams would anchor it but also distribute any heat. But there is more here."
Rick focused on the scanner and walked to the edge of the platform facing one wall of the valley.
"There seems to be an electrical wire running to that cliff."
"Ok, let's see where that leads."
"Who uses electrical wires for a base on an ice-moon?" I asked.
"Probably the same people who suffered from a nuclear meltdown." Rick answered.
We followed the buried cable to the cliff-wall where it seemly disappeared beneath it.
"Is this the direction of the base?" I asked.
"It is not." Pet'l answered.
Rick, Pet'l and myself stood facing the wall with scanners in hand, Tome and Serge where some distance back, keeping overwatch.
"Anyone read anything?"
"Maybe, I don't know what." Pet'l had placed his scanner directly at the wall.
"There seems to be a cave of some kind behind this wall. But the scanner can't penetrate."
"Guys?" Tom was asking over the com.
"This looks like a door, doesn't it?"
As one we turned and looked at him, he was pointing at the wall. I turned to it but could not make anything out. We all started to back up to his position. From that it was still a bit hard to make out. But the faint outlines of two rectangles where becoming visible. As Pet'l and Rick walked over to them the scale became visible. Two doors, about 3m high and each 2m wide.
"About the right size for a shuttle-pod." I said.
"Yes, now look at this." Rick was crouching at one side and pointing his scanner to the wall.
"Seems like some sort of controls." Pet'l said.
"Can we activate it?" I asked.
"Hm, we don't read any power. I wonder..." Rick mumbled while he pressing protrusions on the surface that would have been buttons if it had been designed by humans.
Through my boots I felt a rumble in the ground. The outlines of the door where now clearly visible with a small amount of steam escaping. Tom, Serge and I had our guns in our hands, ready for anything.
"Pet'l, Rick! Get back behind us!"
They did not need further encouragement.
"Hermes, I hope you're getting this."
Slowly the doors started to part.