2185

August 5th

Omega Nebula

Amada System

Planet Alchera

Local clock: Unknown


Well...

...They'd made it, apparently.

They'd actually...made it !

Somehow, by some God-sent-miracle...they'd actually come down without getting sent to the afterlife on impact.

Somehow...

We've...

We've...landed !?

There was a side of Ashley that still couldn't quite...quite connect the dots, of what had just happened.

Less than 10 minutes ago, she'd been riding an escape pod that'd been blazing down through the atmosphere of some Terminus Systems planet like a metal meteor, on a beeline to smash down just as hard to the surface. She'd been locked down like a pallet of missiles on the cargo deck of a Kodiak dropship, helpless to do anything but hold on- and pray, needless to say- for dear life, as she and everyone else had waited for the hit.

They'd known it was coming, though, for sure. It'd been impossible not to: The cacophony of the roaring flames as the pod battled the friction burn, tacked onto the horrendous shaking and jostling that was so bad, that your stomach kept getting shoved up through your throat, and you couldn't even finish a coherent thought before it got rattled loose from your head ! It was the most psychically jarring experience Ashley had ever had since she'd actually carried out Emergency Space Evac Training ( ESET ) , back over the red dust of Mars years ago...and even with that under her belt ? She'd still forgotten what it'd felt like.

Not anymore, though. No way, and not even close. This latest borderline death ride, was that nightmarish training cycle all over again...

But, cranked up to 11.

The worst kind of 11, to be exact..

Or, to put a name to any one of those 11s...

"...Ok...ok, SOUND OFF ! "

" Everyone: Sound. Off ! ", cried Juikara, filling the pod with that rich, razor-sharp Afrikaans accent. " Unless you're ***king dead, you can talk ! Sound off ! "

Like a splash of frigid water, or an electric current, the bellowed order was a jolt to Ashley's system. The cobwebs dogging her, draped all over her synapses from having her whole body, from head to foot, smashed around like a ragdoll by a tantrum-tossing 5 year old, were now , it seemed, a tad less heavy and clogging than they had been a moment ago.

Already having removed her crash harness, and dropped to the deck, Ashley had begun to move to check on Adams- driven by some kind of nameless feeling that she'd always had...which, was to help those around her that she could. Not even a crash from high orbit could knock that loose from her, but...all that " Getting punched by Mike Tyson " level of battering that the landing had handed out to all of them had been dragging her down a bit, for sure.

Having even a brief dose of that Marine Training Sergeant-style yelling, though...

Turns out...it was actually good for something, after all.

Ughh...don't know if I should hit you or thank you...

Maybe both...eventually...

" ...Janes...here ! ", someone called out, as Ashley blinked, shook her head ( still encased by her helmet...which, now sported a set of fresh new scratches ), and stood ( now, with slightly more vigor than before ) to check on if Lt. Adams was any closer to waking up.

" Gussman..here ! "

Unlatching her right gauntlet, Ashley set it aside, and reached out, placing two fingers on the man's neck.

" Rumiah, here ! "

Come on...Come on...

...Thank you, Lord.

There it is...!

There it is...

" ..Yumie, here ! "

Allowing herself just a momentary flash of relief- and a tad longer to mentally utter a prayer of thanks- Ashley removed her hand, then set about checking the officer's shredded leg. If anything could knock the seams of its dressings loose, and get that blood seeping everywhere again...it would have to be this awful mess of a " landing " that they'd ridden through.

And as for Chakwas, she was still-

" That's what I like to see ! Now, use those cooked noodle arms, and raise those harnesses ! Doc's gotta check you out...!"

" Let's freakin' go ! ! Let's go ! Let's go ! "

- busy, keeping an eye on that toasted guy, Uzek.

Or, at least she had been, when Ashley had last glanced her way-one of the first thing she'd done after the pod had stopped sliding. And bouncing, as well- though, the first one had nearly shaken everyone loose from their harnesses and thrown them onto the floor as if none of them weighed anything at all...as had pretty much all of the others. It was pretty much as jarring as all the other shakes and rattles they'd been forced to soak up on the way down, but with an extra kick of the ground underneath punching back with every belly flop of the pod as it skipped off the surface like an out of control metal soda can.

Teeth slamming together. Feeling as if your head was getting vibrated right off your shoulders. A deep, lingering soreness from head to foot. They were all hallmarks of that kind of bad landing, and everyone ( or, pretty much, more or less ) had be saddled with them by now. There was just no getting around it...

...but, the same could be said for what they had to do: Get themselves sorted out, take stock of the situation, and get organized.

This...is what their training had all been for, after all. It was exactly why they'd suffered through it: To be ready, for a crisis like this.

Well...as much as they could be, without actually ending up there.

We are now, though.

For sure.

And the only way home...is through.

Home..

Earth. The Normandy...

Either one.

Speaking of home ( or rather, thinking about it from some unknown survial's reflex ), thoughts and memories of her childhood one began to flow through Ashley's mind. Just a few, and they couldn't afford to stay for long, but the mental images of...

..Of the long sandy stretches of San Juan's Condado beach , with the gracefully swaying palms growing so tall, and bobbing their frondy tops to the ocean breeze, or the weather-beaten, stony beauty of the nearby Castillo San Felipe Del Morro fortress, with those patches of tan showing through , and the 3 ancient flags of Spain, the USA, and of the Island of Puerto Rico herself...all fluttering proudly with that same soothing sea air, laden with salt, that kissed the beaches and the rest of the city, every day...

Sure, it wasn't exactly standard for SERE training to double down on helping you to remember pleasant memories of your childhood to help you push through serious adversity- but it didn't have to be.

It came from being a Williams- someone of faith, family, and country. Someone who had no choice, but to push themselves to be a top performer for no other reason than everyone who was the brass...had judged you to be a weak link. All of them...just because of what Grandfather had been forced to do, and decades ago. Stupid as sin, sure, but that was just one more reason to excel.

A Williams had to be better than the rest, after all.

And, it must've been that long-drilled mantra- stretching back to Ashley's formative years, and only hammered home harder after she'd joined u-, combining like jelly with peanut butter with Juikara's Boer-accented shouting, and Ashley's own always-present trust of God, to give her a slight, but powerful jolt to help her push through all the brain fog and deep, pulsing pain.

They need me...

They need me...and I won't fail them.

I can't. Not again...

It seemed, sure enough, that she'd been listening to her own advice all this time: because, by now, she'd gotten Adams to wake up ! A series of hard, but firm shakes of his shoulders with both hands ( the most she had dared to do without playing doc again...or fetching the only one they had ), and calling his name over and over, had finally gotten something done:

Adams' eyelids fluttered once or twice...then finally slid open.

" Sir...sir ! ". Ashley braced him, then lowering her voice a tad, she repeated it.

" Sir...! "

" Gunnery Sergeant Williams ! ". It was Chakwas now, speaking with that brisk, urgent way that medics used when there were lives on the line...which was 2/7 for them when beyond the wire.

And, boy , were they outside the wire...

It was one that demanded you sit up and pay attention...

" Williams...how's Lt. Adams doing !? I'll be right there...! "

...because, there was always a reason why.

Fortunately, though, Ashley was ( mostly ) firing on all cylinders now, so she heard the call loud and clear, and knew at once what to say. " He's awake, doc ! That's all I can say for sure, though...! ", she responded, turning around to find the Corpsman had already gotten up, and was bearing down on her end of the pod like she had a purpose.

Which she did.

" Alright then...now, give me some space...! "

Chakwas had made it by then, and Ashley dutifully stood and moved aside, as the Doc arrived, and dropped to a knee beside the still-semi-awake Adams. Experienced hands immediately got busy, as they reached through Chakwas' medic's supply bag and checked Adams' vitals, but Ashley knew better than to stand over her and watch.

Helping is what I wanna do...

..but, gawking doesn't count. Nope...

A long-ago learned, Basic Training-honed lesson, for sure: When the Doc was on the scene, your only job was to be elsewhere.

So, Ashley did exactly that. She pivoted toward the hatch end of the pod-

" ...Hey ! Hey, where're the ERPs ( Emergency Rebreather Packs ) ...?! "

A powerful , exceptionally heavy Australian accent ? It was Gussman speaking...

...Ok..

...That was some weird timing..

Doesn't matter, though. Still got to get things done around here !

" ...Hey ! Where the bloody- ? "

Running over him for a moment right then, though, was that South African accent again.

" Korporal Rumiah ! Koporal, dig some some of the food out , and do it now ! Get them down, and stack 'em up...! "

"..Roger that, Sergeant ! "

Way to steal the thunder...

" Private ! ", Ashley barked again, raising a hand to point while addressing the Aussie.

" Private Gussman ! "

Stopping amid the rummaging of the under-deck storage bins that he'd been busy with, the Aussie stopped, then glanced up toward the sole survivor of the 212th who'd shifted her focus to him. " Right here, Gunny...! "

" We're not going for a park stroll just yet ! Get on the VI console, and check the outside atmo first ! ", Ashley ordered.

...Forgot so soon, did you ?

Well, great news ! I am your personal get-unscrewed-mentor...!

Just to drive the point home, she gestured firmly toward the yet-unused , but still blinking bank of keyboard buttons beneath a blank screen. " Get on it ! "

Clearly caught off balance by the fresh order ( and how loudly it'd been delivered ), the Aussie blinked, and stood motionless for a second. Then, like a 90's ere modem finally booting up, he finally proved he was no fool by replying with: "..Y-yes, Gunny ! Got it ! "

Ashley watched him for a half-second, clambering up from the deck gap, and hurriedly stepping over to where the console was- narrowly avoiding bumping against Rumiah as the Emirati Marine moved to go pull something from one of the overhead storage compartments. She wasn't actually that mad- or even at all. It was, though...good , to have something about this whole dicey and up-a-creek situation that she could actually do something about. And, to pour some energy down that particular funnel.

Trust me, kid...

Better me than Elison, back at Basic. We both know that.

Having asserted some level of NCO authority ( and helping out their current circumstances by doing so ), Ashley finally knew she was getting somewhere now. Yes...yes, it was good to be getting things done- even if that amounted to pushing a private around. Then again, that's what they were there for, after all.

Then again...there was no reason why she shouldn't/couldn't have a hand with this as well, though. She wanted to- actually, she had to, if she knew herself.

And, she was pretty sure she did.

So, about that...

Pacing forward, Ashley made her way to where Gussman had been poking around- a deck storage bin, filled with spare medi-gel containers, and other medical gear. Some of it was already missing, though- no doubt Chakwas had gotten here first..

Shoot...!

...Where's the rations...?!

Oh...right....!

Jumping up- carefully, though, so as not run the risk of knocking her helmet off the ceiling structure- Ashley was up and moving, crossing to the right of the pod, and reaching high to the same spot ( more or less ) as Rumiah was- the spot among the overheads, where the rations were stored...

"...Hey, Sarge...! ", the Tunisian Marine greeted her, evidently spotting her superior out the corner of her field of view.

" Man, Juikara's got me on point...! ", she added with her usual , lowering an armful of tightly sealed MRE's down from where they'd been tucked, all while carefully balancing them so they wouldn't fall.

" Did you expect any less ?! ". Ashley opened the neighboring bin, and found it was also jammed full of food supplies. " There no such thing as ' dead weight ' when it comes to a unit SERE scenario. That goes for everyone ! "

Yeah...

Its good to hit your stride, isn't it...

" Now, load up and move out ! "

"..Just like Gunny Ellison would've said- minus the dictionary words... ", observed Rumiah, as she briskly set off to comply, while Ashley pulled another set of food packs free.

..Once again: You're preaching to the choir.

...That curmudgeon's effects are all over the place, it seems..

Exhaling a tad, she lowered her own load of supplies, then promptly headed aft, edging past and around the Japanese Lance Corporal- Yumie-, who was headed the other way, with her Lancer rifle clamped tightly under one arm.

" Make a hole, Lance...! "

" Wh- Oh ! Yes, Sergeant ! "

Off she went, and still moving snappily-fluidly, even- quickly. She was like that- petite and short, slender, and always swift when underway. It wasn't much of a stretch that she'd gotten the handle " Wisp " from some of the others.

Without missing another beat, Ashley kept going. Wrangling and directing the lower ranks was one thing, and necessary, but...she had other reasons for doing a chow run.

The ones that'd prompted her to begin with...

Hang on, Uzek..

I'll be right there...

Yes, there it was.

And, there he was: The unfortunate roasted and toasted one.

Compared to it, getting shot was a mercy.

Excessively painful experience or not, though, Uzek was alive. He was still where Ashley had last seen him: Seated near the main hatch...though, slightly less slumped than before. Unlike Adams, he was actually , and clearly, awake- barely, yes, but awake. Eyes open by slits, head resting against the side of the headmount, as he watched the rest of the pod's company.

If there was anything else he could've done, though...Ashley knew he would've. She hadn't known him for long, but every one of them had been him moving, doing his job, and not ever once had she caught him slacking off. He was dependable, and getting laid up like this wasn't on him.

Its that conduit pipe's fault...

Overloaded just at the wrong moment: When you were anywhere near it..

"...Hey, PFC...! "

" Hey, Uzek...". She stopped, and dropped to both knees nearby, before setting down her stash of ration packs, and plucking one from the rest. As she did, she spared a momentary glance to check its label- which said it was a " Beef and Pasta " kind of mix.

...God be praised...

That's one of the actually edible ones

"...Got you something. ". She held it out toward him, using both hands. " Thought you might be hungry. "

A twitch appeared at the corner of the wounded man's mouth, and his grey eyes lit up a tad. He offered a shallow nod. "...Right on, Sarge ".

Speaking with a shroud of drowsiness, but not that previous, seething agony, he continued. " 'Preciate it, by the way. Whatever meds the doc gave me are makin' it hard to stay awake...and jacking up my appetite. "

Coherent, responsive...even able to crack even a hint of a grin ?

..He couldn't be that bad off...could he ? She'd seen those who'd been burned before, sure...but at least, they'd always lived.

Then again...none had been singed this bad. Ashley would've remembered that, without question.

And, it was still early for Uzek, after all. He was looking promising for now, but-

No !

No, no...no.

Literally shaking the pessimistic thoughts away, Ashley buried them, and reached up, placing the MRE on the wounded man's lap. " Then, this'll hit the spot.", she assured him, accompanying it with a smile that she was...reasonably confident hit the mark of conveying some real optimism.

" ..We're gonna take care of you. We'll do everything we can, ok ? Everything. "

Uzek nodded slowly again, as he began to open the food pack with lethargic, slightly clumsy fingers "..You seem pretty sure. That's ok...because I wanna be to . "

" You're right to be. Now...bon appitete "

God and your buddies. That's what you can be sure of...

But...you knew that already. Medi-Gel's just messing with your head..

Leaving him to his modest feast, Ashley got up, finally, and blessedly feeling like...

..Well, like she wasn't helpless anymore. Not entirely, at least. As bad and dire as their situation was- stranded on the surface of an unknown world they knew nothing about, with their ship, their beloved Normandy shredded and melted , and barely packing enough supplies and O2 to last long enough for help to get to them reasonably quickly...

...she was doing things. Had done things, actually. Caring for these wounded men...it was something that she could do. Something good she could do, and wasn't helpless to do anything about. It was...a deeply powerful feeling, and one fed by her own natural want to do right- and, to save and help her fellow Alliance.

Unlike how you didn't save any of your squadmates of the 212th-

...Augh...!

Shut. The. Hell. Up !

Shut up...just shut up...!

Abruptly, mid-motion, she stopped cold. The world- this chilly metal pod- seemed to slow down to almost nothing, and simultaneously zoom out, to miles away, and all taking just the thinnest split of a second..

What the...!?

What is going...

What is going on with me around here ?!

All around her, the others aboard the pod moved, went from point A to B, and busied themselves , but...Ashley was, for the moment, elsewhere.

Mentally, to be precise

Somewhere she didn't want to be, and somewhere she couldn't figure out how she'd gotten there. Which was more unsettling, though...

She couldn't figure that out, either.

...Was it Uzek ? Wounded...personally treating the wounded...and not having them just die quicker than a flash while you watch ?

What ? No...no, that's not how this kind of thing goes...

Out of the blue- or, perhaps not so much-something...frigid, began to bloom through her. It was immediately met by the already-there sense of warmth and fulfillment...but, it was definitely strong.

Disturbingly so. Almost...almost as vibrant as the events that contained the death of the 212th..

But, even as most of her recoiled with shock at the mere hint of those memories, two other things happened, and rapidly. First...

Come on...come on...

...First...she found her faith coming to her rescue, yet again. It had done the same thing during the aftermath of the 212th's death...and it was doing the same now. A calming, evening out sensation, that came with remembering she stood for a higher power, and harbored the trust to rely on him.

And...she had to accept that it mattered more now, that it ever had. She closed her eyes, jubilant despite it all that she had something to hold onto.

Something, to banish the darkness. At least somewhat...and least for now.

Lord is with me..

Lord is with me...Ashley repeated again, finally opening her eyes...and surveying the scene.

Better to focus on the present. It was the more demanding of the two, at least for this case.

Virtually nothing had been missed it seemed, from what she could tell. Actually...perhaps, she'd been spaced out ( not that she'd wanted to, granted ) for even less than she'd first thought- if she was being generous , that is. Chakwas was still down on both knees before Adams, methodically and vigorously tending to him all over again, as Juikara was-

...Hang on a second..

Where- ?

...not at the end of the pod anymore ? Momentarily confused, Ashley pivoted again..

Aha !

..There she was: Standing over Gussman, who was dutifully manning the Atmospheric Sampling Station console, just as Ashley had ordered him to. The senors took a while to get a full and complete reading of the outside air , and until it was done, the Australian knew to stay right where he was-

Breeeep !

...

...And, again, things had just changed.

...What the-?

..Oh, right...

That, was the alarm for the scanner finishing its job...

An espresso shot of adrenaline burst through Ashley's veins, and just like that...all of her attention, her mental game, and her focus, was redirected.

As quick as a power drill spinning, actually. That alone nearly caused whiplash...

...but, thankfully, her focus held.

Right as Gussman loudly called out, enough to flood the pod, and with a palpable note of excitement:

" Hey...hey, everyone ! "

" Bloody check this !! "


Oh, " check that " they all most surely did.

Every last one of them. Even the two of them that were the worst off- the scorched Uzek, and the punctured Adams- had been stabilized enough to where they could keep track of stuff getting said...not to mention the others, who were even more attentive. All of them, all of them, were crowded ( more or less ) toward the front of the pod, with some upright, others crouched , so as to create enough space without mashing everyone who was wearing a hardsuit against one another- getting your plates mashed against someone else's always grated.

But, given what Gussman had to report, any grating that was actually going on was getting pretty quickly ignored...

Status on the atmo outside...

This is critical.

Please, God...don't let it be something like Venus...

With prayers running through her head, Ashley braced herself for the news...

And, then it came.

"...Right, so ". Gussman had turned away from the console, and Ashley was still not doing much ( on purpose, of course ) to examine his expression..or his tone. Sure, she's gotten a glance ( and a listen ) at it, , and the other, but all she saw and heard for sure was...some optimism, probably ? Most would call that something to get eager about, and even Ashley herself couldn't deny 100 percent that she wasn't one of them, but...it was best not to get one's hopes up till you had the full picture.

Which was coming...right now.

Milliseconds to go...

" Out with it, Gus. ".

Juikara, as per always, was not one for suspense. Frankly, Ashley was absolutely on her side for that.

"...Yeah. You got it, Sarge ", the Aussie acknowledged.

After a split-second pause to breathe, he finally began to speak at length.

"...So...turns out...we didn't bloody land on some garden planet like Nevos, or Eden Prime..."

Liquid nitrogen blasted through Ashley's blood at the mention of the name , and pulsated up her spine. Images, like a murderous slideshow, blazed though her head, as the reaction she'd stuck with a moment ago came back...

A shudder took her as well...

But...

This go around...

No.

Pay. Attention...!

...she managed, amazingly, she had to admit, suppress it just as quick as it came. How, she couldn't be sure...and, she wasn't going to have a problem with it, either.

Not when there was so much she needed to learn now...

Not. Now...

"..Nope. None of 'em. ", Gussman went on, shaking his head, understandably oblivious to Ashley's mental battle.

He gestured with two open palms for emphasis. " Folks ? We're currently vacationing on some miserable rock called Alchera. That's Al-cher-a, by the way. Whole blasted thing is like the South Pole- subzero all the way around, and snow and ice layers meters thick, all from top to bottom...and, the atmo out there is not breathable. "

"Barely even 10 percent oxygen..."

...

...Long before he'd finished, Ashley found a new variety of chill seeping through her. Not as powerful as the confidence of faith, or the trust of her comrades...but, it was something to be worth paying attention to.

Raptly, that is. This right here...could dictate how their lives would go for the immediate future.

Or the long-term one, if things were actually worse than they really were...

And, it seemed some of that concern was showing through for Gussman, as he kept right on going. " Its a edge-of-nowhere, forgotten by everyone but God rock on top of it all. Nothing here is worth anyone's attention, not even tumbleweeds and drongos runnin' from the law. We're on our own over here...unless some of the eggheads who wander through this system to scope out two of its other worlds catch our beacon.."

" Now, ready for the real sucky news ? I can't get a trace of other pod signals. Nothin'. Dunno if they landed too distant from us, or their own comm systems are offline, but...there's been nothing from any of 'em. I'll keep pinging for contacts, but..."

He trailed off, shrugging mildly with a oddly calm manner for someone who'd just delivered such a morose assessment of their circumstances.

Well...he'd been honest about it, at least.

That was...something one could be grateful for. Better to find out the truth quick, then rely on false hope. There were few things that were more destructive to a Marine's morale than that..

Or her own, for that matter.

Because, Gussman's latest tidbit of bad news had been a cold knife to one thing- one thing more personal than anything else- that Ashley had been keeping at the back of her mind , for as long as this ordeal had been going on..

Shepard.

Vince Shepard.

The man she loved.

No halfway about it...

She'd loved him.

When had she last seen him, though ? When the Normandy was getting slagged and torn to ribbons all around them, like a cardboard tube getting sliced apart by a blowtorch, that's when. When fires had been crackling and raging nearly everywhere that they could, and the glow they put out had been pulsing like a bank of police siren lights...that's when she'd seen him last. When the baying of the abandon ship alarms had been drowning out everything except voices over comms, vibrating your own body with their volume that was mixed with the rest of the racket of a ship dying violently...

That's when she'd seen him last.

And it...

It was...

A cold knife, to be most accurate. A cold, razor sharp knife. It was stabbing sensation, despite the soothing warmth-like getting your hands warmed by a campfire- that came with allowing herself to have this wonderful handful of recollections to herself. But, she couldn't help it ! There'd been no room on the clock till now to have conscious thoughts- as important as they might've been . It'd just been wall to wall demands, from minute to minute, and the battle to get some room ( because, one must always either find room for what they want to do, and/or to think about what they want to, or get it ) had been a fierce one, for sure.

Seemed, though...she'd won.

Temporarily, but still...

A victory.

That first kiss we shared...

That first one...right after we " stole " the Normandy from the Citadel dock...

Might as well have been yesterday. I couldn't even think straight after that...could barely even breathe. Deeper than a oil drilling well...sweeter than honey...

They the first one is the best, and they're right. They its a sign of things to come, and they're right about that as well.

Quite true, because that dizzying kiss was just the iceberg's tip. There was so much to what they'd had...

So much. When she was with him, Ashley had known actual, real, and unmistakable joy. That's what she'd had with him. For sure, and without question.

But, now ?

Now, he was missing. Along with the rest of her shipmates from the Normandy...

Lost and badly scattered...all over the surface of some planet that was just a footnote on the galactic star maps. He was lost, she was lost...

They were all lost. Overwhelmingly so, to a point where they were now searching and chasing down any trace of hope they could. Some, obviously, would be more real than others...

...Though, finding out that you were really up a creek without a paddle didn't exactly have said morale skyrocketing, either...

No kidding...

False hope...its a killer as much as a bullet is.

That proven-true adage aside, though-

On some reflex, Ashley quickly glanced around, sizing up how the others were taking the news.

After a few seconds...she realized it could've been worse. Rumiah had her head bowed, and seemed to deeply contemplative, while Yumie was as serene and calm faced as Ashley remembered- a forgotten master at hiding her emotions, that one. Meanwhile, Janes bit his lower lip, and seemed to be gazing right at the still-sealed hatch that was keeping the outside world away..

No outcries of shock, though. Nobody yelled out, or loudly complained about how awful things seemed for them...not even a grumbling tirade about how it was an ice world that they'd landed on. It was...actually pretty astonishing, truth be told, given that the one thing that grunts were wondered for doing was griping about literally everything and anything that they could. Half the time they were right, and the other half...partially at best.

But, if there was ever something that they absolutely should be appalled and mad about, it was this !

And, yet...

Discipline, it seemed, had held. Their bearing had survived the crash, along with the rest of them, and they'd absorbed the report of how things were not nearly as badly as it could've been, with all considered.

It was magnificent, honestly. Genuinely magnificent. Ashley could only admire it for a microsecond, but still...it was worth it.

" So... Y'catch all of that ?! This ice cube is your new home for now ! "

...And, there, aside from Juikara going full NCO on the others for a moment there, was the reason why Ashley wasn't going to get to dwell on that previous realization that they were holding up pretty good:

They were also stuck here, after all. Not that she'd forgotten, no, but...it'd been unavoidable to get caught up with admiring how strong the unit still was even after getting caught on the receiving end of having themselves getting shot out of the sky like clay pigeons. Even if just for a moment..

But, Juikara definitely had a point, and Ashley did not disagree.

Then again...agreeing or not always had to wait for a tad , when it came to a Boer shouting anywhere near you, with that accent of theirs...

" You're going to her a place so nice, your own mother would be stunned ! ", she boomed. " We could be slumming it here for full-on week before the Alliance arrives, so every last one of you is gonna be pulling your weight till then ! "

Deciding that this was a good opportunity to add her own weight, Ashley pushed off the pod's hull, and stepped forward. She was, after all, an NCO too here.

No reason to stay quiet..and besides: Briefings ( which, to be honest, was what this whole thing was becoming, now that they had a basic handle on how the outside world was ) tended to go pretty well with at least two speakers, anyway.

Their survival was at stake, as well. Not a single one of them could doubt that.

Not for a moment...

" You'd better have paid attention just now...". Ashley moved forward, standing where she could address the pod as a whole.

" Because, we're not getting off this rock on our own ! Staying breathing is our only objective from here on out, and that means rationing. O2, food, water...all of it ! Got to ensure what we got lasts, and long as its can ! "

Barely pausing at she hit her stride, she added . " Sgt. Swikun and I will be organizing a roster for routine tasks, and a scouting team to salvage anything we can from the orbital debris, and to find any nearby pods that might've crashed down anywhere around us. If anyone else made it to our LZ, then we need to know. "

Ashley let her gaze drift evenly around the array of faces as she spoke, drilling the message through each one of their heads. A method gleaned right from the great Gunny Elison himself, it'd always done the trick when he'd been hammering a point home to a pack of cotton-headed fresh recruits...but, he'd been quick to remind them that it did the same for those with years of service under their belt.

And, he was shown to be right. There was more than one confident nod to be seen, and on top of that, their expressions showed it as well:

No matter what they'd been thinking or feeling before, now, they had an objective to pursue. If false hope was a bitter poison, then giving a solider/Marine something to do, and especially something to do that would serve a bigger cause than just themselves, was pretty much the opposite. It riveted them, channeled their energy, and forced any cynical, negative thoughts to a backseat- where they belonged.

Give them something to do- something that mattered, and that could only help them.

" We're getting on this right away. But, if you got any questions, pitch them now. "

Bring it home..

Set the bait...

And see who bites.

Well, she did not have to wait long, that's for sure.

Yumie put her hand up. " I have one, Sarge.."

Ashley pointed at her. " Let's hear it. "

So, what do you have, then...?

Come on...out with it..

" If you're going out on a search, then I volunteer ", the Japanese woman stated firmly.

" Yeah, and me ! ", called out Janes. The colonist-born man from Terra Nova , though speaking with a French accent, seemed eager as well to contribute. " Three guns beats one, after all..."

Usually, you'd be right, but..

..You didn't see Shepard taking on a whole squad of Batarians on that asteroid. Not your fault, though...

Besides...

Keeping that memory to herself for the moment, though, Ashley nodded by way of acknowledging them.

That's the kind of can-do spirit that we need. Absolutely stand up, commendable grit you both got there..

No need to say so, however. Rather than saying it-

" Offers accepted. Get your helmets on, seal 'em up, and check your weapons. We're rolling out. "


" Comms Check...comms check...Ay, Williams, you hearin' me ?! "

The molasses-rich accent of the Boers filled every last cubic millimeter of Ashley's hearing, and reverberated around her helmet as it poured from the speakers.

" Williams ! "

"...Reading you loud and clear ". Ashley pulled her M7 Lancer rifle from off her back, and expanded it from its collapsed state. The sleekly curved, gunmetal grey weapon quickly regained its full size, with that all-so-beloved series of heavy clicks and clacks...

clk ! clk !

clak, clak !

Ahhh...

A taste of home...

More or less.

There were two sets of more of them, as Yumie and Janes did the same for their own rifles.

Even better..!

Allowing herself to savor the moment as long as it lasted, Ashley then rotated, and found the South African waving at her from the other side of the mass effect barrier that'd sprung up between the bulk of the pod's passenger bay, and the outside hatch. Said barrier was designed to utterly keep out the vacuum of space, if the actual hatch was breached somehow, as well as everything that came with exterior atmo- such as freezing cold.

Then again, while decked out with a combat hardsuit with a sealed helmet, you could survive. Provided, of course, that the un-apologetically murderous level of cold of Noveriea wasn't what you were about to contend with..

And, on that note..

" Comms look solid, Juikara. Gussman, what's the exterior temperature again ? "

" One sec, sarge..."

"...and, got it. 92f below ! "

..Good God.

Might as well have landed on the South Pole of Earth !

If she wasn't grateful to be wearing her hardsuit, Ashley sure was now. A chill that bad...?

It would level you quicker than 30 seconds otherwise. Unless you had a top-shelf parka, that is. But, even then...

Yeah. Their hardsuits were going to equal life itself, for as long as they were on Alchera. That was a hardcore truth.

" 92 ?! 92 f...". Janes sounded as surprised as Ashley was feeling. " Mon Dieu ( my lord ), that's chilly..."

" You said it ", Yumie agreed. " If anything is alive on this rock, its got to be burrowed real deep..."

" Probably a mile..with cold like that ", the Frenchman posited.

" You two ! ", Ashley got them back on task. " Chat as we walk, not before. Understood ? "

"...Copy that, Sarge. "

" Acknowledged, Sergeant. "

" Good. Ok..."

Let's run it on down then...

" Weapons ready ? "

" Online. "

" Ready and locked. "

" Suit readings ?! "

" Nothing out of order. "

" All green across the board. "

So...they were armed. All of them with the solid and dependable Lancer rifle that'd proven it could keep on trucking even against the worst of any planet's climate. Their suits ? Sealed and wrapped up against the lack of air ( Which, granted, was a tad more of a problem than the subzero cold...but, not by much ), and carrying all the extra ammo and suit-consumable rations that could be spared for the moment.

But, no matter the quality of their gear..

They had their mission- scout, orient, and secure. Get the lay of the land, and pull anything and everything from it that might be able to give them more of a fighting chance.

Step by step, and one day at a stretch. That's how they needed to play this...

Steady, methodical, and careful..

Let's begin, then..

" Confirmed..."

" Juikara ? Everything checks out.. "

" Everyone ! We're stepping outside now.. "

" Copy that ! Go whack some bushes, yeah ! See what you can scare up.."

Ashley nodded, and flashed a thumbs up...before pivoting away from the barrier.

The hatch was still closed, but the controls to undo it were right to hand. Ashley could open it with just a few taps of some keys...

...So...

That's what she did.

" Brace yourselves ", she warned the other two.

" We're going for a hike ".

With that, she reached out..and entered the release sequence.

EXTERIOR HATCH UNSEALED !

EXTERIOR HATCH UNSEALED !

HATCH OPENING !

HATCH OPENING !

As the pod VI sang out the alerts, the metal semicircles of the hatch began to slide away from one another. Hissing and humming noises erupted, and with them..

Adrenaline surged, and peaked. Ashley shouldered her Lancer, though she let the muzzle stay down.

The hatch slid on, opening more and more...

And, the pale light spilled through.


...!

Pale, white light , burning with snow glare, came flooding toward her.

It was like...stepping outside your house on the coldest day of winter...if your house was a research base on the aforementioned South ( or North ) Pole. It was...a sprawling, and vast expanse of salt-white snow, that stretched out like a carpet over lumpy, rolling terrain that was wrapped all around them, with a sawteeth edge of spiky looking peaks running around the perimeter of their LZ. Coal-black rocks made up the teeth, proving a staggering contrast to the white of the snow. More rocks protruded up from beneath the ground, scattered randomly all around the pod...though, needless to say, there was not a hint of any vegetation anywhere to be seen.

Not even lichen...!

Ashley blinked, though her helmet's visor did an admirable job at filtering out the worst of the glare.

"...Woah..! ", came an exclamation from Gussman.

" Smack me silly...that's a lotta snow...!/"

Well...

You're not wrong.

Staring out at the alien landscape around her, Ashley was-

...well...not just any one thing, frankly.

The child side of her ( Everyone has one, as we know ) was...awestruck by it, actually. The serene whiteness of the snow, against the obsidian shade of the black stones...it was actually quite beautiful. Like something on a postcard out of Salt Lake City...

Would've been nice, to dwell on that.

But, then the Marine side of her had something to say, and soon established command.

"...Janes ! Yumie...on me ! "

They had, all of them, an objective to accomplish. And, they would go right for it, come what may.

" Roger that, Sergeant ! "

The second the other two Marines had spoken, Ashley set forth. She pushed off, landing with her right foot first...

...and it sank nearly to the ankle though the snow, which crunched, with that muffled way that snow always did.

Crnnnchmf...!

One of many. One of so, so many. She did not even begin considering how much so...

Only that she needed to keep going. They had begun, so...they now had to finish.

Crncchmf !

Crrnnnchmf !

crrnncmfff !

Crrrnnchmmff !

A caccophony of muffled footfalls rose, as Ashley led her charges, out, and away.

They were on their path now...

Through uncharted territory.

Across dangerous country.