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Something Rudimentary

Chedra tensed, mulling over the report from three hours ago. It was something that she had trained for since she joined the Aeronauts at nine, but her hackles still rose at its implication.

The Aeronauts were too pragmatic to explain it beyond what they could or couldn't do, and the Council at Niirenay spoke only from what the Archives described, and what their telescopes could see.

But those that wrote the Archives never saw what they sought, only their descendants, including herself, and they did not speak of what to do when the place they wished to find, to learn from, to spend their entire lives studying, wanted nothing to do with them.

She was younger when it arrived, when she was barely a cadet, still pining for her first mission to the planet or one of the moonlets, not concerning herself at the significance of what had just arrived.

Now, though, the report's significance struck her like a micrometeorite. This was the first true swing of the ice pick, and this time, it would finally connect. She gritted her teeth, grinding the guard that held her fangs stiff.

For if the satellite scans were correct, and so far they had been, they could find more than just forgotten bodies.

The shuttle groaned as the retro boosters quietly activated, pulling her out of her thoughts and nearly out of her seat, even with the restraints. She should have prepped, but the novelty still shook her. She was already planetside when the order came in that her team was moving, and that it was important enough that her speed to arrive was worth the fuel costs.

It would last for another minute, the feeling of the low gravity still made it feel like they were in motion.

"System check, suit good?"

She needed to speak simply, Yalset and Rorii didn't speak her tongue, but they knew her commands.

There were five including her, Vendra, a Siilekii like herself, also from Niirenay, Yalset from Dis, Miitsan from Adran, thankfully she spoke well enough, then Rorii from the Ankii station, Vaksho.

She barely remembered their names, and if not for them being dazzled on their suits' backs in every script they each read, she would have forgotten them long ago. There was much debate on the order for these names, so, frustratingly, the wearer's tongue drew first.

Each girl chirped a verification, that everything was ready for them to finally walk onto the ground outside. She gestured her right arm out, folding it up and left, but not touching her chest, a gesture for depressurizing, and an effort made difficult with the suit fighting every inch.

She waddled to the valve, gripping its knob and twisting it open, a quiet whimper followed by a great nothing. Thankfully, it was still day, but the faint dot lighting the way was low, and growing lower. They would have perhaps two hours before it finally was eaten by the crags nipping at its feet, and the shadows already grew dark and long.

She inspected the map yet again, the hot points that were ever updating as they ran to the shuttle, and even during its flight. There were fourteen of them, but some were much more recent, and therefore much more important with time.

"Council, council, this is Chedra, Chief Spear, we are at drop point and are now looking to site four and seven, will visually inspect site two and nine on way, set?"

There was no telling just how many were listening. Every station, every general, and everyone capable, drooling at each scratchy signal she sent.

It had been so quick, and she still had to remind herself that for those older than her, such as even her own parent, this was so much more of a novelty.

The expeditions did not arrive at the same time. The Archives spoke of others looking to leave, but it was her Foremother's expedition that left first, though they arrived second. But they arrived to find that the thing they were looking for was simply not there. It would turn out to just not be there yet, but for the expedition that assembled Dis, it would be over a generation before the Ark, the ship of legend, finally arrived.

For much time before that, however, so many among the expeditions thought that their journey was an expensive failure, and they grew wary of their fellow doomed neighbors. In that sense, the arrival of the Ark meant more than simply knowing that their journeys were not failures, but a reason to unite yet again. And, after now nine cycles, almost half Chedra's life, that unity still seemed weak, barely held together with a common purpose.

And now that common purpose might finally gain fruition.

"Chief, how are we splitting?"

It was Vendra, she was in her cadet courses, but was held back a cycle, but that meant little to her. She was in the same predicament as herself, and she knew what commands they each would understand.

She had to lead half on her own, she simply had to.

"Guard, you go with Rorii and Yalset, go to seven, take the buggy, drive around nine, once, but do not stop, after that go straight to seven. I'll go with Miitsan, give me and Council updates, and tell me if you need help, I will go there right away, ok? We're not getting help for at least four hours, we're on our own. Understand?"

Her radio chirped a confirmation.

If Yalset wasn't such a clumsy fool, she would have her on her half, but that would be risky with a team of two. It was something drilled into her from cadet school, to have more than just one buddy, for if you needed help, and they too needed help, all that did was mean two bodies to retrieve. Unfortunately, that was not merely a story, she lost three fellow students in just that way.

"Chief Spear, this is Niirenay, we hear you, I apologize, we are still coordinating radio order, I might need to have you change the signal to another channel, Dis and Adran do not have clearance and are requesting a live feed. Regardless, please be careful, we will provide any satellite updates, as well as any updates of the Ark. So far, the site has been quiet since our last update."

That had been a half hour ago, after what Council said was nothing short of an explosion.

She flicked on her suit's lights, running to her own buggy, smaller than Vendra's, but enough for two.

"Confirm, Council. Give me the radio channel if so, otherwise, will keep you updated."

She twisted as much as she could to her compatriot, her suit colored red, the color of Adran, though not the color of their hides.

"Chief, where we go, what is it we are looking to see?"

The buggy bounced as she pulled the ignition, gripping the steering handle.

"We're going to where satellites think their rover went, it looks like it crashed, but without lights, so hard to see, yes? We might be off some hundred meters."

Her deep laugh scratched at the speaker.

"Yes, Chief, but we be having lights, yes? Not hard to find for us."

Her tongue was always broken, but they both could communicate well enough. This was the other reason she was here. It was the benefit that was worth the risk of having only her.

"Just keep looking, tell me if you see anything."

The terrain was deceptively flat, dotted with hundred meter wide chasms, and thick with slush that threatened to drag the buggy to a halt. It was difficult to understand why the Ark had sent an expedition here. Every Station kept away from here minus preliminary drones, but their expedition had been monitored since it was noticed over an entire rotation of the planet ago, and her orders were to simply ignore it, give it wide berth and hope it did the same.

Up until three hours ago, that was still the case, but then the satellites noticed flashes and movement.

The report had theories, some more outlandish, such as an explosive charge for mining going wrong, but the one that nagged at her was one she was wary of since she saw what her fellow officers spoke of when the comms weren't listening.

This had to be a mutiny.

Somehow, and the exact perimeters may never be known, the people of the Ark, however little they knew of them, had rebelled here. Perhaps it was squashed, but the satellite feed gave no updates besides heat loss and what looked like an explosion, though it may have been a pressurized rover popping dry.

This would be more than the last find, from a cycle and a half earlier. One of their expeditions experienced an avalanche, and they fled, retrieving all but one of the dead, the one dead body that an Adranii team found after two of the planet's rotations of investigation.

So much was learned from that find, but a dead body could only tell so much.

But anyone alive, especially anyone who had just participated in a mutiny, might not be willing to come peacefully.

"Just follow their marks, Chief?"

The light from the buggy showed the unnatural grooves of whatever rover they were chasing, like a scent of prey for a huntress, or at least as the Archives showed.

"That is the plan, our target is a rover. Approximate size is about ten meters long, five wide, moved at ten meters a second. This is no chase, though, the rover is no longer moving."

Miitsan let out a grunt.

"Then what in between, Chief?"

It was uncertain, there was a change of albedo in that middle point, one that changed very suddenly when that rover drove past. She knew enough to know if was less an object, and more a new chasm.

It was unfortunate, but these flats were incredibly dangerous, which was the other reason they stayed far away from here. She knew some of the physics involved, there was a large depression here, enough that the atmospheric pressure was no longer a vacuum, but barely above. It would still knock her out in a moment, kill her in two, but through physics, that few millipascal of difference was significant.

It snowed here, though very unlike what the Archives showed. It was faint, more a haze, but it all settled here, in a depression nearly four thousand kilometers wide. This snow was frozen nitrogen, useless for any expeditionary resources, and more than simply a hindrance.

It danced dangerously close to its sublimation temperature, meaning the ground underneath was suspect, and at any disturbance, such as a hot rover driving haphazardly, was enough to make one of those hundred meters wide, and often hundred meter deep, chasms, swallowing whatever disturbed it like some ravenous beast.

The fact that the rover did not get eaten by this first bite was surprising, but the fact it later would be eaten by the second was one she simply could not ignore.

"Chief, what in between?"

Her hands shook on the steering handle, staring at the ground rushing to her left.

"Sublimation pit, we look to see if anything is there. This is quick, just look with your heat cam, the rover did not stop there, but it made that pit."

Miitsan let out a breathy whimper, staggered enough Chedra thought she was laughing, at least until she responded.

"Drive well, Chief, please. This ground is still fresh from them."

She was right. The path of the rover stood out from the terrain it grooved into, marks that were from only a few hours before, compared to the shuffle of nitrogen glaciers that were hundreds of thousands of cycles of churning and snow.

The ground was hallowed, waiting ravenously to devour them, waiting for them to expect otherwise.

The ground was open to their left, a giant maw eating the marks of the rover, blackened with shadow. It was here that site two resided, the change of albedo, the failed swallow by the ground.

"Heat cam, Miitsan, any hot spot or movement?"

She reached behind her, likely looking through supplementary binoculars.

"Temperature at ambient, no difference with shadow, this is very young, Chief."

She twisted her arm's radio, slowing the rover to a safe crawl, as she set her signal back to Council.

"Council, site two is inspected, fresh sublimation pit, no rover, nothing but slush, moving to four, ETA two minutes."

Her quickened breathing was the initial response, a long moment before she heard their starting crackle.

"Understood Spear, keep us posted. It would appear site four is starting to be in shadow. Please be careful, we are setting up a second team, ten strong, should be ready to reach you in three hours."

So they had been prepping during her transfer, working faster than she knew was safe. She always heard rumors of military operations against the other Stations, all theoretical, of course, but the scale of mobilization was concerning, even if it was for a good purpose instead.

She shifted the radio to Vendra's line, finally gripping the steering handle firm and pressing forward.

"Vendra, Chief, ETA to site nine? We are now moving to site four, nothing yet."

The buggy shook, enough that she had to hold her arm taut to keep herself from ramming into the handles. Miitsan tapped silently to her right, catching her attention, then extended her hand flat, the gesture to slow down.

"Still going, terrain is rougher here, keeps pulling us slow. Nine is about seven fifty meters, looking to reach in two minutes or so."

Chedra sighed at the update, careful not to consider this a playful race.

"Understood, just make it there, don't rush. Council says they are sending a team of ten our way, ETA three hours."

She let out a laugh.

"I suppose we need to be their welcoming committee, eh?"

It was hard not to smile at that, though her breather fought against her lips stretching wide.

She would need to talk with Vendra after this entire situation, almost certainly about whatever problems Yalset inevitably caused, and over whatever stims that Council would authorize. It had been some time since she had any sort of leave, instead getting gaudy contracts from Adranii or Council resource scouting. It had been where she was before all of this, but Council would likely give her more station leave.

Perhaps even Miitsan would love to tag along, but she knew so little of her, and despite her moderate fluency, she would be rather tight lipped, never talking beyond answering questions.

She twisted her arm again, to her channel.

"Hey Miitsan, I was thinking I'd have a rounds of stims with Vendra after all of this, you want to tag along? My payment for being so useful."

She didn't turn her head, but still let out a hearty chuckle.

"You never smelled like a druggie to me, Chief. You do this much?"

Her lack of face and smells made it hard to tell if this was a joke.

"That didn't sound like a 'no', Miitsan. And no, only on special occasions."

Her head moved this time, but away from Chedra.

"This is certainly that, Chief."

She raised her arm and silently slapped the central console, pointing with her other arm to the right.

Chedra slowly applied the brake, careful not the turn the buggy over. It was something they drilled into her hard, that low gravity meant momentum was queen. She leaned forward, past Miitsan, enough to see the maw that she pointed toward.

It was difficult to say how large it was, the shadow devoured more than half of the massive chasm, and the slopes were nearly vertical, falling toward the deep center.

She should have known better. Site four was inside one of these depressions, they would encounter its edge well before they reached the actual site.

If the rover was here, it was either too small to see, shattered, or inside the deep dark of the shadow.

"Anything on the heat cam, Miitsan?"

She extended her hand, finger up, wagging it at her. It would be more than a moment before she stopped.

"I don't see anything, Chief. Not even in the shadow."

The mouthguard fought her frown.

"Keep looking, I'm contacting Council."

She twisted her arm dial, standing in the seat, breathing quick.

"Council, at site four, we have no visual there, say again, heat cam has no visual, shadow is disrupting visibility. Please advise."

She cursed under her staggered breath waiting for their response.

"Chief Spear, understood. Site Four experienced that flash we issued in our report about a half hour ago, on the location opposite you right now. Do you see anything relating to that? Perhaps it was buried by an ice movement."

Miitsan moved her arm distractingly, before putting forward both arms, emphasizing the gap between her hands, then pointed toward the chasm.

She knew what she was asking: what is the width of the chasm?

"Council, what were the dimensions of the chasm?"

They stared eagerly for the response only Chedra would hear.

"Our latest scan suggests around fifteen hundred meters from you, twelve hundred north and south, we won't be able to give another scan for another half hour, unfortunately. Please wait, we are convening on your next orders."

She turned the dial.

"Miitsan, fifteen hundred far, twelve hundred wide."

She bobbed her head, along with her entire torso, up. Another gesture, this one of disapproval.

"No, I see seventeen hundred far, twelve hundred wide. Tracks along the far end, they drove out of this. We need to go around."

The HUD of her comm lit up, saying Vendra was hailing her. She directed Miitsan to alert her where to stop, before turning the dial, then starting the long drive around.

"Talk to me, Vendra, I think our rover moved."

She was breathing heavy enough that Chedra heard it huffing in her ear.

"Chedra, they had some base here, I know you wanted us to roll around, but...we see bodies."

She instinctively braked, enough that Miitsan angrily batted the console and pointed forward. Chedra already knew this was something unbelievable, a live rover, and now more than one confirmed body.

Council would approve more than just stims.

"Let me tell Council, go around still, but don't go to site seven until my update. Please be careful, I don't want to make more chasms."

She twisted her dial, gulping a bout of spit.

"Council, we have updates. Sorry, still very eager. Our chasm in site four has expanded, Second Spear says she sees tracks going up the other side, we are rolling around to see if we can find where it went. But Arrow, they are at site nine, and they say they see bodies. I told them to wrap around and move to seven before, where that other rover went. I...I think I would tell her to investigate, she says it is some sort of base. We might get more than bodies, Council."

Her own breathing pulsed wildly, the suit's air hot and thick with stink and sweat.

"Chief Spear, confirm, say again, you said Arrow found bodies? If so, yes, you are authorized, what we saw from site seven suggested the rover did not survive impact structurally, which we didn't see in four. And for four, yes, please pursue those tracks. Keep us updated, we are relying on old information."

They were relying on her. She led teams before but never for anything like this. The worst she dealt with were terrible accidents during contract work, such as with cliff work, or suit repair alone.

"Understood, Council."

She switched back to Vendra, gloved hands shaking on the steering handles.

"Vendra, it's a go, check out that site. Give me numbers and any updates. And I owe you some stims after this, you, me, and Miitsan. Show her all the fun places at Niirenay, right?"

No laugh, still only hearing her quickened breathing.

"Chief, I...I think we should focus on now. This might be a big deal. We can care about the party when we're back in Station. But yeah...consider me interested."

She turned a knob, activating the headlights, dazzling the icy slush in front of them, then switched back to Miitsan, tapping the console to get her attention.

"Come on, going on your navigation. Are we close? We need to find something better than Vendra. She is at site nine, something about a dead base, and bodies too, I think a live rover will suffice."

But it wouldn't just be a rover. She had to remember that, this wasn't a drone. There was no telling how many were inside, or their demeanor. She barely skimmed the report of the corpse, but she knew enough from the Archives on what they spoke about, of the great ruins, roads, dams, and other immense structures by their civilization. Old dead satellites, eaten away by sun and time, carcasses of old rocket bodies, they took to the stars a length of time ago that contained the birth and annihilation of many peoples.

Apparently before that find, all that was known by their appearance were worn statues, decaying frescoes, and crumbling skeletons.

But she knew enough.

Their hide was silky, a shiny dark grey, with a ribbing of tan stripes along their entire body, barring their belly. And striking orange eyes, a color unique to them. But she would seem as foreign to them as they were to her.

They were beautiful beings, according to those who saw them, more luscious than her own solid brown, or Miitsan's patchwork of orange, whites, and blacks.

Miitsan tapped the console, and the tracks, just like the ones before the chasm, were striking in the flat slush.

"I don't know how far they go, but look at the right track, fatter, wobbly. I think the rover is wounded, Chief."

She was right. Falling even a dozen meters in this gravity would be deadly, especially if it caused a leak. But this rover was able to climb, even with a bent wheel. Perhaps the sublimation was slower, causing the rover to fall down step by step rather than one great crash.

But with that wound, it could not have traveled far, even if it was still traveling now.

She ridiculed every wavering mark, imagining the rover slowly ripping apart in metallic pain, every push of the suspension bringing it closer to a permanent halt.

The terrain started to rise, a giant dune of nitrogen slush, a hill that their target still persisted upon. These dunes stretched the entire flat, and if her school's geologists were correct, it was the giant updraft of the churning nitrogen ice, pushing out, only to drift for hundreds of kilometers, sloshing at water ice crags and other harder, more solid obstacles.

And as they crested the hill, she was able to see just how far these ice flats stretched, claws of shadow in a plane of whites and blues.

There was a beauty in it all, the desire she felt when she became a cadet, before the aeronauts missions shifted so radically. The tracks continued incessantly in front of them, a great distance before they vanished in a haze, one that sat around the hill, not at all like the clouds in the Archives. It was remnants of the nitrogen subliming, the hole they passed before, now dissolved into a pathetic smoke.

Her HUD flashed green again, another call from Vendra.

She shifted the channel, answering with bated breath.

"Chief, that base...it's got a big hole on its side, we haven't entered it yet, but just let me know, we can move in. I see four bodies out, though, all suits, shrapnel, this...this was a bomb, Chief."

She gripped the handles, breathing deep.

"Yes, go, be careful. And get this all on vid, pics, everything, document everything you see. I don't know if the next team will see what you see. This terrain has already shifted so much. We still are moving, we don't...we don't see..."

It was a bright glint, at first she thought reflecting off the ice from the star, but a slight bump extinguished it, only to grow ever brighter when the buggy landed hard. It was the head lights, not the star, but off of what?

"Don't see what, your rover? And Chief, we're entering now, we...we got a lot more bodies."

The radio did little to distract her from the shine, the marks leading straight toward it. Miitsan tapped the console, pointing straight, prompting Chedra to gesture with her hand an affirmative. The shine started to fade, and in its place, an irregularity that stood out from the rounded, flat terrain. She let out a surprised yelp, realizing just what she was seeing.

"Chief, you good? We're trying to count what we have, I think we have at least twenty here."

Chedra heard the number in the haze, dragging her from the catch.

"Twenty...that's a lot, Vendra. We see it now, though. I...I'm moving towards the rover, keep me posted, please..."

She let go of the throttle, letting the buggy coast down the slope, switching the radio to Council, still deciding what to say first.

"Council, we have updates. Arrow says there is a hole at the outpost situated in site nine, says there are twenty bodies, suited, filled with shrapnel, she thinks a bomb. She is entering the facility, will update. And we found the rover that left site two, uh..."

She tapped the console, attracting Miitsan's attention, before extending her arms out, just like Miitsan had at the chasm. Miitsan aimed her finder at the rover, still a just discernible box in the distance.

"Chief Spear, that is excellent news. Please collect whatever information you can, we can move the secondary team about a half hour earlier, but it'll be night at your location near that time."

Miitsan tapped the console, before gesturing her hand twice flat, then three times narrow.

"Rover is seven hundred meters, closing, will be there in about a minute."

She switched her radio, ignoring Council flashing her HUD green. Each meter was another quick breath, prompting Miitsan to lean toward her.

"Our hunt is done, Chief, it isn't moving. Who knows for how long. What about with Vendra?"

Chedra bit on the guard, grinding at the question.

"Twenty. Twenty bodies, she's entering the base now. Don't know what we just found. You think we have twenty as well?"

She shifted back straight, holding the supports, looking away.

"We shall see, Chief."

She could truly see it now, no longer a tiny point. It was at least two times as long as the buggy, and twice as wide, entirely enclosed, flashing a faint purple light in its rear, to its apparent right, but it did not light the ice with its own lamps. These lamps were on top and to the front, near invisible if not for blocking the stars. On its side, and presumably the other, a rectangular extrusion, an airlock, jutting out like a door. The whole rover leaned back, to its right and front, threatening to tip over.

The buggy slowed to a crawl, around thirty meters from the rover, finally stopping after their ten kilometer long trip. Miitsan unlatched herself and hopped onto the ground, immediately slipping prone, letting out a yipe.

"Miitsan, shit, any alarms?"

Even in this slush, one slip was enough to create a rip or a hole, and even if it were a small one, the vacuum would squeeze her dry.

"Nominal, status eight surface, should have known better. Be careful, do not hop. Surprised we were even able to move, Chief. I think this was why they stopped."

Status eight, surfaces with effectively no friction, worse under low gravity. Miitsan didn't train under the cadets, but after all Stations started to coordinate with their standards, she would have followed similar training. It was difficult to know which ones were which until one slipped, often being one rate higher than one suspected.

She unlatched, placing her left leg probingly to the ground, feeling a slight crunch when she finally connected. She pushed off the buggy, standing straight, looking to her right, seeing their own marks, running along the hill, it shining a pale blue, her shadow twice as long as the buggy. She then turned around, seeing Miitsan, propping herself up, then further to the rover.

She moved one foot forward, extending her tail out, maintaining her center of gravity over her other leg. Another cadet training, to know all from feel, and to match each limb's motion with another aimed opposite.

Chedra walked forward, cutting down the distance enough that the rover loomed over her. She was within its shadow, staring at the side facing her. It was ornate, having geometric symbols covering its metal skin, the airlock's clear wall shining at her suit's lights. The intricate work was reminiscent of the exterior of the Ark, carved iconography that seemed to tell stories that meant nothing to her.

She dialed to Council, turning on her cam for her helmet.

"Uh...Council, sorry for the wait, but, you getting this?"

They waited more than a moment before responding.

"Yes, we are, though perhaps not quite as impressive as Arrow's cam, I should add. Looks to be similar to some of the artifacts in the last investigation, though we never saw a rover in this condition. Are you planning on inspecting inside? It appears to be somewhat damaged."

Chedra aimed her light, tilting her back and body where she wished, toward the glistening glass of the airlock. It seemed to be a simple one, double-doored, but with no signs of any sort of valve or levers to open them. She clambered up, the rover ever shifting, every micro angle announcing itself with a shift in her inertia that she needed to correct. The railing along the sides of the airlock were narrow, but extended out at least forty centimeters from the wall of the rover.

She gripped up enough to hold herself in front of the airlock window, finally seeing inside.

It was still intricate, minor structures, some even appearing as statuettes, but it was dark, empty of anything else.

She let out the breath she had been holding, a feeling of disappointment.

It wasn't just that Vendra had found so much, but the risk it took to get here, and all they had was an empty rover, even if it was one that had never been retrieved beyond satellite imagery, track analysis, and mass analysis when they shuttled up and down.

"Miitsan, you doing a check around? I don't think I see anything inside, beyond some structures."

The rover felt like it slightly shook, enough that she knew it was just herself. Chedra tilted her body around, looking at the slush that extended for an unreal distance, the shadow cast by the rover extending well past the buggy, first only seen by its silhouette in front of the shiny ice terrain, then glowing bright under her suit lights.

There was little telling what could cause this entire shelf to sublime. Council did as many studies as they could, and the general answer was anything from kinetic impact, to excess heat from anything above their ambient temperature, to simple time.

Council and the Aeronauts agreed on the results, that these flats were to be avoided. There were many other sites for resources, and the flats were not important. That still begged the question why the Ark sent anyone here, but she did not know the marketable reasons.

She wasn't a surveyor, her job was to assist the surveyors to their requested locations.

"Rover is in bad angle, cannot go to the other side. Looking at that damage. Front right wheel, looks like the axle is bent, I see what looks like evaporated lubricant. This rover is not going to move. It slid most of the way here, Chief."

She looked down, and sure enough, the tracks had shifted, going wide as the rover turned left, but maintained its direction, clawing gouges into the slush.

She shifted back, seeing the shadows dance around as she looked again inside the interior, the same statuette's arms open, almost invitingly. She tried to look closely at it, but the inside of the airlock's glass was covered in frost, enough that it distorted its body into a mangled, though friendly, mess.

"Any idea how many inside, Chief? And what kind of structures?"

She held the opposite railing, keeping herself firm.

"Statue of some sort, perhaps one of their deities? I didn't study their culture, wasn't part of the courses when I was in cadet school, I don't know what it would be, but it looks like a shrine. And no idea, can't see past these corners, looks cold, frost on the glass."

A movement to her left caught her attention, only to see it was Miitsan, her lights hurting her eyes.

"Contact your Council, they will have someone who knows, Chief. And move over, I'm getting up there to look."

The rover shifted as she shambled up, as Chedra propped herself up and twisted her armdial, though not to Council.

She closed her eyes, failing to calm herself, the heat of being inside this suit was starting to nag at her. She rarely donned for this long, now in its ninth hour, but the call had come when she was near the end of her shift, and it was simply too important to ask for another team.

"Vendra, we don't see anything inside our catch. What are you seeing?"

She went back to panting, looking forward to the shower rations that were certainly coming after all of this.

"A lot, Chedra. Giving Council update after update. There was a fight here, it's a lot higher than twenty now."

Chedra needed to grab the railing abruptly, her grip slipping at the update.

"How much higher?"

Miitsan was grinding her suit's helmet against the glass to get as good of a view as she could, her lights' reflection flashing Chedra's eyes.

"Like seventy, Chedra."

She let out a breath, fighting her rebreather's insistence she breathe in.

"This was abrupt, a lot of bodies without even undersuits. I don't know what happened, but we have a lot of what look like shrines, and I don't think it was a bomb that went off, no scorch marks. I think a rover just ripped off the airlock. Whoever left was in a hurry. I think this was a mutiny. Chedra, please, that rover didn't run like that empty, there are people inside it, they might just be dead."

She thought of the area of the rover she simply couldn't see, filled with waiting bodies, begging them to be found.

"We can try to get inside, but...uh, we'll keep looking, I'm going to contact Council."

Vendra let out a sigh.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea. We're talking with their secondary, there is a lot here. I need to hear their audio, anyhow. Good luck, Chief, don't feel bad if you don't find anything."

She reached for her armdial, twisting it to their channel, and announcing her presence.

There was a quick response, to wait for what ended up being many moments, before they finally returned.

"Chief Spear, we apologize, we have a lot of analysts studying Arrow's feed, it's very much a developing situation. We are running analysis on your feed as well. Looks to be some sort of religious structure inside. Even with the exterior of the rover."

Chedra frowned, her breathing quickening.

"I don't get it, I just don't! They drive out of a pit only to hold up and die? It doesn't make any sense. If the rover depressurized, they would have just dropped. This was a half hour ago, this doesn't make any sense at all."

Miitsan shifted, looking toward her, the lights of her suit now blindingly bright, prompting Chedra to raise her hand.

"Chief Spear, please, we need you to calm down, you're doing great. I understand you are probably past your endurance, we can have you on leave when secondary arrives."

Chedra bared her teeth, trying to keep herself from growling at the talk, but stopped when Miitsan thrusted herself off of the rover, her arms flailing around as she fell to the slush.

"Oh, damn! Miitsan, status?"

Her ear clicked in response.

"Chief Spear, what happened?"

She did let out a growl this time, turning her arm dial, realizing she was still on Council's signal.

"Miitsan, status?"

She shifted on the ground, flipping onto her belly, darkening her body as her lights aimed down. She was breathing heavy into her comm, muttering something in her tongue.

"Status, come on, we're too far to be in trouble now."

Miitsan sounded like she swallowed, stopping her panting.

"Look at the stinking airlock, Chief!"

She turned back, her lights shining at the frost, before finally screaming.

It was an arm, a hand waving faintly in her light, its body still hidden behind the corner. She turned her dial, letting out whimpers with each breath.

"Council, we have someone alive here! I don't know how many more. Uh...report, what do we do? I don't see any way to get the airlock open, this rover isn't moving. I don't know how we are going to get them out. We're ten kilos from the shuttle, I can't move them in the buggy, especially without suits!"

Now it was Council's turn to bungle the radio procedures. There were many mutterings, curses, even heavy breathing, but through it all, Chedra stared at the curled hand. The Archives spoke nothing of how this would work at this very moment, it was all after. Linguistic analyses, bio-screenings, likely many quarantines, vaccinations, and then finally, cultural studies.

This meant little to her now, if they could not even be retrieved, they would be dead long before any of that could happen.

"Chief Spear, change of plans, secondary is coming in one hour. I need one of you to return to your shuttle, unfortunately we need one of you to stay and monitor their condition. How are they now? That rover likely went through a lot, we will work to get a medical team in secondary. And what of Miitsan's condition?"

She could have told them she was fine, but Miitsan needed to know just what was going to happen.

"I will get her condition, as for the people inside, it's cold in there. Looks like they're on the ground, I can't see anything beyond the hand and lower arm. I will relay the orders to Miitsan right now."

She turned her dial, glancing briefly at the arm, its hand starting to move again as her suit's light kissed it.

"Miitsan, secondary is coming in an hour. What is your status, anything hurt? Any alarms?"

Her partner started to shamble up, only to slip back down, though she braced with her arms on the fall.

"Nominal enough, Chief. And they come that early? Transit be least that long. They be leaving now?"

She was right, enough that Chedra glanced at the dark sky above them, the rings a solid band of white and gray. The stations, if she could see them now, would be nothing more than bright dots, tiny things that contained everything she worked to advance.

Chedra looked back at Miitsan, who was now standing, though she seemed to glance suspiciously at the ground, arms out and curved.

"Yes, Miitsan. Really quick. However, they want one of us to return to the shuttle. How good are you at driving?"

Her blinding lights returned.

"Enough that I passed, Chief."

This was everything she hoped for, to find something as important as living specimens, but the situation was still fluid. The survival of the people inside the rover was not a given, and leaving Miitsan alone, even leaving herself alone, was going against every rule she had ground into her from the Aeronauts.

But this was a very unusual occasion. Rescue operations such as this were often the example exception, and this was no different.

"Chief...what you need me to do?"

Chedra shook from the question. Her decision could be the start of a brand new investigative path, or just another retrieval of bodies. She grimaced before answering.

"You're staying here. Watch them, give us updates. I'll be back with secondary, I'll let you know with whom and how. Please be safe, I won't be here to help you, but these people are probably part of a mutiny, they might not be friendly. And Miitsan, their lives are in your hands, any issues, any concerns, please tell me and Council. We might be the last to see some of them alive."

Her lights shifted, away from her tiring eyes and toward the airlock.

"Understood, Chief. I hope you drive better, then. I won't be there to complain."

Chedra knew Miitsan was smiling under that helmet of hers, a smile she returned.

"And Miitsan?"

Her blinding lights returned.

"Yes, Chief? Something else?"

The rebreather fought her growing smile.

"Yeah, don't be like Yalset."

Miitsan laughed with her, something Chedra looked forward to hearing more of. She pushed herself off the airlock, landing carefully to keep from falling, then walked to the buggy. It turned around slowly per her instructions, Chedra being careful not to slip on the icy slush, until she finally aimed it toward the tracks she laid only moments before. It would take at least a half hour, though it being closer to night, it would likely take longer.

She turned her arm dial to contact Council, to reiterate that Miitsan was not hurt, and her suit undamaged, and that she herself would be going to the shuttle. But through it all, a thought nagged at her, even when they asked more and more interested questions.

Perhaps after all of this, however long it would take, however many people and other Stations got involved in this entire situation, and whatever they would learn from all of this, there would be a new era among them, that this was the start of the Stations finally allying. She could only hope, staring at the hypnotic silence of the drive, her old tracks, and that of the rover she hunted, showing her the way back, and to whatever this would lead to.