The clunk of releasing docking clamps gave way to the omnipresent hiss of air handlers undertaking their tireless work as Icarus banked gradually away from its cradle under Daedalus’ primary hull, the familiar hum of the impulse engines beginning to vibrate through the deck. Throughout the tiered cockpit, Theta Squad quietly buzzed away with preparatory work, the gentle tip-tapping of fingers against the consoles in counterpoint to the quiet chimes of notifications.

“When is the drinks trolley coming through?” Oshira spun in her chair towards the room, the console behind her unusable as the screen whirred in an attempt to divine the weather forecast for their destination on the planet below. 

“What?” Anyok chattered from the forward portal where she sat alongside the figure of Lieutenant Syal, whose grin was growing now that they were set free from the mothership, a pilot’s dream. 

“Oooo, mine’s a Kanar, but with just a dash of Bolian Lime juice,” Sehgali replied enthusiastically. Seemingly aware of the contorted look already spreading over Oshira’s face she held her hands up defensively. “Honestly, makes it so much better.

“What is a… drinks trolley?” Anyok repeated, her hook-like beak struggling to form the unfamiliar combination of sounds. 

“It’s a trolley…” Oshira began, taking to her feet to mime a hostess pushing a trolley. “… For drinks.” She shook an imaginary glass in an attempt to clarify her performance.  

“I believe that much was obvious.” Oscuri interrupted from the engineering console, where she was putting the finishing touches to a long braid that bound her usually epic crown of white hair. She cast the older woman a cool side eye as she wrapped the band around the tip of the braid, her dislike for the woman leaping across the small room like a bolt from a crossbow. Across the cockpit, Oshira received her dart with a barely concealed eye roll and something muttered beneath her breath; undoubtedly one of her many colourful curses picked up over the decades. 

From the rear station on the small craft, Sehgali sighed behind her teeth, the two women had been snapping at each other for weeks. She had hoped it would calm as they became more familiar whilst undertaking Anyok’s intensive team training following Theta Squad’s transfer from Helios. It seemed to be having the opposite effect, they were even more at loggerheads now they knew more about each other. Sehgali sighed again as she caught Oshira shooting daggers across the metre-wide gulf between the women. It might as well be the Mariana Trench in terms of their friendship. She didn’t need them to be sisters but this was straining the team dynamic, Ole and Tulil had already logged complaints that Oscuri wasn’t blending with an already established team. 

Sensing the tension Rhoska piped up from the corner console to offer his own drink order. “I’ve always liked a warm Kali-fal. Good for warming the cockles, it has to be the proper stuff though, I’ve not met a replicator that can do it justice yet.” The older man rubbed his belly in pretend satisfaction. “Bylil says he can get his hands on a bottle but I’ll believe that when I see it.” Daedalus’ resident Ferengi cook was responsible for the ship’s mess and its small attached galley but had quickly become bartender, chef gourmand and resident treasure hunter for the ship’s company. 

“That stuff smells awful.” Sehgali nodded appreciatively toward the older man by way of thanks for his attempt to redirect the conversation to its tracks. 

“The smell is part of the experience!” he replied smiling at the thought of many nights on the frontier, warmed by drinks too numerous to recount. 

“I still don’t understand what a drinks trolley is-” Anyok announced from the forward portal. 

“- I told you a trolley for drinks!” Oshira replied, throwing her hands up in exasperation. 

As the cockpit began to descend into a cacophony of overlapping voices a trill from the XO’s console interrupted the jovial proceedings. A single raised finger from Sehgali was sufficient to silence them all as she quickly took in the latest sensor data. 

“I’m seeing a storm shifting, that big weather system we’re tracking has moved,” she announced, her brows furrowing as she reviewed the data again. A few button presses requested a second opinion from the shuttle’s diminutive computer core as well as her colleagues. 

“It’s now in our descent path, I’m adjusting our course to go around it,”  Syal announced, both for his crew member’s sake and the benefit of the small recording device nestled above his head should the worst happen. A tense silence, thick as molasses filled the cockpit as everyone returned to their consoles, each scrutinising the data through the lens of their wide repertoire of skills.

“The storm bank appears to be moving rapidly.” Rhoska rubbed his brow, adjusting his trademark cap. 

“Storms move, that’s not unusual.” Oscuri offered, her tone chilly as ever. 

“They don’t usually make course corrections directly towards the vulnerable starship parked on the surface.” 

“You think it’s heading towards Nye?” Sehgali flinched at the thought of the small Nova-class starship, anchored on the open desert plain several hundred kilometres beneath them. She flinched again at the thought of Captain Driverson and his team who were exposed, exploring the surface outside the long reach of the ship’s shields.  

“It’s difficult to tell but the storm’s centre is moving swiftly in that direction. It must be covering several hundred feet per second.” Rhoska entered a short command causing the half dozen consoles across the cockpit to fill with the topographic map of the planet, a large ominous orange swirling mass overwhelmed the screen whilst a pulsing blue light in the corner looked painfully meek by comparison. “That big orange mark is a pretty aggressive storm system. The little blue one? Nye.”

“What can they be expecting?” 

“Gale force winds, it looks like a fair amount of electromagnetic buildup too, probably a significant amount of lightning.”

“The ship’s landing struts will take gale force pressures of at least 100 knots, they are at no risk of failing. The ground teams would not be so lucky. ” Oscuri informed the room, a crack of concern showing in her otherwise stoic facade. “The lightning could also inflict direct hull damage, even through their shields.”

“Oshira, send word ahead, let Nye know to pull back all the ground teams, they should have already seen the storm moving in but I don’t want them caught out. Rhoska, start modelling what we can expect. Oscuri, let’s get some protective measures in play.” A trio of confirmations rippled across the tense cockpit, the thick air of worry only continuing to grow. Moments later Anyok was at the commander’s shoulder, her gigantic blue feathered form hovering over the woman. 

“Commander, a moment?” Anyok cast a glance around the cockpit, before motioning toward the small doorway to the attached lounge, her big blue eyes narrowing slightly. 

With a nod of confirmation, Sehgali rose and led the Aurelian a few metres into the lounge, crossing to the round table at its centre as the doors slid hissed shut, granting them privacy in the shadowy, low-lit room. 

“Something you’re concerned about Anyok?” Sehgali asked, toying with the back of the nearby grey chair, unsure whether this conversation would be one to have seated; Anyok appeared flustered, an unusual state of being for the Aurelian officer. She opted for standing, relocating her hands across her chest instead. 

“Only that I have seen plenty of storms and flown through several, they tend to follow relatively predictable models.” She creased her brows, causing her crest of ice-white feathers to stand on end, accentuating her large concerned eyes. “This is unusual, to say the least. Storms do not make such direct course corrections.”

“Agreed. It could be that the presence of the ship has caused a change in the weather patterns, she might be comparatively small but there are still several hundred tonnes of extra metal that wasn’t there a few days ago.” Sehgali stroked her chin, her various rings and bangles clinking gently. “It could be acting as a lightning rod of sorts.” 

“I am worried there might be something more insidious afoot. Aurelian hunters traditionally used storm systems to cover their approach to prey groups. Not only did it serve to cause confusion and panic but they also lent the hunters a certain…” She shifted her weight nervously as her feathers rippled in frustration, unable to find the right word. It was unusual to see the woman so nervous, she was normally the coolest officer in all Theta Squad, possibly on the entire ship. The thought of her panicked by something set Sahgali’s neck-hair on end.

“It lent them a certain mythic grandeur.” She finished, her nervous beak grinding audible across the small room.

“You believe this is intentional, that someone is controlling the storm?”

“At the very least taking advantage of it.”

The pair stood in silence, considering the possibility of a second party beyond Mother Nature. The owner of the terraforming station Nye had discovered was still an unknown and whilst terraforming technology was nothing new, it did suggest a certain technological capability, particularly to plant it on a distant planet. 

“Do we know of anyone with actual weather control tech like this?” Sehgali asked.

“Not especially, but I need not remind you that we are woefully ill-informed on the technological capabilities of the Breen Confederacy and the Tzenkethi Coalition, both of whom are within a few day’s travel of this location.” Anyok paused, her feathers still twitching. 

“You seem reluctant to say something Anyok.” The large Aurelian seemed to cower, folding in on herself with nervousness. Sehgali’s hairs were standing to attention now, almost leaping from her skin. 

“It’s just that I don’t like thunderstorms.” She flexed he shoulders indicating her absent wings.” My accident, it-”

“-Commander, we’ve received a message from Nye. The storm has touched down.” 

“I understand Anyok. I promise we’ll come back to this.” Sehgali reached a hand to the tall woman’s shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze before tapping her combadge. “Syal open up the throttle. Ole, Khal, and Oshira start preparing emergency response measures. I’ll call Daedalus.” Giving the woman another squeeze she motioned towards the small portal back to the cockpit, forward into the storm.