Maelstrom

USCSS Nomad
JP with Omni and Redsword

As Povel and Ander entered the dorsal airlock, the hatch above them sealed with a heavykerchunk, shutting out the relentless howl of the wind. Mist curled through the air as the temperature began to equalize. They would need to wait a few minutes for the system to adjust before entering A Deck. The airlock felt eerily quiet compared to the storm raging outside.

But then, the ship trembled beneath their feet. A faint rumble reverberated through the hull, unsettling in its subtlety. Ander’s servos whirred as he adjusted his stance, while Povel felt the tremor run up his legs, sending a chill that had nothing to do with the temperature.

Inside, Mick Stamfer watched the console screen, his eyes locked on the data feed.
“Looks like we’ve got a quake. Captain, if we stick around here, we might fall into a sinkhole,” Mick called out, tension creeping into his voice.

Outside, the ice cracked and groaned, spiderwebbing beneath the Nomad’s landing gear. Steam shot up in violent bursts as geysers erupted from fissures in the ground. The planet was warning them, and it wasn’t subtle.

The ship lurched, violently one way as one of the landing gear legs sank into the icy crust.

Povel and Ander gripped the airlock’s handles tightly as the Nomad swayed violently, the tremor beneath them intensifying. Povel gritted his teeth, bracing himself against the bulkhead as the seismic rumble turned into a full-blown quake. The floor seemed to tilt beneath his feet, throwing off his balance.

Ander, reached out instinctively to stabilize Povel, but just as he did, the Nomad lurched violently to the side. Povel’s grip slipped, sending him careening across the airlock. For a heart-pounding moment, panic surged through Povel as the weightlessness of the fall took over.

He managed to catch himself just in time, grabbing onto the edge of the access ladder. His heart raced in his chest, his breath coming in shallow bursts as he fought to regain control. For a brief second, the fear gripped him, but he shoved it down, forcing himself to steady his breathing. He wasn’t out of this yet, but he could hold it together for now.

Ander was already by his side, mechanical hand outstretched, ready to assist.

The Captain’s voice came over the Nomad’s intercom system, “Strap onto something, everyone. We are relocating!”

Then came a groan, deep and ominous. A fissure near the ship widened, splitting open into a jagged crevasse that snaked toward the Nomad’s landing site. The ground sagged under the ship, as if it were about to give way beneath them. On the bridge, Russ Garrett nearly went down as the tremor rocked the ship, but he caught himself on the console seat and brought himself around to strap in.

There was no choice. They would have to leave the ground crew behind if they wanted to save the ship...and their own lives.

Yoshida’s decision came in an instant. “SA-Miii, fire it up!” he ordered, urgency cutting through his voice as he turned to the ship’s synthetic pilot. His hand slammed down on the comms as the ship groaned beneath him.

“Ground crew, this is Captain Yoshida. Seismic activity is escalating. The Nomad is relocating. Lifting off to avoid a sinkhole. Change course now and seek shelter. I repeat, find shelter immediately!”

But as the ground crew heard the captain’s voice crackle over their comms, it was garbled, only fragments of the message making it through.

SA-Miii took the helm without hesitation. The ship’s thrusters roared to life, the landing gear retracting just as the ground beneath it began to crumble. Snow and ice blasted outward as the Nomad struggled to lift off, rising into the turbulent air as the planet below seemed to unravel.

Sitting on the bridge looking at his console, Russ kept an eye on the ship's engine systems as it jumped to life. He threw the heads-up-display in front of him to watch condition of the crew.

Russ assisted in the takeoff. If they lost the ship things would be very bad for all. He was not sure how long the crew would last out there in the storm. He would wait for orders.

At the Captain’s command, SA-Miii expertly guided the Nomad out of the sinking ice, pulling up as the ship lifted off. Russ Garrett, monitoring the ship’s systems, kept a close eye on the altimeter and other critical metrics, his steady voice providing updates as they ascended.

“We're clear of the ground, Captain, but we’ll need to get above the storm for proper sensor readings,” SA-Miii said, adjusting the ship’s instruments.

The storm raged around them, a swirling mass of chaos. SA-Miii deftly maneuvered the Nomad higher and higher, breaking through the upper layers of the blizzard. The goal was clear: get above the storm to reassess the situation and find another landing zone. They needed to act fast. The ground crew wouldn't have enough air in their compression suits to hold out for too long. The next landing would have to be closer to the team, or they could be in serious trouble. The mobile trailer would had extra air supply, and possibly the HTV too.

"Captain, with the wind between 145-160 km/h, Visibility is bad with the snow and the temperature at -56 to -60 Celsius. It will be hard to help them at this point. We can do a hot off-lode. It's best if we land," remarked Russ, looking at the scanners.

Yoshida weighed the options for a tense moment, as he considered the storm outside and the scrambled signals from the ground crew. He couldn't risk the ship. If they went down, no one would survive, and the ground crew’s chances would plummet to zero. But if they didn’t act soon, the team’s air could run out.

"Captain, wind speeds are actually fluctuating even higher with occasional gusts up to 160 km/h, and it looks like it could this front is pretty large," reported Mick Stamfer. "I don't care how good SA-Miii is, landing the ship in this storm is close to suicide."

The Captain nodded,
"We can't risk the ship, not with conditions like this. Our best shot is finding a safer location nearby." Yoshida’s voice was calm, but the urgency bled through his tone. "We’ll find a spot outside the storm's reach, then recalibrate sensors and try to keep tabs on the ground crew’s position. We’ll give them the coordinates once we’re sure it’s safe to land. Scan for any nearby clear zones."

He hit the comms and created a repeating signal. "Nomad to ground crew, this is Captain Yoshida. We're repositioning to a safer location and will send coordinates. Conserve your air and stay sheltered while trying to located a better position to combat the storm and the tremors. We will find you. Just hang in there."

Yoshida turned back to Garrett.
"Let’s make sure they have a fighting chance."

"Roger," replied Garrett as he moved from his station to the co-pilot's seat to get a better view and help out with the landing.