CHAPTER 1
TORVEN
The approach vector to Destra was a nightmare, and that was on a good day.
I kept my hands steady on the navigation controls as my ship descended through the planet’s outer atmosphere, watching the readouts with the focused attention that had kept me alive through a dozen different disasters. The atmospheric pressure readings were already fluctuating wildly, and we weren’t even close to the real storm layers yet.
“Captain,” Chief Navigation Officer Henic called from his station, his voice tight with concentration. “I’m seeing some unusual electromagnetic signatures in the lower atmosphere.”
“Define ‘unusual,’” I said, without looking up from my own screens. The ship’s hull was already starting to vibrate as we hit the first of Destra’s infamous wind shears. My previous crew would have been making jokes by now, trying to lighten the mood as we descended into what could charitably be called controlled chaos. This crew stayed silent, focused, professional.
Better that way.Safer.
“The patterns are…erratic,” Henic continued. “Almost like the electromagnetic field is reacting to something, rather than following natural atmospheric dynamics.”
I glanced up at that. The weather on the planet we were approaching was unpredictable, but electromagnetic anomalies usually had sources. “Any chance it’s interference from the settlements?”
“Negative, sir. The readings are coming from uninhabited regions. Grid sections seven through twelve.”
Grid sections seven through twelve. Right where Dr. Rivers would be conducting her atmospheric analysis once we made landfall. The thought of Zara standing in the middle of an electromagnetic storm with a bunch of delicate scientific equipment made something twist unpleasantly in my chest. I pushed the feeling aside. She was a competent scientist. She could take care of herself.
The fact that she had a habit of getting so absorbed in her work that she forgot about minor details like safety protocols wasn’t my problem.
Except, it would become your problem if something happened to her, a voice in the back of my mind pointed out unhelpfully.
I clenched my jaw and focused on the descent. The ship shuddered as we hit another patch of turbulence, and I made a minor course correction to avoid the worst of it. My hands had done this before. As long as there were no big surprises, I could keep us stable without fighting the atmospheric currents more than necessary.
“How much longer until we reach the lower atmosphere?” asked Dr. Vasquez from the passengercompartment behind me. Cleo’s voice carried the kind of forced casualness that meant she was trying not to sound nervous. Fair enough. Most people found their first descent to a storm-ridden planet to be an unsettling experience.
“Approximately forty minutes,” I replied. “I’d recommend securing any loose equipment now. The real turbulence starts once we hit the storm layers.”
“Already done,” came a different voice, and every muscle in my shoulders tensed involuntarily.
Dr. Zara Rivers. The source of my current headache and, if I was being honest with myself, several sleepless nights over the past few weeks.
She emerged from the passenger compartment carrying an armload of equipment cases, her light blond hair pulled back in a ponytail that somehow managed to make her look both competent and…distractingly pretty. Her brown eyes were bright with the kind of excitement most sane people reserved for things that didn’t involve descending into a planetary atmosphere known for chewing up spacecraft and spitting out wreckage.
“I’ve triple-checked all the atmospheric monitoring devices,” she said, setting the cases down in the designated cargo area and securing them with straps. “The electromagnetic readings we’re getting are fascinating. I think we might be seeing some kind of interaction between Destra’s magnetic field and the ionized particles in the upper atmosphere.”
Of courseshe was fascinated by the electromagnetic anomalies.Of courseshe thought unpredictable atmospheric conditions were interesting rather than potentially lethal.
“Dr. Rivers,” I said, keeping my voice level and professional. “How many pieces of equipment are in those cases?”
“Well, I brought the primary atmospheric composition analyzer, plus the backup unit, and the electromagnetic field detector, and the barometric pressure sensors, and…” She paused, apparently counting in her head. “I brought…what was necessary for a comprehensive atmospheric analysis.”
I pulled a deep breath in through my nostrils, and slowly let it out. “Dr. Rivers, I told you that storage space is limited. You were to bring three devices.”
“Most of them are small.” The protest came out more vehemently than she’d probably intended, and I watched her face flush slightly. “I mean, we don’t know what kind of conditions we’ll encounter on the surface. Different atmospheric compositions require different analytical approaches, and if I don’t have the right equipment—”
“Enough,” I said flatly. “What’s done is done. But I will include this in my report.”
She didn’t look worried about that, just offended by my apparent lack of scientific respect. My report, if I even wrote one, would go to the two leaders of the Sola she lived on. And they were her close friends. Even the Sola—the living organic ship that Destrans, and some humans, lived on—liked her. “Do what you must, Captain.”
“I will,” I said, then turned back to my controls before I could see the full extent of her indignation.
It wasn’t that I enjoyed frustrating her. Well, not entirely. The problem was that Dr. Zara Rivers brought out every protective instinct I’d spent the last two years carefully suppressing. When she got that look of fierce determinationon her face, when she talked about her work with such passion that her whole face lit up, when she bit her lower lip while concentrating on a problem…
I forced my attention back to the navigation display as my pants started to feel tight. The electromagnetic readings were getting stronger as we descended, and the last thing I needed was to get distracted by a brilliant, stubborn scientist who somehow managed to make arguing about equipment storage look appealing.
