She looked past the pilot's chair where T’arq sat, gazing out of the large window of the cockpit.
Elthea loomed below them, filling the view. Patches of green showed where vegetation remained. The Xakul had left these small pockets of life for their offspring to claim once they had hatched—they would not last long once the ravenous young awoke and set to feeding. Laila shuddered at the thought.
The shuttle accelerated, T’arq swearing softly as he deftly guided them to the landing zone near the abandoned command post.
“There's a dust storm whipping up, Captain,” T’arq declared, looking at the holographic display.
Laila's attention snapped to the Taurean pilot. “Status?”
“It's going to cause some problems. I can land us, but it'll be bumpy. The shuttle's intakes won’t handle flying through that.” He gestured at the enormous cloud of red dust, the sheer expanse almost unbelievable.
Laila closed her eyes and sighed. Great, just great. “How long will we have on the ground?”
The pause before T’arq answered said enough, “Maybe sixty minutes? Could be less, depending on how bad the storm gets.”
Laila rolled her shoulders and took a deep breath. This was not good news, but this was all they had. They had planned for a minimum of three hours in order to do a thorough sweep of the building that was their target, but if sixty minutes was all they had, then they would just have to make do. Quick and dirty it was.
“Get us down, T’arq. We'll have to chance it.”
The landing was quick, and although not as hard as some of the landings she'd experienced on Earth, still jarring. Everyone knew better than to complain. The feisty pilot was doing the best he could to land them close to their original landing zone.
Once the engines powered down, Laila stood and began issuing orders, Zac standing with her and pulling their packs from where they were stowed. The planet's atmosphere was sufficiently oxygen-rich that they could breathe without too much trouble. But she didn't want to chance it in the dust storm. They pulled on filtration masks and goggles before picking up their packs and plasma rifles.
Laila paused before pulling her goggles over her face. “Alright?” she asked Zac, who nodded as he shifted his own plasma rifle in his grip before pulling his goggles on.
“Never better.”
Leading the team down the ramp and onto the planet's surface, Laila moved quickly towards the nearest shelter—an abandoned stone building, the roof long since gone. Zac dogged her heels the entire way. The dust storm loomed in the distance; a massive wall of red rushing towards them.
“T’arq, keep me updated on that storm.” She said over the open comm channel.
“Roger.” The pilot's voice was crackly, the storm already interfering with the reception.
Laila glanced back at the shuttle, the exhaust from the engines causing red dust to swirl around the craft like a halo, the open space devoid of anything other than dirt and rocks. In the distance, a few small shrubs were clinging desperately to the side of a hill, the dull brown and green in contrast to the red of the dirt.
They had landed in what was Elthea’s afternoon, the light of the sun casting long shadows on the ground.
“Alright, let's get moving. Deploy those drones. If there’s even a hint of Xakul activity, we will have to abandon the mission.” Laila didn’t want to fail, but neither did she want the Xakul to capture and torture her or her team members. Zac nodded in agreement, as he flicked the screen of his comm, cycling through a series of holographic displays so quickly that Laila had trouble keeping up.
Domik and CJ began unpacking a small fleet of drones from the shuttle, powering them up and sending them aloft. The two were to remain at the landing zone with T’arq to maintain security around the shuttle; the drones providing aerial surveillance while Laila, Zac, and Oren made their way to the abandoned Xakul command post a few hundred metres away.
The wind had picked up in the few minutes they had been out on the ground, the whistling sound very eerie. Zac stood unflinching, speaking quietly with Oren, who was tapping on a small tablet he had pulled from a pocket.
Sixty minutes was not long to do what they needed to do, and Laila was conscious of the time slipping past. It would have been tight at the best of times, but this dust storm could slow them down significantly. Nobody wanted to be left behind, but Laila was prepared to order the shuttle to do just that if necessary.
The ground was uneven and rocky; any vegetation that remained was sparse and provided little in the way of cover. Their intelligence showed that there was no active Xakul presence in this sector, but Laila was still cautious. The route they had planned provided plenty of cover, and the trio made their way quickly but cautiously between ruined buildings.
The wind picked up the dust, swirling around them as they walked, reducing visibility. They had been walking for a few minutes when Laila's foot caught on something and she went sprawling into the dirt.
“Ah!” She scrambled backwards on her hands as she caught sight of what she had tripped over. Zac was there immediately, standing in front of her with his plasma rifle raised.
“What is it? Are you hurt?” He demanded, scanning the buildings around them for threats.
Laila stood up. “No, I just tripped overthat, and it caught me off guard.” She pointed at the half-decayed corpse of a Xakul, obscured by the dirt.
Zac lowered his plasma rifle to push at it with the barrel. “Just a juvenile. See how it’s not as developed? The joins between the exoskeleton haven’t hardened properly.” He turned, slinging his rifle over his shoulder and reaching for Laila's hand, helping her to her feet. “Are you ok?”
She shivered at his touch. Even through all the layers of clothing and dirt, he still had this effect on her. Laila swallowed. “Yes, I'm fine. Let's get moving.”
