<em>"Well. This is a fine mess you've gotten yourself into Miss Iabara."</em><br/><br/>If the woman hadn't been so panicky, she would've cussed the Captain out then and there for being such an asshole.  Actually, she was thrilled to see him.  To see anyone.  Her crewmembers had left her behind.  Maybe they had thought she was dead.  Maybe they just didn't want her slowing them down.<br/><br/><br/>Her perforated stomach clenched at the thought of being labeled a hindrance, simply abandoned and left to die on an alien planet.<br/><br/><em>Alien planet...</em><br/><br/>Novus!  She was on Novus!  She had fucking made it, and more or less intact at that!<br/><br/>Raine had had plenty of time to think about her chances of survival as her pod hurtled silently through space, the greenish blue orb that was Novus slowly growing larger in the front viewport.  This wasn't how she had planned it to go, no, not at all.  She had expected to coast into the atmosphere at a leisurely five hundred meters per second.  The pilot had announced they'd be hitting the ionosphere at a blistering five kilometers per second.<br/><br/>No, that was not good.  Not good at all.<br/><br/>And now<em>this</em>.  The mechanic craned her neck, looking over her right breast at the smooth, round pole jutting up from her stomach.  The Captain was bent over it, cutting through the hard metal with the edge of his monoblade.  Raine had owned one of those, before...<br/><br/>She felt a cool sensation on her stomach, and her probing fingers felt semi-solid foam coating the flesh around the handbar.  Some kind of medicine?  She couldn't tell.  More accurately, the woman couldn't<em>think</em>.  Her mind moved sluggishly, limping slowly from one thought to the next.  Raine realized her limbs were numb.  Blurred eyes saw the Zarr from the cryo baby looming over.  Her full lips seemed to move in slow motion; no sound came out.  For some reason, the wounded colonist found this hilarious.  Everyone she knew was showing up!  Fucking reunion, muthafuckas!  She managed to choke out a raspy chuckle, and her right hand passed slowly over her face.<br/><br/>Raine was slipping into shock, her body functions overwhelmed, both from the injury and the emotional blow such a gruesome wound had struck her with.<br/><br/>No, it was most definitely not supposed to go like this!<br/><br/>*   *   *<br/><br/>The Colonel and his ten-man entourage had discovered a shallow river bed.  Warm water, an inch deep, trickled down towards the ocean, the liquid bubbling merrily over the rounded stones.  It was eerily Earth-like, a familiar sight in this alien world full of cotton candy leaves and mossy grass.  The group had moved onto the gravelly sidebar that ran alongside the stream; it had obviously been carved out when the water level had been higher.  Judging by the height of the banks, the river would've been impassable if they had landed during a rainstorm (or whatever Novus' equivalent was).<br/><br/>Unfortunately, they were making little headway.  The increased gravity, coupled with the heavy packs of supplies on each back, was taking its toll.  The group had been forced to stop and rest often, unable to go more than fifteen minutes without a break.<br/><br/>Jonn had taken up the rear of the column as it followed alongside the bubbly creek.  He was as winded as the rest of them.  Who knew a week's rations for two dozen people could wiegh so much?  His narrow face was red, rivulets of sweat streaking down his cheeks to pool in the collar of his uniform.  His upper back, where the supply pack pressed against him, felt like a furnace in the heat, and the humidity sure as well wasn't helping.<br/><br/>Five minutes later, the small group came to the edge of the trees.  In front of them was a wide wash, where the river - when full - had dug deep channels into the fine sand of the beach.  It looked like the delta of the Nile viewed from orbit.  Carefully, the officers circled around the soft sand and treachorous sinktraps, their boots sinking deep into the grit.<br/><br/>"This way," the Colonel said, pointing east along the beach.  Jonn looked: five filmy smoke trails, lined up almost perfectly, hung like black columns in the otherwise pristine sky.  It was decidedly ominous.  Despite the oppressive heat and humidity, the navigations officer was unable to stop a chill from travelling up his spine.<br/>