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Finley Macdonald was currently reclined in his favourite chair, a nice cup of coffee in one hand and a book in another. Having just returned from nearly the edge of Terran space from a shitty mission, all he really wanted to do was to kick back and shut his brain off. He had always liked reading after a mission. It helped him forget some of the more unpleasant images he was exposed to in his line of work. He always stuck to the more silly fantasy books as they always seemed to do the trick.

His current book about robotic chaos wizards vs the galaxy knight was seemingly serving its intended purpose of putting him in a good mood. That is until he received a notification on his implant.

"I thought I shut that damn thing off." He complained, double-checking his com implant and noticing that it was already in do not disturb mode.

Swearing, he ran a system diagnostic which swiftly reported nothing abnormal. "Shit, damn glitches. Guess I'll have to see the doc tomorrow." Getting back to his book, he only got another thirty minutes of reading in before he heard banging at his door.

"Oh for F~" Moving to the door, he keyed the cam to peer at who was on the other side. To his surprise, six men in military uniforms were standing respectfully on his steps.

"Oh, crap." Trying to remember if he did anything inappropriate on his last mission as the men waited patiently, he came up blank. "What the hell do they want with me?" He mumbled.

More banging on the door brought him back to the present. Looking back at the door cam, he then noticed one of them had pulled out an odd-looking tool and started waving it in front of his door. He watched in horror as his door unlocked itself, and Finley came face to face with six very large drop marines.

"Uhh, hello, guys." He tried with a smile. "What can I do for you today?"

The five marines promptly ignored his question and stepped into his house while the remaining one began to speak in a very authoritative tone. "Finley Macdonald, as previously notified via com, you have been selected to lead an important aid mission, whereas your expertise in frozen climates is required. A specialized fleet and crew are currently being prepared as we speak. Everything you will need is being taken care of. However, if you require anything else, please use this device to make your request."

Finley turned around and looked at the marines roaming through his house, picking up objects and clothes. "I don't suppose I get a choice in all this, do I?" He asked.

The marine smiled in return. "Even if you did, I guarantee you would take it."

Finley turned around and began helping the marines pick through his useless gadgets, pointing out the more important tools he would need for his new task. After about twenty minutes, his custom tools were packed, and he was ready to go.

"That everything, sir? You may not be back for a very long time." The talkative marine stated.

"That should be everything. I'll be able to make most of the tools I'll need while en route after I'm briefed on the mission." Finley replied, stepping outside and towards an armoured shuttle.

Without so much of a word, the marines sorted his tools in the cargo hold and directed him to an area where he could sit down before taking their own seats.

Finley stumbled in his harness as the shuttle started climbing into space at an astonishing speed, breaking many travel laws while doing so. "I'm used to rushing guys, but isn't this a bit much? There must be other frozen climate SAR experts that are active in space right now." He protested.

The talkative marine looked at him. "Two of them, actually. Both are currently in sol on route to Eris."

Finley swallowed heavily once the marine mentioned Eris and looked the marine in his eyes. "You don't mean to say I'm going to Eris, do you?"

The marines only smiled as the ship went to warp for a few seconds and exited. That's when Finley got real worried. "That was a warp skip in SOL space right beside the bloody Earth, wasn't it?" He asked quietly.

The marines stood up and made their way to the cargo bay, the talkative one staying behind to guide Finley. "This way, please, sir."

Finley decided asking questions wasn't in his best interest yet and decided to follow the marine to the cargo bay. It only seemed to take a few minutes before he felt the shuttle dock and the cargo hatch begin to open. Nervously he followed the nameless marine down the ramp and into the hangar where he was finally able to look around, his mouth hanging open in surprise.

Hundreds of ships. Coming and going in every direction, with thousands upon thousands of soldiers, workers, and civilians, tens of thousands of people moving around, gathering and storing things. Moving them into what looked to be the interior of. "This is a fucking moon base!" Finley shouted.

"Oh, look, he can use his eyes." One of the untalkative marines replied with laughter.

Finley closely followed the marines into a personnel lift and watched as the leader key in a command. The ride only lasted a few minutes, but it was unnerving, and he felt like he was being tossed around in a can as the lift moved in almost every direction.

"This way, please." The nicer of the marines requested, finally directing him into a room with a bunch of other confused-looking people. Some were even still in their pyjamas.

Finley looked around the room and laughed, gathering a bit of attention. "Anyone know why the hell we're here?"

The chorus of negatives was all he needed to hear, and he decided to take a nearby seat and wait. It wasn't until a few more people were slowly piled into the large room, he decided to ask a few questions.

"Hi, my name is Finley. I'm a frozen climate SAR commander." He said with a smile. "Have you been here long?" He asked the very augmented man closest to him.

The man looked back at him and shrugged. "Just got here. I work in orbital mechanics. Not sure why I'm here either." Another man joining in on the conversation piped up. "Sorry to interject, but I'm a biologist. Not sure why I'm here, and I've asked around already. Unfortunately, I don't see a pattern in careers either. They're just stuffing the best in their field in this room, from what I can tell."

Finley thought to himself how weird this whole situation was as he continued to watch as more people were hurriedly ushered in. It wasn't until a few more minutes passed by that an important-looking woman entered. Followed by two marines and the three quickly moved to the holo-display in the middle of the room where the woman stepped in front of the gathering.

"I am base commander Kendra Brown. Yes, you are on a moon base. No, you may not go yet." She stated with a straight face, only able to hold it for a few moments before breaking into a grin. "You and your families will be my guests while we embark on possibly the most important mission humanity has ever had the pleasure to be a part of."

Finley wasn't buying it. What kind of important mission would need a frozen climate SAR specialist to be hurried onto a bloody moon base? But, he decided to humour the lady.

"I see a few of you aren't convinced. And I'm sure some of you have noticed that the gathered personal here are the foremost experts in frozen world-ecology or similar fields." She pulled out a datapad and tapped on it a few times to bring up a frozen world. "This is the Planet Aaster."

Finley watched with mild amusement. He could tell just from looking at the planet that by the time a moon base got to that ice ball, even if it was next to sol, everyone on it would be dead. "What a waste of time." He whispered to his augmented new friend.

"Is that so? Mr.Macdonald? Care to tell me why?" The base commander asked with a wicked smile.

Finley wasn't stupid but decided to play her game and point out why. "The entire ocean is frozen solid from what I can see. There's too much dust and cloud cover, hardly any sun. That's an ice planet with no source of solar power to rely on, with a hazardous atmosphere. I see blizzards and ice storms being a constant threat to any outboard electrical while at the same time slowly freezing onboard systems. It's not some cold climate where you can survive a few weeks inside a crashed colony ship with some fire and rations. To end. Electrical will fail constantly, equipment will break, and the air will kill you. By the time this slow ass moon base gets there, whatever crashed on that planet will be dead." Finley ended.

"Very astute observation Mr.Macdonald. You are correct. The inhabitants of this planet die within a minute when they leave their envirodomes."

Kendra tapped her datapad, and a new picture came up of a biped snake lizard thing appeared, rotating for all to see. "These are the people you will be responsible for saving."

The room burst into a flurry of yells and excitement while the smiling commander let the people get it out of their system before continuing.

After a few minutes, she clapped her hands to gather attention, and Kendra continued. " The people gathered here are experts in orbital mechanics. Alimate control, rescue, and terraforming. We have also gathered biologists, botanists, and virology experts and a lot of doctors. You will be given fully stocked labs with the best equipment and fabricators, as well as any assistance you request. Now then, with that out of the way, if you wish to decline this mission, you may leave out that door, a shuttle will take you back to wherever you need. I'll give you ten minutes to decide."

Finley decided he liked moon bases after all and leaned back into his uncomfortable chair.

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Captain Andriet was currently on com with First Tail Chrarada discussing the ongoing efforts of Terran ground forces. "We're stretched pretty thin, as is Chrarada. The ten thousand helped a bit. But that's two billion people down there."

Chrarada sighed in resignation. "I'm sorry, Andriet, this kind of malfunction has happened before, and they've survived without death. I'm just worried."

"We can still send engineers to help, but the supplies will take time. Once 'Speaks With Fists' is finished with its refit, things will get better." Andriet said softly, trying to console Chrarada.

Chrarada chuckled. "Do all Terran ships have such silly names?"

Andriet burst into laughter in response. "You have no idea. We tend to have a habit of bestowing things with silly names."

"Must be all ethanol you Terrans drink. I have come to find it can lead to interesting effects amongst the males of my kind." Chrarada teased.

Andriet leaned into her monitor and wordlessly begged Chrarada to spill. "You can't just tease me like that."

Chrarada eyed Andriet back and relented. "I find it makes them more forthcoming and bold. I quickly became the... target? Of my own plan. I would say, victim, however, there was no victim that night."

Andriet had a massive smile as she continued to listen. "Would you like another bottle?"

"Maybe another time Andriet." Chrarada said teasingly. "We still have business to attend to."

"Right, my apologies. Speaking on business, could you look at this data? I know your people were barely setting up their first orbital station when Accaro was destroyed. But are you sure your people didn't see anything? I know you can tell from the data, but it looks like someone was testing weapons in your system."

"If they did, the logs were destroyed. You have to understand it happened over two hundred years ago. The remnants of my people were more focused on survival when the destruction ended and the planet started its rapid cooling. We lost much history and culture as a result."

Andriet sighed as another report came in from the surface requesting more food aid. "We can hardly feed the places we're currently set up." She said quietly, forwarding the report to Chrarada.

Chrarada just looked at the report with sadness in her eyes, feeling guilt tug at her heart. "If... I let the remainder of your fleet into our syst~."

"Don't. Your people aren't ready yet, and it won't matter much. Sure we could feed a few more mouths. But not as much as you think. Our current fleet is running their fabs hot for things they shouldn't need to due to our fleet support ships aiding your people. If we park our fleet in your system, your people might think you lack control or have been conquered. Give it a few more weeks." Andriet said with regret.

Chrarada was angry at the situation but knew Andriet was right. People might get the wrong idea and start to attack the Terrans if their fleet entered the system. "You're right, I'm just frustrated. My people are resilient, and we can survive until your aid fleet arrives."

Andriet was happy with the change in Chrarada. "Your people survived without our help before. Now together, we can rebuild what you've lost." Andriet said with a gentle smile.

"Thank you for your support Andriet, let me know if there is anything else you need. I should get going back to the bridge."

"No, nothing right now. Just more things neither of us can handle at the moment." Andriet said, pausing for a time, then sighing and sending more reports to Chrarada.

"Always some new problem." Chrarada replied, keying in some new orders.

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Srettia stood in the hangar, looking at her ship in awe. " It looks like I can take on the galaxy with it." She said happily.

"I made sure all angles of fire are covered with either a lance battery or rail gun."

Srettia moved towards her ship in glee. It was covered in thick armour and sleek-looking turrets that pointed in every direction now. Waving at the tired-looking mechanics, she boarded her ship to check out the changes.

"This ship's not anywhere close to being legal for a civilian, Jack. What's going to happen when she completes her commission?" Michael asked, following behind his excited partner.

"The Admiral said it is not his problem as she is in a grey area. Not belonging to Terran Union nor do her people have rules on the types of weapons her ship has."

"Well, I guess that solves that problem." Boarding the ship, Michael walked to the cockpit looking for Srettia.

"I have new controls! Teach me what they do." Srettia asked as Michael came into her view.

"Well, most are weapon controls, so you won't need to worry about them as either Jack or myself will be in control of them. You added some Ion boosters?" Michael asked.

"Tanda suggested that since there was space, they would increase mobility by eight point three percent. With his reactor modifications and my armour plan, there will be no drain on the main system when activated."

"Damn, Jack, that's amazing. No wonder Tanda wanted to keep you." Michael returned.

Srettia pinched Michael and gave him an annoyed look as her tail tried grabbing onto him. "Please teach me?"

"Right, sorry, so when we're at impulse, if you need an extra bit of manoeuvrability, just key that button. It won't increase speed too much since the impulse engines work by pushing on space, not thrusting the ship. But it should give you better movement overall." Watching as Srettia looked over her controls, Michael sat in his couch and waited.

"Can we go now?" Srettia asked, looking over at Michael.

"You're the captain. Request away." Michael replied, keying in some commands.

"I could always order you to do it." She replied, thinking about her newfound power. "In fact, I get to order you around from now on, don't I?"

"You could order him to do the thing he is not doing that should be obvious. Hangar control is transmitting clearance."

Srettia burst out laughing. "I was told that it was an uphill battle on wheels." She replied, manipulating the controls and beginning to slow pilot the ship out of the hangar. "I don't feel any difference in the controls."

"I'm just finishing up on compensating for the armour now." Michael replied, still poking away at his console.

"I do not think he heard us."

"Isn't that just normal for him, though?" Srettia laughed, finally exiting the hangar.

"Keep at it. He will crumble eventually."

"Alright, all done. Now, do you still want to head out to that system with the nebula you picked out yesterday?" Michael interrupted.

"I definitely want to head to that system. It should only take about a week, right?" Srettia replied, watching as Michael got out of his couch and walk over to her.

"Alright, lesson one. The warping system is built so stupid people don't run into other stupid people trying not to run into other stupid people." Michael stated with a chuckle, keying in an odd sequence that brought up a new window.

Srettia fought back the urge to scent the air as Michael leaned over her and started showing her the more advanced controls. Though she found herself successful, she was still somewhat dissatisfied. "So with this new console, I notice that nothing is automatic like the other one I was just looking at. What happens if I key something wrong." She asked, unconsciously wrapping her tail around Michael's leg.

"Well, you run your ship into a planet or bounce off a star or smash into an asteroid." Michael said with a chuckle remembering his most recent crash.

"So wait, this is super dangerous then. Why are you showing it to me?" Srettia asked, mildly horrified.

"Because you're going to learn how to pilot this ship properly and not rely on the idiot-proof systems. So when the boogeyman shows up, you'll fly circles around him while Jack and I blow his pants off."

"I am sure the removing of pants will happen a few times during our travels."

"What makes you think that?" Michael asked.

"Just a feeling partner."

"So, If I plot a course like this, it works to get us to the system safely, and from what I've noticed, I've already cut down a day and a half of travel?" Srettia asked, changing the subject back to teaching.

"I think you're a bit too conservative around this area." Michael replied and pointed out an area that seemed out of place on her course.

"I didn't want to get too close to that dust cloud." She replied while tightening up her route, shaving six hours off the travel time to her surprise. "Why did it do that?"

"It's just the way warp mechanics work. You'll get the hang of it." Michael replied, uncurling Srettias tail and sitting back down.

"I was never taught warp mechanics." She said quietly.

"Nope, you weren't. That's why I'm here to teach you, although we can skip that boring book stuff and do it the fun way." Michael happily replied, looking over her course and giving a nod of approval. "Well done. Wanna see how I would do my course?"

Srettia thought for a moment and decided the only way to learn was to see how an expert would do it. "Go easy on me?"

"I'm not sure you should be asking him that."

"Why not?" Srettia asked, looking into the camera.

"You should be asking him to go hard on you... I mean, how else will you learn.

"Alright, this how my course would look." Michael said, trying to sound approachable.

Srettia looked down at her nav map and was astonished. "That's almost a full two days you took off of my route."

Michael brought up her route and put it beside his on the main viewer. "See where the differences are?

After studying it for a moment, she noticed where she had messed up and smiled sarcastically at him. "Alright, I get it. Stellar objects are meant to be flown through."

"No, you dummy rotate the map." Michael retorted.

Srettia realized where she had now fumbled before she even looked at the map. "I'm an idiot." She said with a laugh. What kind of pilot am I who can't remember space is three-dimensional?"

"One that didn't bother rotating the map." Michael laughed. "It's a damn good lesson, though. You ready?"

"You bet." Srettia keyed the control, and the ship began its short journey to a new system.

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