The roar of the plasma motors died instantly as Rene cut the feedlines with a quick slash of his hand, chopping the engines before mud kicked up from their landing sight could clog the feed ports and convert the thrusters into bombs capped with indigenous clay. For a long moment there was the whine of stressed metal seeking its natural state and then nothing but the persistent hiss of a tropical downpour on a metal surface. Rene blew out a long breath, and gingerly removed his hands from his controls as though afraid that some slight motion might spell disaster. It had been close, the gale force had been worse than the ships sensors had predicted, but close only counts with horseshoes and hand grenades.

“Solae, that was absolutely amazing,” he breathed, loathe to disturb the silence but unwilling to risk that he might actually be dead. It had been an insane piece of piloting even with Mia’s not inconsiderable assistance. The Noblewoman clearly had a knack for the job that Rene could only envy. Unsteadily he slapped at the release plate that held the X shape of his harness together and pulled himself to his feet. The pressure of the semi crash had bruised his chest but hadn’t done any permanent harm. He staggered over to one of the control boards and threw the toggle for the external ventilation hatches. Half a dozen of the hatches returned red tell tales, indicators that they had failed to open, but enough turned green that the sound of pouring rain intensified. Along with the rain came the native air. 

After almost two standard days cooped up in the Bonaventure they had gone somewhat nose blind to the stink of it. The reek of the slave ships past life, had not been improved by the eviscerated shot torn bodies of the former crew. Even the cleaning chemical Rene had used to try to salvage the place had simply added to the effluvia that circulated and recirculated through the ancient atmosphere processing unit. By contrast the air of Panopontus smelled fresh and clean, it carried with it a hint of salt from the worlds vast oceans although it lacked the iodine tinge of Capella. Sand and plantlife tinged it as well , although the scent was queer and alien to Rene’s nostrils, as though the biosphere were very slightly alkaline. It washed over them like a cool breeze, the cyclonic winds were blocked by the caldera but there was enough current to kick up dust from hidden recesses. The fact that air was a fluid was rarely better illustrated then by feeling the old stale air of a space voyage washed out by fresh natural air. It smelled heavenly. 

“We made it,” Rene said stating the obvious more to reassure himself than anyone else. HIs face split into a broad grin. Unless they were supremely unlucky, they should have arrived unnoticed and any pursuers would find them nearly impossible to detect. They needed to get out and see what damage the ship had suffered, but for the moment he was happy to ride the high of simply being alive.

“That. Was one hell of a landing.”