“Solae…” Rene began, taken aback by her reaction to what he considered to be a brilliant success, but she had already left the bridge, heading down the access corridor towards the hold. Rene stood up to follow her but the door slid shut and refused to open. Suspiciously he glanced at a nearby optical sensor. Was the computer telling him to leave her alone.

“Mia, open this door,” he ordered. The locking mechanism flashed green indicating it was unlocked. Rene pressed a thumb to the access stud and it slid back with a hiss. If it had been Mia’s intention to give Solae a few seconds of privacy it had worked, she was already out of sight, perhaps in the captain cabin. Shaking his head he took a few steps into the corridor and pulled the lever that operated the main hatch. The hydraulics squealed and there was a distinct grinding of metal. The rough landing had evidently torqued the ramp so that it bound in place. The problem was a common one in ships that had to make hard and fast landings. Marine dropships had explosive kickers to force a ramp down in an emergency, lest the men inside be massacred while they tried to disembark. Fortunately there were other options. Rene sprang into the air and let his eighty kilos act as a trip hammer, driving both his feet into the ramp as close to the end as possible. The impact broke the friction weld and the ramp deployed in a slow grinding decent.

There was an instant spray as wind whipped water blew into the gap, soaking his boots and trouser legs with surprisingly tepid fluid. He caught hold of a stanchion and rode the rap down. The metal ramp vanished into two or three feet of water that gutted and edited around it as the winds changed direction. Tiny dots of blue white phosphorescence danced in dark green water. Rene took a few more steps down the ramp and looked out over the Caldera.  It was an impressive sight even though there was very little light. Whether it was day or night he couldn’t tell, the mass of whirling storm clouds above rendered everything in gray green. They sat a little off the center of the caldera. During normal weather it was probably dry, but rain and the wind swept sea had filled it to the level of Rene’s knees. Great walls of compacted and ossified volcanic rock rose around them in a near perfect circle, although off to the east there was a semi collapsed section that gave access to the rest of the island. Here and there small saplings, they looked more like coral trees, no thicker than Rene’s thumb poked up out of the rain swept surface of the water. Doubtless the Bonaventure had smashed some flat when she had come down, but such minor growth was insignificant compared to the mass of a starship.

The entire surface of the temporary lake danced with blue white light. Tiny algae, probably normally invisible save for when they were disturbed by the wake of boats or creatures, light with tiny flashes of light every time a raindrop hit the dimpled surface of the lake.  Waves of light rose up, reflecting the wind and rain in eerie lockstep. It was somewhat akin to being amidst the sweep of an aurora. Rene looked down at his own legs already spattered with motes of flashing light and turned his hands over to discover more such dots dancing on the back of his hands.

“Stars…” he muttered in quiet awe. Rene considered himself to be a worldly man, perhaps even something of a cynic but the glowing lake, beneath the swirling masses of black cloud and howling winds, was enough to stun him for a moment. He should get Solae. There was duty though. Sighing he waded into the water, sinking to his knees in places as he made a circuit of the ship. The Bonaventure was sunk into the silty muck that had been the bottom of the caldera, but it wasn't as thoroughly mired as he had feared. When the ship had struck the layer of water must have absorbed a considerable amount of impact. In his mind's eye Rene could see the vast sheet of water flying upwards as the ship struck, raining glowing motes of light in a vast artificial geyser.  The water impact meant that the ship had taken less damage when it hit the muddy bottom. The aft landing skid was bent unnaturally and leaking hydraulic fluid into the water, and some of the rear hull plating was clearly buckled. To Rene’s considerable relief all of the plasma motors appeared to be intact, although he couldn’t tell in the driving rain if any of the nozzles had been warped or cracked.

Thoroughly soaked Rene clambered back up the entrance ramp, pausing to swap his face clean with an arm. Rough stubble scratched at him and he was reminded that he hadn’t shaved in nearly a week. He snorted in amusement at himself. Shaving seemed rather low on the list of priorities and it wasn’t as though the pirates were likely to have a razor. He squelched back along the gangway, the glow on his body fading slowly as the algae metabolised their energy in quick strobe like flashes. 

“Solae? Solae you need to come and see this.”