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Viscia nervously paced outside the door to the impressive-looking dwelling. Fingers interlaced and hands held against her stomach, she stared at the buzzer in hopes it would go away, a failed attempt at stalling the meeting to come as the door opened to reveal the female who had invited her.

"Viscia, welcome once again. It's good that you came so quickly." ushering Visca in, Chrarada shut the door and motioned for the smaller female to follow her into the common room. " Do you know why I called you here tonight?"

Taking a seat, Viscia curled her tail around her waist in submission. "Yes, I put our people at risk by not following proper safety procedures. I put my curiosity before our people's interest."

Chrarada nearly laughed at the sight. The boisterous councillor, now attempting to retreat from her wrath. "Relax, Viscia. Though I am upset about the incident, I didn't call you here to scold you." Pulling some snacks and refreshments out from a container and placing a platter on the table, she eyed the terrified councillor. " I want your opinion about this base. You grew up on the surface of our barren world. I want to know what you think about the sustainability of a base such as this. If we were to use Terran technology to build our own, could we fit the surface population in an installation similar to this if it was made for an extended living?"

Viscia sat forward, mind racing at the thought of such an undertaking. "Easily, if it were made for habitation and not war, like the Terran bases are. The thing is, we need to build tools to build the tools to start such a project. We need new starports to build fabrication ships to fabricate a new type of tunnelling shuttle that can spit out the metal it finds so we can reinforce mined areas. Then we can start the project."

Savouring the taste of some sort of dried spiced meat, Visca danced in her chair as she elaborated on her line of thought. "I think it would be a waste of resources. We could build better, more habitable space stations with the fabrication ships, you know. Terrans use these moons because they are sturdy. Lots of rock reinforced with metals and shielding."

Taking a sip of her tea, a drink she found most charming, Chrarada leaned back in her chair. "Exactly, It would be much easier to defend our people if we could just leave the system. Well, that and we could put a great deal of weapons on the surface."

Now holding a piece of meat in each hand, Viscia looked up at Chrarada with much curiosity written on her face. "You know the Terrans have something called terraforming, right? It would take years, but they could turn our planet back to the way it was before the great freeze and stack it with layered planetary shielding like their own planets are."

Chrarada stared at the ceiling, lost in thought. "Do our people even remember how to live in the desert sand? Most haven't even seen sand, generations haven't." Looking across the room at the young female stuffing her face, Chrarada couldn't help but chuckle. "Tell me more about this terraforming then."

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Srettia was oddly wriggling and vibrating in the sand, slowly but surely burying her body in the warmth it provided. "This is great. I didn't even know my body could do something like this."

Michael squat down, looking humorously at the head poking out of the sand. "You seem to be enjoying yourself."

"IT'S SAND! I've never been in the sand before. I think my body seems to understand what it's for, though." Looking around as she enjoyed a comfort she never knew her body craved, Srettia gave a squinty-eyed toothy smile at Michael. "I think I"m going to require some sort of sand area in our quarters. Oh, you know what? I have a great idea! I'll make a sand container for the room, no wait, I got it! We could put it in the empty corner of our room. A square container should do."

Much to Srettia's confusion, Michael burst out into laughter. "Sure, we'll get you a sandbox to play in. Maybe we can get you a shovel and bucket too."

Srettia's smile instantly turned into a pout. "Is that some sort of Terran reference?"

"No, not really. Most people who come to the beach and play in the sand build sandcastles, with hand shovels and buckets kinda thing. Though I think building a bunker is more your style." Pushing a pile of sand onto Srettia's back, Michael stopped to think. " I thought you wanted to dip your feet in the water?"

"Well, I wanted to come to the beach for other reasons, but I guess it doesn't matter much since I'm buried in the sand, and you can't see. But now I know I prefer sand over the ocean."

Continuing to pile sand atop his unaware victim, Michael snickered while looking out to the sea. "Don't hear the rhyme of the mariner then? I was never one for water either. The sky and space are far more interesting than the horrors of the deepest oceans."

Wriggling her neck to bury more of it in the warm seaside sand, Srettia happily blew some sand away from her mouth. "It's water. What could live in water?"

Reaching his hand out into the open, Michael pulled a datapad out from the air and began to search for what Terran scientists had found amongst the seas of multiple planets. "You ask a terrible, terrible question. Don't blame me for the nightmares coming your way tonight."

Placing the pad in front of Srettia's face, Michael pushed the play button and continued to pile more sand atop the mountain he created. "Enjoy the horror show."

Srettia curiously watched the video as the Terran submersible delved into the depths of an ocean made of hydrogen. "That's pretty impressive to be able to- what in the cold wastes in that!?" Srettia yelled, watching in horror as a massive organic cylinder of teeth, multiple long arms ending in four-pronged grasping claws, and some sort of sensory antenna charged the Terran vehicle. She watched as it clawed and chewed at the Terrans in an attempt to devour its prey. The Terran occupants then proceeded to activate some sort of switch, causing the beast to quickly swim away.

It was at this time, Srettia realized she was currently stuck under a mountain of sand. "Hey! What gives, why am I stuck?" Attempting to dig herself out, she soon spotted the culprit of her misadventure in the sand. " I see what you're doing, ya jerk! Stop pushing sand onto me!" Srettia complained, noticing that once again, her body began to vibrate oddly, allowing her to quickly move through the sand.

Hurriedly walking away and into the water, an attempt at cooling his feet off, Michael turned to survey the angry mountain he had created. "Nah, I don't feel like getting my ass kicked today."

Easily managing to dig herself out of the trap, Srettia calmly walked over to Michael. She playfully poked him in the chest. "How would a small female such as myself be capable of 'kicking your ass'?" Watching closely as Michael dropped his guard, Srettia suddenly jumped onto her prey, causing him to lose his balance and fall into the water.

Playfully biting into the meaty part of his collar, Srettia gasped as the water washed over her body, the mix of Michael's heat and the cool water sending weird but pleasant signals throughout her body.

Not one to lose, Michael grabbed his attacker by the waist and pushed her onto the sand, pinning her down, grinning happily that her swimsuit was nothing but a few strings. "You wanted to show off your swimsuit, didn't you?" He whispered in her ear.

Humming as she bit down a bit harder from being found out, Srettia enjoyed the warm feeling of Michael's exploring hands. "I did. But you found out too late, slowpoke. Jack, how long until we leave warp?"

"Eight minutes. How was your date?"

"I was great, Jack. Thanks for asking." Separating from Michael, Srettia used her tail to give him a parting slap on the chest as she walked towards the exit. " Let's go, slowpoke. The galaxy awaits."

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Finley was busy checking and double-checking his custom scanning gear while reading his morning reports from the surface team. With only an hour remaining, he was fully equipped and ready for a drop at any moment. However, currently, he was sitting in his quarters looking at reports while checking his equipment.

A chime at his door woke him from his stupor, the controller in his hand put down as he got up to answer the call. "Yeah? Door's open. Walk on in."

Much to his surprise, Andriet walked into his quarters. "I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" She asked, moving stand in Finley's office.

Picking the drone controller back up, Finley raised an eye at his guest. "Nope, go ahead and take a seat. Anywhere is fine. I'm just doing some final checks before I take the boys down."

Studying the odd contraptions, Andriet once again reevaluated the man in front of her. "Well, that's all well and good, just don't let anything happen to commander Ethuci. Chrarada will kill both of us if something happens to him."

Finley looked up from his work to eye the Captain sitting opposed to him. "Ethuci's her man then? He's a good leader. He needs to learn how to chill out, though."

"I don't think any of them want to chill out. They've done enough of that." Andriet shot back smugly.

"I guess that true. You here to see me off or just warn me not to let Ethuci bite it?" Finley asked, leaning over the table towards the ship's Captain.

Andriet blushed and pushed Finley away. "I'm not that easy, ya shit."

"I don't expect you to be Captain. I still owe you a cider, and you still owe me stories." Attaching the tabled equipment to various parts of his armour, Finley got up and motioned for Andriet to follow him. "Guess it's time to head out."

Andriet walked out of Finley's quarters and waved at him as she walked towards the bridge. "Make sure you bring them back safely."

Finley lazily saluted and turned towards the hangar. "Yes, dear. I'll make sure the boys are back home for dinner."

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Ethuci waited patiently outside the shuttle, watching as his team check each other's armour for any faults or visual malfunctions. Looking around the hangar in an attempt to spot Finley, he instead saw more than just his own team checking their armour. Finley's personal team was busy going through various items and tools. "Wonder where our local expert is."

Hearing his commander's low mumbling, Hezexhel threw on his helmet and opened a direct com. "Bet he's with that female he was trying to court."

Raising his helmet and turning to his subordinate, Ethuci sighed a response. "Even if he is, that's none of our business. As long as he shows up and fulfils his mission, that's enough for me."

As if on queue, Finley finally walked into the hangar, fully armoured and geared up. " Alright, everyone. Finish up your prep. I'll meet you on the shuttle." Walking across the hangar, he entered the shuttle without a word to anyone else.

Ethuci swiftly motioned for his team to enter the shuttle and followed the commander inside. Not taking long to enter the shuttle harnesses, Ethuci finally opened a com to Finley. "Cutting it a bit close there, aren't you?"

Finley, exiting the shuttle's cockpit, looked Ethuci's way, keying the coms back. "Was just reading some surface reports and authorizing some emergency plans."

Ethuci mentally slapped himself. "I sometimes forget that you are in command of the surface operation."

Getting into his Harness, Finley just nodded at Ethuci from across the drop bay. "Things are going well, but dome nineteen is reporting a lot of mistrust and vandalism. Other than that one dome, everything is operating smoothly. "

Feeling the shuttle power-up, Ethuci decided to monitor the vitals of his team as the shuttle began to smoothly exit the hangar. Watching the vitals, he noticed that more than a few of them showed signs of distress or nervousness.

Ethuci let out a long breath as he looked around at the worst of his team. He noticed that they were all looking back at him. He checked his own vitals, and he realized he was just as much of a wreck as they were. "Calm yourselves, we've trained for this, and nothing will stop us from completing this mission." He announced to his team.

As the shuttle began to enter the atmosphere, Finley grinned under his helmet as he watched the tail of Ethuci twitch nervously and his vitals spike. "Finally hit you, did it? What we're about to do?"

Keying a solo com to Finley, Ethuci keyed green as his grip tightened against his harness. "It has been two hundred years since one of my kind has entered a city. Over the years, we lost so much data and knowledge. I don't even know what they look like."

"Well, your armour records everything thing you see. So upload it onto your social network when you get back. Well, that is if it's not too gory. Might need to edit it a bit."

As the shuttle touched down outside the city limits, The harness finally unlocked, and the pilot flipped the troop bay from red to green.

Unlatching his harness, Ethuci made for the door. "Let's get this done then. Everything by the book, no heroics. "He exited the shuttle and looked at the distance, where he was greeted with a hazy sight of a city his people had built. Excitedly he waved at his team to follow as he began marching for the city in earnest.

As the team slowly pushed through the snow and ice, they entered the first of the streets. Ethuci sucked in a chilling breath as he gazed at his surroundings. "It's all ice. Everything is preserved in ice. It's like the last two hundred years didn't even happen."

Walking up beside Ethuci, Finley put his hand on the commander's shoulder. "Yeah, that'll happen. Ice preserves lots of things, including the things you don't want to see."

Ethuci pondered his words as his team wordlessly continued deeper into the city, following the power signal. He turned down a street and plowed through the knee-high snow and ice. Trying to keep his vision forward, he saw the first of the unwelcomed sights out of the corner of his eye. Ethuci then motioned for his team to stop. "Hold on, just stay here. I want to investigate something."

Moving onto what he assumed was the sidewalk, Ethuci came across something he was all too familiar with. He took a knee and brushed off some piled snow; Ethuci inspected the object closely. Clenching his stomach, he looked down on the malnourished remains of a male holding another younger male in his arms. Ethuci looked down the sidewalk to see many similar sights, dozens of corpses, bones showing through their skin huddled together for warmth. All having been frozen, encased in a prison of ice for eternity.

Cursing his enemies, Ethuci got up and speedily started marching towards the power signal, His enraged team not far behind. "I swear I will be the first to fire upon our enemies."

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