Chapter Text
The crew of the Fort Salem III is not just anyone. They were handpicked for this mission years before planning even started. The year is 2035 and Sarah Alder, the commander of this voyage has started her checks of her crews’ assessments and data from today. It is Martian solar day (sol) 17 of their 31-day expedition. They hit their halfway mark a couple of days ago and the crew could not be happier to go home. Outside their hab or the Mars Lander Habitat, the planet of Mars is calm. The ground is covered in sand and there are some rock formations that surround the hab and out in the distance.
Sarah Alder is a legacy of the Martian program. Her father, Richard Alder, was the commander of the first two Fort Salem expeditions to Mars. He just recently retired when NASA started to plan Fort Salem III. Unfortunately, he had passed to cancer two years before they set off on their mission. Her mother, Elizabeth Alder, was always supportive of Sarah and her dreams. Sarah wanted to be a different leader and better version of her father. Therefore, she always made sure to be the top of her class all the way from high school up until her multiple PH. D.’s. She was also setting records in astronaut school with her dedication to always improving her physical fitness while also excelling in her studies. She had been on other missions to the moon and the international space station. She has been in the business for a while. Now at 43, this was her first mission that she was leading the expedition.
Her second in command is her pilot, Major Abigail Bellweather. Abigail is the youngest ever (male or female) pilot of a Mars mission. At the young age of 29, she had worked as hard, if not more than Sarah herself to get into this spot. This is not her first mission as a pilot, but this marks her debut on an expedition to Mars. This was the longest she had piloted a space shuttle. Abigail, in a similar way to Sarah, was also trying to get out from under her mother’s shadow and excel further than she did. Her mother, Petra Bellweather, was on the ground for this mission. She is the Mycelium’s flight director.
Their ship name was agreed upon by all the crew with their joint obsession of mushrooms. It started after one drunken night when the crew had been training for this mission for a little over a year. Izadora Dart had invited the crew into her world of mushrooms and their huge network underground. The real truth was that Sarah had drunkenly lost a bet that night to Izadora and therefore, she got to pick the name of their ship. That didn’t fair well for releasing public statements from Nasa, so the crew went with a group obsession.
The crew consisted of six people total on the Mycelium. They have a system operator. Her name is Scylla Ramshorn. She is one of the best in the business. A little weird and a touch dorky, but that just means she gets along with Izadora more than the rest. Her girlfriend, which was made official only months before the mission began, is the Mycelium’s surgeon. Doctor Raelle Collar. Raelle is around the same age as Abigail and has earned the title of the best surgeon Nasa has seen in years, no matter her age. She had formed a relationship with Scylla a few years after the team had gotten together to prepare. They were scared to Nasa of their relationship until it was close to the mission. They didn’t want their personal feelings to get them kicked off the expedition. And they definitely weren’t going to break up because of that. The team however had known from the beginning. The two were not shy to show their affection around their friends. Sarah was a little wary at the beginning because she knew how some personal relationships could ruin a mission before it even began but a little red-head in her ear told her there was nothing to worry about. The two would be together for the rest of their lives.
Raelle’s best friends, or sisters she now calls them after 5 years of planning, training, and getting to know each other had known everything there was about each other. Abigail, Raelle, and Tally are in-separatable. Doctor Tally Craven was the mechanical engineer and botanist for the Fort Salem III mission. She had grown up on a matrifocal compound and had always looked up to the sky on her lonely nights. Her aunts had all served and were killed in the military. That was something that Tally knew she couldn’t try without losing her one family member. Her mother, May Craven, had always sworn if Tally enlisted, she would lose her as a mother. This was etched into Tally’s brain since he was a kid when all four of her aunts had already passed. Tally however had other plans of going to space. Growing up on that matrifocal compound in California always had her interested in the plants and science of them. When Tally wasn’t looking into space through her telescope her mom had bought her at 10, she was looking down at the plants to study them.
Scylla and Raelle weren’t the only relationship that was onboard the Fort Salem III. Tally and Sarah had been dating secretly for the past year before this mission. Tally had not even told her sisters and Sarah had only told her sister Abigail Alder (Nicknamed Gail) since she had seen the two kissing in the living room of their shared family home. This was Sarah’s first relationship since college. She was scared at first to try anything. Her focus had always been on the mission and being the best she could. She got criticism for being a woman commander and trying to follow in her fathers’ footsteps. People only saw nepotism and favoritism when they looked at Sarah. A relationship with a subordinate would make her journey even hard to eventually be the director of Nasa, only once she got tired of space travel. Blanton Silver, the current director, was a hard ass for the rules and called himself a traditional man. He did not approve of relationships between crewmates let alone one with a subordinate. Sarah had really tried to ignore her feelings but the day she met Tally Craven almost five years ago she had fallen head over heels. It was Tally’s stubbornness and definitely the dimples that finally brought Sarah out of her shell and kiss Tally in a moment of happiness. They were friends for the first few years of planning and training for this mission but that was just never enough for either woman. Just a few weeks before they set off for Mars, Tally told Sarah she loved her one night while they were having dinner in Sarah’s house. Sarah wanted to say it back, but she just wasn’t ready yet. She decided in a conversation to herself that she would say it when they got back from their mission. She just wanted it to be special for her first time ever saying it to her partner. Sarah had Gail planning an extravagant trip for the two as a surprise for Tally when they returned to Earth.
Sarah’s longtime friend, Izadora Dart, the chemist of this expedition and loan from Germany had joined them on Fort Salem III. It was just circumstance that the U.S. had made a deal with Germany to trade astronauts to go on missions. Sarah had met Izadora while Izadora was on her semester abroad in the U.S. in college. That was almost 20 years ago, and they stayed in contact since.
On the Acidalia Planitia portion of Mars, they have a station set up. This station was set up by Sarah’s father and his team on the first mission to to the planet. Sarah is just finishing up her crew checks for the day. She has gotten used to her daily chores as she calls them. Her role as commander is more of a supervisory job but Sarah has always been a hands-on leader. Now that her administrative tasks are done, Sarah can make her way to her crew mates to check in on them in person.
She starts with Raelle, since she’s the closest. The doctor has a small supply of surgical items at the station, including the supplies they brought from earth. Each suit has a medical monitoring device that measures vitals, but only when they’re wearing that suit.
“Collar, everything in order down here?” Asks Sarah.
“Yes ma’am. Scylla and Abigail are out surveying the area. Tally is out there collecting samples. Izadora is doing her normal tasks somewhere throughout the station, I’m not exactly sure. I haven’t checked in with her in a minute. She’s usually self-sufficient.” Raelle replies after putting away her supplies she was inventorying.
“Good. Is there anything you need Collar? Bellweather said that a storm might be coming in within the next couple of days. I called back to Nasa and they’re keeping an eye on it in case we need to leave sooner rather than later.” Sarah said.
“Thank you for keeping me updated ma’am. Abigail had mentioned something at breakfast, but I wasn’t sure of the severity.” Raelle said with a gulp. She always treats each crew as her own. She didn’t realize it could be bad enough for them to leave early. “What are the odds we leave early then with this storm?”
“Hopefully it will blow past us.” Sarah said with a positive tone. She had stayed up way later than she usually did last night going over the numbers with NASA. “We are prepared for either outcome. For now, I’ll let you get back to work, Collar.”
“Thank you, ma’am.” Collar mock saluted. Although Sarah was her commander, they were all friends in some sort of way. You had to be when the trip was this long. A year and a half are their total commitment. Their mission on the planet itself was only 31 sols but the trip itself was made longer due to their stop at the international space station for supplies beforehand. That had added 2 months due to some last-minute repairs. It was a 7 month trip each way and that’s with everything running smoothly.
Sarah made her way over to the mess hall of the station. It was nearing late afternoon and she knew that Izadora always preferred a late lunch to try and finish up her morning tasks. She hated to leave anything not done. That was why her and Sarah were such good friends, their work ethic was similar in more ways than one.
As Sarah made it through one of the interior airlocks, she had a small grin on her face as Izadora took a bite of her potatoes and made a sour face.
“Not like the ones they make back in Germany, Iza?” Sarah quipped to her friend.
“No, unfortunately. These NASA chef’s need to learn to add some spices once in a while. Why not when you can just add it next to the preservatives they put.” Izadora sighed as she reached for the pepper.
“I miss just a regular plate of nachos. Bunch of cheese, beef, peppers, tomatoes, the whole deal. Those were my absolute favorite” Sarah said trying to remember the taste.
“Please stop. You’ll make me not want to finish my depressing lunch and I’ll think about those nachos for days now.” Izadora said.
“Only for you my friend.” Sarah said as she put a hand on her shoulder. “Anything you need to update me on today?”
“Nope. Just some analytics of the atmosphere and other factors on this planet. This is my first space travel trip and I am trying to absorb everything I can.” Izadora stated.
“I still don’t understand why your country wouldn’t send you on any of their missions. Don’t they know you’re the best astronaut, on that side of the earth at least” Sarah replied.
“Thanks for the ego boost but they can sometimes be a little strict when it comes to putting men and women on the same ship. That’s why they were so eager to send me with you all. An all women crew. That would make history in Germany!”
“You would think with it being 2035 that type of stuff wouldn’t be an issue. But maybe one day it’ll change.” Sarah exclaimed with a sigh. As she had finished that thought, she noticed that one of the outdoor airlocks had started to decompress through one of the doors. Sarah had learned to be hyper aware of her surroundings on all missions. She wouldn’t let the same thing happen from her previous mission. That still haunted her to this day. She shook that memory off as her and Izadora went to the other room.
Scylla, Abigail, and Tally came through the airlock as Sarah and Izadora made their way through theirs.
“I don’t understand why you need those different types of dirt for your studies, Tally. It’s like you think that is going to save the world one day!” Abigail said as they were taking off their suits.
“You never know! This could be what the difference between a worldwide famine or us continuing on for hundreds of years of thousands of years. I am trying to take as much as we can so I can keep myself busy until the next mission.” Tally replied.
“You guys okay out there? Did you happen to spot any of that storm forming, Abigail?” Sarah cut off their conversation. She had admired how Tally was always so passionate about her science, but she couldn’t be gawking over her girlfriend in front of everyone. She needed to know as soon as possible about any changes in that weather system that was coming in soon.
“No ma’am. We took the rover around a couple of miles to scout through a couple of nearby valleys and didn’t see anything of interest.” Abigail said.
“Yeah, we mainly just saw dirt and some mountains. So nothing exciting or new, unfortunately.” Scylla added. Scylla was never one for the formalities and she told Sarah as it was from the very beginning. They had bickered at the start of the training for this mission but after a little while, Sarah had come to realize that Scylla was incredibly smart and there was no way to change her way of view.
“I expect a full report of your findings by end of day today. NASA is hoping that this storm will blow right past us, but I want all of us to be prepared if it doesn’t. I already spoke some to Raelle earlier, but if this storm is as bad as control thinks it is, I don’t want to take any chances. We will be getting out of here as soon as possible if things come to worse.”
“Sounds good.” “Yes ma’am” “Aye ma’am” The three said in unison.
“Now go get cleaned up. We have chores to do before dinner. This place is starting to get a little trashed. I want that report finished first though, then dinner will be in a few hours.”
Abigail, Scylla, and Izadora filed out of the room to go do their tasks for the afternoon. Meanwhile Tally stuck behind to talk to Sarah privately.
Sarah’s features relaxed immediately. It felt like the whole day of stress had caught up to her once she could finally be herself again in front of Tally. The red head walked up to Sarah and pulled her into a hug, sensing Sarah’s tenseness. After being together even just for their short time, they had known each other and been friends before that. Tally had been able to sense Sarah’s shift in mood even sometimes before Sarah could. It was one of the things Sarah had loved about Tally. Even if she hasn’t been able to say it to the younger one yet.
“Are you getting enough sleep Sar?” Tally asked from the inside of Sarah’s neck she was content at staying.
“I got as much as I could last night. Control kept me up going over these stats and probability models for this storm. I have a bad feeling about it. I don’t want to leave early but if we have to, I think we should make that decision before it’s too late” Sarah replied. She had never talked to Tally completely about what happened on her first mission in space, but Tally had heard enough to know the basics of the disastrous outcome and how it haunted Sarah until that day. She had only mentioned it to Tally after a couple of nightmares had woken them both up and Tally tried giving Sarah space, but she knew the other woman needed to talk to someone about it.
“This isn’t going to be like last time. You’re in charge now and learned from your last experience. I know you’ll make the right decision. Plus, we trained for years for this mission and went over every possible disaster that could impact us. We are ready for whatever comes our way, you know that.” Tally said trying to soothe her girlfriends' nerves.
“I know. I just can’t shake this feeling that something is going to go horribly wrong.” Sarah said. She was terrified of losing anyone on this crew. They had all grown to be her friends and some, her family. She didn’t know what she would do if anything were to happen, and she was the cause.
“You earned this mission, commander. I know that you will make the necessary decisions to keep us safe. Just please consider yourself as well and don’t work too hard.” Tally said as she leaned in to kiss the older woman. Sarah had melted into the kiss and tried as hard as she could to keep her hands from roaming too far down Tally’s back in a common space like this. She had always loved exploring every part of her girlfriend and it was hard on this mission to get a second away from everyone to give Tally the proper attention she deserved. She then gave up on her resolve and let her hands glide down to Tally’s butt, gripping both cheeks. With that, the red head squeaked and backed up from Sarah.
“You know we can’t do that out in the common area!” Tally slapped Sarah’s arm in her usual playful way. “You will have to pay for that later, commander.” Tally whispered in her ear as she turned away from Sarah with a wink. Sarah couldn’t help the small smile on her face.
“Don’t forget your report on my desk tonight!” Sarah yelled after her. Tally didn’t turn around, but she also put a small smile on her face. It was tough having to hide her relationship from her friends, her family, and especially her sisters. She knew it was necessary for her and Sarah to stay on this mission together. It was just something that she wanted to scream from the rooftops. 7 months couldn’t come fast enough.
~
Later that night, everyone had finished up their chores and reports for the day. Dinner went well with everyone agreeing that they wish they could have a home cooked meal now rather than wait until they were back on earth. It was coming up on 10 months of eating nothing but astronaut food and it was starting to wear on everyone. After dinner, everyone went to their respective rooms and bunks. It wasn’t until after everyone turned off the lights before Tally had sneaked over to Sarah’s commander room. She slipped inside to find a desk lamp on but when she looked over at the bed, Sarah was passed out with reports surrounding her. Tally smiled softly. She knew Sarah was tired but didn’t realize how exhausted she actually was. She made a mental note to check on Sarah more often in the next few days.
Tally went over to the side of the bed and collected all the reports and neatly stacked them on Sarah’s desk. She turned off the light when she noticed Sarah starting to stir. Tally walked over and lifted up the covers to slide in next to Sarah, putting Sarah’s back to her front.
“Glad to see you took my advice from earlier.” Tally whispered in Sarah’s ear.
“Mmm you’re so warmmm.” Sarah said sleepily.
“I just got out of the shower. I was starting to smell like my Martian dirt.” Tally chuckled while stroking Sarah’s hair. The older woman was already starting to fall back asleep.
“Don’t think I forgot you owe me a punishment there Doctor. I expect a rain check.” Sarah said wearily as she was one breath away from dosing off.
“You need to sleep tonight but don’t worry, it will be paid in full” Tally said as she kissed Sarah’s temple. She could tell from Sarah’s breathing that it started to steady out. A couple of minutes later, Tally started to fall asleep herself, exhausted from the long day.
~
“Sarah wake the fuck up right now!” Abigail yelled as she barged into Sarah’s room. She would normally never do this but it was now life or death. She had a small moment of shock when she saw Sarah and Tally cuddling in Sarah’s bed but there was no time for teasing or ‘I knew it’s’ now.
“Abigail what’s going on?” Sarah shot out of bed already putting her clothes back on, Tally next to her still trying to wake up.
“That storm, it hit overnight. It came in so fast there was no warning from our systems or NASA’s. We need to leave now before it destroys the base or our MAV.” Abigail explained from the doorway. “Don’t think we won’t talk about this once we’re back on the ship.” She pointed at Tally as she turned out the door to go warn the others.
The crew was all gathering their basic things and getting ready in their suits. Sarah made sure that everyone was ready in the small 10-minute window they had before they had to go through the airlock. Abigail was working on her MAV computer in the corner of the common room.
“We only have a few minutes before the MAV is unlaunchable. It is currently at a 10-degree tilt, 2 more degrees and we won’t make it out of the atmosphere at that angle” Abigail told Sarah as she was monitoring the hab and MAV’s computer analytics.
Sarah nodded her head and both of them headed towards the main airlock where all the suits were.
Everyone donned their suits as quick as they could. Sarah walked through and double checked to make sure everyone was all set, they couldn’t afford to make a mistake in a rush while also still waking up. She could hear the storm raging outside. The wind was starting to shake the hab’s walls. Sarah knew that must mean it was a bad storm. The hab was made to withstand most wind and storm it encountered. It took everything in her to not double over and start panicking. She would have to be strong for everyone of her team to make it out alive. They needed her leadership. This wouldn’t be like last time; they were prepared now.
“Everyone ready?” Sarah yelled over the winds outside making their station flop around. Her team gave a unanimous thumbs up trying not to panic with fear of what could happen. Sarah finished putting her helmet on. “We are going to have to make it through the storm to get to the MAV. We have a line connecting the suits. Make sure we go slow and smooth to the MAV but get there as quick as possible. We have a limited amount of time before it’s too late.”
Sarah then made her way to the front. She attached herself to the line, right by Abigail. After Abigail told her everyone was strapped to the line, she started the decompression of the air lock. The storm was starting to pickup and once the process was finished, Sarah took a calming breath to open the door to the outside. Once she flung it open, a burst of wind slammed her against the wall.