The sky was clear and blue, not even a wisp of cirrus to be seen as the golden sun shone down on fields of crisp, white snow. Towering mountains reared all around, patches of trees on the lower slopes, snow and rock further up, a majestic scene of beauty almost entirely untouched by human hand.
Almost, but not quite. A group of five people stood on a broad ledge on a mountainside, the only sentient life for over a thousand miles around. Behind them stood the shuttlecraft James Cook, nestled calmly amidst the snowbanks. Around them, all was still, not even an alien bird wheeling in the sky.
Max Dorner, Lieutenant, j.g. in the Starfleet Sciences Division, breathed out into the chill air, his breath forming a cloud of white mist that rapidly dissipated. The air was fresh, and clean, as much so, if not more, than the skies of 24th century Earth, now that technology had conquered pollution. There was a slight alien tang to it, probably from the local plant life, such as it was at this time of year, a reminder that they were not on Earth at all, but a colony world many light years away. A colony world, moreover, where all the settlements were at the far end of the continent, close to the equator.
He was, like all the others, wearing Starfleet cold weather clothing, the sort that got issued when the planet wasn't frozen enough to require proper survival suits. Instead of those, internally heated, all-over suits and face masks, these consisted of a heavy parka trimmed with synthetic fur, thick trousers, gloves, and snow boots. The parka was in bright division colours with white trim, making people easier to spot against the snow - a useful feature if anyone became lost.
Like most of the others with him, Max's parka was, of course, a deep shade of azure blue. He had to admit, though, that the others did not seem quite so comfortable wearing these bulky uniforms as he did, and three of them obviously weren't too keen on the fresh, icy cold of the air on their faces.
The only other human in the little group was Matsu Genji, the medical officer, who stood to one side, formal and stiff, apparently having seen all he wanted of the scenery when he had stepped off the shuttlecraft. On many ships in Starfleet, an away team where the humans were outnumbered would have been unusual, although hardly unheard of. But, on the USS Endeavour, any other possibility would have been remarkable.
The Endeavour was one of the premier science research vessels in Starfleet, and it was crewed with some of the brightest scientific minds that that organisation had to offer. They came from many worlds across the Federation, since Earth and its colonies hardly had a monopoly on scientific acumen. As a result, on the Endeavour, humans were in a minority.
As the leader of this little expedition amply demonstrated. Max, Matsu, and Edrilli were all facing her as she stood in front of the shuttlecraft, briefing them on the task ahead. It wasn't as if they didn't already know all that she had to say, and Matsu seemed to be the only one really listening to the speech. Edrilli, for instance, the younger of the two xenobiologists, seemed chiefly to be worrying about the cold.
The young Bolian ensign was standing slightly hunched, her gloved hands tucked up under her armpits, the hood on her parka pushed forward so far that little more than her eyes were visible behind the ring of fur. She was, from what Max could see, trying not to fidget, eager to get the briefing over with.
Sh'ree, of course, was the exact opposite. Her parka was part undone, the blue of her uniform visible beneath it, the hood pushed back to let her pure white hair fall free. As so often, Max found his eyes drawn to her antennae, gently twitching, a code he had yet to interpret. He forced his attention back to what she was saying, trying to ignore the way that the colour of her clothing so complemented that of her skin.
"The Endeavour is scheduled to return in ten days," she said, "until then, we have the planet, or at least this half of it, to ourselves. The planet is beginning to enter a warm period, part of a long-term climate change which I am sure Lieutenant Dorner can explain in greater detail," she looked towards him, and he fancied he saw a brief smile flash across her blue lips, but it was gone in a second. "Our task is to evaluate the effects on the local wildlife, especially the avian forms, which automated instruments indicate have become unusually scarce of late."
"Ten days of bird-watching, in other words? On an ice-world. Great."
Sh'ree looked round in irritation at the final member of the away team. Lugmilla was leaning casually against the side of the shuttlecraft, her arms crossed over her short but stocky frame. The shuttlecraft's pilot, she was the only one not dressed in blue, the burgundy parka a marked contrast with everyone else's. She was also, technically, the most senior person here, even if Sh'ree was in charge of the scientific operation that was their only reason for visiting the planet.
"It's not an ice-world," pointed out Sh'ree, "there are jungles at the equator. Inhabited planets generally don't have just the one terrain type, you know. In fact, overall, this planet is about the same temperature as Tellar."
"And you still manage to send us to the edge of the tundra. Or the Captain does," she added, forestalling the obvious objection. "Same thing."
"There is a research base just over the ridge there," replied the Andorian, "we all saw it on the way down. It's automated, but it does have full facilities for visiting scientists. Replicators, heating, all of that."
"It has heating?" asked the Tellarite. "Then what are we standing out here for?"
-***-
The base did, indeed, have heating. It was a single-story prefab building that, nonetheless, managed to look almost like the sort of chalet you might find at a ski resort. Somebody, probably in the Starfleet engineering division, had evidently had some sense of aesthetics. Kitted out with modern, 24th century technology, it was remarkably comfortable, and all the generators and other support equipment were concealed somewhere in its structure, tidily hidden away.
Three bedrooms, a communal bathroom, and a maintenance and equipment store surrounded a central dining and meeting area. Most of one wall was taken up by a huge window of transparent aluminium, looking out from the top of the shallow cliff on which the base perched. Now out of his cold weather clothing, Max stood at that window admiring the view. It was, he had to admit, stunning, and, for all its alien nature, it reminded him in some ways of his home in Austria.
"There's a lot out there. We're going to be busy." He turned to see Edrilli, standing next to the long couch set up immediately in front of the window.
"Yes... I imagine it will take a while. Still, we have long enough."
"Easy for you. The atmosphere isn't going anywhere," she indicated the weather station, just off to one side, the only structure outside the base's main building. There wasn't a lot Max could say to that. "Speaking of which," said the Bolian, leaning closer, and lowering her voice, "is it just me, or is the temperature just a little too warm in here?"
Max didn't think it was uncomfortable, but now that he thought about it, it was a few degrees above the standard shipboard temperature on the Endeavour. He glanced over at the maintenance room, where the thermostat was probably located. He had seen Lugmilla coming out of there a short while before... given her griping about the weather, it was easy to see what had happened.
"Probably," he said, "but are you going to argue about it? We'd never get done."
Edrilli grinned in response; she knew the Tellarite well, and had likely come to the same conclusion.
"Food's up!"
That was Matsu, carrying a tray across from the replicator area at the back of the room to the main table. The three of them gathered round, Lugmilla at one end of the table, facing the window, and Edrilli facing Max. Matsu fetched across a second tray of food, and sat down next to the Bolian woman.
"Come on, Sh'ree," he called out, "you don't want to let it get cold."
Max glanced up towards the door to the room that Sh'ree shared with the Bolian ensign, and froze for a second, slightly flustered. As the Andorian stepped out of the room, he could tell that she had noticed the extra warmth as well.
She had discarded her uniform top, wearing instead a tight sleeveless vest that hugged her curves. They were, as Max had noticed many times before, very shapely curves indeed, her body firm and athletic for a scientist, her breasts prominent without being over-sized. But it wasn't really much more than he'd seen before, he told himself as he tried to look disinterested, unless you counted the bare blue skin of her arms.
Yet, somehow, Sh'ree in that vest was a sight that brought more warmth to him than it should have done.
She sat down at the one free place - which, of course, happened to be the one next to him - and pulled the meal towards herself.
"Are you sure this is good for us?" asked Edrilli after a while, "I didn't expect something quite so fattening from you, Dr. Genji. Not that it isn't delicious!"
"I dialled up the fat content on the replicator," replied the medical officer, "and, please, call me Matsu."
