The evacuation of the destroyed Vailen 1 went well, but slowly. Every shuttle was only able to collect four sleeping chambers, before it had to return to the Vailen 2. Even with all the shuttles at work it would still take a while, until the whole crew of the Vailen 1 was saved.

Meanwhile Sarah's team and their shuttle, had a different task. Felicitas, Sarah, Niam, Kleio and Alex had exchanged their space suits for some long winter cloaks. Caitlin was on board as well. When she heard, that the ten of her crew, that she had sent to the surface, had been found, she wanted to go with Sarah's team, no matter what. Every argument against, like she should be resting some more, was in vain.

“Now it will get a little bumpy”, said Niam. The crew held onto their seats, while they got thoroughly shaken entering the atmosphere of the planet.

The bumpy bit didn't last long and the shuttle went into a smoother glide. Felicitas turned in her seat and tried to have a look outside. Beneath them was a mountainous landscape full of trees and covered with a lot of snow.

“It's a shame, that we arrive here in the middle of winter”, said Sarah with a gloomy look at the large amounts of snow. “That won't make our work easier.”

Kleio nodded.

Alex only shrugged with his huge shoulders: “Well, it is just snow. We can manage that.”

Felicitas felt the same as Alex. She liked snow. Because of the climate change, snow became rare on earth. But when it fell, it laid a soothing mantle over everything and life got a little less hectic and loud. Of course it would have been easier to establish their colony in the summer, with three fully functioning space ships in orbit for support, but what could you do.

“Yes, you are right”, said Sarah. It didn't stop her from looking out the window with a cloudy face. “It will be a big chunck of work and we won't be able to wait for the summer either. Our ship can't support both crews for a longer period.”

“Perhaps the Vailen 3 will turn up in time”, said Kleio.

“Sadly we cannot rely on that”, said Sara. "Captain Lorran has had our hyperspace drive checked out, and other than the fact that we got here a little early, they haven't been able to find anything wrong with it so far. We actually shouldn't be here until spring, then we would have had enough time to establish our colony, before the winter. The Vailen 3 has to have some sort of difficulties as well, otherwise they would have arrived here with us.”

“Well, then we just have to move a little closer together for a while. It'll work out”, said Alex.

“Exactly. Sarah, you could move in with me!” Felicitas paused. Had she really just said that? A little unsure she smiled towards Sarah.

Sarah looked back surprised, but before she could answer anything Niam reported in: “I am sorry to interrupt, but we have arrived”.

The shuttle lost height quickly. For a short moment they saw a few cabins near a forest before the snow, whirled up by the shuttle, blocked their view. The Shuttle rocked gently as it landed.

“Well, then let’s do this”, said Caitlin. She looked nervous. As she was on the brink to find out, what happened to the people, that she had send down to the surface, into uncertainty.

Niam opened the back hatch and they went outside. Felicitas took with her the bag with the medical equipment, just in case. Cold winter air swirled around their noses. Felicitas took a deep breath. The fresh and clear air was a welcome change, after the long time in the spaceship.

The sun hung only a couple of centimeters above the horizon, but it was hard to tell if it was morning or evening.

From their landing spot, the small village was on a hill, bordering a forest, that extended to the north up a mountain.

They let Alex go first, who plowed them a way through the deep snow. At around half the way up the hill, they could see a person near the huts and soon a second and a third one. Those had to be the settlers.

“Hello”, shouted Alex towards them.

One person separated from the group and ran towards them, as fast as the deep snow allowed. As she reached Alex, she said, without wasting time on greetings: “We nearly had given up hope! What ship are you from? What happened to the people of the Vailen 1?” The winter cloak, the woman wore, had seen better days. Some scrubby hair strands peaked out from under her hood and her face was burned brown from being outside for most of the time. It was a woman, who had lived on a foreign planet for one year, with only little hope to be rescued and still stood in front of them, healthy and without any signs of exhaustion in her eyes.

“Anika?”, Caitlin emerged from behind Alex.

“Captain Nevan!” She bowed respectfully in front of her captain.

“That isn't necessary”, said Caitlin friendly. “Nice to see you. The crew of the Vailen 1 is currently brought over to the Vailen 2. So far, everyone is well.” Some of the other settlers came closer as well. Felicitas counted eight, including those waiting near the huts. “But what about you? I had feared the worst.”

“It is not that bad”, said a deep, calm voice. It belonged to a smiling, older man with a grey beard. “We had a rough start, but we made the best out of it.” He bowed as well in front of the much younger captain Nevan. “It is nice to see, that you are well.”

“Daniel! What happened?”

“On entering the atmosphere the engines of the shuttle breathed their last. The following landing was ... unpleasant. There have been a lot of bruises and injuries, but nothing our doctor couldn't stitch back together. Only the shuttle was beyond repair. It was completely destroyed during the landing. That sadly kept us from getting more people off the Vailen 1 or from contacting you.”

“I understand.”

“But as it looks like, our luck hasn't run out yet. The reinforcements have finally arrived”, radiating with happiness he looked around. “Come up to our little village. The others are surly looking forward to see you as well and then we can celebrate our reunion with a cup of tea”, said Daniel and pointed invitingly up towards the huts.

“Thank you, it would be a pleasure”, said Caitlin and lead the way with Daniel.

“You have tea?”, asked Kleio Anika, who followed with the rest of the group.

“I'm not sure, if you can call it tea”, said Anika smiling. “At least we found a plant, that we boil in hot water. The result isn't too bad.”

The little village consisted of six houses. All built from formed and layered logs from the near forest. The huts weren't all the same size, but looked sturdy. The settlers definitely knew what they were doing.

Sarah's group was warmly welcomed by the settlers, even though they were even happier about the presence of their captain, whom everyone greeted with a bow, without exceptions. During the greeting Felicitas noticed, that none of the settlers showed any signs of illness, exhaustion or any other form of overburdening. They were all in a good mood. Felicitas had to admit, that Caitlin had chosen the right people for this difficult task.

While they waited for their tea, Daniel told them a little about their beginnings. “The first few weeks were the worst for us. Not only have a lot of us been injured during the crash-landing, some of the shuttle windows got shattered too. Through those the cold came in. So we had to get a better shelter very soon.

We built that house over there first. At the beginning it wasn't much more than a wooden box with a closable hole as a door. At the moment it serves as our main building, where we all live together.”

“Are those ... shuttle windows?”, asked Niam.

Daniel smiled. “Yes, we could salvage some of them. You learn to value such simple things as windows, when you had to live in a dark wooden box for a while.” Just now Felicitas noticed, that the other houses had no windows. Of course, where should the settlers have gotten the glass from?

In the meantime tea arrived. It was served in something, that looked like a cut piece of bamboo and really wasn't bad at all. It had a refreshing lemony touch.

“The house over there is our storage for supplies and firewood”, continued Daniel his report. “We were already able to find some tasty plants and animals around here. And as last, those two houses should become living quarters, but only the hull is finished yet.”

“You did excellent work”, praised Caitlin her men and women. “But what about Gabriel and Lekan? They are not here. What happened?”

“Oh, I'm sorry. I should have mentioned that at the start”, said Daniel. “Gabriel is in bed with a heavy fever and sadly we don't know what happened to Lekan. He should already be back from the hunt, but something must have delayed him.”

Relief stood in Caitlins face. “Good, then everyone is accounted for. I do not worry about Lekan, he will turn up again, he always does. Felicitas, can you have a look at Gabriel? He probably lies in the main building?”

“Yes”, confirmed Daniel. “Tobin, our doctor, can accompany her.” Tobin appeared to be a lanky man of middle age and size. He looked similarly weathered as the other settlers, but left a friendly impression.

“As it looks like, it's already evening here”, said Caitlin with a glance at the sun, that had wandered a little further towards the horizon. “We have brought some supplies for you, which we should unload before it gets dark.”

Daniel nodded. He accompanied Sarah's Team, together with some additional settlers, back to the shuttle, while Felicitas and Tobin went towards the main building, to look after the patient.

Felicitas was amazed by the interior, as she entered the main building. It was just cosy. The beds were aligned along the walls, created out of branches and lined with furs. In the middle of the back wall was a chimney, made out of a wooden frame, that was coated with a thick layer of clay. A small amount of firewood was stored on both sides. In the chimney burned a fire, that kept the hut pleasantly warm. The two tables and a couple of benches, in the middle of the hut, had been combined to one long table. The settlers had taken a lot of effort to make this place a home.

“Gabriel lies back there”, said Tobin and pointed towards a pile of fur in the back corner of the hut. His bed stood a little apart from the others, probably to keep the danger of infecting someone else to a minimum.

Gabriel had no doubt heard them, because he tried to sit up a little, to see, who came through the door.

“Doc?”, his voice was low and weak. Felicitas put her bag beside the bed, took her winter cloak off and put it across one of the other beds.

“Yes, Gabriel. There is good news, the Vailen 2 has arrived. This is Felicitas, she would like to see how you are doing”, said Tobin.

“Well you have taken long enough”, said Gabriel weary. With a smile he let himself fall back onto his bed.

“Hello Gabriel, let's see, what I can do for you. For this, we have to uncover you though”, said Felicitas.

“A beautiful doctor like you can uncover me anytime”, said the half fainted Gabriel.

Felicitas raised an eyebrow.

“I'm sorry”, Tobin tried to quietly excuse himself for Gabriel's embarrassing behavior. “I should have warned you.”

Felicitas smiled.

Together they freed Gabriel of all the furs, that laid on top of him. Felicitas could feel the heat, radiating from Gabriel. The fever was undeniable. She just had to figure out, if that was the only problem or not.

“Let's have a look, how ill you are.” She took a small computer out of her bag, that wasn't much more than a screen, switched it on and held it steady a bit above the lying Gabriel. She started with the head and then moved slowly towards the feet. As she was done, she looked at the screen and checked the values.

“Do I have to die?”, it came quietly from the bed.

“What?” Felicitas laughed and looked down to her patient. “Of course not! You only have a strong fever. We can fix that.”

“A fever, I could have told you that without a computer”, said Gabriel sleepy.

Felicitas smiled, while she put the computer bag into her bag. “I just wanted to be sure, that we don't miss something else, that would be able to kill you.” She rummaged around in her bag and pulled out an injector, together with a small phial. She pushed the phial into the injector and turned again towards her patient.

“That will knock you out for the night, but in return you should feel much better in the morning.”

“One Moment.” Gabriel was, because of the high fever, barely able to make a clear thought, but he tried it regardless. “I would like to invite you to a date!” Ok, that with the clear thought was a little exaggerated.

“A date?”, she raised an eyebrow, the injector ready.

“Look at it as the last wish of a dying man”, Gabriel hardly had the strength for it, but he still kept talking.

“I thought we had sorted out this dying thing already.”

Gabriel sighed. “Just give a gravely sick something he can look forward to. Then how about a meal, for my great savior?”

Felicitas looked down upon the misery which lay in front of her. That Gabriel was even awake, was a miracle of itself and he looked at her with his big, fevered eyes.

“Please!”

Now it was on Felicitas to sigh. “Fine, but only a meal and nothing else.”

Gabriel grinned wearily across the whole face.

“And you have to get well again first!”

“Sure thing”, he closed his eyes. Felicitas activated the injector and Gabriel drifted into a deep slumber.

“Is he always like that?”, Felicitas put her tool back into her bag, while Tobin covered Gabriel again with the furs.

“Yes, I'm sorry. Otherwise he is actually a nice guy.”

Felicitas was just putting her winter cloak back on, as the door opened and Sarah came in.

“How is he?”

“He'll be fine.” Felicitas hesitated a bit. “And I think I have a date.”

“What?”

“Eh yes, it somehow happened. It wasn't on purpose!”

“Does he look that good?” Sarah tried to look past Felicitas to catch a glimpse of the sleeping one.

“Oh, stop it!” Felicitas threw her bag over her shoulder and went towards the door. “How's the unloading of the supplies?”

“We are done and we'll fly back to the Vailen 2 soon”, said Sarah. “But I wanted to talk to you about something else. Have you been serious, about this moving in together?”

Felicitas stopped walking and looked at Sarah. “Yes, I think so”, she said and shrugged. “Could be fun, don't you think?”

“Are you sure? I know, sometimes you just need to have your quiet and when I'm around too, doesn't it get too much?”

Felicitas smiled. “No, don't worry, I'll be fine.”

“Ok then”, said Sarah. Before they reached the door she added with a smirk: “So, you have a date!”

Felicitas threw her hands into the air in desperation. “You should have seen him, with his watery, big, pleading eyes and he even said please! Also it is just a meal!”

Sarah went giggling out the door. Felicitas couldn't keep herself from smiling as well.

Kleio and Alex stood near the door to the main building. Caitlin was, together with the settlers, a little further away and talked to them.

“What are you two laughing about?” wanted Alex to know.

“Oh, nothing” Sarah waved it away and tried to get a straight face again. “Can we go?”

“Caitlin wanted to talk to her people about some stuff first, but that shouldn't take long”, said Kleio.

Just seconds later Caitlin separated from the settlers and came over to Sarah's team.

“I would like to stay the night here on the planet”, opened Caitlin. “I have already talked about it with the others. They have a spare bed and would gladly take me in.”

Sarah hesitated shortly, in facing the news, before she answered: “Well, okay, then we will fly back up again on our own, or would someone of the settlers like to accompany us?”

“No, they are staying. They have everything they need here and at the moment you have up there already enough people anyway.”

Sarah nodded.

So it came, that Sarah's team went back into the shuttle alone. While they took off, Felicitas looked back and saw the settlers waving from in front of their huts. Her view fell on Caitlin, standing in the middle of the crowd and waving as well.

“What has she done, that she gets honored by her crew this much?”, said Felicitas more to herself.

“Who? Caitlin?”

“Yes.”

“No idea”, said Sarah.

Alex shrugged with his massive shoulders. “She seems to be a good captain.”

The shuttle gained height quickly and soon the small village was no longer to be seen.