Chapter 1: Ring of Fire

Alerio races to where she needs to be! Already tired from the climb and the repairs, but running on adrenaline now.

"I can get it done, but it’ll take longer than 18 seconds! Leave it with me!!"

She sets about the work, careful to step around ZuZu, who is following diligently.

"You’d better go strap in." she says to the dog, wiping sweat from her brow.

"Firing a missile could make it worse. Our best bet is to get down there and evacuate. The population is thankfully small. If Greener can get them ready ASAP, we can load them on the Wayward Wind and fly them to safety. Goldie, what's the max occupancy of this ship?" Fallon sits in the co-pilot chair next to Zuni, strapping herself in.

"True," he nods. "It is risky to shoot at it. The maximum occupancy will be a key factor in the rescue. I know I'm stating the obvious here but if we can't fit them all, we're back to plan A -- redirect."

Zuni pushes the throttle to full and the Wayward Wind accelerates to hypersonic speeds within seconds. The inertial dampers do their job perfectly, leaving the crew inside oblivious to the external G forces.

A few heartbeats later, the Wayward Wind is decelrating and coming up above the town of Barvinn. The shockwave follows in her wake and slams into the town, sending loose debris into the inlet the town it is built around. Already a great deal of ash has fallen on the town, marring the colorful town with splotches of black.



Goldie overlays the biosignature readings on the viewport so you can see where people are. There are dozens of scared people are taking refuge in the shelters. More than half of them are Vargr, and mostly children and the elderly.

Goldie responds to Fallon's query: "We can carry 58 people, temporarily. I suggest moving the children and their guardians up to level two to occupy the staterooms. The others can remain on the main deck in the cargo bay and access corridor."

Fallon will check to see if there are any electronic communication systems in the town, even a loudspeaker or emergency siren at the least to grab everyone's attention and quickly explain the situation and their plan.

Fallon sees a communication tower built into a lighthouse that sits at the point where the inlet meets the sea. It includes an array of weather-shielded loudspeakers. You could probably patch into that from the ship to help direct the evacuation.

"Good. We have the space for them all. I can corral the children and their guardians and get them to the second floor once we land. If we can keep it orderly and calm it should happen quickly. Anyone want to take care of rounding up and directing the rest of the inhabitants?"

"Does this bird have a loud speaker we can use if communicating with the tower fails, Goldie?" Zuni notices the lake and wonders how they will get people from the other side of it from where they land.

"We might have to land twice if there are residents on the other side of the lake. That's going to add precious minutes."

Even they land, Seally drives the truck out and stands on the roof. She yells at the people nearby. "Everyone, the volcano is looking to erupt any minute, please leave everything and climb I board, well fly you out of the path of destruction. We only have a few minutes."

She points at people and tries to encourage them to file in to the back of the Wayward Wind in an orderly fashion.

"Way to cause a panic, Seally," Zuni says shaking his head. "So much for orderly."

As soon as the ship lands, and the camp descends, Alerio takes off. Her muscles groan from all their use on the climb, not to mention her head humming from trying to figure out how to get the ship moving.

Still, she runs. She calls to mind that authoritative voice she used to speak with when she was a cop.

Running on, she calls to people:

"Make a line! Get in line! Come on! Make it easy!"

She runs to some stragglers and begins the process of moving them herself. Lifting children and ferrying them up the line, parents in pursuit. The elderly, the infirm. On and on she runs…

Fallon struggles to override the speaker system to coordinate the rescue. Despite her best efforts, she just can find a way to interface with this primitive system in time for it to help.

Without the loudspeaker, Seally and Alerio get the operation off on the right foot. Seally gets the crowd organized and moving forward, while Alerio hustles to help the stragglers on board.

"I'm going to get those on the other side of the inlet. Hop off the truck will you please, Seally. You can give me a hand if you want. These people are bound to be scared. Hell, I'm scared. I don't want to get buried in hot lava. There are better ways to go."

Zuni hops into Gino's truck. If Seally comes too he waits for her to get in and peels off down the inlet toward the other side.

Zuni races across the inlet and ferries as many people as she can across to the Wayward Wind. The truck groans with the extra weight but it doesn't give out on you.

Zuni finds himself in a useful position from the lofty driver's seat in Gino's airborne truck, able to spot problems as they are arising. He's able to coordinate effectively with Seally, and warns Alerio of particularly vulnerable people she spots from the air. Fallon eventually concedes the comms tower and helps situate the influx of shocked and scared villagers into the staterooms.

Once the last biosignature is on board, Seally slams her fist on the cargo bay door button to close it, just as Zuni loads in Gino's truck into the cargo bay. It's so crowded, it's almost impossible to get to the bridge, so Goldie gets the Wayward Wind underway.

As the Wayward Wind rises into the air, everyone inside feels a massive shockwave rock the boat as Mt. Salabrii explodes, sending torrents of lava and hot ash streaming down the mountainside. The entire village is engulfed in seconds, plowing it under hot magma. The lava spreads far out into the ocean, sending choking clouds of steam and ash into the air.

The scene inside the ship is chaos. Children are crying, and adults are mourning the loss of their village and possessions. Some are in shock and not responsive. But, most are extraordinarily grateful, and expressing it without hesitation.

The Wayward Wind rises high above the choking cloud of ash. sd

Seally mingles with the vargr and human refugees, a small vargr cub on her hip to give support to a woman who had a wrenched elbow. She touches their arms, asks them if they need anything, but she wouldn't get far before the Wayward Wind makes it back to the rendezvous spot with Walston emergency services.

"We were sent to survey the volcano, but it began erupting before we could compete the scans. Luckily we had enough room for all of you."

Meanwhile, she sends a note to Greener:
Wayward Wind has loaded all residents of Barvinn and are out of the damage path. Town destroyed. Request immediate rendezvous with emergency services to settle these folk.

Greener sends you a flight path to head straight to Central Lake, 150km north of the volcano. He indicates the coordinates of a suitable landing site, on solid bedrock rather than shifting sands, just outside the city limits. Cruising at subsonic speeds, you leave the growing cloud of ash and fire behind you.

When you arrive, rescue services are gathering on the scene, along with a growing crowd of onlookers - after all, this is probably the most interesting day on Walston in the last 50 years. Zuni touches the ship down gently, the hull gleaming in the late-day sun (at least, the non-scorched parts).

The Barvinners spill out into the desert where volunteer medics start checking over folks. At worst, a few older folks are put on oxygen for smoke inhalation, but everyone seems okay. As people leave, they express their gratitude with tears rolling down their faces. These are families that just about lost everything, even each other, and are understandably emotional.

Zuzu has become the star of the show. Surrounded by kids, he plays with pure joy, keeping their troubled minds occupied. You can see how happy he is, too, after weeks of abandonment in the crater. Even though he's still way underweight, he's like a new dog, with spirits renewed.

Alan Greener makes his way through the crowd toward you, his face almost unrecognizable for how much emotion he now shows. Rather than shaking your hands, he embraces each of you with sincere joy. "By the stars, we were lucky you were here, Travellers! The planet of Walston is forever in your debt."

He turns to the crowd, who are watching the exchange intently. "THREE CHEERS FOR THE CREW OF THE WAYWARD WIND, HEROES OF WALSTON!"

The crowd bursts into applause and cheering, along with Zuzu, who howls his appreciation.

Alerio can barely stand as the crowd claps and hollers. Utterly spent after a grueling day, she sits on the ramp, as the crowd gathers about, and simply waves. The sun bounces off her sweaty arms, making her shine.

Eventually, she lies back, and feels herself start to bake on the ramp.

"We did it." she cheers weakly, to her companions as they mill about!

Fallon can't help but smile at the sheer positivity in the air. She felt she had made a difference and that was what she wanted to do through words with her journalism. But here she did it through action as well. This would make a great essay. In between hugs and handshakes she jots down the events while they're still fresh in her mind. "Guess we all work pretty well together, huh?" she asks the others during a quiet moment.