Free White Christmas (novella) by Ros Baxter

Chapter 1
    Tabi watched as the dome with Avenger 19 emblazoned on its side fell from the crimson sky and broke its spine on the icy rocks. It looked like a magic egg of Earth legend, silhouetted on the ice as the sky flashed and screamed from the firefight raging overhead.
    She had been luckier than Avenger 19. Her dome had fallen into Tyverian powdersnow.
    Silver tassels of cold brushed ice along her arms as she watched the distant white horizon start to seethe, far beyond the rocks where the crippled craft rested.
    They were coming.
    She slid the transmitter out of her suit. “Mother Earth Five, come in. It’s Explorer 12.”
    The tiny silver relay in her hand sat still and silent. A lone green button blinked, but the tiny circle indicating connection only flickered half-heartedly.
    “Mother Earth, it’s Explorer 12. Another one’s down. Do you read me?”
    A tinny voice barked at her as the control panel burst into yellow life. “Please confirm,” the voice commanded.
    Tabi sighed. “You know it’s me, Symon.”
    The voice showed no sign of recognition. “The key, Explorer 12,” it insisted.
    Tabi wanted to kick something, but reminded herself that any large movement would increase her heat signature. “Twenty Four December, in the year Seventeen PA.”
    The voice prompted her again. “And that year is?” The metallic voice lightened a little. “In the old way?”
    “Twenty ninety-eight, Anno Domini.”
    But it wasn’t over yet. “Today’s code, Explorer 12.”
    Tabi bit her lip. It was ridiculous. Atheism was the official religion Post Apocalypse. And she hadn’t felt festive for ten years. Damn security-obsessed Symon and his codes. “Merry Christmas,” she snapped.
    Symon sighed. “Glad you’re still with us, Tabi. Maintain position. We’ll have a rescue pod to you in just under two hours. Are you still camouflaged?”
    Tabi considered the crude ice cave she’d discovered after her own crash landing an hour prior. It sat high on a cliff, and she’d kissed her rappel hook as she’d hauled herself in. Then she’d watched from her perch. Within twenty minutes they’d set upon her craft, all undulating bodies and lethal suckers.
    The cave was small – only a little above standing height and perhaps a few metres wide. “In a manner of speaking,” she replied. “What about the other dome? Says Avenger 19.”
    There was a pause, and Tabi fretted momentarily that she’d lost the signal again. Then the little transmitter glowed again. “Explorer 12, did the pilot survive?”
    Tabi wriggled closer to the edge of the ice cave, pulling her bioscope from her backpack. She trained it on the broken dome. The scope ate up the distance and peered through the crash haze. Tabi saw movement through a jagged slice of gold casing. She swore, and stabbed the transmit button. “He’s alive down there,” she confirmed. “But they’re coming. I saw the snow shift.”
    Tabi touched the screen on her scope lightly, and frowned at the answer it gave her. The Tyverian Hunter Gatherers were still three miles away, but they could cover the distance to the crashed dome in just under twenty minutes, even moving in defensive swarm.
    “Maintain position, Explorer 12,” Symon warned. “He’s Avenger Class. He’ll have to take his chances.”
    “He doesn’t have any,” Tabi whispered, watching the little, broken ship on the rocks, and the tremors in the snow beyond.
    “Repeat,” Symon said, his voice cool again. “Official order from Mother Earth Five is maintain position.” Then he paused. “Tabi, don’t do anything stupid. It’s a miracle you survived at all.”
    “Check,” Tabi said, training her scope on the dome again and watching as a red-suit clad figure tumbled from the wreck. “Maintain position. Over and out.”
    She watched as the Avenger staggered clear of the dome and then collapsed in the snow.
    He was so close.
    Could she really leave him there?
    She closed her eyes and the memory