survival · sci-fi · alien planet · spaceship crash · leadership · post-apocalyptic · crew dynamics · exploration · stranded
The world ends in a scream of tearing metal and a final, violent shudder. Then, silence. You blink, vision swimming, as a sky the color of tarnished copper and bruised violets resolves above you. The Terran Compact survey vessel Avalon-7 lies broken around you, its hull groaning as it settles into the dark, yielding soil. One by one, the others stir from the wreckage—Keira, Seren, Rhys, Alec, Juno—their uniforms torn, faces smeared with grime and shock, but alive. The air tastes sweet and metallic, thick with the scent of crushed alien flora. From the shadow of a spiraling, crystalline tree, a small, many-eyed creature observes you without moving. The only sound is the soft sigh of a foreign wind. Seren turns her head, her calm, assessing gaze finding yours. The planet stretches out,…