40 kph

            A half a minute later Jonathan rappelled to her side and grabbed onto her. They held each other for a moment before getting to work. Jonathan held himself out from the wall with locked knees while unhitching a harness, some ropes, and the litter off his back.

            “Put this on, and then you’re going up the easy way. Oh, Phlox said you should take this.” She had an idea it was to slow labor, and didn’t want to scare Jon, so she gave herself the hypo without fanfare and dropped it into the ravine.

            “Easy way?” she said, watching the wind and rain swirling above their heads. Another lightning flash followed a few seconds later by a clap of thunder. Instead of being directly overhead, the squall line had finally moved to the east a kilometer or maybe two. Between the two of them Riaan got the harness around her, but it wasn’t built for a pregnant woman. While the rain continued to pour, Jonathan attached Riaan’s harness to the litter. He worked without a lot of chatter, wanting to get her off the cliff and into the shuttle as soon as humanly possible.

            “Okay, French, Hoshi,” he shouted upwards. “Comin’ up!” Archer pulled on his own set of ropes that started to slide Riaan up the steep hill head first. At the same time he ascended, stretching muscles he’d forgotten that he had. In the darkness he had barely enough ability to see his way up the side of the ravine. The water flowed faster down the hill as he tried to get back to what was left of the road. Rocks and mud came loose at every pull of a rope cascading down and disappearing into the canyon river.

            “It’s just a little farther,” Ensign French called down. Another two pulls and Riaan was on the edge of the road that was still secure underneath. Jonathan pulled himself up; Sato and French unhitched Riaan from the litter and her harness. The moment she was free Jonathan snatched her close and pulled her away from the edge of the ravine. The water was ten centimeters deep around their ankles, the wind blowing at 40 kph, and the darkness was giving way to moonlight. It came and went with breaks in the clouds, the large full moon slowly rose higher by the minute. It wasn’t much, but better than nothing.

            “Are you alright?” Jonathan asked her, holding her by the shoulders and checking for anything obvious.

            “Alright? I don’t know if I can make it to the shuttle, Jon! I’m out of patience, energy, I’m cold, hungry, and… and,” she wasn’t going to mention the intense cramping that signaled the onset of labor. Without another word Jonathan picked her up. The party did their best to hurry through the rushing water and mud. The kilometer out of the little vale took twice as long to traverse as normal, but the extra time spent on caution saved them any more accidents. Around the corner of the stony cliff the shuttle waited with two aboard. 

Yeah, it's a little dramatic, live with it.

            Standing in the clearing, the clean rain fell heavy and washed the worst of the mud off. They dropped their slickers and boots in the field and got into the shuttle just as soaked as with the rain gear on for all the good it did in such a wild storm. Riaan shivered while Hoshi got her a blanket, and before she could wrap her up the children jumped on her. Archer took the helm as soon as he saw Riaan was secure.

            The shuttle pod was unstable at best. It rocked side to side as the wind buffeted the little wings and tail. With six people on board it handled differently than it had on the way down with just two.

            “Huygens to Discovery, we’re on our way, ETA 6 minutes,” Archer said to the com system. “We’re getting heavy wind shear.”

            “Acknowledged,” said Captain Mitchell. He pushed another com button. “Ready the shuttle bay to receive the Huygens.”

            “It’s going to be a bumpy ride,” Archer told the passengers. Sato stumbled forward with a blanket and bumped into the back of the forward chair.

            “Here, sir, don’t get a chill,” she said trying to gain her footing.

            “I’m fine. Go make sure Riaan is okay,” he asked her without taking his eyes off the console. Ensign French took the seat behind the admiral at the science station and made some changes to their trajectory and speed. The ride was still turbulent.

            “Don’t you want to be with her, sir?”

            “What I want is to get us back to Discovery in one piece.” The shuttle vibrated as if it were riding on a washboard road and lurched again to one side. Sato retreated to the back of the craft and did her best to make Riaan comfortable with blankets and pillows. As soon as the shuttle cleared the troposphere the turbulence subsided the remainder of the trip to orbital level of 800 km. They found Discovery in a geosynchronous orbit directly above them. Docking posed no problem, and as soon as the bay pressurized Phlox, Wiseman, and Tanner hurried in to collect Riaan on a stretcher.

            “Did you give her the tocolytic?” Phlox asked Sato before they parted.

            “I got it, Phlox,” Riaan answered. “It’s working,” she told him, holding her belly with both hands. “I just want a hot bath, I’m okay, everything’s stable.”

            “Let me decide that.”