Disclaimer: all things Firefly/Serenity are the property of Whedon et al. I'm not making any money off this, just playing with the toys.

For the prompt "snow".

Thanks to hisgoodgirl for the beta!

*****

Serenity bucked and kicked at the storm she was descending into. Cross winds were causing navigational havoc and it took all of River’s physical strength to keep the yoke more or less steady on their intended landing site. Mal could see the light perspiration that glazed her face as she repeated a strange mantra on silent lips. He grasped the co-pilot controls to help her once he had informed the crew of the rough landing they were facing. He could feel the ship now, her energy pulsing through into his hands and he felt his knuckles blanch.

The landing zone was less than fifty klicks away, but he wondered if they might not overshoot it with the push of the backwind now assaulting the ship. They needed to get her nose up some to cause more drag. Chancing a glance to his pilot, he saw that she’d closed her eyes, her entire body an extension of the ship. Mal panicked only a little at this. The girl had been their pilot going on eight months now and although this was the worst she’d ever taken them through, he knew that she would make it. He, however, might need a change of pants before this was done. Quickly pushing two buttons and flicking a switch, he felt the landing pads drop.

Without warning, an updraft caught the nose and pushed the bird straight up. Mal felt his dinner rise into his throat and had to swallow hard. The front panel filled with white as the blizzard continued around them. Dishes and other bits clattered in back of the ship, but Mal couldn’t think on that. If they didn’t get control very soon, as in twenty seconds ago, the ship was just as like to fall right out of the sky.

Pushing the controls down, he saw from the corner of his eye River doing the same. He cut aft thrusters to half causing the tail to level out, but now he had to lay on the side steering je