"Captain Hall?" I gasped. "Captain, what happened to you? What are you doing?" The Ice Creature didn't reply, only shifted its grip so its cold hand wrapped around my throat. The ice burned my skin like a frozen flame. The creature then tilted its head, as if listening to something.

"My master wants me to return with you," it hissed. "It seems he has plans for you."

"What plans?" I forced out.

"Something big, something powerful," the Ice Creature returned. "In three days time, you'll find out." My throat began to close up and I couldn't reply. Thrashing and struggling to escape, I kicked out and landed a blow on the Ice Creature's torso. It didn't even flinch. Captain Hall took one step towards the docks-

"Stop!" Christine cried, standing behind Captain Hall. "Let him go!" The Ice Creature tightened its grip on me but turned to face her, bearing its teeth. Panic filled me as it turned its menacing gaze towards her.

"Christine," I choked out. "Run!" But she stood her ground, her gaze fierce and determined. With her bright red hair, she looked like some sort of fire creature in a kingdom of ice. With one hand, she brought up a loaded gun, pointing it straight at the heart of the Ice Creature.

"Let him go now, you big hunk of ice," she growled, "Or I'll blow you to splinters. Don't think I won't. I've had plenty of experience handling these." An obvious lie, but no-one could have known it by the look on her face. Captain Hall didn't move but it didn't show any kind of fear either. It just stood there, watching Christine with a look of cool interest.

Then, in one swift move, the Ice Creature dropped me to the ground and surged towards Christine with lightning speed. I heard a gun shot crackle through the air then a blood curling scream.

"Matt!" Pete cried, suddenly appearing to my right. He reached down and yanked me to my feet.

"Christine," I gasped, coughing violently and struggling to stay standing. "Pete, where's Christine?!" We looked around and caught sight of Captain Jackson and his crew fighting back the Ice Creature that used to be Captain Hall, Christine limp in its arms.

The crew threw debris at the creature, shouting insults at it to try and corner it. They were reluctant to use their guns in case they hit Christine.

"Hey!" Pete shouted. "Let her go!" The Ice Creature turned and snarled. With a jolt, I realised that Christine had shot the creature point blank in the head. Its face was cracked and fragmented like glass.

Captain Jackson snuck up behind the creature and smacked it with a metal pole he had pulled from the debris of the research lab. It screeched, the first real sign that these creatures actually felt pain. It swung out an arm and Captain Jackson was sent flying, luckily having a soft landing in a snow drift.

Then Charlie Goodman, the Midshipman who had talked to Christine and I back on the Duchess, yelled out and charged at it with an axe he had found from the debris of the lab. He swung and broke off part of the creature's leg, the ice shattering. It roared and fell to one knee.

But no sooner had it hit the ground, the snow and ice beneath its feet swirled around its broken leg, hardening into a new one.

It snapped its head towards Charlie, lifting him with one arm and throwing him. The poor boy sailed through the air and crashed into the still smouldering wreckage of a lab.

The rest of the crew members abandoned their fight and ran to help their comrade. The Ice Creature took advantage of the moment, rampaging across the ice and jumped off the cliff, Christine still in its arms.

"No!" I shouted, running to the edge of the cliff and looking over it. Captain Hall had landed on top of the water after freezing it, and was now speeding across it like a torpedo. Pete appeared next to me, staring in shock.

"Christine," I whispered. "Oh God..."

"Captain!" Pete yelled, scrambling backwards. "Captain Jackson!" He ran towards him where he was kneeling by Midshipman Goodman who the rest of the crew had dragged from the wreckage of  lab.

"It took Christine!" Pete said breathlessly as we reached where the crew were gathered. "It took her! We have to go after it!" The Captain just shook his head, not even turning to look at Pete and I.

"Captain," Pete pursued. "You have to help us! We have to rescue Christine!"

"Pete," I said, laying my hand on his shoulder in an attempt to control the situation. "Wait a minute-"

"Captain, get up and help us!" Pete shouted.

"I don't have to do anything!" The Captain yelled, whirling around to face us. He got to his feet and glowered at us. Yet again, he looked like the fearless Captain that he should have been. "If you haven't noticed, one of my crew members is hurt! We are not doing anything until I am sure that he can continue!"

"Christine doesn't have that time!" Pete cried.

"Well she'll just have to survive on her own!" The Captain said. "We are not moving until I am sure my crew can continue. Now make yourself useful and bring the supplies from the lifeboat." With that, he turned back to helping his crew.

Pete's face was bright red and fuming but I managed to drag him away before he attacked the Captain. "Pete, calm down," I told him.

"How can he do that?" Pete exploded. "He's a Royal Navy Captain! His job is to help people!"

"He's just worried for his crew," I tried to reason. "We can't do anything without them."

"But-"

"Pete," I warned. "Don't make the mistake of annoying the Captain. I am worried for Christine too, but we'll get her back, all right? I promise you that we'll get her back, but you have to control your temper. It won't help Christine if you attack the Captain, all right?" Pete looked like he wanted to argue but stayed silent, mumbling grumpily to himself.

Mission log:  1445 hours: The team decided to head to a nearby US research base to get help. However, when we arrived, we found the base completely destroyed and the scientists gone. The most likely explanation for this is the Ice People took them and destroyed the base.

One Ice Creature remained and attacked the team. I quickly discovered that the Ice Creature was in fact Captain Hall, the former Captain of the Duchess which was sunk by the Ice People. The Ice Creature mentioned a plan that 'it's master' wants to carry out, involving myself. However, Christine Morgan shot at him and it attacked her instead, escaping and taking Christine with him.

We ran down to the docks where the two sailors Silverton and Harrison were waiting. They looked on edge, gripping their guns so tightly that their knuckles were turning white.

"What's going on?" Lieutenant Silverton asked, running towards us. "We heard a gunshot and saw an Ice Person jump off the cliff. Is everyone all right?"

"It took Christine," I said. "It attacked us then kidnapped Christine. Midshipman Goodman is injured so the Captain told us to bring up all the supplies." The two sailors nodded and started helping us to unload everything. Once everything was off the boat, we carried it back up to the ruins of the research base.

The rest of the crew were still gathered around poor Charlie Goodman. He looked a little worse for wear with a nasty gash on the side of his head and a couple of burns around his neck, being the only skin that was visible.

I held out the medical supplies to the Captain. He didn't say a word but nodded gruffly, jerking his thumb towards Goodman. I took that as a sign of peace and thought no more of his outburst earlier. As Lieutenant Silverton helped me patch up the Midshipman, the Captain stood and had a quiet word with Sub-lieutenant Harrison. Harrison nodded and went towards the snowmobiles that we had managed to save from the fire. He bent down at the first one, checking it over carefully.

"Harrison is my last engineer," the Captain told me when he spotted me staring. He turned to Pete, holding out his hand for a handshake. "Sir, I apologise for my outburst earlier, this is an extreme situation. I lost my head, and I apologise." Pete stared at his hand for a moment before reaching out and taking it.

"I apologise too," he said. The Captain nodded.

"Could you help Harrison check over the snowmobiles?" he asked. "I believe you may have some more experience with them. We're going to need them if we are to rescue your friend." Pete inclined his head and went off to Sub-lieutenant Harrison.

"How are you feeling, Mr Goodman?" the Captain asked. Charlie touched the bandage around his head, grimacing.

"I'll survive, sir," he replied.

"Good, I'll be needing some brave men like you," Captain Jackson said. The boy smiled and we helped him to his feet. The Captain stalked towards one of the boxes we had brought up from the lifeboat, pulling a map from his pocket and laying it flat on top of the box.

"Mr Mayhew, with me," he ordered. I obeyed, interested to see what his plan was. He  pointed to our current location. "We're here," he said. "The next nearest research base is a Dutch one approximately five miles away. Most major countries have a research base on the Peninsula. We can use the snowmobiles to get the Dutch one and radio for help."

"That sounds like a good plan," I said. "They'll have more supplies there too."

"Exactly," the Captain said, studying the map.

"Captain," I said. "That Ice Creature that attacked us and took Christine-"

"It was Captain Hall of the Duchess," Captain Jackson finished for me. "I know, I recognised his insignia and from officer training."

"But if he is an Ice Creature," I said. "Then someone has to be...transforming them. In fact, he mentioned something about a 'master'."

"We have to find this master and stop it before it can hurt anyone else," the Captain said.

"I agree," I said, nodding. "The trick is finding him."

"Erm...Captain?" Lieutenant Silverton called. "You may want to take a look at this."

"What is it, Lieutenant?" the Captain asked. Silverton pointed to the horizon and we all turned to look.

Cutting through the crystal blue sky was grey smoke. "What the hell is that?" Pete asked.

"It's another research base," I whispered. "The Ice People are burning it to the ground. They are cutting off all our escape routes."

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