Mon Oct 25, 2010 10:30 am by Karana Malora
[quote="Liya Tawaza":1gcrfyjn][size=85:1gcrfyjn]{ Starlight-class light freighter, the [i:1gcrfyjn]Bronze Star of Eliathix[/i:1gcrfyjn] }[/size:1gcrfyjn]
[narration:1gcrfyjn]It had been well over twenty hours since I had pulled the Bronze Star and her passengers from orbit around the planet Varonat, into hyperspace and bound for the desolate, forsaken wilderness of Wild Space. It had been twenty-something, but it felt like forty, since the first time I had pulled those levels back in the cockpit, and watched the universe merge into starlines, and then the starless ether of hyperspace. Since then, I had pulled those levers countless other times, and only been successful twice. It had indeed been a long and frustrating journey. Barely six hours out of Varonat, something had given out in the hyperdrive system with an emphatic bang, and left us stranded at least a dozen lightyears from any known civilized place. Scrappy had traced the problem to the hyperdrive motivator, which had apparently been damaged when we blasted out of Tropis, and repairs had taken half an hour or so. I hadn't minded so much, as the problem was easily corrected, and we had enough speed to catch up with Fel if we pushed things to their limits. But pushing that hard had caused other problems, and two hours later, I had been wretched from a sound sleep by another failure, and the wailing and screaming of a dozen alarms. Fortunately, droids were faster than unconscious sentients, and my faithful R2 unit had shut down the hyperdrive before any permanent damage had been done. My passengers had been understandably upset and distrustful at that point, but what was most irritating was that I had nothing to fill my time while we waited. There were no repairs to make, rather, we simply had to wait for the cooling system to reboot and catch up with the drive. Scrappy suggested cleaning the ship, but unfortunately we couldn't find any dirty places that had escaped the dutiful droid's earlier escapades with his sterilizer spray. A good 40 minutes later, by the lounge chrono, and we were under way again. But I hadn't been able to sleep. After trying for an hour, I hopped in the fresher, and then went and sat in the cockpit, watching the mottled greys and browns of hyperspace pass by, and taking a tour of the engine room every hour or so. By the time we arrived in the vicinity of our destination, the somewhat mysterious Smugglers' Run, I was bone tired, and more than a little irritable. A hard battle, then the shock of my injuries, then the intervention of a healer, then two engine repairs, with only a two hour nap to show for it, and anyone would have been a mess. Fortunately a hot shower and a hanful of high-energy ration bars had restored my sanity, or I might not have been ready for the difficult approach to the Run. The proximity meter began to beep as it ticked down the seconds, and Scrappy hooted in anticipation. Regretfully, I stood in the cockpit, and then reached for a comlink.[/narration:1gcrfyjn]
[color=#FF80FF:1gcrfyjn]::: Karana, Wade, Dazac, we're approaching our destination. Time to belt in. I'm going to the engine room to make sure the hyperdrive cuts off when it's supposed to. We're coming out in an asteroid field, so hang tight. Scrappy's even more precise a flyer than I am, at least for a short time, so don't worry, we won't hit anything. :::[/color:1gcrfyjn]
[color=#FFBFFF:1gcrfyjn][size=85:1gcrfyjn]I damn well hope I'm right, Scrappy, I haven't exactly had any luck today.[/size:1gcrfyjn][/color:1gcrfyjn]
[size=85:1gcrfyjn][color=#00FF40:1gcrfyjn]... Tootle-Beep ...[/color:1gcrfyjn][/size:1gcrfyjn]
[narration:1gcrfyjn]Clipping the comlink to my collar, I scrambled towards the rear of the ship as the seconds ticked to zero. Suddenly, there was a jolt, and the wavering nothingness outside the viewports resolved into starlines, and then stars.... and then asteroids. Far more of them than there should have been, as I watched my wrist display''s feed of cockpit data. My data had been wrong. Again. Giving the problematic hyperdrive coolant system one last hurried look, I vaulted out of the engine hatch, and sprinted forwards. Or at least I tried too. I only got two steps towards a headlong run, when a sudden dip threw me flying across the room. There, that was my bad luck again. Scrappy was already making corrections. Fighting to my feet, I half crawled, half fell, towards the front of the ship, as we pitched and rolled and spun and dove. I could hear hissing noises as dust collided with the shields. I had to get to that cockpit. Scrappy was capable of almost infinite precision in flight, but I knew his circuits had a limit. He couldn't keep this up for long......[/narration:1gcrfyjn][/quote:1gcrfyjn]
[color=#00BFFF:1gcrfyjn]├óÔé¼┼ôWade--├óÔé¼┬Ø[/color:1gcrfyjn]
There was a [i:1gcrfyjn]thud[/i:1gcrfyjn] as Karana was hurled from her seat to the floor. Clinging for dear life to the crash webbing, she pulled herself back up, the ship trembling under her feet, and threw herself back in the chair. She pulled the belts over her hips and chest, buckling them as the datapad she├óÔé¼Ôäód laid on her lap slid off her legs. The ship dipped and pitched. Karana├óÔé¼Ôäós face paled. Normally, flying never bothered her, but this? Well, this [i:1gcrfyjn]definitely[/i:1gcrfyjn] wasn't 'normally'. She had to give Tawaza and her metal co-pilot credit, though. Navigating an asteroid field was tough. One wrong move and you're toast.
Turning her head just an inch, she cast a green glance at Wade, who was leaning serenely against the inner hull, as unconcerned and balanced as if he were chillin├óÔé¼Ôäó on firm ground. She swallowed, rolling her eyes.
[color=#00BFFF:1gcrfyjn]├óÔé¼┼ôI [i:1gcrfyjn]may[/i:1gcrfyjn] throw up on you,├óÔé¼┬Ø[/color:1gcrfyjn] she groaned.