Out of Gas

[Fyl Terrano]

High Orbit, Lenuta, Wild Space​

​

The bulk freighter Eurrsk bounced and rattled menacingly as it cleared the last of the dense asteroid belt surrounding Lenuta, dozens of alerts lighting up every console in flashing crimson. Fyl was told that the cargo hauler's name meant "good-natured" in Bothese, and he failed to suppress a snort of bitter laughter at the thought. The ship had been anything but good-natured so far; it'd been falling apart when he'd stepped aboard, and that was before he'd subjected it to several thousand minor collisions with fragments of space rock. It was a cantankerous vessel, slow to accept course changes, sluggish in changing speed, and prone to power failures that made the consoles spark and the lights flicker - and, on one memorable occasion, stopped the air recyclers for several terror-inducing, stale-aired minutes.

But the old ship was too stubborn to die, so it had seen them through a field of cosmic boulders that had blocked the system's own inhabitants from exploring this far for centuries. Fyl's hands were white-knuckled on the controls, and he could feel sweat dripping from his chin and running down the small of his back - though the vessel was actually unpleasantly cold, as the atmospheric regulators were perpetually on the fritz. It was the best the Vagrant Fleet could do on short notice, though - and possibly no matter how much notice, given the limits of their resources. The Bothan contingent had donated it, and would probably try to use that fact to leverage special treatment for months.

Staring out the viewport, Fyl looked down at the tidally-locked hellscape below. He really didn't want to get any closer to Lenuta than he already was, but there was only so much choice. In the same way that armies devoured huge amounts of edibles, fed by supply lines that stuffed them like nannies serving a baby rancor, the Vagrant Fleet guzzled fuel at an incredible rate. Given the condition of so many of the ships, plenty of it was lost to waste through leaky engine systems or outdated, inefficient designs. Without fuel, the fleet could not move, and just like a firaxan shark, if it stopped moving, it would die. And now the fuel was running out, with no money to buy half what they needed.

Ears to the ground had found some drunken ex-pilot of the Imperial Remnant - no, not that one down by Kamino, the old one that the One Sith chewed up and spit out - who'd spun a story about a secret mining facility in the Luminita System, an outpost that had never been plundered. The way the stories went, it was still crammed with Rhydonium fuel, enough to keep the fleet flying for a while. Fyl knew he needed to earn his keep, and he'd volunteered to go along with the little salvage mission the Dragoons had put together. Being active helped keep the memories away - at least sometimes. Right about then, he was jonesing for a couple of pills, with a couple of Ice Blasters to wash them down.

But if he didn't have steady hands for this landing, he was going to kill his new allies, so he resisted the temptation.

"We made it," the ex-rebel reported, his hands flying over the controls as he readjusted power from collision shields to landing subsystems. The sensor screen decided to black out, but a couple of irritated punches brought it back to fuzzy life, revealing the extreme heat radiating from the planet's sunward side. It was a mess of stone and lava down there, full of volatile unrefined rhydonium; hopefully the Remnant outpost was still at least partially standing. Old Imperial navigational buoys buzzed sepulchral codes as the Eurrsk approached, warning of the wrath of long-dead men if they didn't change course. "Hitting atmosphere in thirty seconds. Hold onto your hats." He was holding onto his.

[member="Aeshi Tillian"] | [member="Xin Boa"] | Anyone from the Vagrant Fleet​

 

[Formorta]

All the ships were rusted, old junk, barley holding together, usually the Tatooine raised survivalist had no problem with old scroungy ship. but after the last incident were said 1000 old freighters reactor when overload resulting in a ditched landing on a freezing planet with no way to contact the outside, tends to ruins ones trust with vintage ship. Though in this case the craft were not so much old, just really poorly built and maintained, mainly due to the lack of supplies, the fleet had been out of work for a while, after the latest job went south.

"We made it,"

"About kirrfing time, id rather be in my personal cramped fighter then this hulking death trap" Formorta may not have been high in the hierarchy, personally refraining for it, but she was the vagrant fleets top sniper and one of the most experienced fighter, having served with the Dominion and other faction. She gathered her survival equipment and mask, making her way to where [member="Fyl Terrano"], this assignment would push her skills to the limit, if things went south.

".... I don't wear hats", the ships shuddered and creaked as they entered the atmosphere, lava and plumes of smoke on the horizon and below, "Who on earth would build on this place, its just as bad as Mustafar". That didn't matter now, all they needed was fuel and recourse, perhaps she should reconsider her offer from the Shrouded Republic, at lest they had fuel to spare.

 

[Kami Meran]

As far as Kami was concerned this was merely a stop gap.
her Mechanic crew were working round the clock trying to get 1000 buckets of assorted rust chugging along.
most of the ships in the fleet were civilian as opposed to industrial or military. therefor not made to last.

well hopefully this would make a good place to gather and get a lot of stuff done.
" i have 908 ships that should by all accounts be melted down to make razor blades. " she sighed as her Rs7 creaked .
her mechanics were tired even the droids were exhausted. people thought she was insane in paying her droids but she had to admit they worked harder knowing there was a reward plus she hated feeling like a slave owner.
" my crew needs a few days to rest up. then we will get the rest of those ships space worthy. she commed to the head ship."

 

[Aeshi Tillian]

Aeshi unfolded herself from the seat that she had pressed herself against for the duration of the ride. She wasn't a fan of this ship. She would have much preferred her own ship, but there was unease about letting someone take their personal ship on this run. Not to mention that it was a bit on the small side for this much cargo. But still, it was far safer and more reliable than this thing. She would make sure the Bothans knew their ships were a wreck and hardly passed safety inspections. But that was assuming they made it back.

A feeling of unease set her on edge, although whether it was the Force, the ship, or the knowledge they'd be carrying a small fortune in fuel through Wild Space, she wasn't sure. But she was a Warden. This was her duty, her job, her calling. And she would do the best that she could. The woman stood and made her way over to the sensors, frowning at the fuzzy screen.

Imperial buoys. She grimaced and crossed her arms as she watched.

"We should be cautious about traps," she said at last, "I wouldn't trust an old Imperial refinery." Her words were clipped and cautious.

 

[Fyl Terrano]

"Calling her a deathtrap is not the way to get on her good side," Fyl joked, fingers flying over the consoles as he finished calibrating the Eurrsk for its descent into Lenuta's atmosphere. "And we want to be on her good side. We need her to carry us back out of here." The ex-rebel stared down at the surface , now coming into sharper relief. It looked almost nothing like the scans the old Imperial pilot had provided. In the years since the Remnant survey, entire rocky continents had been swallowed by lava floes; in other places the molten rock had solidified into new islands, cooled by some strange microclimate into a semi-stable landmass. Hot, dangerous, and chaotic down there, but certainly not boring.

The white-haired young woman - not yet out of her teens, if he was guessing right, though she had the look of someone who'd seen fighting - wondered about who would set up shop in such a place. Fyl thought for a moment before answering. "Someone callous and greedy," he finally replied. "The Remnant could afford to lose troopers and civilian workers so long as the Rhydonium kept flowing. From what I heard, back when this place was up and running, just one of the refinery complexes could churn out two million barrels of fuel a day. Kept the navy fed." He just hoped that some of that fuel was still lying around, waiting in warehouses to serve a power that had been defunct for years.

Captain Tillian unbuckled herself and stepped up beside him, checking the sensor readings. She was about his age and easy on the eyes, but he recognized that same cynical edge lurking beneath her gaze that he knew was present in his own - people like them had been taken advantage of too many times to trust strangers or buy into causes easily. Fyl nodded in agreement as she spoke. "Good point. Who knows what they left behind to slow the One Sith down." He slid out of the pilot's chair, jerking his head toward it as he stood. "What do I call you, Aeshi? Shi for short? Captain Tillian? No offense, just want to set the record straight. You want to take us in? Might require fancy flying if there are orbital mines."

Fyl could fly, and he had the steel nerves needed to get them through an asteroid field on a preplanned course, but rumor back at the fleet was that Aeshi had been flying practically from the cradle - she was almost certainly better than he was in any kind of combat situation. "I'll take the sensors, keep an eye out for trouble. Formorta - sithspit, that's a mouthful. Is Forma okay? Why don't you hop on the quad gun. We might need to blow away some drones or mines if things get hairy." He'd laid in a course down to the refinery their contact had indicated, and it was beginning to show up on sensors - a dark skeleton of a facility, partially sheltered beneath an overhang. Hopefully it was intact.

"Starting our descent," Fyl commed back to Kami. "Let's try to make sure we don't spring any leaks on the way down."

​

​

[member="Aeshi Tillian"] | [member="Kami Meran"] | [member="Formorta"]​

 

[Kami Meran]

" roger. i'd suggest heeding down in a single shuttle first. bit skev it we have people eager to get planer side" she commed dawning her helmet and Beskad. sadly it was heavier than she liked but the thing could be used ti shave with,
an ancient sword hat she had alchemized so that added to the heft but if anything it could be used to pry doors open.
" [member="Fyl Terrano"] i'm making decent in a shuttle lets get this station running see if the pumps are dry heh? " she said making sire she had any eool nesasery. and dawning a HL-GA in truth she had never worn the heavt armor so this would be fun

 

[Formorta]

Formorta gave a long stare to [member="Fyl Terrano"], she was not one for humor during a mission, but understood what he meant, Karma seemed to be a common occurrence when blurting out stupid things, best not try and tempt fate any more then necessary. "Lets just hope we don't get hit by any flying rock or blaster bolts", such and unstable planet was bound to have danger both environmental and what ever was left over by the imperials.

"Typical imperials", she had always wondered how such Empire ever stayed operational when they are so willing to sacrifice their own men and women for expansion, kind of defeated the purpose to increase the factions territory but lose so many people and just wind up stretching said governments resources thin. Formorta was not sure about Terrano's past, but she gathered that the man had a personal vendetta against the Remanent, but that was his past, she was not going to go routing around for answers.

She continued to stare at the planets surface while Terrano talked with Captain [member="Aeshi Tillian"], where ever the mining complex was it would be safe to say its location would be in one of the many caves, safe from the volcanic surface, if the Imperials were smart. Her attention bought back when as Mr cow boy asked if he could call her Forma, "... No". Turning away from the bridge she entered the quad turret mounted on the ship, ready to blast anything that got to close.

 

[Aeshi Tillian]

[member="Fyl Terrano"] [member="Formorta"] [member="Kami Meran"]

Aeshi nodded, stepping away from the display as Fyl moved away from the pilot's seat. She slid down into it and buckled in, reaching up to activate some of the other controls and readouts. She grabbed the controls and tested them, getting a quick feel for them. They were slow and sluggish. Aeshi grimaced the ship shuddered on the descent.

"Call me Aeshi," she commented, spinning the captain's chair to one side to examine a panel. Digging her fingernails in, she dug them in the gap and yanked out the panel, revealing the wiring and innards beneath. "Or Ash. What do you go by?"

She picked at the wires- examining the corroded covers and scowled, but stuffed them back in. Those would be something to worry about later. Hopefully she could get some work done on them while they loaded the fuel. Somebody needed to let the Bothans know that they were terrible at maintaining their ships, no matter how good they were at being spies.

"And don't worry. There's not a rock in the galaxy I can't evade." Aeshi took a deep breath, letting the Force flow into her body and guide the descent. She pushed the nose of the freighter down, bouncing in the seat as they hit the atmosphere, and turned the ship to get a heading on their destination. The woman reached back to pull a lever, changing some of the scanner parameters to look for volatile tectonic activity. "Keep your eyes open. Don't want to catch a plume of lava on our hull."

She was calm and still, but her jaw was clenched and the knuckles around the controls were white. Turbulence rocked through the atmosphere, shaking the ship.

"Don't take a shuttle," she added, "Can't risk getting separated here." The last thing they were equipped for was a rescue mission in an environment as hazardous as this one, and the freighter was the only ship really big enough to handle the chaotic atmosphere with any safety. "Strap yourselves in. It's going to be a rough descent."

 

[Fyl Terrano]

Well, he'd struck out on nicknames, but maybe that had used up his bad luck for the day.

"Call me whatever," Fyl replied, eyes glued to the sensor screen as his fingers adjusted a dozen switches and dials; it was a hell of a thing to get this rustbucket's scanners to pick up that there was a planet below them, let alone zero in on their planned landing zone. "Fyl, Terrano, Hey Idjit - I'll respond to anything, most likely." At Ash's words he sat at the console and pulled the straps tight across himself - the asteroid belt had been rocky enough, and now they quite literally had the weight of a world to deal with as gravity and atmosphere came into play. With any luck, it would be a quick transition between weightlessness and planetary flying. With any luck.

Aeshi was something to behold as she guided them in. She seemed to make course adjustments by feel, each turn of the yoke coming just a second before the instruments would indicate. Fyl felt thoroughly vindicated in letting her fly - she was one hell of a lot better than he was, almost mystically graceful even in this unwieldy tub. "Copy," he finally said, tearing his eyes away from the spectacle and training them back on the sensor screen. "Watching for tectonic activity. Beyond, y'know, the usual madness down here." A hop, skip, and a bump and they were through the atmosphere, cruising among clouds of smoke and ash. One hurdle down, who knew how many to go.

"Picking up some strange readings," Fyl murmured after a moment, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. Plenty of magma plumes were bursting into the sky around them like pillars of hell itself, but none quite close enough to cause damage to the ship. What he couldn't figure out were the three smudges moving lazily across the screen. Were they getting closer? It was hard to tell with all the interference. "Putting some power back in deflectors," he said, moving to adjust the levers needed to transfer energy. They were so close to landing now - couldn't things just go right? "We're practically there, and I'm probably just being paranoid, but it seems like something might be..."

The impact of a laser blast against the aft deflector cut him off, rattling the Eurrsk from stem to stern and causing the interior lights to flicker madly for several seconds. "Contact," Fyl said, not shouting but speaking with the restrained urgency of one accustomed to combat situations. "Looks like... yeah, old model drone TIEs, three of them, approaching fast from behind us. Formorta, can you cover us? Ash, we've got major tectonic instability ahead on the port side. Might be able to scrape them off among the lava plumes, provided you can keep us from running into one." He imagined he could hear the trademark scream of TIE engines as the automated fighters closed in.

"Meran, we've got trouble. Anything you can do down there to free up some extra power for the deflectors?"

The Eurrsk's comms crackled, and a garbled droid voice came through. "... in violaLaLA----shun... Imperial sp---payyyyyy---sssss... P-Power down your we-we-weapons or be d-destroyed."

​

[member="Aeshi Tillian"] | [member="Formorta"] | [member="Kami Meran"]​

 

[Formorta]

Perhaps she shouldn't have been so blunt, but nick names never sat well with Formorta, only close friend we really allowed to do that, even then she preferred to called by her actual name. Se manned the gunner seat and proceeded to check the weapons systems were functional, tiring to fire this thing and having it blow up in your face was not her idea of fun, change that, nothing was her idea of fun.

The two back in the cockpit went off about scanner and other instrumental reading about the planets surface, it was good to know what was happening but her concentration was on any incoming bogies. One thing Formorta could agree on was [member="Aeshi Tillian"] fantastic flying, she was able to predict thing before it even happened, similar to how she handled a sniper rifle, the craft seemed to be an extension of Tillian.

This though process may have distracted some but not Formorta, the second the enemy tie fighter drone appeared on the fuzzy readings it was go time. The gun may have been old but it was still powerful enough to take down the ancient drones. The turret swivel to the side as the TIEs came in for a strafing run along the ships hull, the outdated programming making it easy to predict their moments. She squeezed the trigger ever so slightly, letting off controlled burst at each fighter, wanting to conserve as much energy as possible, "I see them".

On of the ties was caught by the bolt, careening into the side of the ship as it spun out of control, '.... Kark". The next one came from the side, the two splitting off and trying to perform a pincer attack, "Can some one deal with the fighter coming in from the left". The turret could only turn so fast and the ship could not take any more damage then necessary.

[member="Fyl Terrano"] l [member="Aeshi Tillian"] l [member="Kami Meran"]

 

[Kami Meran]

just then kami asked.
" Tal take out that fighter please if you will . low dispersal burst try to take our an impulse engine. we need the parts. "
Kami asked the ships droid brain. as it joined the fray .
sadly the TAL was a corvette and was a lot slower and far less maneuverable than the TIE-E.
didn't stop Kami's ship.
" TAL would prefer a name. ships have names. this ship would like a name. i think Flower princess tea party. " the TAL announced.
this shocked Kami but she preferred to not wipe droids memories so they did develop personalities.
" lets deal with this situation first ok? " she said to the Corvette
" target acquired fairing main gun" the ship announced
just the a tri barren turbo laser fired destroying the tie.
" hay i asked to disable it."
" i asked for a name."

[member="Formorta"] [member="Fyl Terrano"] [member="Aeshi Tillian"]

 

[Xin Boa]

[member="Formorta"] [member="Fyl Terrano"] [member="Aeshi Tillian"]

Xin had always been a bit of an all rounder. A useful spacer with a tool kit, blaster or at the controls of a ship. What he wasn't was exceptional at any of one of those things. In this case navigating through the conditions required an exceptional hand at the helm. Xin was back in the hold with another Dragoon and already suited up.

The suit wasn't one of the fancy lightweight ones used by marines from the largest factions of the galaxy. It was bulky and the view kept steaming up. The fuel they were after could be quite dangerous and the temperature would be extreme so the suit had to be robust. And cheap. Even firing the E-22 rifle he had slung over one shoulder would prove a challenge. Hopefully the little repulsor powered drone they had with them would pick up any trouble before it came to that.

The ship trembled. That was not new, the pile of rusty bolts had done that most of the way. But the noise that followed was quite distinct. Quad laser fire.

Xin tapped a key on his wrist control to speak over the ship's intercom. "Yuh got any more guns need firing or d'yuh want me to go out and throw rocks?"

 

[Fyl Terrano]

The rusted freighter zipped over the planet's surface, drone TIEs fading in and out of view as they vanished into cloud of smoke and ash, only to reappear in a blaze of green light as they opened fire. It was a deadly dance, and one of the dancers - their dancer - had heavy chains around the legs. Formorta was good, though. She tracked and vaped one of the TIEs practically before Fyl could start calling out positions, and he let out a little whoop of triumph. "Nice shot!" But two TIEs were more than enough to send them spiraling down into the hellscape below. They would have to figure this out fast. As if to emphasize the point, another blast rocked the Eurrsk, and the sensor screen faded out entirely.

"Fething piece of junk," Fyl swore, bending down beneath the console and tearing away the wires that Aeshi had literally just finished fixing. Apparently they had a little unexpected backup on this ride, as another craft moved in to swat down a second TIE. "Wait, what was that?" Fyl asked, as the explosion registered. He tried to look up from where he was crouching in the guts of the console, hit his head on the top edge of the panel, and knocked his hat over his eyes, prompting a string of virulent curses. Finally he managed to sort himself and get a glance out of the viewport. "Wait, they sent more than just us? Why does no one ever tell me anything?"

Another blast rocked the ship - one TIE to go, and it was making its survival so far count. Xin's transmission crackled over the comm, and Fyl suppressed a grin. "Almost forgot you were with us. You can get up here and give Ash a hand from the copilot's seat, or you could try the belly gun. It might work. It might also fall off. Your call." With that he dove back in among the wires, doing his best to piece back together the overloaded circuits that kept the sensor terminal operational. If he'd had his way, and any kind of budget, he'd have gotten some surge-resistant insulating fiber to wrap them in. Whoever had put the power systems into this rustbucket had put the shield conduits way too close to the sensors.

Carefully twisting two wires back together, he stood and gave the console another kick. It flickered to life - with a dire warning. "Watch it! Lavaburst, dead ahead!"

[member="Xin Boa"] | [member="Kami Meran"] | [member="Formorta"] | [member="Aeshi Tillian"]​

 

[Aeshi Tillian]

[member="Fyl Terrano"] [member="Xin Boa"] [member="Kami Meran"] @Formorta

Aeshi bit her lip as the laser bursts slammed against the hull of the freighter, throwing it around like a cork on a sea. It was already hard enough to evade the natural hazards. Great gouts of lava burst from the surface, soaring into the air. Her hands were flying across the controls- adjusting speed, power, and the angle of the flight. It wasn't about maneuverability in a ship like this. No, it was about vectors and never staying on a vector long enough to run into blaster fire. Granted, she would have preferred some more maneuverability. And some more guns. And some more power in the deflector shield. Honestly, she'd just have to refit the whole ship. It was possible. If the Vagrant Fleet ever made their way to Susefvi, the family could provide quite a bit of benefit to them.

The ship shuddered again.

"Fyl!" She yelled back, "Transfer power from the sensors to the engines!" She had heard him and she could feel the pressure building in the Force as the lavaburst began to grow. It would be difficult, but it would work. "Make sure the TIE gets in behind us!" In a brief second of reflection, she realized that such an order was quite difficult, but it should work. "And get ready to transfer power from the guns to the engines."

She pushed the throttle all the way forward, whispering quietly under her breath as the engines beneath the deck plating began to rumble and echoed through the ship. It vibrated with the energy as the increase in speed pushed her back into her seat. She could see where the burst was going to be on the sensor, but only paid it half a mind. She could see it in her mind's eye- where it would explode and where she have to get the ship.

"Buckle yourselves in an put on your heat-reflectors!" She yelled back, fingers white-knuckled around the controls. The ship hurtled forwards towards where the explosion would shortly tear itself from the ground.

 

[Xin Boa]

[member="Aeshi Tillian"] [member="Fyl Terrano"]

Fall off? Xin had taken that taken the warning to heart. As Aeshi and Fyl called to each other he had been locking his suits cable onto the ladder before sliding down into the dorsal turret. At least this way if it did fall off he would be suited up and held onto the ship by a line. Still probably wouldn't survive, but it was good to have hope and his luck had seen him through some tricky scrapes.

"And get ready to transfer power from the guns to the engines."

"I just got down here!" he called in complaint over the intercom.

Xin heard that as he took control of the turret. It slewed around to face the rear, but he didn't have a shot at the fighter in pursuit. For a fraction of a second he could a glimpse and pulled the trigger. At the very least it would be dissuaded from coming under their belly to find a weak spot. One red bolt spat from the turret before it made a rather sharp scraping sound and stopped. That wasn't them pulling the power. The gas chamber must have come loose in its mount. Couldn't fire again now without risking the thing blowing up in his face. Needed to fix that from the outside and he wasn't getting out now.

As all this finished going through his head he looked 'up'. Up for him was down. All he saw was the lava plume ejected from the surface of the planet reaching up towards him. Xin screamed a little bit.

 

[Formorta]

She heard Fyls compliment over the radio, "just doing my job", she had the other tie drone in sight but before the turret could let off a shot both were destroyed by a volley of laser fire, "......... that was mine". Though Boa's timely support potenially saved the ship, Formorta did not like it when other people took her kills.

"And get ready to transfer power from the guns to the engines."

"Your kidding right", trying to outrun the Ties seemed just as a bad idea as trying to shoot them down while getting hammered by lava, still there was nothing she could do as the systems on the turret slowly shut down. That was the lest of their worries as a lava plume came racing towards the ship from below, and towards the Boa.

Quickly Formorta sled down the ladder, hanging upside down on her back arms, reaching down and grabbing onto the fleets green commander, using her unatural upper body strength to hoist him out of the gunner seat before the lava plume hit, "Next time don't steal my kill".

[member="Xin Boa"] l [member="Aeshi Tillian"] l [member="Fyl Terrano"]

 

[Fyl Terrano]

Fyl was glad he’d given Ash the controls; he didn’t envy her this particular challenge.

At her order he dove back into the guts of the panel - the power transfer system was fried, but he could get it done manually. He wasn’t sure what she planned to do, but if she needed more engine power to pull it off, it was likely to be dramatic. With two deft cuts of an insulated utility knife and and quick twisting of wires, the ex-rebel redirected reactor flow. The sensor panel went dead, guttering out for the third time in five minutes, and the Eurrsk rattled down to every last bolt and crossbeam as its thrusters picked up power. It wasn’t what the freighter was designed for, but it seemed to have been mostly designed to fall apart and be replaced, so they would have to deal.

Landing back in his seat and prepping the heat reflectors with frantic fingers, Fyl strapped himself in just in time to watch the Eurrsk dive in on an intercept course with the lavaburst’s precise location. The final TIE raced in behind them, lining up a perfect shot that would cripple their engines and send them tumbling into the sea of fire below. Its targeting computer seemed to be unaffected by any lack of maintenance, and laser fire washed across the rear shields with pinpoint accuracy. It was in their blind zone; Xin had kept it away from the belly, but from where it flew they couldn’t hit it. Fyl cursed as the deflectors steadily vanished, worn down in seconds.

At the last instant before the shields collapsed entirely, the lavaburst went off - with the Eurrsk directly above it. Heat rushed up at them, warnings blaring through the cockpit as environmental tolerances were exceeded and metal began to warp from simple proximity to the onrushing molten rock. The weapon energy transfer hadn’t gone through! From where he sat strapped in, Fyl kicked the terminal, mashed his fist against the panel - nothing. “Something’s pulling on the transfer wire,” he shouted, eyes frantic as he searched for some solution. The weapon power cables ran along the bottom of the ship - and they were being stretched too much to enable the power switch.

And then Formorta yanked Xin out of the lower turret. Without his weight, the cables snapped back. Power rushed to the engines.

The pillar of lava missed the Eurrsk by a distance of about half the length of the ship; collision alarms joined the cacophony as chunks of superheated basalt ran out of upward thrust and rained down on the top and aft of the battered freighter, smashing with crushing force into communications equipment and the upper gun that Formorta had just vacated. Somehow, though, they kept flying, their forward momentum exceeding the downward push enough that they didn’t drop from the sky. The TIE drone that had followed them was not so lucky. It smashed directly into the lava plume, and in that instant there was no evidence left that it had ever existed.

“Piece of karking junk,” Fyl swore, breaking the silence that followed. “Good flying, Ash. See if you can set us down on the pad. The rest of us can check the damage. Xin, Formorta, are you okay down there?” Ahead of them, now within easy reach, the darkened facility beckoned.

[member="Formorta"] | [member="Xin Boa"] | [member="Aeshi Tillian"]​

 

[Xin Boa]

[member="Aeshi Tillian"] [member="Formorta"] [member="Fyl Terrano"]

Xin's heart was racing. His pulse was suddenly something that felt like it was trying to crush his brain within his skull. The suit felt suffocating. His hand clawed at the release to pry it off his head. He twisted it off just as he heard Fyl call back to them.

Leaning his head back to took big gulps of air that he didn't really need. With a lung full of oxygen rich air he could go without a breath for nearly twenty minutes. That expulsion of molton rock had been rushing up towards him when he'd been yanked back up. Xin hadn't been given time to kiss his ass goodbye, but the moment of blind panic had overwhelmed him as he'd realised he was about to be roasted alive.

He gave formarta a pat on the forearm and murmured a thanks. Now feeling slightly embarrassed he pushed himself up to a sitting position. The rocks striking the hull had reverberated through the structure of the ship and those automated fighters had given them a pounding.

"Alive!" He shouted back up. "Hope we can actually get space borne again."