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Madeleia
Nov 13th, 2016, 10:26:36 AM
Rushing toward the rather drab terrain that made up the Mid Rim world of Ankus, Madeleia fought with the controls as she did her best to avoid having the Auburn Sunrise blown out from under her. Lances of red bolts zipped passed the YT 2400 as she maneuvered, the main gun locked forward since the chase had begun. Heart racing, the smuggler continued pushing her beloved ship to it's limits. "Get that fixed yet," she asked distractedly, her brother the mechanic aboard the vessel, still giving her few updates as the sublight engines screamed.

"Still working on it," T.J. replied, obviously as aggravated with the setback as she was. "Go faster if you leave me alone."

"Ship on our ass."

The reminder was useless, they both knew how desperate the moment was as Madeleia glanced between her controls and the small monitor to her right, the pursuer still hot on her trail and maneuvering for another shot as the planet continued looming larger. A flurry of bolts erupted from the Skipray's many guns, one slamming into her main engines and she ship's lights and sensors flickered, the main generator damaged now. "Frak," she pressed out and immediately switched over to the backup with a flick of a switch, then continued maneuvering like the devil.

"Power's back to the gun, but it's going to take a miracle to get it moving," her brother informed.

"Then get in it," she demanded. "This asshole's not going to live through this."

".... Okay."

She knew he would rather be in the cockpit with her or in engineering, but she needed him in that chair. An explosion of blue erupted over the outer ring of her transparisteel viewscreen and the sensor array blacked out. Now they were blind. "Going to have to barrel site this shot."

"Perfect."

Sighing, she continued pushing her vessel as hard as it would go, the unknown assailant having jumped them the minute they arrived in system not giving up yet, and she hoped to capitalize on that greed for a kill. Though her time was running out as the engines soon died, the atmosphere now beginning to burn the front edge of her hull. This was going to be a fun ride, she thought sarcastically. Hazel eyes glanced to the weapon's power indicator and she was glad that at least that much was working. Switching her remaining extra power to the rear deflector, she tried one last time to initialize the main engines and was frustrated at their noncompliance. Another salvo of red blaster bolts raced past the ship as Madeleia then readied the repulsor engines, waiting for the atmosphere's orange glow to fade.

"Madie.."

"Shut up." She didn't want to hear any resolution that this could be the end. There was no quit in her vocabulary, regardless of how bleak their situation looked. "Get ready."

The outer glow burning along the front of her hull soon subsided as she readied the repulsor engines, her slender, forefinger hovering over the switch as she readied the maneuver, the sequence of switches and maneuvering vanes already pre-plotted in her mind. A shudder rocked the ship and immediately she noticed the main gun went dark, then came back to life as the master control switched to being slaved to the cockpit.

"T.J.," she called out. No response. Fear gripped the native of Plagen, her heart sinking at the thought that her brother may have been lost to her. "T.J.!!!"

Desperation then turned to rage as she kicked the repulsors on, banked the Auburn Sunrise to port and spun the vessel around, sighting the weapon by instinct and pushed the button to fire. A heavy blast erupted from the main gun, the Skipray now nearly on top of her as Madeleia saw the ship get hit center mass, then erupt. "F*** YOU!!" Spinning the ship around again, then banking to starboard, burning debris raced past her, some of the metal detritus bouncing off of her ship as she realized how close she was to the planet's rocky and patchy green surface. A large lake was in sight and she immediately began maneuvering toward it, Ankus' gravity drawing her ever closer. Pulling the nose up, she tuned all of the bottom repulsor engines to full, doing her best to slow the ship before the impending collision.

Sighing, she sat back and closed her eyes knowing she had done all she could, now it was up to fate, tears streaming down her face as she felt more alone in her life than ever before.

BOOM

Bouncing upward, the impact rocked the YT as it hit, water exploding over the cockpit window as Madeleia's body was jolted in the highbacked seat, then again until she blacked out....

Madeleia
Nov 14th, 2016, 01:17:02 PM
Brown eyes fluttered open to dim light cascading down from a candle hovering high over her and at first, Madeleia thought the cockpit was on fire and pushed herself up. Immediately, soreness announced itself nearly everywhere and prompted the smuggler to wince in pain unsure where to nurse with her hands first.

"You need to relax," the heavy, nasally voice stated and grabbed her attention. "You both are lucky to be alive."

"Both?" Frantically, Madeleia scanned the room for her brother. "Where is he?"

"He's in the care of our healers, but I've been assured that he'll be fine," the hulking figure stated as their silhouette nearly commanded the whole of the open door beyond the foot of the bed. Firelight from behind it gave her little idea on it's race, but the thick arms and torso gave her some idea. "Lay down."

Confused, she sighed as tears of relief began burning her eyes. Lowering her head, she buried her face in her left hand. "The ship?"

"I'm afraid it's in bad shape. Your crash landing into the lake buckled much of the hull plating and smashed the cockpit windshield. It's in a field not far from the lake itself," he assured as the long snout, low, flappy ears and beady, red eyes came into focus as her host came into the candle light. Two long tusks protruded from it's pronounced cheekline, angled downward. Dressed in light brown shirt and black pants, the large alien viewed the blonde with warmth.

Shaking her head, it seemed that their attacker won after all. Opening her eyes as she raised her head and turned, the sight was a bit more than she expected and recoiled.

"I'm sorry," large, grey hands raised defensively. "Not used to my kind, I take it?"

"No." Her heart beating a mile a minute, she had seen many horrid aliens in her time, but this one just hit the top of the list for the ugliest.

He straightened and backed a step. "I'm Marrik and you're my guest. I promise I'll take care of you until you're healed and ready to leave."

Nodding, she eased somewhat. "Madeleia."

Placing a hand on his heart, the Cragmoloid bowed his head to her. "Pleasure's mine."