Chapter 5 - Crash Landing On Purgatory
Warning sirens wailed and red lights flashed as the ship ripped through the atmosphere, attempting to get into a position to begin plotting a course into hyperspace. Unfortunately, the lumbering transport was slow and clumsy - they would have to fight their way clear. "Man your stations!" yelled Ray'chish as the fighters drew closer on the readout screen. Valek ran quickly to the main turret, swiveling to face the rear of the ship he clenched his teeth as the enemy fighters came into view. Blaster bolts ripped through the cold of space, impacting the shields in swells of energy like rocks thrown hard into a body of still water. Combat was furious, the smaller fighters in a better position to dogfight with the much less nimble transport. However, despite their assault, the shields of the Ravager were holding and they were slowly being taken out. Within a few minutes they were down to one fighter. "One more and we're free..." Valek growled into the com-link. "No such luck..." responded Kekku, "Three more fighters and a bomber coming in... we don't have much time."
The shields were too weak now, there is no way they could stand and fight against another wave. "We've got to get out of here ...push the engines past safeguards." Ray'chish yelled into the com-link. The ship groaned loudly against the strain as Kekku punched the codes in to drop all propulsion lockouts, some of the hull buckling a bit. "We can't keep this up long.." she said nervously to her partner. In the turret Valek could see they were moving just fast enough to keep the fighters at distance and the bomber would soon be out of sight. Before he could report the success, his heart sank as in the distance he could see the bright pulse of a proton torpedo racing toward the ship. "Incoming!! Brace for impact!!" he yelled into the com-link as he desperately tried to track its movement and fired wildly with the linked-blasters. He waited until the last moment, just seconds before it was too close to escape - then bailed from the turret and using the speed of the Force ran to the cockpit.
Fate was kind this day as apparently the bomber pilot had misjudged the distance and set the torpedo to explode in proximity rather than on impact. Either that, or perhaps they had hoped to take the ship intact rather than destroy it. The explosion still was quite enough to rip into the ship like a vibroblade through flesh. The transport rocked against the blast, a gaping hole in the rear of the ship expelling pressure for a moment before an emergency hull shield blocked the wound. Valek reached the cockpit and strapped in after being battered by debris hurled about from the blast. "Almost there..." Kekku glanced wildly between the atmospheric status screen and the hyperspace navigation controls. At last the transport exited the planet's grasp and into space, the Twi'leks lithe fingers dancing quickily over the keys to lock in their course, one lightyear and they'd be safe.
"Course laid in!" she shouted as the fighters managed to get one more salvo of blaster fire aimed well enough at the ship for the bolts to go flying dangerously close, racing by the viewports. "Punch it!" Ray'chish grunted and braced for the entry into hyperspace. The ship was swallowed a moment later by the wormhole, leaving their pursuers behind as they shot forth into what potentially could be the last few moments of existence. The course was plotted so fast, even Kekku could not be certain she got it safely completed. Seconds later the ship screamed out of the whirling tunnel of light and almost instantly was torn asunder by impact with large space debris. Alarms blared, warning lights blazed ...and the ship began falling uncontrolled through the atmosphere of an unknown planet. "Engine room ..if you're alive back there ..we need engine power or we're all dead." the Twi'lek groaned out as Ray'chish struggled with all his might to right the ship.
The smuggler was alive - barely. "I'll do what I can ...but there isn't much left back here." he responded loudly into the link. All around him the ships systems were sparking, smoking ...burning.. and it wouldn't be long before he'd have to abandon the room and their hope of landing with any degree of control. His hands raced across the controls, trying to return some level of power to the engines. The ground raced toward those strapped in the cockpit, Valek attempted to calm himself and call to the Force to do whatever he could to slow their fall. The automated computer voices echoed all around them, "Impact in ...10 ...9...", "Emergency ...Emergency ...landing repulsors not deployed." Suddenly the engines flared to life and Ray'chish drew back on the controls with all his strength. "I got it! I got...." the smugglers voice was cut off by the thunderous roar of the ship slashing a gouge through the jagged, rocky ground of the planet's surface. All went black...
Pain. Monumental and breathtaking pain. This was the feeling that Valek Sarin awoke to. Opening his eyes, his face felt like it had swollen to nearly four times it's normal. The coppery taste of blood filled his mouth, and the Zabrak spit a gob of bloody mess out onto the floor.
Looking about him, the events of the past few moments resurfaced. The transport craft had been pulled out of hyperdrive. The coordinates had been punched in to quickly, things not taken care of as they should have been. The plot that the Twi'lek co-pilot had hastily set had taken them right into the path of a planet.
It had taken immense piloting skill to bring the ruined transport down, but the ship had come down to hot. The angle was too low and the speed too great. The ship had created a five mile furrow as it bounced off of the surface, crumpling the infrastructure and mangling everyone on board.
That he had survived was a testimony to his physical stature as well as his atunement with the Force. Groaning, he moved his body upright. The restraining strap was cutting into his flesh and it took an effort to free himself from the seat. All about him the acrid stench of burning metal and toxic vapors wafted, making him cough roughly. To stay long aboard the craft while it was in this shape would be to invite certain death.
Slowly but surely he steadied himself up and took note of the crew cabin. The front visor was spattered with blood and cracked. Ray'chish, the Kel Dorian pilot, was slumped over the control panel. Instruments flickered and sparked about him. To Sarin, it appeared as if the creature were dead. Looking more closely, however, he noted that there was some movement. Ray'chish still lived, though his breath was labored as it came from his rebreather.
Valek limped forward and attempted to pull the Kel Dorian away from the panel. A large gash cut into his armor, spilling blood freely. For a moment he felt that the pilot's usefulness had come to an end, much as he had felt when he had killed the last of his rivals on Nar Shaddaa. However, taking stock of the situation, Sarin realized he was on an unknown planet, and would need all the help he could get.
The Sith took a short moment to bandage the pilot's wound and then turned his attention to the Twi'lek copilot. Like the Kel Dorian, the she was merely a tool in Valek's quest for power and mastery of the Darkside, but a very useful tool.
She was not nearly as damaged as the pilot had been, and was already starting to come to consciousness.
Blinking heavily, the Twi'lek groaned in pain, holding hands to her bruised face and head. The Kel Dorian also stirred from his unconscious state.
"You all made it." Sarin said in a flat voice. His right eye was nearly swollen shut and he looked in bad shape. "Where are we?" Kekku groaned, pulling herself up. Looking outside of the view port, the landscape was a desolate brown dirty wasteland with many cliffs and hills but no vegetation. "I don't think we'll be able to answer that. At least right now. Most of the computer systems are destroyed. Try and see if you can get any data off of the nav computer."
The Twi'lek looked at the nav computer doubtfully. The screen was cracked and lifeless, a thin tendril of smoke wisping up from the jagged breaks in the surface. "The nav computer is shot. There's no way we are going to pull data from it," she said as her lekku twitched with agitation. A groan echoed through the cabin. Ray'chish held his head in his hands. His pain washed over Sarin through the Force like fetid breath from a corpse.
Frustration began to build inside of the Sith. Frustration and a tremendous surge of anger. How could he have gone all this way only to be taken out by a simple computer glitch? No, there had to be more to it then that. The Force had reasons for dropping them on this world, Valek just had to figure out what those reasons were.
It took the trio an hour to leave the ruined ship. None of the systems had been salvageable. The engineering section of the ship had nearly been torn off, and had compacted in the crash - folded in on itself, presumably crushing the smuggler and the astromech droid that were in the rear of the ship when it was torn apart. Nothing could have survived. The center section of the craft just a mile away or so was still intact enough though to save the life of the unconscious former Hutt soldier, Felynish. Although at this point, he was alone, badly hurt, unarmed - and there was no reason at all for the others to think that he was alive.
The only things salvageable in the cockpit were some rations, water, rebreather masks to help filter some of the toxic particles out of the air, and a couple of blaster clips for the rifles. Food was scarce. Water was scarce. Ammunition was scarce. The world looked completely dead. This adventure was surely shaping out to be legendary.
Leaving the ship, their problems were compounded by the fact that while the air was only somewhat breathable, it grated on the lungs and burned. Oxygen was in short supply, and other more volatile elements were stirring. It almost tasted like the atmosphere was on fire, for it held a sulphuric taste.
The wind blew hot gusts of air into the faces of the three as they walked. Direction was not really important, for everywhere around them looked the same. Valek had resolved that if no important features could be found within a few hours, that they'd return to the wreckage where at least they had some cover.
The entire time that the party walked through the scorching desert, the Zabrak was nearly overwhelmed by the waves of dark side energy that seemed to pulse from the planet. It intoxicated the Acolyte, pushing him past his thresholds and filling him with an unnatural strength. His anger at falling here, his frustration at the possibility of dying without having had completed his mission, they all amplified this strength.
It did not take long for the group to crest a hill and look down at an amazing sight. A plain of glass stretched out as far as the eye could see from their vantage point. The glass was pure, and it reflected the white sun's intense energy like a blast furnace.
"What happened here?" The Twi'lek asked, looking about with a horrified expression. "This planet was firebombed." Ray'chish said through his voice box, as he looked down at the plain. His large brain pulsed under his alien skull. "I have seen it before. I bet this planet was once fertile and green."
That was hard to believe considering the stark nakedness around them. The only colors visible were grey and brown. The only texture was dirt and sand. The only other features were the exotic plain of smooth, flat glass that stretched like an ocean. It was the Twi'lek that at last noticed something else. She put her targeting helmet on and using the computer within amplified the vision. "There's some ruins down there, buildings I think..." She pointed out. Valek and Ray'chish squinted, attempting to look out at the sea of fire that was reflected by the glass, but the glare was too great. "How far is it?" The Sith asked. Kekku ran it through her reticles. "Not far. About four klicks." The three were silent for a moment, taking the time to rest and sip on their scarce water supply. The air was starting to take its toll on the Twi'lek. Sarin had consciously been using the Force to attempt to purify his air, and while he was not as masterful at it as Darth Severus was, it was enabling him to at least function with lesser pain. Ray'chish was unaffected as his rebreather unit allowed him a perfect mobile atmosphere for him to breathe.
The question for Valek was, did they check out the possible ruins, or should they attempt to make it back to the ship while there was still light to do so? The white sun overhead was beginning a downward descent, and he had a feeling that things were going to get chilly quickly when the sun was fully beyond the horizon. The answer was given to him not by wisdom or forethought, but by fear. A disturbance brushed his mind, like an artist's quill. As quickly as it had been there, it had disappeared, but there was no mistaking that the disturbance laid in the ruins…