Station 27 (A Starweaver's Tapestry Novella) - ONC '24

Chapter 2: Hard Landing

"The shields will hold, kid," Zec's gruff voice responded from her left. The soldier pulled out a new flask and downed its entire contents in one gulp. The flask looked absurdly small against his meaty hand and arm.

"If you're so sure, why are you getting more drunk?" Vhaz popped her head in from his other side. Light glinted off of the metal plate embedded against the shaved left side of her head, and the rest of her hair was pulled into an auburn Dutch braid that bounced against her right cheek.

"Because I plan on enjoying the buzz for a bit," the bear of a man answered back with a wide grin.

The Durrigan shook up and down violently like the dice in a gambler's hand.

"Is there anything that can be done to reduce that nonsense?" Pirzy yelled from her seat further down. Her gloved hands gripped the harness around her as her short silver bob jostled.

"Yeah, let me just turn on the cruise ship stabilizers and party mode we installed with our recent bonus," Jat mocked.

"Careful, Jat," Javina reminded him quietly. "You don't want to go setting a negative impression for your lady friend."

Jat rolled his eyes and faced Cragin and Roxli strapped in further down the opposite left side. "You two are unnaturally quiet."

"That's because we don't have anything to say," Roxli responded. His small, wiry frame was a stark contrast to his hulking friend. His already-bulging blue eyes widened more. "You want us to talk? We can talk about all the stuff we haven't gotten to cross off our bucket lists."

Cragin elbowed Roxli and laughed. "Yeah," He added. "I can tell you all about that Quillan back on Kina and why I need to see her at least ten more times before I die."

Takeo let out a frustrated groan by Pirzy's side. "Is everything just about women and copulation with you two?"

"Yes." Cragin and Roxli affirmed together enthusiastically.

Javina felt it was time to step in before things got more x-rated. "Cragin, Roxli. Back to being quiet. Shush. Jat, don't egg them on."

The Durrigan hit another sudden drop and tilted the entire hull forward to a forty-five degree angle. Javina cursed and let out the last of what was in her stomach. Her eyes watered.

"Javina," Jat yelled at her in the same commanding tone she used. "Clean up your mess!"

Javina wiped her mouth and then socked Jat in the shoulder as hard as he could. The others around them started to laugh. Jat rubbed his arm.

"Did you have to hit that hard?" He complained.

"Yes, Jat," Javina responded. "You more than deserved it at this point."

Javina felt the ship settling back down and figured they had finally made it through the worst. She reached to her left and tugged at the porthole cover. It opened with a loud pop.

Javina instantly regretted her decision.

The Durrigan was deep within the trenches of Golah's mountain ranges, but she could barely make out the shapes beyond the mass accumulation of snow and ash that the ship sped through. It was as if they had ventured into a frozen over Hell. Winds whipped past the Durrigan and streamlines flowed past the ship's wings. Ice crystals frosted the window. Javina squinted and tried to look past the storm. It seemed like the mountains were getting bigger.

No. Not bigger. Closer.

"Brace, brace, brace!" Javina yelled at everyone.

The Durrigan careened into the mountainside and let out an eardrum-rupturing bang. The ship slithered sideways, lost altitude and smashed against the mountainside again. The harnesses buckled against the rapid impact and the crew rattled against their seats. A cacophony of screeches, yells and metallic scrapes filled the hull as the Durrigan collided for a third time. The left wing flew off and left a jagged mess of wires and shattered metal. Inside, a restraining bolt shot across the hull.

"Who's bolt was that?" Javina panicked. "Everyone check your seat. Now!"

The bottom of the Durrigan collided with an unknown force and the entire ship flipped upside-down. The lights inside shut off completely, and Javina was left with nothing but the flickering outside light and spinning view of the mountains to illuminate her. She counted the spins as her head slammed repeatedly into the headrest. One. Three. Six. She was thankful there was nothing left in her stomach.

Javina closed her eyes, dizzied from the spins. This was it. This was how she died. On some desolate frozen moon in a middle-of-nowhere system after being tortured with flight, spins and her ex. She waited for the hard landing.

The first impact sent a shock through her entire body. The second ripped off the Durrigan's other wing. The third sent them spinning horizontally as the metal sheets around them peeled. Javina forced herself to breathe, but the air wouldn't enter her lungs. She felt lightheaded and potentially concussed. The fourth impact caused the back of the hull to crack apart with a deafening crunch. It sounded like the engines were gone. Maybe even the main storage. If they managed to survive the landing, there was no way they could survive going without food or water. Javina pondered what was worse: dying from a fiery explosion, from being tossed out into the frozen tundra at a hundred miles an hour or from succumbing to starvation after a week. None were exactly what she would call "ideal".

What was left of the Durrigan came to a halt. Javina couldn't tell what was up and what was down anymore. Despite the stop in motion, the world around her seemed to keep spinning. She tugged at the harness and it released with a clink. Gravity tugged Javina's body down and across the ship into the benches that lined the opposite side. She crashed into the wall face first. The Durrigan was back on its right side.

A searing burn crept into her hands. The wall was so cold that her skin tried to stick to the metal. She let out a breath and saw the white cloud of heat leave her body. That was when she heard the hiss of outside air enter from somewhere in the ruptured hull.

"Everyone, get out of your harnesses. Get your VACAS on, now!" She ordered and leapt up to help Jat and Zec unlatch. Vhaz removed her harness in one swift movement and dropped onto her feet. Javina saw her rush past Cragin and Roxli to an embedded compartment and yank out a handful of black briefcases. She chucked them across the hull towards the others. The scientists all tugged and pulled at their harnesses to no avail.

Javina threw open the briefcase closest to her and removed the helmet inside. She forced her head through the spongy bottom layer and clicked a button on the left to turn on the air filtration system. She yanked out the padding that held the helmet and stepped onto the white-lined interior of the briefcase, one foot on each side. A thick, mesh-like material snaked its way up her legs and over her stomach until it connected to the sponge of the helmet. The material stitched itself together, then repressurized into a white suit that tightly hugged the whole shape of her body. There was no such thing as modesty in space.

Javina looked behind her to see Jat, Zec and Vhaz were almost suited as well. Cragin and Roxli had managed to escape their harnesses. Javina rushed to Pirzy and yanked hers open.

"The air is getting colder by the second," Pirzy noted. "Is there a breach somewhere?"

"I believe so," Javina answered. She handed Pirzy a briefcase. "We need to get everyone suited before the atmosphere is unbreathable or whatever is in here gets flash frozen. I can't tell you which would be first."

Javina heard Jat rush to Irys' aid, so she moved on toward Givety next. The hissing increased. It was only a matter of time before the change in pressure busted a bigger hole in the hull. They didn't want to be there when it happened.

"Everyone start making your way toward the bridge," Javina instructed. "The extra shielding should give us more time to prepare. And please, take a couple of VACAS to Qerod and Driscoll."

As much as she would have loved to let Driscoll freeze, the better part of her knew it wouldn't atone for the things he had done. Vengeance was a slippery slope, and Javina wasn't one to tempt her chances. The sound of Yeno's stressed voice pulled her back to the moment.

"Javina!" He shouted. "It's Takeo's seat. He won't wake up and I can't get it open!"