Missing in Action

Stranded

The ground around her trembled violently as meteor after meteor impacted it, leaving large craters in the earth. The little girl screamed and cowered behind the dumpster, trying to hide from the fiery rain. She had no clue what had happened to her mommy and daddy, only that they hadn't come home when they were supposed to. And when the house was struck by one of the falling objects, she'd run, terrified. Another terrified scream came tore itself from her lips as another one crashed down nearby, knocking her to the ground as the ground quaked under her. She pulled herself to her feet, trying to hide even more as something rose from the crater, letting out a feral howl. It sniffed the air, turning towards her with a savage snarl. She couldn't make a sound, couldn't find the strength to so much as move as its eyes, as black as a starless night, and colder than the void from which it had come. She could only watch helplessly as it charged her, muscles coiling as it moves to pounce. Its razor sharp claws came within an inch of her face, ready to snuff out her life like so many before her. She couldn't look away, her youthful mind barely able to comprehend what was about to happen...

The sound of a bowstring hums through the air, a barrage of arrows impaling the beast and knocking it to the side before it could harm her. It howled in agony, the shafts each as long as the little girl was tall, and barbed to inflict greater injury to the archer's prey. The monster's spell broken, she looked to where her rescue had come from, her eyes widening as she took in the sight of the alien woman walking towards her, blackened armor covering her lithe form. In her hand she held a silver bow, it's size making it nearly as tall as the alien was. She smiled softly. "Do not worry child, you are safe now. I am called Cela. What's your name?"

"A-Angel..." The young girl looked up at her, the alien's presence as calming as the other's had been terrifying.

"Angel." The woman smiled softly. "Such a pretty name. Angel. Angel." Her lips had stopped moving, but she could still hear her name being called.

"Angel... you need to wake up..."

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She opened her eyes, grimacing at the harsh light. The pilot, no longer the nine year old of her dream, blocked the light with a hand and squinted at the person standing over her. "Ugh... what is it?" She looked up at him, then checked her watch. Due to the longer days, she'd had to move it forward a couple hours to keep it at least semi accurate. right now, it was somewhere around 10:30 in the morning. Her eyes widened a bit at the man's response. "They're waking up." He let out a yelp as he was suddenly shoved out of the way, Angel shooting up from her chair and racing out the door.

"Cela? Cela?!" She burst into the room where they were keeping the Ulda who'd been rendered unconscious, hoping to see her friend. Several of the aliens were already up, speaking to the other crew members about what had happened since they'd passed out and who all hadn't been so lucky. Of the seventy on board, only fifty had survived the initial impact. Another five had died later, their wounds too great to be treated. That had only left forty five of them left, and with the last ten Ulda in a comatose state, the thirty five remaining humans had been forced to hold off the surrounding flora and fauna for over a week. In that time, another 8 had been devoured or otherwise lost, leaving those who remained in grim mood. Hopefully with their allies, who were more at home in the dense jungle that surrounded them, now awake they would have better luck holding off this planet's forces until help arrived.

"I'm here, child." She smiled weakly from her seat, her arm still in a sling. The straps holding her in her seat had pulled on it heavily, nearly wrenching it out of socket. As such, she had a bit of a hard time hugging back as the human pilot almost tackled her. She laughed softly. "Easy, little one. The last thing we need now is for you to break one of my ribs."