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

Chapter 2: Hard Landing

Javina braced against the wall as the first of the planetary debris smacked into the Durrigan's shields. As a modified trade ship, the Durrigan was surprisingly sturdy even in spite of its thinly-sheeted hull. Plenty of braces and a thermal shield modifier had been wrapped around the ship's surface to make it capable of visiting a variety of planet types, and even take on a good amount of damage in emergency situations. Javina was sure the UIFH never pictured the "exploding planet" type of situation they were stuck in.

A thunderous whack knocked the ship to the side and sent Javina rolling across the bridge's floor. Her stomach heaved and churned. There was no doubt about it - she was going to be sick. Qerod grabbed onto the side of the holo-table and reached over to help her up while Driscoll strapped himself into the chair. Meteoric debris pounded against the window. Javina wondered how long until one managed to break through and sucked them out into the chilled black vacuum of ever-present death around them.

"I'm going to try evasive maneuvers!" Driscoll exclaimed. "Shields are already down to sixty-three percent capacity!"

He grabbed the yoke of the Durrigan and swiped at the screens beside him, then entered in a set of numerical codes. Javina realized he was turning off all the safety protocols he could. The madman was going to try and push through to Golah.

"We can't land there, Driscoll," Javina yelled at the pilot. "That's a surefire death wish!"

"Shields are at forty-eight percent, Javina," Driscoll shouted back in response. "We won't make it anywhere else at this rate."

Javina gave Qerod a worried look. He scrunched his face in thought, then looked back out the window. Another wave of massive rocks approached the ship.

"Carry through," Qerod ordered. "Get us out of here."

Driscoll nodded and pulled the yoke to the right. The ship groaned as it shifted into a hard right turn and scraped against some smaller debris.

"Javina, get back to the main hull before things get bad," Qerod told her. "Inform the others about what's going on and get yourself strapped in."

Javina simply nodded and stumbled back toward the wall. She pressed against it for dear life and shuffled one step at a time to the door. It whirred open and she leapt forward to grab the hall railing as the ship took a sudden nosedive. She held on tightly, her hands firmly wrapped around the cold steel. The change in artificial gravity tugged even more at her already sick stomach.

The ship leveled out and Javina fell to the ground. She felt the honeycombed metal of the hall floor scrape the side of her right arm. With one last push, she stood and ran to the hull. The others were strapped into their respective seats, faces paled by the recent events.

"Javina, what the hell is going on?" Jat wailed.

Javina threw herself into the seat and pulled the padded harness around her. "Everything's gone to sh-"

The acid in her stomach finally made its escape onto the floor in front of her. Her throat burned and the taste in her mouth was one of the worst she had ever had. Javina took a shuddering breath.

"Aw, Javina, not on my new boots!" Jat cried.

Javina shot him a vicious look. "Shut. Up."

The Durrigan lurched sideways and into a hard roll as what was once the right side of the ship became the bottom. Javina felt her body pressed against the harness' pads, her full weight sitting on her chest. The sound of shrieking metal filled the air around them.

"Javina, we need to open the porthole!" Jat shouted over the noise. The sound began to grate on her brain.

"Are you crazy?" Javina retorted. The shrieking subsided and Javina dropped her volume back to normal. "What if something busts through?"