Mardox: Desolate

Chapter 20: Survival

Mardox fell. And fell. And fell. He fell for a very long time through the darkness. Then the shaft lit up, but he still couldn't see. He fumbled around in the blurriness, and found his helmet, and shoved it on. He then saw he was falling through the vent, with pipes running along the edge and lights every ten feet. He looked down and saw a large power core. "Huh. I thought the generator was up there." He then realized he was about to fall onto the power core. His jet boots were out of fuel, so his last resort was a maneuver he had only tried once. He linked his wrist-mounted flamethrowers to the telepathy circuit, pointed his arms down and activated them. Flame spilled out of the tubes, slowing Mardox down. He deactivated them, landed on the generator, and disconnected them from the telepathy circuit. He looked around, and then the top of the shaft lit up with flames. Explosions littered the walls of the vent. Debris rained down on Mardox, slicing through the tubes that led to the walls. He panicked, and tiptoed across a tube. He opened a door at the end. It led to a long hallway. He ran down it, and found a lever. As the lower power core was engulfed in flames, he pulled it.

Kanan stood on the dune, and the ground began to shake. He walked back to the flaming wreckage, and the sand exploded. Thousands of minuscule stones rocketed up into the air, and a tube extended a foot out of the ground. A small metal pod rocketed into the air, the tube retreated beneath the sand, and the pod landed in the sand with a THUD. The door slid open, and Mardox stood in the pod. He stood not moving for a second, and then fell into the sand face-first. Kanan rushed over and threw his arms over Mardox. He sat up, covered in sand and ash, and said,
"Oh, look, I survived. I love it when I do that." He fell unconscious and Kanan picked him up and carried him back to the ships. A tear rolled down his cheek, and landed on Mardox's helmet.