From The Stars

Chapter 1: Arrival

When the dust settled, and consciousness returned, she opened the hatch of her destroyed pod. A quick scan confirmed the air on this planet to be safe and she promptly removed her helmet taking in a deep gasping breath. There was no way her arrival would go unnoticed and that meant she was in immediate danger. Falling back on her training, she took stock of her surroundings.

The planet she had landed on appeared to be a desert planet. There was dust and sand in every direction, with a sparse spattering of strange vegetation. A small mountain range lay to the distant left of her pod and open terrain lay in all other directions. Except, now that she looked harder, there was some sort of dwelling off in the distance. Nothing else seemed to be out here for miles, granted she couldn't tell what lay beyond that mountain range, but aside from this single residence the area was barren.

A few options crossed her mind. She could head for the mountain range and hope for a friendly civilization, she could head for the mountain range and hide, she could head for the strange dwelling and hope they weren't hostile, or she could remain with her pod and try to repair it. This planet was currently in its night cycle, which meant once its star rose in the sky it would most likely become very hot very quickly and she would need to find adequate shelter and hydration. The mountain range would be her best bet for both while eliminating the risk of encountering the native species in-case they were in fact hostile.

She let out a huff and plopped herself back into the pod, accessing the systems to see if it was even salvageable. Turns out; nope. Another huff and she let her head fall back against the seat; she was stuck here with no way of escaping. A distress beacon would only draw the attention of the Empire and that defeated the whole purpose of her assignment, while contacting her team was impossible from this distance. Without some means of boosting her broadcasting range her communicator's signal just wasn't strong enough. No, it was looking like she was actually stuck here until rescue came, or the Empire attacked and she could 'borrow' a pod. May as well make the best of a shitty situation and use this time to scan for the source of that strange energy signal they had been tracking.

With the pod being unrepairable, she decided to wipe the records just in-case. However, the moment she accessed the controls her pod began sparking and the hatch sealed shut as the exterior caught fire. It was only a matter of time before the fire reached the fuel cells and the pod exploded; she needed to get that hatch open. Trying a manual override yielded no results, trying to pry the hatch open only served to tire her out, and trying the eject button had slammed her headfirst into the stubbornly sealed hatch making her see stars before the darkness took over.

A loud sound pulled her back to consciousness and she blinked as the heavy fog cleared from her mind and the darkness of the destroyed pod took its place. The sound of metal being pried apart surrounded her and she dug deep to summon enough energy to open her eyes.

A strange alien was standing above her pod, the light of the desert planet's sole moon shining around him. He looked like an angel. She blinked to clear the haze and leaned forward, but the sudden motion caused her head to swim and she was succumbing to the darkness again.

The first thing she registered was the incredibly bright and hot light that was shining on her. Whatever it was, it was large enough to cover her entire left side in a blazing heat. The next thing she registered was a strange smell, dusty and stale as though the air was rarely filtered. Finally she noticed the sounds of something moving below, they were muffled as though coming through walls too thin to effectively block them. Suddenly the reality of her situation crashed down on her still mildly concussed mind. She bolted upright and breathed in a heaving gasp, taking stock of the unfamiliar surroundings.