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A dark quiet room filled with stale air tasting of metal, seemingly undisturbed for years, soon a small metal clanging could be heard echoing across the metal bulkheads, followed by one large bang and some incomprehensible words that were undoubtedly of a vulgar swearing nature. soon began the hiss of a blowtorch, followed shortly by the blinding glow of molten metal as the hinges were cut away, leaving the door to fall to the ground with a loud crash. standing outside was a thin fur faced woman dressed in a assorted array of ragged clothes and armor, dark goggles covering her eyes from both the lit torch in her hand and the blowing sand of the desert outside.
My name is Nyla Lofi, after hitting rock bottom I found myself here on this nameless desert planet searching wrecked ships for scrapps to sell. most of the time the ships have been picked clean by those before me, but today I found a ship before anyone else, and all the goodies inside are mine.
Nyla placed the torch back into her belt before slowly walking thru the threshold, lifting off her goggles to reveal her sad green eyes. she appears to be in a cargo hold, tho not much is around, some boxes of old food and supplies that were of little to no value, for a normal trip Nyla would just grab what she could and run, but being the first to find this ship ment there was most likely treasures worth far more waiting deeper in the ship, just waiting to be discovered.
Thru the dusty halls Nyla soon found the reason the ship was on the planet, as she was able to see the cracked and ragged metal displaying the telltale marks of a missile strike that burnt its way in from the outer hull. as nostalgic of the recent war as this was , Nyla soon moved on down the corridor to an open door partly blocked by a fallen beam. Nyla soon found herself amongst the many bunks of the crew quarters, trunks of clothes and other personal items tossed around the room, many faded with the passing of time. and a small box seemed to shine thru the dust on the far side of the room, quickly grabbing her attention.
it was a small metal box used for keeping personal belongings safe, the lock was broken but the box remained closed. Nyla opened the box hoping to find something worth selling, but inside were only three things, a small silver coin depicting a picture of a mountain range with some wording underneath. "We...why… ohm… vihome…ming" Nyla strained to attempt to pronounce the word on the coin, before soon giving up and placing it in her pouch and taking out a folded photograph that did not withstand the test of time as well as it could have. tho it was easy to tell there were about five people standing around what looked like a large rock, only one of the faces was still visible. a young man on the far right who seamed overjoyed and very close to the one next to him. Nyla continued to stare at the man in the photo, to her he was very handsome, and she thought about what he was like. deciding that if she ever met him she would return what was in the box to him, knowing that she would most likely never meet.
the only thing left in the container was a small box covered in soft blue velvet, Nyla knew what was inside without having to open it, she had seen items like this before. slowly opening the lid of the hinged box to reveal the engagement ring inside, it's thin blue band held a small smoky white shard shaped crystal firmly in place. Nyla soon let out a large sigh, she knew by seeing this ring here, that it had never been given to the one it was meant for, and by the state of the ship, she knew that one if not both of the lovers were killed. Nyla soon closed the ring box and placed it in her pouch along with the other items she had found today before beginning to think about her life and how little she had accomplished, but soon she felt a new wave of energy come across her. she had never had a true goal in life, but now she had decided, she was going to find the owner of the ring, the man in the photo and give the items back to him. but to do this Nyla still needed find enough to sell to make her way off planet, and that was no easy task, in the past six years she has only saved about 400 credits, needing at least 1500 credits to buy a ticket she still had a long way to go, but she had one advantage, this ship. it's never been touched so there has to be something worth a lot of credits, and all she had to do was find it.
breaking out her trusty torch, Nyla cut open the door to main engineering, while still highly damaged there were many components left in place, and it didn't take long to find items worth grabbing. 50 KRE-P chips, one credit each; two broken plasma condensers, 20 credits each; one antiphasic modulator, easily 100 credits. Nyla kept counting every credit the items were worth as she packed them into her bag. but still with everything she found so far plus all she had saved up, she was still only at 700 credits. but she had a feeling in the pit of her stomachs that there was still a goldmine somewhere close, and with just a bit of digging she found a locked storage container, and dusting off the label Nyla's eyes grew brighter. the label read: Property of the Rigel Alliance: 10 - TT3 Power module for use in type 6-IV paradinic reactors. handle with care.
Opening the container slowly, Nyla was greeted with the soft glowing light of the 10 power cells, each still in perfect condition. but her subtle victory dance was soon cut short as the sound of footsteps could be heard in the corridor. it seems others have found her hidden treasure, and by the sounds of it they're not alone. Nyla quickly stuffed the storage box into her backpack and made a dash for the door. only to have to quickly duck behind some broken pieces of equipment as someone walked thru the doorway. the intruder was holding a pistol and kept looking around for what he thought he heard, followed shortly after by another scavenger who appeared much more relaxed.
Nyla knew she wouldn't be able to fight them, despite being quick her species is much weaker than most, and a direct fight would not end well, for out in the scrap desert there is no law, and no one to save you. the intruders quickly notice that many thing have been disturbed around the room and begin searching for more scrap, keeping their guard up for any uninvited guests. Nyla quickly decided to try and get into the crawl space underneath the floor, it would allow her to escape the ship without being caught by the other scrappers, but first she had to find a way into the crawlspace. quickly scanning the room , Nyla soon found the hatch she had been looking for, the only problem was that it was in the far corner, but being the clever little scrapper that she is, Nyla soon pulled a small home made smoke bomb from the pouch, only to have the coin fall to the floor with the loudest noise a coin could possibly make.
the other scrappers quickly turned to face where Nyla was hiding , weapons drawn and ready to fire, and thinking fast Nyla lit the smoke bomb, causing a thick cloud of grey smoke to envelop her, and hoping that the others will think there was a vent leaking toxic gas. it was a long shot but it seemed to work, the scrappers quickly back away from the smoke and started running for the exit. but as Nyla walked out of the smoke cloud and looked at the impossible hiding space she was just in, something else caught her attention. right above where she was hiding was an antimatter containment reactor, a large glass cylinder that stretched from floor to ceiling, and there was a crack in the glass.
this is ten layers of not good, if the antimatter were to breach this whole ship would be turned into a smoking pile of glass, and the crack was slowly expanding. " time to run " Nyla thought to herself, and run she did. alarm started to blare from backup systems giving warning of a core breach, running as fast as she could, she soon found herself running close behind the scrappers who at this time seemed slightly less interested in Nyla and more about saving themselves. tho when they got a close look at her bag , they decided to make this sprint profitable, each reaching and grabbing at Nyla in attempts to gain possession of the bag and all the valuables inside. one even managed to grab the strap, nearly knocking Nyla off balance, but her quick acting allowed her to claw the scrappers arm and rush past them, bursting out of the ship into the blinding desert
Quickly moving from the dark of the ship to the light of day nearly blinded Nyla as she merely prayed that the sand would still be beneath her foot as she continued to run, increasing the gap between her and the other scrappers. and just as Nyla's eyes began to adjust to the light of day, she looked back at the ship she had just escaped only to turn just in time to see it explode in a infinite light, as the shockwave soon caught up and sent her to the ground as layers of sand rained down upon her, nearly burying her under the golden dust. popping up to her feet as soon as she could, Nyla began running again as pieces of the ship's hull began to rain down around her. scraps of jagged metal rained all around as she kept a close eye on what piece was falling next as to dodge them. until finally everything fell silent.
seeing the pillar of smoke rising from the wreck, Nyla knew others would be arriving shortly , no doubt friends of the two she faced in the ship, who were currently attending their wounds in the distance. and Nyla knew they would be coming after her, being the only one of her kind on the planet, and the raiders having informants everywhere time was short before a group of hired guns would be knocking down the door of the abandoned ship she called home hidden away in a nearby scrap pile. Just as Nyla started running towards home ,and thinking of what she should grab for her escape off planet , the sand buggies could be heard approaching, time was not her friend today.
Bursting thru the door of the wrecked ship she called home, Nyla barely had time to stop and breath as she scrambled to grab as many of the valuables and important items she could and shove it into another awaiting bag. but with one ear perked to the door , Nyla soon heard the sound of raiders approaching. "time to go" visions of the last few years passed thru her mind as she dashed out of the door and began to make her way to the port town, she realised at this point, this is probably the best thing that could have happened to her, life is starting, adventure awaits, and there's nothing to hold her back.
the local town was bustling with all manner of creature and vendor, mostly scrap dealers and other such merchants who paid low prices and sold the items gained for grand proffits off world, however Nyla had one place she prefered, a small back alley shop that had helped her thru hard time, and it helped that they usually payed the best prices. walking thru the tattered cloth door the lizard man sat quietly behind the counter rummaging thru some papers. Nyla reached into her bag and pulled out one of the power module she had recovered from the ship, placing it silently on the counter. the man at the counter gave a puzzled but impressed look towards Nyla before examining it closer, looking more impressed the more he looked. the lizard man soon placed five banded stacks of money on the counter before giving a smile, knowing that she most likely wouldn't be back.
walking out of the tattered huch, Nyla made her way to what was the only maintained building on the planet, The starport, a large glistening tower allowing for safe landing of spacecraft, this was the first time Nyla had set foot in here since she arrived, and she was so glad it was going to be the last time. A attendant sitting behind glass nearby soon called out to her asking if she was here to book a ticket, as he offered her a seat on the flight that was just about to leave, Nyla nodded with a smile upon her face handing over a few stacks of money as the man behind the counter counted out the correct amount before a ticket printed out of a hole in the wall next to the window. With ticket in hand, Nyla boarded the small passenger flight and took her seat at the closest window.
The rumbling of engines soon gave way to the ship slowly lifting off and flying higher and higher, the structures below fading smaller and smaller, before long, she could see the scrap pile she used to call home, currently with black smoke towering upward, and soon the stars could be seen shining thruought leaving her home was sad, Nyla still had a smile, this place was her old life and she would never forget it, but now she was on her way to her new life where countless amazing things are possible, and that's what she was hoping for. Amazing
