Chapter One
The atmosphere in cabin was excited and happy despite the stuffy temperature, the mass of hushed voices rolled together creating a low buzz. A girl with fiery red curly hair looked around the filled cabin; everyone in there had a smile on their faces except the girl who instead stared constantly out of the window only occasionally changing her position to look around the cabin. She played absentmindedly with a ring that hung around her neck on an old leather chain, her head rested back on the worn headrest of the chair she was sat on, she was calm and relaxed and simply letting her mind wander to thoughts far away from where she was now. All at once everything went crazy, a deafening boom sounded through the cabin and a blinding light ripped through the small space the whole ship shook, everyone sat in the cabin was forced back hard into their seats and as soon as that had happened they had been jolted forward then back again, the red headed girls face snapped to look out of the window and she was horrified to see that the planet below them was ablaze huge craters seemed to form in the planet's surface even as she looked out of the window, the surface of the planet was burning brighter and brighter. What alarmed the girl more however was the ships movements by looking out of the window she could see the ships movements were scarily uncontrolled and it seemed that they were drifting towards the fire engulfed planet. She tore her eyes away from the window and looked into the cabin all the white lighting had been lost and had been replaced by the eary red emergency lighting and the sound of an alarm sounded though it sounded far off and distant. Her mind snapped back shifted suddenly her mind focused on what she could do to help, she reached down to the seat belt and her fingers fumbled almost clumsily with the metal buckle. She pulled it open and pulled the seatbelt apart, the ship was still moving in harsh jolts as the girl stood up she unsteadily made her way out past the three people who were sat next to her to the isle. She ignored the odd and scared looks the three gave her as she stumbled past and into the isle, she forced herself not to look back down the ship to the rear where she knew the ship had been badly damaged her mind focused on getting to the captain to see what was wrong.
She fought her way up the isle her hands gripping at the back of people's seats as the ship through her this way and that, after what seemed like an eternity the girl reached the cockpit door, she looked at the automated keypad and simply typed in 1234 a red light appeared the girl groaned inwardly and very quickly raked a hand hard across her face, she knew all she had to do was brake the keypad and the door would open, after all the ship was old and only had some of the most basic systems, she didn't however want to brake the keypad as that would take time and effort. She bent her arm and gripped her wrist with her other hand she then slammed her elbow into the keypad once, twice, three times, it seemed to have little effect. She continued to do this for what must have been a solid thirty seconds before the keypad seemed to show any sign of damage, she continued with the assault on the small piece of equipment eventually the keypad caved inwards a small sizzling sound came out of the small contraption and the girl watched in relief as the door slid open. The girl staggered in and the sight she saw made her stomach lurch. The captain was slumped over the controls blood pouring from a wound in his head, the girl put a hand on the captains shoulder and pulled the man back, his body fell back in his seat and his head rolled back his wide open eyes stared up at her glassy and unseeing. The girl turned to the co-pilot who was slumped back in the chair; she gently rolled his head slightly to the left and placed two fingers on his neck searching for a pulse. A small relived sigh escaped her lips as she felt a strong heartbeat beneath her fingers; she turned his head back towards her and firmly and repetitively slapped him on his cheek after a few short moments his eyes started to move beneath his eyelids and then his eyes snapped open alert and pained. He sat up in his chair, and looked to his right and a pained expression crossed his face at the sight of his captain's body. His eyes then snapped to the girl before him. "What happened?" he asked his voice was gravely and dry and he coughed gently. The girl stared at him before replying "honestly I don't know but that doesn't matter right now, we need to stabilise the ship." "Who are you?" the co-pilot asked his voice less gravely but the confusion was evident in his voice. The girl replied with "someone who can help", as soon as the words set in the co-pilot sat bolt upright and turned to his instruments, his eyes scanning them quickly. Whilst he assessed the ships condition she pushed the captain's body from the chair and took a seat herself, she looked down at the body of the captain and closed her eyes and murmured a prayer to the gods. She was however soon focusing on the instruments in front of her and having quickly to the point conversations with the co-pilot who was now the captain of this ship. Ten minutes later between the two of them they had managed to stabilise the crippled ship and were flying slowly away from the planet.