Allen was having a strange dream. He dreamed he was falling gently through the clouds, the wind whistling in his ears. As he was falling, Allen heard a faint voice, calling his name. The voice grew louder and more insistent.
"allen...allen...allen...Allen...ALLEN!
Allen slowly opened his eyes and slowly looked around. Clouds were screaming past the windows and the ground was quickly rushing up to meet them. He yawned and stretched. "What's going on?" he asked sleepily.
Isis stared at him dumbfounded. "What does it look like?" she shouted.
"So do something about it," Allen replied simply.
"WHAT DO YOU THINK I HAVE BEEN DOING?" Isis screamed. Allen looked over and found Steve dead asleep in the pilot seat. Allen reached over and hit him in the head. "Steve, first wake up," Allen said. Steve quickly opened his eyes and looked around. He stretched and sat up. "I was having a nice nap," he complained. Allen pointed Steve gazed out the window, then to the altimeter, which quickly flew past 1000 meters.
"YOU IDIOTS ARE UNBELIEVABLE!" Isis screamed. Steve calmly reached over and turned off the holo display. He pulled back on the flight stick and was mildly surprised to find no response. "Hey, I think something is broken," he said.
"You think?" Allen replied, quickly switching to backup manual controls. Steve hit a few buttons and pulled back on the flight stick again. The shuttle responded sluggishly and the stick vibrated violently in Steve's hands. "Just a warning, this might be a little rough," he cautioned. They both put on their helmets and sealed their armor.
Allen switched his monitor to the interior camera and saw their passenger still taped to his chair and blissfully asleep. On a whim, Allen picked up the microphone and keyed the internal speakers. "Attention passenger. Due to unforeseen circumstances, we are now plummeting to our doom. Please assume the universal crash position: Stick your head between your legs and kiss your bum goodbye. That is all."
As Allen replaced the microphone, Steve nodded in agreement. "Well done," he said as he wrestled with the unresponsive controls and struggled to get the shuttle somewhat level. "Okay, we're going to do this the hard way," he said.
"The hard way?" Allen asked. "What other way is there?"
Steve ignored him and said, "When I tell you, hit the braking thrusters, shift the engines to full reverse, and deploy the drag chute. I'm going to pull back on the stick and deploy the braking flapsokaydoitnow!"
Allen hit the braking thrusters and threw the main engines to full reverse as Steve pulled back on the flight stick as hard as he could. At that instant, several things happened at once. First, the engines exploded under the strain from going from full forward to full reverse. Second, the drag chute deployed and was immediately torn off because the shuttle's airspeed was too fast. Third, the flight stick broke in half, sending Steve backwards out of his chair. And finally, the braking thrusters stopped the forward momentum of the shuttle, sending Steve crashing into the forward viewport. The shuttle dropped the last few meters to the ground and plowed a deep trench in the ground for a kilometer before stopping.
When they finally stopped moving, Allen painfully peeled himself off the forward console. He carefully checked himself over and was surprised to find no major injuries, just cuts and bruises.
"A little help please?" Steve had been thrown head first through the forward viewport and he was half way stuck in the glass. After a small effort, Allen pulled Steve back into the ruined shuttle. Steve brushed himself off and cracked his neck. "That wasn't so bad was it?"
"Nah, not at all," Allen said sarcastically. He went back to his seat and performed a quick systems check. "Well, the bad news is the shuttle isn't space worthy anymore."
"And the good news?" Steve asked.
"The good news is the emergency systems still work. We have power and if we can dig it out enough, the shuttle will fly, but only on maneuvering thrusters," Allen said.
Steve shrugged and said, "Well, that's not so bad then. Let's see what the wifey has to say," and switched the holo projector on. It flickered to life and sparks shot out of the access panel before Isis appeared. Needless to say, she was furious. "I don't even know what to say right now," she seethed.
"How about starting with where we are and how we got here," Allen suggested. Isis took several minutes to calm down and nodded. "As I'm sure you are aware, we performed a random Slipspace jump from Omega 4. While you both were comatose, the ship was forced from Slipspace by the gravity well of this planet. The forceful exit from Slipspace caused and emergency shutdown of the shuttle's systems and we were pulled into the atmosphere of this planet."
Steve crossed his arms and nodded his head, looking mildly amused. "So where are we?" he asked. Lines of data began scrolling across Isis' form. "Judging from our exit vector from Omega 4, calculating the shuttle's speed and time in Slipspace, factoring in complicated mathematic calculations the two of you will never understand, and the final conclusion is...I have no idea."
"You don't know?" Steve asked.
"I think she insulted us somewhere in there," Allen pointed out. Steve nodded and said, "You're probably right."
"That's okay. I hate math anyway," Allen said.
"It wasn't my best subject either," Steve agreed. Isis rolled her eyes. "Why do I put up with you two?" she asked.
"Because you love us," Steve smiled stupidly.
"Yeah, I'd 'love' to throttle the both of you," Isis grumbled.
"Hey! What did I do?" Allen whined.
"Guilt by association stupid," Steve chided.
"ENOUGH!" Isis shouted and the two Spartans clammed up. When it was quiet, Isis continued. "While we were falling to our deaths, I managed to perform a cursory sensor search of this planet. Given where we landed, there is a settlement about five kilometers east of here."
"Um, which way is five kilometers east?" Steve asked, pointing in every direction.
"The direction the sun rises, duh," Allen retorted.
"Yeah, but what if the sun rises differently on this planet?" Steve asked.
"Then that direction is east," Allen explained. Steve frowned. "How do you figure that?" he asked.
"Because the sun always rises in the east!" Allen exclaimed. Steve opened his mouth to argue, but Isis cut him off. "That way is east," she said and pointed. "Five kilometers in that direction."