CRASH
Adira regained consciousness after they entered the upper atmosphere. Her head lolled to the side, watching the alien fight the ship's controls. Warning sigils continued to flash and the ride was bumpy as hell. But at least they weren't spinning toward their doom or flying through the air in a million burning pieces.
Then Adira saw why they had stabilized.
The cockpit had detached from the main body of the ship like a mobile eject escape pod — MEEP for short. Human ships had those sometimes, but only the very wealthy or government could usually afford them. Most cruisers and transport ships didn't even have basic cryo floaters with beacons. If the ship went down, then usually so did the crew.
The ejection force must have knocked me out, she thought, sitting up straighter. The cockpit banked as the alien fought to maintain a visual on the rest of the ship, which looked like a charred piece of meat being flung through the air. Shredded bits of metal ripped from its smoking frame as it tumbled end over end toward the ground. No amount of patches would make that thing flyable again. So, why chase after it?
Adira watched as the alien punching bag seated next to her continued to pursue the rest of the falling ship. He knew something. He believed there was something of value still onboard.
Obscuring the "landing zone" below, however, was a thick grey wall of angry storm clouds, pulses of lightning flaring inside the dark expanse. Adira hated landing in storms, especially after a smooth ride through the void. Pilots who risked venturing into bad weather to make an early-bird bonus were practically begging for trouble. Maybe since the journey in had been so terrible, the landing wouldn't be so bad.
Sparks spat from the ceiling above, raining down on the console and their heads. Adira looked up in time to see flames burst to life, hungrily licking exposed chemicals and wires. She muttered a curse. Of course. How dare she be optimistic and jinx them.
The straps around her body slithered off. The alien pointed a finger at her, growled, and then gestured toward the back of the cockpit. Adira twisted in her seat to look behind. A wall panel slid open, revealing what she could only assume was a fire extinguisher. An evil-looking fire extinguisher. Why did everything on this ship have to have sharp edges and look like a bear trap waiting to bite your hand off? The alien barked at her. Adira was about to snap something back at him when the cockpit hit turbulence and she was thrown to the side.
The woman hit the wall with a heavy smack and slid to the floor groaning. Everything hurt. She tensed when she saw Goth-Boy's headless dead body slumped against the wall next to her.
Alarms squawked. The alien growled what sounded like several choice curses as they plunged into the storm.
As Adira crawled her way over to the extinguisher, the glare from outside faded. Black clouds obscured the viewport. The only light source that remained was the eerie crimson glow of the holograms.
Lugging the device with both hands, she dragged it around the craters shot into the floor. "Why… does this… stupid thing… weigh... so much!?" With a grunt she hefted it into her chair, coughing as smoke filled the small enclosure.
She looked up. How was she supposed to reach the fire? Adira scanned the contraption. And how did this thing even work? Rattling shudders jerked the pod about with increasing frequency and Adira held onto the chair to keep from being thrown off her feet again. Punching-Bag was busy fighting the storm. She gritted her teeth and grabbed the device, tugging and squeezing on anything that looked remotely like a button or trigger.
The device chirped and spat out blue foam all over her side of the control panel. "Whoops," said Adira, eyes meeting the alien's annoyed expression for a moment. She climbed onto her chair, praying that there wasn't any turbulence until she'd at least climbed back down. Her bruises probably had bruises by now.
The extinguisher hissed and gurgled, smothering the sizzling flames with the bluish foam. It dripped from the ceiling with heavy plops.
The alarms ceased screeching and Adira sighed in relief, climbing back down into her chair. The straps slid over her once more as the cockpit broke through the clouds. Streaks of grey rain hammered the vessel.
Why doesn't he pull up? Adira wondered. They could just track the ship from above the storm and land at the crash site. Unless… She watched him struggle with the controls. Bollocks. Something tied to the thrusters must have been damaged in the separation from the main hull. It was the only explanation she could think of.
Adira stared out the viewport, rain splattering against the window like an endless stream of bullets. Then she glanced down at the main hull, which appeared as a hexagonal blip on the holographic map. It was getting farther and farther away. Meanwhile, they were losing altitude, and fast.
A thin mountain suddenly appeared through the hail of rain. Both of them shouted in surprise, the alien swerving at the last second. Something metal snapped off the edge of the cockpit, throwing them off course. More peaks shot up from the gloom. The pod jerked and weaved.
Adira clutched her bound hands at her seat straps. "For Lucifer's sake, slow down!" she shouted. Were the brakes busted on this thing too?
Trees whipped past, wood shattering and metal screeching as the craft careened toward the ground. They hit the muddy earth with a lurching thud, the hull rattling like it was caught in a quake as it skidded over roots and rocks. Finally, they jolted to a stop, the front end of the ship smacking into a particularly large tree.
Rain pattered lightly against the hull. The two of them sat there in the crimson gloom, breathing heavily as they stared out into the dark. Adira glanced over at her companion. He slouched back against his seat, arms hanging loosely at his sides.
"We made it," she whispered, a part of her still not sure she believed it. With a choking heave, she retched up bile over the side of her seat.
Author's Note: The fire extinguisher weighed about 50 lbs/22 kg, give or take.