SECOND INSTALLMENT!
Yay! I'm happy right now, because I think this might actually work. I don't really have anything else to say, because I'm writing this just a few minutes after writing the last one. Not the story, but the italic bold.
Disclaimer: I don't own Trigun blah blah blah. I own Skye and all the spiffy stuff she names!
CHAPTER TWO"You need a name…" Skye pondered while looking over the ship.
She had explored every inch of the ship for over a week to make sure she was well stocked, and there were no hidden surprises. She was glad to find that there was at least five years worth of food aboard; there must have been a mission planned. She had come across the fact that no one had taken time to christen or name the ship, and that disappointed her.
"Hmmmmm…" Skye contemplated possible names, and then froze when the right one occurred to her. "How about Last Hope? Since if you drop out of the sky I'm a goner?"
She nodded her head in approval of the name she had given, and then thought about when to go into deep sleep. There was a bit of technology that was invented by her people just before Skye was born. It allowed the parents of an unborn child to decide when they want their child to stop aging. Only very rich families had access to the technology, and Skye was one of the first guinea pigs for it. She was injected with a serum at birth that would make her practically immortal. Her parents decided that the year 28 was the best to stop aging, and her 29th birthday would be coming soon. The drug was deemed unsafe a few years after, as it would promote a population problem. So only a hundred of her race were to be immortal.
I need sleep. Skye decided, and set the aircraft due course on autopilot.
She made sure that she wasn't going to run into any suns for at least three years, and hopped back to the deep sleep chamber.
"Nighty night." She said to no one as the door shut on her in the cramped compartment, and she fell asleep.
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Skye woke with a start, and stretched her hands in the air when the capsule door opened. With a few mindless grumblings, she made her way to the pilots seat. In front of her, she saw that everything was going just fine, and they had been on course for the past five years. Her nutrients had been properly inserted into her bloodstream, and everything was in check. No one had tried to make contact with her, or shoot at her. It had been a good five years.
She reached for the green coat that she had left over the chair next to hers, and noticed a significant weight that she would have been stupid to not notice before. She opened up the coat and gasped at the rows of small pockets and bullets that should have taken centuries to make. They were beautiful and silver, and each one looked very expensive. She gasped, and studied the gun that she had left mindlessly on the dashboard. It too was expensive looking, and she didn't realize how hand crafted it seemed. There was a small pattern engraved on the handle, and Skye had to look close to realize that it was a long line of Australian shepherds. Skye gave a slight smile. Her mother had done this.
"I notice that you to have no name."
Skye had a small obsession with naming things. She felt that everything had a personality that could be brought out with a simple thing like a name. It took only seconds to think of a sufficient name, and Skye whipped out some engraving tools from a small weapons closet off to the side.
After hours of work, the name was engraved in perfect cursive. Skye took a small amount of pride in one of her few skills. She smiled as she held it away from herself and read the name.
"Dark Star."
It was perfect.
It took only a few moments of peace for Skye to realize there was a red light blinking below the controls of the craft.
We go five years without a problem, and now the red light of doom goes off…
"Planet in direct course of Last Hope." A masculine computer voice said.
"I've never had a male computer before. Oh well." Skye answered.
She looked up out of the front to see that there was in fact a planet directly in front of her. In her engraving she hadn't taken notice. The ship did travel at five times the speed of light.
Skye took to voice commanding the ship. It was what she was used to, being captain of The Fifth Dimension for over nine years.
"Slow to normal rate, seek incoming planet information. Anything. Intelligent life, a docking bay perhaps?
"No docking bay, intelligent life found."
Damn did Skye like this new technology.
"Okay, how about a map of the landscape? Or maybe just a description if one is not available."
"No advanced technology. Only a description can be given. Desolate, and desert like. Most familiar planet resemblance: Dedrafte."
Captain Benderick clenched her teeth. The only planet she absolutely despised besides her own was Dedrafte. Not because of the people, oh no, because of the absolutely unbearable heat and desolate landscape. Skye hated the heat. Her home planet was made up of snow and ice, and that's the way she liked it. If it wasn't thickly wooded, forested, or covered in snow, Skye avoided it.
Her options were running low, though. She was running out of rations fast, the computer had given her more than she really needed while she was in deep sleep. The ship might last forever, but she wouldn't. Who knew when the next habitable planet would come along. If she could even call this new planet habitable.
"Damn it!" she spat.
The people, or whatever these life forms were, were not highly advanced technology wise. The thought of not being around her usual wirey atmosphere was almost sickening. She decided to land anyway, although the thought of the beings there not being friendly frightened her a bit. She laughed, and looked at the green coat still hanging over the chair.
I think I might have enough bullets to wipe out an entire planet anyhow.
Skye didn't doubt her skills as a gunslinger one bit. She had been trained since she was a little girl, due to her high status.
"Jasper!" Skye yelled at the computer. Yes, she had given him a name as well.
"Jasper, set course for landing on this planet. Crash if you have to, just don't scratch my gun."
"Of course, Captain." The computer said back.
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There were a few things Skye noticed as she was plummeting at record speed down to this dry planet. No one was shooting at her. This surprised her.
Maybe they really aren't advanced. Or they aren't mean. Maybe they're just stupid. Maybe they are advanced research-wise, and want to study me before killing me.
A million things were rushing through her mind. Another was that there didn't seem to be any life nearby. And by nearby, she meant miles of where she planned on landing. Had her computer malfunctioned? After all, it was just a prototype at the time she stole it. Well, not technically stole it, considering it was given to her.
"Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiittt!" Skye embraced herself for the landing that her ship had promised, and it was not denied.
She skipped and skidded to a screeching halt, traveling about twenty miles in the process. She coughed up dirt and spit blood from her mouth as she struggled to climb out of her small compartment. She grabbed a few days' worth of food, her six-shooter, and her green coat/bullet holder. Inch by inch, she squirmed from her rooted spot, saying goodbye to the last piece of technology that she planned to see for a very long time.
Captain Benderick didn't really know what to do. Her plan had been to land, and then see what happened. Stupid plan.
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She shivered a bit when she finally set foot on solid ground. This was not what she had been expecting to see when she first thought about being back on a planet. She thought she would be on a cold and snowy planet, Sargonoua, just the way she liked it. This was the exact opposite. There wasn't surface water for miles, she could see it.
"Damn it." She muttered, peeking into her canteen.
Suddenly, she saw a figure advancing on her, and it was doing so at great speed. It was slightly larger than an ostrich, but it had a neck going outward instead of up. Once it got closer, Skye became absolutely terrified. It looked like a mutant chicken, and Skye hated chickens. It got even closer, and she was even more terrified to see someone riding the chicken. It had no beak, and it's neck was covered by some sort of armor.
"Whoa there."
The man on it's back told the chicken to come to a stop, and it… Whinnied? Skye took a cautious step backwards, and waited for this man to speak again. He had ginger hair, and freckles seemingly splattered across his face. His overalls were hanging on by a thread, and he looked almost poverty-stricken when it came to hygiene.
"Who might you be, miss?" he asked, sticking out his hand.
It took Skye a moment to register the language this man was speaking, but once she recognized the strange dialect, she was happy to discover she spoke it fluently. Ah, the life of a spoiled duchess.
"My name is Naria Benderick." She said with what would seem like a slightly British accent, had she been recognized as a race from old earth.
She didn't bother to take the man's hand, as she did not know where it had been. She was quite used to living in a sterile environment. She also had no time to loose, and she didn't want to have to strike a deal with the man.
"How many miles to the next town?" she asked.
Then Skye smacked her head. How could she have been so stupid? She didn't know what kind of measurement system they used, or customs. She shouldn't have just assumed-
"You mean iles? I would say about fifty or so. Not far."
She opened her eyes. He thought she had just misspoken.
"Oh yes, iles. Sorry, I'm a bit wary from the heat. I'm also very sorry for what I'm about to do."
Skye kicked the man off of his chicken, and it barely flinched. Cheering in her head, because she had successfully avoided hurting the man and stirring the chicken, Skye hopped on it's back. She took off her canteen and remaining food supply and threw it to the man on the ground.
"Thank you for your kindness chicken-man!" she yelled, before kicking into the beast's side, and taking off.
"What in God's name is a chicken?" the man muttered, watching her fly off into the dessert suns.
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"Well, now I know why it's so damned hot." Skye grumbled, looking up into the sky.
Her and her new chicken had been traveling for what seemed like hours, and Skye now took the time to realize there were two suns above them.
"How you doing, chicken?" she asked, patting her animal's neck.
It grunted in reply, and Skye sighed.
We're never going to find a damn town.
She looked up, and saw a group of buildings in the distance. They were crude, but buildings nonetheless. She instantly perked up and kicked her chicken into high gear.
"Church-ho!" she yelled, once they were in the city.
She saw a small chapel at the end of a narrow street, and Skye decided this was the perfect time to develop faith. She had never been a religious person, but she knew that where there was a church, there were bound to be people that were. The way she figured, church faith merciful people food + shelter. God she loved math. She pulled up her hood, so she wouldn't draw attention to herself. Who knew how people would react to her. She didn't even know what normal was.
Skye tied up her chicken to a post outside the chapel, and was almost slammed into by a man in a red coat.
"Watch it!" she yelled silently, trying to push past.
"I'm sorry."
The man seemed to be very sad, as there were tears forming at the corner of his eyes. His hair was yellow-blonde, and it stuck straight up. He tried to hide his sadness with round, yellow glasses.
"I'm sorry, could you do me a favor?"
"Uh, sure."
Skye had a weak spot for crying people and favors. Then again, a lot of people do.
"If I give you 500$$, will you please bury my friend?"
He motioned to a huddled lump at the alter, and Skye almost cried out. He looked like a priest, and he was very much dead. There was a trail of blood from the door to his spot.
"Of course." She said, not taking the time to wonder what in the hell a double dollar was.
The man left, and Skye turned her attention to the large cross he had over his back. It looked heavy.
Probably full of mercy.
She chuckled to herself and walked silently up to the alter. The man was freshly dead, and he also looked sad. His face was curved into a frown, and he had cheeks stained with tears.
Did he have regrets?
Suddenly a giant wave of pity swept over her, and she gulped.
"Why am I such a damned nice person?" she asked, looking up.
Knowing full well that what she was about to do would put her out of commission for quite some time, Skye took a deep breath. She placed her hands on the priest's shoulders and held tight, digging into his almost dead sub-conscious. She concentrated, bringing back bits and pieces of his mind, and after hours of horrible work and sweat, he took his first breath of life.
"Ow." Skye muttered, falling backwards onto the floor and panting.
She noticed the sudden alarm radiating off of the ex-corpse, and Skye cursed to herself.
"Don't worry," She cooed, "I only brought your mind back to work. All of your organs are in check, but it will take a few days for you to be able to speak and walk again."
Suddenly, relief swept over the man. Skye could sense it. It soon overcame her, and she collapsed on the floor again.
Yesssss, an actual Trigun character is in the story! I should warn you that this IS going to EVENTUALLY be a romance, but NOT a Wolfwood or Vash one. Hint hint.