Well, here it is: Chapter 10! Enjoy!
Sly Cooper and the Space Thieves
Chapter 10- Asteroids
"And that's how it happened: Lefwee became shark bait, and Bentley and Penelope became quite an item." Sly had just finished telling Carmelita of his adventure in Blood Bath Bay in his private room. He decided that while they were traveling to Dolphus, he would tell her that story. She seemed to enjoy it. "Wow. I can't believe I missed all that back on Earth! I was so busy with searching for you that I didn't think to look in a place like that." "To tell you the truth: I missed you too," Sly said with a warm smile. Carmelita blushed as Sly gave her another passionate kiss.
They were enjoying themselves for an hour before they were rudely interrupted. "Sly, you and Carmelita better get back on the bridge, pronto! We are approaching the Ganor star system!" They broke apart and began to walk to the bridge hand-in-hand. "We're on our way, Bentley." They arrived 3 minutes later beheld quite a wonder: Ganor.
It was exactly as Chief Rajz had described it. There was indeed a blue sun in the middle of the system. And there were 5 beautiful planets: 1 looked like a planet sized snowball; another resembled an orange with a hint of red, while two others almost look like twin black marbles. The last one, the one they were searching for, was bigger than the rest. It was as blue as the Earth's oceans and had what appeared to be a ring of ice around its atmosphere. "There it is: Dolphus! It will take us only 10 minutes to reach it. That is if we can get through THAT!" Bentley was pointing to the one thing that separated the gang from their destination; an asteroid field.
It was huge; there were millions of rocks that came in all sizes, including their ship's! Needless to say, it will be a miracle to get through it. "We will get through it, pal. Murray, do you think you can handle this?" Murray gave a salute and replied, "You can count on me, Sly!" Sly was pleased in his friend's confidence. Carmelita was amused the way he responded. "He is always excited for a challenge," Sly told her when he saw her expression. Sly turned towards Panda King. "Panda King, I'll need you to fire the plasma turrets at any asteroids that might want to crush us." "A task I am willing to comply," he said as he activated the turrets. "Everyone else, strap your selves down tight; this is going be a bumpy ride. Take us in, Murray!" As soon as Sly gave the word, Murray punched it and the ship went in the asteroid field.
It was like riding a roller coaster with projectiles coming at you from everywhere! Murray was moving the ship left and right, up and down, while making a few sharp turns at a few large rocks. As Murray moved the ship, Panda King was doing a hell of a job blasting those asteroids. He quickly got the hang of the plasma turret controls and blew rocks that came near. Three big rocks came to ship from the left, and blasted them all away within seconds. He seemed to be enjoying himself as he blew away ten more asteroids near the engines. This continued for about a few minutes before the asteroid field began to thin out. "We're almost through everybody! Just that really big one left to go!" When he said it was big, it was an understatement.
It was 5 times as big as their ship, and it was closing in fast! "Oh man! I can't get around that monster!" "It is far too large for the plasma turrets, I cannot destroy it!" Panda King and Murray are both at a loss as to what to do. "It is going to crush us!" Penelope screamed as the big rock got closer, while covering her face. "It will hit us in 20 seconds! Orders, Sly!" Sly saw that this was going to be a real close one. He thought for a few seconds before he got an idea; a crazy one. "Alright, here is what we have to do. Bentley and Penelope, bring the shields up to full power and keep it up as long as you can. Murray, move the ship so that the nose is pointing right above the asteroid. When I tell you to, fire the emergency boosters at maximum power."
Everyone understood their orders and carried them out. "Shields at 100" "The ship is pointing exactly where you want it too. Standing by to fire boosters." Sly nodded and waited for the right moment to move. Carmelita looked a little afraid, but she trusted his judgment and held on tight to her seat. 15 seconds until impact…10… "NOW!"
Murray activated the emergency boosters at that moment and the ship blasted forward with a jolt. Everyone was holding on tight. 'Almost there…' Sly thought as the ship approached the top of the asteroid. The Dragon Thief just managed to fly over it with just a small bump near the engine area. Thanks to the shields, they did not receive any damage. And then they have done it; they made it through the asteroid field. Sly and the others were relieved that they got through without injuries. However, as soon as the ship was on the other side, all the lights went out!
"Bentley, what happened?" "Sorry Sly, we are out of power. Using the boosters at maximum power and the shields drained all energy from the zinthor crystal power core. Basically, we're dead in the water." Sly sighed. He knew that last maneuver was risky, but he didn't expect to lose all power. "That is not our only worry…" "What else could go wrong?" Carmelita asked that in frustration. "Well… We seem to be caught in the gravity pull of that nearby planet and we're beginning to fall down to the surface!"
He was right; the Dragon Thief was plummeting towards the white planet they have seen earlier. "EVERYONE BRACE FOR IMPACT!" The ship began to burn up in the planet's atmosphere and without power, they can't get free. The ship continued to descend at an alarming rate until the surface was in sight. Before anyone could get a good look, the metallic vessel crashed with a loud bang! The Dragon Thief lay there on the ground, which looked as white as the atmosphere. Sly and the gang were all knocked unconscious from the impact. Outside the crash site, two shadowed creatures stared at it in amazement from under their hiding place in the snow.