Qui-Gon frowned as the Fahren dropped out of hyperspace a minute and forty seconds ahead of schedule. The stars that had been blurred to lines by their fast speed became separate dots again. A light began flashing in the cockpit and a message appeared on a readout screen in unfamiliar Ekash letters. The Fahren's late designer had been somewhat eccentric and ambitious, and had no qualms about writing all the ship's readouts in her local and exceptionally rare dialect, Jalul. With the help of Emalda and a basic translation program most ship systems had been translated into Basic but clearly this was one system they'd missed. He was reaching for the comm system when he discovered what warning the ship was flashing at him.
The bomb in the cargo bay exploded. The chair and floor underneath Qui-Gon vibrated with the shock. He grabbed on tight to the armrests, as safety belts whipped out of hidden compartments in the chair and lashed him in place. The belt ends hit the metal on the opposite side of the chair and locked in place with solid clunks. As the vibrations died down, so did the cockpit lighting. The backup systems didn't activate. Qui-Gon was alone in the darkness, pinned to a chair, with only the sound of his own breathing. Through the viewscreen he could see an extensive starscape, in which nothing was moving.
Qui-Gon looked for shadows passing in front of stars that might indicate a planet was nearby. He thought he might have seen a flicker or two but it was impossible to know if they had even reached the correct planetary system without the navicomputer's records. Qui-Gon reached out a hand into the darkness, bumping his fingers into the control console. He felt his way up the controls by touch and flipped a series of switches he hoped was the backup power supply. A shrill alarm sounded and six new lights on the control panel lit up. The cockpit's emergency lighting flickered on, casting the entire room in eerie purple light that deepened the shadows. The alarm continued to sound at a painfully high pitch and undecipherable data began to scroll across the readout screens.
Qui-Gon couldn't rise from the chair but he could swivel it. He turned to check the doors that led back into the cargo bay. Two air-tight bulkheads had slid down from the ceiling to reinforce the doors, protecting Qui-Gon but cutting him off from the others. He swivelled back to the controls and tried to turn off the alarm. The alarm continued but the sublight engines fired unexpectedly and unevenly. The stars in the viewscreen began to rotate clockwise before he managed to turn it off again. The ship continued to roll gently. The inertial dampeners were functioning well enough to protect the ship's occupants from the sensation of movement but he couldn't watch the spinning stars for long without feeling queasy.
He focused on the controls again and found the internal comm system, broadcasting throughout the ship.
"Ben, are you there?" he called. "There's been some kind of explosion."
The comm system blinked at him but there was no response.
"Emalda, this is Qui-Gon. Please respond."
He pulled his commlink out of his pocket and repeated the message. There was still no answer. He couldn't tell whether the comm system was malfunctioning or whether Ben and Emalda were in no condition to respond. He shut his eyes against the rolling starscape, ignoring the piercing shriek of the alarm, and reach for Ben's presence in the Force.
A flush of emotion twisted in Qui-Gon's stomach and he seized the armrests with a white-knuckled grip. He tried to calm himself but the feeling eluded his attempts, as if he was striking a rubber ball that kept bouncing away from his fist. His own emotions had never felt so inaccessible to him, which was his first clue. It wasn't his own fear and frustration he was sensing. He could feel both Ben and Emalda but couldn't distinguish which emotions were which. He focused on it and did his best to project a feeling of calm. He must have succeeded because the fear faded and with it the knot in Qui-Gon's stomach. The sensation was replaced with... amusement?
Reassured, Qui-Gon turned back to the problem at hand. He couldn't tell the exact nature of the damage done to the cargo bay but the Fahren's main computer, engines and power systems all seem to have been affected. The most immediate problem was that the computer was no longer translating its readouts into a language Qui-Gon could understand. Emalda would have been able to help but he had no way to communicate with her. The internal comm system was damaged and there was no response on the commlinks.
Qui-Gon moved to the controls for the external comm system and pressed a sequence of switches that should allow him to transmit. More Ekash writing flashed across the screen but he couldn't be sure he was transmitting properly.
"Mayday, mayday," he said. "This is the space vessel Fahren. There's been an explosion on board and we are in need of assistance. Repeat; mayday, mayday..."
He repeated the message at least four time, unable to tell if the signal was getting anywhere.
There was a thud as an object bounced off the viewscreen. One of the crates from the cargo bay drifted gently against the front of the ship. That meant that the cargo bay was open to space - any supplies not nailed down had just been lost. Qui-Gon had a sinking feeling that that would include some of the physical currency they had withdrawn from their New Republic account.
"Wonderful," said Qui-Gon to himself.
He tried to lean forward but was caught by the safety belts. He fumbled around the base of the belts but couldn't figure out how to release them. He wasn't quite desperate enough to resort to his lightsaber just yet. He leant forward on his elbows to study the controls again.
He couldn't use the hyperdrive without the navicomputer and he wasn't sure that reactivating the sublight engines was a good idea. The ship was still spinning from his first attempt. It was a pity that Anakin and his technical expertise had been left behind on the Wefhuk. Two new lights started flashing on the console and new data appeared on the readout. This time Qui-Gon recognised two words, one because he was familiar with it and the other because it wasn't a word from the Ekash language at all; Fahren and Armistice. He reached for the external comm system.
"This is the vessel Fahren. We are in need of assistance, is anybody out there?"
There was a high pitched whine and then a distorted voice entered the cockpit.
"Fahren, this is the Armistice. What kind of assistance do you require?"
"There has been an explosion onboard. The hull's breached and we've lost engines. Can you tow us to safety?"
"Fahren, this is Armistice. We can tow you as far as Canemone but no further."
"That would be more than acceptable," said Qui-Gon.
Qui-Gon reached down to fiddle with the safety belts, wondering if it was worth resorting to his lightsaber.
"Fahren, can you halt your spinning for us?"
"I'm afraid not. Our sublight engines are damaged. I don't want to risk re-igniting them."
"Alright, we'll see what we can do."
Qui-Gon waited, searching the viewscreen. There was nothing aside from the spinning stars. He had no instruments to tell him how far away the Armistice might be and he wasn't even sure what kind of ship it was. Four muffled clangs echoed through the Fahren's walls and Qui-Gon's stomach lurched as the ship's spin was abruptly stabilised. He peered out through the viewscreen but still could see nothing. As he watched, the edge of a hangar door appeared at the top of his screen. The door descended down the screen. There was nothing for Qui-Gon to do but watch as the Fahren was completely enclosed inside the hold of a far larger ship.
"Not exactly the tow I was expecting," Qui-Gon said to the empty cockpit. "But better than nothing."
He now had the interesting view of the closed hangar doors - which told him the Fahren had been taken into an older, heavily built ship. The doors were built to be functional and tough enough to take a serious bombardment but lacked a sense of military precision. Qui-Gon's overall impression was of a workhorse rather than a warship.
There was a rush of whistling air as the hold rapidly re-pressurised. The outside of the viewscreen fogged up, obscuring Qui-Gon's view of the hold. There was a metallic clunk and then an indistinct shadow climbed up to peer through the viewscreen from the outside. Qui-Gon leaned forward and the figure must have noticed the movement, because it cleared away the condensation. A stocky Kuhd in blue overalls waved cheerfully at him. The Jedi Master waved back, already questioning the wisdom of his decision.