Chapter 003
Author's Notes:
I would like to thank all who have read this far into my story, I probably should have added an authors note to the first chapter but thought maybe let my work speak first and catch people's interest before I say anything. This is my very first fanfic and I am happy to finally be able to get this idea I've had of having Aliens in the Avatar: the Last Airbender universe out. For a long time I've periodically come to this website hoping someone had a similar idea and wrote a fanfic about it but sadly I haven't seen too many attempts at it so I decided to give it a shot myself and focus on my favorite character from the show. I have to say what started out as a simple what if idea I came up with at work kind of blossomed into a bit of an obsession.
This fanfic took inspiration from various sources such as Star Trek, Farscape, Star Wars, Star Gate and Babylon 5. All settings outside of the Avatar world are completely original along with the various Alien OC's, species and groups that appear are created by me and borrowed from my own original world building projects that I slightly altered for this story. Azula and all characters associated with ATLA belong to their respected owners.
I will try to upload more chapters whenever I can so their is no fixed schedule for updates due to my day job and things that go on in everyday life. I'd also like to apologize to those that stuck around waiting for an update for awhile, I wanted to upload this chapter sooner but caught covid while working so that delayed its completion. I hope you continue to follow this story and comment what you think!
Azula rolled her eyes as she sat in her cell listening as Dr. Lectro repeated everything she explained to him in order to understand it, "So…this chi substance flows through the body and you are capable of using this energy to just summon fire without a fuel source?"
"Chi is the fuel." She corrected in annoyance.
"Right." He taps this information away on his hand held device, "And some people are born with this ability and others are not. Correct?"
"Correct."
"And you are only capable of generating fire?"
Azula nodded leaving lightning out of her explanation. She would need an ace up her sleeve should something go wrong.
"And you can only bend one of the four elements. No one can manipulate more than one?"
"Correct." She said quickly leaving no room for doubt on the matter. The last thing she needs is for them to know about the Avatar. It may spark their interest enough to want to seek him out. She still didn't know what the Crimson Storm was or who they held their allegiance for.
Lectro finished tapping away at his tablet, "Absolutely fascinating stuff! What I'd give to run some tests."
Angara's head shot up from where she leaned up against the wall, "Not happening. She stays in the cell, captain's orders."
"Oh come on, you can't expect me to collect all this data and just not run some tests! I gotta find out the science behind this!"
"Then include it in your report. The captain will find you another one to take to the lab. One with a little less attitude."
Azula cocked her head towards Angara, a look of annoyance plastered across her features, "Excuse me?"
Angara replied with indifference, "You're excused, princess."
Her eyes widened a bit. How did they know she was royalty? Did she let something slip in their exchange or is this just another crass comment from this rude individual. She remained silent not acknowledging the comment however Angara noticed the subtle reaction.
"So you are a princess? Figured you were some kind of royalty, given how you carry yourself. Although, I would've expected a princess to dress the part." Angara said with a chuckle while gesturing to Azula's disheveled appearance.
"So why are you dressed like some street urchin? You run away from home because you didn't like who daddy wanted you to marry?"
Azula shot up from her seat, anger flowing through her. They were right, she is a princess and she will not be disrespected by some thug too cowardly to show their face, "I'd watch my tone if I were you." Her voice dripped with malice.
Angara stopped leaning against the wall and approached the cell bars, "Or what?"
Lectro, now sensing the tension between them, decided to step in between them.
"Angara." he said in a measured tone trying to muster as much authority as the captain, "Remember what we said about playing nice with others."
Azula's mouth curled up after hearing this, perhaps she can provoke a reaction out of them and have some fun while in this cell. They seemed too fascinated with her bending to allow Angara to do anything to her.
"Perhaps you should listen to him. After all, you'll probably get in trouble with your captain if you try to go any further with this. Or even worse become embarrassed once I show you some manners on how to properly speak to royalty."
Lectro turned to her shaking his head indicating for her to not escalate the situation further.
A distorted metallic mocking laugh came from Angara, "That's funny, princess. Talking like that to the person who put your ass in this cell to begin with."
"I will admit that, yes, you did take me down. But that was only because I was momentarily overwhelmed by the realization that aliens exist. Given a fair fight I'd have no doubt that I'd make short work of you."
Angara pushed Lectro out of the way as she approached the cell, "Is that right? Then let's get you out of this cell and see if you can put your money where your mouth is!"
"Uh…but what about her staying put?" Lectro asked.
"Shut it Doc." she ordered without ever taking their gaze away from the Princess.
Before their verbal battle could continue the lights dimmed red and the ear piercing alarm returned catching everyone's attention.
"Well…your lucky day. Duty calls." Angara turned away and marched down the corridor, "Doc stay with the prisoner while I go see what's going on."
"But she's not a prisoner!" Lectro shouted as the door slid close behind them. He turned to Azula and gave a sheepish smile, "You're not a prisoner."
"If I'm not a prisoner then let me out of here!" Azula banged on the luminous barrier with her cuffs.
"This is probably the safest place on the ship for you. Don't worry we'll be fine, the captain will take care of this and nothing bad will happen." They were both rocked side to side by an explosion.
"Hull breach! Deck seven!" a bridge officer announced as an explosion rocked the ship from side to side.
"What happened to the shields?" My'Rell demanded as another explosion rocked the vessel.
"Offline! Again!" Commander Shaul answered, "The shield generator still hasn't been properly repaired!"
"Have we located that ship?"
"Enemy vessel located! Putting it on screen now!" a bridge officer sent an image to the main holographic screen of a large bulbous green vessel covered in cannons drifting between the planet and the moon miles away from the SeCore. A screaming red skull painted proudly on its port side.
My'Rell recognized this vessel anywhere. SkyBurner, the Death's Head mercenary group's prized flagship. The Crimson Storm has fought the Death's Head before in petty squabbles over clients and territory but it had never escalated into a full scale battle between capital ships.
The volley of explosions stopped as suddenly as they happened.
"They're hailing us, captain!" the helmsman announced.
"On screen. Let's see what these bastards want. Get that shield generator back online, start charging the Laz gun and have all weapons ready to fire!"
My'Rell readjusted herself making herself look as dignified as possible as the image of the SkyBurner was replaced by a video feed of a hunched over creature covered in slimy green skin, a long head with four red eyes, a chin covered in tendrils, dressed in a dark green uniform and seated in a captains chair of its own.
"Captain My'Rell." The creature croaked out, his gravelly voice dripping with contempt for the person he addressed.
"Captain Duratix. Is there a reason why you're firing on my ship? I know we've never gotten along but I hardly think this is any way to behave."
"The Death's Head is just giving payback for the lives lost on Pavalen-five."
My'Rell narrowed her eyes, "My condolences Duratix, but we were on a job that day and your client at the time was causing trouble for ours. I can't help if your men were caught in the crossfire. You know how mercenary work is."
The leader of the Death's Head sneered, his four nostrils flaring, "I am aware."
Commander Shaul approached the captain and discreetly informed her that weapons were back online, "So is that what this is? Revenge? And here I thought you were just a shrewd businessman who didn't let emotions get in the way."
Duratix let out a croaking laugh, "Oh but I am a businessman. The whole reason I am even speaking to you now is to conduct a trade."
"Trade?" My'Rell was slightly taken aback by this but decided to hear him out, only to stall for time for the shield generator to come back on, "What do you have in mind?"
Duratix leaned back, stroking his tendrils with a three clawed hand, "You have something that our current client wants, the fabricator. Give it to me and I will spare your ship."
My'Rell was shocked that he knew she was in possession of such a rare piece of equipment. They had only just recently acquired it after raiding a pirate hideout and taking it for the storm. Now she was wondering how the Death's Head got word of it.
"I don't know what you are talking about. You think I'd be working as a mercenary if I had one of those?"
"Don't play dumb with me My'Rell, we know you have it. We were scouting that pirate hideout for weeks to take that fabricator for our client."
That explains that then, My'Rell saw no reason to keep up the lie now, "Well Duratix, all I can say is that you should have gotten to it first. The Crimson Storm isn't going to surrender anything to you."
Duratix laughed at her defiance, "I was hoping you'd say that, after all I never had any intention of sparing your ship and crew. After all, the client is paying double for your head."
With the knowledge that Duratix so carelessly revealed in his hubris My'Rell went through a mental list of the various individuals and organizations that want her and her crew dead but decided that that was best left for a different time. Now she had to focus on the immediate threat.
"Reroute power to shields and fire all batteries!" She commanded.
Azula sat on the bed in a meditative posture breathing in and out steadily trying to regain the strength of her inner flame, however it still felt just as weak now as it did before, but the constant rocking and sounds of explosions emanating from the walls made focusing difficult. Lectro paced about outside of her cell typing away at his tablet.
Azula didn't know if his device was capable of telling him what was going on or if he was just taping away to keep his mind occupied. Either way it was contributing to her annoyance.
"Can you stop pacing? It's distracting."
Lectro halted in his tracks, taken by surprise by her sudden comment, "What?! Oh sorry. I always do that when a battle happens. Not really a soldier so I would much rather be in the lab now but I'd rather not leave you alone here."
"How touching." The sarcasm in her voice was not lost on him.
Azula knew he wasn't staying because of some moral obligation, only to be sure his latest science experiment didn't get loose and wander off.
She could wonder about this later as another explosion rocked her cell, "I take it the pirates that made your ship crash are back."
Lectro grabbed hold of the wall to stabilize himself, "Looks like it, and it seems they have more firepower this time around."
"This ship will be able to withstand their assault, right?" Azula asked, wanting confirmation that she wasn't trapped on a sinking boat.
"Of course! She may be old but the SeCore is the toughest warship around. She's walked away from worse." He reassured her with confidence that was soon dashed away after a loud crash was heard that threw them both to the floor.
"Direct hit on decks four and five!" A bridge officer called out.
"What happened to our shields?!" My'Rell demanded after recovering from the blow.
"Shields are offline again!" Commander Shaul informed her.
My'Rell cursed to herself, "Get engineering on the line and tell them to do whatever that have to to get that shield back on!" She turned to the helmsman as another explosion rocked the compartment, "Take us closer to the planet!"
As per her command the SeCore shifted downward as torpedoes flew past missing their mark or were shot down by point defense turrets while cannon blasts darted past or collided with the ship's hull. My'Rell knew she risked the ship crashing again but the planet's atmosphere and gravity would confuse the enemy torpedoes targeting systems, at least until they are recalibrated for atmosphere combat. Any advantage to minimize damage dealt by the enemy is welcomed.
After a few minutes of torpedo barrages missing their marks the SkyBurner ceased its assault. Still in its drifting position large doors on its side slid open where a dozen of U-shaped fighters flew out boosting towards the direction of the SeCore along with several larger tube shaped ships accompanying them.
"Enemy ship scattering fighters!" Another bridge officer announced. The screens flooded with red lights displaying hostile space craft. Several of the fighters getting close enough to land bombing runs on several of the SeCore's cannons.
"Get every fighter available off the ground and ready to intercept!"
With the shields down and their weapons being targeted there was little to stop Duratix's crew from boarding the SeCore. He wouldn't risk completely destroying the ship with their target still on board. There was no doubt in her mind that the fighters were probably escorting boarding craft.
Within moments the SeCore's own fighters were deployed from the hangars along its length. Ships boosted towards each other firing plasma beams and missiles at one another from vast distances colliding into each other turning the space between the ship's into one of explosions and debris before dog fights began to ensue with both sides taking casualties. The Death's Head fighters outnumbered the Crimson Storm however their ship's were cheaper and easier to destroy while the Crimson Storm's fighters were more robust and heavily armed but the cheaper fighters proved to be overwhelming as one by one they were destroyed.
The sharp nose of the tube ships pierced the SeCore and burrowing themselves firmly into the hull. One of which bored straight through the wall of one of the many cells of the detention center, the sudden impact throwing both Dr. Lectro and Azula to the floor.
Dr. Lectro fumbled back to his feet regaining some semblance of what just happened. He saw that at the far end of the corridor a large cone shaped structure poked out of one of the cells.
"Y-you know…maybe the detention center isn't the safest place for you."
"Oh really?" Azula deadpanned as she recovered from the fall.
Lectro dropped his tablet and began typing away at the panel on the wall that dropped the luminous barrier and retracted the angular bars. Azula dashed out of the cell, past Lectro's attempt to help her out, pausing when she saw the structure. She didn't bother questioning what it was, all she knew was that it wasn't conducive to her survival.
With a loud hiss the structure began to open like a mechanical flower. Lectro grabbed her shoulder, upholstered a plasma pistol from his side and began pulling her down towards the exit. She would normally not allow anyone to touch her however this was a special situation and she began running with him to the door as humanoid shapes exited the craft clad in dark green armor and began firing at them both.
Azula instinctively ducked out of the way, sending an arc of flames towards them with a sweeping kick. Her weaker orange fire barely reached them but caught them off guard enough for them to escape where Lectro locked the door behind them.
"Who were they?" Azula demanded.
"By the look of their uniforms I'd say Death's Head." Lectro didn't go any further and instead motioned her to follow down the corridor away from the enemy craft.
Having nowhere left to go Azula followed him as they jogged down the corridor past other alien crew members scrambling to react to being boarded. As they were traversing the ship she could feel her inner flame returning to her, the strength of her fire growing with each passing moment. Her confidence grew with it.
"Where exactly are we going?"
"My lab. We can hunker down in there for a while while the rest of the crew deals with the intruders."
"Can you at least get these cuffs off?" she held up her cuffed hands for emphasis.
"I would…but I don't have the keys to them."
"Oh well that's just great." she growled out, the sarcasm was not lost on Lectro.
She continued following him weathering through the hard turbulence, falling multiple times into the padding on the walls but managed to keep up with the lizard man.
"We're getting close! My lab is coming up on this next turn."
As they got closer to a two way intersection two crew members came down only to be gunned down by bolts of red energy coming down the opposite end causing both Lectro and Azula to pause. Several Death's Head soldiers appeared from the corridor and began firing at the two. They both retreated behind the corridor with Lectro firing back at them.
"Okay…the lab might not be an option anymore."
"What now?"
The scientist thought to himself for a moment as they were going down another hallway, "I'll take you to one of the escape pods and try and shoot you back to the planet."
An explosion stopped them with wires being knocked loose from the walls and pipes spewing out steam blocking their path. On the opposite end of the hall they heard more blaster fire coming their way.
At the end of the hall they witnessed two Death's Head soldiers retreating while firing at an unknown assailant, one was struck in the chest and went down while the body of a third one flew into the last soldier throwing them against the corner of the corridor.
Azula prepared herself for whatever it was that could have taken them out but found that she could only take a defensive stance with her hands still bound, Lectro pointing his weapon down the hall as well shaking in anticipation clearly not wanting to deal with this situation.
What emerged from the corridor was a nine foot tall creature clad in gunmetal gray and silver metal plating that was integrated into his body making him look more like a machine than a man, or the closest thing to a man that exists on this ship. His face was somewhat human-like except for the metal plates that seemed to be welded on to his grayish purple skin and lack of a visible nose. The most striking feature being the curved red metal mohawk going down the center of his head.
On his shoulder sat a short squat toad like creature dressed in a jumpsuit with webbed hands and feet, a wide head with large bulging yellow eyes, faded blue moist skin, a series of spiked fins running down its head that was blue in coloration, and a wide grin filled with fang like teeth, one of which was made of gold.
Azula kept her gaze hard as these new individuals turned to them, the larger one holding a much larger weapon than the others with the smaller creature holding a smaller yet still large gun. The metal individual's gaze was equally as hard due to what looked like goggle frames welded around his eyes. She didn't know who he was aligned with and was ready to fight back if necessary.
She was ready to make the first strike until Lectro lowered his weapon and proudly exclaimed, "Sev! Gax! Thank whatever divine force that exists that we ran into you two!"
The metal giants' hard edged brow softened as he greeted the lizard man in a jovial manner, "Lectro! Glad to see you're still kicking!"
"I'm not surprised you are! What with that armored plating of yours and whatever firepower Gax is packing."
The smaller creature known as Gax snickered in a way Azula could only describe as unhinged.
Sev approached, his thunderous footsteps echoing down the hall, and with each passing step Azula witnessed just how large this being was compared to her with his mohawk almost touching the ceiling of the corridors.
"Who's this?" He asked in a rather crude manner pointing a long metal claw towards the princess.
"This is Azula, a princess from the planet below." Lectro introduced quickly.
"The girl that was shooting fire from her hands down in hanger three?"
"The very same." Azula answered, easing out of a defensive stance.
A wide grin plastered his face with a chuckle, "Sweet."
"Azula, this is Sevran and Gax, our weapons specialists."
"You can call me Sev."
"GUMBA WAYA CHUTA!" Gax said in a loud shrill voice.
"What?" Azula asked in confusion at the creature's choice of words.
Lectro leaned in closer to her pointing to the device in both of their ears, "The translators don't really pick up whatever language he speaks very well."
Sev marched past them, "So, you enjoying your first day on the job, your highness?"
"Excuse me?" Azula followed him rather than Lectro, mostly for Sevran's more imposing figure, confused as to what he meant by his question.
Lectro jogged to keep up with them, "Actually she's not a member of the crew. The Captain wanted her to be returned to the planet's surface."
"Really?" He sounded shocked as a squad of enemies appeared from a corner but were immediately mowed down by Sev's large rapid fire weapon, "Thought she'd be interested in having someone who could shoot fireballs as a mercenary."
Gax said something in his strange language that seemed like he agreed with him as he fired down another hall hitting several intruders.
"I'm not some commodity." Azula interrupted them, "And as interesting as your strange organization is, I do not wish to be used as someone's attack dog."
"See, she doesn't even want to join." Lectro added, "What we should do is find an escape pod and jettison her back to her home."
A door opened just as Sev walked past with a Death's Head soldier almost as large as him leaping out attempting to strike him in the head with the butt of his weapon; however Sev caught the weapon with his free hand before firing at the interloper's stomach with the other.
"We might want to deal with this problem first. Any escape pods we send out now are gonna get shot down."
"GESH!" Gax agreed.
Not wanting to let these beings dictate her fate, Azula decided to speak up, "I for one would prefer an escape plan that doesn't involve me dying horribly, but first can any of you get me out of these cuffs? I can be of greater help to all of us with my hands unbound." She emphasized by holding up her cuffed wrists.
"Gotcha covered." Sev grabbed hold of her wrists, his large metal hands completely wrapping around her arms, and with a quick yank snapped the cord between the cuffs.
It should come to no surprise to Azula that someone of his size and build was strong enough to do this but she didn't dwell on it long as she savored being free despite the cuffs still being around her wrists.
"Let's see what those powers of yours can do princess." He then handed her the plasma weapon the previous attacker held before jogging down the corridor.
"I don't know how to use this!" She shouted following him with Lectro in toe.
Whether or not he heard her or ignored her was unclear to Azula as the sounds of blaster fire echoed down various corridors drowning out their voices.
"The SeCore just got hit by dozens of boarding ships with most of the crew getting caught up in firefights and cut off from various parts of the ship. I heard from the cargo bay that they're all converging on the storage rooms in the ship's interior." Sev informed them as another enemy appeared from behind a blast door that caused him to instinctively punch with his free hand, his superior strength sending the enemy ragdolling back several feet.
Azula was slightly taken aback by the violent display of strength.
"And what exactly is it that you are carrying?" She asked as she fumbled around with the plasma weapon in her hands trying to figure out how it works in a way that made Lectro uneasy enough to run behind her as to not be on the receiving end of an accidental discharge.
"To put it simply, really valuable cargo." Lectro answered.
Sev fired his weapon on a group of Death's Head members already engaged in a firefight, taking them out without them realizing they were there.
"Angara's already there holding them off but she's pinned down so I was on my way to back her up. Gax is on his way too. He's going through the vents. We'll take the stairway there and…"
As they reached the corridor that led to the stairway they were met with a large group of the enemy already stationed there, using their plasma weapons to melt through the blast doors that blocked their path. All of their visored eyes trained on the four of them before they started firing on them. Thankfully they came from an intersection and were capable of taking cover.
Sev and Gax fired blindly from one side of the hall as plasma bolts kept themfrom peeking over while Lectro fired sparingly. Azula tried to follow his lead and was able to peek over from his side. After observing how these weapons were used she attempted to fire the plasma weapon but was not prepared for the recoil to knock her back and miss her mark entirely.
Growing frustrated with it she tossed it aside and with two fingers shot a bolt of blue fire directly at one of their faces. Not enough to do any damage but enough to disorient him while Sev or Gax took the killing shot. The feeling of her inner fire returning filling her with strength and an eagerness to fight, she did not understand why her firebending felt so weak to begin with or why it was suddenly returning but she couldn't complain.
Their assailants soon caught on to this and began to focus their assault on her. In an attempt to defend herself she bent a wall of fire to deflect the plasma blasts but as she rotated her hands swaying the existing flames into a fiery spiral the bolts already in air swayed and curved at her movements missing her and being redirected into the floor or wall. Lectro, Sev and Gax looked at her in surprise at this display with even the Death's Head soldiers halted in their onslaught flabbergasted.
They snapped out of their shock and went back to firing at her but now armed with the knowledge that she could manipulate their projectiles she dived out of cover and swayed her arms to manipulate the bolts flying towards her.
She could feel the bolts coming at her like fireballs from another bender but moved too fast for her to stop fully and instead was forced to redirect every bolt away from her. Sev jumped out of cover following behind her with Gax jumping off him and following with his own assault form the floor as she haphazardly redirected the bolts away periodically firing and taking out several more until there were only four left.
Azula bent the remaining beams managing to catch them but couldn't stop their momentum and like a waterbender swayed her arms in a clockwise fluid motion, the beams arcing in air like water as she redirected them back and took out the remaining enemies. The didn't mean to follow a water bending form however the movements flowed more naturally when bending them.
"How the hell did you do that?" Sev asked, walking past her stepping over the bodies to get to the door.
"I…I don't know." She said honestly not fully understanding what she did.
"I think I've got a workable hypothesis." Lectro said catching up to them, "You manipulate fire which is simply plasma and our weapons fire concentrated bolts of plasma therefore you seem to be able to manipulate our energy based weapons." He explained with great interest before the horrific realization of such a concept came to him.
With a hiss the thick blast doors slid open allowing them access to the stairwell after Sev punched in the necessary code, "How about we talk about this later?"
"You do have a plan of attack, I presume, right?" Azula questioned the large cybernetic man as he led the way, Gax climbing back onto his shoulder.
"Yeah. Get in. Shoot all the bad guys. Maybe celebrate with a glass of squig later."
"That is a terrible plan."
"Worked for us in the past."
"But you're covered in hard armored plating while we're not." Lectro pointed out.
"Take a note out of Gax's book and stay behind me, then." Sev opened another set of blast doors on the floor of their destination, "Besides, we've got someone who can direct the flow of plasma fire away from us."
Azula looked at him incredulously, "I just learned I could do this minutes ago! I don't know the limits of its capabilities yet and you just want to throw me to the wolfbats."
"WOOF BAKS?" Gax questioned looking at her in confusion.
"You'll never know unless you practice." Sev said nonchalantly flashing his chrome colored teeth in a wide grin.
The princess only shook her head at the level of recklessness he displayed, "This is a terrible plan."
After finding a small blast door with the almost deafening sound of blaster fire coming from behind it. Sev took a defensive position near the door with Azula and Lectro taking a position behind him. He opens the door and just before he could rush in the body of a smoking Death's Head soldier flew out colliding with the opposite wall.
Ignoring the sudden body being flung at them Sev charged into a large open room filled with crates and other supplies, littering the floor where dozens of bodies from both the crew of the SeCore and of the intruders, scorch marks lining the walls and crates. In the center of the bloodshed there was Angara displaying a dance of carnage and fury while surrounded by Death's Head soldiers. She moved like a feral animal clad in armor dodging and weaving out of the way of blaster fire or deflecting them with a luminous circular shield appearing from her left gauntlet while returning fire from a single pistol, closing the distance between her and her opponent taking them down with a swift strike to their abdomen or head with her shield.
As Angara grabbed a hold of another enemy using them as a shield, once she retracted her luminous one, from another opponent's blaster fire. Sev charged in using his size advantage to barrel straight into several other enemies, sending them flying before offering supporting fire at Angara's side. Gax firing at the opponents behind Sev.
"Took you long enough!" she said, tossing her shield aside and ducking out of another blast.
"Got held up on the way here!" he responded with a grin as a bolt bounced off his chest plate, "Also I brought some help."
Just as Angara was about to ask what he meant by that, a blast of blue flames collided with an enemy knocking them to the ground. Azula leapt in throwing waves of fire and jabs towards her opponents forcing them to remain behind cover.
"What's she doing here?" Angara asked fiercely, dashing to grab a plasma rifle from a fallen opponent and firing at several enemies on the upper level.
Azula used her new-found ability of redirecting plasma fire to fling enemy blasts away then firing back with her own, "Lending you my strength, you clearly need it."
Angara only responded with another animalistic snarl.
Azula shot a blast at an opponent behind Angara, nearly striking her red helmet.
Angara growled at her as she summoned her shield again, soaking up plasma fire while closing the distance between her and her opponent, backhanding the weapon out of his hand then firing at him until her weapon overheated.
Angara moved to find cover as one of the enemies fired at her from above with a stray shot colliding with her helmet sending her reeling back.
Azula took cover behind some crates and found that she was pinned down, too many plasma blasts coming her way giving her no window to try and manipulate them. Now would probably be a good time to try and bend lightning, she just needs enough time to generate it.
Just as she began to make the necessary hand motions to generate it one of the enemy soldiers appeared by her side, his weapons sights trained on her. There was no time for her to react, no time to stop her motion and firebend.
Before he could squeeze the trigger a bright red helmet was thrown at his head making him miss his shot. Angara tackled him to the ground before he could recover and impaled him with a blade protruding from her gauntlet.
She turned to face Azula. Her face was very human like except for her yellowish green skin, long blood red hair tied back in a braid with various tribal beads woven into it, narrow catlike eyes surrounded by black tribal tattoos, thin slits for nostrils with short spiked horns growing around her head poking through her scarlet hair like a crown of thorns.
"What're you looking at?" She sneered, retracting the blade.
Azula let her surprise at her appearance waiver and instead gave her a smirk, "I was right. You aren't that flattering underneath that mask."
Angara hissed at her, flashing her fangs, "Just stay out of my way, princess." Two more enemies appeared with their weapons ready until a cone shaped weapon unfolded from her right shoulder firing a series of long needles that pierced their armor killing them instantly.
Azula fired a blast at one who appeared behind Angara. The two warrior women begrudgingly fight alongside each other with Azula firing arcs of flames disorientating them long enough for her to fire a focused fire bolt capable of burning through their armor while Angara uses the various gadgets on her person to take out as many of their enemies as possible.
Sev stood not too far away as an armored tower of destruction, plasma bolts striking his armored body doing little damage to him as Gax stood on his shoulders covering Sev's blindspots until they managed to clear the room of all enemies.
Once the room was cleared Azula was able to drop her guard and catch her breath. From the corner of her eye she caught movement, spinning around and taking on a fighting stance again she was ready to send a fireball straight into the surviving Death's Head soldier until a plasma bolt rushed past her striking her opponent in the chest.
Behind her Angara stood with a blaster in hand, smoke still flowing from its barrel.
Azula furrowed her brow in annoyance, "I had that one."
"Then why'd I get him?" Angara asked with a cocky smile as she holstered the weapon.
"Is it over?" Lectro called out from his hiding spot behind a crate, peaking out slowly.
"For now." Angara turned her sights towards a large crate in the back of the room where a few of the surviving crew mates were, some injured but were still in fighting shape.
"How's the fabricator?"
Lectro was already by the side of a large metal crate that took up a good portion of the back wall. Lectro observed the status of its contents through a built-in panel sighing in relief, "The fabricator is in good condition."
"Is that what this is all about?" Azula asked, unimpressed by the large crate, "What is so special about this 'fabricator' device we've had to vigorously defend?"
Angara scoffed, "Course a primitive wouldn't understand."
"What was that?" Azula asked in a warning tone.
"The fabricator is a piece of hyper advanced technology that is capable of converting raw resources into usable materials. It's actually how we intend to fix the ship." Lectro explained, hoping it would prevent another argument from forming between the two, "Technology like this isn't easy to come by so of course we're probably going to get attacked by anyone who knows we've got it."
"And of course the Death's Head is the first to come knocking." Sev responded.
Satisfied with Lectro's analysis Angara grabbed a hold of a plasma rifle from one of her fallen enemies, "Some of them split off to engineering. We need to get there before…" She was never able to finish her sentence as the ship shook violently with the lights shutting off before the emergency lights came back on.
"What was that?" the Fire nation princess asked.
"The reactor going offline." Sev answered grimly.
"And that is…" she egged on not understanding what that meant.
"Very bad... We're dead in the water."