Part One

They had just entered orbit with a minimal crew. Ren found it hard to believe that such a sleek ship could travel with merely four women at its command. A pilot, co-pilot, coms officer, and engineer were not only well trained to their titles, but in the protection of their precious cargo, Ren herself. The difficult task was poorly unarmed, but Ren wouldn?t risk removing countless numbers from the front, when there was a good, possible chance that they could mask just who was on the ship. Still, it didn?t sit well when they confined her to quarters and strapped her in like some piece of breakable cargo. The only vantage point to what was happening was a window, a few inches long and fewer inches wide, showing the vast, vague emptiness of space.

The captain went about her tasks with a surety of purpose, painstakingly maintaining their charade as a simple cargo vessel of little importance, as the communications specialist hid her nervousness behind a trill of idle conversation. "One minute to orbit break. Preparing light-drive for ignition." A tiny speaker in Ren's chamber kept her up-to-date on the pilot's directions.

Alorianack, a large, green planet glimmered just outside the window for a moment while the ship shifted its trajectory. As Ren fidgeted with the straps keeping her settled in her seat she swallowed, the sudden nerve wracking worry of failure filling the pit of her stomach as her planet drifted away behind them. Both her eyes closed, reminding herself that she was merely posing the part of a merchant, in charge of the goods in the cargo.

As the crew assured, the charade had been played to every minute detail. Voice commands, bio recognition, and other various works were meant to insure that their ploy went through flawlessly. This was to be a routine mission traveling between the ports of Aloria to Stars End orbiting Rhy?din. The manifest, the cargo, all of it was made to be believable so that Ren could slip through unnoticed by unwanted eyes.

The engineer fussed and fluttered over the engines, as usual. Even on the ship's maiden voyage, some years previous, the engineer always worried. That, more than anything, was her duty. As the pilot directed the craft out into the vastness of the black, the ship seemed to thrum, as the mighty engines surged, sending the vessel away from the planet at incredible velocities. For a moment, the co-pilot thought she spotted something in their shadow, but dismissed it off-hand. Just a sensor ghost, nothing more.

There was nothing more Ren could do than sit back and relax for this voyage, and for the first time in months it felt strange to do so. As she once again fumbled with the straps that held her in place she sighed, eyes closing and her head resting back against the rest built for her head.

On the control console, a light flared, as a quiet alarm sounded. Mere moments into their voyage, and already their path was impeded. The main drive closed down to allow for maneuvering, as the stars made a reappearance. There, just drifting across their course, a wayward asteroid. The pilot and copilot both grew tense. No mass of this size registered anywhere on their charts. Therefore, this was either unfortunate happenstance, or ...

That, regrettably, was just about as far as they managed to reason, before a sudden burst of energy burned through the vacuum from the asteroid's shadow. Emergency bulkheads slammed down against the loss of precious oxygen, as the ship violently rocked to the side, glittering motes of vaporized metal expanding in a cloud from the glowing ruins of the bridge.

Jostled awake, so to speak, Ren jerked, but found her in a rather restrained lock. Although her hands fussed and pried at the straps around her chest, securing her in place, she found them unwilling to budge. Silent curses burst into shrewd, loud, unhindered blasphemy as she fought to gain and understanding of what had happened, but the radio was silent. More spluttered curses filtered from her lips as her head twisted, eyes gazing to the window as sparks erupted within them. All she could see was the asteroid passing at what seemed to be a creeping pace.

Down in engineering, the poor woman was nearly in tears, as she frantically rerouted controls to various consoles not meant for those purposes. Radio, out. Weapons, oh, she wanted to laugh. All she could discern was they'd fallen under attack, another vessel had them under a weak gravity lock, and she couldn't raise anyone outside of that room. Just before the enemy could couple the airlocks, she checked their position relative to the asteroid. It was a slim chance, but still better than what fate she could expect from those who would attack from ambush. The instant the asteroid's gravity well wasn't a factor, she pulse-started the main drive. The ship's superstructure groaned in response, then let out a tortured scream before the stars outside vanished from view.

The insurgents, confident they'd fulfilled their task of a one-shot crippling blow, gloated to themselves as they approached the drifting craft. If it weren't for one trigger-happy helmsman, the sudden escape would've caught them as wholly by surprise as they'd snared their prey. A single shot fired, just as the freighter's engines flared and the ship vanished.

Just as the ship came into view Ren?s voice carried throughout her quarters loudly,? What the----UMPH!? Then she was jerked forwards against her restraints. Her hands clutched, white knuckled to the straps as she looked back, seeing nothing but blackness in sight. A groan left her even as her feet kicked relentlessly, forcing her to squirm within the clutches of those relentless straps. Her fist crushed down against the buckle, but it didn?t budge when she desperately desired nothing more than to be free of her confines. ?Come on you bastard!? But it was no use.

The ship, normally quite smooth at such speeds, bucked and shimmied like a herd of horses during an earthquake. Desperately, the engineer tried again and again to reach the emergency stop button, her blood staining the decks and walls from a multitude of cuts and abrasions, for she didn't have the luxury of restraints to keep her steady. At last, with a cry of pain, she wrenched herself free from the wall, her palm slapping down squarely on the bright red button.

SLAM, WHAM, BAM, SLAM. ?Release you bloody piece of shit!? Someone was in for it when Ren was finally able to kiss solid ground. Obviously something had gone wrong, someone had information that was not theirs to begin with. Her feet kicked again as she did anything but get free of the restraints. Another jolt had her grunt roughly and jerk forwards. Their ship had slowed. ?Unnh?? Both her eyes flickered to the window as the stars returned to view.

Down in the ship's belly, the engineer coughed weakly, a trickle of crimson staining her cheek. Her body protested valiantly against her moving, but she still had duties to perform. Holding her side against the pain of snapped bone and pierced organ, her fingertips left trails of blood on the still-intact displays, as she sought a safe haven from their hasty micro-jump. There. A large planet ... mostly frigid, but with signs of civilization. Perhaps there, they could repair the vessel enough to limp to their destination.

By now Ren knew something was amiss and something needed to be done. The urgency to get out of her binds was forcing her vision to blur as tears pushed against her eyes and stained her cheeks. ?Come on? come on? please? please? please.? Her jacket, polished and as black as night was tarnished in its perfection as she wiped her face clear of blinding tears. ?Just gotta? come on?? She was growing more furious by the minutes as she struggled to get the clasps loose at the center of her chest.

In the skinny window, a glow of blue-white appeared, as they approached the planet in question. Venting ions like a sieve, the small craft shuddered soundlessly as various systems buckled under the strains, and one of the maneuvering thrusters vanished in a yellow flare.

?Not good.? Ren was caught off by the sudden light filtering into her quarters. Her hand shielded her eyes as she fought to adjust to the sudden change. Her hands returned once again to their battle with the straps, finally finding the resistance in a latch. ?Leeeegoooooo yyyoooouuu bbasstta?UMPH!? The ship jerked, forcing her grip on the resistance to falter. ?Damn it!?

The engineer tried to rush to compensate, but her injuries betrayed her, stealing away her breath as a lung filled with her lifeblood. Just a moment too late, as the craft drifted with increasing speed toward the planet. Caught by its gravity well, all she could do was adjust the angle of approach as best she could, given the condition of the ship.

Once again the struggle was on as Ren fought with her unsuspected foe, buckles? She returned to the clasp with vigor, clenching at the problem spot while she snarled in frustration. The woman who had fought so many battles was about to be thwarted by a ?seat belt? and that didn?t make her happy. As the ship corrected she cursed. This wasn?t Rhy?din, she knew it, and if there was unfriendly on the ground, Ren was not going to sit down and wait for them to gut her because she couldn?t get out of the seat. ?Almost therreee.?

It was about this time that Ren spotted something frustration had helped her ignore. ?Really?? The release of the buckle was suddenly in clear view thanks to the burning light just outside of her window. Once more her hand came down on the straps keeping her tied down, but this time they came off with the command, and proper button pushing. There was a silent curse and a faint,? So glad no one was here to see that.? Before Ren shifted out of the straps.

The fiery corona around the ship flared out as it slowed beneath the velocity of sound, a rippling boom shaking loose more debris from the dying craft. Several substructures still glowed molten in the wreckage of the bridge, further weakening the integrity beyond hope of recovery. The engineer felt this quite clearly, just before impacting with brutal force against the forward bulkhead, thrown there by the force of inertia. Sliding down with a weak groan, she barely had time to register the unnatural angles of her limbs before succumbing to the enveloping darkness.

Ren?s frame was pinned back against the wall of her quarters when the impact hit. Her body lurched forwards, a very loud scream tearing after her as she was thrown forwards. Before she could move her arms to brace her, her head connected with a loose, small crate. In an instant Ren was silenced, shadows blurring her vision as she landed in a heap against the wall. Dark hair pooled around her while one of her hands reached towards the door latch, but failed as consciousness left Ren where she lie.

The ship plunged onward, uncaring of the condition of its passengers, until it found the resistance of the down slope of a mountain of snow and ice, steam erupting in its wake as it slid with the pull of gravity. One wing clipped a boulder near the main body, and instantly vanished in a cloud of metal particles and rock dust, sending the craft spinning as it hurtled on. Again and again, protrusions from the mountain met with parts of the dead freighter, each impact slowing the wreck further, until it finally ground to an ungainly halt, sinking in the melting ice for a moment before the chill of the air refroze it.