"Crossroads: Part 2"
By Amii'a Val'or
Korva Valkier
Location: Graveyard, Alderaan
Date: Saris 4th, 5ABY
***
A week later they had finally arrived. The Wraith had
one malfunction after another, and of course Korva and
Chowe were adamant about fixing the ship themselves.
Mostly Korva of course.
On the other side of the galaxy the Wraith exited
hyperspace just outside the Alderaan system. The once
beautiful and peaceful world had been reduced to
rubble by the Empire five years before.
Minutes seemed like hours in the field dodging
asteroids. On more than
one
occasion Korva's left hand, still gripping the
throttle, had saved
their
lives. Both accelerating at the right times but also
pulling back
allowing
one asteroid to hurtle past, scaring the Wookiee so
much he jumped. "A
little jittery aren't we?" Korva teased before crying
out himself as he
pulled on the control stick bringing the Wraith
around into a tight
spin.
An extra layer of paint and it would have been
curtains.
Blinking, getting his nerves back to normal, he
noticed Chowe was
looking in
his direction. Those beady black eyes judging him.
"Aren't you supposed
to
be looking at that there monitor?"
Amii'a had strapped herself in behind Korva and Chowe,
her heart raced as the asteroids and debris flew past
the viewport and the Wraith juked and dodged. "If
the two of you wouldn't mind..."
Chowe suddenly growled cutting Amii'a off. There was a
signal, very
faint
and very much like a locator beacon. "Location?" Once
told the Wraith
pulled up into a tight half loop, following the
contours of an
asteroid,
before coming over its top spinning to right herself.
The beacon was
coming
from an asteroid's surface, one of the big ones.
"That may just be what we want," Amii'a said, having
unbuckled herself and lodged herself between Korva and
Chowe, holding onto both command chairs...just in
case. "Can we pin-point which one of those rocks its
coming from?" she asked, hoping they could. She didn't
like the idea of their being in the middle of all that
as it was, let alone to have to asteroid-hop to try
and get close enough to zero-in on the signal.
Smiling Korva glanced over his shoulder at Amii'a.
"For you hun,
anything..." winking he pushed the throttle forward
through the
forced-gate
into the afterburners. It worked with putting more
fuel into the
already
superheated gases giving the ship an extra push of
acceleration. "We're
passing close to the signal, can you pin-point?" Chowe
worked
frantically,
his big paws working their magic with the controls in
front of him,
purposely designed, like his chair, with a Wookiee in
mind. Finally the
Wookiee roared. He'd found it.
The signal was coming from the North end of an
asteroid, if in fact
they did
have North and South ends, regardless Korva designated
it the North end
and
stuck with it. A hologram of the asteroid came up over
the projector
showing
the signal's location as a flashing red dot. "That
can't be right!?"
Information scrolled up beside the hologram showing
the exact location
of
the beacon. "Its coming from beneath the surface?"
***
The capsules interior illumination flashed on again.
She had blacked out, didn't know for how long this
time. All sense of time had vanished sometime before.
The light was blinding and the raunchy stank of
defecation assaulted her nose, demanding another
upheaval. Dry gags threaten to choke her as nausea
beckoned darkness from the reality of her tomb.
A faint voice infiltrated the silence. She found it
hard to think and follow the words: "It will have to
end now," the voice said- its tone familiar and giving
rise to emotions of anger and despair. Somehow to her
it seemed disappointed, but not in a way that gave her
cause to emphasis. "I doubt that the scoundrel and
Wook were any friends of yours, but I'll not take the
chance that somehow someone is looking for you. Your
already dead Girra. You just don't know it yet."
The illumination faded back to darkness. Girra was
relieved and yet a powerful and hopeless sensation of
doom swept over her as she fought for clarity of
thought: Orthan.
The power of the capsule slowly cycled down. The
minimal life support systems slowed to nothing. In
moments a chill over took her as her body trembled in
its close confines. Breathing had become laborious and
her consciousness gradual lost the battle to remain.
Her thoughts drifted as her emotions settled.
The beacon waned until it was no more.
***
Amii'a jumped into the back seat and her fingers flew
across the auxiliary control board. "No, its just the
signal, its fading. Whatever it is, it is being shut
down...loosing power," she said as she raced to save
the exact location before it was lost. This has to be
it! she thought before she said: "Its plenty
large...and seems stable...enough. You gotta land this
thing, or get close enough. I'm gonna suit up. I don't
think we have any time left!" she said as she raced
out of the cockpit, not waiting for an answer.
"Wait..! Amii! Amii'a!" But he was too late, she was
already gone door
closed behind her. Turning back he cursed punching the
controls
bringing the
freighter around into a tight dive towards the
asteroid's surface.
"Bloody
woman, she'll be the death of me." Korva glanced at
Chowe when he
growled.
"Yes, I agree its been exciting, but damn... even I
have my limits!"
Of course he said this while Amii'a wasn't around to
hear. He had a
reputation to uphold after all. "We're over the
co-ordinates, grab hold
of
something I'm landing..." he cut the com-link before
adding. "...
landing on
a bloody asteroid, who's stupid idea was this
anyhow?!" The landing
struts
came down locking into place, even the rear strut that
had given Korva
problems earlier. He had he make a sudden change in
positioning, which
caused Korva to be thrown into the side of his seat
pulled back by the
harness straps, Chowe growled in anger having not been
given a warning.
He
hate to think what happened to Amii'a in the back if
her hold wasn't
firm.
"We're touching down! You've got seconds! Use them
well!" He reached
forward
flicking the switch giving Amii'a a green light in the
back, he just
hoped
she knew what she was doing.
Amii'a picked herself back up after having been thrown
to the deck, "Damnit Korva!" she cursed out loud,
though she knew it wasn't really his fault. Her head
stung. She felt some blood, but knew she would be
alright.
She popped on the helmet and sealed the vac suit. She
punched the inner hatch release for the airlock, it
irised opened. She stepped in, and closed the hatch
behind her. She secured her cord to the wall and
punched the depressurizing control. The air was slowly
sucked out and then the outer hatch opened. She could
feel her weight shifting from the loss of gravity, but
her magnetic boots kept her firm.
The asteroid landscape and skyscape was almost
magnificent if it hadn't been so damn dangerous and
the time and conditions of her being there so
critical. Just outside was what they had detected.
Some sort of capsule, to Amii'a it resembled a medical
capsule of some sort, definitely not a life-supporting
space capsule or escape pod.
She hopped towards it, taking careful but deliberate
steps. Its canopy was dark. She saw a small control
panel. She tapped on it with thick gloved fingers, but
it was dead. She then pounded on the surface, but it
gave no results. After a moment she unhooked her
safety tether and secured it about the capsule. She
checked it, and then using one hand to grasp the
tether she skipped back to the Wraith. Inside she used
the wench control. It strained against the capsule at
first.
"Come on!" she yelled inside her helmet.
It whined against the ground capsule, but she could
see the capsule starting to budge.
Come on! she pleaded silently between ground teeth.
Finally it gave and the capsule came loose and began to
be pulled towards the ship. Before it could gain any
significant height, the capsule was pulled to the
airlock hatch. It clanged against the hull several
times as Amii'a fought to help it inside. She finally
did. She slapped the door control, and once it was
sealed the Wraith automatically pressurized the room.
"We're good to go!" she yelled through the com. Get
us the fuck out of here! she thought as she could
feel the Wraith lifting off from the rock.
***
"What in all that's holy, and more importantly all
that's not, is
that?" he
demanded. The Wraith was well on her way, they were
safely out of the
asteroid field, with some more fancy flying, and were
now cruising in
hyperspace. Korva now stood in rear of the ship, the
dark capsule
Amii'a had
uncovered lying dormant in front of him. Cables were
hooked up to power
supplies keeping a sedated Girra alive, if the coma
she was currently
in
could be called alive.
"That is what we came out to find, Girra."
"I can damned well see that! Why the fuck did you
bring her onboard?
What
exactly are we supposed to do with her? Keep her
hooked up forever?"
Korva
was starting to get annoyed, clearly evident in his
voice steadily
growing
louder. It was a damned waste of energy, he felt sorry
for Amii'a for
losing
a friend but this was idiotic. She should mourn and
then move on.
"What the fuck did I bring her onboard for?" Amii'a
asked as she looked him straight in the eye. Of all
the idiotic things to come out of his mouth! "What
was I suppose to do? Leave a friend to die out on that
rock?" she asked, but held up a warning finger before
he could say anything else. We need to get her to a
good a facility, and then I will call someone back
home from the medical institute to bring her home,"
she said as she walked away to check the nav computer
for nearby worlds.
She just didn't understand his attitude. Sure, this
was supposed to be time for them to be together but it
had wound up into a hunt and find mission for Girra
instead. Still, she was quickly questioning her desire
to be with the man. Korva was many things, and in many
ways they were not compatible, but she could see past
much of his machismo. This last part of their journey
to find Girra though showed her a different side of
him, in the face of helping someone who was helpless.
Maybe it was a mistake from the start...maybe.