The hours of silence and drifting through space passed, and finally the big red planet came into view. Even from space Del could see the planet wasn't highly populated or even habitable, most of the planet being covered in a thick red sand from what Del could see.
The Pretipice was out of fuel, running out just before the red desert planet of Malimora pulled the ship inward, sending it through its atmosphere. The ships electrical systems still worked, but Del couldn't start the engines or use the thrusters, meaning they were completely powerless to fate at this point, the ship drifted through the planets highest clouds and slowly downward.
Whether by luck or divine intervention, Malimora had slightly less gravity than it should have, making it possible to survive the descent. Not guaranteed, but possible. The Pretipice inevitably descended downward. At first it was slow but soon the planets red sandy surface was approaching all too quickly.
"Slow it down! Slow it down!" Arish shouted. Dimmit remained silent only gripping the nearby steel supports across the ships cabin walls. The Pretipice was gaining speed and starting to catch fire, there four diffirent alarms going off, all beeping out of sync.
Del was frantically hitting switches and launching the landing gear, doing anything he could to lend the ship the safely. In the end, the ship plummeted into the desert. Luckily the sand was soft, and the ship had slowed down enough that only the landing gear had been stripped off in the crash. A fixable problem, not the dirt one they could have, that much was certain at least.
Del's immediate reaction was that he wss grateful to be alive. His second reaction was being grateful Dimm was alive as he saw him crawl out the corner of the ships the ceiling that Del was also on, the ship was upside down. The Sceko blinked and looked at Dem before crawling over to him and making himself at at home in Del's shirt, as usual. Del smiled, then his eyes shot open rude remembering the other two passengers aboard the ship.
"You guys alright?" Del called out. Slightly embarrassed he hadn't already asked so.
"Yeah." Dimmit said in a flat tone. They waited a moment, but Arish gave no response.
"Arish?" Del asked.
"Arish?" Dimmit repeated after Del, a hint of worry in his voice that he didn't let out often. They both waited a moment and still there was no response.
"Arish!" Del yelled, his voice now frantic.
"Yeah." Arish muttered from the other cabin.
Del breathed a sigh of relief. He was annoyed but at least everyone was alive. He sucked in a drop breath and began grabbing what he could find that was useful. Dimmit and Arish started working on opening the hatch so they could get out.
****
Twenty minutes later Del met Dimmit and Arish outside the ship. They were both standing in the red sandy deser, arms folded. Their purple skin in contrast with the sand all around them, they could likely be spotted from any distance here. He had Dimm in tow and carried a small pouch of valuables as well as his own pack from the ship.
The planet was hotter than Aerilia had been. It was closer to the systems star, Adresta-2, so the heat made sense. Though Del wasn't anticipating the severity of the heat. It was so hot the energy seemed to be drawing off the three of them like a physical thing, even just standing there.
Realizing there was no time to waste, Del looked all astound them. There was only sand as far as the eye could see in three directions, and the other had a walled city several kilometers away. It would be a long walk from here. The only reason the walled city was visible at all was the deserts flat terrain.
"Well, I guess we know where we're going." Del muttered abs trudged in towards the wall.
Dimmit fell in behind him soon after that. Arish stood for a moment, she let out a long incredulous sigh and then finally followed.
The three walked on for hours. The planets heat was starting to drain them. There was only so much water they brought. It would have been a perilous situation if the city wasn't in immediate view. Del only hoped the cities residents were friendly rather than hostile. He already had enough on his plate dealing with the Drenziens.
The three confused their journey in silence, conserving their strength. There was an unspoken understanding that they knew they were being drained of energy, and they had to get to that city as soon as possible no matter what it took.
Knowing this, they all quickened their pace even bring as thirsty as they were. The feeling of the energy draining from them was dreadful, and one they were desperate to be free of.