Collapsed on her narrow cot, in the privacy of her quarters, Ren was finally able to process the recent events. The adrenaline from their narrow escape had begun to fade, leaving a hollow echo of vulnerability in its wake. Tears traced paths down her cheeks and sobs wrenched their way out of her, both for the fear that had once gripped her, and for the looming profound isolation of their successful escape. She let herself weep for a moment, a necessary release of the emotions that she had kept at bay to survive. As the ship hummed gently, navigating through the silence of space, Ren composed herself, drawing a deep, steadying breath. The time had come to face their new reality. Wiping away the last of her tears, she stood up, her resolve hardening with each step towards the machine room and Noey.
The machine room door slid open releasing a thick smoke cloud. Noey was waist deep in the ship's machinery, her legs flailing about in the air behind her. She was mumbling angrily and Ren was sure that she didn't want to know what Noey was saying.
"What can I do to help?"
Noey jerked and then slid out of the engine, her boots hitting the floor with a thud. Her eyes were red either from the smoke or crying, and the lower half of her face was concealed by a mask. She threw the wrench she was holding in the direction of her tool tray. "Unless you have a new ship hidden somewhere, nothing." She glared at Ren. "They rocked us. There's parts that are just gone. Honestly, it's a miracle we're still alive." She swiped her hands up over her face and ran them back over her plaits, ending in pulling the ends of her braids out straight and letting out an aggravated huff. "How's that planet looking?" She finally asked.
"Seventy-three percent chance. We should probably suit up for entry just in case. If it can't sustain us, maybe we'll be able to get this hunk of junk operational before we run out of air. If we stay in the suits and use the tanks we should be able to buy ourselves three more cycles." Ren knew it sounded bleak but it was all she could come up with in the moment.
Noey dropped her head, looking at her boots and gave a resigned little nod. "You better pray we can breathe the air, because this thing," she thumped the engine, "is just about done. I can get one or two systems running, but then I'm taking parts from other systems that we need. We'll never make it in this. Not a chance. We shouldn't be operational now."
"I sent out a call for help and I've activated the emergency beacon."
Noey shot her a look full of venom. "I'm so frustrated. I want to say 'I told you so' so bad. I'm not, but Creators know I want to. When this is all over you have one coming."
"Isn't you telling me about it basically an 'I told you so'?"
"No," Noey snapped, "when I tell you it'll be with a lot of sniping and you'll buy me dinner as an apology. Real meat, not the cloned stuff. And name your first born after me." She chuckled mirthlessly, "I guess I can't be too upset after all the crap I've got us into. I just always thought it'd be me that got us done in, not sweet, innocent Renata Sprock."
"We should secure everything before entering the planet's atmosphere," Ren suggested.
"Probably be smart to pack go bags with some essentials and secure them to ourselves, too," Noey added. "No telling what we'll need."
The unspoken probability of the ship breaking up upon entry hung in the air between them. Entry into the atmosphere of most planets was rough in the best of conditions, and that was with a ship built to handle the strain. The cosmorover was meant to travel from spaceport to spaceport as passengers went on short excursions for a few cycles. It was not meant to be in deep space for lunations at a time and it was definitely not meant to weather a planet's upper atmosphere. Even if the planet supported life they may not survive the entry. Void's embrace, that was if they could even get to the planet in the ship's condition.
********
As the ship's AI steered the cosmorover towards the green planet, the ship began to shudder violently, attesting to its inadequacy for such a journey. Ren regained control of the steering as the AI tried to avoid their intended path in a bid to save itself. Gazing at the view screen they could see the verdant-hued planet spinning slowly below them, firming her resolve Ren initiated the landing sequence. They were about to set foot on an unexplored, uninhabited planet, in the furthest reaches of space.
They had been right to worry; the ship's hull groaned ominously as it grazed the upper stratosphere, heat and friction overwhelming the thermal shielding far beyond its limits. Warning lights flared as the protective barrier began to buckle and tear, the ship convulsing with each new assault from the unforgiving atmosphere. Inside, Ren and Noey braced themselves, each hoping their face didn't betray their terror to the other.
A terrible screech echoed through the cabin as the cosmorover's exterior started to rip apart, panels and metal peeling away like the layers of some celestial onion. The ship was disintegrating around them, at an alarming rate. In mere clicks, the cosmorover was no longer a vessel, but a collection of debris plummeting towards the green expanse below.
With a violent lurch Ren felt her safety harness snap before she was sent hurtling through the fractured hull, flung into the turbulent skies of the alien world. The last thing she saw before unconsciousness claimed her was the fiery tails of the cosmorover's remnants streaking across the green tinged sky.
********
Pain jolted Ren awake. Agony pulsed through her body, originating from every direction. She cracked open an eye and realized the visor to her suit was shattered. Blood leaked into her eyes and obscured her vision, and her lungs burned with each breath, indicating that the atmosphere must be somewhat breathable. Despite her impaired vision, she discerned something green looming above her. As she attempted to clear her eyes, a sharp stinging sensation intensified, indicating a potential eye injury. She reached an unsteady hand up to her face and encountered wetness, then felt a force grip her shoulder and pull upward, inducing a sharp yelp of pain as her ribs and abdomen protested the movement.
"Noey? Stop. Hurts," Ren managed to force words out, her parched mouth struggling to form the words.
A guttural noise and a chuffing sound answered her. Ren instinctively recoiled from the grip on her shoulder, igniting a chorus of pain within her body. She couldn't help but scream. The barely discernible green figure began to move and in a panic, she fumbled for the knife secured to her waist, only to realize her left arm was also injured. With her right arm, she struggled to access the knife holster, reaching across her body awkwardly to retrieve it. Nearly blind and in intense pain from multiple injuries, she could only brandish the knife from her reclined position and scream. The green figure drew closer, emitting a low rumble. Ren swung the knife and felt it make contact. The creature emitted a deep snarl as it finally retreated, and the world spun and grew dark around her as she felt herself slipping into unconsciousness again.