Foo Fighters [Solo RP]

In deep space, just outside the Oort cloud of a nearby yellow sun, two spaceships raced one another against a starry background. One was a large saucer-like craft with spiraling indentations. The other, a sleek, aerodynamic vessel, was quickly gaining speed on it. Its captain was a newcomer to piloting spaceships, but was warming up to the endeavor, and seemed quite at home at the moment.

"This is Cherri of Unit 113-52. I've located the vessel and I am currently in pursuit of the stolen craft. She had one finger on her Scouter; the other on the controls. "What are your orders?"

<"Incapacitate the ship, but do not destroy it."> The message was relayed through the device. <"Do what you will with thief.>

"Understood. Out."

The pilot returned her attention to several display screens, showing views outside of the ship on all angles. She noted her shields were at full power -- the person she was pursuing hadn't even fired a shot yet. She thought it unusual for a thief, but felt lucky that she hadn't been blown off the map yet. The stolen ship was a war vessel, armed to teeth with cannons the size of her entire craft. Despite that, it didn't seem to be taking the offensive. It was a confusing predicament, but she had her orders, and intended to see them through.

---

<"Shield energy is at 56%, Eilee. I estimate they will last for another 15 minutes at most. What do suppose we do?">

"We can't take evasive action?"

<"I told you before that evasive action would be pointless,"> the A.I. replied. It was quite fed up with her obviously organic memory, as this was the third thing he'd had to tell her twice today. <"The ship isn't designed to make sharp turns and is a very large target. Most of the energy we could use to attempting to dodge their lasers would be wasted and it would be better to reroute it to the shield system.>"

The captain put her chin on her shoulder as the spaceship around her rocked. It had just taken yet another hit from the pursuing vessel and En was quipping about the shield energy dropping to 52%. She drowned it out, getting lost in her own thoughts. She was in the heat of battle, but it hardly felt like it. There wasn't that rush when she was hardly doing anything.

"Could you pull up a map?" she asked.

<"I don't see what good viewing a map wou-->"

"Just pull up the map already."

<"Very well.>" En almost seemed to sigh as a diagram of the solar system appeared on the display in front of her eye. It wasn't particularly detailed, as this part of space had scarcely been mapped. It was like a backwater country that no one wanted to go to. Almost everything on the display was identified through the ship's computer. There was a thick blanket of comets only a fraction of a light year away, surrounding a type G2V star.

"En, reroute power to the thrusters and change course for the Oort cloud."

<"All of the power? I don't believe that's particularly wise, considering you have someone shooting at you.">

"Eh, she seems pretty sturdy to me. Should be able to take a few hits," Eilee said, or rather hoped.

<"I can only hope you are correct.">

---

Word Count: 562
Word Total: 562

The ship gave a low, rumbling hum. The lights flickered slightly as the engines ignited with a red glow. The surrounding shields grew thinner before disappating. Suddenly, the ship darted off to the left, the side thrusters pushing it towards the Oort cloud. The vessel following behind it didn't change course quite as easily, but it moved like a fly, zipping around in a circle to change course.

"Okay, we should have enough propulsion to get there. The rest is just cruising. Put the shields ba--"

There room jolted and shook like it were in the middle of an earthquake. Eilee gripped a nearby pipe to stabilize herself, but it just made her feel like she was on an a rickety old roller coaster. "Shields -- shields! Put them up!" she yelled.

The shaking began to subside as the lights dimmed. Eilee touched down on the floor for the first time since she had boarded the vessel. She was not a ground-bound entity and always found it uncomfortable to walk upon it, but it was useful for stability. Still, she didn't take her hands off the pipe. Rather, she inched across the room to a nearby window and looked out it. The stars were colored a slight green, a sign that the shields were working again. She gave a sigh of relief, but smelled something like burnt rubber in the background.

<"Shield energy is at 43%, but the main thrusters have been compromised,"> En said. <"The ship will not be able to accelerate fast enough for interstellar travel unless repairs are made. We do not have the necessary materials to make those repairs.">

"Is there anywhere in this star system that might have them?"

<"There are four rocky planets past an inner asteroid belt. Any one of them should have the required materials, but the outermost planet seems particularly rich in metal ores. However, it would also mean that we'd have to smelt the ores ourselves. It would be wiser to go to the third planet in, as it has a primitive civilization developing in it and the technology to do so without prior assembly.">

"I'm not putting innocent lives in danger, En," Eilee said firmly. "We have a PTO officer on our tail and they might decide that this planet is worth sending more troops to conquer. Set course for the fourth planet."

<"...Very well.">

---

Off in the other ship, Y'lerl monitored the damaged starship like a vulture circling carrion. With its thrusters damaged, it was only a matter of time. She simply had to wait for the vessel to run out of power for its shields. There would be nowhere for it to flee then. She simply sat back, not bothering to fire any further.

The anti-gravity systems were the only propulsion systems that were still working, and even then, those were only meant to change directions -- not cross deep space. However, she noticed a slight change in the ship's direction on her monitor, only a fraction of an angle. It seemed it had changed course.

The ship's computers calculated the trajectory. It was aimed for a small planet known as Earth, a former target for the Planet Trade Organization that had been abandoned due to lack of interest. She grumbled, knowing it meant more work for her.

---

Word Count: 551
Word Total: 1,113

Eilee's starship flew straight as an arrow. Though it would be more fuel efficient to loop around the planets and gain speed, the fact that the ship could no longer stabilize itself was detrimental to say the least. It would have to keep going in more or less the same direction until the end of their journey. After a rocky trip through the Oort cloud, the vehicle had slowed to relativistic speed. It would be a long, tedious wait by stellar travel standards.

Eilee looked over the ship's monitors. The cameras dotted the edge of the ship so that virtually no place on its exterior was overlooked. The PTO ship behind them was making good speed, but it wasn't gaining on them, nor was it firing. Whoever was piloting it was probably going to wait until they made landfall to attack, when they were most vulnerable.

A landing was always dangerous because everything had to be perfectly calibrated. If one tiny little thing didn't go as planned, you burned up in the atmosphere -- simple as that. A breech in the hull during those crucial moments meant certain death.

Minutes turned to grating hours as time passed. The situation didn't change in the slightest, save for their position in the star system. Both Eilee and her mechanical companion were nail-bitingly anxious when the outline of their destination was visible in the window. As they drew closer to the planet's gravitational field, Eilee spoke up.

"Okay, where do you suppose we touch down?"

<"Touch down? We will not be touching down.">

She pondered En's response for a moment before saying, "Do you suppose we orbit the planet for a while to wait it out?"

<"Negative. I decided that your choice for a destination was flawed and I have rerouted our ship to Earth.">

"You... wha--" She was speechless at the comment, unsure how to respond. A cocktail of emotions boiled inside of her like a tea in a kettle with a plugged spout. Suddenly, her lid shot off. "What the hell are you talking about? I'm the captain here and I said we're going to Mars!" She stamped her foot to reinforce her statement.

<"And I am your pilot and I have deemed it inadvisable to land there. We should have our ship repaired in a matter of days if we land on--">

"It doesn't matter how many days it's going to take us to get off! What about the people? What about the innocent lives you intend to sacrifice just so that we don't have to make a long pit stop?"

<"Their lives will only be in danger if we allow this officer to signal his or her comrades.">

"And what makes you so sure that they won't?"

<"We have an opportunity to--">

"An opportunity to what En?" There was silence. Though the A.I. had an answer, he knew better than to retort. And so it went on for the span of yet another hour or so, until a blue marble first showed itself outside.

---

Word Count: 508
Word Total: 1,621

Five glowing eyes reflected back from a circular window. Eilee stared out at the infinite abyss and watched as an object that looked like little more than a baseball seemed to grow steadily larger. She felt herself cringing up more and more with each inch she became closer to it, and in the astronomical distances of space, that was quite a bit of cringing. She was a shell, hiding emotions that she could never again express visually, and ones she certainly didn't want to share with En.

The ship was as silent as the vacuum of space before a mechanical voice finally spoke up.

<"Eilee, I would like to apologize for my insubordinate behavior. It should not be my responsibility to decide whether or not your decisions are the proper ones. I am here to carry them out.">

"It doesn't have anything to do with you acting out of line," Eilee said with a sort of sigh in her voice. "It has to do with you not caring about other people that are out there."

<"I am programmed to ensure that no harm comes to you. I am merely acting out of my predetermined mindset.">

"I know you're better than that, En. You're made to act out of emotion as much as logic. I know you don't feel anything for the people down on that planet because you've never met them, but that shouldn't change how you feel about protecting them. They have as much a right to live as we do."