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Thread: Glitterstim Cowboys

  1. #1
    Markos Thrule
    Guest

    TFA PM Glitterstim Cowboys

    Rhen Var


    "No, no no no don't do that!"

    He was running down the main corridor of his ship (really, it was their ship), desperate to reach the rear engine bay in time before that damn idiot did anything to make their already dire situation so much... much more worse.

    The Rascal King shuddered as he descended through the layers of atmosphere, his lower hull glowing as he pushed further down. He rocked and juked, sending Markos from one bulkhead to the other. There was no end to the shuddering, and it seemed as though the wild buffeting would tear the ship apart in a matter of seconds. Their descent was barely controlled as it was, and the ancient ship had certainly seen better days. An understatement if there ever was one, to be sure. The old olive drab paint had flecked away ages ago to reveal a matte grey surface that had just not been repainted. It would happen... eventually.

    Of course if they swan-dived into the snowy tundras of Rhen Var, that paint job would be more of a salvage job. If there was anything left to salvage.

    Careening around a corner, Markos steadied himself with a hand to the circular doorframe.

    "Hey! I said not to do that!"

    He could see the bent back of his partner, hunched over a short distance away, and Markos surged ahead once more. One more doorway, and the blonde skidded low, letting his body fall so that he slid on his knees right up to the edge of an opened floor panel. He reached for a handful of hair.

    "Dammit you ignoramus! You're gonna break my ship!"

  2. #2
    Rocky
    Guest
    Markos might have been the pilot, but if anything, this was Rocky's ship. He was the technical brains of this operation, and he wasn't about to have the cart drive the eopie on this blue milk run.

    "Gnaaaghraaf!!"

    Rocky shook a fist full of thermal modulator at his partner, then reciprocated the fur-pulling, taking a paw full of Markos's hair to push his head to where he could see the problem up close, which was clearly that the atmospheric field coil had been de-charged, not fried.

    "Haughwrar auu wrahh auhhhhwooofgh!"

    And, this was the second time this had happened, and that they'd had this same argument before and Rocky was right the first time!

  3. #3
    Markos Thrule
    Guest
    "Oh come off it!"

    He was manhandled with ease into staring at the issue, his features screwing into a mask of disgust at the smell.

    "So it de-charged again! I thought you were gonna fix it after the first time!"

    Another violent shake, and Markos tumbled the rest of the way down into the work-cubby. Landing roughly, the Lupine let out a grunt before using Rocky to lever himself back into a passable upright position.

    "Why didn't it get fixed?!"

  4. #4
    Rocky
    Guest
    Someone seemed to forget about what happens when a direct ion blast overloads a shield coil.

    "Gwohr haaaurrr!!!"

    No, screw it. Since he knew so much, he could do the re-charge himself, because someone had to ease them down to the planet instead of belly flop. Waving his arms in resignation, Rocky pushed the thermal modulator into Markos' hands, and began to make his way to the cockpit.

    "Grauwaah gaa nwrawww!!"

  5. #5
    Markos Thrule
    Guest
    He stared in wide-eyed surprise before barking back with a retort of his own.

    "You leave my sister out of this, you giant walking shag rug!"

    It was a futile endeavor now, and with a snort of disgust, Markos looked down to the thermal modulator before his head jerked back up and he yelled at Rocky's back.

    "And you better keep the wings up this time!!"

  6. #6
    Rocky
    Guest
    "Hrawauuf!"

    Rocky thunked into the copilot's seat, transferring helm control to his position. Already, they were coming in too hot. The tell-tale red wisps at his peripheral vision indicated re-entry burn. For now, it was just atmosphere. Too much of a bad thing, though, and they'd cook the ship to a crisp.

    The Wookiee reached up to punch flap control, which buffeted the ship sharply, but created enough drag to help to nudge their descent trajectory a few fractions of a degree out of the danger zone. At this speed, it would utterly screw the flaps, but they weren't getting out of this landing looking pretty. A red blinking light on his console droned angrily at him, and Rocky beat the console with a fist, shouting behind him. What was taking so long.

    "Aawwahhgg!"

    Thrusters were next, which would also help to angle the approach. Rocky set the burst to 20 microseconds, hearing the thrust kick in with a hissing whine. At this distance, the curvature of Rhen Var's surface was beginning to flatten out into a proper horizon, which meant that they were out of the woods on burning up on entry.

    Now, he just had to land the damned thing.

  7. #7
    Markos Thrule
    Guest
    Another sharp rock jostled him about in his tight quarters, and Markos looked up just in time to watch as an open-faced toolbox came crashing down. A spanner caught him on the knee and another smattering of tools rained hell on his feet.

    "Hey! Maybe you could make things a little more bumpy?!"

    Holding the thermal modulator in one hand, he knelt to scoop up a priming wrench, jamming the tip into the modulator's energizing port. It wasn't too much of a hassle, but it was the time it took to recharge the damn thing. Once the initial spark was made, the modulator was good enough at cycling itself back into working order, but it was the time it took to get there. The wrench gave a whine as it spooled up, and with a frown, Markos pulled it away as the modulator began to recharge itself after the initial jumpstart.

    Another few moments, and he let the priming wrench fall to the wayside, and reaching into the mass of wires and conduits with his now-free hand, he pushed the modulator into its' slot. A few more moments of hurried work, and the quick-connect wires were slotted into their ports.

    "Ok! Try it now!"

  8. #8
    Rocky
    Guest
    "Rwauuuwwhwraa howrrau!!"

    Backseat drivers, always! Doesn't like the tinkering, doesn't like the flying. Maybe he'll like the view of the mountains from the inside because if they didn't bleed off a little more inertia...

    ...suddenly, Rocky's readout turned green, which meant the coil was back in the saddle with a fresh charge. Finally!

    "Gwoogh!" Rocky called back with authority, holding a thumbs up in appreciation, while at the same time realizing he probably wasn't doing himself any favors by feeding his partner's ego. Besides, he needed both hands, and in short order.

    The surface of Rhen Var was coming up fast, but at least with a buffering atmospheric field in play, Rocky could feather the harmonics against the air resistance. It was a dirty fix, but the Rascal was as maneuverable as a Hutt going uphill in their current predicament, so it didn't have to be fancy. The Wookiee took quick stock of what he had going for him. Ailerons were bleeding power, which meant maneuvering that way was an act of Congress. Still, Rocky torque down on the stick, fighting the building resistance as he did. Now it paid to have the Wookiee do the driving, as the Rascal King slowly banked away from the first treacherous mountains in their path.

    "Auughhaur mrrrooahh!"

    They now had to shop around for the landing zone least likely to kill them, and Rocky hollered for Markos to take his seat. He needed a second set of eyes on the lay of the land while he worked the instruments. Plus, Markos on the trigger of the retro thrusters would be key. He needed to squeeze them with cracker-jack timing, and they only had enough thruster fuel for a handful of blasts.

  9. #9
    Markos Thrule
    Guest
    It took some finagling around the shaking of the ship, but Markos was able to heft himself up out of the maintenance cubby without too much trouble. Or too much lost dignity either. A scramble as he pulled his leg up and out, and moments later he was rocking up to his feet, using the King's jerky motions to help him up. A split second later and he was off again, this time careening out of the engine bay, through the main hub, and then down the main corridor that led to the bridge. Well, it really was more of a cockpit now, as Rocky had had his way with renovating it to something more suitable to a two person crew rather than a ten person crew.

    Markos let himself fall into the pilot's seat, half-fastening his crashstraps with one hand while the other reached out to dance over the forward dash. Ahead, he could see the sprawling white of Rhen Var's surface. Grimacing, he bared his teeth out of instinct. He hated the cold. Always had.

    Course, the sight of the snow below didn't fully pull him from what Rocky was going on about, and he gave a quick glance to the Wookiee.

    "I thought we told that old fuel clerk to top us off on our last stop?! I sure as hell know that I paid for a full tank! I mean, it's not been that long since we leveled up those things, has it?"

  10. #10
    Rocky
    Guest
    "Augff hnrm grnaau hawoouarrr...auuu whrouugh ougf fwruf!"

    Typical flyboy. Only worried about the tank. Rocky hauled off on a litany of maintenance issues on the docket, including how they'd passed on replacing the injectors for the ailerons in order to pay for a bribe at the docking bay on Oord Trasi. And no, the main drives didn't connect to the retro thrust, or any maneuvering thrust, because those were completely different systems. The Wookiee was busy with both hands in tug of war with the yoke, so he gave a vicious series of head nods at the points of reference on the console.

    Sometimes he wondered if he was here to let Markos get all the credit when things went right, and for him to clean up the mess when they didn't. Rocky trailed off in a low moan.

    "Hroooah au whaauawarraugh gnoooo?"

    Constructive. Be constructive. Put his eagle eyes to good use on a patch of snow to land this ungainly bird on. They were losing altitude at a lazy hemorrhage instead of a gush, so they had at least a moment to choose before gravity narrowed them down.

  11. #11
    Markos Thrule
    Guest
    "I'm looking!"

    It seemed to always come down to this. Reaching for his own yoke in an attempt to help, Markos strained against what the ship wanted to do, and put all of his muscle into helping Rocky keep things level-ish. It was a steady application, but there was a surprising amount of strength to his efforts now. Far more than anyone who set eyes on him would think at first glance.

    "Over there," he growled out, giving a nod to the left.

    "There's a flat spot that looks big enough. I hope... "

    They were still dropping, but it wasn't so dire as it had been on their initial entry into the planet's atmosphere.

    "Think we can stretch the glide out enough to reach- "

    A two-tone alarm cut in through his words like a ton of durracrete bricks, and looking up to the overhead display, Markos furrowed his brow as a fresh wave of frustration washed over him.

    "What the... He's stalling!!"

  12. #12
    Rocky
    Guest
    "Hrrrahwrrooo!!"

    Rocky tilted back his head, painting the ceiling with his curses as he felt the nunas flip to the roof of his stomach. They'd bled off too much inertia clearing the last mountain, and were now practically skiing down the slope, given how close they were to sheer rock. Normally they'd be able to power out of a stall with a dive, but they didn't have the breathing space to do it now, and they'd run out of mountain real quick unless they could come up with a better idea.

    "Gnaa hrwaaghh?"

    The Wookiee's eyes trailed to the retro ignition. They'd burn up their hold card if they flamed it now, but the ventral thruster nozzles at full burnout - coupled with a full burn on the main engines - should give them airspeed and level off their descent. If they did that, they just might get into a sustainable descent. The problem was that they'd have more velocity than they bargained for the end run, and they'd have no good way to arrest what was now certainly looking like a crash landing.

    It was Markos' call. Rocky's right paw carefully palmed the throttle. If Markos was in, so was he.

  13. #13
    Markos Thrule
    Guest
    "Wait!!"

    They'd have to worry about the consequences later. The slope was beginning to gradually even out, the King only just barely staying above the surface. The only saving grace he could see was the rocky, mountainous surface giving way to a snow-covered grade.

    "I have an idea!"

    A plume of snow trailed them now, rising into the air like a chaotic tail in their wake.

    The engine sputtered one last time, and Markos gave an angry curse before his entire body wound tight with exertion. The control yoke was bent as far right as he could make it go, and at the same time his feet pushed the footpedals down until they bottomed out.

    For a moment the ancient beast did nothing. It simply kept speeding down the mountainside, his belly coming ever closer to the snow. And then...

    A creak as there was a shift in angle, and the King ever so slowly began to respond.

    "Slip it! Help me slip it!"

  14. #14
    Rocky
    Guest
    Rocky's eyes went from adrenaline-junky to fear-shot in a moment.

    "Hnnh whowrr..."

    If his idea was throwing a dart at the board over his shoulder, then Markos's was doing the same after a bottle of whisky in the tank. There was no way they'd find the lift, but it was too late to do anything about it because his sidekick had already thrown his die on the table and they were spinning...

    ...which was literally probably what they'd be doing in seconds. Down a mountainside.

    "Gnaaaaahhhh!!!"

    What choice did he have but to go all in? Rocky took the controls to the juddering flaps and pushed his weight into them, fatalistically hoping that at least the reduced lift at the onset might make them easier to lock in. His shoulders shook with effort, but were rewarded two excruciating seconds later with the dull clang of durasteel. Now they were eating every bit of resistance they had, and the Rascal shook like it was having a seizure. The Wookiee made sure his crash webbing was secure, and gave Markos a now-or-never look.

    This wasn't exactly how he imagined he would die.

  15. #15
    Markos Thrule
    Guest
    The King laboriously listed, angling its' hulk into a sideslip as they continued to thunder down the mountainside. It was a barely controlled maneuvre that Markos gambled on, hoping to slow their descent in some way.

    And somehow, by some sheer miracle, it worked. Their airspeed dropped to something just above acceptable, and as he strained against the controls, he couldn't help the small spark of hope that was beginning to form in his gut. With the yoke pulled one way and the floored foot-pedals pushing the ship the other direction, the King continued to shoot downwards, yet at a sideways approach. The snow below still sprayed up in their wake, but they were slowing regardless.

    "A little more!!"

    Both he and Rocky continued to hold, kept their efforts focused, and they finally dipped below the safety horizon.

    "Pull him back! Straighten out!"

    Like an uncoiling spring he moved, jerking the yoke back to center as he let up on the pedals.

    The old ship groaned as it righted itself, and the powder spray just below them grew.

    "Cut power! Kill everything!"

    The belly of the King finally touched down in a skid, releasing a sudden burst of snow spray before ever-so-slightly taking to the air again.

    Like a skip-stone they hit the slope, until finally the weight settled them into an uncontrolled slide down the now-shallow angle of the foothills.

  16. #16
    Rocky
    Guest
    "Auwhf gna waraa."

    Why was he calm? Had he accepted his fate to be scraped off a mountain? Rocky moved along the power-down sequence, hitting the breakers in their standard sequence even as the entire ship shook to the point of nearly making it impossible.

    Hell, why not calm? They'd gone all-in, and now it was up to physics to sort them out or not. Even if they went full burn there was nothing to be done to change the situation now.

    The frequency of the juddering became less violent after a sudden jolt, and from the spall of snow out of the viewport, they were now no longer flying, but skidding. The Wookiee gave an uncomfortable glance-about, hearing the worrisome scrape of metal against rock, and he hoped that they'd decided to gamble on a bunny slope.

    Of course, just when he thought that, the entire ship bucked upwards a few meters, no-doubt colliding with an outcropping under the snow pack. Rocky felt his stomach flip as they again returned to the mountain, only this time the view was turning to the left.

    "Nnhh whauraau."

    Now they could just experience a near-death moment without having to see it unfold. Probably better that way. Rocky turned to his partner, considering the weird helplessness of the moment. This was probably a good time to say something.

    "Hnauwrr rro au wauu hnnooo rrf uuwu..."

    And he meant every word of it. No more sarcasm or banter. Rocky looked over to Markos, and placed his big hand over the human's.

    The shaking stopped. Rocky's eyes closed.

    This is it. We're dead now.

    A few moments passed, and he cracked one eye open. Then the other, giving a look-around. The afterlife appeared so very...normal.

  17. #17
    Markos Thrule
    Guest
    As the King ground to a halt, metal screeching in a teeth-shattering din, Markos had screwed his eyes shut even as he felt Rocky's massive grip over his hand, and heard what he had thought would be the last words he'd ever hear. They were sweet, insomuch as sweet went with Wookiees. But the sentiment and honesty was there, and Markos had firmly believed that those words were the last he'd take to his grave.

    Except...

    His eyes flew open after a few seconds of creaking... of feeling the King rock a few more times before growing still.

    And in that moment he let out a breath that he'd not known he'd been holding. His hand pulled out from beneath Rocky's, and the Lupine rocked back in his seat as a rush of adrenaline passed over him.

    "... Hah!"

    He stared at the ceiling, and the upper panel and all of its' switched and toggles and buttons. He stared at them all in a fresh, rapt fascination.

    "HAH!"

    Both hands came up to push sweaty blonde bangs from his eyes and back along the top of his head.

    "HOOOOO!!!"

    Oh to be alive!

  18. #18
    Rocky
    Guest
    The realization hit Rocky too, a second or two later.

    "HrraruuAAAAAGGGHH GNAAAUU AUWWAAUUFF!!!"

    Ecstatic, Rocky tore out of his crash webbing, standing up as his paws banged on the roof in jubilation. He pulled Markos out of his seat, drawing him into the biggest hug of a lifetime as the sheer joy of being alive overcame him.

    "GHHAAAAAUUUUU!!!!!!"

  19. #19
    Markos Thrule
    Guest
    "I KNOW!"

    In the here and now, being crushed in Rocky's embrace didn't even bother him. The Wookiee's fur pressed against the side of his face, and Markos couldn't help but be taken up in the moment. He jumped, hollering along with his companion in jubilation at still being able to draw in air. Or well, somewhat. Spitting out a lock of chest fur, Markos pushed himself away from the towering hulk, casting wide eyes behind him and out the viewport. A wall of white met him, and despite their still dire situation, the grin on his features remained.

    He looked back to Rocky, giving him a light sock on the arm.

    "Couldn't have done it without you, Sweetheart."

    A final exhalation of breath, as the immediate silence between them was disturbed by a series of creaks and groans as the King settled a little bit more into the snowbank he'd come to rest in. Once again he ran a hand through his hair, casting a look past the Wookiee and down the main corridor leading to the back of the ship.

    "Mom's not gonna be happy 'bout the ship," he finally ventured.

    The ridiculousness of his observation was not lost on either of them.

  20. #20
    Rocky
    Guest
    Curbing his enthusiasm a little, Rocky allowed Markos a scant amount of breathing room as he took stock of the situation. There wasn't any prevailing chemical stink. No tibanna, no ozone, and nothing like an electrical fire. No telling how much structure damage, but considering how rough they'd come down, it was a small miracle that they'd come to a landing in this condition.

    Rocky pushed some raggedy bangs back atop his head, giving his shoulders a carefree roll.

    "Hnaau nuwrr hrow hruuwoo ouuff grauu, au hrruuf wroo."

    After all, they'd made it all work after worse spots of getting their goose cooked.

    "Gnarr wrooo."

    A little cocky swagger, a toothy grin, and a thumb tucked against his chest. Rocky knew he'd get the bird back on her feet again. When had he not?

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