Flight of the Dragon by ShamanX on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

Flight of the Dragon
by Nathan Carlisle

The last thing that she remembered was seeing an energy bolt head towards her ship. A ship that was now drifting down the surface of the desert planet know as HEL 5. HEL 5 was a harsh and forbidding planet that was the home to several major military installations, all of vital importance to the Terran Federation. These various installations were the very reason the Captain Stella Rathh was now drifting hopelessly in space.

The on board A.I. was having a difficult time maintaining life support and other basic system functions after the initial blast from the enemy ship. The engines were offline and had half the crew attending to them. The progress on their repair was going well but time was against them. The battle group that Rathh's ship was a part of was now no more that floating debris and carnage swirling outside the main view port in a strange and surreal manner. Watching the debris enter the atmosphere below was almost beautiful with their multicolored streams of fire. A beauty that Captain Rathh pondered for only a second because she knew that her ship would be next.

The shields were still functioning but this was of little comfort if her ship, the Dragon, entered the planet's atmosphere at an incorrect angle. If the crew could get the navigational thrusters working again she could position the ship correctly before attempting to land. The thrusters were one of the many things that were in need of repair and Rathh had a mental checklist that she was reviewing in here mind. That is when she saw movement out of the corner of here eye.