Post by Cato on Sept 18, 2022 15:29:45 GMT -5
TURBO SUCKS
| Cato's PL: 16,000 |
| Cato's PL: 16,000 |
The engines on Cato's attack pod had been purring when she first took off, her repairs after her unfortunate landing in an acidic swamp on Plant many months ago long forgotten. It had held together as if it were new on the trip to Earth, but this new trip had been anything but smooth. She was startled awake by the buzzing alarm alerting her that one of the components had overheated. A couple button presses later, and she was able to bring up the overview of the ship. As it turned out, it was the newly installed turbo drive that had somehow started malfunctioning. Maybe the ship had travelled too close to a star, or maybe the device was just faulty when it was added. She had thought Saiyan engineers would do better work than that, but she couldn't worry about that now.
What she did have to worry about was her landing.
She could have landed in an ocean or a glacier or even on one of the moons, and it would have been fine. But no--the malfunctioning turbo drive had slowed the ship down at just the right moment to set her ship on a collision course for Kuriza City. She yanked hard on the controls, trying to correct her course, but it was no good: these pods are accurate, but not so late in the journey, with so much speed already built up, and fiery streaks blazing past her viewport window as she cleared the lower rings of the atmosphere. The most she could do was pull it out of the direction of what looked like a large residential building on the skyline, but that proved to be a critical mistake.
As the flames cleared and the scorched pod's engines cut, she saw what she was now rocketing towards like a cannonball: a palace, one that rose high above the rest of the city, almost magnificent in its design. She might have sat there and gazed at it in wonder, had she not been desperately wrenching on the controls of the spacepod, trying to get it to budge. She could barely turn, and it wouldn't be enough, and --
Snap.
The controls tore right up from the panel under the force of all her wrenching, and she stared at them in horror. She was going to crash right into the Citadel. The Arcosians would interpret it as an attack. If the crash didn't kill her, they certainly would. She'd intended to touch down far from the city for that very reason, but it was no good now. She shut her eyes and began muttering to herself, silent prayers for a miracle, but she knew better than to expect it. She just had to wait for the crash.
What she did have to worry about was her landing.
She could have landed in an ocean or a glacier or even on one of the moons, and it would have been fine. But no--the malfunctioning turbo drive had slowed the ship down at just the right moment to set her ship on a collision course for Kuriza City. She yanked hard on the controls, trying to correct her course, but it was no good: these pods are accurate, but not so late in the journey, with so much speed already built up, and fiery streaks blazing past her viewport window as she cleared the lower rings of the atmosphere. The most she could do was pull it out of the direction of what looked like a large residential building on the skyline, but that proved to be a critical mistake.
As the flames cleared and the scorched pod's engines cut, she saw what she was now rocketing towards like a cannonball: a palace, one that rose high above the rest of the city, almost magnificent in its design. She might have sat there and gazed at it in wonder, had she not been desperately wrenching on the controls of the spacepod, trying to get it to budge. She could barely turn, and it wouldn't be enough, and --
Snap.
The controls tore right up from the panel under the force of all her wrenching, and she stared at them in horror. She was going to crash right into the Citadel. The Arcosians would interpret it as an attack. If the crash didn't kill her, they certainly would. She'd intended to touch down far from the city for that very reason, but it was no good now. She shut her eyes and began muttering to herself, silent prayers for a miracle, but she knew better than to expect it. She just had to wait for the crash.
TWC: 459 (+459)
Cato is going to crash into the Citadel unless someone blocks her pod!
Cato is going to crash into the Citadel unless someone blocks her pod!