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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 1855777" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 47: Rough LandingArranis sat in the blackness of space, orbiting its nearby blue star. Three of the four moons could be seen, misshapen rocks that was long ago Arranis’ sister planet. Technically, they orbited Arranis III, though since it was the only habitable planet in the system, it was normally referred to as Arranis. The tan colored planet held no clouds in its sky, only long and winding tracks of different colored sands and rocks could be seen. Within the largest of the rocky regions was the small, Imperial Garrison town of Haladin. However, it was no longer the home to that Imperial Garrison that once was the back door to Endor. Now, the only occupants of the town, and the planet as a whole, were the two native peoples.     One, the true natives to the planet, were a small in number species of reptilian humanoids calling themselves Topsiders. It was assumed they call themselves that because of their refusal to hide from the sun and natural predators of the planet below ground shelters that the other inhabitants of the planet used. The Narani were near humans, likely to have once been colonists in the early days of the Old Republic. Both groups coexisted well, simply ignoring each other and trading when it was required.    Landau had explained all of this to both Voort and Jen, also trying to explain to them how important is that the understand the most important thing about Arranis. The lack of water. It was worth more on Arranis than a Corusca Gem would gather on any of the Core Worlds. There was just enough to live on, but that kept the numbers of both groups very low. When the Empire had set up their garrison, they had brought a huge supply of water...which was quickly raided. As were the subsequent supplies of water. No matter how well it was guarded, the natives managed to get to it. Landau expected this kind of treatment the second they landed, no matter where it was. Because of the lack of traffic to the planet, a single ship would be an easy sight, and considering the last encounters with offworlders, they would be expected to have a good amount of water on the ship.    “We’ll head close to Haladin,” explained Landau as he brought the shuttle closer to the planet’s atmosphere, “There’s a good amount of valleys and such near there, so we should be at least mostly hidden.”    Voort was sitting next to him, watching the sensor readings with interest. Behind Voort, at the small comm station, sat Jen, who was relaying the information Landau was giving them to Shadow in Loki not far behind them. Landau figured that if Sadrak had returned, he’d first go to Haladin. Even though it was no longer under Imperial control, it was the only real organized city on the entire planet and was perfect for making one’s presence known among the natives. Voort failed to mention to Landau that Sadrak probably didn’t have a physical body, but either way, Landau assumption was likely correct.    So the first leg of their hunt had started. Voort found it interesting how set on it Jen had been. She was fairly pacifistic, though liberal with that as Alderaanians were, yet she seemed more set on finding Sadrak than he did. Even after a short talk with Akan, he’d sounded set on finding Sadrak and dealing with him. Of course, this didn’t mean Voort was against finding the Inquisitor, he was simply surprised at the two other’s reactions. Especially Jen’s.    All of their thoughts were cut short by an alarm that went off in the shuttle’s cockpit. Voort cursed and said, “Something’s getting a lock on us!”    “Haladin had turbolaser batteries on the ground,” Landau said, starting to weave the shuttle through maneuvers that were never meant to be made with it, especially within the ever growing gravity of the planet’s atmosphere.    “You forgot to mention this, why?” Jen asked flatly from the comm seat, strapping in and holding on at the same time. She was also avoiding looking out the currently spinning viewport. Landau was a good pilot, yes, but even the best pilot pulling these maneuvers with an aging inertial compensator such as the one in the shuttle would have trouble not getting sick.    “They were in pieces!” Landau growled. In a moment, bright green bolts of turbolaser fire could be seen rising up from a section of the dark rocky region below. The desert itself was directly below them as the shuttle dove at a near ninety degree angle, with the rocky regions that were the source of the turbolaser fire able to be seen through the upper section of the cockpit’s viewport. The shuttle suddenly pulled hard up, leveling off slightly and narrowly avoiding another barrage of fire.    “Friendly greeting,” Voort grumbled, holding on and trying to pinpoint where Haladin was. He could see some metallic glints within a valley, and at least four or five sources of the turbolasers surrounding it. They were expected. Or, someone was and they’d gotten caught up in it. Unlikely. Landau maybe? No...Voort knew he could trust Arik. So the best assumption to make at this point was that Sadrak knew someone was coming.    Then, as they got close enough to see more detail in Haladin, the inevitable occurred. The three of them had been expecting it, so there was a disturbingly eerie lack of emotion when they took the first hit. It was dead on, and completely knocked out the shields. Luckily, if you could call it that, at least two of the batteries had taken aim and were firing on Loki instead of their small shuttle.     Landau had managed to keep control of the shuttle, this time pulling it to the side in a roll, trying to come in towards Haladin closer to the eastern edge where the rocks met with the desert. He managed to maneuver around three more close shots when they were hit again. The left wing, Akan’s wing, took the hit, sending the ship into a spin and knocking off the wing completely. There was no way to keep control of the ship in the spin they’d managed, and all Landau could do was try to keep them from hitting any rocks. Voort was out cold, having hit his head hard on the console next to him. Jen was watching the spinning mess outside the viewport. It was impossible to tell what was what, except for when the sky came into view, a small dark shape could be seen briefly. Loki.    “Hold on!” Landau said, stating the obvious thing to do in such a situation. Jen had no chance to respond or even to grip the console in front of her tighter. There was a sudden, extremely violent impact from the back end of the ship, which was followed by two more and a roll. By the time Jen distantly heard a third explosion above her, she could feel blood on her forehead. It didn’t last long, as another violent shock occurred, sending her head into the console and pulling her into blackness.</blockquote>

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