《The Celestial Venture》Chapter 9 - Lantern III - Crash

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"Argh," Kree muttered, rubbing her ribs as she opened her eyes and looked around. Jarvell was gone, and the ship was against the ground. There were a lot of sparks flying around, but the cockpit seemed to have managed to remain intact. Undoing her tangled belts, Kree slowly stood up, feeling that she probably cracked a bone or two in her side. Overall, a better outcome then she expected when they were going down.

"Whoa, take it easy. It was a rough landing."

Looking behind her, Kree didn't see Jarvell, but she could hear his voice from the backroom. Slowly making her way there, she watched as Jarvell was examining Twy'la, who was appearing less then pleased by how close he was to her. Jarvell appeared to have practically no injuries, and Twy'la had a few bruises, and winced a few times as she got checked.

"Seems you're mostly fine, nothing serious at least. Just need to bandage those bruises and you'll be good. Wait here, I'll get the med kit." Jarvell said, before turning and noticing Kree "Kree! If you woke up, then sit down and I'll check you in a moment. There was only so much I could check while you were out cold."

Nodding slightly, Kree went and sat down next to Twy'la, who gave her a concerned look.

"You look like a giant bug stampede ran over you." Twy'la said.

"Gee, thanks. You look pretty beaten up as well."

"Well, I don't have extra tough skin like mister four arms there," Twy'la rolled her eyes in Jarvell's direction "Jarvell says I was out for about 10 minutes, and you were for a couple more after me. Why'd we crash?"

Slightly adjusting her sitting, Kree winced from the pain in her side "Well, this planet's pull was much stronger then expected, and it seems that when we took that nose dive, the landing gear just broke off. Between that and the speed we were coming at the ground," she winced again as she leaned back against the wall "Yeah, no chance to make that work with my flight skills."

"That sounds bad." Twy'la said, watching as Jarvell came back with the med kit and proceeded to start examining Kree.

About fifteen passed before both Twy'la and Kree were patched up to the best of Jarvell's capabilities. Standing back from the two, he then looked around "So, I haven't checked yet, but is there another exit from the ship? Or do we need to kick the porthole down?"

Kree slowly stood up. Jarvell did a decent job, though it still ached some. Moving to one of the walls, she pressed a panel, which caused a closed hatch in the ceiling to appear.

"Hoo, useful. Any other secrets this ship might hold?"

Shrugging, Kree went and with a boost from Jarvell, went and released the ladder leading up "Before we head out, we need the radiation gear. Twy'la, there are three suits in the lower compartment, beneath the beds. Bring two out, and three breathers."

Doing as instructed, Twy'la quickly found the radiation suits, and after a bit of confusion regarding how to put them on in the right order, Kree and Twy'la were both full equipped with the suits and breathers, while Jarvell only had the breather.

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"You sure you don't need a full suit? You can stay in while I work on the ship." Kree said, looking concerned at Jarvell.

"Nah, I'll be fine. My home planet was already somewhat radiated, so our people basically developed a certain level of immunity to radiation. But this planet's levels are higher, so the breather will help be safe." Jarvell explained, before unlocking the hatch, and exiting the ship.

Kree and Twy'la followed him, and Twy'la bumped into Jarvell's back as they stood on the ship "Why'd you st-"

Her mouth gaped slightly open as she noticed what he was looking at. Ruins of a metropolitan city, under the cover of a green mist, and many skeletons, scattered all the way from the city, to beyond where the ship had crashed at.

"W-what happened here?" Twy'la whispered, feeling a shiver go up her spine.

"Probably the worst thing that can happen. War."

Both Jarvell and Twy'la turned to look at Kree, whose tone seemed to change to a much darker and serious tone. Her expression seemed to become almost dead as she glanced at the sight, before beginning to make her way off the ship.

"W-war?" Twy'la looked at Jarvell, confused.

"Never experienced it? Consider yourself one lucky lady. Two sides that are fighting to the point of being willing to kill the other side, normally following conflicting ideals or some dumb stuff like that." Jarvell explained, before making his way off the ship, and then helping Twy'la get off.

"The Kly'ta always had a small population, so we knew that we can't let things get that way."

"See, that's actually smart, compared to other things I heard about your people so far."

As Twy'la and Jarvell continued discussion the topic of war, Kree started examining the outer damages to the ship. There was quite a bit of repairs to do, not including either finding the landing gear, or replacing it. And as she continued checking, she felt something soft land on her head. Glancing up, Kree spotted a bit of pink that was trying to glance at her, before removing Gum from her head and dropping him on the ground.

"Jarvell, are you strong enough to lift the ship so we could see the damages from below?" Kree called out to him, avoiding looking at the city and skeletons that surrounded them the best she could.

"Hm? If you point me to the stronger points, I might be able to. Wouldn't want to accidentally tear off any parts." Jarvell said, heading over to Kree.

As the two continued inspecting the ship and all the damages, Twy'la's gaze went back towards the city. War, and so many dead. What could cause so many to decide to fight until this is the outcome? Twy'la shook her head. She didn't want to find out. She never wanted to find out.

Kneeling down next to one of the skeletons, Twy'la looked more closely at it. Humanoid aspects, with a long tail and more reptile-shaped skull. And as she continued inspecting it, she somehow felt more information come to her mind. And her Cosmos seemed to glow brighter.

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"Rydians, natives to Lantern III of the Felix Lantern system. They evolved and reached space travel, but did not yet colonize any other planet. They are considered-"

Twy'la felt the last word become stuck in her throat as she realized what it meant. And it made her drop on her rear and back away a bit from the skeleton, only to bump into Gum. Without thinking about it, she just grabbed Gum and held him tightly.

"T-they," Twy'la glanced over at Jarvell and Kree, who were coming to see what happened to her "They're extinct."

Jarvell's eyebrows shot upwards "What? How do you know no one survived?"

"I-I just know. My Cosmos, they c-connected to the skeleton and to the planet. I-I don't know h-how." Twy'la said, tearing up as she fixed her eyes on the two.

Jarvell just seemed stunned, before moving to help Twy'la stand up and calm her down.

Kree's expression, once more, appeared dead. She made no effort to respond to what they were just told, instead just moving to look at Jarvell, before taking a deep breath.

"We have the list of materials we need, and the city ruins are probably our best chance to find what we need. Twy'la, stay here with Gum. If any wildlife comes your way, shoot it."

"S-shoot it with wh-"

Before Twy'la finished her sentence, Kree tossed her an energy pistol "You aim, and press the trigger. If it overheats, it will take 30 seconds to cooldown, so don't shoot too much at once."

With that, Kree started to head off. Twy'la looked a bit confused and worried at Jarvell, who returned the same expression.

"I'll look after her. Oh, and here," Jarvell came closer and pointed at a dial "This arrow, to the right, means its shooting. If you shift it to the left, then it flare mode. With a flare, you point up and take a shot. It will overheat the gun, but it's the best way to catch our attention, even at a distance."

Repeating what she was just told, Twy'la nodded, before watching as Jarvell hurried to catch up to Kree. Glancing at gum, she moved to sit on the ground.

"What do you think happened to Kree'aria?"

Gum looked at Twy'la and just hopped on the spot.

"Really feels like this place is just as dead as she is behaving right now, doesn't it?

Hop.

"And the concept of war. I suppose my people have technically been at war with your kind for a long time huh?"

Hop. Hop.

"I kinda wonder why sometimes. We haven't had a Gelac attack in my entire lifetime. And you don't seem that bad. Heck, you actively avoid melting us."

Hop.

"And I'm holding a conversation with a Gelac," Twy'la sighed as she looked around "If I wasn't already considered an outcast already, this would definitely make me seem like I've been hit in the head with a moon rock."

Hop and a flip.

Twy'la raised an eyebrow "What's that supposed to mean? I'm perfectly sane!"

—————————————————

As they approached the city, Kree could see more signs of the former civilization that lived there. Some rusted vehicles, including space-travelling ones, and skyscrapers that collapsed into themselves. It was hard to tell what the cause was by now, but it was clear that it had been some time. Few centuries at least. So it wasn't likely that anything was still alive on this planet. She doubted even wildlife would survive this enviroment.

"Should we start gathering some of the scraps? Or at least check the vehicles?" Jarvell asked.

"Sure. Start on the right side of the street, I'll check the left." Kree said, before walking away to the opposite side from Jarvell.

She didn't know exactly what it was, but the whole planet and what went on just gave her the worst possible feeling. Like the planet was trying to repel her away with the state it was in. And Kree didn't exactly want to stay there long either, but after fixing the ship, they still needed to check for signs of the celestial dragon.

Though what hope they had on a planet that seemed to have bombed itself to oblivion, she had no idea.

As she worked on extracting parts that would fit from one of the vehicles, Jarvell came, holding a few large pieces "I think these could be good replacements for the landing gear, right?"

Turning to look over them, Kree nodded "Might need to slightly bend them more, but I think they should work. Still need to find new joints too. I wouldn't have thought that the joints themselves would melt from that entry."

"That did seem rather odd," Jarvell concured "Heck, it didn't really look like just heat did that. Looked like it was melted with acid."

"With acid," Kree said, before the realization came to her "It was Gum!"

"W-what? Gum?" Jarvell asked, confused.

"Yeah! Back when we took off from Europa, the moon that both Twy'la and Gum are from, Gum hid himself in the landing gear!"

Jarvell seemed to realize what she was saying after a moment "Well, that's that mystery solved then. Though best check if Gum didn't weaken anything else on the ship."

"The lower hatch. When we landed in Water Hole." Kree said, thinking on the sizes they would need for that.

"I'll be on the lookout for those then. But I think we might need to find some shelter soon," Jarvell said, pointing up, at some nasty looking green clouds "If those are rainclouds, I reckon both your gear and my skin won't be enough."

Looking up, Kree just fixed her sight at the clouds for a moment longer "Then lets head into some shelter with the ruins. It doesn't seem like the clouds will take long to pass. And even Twy'la should have enough sense to go back into the ship and hide there."

Jarvell nodded, and the two started to head into some shelter, all the while missing a flare that had shot up directly behind them.

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