The Defective Clone

Chapter Nine

Tricking The Dragon

After you & the batch came across trouble with the Empire you all traveled through hyperspace, the Marauder slowly falling apart & failing.

“Well that doesn’t look comfortable, for both of you.” Hunter says seeing you & Omega laying against Gonky, Omega named the gonk Gonky. “We’re fine.” Omega replies as you nudge her shoulder. “Here, chow time.” Hunter says handing you both food for the way.

Omega & you get up, you eat yours while Omega holds hers in her hand as Wrecker comes down from up above on the Marauder relieved. “Aw, finally.” Wrecker says eating one whole. “Hit me again!” Wrecker asks. “Well that’s all for now, rations are low.” Hunter replies. “Aww.” Wrecker mopes. “Here, you can have mine.” Omega says handing hers to Wrecker but Hunter stops him. “Hey, Omega doesn’t even have a place to sleep you wanna take her food to?” Hunter asks pulling Wrecker off to the side a good distance away from you & Omega. “Oh, uhh. Uh, no thanks you keep it.” Wrecker says to Omega as she replies with “Ok.” & goes back to sit down with you. “Guess I’m not used to having a kid around here.” Wrecker says. “Well none of us are, she’s not complaining.” Hunter says as suddenly the lights on the ship go on & off. “Echo, lights cut out again, I thought you fixed it?” Hunter asks. “Yeah, add it to the list. The ship got hit hard when we fled Saleucami several systems have been glitching ever since.  Repairs would go faster if I had some help.” Echo says walking back over to Tech. “As soon as I finish building this scanner, testing the functionality of our inhibitor chips takes precedence.” Tech says. “I thought you said they were defective.” Echo says. “Clearly this device will be able to prove. Besides, the ship-wide diagnostic report reported no systems were compromised.” Tech says as suddenly the ship falls out of hyperspace & Hunter runs up to the cockpit. “Getting thrown out of hyperspace, I’d say that’s pretty critical Tech.” Hunter says. “It’s not affecting life support, we’re fine.” Tech replies. “Are you kidding me?!” Hunter replies. “Power capacity is blown, we need to land immediately.” Echo says as the Marauder dived into the nearest planet. “Get ready for your first crash landing kid.” Wrecker says trapping himself in along with you & Omega. “Crash?!” Omega asks. “Omega strap in.” Hunter orders as she does & Echo & Tech handle things up front. “Uh, I can’t see anything.” Echo says as the ship continued its dive. “Hold on!” Hunter says as Gonky rolls towards the cockpit & Wrecker bangs his head against the wall. “We’re gonna die, we’re gonna die, we're gonna…. Be fine, we’re gonna be fine.” Wrecker says calming Omega while you roll your eyes & hold on as Tech takes control & lands it.

When they land Hunter gets up & helps Gonky back to his feet while the rest of you unlatch yourselves. “Everybody alright?” Hunter asks. “Is it over?” Omega asks. “Yeah, it’s over kid.” Hunter replies.

“The storm is getting worse, it’s knocking out our comms.” Echo says checking the area around. “I suspect one of the capacitors sustained damage during our firefight with the regs.  We won’t be able to take off without replacing it. Inventory analysis indicates we have one spare on board.” Tech says as Omega pulls out a container & drops it on the floor. “Is it in here?” Omega asks as everyone stares at her. “What?” Omega asks. “That’s Crosshair’s weapon kit.” Hunter says as you sigh behind Hunter. “Ugh, fine, I'll say it, I kinda miss him.” Wrecker says, crossing his arms. “He shot you, remember?” Echo asks. “Ha! I sure do. That hurt.” Wrecker says. “It’s worth noting the possibility of Crosshair’s actions were influenced by his inhibitor chip.” Tech says. “It can do that?” Echo asks Omega. “That’s what it was designed to do.” Omega replies. “So, it wasn’t Crosshair’s fault?” Wrecker asks. “Well…” Tech pauses. “Look, debating this won’t fix the ship, right now we need to find that capticater & get off this rock.” Hunter says as he walks towards the cockpit with you.