Chapter #4Journey to Ymir. by: Ëtalfni   Krystal gazed blankly at the milky white body floating among the various stars that littered the open space in front of the Great Fox. The locals had a name for it, Ymir, the frost giant. A planet so cold that it perpetually remained below Celsius all year round. It was one of the furthermost planet from the sun in the Lylat System, thought to be an inhabitable snowy wasteland with no life that dared to set foot on it. That is, until the Great Fox received an S.O.S transmission from the planet just two days ago.
Life had apparently stubbornly clung to the frozen crust of Ymir, a far-reaching section of the Cornerian Underground Spec-Ops division had set up a base of operations on the planet supposedly for the sole reason that no enemies would bother searching the planet for a hidden base. They were proven wrong, the details were vague in the message but they were under attack by some unknown force and their base was completely overrun. Being in an outpost so far from Corneria, they had no way of contacting anyone. The Great Fox only just received the transmission out of pure luck after returning from a successful mission in Sector Z and being in the area while heading home.
That's where Krystal's new assignment came in, for she was the one that sensed the distress signal in the first place.
"Krystal!" Cried a high pitched voice, interrupting the vixen's thoughts. "Krrrrrystal!"
She sighed. "What is it Slippy?"
The toad mechanic gently tugged Krystal's right sleeve in the manner a child would when consulting its mother. "Falco stole my gyro-driver and he won't give it back. He doesn't listen to me, can you tell him to stop?"
"Slippy, I am not your mother..."
"But Krystal..."
"Enough! Stop acting like a child!"
Krystal grasped her forehead from the sudden migraine Slippy was giving. Her new assignment was to be the one who scouted the planet for any signs of the hidden base. Because of the thick icestorms on the surface, traditional radio transmissions and planet scanning were not options. The team would be relying on her telepathy to locate the base. Though there was a danger of getting in the storm, that wasn't what was worrying Krystal though. Despite be covered in fur like most foxes, she absolutely hated the cold. A journey to Ymir was the last thing she wanted to do, even Fox had pushed the others into dropping the mission until the scanning equipment would work. But they all eventually agreed, there wasn't time to spare. She would be leaving for Ymir by Arwing in a couple of minutes.
"Look, Slippy, you know I'm going planetside soon. I can't waste time here playing mom with the rest of you. As much as I don't want to go to Ymir..."
Something clicked in Slippy's head. "Oh yeah! I finished adding that special addition to your Arwing, it's all set for launch!"
The special addition to her Arwing was a full ship super heater that would generate enough heat to keep her fighter warm the entire mission. It would make her job that much more easier.
"Good, thank you." She turned to leave.
"Wait, where are you going!?" He ran to catch up to her but the blast door closed right in his face. "Darn...I'm sure there's something I forgot to tell her about heaters...Oh well..."
~
Thirty minutes later, Krystal was clear for take off and sped out of the hanger straight for Ymir's atmosphere. As she cleared the thick gray hail clouds, the windows of the Arwing all started to freeze up. The thermometer read -70 Celsius outside, enough for anyone to freeze to death instantly if they weren't prepared. Krystal sighed contently in the cockpit of her Arwing.
It felt like summer inside, a drastic contrast between the freezing outside. Hail battered the hull of the Arwing, but Krystal wasn't even shivering. The heat blew in at full blast as Krystal tried to concentrate "hearing" for another signal from the base.
Her Arwing finally reached the surface of the planet after about a minute of nosediving through the storm clouds. The ground was covered with snow, as would be expected. Not a single patch of brown or black tainted the pearly white pillow of snow. If it weren't for the computer navigating the terrain, Krystal probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference between the sky and the ground. At least it was a little warmer on the surface, only -40 Celsius.
As her Arwing gracefully tumbled to and from the great mountains that littered the surface of the planet, Krystal picked up something.
"...Help..........Many...Them...."
She furrowed her brow, trying to pinpoint the direction of the beacon. The voice came in a little stronger this time.
"....Turn.....Back..."
Just when she almost had the direction it was coming in, a blaring warning flashed up on her Arwing's computer screen. "WARNING: FUEL LEVELS LOW" The dial of the fuel was nearing empty when a computer voice filled the cockpit.
"Warning. Fuel dangerously low. Emergency landing equipment engaged."
It only took a full heartbeat for Krystal to understand what was going on. "Slippy!"
The added heaters had to get their energy from somewhere, and the only suitable source would have to be the fuel for the main engine. Combined with that and the extra energy required to fly through the storm, the Arwing couldn't maintain flight.
Krystal closed her eyes as her ship tumbled nose first into a pile of snow. Her body jolted as the ship came to a sudden stop. Snow was all around the windows of the cockpit as the temperature in the ship steadily dropped.
"I'm going to kill him..." Muttered Krystal as she kicked open the window and dug her way through the snow. Her Arwing was encased in a good five feet of the stuff, when she finally clawed her way to the surface. It was a dreaded sight that greeted her.
She had landed in a giant plain of snow. There was nothing for miles on all sides of her. The razor winds of the storm caused her to wrap her arms around herself in a feeble attempt to warm herself. This was bad. Nothing could be seen anywhere except...  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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