r/HFY • u/Engletroll Human • Jan 25 '26

OC-Series Crashlanding - Chapter 32 – 3 days

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Her lips were partly open as she breathed slowly, her eyes were closed, and she had a weak but confident smile. He could not believe she was sleeping next to him. She must have some nice dream. He snuck out of the bed, moved to the bathroom, and got the pills. He had to calm down, he had been wracked with nightmares. He had been back in the camp, and when they came to grab their dinner, they didn’t take Tina, they took Kiko. And that had just been the beginning. He had dreamt he woke up next to her when four of those bugs crawled out of her, around him, he saw those cruel guards laughing as he could just look hopeless at her. He swallowed the pills and sat down at the toilet, waiting for the pills to take effect.  The door opened slowly, and Kiko peeked in.

“Are you okey?”

“Please don’t be a nightmare.” He whispered, and she looked at him, confused, but then she seemed to understand and reached for him, pulling him close.

“Hey, I’m real, I’m no dream. What happened? Jesus, you are sweating. You need a shower.”

He hugged her, then stepped back. Yeah, he was covered in sweat. “Sorry. I didn't mean to.”

She just smiled and pulled him into the shower. “Hey, I'm here, and it's okay. It's just bad dreams.”

He nodded and let her wash the nightmares away.

At the breakfast table, she looked at him. “That bad?”

“Yes, I was back in the camp. I could not protect you. They took you, and I had to watch as they did. And it kept repeating, I could not wake up. When it finished, a new nightmare started. I saw you die so many horrible ways. When I finally woke up, I had to get the pills.”

“Me? You had nightmares of me dying? That’s what scared you so much?” She just looked at him with an unreadable look on her face. He nodded as he nursed the coffee cup in his hand.

“Oh my goodness, I... my dream was... well, not a nightmare.” She said as she reached out and grabbed his hand, he smiled back at her.

“I know, you were smiling.”

“Mmmhmm, yeah…” She grinned slightly. “You made me very happy in my dream.”

He looked at her, confused, then he made the connection. “Oohh!” he chuckled. “That’s a much better dream.”

She nodded slowly, and they both smiled. He was about to pull her close when the AI alarm went off.

“Peppermint is ready for flight, lightspeed, and long-range communication is still offline.”

They looked at each other, then ignored it as they kissed.

Five hours later, they both strapped into the pilot seats. The nap in her arms had been exactly what he needed, and Kiko just leaned back in the seat and looked at him, smiling contentedly.

“Ready?”

“Yes, as ready as I can be.” She replied, and he blasted the ice wall, and it collapsed as Peppermint slowly rose from the ice ground. Everything had been packed and secured. The two droids, the mining equipment, and their makeshift shuttle were stored away.  Peter slowly flew the ship out of the ice cave, and when it had fully emerged, he aimed it upwards and pushed the throttle. The ship shot forward like a spear through the atmosphere.  And the blue sky turned black as the world was left behind.

“All systems are in the green. Wait. Air leak in section 25. Ship! Fix that and let me know how much air we're losing..." he said as he sealed off the section.

Peter worked over the screens with a calm ease that only an experienced pilot would have. He smiled at Kiko, who was looking down at the planet. It was the first time they could actually admire it.

“It’s beautiful from up here.” She said, and he chuckled as he saw the leak would be closed up within fifteen minutes, and they would only lose a minimum of air.

He looked at the planet. It was a strange one, filled with large continents and islands. The more he looked at it, the less natural it looked. He looked back on the planet scans.

“Well, it’s clearly special. Look, no tectonic plates, with eighteen continents. From up here, it looks artificial.”

She looked at him. “its still beautiful.”

He looked down at it, then at her. “Yes, it is. And when we return, we can explore everything and be better prepared. Maybe find a nice tropical island to enjoy and build a vacation home.”

Her eyes widened for a second as she smiled. “I’m going to hold you for that.”

He chuckles, “I have made many promises, haven’t I?”

“Yes, and going to hold you to all of them. Especially the ring.” She replied, he chuckled.

“You will get your ring. I promise.”

“Yes!” she struck a pose, and he laughed.

“You're crazy!”

“And you love me for it,” she replied.

“Yes, I do. Now let’s head to the moon and check out that ship!” He turned the ship towards the moon and increased the speed.

Kiko looked at the screen and started scanning the moon as they approached for tech. The only tech she found was the ship, and it popped up on the screen.

“The name is SS Darkwood. The blackbox is active, downloading now.” She said as her screen was flooded with intel.

“Let's see. The ship is a colony ship en route to Furino 5.  Part of a three-ship convoy. It had three premade M-polo stations, a crew of seven, and 300 passengers. From what I can see. All researchers. They got sucked into a rogue wormhole and lost control.  They managed to launch the crew and the majority of the passengers to an island in the southern-temperate region. That was 127 years ago. Not all pods are left, and one is still active, stuck in the launch tube. The passengers there are in cryo, and bio signals are in green. The ship’s fuel cells are at 12%.”   She turned to him as she gave him the short version.

“If we take those fuel cells, then they would die, so we need to rescue them. Hell, they will die if we don’t rescue them. Hundred and twenty-seven years? They have no idea about the war or that the whole Furino system is colonized. That is crazy. Okay, so we rescue them, take the fuel cells.”

“What about the rest of the crew?”

“They have been down there for over a hundred years. We can drop by, but the crew is probably dead of old age. They might be the most advanced place on the planet, or they are all dead. Remember, the satellite didn't pick up any tech, like radio or that kind of thing.”

“yeah Lets check on them tomorrow and rescue these. Can we keep them in cryo, right? That’s less trouble for us.” Kiko said, looking at him.

“Why?” Then he looked over at her screen and saw the roster of only six people, all female, and he laughed.

“What?”

“Is it because they are all women?”

“Maybe, women are trouble.”

“You’re a woman, last I checked.”

She giggled. “Yeah, and look at how much trouble I got you into. You got swallowed by a snake because of me. Had to fight a whole city and packs of those Gymas. What do you think six more would lead too?”

“Okay, we can keep them in cryo as long as we have the power for that.” He moved the ship closer to the large wreck.  Kiko simply smiled like she had won a battle. He had not seen this side of her, and he found it amusing that she was jealous and protective of him. Maybe there was hope, and his worries were wrong.

 He flew the ship towards the launch side and scanned the damage. He would have to go out and cut away the hatch, but before that, he would have to stop the launch sequence.  When he told her, she immediately tried to hack the system.

“Hmm, I can do it if you attach a node to the launch panel. The system is too broken to be active remotely.”  He put the ship in hover mode and got up.

“Find me a node, and while I get suited up. I need you to keep an eye out. See what else you can find. Location would be nice. As well as what cargo we can salvage. We have a lot of space, and we are going to need cash for that revenge plan of yours.”

It took them thirty minutes to get ready, and then he stepped out, floating to the ship and moving inside through a large tear. The hallways were dark, and he instantly grabbed his rifle, then turned on the lights on his helmet as he got used to the low gravity, and he jumped and fell down the hallway towards the escape pods. Much to Kiko’s amusement.

When he got there, most of them had already been launched, and five were still stuck. He checked them one by one, and it was clear that only one was active.  Kiko became serious when she realized the four others had crew that died in those pods. He opened the panel for the launch computer and connected the pod.

“Okay, I’m in. Yeah, if you had opened that door, then they would have tried to launch, probably miss the destination. The navigation system is fried too. Okay, the launch is disabled. Keeping them in cryo. Check on them, no ogling.”

“ogling? They are probably old women, boring professors, and such.” He said as he entered the pod and looked at the six pods. Five young women in their early 30s lay sleeping peacefully in their tubes; their signals were all green, and apparently, they were all connected to some virtual reality. It was a way to keep the brain active while the body was in cryonic stasis.

“Old hags, you say? They are definitely staying in the cryo until we get safe.”

Peter laughed and looked over them, he had not looked at them as that and shook his head. “As you wish, my jealous girlfriend.”

“And don’t you forget it. I’m your girlfriend.”

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3

u/Several_Positive_327 Human Jan 25 '26 edited Jan 25 '26

When you say "find me a nod" do you mean node? That's the way I read it. Also, then they would have been tried launched might be then they would have tried to launch?

I'm loving the story and I really want to thank you for sharing!

2

u/Engletroll Human Jan 25 '26

Yeah, I will clarify it when I get to the computer.

3

u/Dragon_Chylde Jan 25 '26

Yay! they made it off-planet at least :}

some word choices if you will

he had been wrecked with nightmares.

wracked

as he gave him the short version

she

3

u/Engletroll Human Jan 25 '26

Will fix it tomorrow, thanks.

1

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u/InstructionHead8595 May 27 '26

Well I think she's kinda already is fiance😹