Reaching GC-138, Ulquonar called Sarah to the cockpit. When she arrived, Ulquonar had already switched to Safe-Mode.692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzj7SKrRGha
“They’re right on our tail,” he said.”We’ll reach the asteroid belt in 20 minutes.”692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1YmetG8hj2
“We need to reach it before they can detect us, right?”692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiAqfXnld4b
“Right. They don’t have a sensor network here, so they will have to look for us manually. That takes time. They found us so quickly at the Forbidden World because they knew they had to first check the immediate vicinity of the planet.”692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRuqDq4GfU0
“Ah yes, I remember how it works.” Sarah took her seat next to Ulquonar and began monitoring the area where they had exited FTL-Space. It was likely that the Tletans would exit in a nearby location. Minutes went by, Sarah barely breathing. Ulquonar was silent, overseeing the flight itself. Not ten minutes later, the ship’s sensor array picked up their pursuers, who remained stationary for the next eight minutes, scanning the system. Then the dot on the sensor display started moving and entered FTL-Space after a few moments. Sarah switched to FTL-Sensors and set the computer to track the Tletans. A monotonous ping indicated the pursuing ship getting closer by decreasing the interval at which it sounded. Sarah suspected that the Tletans were exceeding standard in-system Safe-Mode speeds in order to catch up, so she suggested to Ulquonar to do the same. He pushed the engines to 120% power output and their’s and the Tletan’s relative speed normalized. A double beep caused Ulquonar to shut off the FTL-Drive and they came out of FTL-Space in dangerously close proximity to the asteroids. Sarah shrieked as he spun the ship on its head, taking in what would best be described as a dive followed by a drift around the corner as Sarah could only stare out the cockpit window in shock and fear. One horrible screach later, Ulquonar shut off most primary systems and clung the ship to an asteroid. 692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAuMVbAUSRE
“What the hell was that?” Sarah asked. 692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxW0mQkU9LH
“Just some flying. We should be safe now.”692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6yarh5vUMO
“How are we going to be safe? This isn't a game where they just shrug and leave after a minute.”692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8v2V2x2MNa
“They will search the asteroid belt. It will give us time. They will likely call for reinforcements. Finding us here is going to take them a long time. We will monitor them and wait for an opportune moment to dash out of here again.”692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8EzFrWTzi5
“Sounds shoddy.”692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7QQBeBdTit
“Well, you can sit here and complain or help me check out that flashing red light over there.”692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh1pK7ya93K
He pointed at the light on the dashboard. Sarah pulled up the damage report on the main display. It read a problem with the engine starter and the fuel hydraulics. She sighed. He’d wrecked the ship. Fantastic.692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEebZjuAkCI
“Are you a mechanic?” she asked.692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2ileqmvxcN
“No, sorry. I thought you might be knowledgeable in--” 692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg07iDOQ7X4
“No. That's my aunt you're talking about.”692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBIOxdEDfj2
“Aah…”692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ444szd3ost
Sarah walked into the engine room to search for the manual, but couldn't find one. No wonder, in this rust bucket. Then she tried to find any visible damage, but couldn't find that either. For the next hour, she worked away on many contraptions and machineries in the hopes of finding something that looked like it needed repair. Ulquonar was in the cockpit, trying to make sense of the computer’s cryptic error messages and telling Sarah over and over again that he still hadn't found anything over the intercom. An hour went by with no progress at all, when Sarah, currently inspecting the fuel pump, noticed a lack of pressure in its right circuit. She sat back on the dirty engine room floor, realising that she would have to go EVA. Why did that always happen? Why were these systems always built into the outer hull? Sarah was no engineer and so she packed an answer, but at the very least the ship did not lack a spacesuit, even though it was at least two sizes too large for her. She started putting it on as Ulquonar joined her and had what Sarah assumed to be an an attempt at an apologetic expression, though it came off more as schadenfreude. With the spacesuit put on, Sarah made triple sure that it was not faulty. Regulations mandated at least one spacesuit to be aboard a ship of this size for EVA repairs, but it wouldn't have been very surprising to not find the spacesuit where it was supposed to be.692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡntj2MiGx5h
“So I will hopefully find a hole in the hull and fix it. Then we hope we have enough hydraulic fluid left for the pump to run properly. I don't even want to think about how fucked we would have been had we lost actual fuel.”692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡS63GxcK3eY
“I’ll try to fly better next time, I promise,” Ulquonar said. 692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEmRjzxxaBf
“If there's gonna be a next time at all,” Sarah said and stepped into the small airlock elevator that brought her outside into space. The size of the asteroid they were floating next to amazed Sarah. It was at least three times the size of the ship and by the looks of it, it was one of the smaller ones in the vicinity. She had never seen an asteroid up close in person before and found it difficult to imagine how it must look like. Now she knew. She tethered herself to the ship and and pulled herself toward the aft of the ship, hoping to find the hole quickly. She carefully inspected the hull and soon discovered a small hole from which viscous brown liquid seeped. The hole was about a centimeter in diameter, so Sarah was sure it could be fixed easily. She applied the emergency self-sealing patch and pressed down on it for three minutes. She observed the asteroids slowly spinning around her, creating a serene and fascinating view. The patch applied, she returned to the elevator and back inside the ship, Ulquonar grinned at her.692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdJHuGhi3iT
“The fuel pump is already working again and I was able to get the engine starter to cooperate with some hands-on treatment. Great job.”692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2xHJSSqokS
Sarah sighed in relief as she got out of the spacesuit. “Then let's get out of here quickly.”692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6L82IWzShh
Ulquonar nodded and they went to the cockpit. The sensors were showing the Tletans to be quite a ways from the ship, so Ulquonar spun up the FTL-Drive and shot out of the asteroid field, pressing Sarah into her seat as the inertial dampeners failed to keep up. They jumped into FTL-Space and were on their way to Imperial space in no time. They had escaped the long arm of the law successfully. 692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqgFVb1PLKm
692Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIVXBVvwuge
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