and if you court this disaster, I'll point you home (part CL)

(Roleplay entry. Continued from part CXLIX.)

"We need to get TOTS out of this space. We can't lose the payload it brought back to an explosion now. It cost too much to acquire."

Hiro and Rusty leapt from the truck as soon as the hanger doors sealed behind them and they rushed to the bridge of TOTS, bringing the reactor core online and starting the pre-flight procedure. Hiro tried entering coordinates but found the automatic system unresponsive.



"I'm going to manual."

"Is that safe?" asked the Bard with his usual mien of worry.

"Nope. But it's what we've got." The TOTS began to move.

Behind them the Gate flashed, putting out a bubble of energy that was then sucked back in. The Gate went dark.

TOTS sped away from Tannhauser Gate Station, precious cargo and three members of the Gearhaven Court aboard. The Duke struggled to keep it under control as the descended towards the Dark Sea. Alarms began to sound in the ship.

Warning! Core safety limits exceeded! You have 120 seconds to return to safe operating limits before core failure!

"I'm going to fly us closer to Gearhaven and New Alexandria," said the Duke, wrestling with the ship's controls.

Inside the ship infirmary, the pod holding the Countess opened in response to the ship-wide alarms. Her eyes fluttered open and, hearing the shrill call of the klaxons, she hurried to the bridge. Hearing the door open, Hiro turned, spotting her. "Justine! Get strapped in!"

The Countess hurried to a station and buckled herself securely seconds before TOTS hit the water of the Dark Sea and plunged to the depths.

Warp error. FTL drive not responding.

The bridge went dark.

Core offline. Flight Systems inoperable. Auxiliary power activated.

Justine threw off her seatbelt and stumbled to the door, squinting for the emergency lights through the smoke. She tripped, going sprawling, then realised she'd tripped over Rusty. Grabbing him by the coat she pulled him clear of the bridge, searching frantically in the back for an emergency evac pod. She found one, partially inflated it, shoved Rusty in, then herself, before she looked back. She could see Hiro amid the flames still on the bridge.

"Hiro!! Get out of there!!"

30 seconds to core failure.

She pushed the evac pod out into open water, the partial inflation keeping them on the sea floor for now. A hatch opened on top of TOTS and a shuttle emerged, Hiro at the controls. It had barely cleared the crash site when the rear of the ship exploded.



"Get in," shouted Hiro, bringing the shuttle down beside Justine and Rusty.



Coughing, Rusty climbed in. "The cargo?"



Hiro shook his head grimly. "It's still down there. But there's no way we can get close to it now."



The shuttle raced away, barely ahead of the blast wave.

(Continued in part CLI.)