Title: Crash Landing
Author: SoA
Timeframe: during KotOR II
Characters: Kionee Rinnh and her protocol droid MT-412 (OCs)
Genre: Action, DEATH
Summary: On a regular trip to Onderon to pick up some more wildlife for the Telos Resoration Project, Kionee finds herself stuck in a blockade not allowing anyone to land on Onderon.
Notes: This was written for the 2012 OC Deathcoaster challenge. (SoA is an OC thread host, so this is not eligible for voting.)

Disclaimer- the idea of this challenge was to prematurely kill of one's beloved OC in a way that does not line up with one's own 'canon'. Kionee does not die this way in my normal story arc. This is simply a what-if.

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Crash Landing

Kionee paced agitatedly back into the cockpit to see if the situation that held the Viridian, and at least three dozen other ships, in orbit over Onderon for the last thirty-six hours had changed. A quick glance out the front viewport smothered that hope. Over her nap, the crowd of ships had swelled to nearly twice the size while even more Onderonian Royal Fighters patrolled the lower stratosphere. The blockade was not going anywhere. Now, Onderon’s nearest moon, Duxn, orbited between the mishmash fleet and their destination, obscuring most of the planet from view.

Kionee let out a growl of frustration and slammed her fist against the wall beside her.

“I hate to spoil your mood,” MT-412 began, “But beating up the Viridian will harm you more than the ship, and will get us no closer to the Iziz spaceport.”

“You’re not helping, Emtee,” Kionee groaned, sinking down into her pilots chair. “How much more of this do we have to put up with?”

“We really aught to check in with Rajan on the surface again, and report our status,” MT-412 suggested.

“Don’t bother,” Kionee grumbled, “Not until we have something to report anyway. Besides, it’s still before dawn, Iziz time. Beast Riders may be early risers, but not that early.” She sighed. “Rajan always chews me out if I’m even five hours late. The beasts get restless. He much rather tranq them and shove them into my hold than let them lie in cages in the loading area.”

“Better in Iziz and restless than on our ship and restless,” MT-412 pointed out.

Kionee let out a strained chuckle. Her droid’s sense of humor did little to ease her frustration. She had a reputation to keep up and a contract to uphold.

“You know what?” Kionee straightened up and took the comm, “I’ve had enough of this.” She dialed Onderon fleet control and demanded, “Fleet Control, what is the status of this blockade? When are we going to be allowed to the surface? I’ve got an important delivery schedule to keep.”

“We have not been given an authorization order for landings yet, Viridian,” came the reply.

“When do you expect to receive such an order?” Kionee asked with strained politeness.

“When General Tobin sees fit,” the man on the other end of the comm replied.

“So your general is going to jerk around a bunch of honest traders for his own pleasure?” Kionee demanded, “I know I’m not the only one up here with legitimate, urgent, work to do.”

“Your work will on Onderon will have to wait, Viridian, the starport is closed for the time being,” it sounded as if the fleet control officer was losing his temper. That, somehow, gave Kionee some satisfaction.

“Get me that General Tobin,” Kionee snapped, “I want to talk to him myself.”

“The General is not taking personal inquires at present,” he replied.

“Get me General Tobin,” Kionee repeated, frustration rising.

Bright green light flashed past the front viewport.

“That will not be possible—”

The Viridian shook and its sensors wined. Several displays on the Viridian’s control boards flashed urgently.

“We’ve been hit!” MT-412 exclaimed.

“What the—?” Kionee released the comm, conversation forgotten. “Emtee, get all the shields up, full power!”

“Done,” the droid replied.

“What’s going on?” Kionee demanded, firing up the Viridian’s engines. The fleet around them writhed like a swarm of fire wasps, bright with random streaks laser fire. The Onderonian fighters were firing on the visiting ships and some of the ships were firing back. Most, it seemed were just trying to get out of the way. “Irritable cannoks or no, let’s get out of here! I’m done with Onderon!” Kionee asserted as the Viridian shook again.

“Shields are down to twelve percent,” MT-412 warned.

A lump rising in her throat, Kionee let out a deep breath. “Don’t tell me that.” I’ve been in worse places before… The Viridian surged forward, out of the center of the fire wasps’ nest. Detaching herself from everything else, Kionee deftly dodged the other fleeing ships and the firefight.

The ship bucked violently and the cabin lights flickered.

“The shields are down!” MT-412’s metallic voice warned.

Kionee shut it out. She shut out the flashing warning lights. She shut out everything except for the shifting path to freedom and empty space.

There was a streak of gray and orange as the Ebon Hawk pursued by three Onderonian fighters jetted by the Viridian.

“The Ebon Hawk?” Kionee marveled out loud. “It can’t be. That means—”

One of the fighters pursuing the Ebon Hawk took a direct hit from its laser canon. The starboard wing incinerated, it spiraled out of control.

Kionee, startled out of her daze, dove away from its trajectory, but she was not quick enough. Her ship spun on its axis as the Onderonian fighter collided with the Viridian’s aft section. “The hull has been breeched, we’re open to the vacuum!” MT-412 practically screeched.

Kionee fumbled across the control panel for the emergency airlock controls. She knew where it was, but never had had to use it before. Finding the conspicuous red button, she punched it without a second thought. There was a scraping hiss behind them as the hold was sealed off from the cockpit.

She only had a moment to breath easily. The collision knocked the Viridian into a downward spiral towards Duxn. As she took the control yoke again, the Viridian was completely unresponsive.

“The controls are dead,” she marveled in utter disbelief. She felt as if the wind had been knocked out of her. The ship began to burn down through Duxn’s atmosphere. “Emtee, the controls are dead.”

“The primary power source was knocked out,” MT-412 twittered, “The auxiliary power only has enough for life support.”

Kionee’s head spun. The Viridian was not outfitted with inertial compensators the way fighters or smuggling ships were. All the while, Duxn’s jungle treetops grew closer and closer.

She shook her head to ward off the dizziness, but it had little effect. Biting her lip, she turned all of her focus on the main computer screen. Lights were not needed, neither was the gravitational generator, air purifiers, climate control, or the oxygen circulation systems, for all the time they had left in the sky. She ignored the warning messages, punching in her pass code at every override screen, and cursing at the sluggishness of the whole process. She diverted all of auxiliary power to the engined. The warning screen screamed along with all of the other sirens: the Viridian had only one working engine. Kionee cursed again. She switched the meager power source to the repulsor lifts. Three of the five were still functioning. She bit her lip. That had to be enough.

Kionee allowed herself a glance out the front viewport, but the spinning mass of green speeding towards them only made her dizzier. She sucked in a deep breath and hoped to the Force that the Viridian would be facing the right direction when she fired up the repulsor coils. Squeezing her eyes shut, she triggered all three at once.

The Viridian lurched, it’s spiraling descent slowed. A wave of relief washed over Kionee.

“You did it, Mistress Kionee!” MT-412 exclaimed.

Suddenly, there was a loud popping noise and a thin trail of smoke snaked up from the back of the cockpit from the auxiliary power generator. One quick look at the control screen told her that the repulsor coils had overdrawn the small generator and blew its fuse. All of the spare fuses were in the cargo hold, on the other side of the air-locked door.

The Viridian continued in its free fall.

Kionee let out a wordless sob and tears blurred her vision. All the Viridian’s power was gone. There was nothing more she could do. In the moments she had left, her life did not flash before her eyes. It was not her family or the work she left undone she thought of. The one thought that consumed her mind was that she would not be able to pick up Mical on Dantooine as she had promised.

She whispered through her tears, “I’m sorry, Mical.”

Branches snapped against the Viridian’s hull. The viewport shattered an instant before the Viridian’s fuel ignited, engulfing the ship and the surrounding jungle in flames, but Kionee did not feel its heat.

 

Hmm...I like the characterization, though it's hampered a bit by the general lack of context (an aspect of this format, not the story in particular). The mechanics of the crash slowly unfolding work very well.

What kind of ship is the Viridian?

 

Context comes from The Road to Rediscovery, the story that Kionee is primarily in right now (which, granted doesn't have a lot of readers, right now, but I wanted to keep this short), as well as the KotOR II game. It's referring to a specific space battle in the game where you (piloting the Ebon Hawk) also crash land and survive onto Duxn.

The Viridian is a Nubian Javan-class freighter, which is also original to my fanfic-verse. Doodle of the ship here.

Thanks for reading!