Pressure hissed.
More alarms.
"These things are horrible," she muttered, batting at the controls. The hissing continued for a few seconds before it petered out and stopped.
Her head pounded, and everything was swimming.
It took her a moment.
But she realized where she was just when she was about to crash into the planet.
5
Meet Cute
Jedriek raced after the ambassador's ship. Right behind her as she entered the atmosphere, he attempted to tractor beam her ship to his, but he could not connect to it.
Stabilize,the ship kept telling him.
"I am doing my best," he muttered.
Her escape pod broke through the atmosphere, and the audio connected back. She was still babbling, though her words were starting to gain more clarity. She must have been getting her environment back in order.
He did not interrupt her, just kept trying everything that he could think of to delay her vessel's descent speed.
"Tractor beam!"
This time, it worked.
She cried out just as his beam locked onto her ship. The catch likely jarred her in her vessel.
"Thrusters," he said.
The ship fired all thrusters against the gravity to slow them down. Her pod stuck out in front of his fighter with the tractor beam tethering them together. He managed to bring them both in to land in a semi-gentle thud into the sand.
At least they were on the ground now. And she could breathe.
That fulfilled part of his protocol.
"Open," he said and leaped out of his fighter.
He hit the sand and sprinted to her escape pod. Obviously damaged, a blast hole on the side had to be where the air had been seeping out. He shook his head. It may have only been by minutes that she'd not suffocated in space.
"Ambassador," he called out. "I am here to help you."
She groaned.
Well, at least she was alive.
He headed to the front just as the door flung itself open.
The wind picked up, and sand swirled and flew around them.
"Oh, great." She started to cough. She pulled the hood she wore closer to her, keeping part of her sleeve over her face. "Sand." She opened part of her overdress and ripped a swath of cloth out. She took the oblong shape and covered her face with it. A makeshift mask from the swirling sand.
One more cough and she seemed settled.
He had not bothered to remove his helmet, but he held out his arm to her.
