The Last Frontier

ABANDON ALL HOPE YE WHO ENTER HERE.

• Inscription above the gate to Hell, The Inferno

"Fuck my asshole!" Vinyl Scratch yelled above the shriek of metal tearing and different sirens screaming.

"Choice words, Captain. You always know just what to say," A Trottingham accent commented calmly.

"Fuck off, Doc!" Vinyl growled at the small holographic man. "Lyra! Get the Dis under control for fuck's sake!" Vinyl called out to her pilot, a woman with mint green and white hair hung in a rapidly-unwinding ponytail.

"If you can fly this piece of shit any better than I can- which you can't -then be my fuckin' guest!" Lyra shot back over here shoulder through an Austailian accent.

"Damn! Bon Bon, can we take them with us?!" Vinyl asked a woman with curly pink and blue hair who was frantically checking screens around her station on the bridge.

"We've already used everything! I told you we should've restocked back on Omerta station!" The young munitions expert stated matter-of-factly to her captain.

"Now's not the time, Bon Bon!" Vinyl yelled back. Her patience was well beyond worn out. What, between getting shot down and being forced to crash land, one could understand her hostility. "Tavi, anything on this rock?!"

A young woman with cascading charcoal hair turned to face Vinyl, her eyes full of panic and her voice shaking like a chihuahua, "N-nothing! It's like it doesn't exist!" Octavia exclaimed frantically. "The coordinates aren't even listed as existing!"

"Son of a... Doc! Systems report!" Vinyl barked at the man standing on the small podium next to her.

The Doctor looked at her with an indignant expression, "Well, with that tone of voice, you should count yourself lucky I don't jettison the whole damn bridge!" He exclaimed, his spiky brown hair and trench coat impeccable in the chaos.

"Just fucking do it!" Vinyl yelled at him.

The Doctor brought a hand to his face and pinched the light blue bridge of his nose before sighing and hesitently listing off the many failings of the crippled ship. "Alright, here goes: Primary engine- offline, right wing engine- operating at 78 percent capacity and dropping, port wing engine- operating at 57 percent and dropping. Three decks have lost oxygen and pressure, the respecting doors having been sealed for crew safty. Main centrufuge- critically damaged. Artificial gravity will be lost in-"

The four girls yelp in unison when the begin to slowly drift away from their workstations and objects otherwise not secured to the floor begin to drift aimlessly. Before any of the crew can gain a hold on something not moving, the flames licking at the edges of the main viewport become more intense, the reds and yellows dancing across the thick glass like the tongue of a giant demon waiting to swallow them whole. With flames comes atmosphere, and with atmosphere comes gravitational pull, one that sent all four women crashing into various walls of the bridge with a colective groan.

"-Well, I suppose you all noticed," The Doctor finished with a satisfied smirk.

"Gee, thanks for the heads-up, asshole," Vinyl growled at the small image, struggeling to get back behind the railing of the captain's stage.

"Anything for you, o captain," The Doctor said, giving a twirl of his hand and a bow.

"Continue with systems check," Vinyl said, now acheing as well as irritated.

The Doctor cleared his throat before continueing, "Life support- critically damaged. Approxametly 24 minutes of breatable air remaining. Medical bay-" the Doctor paused to let out a surprised 'hmm', "Surprisingly intact and at full capacity."

"Great, some good news," Vinyl remarked sourly, sarcasm dripping from each word. "Start impact countdown."

"Very well. With any luck, my main processor will be destroyed in the crash. Impact in ten seconds," The Doctor began, making Vinyl grip the railing tighter until her knuckles shone white.

"Nine," Vinyl saw Octavia strap herself into her chair with shaky hands and a look of panic tainting her lavender eyes.

"Eight," Looking right, Vinyl notices Bon Bon follow suit with the navigator and she clicks the harness closed.

"Seven," Looking ahead, the flames are starting to disperse. At least they made it through the thickest layer of atmosphere.

"Six," Vinyl slowly backed up and hit the release button on the captain's harness in the wall behind her.

"Five," She slips one arm, then the other and clicks the buckle into it's slot, the quiet click doing little to reasure her.

"Four," She has trouble keeping her hands from shaking.

"Three."

"Brace yourselves!" Vinyl calls out.

"Two."

The Dis breakes through the thick, dark cloud layer to reveal a thick jungle rushing up to meet them before a giant branch colides with the viewport, smashing the glass to pieces and letting the howling wind shirek through the bridge.

"One."

On the first jerk forward, Vinyl gets the wind knocked out of her. When the Dis colides with the ground again, Vinyl hears stiching tear in the harness. On the third and final crash, the stiching finally gives and Vinyl feels herself flying through the air and sees in slow-motion every tiny detail as she sails through the broken viewport. Once she's clear of the ship, the utter destruction of the warped metal and fires abound her once-proud vessel is the last thing she sees before her head connects with something and the world fades to black.

Vinyl Scratch was no stranger to pain. Throughout her many years of larceny and petty crime, she had seen more than her fair share of bad situations in which the only exit from was a fair amount of pain. But as consciousness slowly returned to her, the blessing in discuise that it is, she remembered that it had been quite a while since she felt pain like this.

Letting out a soft groan, Vinyl began testing her limbs to see if everything was more or less working. Flexing her fingers, she felt them sink into the soft earth while moving her legs felt like they were caked in mud or something similar. She moved a hand up to her forehead, feeling something warm and sticky when it made contact. Fuck me... Vinyl thought to herself as she slowly opened her eyes to view her mud and blood-covered hand. Sitting up made her muscles groan in protest, but that was to be expected from being flung from the bridge. In all honesty, Vinyl didn't expect to survive her ejection and had mixed feelings that she had. On the one hand, she had a crew, a family to take care of. On the other, this hurt like a bitch. Opening her eyes without causing a splitting headache, Vinyl took her surroundings in properly.

All around her was a massive jungle, trees with tops far above her head and rocky outcrops abundant between the thick ferns. The soft pitter-patter of rain was heard all around her, what few droplets that made it through the foliage above landing around and on her in lazy, infrequent patterns. Looking behind her, she saw what looked like a fire in the distance, the only source of light in the dark jungle. Images of flames dancing upon her ship flashing through her mind, Vinyl decided that once she felt good enough to move, it would be as good a place to start looking for the ship as any.

God damn... Haven't hurt like this in a while... Vinyl thought idly. She propped herself up on her elbows, her head spinning and body screaming against her moving. Fuck! ... Not doing that for a while, Vinyl thought, scooting backwards to sit upright against one of the larger rocks. She glanced down at her body, her clothes torn and bloodied, as well as covered in a healthy dose of mud. There was a long cut spanning most of her right side, the blood mingling with dirt and leaves. That's not good, Vinyl thought sourly. She really hated stitches, she really did. And with a cut like this, she was sure as hell going to need a few.

Vinyl let out an irritated sigh before closing her eyes and letting her head lull back before it hit something with a metallic clang. Ow, God damnit! This planet fucking sucks! ... Wait, 'clang'? Vinyl thought, turning her head to see what her head had hit.

Perched neatly on top of the rock Vinyl was currently using as a seat, was a red box with a white cross on the front. The first aid box... That's convenient, Vinyl thought with mild disbelief as she grabbed the box and pulled it into her lap before opening it, finding all the bandages, syringes, and other medical equipment dishelved, but otherwise intact. Vinyl sifted through the box before finding the vial marked 'Morphine- 500 mg' and an empty syringe. She pulled the cap off the needle with her teeth and spitting it out with little care where it landed, stuck the needle through the soft top of the vial and drew not so much that she would become loopy, but enough so that she wouldn't feel anything for a while. Placing the syringe in her mouth, she placed the vial back in the box before slapping her forearm a few times to raise the vain. The small tube now pressing up against her skin, Vinyl grabbed the syringe from her mouth and, with as steady a hand as she could muster, drove the needle into her vain and depressed the plunger.

Alright... now I play the waiting game... Vinyl thought to herself as she removed the syringe and let it fall to the jungle floor. Oohhhhhhhhh, yeah... That's it... Vinyl thought happily as the pain slowly began to dim from 'seeing stars' to 'sore muscles the day after.' As her body stopped panicking over the pain it was suffering, Vinyl began to think more clearly. Remembering her pocket held a communicator, she reached her hand in and felt the small device. She quickly pulled it out, only finding that it had been severely damaged in her tumble, if the exposed circuitry and cracked casing meant anything. Shit, Vinyl thought sourly, throwing the small machine, So much for that.

Making a move to stand up and quickly falling back on her ass due to the intense burning in her side reminded Vinyl she had a hell of a cut to deal with first. She began looking through the first aid box again, hoping to find some sort of disinfectant to at least clean her wound. While she was doing that, she heard a snap that was different from the normal sounds of the jungle. Vinyl snapped back to her upright position, wincing slightly from the pain in her side. Looking down at her side, she noticed her pistol had, somehow, remained in its holster during the crash. Vinyl quickly drew her sidearm, giving it a quick once-over before deciding that it had survived the crash and holding it at the ready as she scanned the jungle around her.

After looking around for several moments, she was about to put her gun away when a bush rustled to her right. She immediately pointed her gun to the right, the barrel resting neatly between the eyes-

Of her pilot, Lyra.

"Bloody hell, capt'n, you're alive!" Lyra exclaimed happily, completely ignoring the gun in her face.

Vinyl let out a sigh that was a cross between a happy one and an irritated one. "Jesus Lyra, you scared the shit outta me," Vinyl said, holstering her weapon. "What are you doing out here?" Vinyl asked, her curiosity getting the best of her.

"Same reason you are, capt'n; right after you got tossed, I went flyin' with ya. Instead of hittin' a branch, I landed in a pond. Saw the fires over there and figured it's as good a place to start as any," Lyra explained, taking a seat on the ground next to Vinyl. "How messed up did ya get?" Lyra asked with, in Vinyl's opinion, far too much enthusiasm.

Vinyl groaned before answering, "Dunno. Went out the viewport and hit somthing-"

"A branch. Looked right nasty," Lyra clarified. Vinyl leveled a cold glare at her, one the pilot returned with a happy grin.

Vinyl sighed before continuing, "I hit a brantch," Vinyl put heavy stress on what she hit, much to Lyra's delight, "and woke up with a massive headache and a nasty cut," Vinyl explained, motioning lazily to her right side.

Lyra looked at her captain's side, seeing the cut for the first time. "Ouch. Look's like that hurts," Lyra commented casually, as though they were discussing the weather.

"You don't say?" Vinyl asked, with no small amount of irritation.

"I do say. Anyway, I don't know shit about wounds, but that one's a nasty bugger. Let's get you to the ship, let Bonnie fix ya up," Lyra said, slipping an arm under Vinyl's right side and hoisting her up.

Vinyl groaned as black licked at the edge of her vision as they stood before her vision went back to normal once they were both upright. "Hang on," Vinyl said, closing her eyes to keep her head from spinning. I need more morphine, "Don't forget the first aid kit. The other two might have gotten banged up too."

"Sure thing, capt'n," Lyra said, doing her best to reach down while balancing Vinyl upright at the same time. Once she grabbed the little red box, she handed it to Vinyl to hold in her left hand while Lyra pulled a flare out of her pocket and lit it, lighting up the dark jungle and casting menacing shadows that danced all around them. "Damn jungle looks even spookier, somehow," Lyra said, uneasiness leaking into her tone, if only slightly.

"All the more reason to get the hell back to the ship. Let's go," Vinyl said, lipping along while Lyra supported her.

"Don't have to tell me twice," Lyra said, helping her captain across the uneven mix of rocks and mud.

The two women slowly but surely made their way towards the fires in the distance, climbing over fallen trees and rocky outcrops while avoiding the slippery earth. Lyra's flare burned with a steady hiss, casting dark shadows over whatever was near. Vinyl, while she did her best to ignore it, couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. It didn't feel like a predatory watch, it felt like something was... observing her. It, whatever it is, was studying her. Watching. Waiting. Calculating.

"You feel it too, huh?" Lyra broke Vinyl's concentration. "Like somethin's watchin' us?"

Vinyl didn't meet her gaze, "Yeah. It's probably nothing, let's just focus on getting back to the ship," If she had looked at Lyra, she would have noticed Vinyl's eyes didn't hold the same conviction as her voice did.

"Aye aye," Lyra said, eyeing the shadows carefully.

Vinyl was no stranger to lying; hell, with her job, lying was a daily requirment. But for one reason or another, she couldn't lie to her crew, her family. It felt wrong. Vinyl mentally chuckled at how being decitful only felt wrong when it was towards the ones she cared about. Vinyl may be a thief and have a lees-then-favorable attitude towards the law, but that didn't make her heartless. She rearely showed it bluntly, but she cared deeply for her crew. It felt as though they were her children, and she was duty-bound to care for them or die trying. Maybe it was because she had always wanted a family, and with her line of work, knew she never could. Maybe there really was honor among thiefs.

Either way, she was going to get them off this rock, one way or another.

"They've crash-landed, Commander," An underling said.

"So they have," Commander Shining Armor observed more than responded.

All was silent upon the bridge of the E.N.F. Virgil aside from the sounds of helmsmen working at their stations and the near-palpable intensity that radiated from the commander. No one aboard the Virgil knew exactly why the commander had such a drive to chase down these particular criminals, but they had all served under him long enough to know that when the good commander set a goal in mind, he would move the stars themselves to complete it.

They also knew that, whatever these pirates had done, they had made the commander very, very upset.

"What are the odds of them surviving the landing?" Shining Armor inquired, his calm somehow more unsetteling than if he had yelled it.

"Uh, the odds of surviving the crash are seven-hundred and twenty-five... to one," A lieutenant responded, a mild shake to his voice.

"Seven-hundred and twenty-five to one," He repeated. After a short pause, he spoke again, the same calm layering his voice, "Prepare a serch-and-destroy team to land on the planet's surface once the crash site has been located. I want to ensure that they either didn't survive, or are swiftly brought into custody. I want to make an example of these lawbreakers."

Shining Armor slowly approached the viewport of the massive ship while he spoke, each step slicing through the silence like a blade. Yes, an example, The commander thought to himself, An example that the Equis Naval Forces *will** bring peace to the Frontier...*

...At *any** cost.*