This entry takes place in the FREELANCER universe (my other series). These events take place before and just after Kilo discovers the wrecked ship.
We waited ten years for this ship, it was meant to be state of the art, it was meant to survive this god forsaken planet. LHS-1361c, we studied this planet for fifty years and we still don't know anything about it, that's why we decided to research in the heart of it instead of from orbit. We didn't even have a proper station, no special funding, no one to rescue us if it went sideways. Not that they could've rescued us anyway.
The data we gathered from fourty years of research gave us everything we need to make a ship that could fly in those conditions, we sent the designs to the closest manufacturer with the payment. They built it exactly as we designed, they tested it under controlled and simulated conditions and circumstances pushing through unlike any before. The scariest part was that this cost us almost everything we had to our name, for me it wasn't too bad but for everyone else in the crew it was a last hope to discover something valuable , anything really.
The entire crew was as onboard as we descended through the atmosphere landing on the planets surface. I was the only Eklan on this ship, we had a few Humans but the rest were Yetrin, I found my way here after being exiled from the hive mind. These life forms were my new family.
Soon a small storm appeared around us, we were ecstatic and rushed to our stations, we lifted off the ground and started to collect what data we could. Our ship was holding its own in the storm, moral was high, we thought we were invincible but we were so wrong. The ships alerted us to hazardous wind speeds but our ignorance forced us to continue flying despite the risk, we had too much confidence in our design.
The ship was bathed in red lights with alarms blaring as we lost control of the ship, it was slight at first but quickly became dire. We were tossed around like rag dolls with the few of us not secured in seats being bashed throughout the ship. Some us were in the mess hall just down the hall from the cockpit when the ship lost control, I was able to grab onto one of the table but it was no use as someone smashed into my side. The last thing my memory banks recorded before I was knocked offline was a chair flying towards me.
I rebooted trapped under a metal beam in the mess hall without any sign of my other crew members presence, the closest thing to them was blood staining the ships floor and wall. I could hear the wind wailing outside for a while longer before stopping leaving me in near perfect silence, for the fist time since I was banished from the hive mind I wished I could hear them all once again.
It wasn't long after the storm dissipated that I heard a ship landing outside, rescue at last or so I thought. I waited trapped in a corner of the mess hall being crushed by a beam. At long last I heard them crawling through a ventilation shaft before I saw them pry the hatch open crawling into the mess hall.
I tried to call out to them but I couldn't, my voice box was far too damaged, I tried to move my body but to no avail. Was this my punishment for leaving the hive mind, so close to being saved yet so far, I watched them walk around the mess hall examining the blood and debris. My only hope was that they would notif me.
As they walked back towards the ventilation shaft and began to crawl back through I knew this planet would be my tomb. Not long after they left I heard crashing them the sound of something hitting the exterior or the wreck then I heard the winds whistle through what must've been a mangled wreck outside.
The new storm only intensified over time quickly becoming more powerful then the one that took us down, I only hoped that whoever landing would survive as I heard their ship fire it's thrusters but the one thing that bothered me in that was that the sound of the ship didnt grow faint. I don't know exactly what they were doing but it was either very smart or very stupid of them.
The roar of engines were almost drowned out by the wind until the engines stopped for split second before overpowering the wind but it quickly grew faint. I could assume that the pilot took off in these winds, I wished him the best of luck, this planet has already taken enough. Minutes ticked by as I accessed my memory banks to remember our research, the hive mind, my new family formed from our crew.
I was interrupted as a deafening boom echoed throughout the planet, the wind speeds intensified for brief seconds and I could feel the wreck leave the ground.
This was the last moment recorded in this Eklans memory bank before being knocked offline permanently.