The Mortelles go mr worldwide
The starscape was clear, as of yet no signs of danger. Hopefully it will stay that way. Overlooking the dashboards was Dionysus, his eyes focused solely on his task. Scrolling through possible routes or possible mishaps. His tail swiveled side to side every so often as he worked.
“Lighten up Dion!”
The voice rattled his brain, snapping him out of the moment. He turned his head to see Seyren, always a grin on her face. “Lighten up you say?” He responded, which brought Seyren to bound towards him, laying a paw over the screens. “It’s our first time off Xirres and you aren’t even paying attention!” Dionysus restrained the urge to roll his eyes, “I am,” he retorted, swatting the other cat’s paw away. “I’m focused on making sure we don’t lose our way, unless you’d like to maneuver out of an asteroid belt?” Dionysus raised an eyebrow, looking at Seyren for an answer. Seyren guffawed, exaggerated as always. “How boring,” she commented before turning towards the large windows of the main deck once again. “We were asked by a different planet to perform! Can you believe that?” She said, not looking his way, “and all you care for is maps and junk.” Once again he resisted the want to snap back at her, breathing out a sigh he returned to his work.
“I wonder how the others are handling things back home,” Seyren said absentmindedly, “must be missing us already I’d say!”
Dionysus ignored them, his tail finally stilled.
“Oh I think they will be just fine without us, Seyren.”
Both of them turned their heads, and Dionysus suddenly wished he had stayed home. Seyren bounced to her paws again, “Masquerade! I was wondering what you were doing, finally I won’t have to deal with Mr grumpy anymore.” The ringmaster walked deeper into the room, tail swaying behind him. “Oh come now Seyren, Dionysus isn’t that bad.” Masquerade chuckled lightly, “speaking of, how goes the travel?” Dionysus spoke without turning his head, “well as of now, we will be at Sodaplanet within the day.” He paused before adding “unless someone does something that would get us off track.”
Seyren gasped at the suggestion, “honestly I don’t know why Masquerade puts up with you, flying this hunk of metal can’t be that hard!” Seyren then upturned her head, her ears settling flatly on their head. Dionysus curled his lip slightly, “well then, why don’t you give it a shot, Seyren.” He looked at the other cat. He stepped out from the control center, before gesturing towards it with the flick of his tail. “All yours,” as a small smirk traveled up his mouth, “unless you’d like to prove me right?”
Seyren looked to Masquerade, who seemed to be enjoying this little squabble, before turning her eyes to Dionysus. “Fine, and when I prove you wrong, I expect a full apology.”
Dionysus tilted his head, “Very well, all yours.”
Seyren walked steadily to the control center, eying its many functions and panels. Masquerade and Dionysus watched as Seyren dealt with the controls. Masquerade then leaned towards Dionysus, whispering into his ear; “I think you may need to get that apology ready my friend.” Dionysus growled softly at the suggestion, “there’s still time.” He responded.
“Dionysus, is that normal?” Seyren called, as he looked up they pointed to a flashing red indicator. “That’s the fuel gauge.. but.. it’s only been a day and we should have a full tank.” Seyren’s mouth contorted, “well, here it says that we are almost out..?” Dionysus’s eyes flared, before he leapt to the panel. “What? That’s not possible!” Even so the indicator flashed red continually. “The twins were responsible for the fueling, maybe something happened?” Seyren suggested, somehow calm. Small sparks of low panic began to ignite within Dionysus, “I'll kill them I swear I will!” He snarled before sprinting out of the room. Minutes passed, with no response or return of the blue eyed cat. “I have a sneaking feeling we might be in store for an adventure,” Masquerade commented quietly, Seyren turned to him, “and what’s that supposed to mean?” They responded before looking out into the expanse of space. “Hey.. it’s another ship!”
Masquerade looked out and she was right, it was a smaller one, but definitely a Xirres model. “Well I guess we aren’t the only ones taking a little tR-!”
A blaring alarm followed by a sudden explosion that rattled across the ship, causing both cats to lose their footing. “What the hell was that!” Seyren yelled, looking out the windows after getting back to her feet. A blazing flame had engulfed their left side engine, and was quickly spreading onto other parts of the ship. “Masquerade!” She called, quickly growing frantic, before turning and seeing the larger cat still on the metallic floors, out cold. Panic struck her then, nervous laughter leaving her mouth. “It’s okay I can do this, I can do this!” They repeated, gripping the controls. A mechanical voice blared over the loudspeakers as she tried to gain better control of the ship. “Left engine failure, evacuate immediately, left engine failure, evacuate immediately!” It sounded, reaching every part of the ship. As Seyren pressed and prodded different buttons and commands the lights flashed. She grinded her teeth as many became unresponsive.
“Get to the escape pod immediately, left engine failure!” The robotic voice spit into her ears.
“Seyren!” She whipped around to see Dionysus in the doorway, “I didn’t do anything I swear!” Seyren called back, still trying different controls. “It doesn’t matter! Help me get Masquerade, we have to get the hell off this ship!”
Now in overdrive Seyren leapt up to help, heaving the bigger cat along as the two rushed towards the escape pod. Within it already sat Selene and Helios, with worried looks on their faces. Dionysus quickly jumped to the controls, “I can't pinpoint our trajectory from this, so we'll just have to hope for the best.” He sounded out of breath and flustered. Seyren quickly slammed the hatch door before a rush of movement hit them all. The pod ejected from the ship at high speeds, and they all breathed a sigh of relief.
That relief however was short lived. Selene suddenly shrieked, and they all turned just as their pod slammed into the smaller vessel. An ear piercing scraping sound reverberated through the pod before it was thrown into a different direction. As the spacecats recovered they looked through the pod’s main window, as a planet of ice and snow drew closer.
Dionysus looked around quickly, “everyone hold onto something!” He shouted, “I’ll protect Masquerade, prepare for a crash landing!”
Seyren squeezed her eyes shut as she grasped parts of the pod. A blazing heat soon seeped into the pod, as it entered the atmosphere. Dionysus was almost on top of Masquerade, seeming to try and shield him the best they could while he sank his claws into the side of the pod to keep them stable.
It happened in an instant, the blaring and howling wind outside rushed past as the pod made impact. Digging its head into the permafrost covered earth, it tumbled over itself. Slamming its sides into snow banks and jagged ice formations. Finally it came to a halt, with cold air and freezing winds tearing into the pod’s walls.
“Is everyone alive..” Dionysus croaked, releasing his hold on the wall before making sure Masquerade was alright.
“Barely..” Seyren breathed, tufts of frost at the end of her breath. The twins unfurled their moth-like wings and nodded slowly.
“We won’t last long here, we need to find better shelter, and quickly.”
As the others nodded another loud noise was heard, coming from outside somewhere. “What the hell was that-“ Selene hissed, Dionysus looked at her before lifting Masquerade onto his haunches. “I don’t know, but we’re going to find out.”
He sighed a slightly strangled breath before opening the pod’s entrance hatch. Immediately they were hit with snowfall and cruel gusts. As Dionysus left the others followed, “let’s get a move on, before it gets dark..”
Selene squinted her eyes, “I think I see a cave! Just over this snowfield.” Dionysus turned, looking at where she had indicated and nodded. “Then that’s where we’re headed, let’s just hope we don’t become the prey out here.”
