Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 3.5 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7
Part 8: An Emu is Smitten and Completely Useless
“How did you get here?” Sophia asked Dove while eying Hagrid suspiciously.
“Oh my! Philly, her accent is so cute.” She moved towards Phil and ran her hand through his hair. He, unlike the traitorous Emu, had the decency to look embarrassed. “I was in the ship with Princess Samantha when it crashed.”
“That was SpaceForce One?” Phil blanched as he said it.
“Yeah, but don’t worry sweetie.” She emphasised the last word with a soft slap on his cheek. Every move she made looked sexual and Sophia hated it; it made her feel clumsy and ugly. “Most of the crew got off before we crashed. We were on separate ships to escape. With royals dropping like flies, your sister didn’t want to risk both of us in the same shuttle. I’m now sixth in line you know.”
“Sixth?” Phil asked incredulously and Sophia saw his eyes darting from side to side calculating how many people must have died. “Oh wow.”
Grabbing him and pulling him into a hug, Dove cooed, “Oh. Poor you. It’s ok.” He was still sitting and she was standing next to him, but in this position she was only half a head taller than him. She started petting him and he seemed to get calmer every time she touched him.
Sophia didn’t like Dove. “You’ve been trapped on the planet this whole time?”
“Isn’t terrible? At least I had a lot of food and was able to film the whole thing.” Dove ran her nails gently over Phil’s back and moved away. She pouted and then gave a big smile before throwing her arms around Sophia. The moment the other woman touched her skin, Sophia felt tingles of pleasure. “Thank you so much for taking care of my little Philly.” Her breathy voice in Sophia’s ear made legs weak.
With great effort, Sophia stepped out of the hug and asked, “Great. So where can we drop you off?
“Actually…” Dove scrunched her face adorably and said, “I found the black box from the ship and watched it. It shows who tried to kill us and I need to bring it to Queen Samantha.”
“Who was it?” Sophia expected Phil to ask the same thing, but he seemed to enraptured by Dove.
“I don’t know. I didn’t recognize the ship but it had a serial number and if I can get the black box to Samantha, she’ll know what to do.”
“It’s on your ship. Isn’t it?”
Looking embarrassed Dove said, “Yes.”
“We’ll get it for you,” volunteered Phil.
For the first time during the conversation, Dove looked flustered, “Oh. Does it take two of you?”
Bouncing up, Phil said, “We’ll get it. You just wait here.”
Once again, they were outside in suits heading towards a crashed ship. Sophia was pretty sure this was a bad idea and she said so.
“Dove is a little flirty and likes to act incompetent but she’s an accomplished pilot and soldier.”
“Then why are we out here instead of her?” Sophia was tired of walking and just wanted to this over with and set up the gravity generator.
He opened his mouth to speak a few times, making a popping noise through the coms. Eventually he said, “It seemed like what she wanted.”
He looked confused and Sophia suddenly had a bad feeling. “Did you tell her about the Database?”
“Maybe,” he said sheepily.
She cursed, turned around, and ran back towards the ship. They didn’t go far before they saw the ship taking off.
Out of breath and confused, Phil asked, “She took our ship… Why did she take the ship?”
“Oh. I really don’t like her.”
“But… Why?”
“I don’t know, but we need to hurry if we’re going to get the ship, and my emu, back.”
Remembering the fighter ships that were left in the Imperial Battleship, Sophia started to run. She hoped and trusted that Phil would follow. If he didn’t, she’d have to waste time picking him up.
At the Imperial Battleship, it took her longer to find the fighter bay then she’d hoped. There were shuttles that were designed for longer travel but they weren’t as fast and they needed to get to their ship before Dove went to hyperspace.
The bay was in surprisingly good condition. She picked a ship that looked in good condition and activated it. The entrance flashed a message that said, “Access Denied.”
“Overwrite lockout, Prince Phillip access code Delta Pie Donut.” The ship took a second to think and then opened to let them in.
The ship was designed for a pilot and a gunner and was not spacious. Once inside they took off their suits and Sophia asked, “Can you fly this thing?”
Phil snorted and replied, “Hells no.”
Sighing, Sophia sat in the fighter’s cockpit and hoped it wasn’t a big difference from Phil’s ship. The main ship still had enough power to open the bay doors and they were gone. Sophia had a little trouble driving to start with and almost hit a mountain but she got the hang of it eventually.
Their sensors found Phil’s ship and they flew towards it. “Why hasn’t she gone to hyperspace yet?” Wondered Phil aloud.
“Maybe we’re just lucky?” suggested Sophia and she hailed the ship, “Hey jerkface! Give us back our ship and emu.” It was the only thing she could think of in the moment.
A few seconds passed and they were starting to catch up with the ship when they received a reply to their hail. There was no visual and no words, only a loud scream of pain and terror.
If you’re enjoying this year’s serial story why not check out those from past years?