Captain Rachel Wu had to wrap both hands around the railing to keep from tumbling back down to the cargo bay catwalk when her ship quaked under her feet. Grimacing and holding fast to the tarnished metal, she worked her way up the stairs and turned into the engine room, black hair flying behind her and her stunning face twisted in aggrivation. "Dex, what the hell is goin' on with my boat?"

A long face topped in red hair and thick glasses shot up from behind the engine, pushing back from the machinery in annoyance. "She's half my boat, Rachel, and I got no ruttin' idea." A buzzing alarm on the guage panel drew the scrawny mechanic's attention away and he dashed across the narrow brown room. "Now we're gettin' heat build-up in the starboard pod! I don't know what's…" Dex blinked, cursed silently to himself, and leaped back to the other side of the engine.

Rachel tried to move in closer, but another tremor sent her grabbing the door frame to keep from being thrown back into the hall. "What? What is it?"

Dex pulled open the tubing bulkhead and was rewarded with a drench of frigid blue liquid. "Yi dwei da buen chuo roh!" He wiped the sticky coolant off his glasses and stood back up. "Starboard coolant outflow must have ruptured. That pod's gonna overheat! We have to land. Right now."

Rachel shrugged. "Can't, we're not even in the foothills yet. There's no place to put down."

"Oh, no, jei-jei, this boat's comin' to ground next two minutes. Only choice we get is how many pieces it's in."

Rachel sighed and pushed off back toward the bridge. It was just going to be one of those days. She ran the last few steps and, as the bridge came into view, she could see the wooded mountains on either side of them. "Mona!"

The young pilot turned her head. "Yes, Miss Wu?"

"We gotta land. Now."

Mona's eyebrows wrinkled in confusion. "Ain't no place, Cap'n, ain't enough flat ground 'til we get to port!"

"Then you gotta find a place. Dex says the engines are gonna explode or somesuch."

Mona shook her head, turned back to the ap