Chapter Text
Perii Stared at the burning craft, and then at amber. Some of the paint details on the edges of the ship had begun to flake off. Most ships owned by the mowhawks were left blank of their crest, for the sake of anonymity. Perii’s thoughts landed for a moment on the lack of identity that came with their choice.
”What should we do?”
Amber decided,rather strangely, that this moment was a teaching one.
“Think about it. What skills do you and I have that we can use, and what puts out a fire?
Perii gave a withering look, but was secretly glad for another opportunity to be in charge.
They thought about it, all the pair’s strengths and weaknesses lay out before them in their mind. They thought for a moment, then regarded amber.
“I need to get in there.”
A shred of worry flickered across her face, but she nodded.
“I can do that.” She walked over to the door and pried it open, placing her hands on either side of the door and flexing as she pulled them apart to create an opening.Smoke poured out and she coughed. She nodded towards the door.
“The fire suppression system isn’t working. You’ll have to start it manually.” Perii walked in, the smoke drifting around them. It swirled around back towards them and they winced as it stung their eyes. ‘Theres too much smoke to move. I can’t see anything!’
Ambrose cringed for a moment then stiffened. She tossed perii the visor that had been on her face moments ago. She winced at the bright flames and quickly covered her eyes.
“Here. take this. Just dont break it!”
Amber then rummaged in her pockets and found some dirty cloth bandages and quickly tied them over her eyes. The ship creaked as a wave of heat emanated from the center, sparks drifting through the air.
“That’s no good. hurry,kid!” ambrose shouted in as perii walked inside, waving their arms in wide arcs, the fire seeming to listen to what they were doing.
“Move!” Perrii said, as they sent some of the flames out of the door and onto the salty ground where they fizzled out.
“All clear for this room!” they called. And ambrose stepped into the doorway and felt her way through the room.
“I got your back! The control panel should be in my compartment.”
perii crawled through the tunnel connecting the rooms to the cockpits, avoiding the patches of smouldering ground. When they emerged into ambrose's cockpit they were met with a smell of pine trees and smoke. They coughed and looked for the panel, spotting it behind a stack of paperwork and discarded cups. They touched the circular input panel on the side of the visor, moving it clockwise until the hardlight mask covered their whole head. The oxygen supply began to flow, and they pulled the valve switch, and watched the fire go out as the ship sealed its vents and drained air.
They emerged from the connector tunnel to see ambrose pacing around, tail swinging.
“Hey! Watch it!” perrii exclaimed, jumping out of the way. They handed the visor back to ambrose, who donned it quickly and blinked a few times before looking at perrii, the corners of their mouth twitching up.
“Good job kid! Hate to spoil the fun but you might wanna see this.”
Ambrose kicked something metal and looked pointedly downwards.
At her feet sat a fuel canister. The lid looked like it’d been torn off.
“Looks like our stool-pidgeon is trying to fly the coop.”
Before perrii could respond, they saw another something on the horizon. They pointed dramatically. Ambrose quirked an eyebrow.
“Uhhh.. is this a prank?”
Then she turned to see a janky ship, badly in need of a new paint job.
“SH-” she started but cut herself off.
Perii stared at her disappointedly.
‘Uh, get to your ‘pit, im gonna call reinforcements, you run damage control!”
“ok captain. Great plan.”