==> Raven: Investigate Crater

The crater was a bit in front of the shuttle, covering its view in the cloud of dust that had yet to fall back to the ground. Once the dust dissipated, one could see a crater a few meters deep and about 20 meters across, its rim starting just short of Raven's shuttle,which was miraculously unharmed.
At the center of the crater, there was a cracked, flattened ball of half-molten slag, embedded into the ground. Nothing seemed to be moving inside.

 

I look down at the crater from the sled. "Wow." I couldn't imagine that someone was alive in there. But I hoped so.
I check with the instruments that were on the sled. Everything seems safe to approach except for the fire. I decide to send a message from the radio before going in.
"Hello? Can anyone in there hear me?"

 

Two metal panels suddenly ejected, one on the side and a smaller one at the top. A slightly damaged, half-open hatch was visible in the hole left by the first one. The second one was still linked to the wreck by a metal wire.
Anyone with the appropriate radio equipment was now able to receive an automatic distress signal broadcasting the model of the ship (a practically ancient personal shuttle that shouldn't even be FTL-capable and lost its flight rating decades ago) and the last ten minutes caught by the event recorder. Which was apparently disconnected from everything else, so this wasn't exactly helping.

 

My eyes widen as the distress signal came in. This ship was not only decades old, it shouldn't be able to jump at all! Yet there are traces of jump residue stuck to the hull. I brush aside the fact I shouldn't know any of this (something I've become quite good at doing) and approach the ship, slightly more hesitantly

 

Wing heard it too. They didn't know all the transponder codes, but she knew enough to tell that an FTL-capable craft had "FTL-rated" somewhere in the code.

<What even-who tried to fly this and why did it work?!>
He flicked their wings upwards and spiralled down into the crater, landing near the crashed ship.

 

Raven parked the A.T.V near the edge of the crater, listening to the old distress code as it rang out of the crashed shuttle.
His ship linked data directly to his neural links
That craft is a small personal shuttle of a configuration not used to several centuries. Several modifications not registered with standard designs have been registered in what remains of the craft. Multiple point of damage consistent with failure of a hyperspace type F.T.L Drive core failure have been detected. No organic Life signs detected. Inorganic, or artificial life possible. Orbital scans are currently unable to penetrate the debris. Closer inspection is recommended.
<My ship doesn't register any organic life, there may be inorganic, energy, or artificial life inside. Scans can't penetrate the hull of the ship.>

((nobody can hear Raven talking to his ship, or the ship talking to Raven, btw, it uses a quantum link to talk directly to his brain.))

 

<I don't know. This ship shouldn't be flying, especially not with a jury-rigged jump drive.> At least the pilot had put enough thought in to include the addition of the drive to their distress signal.
I slide down the side of the crater to the ship. Bracing myself (and sealing the suit to prepare for anything), I pull the panel, still half-attached to the ship, away, and push open the hatch with a slight hiss.

 

The cockpit was on its side, with the hatch opening on the top. The inside was damaged by the impact, but it seemed to have been already cluttered before that, with loose wires and unfixed switches everywhere. The windows had been replaced by metal panels and screens, which were probably linked to cameras.
In the clutter, one could barely see a vaguely humanoid figure strapped to the seat. It was an android that looked like it was assembled from junk out of a scrapyard, with an old computer screen where its head should be. Said screen currently had a sharp piece of metal driven straight through it. One could also see torn wires hanging from the limbs. Repairs would probably be in order.

 

((shifting to past tense, since other people seem to be using it and it's easier to write in))
I looked around the inside of the ship. At first I didn't see the android, only seeing the clutter and screens, as well as a mass of technology that had been obsolete for so long that even legacy manufacturers would be confused by it. Then I spotted the 'bot in the chair. Rushing over to it, I noticed the heavy damage to its head. I carefully opened what appeared to be a maintenance panel and sighed with relief as I saw that the disks were all intact. It was weird, though; none of the parts looked like they should have fit together, and there were no distinguishing manufacturer's marks on the frame of the bot. I unstrapped the droid from its chair and dragged it to the sled. I still wanted to take a look around the ship, to find out what caused the FTL malfunction (though I thought I already knew the answer); plus, I wanted to take some of the technology on board back to the colony with me.

 

<What's in there-oh. Is...is that person still alive?>
Wing is not familiar with mechanical life.

<Do you want me to open the ship up more?>

 

<That's be great, actually.>

 

Wing carefully dug their claws into part of the ship, peering into the hatch to make sure she'd placed them right, and began tearing the ship apart like gutting a fish.
It was slower going than he'd expected; large parts of the ship were still very tough, despite it being a half-melted semi-pancake.

ETA: Their wings flared again and started flapping gently, helping them provide a little more force and anchoring them in place.

 

<... Hi? Who's there? Where did I-- Whoops, I think I'm overheating, bye.>

 

After Wing had finished a little later, and I'd made sure that the droid was secure on the sled, I walked over to the still-smoldering remains of the engine. Picking through it, I found what I assumed to be the jump drive; at least, what was left of it. I had grabbed a scanner from the sled; now, I ran the sensor over what remained of it. The scanner replied by telling me that this was, unsurprisingly, so old that it couldn't find any data on who made it or when. Just that it was old, and that it was not functional due to critical overheating. Which made sense. I had a feeling that there wasn't any kind of cooling attached to it other than what could be found nearby it. The whole ship seemed to be cobbled together out of legacy parts, and so it wasn't surprising that part of it failed. It was just a shame that it was the most important and most dangerous part of a jump-capable ship.
I grabbed the ship's computer chip and black box. Maybe they would have some data. I considered trying to take the whole ship back to the colony, but settled on just grabbing the screens, some computer components, and some parts to repair the 'bot. Most of it would be pretty useless anyways. I wanted to set up shop in town, and while I was going to order some parts when I got back to the colony, it would take at least 13 Kintsugi days for it to get here. I would use these in the interim, even if they were old.
I got back to the sled and put the parts on the back, near the droid. "Alright, I think we're done here. Let's head back and figure out this droid's story."

 

Wing, seeing Nicole remove things from the ship, started trying to shear off some cables and make a harness to see if they could bring the ship closer to the colony.
While she was doing that, he heard a message over the radio.
<Overheating? Nicole, you know things-will the droid live?>

 

<The droid should be fine. I may have to replace some parts, but the disks are all intact. Yes, this droid is still using hard disks. It seems to be made of a bunch of cobbled together legacy parts. The overheating shouldn't be a huge problem, I can swap out the cooling when we get back.>
I had a thought. It would need me to take the ship back to town.
<Wing, if I put anti-gravity on the ship, could you drag it back into the colony? I want to look at something more closely.>

 

<That's good.>
<And doable-most of it's molten, anyway, and I can't take that back until it cools down enough to actually be draggable.>

Wing went back to trying to make a harness to actually drag the ship with.

 

<The sled can carry a few tons, you could put some stuff on there if you wanted. The A.T.V can't carry pull that much though, you'd have to move it yourself.>
Raven hopped off the A.T.V and headed over to the shuttle, to check on the equipment inside and make sure there wasn't any damage he'd missed - that could take some time, the shuttle was 250 feet long after all.
<Nicole, the A.T.V is still online, you can bring it back to the colony, when you're done just hit the home button on the console and it'll return to the mechs at the pad. Wing, If you wanted to use the sled, I can just pick it up later.I have a spare A.T.V in my shuttle., you can take that one back to the colony. I need to make sure everything is still running properly.>

 

I concentrated on working my (literal) magic on the ship. I should find a way to speed up this process. I had an idea of how to do that, but I pushed it to the back of my head so that my brain could process the magic properly.
A small green rune appeared briefly on the ship's hull, and an audible creak was heard as gravity's effect on the ship was canceled. I dropped my arms.
<Alright. Wing, the ship shouldn't weigh anything at all if you want to pull. Raven, see you back at the colony.>
I hooked the sled up to the ATV and got in. With a purr, the engine started, and we began to make our way home.

 

As we pulled into the airlock, I braked and stepped out of the ATV. Raven had stayed behind, so it was just me, Wing, and the bot. I didn't want to waste time setting up shop in town, so I just stepped into the ship, pulling the bot with me. Some stuff had come loose during the trip, and there was a heavy clunk as the antigravity disabled. I moved some stuff off of the main control panel. It would have to serve as my repair table.
I opened up the maintenance panel and brought some lights closer. The cooler was covered in dust, and I pulled it off carefully. The processor was still pretty good, even if it was old. I tinkered around with the cooler, using a small bit of magic to supercharge it (and the processor), and put it back in. The yellow glow flowed throughout the ancient motherboard, rejuvenating it. I stepped back and closed the case. I still had to deal with the crack in the head, but once I dealt with that, I would be fine.
There was a button on what looked like the shoulder of the droid. I pressed it, and heard the machinery whirring to life. The bot's screen flickered with static.
It seemed to be awake. "Hello?"