If Natsuko had a clear and coherent thought as the sudden, unforgiving jolt of the lifepod booster engines took hold, it would probably best be articulated as something along the lines of "this is another fine mess I've gotten myself into", but with far more profanity thrown in for emphasis.  Getting body-slammed through the bulkhead and then tossed casually into a lifepod that was summarily ejected by short-circuit was not conducive to coherent observation, even if the sudden acceleration didn't also do bad things to a girl's ability to think straight.<br/><br/>And to think, it'd started as such a lovely morning!<br/><br/>Instead, the merchanter that until very recently had been her cover, her refuge from certain pesky galacticops, and her vacation was consumed by a fiery blossom of orange and red death.  A secondary explosion told her that the vessel that had grappled them without warning was a victim of its own success...and she closed her eyes and let out a tense breath, relaxing as best she could through her aches and pains.<br/><br/>The same short circuit that launched the pod also triggered a release of sedatives and tranquilizers, optimized for a range of humanoid life forms.  So Natsuko snoozed even as her tiny pod felt the tug of gravity and sped down a planetary well around a fairly primitive blue and green marble.<br/><br/>...and someone below might see a shooting star and make a wish...