<strong>The ship groaned as the stresses on the hull escalated in the friction of the atmosphere. The ship was never intended for atmospheric re-entry and as the occupants inside no doubt felt, the ship rocked and jerked as the gravity pulled it down to the surface. Propulsion was being used to keep the Exodious at an approach that would cause minimal damage and all power was reverted to cryo and life support. The ship dropped lower and lower over an ocean, on it's way, very fast, to a landmass the size of modern day Australia.<br/><br/> The loudspeakers blared with a very short, but terrifying message. <em>"5 seconds till impac..."</em> Dropping into the water, the velocity of the ship slowed minimally, but upon impact into the beach, the whole ship threatened to rip itself apart. Bulkheads crumpled, shattered, or twisted around one another. Anyone to the front of the ship would have died almost instantly. A bit of luck placed the colonists to the rear of the ship. The ship continued on despite this and gouged a huge canal through the land. Mountains loomed into the distance and the ship was headed right for them, although this would stop the ship, the damage would be even more catastrophic. Slowing down, the ship slammed into the mountain at about 600MPH, although this is a relatively low speed, the sheer mass of the ship caused most of the front to crumple, taking the communications and most of the command consoles out.<br/><br/> The colonists in the rear were a bit more fortunate. Although the ones who did not hang on very well were thrown about like ragdolls and splattering sometimes against un-yielding metal. One cryo tank occupant merely exploded as the pressure control shorted. Another unlucky colonist was flung down one of the ladder wells and screamed to the last two people he would see. The colonists situated under tables fared better but all the sharp angles caused more than one laceration. A very unfortunate technician in a locker slammed into the door, knocking him unconscious and spilling him onto the floor and face to face with a fresh corpse that had been crushed by a bulkhead. All in all a very non eventful crash. The computer had estimated higher losses, but now it too was silenced as the main data node had been destroyed partially.<br/><br/> On the outside of the ship, oblivious to the chaos inside, an alien ruin loomed. Quiet and ominous, the vibrations from the crash caused some power to return to some of the systems. Nothing really happened. It was a very old ruin anyway, perhaps anything inside had all but turned to dust. Maybe. </strong><br/><br/>Let me know what you think.