A significant amount of time had passed from the Scout Ship's destruction to the message being delivered.
Sun beaten was almost an insult at this point. Being strong enough to move something, and being in good enough shape to move something, are totally different definitions. Dunnaman's sweat poured down his face causing his eyes to burn.
With terrible effort he dragged the ship out of the crater, dirt and grass were crushed beneath the immense weight of his vehicle. Too much work for too little payoff, he had only managed to drag it a few feet before his grip failed and fell flat on his back with a thunk.
There wasn't much progress so far, he wasn't able to deal with this much weight on his own for long periods of time. In the ten or so hours he's been tugging at this ship, he's managed to pull it about ten yards outside of the crater. Not a good sign. As he lay there, glaring at the sun in response to its own glare, he contemplated how many miserable and confusing moments he's had so far. This one, by far, was the worst. Not the fighting, not the uncomfortable confusion of his lack of memory. The worst moment he's had so far is this, the seemingly never ending work on the ship.
The sun wasn't high in the sky yet, it was only morning, but even now it beat him to death. Was it the fat? Is he just really out of shape? Or is it the sun itself, becuase he really hoped that it was just the sun. He didn't want to feel as fat as he does right now, because it's really embarassing.
Lying there, he narrowed his eyes to keep the sun from his eyes and managed to catch a glimpse of something in the air. It was subtle at first, he didn't think it was anything terrible and incredibly unfortunate. It was a little dot in the sky, looked something like a bird or other flying creature. Only barely visible, until it got closer.
Man he didn't want it to get closer.
He really didn't want to know what it was.
But at this point he already knew.
Tired, aching, possibly sunburnt, and drenched with sweat. Dunnaman jerked forward and leaped to his feet with a colossal thud as his hooves dug into the ground. The man ran to his ship and jerked the door off the hinges, he had to, it was fused to the hull of the ship after the crash. Half limping half sprinting he rushed into the ship and scrambled to find the engine room. Inside he tried his damnedest to kickstart the ship, try and get the weapons system back on. He was strong but he wasn't strong enough to fight an orbital bombardment with his fists.
For a single hopeful moment, the ship's engine sputtered on and the lights burst to life. The holographic projector came on and his hopes were immediately dashed. Emergency power was on, but weapons systems were destroyed. As well as thrust.
And life support.
These were things that he didn't know how to repair.
It would have been more pressing if he weren't under immediate threat from the Angar Ryllans.