by Ryk Brown
Josh twisted the handle to the left, squeezed the release lever, then yanked up on it sharply. There was a series of tiny explosions, followed by a loud clang, and then the firing of thrusters. At first, Josh felt himself tossed forward against his shoulder restraints, then back hard into his seat as the ejection thrusters blasted the upper portion of the Seiiki’s nose, which contained the cockpit, clear of the rest of the ship. The automated system pitched the escape section upward, as if attempting to return them to space. The process slowed their rate of descent considerably, as well as their forward airspeed.
The thruster stopped, and again they found themselves free falling. This time, however, Josh had absolutely no control over their fate. The system would either work, or not.
Suddenly, the screen directly in front of Josh lit up, but with a display he had never seen before. “YES!” he exclaimed with glee. “IT’S FUCKING WORKING!”
There was a sudden jerk, throwing him into his shoulder restraints again. He glanced at the display screen, checking their status. “Drogue one is good!” he reported, still pushing against his restraints as the first drogue chute slowed their descent.
A few seconds later, the force against his restraints eased slightly. “Cycling!” he announced. A few more seconds, and he was again thrown forward, the restraints digging into his shoulders more forcefully than before. “Drogue two is good!”
Thirty seconds passed, and the pressure on his restraints eased again. “Cycling!” he reported as he glanced out the forward windows. The surface was getting awfully close.
Finally, after an even greater tug than before, he found himself thrown forward with so much force, he thought his shoulders would dislocate. A split second later, something gave way, and their back end seemed to fall, their nose pitching up sharply. Another snap pushed him down into his seat, and the cockpit became relatively level, with its nose a bit high, as they descended smoothly. “MAINS ARE GOOD!” he exclaimed with even more excitement than before. A message on his screen flashed, informing him that he now had steering control. Josh reached for the control stick again, twisting it left and right to test. “I’ve got lateral control!” he exclaimed.
“What’s our rate of descent?” Loki asked.
“Eighty meters per second and falling!” Josh replied. “Three hundred KPH!”
“That’s too fast,” Loki warned.
“I know!” Josh replied. “I can slow us,” he assured him, pulling back on this flight control stick.
Loki turned around to check on the others. “You guys alright?”
Deliza and Naralena nodded, as did Corporal Amund.
“Two-fifty,” Josh reported, “sixty down.”
Loki looked out the forward windows again. “I’ve got the coast in sight.”
“I don’t suppose there are any long, sandy beaches down there?” Josh asked.
“Nope.”
“Two hundred, forty down.” Josh looked concerned. “Winds are shifting. Crap, I’ve gotta turn to starboard to stay into the wind. What’s the terrain like?”
“Irregular, lots of trees,” Loki reported. “Can you turn around and head back? The terrain was flatter behind us.”
“Not enough altitude,” Josh insisted. “One-fifty forward, thirty down. It’s gonna get bumpy.”
Loki looked out the window one last time as they drifted over the shoreline and into the jungle. “BRACE FOR IMPACT!” he warned the others.
Several treetops brushed the underside of their escape section, before they slammed into other trees, and then something far more solid.
That’s when everything went black.
* * *
“Captain, Intel,” Lieutenant Commander Shinoda called over the intercom in the captain’s ready room.
“Go ahead,” Nathan replied.
“Two of our sleeper drones have just returned. One from Palee, the other from Volon. Both have fallen to the Dusahn.”
Nathan looked to Cameron.
“The Seiiki,” Cameron said, equally concerned.
“How bad?” Nathan asked the lieutenant commander.
“Palee went down without a fight. Volon, not so much. Fighter engagements, orbit-to-surface bombardment, even firefights on the ground. What little readings we got, show quite a bit of damage.”
“Any sign of the Seiiki?”
“Negative, but the Volon drone arrived after the battle had already begun,” the lieutenant commander replied.
“How long ago?”
“Palee looks to be several hours old. Volon only happened a few minutes ago.”
“As soon as the Falcon returns, dispatch them to Volon for follow-up recon,” Nathan instructed.
“Aye, sir.”
“They’re probably on their way back,” Cameron pointed out. “Evasive returns take time.”
“Let’s hope,” Nathan replied.
* * *
“Josh!”
There was a terrible pain in his head.
“Josh! You alive?”
He tried opening his eyes, but felt something wet stinging his left eye.
“You guys alright?”
The voice sounded distant. Josh felt someone shaking his right shoulder.
“I’m okay,” a female voice called from behind.
“Josh! Wake up!” Loki called, shaking him.
Josh forced his eyes open.
“Finally!” Loki exclaimed, turning to climb over Josh.
Josh’s head fell to his left, the same direction that his arm was hanging. He looked around, realizing that something was askew. “What happened?”
“Naralena!” Deliza gasped, noticing that she was not responding.
“We hit something just before we landed,” Loki explained.
Josh pressed the release button on his restraint harness with his right hand, and then suddenly fell to his left. “Fuck!”
“We’re on our port side!” Loki told him.
“Thanks for the warning.”
“Naralena’s unconscious, but breathing,” Corporal Amund announced, checking on her.
“You’re bleeding,” Deliza told the corporal.
“I’m fine,” he assured her as he grabbed the medical kit from the back of Josh’s seat.
“Oh, my God,” Deliza exclaimed. “You’ve got a piece of metal in your side.”
“I’ll be fine,” Corporal Amund insisted. He glanced through the fractured forward cockpit windows, straining to make out details outside. “We need to get out of here,” he added, “it may not be stable.”
“Cover her up,” Loki instructed, moving to the overhead emergency hatch, which was now on his left side, as he stood on the port bulkhead, facing aft.
Corporal Amund and Deliza both draped themselves over Naralena.
Loki reached over to the emergency escape hatch control panel. “It’s dead,” he announced. “I’m going to blow it manually.” He opened the small cover, grabbed the handle, pulling it out, and twisting it. Four explosive bolts blew, and the hatch separated from the top of the cockpit, flying off to the side.
Loki pulled himself through the hatch, stepping onto the side of a fallen tree, upon which their escape section rested. “We must’ve hit the trees on the way down,” he hollered back. He looked around a bit more, then climbed back inside. “We’re stable enough for now, I think.”
“Either way, we need to get moving,” the corporal insisted. “The Dusahn will trace our jump, and they’ll be looking for us. We need to get as far away from here as we can, before they arrive. The greater the distance we cover, the less our chances of capture.”
“That’s reason enough for me,” Josh agreed as he struggled to get to his feet in the sideways cockpit.
“What about
Naralena?” Deliza asked.
“I gave her an injection of tekemine and general trauma nanites,” the corporal replied. “She should awaken shortly.”
“What about you?” Josh asked, pointing to the piece of metal protruding from the corporal’s right side.
Corporal Amund pulled a small spray canister out of the medical kit, then reached down and yanked the piece of metal from his side, barely grimacing in the process. “I’ll be fine,” he assured them, again, as he sprayed the gaping wound with the fixative.
“I didn’t need to see that,” Josh declared as he moved toward the escape hatch.
* * *
A blue-white flash lit up the tiny cave, and the thunderous clap that followed, a split second later, echoed through the narrow canyon outside. Sergeant Olivo glanced at the time on his comm-unit.
“Right on time,” he said to himself as he rose from the rock, serving as his seat for the last four hours. He could already hear the scream of the Reaper’s thrusters while he exited his temporary refuge.
He paused momentarily at the exit, glancing left and right, scanning the distant tree line for any sign of danger as the Reaper touched down not thirty meters away.
Two Ghatazhak jumped out, taking up firing positions on either side of the Reaper, sweeping their weapons left and right as they, too, searched the area for danger.
The sergeant jogged toward the waiting Reaper, its engines spinning down to idle.
“Heard you need a ride, Sarge,” the nearest Ghatazhak soldier greeted as his cohort approached.
“Just as I was getting used to the place,” the sergeant commented as he climbed up into the Reaper.
Both soldiers climbed inside immediately after the sergeant, and the Reaper’s engines spun back up, causing it to lift off the ground.
“At least you didn’t have to do the full tour,” the soldier said as he closed the hatch.
The solider on the other side closed his hatch, as well, while the Reaper continued to climb and began to move forward.
“Thank God. I don’t think I could stand making any more of those damned molo candles,” the sergeant said as the Reaper jumped away.
* * *
“Isn’t there an easier route?” Deliza wondered as they slogged up the center of the creek. “Maybe something on dry land and, I don’t know, downhill?”
“None of you knows how to cross terrain without leaving a trail for others to follow,” Corporal Amund explained as he led them up the waterway, “and the Dusahn would expect us to go downhill.”
“Who cares if we leave a trail?” Josh argued. “They’ll find us with sensors anyway.”
“These mountains have something in them that may interfere with their sensors,” the corporal told him. “The range of my tactical sensors has been limited since we crashed.”
“You sure they’re not just broken?” Josh mused.
“I am certain.”
“Of course you are,” Josh muttered, splashing through the water behind them.
Corporal Amund paused, turning around to glare at him. “Try not to splash too much.”
“Why? It’s just water.”
“The temperature is low, and the air is humid. There is also no direct sunlight on this side of the mountain. The rocks you are wetting will not dry for hours, and with the sun about to set, they could stay wet throughout the night.”
“Seriously, they’re going to track us by wet rocks in a river?”
“Our job was to keep you all alive,” Corporal Amund said. “Corporal Torlak died doing just that, so your cooperation would be greatly appreciated, Mister Hayes.”
“Sorry,” Josh apologized sheepishly. “It’s been a rough day.”
“It is quite alright,” Corporal Amund assured him. “While you may lack the training befitting our current situation, it is unlikely that any of us would be alive, were it not for the skill of you and Mister Sheehan. For that, you should both be commended.”
Josh stood there silently as the corporal turned around and continued up the creek. He looked at Loki. “Well, now I just feel like a dick.”
“You should be used to it by now,” Deliza teased as she passed by him. “Speaking of nightfall, shouldn’t we be thinking about finding shelter for the night?”
“This world gets pretty cold at night,” Loki added.
“We must continue,” Corporal Amund insisted. “We can rest periodically, if required, but only briefly.”
“We aren’t Ghatazhak,” Deliza reminded the corporal.
“And we don’t have Ghatazhak super-suits,” Josh added.
“While I agree with your strategy of using the creek to cover our departure route,” Deliza continued, “by now, we should be far enough from the crash site that the benefit of making better time outweighs that of masking our trail.”
Corporal Amund paused again, sighing. “An astute observation,” he admitted. “Everyone take a break. I will scout ahead a bit so that, once you are ready to continue, we will be able to make better time, as you suggested.”
Without another word, the corporal exited the creek and darted off through the dense forest with surprising speed.
“We really have to get suits like that,” Josh insisted as he climbed out of the creek.
“How long do you think it will take for our distress call to reach the Aurora?” Naralena asked as she sat down on the fallen log next to Josh.
“At least half a day,” Loki said, helping Deliza climb out of the creek.
“Why so long?” Naralena wondered.
“The Dusahn are really good at tracking jump courses, so we use special evasive algorithms both to and from the fleet. The jump comm-drone uses the same algorithms.”
“How long does it take the Dusahn to trace a jump route?” she wondered.
“I’m surprised they haven’t already found us,” Josh admitted.
“If they are trying to capture every inhabited world in the Pentaurus sector, they may lack the resources to track us,” Loki told her.
“Perhaps they just don’t care about a single little ship,” Naralena suggested hopefully.
“Doubtful,” Josh insisted. “I’m afraid the Seiiki has poked that dragon quite a few times.”
“Knowing you, I’m not surprised,” Naralena said.
“Hey, don’t look at me,” Josh defended. “It was Conathan’s decision.”
Naralena looked confused. “Conathan?”
“A long story,” Deliza said.
“You really have to stop calling him that, Josh,” Loki scolded.
* * *
“This is becoming a habit,” Nathan stated as he entered the intel shack.
“My call,” Cameron told him. “I figured you’d want to see this.”
“What’s up?” Nathan wondered, stepping up next to Cameron, across the plotting table from Lieutenant Commander Shinoda.
“As you know, we’ve got recon drones jumping in and out of every system in the Pentaurus sector,” the lieutenant commander began, “and twice as frequently now that the Dusahn have begun to expand their territory. Thing is, the Dusahn pretty much know this, and there’s not much they can do about it. Occasionally, they get a lucky shot, but…”
“Yeah, I understand,” Nathan told him.
“Point is, they gave up trying to conceal anything from our recon drones. However, while extracting Sergeant Olivo from Haven, Reaper Six picked up something interesting, just before they jumped out of Haven’s atmosphere.” The lieutenant commander called up the sensor data, displaying it on the table between them.
“A cargo ship?” Nathan said, unimpressed.
“Not just any cargo ship,” the lieutenant commander replied. “The Tentibol.”
“Really,” N
athan replied, appearing far more interested.
“And Jamaya is in the opposite direction.”
“The Dusahn,” Nathan realized.
“That’s what we were thinking,” Cameron agreed.
“There have been a total of three ships, not including the Tentibol, that arrived in the Rogen system more than a few hours late,” the lieutenant commander reminded them. “How much you want to bet they all end up in Dusahn-held space, just like the Tentibol.”
“I’ll keep my credits, thanks,” Nathan replied. “It appears the Dusahn have found a way to keep an eye on us.”
“There’s more,” Cameron said. “We detected several warships about two light years outside the Takar system.”
“Dusahn warships, I’m assuming.”
“Not by the looks of them,” Lieutenant Commander Shinoda said. “However, they have been running jump comm-drones between themselves and Takara so, wherever they came from, they’re either allies of the Dusahn or ships that were commandeered by them.”
“Why leave them parked out in the middle of nowhere?” Nathan wondered.
“So we wouldn’t find them,” Cameron said, as if it were obvious.
“But we did,” Nathan said, sounding suspicious.
“Again, by a fluke,” the lieutenant commander pointed out. “To cover the increased demand for recon jumps, we’ve had to come up with some creative routing, sending recon drones to several different systems before returning to the fleet. Many of those routes were considerably off the beaten path, if you will. That’s why we found those ships.”
“Looks like lady luck has been on our side twice, today,” Cameron mused.
“Intel, Comms,” the voice called over the intercom speaker in the overhead.
Lieutenant Commander Shinoda reached up. “Go for Intel.”
“You asked to be notified if any ships arrived late, sir.”
The lieutenant commander looked at the captain. “Whattaya got?”