Page 18 of Argen Mate
The Sargans went after the Dreads first to get them out of the way so they could seize theKurellis.Eight Dreadnaughts were no small threat to four battlecruisers and a carrier. The Farseek Brigade had been fighting them for years, and their tactics were often predictable.
After I took the last load of rescues up, I went back to pick up Commander Maktu’s team. There were still another fifty people at Landing Four and mine was the last shuttle ground side. We didn’t have seating for everyone, but we loaded them all and took off. It took a little more power to get it off the ground, but I made it work.
The battle was edging closer to the passenger freighter, so I flew suborbital over the other site and found at least another fifty people there. I didn’t land because I already had my shuttle packed.
“Kurellis,we need another shuttle at Landing Four,” I commed. “There are at least fifty people down there, and I am already loaded heavy.”
“Lieutenant, we’re getting the same message from the other sites. Dump your load and go back for them.”
“Will do,” I responded. It was going to be risky from the visuals I was getting, although I barely had time to look. I left Maktu and his fighters in the landing bay along with the passengers and headed back to the other landing site.
But once I made orbit, there was a group of fighters moving in on theKurellismaking a new concerted effort to break into the landing bay so they could get control of the ship. Dread One moved in on them and started taking them out, leaving no clear path for me to land on theKurellis.
I knew Maktu’s fighters could defend against invaders. So, I took an orbit around Deng Yar Five in the hope that we could slide into the landing bay next time around. But that didn’t happen.
Meanwhile, the rest of the Dreads were taking heavy fire from the battlecruisers and the swarms of fighters firing on them. From the chatter, their damage teams were struggling to put out fires and reroute power to essential functions while keeping the weapons operating at maximum efficiency.
They took out three battlecruisers and many fighters, but Dread One took heavy damage. Dread Four disabled the battle carrier with the aid of Dread Seven and came to run interference for Dread One which was swarmed by fighters while fending off a heavily armed cruiser.
Fire shot out into space from various sections of Dread One fed by the oxygen from within. They would have closed off the compartments with the hull breaches, and the fires would go out as soon as the oxygen ran out. Dread Four was able to help fend off the fighters to keep them from landing on to theKurellis,but I was still cut off from the landing bay by the skirmish.
A battlecruiser fired at Dread Four as it was coming around to get a better shot at it. The blast was deflected off the Dread and slammed into my shuttle. It took out one of my engines and sent us spiraling toward the planet. I managed to use the maneuvering thrusters to stabilize the spin, but I couldn’t stop our deteriorating orbit. The single-engine still working might be enough to slow our descent. With luck, maybe I could keep us from crashing.
“Dread Four, this Trematu. We’ve been hit, and we’re going down,” I called over the com.
The shuttle AI kept telling me we couldn’t do what I was trying to do so we could make a rough landing rather than crash, so I turned it off. I switched to manual, using the one engine still working and the braking thrusters to slow our descent enough so we could set down on land rather than in the ocean.
Alarms started blaring, and I switched them off. I didn’t need them to tell me we were descending too fast and the hull was heating up. The AI would have wanted to deploy the emergency parachutes to slow our descent, and I wanted to wait until a lower altitude before doing so to make sure they would open correctly. It was a long descent, and the passengers were getting nervous.
I couldn’t blame them. This was a rough ride, and we were going in too fast despite my efforts. I commanded them all to put on the seat harnesses. I was glad this was not a run with standing room only. People would have been hurt.
Land came into sight, and I held my finger over the spot on the touchpad then deployed the chutes when we reached the airspace above the shoreline. The Sargan shuttle jerked as the shutes caught in the atmosphere slowing our descent. My heart was no longer in my throat. We weren’t going to crash. The landing would be rough, but we’d be okay. We hit the ground skidding over the rocky terrain, taking out a few trees and bushes along the way until we skidded to a stop.
I commed Dread Four with our coordinates and asked them to send a shuttle for us. That’s when they told me thatKurellishad to blink out, headed for Farseek. My heart sank. That meant I might not see Zoey for a month or more.
Dread Four finished off the battlecruiser and sent a shuttle for us.
