MULE-CLASS DROPSHIP ESCAPE POD B
LOW ORBIT, EMPORIA
FEDERATED SUNS
18 APRIL 3150
OPERATION BARBICAN, T-MINUS 7 HOURS
The time it took the escape pod to travel from Endeavor’s Run through the black over the planet was shorter than Nadine expected. Space was huge, and there was nothing like being trapped in an unarmored, three-meter-diameter pod to drive home just how vulnerable human bodies could be when faced with something so monumental.
Nadine spent most of her time with her neck craned so she could look out one of the portholes. Despite her complete lack of love for zero-G, there was no telling when she would see space again. Even if she had her way and would never see it from an escape pod again, she didn’t want to miss any of this. The vastness of space was humbling. It was a feeling she probably didn’t need while doing something important, brave, and probably more than a little dangerous. Still, it was something to keep her mind occupied and not dwelling on their forthcoming landing.
Entering the atmosphere brought about the first change in their near-silent, weightless flight. A shift in color from gold light to white of upper-atmosphere clouds heralded a gentle bump as the escape pod met atmospheric friction. That friction brought heat and weight with it. She wondered how much the heat would grow as the escape pod shifted from pushing itself into the atmosphere to falling toward the planet, captured by its gravity well.
As the heat and friction built, the escape pod began to tremble, then shake. A roar accompanied the shake. Nadine locked her eyes on Lyric’s face. The other girl had her eyes closed and seemed serene. Only the white of her knuckles from the tight grip she had on her harness belied her peaceful visage.
Lyric opened her eyes and smiled at Nadine. She didn’t say anything as they were jostled against their restraints. They both held on to keep from being slammed about as the white clouds blocked all light, dimming the interior of the escape pod.
White disappeared into blue with more grayish-white below. The clouds were thick and gray. She didn’t know if that was from impending rain or dust in the atmosphere from the bombing of the planet. Probably a little of each. She had a scant minute to enjoy the fluffy, roiling gray clouds that seemed solid until the pod plunged into them again.
As all sight was blocked out from the clouds, their commlinks came to life. Corporal Crispin was there, her clipped, professional voice reassuring. “You’re coming into the lower atmosphere, the troposphere. This is where most weather conditions take place. It’s about to get really bumpy. Hold on. You’ll be on the ground in less than ten minutes.”
“Yes, Corporal,” Nadine answered, but her voice was lost to the roar of the wind around the escape pod.
As the full weight of gravity reasserted itself, the pod shifted until Nadine felt like she was falling feet first. Lyric and Nadine both looked at the floor, then each other.
“It’s warm,” Lyric said.
Nadine read her lips more than heard her. She nodded and felt the radiating heat from beneath them. Again, she wondered how much hotter the escape pod was going to get and whether they were going to make it. She’d just decided they were when Corporal Crispin’s voice sounded in her ear.
“Be aware, someone is shooting missiles at you. The escape pod has automatic collision defenses.” She began to count down in a slow, measured pace. “Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four. Brace yourselves. Two. One.”
While the woman’s voice was calm, her words shot electricity through Nadine’s body. The adrenaline dump came so hard that she felt it hit her feet. But there was nothing she could do with the energy. She didn’t hear the corporal say “zero.” Instead, the escape pod suddenly jerked to the side, and something scraped hard against it. Half a second later, the low boom of an explosion sounded, and the escape pod began to spin out of control.
Corporal Crispin’s voice sounded, then repeated itself, but Nadine couldn’t understand what she was saying. The way the escape pod jerked made Nadine bounce the back of her head off the edge of the seat. Pain and a gray film exploded, temporarily blinding her, as she was reminded that her head had not healed from the last time she’d been knocked about.
The escape pod jerked again and steadied out. Lyric said, “Acknowledged, Corporal. Emergency autopilot engaged. How did the missile knock out your control?”
“Not sure, Cadet Hayton, but the escape pod is completely out of our hands now. It looks like you’re going to overshoot your landing spot.”
Nadine blinked a couple of times. She put a hand to the back of her head, and it came away with just enough blood for her to know she’d been hurt, but not too badly. As she put her thoughts back together, she listened to Lyric and Corporal Crispin confer. There wasn’t much she could do otherwise.
“Roger that. By how far, you think?”
“A few kilometers, if your parachute doesn’t kick in.”
“If it does?”
“Less than that. You better hope it does. I don’t see any more missiles headed in your direction, but I do have sensors on a small fleet of friendly vehicles and ’Mechs.”
Lyric grinned. “That’s good to hear. At least that’s going right.”
“Indeed. Keep us informed, Cadet. And since you’re going to be south of the rendezvous, tell us what you see of the DropShip landing spot. You should be near it.”
“Yes, Corporal.”
Nadine had seized on the corporal’s wry comment about the parachute. If it didn’t deploy, they were going to hit the ground at a very unfortunate speed. It wouldn’t matter if there were reverse thrusters on the pod or not. It made her miss Henry all the more. He would’ve known every last one of the escape pod’s specs before they’d gotten aboard.
“Nadine. You okay?”
Nadine blinked at Lyric, who was shouting over the sound of them possibly rushing to their doom. She nodded and showed Lyric her bloody hand. “Not too bad.” Again, she’d mouthed the words more than spoke them, not having the energy to shout.
Lyric nodded. “Okay. Brace yourself. This thing’s gonna buck like a horse.”
“It already is!”
Not bothering to answer, Lyric gripped her restraints tight and pressed herself into the seat. She was short enough to keep her head from bouncing against the padded bulkhead.
Nadine did the same, but slouched down to keep her injured head off the edge of the cushioned seat and the bulkhead. She was still trying to find a more comfortable position for her injured head when the escape pod gave a mighty lurch up and back.
Pressed against the restraints, Nadine and Lyric both gasped for breath as the pod’s reverse thrusters roared into life and slowed the vessel down all the more. Outside the portholes, Nadine saw the Stonehaven foothills come rushing toward them at an uncomfortably fast speed.
The escape pod didn’t land so much as have a controlled crash. That knocked the breath and lights out of her. In the blackness of her semiconsciousness, the restraints kept the two passengers in their seats, but did nothing for their untethered limbs. Alarms sounded as explosive bolts blew the escape pod’s door outward.
Neither Lyric nor Nadine saw this as both blinked themselves back to awareness. Despite landing on their feet, so to speak, both were stunned from the force of the landing.
Nadine opened her eyes, almost surprised she could still do so. Fresh bruises up and down her arms and legs screamed their presence. She got her harness off, stood up, then fell to her knees in the middle of the escape pod.
Lyric fought with her harness with fumbling, bloody hands. “Little help here?”
Nadine shook her head. She regretted the move as pain lanced through her skull. She held her head, willing the pain to stop. It didn’t listen. Still, she saw Lyric’s harness release button was missing and she needed the help. “One moment.”
“Never mind,” Lyric said. She grabbed the knife at her waist and sawed at the hardened restraints. It made more noise than progress.
“You’re not going to get anywhere like that.” Nadine leaned forward and grabbed the emergency-release lever. She pulled hard on it, and two of the straps on one side of the seat let go.
Lyric shimmed out of the remaining straps and stood. She wobbled slightly, checked the insulated bag at her side, then looked down at Nadine. “You okay?”
“Yeah. I think so. I just…want to sleep for a bit.”
Captain Morse’s voice came over their earpieces. “No sleeping on the job, cadets. Status report on you and the vaccine.”
“Alive,” Nadine said, glancing skyward then to Lyric who unzipped the bag, looked in, then gave a thumbs up. “Both alive and vaccines intact.”
“What can you see? You’re in the foothills. At that elevation, you should be able to see what the evac site looks like.”
Nadine glared at the air and shook a feeble fist. The man would not give her a break. Didn’t he understand they’d just crash-landed?
Lyric put a hand on her shoulder. “One moment, sir. Still getting out of the escape pod.” She helped Nadine to her feet. “Okay?”
Nadine nodded.
Captain Morse said, “All right, but time’s wasting.”
Lyric and Nadine looked at each other. At the same time, they took the base units from their pockets and figured out how to mute their voices. When they were both certain Morse couldn’t hear them, Nadine swore softly under her breath. “That’s going to get real old in a big hurry.”
“I know. Just gotta have it on when we’re on the move. Otherwise, they might miss something crucial.”
“We might want to preface everything to the DropShip with a codeword.”
Lyric smiled. “Like ‘DropShip’? Or ‘Captain’?”
Nadine snorted. “Yes. Help me up. Let’s get him that report.”
They climbed out of the escape pod and looked around. From their vantage point, they had a good view of the wide riverbed below. It was rocky but mostly flat, with one side butted up against the foothills and the other running into the tree line. Looking up and down the area, Nadine cataloged what she could see before she turned her mic on again. “Captain?”
“Here, cadets.”
“First, since we need to leave the line open, if we are talking to you, we will say ‘Captain’ or ‘DropShip’ or something to let you know we’re talking to you. Okay?”
“Makes sense. Second?”
“Second, we’ve got eyes on a good two or three kilometers of a dried-up riverbed. Rocky, mostly flat. Shouldn’t be too hard for most vehicles. Foothills on one side, forest on the other. No buildings in sight. Looks like there’s a dirt road next to the foothills.” She paused as Lyric tapped her arm and pointed northward.
Nadine looked and smiled. “Looks like our ride is inbound. A single ’Mech and a hovercar are heading our way. Can we be patched into their network?”
There wasn’t an immediate answer.
Lyric and Nadine shrugged to each other and climbed down the uneven, rocky hillside. It was hard and slow going, as the rock tended to slide out from under them if they stepped wrong. Panting as they got to the bottom, Nadine asked, “Captain?”
A moment later Corporal Crispin answered for him. “That’s a negative, cadet. It’ll muddy the line. He wants just you and Cadet Hayton to talk directly to the DropShip unless absolutely necessary. If the ’Mechs need to talk to the Endeavor’s Run, they have their protocol. Also, be aware that every Draconis Combine DropShip is on the move. We may not be able to immediately respond.”
“Yes, Corporal.”
“Over and out.”
Nadine looked at Lyric. “Okay, we’re on our own for now.”
“Not really.” She gazed at the incoming ’Mech and hovercar. “Ten to one, that’s Jasper.”
“No bet. Question is, who’s in the hovercar? It’s nice. I wanna drive it.”
Lyric shook her head. “No idea. Probably not going to let you drive, though.” Her face grew troubled. “Also, we don’t know who’s still alive or not.”
Sobered, the two of them watched the cavalry come.
Jasper spent that last thirty minutes with his heart in his throat. First, when he saw the parachute deploy and partially rip, then when it looked as if the bottom of the escape pod had exploded. It took more than a couple minutes for him to figure out it had been the pod’s descent thrusters.
When he saw the plume of dirt the vessel made as it hit the ground, part of him was certain Nadine had died. Part of him was certain she had the luck of the foolish to keep her alive. He knew he wouldn’t be happy until he got confirmation. Unfortunately, neither he nor Giselle had any luck in raising the escape pod on the radio.
Finally, his infrared sensors confirmed there were two human-sized heat signatures next to the escape pod. They both had lived, and that was everything. He had to keep himself from speeding up. While they were mostly on flat ground, he didn’t know how sturdy the hovercar was. It was fast and flashy, but there were many jutting rocks and hidden traps.
He contented himself with keeping track of the two people as they descended the hillside to the road. At the same time, he looked for enemies. They had shot at the escape pod, so they knew it was here. If the enemies were nearby, he’d need to provide Nadine and Lyric cover fire as they made their way to the hovercar.
Both cadets waved at him. He waved one of the Awesome’s arms back and radioed to Giselle as they slowed down to meet them. “Hovercar, get them in ASAP. We can save the reunion for the rendezvous point. I don’t want to be caught out by ourselves.”
“Acknowledged, Roux. Glad I didn’t have to tell you that.”
He was so glad to see his sister that Giselle’s comment didn’t sting. “Radioing command that we’ve got them.”
Giselle didn’t respond, and he hadn’t expected her to. He flipped to channel four and radioed Delany. “Lance Commander, this is Cadet Roux, do you read?”
“I read you, Roux. Go ahead.”
“We’ve got them. Cadets Roux and Hayton.” He watched as the pair climbed into the hovercar and closed the door after them.
“Excellent. We have reached the rendezvous point. Radio says the package is still about an hour out. Waiting for them and you. Get back here ASAP.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“And Roux, congrats.”
“Thank you.” Jasper grinned wide at Delany’s compliment. Everything was going his way for once.
Giselle radioed him. “Everyone is belted in and ready to go.”
“Acknowledged. Head northward. I’ll keep an eye on our sensors.”
“One more thing…”
Jasper paused. “Yes?”
Nadine’s voice came over the radio. “Good to hear you, Jasper. Really good.”
His heart swelled again. “You too, Nadine. You too.”