Andy flashed the cloaked Cartella out into space and similarly to the drone, took it around to the opposite side of Uskrre from the Klatt ship to hide its fiery insertion trail. Bache had insisted on coming with him and sat bolt upright in the right-hand seat, staring intently and silently at the growing planet below them.
Stealing a quick glance at his passenger, Andy could see the worry etched into his face, his hands permanently fidgeting with the laser weapon in his lap.
‘It’ll be fine,’ he said, closing his eyes again to adjust the angle of attack into the upper atmosphere.
‘It’s the Klatt though,’ said Bache. ‘Why did it have to be the Klatt? And what the hell are they doing with an invasion fleet hidden here?’
‘It could be just a storage depot,’ said Andy.
‘Not a chance,’ Bache replied, watching as a flurry of sparks flashed by the front screen. ‘It’d be in their home system if that’s all it was.’
It went quiet again as Andy, instead of braking as they dropped lower, kept the ship’s momentum up to carry them quickly around the globe and towards the disguised dome. Finally slowing the Cartella as they got within a thousand kilometres, he called Rayl, who he’d handed the drone over to before he left the Gabriel’s bridge.
‘Are you ready to insert the drone?’ he asked.
‘Of course,’ came the curt reply.
Rayl had been dead against Andy piloting the Cartella down to the planet, arguing that Cleo was quite capable of doing it remotely. She’d been even more annoyed when Bache, instead of siding with her as she’d expected, chose to go on the trip with Andy and exacerbate the risk.
‘Are the missiles armed?’ he asked.
‘Of course they’re fucking not,’ she snapped. ‘Not until it’s inside the dome and safely through that gate.’
Andy pulled a face at Bache.
‘And don’t pull faces,’ she groused.
Andy snapped his face back to normal and wondered how she knew.
‘When the dome fails, you go in, pick them up and get out. No hanging around blowing shit up. Is that clear?’
‘Yes, dear.’
‘Don’t you “yes dear” me.’
‘No, de––. Understood.’
He decided to shut up and brought the Cartella around opposite the gate and kept it up at a kilometre above, so the drone had room to manoeuvre. Although they could detect the drone, its location soon became apparent as the gate went opaque again and a similar cloud of dust and leaves swirled around violently as its antigrav drive agitated everything loose.
The dome immediately failing made Andy jump, as thousands of ships suddenly materialised below them.
‘Fuck me, that was quick,’ he said, regaining his composure and moving the Cartella swiftly forward.
‘Wasn’t me,’ said Rayl.
Andy pushed the little ship at full throttle towards the centre of what had been under the dome.
‘There’s some sort of tracked vehicle crunching around in the remains of a building, right in the centre,’ he said.
‘That’s got to be Ed,’ said Bache. ‘Can you talk to him?’
Andy felt out with his DOVI and quickly found his friend.
‘Taxi for Mr Virr,’ he said, slowing the ship and hovering a few hundred metres above the destruction derby happening below.
‘Andy, shit,’ replied Ed. ‘You’re here.’
‘I’m not shit – I’m very clever, me,’ Andy replied, grinning.
‘Tell him to drive that thing away from the centre,’ said Bache. ‘You’ve just stuck a big stick in an even bigger nest of vipers.’
‘He heard you,’ said Andy, watching as dozens of Klatt soldiers and assorted personnel streamed out of the other buildings, some of them firing at the marauding armoured truck.
A missile streaked in from above as Rayl unleashed one of the six kataligo missiles slung under the drone. It left a fifteen-metre crater in the ground where some of the armed soldiers had been and the concussive wave badly damaged three adjacent buildings.
‘I thought we weren’t blowing shit up?’ said Andy, steadying the ship as the shock wave reached the Cartella.
‘Needs must,’ said Rayl. ‘You go get Ed and Pol and I’ll dissuade these arseholes from following.’
Ed, in the meantime, had roared off, deliberately clipping a few more vehicles so they couldn’t be used to follow him. Bache pointed when he noticed a laser round flash in from one of the nearby parked ships, narrowly missing Ed’s vehicle and producing a geyser of smoking soil that heaved high into the air.
Andy had seen it too and activated the Cartella’s cannons, then following Bache’s finger, turned the ship and ripped the offending laser cannon and the whole side of the troop carrier to shreds with a prolonged burst.
‘Must have been doing some maintenance on the ship or something,’ said Bache. ‘The rest of the ships seem deserted.’
The concussion from another huge explosion behind them lifted the Cartella again as Andy overtook Ed’s vehicle, de-cloaked so he could see it and landed a hundred metres in front.
‘Go round behind us,’ said Andy. ‘Use the ship’s shields to protect you as you get out.’
‘Okay,’ came the reply, as Bache moved over to the airlock and prepared to open it.
Now the Cartella was visible, it began to attract more attention and its shields were kept busy absorbing a flurry of small weapons fire. There was a third explosion as Rayl reduced the drone’s complement of missiles to three. It did have the required effect as the incoming fire reduced dramatically.
Andy was temporarily blinded as an explosion under Ed’s truck threw it sideways and one of its tracks unravelled out the back of the vehicle, causing it to swerve hard left and roll almost in slow motion onto its side.
‘Shit they’re hit,’ shouted Andy, lifting and turning the Cartella so he could utilise the cannons to give the truck some covering fire. ‘Ed, can you hear me?’ he called, landing back down again in between the damaged truck and the oncoming horde.
‘I can,’ came a weak voice. ‘I think I need some help with Pol.’
Before Andy could say anything, Bache, who’d overheard what Ed had said on the ship’s internal speakers, opened both airlock doors and jumped out.
‘Shit,’ Andy said under his breath, debating whether to follow Bache or use the ship’s cannons again to discourage any heroics from the Klatt attackers. He chose the latter and brought the vessel up and around to face the centre of the dome again. It looked as if every building was now if not destroyed, at least on fire. Any laser bolts coming his way or any movement was immediately answered with a barrage of cannon fire. A fourth huge explosion over to his left pushed him dangerously close to one of the Klatt ships and he silently wished they’d fitted a laser cannon to the drone as it would have proved a lot more useful in this situation.
A shout from Bache woke him from his thoughts and he swung the ship back round so the airlock was facing the truck. He could see two people clambering down from the upturned vehicle, one limping and the other carrying something over their shoulders. As they got closer to the Cartella, he could see it was Bache carrying a seemingly lifeless Pol and it was Ed limping along behind.
They clambered up the steps as a renewed salvo of laser fire zapped around the ship’s shields like forked lightning in a spring storm. Andy wasn’t waiting around and as soon as they were inside the outer airlock, he punched the icon to close it and immediately lifted the ship and screamed upwards, cloaking the Cartella as he went.
He felt rather than saw the last two missiles as Rayl discouraged anyone’s thoughts of pursuit.
‘Have you got them both?’ she asked, once they were clear of the area.
‘Yeah,’ he said, grinning. ‘All aboard.’
He opened his eyes momentarily to glance back over his shoulder. The smile vanished from his face as he saw the state of Pol and the amount of blood on the floor.
‘Get her to the Gabriel fast,’ said Ed, the tears running down his face.