Kapitan Diaz sat, both hands gripping his seat’s arms as if trying to ensure he would not reflexively enter a manual maneuvering command. “If I pretend our display is just zooming in on the planet’s surface,” he said, “it’s a lot easier to handle than if I think about us actually going this deep into atmosphere.”
“We’re barely moving,” Marphissa heard one of the specialists whisper to another. “Look. Our velocity is being measured in hundreds of kilometers per hour.”
“Try the link,” Diaz ordered the comm specialist.
She entered the command. “We’re not getting a link back, Kapitan. Request permission to go to voice comms.”
“Permission granted.”
The specialist began sending. “Whoever is requesting pickup, we need you to establish your position by answering our transmission. Comply. We require a signal to find you. Comply.”
After several iterations, an answer came, weak and riddled with static. “Almost out of power,” the reply murmured. “Three of us. Where is shuttle?”
“Three,” Diaz said in amazement. “Give me the comm link. This is the commanding officer of the heavy cruiser. We do not have a shuttle. We are bringing our unit down to within half a kilometer of the surface and extending a cable. You must go to where that cable reaches the surface and climb into the cage attached to the end.”
“Cannot go far…”
“Continue to transmit and we will drop that cable as close to you as possible.”
“We are ten kilometers from the surface,” the senior specialist reported. “But the distance readings are fluctuating.”
Marphissa checked them and laughed slightly. “That’s because we’re traveling over the surface of a planet and what you’re seeing are altitude readings. Whenever we pass over a higher part of the planet the distance to the surface gets shorter for that reason alone, and past that high part the distance gets longer on its own.”
“That… is odd to see, Kommodor. Distance to surface now seven kilometers.”
Marphissa looked at the image of the surface below and was surprised by the sensation of speed as the ship dropped lower with a velocity still in the hundreds of kilometers per hour. The mostly desert terrain beneath the warship appeared to be whipping past below at a disconcerting rate.
“Three kilometers.”
“I really hope we don’t have to go to manual maneuvering,” Diaz said, holding his hands back and away from the controls. “I’m afraid to touch anything.”
“Tow cable is being payed out. One point four kilometers remaining to surface.”
“Huge… fire…”
“That must be what we look like to them beneath us,” Marphissa said, trying to keep her breathing even. “They’re looking up and seeing our main propulsion pointed almost straight at them.”
Thrusters fired on automatic, gently nudging Manticore to try to position the end of the cable at the same point where the signal was now pinpointed.
“Half a kilometer,” the senior specialist said, his voice a little unsteady. “End of cable has made contact with the surface.”
“Get to the cable!” Diaz transmitted. “Can you see it? Get to the cable and get inside the cage. We can’t hold this position very long.”
“Understand… comply…”
“We’ve got visual,” a specialist announced. “Three figures. Syndicate ground forces armor. They are moving toward the cable.”
The motion of the three figures below, stumbling over broken ground and rocks, felt glacial. “How long are they going to take to get there?” Diaz grumbled.
Marphissa tore her eyes from the three figures and scanned her display for any sign that the enigmas were reacting. But this close to the surface Manticore’s sensors could observe only a tiny part of the planet. “With any luck, the enigma sensors are focused on objects in orbit and can’t see us when we’re this low.”
“One in.” Manticore shuddered, thrusters firing again. “Something shoved us.”
“Wind,” Diaz said. “Let’s hope it doesn’t pick up.”
The remaining two figures were racing after the cage, which dragged along the surface as Manticore was blown around. They caught it, and a second one boosted into the cage.
The warship lurched again, sliding sideways, the motion transmitted to the cable below. Once again, the third figure ran after it, stumbling over rocks, the other two reaching out and down.
“Come on,” Diaz breathed. “Do it!”
One of those in the cage got an armored hand locked onto the third figure and began pulling it in, assisted by the second.
A bigger gust of wind hit, twisting and pushing Manticore.
Down below, the third figure clung desperately to the outside of the cage as it skittered and bounced over rocks. Either by accident or design, one bounce brought the soldier up and over to fall on top of the other two inside the cage.
“Get us out of here, Kapitan,” Marphissa ordered.
Diaz reached with great care to touch the control that would start the automated maneuvers for bringing Manticore up out of atmosphere.
Marphissa, accustomed to the heavy cruiser leaping under the thrust of her main propulsion, had to grit her teeth in frustration as the warship rose at what felt like an incredibly gentle rate. But she could see the hull stress and temperature readings that told her that even at this apparently slow acceleration the heavy cruiser was going as fast as could be dared inside even the thin atmosphere of this planet.
After what felt like an eternity but was only a few minutes, the sky around Manticore changed from a disturbing shade of blue to the familiar black of space.
“Anything from the planet?” Marphissa demanded as the ship rose high enough to view a large chunk of the world once more.
“Nothing, Kommodor. No indications of enigma activity.”
“Coming into orbit,” Diaz said. “Not stable yet, but the thrusters can handle any problems.”
“Good. Shut off main propulsion and bring in that cable.”
Once again, a fairly quick process felt like it took forever. As the cage at the end of the cable neared Manticore, crew members in survival suits went out to collect the three soldiers and disconnect the cage. The soldiers were hauled along the hull to the nearest air lock, while the cage was shoved down toward the planet to vaporize during an uncontrolled descent to the surface.
“They’re inside,” Diaz reported. “Air-lock outer hatch sealed. Towing cable recovered and locked down.”
“Get us out of here, Kapitan,” Marphissa said. “Take us to the jump point for Midway, and don’t waste any time getting there. I’m going to go see our new guests.”
“Yes, Kommodor!”
Marphissa, bracing herself against the surge of acceleration as Manticore whipped out of orbit and headed for the jump point, walked carefully off the bridge.
To her surprise, she heard cheers breaking out through the ship. No words were identifiable, just sounds of jubilation. A group of specialists on their way to their watch stations saluted her, grinning broadly. “We did it, Kommodor! Thank you, Kommodor!”
She could not help smiling back as she returned the salutes. It did feel good right now.
The rescued soldiers were packed into the small compartment that served as a medical office aboard the heavy cruiser. They were still being helped out of their armor by unusually solicitous crew members who commonly expressed disdain for their ground forces counterparts. But now there was none of that rivalry.