“Volander landing party, Harvester. Do you copy?” Josh waited a few seconds for an answer, but got none. “Guess we’re gonna have to surprise them,” he smiled.
Loki tightened the shoulder straps on his flight harness. Although Josh was an amazing pilot, he had a tendency to do things without warning. “You sure you wanna go in so fast, Josh?”
“This’ll have to do,” Josh chuckled.
As the distance closed, they could begin to make out the shape of the enemy shuttle as it circled over the sinkhole, firing its pulse cannon at targets below.
“Pulse cannons,” Loki pointed out.
“I see them.”
“I’m assuming you’ve got a plan?”
Josh said nothing, only clucked like a chicken.
“Great,” Loki said, grabbing the hand-holds on the top edges of the front and side consoles to brace himself. He knew what was coming, and he knew from experience that he’d best hold on tight.
As they rapidly closed on the enemy shuttle, it continued its slow circle, turning toward the oncoming harvester.
“Oh shit!” Loki cried.
For a brief moment, Loki was sure he could see the faces of the flight crew on the shuttle as it suddenly rolled sharply to its right to avoid colliding with the onrushing harvester. Josh immediately rolled slightly opposite the enemy ship, pulling his nose up ever so slightly to send his ship into a tight, high-g turn. “YES!” he cried out in victory. “I NEVER FLINCH!”
The enemy shuttle did not pull his nose up as he rolled, which resulted in a sudden loss of altitude bringing him below the top of the sinkhole and sending him diving toward its wall.
Inside the main house, the sound of the harvester rocketing by at high velocity shook the entire structure, knocking them off their feet. For a brief moment, they were deafened by the roar of the harvester’s main drive as it blew past them at incredible speed.
“What the hell was that?” Nathan wondered as he picked himself up, noticing that the bombardment had stopped. A moment later the ground shook once more as a tremendous crash came from outside. Nathan spun around to look out the windows. Through the smoke he could barely make out the image of the enemy shuttle as it slammed into the side of the sinkhole, falling into the greenhouse below before exploding.
“Holy shit!”
“Volander landing party, Harvester. Do you copy?” The voice coming over his comm-set was unfamiliar to him, but Nathan answered the hail nonetheless.
“This is Captain Scott! Who’s calling?”
“It’s your ride, Captain! That sweet little commander of yours sent us to bring you home!”
“Sweet little commander?” Vladimir wondered.
“He must be talking about Cameron,” Nathan said.
“Great!” Nathan told him over the comms. “How did you take out that shuttle?”
“No time to chit-chat, Captain. I’ve gotta deal with a few snipers first. Get your people ready to move out! I’ll be down in a minute to pick you up!”
“Copy that!” Nathan answered.
“There’s another explosion at their position!” Kaylah reported.
“Who is it?” Cameron snapped. “Is it the harvester?”
“No, sir! I show the harvester still maneuvering!” Ensign Mendez reported with excitement. The son-of-a-bitch took him head on at max velocity!”
“Christ! He played chicken with them?”
“That guy is insane!” Mendez exclaimed.
Loki flinched as sniper rounds struck the nose of the harvester. “They’re shooting at us, Josh!”
“No shit, really?”
The harvester dipped down to no more than two meters above the ground as it reached the first sniper, who dove out of the way. A few seconds later Josh turned hard to starboard, smacking the next sniper with the thrust wash from his main drive and knocking him off the cliff into the sinkhole.
Vladimir looked out the window to try and determine why the snipers were no longer firing at them. He quickly realized the cause of their distraction when he saw the harvester come swinging around to line up with the opposite ridge line. “He’s buzzing the snipers!”
On the next pass, Josh flew so low that his exhaust was lighting the sparse vegetation on fire. Loki closed his eyes as they nearly slammed into the first sniper, who dove face down hoping to avoid being hit, only to find his own armor melting to his back due to the heat of the passing harvester’s exhaust. A few seconds later, there was a sickening thud.
“OH SHIT!” Josh yelled.
Loki opened his eyes again, only to see a red smear on the nose of the harvester that ran up onto the front windshield. “What happened?”
“I took off his fucking head!” Josh giggled.
Loki shook his head. “You’re a sick little dude, you know that, don’t you?”
The harvester pulled up hard until it was almost vertical, backing off on the power until it was about to stall. As it did, the ship banked over to port and dove back down, pulling up just enough to angle toward the center of the sinkhole. Within seconds they were nearly there, and Josh pulled up the nose, firing his landing thrusters at maximum burn to stop their descent. The little ship came to a hover in the middle of the compound, directly in front of the main house, spinning around to point its nose toward the front door before extending its gear and dropping the last meter to the ground.
The side hatch to the harvester popped open. Loki leaned out to wave at the landing party, signaling them to move quickly as they exited the main house and ran towards the ship. Vladimir scooped up the little girl and handed her up to Loki who pulled her into the ship. Deliza was next, followed by Jalea.
“We’ve gotta go back and look for Jessica!” Nathan shouted.
“There’s no time!” Loki objected. “There’s a warship on the way! If we’re not back in ten minutes, your ship’s leaving without you!”
“But she could still be alive!” Nathan argued.
“Nathan! We’ve got to go!” Vladimir insisted.
“No! I have to be sure!”
“Nathan! You’re the captain now! Your responsibility is to your ship!” Vladimir grabbed Nathan by the collar and shoved him up the side of the harvester. “Now get in there!” Vladimir shoved Nathan up to the hatch, climbing up behind him.
There were only two seats in the small cabin behind the cockpit of the harvester, which were taken by Jalea on one side and Deliza on the other with her little sister in her lap. Nathan and Vladimir crammed themselves onto the floor, between Jalea’s feet and the front bulkhead that separated the small cabin from the cockpit. Loki pulled the hatch closed and stepped over them, returning to the cockpit as he hollered, “Let’s go!”
Before Loki even sat down, the harvester leapt into the air, its main drive kicking in and sending it accelerating away as its landing gear retracted.
“Message from the harvester, sir,” the comm officer reported. “They’re inbound, with five passengers!”
“Yes!” Cameron said, a wave of relief washing over her. “What’s their ETA?”
“Ten minutes, sir.”
Cameron turned to Ensign Mendez at the tactical station directly behind her.
Mendez shook his head, a dour look on his face. “Eight minutes and we’ll be toe-to-toe with that warship.”
Cameron took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “I don’t suppose we got the torpedoes working yet?” Another look from Mendez confirmed what she already knew. “Battle stations everyone. Deploy the rail guns, point-defense mode.”
“We’ve got company!” Loki reported as he buckled himself back into his seat. “Ta’Akar fighters on an intercept course. They’ll be on us in two.”
“Hang on, ladies and gentlemen!” Josh yelled over his shoulder toward the back cabin. “It’s gonna get interesting!”
Vladimir raised his feet and planted them firmly against the bulkhead opposite him, on either side of Nathan to brace himself. With his left hand, he grabbed the edge of the arm rest of the seat next to him where Deliza sat holding her younger sister in her lap. “Excuse me.”