Dev looked around, and checked the scan, and found only fading targets, blips they were leaving behind as they raced between the cloud layers back in the direction they came. “W.. why aren’t they chasing us” She asked. “Where did they go?”
Jess laughed. “Don’t look a gift horse in the ass, Dev. Just fly.”
Dev wiped her brow and let out a long exhale, chills still running up and down her spine. “Wow.” She said. “That was crazy.”
Jess chuckled again.
“But I liked it.” Dev said, unexpectedly. “I really did.” She half turned in her chair and looked at Jess. “It was fun.”
Jess peered at her from behind her targeting console, seeing the intense sparkle in her pilot’s eyes. “Hm.’ She grunted softly. “We may just have to keep you.”
“Excuse me?” Dev leaned towards her. “Did you say something?”
Jess smiled. “Take us home, Dev.” She said. “Before this thing falls apart.” She leaned back as the battered craft rumbled through the thick, moist air. “There’s a lot more work to do.”
Part 5
They were the last ship back. Dev held the carrier, limping in on one engine, steady as she watched the recovered vessel with it’s four passengers and the two that had gone with them sink through the wide opening into the landing bay.
It was still raining. But it was a steady unrelenting drizzle and the winds had died down, allowing Dev to relax as she waited.
Jess was in her seat, tapping furiously on her consoles and pad, occasionally chuckling to herself. She seemed to be in a very good mood, and Dev cautiously evaluated the idea that she’d done okay in their mission.
Her first one. She had, at least, brought them both back in one piece if the carrier wasn’t, and since they’d gotten the other teams back, she figured the whole thing might have been something of a success.
Not too bad, for someone who had only driven a sim before now. Dev glanced at her reflection in the curved forward shield, noting her sweat dampened hair. She raked it back and settled her hands on the controls again, the feeling of the throttles against her palms starting to become comfortably familiar.
She moved the carrier forward, tilting the nose down a little with a boost on the landing jets to give her a good view of the bay. She could see clear airspace and she leveled the craft, then increased the lower jets and cut off her main engines.
The carrier drifted downward, clearing the bay opening and settling lower and lower into the vast cavern. “BR27006” She spoke softly into the comms “Requesting landing pad.”
The comm crackled immediately. “BR27006, landing pad 82 cleared for your approach.”
Dev located the spot, marked with big, easily read numbers and she adjusted the side jets to move them over, hovering above the numbers before she cut power to the landing jets and they settled slowly into place.
There was a team waiting. She recognized a group of Ceebees, in pale orange jumpsuits with kits and hoses in their hands and as soon as she cut power to the drive systems, they bolted forward towards the carrier.
Two sprayed the outside down with something. “What is that?”
“Sealant.” Jess said, still slouched in her seat. “In case we popped a line. Don’t want to blast anyone with anything.” She now had her hands folded over her stomach and was just relaxing. “When they make the hookup, send the logs and the flight recorder detail over to storage.”
Dev nodded. “Yes.” She had been waiting, in fact, for specifically that. She saw a light come on midway up the console, and ran her fingers over the keys, accepting the connection and setting up the synch.
Another light, and she shut down internal power, and they went into pitch darkness for a few seconds before the external connection kicked in and the lights came back on, along with internal ventilation now being supplied from the dock.
It felt good, the air was cool and fresh and not full of half baked sealant. Dev blinked a little, and unbuckled her harness as she turned her seat around and watched the webbing retract.
“So.” Jess regarded her. “NM-Dev-1, you can pilot a carrier.”
“Yes.” Dev smiled. “Apparently so.”
“Where’d you pick up all the upside down stuff?” Jess asked. “I’m betting the other side’s never seen one of these do that before cause I sure haven’t.”
Upside down? Dev frowned a little, and her head tilted to one side. “You mean this?” She lifted one hand and tilted it back and forth.
“I mean when you were flying with the bottom of this thing pointed skyward.” Jess explained.
“Oh.” Dev nodded. “In space… “She pointed upward. “In the crèche, you get to train in a null grav sim for some of this. It’s all.. um.” She considered. “There’s no right or wrong side up. You learn in all dimensions.”
Jess studied her face intently for a long moment. “Interesting.” She said, finally. “Well, I’ll tell you what, Dev. You did as well or better as anyone I’ve ever seen driving this bus. “
“Are you surprised?”
“Yes.” Jess nodded.
“Me too.” Dev replied, with an almost impish grin. “Sims are one thing, but real is different. This was very difficult.” She said. “Mostly because I didn’t have any programming on what to do. They don’t give you programs to know what to do when you are flying at a mountain with twenty planes chasing you and shooting at you.”
“Ah.” Jess murmured. “So you just did that on instinct.”
Dev considered that carefully. “I’m not sure what that means.”
“You didn’t think about what to do.” Jess clarified. “You just reacted. You just did it.”
Dev considered again, then nodded. She half turned as the comm crackled, reaching over to accept a key.
“BR27006, you are cleared for exit. Systems stable, please release locks and proceed to debrief.” A stolid male voice intoned. “Agent Drake, Mr Bain’s compliments.”
“Hah.” Jess stood up and stretched. “C’mon. Let’s get the brain hosing out of the way and go get a drink. We earned it.” She waved Dev forward, and keyed the hatch, waiting a moment as it unsealed and popped outward, swinging clear to let them out of the craft.
She stepped out and down to the ground, as two bio alt techs edged past her, carrying toolkits. She waited for Dev to follow her, not missing the looks of the other bio alts as she left the carrier past them.
Mixture of envy and awe. Jess was intrigued, but she put it aside as she turned to regard her craft. Always a little battered by weather and battle, this time it looked like the carrier had been driven right through that big storm front and then right into the side of the mountain they were currently standing inside. “Shitcakes.”
Dev turned and looked, her eyes getting big and round. “Wow.”
Every inch of the craft was scored by fire, it’s outside a dark and creased dappled gray. One of the external engine pods was sliced through, dripping lurid green fluid on the ground. There was a huge rent right along the side, it’s end just shy of the curve of the nose where Dev had been seated.
A man came up next to Jess, dressed in a deep orange suit. “Holy shit, Drake. What the hell did you do to that thing?”
Jess glanced at him, bemused. “You should see what the other guy looks like.” She said. “Sorry, Clint. Looks like a total overhaul.”
The man snorted, then seemed to notice Dev for the first time. “Who’s this?”
“This is Dev.” Jess supplied. “She’s my p.. pilot.” She felt her tongue stutter, and felt a pang. “Wait till you see the logs.”
Clint was regarding Dev thoughtfully. “Oh, yeah. I heard about that.” He said. “Nice to meet you.” He extended a hand. “Hope you don’t do this everytime. Too much work.”
Dev politely shook his hand. “I’ll try not to.” She said. “They’re very sturdy pieces of equipment.”