Relias: Uprising (57 page)

 “Just hang in there.” He muttered. “We’re on our way to Pyre. The war’s ending tonight. And it’s because of you.” Hendrick smiled proudly at her. He knew she couldn’t see or hear him. He kept talking anyway.

  The dark feeling that strangled him was one that was one of the most potent he had ever felt. Never before had he been emotionally open, a fact he was once proud of. Now, he really didn’t care.

 “Report.” Luke asked in a calm voice. The rest of the bridge was a disaster. Crewmembers went about dousing flames, others in repairing circuitry, while others tended to dead, dying, or injured companions.

 “Artillery energy cells are dry and ruined. They won’t recharge.”

 “Shields are at four percent.”

 Rough shape. Luke looked to the navigation team. “And the Legionnaire navy?”

 “We have our distance sir. Closest Legionnaire cruiser is twenty miles to the south. The Sestik Mountain Range is just ahead.”

 They had cut it close, but they were in the clear. Luke pounded his fist triumphantly on the armrest of his chair. “Pilots, adjust the mist shroud to emulate Cirrus spissatus, take us to forty thousand feet and set course for the woods just north of New Eckis. We set down there, ditch the cruiser, and-“

 “We can’t pull that off, Captain. Our engines are on borderline overload and that stunt we just pulled damaged our anti-grav plates beyond repair. The system’s about to shut them down.”

 Any ounce of excitement that Luke felt was gone. Everything they’d just done, all of it, amounted to nothing more than a suicidal crash landing. “So, what you’re saying is-“

 “We’re not making it another twenty miles, much less to New Eckis.”

 Merino, though dazed, went into a furious rampage on the platform above, yelling to himself as his ship cruised to its unavoidable doom.

 “Legionnaire cruisers are coming down on our six! Strikers are inbound!”

 No Pyre, no smooth landing spot, no cover. If they bailed right now then they’d get destroyed by enemy aircraft. If they stayed on board, they risked death by riding the ship to their potential death.

 “Options!” Luke got to his feet and shouted. “Give me options!”

 Silence. A few people worked at their computers. No help came of it.

 “You!” Luke shouted, stomping over towards his navigators. “Nearest mountain range. What is it?”

 “That’s the Sestiks.”

 “BESIDES THOSE!”

 “That’s the Byfaynes! We can’t make it that far!”

 Luke yelled and put his fist through a nearby control panel. Everybody in the bridge watched as Luke  fought to contain himself.

 They were so close. All they needed was ten percent more power and they could have made it. Ten percent! And now the Ditrinity, Rush, the crew, everybody, had no choice but to plunge headlong into the bowels of hell. And again, Luke’s mind went to Sable. They had only one place to go. She wouldn’t make it.

 His anger and frustration spent, only guilt and discouragement remained. Slowly Luke stepped back to his chair and sat down, rubbing his face with a gauntleted hand and resting his chin in his palm. He stared into space as his mind blanked. He was tired, and once again his efforts came to nothing.

  The proximity alarm started back up, breaking the bleak and dire silence.

 “Captain…” Said the Chief Navigator, quietly and without alarm. “Enemy aircraft closing on our six. The signature is too large and I can’t get a reading on exactly how many.”

 “Thank you.” Luke replied solemnly, pausing and turning towards the pilots. “How long until the anti-grav plates give way?”

 “Four, maybe five minutes.”

 His stomach tightened. That wasn’t nearly enough time for the Ditrinity and Rush to regroup. Their best chances at survival would be to stay where they were and brace for impact. But Luke had seen what happened when the anti-grav plates failed. Starting from the rear they’d shut down, and as each one died that portion of the ship would snap off as the weight became too much to handle. Then, one by one, as each of the seven plates died, each section would fall off and plunge violently to the ground. The front of the ship, the portion with the bridge, was the last to go while the charged plate remained charged for several more minutes keeping the front aloft until it too fell to the earth.

 His friends would go before he did. They’d be scattered across the Sestiks, one of the most unforgiving places on the planet, by themselves. They’d be alone with the entire Legionnaire army hot on their tails. Razorbacks, Styklers, carnivorous Quos, cannibalistic, man-eating Wylsks, Hoppers, volcanic badlands, and they’d have to traverse all of it with the Legionnaires hunting them down.

 Luke hit the intercom button and spoke to the entire ship.

 “Crewmembers, Rush, Ditrinity, listen up.”

 Every person on board had been celebrating, unaware of the impending equipment failure. The Ditrinity and Rush, just from the tone of Luke’s voice, knew things weren’t good. They paid close attention.

 Luke began talking but found himself without words. He didn’t want to tell them. He didn’t have the heart. “We… we will not be making it to Pyre.”

 Their spirits left them. Smiles melted, laughs died, and everybody, with their hopes smashed, kept their attention.

 “During the firefight with the Helios our engines and anti-grav plates were heavily damaged. The engines will fail within twenty miles, the anti-grav plates will die any minute, and the Legionnaires are no more than a mile behind us. As each plate fails, each of the seven sections of the ship will break off one by one until the ship has been completely dismantled. Once you hit the ground… you’re on your own. There is no time to make it to your friends if they are in other parts of the ship. Find a spot to brace yourself and hang tight.”

 The Ditrinity listened. They, more than anybody, were the most excited about getting to Pyre. It was the day they’d all dreamed of. Now it was further away than it ever had been.

 In the medical lab, Hendrick had his hands on Sable’s forehead, quietly muttering the same prayer he’d heard Seraphine give with a quavering voice. They were by themselves, and the only noise they heard was the tinny sound of Luke’s voice over the microphone.

 Luke paused. He thought about the last words the Ditrinity had heard him say. He ditched the formalities and spoke just to them.

 “Ditrinity… Morlo, Vyvyr, Pontious, Hendrick, Sable… I… I’m sorry. I’m sorry I abandoned you. I’m sorry I realized my mistakes too late. And I’m sorry I couldn’t save us. No matter what you did for me, how you helped me, I blew it off as nothing. I’ve spent so long wanting to get revenge for those I’ve lost that I’d forgotten to fight for those I still have. I came back to Leramato because I realized that.” Luke released the button. This wasn’t going to happen. He wouldn’t forget how he’d felt just ten minutes earlier. He hit the button again. “We’re going to make it to Pyre. I promise you that. Every last one of us. And we’ll take the lives of the unholy bastards who put us here in the first place and get our first taste of freedom in almost two decades. And when you all get to down on the ground, keep your heads down and stay alive. We do this together… I
will
find you!”

 There was a stressed groan that tumbled through the ship. Everybody looked around them as they felt the shivers running beneath their feet.

 “Grav plate number one has gone critical!”

 They didn’t have much longer. Luke hit the comm switch once again.

 It was dead. Sparing only a moment for regret, Luke got to his feet and sheathed his sword. “Pilots plot course for the heart of the Sestik Mountains. Descend until we’re scraping the mountaintops. Tess!”

 Tess, with minor cuts and bruises, appeared at his side.

 “Stick with me.” Luke said, walking towards the upper platform. He checked the pipes and cables that ran along the walls and discovered where the Grav plate at their feet started and ended. “When the rest of the ship goes, we’ve got things we have to do. Our portion’ll stay in the air for a few minutes longer before the plates give way. We have to give the others time to get out and get safe.”

 “So what’re we doing?” Tess asked.

 Luke looked at her but didn’t answer. He faced the rest of the crew on the bridge, standing at the edge of the platform and raising his voice as he addressed the beaten, exhausted group.

 “There’s never been a single time in my life when I’ve seen a naval crew as brave and trusting as you all have been. Thank you.” Luke nodded towards the Pilots. “Set the ship to auto-pilot. Everybody get to the back of the bridge and wedge yourselves some place tight. This part of the ship will be impacting the hardest.”

 There was a reverberating rumble at the rear of the ship. The entire craft tilted back as the rumble grew louder. Then, the distant, creaking sound of metal tearing itself apart. The ship began to decelerate.

 “The rear portion of the ship is gone.” The head pilot sounded.

 Luke acknowledged him as he got his strategy together. “I’m going to hold off the Legionnaires as long as I can. All of you get out, get hidden, and work your ways back to the Byfaynes. The Darks’ll find you there.”

 Another rumble. The stress once again became too much.

 “The second portion is gone!”

 “Get into crash positions.” Luke said as he went to leave the bridge. “It’s been an honor serving with all of you.”

 Morlo, Vyvyr, and Pontious sprinted as fast as they could towards the living quarters, running faster on battered legs as they heard the rear portions of the ship snapping off one after the other. They found their way to the hall with the red carpet, opening and closing doors as fast as they could.

 “Mattresses!” Morlo yelled. “We need mattresses!”

 They kicked them in, door after door, finding only hard, suicidal spots to brace themselves.

 “Here!” Pontious shouted. Morlo and Pontious shinned towards his voice and found him. Pontious nodded towards the long row of simple bunks with literally hundreds of thin mattresses. Morlo clapped him on the shoulder and ran down the aisle, grabbing every mattress he could.

 “Get as many as you can and find a tight spot!” Morlo shouted. A strong vibration ran beneath their feet. Drawers and closet doors rattled incessantly as they searched for places to brace. “Pad yourselves good and-“

 The floor lurched downward. Pontious stuck his head out the door and looked down the hall. A several feet wide and growing crack had opened up just ten yards from them.

 “Pontious come on!” Morlo shouted, scrunched tightly in a gun locker and barely visible from beneath the crowd of thin mattresses.

 The floor lurched again. Pontious sprinted and snatched up several mattresses, wrapping them around him as he dove to the floor. Holding them in place, he wedged himself beneath the bottom bunks and held his arms to his chest.

 “Great minds think alike!” Vyvyr shouted from beneath the bunks opposite Pontious.

 Then the lights went out.

 The portion broke free. Strong winds shot through the cabin as it went into free fall. The portion tumbled downward, crashing towards the death infested valleys of the Sestik Mountains. The three held tight, prepared for both injury and death, knowing that brutal, crippling impact was only moments away.

 Hendrick gathered up as many medical supplies as he could, shoving them into a duffle and tossing it over his shoulder. He returned to Sable and unstrapped her from the gurney.

 He felt the floor shift.

 There was no place to wedge themselves. It was just an open room.

 Hendrick picked up Sable in one arm and shoved his arm through the straps on the duffle, grabbing a nearby handle on the wall to steady himself as the ship quaked.

 The floor lurched again. A violent tremor shot through the floor. The glass panels on the medicine cabinets shattered. Equipment fell from the tables. The room went dark, save for the deep red flashing lights above the door.

 There was a sound like cracking thunder. Then the floor split.

 The back of the room fell away and harsh winds filled the room. Twisted pipes, metal, and cables bent and skewed around the rooms edges where that portion of the ship had broken away. With one hand Hendrick put his mask on and looked out the rear of the ship, watching the mammoth cross-section of the cruiser falling to the ground and into darkness. And, no more than a mile behind them, framed against the smoky, moonlit sky, a swarm of battlecruisers hunted them, hungrily chasing them down. Hendrick checked his Blazers on instinct.

 The floor shifted beneath him again. He looked down as the sensation of stability left him. Desperately he looked around for a place to lodge during the crash.

 Hendrick felt a shuffle against his neck. He looked down through Sable’s hair as it waved in the tumultuous wind and got a glimpse of her face. Her eye opened slightly.

 “Nate…” She whispered, her lips barely able to form the words. 

 “I got ya.” Hendrick said, feeling their portion of the ship straining on its supports. There was a loud crunch as it worked itself loose. There was nothing he could do now but give false assurances.. Hendrick looked back at Sable and smiled. “There’s gonna be a bit of a bump.”

 The section tilted down as it broke away from the top floor to the bottom. Loose objects rolled out the back of the ship, wheelchairs, gurneys, stretchers, and fell to the dark, malevolent forest below. Hendrick’s feet slid against the floor. He tightened his grip and made one final scan for a place they could wedge themselves, his final search turned up nothing. Hendrick took one last look at Sable, returned his eyes back to the open night, and took a deep, relaxing breath.

 Then, with a deafening crack that was hundreds of times louder than before, that section of the ship, the one containing Sable and Hendrick, snapped off and plummeted into the darkness.

 “Tess, get Seraphine and keep her close.”

 Tess did as she was told, grabbing Seraphine’s wrist and pulling her to her feet. With his sword sheathed at his back, Luke headed to the bridge’s exit, turning around to give one final command.