The Mulligan Planet (19 page)

I would like to start this off
with not my fault, really, very much not my fault. My plan was...
Stupid, but still, this was... We should have seen it coming.
Anyway, we got onto the airstrip with minimal problems, and when we
eventually found Steve and Mark with the plane I wasn't
disappointed. I didn't know how they got it but they did, large
military cargo plane in one of the hangers, the kind of thing they
air-drop tanks in. “Wow, solid job mates. You ready for take-off
Steve?” he let out a massive yawn as he nodded, “I'm good once
we've loaded up, this here is the bird we flew in on, sturdy ol’
gal, all she needed was a refuel.” I signalled for Harry to take
the truck behind the plane, “Back it in nice and slow, give him a
hand Mark.” They started the loading process while I went to sit on
the hood of the blue car, “Ok, once it's all in we can get some C4
on it, you keep us airborne and I'll make sure that tanker gets
real friendly with that ship.” Steven joined me on the car, “Sounds
good, after that we just maintain cou-” an almighty crunching sound
cut him short, “What the fu-” a loud bang this time, we were off
the car and around the back of the plane where Mark was holding his
head, “What the bloody Hell have you guys done!” Mark looked at me
in disgust, “'Us guys!' It was him!” I heard the trucks cabin door
open and slam shut, “Me!? 'A little to the left, I mean right, no,
I mean'.” It was like mediating children, “Both of you shut up and
tell me what happened!” There was silence for a moment before Harry
opened his mouth, “I backed over the seats, the seats broke and the
tire exploded.” I breathed a sigh of relief, the trailer was
already in, “Ok, alright, detach the rig and let's get airborne
before you idiots cause any more difficulties. Marcus, get ready,
once that ship is down I want a locale on our team ASAFP.” he wove
me off while he helped Harry decouple the rig.

I took this opportunity to get
ready, moulding the C4 pack on top of the tanker, “Hey John!” I
shot up and smashed my head on the roof of the carrier, “Ow, yeah?”
It was Harry, “Could I get my sword back?” I untied the scabbard
and tossed it down to him, “Thanks.... And John, don't die up
there.” I inserted the blasting caps, “Wasn't counting on it Har.
Don't worry, I've done stuff way worse than this and come out the
other end without a scratch. I need you to focus on keeping Marcus
safe, he'll need a lot of protection when that ship comes down.
After we do this life is going to be a whole lot easier.” Steven
pushed past Harry to enter the main cabin, “Let's get ready John,
it's getting to the afternoon and I really don't want a night-op
with this.” I climbed off of the tanker, “Get her started. Harry,
help Marcus get back to that shopping centre, collect his
equipment, you've got this.” he nodded and left the plane. I hit
the button to shut the door before walking toward the cabin, the
sound of the door closing behind me locked in my head, 'Up we go
again.' I let out a deep breath remembering the last time we were
airborne, I missed Kate, I missed Wolfgang I missed Gregorvich, I
missed all of them. I took the seat next to Steve who was flicking
switches, “Take us up.” The straps sat over my shoulders tightly as
I pulled them on and locked myself in while the massive plane
started rolling onto the runway, rain beating down on the tarmac,
“In regular conditions I would make you wait in the lobby until the
storm cleared up.” I chuckled, “Yeah, all of us getting pissed
because a little rain had stopped us from getting to wherever we
were going.” we started to pick up speed, “You get why we like to
stay on the ground?” lightning flashed across the horizon, bringing
a smile to my face, “Not a clue.” I could feel the plane sliding
slightly, “The extra weight is probably going to be a problem.” The
tarmac lowered out of view while the tanker could be heard grinding
behind us, “Up, up, up!” a resounding crunch coincided with the
plane getting over balanced to the rear, “Woooo!” Steve gestured
for the control stick in front of me, “Pull up!” I grabbed a hold,
pulling as far back as the stick would let me and before long we
were safely up in the air while Steve did everything possible to
level us out, “We just did a wheelie in a plane.” Steve put his
hand up to silence me, “We didn't, we grinded the majority of the
rear of the plane and nearly died. Now, you shut up, and check the
cargo.” I was hurt in a way before coming to the re-realisation
that most don't think life-threatening situations should be
fun.

The first
thing I noticed upon entering the cargo bay was the tanker pushed
up against the left wall, its wheels having crushed most of the
seats. I found a spot of leverage and started to push the tanker,
it slid slightly before dropping into the seats, trapping the
tires. “Well... That's not good.” I checked the door, there was a
dent and a few scratches, but it looked like it would open, “Steve!
I'm just testing the cargo door!” a thumb appeared in the cockpit
doorway before Steve’s hand slammed the door shut. I held onto a
piece of netting that was dangling from the roof and pushed the
button. A few seconds passed then there was a crunching sound and
the door began to lower, the tanker shifted but was clearly stuck,
I pushed the button to close the door but it continued to lower,
“Better and better... Steve!” I was making my way back to the cabin
when a scream sounded as the cargo door tried to lower itself
further. The cabin door flew open, nearly smashing me in the face,
“We have a... No, we have problem
s.
” I looked out the front of the
plane, we were minutes away from the ship, “Steven... Parachutes,
we need parachutes now, and get us some altitude.” Something raised
from the top of the ship, despite being based millions of
kilometres apart, guns seemed to stay fairly similar. A flashing
red light bathed the plane as I zipped up my jacket, grabbed the
parachute from beneath my seat and strapped it on while Steve did
the same, “Missions with you are always just bad.” the back of the
gun started to faintly glow blue, “And now I'm going to blow up,
that's brilliant that is,” Steve flicked switches and the flashing
light was gone, “I really don't like it when big scary guns are
aimed at me, do you?” a large green ball launched toward us, Steve
dipped the plane and it shot over the top of us before he pulled up
making my stomach lower, “We're going to dive bomb, that's the plan
right?” I nodded and he let out a deep breath, “This is going to be
scrappy at best.”

I looked at the tanker, it was
holding in place, but the green ball had turned and was coming back
toward us, “Steve... Dive, in the right now way!” I felt sick as
the sheer force and speed of the trajectory change fell on me,
“Time to go!” the fall becoming steeper with each passing moment, I
held onto the doorway, “Steven!” He pushed past me, launching out
of the plane. I let my hands slip, hugging my arms to my body as I
shot upward out of the plane like a bullet, narrowly dodging the
green ball still in pursuit. I turned to face the plane, my limbs
spread out wide, I pulled out the detonator and watched, waiting
for the perfect moment, the rain and wind making it nigh impossible
to see, I could just make out the plane getting mulched by the
turbine right as I pushed the detonator, the explosion tearing part
of the circle of metal surrounding the turbine away, but it was
nothing compared to the flash of green and blue as the missile
tailing our plane ploughed into the turbine, the top of the black
ship close to the turbine lifting away, the side billowing outward
as the turbine finally tore away from the rest of the ship,
spinning off into the distance, the ship now dropping, the whale
sound emitting as it did on the first day. I was getting close to
the ship now, I dodged the debris zooming past me, some parts took
the shape of bodies, I only realised they were, in fact, bodies as
I heard their screams as they went past me. Returning to my dive I
realised I'd have to go through the smoke cloud and change course
from there. I closed my eyes and held my breath, praying I didn't
smash into something, the wind screaming in my ears, thick smoke
flowing up my nose, into my lungs, I couldn't breathe. 'Don't
panic, not long now, don't panic', it got thicker the further I
fell, I wanted to open my eyes, to know where I was going but I
knew I'd be blinded in an instant. Finally, right before I had a
complete panic attack, the thick, warm air thinned, I held my
breath and eyes shut tight for another few seconds before I decided
to let myself believe I was safe. I could make out the city through
my tears as I pulled to the left as hard as I could before pulling
my chute, forcing me to breathe as the straps dug my holsters into
my chest. I took a few moments to breathe as the ship tore past me,
now turning clumsily, fire shooting from small ports which I
quickly figured as thrusters, it wasn't helping, the ship began a
sort of nose dive, thrusters now pointed toward the ground, I
didn't like the fact that these other-worldly beings had brought a
virus, but I respected the captain for the sheer drive to not crash
the ship. It made landfall somewhere in Chermside, smashing into
the ground while the nose exploded as it began to fall to its side.
The brilliant colours and lights had worn my eyes and I blinked,
the world lighting up as I did, a map appearing in my vision,
“Hello John. Shall I tell the others of your location?” A smile
spread across my face, “Lucy! It's good to hear your voice, yes,
tell everyone.”

Neysor stood at attention at his
heightened pedestal while overlooking the crew of the Yuik that had
overflowed from the spacious command centre and into the halls,
packed in so tightly that the ship’s inbuilt climate control could
do nothing to prevent the sweating mass of Gralari. Thousands of
patiently waiting faces were staring up at him, he hadn’t made an
address like this since before the return to Earth and it terrified
him. He would’ve taken ten thousand Darilles over this, even before
they had become the first Earth scouts and were no bigger than a
child. He finally drew in a deep breath, the doctor and Shenim were
at his sides, ready to help him if he could not do this, “Great
people of the star-ship Yuik! This is how you have been known for
centuries. Some of you were born here, others have been here since
the Darilles invasion, but we are all the same, we are Yuik and
Yuik is us. We are the greatest scientific cruiser the Gralari have
ever know! Because of this, because of you, I have news. I have
brought you all here to celebrate with me on this joyous day! This
morning our very own doctor made the discovery that will reverse
what has happened on the ground and give us a planet for our new
brothers and sisters! By this week’s end we will no longer be the
people of the star-ship Yuik, we will be the people of Earth!” the
ship rocked as the Gralari crew jumped and roared with applause for
a full two minutes before Neysor gestured for them to quieten down,
“That’s not all my magnificent crew!” silence fell over the crowd
and Shenim took Neysor’s hand, “General Shenim and I are-” Neysor
was interrupted by a klaxon blaring through the entire ship, “Crew
to stations! Someone give me a status report!” the crew ran to
their stations in uniformed groups and Shenim released her tight
grip on Neysor’s hand.

The pedestal lowered under
Neysor’s feet and he was quickly bringing up his command console,
“There’s an aircraft commander! From the planet’s surface!” Neysor
tapped away at his console and brought up images of the large
winged aircraft coming toward his ship, “I’ve scanned the ship sir,
two registered humans, Steven Joseph Hunter and John Prince. I’m
also picking up a reading of some sort of material on the craft
sir, I’m cross-referencing with the grand library but haven’t got a
match yet, it’s definitely explosive.” It took Neysor a few moments
to realise the pilot’s plan as the craft grew closer, “They mean to
ram us… Prepare weapons systems! Fire on the craft!” an engineer
ran to the opposite side of the orb and started up the ancient
system, “Auto-targeting is still malfunctioning but I have a lock
sir!” the human craft was within targeting range as the cannon
raised from the top of the ship, “Fire now!” The green projectile
launched toward the attackers and they turned toward the sky. The
crew waited for the explosion as the craft climbed, Neysor held his
breath as the missile drew closer. “Connection with craft in five.
Four. Sir! They’re diving! The pilots have abandoned they’re
craft!” The enemy aircraft was now coming straight toward the
stabilising turbine with the missile close behind. “No… Rotate one
hundred and-!” Neysor had waited too long, the craft had made
impact along with the missile sending the ship wildly off
course.

Panic had torn through the ship
like the explosion as the Yuik began to dive downward while Neysor
hugged his console, the artificial gravity having given out had
made many of his crew splatter against the inside of the clear orb,
the ones who weren’t dead were screaming. Neysor remembered his
training and the last time he’d been on a crashing vessel, the
commander had done something to right the ship, then he realised it
wasn’t the ship, but the clear orb command centre. He lifted
himself up as much as he could and began flicking switches and
pushing buttons on his console, forcing the command centre to go
gyroscopic. The entire orb rotated and Neysor, along with the
remaining bridge crew, were able to stand up, “Fire the thrusters!
Control our descent! Shenim!?” She was nowhere to be seen as alerts
spread out across Neysor’s console. Lai appeared next to him, a
small tablet in her hands, “Hull breaches along the entire ship
sir! I’m afraid only those in the orb will survive the landing!”
Neysor nodded solemnly as he opened up the ship wide
communications, “All available personnel to the bridge! To the rest
of you…” he swallowed hard as his words trailed off, hundreds of
years he had known these people, hundreds of years and now they
were going to die, “To the rest of you, it’s been an honour, you
will be missed. To the sky you return.” The screams throughout the
ship stopped, every voice fell completely silent and echoed, “To
the sky we return.” Another hull breach shook the bridge and Neysor
breathed in deeply, “Commander! Ten seconds to landfall!”