“Got what you need right here,” she said, then set the case down without opening it and tapped at her comm. “Here’s Henderson’s authorisation. You’re responsible for any of Jai’s actions and all his equipment, until you get back to the base.”
“Understood,” my master said, accepting the document with a stern expression. Then the woman picked up the case and opened it, presenting the contents to my master like this was some kind of smuggling ring presenting valuable crystals to a pirate leader.
My master picked up the items and turned to me. “Here’s a military grade comm,” he said, handing it to me. “Rila will look after your civilian one until we get back. This one’s already loaded with the contact details of everyone you’ll need to reach. And here’s the file with our mission details,” he added, sending me a document as I strapped the comm to my wrist. “And you have two handguns,” he said next, handing me the first weapon. “I’m hoping we won’t need them, but there’s a risk that the pirates will come back to collect whatever it was they were aiming for the first time. I strongly recommend you don’t firethem anywhere near the downed ship. There could be fuel leaks or chemical spills.”
“Yes, sir,” I said, feeling a rush of relief as I attached the holsters to my belt. I couldn’t help but add, “Thank you, sir.” I’d been a pain in the ass for the past day, but he was still concerned about my safety.
For now, at least.
“Right, let’s get this show on the road,” my master said. The Wasop woman scurried away, taking my civilian comm with her, and my master led us to the transporter, where he did a quick roll call and briefing to the rest of our team – two Denzogals, two Wasops, one Solof and one Derelian. The Derelians were small and not particularly strong, but they were also light, and being small, they were able to squeeze into spaces that might be too tight for the rest of us. They were also fast, as I’d been told before, so I could see the benefit of having one on our team.
Two minutes later, we were all strapping ourselves into the transporter’s seats, and the engines revved up to a steady hum that vibrated dimly through the hull of the vessel. We listened to the chatter on the pilot’s radio of all the various air traffic around the base. A tense wait followed, then finally the air traffic controller said, “Azure Three, you’re cleared for take-off. Destination one-three-nine, south-south-west. Over.”
“This is Azure Three departing Hon base,” the pilot responded. “Releasing clamps. Engaging rotors. We are clear of the platform, heading south-south-west en route to the AEV Navigator.”
The transporter shook as we turned in a tight circle, and I looked past Kade, seated to my right, to get a view of the city out the window. It sprawled on for kilometres, and I was immediately struck by how green the whole thing was. Cities on Eumad were overwhelmingly grey, and Hon looked startlingly beautiful by comparison.
Kade noticed the direction of my attention and he smiled. “It’s quite a sight, isn’t it?”
“It’s so different seeing it from above,” I said.
“Better than Eumad?” he asked, and I smiled, glad that we agreed on that part.
The transporter headed south rapidly, clearing the edge of the city in about ten minutes. Buildings and parks gave way to jungle, and I craned my neck to peer down into the swaying mass of trees and vines. Jagged peaks of rock rose out of the treetops, and here and there, I could see the glittering hint of blue rivers winding across the landscape.
We were just starting to cross from jungle into desert when my master’s comm beeped. Sitting across the aisle from me, he glanced at the caller, then cursed softly but vehemently. He answered the call, plastering on a smile and a cheerful tone of voice. “Hey, great to hear from you Cole. I’ve got good news, though. The Alliance Parliament has appointed one of their bigwigs to take over the project. Give me a couple of minutes and I’ll get them to give you a call.” He hung up, then immediately started a different call.
“Hey, Frank,” he said, when the call was answered. “Cole’s calling me about the project, and I’m en route to help rescue an exploration vessel that was shot down by pirates. I absolutely do not have time to deal with whatever is going on with Cole’s project, so I need you to find someone to deal with that side of thingsnow. The Ranzors should have arrived by now, and heaven knows what sort of chaos is going down.Youhave to find someone to deal with this.”
Given that my master had his earpiece in, I couldn’t hear the reply, but I was a little shocked by the tone he was using. From what I knew about the project – which admittedly, wasn’t much – it seemed likely that he was speaking to a superior officer, and I’d never heard anyone address someone who ranked abovethem with such rudeness. Did that mean my master was an asshole to everyone? Or was he genuinely respected enough that he could get away with it? But if he had that much power, why was he still a commander, rather than having been promoted to something like a major?
But a moment later, my master finished the conversation with a heartfelt, “Thank you,” then promptly hung up. He glanced over at Kade and me. “They’re going to find someone,” he said simply. “Meanwhile, we should be getting an update on… Yep, there we go,” he said, as his comm beeped. “All right, listen up folks,” he announced to the rest of the team. “Teams one and two are already on the ground. The ship took significant damage from laser fire along the port side. A large section of the port wall detached in the crash and the majority of the injuries occurred in the rear of the ship on the port side. The starboard side is relatively undamaged but people still have bruises and lacerations from the impact. We’re going to be working on the… Hold on, I’m forwarding schematics of the ship to you all. There’s a damaged bulkhead that’s got some of the science crew trapped behind it. We’re going to need to cut an opening and free everyone.”
I opened the file my master had sent me, memorising the major structural supports and the main passageways, and noting the flashing green section that indicated the damaged bulkhead.
“Coming up on the Navigator, sir,” the pilot called back to us, and my master leaned over to peer out the window. I couldn’t see anything from here, given that I was on the opposite side of the transporter from the crash site. I felt the dip as the transporter lowered down to land with a soft thud on the hard-packed sand, and then we were piling out of it, following my master across a hundred metres or so of dusty ground to reach the entrance to the ship. Or should I say, one of the entrances, because the entireport side was pockmarked with holes, some relatively small and likely caused by the pirates’ laser canons, while others were large enough to drive an entire car through. There were several teams already on the ground, and I could see another one of the transporters landing on the far side of the ship, sending up clouds of dust from the whirring rotors.
A human woman dashed towards us, and from the pale blue outfit she was wearing, it was clear she wasn’t from the military. “I can’t find my daughter!” she wailed at my master. “She was in the cafeteria when we were attacked. The Major won’t let me in there, but I need to find her!” I glanced over, seeing Major Bryce Preswood, my master’s friend, giving orders to his own team not far away. He caught sight of the woman and rolled his eyes angrily.
“Ma’am,” he shouted, leaving off what he was doing to stride towards us. “I’ve told you, ma’am, it’s not safe to go inside that section. We’re working to stabilise the access hallway, but we can’t get the staff out until-”
“My daughter could bedyingin there,” the woman shrieked at him, and then one of the Wasops on our own team spoke up.
“Want me to go deal with this?” she offered to my master. “Or else she’s going to try to climb back inside and get herself killed.”
“If you could, please,” my master said, and the Wasop woman took the human’s hand and led her away, talking soothingly to her as they went.
Bryce gave my master a half-hearted salute that seemed to mean ‘thank you’ more than anything else, and went back to doing his job.
My master turned his attention back to the shell of the ship. “Okay, let’s get inside and see what the damage is like. We’ll see where the access points are and assess the stability. I don’t want to go cutting holes into anything that’s going to make other portions of the ship collapse.”
“Yes, sir,” we all answered in unison, then it was a slow and cautious exercise in clambering over jagged metal struts and stepping around debris until we reached the section of the map where the bulkhead was.
“Oh fuck, that’s a pile of shit,” my master muttered, as he got a look at the thick metal panel. It was bent, jutting out towards us, and the metal was groaning periodically.
Kade activated his comm and started running scans over the wall. “Significant strain in the metal, sir,” he reported. “And a distinct heat mass above us. Not sure what that could be. But if we cut through this, the ceiling’s going to come down on top of us.”
“What’s the quickest way around?” the Derelian asked. “If there’s another hallway that’ll get us past the bulkhead, that might be better.”
