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‘Who’s at the helm?’ Kainan asked sharply.
‘Major Levine, from the Galician corps division,’ Mirage informed.
‘Do what you can to get him back online, and if we don’t hear from him in the next half hour, send Shadow, Phoenix or Wraith after him. What other casualties do we have?’
‘Twelve of our soldiers were severely wounded on Notus II when one of the Technocracy’s missiles hit Deck 9. They’re in the med bay and in the care of the medics. Other than that, the fleet is mostly intact.’
‘Good. Shadow, report.’
Kage’s face swum up on-screen. ‘We’re parked in altitude above New Malindi, keeping an eye out for the landers and helos for safe set down and waiting for you before we launch our targeted assault on all the critical strategic locations on our list. Phoenix is holding down the spaceport.’
‘We’re right behind you, Shadow,’ Kainan announced.
‘Wraith, all good in your neck of the woods?’
Riv jerked his chin on camera. ‘Couldn’t be any better. All’s quiet over Rambasa. If the crats venture out of the dome, we’ve got the heavy guns ready to hold ground.’
‘See you soon, Wraith,’ Kainan said wryly.
‘‘Long as you don’t burn up in the atmosphere, get crushed on impact or break apart on landing,khosi,’ Riv said drily with a smirk. ‘Or tragically still, get murdered for no reason other than you chose not to seek redemption.’
The Rider comm’d off with a sly look on his face.
‘Ignore that,’ Kainan ground out at no-one in particular. ‘Wraith seems to think he’s got jokes. He doesn’t realise that one day, he could get killed for it.’
He looked livid, and Selene, wisely, kept her mouth shut.
10
Good Stalking
Selene
The descent to Dunia was slightly bumpy as Mirage dove around pockets of compressed air and wind as it burnt through the atmosphere.
Mirage’s thrusters had to work hard to deliver multi-g deceleration that would ensure a smooth landing.
The temperature inside the gunship warmed slightly, but due to its super-efficient shields, its interior escaped most of the massive heat generated outside.
Selene felt her body tighten in anticipation of what was to come. This was the final push.
Gaining control of Dunia’s military command centres, seats of government, infrastructure hubs, and landing zones and ports was the most critical step. They had to succeed. There was no other option.
Mirage broke through the atmosphere and below them unfurled the Arumba continent, home to millions of people, including the inhabitants of New Malindi.
Kainan, still taciturn and stoic, guided Mirage towards Zaalalum. The jungle came rushing towards Selene’s holo screen, and she took a deep breath in, leaning forward until she noticed a dark mass over the sprawling forest.
A storm front.
They hit it with such impact that Mirage shuddered against the powerful external forces of nature. Selene gulped as large plate-sized salvos of water flung horizontally from drenched skies slammed down to the planet’s surface. Lightning flared; moments later, a series of thunder crashes rocked the gunship.
‘Dammit!’ Kainan snapped as Mirage struggled against the planet’s fury. ‘Mirage, revert more power to your dampeners. We’re getting slammed out there!’
‘Something’s happening,khosi.’ Kage’s voice thundered, radioing in from his corvette. ‘We’re seeing massive storms picking up all over the continent.’
‘Here too,’ Xion said on-screen, his usually calm face screwed up in concern. ‘The trees above Rambasa are going crazy, moving against the wind, kicking up leaves and hail. Visibility is shit.’
By then, Mirage was close to the tree line above Zaalalum’s hidden altiphyte valley, now a seething mass of movement. On the view screen, soaring phytaphylia trees whipped themselves from side to side. Mirage managed to duck a long-reaching thorny gametangium that unfurled from its trunk. Selene watched in shock as brachyphia ferns rose in waves above ground, crashing against themselves in a fury, aided by the extreme forces of vertical and horizontal wind shear.
