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 tore 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 was now dropping, the whale sound being emitted 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. Which, forced 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.”
Fighting Back
Neysor stood at attention at his heightened pedestal while overlooking the crew of the Yuik. They 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 their 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. Neysor hugged his console, the artificial gravity having given out which 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!”
The commander slowly went to his knees and closed his eyes, his crew doing the same, all breathing at the same time, “I am protected by my family and my family are protected by me.”
The words leaving the lips of every crew member simultaneously as they began their ancient chant, blocking out the violent rocking of the ship. “I will live for I am ancient and I am mighty.”
The ship connected with the ground sending an almighty explosion from the nose of the ship to the base. Fire encasing the rotating clear orb that was the Yuik’s sanctuary. The crew continuing to remain on their knees as the Yuik fell to its side, vibrating and crunching as it did so.
It took several minutes for the wreckage to finally settle in place, the remaining crew letting out a final breath, “I am powerful and I am alive.”
Neysor was the first to rise to his