either side of him, as he tried to get his bearings. In the haze, he could barely make out the shape of the main house. “Over there!” he shouted. “Head for the house!”
Jalea ran for the house. Vladimir scooped up the little girl, and grabbed Deliza’s arm and followed.
“Jess! Let’s go!” Nathan ordered.
“Tug is hung up on something!” she yelled from inside the ship.
Nathan could hear the sound of the enemy ship that had shot them down before they could get airborne as it turned and headed back toward them. “They’re comin’ back around, Jess! You gotta get out now!”
Jessica struggled to free Tug’s leg, which was pinned between a twisted section of the bench seat and the wall. Somehow, as the ship had rolled over, the bench had pulled free. Tug’s leg had slid in between the bench and the wall, and when the ship came down, the bench folded back and trapped his leg between it and the bulkhead.
“Leave me!” Tug begged her.
“Oh, don’t be so fuckin’ dramatic!” she scolded.
“Come on, Jess!” Nathan called from outside.
“Go, Nathan! We’ll catch up in a minute!”
“God damn it, Jess!” Nathan swore as he departed, running for the cover of the house.
The ship began to shake with increasing violence as the salvos from the approaching enemy ship grew closer with each strike. Finally, the last two energy bolts struck the ship, chopping its rear section clean off. Ironically, the shearing force rocked the ship and freed Tug’s leg. Falling free of his entrapment, he landed on top of Jessica as they both fell against the far side of the upside-down ship.
“Well how about that?” Tug exclaimed.
Suddenly, flames ignited from the leaking fuel lines. Within seconds, the flames blocked the starboard cargo hatch, which had been their intended route of egress.
“This thing’s gonna blow!” Jessica exclaimed as she tried in vain to find a way past the flames.
Nathan finally reached the front steps of the porch when the sound of an explosion came from behind him. A searing hot shock wave launched him forward, crashing through the partially opened front door.
“Nathan! Are you all right?” Vladimir shouted as he ran to help his friend to his feet.
“Oh my God!” Nathan exclaimed as he realized what had happened. He spun around and tried to go back out the front door. “JESS!” Another explosion rocked the house, sending hundreds of small pieces of flaming debris showering in all directions. Nathan had to brush some of the burning fuel from his own clothing to avoid going up in flames himself. He turned to Vladimir, “Jessica and Tug! They were still in there!”
Vladimir grabbed Nathan and pulled him inside. “Come, my friend. There is nothing more you can do for them.”
Kaylah zoomed in on the landing party’s last reported location. As the small farm had just come over the horizon on the moon below, her observation angle was quite steep, making it difficult to see much of the compound contained within the sinkhole. But there was no doubt about what she did see-a large explosion followed by flame and smoke.
“Commander, something is happening at the landing party’s last reported location. There’s been an explosion,” Kaylah reported.
“Can you see the landing party?”
“No, sir, there’s too much smoke, and our angle is still too steep to get a good overhead.” Kaylah noticed movement above the smoke. “Standby, there’s something else.” She quickly changed sensor mode from visual to radar, allowing her to clearly track a small ship circling the sinkhole. “It’s a ship, sir. Same size and configuration as the one that tried to land on us earlier.”
Cameron didn’t like the sound of Ensign Yosef’s report. “Any sign of Tobin’s ship?”
“I’m not sure, sir.” Kaylah reset her sensors back to visual mode and applied various filters to try and discern the shape of the burning object. After keying in additional commands, information detailing the chemical properties of the smoke she was seeing began to list on one of her side screens. “I’m pretty sure that’s Tobin’s ship that’s burning. Its shape is very similar, but there’s no way to be sure. At least not until we get closer.”
“Any luck contacting them over comms?” she asked the communications officer.
“No, sir. And I’m trying all modes, even open channels on the wide band.”
“Damn it,” Cameron swore. “We’ve got less than half an hour to get them back, or we’re going to have to leave them behind. And for all we know that is Tobin’s ship burning down there. We need another ship.”
A smile formed on the face of Ensign Mendez as he stood at the tactical station. “Last I looked, there were two of them in the hangar bay.”
“Contact those ships,” she instructed the comm officer. “See if one of them is willing to fetch the landing party.”
“You think they’ll do it?” Mendez asked. “I mean, willingly?”
“Maybe, if we pay them enough,” Cameron mumbled.
“Commander,” the comm officer said. “The only one answering is the harvester pilot. Shall I transfer him to your comm-set?”
“Sure,” Cameron answered. She was feeling a bit overwhelmed by the constantly changing circumstances. It felt like every time she came up with a plan, something happened forcing her to change it. For someone who always liked to have a solid plan to follow, it was frustrating.
A moment later, Josh’s voice came over Cameron’s comm-set. “What can I do for ya, love?”
Cameron rolled her eyes at the cocky pilot’s attitude. “We’ve got people on the surface, presumably with no way back up. Think one of your shuttles could go down and get them, really quickly?”
“How quick we talking?”
“Thirty minutes, max?”
“I’m guessing your hurry has something to do with that Ta’Akar battle cruiser heading our way?”
“That would be a good guess.”
“Sorry, but the second shuttle’s all shot up, and it’s blocking the first one from launching. Maybe if we had more time to move it-”
“What about your ship?” Cameron interrupted. “Can you still launch?”
“Sure, but how many people we talking about? I’m made for scooping up rocks, not hauling passengers.”
“Four or five?”
“Yeah, I guess I can squeeze them in. So long as they don’t mind a bumpy ride. This thing’s not built for comfort, you know.”
“Great,” Cameron exclaimed. “But how much is it going to cost me?”
“You can buy me dinner,” Josh suggested playfully.
“I’m sure we can figure out some manner of payment. But I think I should warn you, there may be some trouble at the pick-up point.”
“Then make it two dinners!”
“How soon can you depart?” she asked, ignoring his solicitations.
“I’ll be wheels up in a few minutes, love. Just send me their coordinates.”
“Thanks, Josh,” she told him. “And good luck.”
The harvester began quickly backing out of the hangar bay, headed for the transfer airlock at a rate slightly faster than normal. The helmeted pilot, his faceplate still hiding his facial features, constantly rotated his head from side to side as well as looking down at his consoles as he tried to keep from hitting anything in the chaotic aftermath of the earlier boarding attempt.
“Any luck contacting them?” Cameron asked the comm officer.
“No, sir. I’m pretty sure someone is jamming communications on the surface.”
“The harvester is rolling onto the flight deck now, Commander,” Ensign Mendez reported from the tactical station.
“Warn the pilot about the comm-jamming going on down there,” she ordered Mendez.
The harvester continued to roll quickly backwards as it came out of the transfer airlock and out onto the open flight deck. It immediately applied slight upward thrust, its gear retracting as soon as it left the deck. Another short
