“Thanks,” said Jolo.
And they sat together and didn’t worry about anything.
Attack on Montag
Bakahne Grana Controlled Space
The Leviathan jumped into orbit above Montag and the Grana Cruisers swarmed around her like bees. The big Fed railgun screamed and rocked the ship, each blast a horrific wail and then BOOM as a BG boat was ripped in half, burned metal tearing into other Grana ships nearby. There were so many of the shiny black boats and the ion cannons were firing and charging so fast that McCarty had to manually slow them down so they wouldn’t overheat.
Jolo and the crew launched from the Leviathan in the thick of battle, diving straight down into the atmosphere. Two Cruisers caught off guard by the old ship suddenly appearing from one of the Leviathan’s hidden bays tried to bring their guns on the Argossy but were too late, and Jolo told Katy to ram them. The heavy old ship crushed the bridge of the first and sent it into a spin, which slammed into the other. Meanwhile the Argossy built speed and dove down, down to the planet.
The old ship shook and rattled during the descent, but once they broke into the light and air of Montag’s atmosphere, they had another problem.
“Whoa, Captain, she’s still dropping like a rock,” screamed Katy, a death grip on the controls. The Argossy continued its high speed plunge toward the surface of Montag and Katy couldn’t pull out of the sharp angle.
Jolo had flown the Argossy before, Marco told him, but he didn’t remember a thing. But at that moment, something came to him. A calmness. This is okay, he thought. I don’t know why. “It’s normal,” he said to Katy. “Give it a moment.”
“We ain’t got a moment,” yelled Katy.
And sure enough, just when Jolo was about to second guess himself, Katy was able to flatten out the angle and slow the heavy old ship down.
“Okay, this is better,” she said. “Kind of like flying a large rock.”
Jolo stared at the main vid screen. The BG defenses were light. They didn’t expect any ship to make it this far. None had ever made it this far. He spotted the building and a tiny green speck next to it: the pool in his dream. Suddenly the ship was rocked by a surface mounted plasma beam cannon.
“Koba, find the source and hit ‘em,” said Jolo. Soon there was a black spot where the cannon had been.
“Captain, do you want me to put her down near the pool?” said Katy.
“Hold for just a moment. Let’s wait on the Leviathan,” said Jolo.
They didn’t have to wait very long. The Leviathan’s grand entrance was accented by flaming alacyte hull pieces from shattered BG boats peppering the ground as she made her descent. It was a risk bringing her down to the surface because she didn’t actually maneuver as much as hover in the air. But Jolo and the commander agreed her guns would be needed. And as soon as she made it down her railgun put a large black hole into the closest Grana building. With it came the flurry of Cruisers trying to weaken her yet somehow not get torn in half by the big guns.
“Now go down to the pool,” said Jolo. He was breathing fast and could feel the sweat on his back even though the air in Montag was cool and dry. George, as always, was by his side. He put his arm on Jolo’s shoulder.
“And now we discover the truth,” he said.
As soon as they got close to the pool and the large building, a Cruiser broke off and followed them down, ion blasts shaking the ship.
“Koba, get a gun on that ship,” said Jolo.
“Can’t. The railguns have a 15 degree blind spot in the rear,” said Koba as another blast shook the ship, the pool and the building now bigger and in focus. Jolo could see ripples on the surface of the pool and the white building had rounded, organic corners, unlike the stark, sharp-edged, black BG buildings.
“Katy, can you do something?”
“Everybody strap in,” she yelled, and put the ship in a slow flat spin, still in descent, the BG boat behind them coming into range of the railguns. Koba fired on the BG Cruiser with both guns, putting a black hole in the nose near the bridge. By then the Argossy had spun around and was heading straight for the pool rear first. Katy slowed the descent but couldn’t get the nose around in time and ended up crashing into the side of the white building. The Argossy took out a large chunk of the north-east corner. Blue water flowed out of the hole in the building and with it several odd-looking bots flew out, hovering over the mess.
The Argossy came to a rest on her side and Jolo was first out of the lower hatch, which was pointing right at the building. He took out the little bots with the Colt, then looked up as the Cruiser was hurtling towards the ground. He dove behind the Argossy for cover as the BG boat crashed into the pool and exploded, hot alacyte metal flying out in all directions.
One BG warrior stumbled away from the wreckage with no weapon and one arm missing. Jolo put two bullets in his chest and he fell into the pool and quickly sunk to the bottom.
“Katy, you Koba and Hurley get this ship ready to jump out of here,” yelled Jolo. “George, stay here. Greeley, come with me.”
Jolo and Greeley jumped through the hole in the wall, ankle deep blue water still flowing out. Inside were thousands of tanks, each about chest high, empty except for the blue water, round tops with tubes and wires snaking into all of them. Way off in the
