“Any operational weapons systems?”
“Weapons are light to begin with on these diplomatic vessels... And anything usable was damaged in the crash,” responded Jin. The frustration clear in his voice.
The sound of the twin rotors of the small company vessel roared loudly past overhead fading slightly into the distance before returning.
“They spotted us.” Said Reliq, quickly heading back down to the ring. “Start the take-off sequence, we won't have a choice but to make a run for it. I’m going outside to buy us some time”
“You are hurt captain...”
“And you can’t shoot Doc... just focus on getting the ship airborne.”
“Reliq...”
“That’s an order Jin. Keep the radio open…. And Jin, if I don’t make it back you need to return to Tyde without me. The Judicators need to know what’s happening here... Do you understand?”
“Yes Captain...” Said Jin, with a sombre hesitation in his voice.
Dropping down out of the shaft, Reliq landed hard on the surface below, causing her to grimace as pain shot up her injured leg. Fuelled on pure adrenalin, she worked the mechanism of a door below the command ship. Prying the damaged door open enough to squeeze through, she entered the small room, filled with survival gear and weapons. The impact of the crash had torn the far end of the room open exposing it to the outside environment. Reliq quickly dressed in thick winter weather gear, pulling the hood of her coat up over her head as she grabbed a rifle and small pistol from the rack. Placing the magazines into the weapons, she grabbed a few extra ammo packs, shoving them into her pocket before slipping out through the torn hull. Falling a foot deep into the fresh power as the cold air took her breath away, Reliq paused briefly. This place would be a beautiful place to visit under different circumstances she thought to herself before continuing. Keeping herself tight against the outside wall, she crouched at the furthest point of the ship, and watched as four red-suits descended on cables from the rotor craft ten yards above.
Jacob and the others had seen the invader ship fly overhead then turn back around. Dawn, never one to sit back and wait, had already made her way to the top of the hill. Staying low and in the tree line as she looked back at the others, gesturing for them to come up. Jacob began crawling his way up the snow-covered hill, slipping periodically as he fought against the stabbing pain in his arm, every time he used it to pull himself further. Arriving at the top of the hill, Jacob laid beside Orm and Dawn looking out at the ships across the clearing. The strong air current from the rotor craft hovering above send torrents of fine snow in every direction as the three of them watched the events unfolding, as two groups of red-suits could be seen splitting up and heading in different directions around the large crashed ship.
“Great, red-suits.” Said Orm sarcastically, looking out from behind the tree line.
“That downed ship doesn’t look the same as ones from the city... or the same as the one in the air.” Said Dawn, as she looked down the scope of her rifle for a better view.
“They could be here to help us. "Said Jacob, with excitement in his voice.
“Or they could be competing to see who gets our planet, Kid. Either way they don’t seem to be in much of a position to help us.” Responded Orm.
“Orm’s right, those red-suits seem to be looking for something or someone... and we all know they are not here to make friends.” Added Dawn.
A loud crack suddenly exploded through the air followed by a bright flash as the air started rushing past towards the hovering ship. Struggling to understand what he was seeing, Jacob stared as the air near the rotor craft as it became distorted. Another loud snap soon followed, leaving the air completely still, as thehovering machine began to spin uncontrollably with one rotor and a large section of the ship suddenly missing. Watching with confusion as to what just happened, Jacob and the others saw as the ship completely lost control and hit the ground hard at the far side of the clearing. Suddenly busting into flames and billowing out a thick cloud of black smoke high in the air, nothing remained of the aircraft except a heap of twisted burning metal.
“What the hell just happen?” Said Orm, as he stared out at the wreckage.
Moving her sights from the now downed airship, Reliq spotted a red-suit coming into her view. Focusing on her target, she took in a slow breath before pausing to squeeze the trigger. The powerful rifle kicked back hard against her, as the projectile clipped the shoulder of the unsuspecting red-suit, knocking her target to the now blood-stained ground, highlighted against the white backdrop.
“What did you do Jin?” Said Reliq through her radio, following her shot.
“I used the last of our aillinium to collapse a relay probe through the ether near that airship... Figured I could help buy us time.”
Without the covering noise of the rotors above, the sound of her weapon discharging quickly gave off her position. Reliq unable to see the other red-suits on the far side of the ring, slowly began to make her way along the hull. The sound of snow crunching drew closer as she listened to one of them slowly move around the craft towards her. Keeping her back tight against the wall, Reliq waiting quietly for her adversary to get close enough to make her move. Noticing the barrel of a rifle rounding the corner next to her, she instinctively grabbed the weapon, pushing it up and out of the hands of the red-suit, forcing them off balance. Throwing her body weight against
