ground.' Cohl frowned. 'Then they already know who we are.' 'That Judicial Department Lancet,' Rella said, turning to Cohl. 'Whoever was piloting it probably registered our drive signature.' The picket ship screamed overhead, closer this time.
'Another pass like that and they're going to knock us to the ground, Captain,' Jalan warned.
'Stay on course for the base,' Cohl ordered.
The picket barrel-rolled through a tight loop and came back at them once more, this time firing a burst from its forward laser cannons. Red hyphens streaked across the shuttle's rounded nose.
'They mean business, Captain!' Boiny said.
Cohl swung to Rella. 'Keep an eye out for a place to crash.' She gaped at him. 'You mean land, don't you?' 'As I said,' Cohl emphasized. 'Until then, all speed. Get us as close to the base as you can.' She gritted her teeth.
'There had better be an aurodium ring at the end of this thrill ride, Cohl.'
'The picket's firing.' 'Evasive,' Cohl said.
'No good, Captain. We can't outmaneuver it!' The picket's lasers stitched a ragged line across the shuttle's tail, flipping it through a complete rotation. What had been a steady roar from the engines became a distressed whine. Flames licked their way through the aft bulkhead, and the cabin began to fill with thick, coiling smoke.
'We're dirtbound!' Rella shouted.
Cohl clamped his right hand on her shoulder. 'Hold her steady! Fire repulsors and brace for impact.' Trailing black smoke as it swept past one of the tors, the shuttle clipped the top of the forest canopy, pruning huge branches from the tallest trees. Rella managed to keep them horizontal for a moment more, then they began to nosedive. The ship slammed into a massive tree and slued to starboard, spinning like a disk as it buzz-sawed through the upper reaches of the canopy.
Birds flew screeching from the crowns, as wood splintered to all sides.
Seat restraints snapped, and two of the crew were flung like dolls into the starboard bulkhead. Rolled over on its back, the shuttle rocketed toward the forest floor.
The viewports cracked, spiderwebbed, then blew into the cabin.
Contact with the ground was even harsher than any of them had anticipated. The starboard stabilizer plowed into the leaf — littered soil at an acute angle, causing the ship to flip like a tossed coin. Seats tore loose from the deck, and instrumentation ripped away from the bulkheads. The roll seemed to go on forever, punctuated by the deafening clamor of collisions. The hull caved in, and conduits burst, loosing noxious fluids and gases.
All at once it was over.
New sounds rilled the air: the pinging of cooling metal, the hiss of punctured pipes, the boisterous calls of frightened birds, the tattoo of falling limbs, fruits, and whatever else, striking the hull. Coughs, whimpers, moans…
Gravity told Cohl that they were still upside down.
He unclipped his harness and allowed himself to drop to the ceiling of the shuttle. Rella and Boiny were already there, bruised and bleeding, but regaining consciousness even as Cohl went to them. He put an arm under Rella's shoulders and took a quick look around.
The rest of the crew were surely dead, or dying.
Satisfied that Rella would be all right, Cohl sprang the portside hatch.
Moisture-saturated heat rushed in on everyone, but blessed oxygen, as well. Cohl bellied outside and immediately consulted his comlink's compass display.
Unaccustomed to standard gravity, he felt twice his weight. Every motion was laborious.
'Did Jalan make it?' Rella asked weakly.
The human answered for himself. 'Barely.' Cohl squirmed back inside.
Jalan was hopelessly wedged beneath the console. He placed a hand on Jalan's shoulder. 'We can't take you with us,' he said quietly.
Jalan nodded. 'Then let me take a few of them with me, Captain.' Rella crawled over to Jalan. 'You don't have to do this,' she started to say.
'I'm most-wanted in three systems,' he cut her off. 'If they find me alive, they're only going to make me wish I was dead anyway.' Boiny looked at Cohl, who nodded.
'Give him the destruct code. Rella, separate the ingots into four equal allotments.
Put two allotments in my pack, one in yours, and one in Boiny's.' He glanced back at Boiny. 'Weapons and aurodium only. No need for food or water, because if we don't make it to the base, Dorvalla Penal will be providing all of that for us. If that isn't inspiration enough for you, I don't know what to tell you.' Moments later the three of them exited the ship.
Cohl shouldered his weighty pack, took a final compass reading, and set off toward a nearby tor at a resolute clip. Rella and Boiny kept up as best they could, climbing steadily under thick canopy for the first quarter hour while the picket ship made pass after pass in search of some sign of them.
From the high ground, at the base of the lommite cliff, they could see the picket ship hovering over the treetops.
Rella grimaced. 'He found the shuttle.' 'Unlucky for him,' Cohl said.
No sooner had the words left Cohl's mouth than an explosion ripped from the forest floor, catching the picket ship unawares. The pilot managed to evade the roiling fireball, but the damage had already been done. Engines slagged, the fighter listed to port and dropped like a stone.
