my tail.”
“I’ll try to cut it off,” Tai’Li Two replied. “Stay on course.”
“Don’t try it,” Meagan said. “You won’t be able to target that thing at this speed while climbing with gravity. Chances are good it’ll turn on you.”
“You aren’t in command of us.” Tai’Li Two spoke again. “If I don’t help him, he dies. He’d do the same for me. Continue on course, Human. We’ll meet you if we can.”
“Tai’Li?” Meagan couldn’t see what was happening specifically but her scanners showed blips approaching the friendly vessel. They’d turned their coms to a different frequency. “God damn it, Mick, can you see them?”
“No, but that missile’s really freakin’ close…”
Meagan felt her ship shake just as she broke atmosphere. Her wings retracted and she tapped her scanner screen for a rear view. A massive explosion sat a thousand feet or so behind her. Was that one of them or the missile?
“Panther One, this is Tai’Li One.” Meagan let out a sigh of relief. “We have destroyed the missile and are heading for the rendezvous.”
“Way to cut it close there, Tai’Li,” Mick answered for her. “Good work and we’ll see you on the other side.”
“Not the best choice of words, Mick.” Meagan shook her head. “But point taken.” She looked out over the carnage around them, the damaged alliance ships drifting nearby and the brilliant lights of conflict raging off in the distance. It gave her a heavy feeling in her stomach, a sense of grandeur she didn’t get in their last engagement.
As they passed by the conflict zone, she throttled up. “Let’s hurry up,” she said. “I want to be closer to allies ASAP.”
“Yeah…” Mick sounded somber. “I know exactly how you feel.”
Chapter 8
Clea watched as the men finished camouflaging the ship. From the air, it would be impossible to see it and the cloth provided protection against active scans. Someone would have to literally stumble upon it. Providing they hurried, there’d be no risk of that. The enemy soldiers were occupied with fortified emplacements, at least for a while.
Hoffner turned to her. “Okay, now that we’re ready, what’s the plan?”
Clea checked her computer. Once she disembarked the vessel, she initiated a program to plot a course through the jungle to the facility. It worked off of satellite scans, taking in the most recent data and calculating all available paths to their destination. The lines were color coded with green being the easiest and red being nearly impossible.
“It depends,” Clea said. “If we do not want to do any trail blazing, we’ll have to stick to a couple of specific routes. Unfortunately, those are established through activity by the inhabitants of the planet and thus closer to what I’d call the current battlefield. It could put us at risk of enemy encounters, though perhaps not large enough to matter.”
“Okay, what about the not so easy ones?”
“Those require us to cut through some of the jungle ourselves, which presents a hardship as well. You see, some of the foliage is dangerous and can be as bad as having to fight. Personally, I prefer and recommend we go for something in the middle. Limit the amount of cutting we have to do.”
“What about predators?” Hoffner asked. “Do we have to worry about alien animals giving us a hard time?”
“Survey of the planet suggests most animals are afraid of people and won’t be a bother,”
“I’ll try to cut it off,” Tai’Li Two replied. “Stay on course.”
“Don’t try it,” Meagan said. “You won’t be able to target that thing at this speed while climbing with gravity. Chances are good it’ll turn on you.”
“You aren’t in command of us.” Tai’Li Two spoke again. “If I don’t help him, he dies. He’d do the same for me. Continue on course, Human. We’ll meet you if we can.”
“Tai’Li?” Meagan couldn’t see what was happening specifically but her scanners showed blips approaching the friendly vessel. They’d turned their coms to a different frequency. “God damn it, Mick, can you see them?”
“No, but that missile’s really freakin’ close…”
Meagan felt her ship shake just as she broke atmosphere. Her wings retracted and she tapped her scanner screen for a rear view. A massive explosion sat a thousand feet or so behind her. Was that one of them or the missile?
“Panther One, this is Tai’Li One.” Meagan let out a sigh of relief. “We have destroyed the missile and are heading for the rendezvous.”
“Way to cut it close there, Tai’Li,” Mick answered for her. “Good work and we’ll see you on the other side.”
“Not the best choice of words, Mick.” Meagan shook her head. “But point taken.” She looked out over the carnage around them, the damaged alliance ships drifting nearby and the brilliant lights of conflict raging off in the distance. It gave her a heavy feeling in her stomach, a sense of grandeur she didn’t get in their last engagement.
As they passed by the conflict zone, she throttled up. “Let’s hurry up,” she said. “I want to be closer to allies ASAP.”
“Yeah…” Mick sounded somber. “I know exactly how you feel.”
Chapter 8
Clea watched as the men finished camouflaging the ship. From the air, it would be impossible to see it and the cloth provided protection against active scans. Someone would have to literally stumble upon it. Providing they hurried, there’d be no risk of that. The enemy soldiers were occupied with fortified emplacements, at least for a while.
Hoffner turned to her. “Okay, now that we’re ready, what’s the plan?”
Clea checked her computer. Once she disembarked the vessel, she initiated a program to plot a course through the jungle to the facility. It worked off of satellite scans, taking in the most recent data and calculating all available paths to their destination. The lines were color coded with green being the easiest and red being nearly impossible.
“It depends,” Clea said. “If we do not want to do any trail blazing, we’ll have to stick to a couple of specific routes. Unfortunately, those are established through activity by the inhabitants of the planet and thus closer to what I’d call the current battlefield. It could put us at risk of enemy encounters, though perhaps not large enough to matter.”
“Okay, what about the not so easy ones?”
“Those require us to cut through some of the jungle ourselves, which presents a hardship as well. You see, some of the foliage is dangerous and can be as bad as having to fight. Personally, I prefer and recommend we go for something in the middle. Limit the amount of cutting we have to do.”
“What about predators?” Hoffner asked. “Do we have to worry about alien animals giving us a hard time?”
“Survey of the planet suggests most animals are afraid of people and won’t be a bother,”
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