Galactic Gale

Chapter Twenty

A Fatal Error

Lurching in her seat as the ship jolted, Meldrom clamped her teeth together and bit down hard. Out the corner of her eye she saw Shee and the other escort vessels pull to the left. The slight move on their behalf alerted Meldrom to what her so-called companions were about to do.

She swore as she worked. Her fingers flew over the controls, past the engine ignition leavers to the desired buttons and code-pads. Despite her efforts, the ship continued to rattle.

Shee's ship streaked across Meldrom's field of view, coming so close she could read the lettering printed on the left wing. Meldrom managed to pull back a few inches in time to let the larger vessel by.

Less than a heartbeat later, the rest of what had been the flagship's escort party darted by.

"I'm going to kill Shee," Meldrom promised herself aloud.

From somewhere below, an odd sound spilled from Don's lips following another pipe slipping from its brackets.

The launch had gone well. The weapon had worked, and most of the fleet had managed to stay in formation for the duration of the attack. Meldrom's breath had caught as she'd seen the opening act of the gale they had inflicted upon Yolkemi.

But everything else had gone into the gutter. Like Meldrom, many of the other escort pilots had yet to witness the might of their grand weapon, or experience flying through the affected airspace. While she had managed to keep her cool and steady Don's ship, most had failed to keep a level head.

One such pilot was Shee. She had been the first to drop from her position at the rear of the cruiser. Whether it had been excitement, terror, or just bad flying that had caused Shee to break, Meldrom did not particularly care. It was clear Shee was incompetent.

And now we're suffering for it.

The shattered formation left Meldrom in the middle of a messy stream of traffic. Between the locals trying to frantically escape and the remaining members of the fleet panicking around her, it was near impossible to plot a course.

Meldrom growled at the shuttle running parallel to her own. She failed to recognise the driver, but a lack of a name or face had no impact on her deciding she would gift the stranger a shot to the leg later.

After Shee had disrupted the escort ships, many had shot away in the wrong direction. Meldrom was yet to see anyone crash into the city streets. A few had brushed the walls of Yolkemi's great skyscrapers and had managed to escape, but it was hard to pick apart particular ships in the chaos.

"Sending all the power we have to right-side engine." Meldrom spare a glance over her shoulder at Don. "Give me an update."

Don pushed his dark hair back from his face. Even from where she was, she could make out grease smeared on his skin. "I think we may be losing oil. These dials are going into overdrive. So, we've been hit in the fuel tank, or the measuring dials are no longer functional."

"We can't keep flying." Meldrom hated to admit it, but there was little to be gained by shooting into deep space without knowing the extent of the damage. If they ran out of fuel, they would have to drift until a passer-by offered aid. Putting her life into someone else's hands was not an option.

"I'll keep working at it. In the meantime, I suggest you open the overhanging windows. Should this steam get any worse, we could very well suffocate."

"I'm going to kill Shee!"

Meldrom hit the square buttons that sat in a ring around a thick screen. As the windows started to groan in protest to her demands, she pressed her hand firmly to the screen, activating emergency override.