Gabatrix: The Cipra Campaign

Chapter 7: Planetfall

"Did we make it?" Feliciana asked in her worried state.

"Almost through the atmosphere!" Chief Buziba declared. "Launching in one minute. All aircraft! Use your radars. Carry out with whatever objectives you can. Provide cover for the remaining marine ships as they make planetfall!"

"Roger," Chao replied.

"Aye," Feliciana stated. Other pilots said the same thing.

"Heh heh," Dean remarked in his stoned state.

The scene was tense as the pilots could feel the great descent of the UHN Gladiator. Alarms were going off everywhere. The outside cameras could only see the massive trail of fire that came off as the vessel was traveling through the atmosphere. The assault carrier had already received damage. Parts of the top sections of the armor showed fires and a venting atmosphere. Emergency bulkheads were in place. At the same time, the battle in space had put its toll on the assault carrier. The threat of breaking up in the air was a genuine possibility.

The Gladiator wasn't alone. The UHN Legion, the smaller Rio De Janeiro, and a single shuttle had made it through the blockade. They all had taken some form of damage here and there. As the vessels continued to fall, the intense friction began to dissipate. It was starting to be replaced with that of an enormous moving cloud of flying dirt and sand. The silicates began to erode into the bottom portion of the hull, but only lightly. As they began to get immersed into it, the area was getting darker and darker. Even with the overhead sunlight, the overall dessert was less illuminated. The countdown continued.

Dean was completely stoned. He saw that the hangar bay was a forest with bright lights that traveled around. At the same time, there was some sort of flying winged tiny people that were moving in front of his cockpit.

"Wow...," Stoned replied in his calm stupor. "Like....those fairies better get out of the way before we launch, man." His voice continued to carry through in the comms while the terrified pilots overheard it.

"Umm....," one of the pilots replied. "What are you talking about?"

"Prepare to launch in thirty seconds," Buziba said. There was a hint that he would say something else concerning what Dean had just said, but the current mission was in progress.

Dean's world was transforming in front of his eyes. He thought he saw the hangar bay as it normally was for a brief moment. It was slightly darker but still had lights that functioned. Parts of the room had taken a small piece of a railgun strike that penetrated and killed one of the aircraft and fellow pilots.

The stoned individual tried to look at it with deep intensity, but the hallucinogenic effects of the tainted Seashunkelp were doing a lot to Dean's perspective. Before he knew it, everything turned back into some green forest. It caused him to smile as he enjoyed the scenery much better. Even the dancing fairies had returned. Finally, a floating dancing white rabbit had appeared on the canopy cockpit of his F-170. It was almost anthropomorphic. It stood on the nose of the Gatling gun and waved its paw to Dean.

"Hey......," Dean remarked. "Magical white bunny.....like.....how is everything?"

"Doper Dean!" the rabbit actually spoke to him. It was that of a cute male voice."Looks like you've been taking a lot of the pixie fairy dust. You sound like you want to play today."

"Heh, heh," he replied with a chuckle. "Actually....like....it wasn't fairy dust, bunny bro. It was some of the magical weed my friend gave me."

For a brief second, there was nothing but mass confusion by the pilots. He thought he heard the chief trying to get ahold of him, but it instead became that of a countdown. It started from ten and was going down to one.