Into the Void

Chapter 21

Nate sat in the dimly lit cockpit of the gunship, staring down at the instrument panel, they’d received a transmission from the Dauntless. It had been a short message telling them to stay where they were and wait for further orders. His new arm had been attached without issue, and they’d found enough parts to patch his exo-suit back together. The right arm had been scavenged from a construction suit, its bright orange contrasting with the stained, dull yellow of the rest of his armour and the standard bubble helmet had been replaced with an armoured combat model. The faceplate of the combat helmet was a solid grey piece of composite alloys, and the inner surface was a display screen linked to several small pinhole sized camera lenses on the outer surface of the helmet.

The comm panel beeped, the Dauntless had sent them a pre-recorded video message. The captain’s grizzled features appeared on the main display. The older man was haggard looking and spoke in a rough, tired voice. “Dropship,” said the captain. “We’ll be in position to pick you up shortly. We’re on a hard burn towards the planet, we’ll meet you over the northern continent. Good luck.” Nate relayed the news to the rest of the crew, and helped pack all the supplies they could carry into the dropship. By noon, everything was loaded and the gunship was traveling up into space. To reach the northern continent as quickly as possible they would take the ship up out of the atmosphere, circle the planet and land until the Dauntless told them it was safe to leave the planet. Ideally it would be better to meet the Dauntless in orbit but the dropship’s air filters were spent, it couldn’t travel through space for more than a few hours.

The dropship bucked as it plunged through the atmosphere, hull glowing red with the heat of reentry. Nate wrestled with the controls, the stick jumping wildly in his hands. The ship was tossed back and forth roughly as it dove towards the earth. A harsh pop reverberated through the hull, the control stick went slack and the dropship flew into an uncontrollable spin. He worked furiously at the controls trying to level out the falling gunship. Something else rattled loose and Rowan swore violently as half his instrument panel went dark. Izzy hammered at her control panel wrestling the ship out of its spin. Another bang echoed through the hull and the dropship fell into a headlong dive towards the ground below.

Nate’s ears popped as the dropship screamed through the air, rushing towards the ground. Flicking through the available external cameras he could see two long streams of thick, oily smoke trailing behind the ship as it fell. Glancing behind him he could see Izzy working at the engineering console, as smoke trailed slowly into the cockpit. Suddenly Rowan's console lit back up and the maneuvering thrusters fired violently, crushing Nate down into his seat as the heavy thrusters kicked the ship skyward.

The ailing dropship pulled out of its dive and flew towards the planet below, deccelerating harshly. They were miles away from the approved landing zone, and still coming in too hot. The ground slipped away beneath them as the gunship swung past an island and out over the open water. With only half the control surfaces responding Nate knew there was no way to hit their intended island without sending the gunship slamming into the sea first.

Losing altitude rapidly, Nate shouted, “Rowan! Find us another island!”

A waypoint appeared on the screen and Nate wrestled the ship's nose into line. Another component snapped loose and the stick locked up. Praying that his new arm would hold up, Nate forced the stick into position as Rowan opened up the fuel tanks and dumped the reserve fuel into the ocean.

Nate laughed. “Environmental protection is going to be pissed about that!”

“I'll write them a letter,” said Rowan through gritted teeth, “and tell them to fuck off.”

The dropship flew towards the shore trailing smoke, and spilling shimmering tracks of fuel across the surface of the ocean. Screaming low over the beach the gunship flew inland, snapping the tops off trees as it fell. The ship skipped down a wide shallow river, smashing into the riverbed and throwing the crew forward against their restraints. The ship ground to a halt and Nate unbuckled his restraints. Standing, clutching at his aching ribs, he stumbled out of his seat. The cockpit was filled with a thin smoke, and what little lights were left on the consoles were blinking red. He left the cockpit and stepped into the crew compartment. The same thin smoke filled the rest of the ship and the rest of the crew sat limp in their seats.