Beyond Sol

Chapter 8

The Spectrum had turned to residing in the air. Turns out the wildlife on the surface don't like visitors. A bite mark now lives on the engine section from this massive cobra like snake. We flew 391 KM/H on average, 10 thousand feet, And our fuel was almost endless. Just like the trillions of trees that never end below us. The orange horizon from the sunrise lit up the sky with a beautiful gradient of Red, Orange and a green. The alarm in my room blared. "8:10 AM." It read as I slowly sat up. "Never like waking up. Not in this situation" I stood up and slowly got dressed. I yawned before heading out. Sipping on my coffee I quickly snatched AETHER made for me. I slid down into the main hull. The covers on the observing module behind the bridge unfolded. Glass covered the Top, Bottom, And sides of the 6 metre long tube. The sunrise illuminated the module. A few baskets of growing potatoes hung from the roof and below the glass walkway. A tear dripped from my eyes. "Why did it have to happen? Why?" I threw my coffee cup at the glass. The cup shattering. " NASA bastards!" I shouted. "Stupid Neptune wormhole! Stupid Bowsers! Stupid Matt Thompsom!" I hunched down into a ball and sobbed my eyes out while I leaned against the railing. A deafening alarm blasted in my ear, Red emergency lights covering every hallway inside and out. "All crew report to the bridge immediately" AETHER Said shipwide. I slammed my hand on the walkway before getting up and entering the bridge. I had waited about a minute before the others entered. "What happened?" James said before they all slid into their seats. "No idea, AETHER Sitrep." Situational report. "Engine one out, Engine two out, 4 Bogeys detected on radar. All power has been redirected to shields except, Life support, Main controls, And heating systems."
"Bowsers." Muhammed said.
"The jet's tanks are empty, It takes twenty minutes minimum for their tanks to be filled and the weaponry to be attached. We will have to use our weaponry." Amelia called from the back.
"AETHER, Stop the rings. Divert minimum power to guns." I said to AETHER, Both of the rings stopped rotation. "Identify what vessel they are."
"Carrier, Cargo, And weaponry flagships." Carrier, Not good. The carriers carried hundreds of jets, One of them could easily stop the Spectrum. A massive missile flew by the bridge. "Holy!" James yelled.
"Aether, Open fire upon bogeys, Code blue, Hostile encounter." The Spectrum jolted back and forth every time the weapons fired on the vessels. "That carrier is about to deploy its jets, Open the aero brakes." I Called
"What? The aero brakes, That would smash us into them." Muhammed said.
"Just do it!" I shouted as Amelia flicked the switch above her. I yanked the stick backwards as we sweeped over them. Now we were behind them. Oh god, "AKD's! AKD's!" James shouted. There were hundreds of jets that just shot out.

Thump, Thump, Thump. "20 AKD's should deal them off for a little." A blaring siren now went off as all the monitors blared red. "Engine 3 is out!" Eliza called. The Spectrum began to drop. James had reached for the ejection button on his monitor. "Don't eject!" Muhammed shouted. Our Altitude began to drop rapidly. "Manoeuvring tether!" The tether on the top shot out, Latching onto the cargo flagship.
"Carter! What the hell are you doing?" James yelled as he ran through the small aisle way in between the rows of seats.
"Not dying." He tried to throw a punch at my face. I had ducked as I wrapped my foot and ankle around his, Tripping him and throwing him over my back onto the metal floor. "Gosh," The Spectrum was cloaked, "Guess going insane isn't exactly the best idea." Muhammed said.
"Not exactly." A beep was heard as a green light flickered on above us. "Jet's are topped, Weapons armed. AETHER Will roll this guy to the med bay. Let's go." We rushed into the shuttle bay. The lights flickering to life. "Go! Go! Go!" I shouted as we climbed up the little ladders. "Check your fuel" Eliza called. The room started to be blasted with the sounds of jet engines firing up. "Still got heavy fighter activity, They're looking for us. Once we launch they will know exactly where we are. Take out the weaponry and carrier flaggers." I announced over the radio.
"Weapons, Check." Everyone announced one after another. "Catapult is locked for all 4 jets." Amelia called. The bay went into lockdown as the 4 bay doors opened up. "Still cloaked," Muhammed said. The jets thrust increased to one hundred percent for everyone. I turned my head to the side to see Muhammed in his jet. I knocked on the glass to grab his attention. "10 Seconds" I signalled. "Launch," AETHER Said throughout every jet. The catapult launched all four jets out as my head was pinned against the seat. "Gear in, Gear in." I called. Atleast 10 jets noticed us launch from what appeared to be nothing. "Multiple bogeys detected!" Muhammed shouted over the radio. "Flares, Flares, Flares!" It was a dog fight. "Amelia, Eliza, you take out the engines on the weaponry and carrier." I said.
"Copy," Both responded back with. They manoeuvred over to those. There was a large clump of at least 50 of them heading towards us. "Netting," I called as my jet fired off a net that entangled them before Muhammed fired a missile straight at them. "Splash," I called.
"AETHER Reboot engines one and two for use," Muhammed spoke over the radio. "Rebooting." A mechanical clicking noise rung throughout the air as something opened on the bottom of the cargo ship. Well, More like lowered. It was a platform with missile launchers. It was about 160 metres long and 40 metres wide. I have an idea. "Deploy flares and return to Spectrum. We're takin' the cargo." I yanked the stick sideways and returned to the Spectrum. Gear, The jet smashed into the hanger as the catapult catched the jet. If I were to land any smoother, Or well at least tried to i'd shoot into the bay and shoot back out the other side. It came to a halt as the canopy opened, The bay doors closing and the engines slowing down. "What the hell do you mean we're taking the cargo?" Muhammed asked running up.
"It has some elevator that lowered with some weaponry, Just big enough for us to smash into it and take it."
"Man, Carter you're crazy as fuck but no matter what your idiotic ideas always work out, Im in." Eliza said. We had turned to Amelia.
"Screw it." We all ran to the bridge. "AETHER Start engines one and two. "Affirmative." It responded with. The whirring of the engines was audible. The jets definitely knew where we were now. "Retracting tether." Muhammed called as the tether tugged us in closer. We were about 20 metres from the platform. "Cutting cable." I said as the engines blasted to full throttle. The platform started to close as the Spectrum smashed into it. It made a long screeching sound a it approached the end. "Oh shit." Amelia said. It stopped just before reaching the end.
"We're good." The platform halted as the Spectrum was entirely inside of the flagship. The walls were sort of a darkish green with pipes running up and down them. The roof was way above. 30 Metres tall, Atleast. Eliza swung her hand over to a button on her monitor. AKD's firing off from the top. Seconds later the sound of bullets ricocheting off the metal, Followed by the screams of pain. "Let's go." We were in our launch suits. The orange loose fabric suits that you would wear on launch. Or the "Advanced Crew Escape Suit" NASA Liked to call it. The airlock hissed open as the 4 of us sprinted down the stairs with our rifles drawn. A Bowser rushed in with a sidearm. Muhammed quickly unloaded a bullet into his chest. They look exactly human. I mean exactly like us! Two legs, Arms, a body, A head. And their facial features are exactly the same. I'll look into it later. "Head to the bridge." Eliza called.

We speed walked down the hallways slightly hunched down with rifles drawn. The AKD's had already wiped these areas. We walked over bodies. The vehicle was definitely descending "Here!" I shouted as we slid open the door into the bridge. This is huge! The place was 4 master bedrooms in size. The two pilots slumped over as two bullets spiralled through their heads. I slung my rifle as I slipped into the seat. The instruments didn't tell me anything. Was a totally different system. What I did know was that we were low. And the jets were following us down. I gripped on the stick as I tugged it backwards. The vehicle slowly pitched up. A cable with a hook smashed through the glass "Windshield."
"Holy shit!" Amelia yelled in fright as glass shattered everywhere and made a bullet like sound. The hook attached to the top of the frame. We were still descending through the Atmosphere. "This went south real quick!" Muhammed shouted as the air flowing in deafened everything around us.
"Back to the Spectrum!" I said. The place was zero G as we kept falling. We slung ourselves through the multiple hallways, Shooting into the hanger bay. "AETHER Engines up ASAP" I said as the whirr of the engines started. Everyone flung into the Spectrum. The bay elevator lowering down. "Detaching" I said as we all clung to our seats. The Spectrum detached from the elevator as it got dragged behind as due air resistance. I yanked back on the stick as the G forces ramped up to 4. "Ohhhh shittt!" Muhammed said as we all were pushed into our seats. The Spectrum swooped just above the trees as we swiftly began rising. Too fast for any of the jets to catch up. The Spectrum rumbled and shook like hell. Although it wasn't from the Engines or our Mach three speed. The flaggy had smashed into the ground at a nice calm speed of Mach five. Absolutely destroying the area. Missiles shot by the window as we continued ascending. The sky got progressively darker as the force of Gravity slowly got less and less, Well as for the downward Gravity, Natural. We were still being rocketed upwards by our engines. Which of course still pressed multiple G's onto us. "Sub-Orbital trajectory acquired. Complete full orbital cycle?" AETHER Announced.
"Negative AETHER, Continue trajectory. Plan entry for a beach landing. Preferred just off the coast. Walking distance." Muhammed announced. "Prepare the vessel for entry, I'm not quite convinced they are not still trying to kill us. I want the defences and the fighters prepped." I said. Everyone had swiftly left the Bridge heading off to the hangar and engineering bay. I went over the Spectrum's systems, making sure all was in check. F U E L T A N K S: 12% it read. "Fuck." The minimum for a smooth landing was 21% Which meant our tanks would drop out at 20 thousand feet. "AETHER What's our minimum survival fuel?"
"Twelve percent" Which means our tanks were barely enough for a landing. Which also means there's no margin of error. Also no burns until the entry interface. "All crew scratch the vessel prep. I want all of you on the bridge ASAP, Our fuel is being a bitch." I spoke into the mic, Placing it back above myself.

We had donned the casual orange NASA launch and entry suits. "Entry interface confirmed, Await until vessel has completed entry." AETHER Spoke. "Carter you're the one piloting us down to the surface, you fuck it up you die." James said. "Shush child. He'll touch the wheels down smoother than a triple 7 butter." Eliza snapped back. Visibility outside the glass had been reduced to zero as plasma covered it. We were being shaken around like shaking salt from a glass. I just shut my eyes as I continued enduring the 4.3 G's.

Eventually the windows cleared up as we continued our free fall towards the landing site. "Amelia, you told us there were no trees at our landing site" I leaned forward to see more. "There shouldn't have been!" Shit
"Performing landing burn, Prepare for touchdown." The engines fired to life, Our fuel level dropping. Several warnings came up, "Brace! Brace!" AETHER Announced. The Spectrum colliding with the trees, the front gear snapping off and lighting the trees ablaze.