The Grey Chronicles Part Two: Under Siege.

Chapter 2: Brave the Storm.

           

The Anarchist, inner atmosphere of Stonehaara One, August of 8096 AL.

Salem's knuckles were bleach white around the handles on the side of his chair. He bit back a scream as the ship listed, tipping to port under the impact of the lightning bolt. Their shields failed, a black scorch mark ripped across the starboard side of the ship. Salem shuddered, he could feel the ship threatening to roll, to turn and fall sideways out of the sky. His eyes were glued to the window, to the black mass obscuring his view as Hyde and Jaeger struggled to regain control of the ship.

"Engaging emergency thrusters on the port side," Jaeger called as a deafening blast echoed throughout the ship. The thrusters fired, pushing the ship back on course. Hyde worked to turn the Anarchist upright; if he failed, the lifeboats on that side of the ship would be unable to launch, then the ship would land on its side, killing everyone in that side of the ship. If it landed on its belly, the keel would take most of the impact and allow all of the lifeboats to launch.

"Pitch has been stabilized," Hyde called, "Yaw is stabilized, roll should stabilize...now!"

Salem's teeth chattered as he felt the ship turn, righting itself and falling straight. He couldn't speak, so Hyde took over command and enacted emergency protocols.

"Seventy thousand feet and falling," Hyde called to Jaeger, "We are dropping at six thousand feet per second, launch all lifeboats as soon as we reach a safe altitude."

"The ship's stability may not allow for that until we're out of the cloud cover," Jaeger shouted over the multitude of warning alarms that started howling, "We will have to wait until we're out of the storm, we would lose most of the lifeboats."

"Yes, we would," Hyde sighed, "Launch as soon as you think it's safe, Jaeger."

"Will do," Jaeger replied curtly.

Salem could see strings of ones and zeros flashing through the eyes of his AIs as they made calculations. They guided the ship down through the clouds, and Salem thought he could see a break in the storm. He was half right; the storm cleared, but the danger had not passed.

The Anarchist smashed through the clouds, a black cloak torn to shreds by its passing. The ship experienced a short period of peace before descending into a radiation storm, a sandstorm of radioactive dust and dirt kicked up from the nuclear wastes that made up a quarter of the planet's surface. Salem watched through the window, frozen in awe at the sight of the sandstorm tinged green. He shook as the ship was rocked by lightning, which ripped across the irradiated dust particles and struck the Anarchist. They left black scars across the plate armor, melting it instantly in places. The radiation had little effect on the ship; its titanium-tungsten plate armor was layered with lead to protect against it. The problem facing them was that they would have to wait for the storm to pass before they could launch their lifeboats.

"We've entered a severe radiation storm!" Jaeger called, "Sensors read almost eighteen hundred rads, we can't launch the lifeboats. It could be hours before this passes!"

"We need to drive off the radiation, or at least the majority of the particulates," Hyde growled, "Prepare to launch all lifeboats, I'm going to fire all thrusters to push away the dust. That should lower the radiation levels long enough for the lifeboats to clear the storm."

"Won't the thrusters increase the heat of the air?" Jaeger said, visibly concerned, "We risk roasting them in their lifeboats."

"The lifeboats can take the heat," Hyde insisted, "We've already entered the atmosphere, so they don't have to withstand the heat caused during reentry. The vast majority of the lifeboats will survive, their chances of survival against heat are twice that against these levels of radiation."