The Fringe Wars

1.14

Haunted Visions

"I have some more bad news," Demes said as they neared Playa's orbit.

"Do you ever have good news?" Reyne asked.

"Plenty of times. Just not when it comes to you."

Reyne sighed. "What have you got?"

"The message never got through to Vym. The CUF's quarantined Ice Port. Oh hey, I do have some good news."

"And that would be?"

"No CUF ships are in orbit. Looks like a patroller dropped off a drone blockade and left. But, there are dozens of the little buggers out there."

"You call that good news?"

Demes shrugged. "Drones are easy to sneak by. They sense power readings. All we have to do is power down everything and sail right on by them."

"One problem with that," Reyne said. "We still have a tracker transmitting outside the ship. Even if we powered down, it will still transmit. If the drones pick up that reading, they'll turn their EMP blasters on us."

"Uh oh," Demes said, no longer paying any attention to either Reyne or Throttle. "We've got bigger problems than the drones. A warship is dropping out of jump speed. They're flagging us now."

"Ignore them," Reyne said. "Wait, which ship is it?"

"It's the Trinity. The CUF's very finest."

"Definitely ignore them."

"Like there's a CUF warship you'd want to talk to?" Demes asked.

Reyne scrambled to pull up the ship's location on his panel. "Throttle, how much juice do we have?"

"Not enough to enter jump speed again."

"I was afraid of that. Looks like we're heading down to the surface. Throttle, keep jump shields up and take us down the approach path as fast as you can."

"Are you crazy? The drones will blast us with EMPs," Demes said. "We'll be dead in the water if we try to fly past them with power."

"I have a hunch they won't," Reyne said. "Throttle, remember flying down Tulan Canyon?"

"Sure, why?"

"I need you to bring us right over the space dock and then keep us low as you take us down the canyon. We need the Trinity to think we've docked at Ice Port."

Throttle snapped around. "The canyon? I—yeah, I can do that, but the Gryphon is a spaceship, not an airplane. She'll fly like a rock once we hit the atmo."

"I know. You won't have to fly in the atmo for long. I'm entering the canyon landing coordinates now."

Her eyes grew even wider. "We can't land in the canyon. We need a long runway or at least landing grapples. We'll crash."

"Just focus on getting us to the canyon," Reyne said. "I'll guide you from there."

"I'm with Throttle," Demes said. "If we don't die in a fiery crash at the space docks—which in all likelihood is going to happen—without a launch pad to help us break gravity, the Gryphon is just big hunk of metal sitting on the surface of a shithole planet that I'd prefer not to live out my days on."

"Hey, Playa is my home," Reyne countered.

"We're coming up on the drones now," Throttle interrupted.

"The Trinity is arming her photon guns," Demes said.

Reyne watched as they cut in between a wide blanket of drones. The drones transmitted instructions—his instrument panel was aglow with warnings, but no EMPs came—and Throttle continued forward.