Secret War: Upon Blood Sands

Chapter 36

Kalakor chose to remain in the hangar just in case more Resurrected appeared while Attelus and Adelana struggled through the weaving, winding ship toward the cockpit.

Darrance warned them of each turn before it happened, which was now almost every few seconds, but that didn't stop them crashing and bouncing off the walls, and for every split second, Attelus expected the Guncutter to explode and consume them in fire.

The fact that it hadn't happened yet was a true testament to Darrance's incredible skill as a pilot.

Incredible was the understatement of understatements.

"You alright?" said Attelus as he helped Adelana prevent herself from smashing her face against the wall.

"I'm fine," she said a bit too fast while tearing her arm from his hand.

"Why'd you storm out-?"

"Seriously, Attelus?" said Adelana. "Now?"

"Yeah, sorry. Thanks, Adelana."

"For what?"

"Thank you for being you," he said. "And thanks for saving my arse back there; how many saves do I owe you now?"

Adelana smiled. "I lost count."

"Yeah, sure you did," said Attelus, and they burst into the recreation room.

The Guncutter swayed left, forcing them both to plant their feet.

"We can just take a seat here," said Adelana.

"To hell with that," said Attelus. "I've gotta see what's happening."

Adelana sighed and said something about 'men.'

Attelus ignored her, dashed the rest of the way into the cockpit, and retook the co-pilot's seat.

He stayed silent while buckling himself in, not wanting to break Darrance's concentration.

The world through the window was a blur of blood sands and grey towers and buildings. This view was almost eclipsed by the massive amount of munitions strafing by. Las cannon shots and heavy bolter fire churned through rockcrete walls, turning it into dust and sent sand into the air in waves of kicked up crimson.

Adelana took the seat at the scanner and peered out the window.

Attelus glanced at the scanner and couldn't help start, seeing only seven red triangles were following them.

"You are all strapped in now," said Darrance. "Now, I do not have to hold back anymore."

"Hold back?" said Adelana.

Darrance's reply was a sudden banking right, making them head straight toward a ludicrously huge tower.

Attelus waited, expecting Darrance to begin going up or around it, but instead, he powered up the lascannons.

"No," said Attelus as icy tendrils spread through his chest. "No frigging way."

"Yes, frigging way," said Darrance, and he opened fire then tapped his vox bead. "All servitor turrets open fire on the building in front of us; spread your fire."

A second after, heavy bolter shots joined, raking across the tower.

"You're insane," Attelus shrieked through clenched teeth as he pushed his back into his seat. "You're frigging insane!"

Then they were eclipsed in darkness.

"Servitor turrets, fire lanes of thirty degrees," said Darrance as he pumped lascannon shot after shot while constantly swinging the ship side to side through the enemy shots.

Attelus took another look at the scanner; all of the daemon ships were still following them.

Adelana was screaming, and Attelus couldn't blame her.

The top of the cockpit was covered in sparks and the shriek deafening as the ship skirted the ceiling.

Darrance let out a curse and tried to straighten the Guncutter out but ended up skidding on the floor, the shrieking was replaced by grinding, and the ship slowed. Darrance lifted it, wobbling the ship so much it threw them around in their seats. But by some Emperor given miracle, Darrance stabilised it. And all the while, he still shot the lascannon.

"Shit, that was close," he said.

Attelus couldn't even consider making a reply; his fingers had somehow become paler as they gripped the armrests so hard they were beginning to crack. He couldn't help believe his teeth would've cracked too if they weren't made of wraithbone.

Then they were out of the darkness and headed toward another tower only about thirty metres away.

"Y-you're not doing that again," Attelus cried; the relief hit him so hard it made the words burst from his mouth like machine gunfire as he exhaled. He'd no idea he'd been holding his breath the whole time.

Darrance didn't answer verbally as he sent the ship climbing toward the sky. There was another horrid grounding as the ship bounded off the tower's wall, and the G-forces pinned Attelus to his seat.

Attelus looked up, and his jaw dropped so fast it hurt his cheeks. The huge tower collapsed in a wave of thick grey dust and debris, which rained toward them.

Only two ships were after them now. Some of them must've been crushed by the collapsing tower.

His attention shot forward as Darrance banked the Guncutter left, just a microsecond out of the path of a cluster of falling metal beams. It threw Attelus to the side, and Adelana almost smashed her face into the scanner screen.

"Turrets, aim for the ships," said Darrance. They flew diagonally over the building, which was a blur; Attelus lost count of the number of times Darrance swayed the Guncutter through bits of the falling building. It took only a few seconds but seemed like tens of minutes before the baby blue sky surrounded them.

Now no enemy ships were in pursuit.

Darrance slowed and levelled the Guncutter.

For about half a minute, the only sound was gasping.

"I can't believe..." managed Attelus.

Darrance grinned. "Seeing is believing, is it not, apprentice?"

"I...yeah..."

Darrance shrugged. "It was not all me; if it were not for this ships advanced gravity dampeners, the G-forces would have crushed us in our seats."

"I...I never thought I'd see the day..." said Attelus.

"Never see the day when you would bear witness to such piloting finesse?"

"No, never thought I'd see the day when you'd be somewhat humble about something."

Much to Attelus' surprise, Darrance laughed. "Oh, come on, give me this one, please."

"Yeah, okay, fair enough," said Attelus. "We've really got to head back; we might've already missed our window of opportunity."

"Of course," said Darrance as he wheeled the ship around. "We still have much on our agenda. Just this time, please keep yourself from being impaled again."

Attelus sighed.