Where Weavers Daire

Chapter Nine

Balance

"You don't have to do this to impress me," Pan said.

"I'm not impressing you. We're landing at the caves and walking away from it." Nat tightened his harness. "Problem is we need to burn off some speed because if we don't we're flying off the other side of the cliff and plummeting to our deaths." He tapped the battery gauge. "Batteries are good. Hydraulics are good. Spooling down the defense wards." Three levers later and the ship's deck plates quaked.

"Lowering the flaps." The hydraulics whined, and the ship's speed dropped.

"Landing gear?" she said.

"Negative on that we may need them later if this doesn't work," he said.

"I repeat, you don't need to do this to impress me," she said.

"You've never actually glided one of these in before, have you?" He flipped a switch or two and the fuselage lights flared to life. "Good news is, we've got power and hydraulics. The bad news is no instrument landing system (ILS) or tower so hopefully no one is taxing."

"We can radio them," Vernon said.

"And give ourselves away. No, I don't think so." Nat tapped the radar dome. "Nothing ese out there besides our friends who don't seem to be in a rush." He pointed out the canopy to the darkness. "There it is. Landing field right next to the Keep."

"How can you see that?" Vernon said.

"Whatever exploded passed through the defense grid and hit the rest of the ships. Their defense suites spooled up and make great landing lights," Nat said. "Vernon, do me a favor. Scan the Keep for me."

He angled the ship and circled the mountain top Keep.

"Reading life signs within the Keep and inside the mountain itself. Massive energy signatures at the base," Vernon said. "Aren't we announcing ourselves?"

"To people that are listening, yes we certainly are. Save those scans. We about to land."

Each time the ship orbited, she lost altitude until on the third time Nat had lined up with the runway.

He pulled back on the control sticks and the nose tilted back.

The thump of the rear landing gear kissing the asphalt didn't happen but instead, the friction of the ship's belly.

"Gahsakes," Pan said.

"We're fine. This is fine," Nat said and the hull connected with something and the ship bounced up then came down hard.

Red fire warning lights on the console blinked and beeped.

"We're still fine," he said and stabbed the warning lights to 'off.'

* * *

Melinda looked out the back to the sight of the ship's rear quarter was on fire. The sparks from the hard landing had lit the remaining fuel drenched frame. One thud and the remains of a fence toppled by. The amount of dirt thrown into the air was almost comical.

The ship tilted up and tried to remain airborne but instead, she came crashing down. Up and down several times and finally, the ride stopped.

Thom unbuckled himself and grabbed the fire extinguisher to put out the ship's fiery behind.

"Ladies and gentle souls we'd like you to welcome you to Crosleigh Keep where the time is exactly midnight. Please be aware that your go bags may have shifted during landing. We ask you to please wait to spool up your auras until you are clear of the aircraft. On behalf of our Captain, we'd like to thank you for flying with us and hope you choose us in the future once the aircraft has been repaired. The Keep's defense wards are up, and our cloaked friends are currently re-thinking their plan of attack. Please keep to secure channel six for updates from the cabin crew. Please follow the track lighting to the nearest exit. Thank you and have a pleasant evening."