But she wasn’t. She was a freighter pilot in a slow, bulky ambling freighter. The best she could do was speed up, angle slightly left and hope for the best.
The Korthan fighter? Battleship? Cruiser? Some hybrid in between? Flew circles around her as they meandered along. The most fluid flying she’d ever seen, there was a grace and beauty about it she couldn’t help but admire. Whoever said Korthans had inferior technology was severely mistaken.
Stars, could her ship go any slower?
Flashes erupted from the leading edges of the downward sweeping wings of the Korthan ship, moments before her freighter was jolted by several impacts.
“Okay,” Dani said over the comm, heartrate spiking. “We’re leaving now. No need to destroy anything.”
Another jolt as a bright laser bolt skidded across her bow. Perhaps he considered the planet Korthan territory after all.
“Dammit all,” Dani cursed, throttling the ship forward at full speed.
Edging closer to the planet, Dani noticed that she could no longer see his ship on her radar. He either had some kind of cloaking technology, which wouldn’t surprise her, or it was something to do with the planet.
Perhaps they were in luck.
“Okay,” a woman’s voice said. “We’re leaving now. No need to destroy anything.”
That voice— Igniting a fire in his very soul, the feeling hit him instantly. He never felt more alive. K’vyn suddenly didn’t want to destroy the freighter.
Biting his tongue hard enough to draw blood, he let the taste linger in his mouth. This was enemy number one. He couldn’t allow her to land on the planet. He had to blast that freighter out of space.
The freighter suddenly tilted left, Dani yelling out as it rolled completely on its side towards the planet.
I’m scared, C’hase said and Dani could feel his fear permeating her veins. Or maybe it was her own fear—
Leaning over the console, Dani typed a request for a damage report, head bowed over the readouts. Cascading failures in the hyperdrive. Stars, this asshole meant business.
The ship leaned towards the planet as gravity took over. No problem. She’d just reverse the thrusters and pull out of it like with any world.
Nothing happened.
Attempting to reverse the thrusters, she began troubleshooting procedures.
Reaching under the seat until she touched fur, Dani said, “Come on out, C’hase.”
There was movement and then a feather-tipped antennae appeared, caressing her right forearm.
You’re scared, C’hase said.
Scared was one way to put it.
Hands trembling against the controls, she glanced over several readouts and out the viewscreen as her four-legged companion appeared from under the seat. Hedge wasn’t at his usual perch atop the hellhound’s head, but she didn’t have time to inquire about the space rat.
“Go to the cargo hold,” she said. “Get in one of the chicken crates. You’ll be safe in there.”
She could only hope.
But, I don’t want to go with the chickens, C’hase whined.
“Go now, Little One,” Dani said.
Facing forward, the planet’s surface became ever larger in the viewscreen. This was going to hurt.
Of all the ways this ‘rescue mission’ could have gone, crashing was not one of the options she considered.
Willing away the heartbeat in her ears, she took control of her emotions. Don’t panic. Pilot the ship. Don’t get shot. That was the priority.
If someone had told her five days ago that she’d be crashing on an unknown planet while carrying a legitimate cargo of chickens on a rogue mission to find the home world of a strange creature that had taken up residence in her mind—
She’d have thought it was some sick joke.
It’s not a sick joke, is it? C’hase’s voice echoed in her mind.
No, C’hase. It’s not a sick joke.
When they hit the atmosphere, the ship dropped at breakneck speed, gravity fully taking over. Lightning zapped through Dani’s heart, the controls unresponsive.
As the ground rushed up to meet them, Dani only had one thought, I’m sorry I couldn’t get you home, Little One.
“What happened?” K’vyn asked as the human freighter tumbled towards the planet.
They hadn’t shot anything more than warning shots and not even that in the amount of time it took the freighter to reach the planet.
“I don’t know. They’re going to crash,” L’iza said.
Landing on the Korthan world was unacceptable, but crashing there? That was satisfying.
Fairly certain they hadn’t actually damaged the ship, maybe the construction was so weak that even a few grazing laser bolts could blast it apart.
“They can rot here,” K’vyn said next, though he did not feel the venom in his words, an unexplainable tug on his heart. He almost felt sad it was crashing—
He shook himself. Almost.
“Mayday,” the female captain’s voice called over all frequencies. “Cargo Freighter 426 is going down. Broadcasting coordinates.”
The tug on his heart suddenly turned into all-out longing, the sound of her voice permeating his soul.
2
Dani’s heart throbbed in her throat as the features on the surface of the planet grew bigger. Mountains worrisome, she tried swallowing the heartbeat, the action making her stomach queasy.
Great. She was going to throw up all over the console and crash her ship. It was turning out to be a lovely supply run.
Gripping the controls, sitting forward in her seat, her resolve hardened.
Survive. That was it. There was nothing else. The lives on her ship depended on her.
“Jettison oxygen tanks two and four,” Dani spoke out loud, following the command with action, grounding herself in complete concentration.
What if the planet didn’t have oxygen? Thought nearly dissolving her focus, the ship threatened to turn completely upside down.
Survive one thing at a time.
“Deploy port docking flaps.” Dani commanded to the air while deploying the docking flaps, calm falling over her body, her only purpose in the entire universe.
The flap acted as a rudder, catching the atmosphere, pulling the ship forward.
Mountains loomed ahead, a huge expanse of sand beyond, a large ocean beyond that.
“I’m aiming for that stretch of beach.” She said to herself. With luck, she wasn’t going to miss. Crashing in the water would be disastrous—
Expanse of sand turning orange the closer she got, it appeared to be moving. Dani swallowed. She sure hoped it was solid ground. No time to change course now.
Drifting off course, she said, “Deploy port landing gear.”
The additional drag on the left side slowed the sideways drifting, but they were going down too fast, the mountains ahead looming. Unable to slow the forward momentum, the freighter screeched as it hit the top of the rocky terrain, both the landing gear and the docking flaps wrenched from the ship.
The freighter spun sharply to the left.
“Deploy right docking flaps and landing gear!” Dani yelled, lightning coursing through her veins.
Her hands flew over the controls, breaths coming in short bursts.