Renegades (The Slingers Trilogy, Book 3)

Chapter 33

General Kovak was leading the procession of ships, and the cockpit of his shuttle was slowly beginning to fill up with the shape and land of the small moon. He knew he should have been focusing on the upcoming conflict, but he found himself drawing his attention away again and again to the Renegade, that was flying in the back of the formation. He shouldn't have been nervous about that ship, considering that both Koil and several soldiers were on board, and he knew that they were more than capable of handling the prisoners if they got out of control. Then why the hell was he so worried? Kovak looked at the Vulcan fighters flanking on each side of the fleet. They were heading straight towards the orbit gate that was surrounding the moon, which would normally spell doom for a bunch of small ships like these, but Kovak had a secret weapon which made him more than confident they would make it through. Before she had been arrested, Trace had been developing a portable EMP that could fit into any ship, that when triggered, could shut off any electronic device that it targeted. And as the ships moved closer, Kovak could see the GDF anti-spacecraft guns targeting them, he hoped that she hadn't been lying about their capabilities. "Activate the EMP, now." Kovak said, and the technician typed a command down on the console, which in turn activated the small device on their hull. A blue pulse came out from the EMP, and the orbit gate's shield, along with any guns on the gate, instantly deactivated, like some plug had been pulled. Now defenceless, the Resistance was able to fly into the planet's atmosphere freely. "Barton, take point!" Kovak said over the radio. When the Renegade didn't fly into position, Kovak spoke again. "Commander Barton, move your ship to the front. That's an order!" The Renegade then did move, just not to where Kovak expected. Instead of weaving through the ships, the large grey dropship instead banked right and disappeared into the clouds. Kovak now spoke to all the Resistance ships. "Attention all crew. We have a mutiny on our hands."

Andress and Bunker flew the Renegade through the clouds, which were strangely growing darker and darker by the minute. The flight itself was also getting rough, and the entire ship was being tossed around like a doll. Andress struggled to keep control, and Nolun looked up from the gunner's chair. "What the hell is going on? We saw clear skies when we arrived!" Andress looked around, and saw that the skies were being lit up randomly by flashes, almost like lighting. "Um...guys? The Pieces are acting really weird..." Trace said from the hangar, and Nolun turned around to see that the Cone and the Cube were now flashing randomly, pulsing rapidly in and out of sync. They know we're here...That strange thought flashed through Nolun's head, then he shook it off as the ship jolted again. "Hang on everyone!" Andress said. "I'm gonna try to get us out of here!" Andress wrestled with the flight stick, and gently tried to ease the Renegade down, out of the cloud cover, but found it was easier said then done. Come on...don't fail me now...Andress found herself whispering to the ship in her head. Then, suddenly, the clouds parted, and a filtered form of sunlight lit up the main cabin. Andress breathed out a sigh of relief, as did everyone else in the cabin. Then, something began to fill up the ship's field of vision quickly, and Andress's eyes widened as she saw a large mountain rearing up towards them. She pulled the stick upwards and to the right, but found the ship was sluggish and slow, unable to pull up in time. "Something in the storm must have drained our power!" Andress saw that they were heading straight for the side of the mountain. They wouldn't hit it head on...but they would still crash. "Get down!" She yelled, and pulled away from the controls. Everyone braced, and Andress felt a pair of hands grab her, and barely managed to register Nolun pulling her out of the chair and covering her with his body. The left wing of the Renegade hit the side of the mountain with force, almost tearing the entire thing off. The force of the collision sent the grey ship spinning in a slow downwards spiral towards the ground, the smoke from it's wing tracing circles in the sky. Then, the ground rushed up towards it fast, and it crashed hard, it's momentum carrying it far across the ground, it's hull leaving a long scar across the desert land. Still smoking, it's remains skidded to a halt, and then stopped, permanently, never to fly again.

Space bent for a brief moment, the laws of physics being ignored for a few seconds, as the procession of gleaming silver and chrome ships appeared out of nowhere. Morticia stood on the bridge of the Independence Zero as the Quantum Drive disengaged, and Moon Base 0-1 suddenly appeared in her vision. Her suspicions that the Resistance had managed to attack were confirmed when she noticed that the orbit gate had been disabled. She turned to the technicians, and spoke clearly, so that everyone on the bridge could hear her. "Mobilize all available ground and air forces. We are taking back this planet. We must not let the Resistance acquire the Tablet or anything else on this planet. If they do, I will hold every living soldier personally responsible for their failures. Is that understood?" Every person on the bridge saluted, and spoke in unison. "Yes, High Monarch!" After the soldiers began to move out and mobilize, Morticia walked over to Gottlieb, and stared him in the eye. "Director, you will be personally be accompanying me to the planet below." Before Gottlieb was about to instinctively refuse, he snapped his jaw shut quickly, and saluted. "Yes, High Monarch." Morticia turned and walked out the door, Gottlieb trailing close behind her. As they walked down to the hangar, several soldiers, technicians, and pilots ran past them every which way, no doubt each of them with a mission that was hardwired into their brains, some figuratively, some literally. As Gottlieb and Morticia reached the hangar, the Elites near her private shuttle saluted, and she nodded back to them as she walked on board. Almost immediately after, the shuttle's boosters activated, and the ship began to take off. Surrounding it were several GDF gunships and Void-class fighters. A small armada of ships were heading towards the planet, and they were all being lead by one woman who was sitting in the most advanced shuttle in the galaxy, who was currently sitting with a hint of a smile on her face.