An old friend's revenge

[equinosz]

The battering on the hull almost ceased as the attackers concentrated on the Storm. The Pilgrim liner reached the atmosphere of the planet and started a very steep diving. Even with all the power directed to the front shield the hull started to overheat very fast. Several pieces were torn apart from the damaged areas and fires started.

-Captain, the coalition battleship is getting raped very hard.

Just as the radioman said his words the AI drone turned 180 degrees almost colliding with the chasers. As they saw the drone racing towards them they quickly changed their target and started evasive manoeuvres. This bought enough time for the other two vessels to reach a rather safe distance. Although a few plasma clusters burned through the hull of the drone it started descending and in a few seconds it reached the cloud layer.

The Equinox was closing to the ground at a speed much higher than a normal landing would require. The navigator found a big enough island, the whole covered with a very dense jungle, which can defend them from airborne attacks. Half of the planetary engines were not even working. Still the pilot managed to pull up at the height of 1000 meters and when the vessel reached the surface it was already in a very low angle, destroying the vegetation through hundreds of meters, until it finally stopped. The front of the liner was so damaged that it couldn't be recognized as a former space vessel.

-I want an immediate report of the casualties. Also someone scan the surroundings and look for a defensible position!

The gunboat was being ripped apart by the enemy fire and Dmitriy almost gave up his last hope, when suddenly the hull received no further damage.

-The drone was able to distract them!

-Quickly race towards the surface! Also, open the emergency frequency to home.

The captain of the gunboat summed up the situation in a few sentences then gave the possible location of the crash landing and sent the message. He was hoping that their enemy were not blocking the ultra low frequency. Even this way if the High Command sends someone to rescue them, if they can survive the crash at all, it would take at least a day to reach them.

The surface of the planet was closing at a high speed and they could see the liner hitting the ground to their left. The vessel hit the jungle breaking a few trees in half, but finally a thicker one stopped it. The hull of the ship was opened like tin with an opener and started diving the remaining thirty meters horizontally.

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Research is to see what everybody else has seen, and to think what nobody else has thought.