It's unknown how long Leo was unconscious – maybe ten minutes or maybe several hours. His mind became confused, the line between illusion and reality almost blurred.
Serre thought he was back on board the glorious Battleship Marseille, listening to the admiral's passionate speech about their great mission, how Kingdom and King himself are almighty. Then he thought he was doing the right thing - he just wanted to bite off his little piece of the glory cake. glory worthy of a Gallic Royal Navy officer. Even now Leo heard a voice whispering of his own power to make Gallia powerful and mighty again, that the Gallic Union was weak to accept its own conqueror's nature.
“...Come to us, Admiral Serre...We will teach you...We will make your people be proud of you...All will praise and pray for you...Just stretch out your hand and the universe is yours...”
Suddenly he felt a warm wave gently surround his consciousness. The whispering gradually subsided, changed to a furious hiss for a second, and completely vanished. Leo opened his eyes when the cool wind blew in his face, but could see almost nothing in such darkness.
- Merde, my head is blowing... - the guy tried to search for any light source, but there was almost nothing working on the ship. Pressing buttons on the panel gave him no result. After looking around the ship, Leo found a headlamp in the cockpit. - Good lord, I hope this thing works.
He turned on the lantern and bright light filled the cockpit of the wrecked “Sabre”. The first thing he saw was the girl behind the pilot's seat, also unconscious. Leo Leo immediately jumped up to her and laid her body down to search for injuries. Fortunately, the safety system in the cabin prevented them from injuring themselves and she didn't seem traumatized. Katya has a pulse and breathing, giving Serre a chance to exhale in relief – she is alive. He looked around to drop in their backpack anything they might need in this hostile world. The backpack was assembled back on the battleship Amenta at Katya and Sally's request because they didn't know what to expect during their trip. Leo removed datadisk and blackbox out of the ship. Blackbox is too heavy and large for carrying in hands and must be broken.
Leo heard a moan when he finished work with datadisk – Katya awoke.
- Ч-что за чёртовщина происходит?...(//W-what the hell is going on?...)Leo, is that y-you? - she said quietly trying to get up. - Katya, yes, it's me, tell me you are okay. Does it hurt anything?
- It seems I hurt my back and side...But nothing serious...Where are we, Leo?
- I don't know, but it looks like we're deep below the surface Hascosay. We are lucky – we can breathe here, so this moon has oxygen.
- Why do you think so? We are still inside our “Sabre”.
Leo pointed to the front window of the cockpit – the glass was broken: - We would be dead if it was the opposite.
- Huh, I see. Then let's get out of the ship.
- The cockpit's wiper is jammed, I can't even open the door to the outside the emergency way. Take the second lantern and check our backpack – I am going to try to break the window somehow.
Leo picked up a broken iron bar and began beating on the edges of the window in an attempt to break it from the hull. Meanwhile, Katya turned on the second flashlight and opened the backpack again. In the end, the window peeled away from the ship and fell to the ground with a crack. Serre climbed out of the ship and jumped down. Rogozina dropped her backpack and jumped out after it in Serre's hands. And Katya suddenly hit the guy hard on the shoulder. - Hey, why did you hit me?!
- You are the reason why we are stuck here! - she shouted indignantly and turned away, crossing her arms over her chest.
- Excusez-moi? I didn't ask those two to turn us into guinea pigs for their guns, and I saved us from turning into juicy pancakes on ice.
Katya didn't respond. Leo decided to light the ship and assess the damage of the fighter.
- So...Wings are broken, the vertical stabilizer is curved, many details are lost, window is cracked and ship itself is pinned by rocks. “Sabre” is now nothing more than a piece of scrap metal.
- Ideas, great gallic virtuoso?
- Ideas, you say...Yes, I have one. Remember the council pilot that was alongside Auxesian? The ship has left Hascosay meaning there are human bases on it. We can try to walk through these caves and reach one of the bases, find a transporter and take off this moon. What do you think, Katya?
- Another crazy plan? I would rather say “no”, but since we have no choice...Alright, we have food for the next four or five days – you, Order guys, have impressive compact briquettes. Where do you get them from?
- Ask them once we return home.
The couple looked deep into the cave and wondered what dangers awaited them ahead.
