62. Landing
1232 Words
We wake up in the morning and go to his office again. We ignore the warships flying around outside the plane.
"I have a question, love. You said the cargo ships will be able to land on planets?"
"Yes."
"Then I want the war carrier to be able to land on a planet as well. I could open up on the bottom level and release a million brains."
"Let's do that. But I also want 5,000 war ships on them. For problems in space. Table, can you show us a war carrier landing and deploying on a random planet please."
We see a part of a planet appear on the table. Then a ship lands and the doors open like ramps to the earth. A s**t ton of brains come running out of it.
"I love that. We get enough ships like that we could take a planet by force. Win any war."
"Yea we could." Then another level of doors slide open. We stop talking and stare at the ship. The warships come flying out of it.
He coughs. "THEY CAN FLY ON PLANETS?"
"Yes sir."
"Can we land this ship on a planet?"
"The atmospheric pressure would have to be low for the landing to be smooth. Otherwise, the ship would slam into the earth."
"What's the closest planet we could land easily on?"
"Searching."
"You going to land us, love?"
"I want to fly close to the ground, baby. I bet that is so different."
"I'm sure it is. Just don't hit the ground. Fairly certain you would blow up or be ripped apart."
"That is true. We'll be careful and not hit anything."
"You better. I have an idea for another mission too."
"What's that?"
"You know the laser wars? I was thinking that, but except putting you against each other put you against an AI flying a ship. We would set it to not fire on you. I want to see how much they can take before the shield really fails and stuff like that."
"Johen would be good to test that too. That boy can really fly."
"You both can."
"16 minutes in hyperspace is the nearest soft land planet with enough gravitational pull to hold the ships. It is not inhabited by humans."
"Perfect. Are they all in our warships out there?"
"Yes sir."
"Take over and pull them back."
"Yes sir."
I get up to the command area. Nadine and Elroy are sitting in it. She smiles. "They are having so much fun out there."
"Yea, we're about to do a training run though. Who do we have of yours?"
"My boys and Kane."
"We'll see if they want to go. Who of mine are out there?"
Elroy watches the screen. "Everyone but your parents are out there. Your parents are on the planet."
"Airlock complete."
"I want to see the training mission even if they don't join, please?"
Alden smiles. "Sure. Jump us into hyperspace."
"Yes sir."
I hit the orange button. A chime goes off. "Good morning, this is your command. Please enjoy a 15-minute break then report to the command area. You will be briefed about today's training run then." Chimes go off again.
15 minutes later, everyone is sitting around the command area. Then we drop out of hyperspace. Alden winks at me and I stand up.
Nadine jumps up. "I'm so excited. I've only heard some stuff you all do. I really want to see this."
Dipak pulls her down into his lap.
I smile. "Today's missions are different. Warships can fly in a planet's atmosphere. Meaning. You can get close to the planet with them. You are going to be flying near the planet's surface. We need to test maneuverability in atmospheric conditions. We'll be able to analyze the data after you are done. The planet we are on has no human life. However, the rules of engagement are the same, if you engage or lock on to another ship or my ship with weapons, we will remove you. So, go out there, fly around. Twist and turn. Fly straight up and straight down. Do not hit anything big. Do not engage weapons on anything unless you know my ships will not be hurt. You're all smart and I know you can make decisions on that." Everyone nods. "Great, this will be mission 1. Give us a few minutes to land."
"You're landing this?" Tye jumps up.
"Well I am." Alden smiles and puts on a headset. Then Elek, Elroy, Victor, and Tobias do too. Those 4 go up to the front controls.
"Last time Tye had to land we nearly blew up." Nadine's eyes are so big and she clinging to Dipak.
"Don't panic. I'll explain once we're down, but it's not dangerous here."
Everyone watches out the windows as the planet gets closer, then we touch down. "Perfect. Good job everyone. Thank you. Landing gear down." Alden takes the headset off and the ship creaks and balances itself. He walks over, "Now what happened?"
"Tye landed us and we almost blew up. We didn't even know if we would live."
Alden nods. "Different planets have different atmospheric conditions. This planet is what's considered an easy landing spot. All I had to do was land nice and easy. But landing on our planet or yours, we would probably slam into the planet and explode in a billion pieces."
"That's why we had to travel to get here. It's the closest easy landing spot to your planet. It was still further away than 15 minutes in hyperspace."
Alden kisses my head. "No way I would try to land on another type unless it was an emergency. All I had to do was sit us down here. If Tye landed on another type of planet, then that took some real skill."
"It did. Everything was overheating and he was running all over. It was so stressful."
"I bet. Can I get a copy of the report of that? I would love to look over it. I bet the charts were everywhere."
Dipak nods, "Yea, we'll get it for you."
"Sounds good. If you're going on this mission, we have never been here before. Use extreme caution. There is life on this planet. There are no humans on this planet. Do not destroy everything but have some fun and get us some read-outs to look over. Head down to the warship bay and get a ship if you're participating. If you're not flying, you are welcome to sit here and watch them run everything."
Nadine jumps up with her hand up. "CAN I FLY TOO?"
Alden shakes his head. "Not my decision. But the rules would be the same for you. Do not engage weapons or locks on my ship or the warships, we will remove you."
"I won't. I promise. I'll just fly in a circle."
"Discuss it with your mates. Not me. Let's go."
Everyone leaves but me and Elroy.
"Elroy, we're the only people not insane. They keep going out flying war weapons and shooting at each other. How is that fun?"
"No idea. I'd rather not have a rocket strapped to my ass in the middle of space though."
"That could be 1 hell of a ride."
We laugh as the brain comes over. "They are all in ships. Airlock started. 2:30 before the doors open."
- Writer
