The Beginning of the End of New Lork Part 11

9

“Fasten your harness Mr. Riobeck shuttles don’t maintain gravity.” The pilot was trying to be helpful, but Riobeck wanted to smack him.  Riobeck really didn’t want to be on a shuttle at all, he wanted to be back in his cubicle in a dress shirt and pants.  Now he was in a shuttle, wearing a flight suit about to descend to New Lork to personally oversee Deliah Cashe’s capture. Riobeck had thought telling his superior about her shifting capabilities would be a good thing, there had been a bounty established intercompany for years for any live shifter caught. Instead of a thank you, or a good job, he was told to personally handle things on the ground! Riobeck suspected his superior was planning on trying to kill him off to claim the bounty himself.

The shuttle bay doors opened, Riobeck felt queasy as the shuttle maneuvered itself out of the bay and into the zero g environment.  Space travel always was unnerving to Riobeck, it was just too quiet.  He looked back at the Drydek ship with dread; he feared he wouldn’t be returning. While glancing back he noticed a dark shadow blotting out part of the sun, at first he thought his eyes may have been playing tricks, right until the Dydek ship exploded. The ship was hit almost dead center with some kind of energy weapon, the oxygen inside briefly causing a small flaring explosion. The two halves of the formerly intact ship twirled in silence.  Riobeck could hear klaxons flaring all around the pilot. The shadow came closer,  it was a much larger warship than the Drydek vessel it had just annihilated.

“What should I do sir?” The pilot’s voice had a tinge of panic in it.

“Get to the fucking planet you idiot!” Riobeck screamed at him.  The shuttle shot forward, Riobeck almost threw up with the sudden force of being rocked into his seat.  For thirty terrifying seconds the shuttle hung above the planet, and then they hit the atmosphere, gravity returned with a shock.  A new klaxon flared up on the pilot’s console.

“They’ve got a missile lock!” The pilot banked the ship hard to the right, Riobeck heard a deafening blast and then the world went silent.