The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire.
- Anonym
Far from the current progress being done on the unfamiliar planet, the command deck on the ‘Eagle’s Nest’ was bursting with activity. Officers running around, yelling orders at others, looking at their screens while wearing earpieces.
“Hercules One, you are clear to land at site bravo. Over.” Chimed an officer into his mic.
“Sir! Hercules Three is off course! They missed the reentry point!” Yelled another officer across the deck.
“I got it!” Replied a third officer, “Hercules Three, report in! Your transponder is showing us you missed the reentry point. Over.”
“This is Hercules Three. We hear you, and yes we did under calculate the burn. But, we are getting back on course now, and just entered the lower atmosphere. Over.”
“Okay Hercules Three, just keep your eyes open and don’t do it again. You gave us a scare there. Over.” Responded the officer.
“Roger that, we’ll remember to calculate the extra cargo next time. Also, my copilot and I are seeing some weird clouds over here. Please advise. Over.” Questioned Hercules Three.
“Clouds? Well, sensors are still not fully functioning. We can’t see anything live. I’m sure it’s fine. Over.” Responded the officer.
“Okay. I’m just saying, these things don’t look natural. It almost looks like, a fucking…? Oh shit! Hard left! NOW!” Screamed Hercules Three though the radio.
“Hercules Three, what’s going on down there?! Come in! Over!” Franticly questioning the officer. After a few moments that felt like years for the officer, the radio responded.
“This is Hercules Three! We just got hit by something in the clouds! I have no idea what it was but I think something got jammed in the intake! Engine three is on fire! Rudders and Ailerons on the right rear wing are not responding! I’m having trouble keeping the ship stable! Erickson! Extinguishers! We got to get this thing under control!”
“Hercules Three! Come in! Do you have control of the ship yet?! Hercules Three?!” Rapidly questioned the officer.
“This is Hercules Three. It seems like we have the ship under control now. The rear right ailerons still are not fully responding, but the fire is mostly gone and we’re nearing the large mountain close to the landing site.” The large shuttle of Hercules Three trudged along the blue sky with a thick black smoke trail behind them, slightly tipped to the right side. “Looks like we’re in the clear. We will keep you updated Eagle’s Nest.” Confirmed Hercules Three. “What the-? Erickson what is that? Shit! Cut the fuel flow! NOW! Befo-!” The radio cuts out after the sound of an explosion. “Eagle’s Nest! Engine three just blew out a piece of the rear ailerons!”
“Roger that Hercules Three! Activate your transponder and keep trying to regain control. We will contact nearby support in the meantime.” Calmly ordered the officer.
“Transponder active! I don’t think I’m going to be able to pull the shuttle out of this!” Shouted Hercules Three.
“Roger tha-“
“SHIT! We’re starting to go into a nosedive! COME ON YOU FAT BITCH! PULL UP!! We’re going down! I repeat, we’re going down! Brace! SHI-!” The radio cut out with a few seconds of static, before completely cutting out. Majority of the officers at that point had stopped what they we’re doing and we’re frozen by what they had just heard. A minute passed, then one spoke out against the silence…
“Get the Captain, NOW.”
“We’re going down! I repeat, we’re going down! Brace! SHIT!” The large cargo ship slammed into the ground with a large ‘BOOM!’ as the whole ship rolled slightly onto it’s right side and carved into the ground with a trail of debris and fire left in its wake. The large metal scrap slowed to a halt and groaned from the intense beating. Much of the contents in the cargo bay was thrown about in the trench created from the large vessel, while the two pilots sat in their seats, motionless. A tall cloud of smoke was forming from the vessel, as a small fire in the rear started to grow and eat the remainder of the rear of the ship. All was silent around the large vessel, the only sound that could be heard was the crackling of the flames and the groaning of the beaten ship. One of the pilots then started to stir, and slowly opened his eyes.
“Ah man… My head… Shit, Erick? Hey? You alright? Damn, fucking crash broke my visor. Got to get this stupid thing off.” With a click and a twist, the helmet was lifted off the pilot’s head and fell to the ground. The helmet rolled over to show a name tag marked ‘King’ on the top left of the helmet, while the awake pilot unbuckled and moved to get out of his seat toward the other pilot. King unbuckled Erick and took off his helmet. He reached down to the other pilot’s neck to check for a pulse… Still strong. He lifted him up and out of the seat.
“Whaa… What happened? King? What hap- Ow! Fuck! My leg!” Yelled Erick while looking down at his left leg to see a piece of metal jammed in the front left side of his suit. The metal shard was crooked and bent, with some red barely seen in the light shining through the front windshield.
“Shit. Okay, I know it hurts, but we have to get out of this ship. Can you still walk with my help?” Calmly asked King. Erick looked up at King and slowly shook his head before wrapping his arm around King’s shoulder, with King doing the same to Erickson. The two stumbled and slowly trudged through what was left of the crooked, torn, and burning ship. King stopped a little distance from the cockpit and reached out with his free arm to turn a few switches, that then opened a small hatch, and grabbed a small bag which he then threw over his back.
“Hey, King? Shit… Can you make sure you got the med-kit? My leg fucking hurts.” Panicky asked Erick.
“Yeah, it’s in here.” Answered King while using his free hand to point to his bag. The two started to walk through the ship again, obviously looking for a non-burning, functioning, door. Finally, the two reached the far left side of the ship, where an auxiliary door could be seen. King moved the locking mechanism to the unlock position, and gave the door a heavy shove to pop the door open, to then find that the door was still a couple feet above the ground.
Erick stopped, and stared downward judging the distance, then looking at his injured leg, “I don’t think I can make that…”
“We have to. Come on, I’ll jump down first, then you can get down. It’s okay, you’ll be fine.” Reassured King. King jumped down with a solid ‘thud’ then turned around and reached upward, “okay, just slowly try to drop down. I’ll help you.” Assured King.
Erick slowly moved downward with King’s help and stood back up. Erick grimaced in pain as he started to move again and had to lean more to his left for King to support him.
The two walked away from the ship until they were a good 100-150 meters away from the ship. The two sat down to rest and try to get ahold of what they could do. King reached to his right side to pull out his sidearm and then to his left to search for his short range radio. While Erick sat there, looking at the burning heap that was their ride down to the planet. After a few failed attempts to contact anyone nearby, King loaded his first of two total magazines into the gun and cocked it. King stood up and looked around, trying to maybe spot anyone or anything else. He had heard that there was buildings, or structures of some kind spotted, but wasn’t very sure since most rumors end up being stretched or total bogus. They were close to the landing site, just to the southeast of their position, at least it was when they checked the map right before going down. “Maybe we could just walk?” Thought King, “even with Erick’s injured leg, it shouldn’t be that hard.” Then one other thing took priority in king’s mind, “what the hell was that noise?”