It began to feel like a giant hammer was trying to pound its way out of my head. I was beginning to see spots and was feeling faint. I steadied myself and glared at the gauge.
I muscled my way past the Air Defense squadron. It was a miracle I didn’t crash into any of them.
The shadow appeared in the middle of the view screen. Beyond him I could see the fuel base tanks.
I grasped the targeting lever tightly. I only had one chance. If I missed, I was done for. My palms were sweaty. I stared at the targeting screen through my blurring vision. The fuel light started blinking brightly, and a loud beep sounded. At this acceleration, I had thirty seconds before I would no longer be able to fly. I cut my altitude at eight hundred meters. My targeting screen was a white frame where two entities were about to converge. Almost there. Almost to the target spot.
And then—
Suddenly the gauges went nuts. They weren’t working right. They were all putting out nonsense. Not one single meter was correct. The targeting screen was now just static, and was no use to me. I didn’t know my altitude or direction.
The control lever stopped responding. My acceleration immediately dropped.
The Shooter suddenly did a 180 degree turn. I felt a strong G pull from my lower back down. The horizon disappeared from my field of vision. The blue sky was gone.
“That damn son-of-a—”
My blood was boiling. This was Mugi. Mugi was doing this. He’s the only one who could manipulate my ship like this.
At least that was my opinion.
The shadow exploded.
I was bathed in a white light. My ears erupted with the roar of the explosion. The shooter was thrown off balance, and was sent spinning like a drill bit. I had no control over the flyer. The Shooter stalled.
Again, a shockwave plowed through the air. But not just one. A second, then a third came in succession. The last one was about a million times louder than the first, a truly devastating sound.
What was this? What did it mean…?
No time to think. I was plummeting to the ground.
I pulled the lever back with all my strength, tossing out the vernier scale. Now! All at once, the Shooter leveled out.
Waa!
I was in shock. The bottom of the ship slid over the tips of the blades of grass. I closed my eyes and fiddled with my vernier scale.
I was tossed up with a bump. The Shooter hit something. Its midsection had hit the ground. It could technically be called an emergency landing, but was probably closer to a crash landing.
The Shooter glided over a kilometer on the green grass. The engine was not only dead, but in several pieces.
Luckily, since there was no fuel, there was no fire. With most of the fuselage torn off, the Shooter came to a stop. Basically all that was left was the cockpit, but I wasn’t hurt badly.
For the moment, I couldn’t move. I was barely conscious.
Yuri’s Shooter came sliding in next to mine. Hers was a true emergency landing. There was no major damage to her ship.
“Kei!”
I could hear her voice through the communicator. Apparently the communicator had a back-up battery.
“It’s all clear,” I replied. I then sprung open the canopy.
My upper half woke up, and to stretch my muscles I twisted my body.
I couldn’t move.
My blood ran cold.
It was burning. The fuel base was engulfed in gigantic crimson flames! Half of the horizon was a bright red. Here and there new explosions occurred.
“A bunch of the Air Defense fighters crashed and burned,” Yuri commented over the communicator.
“They were in formation when the shockwave hit, so they crashed into each other. It’s because the shadow was luring the Air Force and us in. That was his target.”
To make a long story short, he sacrificed himself in an effort to kill us. Sensing this course of events, Mugi knocked my Shooter out of danger’s path. However the highly concentrated formation of Air Defense fighters weren’t so lucky.
“Now what do we do?” asked Yuri.
What do we do? The fuel base is destroyed. A disaster like this?! What can we do?!
“I’ll ask the chief,” I said.
“Is the chief still alive?”
“If we call him, we can see.”
I grabbed the communicator and entered the calling code for the department chief.
“—is Soranaka.”
Surprisingly, the chief answered. How stubborn! How gruff! He had almost died!
“This is Kei, sir,” I let him know. This communicator doesn’t have a video screen.
“Why, you—!” The chief’s voice suddenly changed. There was a tension-filled high-pitched crackle now.
“What happened? Or should I ask, what disaster have you initiated?” he asked, hastily.
“Nothing…,” I responded.
“The shadows were suicide bombers.”
“Which is why Danp Yu is in crisis and the fuel base is going up in flames?”
“Correct, sir.”
“Enough!” the chief yelled, almost loud enough to break the communicator.
“Get out of here! Now! Even though the space port is shut down, I will make a special exception for the departure of Lovely Angel. Get your ass to Chakra. And don’t come back! Get the hell away from Lyonesse!”
Crackle.
The communicator cut off.
I tried to hail him again, but there was no answer.
“Kei…”
The voice called from behind me. It was Yuri. She had unlatched her canopy and was looking at me.
“Let’s do what he says.”
I shrugged my shoulders. I agreed with that way of thinking. Maybe if we followed orders without putting up a fuss he would eventually cool down.
“Mgyaa…”
Mugi gave a murmur from somewhere. All of a sudden he popped up and laid his front paws on what was left of my Shooter, his big jet-black face came from out of nowhere as he gave a yelp.
“You did it, you big furball!”
I stroked Mugi’s neck. Mugi purred with satisfaction, and his feelers drooped as he drew in closer to me.
“The space port is that way,” said Yuri as she popped out of her Shooter and pointed north. It was beyond the fuel base, which was completely enshrouded in thick flame.
“C’mon, Mugi,” I said. “I called an air car, but for some reason it hasn’t come.”
“I know…,” said Yuri, nodding.
We climbed onto Mugi’s back.
It really was a depressing scene.