Repayment Part 10

Posted on Wed Apr 18th, 2012 @ 3:02pm by Melody Johnson

2,087 words; about a 10 minute read

Mission: Mission 78 - Colonial Uprising
Location: Capella
Timeline: Current

With Tanner handling the weapons and shields, Melody was able to concentrate on piloting the Blaze. The three ships that were chasing her were equally matched to the Blaze and their pilots were good so Melody had to use every trick she had to stay clear of their weapons' fire. She used the moon and the planet's satellites to her advantage and managed to stay just out of their weapons range as she tried to get to clear enough space that she could go to maximum warp as their ships, according to Blaze's report, were only capable of Warp 4 and the Blaze had been “souped up” so that it would max out at Warp 6.7.

Then one of the ships decided to change the parameters of the chase and began firing photon torpedoes which had a much longer range. The torpedo exploded when it hit one of the satellites Melody was flying extremely close to. The concussion wave hit the Blaze and Melody had to hold on tightly to the control stick to keep it from being jerked out of her hand.

=^=They have locked on to us with their photon torpedoes.=^=

“Really? What gave you the first clue?” Melody said loudly, although not quite yelling, as she barrel rolled out of the path of the next torpedo she knew would follow. “Try to make contact with these SOBs and see why they're chasing us, Tanner. Find out what we did wrong?” she said as she plunged the Blaze into a steep dive then barrel rolled to the right.

Tanner attempted to make contact with their pursuer.

“This is Kor. You have something that a friend of mine wants and my friend always gets what he wants,” came the response.

“Well there's always a first time,” Melody mumbled, more to herself than to anyone else, as she did another barrel roll to avoid another torpedo.

“You might as well give up,” Kor said. “You are out numbered and out gunned.”

Melody reached over to the control panel and hit the communication control and said, “May be. But you're out classed.” With that she headed directly for the planet's surface and accelerated just as a torpedo exploded against the Blaze's rear shields.

=^=Shields at 30%. We can not take another direct hit, Captain.=^=

Capella was a Federation planet so she hoped that the destroyed satellite caught the attention of whatever Star Fleet authority governed the space around the planet and since their pursuers were obviously working outside of the law, they would be chased off. And just in case the owner of the satellite had any questions as to what had blown up their satellite, Melody was going to bring the chase directly to them. All she had to do was get the Blaze and the ships pursuing them into their radar range so they would be detected and she had very little time to do it.

=^=At this rate of speed, Captain, once we hit the planet's atmosphere, gravity will start pulling us toward the planet's surface adding to our velocity and the odds of you being able to control the dive and pull us out of it before hitting the ground are 26,437 to 229.7.=^=

“I always bet on the long shot, Blaze, you know that,” Melody replied and focused on the planet below which was getting increasingly closer by the second.

The Blaze burst into Capella's atmosphere and sped toward the planet. Unfortunately Kor was as fearless as Melody and followed, even though his compadres remained behind. Melody unconsciously chewed on her lower lip as she concentrated totally on the surface of the planet looming ahead of her. At the very last possible second she put both hands on the stick and pulled back as far as it would go and fought to hold it there.

Tanner closed her eyes and held her breath.

At first it seemed as though the Blaze was not responding then the view of the surface of Capella slowly began to change and they could see the horizon. Without needing to check her attitude indicator, Melody used her gut to tell her when they were level and she accelerated. That was when she noticed the reason that no one had come to investigate the two unidentified crafts that just burst through their atmosphere was because she had chosen to aim for an uninhabited area of Capella. Melody was flying close enough to be able to see the terrain below which consisted of canyons, lakes, rivers and random patches of forest with a few mountains thrown in for fun.

“You are good,” Kor's voice broke the silence in the Blaze's cockpit. “I'll give you that. I would like to know who it is I'm going to splatter all over the surface of the planet.”

“Captain Melody Johnson at your service,” Melody said as she barrel rolled to the right and headed for one of the larger canyons below them. “But you can call me Capt. Mel.”

“So. This is truly going to be an honor,” Kor replied. “What a coo it will be to be able to say I took down the famous Captain Mel. It'll definitely look good on my resume.”

Suddenly a photon torpedo exploded against the rear deflector and sparks spewed from a few of the instruments and the lights in the cockpit flickered then went out. The cockpit was lit only by the few controls still working and the sun light coming in the Blaze's windshield. The smell of burning wiring filled the cockpit.

“Blaze! Are you alright, partner?” Melody called out over the noise of the short circuiting wiring. “Blaze? Talk to me, buddy.” When she couldn't get a reply Melody said, “Damn!” She fought with the stick to try and maintain control of her ship. “Hang on everyone. It's going to be a rough landing,” she called out once she realized that they had no choice. It was either attempt to land the Blaze or crash.

Melody spotted a long stretch of open space in one of the canyons so she did her best to head for it. “Sorry about this Blaze ol' pal,” she muttered more to herself than to anyone in particular. She tried to use the Blaze's thrusters to cushion the landing but only one was firing and that wasn't enough. In fact it made controlling the ship even more of a challenge as it threw them off center so she gave up and went for a full on belly landing.

The Blaze hit the ground hard. Access panels fell open...sparks flew....and the sound of rocks tearing at the hull of the ship as it slid uncontrollably along the canyon sounded like the Blaze was screaming. The side of the nose of the ship hit a large boulder causing the ship to careen off of the boulder and so that it now slid sideways along the canyon floor. The force of the Blaze hitting the boulder threw Melody forward with such force that she flew up out of her seat and hit her head against the windshield. The last thing Melody remembered hearing before the blanket of unconsciousness enveloped her was the sound of her beloved ship screaming as it was ripped apart.

Blanketed in soft green grasses and colorful wildflowers, the mountain meadow basks in the warm sunshine. A soft breeze rustles through the trees of the surrounding forest. Sitting on a log at the edge of a pond in the center of the meadow with a stream of mountain spring water feeding it on one end and continuing on the other end is a nine year old girl and her father. Both are holding fishing poles and their red and white bobbles attached to their lines, float lazily on the surface of the water. Suddenly the end of the girl's pole bends toward the water and she jumps to her feet as she begins to reel in her line.

“Pull back on your pole, cailín leanbh,” the father says, calling her the Gaelic translation of baby girl, as he gets up and stands behind his daughter just in case she needs his help.

The girl pulls back, slowly, on her pole then quickly reels more line in as she lets her pole lower back down. The fish on the end of the girl's line puts up a battle but the girl remains focused, patient and persistent and eventually it pays off as the fish is pulled closer to the surface of the water.

The father moves away and grabs their fish net then goes to the water's edge and scoops the large catfish into the net once his daughter pulls her trophy out of the water, letting it hang a few feet from the end of her pole.

The girl jumps up and down and squeals joyfully when the fish is secure in the net and she dances around her father while he dislodges the hook from the fish's mouth and runs their stringer through the fish's gill. When her father puts the stringed fish back into the pond and hooks the other end of the stringer around a sturdy root sticking out of the ground, the girl stands at the edge of the water and stares down at her catch, proudly.

“Good job, cailín leanbh,” the father says and squats down, giving the girl a big hug. “You brought that in like a pro,” he adds, boastfully, and kisses the tip of the girl's nose.

The girl looks into her father's face with love and adoration. Then, suddenly, a strong breeze blows both the girl's baseball cap off and at the same time her father begins to fade.....to become transparent. Slowly the ghostly vision of the girl's father floats backward, away from the girl. She holds her arms out to him and cries, “daddy. Don't go, Daddy. Come back, Daddy, come back. Please.” But the transparent father continues floating away from his daughter and up towards the crystalline blue sky until he is no longer in sight. The girl drops to her knees, turns her face upward and howls....., “DADDY!”

Melody's eyes flew open and she sputtered as she was suddenly drenched with cold water. Her head throbbed and, at first she wondered what was going on. The first thing she became aware of...(besides her throbbing head)...was that her arms were bound behind her and she was strapped to a chair. The second thing she became aware of was that someone was standing directly in front of her. When she looked up she was only able to see through one eye as the other one was swollen shut but she saw that the person standing in front of her was a large humanoid male and he was glaring down at her.

“Where is it?” The man demanded.

“Where is what?” Melody asked glaring up at the man with her one good eye.

“The formula and schematics,” the man snapped, impatiently.

“Where's my ship?” Melody hissed back. “And my crew.”

The man doubled up his fist and back handed Melody, hard and her head snapped to the side. “I ask the questions,” the man hissed.

For a few seconds Melody literally saw stars and thought she was going to black out.

“Tell me where it is,” the man demanded again.

When Melody realized she wasn't she spat blood from her mouth and quickly looked back at her assailant and glared up at him. “I don't know what you're talking about,” she said, adamantly.

“You're lying,” the man snarled and back handed her again.

Melody spat out more blood then slowly looked back up at her assailant. “Don't do that again,” she warned softly as she glared at the man. The man raised his fist, this time to deliver a full on punch instead of a backhand.

“STOP!” came an order from behind the man and Melody's assailant froze and looked over his shoulder. “You kill her and we'll never find out where it is. Put her in the cell with the other one,” commanded the voice in the shadows behind Melody's assailant.

Melody was released from the chair and rug down a corridor to a circular room with several small cells with force fielded doors situated around a central control console. The humanoid male standing at the console pressed a few buttons and one of the force fields shut off. Melody's captors drug her through the doorway and tossed her, unceremoniously into the cell.

To be continued

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