Chapter 262: Vexical Prime: Really Bad Luck
They could hear sound much more easily now that they were lower in the atmosphere. So they could also hear the whistle of wind and they could see the ground and sky the few times they passed by an opening or window in the hull. But for the most part they were walking closer to the center of the cruiser.
The hull of the cruiser had been all but destroyed. Fortunately the core of the cruiser was still intact otherwise this would be falling apart much more easily.
"Ah! Hot!" Rook yelled in surprise as we walked past another opening.
"Ignore the pain Rook," Jace ordered as he walked right through it. The heat had made the magnetic boots unreliable in spots like this. But he would know if it completely failed. Rook quickly raced after him as he walked down a hall that led towards the central area of the ship.
"How do you deal with it?" Rook asked as they walked forward. Jace did not have a chance to look at his file, but being on the path of Spectre he was still Jace’s junior.
"I could tell you that I have a high pain tolerance, that I just ignore the pain, or that there is always something worse. But if I am being completely honest, my armor is advanced enough that I barely even register something like that." Jace informed him as they started walking into a darker area of the ship. They passed by another escape pod center, this one had launched all of its pods successfully.
The interior of the cruiser got dark enough that they could not see without light. So Rook turned on his helmet’s flashlights and they continued. It was getting darker because they had completely dismantled the main power and likely the backup power had been destroyed during the main attack that had sent the cruiser hurtling toward the ground.
"Why has the Director not reached out to us?" Rook asked as they moved down a corridor that had a number of blood streaks. There were probably bodies at some point but they likely had been pulled out along with the air into the vacuum of space.
"Debris and destruction around the planet and our current location is too heavy. A transmission and channel cannot cut through all of that. So for now we stick our heads under the ground and help where we can. We will stay on the planet until we have new orders. It is why I sent the others back to The Elysium." Jace explained. "Then in a day or so the debris will fall out of orbit and transmissions will get cleaner and easier to send."
"That is..." Rook made a noise that Jace recognized as a smirk with appreciation.
They were coming upon the double doors that led to the hangar when the cruiser shook again and they could hear a screech of metal. They waited a moment for it to calm down and stop shaking. When it did Jace just loudly sighed and did not bother walking forward anymore. He could already see it in the updated schematic he just read.
Rook mumbled half to himself as he stepped forward and slightly pulled open the door. "Don’t tell me..." Once it was partially opened he stopped since on the other side was just the atmosphere and the most rear part of the ship flying away. "There goes the hangars. How many escape pods are there?"
Jace focused for a moment before finding the nearest one we have not checked. But they would have to pick up the pace. He was not worried before. But at this point it was starting to get dangerous. "Come on, we have to hurry." Jace led him towards the escape pods at a quick run.
They moved through the ship and as they arrived at the location Jace clicked his tongue in annoyance. Rook ran in a moment later and stated the obvious. "There is an escape pod!" He called out in surprise.
Unfortunately he did not see the immediate problem that Jace had noticed. "It is an escape pod. But it is only built to seat one person and there is only a single one of them left." Jace pointed out in annoyance.
"Then you should take it?" Rook asked with a twinge of worry in his voice. No matter how experienced it would have been a death sentence to go that route. They could then feel the cruiser shake as more of it fell apart. Jace could see the ship was about to completely fall apart, they were running out of time.
"No," Jace shook his head and pulled off his Dragon’s Breath and fitted it into the storage space for weapons. "You are going to take it. But once you land, follow my squad tracker. My armor will put me in a semi-conscious state if I hit the ground hard enough to kill me. But just a shock of electricity should be enough to wake me up if that happens. But freefalling will destroy any external equipment I have. So you need to take all of this. But make sure you bring them to me." Jace began filling the escape pod with his weapons, ammunition, and his sheathed knife.
Jace stepped back away from the pod. "Sir I can’t-" Jace rolled his eyes as Rook began speaking. Jace just pushed him into the pod and slammed it close. The pod launched away, thankfully despite the spin he managed to go up into the air.
Jace walked back into the hallway and disabled the magnetic locking of his boots. It took a moment of sliding but he was soon flying down one of the hallways. Then as the light approached he stopped sliding his hand along the ground. Instead he formed up into a ball in case he went flying directly into the ground.
He flew out of the cruiser through a hole in the hull. Instead of going straight up or down he was flying horizontally away from the crashing cruiser. Which might have been the best possible result. But even as he felt his body slam into a building and then another he was feeling more annoyed at his own bad luck.