Lucky At Last by Joshua James

Author:Joshua James [James, Joshua]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Down7media llc
Published: 2019-09-08T16:00:00+00:00

24

The dropship was one of the Empire’s most iconic designs. Early models were known as coffins and there was a good reason. Not only did they look like a good box to die in, but all too often that’s what would happen.

But over time, the design had improved. The control surfaces were refined and reduced. The electronics hardened. The shell of the ship reinforced and designed to be fabricated as a single dura-metal husk with a pair of long load-bearing beams that ran the bottom of the ship and wrapped around to the top.

Even if the hardened electronics were somehow compromised, the paired tubes that ran along the main supports could supply physical linkage to space and aeronautic characteristics, such that the ship could fly even with all power lost.

The beams were built to withstand a multi-ton warhead impact and still retain their shape. They were built to bend almost until the top and bottom beams touched before they would actually break.

Both support beams on the ancient dropship snapped like twigs when the ship smashed belly first into the hillside.

As it bounced upward, the broken, downward thrusting engine assembly that Hector had jury rigged together with spit and prayers kept firing at full thrust, even though the commands to the thrusters were no longer being sent.

The result was that the ship, which was risen into the air like a wild, spinning top, again took on those characteristics as it slipped over the hillside.

The interior of the dropship was collapsed inward to such an extent that there was now a ridge of about 4-feet in height of broken and upturned metal grating along the central portion of the interior cabin.

Those sitting in the jumpseats on one side of the ship would barely be able to see over the newly formed mountain range of jumbled floor grating to those who were in the other set of jumpseats.

Of course, only two people had actually been in the seats. Merlin and Anna. Along with Jiang, who was still strapped into the cannon mount which had somehow bent outward so that the whole assembly now faced downward at a 45-degree angle but still hadn’t snapped off, they were the only people outside of Lucky and Dabs in the main cockpit who had been strapped in.

Knives, Spider, Malby, and Meathead had done various impersonations of corks on the waves of the universe when the ship had smashed into the hill, and then began its wild spinning around on the other side of the hill.

Everyone on the ship was unconscious for a moment. Lucky was one of the first to come around, feeling a continuous stream of combat stims getting shoved into his body as he did so. He could feel Rocky goosing him over and over.

“Welcome back, sleeping beauty,” she said. “How about you get your hands on the stick.”

Lucky stared forward, his eyes unfocused and the world a soft blur motion spinning around him.

“And don’t mean that as dirty as it came out,” Rocky said.

“What

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