Pixie Hazard by Archibald Bradford (top young adult novels .txt) 📕

Barely maintaining her cool until now, Maria had heard enough.

“That’s your plan?!” She shouted; “That’s fucking insane!”

“Stow it!” The captain shouted right back and snatched the communicator from her before giving Eniella a nod; “Do it. Reeves, match up the trajectories like she said. Maria, you wanna help? Go stuff Other Reeves into her armour. Who knows, we might need someone outside before this is over.”

The blonde looked ready to argue, but she quickly realized that there was simply no better option than the one that Eniella had proposed.

“You just threw this fish into the ocean, now you wanna scuttle the ship to get him back?” Eva remarked drily, then shrugged as if she had nothing better to do; “Come help me get dressed. But for the record: if anyone is ‘Other Reeves’, it’s Davie.”

No matter how callous she acted, she considered Maria to be her best friend, and after the conversation in the infirmary she knew how much she had grown to care for Bryan.

Meanwhile Donnie brought the coms unit back to her mouth and did her best to sound professional.

“Andromeda Promise, we’re about to do something really stupid to try and save that lifeboat, please don’t shoot us.”

There was a pregnant pause before the other commander came back in a solemn tone.

“Good luck Pixie.”

Chapter 38:Heroics

As the Pixie chased after the doomed lifeboat, one thing became crystal clear: They weren’t going to make it before she entered Lewanna’s atmosphere.

“We’re alongside her now, but we’re going too fast.” Davie warned; “We’ll have to give her a piggy-back down Skip. Which will officially be the stupidest thing we’ve ever attempted.”

“Appreciate the optimism.” Donnie replied flatly.

“Just telling it like it is.”

“Lining up a shot now, keep her steady for me baby.” Eniella broke in.

“I’m trying, like I said, this is very stup-”

“Do your best then, because if my aim is off by even two degrees the round will rip a chunk of their armour off and kill everyone onboard.”

“No pressure then.” Donnie mumbled to herself, not wanting to distract either of them at this point.

Eniella fired, the other two women in the cockpit holding their breath while they waited on the outcome.

“Mierda, just wide. Hold her still Davie!”

But despite her protests the Pixie was beginning to vibrate from the thin gas of Lewanna’s upper atmosphere.

“We’re into the exosphere, it’s only going to get worse. You’re on borrowed time here lady-love.”

Eniella cursed again as she adjusted her aim.

She fired twice more, missing both times, then sucked in a sharp breath when her third shot landed.

“I imagine they felt that.” She paused for a second as she checked her scopes; “Okay, she’s still alive, and it’s working: that slowed her spin a lot! Gunna give her another kiss.”

Both Davie and the skipper were silent now, waiting with bated breath on the outcome of Eniella’s gambit.

She fired again, her eyelids twitching as the steadily worsening vibration of the Pixie’s descent caused her to miss once more.

With a deep breath she lined up for his next shot, the vibration almost too much at this point.

“She just needs one more decent shove...”

She fired.

A moment later she was nodding her head and smiling wide.

“That did it! She’s wobbling like crazy now so I definitely can’t risk another but she won’t shred the Pixie anymore. Probably.”

Donnie patted her on the shoulder.

“Reeves get underneath them, how far to Lewanna?”

“We’re in the thermosphere now, we’ll hit the Karman Line in twenty seconds.”

Not for the first time since they hatched this scheme, Donnie had second thoughts.

“We’re in position, it’s now or never Skip.” The pilot said expectantly.

With time running out, the captain shook off her reservations.

“Do it!”

Davie got her hands in place on the flight controls, then activated the ship’s intercom.

“All hands brace for impact! We’re gunna feel this. Eight seconds.”

“Skipper, get in my lap, those handles aren’t going to cut it!” Eniella called over her shoulder.

Donnie leapt on top of her without complaint.

“Oof, you need to lay off the butter. Fatty.”

“Three seconds!”

Eniella’s robotic arm wrapped around Donnie’s midsection, firmly holding her in place against the harnessed woman.

“We survive this I’m going to feed you a stick of butter you cun-”

A resounding crash made their bones shake as the Pixie lurched under the weight of the lifeboat’s impact. If Eniella hadn’t been holding her in place Donnie would have flown up and hit the ceiling, as it was it felt like someone had hit her in the pelvis with an iron bar.

Eniella had it worse though when the back of the captain’s head smacked into her face with a grizzly crunch.

“Puta madre my nose!”

Her cursing could be heard even over the blaring alarms screaming at them as Davie frantically struggled to get a handle on the Pixie’s descent.

“Tell me a story Reeves!” Donnie called out while gripping Eniella’s arm tight.

The ship was shaking worse than any drop they’d ever performed, but they weren’t dead yet.

“The added weight is an enormous strain, thrusters already at maximum!” Davie said tensely; “I’m holding attitude for the drop, but barely, and if the Pixie flips over we’ll spin in and it won’t just be the lifeboat that bites it!”

“Tell me shit like that once it’s over!” Donnie complained.

“You asked! Now kindly shut up!” The redhead countered before activating the ship’s emergency channel; “Mayday mayday mayday! This is the Pixie Hazard, we caught the lifeboat but we are going in. I repeat: mayday-”

As the pilot continued to repeat her emergency message to the Andromeda Promise in orbit as well as the planet at large, Donnie turned in place to check on Eniella.

“How about you sweetness? You still with us?”

The FCO groaned into her