Chapter Four

Year 82 of the Wraith War

Galeb held on as the front of the Nona began to glow a bright red. The hull began to melt and break away as the destroyer plumitted through the atmosphere towards the planet Galinishi. Several sections became dislodged and were torn from the hull of the Nona. The crewmembers inside were killed almost instantly when fire darted inside the tears through the hull and consumed everything inside of the compartments.

"Helm, lower our approach angle or we'll burn up!"

The ship rocked as a piece was dislodged and it broke apart scattering millions of pieces of debris and bodies into the atmosphere of the planet. The bridge started to fill with smoke as more of the hull continued to grow hotter and hotter.The ship slowly began to tilt more upward as the helmsman fought against the gravity of the planet. The ship broke through the atmosphere doing MACH 18, and it zoomed towards the ground at that incredible speed.

Galeb stumbled across the bridge through the thick white smoke and heat to get to the helmsman. He reached the man and saw that he was fighting the gravity of the planet just to keep the ship in one piece. Galeb began to press buttons and tell the computer what to do. The ships braking thrusters fired and the ship began to slow as it continued to dive for the planets surface. The hud blinked as its power was running out, Galeb continued to tell the computer to compensate for the breaking up and the extreme deceleration.

He pressed a button and the hud transformed showing the view from the front of the Nona, the ground was growing bigger and bigger with every second. The thrusters continued to push back against the gravity and inertia, but they weren't strong enough to slow the ship completely down. Galeb looked around the smoke filled bridge and at the other crewmen, he had served with some of them for over ten years. They were like a family and now most of the other crewmembers were dead or dying. Galeb doubted they would survive the impact of the ship slamming into the ground at its extreme velocity. The other crewmembers frowned and watched the screen as the ship continued to fall. Galeb turned and punched several buttons straightening out the approach angle of the Nona, it would now skip like a rock on water when it hit the ground. He grabbed onto the console and watched the screen.

The Nona hit the ground at twenty two hundred kilometers an hour. What remained of the bottom decks crumpled inward and crushed everything inside of them. Sparks flew and fires errupted out of the hull as the Nona bounced and came down a second time on the ground. Parts exploded off and flew randomly into the air, they would land several miles away from the crashed ship. The craft lifted into the air once more and came down crushing more decks and killing the crewmen who occupied them. Several explosions blasted out of the hull as drones were crushed and detonated inside the ships launchers. The Nona began to skid across the ground as several fires blazed on what remained of the Lantian destroyer. The ship continued to slide until its front impacted a cliff face and the ship was drawn to a complete stop, the ships sides cracked and people were thrown forwards by the inertia of the impact.

"Sir...sir, are you alright?"

Galeb slowly opened his eyes and was gazing up at the face of Brant Osirin. His face had a large gash which ran from his left eye to his lip. Blood was still leaking out of the wound as he helped the acting Captain to his feet. Galeb felt the world spin and the warm sticky substance draining down his face and onto his shirt. Galebs leg throbbed as he put weight down on it. He reached up and touched the liquid and he brought his hand back to look at it. It was covered in dark red blood that was now leaking down over his chin and down his neck.

"Have we come to a stop?"

"Yes sir," reported the Chief Engineer.

Galeb looked around the dimly lit room and saw the damage to the bridge for the first time since before the battle. The consoles were all fried and smoking now, there were several bodies scattered around the bridge. A few limbs were also scattered around on the debris riddin bridge floor. A few other surviving crewmen were getting to their feet with the help of some of the people who were in the engine room when the crash happened. They had survived thanks to the heavier armor platting around the engine room, it prevented it from being damaged to badly by the huge impact.

"How many survived?"

Brant turned towards him and a look of sadness crossed his face, he looked up at the ceiling and exhaled. "We've only found around fifteen people who survived the crash. Some of them need some medical help as soon as possible."

"Have you been to the medical bay yet?"

"No, we wanted to search the bridge before we started going to the other parts of the ship."

"Alright," said Galeb as he looked around at the other battered Lantians. They all looked at him, Galeb now felt the weight he had been carrying the most. "We need to get to the medical bay and check for any survivors," ordered Galeb as he began to limp off of the bridge. The other survivors followed their wounded leader.

Doctor Kie Los had a look of pure surprise on her face as Galeb walked into the medical bay. A large peice of metal had shoved its way through her chest and her clothes were completely drenched in blood. A large pool of blood surrounded her body as it layed on the floor, she had died fairly quickly when the ship had come to the slaming stop during the crash. Kie was thrown across the room into a large peice of metal that had been blown open during the battle. It stabbed its way into her chest and tore through her lungs and heart. She had bled to death in a few minutes.

"Hello...is there anyone alive in here?"

Galeb looked over at Brant who called into the dark medical bay, wires hung from the ceiling and a few small fires blazed in random spots on the floor. Bodies were scattered across the floor, all with pools of blood surrounding them. Nothing moved in the dark ghostly room.

"I don't think anyone made it in...," Galeb was inturupted as a woman coughed deep in the room.

Galeb and Brant looked at each other, then they ran into the room motioning to the crewmen behind them to come aswell. They followed the echoing cough of the woman until they found her under a large bulkhead that had collapsed. Galeb motioned to Brant and they both lifted on the count of three, the large bulkhead didn't budge. Two other crewmen grabbed the bulkhead and they all lifted together barely lifting the large chunk of metal. They threw it next to the woman as Galeb bent down to look at the woman.

She had blood dribbling down from her lips and blood that had come from her nose. It was pooling on her neck and soaking into her shirt as she continued to cough. Her dark brown hair was also drenched in the blood, as she looked up at Galeb. He picked up her hand and held it as her breathing became laboured. She coughed and more blood spat out onto her face. The womans hand slowly went limp and fell to the ground from his hand. Galeb reached down and closed her eyes.

"Whats that sound?"

Galeb listened as the sound grew closer, it was a low whine that echoed in through the holes in the ship. The sound grew louder as whatever it was got closer. Galeb frowned and walked towards the doorway, he looked out and down the corridors. They were empty, he turned around and looked back at his surviving fifteen crewmen. "Arm yourselves, this fight hasn't even started yet!"