Somewhere cold and distant, the artificial intelligence that characterized the ship's computer hummed to life. Its designers had envisioned a possibility of this sort would arise but to its core processor, the whole situation was nothing more than a jumble of zeros and ones, the binary language of thinking machines. The parameters of its programming allowed it to map out a variety of solutions to the equations that was presented before it; although the possibilities for failure were very real, the unemotional microprocessor merely counted the odds for and against its decisions and thereby acted accordingly. Such was its purpose. It was this cold functionality that gave the Black Widow a chance at life.
As the Space Beagle began to burn up as it entered into the upper atmosphere of the moon, the Buccaneer class DropShip's main computer began an emergency autopilot program to try to bring it down as safely as possible. Although most of the ship's hull and therefore its heat shield were shredded, most of the damage was situated to the aft of the fuselage, thereby sparing most of the important parts for a successful re-entry into a planet's atmosphere. Since there was no manual response from the bridge controls, the ship's computer automatically understood that the crew was either dead or incapacitated. It therefore assumed control of the ship's helm and engines in an attempt to keep the nose pointing down as it crashed through the upper atmosphere. But even with a calm, automated pilot trying to guide her down, the Space Beagle continued to break apart, as her battered hull just could not take the strain.
That the gravity continued to be intense as the DropShip hurtled down at several thousand feet per second and the constant vibrations as the computer strained with all its might to keep the ship steady did not give her enough problems, Natasha Kerensky still had other concerns even then. The Black Widow continued her relentless crawl until she had reached the inner cargo bays that were housing her all-black Warhammer BattleMech. It was obvious that the enemy would try to get at them even if they had gotten to the safety of the moon's surface; the only way that they would have a fighting chance was that the Warhammer be deployed on the ground. It was either that or get to the nearest escape pod and lose her 'Mech, it was just something she never even considered.
As Natasha made it to the control deck and began toggling the switches, she noticed that the automated cargo handling system had no power. The Black Widow cursed as she knew that she would have a painstaking task of manually releasing the 'Mechs after having to physically open the cargo bay doors. With the ship hurtling towards the ground, she would have very little time to execute both. With a dawning reality, Natasha realized that she might have to get to the escape pod after all.
"Senorita Kerensky!" A voice behind her shouted amid the crashing and tearing up of the hull in the windy stratosphere. The Black Widow turned her head and quickly saw Eladio Rodriguez gesturing at a nearby escape pod. "Come on, we must get out of the ship!" He continued to shout at her through the sonic barrage.
Natasha knew that together, they might be able to pull it off. "Eladio! We must get the 'Mechs out!" she pleaded at the top of her lungs.
"No, Senorita! We will hit the ground any second, we must go!" Eladio was insistent.
"Eladio! If we don't get the 'Mechs, we will die on the ground anyway!" Natasha kept at it despite the howling winds that were now permeating the shredded fuselage. "You must help me!"
She must have touched a nerve with the little man for Eladio crawled over to her. "What do you want me to do?" He asked.
"I need you to blow the emergency bolts off the cargo doors so I can release the 'Mechs!" Natasha had to shout because of the noise barrage of twisting metal and concussive winds. The Black Widow had always transported her Warhammer in a harnessed cocoon that could be para-dropped in case of emergencies. At this particular moment, she was glad in insisting it be stored in this fashion.
Eladio nodded meekly. He wanted to get to the escape pod and just get the hell out but his friend spoke the truth. With BattleMechs they would have a chance on the ground. As the little man crawled towards the cargo bay doors, Natasha kept testing the mechanical controls of the cargo hold. No such luck, the power had short-circuited somewhere along the fuselage and she would have to do it manually. Using all her strength and endurance, she began to crawl over to the base of where the two 'Mechs were harnessed as the DropShip kept tossing and turning as it continued its relentless rendezvous with the ground below.
All of a sudden the ship went into a stall, hurtling the Black Widow upwards as she went into a brief freefall before falling back towards the metal flooring of the hold. Using her skills and agility to the fullest, Natasha managed to land on her feet right beside the manual release controls of John Palatine's Crusader 'Mech. The Black Widow smiled as she noticed that the Crusader was also equipped with a para-drop harness as well; Eladio had definitely done his job as a cargo handler well. Not wasting any more time, she began to twist the emergency lever to release the bolts that was holding the harness in place.
Eladio had just managed to grab hold of a handrail that prevented him from being tossed around when the DropShip went into a stall but it twisted his wrist as he tried desperately to hang on. Trying his best to ignore the pain, the nervous little crewman of the Space Beagle made it to where the controls were for the explosive bolts that would blow the cargo doors open. As he broke the glass and pushed the red button, a loud explosion ripped across the sides of the cargo bay doors as the explosive bolts were triggered. Within a few seconds, the massive cargo doors were wrenched away by the howling winds and flew off into the stratosphere, leaving a massive opening where they once were. At that moment, Natasha was able to fully twist the emergency lever as the Crusader's metal harness came loose. With gravity doing the rest, the Crusader slid down along the metal rails on the cargo bay floor until it flew out into the planet's atmosphere, its massive parachute unfurling as it was buffeted by strong winds and went out of sight.
Eladio made a thumbs-up sign as Natasha crawled over to where her Warhammer was positioned. As the Black Widow braced herself on a bulkhead and pulled at the lever, she noticed that it would not budge despite all of her strength. As she grimaced in frustration, Eladio managed to crawl over to where she was and with a faint smile, helped her to pull the emergency lever once more.
A sound of grinding metal occurred as the Warhammer's harness finally began to slide out as well. As Natasha shouted in triumph, Eladio's grip slipped and he began to tumble out towards the opening of the cargo bay as well.
"Eladio!" Natasha screamed as she tried to hold onto his arm but it was too late. The little man screamed as the air pressure sucked him out of the cargo bay along with Natasha's Warhammer and into the dusty sky. The Black Widow wailed in a mixture of grief and frustration as she saw another friend fly off to his death even as her BattleMech began a controlled descent downwards, its drag-chute unfurling.
With grim determination, the Black Widow crawled over to where the emergency parachutes were located. She silently vowed that Eladio and the others would not die in vain as she strapped a parasail onto her back before leaping out into the dusty air.
"Help me," Janice De Llandes shouted at her co-pilot, John Shive, as she struggled with the Amerigo's controls, "keep her steady!"
Unlike the other DropShip, the Amerigo was not heavily damaged and she was able to retain her structural integrity as she made a successful re-entry into the moon's atmosphere. De Llandes could see that it was a dry, arid world. Desert winds and sand dunes could be seen on the surface; well at least it had an atmosphere and they would not suffocate for lack of one. Both her and Shive struggled with the controls as they tried to slow the massive Monarch-class DropShip down for a glider-like landing. Some of the Amerigo's engines were damaged by the two nuclear blasts and so they did not have one hundred percent power on the throttles. But thanks to the Amerigo's aerodyne fuselage and massive heart-shaped delta wings, they were able to glide her most of the way for a controlled landing.
"Attention," De Llandes spoke tersely using the ship's PA system, "prepare for crash landing."
The delegates and their support personnel hurriedly strapped on seat belts; some prayed while others bit their lips and sat, stone-like. Major Dominic Durant and Carlos Sanz had both regained consciousness but neither spoke; each had different thoughts on what to do next.
De Llandes saw through the ship's forward viewports that there was a sandy crater just several kilometers up ahead and down below of them. It would be a perfect place for a crash landing. The sand would cushion the DropShip's fuselage if the landing gears buckled. She pointed the location out to her XO and Shive nodded in agreement. After cutting the power on the throttles, De Llandes eased the ship's nose down towards the crater lip.
Just as the sandy lip loomed over the viewports, De Llandes pulled back gradually on the wheel as the Amerigo's nose tilted up slightly and activated the landing gears. As they streaked over the crater wall, she felt the ship's rear landing strut hit the lip as they passed over it. A huge dust cloud came up behind her as the massive DropShip shot into the crater. As the landing struts began to skid over the loose sand, making huge dust plumes, De Llandes reversed the thrust of the engines. The Amerigo bounced violently on the sandy base as De Llandes tried to put it into a dead stop before they could hit the opposite side of the crater wall. By now most of the landing struts had buckled and collapsed under the sheer strain and the lower part of the fuselage began to get shredded as well. As the combination of friction and the reversing of the engines began to take effect, the Amerigo slowed down to a crawl until she finally stopped just several meters from the crater wall.
De Llandes had done it. She had gotten them to a certain degree of safety, now it was up to others to see if they could survive. "All hands," She shouted into the still-functioning PA system, "emergency evacuation!"
As soon as the DropShip skidded to a halt, Jessica Bradshaw and Karen Udeze began to unbuckle their seatbelts and ran out to where the other stewardesses were. They had both worked together for nearly a decade now and they both were the most senior cabin attendants in the ship. With their emotions on a yo-yo, their training and experience took over as they formed the cabin attendants into teams and began the evacuation of the delegates. Airlocks were blown open by the use of explosive bolts as inflatable emergency chutes formed under the doorsills so that the evacuees would be able to slide down safely to the ground. People began moving out of the airlocks and started jumping onto the chutes.
"Come on!" Dominic shouted as he beckoned Sanz to follow him.
"Where are we going?" Sanz shouted back as he ran after Dominic.
"Weapons room," Dominic said as he started running past people trying to get to the airlocks, "we will need armaments once we're on the ground."
As both Dominic and Sanz reached the entrance to the weapons room, they found some of the more experienced bodyguards there as well. Although Sergeant Eddie Pryce had it sealed before he left for the ill-fated mission to try to take out the JumpShip terrorist, a few inputs from Dominic's security bypass kit had opened the doors and they all began to arm themselves. Most of the bodyguards only carried pistols, usually hold-out lasers and slug throwers while a prudent and lucky few had sub-machineguns. These small arms however, would be at a severe disadvantage to an enemy with BattleMechs, tanks and other heavy weapons. A few SLDF laser rifles that had been stored there in case of emergencies were rapidly issued out to those who were qualified to use them.
After retrieving her small autopistol, Chifune Kishikawa tugged at Dominic's arm as he issued out the remaining weapons. "Major Durant, could you please use your security bypass kit to open cargo room 8B?" She asked calmly.
"Why?" Dominic asked. It was imperative that they get out of the ship immediately. If the premature nuclear explosion did not destroy those aerospace fighters, they might drop another nuke on them.
Despite the tense situation, Chifune smiled. "There is some gifts stored there that were intended for select people in Tharkad but they may now be useful to us."
"Alright, lead the way." Dominic said as he followed her to the access way to where the cargo bays were located. A few weeks before, Natasha had told him that the Combine delegation had an Otomo bodyguard with them. He correctly surmised that it was Chifune.
What the survivors on the ground did not realize was that by plowing into a sandy crater, the Amerigo became half buried by sand and the force of the crash threw up massive clouds of dust into the air which hung around for awhile.
Adept Dragan Vosanovic could hardly believe the luck of these hostages, first they were able to detach from the JumpShip in a nick of time just before it was destroyed and they were also somehow able to prematurely detonate a nuclear missile before it could get close enough to vaporize them. Because of the damage to the forward sensors on his Riever, he was unable to pinpoint the exact location of the Monarch class DropShip when it crashed on the desert surface of the moon. But judging from the new dust clouds that had erupted in a radius of several hundred kilometers, he logged the general area onto his computer before preparing to ascend back into orbit once more. Once he returned back to the DropShip, it would just be a matter of time before deploying the entire unit unto the moon's surface and making a thorough search using grid patterns. Since the hostages had no heavy weapons to speak of and because the moon was uninhabited, it would just be a matter of time before the survivors were rooted out and destroyed. Perhaps they might even find the accursed datadisks among the wreckage.
As Vosanovic began to increase his throttle as he aimed the Riever's nose towards the heavens, an annoying thought began to enter his mind. What if it wasn't luck that enabled the hostages to survive so far? What if somehow the hostages were rescued and then able to broadcast the contents of the datadisk? The odds were astronomically on the side of the Blakists but what if they were wrong?
Only one way to find out- deploy the entire unit on the ground and let Blake decide.
