Claiming Dias (book 1 of Alpha claiming series)

Bumpy landing

Chapter 8

Leon

Upon entering Planet Dias’s atmosphere, the damaged wing begins to catch fire and burn excessively hot. The pilot had already warned me that we were not going to land in our landing zone as was expected. The simple fact is, we do not even know what condition we will be in once we land. The transport shakes uncontrollably as we descend through the layers of the atmosphere and Dias's greater gravity pulls us towards the surface.

Rushing back to the crew's cabin, I strapped myself back into my harness and held onto the chair with all the strength I could muster without snapping the chair apart. It would do no good to be up and about as the ship fell apart and burned up while we attempted a landing. A landing that no one could predict the location of.

Batair finally stopped laughing as the seriousness of the situation sullied everyone's mood. Many were looking forward to getting off the mother ship for a while, seeing some action, and exploring a new world. Cade is grasping onto his pack, I am sure it is nothing, but death could tear it out of his arms at this point. The sobering looks on many of their faces eat at me. I cannot fail them; we have not even landed yet.

“We are going to land in a body of water” Morgan’s voice crackles through the comms. "We feel this will be our best option for landing with the best end results.” Morgan had consulted with me shortly after our bumpy run-in with the comet, giving me a wide area as a possibility of landing. The exact coordinates are not going to be known. At this point, we are just hoping that we will land in the water. That does not mean I have to like the idea of burning up, flying uncontrollably, just to drown before we can make landfall.

There is a loud screeching noise coming from the side of the ship as metal starts shredding off the transport, causing more flames to ignite. The once-sealed holes in the ship slowly start opening as the metal melts away, filling the haul with smoke. For once, I am glad the face mask covers the entirety of my face.

Well, there goes any hope of not being sucked out of the damn transport.

Kaden's scream is barely auditable over the metal ripping from the outside of our ship and the mask around his face, but somehow, I can still hear him. If anything, his obsessive complaining is a reprieve from the gut-wrenching guilt I feel.

“I’m never going with you again on any f*****g flying object! This is the last straw, Leon!” He almost sounded like my mother, when she used to complain about something I had done as a child. Strangely enough, it is enough to make me chuckle. I am not sure if I am beginning to get delirious or losing my damn mind from all the chaos happening early on in our mission. I cannot seem to stop laughing. Soon Batair joins in with his low baritone chuckling, pointing at Kaden.

Kaden looks from me to Batair as if we have officially lost our damn minds. His face is so pale I have begun to wonder if he is going to pass out cold, or if he is going to vomit everywhere. I had put neither one past the bastard just for spite. I am sure he would do both.

The pilot's voice rings out over the comms, announcing “The ship is disintegrating. It could get hot back there. We're fighting for control of the ship as we approach the landing area. There is a large body of water we are hopefully going to land in. Ready yourselves to get off of the transport immediately after landing.”

Kaden shouts “No sh*t you d**k! I’m not going to sit here and drown waiting for your orders!”

Releasing the arm of my seat, I rub my hand through my hair, steeling myself for what is about to come. I grasped the harness’s release mechanism and held on to it. As the temperature and smoke both increase at alarming rates.

“As soon as we hit the water, grab what you can and exit anyway possible! Let us make sure we get our injured off of this shitty transport and get as many supplies as we can!” I aggressively, called out, feeling an adrenaline rush, coursing through my veins. My body is getting ready for the crash. Knowing this could be f*****g painful has my adrenaline spiked in tremendous amounts, and I am finding it hard to sit still the longer it takes.

I finally hear the signs of the ship descending into a wooded area as loud snaps and metallic screeches pierce the atmosphere of the inside of the ship.

What the hell happened to the body of water? Is the first thought flying through my head?

The transport starts to wobble, and I can only assume, the trees shove it in different directions. The groan of metal below my feet gives way to what sounds like nails scratching along metal, the noise grating on my nerves causing me to clench my teeth and grind them together. The metal plates start to rip away from the bottom of the haul, revealing rich greens and deep browns giving way to spots of blue water.

Just like that, the ship abruptly stops as a massive wave engulfs the front of the transport. The water starts leaking in from the bottom of the ship where the rips formed only moments ago. My hands squeeze the release mechanisms as I stand snatching up my pack and calling out for my team to hustle their asses off this sinking ship. One by one, I see my team stand and grasp what they can before running out of any opening in the haul of the ship that is not engulfed in flames. Which is not very many. The water rushes up to my mid-calf as I stand there watching my team evacuate. Commanding them in pairs to take the injured.

Glancing at Kaden, he seemed to have stayed awake for the crash but did manage to vomit on the floor. I grasped his forearm, pulling him to his feet after he released his harness. Passing him my bag and his, I pushed him towards a hole in the haul. I rip the protective mask off my face, throwing it into the fast-rising waters.

“Get the f*ck off, you green-gilled landlubber!” I shouted at him while going in the opposite direction.

I need to make sure the wounded are offloaded quickly. The chill of the rising water bites at my skin through my fatigues, and I can only imagine what the bacteria swimming in the water would do to a wound. Batair and Cade are at the back before I get there, helping get the injured unfastened and handing them off to other team members to get them off the ship. The pitch-black smoke had filled the top of the haul, making it more difficult to see. The smoke causes my lungs to burn, forcing me to cough, hunching to try to stay as low as possible to avoid the smoke, without crawling. Taking a moment, I looked around and noticed that a few of the chairs were missing from the back of the haul. We lost a few good alphas before we even made the landing. Such a loss is hard to swallow as I fight back the rage and guilt that are coursing alongside the adrenaline.

Grasping Batair on the shoulder, I shouted to him “get your *ss off this rust bucket of transport and get to safety. Secure a safe place and start getting the injured treated.”

The water has made it nearly up to my mid-thighs at this point and very few of my team remain to grab up the last bit of supplies and rations they can get their hands on. By the time I make it to a hole wide enough so that I can fit through. The water is up to my waist and filling quickly. Right as I’m about to step through the hole, I hear someone shouting for me and my blood runs cold. Turning, I noticed Morgan never came out of the cabin. Over the comms, I hear his voice, or what seems to be his voice. The comms barely work, still, it crackles in and out, and I can't make out a damn word he is saying. Turning around, I head for the pilot's cabin hoping that I can reach them in time and get the f**k out before we all drown.