Grizzly

DWN-49 stepped to the threshold of the Pelican. The cold wind blew around his head. He wanted to take the last courage before the jump, but just at that moment, the Pelican received another hit and bent slightly to the side. DWN-49 stumbled until he lost his grip and started falling.

He made twists and turns in the air, that almost make him lose his orientation and the sense for up and down. However, his Case could stabilize automatically and he flew head down in a straight line but was about to miss the enemy aircraft.

His internal assistance system gave a warning and placed a waypoint on the aircraft, which flew only a few hundred meters below him. The system calculated the time of arrival in the height of the gunship at the current rate of fall to 3.2 seconds. Within this time he had to change his course by about 70 degrees in order to dock with the aircraft. His Case prepared the necessary precautions to slow him down.

" - - - - Increasing Aerodynamic Drag- - - - "

With the help of his thrusters, he was able to maintain a stable course, in which he navigated towards the gunship by shifting his weight.

When he arrived at the height of the aircraft, his anti-gravitational field turned on, which ensured that his body was no longer subject to the earth's gravitational pull, but was still pressed down by the inertia of his mass. DWN-49 countered it with his thrusters and finally came to a halt in mid-air on the underside of the gunship.

But just as he was thinking about docking, he noticed how he sank downwards again. His anti-gravity field began to overheat and his cooling systems could no longer withstand it.

***If I keep falling I will not be able to brake again. I'm gonna crack like an egg down there.***

Just when he realized his situation, his Case pulled one last ace out of its sleeve.

" - - - - - Initiate Case Magnetization- - - - - "

With full speed, DWN-49s Case smashed against the gunship's external surface.

DWN-49 was hanging on the underside and slowly dragged himself to the edge of the ship to look up to the Pelican.

KAPOWW!

Just as he found the smoking, tumbling helicopter, it burst into a devastating fireball that let only rain debris and ashes to the earth. DWN-49 dodged a flaming piece of scrap metal heading his way.

***If the rest of the crew was able to make it out in time?***

DWN-49 noticed the appearance of numerous small aircraft cycles in the hangar of the gunship, which were manned one after the other and swarmed out like lifeboats in the ocean. One by one they disappeared on the horizon, covering DWN-49 in dense contrails.

He scanned one of them closely.

" - - - - - - OpTrans Anti-Grav Cycles- - - - - - "

" - - - - Manufacturer number: 17202004- - - - "

" - - - - - - Maximum Speed: 96 m/s - - - - - - - "

***They do not appear to be armed.The hangar allows me to get inside the ship and restore my systems.***

After arriving at the hangar exit, he propped himself up high and entered the huge hangar room. An Anti-Grav Cycle, which was steered by a civilian dressed woman, flew just past him.

It was under attack by a minigun from inside the hangar. He traced the projectiles back to their origin. There, he found JP and Erik, who maintained fire. He sprinted to them, taking cover behind a wrecked helicopter.

"You're still alive?" DWN-49 wondered.

"Sure. I am more surprised to meet you in one piece" Baker responded.

"How did you get here?"

"You are not the only one with a jetpack, " JP said.

"What happened to Shen?"

"Oh my. You thought that was Shen in there? That's hilarious."

JP couldn't hold back his laughter any longer.

"But... I... I don't understand." DWN-49 stuttered.

"She wasn't actually there. She was just a holographic projection."

"But you guys are really here. Otherwise, I wouldn't have noticed you tapping me on the shoulder earlier, Sergeant Baker."

"Good thinking. Are we gonna keep chatting, or are we gonna go in there and kick some Moonlight butts?" urged Baker.

They went to a loading ramp and JP opened it with his raw power. They were in the ship's engine room. When JP arrived there, he seemed to be struck by lightning for a short time.

"A decentralized inversion engine," said Baker.

"It's a Grizzly," JP said as seriously as DWN-49 had never seen him before. "I recognize a gunship from the war when I see one."

"The war?" DWN-49 became curious,

"This is not the time for a history lesson" Baker stalled him. "DWN-49, are your sensors going off?"

"No, not the slightest indication of anything. Maybe they wear Thermo-Neutralization Armours?"

"Unlikely."

"Let's sweep the ship. Stay together, this could be an ambush." Baker warned them.

They walked through the narrow corridors of the gunship. It was in a desolate state, with many open valves and bullet holes in the walls. Far and wide There was not a single soul in sight.

Suddenly an announcement began, which echoed clinking through a loudspeaker system in every corridor. "Five minutes to self-destruct. Get to safety."

DWN-49 put all the pieces together. "They evacuated on themselves and now we're trapped in here. What other reason could they have if this wasn't all a big trap for us?"

"Something is terribly wrong here," Baker replied. "They could have killed us easier when we were on the outside. They didn't have to sacrifice their huge flying fortress for three of us. There has to be more to it."

"How do we stop this? Can we turn it off at the command bridge?" DWN-49 suggested.

"We will most likely lack access, but you can try it. We have to split now. "

"The bridge is at the front end of the Grizzly, at the bear paw" JP explained.

"Can I get there in time?" DWN-49 asked.

"Don't waste more time, maybe it is possible."

On his Internal Assistance System, he saw a map of the Grizzly and memorized a route to the command bridge. At full speed of his Case, he ran through the deserted ship, which with its many twists and turns seemed like a small village in its own right.

When he arrived at the bridge, a multitude of control and surveillance monitors awaited him, arranged in a circle around a central opaque hovering sphere. In the short time had left he tried to find the terminal needed to activate the self-destruction. But at first, he only found decommissioned communication channels, measured data of Grizzly's condition and the weapon system alignment.

When he tried to access the self-destruction program, only error messages appeared.

﹝No access | Lack of authorization﹞

﹝Only accessible by the central administrator﹞

***Aha, central administrator! It has to this strange orb over there. But how do I get in there without an authorization?***

DWN-49 approached a biometric scanner at the ceiling-high sphere in the middle of the room.

"Identification complete"

***It's no use anyway...***

"Access granted"

"Security level: Maximum"

***Huh, why did that work? Did my Case hack it or something?***

The sphere rotated briefly and unfolded its outer shell. It became transparent and looked like a gigantic dewdrop. DWN-49 could slip through its thin membrane.

"Welcome to the administration sphere," said a voice that sounded like it was coming from all sides simultaneously. The orb was empty and felt like it was sealed off from the rest of the world. Holograms were flickering by every second. One of them showed the time to self-destruct.

﹝Immediate Self-Destruction﹞

﹝h 00 min 00 sec 24﹞

﹝Stop ...﹞