Chapter 17

Unexpected incident

“Laban, you take one o’clock and I’ll take the other one,” Gerome said to one of his teammates.

“Got it.” Laban shifted a trifle to his right and started shooting.

Gerome flew higher, dodging some shots blasting from the opposite. Someone was following him close from behind.

It wasn’t from the other team.

It was Spence Cartell.

The cockpit screen showed Cartell’s details, trailing closely at him. He was tailing him at a very close distance, close enough to ram into the jet’s tail if he slower down for even a bit. He tried to elude Cartell by making swift shifts to the right and left, but Cartell was simply duplicating every move he took.

What is he doing? We are on the same team for goodness sake!

Gerome got extremely agitated because Cartell wasn’t helping at all. Apart from tailgating him like a shadow, he did not release any shot at the other team.

“What are you doing, Cartell? We are on the same team!” Gerome yelled over his talking device to Cartell.

“Waiting for you to beg me for mercy,” he replied with his usual non-intonation voice. He gave out an evil smirk on his face, Gerome could see him from the small display screen in his control panel board.

“What is wrong with you?” Gerome became exasperated over Cartell’s obnoxious reply.

Cartell fired a ximeon at Gerome’s jet. Gerome saw it coming, but it was too late for him to dodge. Gerome was completely startled. He did not expect Cartel would actually do it. But he did. It hit the rudder and one of the stabilizers, including the exhaust. The back part of his jet was partly damaged. Emergency lights were triggered, the cockpit screen flashed with red light and blaring warning tone. Gerome’s throat went dry, his heart skipped a beat. He reckoned he was in real danger.

It was an actual ximeon.

Cartell was trying to destroy Gerome by using high ximeon, which is the strongest ximeon used for wars and battles.

Bastard.

Gerome could feel his boiling blood throbbing furiously in his veins. This is not good, this is life destructing, that panicking voice tells him as he struggled to control the jolting W-shaped steering wheel. The jet was clearly partially-damaged. It didn’t look like it could stay any longer in the air. He would have to face death anytime from now. It was a nasty unforeseen attack, and he was still in a shocking condition to think of any escape plans.

No, I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die because of Spence Cartell. It’s not worth it.

He sped up his jet regardless the ear-pitching warning tone. Cartell will have chances to fire more ximeons if he doesn’t do something. But the bloody jet won’t go any faster. It might explode anytime.

Gerome managed to descry a sight of the mountain ridge regardless the breakneck speed. He shut down all the communication devices of his jet so that Cartell would not be able to track him through his own jet, and Eli.

“Eli, shut down every contact!”

As soon as he heard the ‘shut down’ tone of his Eli, he steered his jet towards the mountain ridge. The jet was losing control as he increased the speed. It jolted more and more aggressively.

Come on, come one, he prayed the jet would get to the destination. He came closer to the mountain with an incredible speed. Jumping out of the jet with his flight suit on would be easy, but the crux of the matter was that he couldn’t use any of the equipment for landing including the spared parachute. Cartell would certainly fire him up as soon as he sees him jumps out from the jet. The plan was to jump over to the other side of the ridge to avoid Cartell seeing him, but he wasn’t sure if he would be able to use the flight suit under a chaotic pressure. He would have to jump no matter what.

“What is going on?” one of the aviation technician asked with bewildered eyes.

“Sergeant’s Ryder’s jet has been blown, commander! Spence Cartell shot him with a real ximeon,” the other one cried.

“Cartell! What the heck are you doing?” Commander Pine yelled over the voice transmitter, but there was no reply.

“It looks like they have shut down the communication, commander. We can’t even trace them through the Eli.”

Commander Pine’s eyes were fixed at the screen, horror to what he was witnessing. Gerome’s jet was letting out massive puff of smoke behind. Cartell was just right behind him, never let him out of his sight. “Damn it! What are they doing?”

“Cartell was attacking Ryder with real ximeon, sir. It looks like he installed the real ximeons on purpose.”

“That could kill Ryder for goodness sake.” Commander Pine pinched his nose bridge, incensed at Cartell’s unexpected launch. “That crazy kid.”

“Sir, what should we do? We can’t let our men go near Cartell, he has real ximeons.”

Rescuing Gerome Ryder was important, but he could not risk all of the men for the murderous attack. Cartell could easily have all his men blown with that those ximeons of his. Commander Pine gave a loud sigh. “Get them to come back and reload the real ximeons, and go after Cartell. Quick.”

The technician gave an order to all the aviators to be back at the base as Commander Pine had instructed. But one of them was ignoring his command.

“Sir, Laban is going after Cartell,” one of the technicians informed and pointed at the screen.

“Laban, you are unarmed. Don’t be stupid and get back here!” Commander Pine bawled over the communication device. He didn’t want to see another misfortune happen to his men.

“Sir! Let me go after him. I can distract him while they go get the ximeons,” Laban replied hurriedly. His voice was ragged with heavy, anxious breathing, galled by the incapability of the trained aviators to save their own mate.

Commander Pine was at his maddening level. “Laban, get back here. This is an order!”

“Sorry, sir,” Laban’s voice was heard over the device, immediately turned his jet away from Cartell and flew to the base.

Commander Pine punched his fist on the table, lowered his head. He knew that having his men to reload the real ximeons and go after Cartell was useless. Cartell’s a smart man. He wouldn’t slip out a chance to have them catch him. Sensing his heart pounding quicker, he intuited with fear – for something horrible that was about to happen.

Gerome’s jet came closer to the top of the ridge. He made a sharp veer so that he could jump over to the other side of the mountain to avoid Cartell seeing him. He kicked his door open and flung himself out of the jet just before his jet hit the ridge and blew up.

Boom!

The sound of the jet crashing into the mountain was ear-shuttering. The explosion was so immense that he could feel the heat although he was already some distance away from it.

He sledded down the mountain, with his back against the snow. The snow was too slippery for him to push himself further (from the mountain surface) in order to use his flight suit, in which he intended to do so to fly down the mountain. Everything went so quickly that he hardly had time think what to do.

The Twin Blade, he thought. He could use his Twin Blade and thrusts it into the rocks to stop himself from slipping down. The grip of his Twin Blade was inside the calf pocket of his trousers, but he failed to reach for it for the slipping was great.

The worst part was about to come. The mountain was craggy and covered with snow from the peak to the waist, and the bottoms are mostly dry rocky surfaces.

Damn.

“Arrrgh!” Gerome cried out as he slid down the rocky parts of the mountain. His back and arms were severely grazed against the rough surfaces. He hit the ground and could feel himself landed on the grass. His head was reeling and his body was in grave pain.

I don’t think I can hold any longer, he thought. Am I going to die? I might. Goodbye, Jade. He laid inert, closed his eyes and lost his consciousness.

Spence Cartell, on the other hand, jumped out of this jet with his flight suit on, leaving his jet crashing into the same spot as Gerome’s jet. By the time the aviators uploaded real ximeons and went after Cartell, he had already disappeared from the sight. No one could track him for he had already shut down his Eli .

Commander Pine was at the verge of his seat, extremely mad and upset. Spence Cartell is likely to be a Monad spy, hiding amongst them and scrutinizing the military daily operation. He felt his head cold. What confidential information had Spence Cartell gathered over the years? His mind was whirling with all the thoughts of the possible consequences if Cartell is really working for Monad.

The rescue team was dispatched to search for Gerome and Cartell, dead or alive. Commander Pine felt his chest tighten with a sharp pang of the thought of losing Gerome Ryder, an upright man, a great SOAR player. He waited impatiently for their report as he clenched both hands edgily at his table.

“Don’t die, Ryder…” he prayed.