First Contact (Galactic Axia Adventure) by Jim Laughter Read Free Book Online Page B

water in his veins .
    After what felt like hours but had only been moments, Delmar felt the ship respond to his desperate feathering of the controls. The fire that had enveloped the ship spilled away as he regained control. The planet loomed large in the window and Delmar could see they were still on course for the base emergency-landing zone despite an out of control reentry that should have crashed them on the far side of the planet. How is that possible?
    Fighting the controls with every ounce of his strength, the ship bucking like a wild stallion, Delmar gained control. Wind shear pushed the small ship from side to side, and gravity fought against the inertial dampeners used to control the speed of their descent. As the emergency landing pad drew nearer, and the ship hadn’t ripped apart in midair around them, Delmar knew their fate was only moments away. He’d either be able to control their landing, or they would end up a shattered heap of twisted metal on the ground. Either way, he figured his test scores would indicated he had no reason to believe he would ever fly again.
      With one final desperate effort, Delmar lifted the nose of the craft skyward just before the landing skids touched the ground. He chopped the power and allowed the ship to free fall the last six feet to the concrete pad below. The inertial dampeners caused the ship to bounce back into the air several feet before skidding to a smoking halt on the landing pad. The emergency crews that should have swarmed the crashed ship and covered it with retardant foam never appeared. To Delmar’s dismay, the emergency hatch did not blow open, even though he knew he’d examined it in his pre-flight inspection.
    Sitting in his command chair, shaken and desperate for any word from his passenger, he turned around to look at the examiner. To his surprise, the man was sitting there looking bored. Delmar turned back around and wondered what to do next. As soon as Delmar’s head was turned back around, the examiner reset the secret switch for normal operation.
    “Take us back to the main base on Rodar,” the examiner said calmly. He watched in amusement as Delmar paused at the instruction.
    Delmar examined his instruments and felt the pressure of his main controls. Everything appeared to be normal. How can this be? he wondered. My ship is a wreck and he wants me return us to base?
    “Acknowledged,” Delmar answered. He was weary from the constant pressure being applied by the examiner. He called the base controller and received clearance to lift-off. Here goes nothing , he thought. Delmar advanced the throttle and to his surprise the ship responded normally. The ship lifted and Delmar set their course back toward the training base on Rodar. The examiner spoke again.
    “Divert to the Rodar-9 test range.” Delmar contacted Rodar Control for the necessary clearances. Swinging the ship around, he advanced the throttle again and the ship sped toward the outer edge of the star system. He was amazed the little ship exhibited none of the damage he was sure they’d suffered on their fireball approach to the emergency landing pad. He realized at that moment that the trainers must have been specially outfitted to withstand enormous pressure, and had been equipped with special fire retardant outer skin. How else could it have withstood their fiery entry and rough landing?
    Within minutes they arrived at the range. “Contact the range controller and ask for scenario R-45,” the examiner ordered.
    Delmar activated the comm and requested the scenario as instructed. He gulped and tightened his grip on the throttle. All of the trainees had been put through their paces on the range. The purpose was to train them in operation of the ship’s weapons while under combat conditions. What made Delmar anxious was that they always trained with the low letter training scenarios. The highest scenario that Delmar had heard of a student qualifying on was in the upper “G” series.