Even with the title, this one was also filled with fight sequences. The following does, of course, contain much spoiler information, so be forewarned.
Chapter Twenty-nine
A moment earlier, Mercuria spots a vessel ahead, low on the horizon in the early morning darkness, silhouetted against the fading star field background. She rips through extensive ruins, gutted buildings, and burned out vehicles that litter this hotly contested region, sprinting to catch up to the unknown ship before it moves off.
Chapter Twenty-nine
A moment earlier, Mercuria spots a vessel ahead, low on the horizon in the early morning darkness, silhouetted against the fading star field background. She rips through extensive ruins, gutted buildings, and burned out vehicles that litter this hotly contested region, sprinting to catch up to the unknown ship before it moves off.
She feels her leg muscles almost burning with the increased effort to push herself beyond her limits, to become even fractionally faster, to reach the target ship before it moves off. Mercuria notes that the vessel seems preoccupied with its mission of disarmament and does not seem to notice her sudden arrival as she streaks across the landscape as barely a blur, toward the still unwary ship.
When she is near enough, she times her leap perfectly. Planting both feet and then pushing off with a powerful double-leg kick like a track athlete attempting a very long, long jump, she mentally activates the flight properties of her shield belt at the split second her feet leave solid ground. This added thrust allows her to soar aloft with increased speed, directly at the ship that looks all too familiar to her now, up close.
Pulling her legs up under her as she begins to sail above the vessel, she waves her arms and feet to slow her momentum until she hovers over the white fuselage. She then begins pummeling the top of the hull with rapid thrusts of her stamping feet, as if she were dancing in place, to force the vessel downward.
The uncooperative ship, however, does a complete flip--to topple her off--then kicks into high gear and is gone, leaving the still airborne woman floundering in its wake. Frustrated, she knows that even if she were able to reach the ground as fast as the flight belt can take her, and if she then rapidly pursued from the ground, she would never be able to catch up since it already has too great a lead. While she may be nearly as fast as any Alliance ship within an atmosphere, she is definitely no faster.
With silent acceptance that her impromptu ploy could not have succeeded, and knowing now what kind of ship she was tangling with, she simply allows the versatile belt to drop her straight down to earth like an elevator whose cables have suddenly snapped. When she reaches the ground, she activates the homing device in her belt, to let the others know where to rendezvous with her. She then patiently stands in place and awaits their arrival.
She hasn’t long to remain in place before the cruisers Asgard and Mount Olympus II, as well as the scout ships Condor, with Harvest and Pulse aboard; Griffin, carrying her partner, Liquide; and Valkyrie, with Firefrost and Enchantra, to silently begin hovering around her like pigeons in a park, or vultures over a corpse. Then, almost in unison, all five ships immediately land nearby.
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