I glanced at the camera as I flew up into the clouds and levelled the drop-ship out. I could hear Corwin's Team groaning as they lay sprawled around the cargo bay. I winced as I watched them for a few seconds and flicked the switch to speak to them.

  “Sorry…” I said slowly and apologetically.

  I notice Zeo pushing back on the safety bars over her shoulders and chest as she winced from the slight pain the g forces had applied to her body.

  “Damn, girl, that was next level crazy.” she whined.

  “I believe the words you are looking for is, thank you for saving my ass once again.”

  I swear I saw her roll her eyes as I angled the ship in the opposite direction from the city we wanted to go to and left the drop-ship at a comfortable cruising speed. I stood up and walked over to a panel in the floor by the door. Pulling it open, I looked down at the ship's transponder and grinned.

  “Oops, it looks like a raccoon got in here and tore all the wiring.” I said as I grabbed the transponder and started yanking it out, when it didn't even budge an inch. I let out a groan of annoyance and went in and undid all the wires before grabbing a tool set from a nearby cupboard and undoing the bolts, allowing me to actually pull the damn transponder out.

  “Great now it doesn't look like a raccoon got in here. Boo, to your secureness.”

  I then closed the panel, put the tools away, and opened the door. I walked all the way to the ramp, pushing the button to start opening it. Once it was open enough to give me a big enough gap, I tossed the transponder out of it and pushed the button to close the ramp.

  “Okay, next stop, city life.” I declared happily as I turned around and walked back to the cockpit.

  “You're insane” the owner of the drop-ship stammered out as he stared at me with wide eyes.

  “Hey, the kid gets it” I declared happily as I walked past and into the cockpit, making sure to seal it behind me.

  I turned the ship ninety degrees, heading further away from the Basecamp. I was about to adjust it again to head towards the city we wanted. However, something was sitting at the back of my mind, and it was bugging the crap out of me. A few moments later, I screamed out in annoyance and began pulling the cockpit apart, looking for anything else that could or would transmit the ship's position. I found two other devices that could be turned on remotely and would send out a location ping every thirty seconds. I of course removed them and tossed them out the ship. When I was finally convinced we could not be tracked any more, I put the cockpit back together and sat down before turning the ship towards the city we were going to claim.

  *******

  Corwin rolled over onto his back as he breathed heavily, taking note that everything hurt. He let out a groan and slowly turned to look at the crazy ass pilots team and the poor sap they had kidnapped. He wanted to get up, but his body was still refusing to move. He gave up and lay on the floor, slowly looking around, as he could hear a cordless drill going off in the cockpit of the ship he was currently on. ‘That cant be good’ he thought to himself. A few moments later, he heard his sister let out a groan as she came to and rolled onto her side.

  “That hurt” she whined.

  “Jas? Jas, are you okay?” Corwin asked, a slight panic in his voice.

  “Everything hurts.” she whined again.

  “Sound off” Corwin called out, as he decided the floor was a nice place to rest for now.

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  “Still here” Jasmine called out as she slowly sat up.

  “Oooouch” Arnold called out as he flopped over onto his back.

  “Not here, tell my mother she was an ass and remind me father to stay out of my room, there's nothing he can sell in there anyway.” Hector said into the floor.

  “Oh Hector, you still with me? Your mother is going to be so disappointed.”

  “Screw off, Arnold.”

  “What? You know she will, didn't her last transmission say something about wanting to turn your old room into some sort of… what did she call it… started with a dung sound…”

  “I said screw off!” Hector roared as he pushed himself up into a kneeling position and attempted to take a swing at Arnold, only to face plant the deck again and let out a groan of pain.

  “Ha, I knew the dog still had some fight left in him” Arnold said as he laughed.

  Jasmine let out a groan, and Corwin watched as she slowly got to her feet, looking down at him and his two military friends. She then turned her head to look at the three friends of Kimberly, strapped in and calmly watching all of us.

  “I would sit down in a seat and strap in if I was you” the female said as she watched Jasmine swaying on her feet.

  Jasmine hissed as she took a few steps towards the nearest seat and fell into it. Moments later, Corwin had managed to pull himself up a chair and slide his own butt into it before reaching up and wincing from the pain. He still managed to grab the safety bar and pull it down over himself to secure him into the seat. Moments after his clicked, he heard Jasmines click into place.

  “What was that shit?” Corwin asked as he glared at the three of them, though he was still wincing in pain, so that dulled his attempt at intimidation.

  “Oh, well, it's simple really, when you steal shit, people get mad, and for some reason I completely don't understand, they try to destroy the stolen item… oh, did you mean the rocking and shaking? That would be our beloved and glorious pilot making sure we all stay in the air and alive, she is pretty good at it, don't you think?” Brendan said as he smiled towards the two of them.

  *******

  Trevor McCoy, was nineteen this year, he had saved up for the last seven years working every job he could, including completing other students' homework for them. Just so he could be able to afford the price tag on a military drop-ship. That he could then use to ferry soldiers around the planet, charging them for the privilege, of course. When he started playing that game, the one all his friends had been playing for over a year now. Since they each turned eighteen, they could officially sign up and join the military, getting rid of the school word that everyone was stuck on until they turned eighteen.

  He had been so excited to start and managed to fly his drop-ship in the big deployment with paying customers onboard. The drop carrier he had been assigned turned out to be crazy and performed an emergency drop, letting them all out over the atmosphere, but he had safely gotten his customers to the planet and landed inside their drop destination. He then flew his new ship to the nearby base camp and had checked in. When he got back to his ship and was preparing to refuel it and start advertising for new customers, a man showed up and said he would be taking over his drop-ship. Trevor had of course refused and said the drop-ship was for hire and the man could not simply take it. However, that had led to a disagreement and ended with him hanging over the edge of his ramp as people ran up it before he was unceremoniously dumped into a seat. He had quickly pulled the bar down to secure himself in when the ship lifted off and began its insane rocking and rolling. He had sat there terrified out of his mind watching half of the new passengers being thrown about. The pretty female one had even at some point crashed into him. Before they all ended up deposited on the deck, groaning in pain.

  He was about to get out of his seat and give them all a piece of his mind. The new pilot lady walked past him and tossed something out of the back of his ship before heading back to the cockpit. It left him a little shocked when she agreed and gave him a wink. He was once again about to get out of his seat to start yelling and demanding compensation when the big guy suddenly rolled over, causing him to freeze up. What followed was a conversation in the obvious. He gripped the bar over his chest tighter to pull himself up a little higher in an attempt to make himself look bigger and more imposing. Instantly deflated again when the pilot walked past him and tossed two more things out the back of his ship. This caused him to snap his head towards the cockpit and see it in complete shambles and disarray. He felt his heart stop and thought he was going to die.

  “What the fuck have you done to my ship!” he screamed as he stood up only to be pushed back down by the safety bar.

  “Removed all the tracking devices, your ship is now stealthy and shit.” one of the smug asses further down the row from him replied.

  Trevor felt like he was going to lose his mind, why were these people here, what give them the authority to do all this to HIS ship. His mind had begun to spiral when it was suddenly snapped back into focus by a ping on his radio app. It was like a thunderbolt of hope hitting him, and he rushed to open it. Only to find his outgoing disabled and the only connection he had was to the cockpit of the ship he was on. He reluctantly clicked on it, opening the chat window.

  [Pvt K1mb31y: Relax, you will be compensated for the loss of your ship.]

  [Pvt McCoy: what do you mean loss of my ship? What are you planning to do with it?]

  [Pvt K1mb31y: I was going to give it back to you when we got near our destination, but the fuel is low, so I'm not sure if we will even make it to our destination, and It's starting to look more and more like we will have to bail out.]

  [Pvt McCoy: can we turn back now? I promise I won't file a complaint, press charges or anything. Just please don't sink my baby, it's all I have, I worked so hard to get it.]

  [Pvt K1mb31y: I can't turn back, there isn't enough fuel left to make it, we have passed the point of no return so to speak. We are going to continue on to the city, on the bright side, you can come with us, get a stake in the city, have a brand-new ship in no time and some weekly income for your trouble.]

  Weekly income, caused Trevor to pause and actually consider it. He had never had a guaranteed income before, he always had to scrape, beg and plead, selling whatever he could get his hands on. He slowly looked around his ship, taking it in, all the hard work and tough times he had gone through just to get enough for this ship. Was he really willing to give it all up on the hope that this insane woman would actually give him a stake in a city. He slowly turned back to the radio app, watching the little cursor blink at him, waiting for his mental input, and a smile slowly spread across his face. Two words appeared on the screen. He couldn't resist, this was insane, this was beyond his wildest dreams and he loved it!

  [Pvt McCoy: I'm in!]

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