HORIZON: The Fall

Chapter Eight - The Depths (1)

Me.

I immediately heard the faint beeping that indicated the enemy was trying to get a lock on me as he tailed me. As I attempted to dodge, the enemy team's score increased, presumably from the amount of locks they were getting. Fresh out of ideas, I took off into a steep nosedive, trying to do it as gently as possible so we wouldn't get penalized. As soon as I entered the dive, however, the enemy team gained a point.

No going back now, I thought.

The beeping had stopped for now, and as the water rushed up to meet me, I pulled up hard and activated the VTOL thrusters, praying in the back of my mind that the spray would be enough to distract the fighters' targeting systems. Fortunately for me, it was. The enemy flew above me, impatient.

"Great job, Cap!" Murus called.

I continued to skim across the water, reveling in my small victory.

"Captain! Look out!"

Callia's sudden yelp pulled my attention back to the fight as a massive wave rushed towards me, created by a nearby hovership. It washed over my shuttle, sending it into a spin as it sped towards the bottom. Quickly activating the shields, I sat in anticipation for the impact, squeezing my eyes shut. To my annoyance, the spin had given the enemy a boost – but I had bigger things to worry about now. The ship crashed into the bottom, sending up sand from the collision.

I had landed on a massive underwater cliff. Peering over its edge, I gulped. The Verdin definitely wouldn't be able to withstand those pressures. If I had been lucky, this would've been one of the newer Verdins that was able to use its thrusters underwater. This, however, was not one of the new ones, so I was consigned to sitting there and waiting for rescue.

"Frederick! Are you okay?" Maria's frantic voice sounded over the coms.

"Yeah. But another couple of feet, and it'd probably be a different story," I replied.

"Oh, thank God!" Maria cried. After a heartbeat, she added, "I really hate paperwork."

Her sarcasm brought a smile to my lips. "I'm sure."

"Don't worry, Frederick, help is on the way." The cheerfulness had returned to her voice.

As I sat waiting for rescue, I studied the environment around me. Wavy seaweed–looking plants surrounded the shuttle, and small fish swam about, dipping in and out of the seaweed. Off in the depths, I could see a pod of whales meandering through the water alongside several more fish. Farther below, barely visible, were giant glowing purple spheres. Although the name escaped me, I could faintly remember learning about them. They were one of the native species of Defiant. An odd slim–winged creature with massive teeth fluttered through the water, a couple checking out the shuttle briefly, bumping their noses against it, before rejoining their group. Several fish decided to stay near the shuttle for a while, perhaps using it as cover. Thomas would've loved to see something like this.

I remember how he giggled at the fish when we saw them in the marketplace, swimming in little bowls. They had come from the coast, or – rarely – from offworld, and had odd mutations on them from the water. We had lived far inland, not too far from the capital. It was odd how when I was on Achilles, the smallest things would amaze me. But now, after seeing many of the wonders this universe had to offer, something as small as an offworld fish in the market wouldn't have surprised me. Back in those days, finding a ship that hadn't been salvaged would've been amazing. Nowadays... I didn't even know what would surprise me.

After this is all over, I vowed, I'm going to take Thomas and Mother to a place that they would enjoy. Several places immediately popped into mind: Saephel. Maybe Valor. Hell, maybe even Tiktila. It was no surprise to me that Earth never appeared in my thoughts. I might have been loyal to the Republic, but that didn't mean I wanted to live on that snob–infested planet.