--Archaeus-- To the Ground Below [i]Chapter 8 -[/i] One Final Effort (Part IV) \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ I looked frantically around my turret pod to fine an exit, when I accidentally pressed a yellow button above me, which shutdown the HUD, released the belt around me, lowered the handle, and turned the chair back around. I ran up to the cockpit of the Destroyer, which was a small room with two seats right next to each other and a huge HUD shows the front view of the ship. Two Zealots sit in each one, working to get the ship in the air, while another was watching. "How much time until we're up? That bomb is going to go off in thirty seconds!" I said to the pilot. Just then, I felt the movement of the ship shift, signaling we were rising. "Human, go to the rear of the ship and watch for Commander Ceteris. If he does not make it by the time we leave the force field, grab onto something sturdy and hold your breath." I quickly ran to the rear hatch of the ship that was still open, and watched as Ceteris placed the arm of the mech in front of the exit doorway of the hanger to block the Betas from entering the hanger. The cabin then popped completely off of the mech, and Ceteris jumped to the ground, running for the ship. The Destroyer was sputtering and shaking heavily due to the lost of a thruster, and the ship itself was tilted to the left. "Hurry, Ceteris! Hurry!" I screamed, after looking to see that he has ten seconds before the bomb detonates. Just as the ship was about to exit the force field into space, Ceteris made one final, giant leap up into the hatch. I grabbed hold of his hand and pulled him in before pulling the lever on the wall to close the hatch. But the hatch didn't close all the way before we left the field, and as soon as the rear end of the ship entered the vacuum, all of the air in the ship got sucked out of the hole, and Ceteris and I had to grip the wall with all of our might to stay in. We couldn't breathe for those few short seconds. The hatch finally closed back up, and the troop hold pressurized again. Ceteris and I took a deep breath once we were able to again, and we made our way to the cockpit, while Jackson and the marine sat in the armory, recuperating. At that moment, we heard the loud sound of the explosive going off, which sent out a shockwave that propelled our Destroyer further to Earth with a large boost of speed. The door of the cockpit slid open as we practically fell into it, and the first thing we saw was the enormous last fleet of the Alphas opening fire on the defense grid. All of the Beta ships were focused on the fleet, allowing us to slip by undetected. As we descended to Earth, we all looked back at the battle, watching the defense grid get obliterated, and the Starship slowly die and split apart, letting us know the bomb did its job. I walked back to the armory, and sat down with Jackson and Aiden while we waited for us to reach the planet. A few minutes pass and we can finally feel the ship getting tossed about by the conditions of re-entry. The entire ship felt as though it was going to be tore apart. We finally crashed into the ground of some remote area of the world, and we all exited the Destroyer. I looked around to see that all of us were in one piece, and looked back at the ship to see it sticking halfway in the ground. We all stared up at the night sky, watching the remainder of the Beta attack force get wiped out. Watching the remainder of the Starship crumble and fall apart. All of my life, I never even realized how truly small and insignificant we are compared with the rest of the universe, or even the other beings that inhabit it. We would probably be dead right now if it wasn't for the Alphas assistance. It makes me think of how many more species of alien there are living around us. That old friend of mine I mentioned to you earlier has long since passed, but it was he who was one of the first to open their eyes to the reality around us. He knew there were aliens up there, living amongst even the stars we see in our night sky. He tried to find them. He also knew that a big risk came with not being the only species in the universe... He looked anyway.