Three.
She made four.
Where was the fifth ship?
A few seconds later, a pod burst from the cruiser, just as the cruiser exploded again.
"Where were we hit?" Eleanor wondered. "What in the world did they do to us to hit us like this?" On the outside of the ship, she couldn't see any major scarring like it had been hit. She wasn't a forensic battle analyst, but the Rhimodians must have had some really unusual weapons to not leave any residual blast shots.
Veta called out for a quick roll call.
They were all present.
Everyone answered.
At least, except Caoimhe.
Eleanor got a lump in her throat.
Wait. She'd seen all the pods launch. Including Veta's. Had something happened when she was looking the other way?
"Get to the ground," Veta said. "I will find you."
"Affirmative," Eleanor said.
Everyone else responded.
A cough came through the comm line. "Affirmative."
"Caoimhe, glad you could join us."
"Well, I had to change my outfit for something more appropriate for an escape. You know how that goes."
"Glad you are with us," Eleanor said.
"Me too."
"See you soon, sis," Eleanor said.
Okay, now she could get away.
What was the best path to take? She pulled up her telemetry. Nearest planet.
That one.
The golden one.
She hit the scanners, wanting to get a read on the planet's surface environment as she aimed her escape pod toward it. Desert and Mountains. Hot and steamy. Not a lot of water.
Veta had said she packed up survival gear. Hopefully, that included plenty of water pods.
"It would be hot, but I could manage," she said. "If I land here." She pointed to a spot on the world map. It was near the mountains and not as much in the desert. She could likely find some kind of shelter in the world in the rocky area versus the desert. It would work, she thought.
Everything was going fine for a minute.
Then it wasn't.
Blaster fire hit the pod.
