“Hey Boss,” Casey’s voice crackled through the speakers in the cargo bay, “you might want to hold on. It’s going to get a bit bumpy.

“How bumpy?” Avalon already started scrambling to secure the turtle and herself into one of the chairs that lined the walls.

In response, the ship rolled into a cascade of wild maneuvers. Anything that hadn’t been secured now flew around, clattering and crashing into everything else. Outside, she could hear the muffled wump of chaff fire. “About that bumpy- hang on!”

The craft bucked violently as an explosion sounded practically in her ears. The restraints kept them in place but she was going to be bruised from that impact later. The ship continued to bounce around, shuttering and dipping.

Avalon’s ears died back down in time hear Casey’s voice fade back into assistance, “…….news, the computer says we’re going down.” They dropped again, lurching her stomach into her lungs. “Yeah, Halon better pay us good for this job,” Casey continued.

“What is the cosmos was that?!” Avalon shouted, getting her breath back.

“Oh, welcome back, I thought you might be dead, that was a pretty bang up on the back of your head there.”

“I feel like I should be, the room is still spinning.”

“That’s because we are. I’m trying to get us near a town before we have to parachute the rest of the way down. I might make it. They took out an engine. No biggie. And most of the left wing. We still got one left. We should be good. That is, if we don’t die first.”

“It’s almost as though, if they can’t have the turtle then no one can!” Avalon stumbled across to one of the boxes anchored down. It did not contain parachutes. “A box of catechisms?”

“That’s for my other job today,” the loudspeaker crackled. “We’re coming in hot, I’m about to run back there myself. Parachutes next box over.”

True enough, in the next crate over, was the supplied for her mission, including parachutes and a crate specially designed for the turtle. With practiced ease, Avalon had the parachute on and the turtle in his harness. A door banged open and Casey stumbled through it. The plane began to lean into a dive.

“Time to go, she’s not gonna hold together much longer.”

Avalon hit the button as the back of the plane unfolded. Casey jumped onto the first crate and then hit the release. ‘All Clear!’ he shouted as he shot by. Avalon rolled her eyes, following him out. He had already popped the chute and she caught up to him before deploying hers.

“That was pretty cowardly, going for the engines.” They watched the plane continue it’s downward path, the crate was already out of sight.

“That’s the Sanctuary for you. They will send out their interceptors soon to recover the wreck.”

“They won’t find it,” Casey smiled and twisted the dial on his watch. The dragonfly spun randomly and descended haphazardly, “harder to control then I thought.”

“Right. So where are we?”

“Mark your compass cursor to 45 degrees by 167 degrees. We’ll be landing in Edin!”

“I hate that place,” Avalon muttered.

The Dice Roll

Aspen	Cowardly
Abacus	Computer
Arrow	Cursor
Question	Catechism
World	Cosmos
Down Arrow (descend)	Cascade
Escape	Clear