Sage Teon and the Fake Diamond Heist

Part II: The Free Fall

Ganon still had his doubts about the job, but time was of the essence, and Sage wasn't going to turn down a huge payout because one member of his crew was concerned. Besides, Sage always worked best under pressure, and he was sure that Sobal would come through when the time came.

Although the heavy breathing coming through the speaker in his helmet wasn't giving him much confidence.

Due to the security on the planet where the Academy was located, they would have to parachute in from space. The ship was skimming the stratosphere at about 40,000 meters, just above radar. The plan was for Sage, Sobal, Ganon, and Nalton, one of Sage's three body men, to parachute on top of the building. Sobal would use his considerable cyber skills to hack into the rooftop security system and disable it without alerting the local authorities. He'd only have five minutes to disable the rooftop sensor, as well, which was probably why he was sweating bullets.

Sage reached over a gloved hand and clapped his shoulder. "You'll do fine," he said, the microphone in his helmet transferring his words over.

"Sounds like a damned asthmatic in my ear," Ganon's voice came through the speaker, and the source came walking onto the bridge, followed by Nalton. Even if he couldn't see his face, Sage would have recognized Nalton by his shape; the tallest on his crew, even head taller than Sobal, and skinny as a pole. For as sinewy as he was, he was strong, and even more intimidating, which came in handy when someone was on his tail. Nalton and his other two body men, Paren and Jorwen, had been acquired over the past year. As Sage rose to prominence on his own merits, instead of simply being known as Tauron Ball's pseudo-kid brother, he found himself hounded by bounty hunters and other pirates. Having a couple intimidating guys around was always good to keep the riffraff to a minimum.

While Nalton was tall and thin, Paren and Jorwen were big and beefy, and good for nothing except intimidation. For a mission like this, they were best left under the care of Keal, Sage's mechanic, who was taking over piloting duties while Ganon was on the planet with the Sage. Keal had joined the crew shortly after Ganon, as his pirate boss had recently retired. Keal was good-natured and had a bit more patience than Ganon when it came to their newest hire.

"You'll do fine, kid," Keal said, his words intended for Sobal, but echoing in Sage's helmet.

"Thanks," came Sobal's weak reply.

"'Bout at the drop-site, boss, make your final checks," Keal said. Sage checked the security on his parachute for a fifth time. He wasn't paranoid, but he was jumping out of a ship at the edge of space.

Ganon pressed a button on the wall and Sage watched the hatch open beneath them through the glass of his helmet. He'd seen this sight many times before, but it never ceased to take his breath away. They were on the very edge of space, high enough to see the blurred line between the blue atmosphere of the planet and the blackness of space. The planet curved beneath them, a brown mass under the blueish color of the sky. Somewhere down there was the building they needed to parachute onto.

"We're in position," Ganon's voice was in his ear and Sage saw the suit-clad body move towards the hatch.

"You ready, kid?" Sage asked, looking over to Sobal.

Sobal's helmet moved up and down slowly.

"It's fun," Sage said, as he moved to the edge and stepped off the ship, falling into nothing.

A surge of exhilaration rushed through him as the thin air whipped around his suit. At first, he was drifting slowly, watching the ground and the star rotate slowly around his feet. Then, as he gained speed, the rotation sped up, until the star and the ground were flipping so fast, he began to get dizzy. He clenched his jaw to stem the sickness and pushed his arms out to capture more of the air as it thickened around him to slow his rate of speed. After a minute or so, he stabilized and he was simply falling, once again taking in the absolute beauty around him.

Sage pulled his eyes from the now bluer picture in front of him to read the small screen at the top corner of his helmet. There he could see his altitude, distance from the target building, current oxygen levels in the tank on his back, rate of speed. He'd had just passed the sound barrier, in fact, but was slowing down as the drag on his suit caught more of the air.

The sky, too, was becoming less black and more blue, and the speaker in his helmet, silent up until now, began cutting in and out.

"...good...man..."

"...puke..."

"...being...baby..."

Sage chuckled and wondered which of his crew was whining - most likely Sobal. Sage remembered his first space jump; he'd actually gotten sick in his own helmet and Wade made him wear it for the rest of the day. After that, he'd learned to keep it in his stomach.

He took a moment to scan the blue horizon for his crew. Ganon he saw first, having seen his pilot space jump hundreds of times, he could identify him anywhere. He turned his head to the left and spotted Nalton, spindly arms and legs extended firmly.

When he didn't see the kid, he began to worry a little bit. He'd gone through training over the past two weeks, and had some practice jumps from a lower altitude. But this was his first real jump, and he never bothered to ask the kid if he was afraid of heights.

"Anyone have a visual on Sobal?" Sage asked, hoping that his helmet microphone was finally working. All he heard in response was static, and he cursed. Sobal might be coming in too fast, unable to slow himself down - or worse.

With the expertise of an experienced space jumper, Sage turned his arm, using the change in the air current to rolled over onto his back, his eyes adjusting to the brightness of the local star in the sky. He sighed when he saw the kid, his arms and legs extended as he was instructed, floating just above the rest of them.

"Whatchoo doing there, Sage?" Ganon was in his ear, communications now fully re-established. "Thought'd you'd do a little sky dancing?"

"Look like a damned ballerina," Nalton grunted.

"Oh you know," Sage said, relaxing into the free fall. "Thought I'd try it backwards."

"That's what she said…" Sobal replied, meekly.

A roar of laughter erupted from the entire group, including those left on the ship and Sage flipped back onto his stomach, enjoying the view and the camaraderie of his crew before the real work would begin.