The cyborg shared his opinion about getting the dragons dead or alive.
“They’re more valuable alive than dead,” said Qray. “The biological and neuro research is hard to do when they’re dead. The bounty calls for them alive, and I know you’re all interested in the big pay-off. A dead dragon is worth a fraction of living one.”
Ranger and the others strapped in as the scout ship headed down to Pern. It would be a rough trip given the damage the small ship had taken. They flew through the upper atmosphere; the holes from Thread were weak points that heated up and further compromised the integrity of the hull.
Ranger didn’t like the noises he heard. The ship vibrated in ways it shouldn’t.
Harrison smiled over at Ranger. “No sweat!”
An alarm sounded. The lights went out. Emergency red lights flickered on. Ranger figured they should be through the lower atmosphere by now, but the velocity wasn’t letting up which probably meant a crash landing.
Suddenly there was loud sounds of something hitting the hull. The ship bucked. The sounds continued. Skimming a forest? Scrapping mountains?
The room erupted with cursing and some prayers from the mercenaries.
The rattling turned to rending and pitched higher still as scout ship hit something hard. Ranger and the mercenaries blacked out.
![Image](https://webstockreview.net/images/divider-clipart-chapter-16.png)
Sometime later Ranger came to, battered (Ranger crash damage [5d6]=15) but alive.
He looked around. Most of his fellow mercenaries where still out. A few were dead, all were injured to various degrees.