With its fuel exhausted, the long shuttle-shaped escape pod shut down. Parachutes deployed from its top and tail, dragging it down into a stretch of yellow sand.
Half-man-tall radiation scorpions scattered in fright at the commotion, while only a few dim-witted yellow beetles swayed their antennae in confusion.
A hissing leak spread through the air as the hatch cracked open.
Several guards carrying assault rifles climbed out first, crouching low as they kept watch.
After confirming that it was safe outside, one of them immediately returned to the escape pod and knocked on the door, signaling the comrades inside to open the hatch fully.
Soon, supported by two guard soldiers, General McLen stumbled out of the escape pod with a limp, looking thoroughly disheveled.
Though it was called an escape pod, it was really just an oversized "rocket." Its means of slowing down consisted of a few parachutes, so naturally, the ride was far from pleasant.
Although he had ridden one a few times during drills, McLen had never imagined that he would actually need to use it one day.
"Those damned natives... maggots..."
He kept cursing under his breath, his shadowed eyes searching the sky as he worried that aircraft might be coming after him.
Fortunately, the Alliance's planes had not pursued him. The skies were clear for a hundred miles around, and everything indicated one thing.
This was already Sunset Province.
Besides him and several guard soldiers, more than twenty senior officers had been crammed into the escape pod, including his adjutant and staff officers.
That was nearly the absolute limit of what the escape pod could hold.
Their remaining fuel was not enough to carry them back to the military base over a thousand kilometers away, but they were still two or three hundred kilometers beyond River