Thienal's ship began to rise from the crater. Once it'd reached a few yards above the ground, the engines lit and it began to accelerate into space, leaving only the crater, and the cloaked man, lying on the ground, visible only by the rippling when he moved, and his eyes peeking out from what appeared to be a crack in nothingness. He thought he'd caught sight of someone lurking nearby, but he wasn't sure.
What I wouldn't give for some damn way to look around
***
Thienal was still scanning the area through his scope, when the human's voice came from his clothing somewhere. "Nice ship, Thienal. I think you should take better care of it, though. Mind if I borrow it for a while?"
Thienal glanced over towards his crashed ship and saw it rocket towards space. Immediately, the two Bug Fighters were after it, firing, but it had too much of a lead on them. Their shots were dissipating in the atmosphere before they hit it, and it was pulling away. Thienal angrily took a shot at it, which went wide, then hovered down from the roof. He sprinted towards the Yeerk commander, yelling "He stole my ship! He's on my ship! That's him!"
The commander had noticed the rising ship, and immediately suspected it might be his target, but at Thienal's yelling, he stopped dead in his tracks. "No... not again." Into his mic, he started screaming "Cruiser in orbit, can you see a fighter rising from the surface?"
A female human voice replied "Yeah, I see it. It's hauling, though. I wont' be able to catch it before it breaks orbit. We'd have to fully change direction. Actually, as fast as it's moving, I don't think this thing can catch it at all. We'll probably just have to follow until it burns out the engines."
The commander sighed heavily. This target would never make this easy on him. "All troops, to the transport. NOW! Cruiser, be ready for us. Ikakek! Zong! Whatever you are, stop that ship. Shoot it down!"
Ikakek's tiny ship rocketed towards the larger Kindler ship now exiting the atmosphere, and unleashed a volley of small missiles trailing a red glow. They barely seemed able to catch the accelerating craft, and though each impacted with a white flash, it didn't seem to slow it down at all.
Thienal had run up next to him, panting. "There's no way that Zong can take down my ship with the shots he has left. Stupid human's going to blow up my baby, running her that hot. Can I hitch a ride?"
The commander glared at him. "Come with me." They joined the rest of the Yeerk forces already running for the transport.