Multi-Dimensional Merchant System

Despite the urge to curse himself for an idiot, Oliver set aside all unnecessary thoughts. He had two goals in front of him: save Umi, and get back to the Ark. Preferably with both of them unharmed, even if that part looked rather unlikely.

While he had never actually been sky diving, he at least knew the theory- and the science. Gravity would pull you down, but how fast was a matter of air resistance. With that in mind, Oliver tucked his arms in close and dove. Head first... He was thankful for the full helmet, protecting his face.

And doubly so when his quasi-living armor, Lita, expanded to cover everything but his eyes and ears. Not that it would save him from the fall, but with several aircraft already banking in his direction, every little bit mattered.

With his body as streamlined as possible, he quickly closed on the tumbling Rach- her broader body creating more resistance, slightly slowing her descent enough for him to catch up.

The part that worried him the most... was that Umi never once screamed or called out over the radio. It was like she was resigned to her fate.

Uncertain if he would be able to slow without sending himself tumbling in the wrong direction, Oliver slammed into the small woman at speed. Wrapping his arms and legs tightly around her, the pair were sent spinning uncontrollably.

Mountains and reddish desert were quickly replaced by the sky and fleeing shuttle, before coming right back into view just a second later.

“Silk! What the hell are you doing? Now we are both going to die!”

Umi's voice lacked the panic he expected, instead laced with anger and frustration. While she had been steady and reserved through all of the salvage runs, the complete lack of fear or worry over her predicament alarmed him. Did she really not care if she died? And why was she angry at him?

“Yeah, well I don't plan to die. And I told your uncle I would try to look after you-”

“How is you dying going to accomplish anything!? You should have just left with the shuttle.”

Finally, it clicked for Oliver. She wasn't mad at him. She was mad at herself. She didn't expect either of them to survive this, and she was upset that her mistakes would cost him his life as well.

“Look, I don't have time to explain everything. I just need you to trust me and relax. Don't resist what I'm about to do... and there is a chance I can keep us both alive. Now, close your eyes and-” Without giving her any more time to argue, or even contemplate his words, Oliver shoved her into the System Warehouse. For a moment, he felt a tremendous resistance, almost like he was trying to wrestle a bear...

Then, like a switch was flipped, the resistance suddenly disappeared. And so did Umi.

With her tucked away safely in the warehouse, Oliver felt his chances went up. Slightly.

After a moment of awkward flailing, he managed to correct his tumbling descent. “Now on to Step 2: try not to get shot out of the sky.” He muttered to himself as he eyed the planes closing in on him.

His mind raced through options for deterring them. He doubted he would be able to bring one down... Unless they got close enough for him not to miss with one of his spells, though he wasn't sure he could avoid being shot before that. Or that they would even get that close, seeing as they had all the mobility while he just fell like a rock.

On Earth, a HALO jump took over two minutes. He had no idea about the gravity of this planet, but he figured he needed to avoid being shot for at least that long.

“If they really are like World War 2 fighters, they won't shoot until their within a couple hundred yards... I think... Hopefully... I really should have watched more of those documentaries with Gary.”

With those thoughts in mind, he waited as long as he could. Just before he thought they would open fire on him, he pulled the AK from the warehouse. Flipping it to full auto, as he knew his accuracy would be shit while in free fall, he pointed the barrel in their direction and let loose. He couldn't see if his 'spray and pray' had actually hit anything, but at least one of the planes immediately went into evasive maneuvers.

The other, unfortunately, seemed to ignore him shooting at them.

Pulling out the empty magazine, he tossed it into the warehouse before carefully reloading and emptying the gun again. Then again. At this point, he was sure at least one bullet had hit the plane.

But the bastard just kept coming, not even bothering to shoot him yet. Like they knew they had him dead to rights and were just waiting until they had an easy, close range shot. Maybe to save on ammo.

Or maybe they were just toying with him. He didn't really know. And he didn't care, seeing as it worked in his favor.

Tossing the gun back in the warehouse, Oliver threw himself into a frantic roll- hoping that his chaotic and unpredictable movements would make targeting him harder. When the first shoots whizzed by, he felt a moment of excitement that it was working.

Then he felt pain.

“I'm not Forrest Gump, you assholes!” Oliver hissed in pain as the impact of the bullet sent him careening off. As much as it hurt, he was glad the bullet had only torn through the flesh of his left buttock... rather than something more important, like his head.

He would definitely get to try out his healing spell. Just not immediately. Pain he could deal with, but continuing to get shot at could easily get him killed.

Gauging the distance as best he could, Oliver focused on casting a spell. Despite the pain, and the danger, he was honestly excited to try this one out. From withing his chest, he felt the pulse of mana as it flowed out and down his arm. Blazing red mana swirled together in his palm, and within seconds he held a small, flaming orb.

Then he launched it in the direction of the plane.

Not willing to gamble on a single shot, he immediately set about and launching a second, third, fourth, and fifth Fireball. Nearly half his mana was gone in seconds.

Considering his wild spinning, he thought his aim was decent. All five were at least headed in the right direction. He saw the moment when the pilot realized the threat that was heading his way and quickly tried to evade.

The pilot managed to juke to the side of the first, and pull up just enough to avoid the second, both of which explode in his wake... But the third clipped his wing with the edge of its explosion, spelling his end.

Jerking away from the explosion, the plane barreled head first into the next Fireball. For a moment as the explosion engulfed the plane, Oliver thought he heard a scream...

Oliver could only figure that the fire and explosion had damaged the engine, as the plane- which was now clearly on fire- suddenly dove towards the ground. That, and the pilot unexpectedly jumping out of it.

He couldn't make out many details of the pilot, considering the flight suit they wore... Except that the helmet was larger than he expected, with an elongates snout... That, and the pilot clearly had what must have been a rather thick, three foot long tail whipping behind them. Either that, or their biology was drastically different from anything he was familiar with. For all he knew, it could be the creatures genitals.

Dragging his thoughts away from the possible reproductive anatomy of an alien species- especially one that had just tried to kill him- Oliver quickly corrected his spin... And then carefully angled himself to intercept the falling pilot.

“To quote Firefly... When someone tries to kill you, you try to kill 'em right back.” Oliver whispered to himself, a manic smile spreading across his face. As strange as it was, the only times he truly felt alive were when he was fighting for his life... Or when he was with Poli...

Roughly jerking his thoughts away from his relationship problems, Oliver snarled as the Psi Blade formed in his hand. With the glowing purple sword pointed straight ahead of himself, he slammed into the pilot.

The flight suit clearly lacked any form of reinforcement, as the tip of the blade ripped straight through it- and, consequently, straight through the pilot in what would obviously be a fatal wound... Though what likely would have been a slow and painful death would be cut short, as Oliver's stab had also ripped through the backpack that held their parachute. Yanking the remains of the backpack off the pilot, Oliver kicked off of the tumbling body.

And turned his eyes back to the surrounding sky.

Between the explosions, the crashing plane, and the rather violent end of the pilot, the other nearby plane was clearly wary and keeping its distance... And, it seemed, the other pilots were hesitant to come close. Instead, they turned to focus on harassing the fleeing shuttle.

Though why they bothered, he couldn't be sure. The shuttle was already exiting the atmosphere, and they could no longer pursue it.

Momentarily safe- at least relatively so- Oliver dove towards the ground. Just a minute more, he figured. Then he would have to pull his parachute.

Which, he instantly recognized, would be the moment he was most vulnerable.