“Fine,” he replied. He was hardly going to tell his fitter that he was still smarting from the dressing down Jagdea had given him. At least she’d had the decency not to do it in front of the others.
He wandered across the hangar space, through the teams of working fitters, skirting a power lifter as it offered up munitions drums, stopping to let an electric bowser trundle past.
Kaminsky was seated on a jerry can beside his Thunderbolt, carefully studying a data-slate of specifications and procedures.
“Hi,” said Marquall.
The shockingly-scarred face tilted up at him. “Hello. Marquall, right?”
“Yeah. So… you got your wish, then?”
“I beg your pardon?” Kaminsky replied.
“That night in Zara’s. You said you’d give anything to be like me. To fly again.”
“Ah, I did, didn’t I?”
Marquall nodded. “I can’t quite remember if it was before or after you called me a bastard and a waste of space, and suggested I shot myself to make the sector a better place.”
“Damn,” said Kaminsky. He put the slate down carefully, but still did not get to his feet. “I was kinda hoping you’d forgotten about that. Yes, I got my wish, Marquall. And what about you? Fallen off any barstools recently?”
Marquall coloured. “No,” he said.
Kaminsky picked up the slate and started to read it again. “Then it sounds like things are working out for both of us,” he said.
Lucerna AB, 16.01
Eads had quarters in the lower levels of the base. The evacuation influx had put huge pressure on accommodation. The rock cut passages down here smelled damp, and the glow globe lighting was poor. Some of the rooms she saw were storage bays, and she was sure the quarters she passed had also been storage bays until recently.
She found Eads’s room and knocked on the metal hatch. After a moment, it opened and Darrow peered out.
“Commander Jagdea?”
“I’ve come to see Eads.”
“Yes, mamzel. He’s expecting you.”
Darrow opened the door and let her in. The room was small and bare. Litter had been swept into one corner. There was a camp table and two chairs, an unmade cot, and a bottle of amasec with a dirty glass.
The one concession to comfort was an old, tatty armchair. Eads was sitting in it, apparently asleep.
“I can come back,” Jagdea whispered.
“I’m awake, Jagdea. Just resting my thoughts. It was a long and demanding shift.”
Darrow collected up a stack of data-slates and paper files from the table.
“I was just finishing the shift reports,” he told Jagdea. “I’ll get out of your way.”
“No, stay,” she said. He paused, and put the paperwork back down.
“Excuse the drabness,” said Eads. “I’m told it’s drab. I can’t help it. I came out of Theda with just the clothes I was standing up in. Take a seat and let’s get down to business.”
Jagdea sat down, and put the folder she was carrying on the table. “I saw the white bat today,” she said.
“Did you?” said Eads. “That devil’s still out there, then?”
“It reminded me of the notice of report that had been circulated at the time of the Lida incident. This report,” she said, tapping the folder. “It contains a written account of a brawl with the bat. Very useful, very cautionary. It’s been required reading for the Navy wings. You wrote it, didn’t you, Darrow?”
“I did, commander,” the young man replied.
The report also contained your commanding officer’s account. “I forget his name.”
“Major Heckel,” Darrow said.
“Major Heckel. Not confined by modesty as you were in your part of the file, he describes the most extraordinary piece of flying.”
“Heckel was not exaggerating,” said Eads quietly. “He said it was one of the most gifted displays of natural ability he’d ever seen.”
“So it seems,” said Jagdea. “Out-running an expert killer, probably an echelon commander, a pilot at the height of his powers. What’s more, doing it in a totally out-classed machine that lacked the speed, power and vector abilities of the enemy’s bat. What puzzles me is this, Commander Eads. When I came to you asking for recommendations, you chose to ignore the young pilot serving with you on a daily basis.” Eads was silent.
“Commander?” Darrow said softly. “May I ask… recommendations for what?”
“My wing is short a frontline pilot, Darrow.”
“You… you’d consider me?” he said, astonished.
“I understand you’ve been clocking simulator time on Thunderbolts,” Jagdea said.
“I have,” said Darrow. “Sixty hours. Who told you?”
“Major Scalter. So where does this leave us?”
Eads sat forward, his hands on his knees. “Enric’s not the one you’re looking for, commander,” he said.
“Why not?” Darrow asked sharply. “I’m sorry, sir,” he added, adjusting his tone. “Why not, sir?”
Eads addressed his answer to Jagdea. “He’s barely a cadet, Jagdea! His combat hours are minimal. Oh, he’s got talent. But that one dogfight? It was luck. He got very lucky indeed. If you send him into combat now, he will die. He’s not ready. My recommendation would be an act of murder.”
Darrow rose to his feet. “I disagree, sir.”
“It’s not up to you, Enric,” Eads said.
“Isn’t it?” Jagdea asked.
“How will I ever be ready if I don’t get the experience?” Darrow said.
“This is not the time,” said Eads.
“Oh, I think there’s no time like it,” said Jagdea. “Enothis needs all her pilots for this war, Commander Eads. If men like Darrow don’t try, then there may not be a future available for other chances.”
“I won’t have his blood on my conscience,” said Eads emphatically. “I will not recommend him.”
Jagdea looked at Darrow. “I think it’s up to an individual wing leader to decide if she needs a man to be recommended before she takes him. Your objection is noted, commander, and your loyalty in trying to protect him is admirable. Cadet Darrow, I’m offering you that place. Will you take it?”
“Yes, commander. Gladly.” Darrow looked over at Eads. “I’m sorry, sir.”
Jagdea got to her feet and collected her folder. “You’ll have to report immediately, Darrow. You can come with me now.”
They walked to the hatch. In the doorway, Darrow turned and saluted crisply. “Call that a salute?” Eads said.
“Yes, sir.”
Eads rose to his feet stiffly, and then saluted back. “That’s a salute,” he said, and sat down again. “Good luck, son. Prove me wrong.”
Darrow followed Jagdea down the passageways to one of the main staircases. They clattered up the stone steps, side by side. “You alright?” she asked him.
“Yes, mamzel. I’m very fond of the commander. It’s sad to see him upset like that.”
“You know he was only trying to protect you, don’t you?” Jagdea said.
“Yes, but I think there was something more,” said Darrow. “These last few weeks, he’s lost everything. His command, many of his men and his friends, then the base itself, and all his possessions with it. I think my company was the last thing he had to hold onto.”
“This is war,” said Jagdea. “War calls for sacrifices.”
DAY 269
Lucerna AB, 06.30
“This way, gentlemen,” Jagdea called, walking out into the middle of the hangar three deckway. The four aviators followed her, wearing their flight armour, carrying their helmets. Viltry, Kaminsky, Scalter and Darrow. The latter looked especially nervous. “Relax,” Scalter whispered.
Jagdea stopped beside the ranks of parked planes. “We have no time for proper induction. Apparently, there’s a war on or something.”
The crew laughed.
“This is an orientation flight, a shake-down. It’s the best we can do to get
you used to the feel of the real thing before we start hitting combat. When I say you, I mean Mr Darrow, Mr Scalter and Mr Kaminsky. Mr Viltry has already been on one sortie. But I figure the more flying time he can get in a Bolt, the better. Zemmic and I will be flying chaperone. Follow my lead. Any questions?”
“Commander?” said Scalter. “What with the pink feathers you all wear?”
“Lucky feathers!” Cordiale called out. The rest of the Umbra pilots were waiting by the birds. He came forward, stuffed a hand in the pocket of his flight pants and produced several more which he handed out to the newbies. They put them on their lapels dubiously.
“Right,” said Jagdea. “Lucky feathers. That’s got the important stuff out of the way. Let’s mount up.”
“Are we scraping the barrel or what?” Marquall whispered to Ranfre. “Two Commonwealth no-hopers, one of them a kid, that poisonous cripple, and a Marauder pilot who’s been through the ringer. I mean, he’s got that look in his eyes.”
“Viltry did pretty damn well yesterday,” Ranfre said.
“Even so,” said Marquall. Viltry’s score from the previous day still irked him.
Primers began to crackle and fire the engines on the six planes. Scalter settled into his cockpit and ran his hands around the edges of it with a grin on his face. Kaminsky allowed the fitter to fasten his harness, then used his good hand to fix his prosthetic around the stick.
“Okay, sir?” said Racklae.
“The usual nerves.”
Racklae leaned into the cockpit, strapped the speaker phone for the voice system around Kaminsky’s neck, then plugged its trailing leads into the instrument panel on his left.
“Comfortable?”
Kaminsky settled his mask and nodded. Racklae closed the canopy.
Darrow’s heart was bearing fast. He kept licking his lips. Nothing was how he had imagined it. The weight of the kit on his body, the sound of the Lightning engines, the smell of the cockpit as he lowered himself in.
One of the fitters patted his own ears and Darrow nodded, switching on the vox and testing it.
“This is Umbra Leader, let me know you’re ready.”
“Lead, this is Ten, ready.”
“Thank you, Zemmic. I assumed you were.”
“Leader, this is Umbra Four. I’m all set,” voxed Viltry.
“Umbra Five, Leader,” called Kaminsky. “Ready to lift.”
“Umbra Seven, check, Leader,” Scalter said.
“This is Umbra Nine, Umbra Lead,” Darrow said. “Systems clear. I am ready.”
The deck officers waved them go, and ducked down.
“Flight, go to lift,” Jagdea voxed.
The Thunderbolts’ engine pitch increased sharply as they rose into the air.
“Launch to forward flight,” Jagdea instructed.
The flight rushed up and away out of the hangar mouth and into the sky, lifting their landing gear.
Jagdea turned them right, across the atolls, and they spent a while practising formation flying and basic manoeuvres.
Then she started to push them a little harder. Fast ascents, rolls and power dives.
“Keep looking around you, flight,” Jagdea voxed. “Get in the habit of checking both auspex and visual on a regular basis. And get used to what you can’t see from your canopy as much as what you can. Learn how to compensate, how to pitch your plane to get a better view.”
After ninety minutes, she chose a small, uninhabited atoll near the edge of the island chain.
“Line up, flight,” she said. “I want each one of you to test his weapons. To feel how they affect the airframe. Zemmic and Viltry can sit this one out.”
Scalter went in first: a long, low dive, and raked the rock, both las and then quad.
“Good aim,” said Jagdea.
“Throne, it really shakes the plane,” Scalter observed, banking away.
“You next, Umbra Nine.”
“Copy that, Lead,” Darrow responded. He switched on his gunsight and armed his weapons with quick, assured flicks. Then he pushed the stick and swung down into a dive. Water and rocky outcrops flashed by under him. He set the sight reticule on the rock, closed to range, then fired his las. The shots streaked ahead of him and he saw the fluff of impacts. He toggled to cannons and chattered off a burst, then brought his bird up.
“Excellent, Nine. Little high with las, but the cannon was good. You might want to calibrate your gunsight down a few points.”
“Copy that, Leader.”
“Umbra Five? You’re up.”
Kaminsky acknowledged and began his run on the target atoll. With his left hand, he threw the arming switch and turned the weapon system on, then returned his grip to the throttle. The sight was in.
“Fire!” he said.
The lascannons blasted.
“Select! Fire! Fire!”
Now the quads blasted, twitching the machine’s track. Kaminsky rolled off the target and started to climb out, disarming his gun system. “Racklae’s little toy seems to work,” he said.
“Very nice,” Jagdea voxed.
She let all three of them do it again a few times, then pulled the whole flight up to five thousand.
“We’ll swing wide on three-three-two and then turn for home,” she voxed.
They’d been going for ten minutes, and Jagdea was about to call the turn, when Zemmic called.
“Auspex contact,” he reported.
“I’m watching it,” Jagdea said.
In another ten seconds, they could make out the flash and smoke of a dogfight ten or fifteen kilometres to the north-west, out over the sea.
“Operations, Operations,” Jagdea called. “This is Umbra training. What are you showing in our vicinity?”
“Umbra Leader, mass intercept underway on a bomber stream. Suspected escort cover. Advise you push it home and clear the area.”
“Acknowledged, Operations,” said Jagdea. “Umbra Flight, what you can see has nothing to do with us today. We’re turning for home. Come about, bearing—”
“Break! Break!” Viltry was shouting.
Jagdea and Zemmic broke at once, Viltry and Kaminsky going the other way. Scalter and Darrow were taken by surprise, but began to turn out the moment they saw the formation scatter.
Jagdea looped up in time to see three Razors run clean through the parted formation. Escort cover no doubt, taking a pop at them.
She engaged. “Zemmic, stick with me. Guns live. The rest of you, pick up Lucerna beacon and follow it home now!”
Jagdea and Zemmic burned after the bats, but they were already breaking. She scanned her auspex frantically, and saw one of the Razors descending through the light cloud. She stooped after it.
It dropped to under a thousand metres, then turned up again sharply. Jagdea saw passing shots slip by her wing and realised she’d picked up another of them.
“On him!” Zemmic voxed.
Umbra Ten rolled in on the second bat’s tail and fired three bursts of quad. The Razor caught fire and went into a screaming climb that ended three thousand metres above them in an expanding fireball.
Jagdea was chasing the other bat when she heard Scalter on the vox.
“He just went right over us! Break! Break!” The third bat must have found the trainees.
The four Thunderbolts had split, and now Darrow couldn’t see the hostile at all. The only aircraft in sight was Viltry’s, three hundred metres down to his right.
Darrow’s skin crawled. Eads was right. He wasn’t ready and now, as soon as he’d got into the air, he was going to be killed.
He saw a flash and looked left. Scalter’s bird was climbing and trying to evade. The Razor was on his tail, firing.
“Break! Break!” he heard Viltry shouting.
Kaminsky’s Thunderbolt swept in out of the clouds, guns crackling. His shots went wide, but they were enough to check the bat and allow Scalter to break and dive out. The bat went over Kaminsky, then managed to viff round. Within seconds, Kaminsky had got t
he bat on his six.
Two shots crashed into Kaminsky’s wing.
“Dammit!” he cursed, imagining the disappointment on Blansher’s face.
Instinctively, feeling it now, he eased the vector thrust, and to his delight, the bat overshot him and started to turn.
Darrow saw it. He’d already turned his gunsight and weapons on.
It was trying to extend, its sport denied by the four pilots. Darrow opened the throttle and gave chase, following its attempts to evade. He let the sights roll through it…
Lock.
He fired.
The bat blew up. Just like that. A vivid backdraft of flame and flying scrap.
Jagdea saw an aerial explosion underlight the clouds ahead and screamed in rage. She let the bat she was chasing pull out and flee, and raced towards the flash.
“Flight? Flight? What was that?” she voxed.
“Hello, Leader,” she heard Viltry respond. “That was Darrow making his first kill.”
Lucerna AB, 10.20
They’d all made a big fuss, which had made Darrow blush. All of them, that is, except the young pilot called Marquall, who just looked sick or something.
Darrow stood by his Thunderbolt in the hangar for a long while, just staring at it.
He could do this. Starting tomorrow, he was going to be flying and killing for Enothis and the Emperor.
He felt certain that after a day or two, he’d begin to get a real feel for it.
Natrab Echelon Aerie, Theda, 19.10
The Imperial city was burning.
From the deck of the giant carrier which now occupied a headland above the sea, a site that had once been an enemy air-base, Flight Warrior Khrel Kas Obarkon gazed upon what the forces of the Anarch had wrought.
The sky had turned black, and the flames from the burning habs were stark and red. The sea itself glowed amber with their reflection.
Overhead, the echelons of war machines flew past, gleaming in the firelight. He listened to the lusty purr of their engines and smiled. As much as his woven face would allow him to, anyway.
His litter carriage awaited. The slaves abased themselves as he stepped into it, then earned him down into the deck space of the giant aerie.
In their hundreds, the other senior echelon leaders and flight warriors had gathered. The bronze horns were sounding and the kettle drums beating. Obarkon drew back the silk drapes of his litter and greeted the nearest of his fellows. Sacolther, his armour engraved like alabaster. Coruz Shang, clad in chrome, his fingers sheathed in golden claws. Nazarike Komesh, echelon ace, impassive behind his green visor.