‘All chevrons check in,’ said Max. ‘C-Two, report kills. COne, confirm cortege still secure. C-Three, you are free to engage below the cloud.’
While the messages and confirmations came in, Max scoured the dust cloud ahead, seeking modulations within it, anything to give him an edge. He ducked forwards reflexively, making a half-turn left, and felt the beat of wings as an Águila swept overhead. Kullani was turning hard right and up, settling into its wake.
‘I’ll go low,’ said Max.
‘Am closing fast. I have the scent.’
Max turned hard and Martha heaved into the roll, the shock-absorbing pouch undulating with the forces exerted on it and the wind whistling about her wings. Max brought her head up and rolled his shoulders, levelling them out and accelerating hard.
‘Kul-X, I’m behind and below you at a hundred and closing.’
‘Copy, Hal-X. Enemy level . .. strike that, he’s diving hard . .. and he’s got company.’
‘Stay on his tail,’ said Max. He switched to the C-Two com. ‘C-Two, HalX. Get below the dust and form up if you’re not already engaged. Águilas ahead of us. Out.’
Max tipped his body forwards and angled into a steep dive. Around him, he could sense his chevron coming into formation, drakes following Martha’s scent. Kullani was next to him, blood on her drake’s claws. They burst into clear air beneath the dust cloud together; seventy-five metres above the ground in a sky full of drakes. The Águilas split to his left, fleeing towards their comrades, engaged with Inferno-X drakes half a klick away.
‘C-Two, go open com.’
Max’s ears filled with Valera’s calm command.
‘—clear above the cortege. Kan-X, Xav-X, keep them moving west. New contacts south and east . . . C-Three move to engage. Hal-X, C-Two, good of you to join us. I see five hulks burning in the sand. Good work. How was it in there?’
‘Foggy, Skipper.’
Max looked at the tableau laid out for him as Inferno-X levelled out and headed after the Águilas, keeping close form and holding their distance at about eighty metres. Chevron Three was ahead, taking the mass of the Águilas – probably another eighteen of them – head-on and flying rings round them.
The cortege was plodding on, Chevron One still holding station above them. A few of the basilisks were on sprint patrol on the flanks guarding against new assault, and the turrets on the Iguanas were tracking but not firing. They wouldn’t need to; Inferno-X was in town. Below him, he could see nine downed Águilas in total, many of them on fire, others still twitching through their death throes.
Ahead, four of the Águilas peeled away, heading off easterly at a sprint.
‘I’ve got runners,’ said Max. ‘A quad heading east, possibly lining up a ground run. Orders, ValX?’
‘You know what to do, Hal-X. Take what you need.’ Max followed them, signalling Kullani to match him.
‘Copy Val-X.’ Max increased speed. ‘Los-X, Schmidt-X, Nuge-X, MontX, on me for decoy on possible ground runs.’
‘Copy, Hal-X,’ came the chorus.
‘They’re turning,’ said Kullani.
‘Be ready,’ said Max. ‘Up we go, Kul-X.’
‘Right with you, boss.’
Max and Kullani shot into the dust cloud, banking and turning immediately. It was all educated guesswork now. Course, speed, height . .. Max didn’t want to leave the cloudcover too soon. He pushed Martha hard, hearing the sweep of her wings and feeling a rush of pleasure. He angled down very slightly, moving to the base of the dust cloud.
‘Now, Max,’ said Kullani, feathering her drake alongside Martha. ‘They’ll be on the cortege in less than thirty seconds.’
Max looked across at her. ‘Take a breath, Kul-X.’
‘Smug bastard.’
‘With good reason. Dive!’
Max steeped his body forwards and drew his arms tight to his sides. Martha stretched her neck and tail, switched her wings back and screamed out of the cloud.
‘Waaaaa hooooo!’
Right below them, the quartet of Águilas flashed across the ground, sending up whorls of sand in their wake. And buzzing them in front and behind the four Inferno-X drakes twisted and turned. Fire splashed across the backs of the enemy, reflected by armoured scales. The distracted Águilas snapped at empty space while their pilots fought to keep their beasts on target.
‘Perfect,’ said Max. ‘C-Two, Kul-X and I will take the central pair. Kul-X, break right after impact and take out the flanker.’
‘Copy that, Hal-X.’
Max and Kullani dropped out of the sky towards the fastmoving Águilas, their descent just shy of vertical and their targets never more than ten metres from the ground, following the undulations and staying below the ground lizards’ guns. The decoy drakes remained close, their proximity obscuring Max’s approach.
‘C-Two decoys, stand by to clear,’ said Max.
He was fifty metres from the ground in little more than a heartbeat and his vision was full of the Águila below him.
‘Clear!’ ordered Max.
The decoys split and Max drove in, the margin for error vanishingly small. He flared his arms and jerked his legs straight, timing perfect. Martha’s massive clawed feet slammed into the Águila’s back, shrieking against its scales and smashing it down. Martha sprang back into the air, forcing the Águila lower still. Its wing drove into the sand, dug deep and cart-wheeled the drake into the ground.
It roared as it ploughed into the sand, smashing its shoulder. It collided with a dune and was flung back into the air before falling again, snapping its neck and flipping it end over end. Way too close for comfort, Max jerked left, avoiding the dead bounce by a hair and climbing to see it slither to a halt in a cloud of sand, twitching its last.
Max drove Martha up after one of the surviving Águilas. The rest of C-Two was closing in.
‘Report, Kul-X.’
‘My Águila’s down,’ said Kullani. ‘After my flanker now.’
‘Missing you already,’ said Max.
‘Bollocks you are.’
His target was tired and Max moved into its wake as it climbed, obviously monitoring the two Inferno drakes closing on the flanks. It was Monteith and Nugent on the hunt.
‘Mont-X, NugeX, he’s going to break for the dust cloud. Blocking formation.’
‘Copy that, HalX,’ said Nugent.
Max urged Martha to beat her wings hard into the last of the climb, coming right up behind the enemy Águila as his chevron came in from the sides.
‘Stand by,’ said Max. ‘Stand by . .. drop out.’
Monteith and Nugent peeled away, dropping down out of sight as Martha opened her mouth and emitted twin streams of tight blue flame. They seared up the Águila’s back, blackening scales, fusing ridges and driving heat into the drake’s flesh. It wasn’t a killing strike – just enough to force the Águila to twist and dive, away from the flames.
Max watched it drop straight into Monteith and Nugent’s path, and their fire engulfed its head, neck and chest pouch as they flew past, one either side. The Águila fell from the sky, dead before it hit the ground.
‘Good shooting,’ said Max. ‘Form up on me. C-Two, report.’
‘Schmidt-X still flying. Slight damage. Águilas fleeing north. Fifteen down.’
‘Mont-X, still flying, beauty scorch on the belly.’
‘Nuge-X running pure.’
‘Red-X is peak.’
‘Cal-X boasting a minor wing tear. Still combatready.’
‘Los-X running pure.’
‘Kul-X never better.’
‘We rule,’ said Max. ‘Val-X, orders?’
‘Get your chevron back up to a thousand. Let’s get Solomon home without any more excitement. The cap is yours again.’
‘Copy, Val-X. C-Two,on me, let’s get some sun. C-One maintain close patrol over the cortege, C-Three, go on point at three hundred.’
‘I need the sun,’ said Kullani.
‘There’s nothing like it, budd
y.’
‘My blood is cold.’
Max’s heart missed a beat. ‘Say again, Kul-X?’
‘Say what again?’
Kullani’s voice was shaky, though. Max could hear her gasping. He switched to their private com.
‘What can you see, Kullani?’
‘There’s dust and fire in my eyes.’
‘Stay with me, buddy. Can you see me?’
‘Of course I can, Max, what’s up?’
‘Nothing, Risa, nothing. Just do me a favour, okay?’
‘Anything, any time.’
‘Keep com silence to the end of the flight. Let’s see if we can fly on feel, just for skills, eh?’
‘I can feel my blood rushing inside me. It’s so cold.’
‘I hear you. Let’s fly close, side-by-side like in training. Com silence, Kul-X. Hang on, land soft and stay in your drake till I come get you.’
‘Copy, Hal-X.’
‘Hal-X out.’ Max bit his lip, hard and Martha swam in the air, her neck snaking and her nostrils flaring as she sampled the distress of Kullani’s drake. ‘I know, Martha, I know.’
Her drake was flying level and true. No outward signs, so far. Max sighed and opened a channel to Valera.
‘Val-X, Hal-X. One-to-one?’
‘Go ahead, Hal-X. Wondering what to say to Solomon when we get home?’
‘Negative, ValX. We’ve got a code double zero.’ There was silence. ‘Skipper?’
‘Copy that, Hal-X.’ Max heard her clear her throat. ‘Trust the squad, Max.’
Chapter 4
Flying a drake is exactly like drug addiction. An overdose’ll kill you…prolonged flying’ll make you sick…but no way in hell will you ever give it up because the absence is more terrifying than the inevitability of an early death.
Max Halloran
It was interminable. The Marshal Gen’s cortege crawled across the sand and dirt to rendezvous with the Granite. Max was wired, desperate for Kullani to get home safely. He was keeping his eyes on her drake while attempting to tune in to all the com chatter, trying to work out whether anyone else had twigged something was wrong. If they had, they were keeping it to themselves. Valera’s voice in his ear every now and again was nothing but gentle support, as it would be in Kullani’s. And she was flying as beautifully as ever. Perhaps even better.
‘Talk to her, Max. Never mind her trim; you’ve stared at i t long enough to know she’s still in control. But she’s alone in there. Don’t let her disappear inside her fears.’
‘Copy, Val-X. And thank you.’
‘You’re welcome, Hal -X. We’ve got the pair of you covered when you land. Trust the squad; once I-X, always I-X.’
‘Kul-X, Hal-X on one-to-one. Hey . ..’
He’d meant to go on, say something sharp and funny but his mind turned up blank. Martha sensed it and her body rippled with brief anxiety. She continued her slow circle high above the cortege in a beautiful clear sky. Beyond the Heart of Granite and the Steelback, beyond the southern borders of the desert, the world was green and lush and soon to be churned to mud and blood by the forces of UE and Mid-Af. How peaceful it was up here now, and how extraordinary the noise would be when battle was joined.
‘Yes? Fallen asleep on me, Max?’
‘Very funny. I was just, y’know . ..’ What the hell could he say to her?
‘I may be going insane but I am currently able to respond to coherent sentences. If you could say some . ..’
‘Just tell me what you see, smart arse.’
There was a pause and Max could all but hear her brain changing gear.
‘It’s stopped burning.’
‘What has?’
‘Everything.’
‘OK . .. So how does “it” look now?’ Whatever ‘it’ was.
‘Cool.’
‘Like me, then,’ said Max, a little confused.
‘Your capacity for narcissism is forever undiminished.’
That was more like it. ‘I meant—’
‘We know what you meant.’
‘We?’
A hideous pause. ‘I. I said, “I”.’
‘So you did.’
‘And you really think you’re cool?’
‘I hate to fly in the face of public opinion,’ said Max.
‘Did you hear that?’
‘What?’
‘It was the sound of me vomiting into my pouch.’ Kullani made the sound again.
‘Messy.’
‘You’re on cleaning duty.’
Max managed a chuckle at last. ‘I’d do it, if I didn’t have to see Solomon and Moeller immediatelyon landing.’
‘Damn.’
‘I wish it wasn’t the case, really I do.’
‘No, not that. I need to get home and wash the blood off. We’re all drowning in blood.’
‘Hang on, Kul-X. We’ll be home soon.’
Her com quietened and Max swore. He heard the quiet bleep of another incoming voice.
‘Good job,’ said Valera, her voice a little thick. ‘Hope you didn’t mind me listening in.’
‘You’re the boss.’ Max felt like he’d lost a skirmish.
‘We’ll fix her,’ said Valera.
‘For now.’
‘It’s all any of us can hope for when our time comes.’
The dust cloud surrounding the Heart of Granite had largely dissipated under strengthening winds at a thousand and above. Max could see her flight deck fully-lowered from her belly, bone ramps deployed, and her tail up in readiness for the embarkation of the cortege. The glare from the Granite’s solar arrays forced the Inferno-X drakes low on approach. The late afternoon sun was hot and strong and the arrays would harvest enough energy to keep the generators going for another night. This close to a regeneration cycle it was a mere fistful of sand in the desert, but anything that held off the tedium of a big swim was worth it.
Down on the sand, the cortege was approaching the tail. The Granite’s ground forces were providing security on the approach to the ramps, allowing tired geckos and basilisks to tuck into the flanks of the larger lizards and reduce their pace to a gentle walk.
‘Come on, Flight Com, don’t keep us waiting . ..’ muttered Max. He shuffled in his pouch and Martha shook herself from head to tail tip. ‘Almost home, princess.’
‘Inferno-X this is Flight Com, stand by . ..’
‘Just a few more minutes, Kul-X,’ he said over the one-to-one.
‘This is Heart of Granite Flight Command, good work, Inferno-X. Even you, HalX, I’m looking forward to our chat. So is the Marshal General, I understand.’
Moeller waited for the hoots and cat-calls to die down.
‘Skies are clear, the HoG has the watch. You will come in in pairs, flying honour above the cortege. The cap’s still with Hal- X . .. you’re coming in first, boy, don’t let me down.’
‘Copy that, Flight Command. Inferno-X this is Hal-X; form up on me.’
The solar arrays slid back, the glare shutting off sharply like dark clouds across the sun. The forty calibre batteries wound into place, twenty-five of them along the spine of the behemoth, ready to fill the sky with fire. Along her flanks were more than a hundred machine guns and, set down in the section cartilage, the frag bomb and fuel air explosive missile launchers would be active as well . . . just in case. It was showing off for Solomon, really, but you could never trust a Maf commander and daft suicide attacks weren’t as rare as they ought to be.
‘All right, Inferno-X,’ rumbled Moeller. ‘Come on in.’
‘Inferno-X, Hal-X. Two-by-two. Let’s form on the loop . . . always leave them gasping for more. HalX out.’
Max dipped his right arm and Martha peeled away, Kullani in impeccable formation. He levelled out Martha’s flight before arching his back to send them sweeping up into the sky. Martha screeched delight, beating her wings hard and powering into the loop.
‘On your three,’ said Kullani. Max glanced across, but not for confirmation. More like he wanted
a memory.
The pouch’s fluid was working overtime in the steepening climb, the g-forces breath-taking. At the apex of their climb was an ephemeral moment of weightlessness. Max laughed, staring up at the sky. He twitched his body to make Martha perform a perfect barrel roll and he could see Inferno-X following his move, their synchronised rolls beautiful as they formed the loop in his wake, their positioning spot-on.
‘Inferno-X, Hal-X, you look stunning. We are so far and away the best squad and even Solomon has seen it now.’
Martha screamed into the down arc, her wings trimmed for speed and balance, her body ramrod straight, in textbook position with Kullani, just feet away. It was an incredible rush, the noise a glorious howl and whistle, the ground closing fast but they were always in absolute, millimetre-precision control. That was skill and Max just hoped Solomon was watching.
Max bent his head back a fraction and Martha began to level out. Ahead of them the Heart of Granite’s flight deck entrance was picked out in running lights beneath her slightly trembling curved-up tail.
‘Now thatis timing.’
The cortege was approaching the ramp as Max and Kullani scorched over their heads and into the harsh light of the flight deck. Half way in, they flared their drakes’ wings in a brutal braking manoeuvre.
Max stretched his legs and they landed, claws on the bone floor, surging forwards into a dead run, the wind whipping dust and scraps up in a whirl around them. Martha’s feet pounded on the deck, wings beating back to slow her to a steady walk. At a nudge from Max she moved upright and walked serenely to the bay outside her pen. Max checked for Kullani, also walking steadily, unhurried and calm.
Gusts of wind and the reverberations through his feet told Max that Inferno-X was landing in his wake. He walked Martha into her humid, red-lit pen and triggered the pouch, spilling viscous fluid onto the deck.
‘Catch you later, princess.’
Martha’s body thrummed as if she understood. Max pulled himself out of the pouch and jumped down to the ground. Grimaldi was already there, hosing him down. She was ready for some banter but Max looked across the deck to Kullani who was already out of her pouch and standing by her drake. Her face was white and her expression lost while she was cleaned off.
Heart of Granite Page 3
