Heart of Granite

by James Barclay

  The Maf drakes were already on them. Borini was still climbing and turning and couldn’t see the danger. Max turned to help.

  ‘Bor-X, fold and fall. Fold and fall! Enemy inco— shit!’ Fast, too fast, the Maf drake battered into Borini’s back, thrusting its claws deep into the Inferno drake’s scales. Borini was driven hard across the sky, his drake’s wings washed back by the force of the impact.

  ‘Kul-X, let’s toast that fucker,’ said Max and drove down to attack.

  The enemy drake shuddered violently and Borini and his drake were encased in a powerful blue light that fizzed and cracked over, under and between the scales. Borini’s howl of pain over the com was matched by his drake’s agonised roar.

  The enemy let go, smoke pouring from cracks in the Inferno drake’s armour, and she dropped dead from the sky, wings tattered and burning.

  Max and Kullani shot through the smoke trail after the enemy drake, which had already dropped into a steep dive to gather speed.

  ‘Bor-X is down! Break! Break!’ yelled Max. ‘Don’t offer them targets. Combine for assault and stick to your wing. ValX, we need you.’

  But Max could see Valera had problems of her own. C-One had been spaced around the Maputo, circling out of flank fire range and was trying to reform on the climb up to the rest of the squad. The other five Maf drakes were on them, chasing and scattering them. Two swept across the Maputo’s spine and pounced on an Inferno drake in a steep climb, separated from her wing partner. The first snagged her tail with its jaws, as the second swept around her played searing fire all the way up her belly and across the pilot pouch.

  The pilot shrieked and fell silent and the ruined drake stalled before falling end over end towards the ground.

  ‘Lankowski!’ yelled Valera. ‘Get your wings out. Lankowski!’

  ‘He’s gone, Skipper. Inferno-X is two down.’

  ‘Copy, Hal-X. Inferno-X, ValX orders, orders.’

  ‘Enemy on your six, Jes-X, roll and dive, I’m in your wake.’

  Robert’s voice cut across Valera. ‘Still on you. Loop up. Shit! You’re not steep enough.’

  ‘Where is he?’ said Jes-X.

  ‘Tight ninety right and dive! Tight!’ called Roberts. Max searched the sky and saw the final moments. Roberts caught the attacking drake a fleeting blow on its right flank but it barely flinched from its trajectory. Jes-X was hard into a right-hander loop and the Maf drake surged inside her turn. The beast’s jaws clamped the top of her drake’s and fire engulfed its head. Those jaws bit down harder and the Inferno drake was beheaded. Jes-X screamed as she plummeted to the desert. ‘Jessy!’ roared Roberts. ‘You fuck. You filthy Maf fuck!’ ‘Inferno-X, form on me in fours and threes at eight hundred.

  Keep it calm, keep it steady.’ ordered Valera.‘Flight Com, Val- X. InfernoX is three down.’

  But Max could hear the shock edging her voice and in the com chatter, their indomitable confidence was shaken. ‘Copy, Val-X.’ Moeller couldn’t hide his shock either. Max searched the sky, using Martha’s eyes to help him try and identify the paths their enemy would take. In among the sweeps, dives and rolls of the Inferno drakes he saw the smears of slate-grey enemy drakes weaving serenely through the chaos his squad was creating to deny them clear targets.

  Kullani moved up to his right just a few wing beats away.

  The airwaves were full of location calls and warnings. Fire strafed the air below him as Monteith and Nugent whipped by in pursuit of an enemy.

  ‘Kul-X, let’s—’

  A flash of grey and Kullani was suddenly shunted through the air towards him, her loss of forward momentum taking her behind him. Max arched his back and neck, simultaneously dragging his arms into his sides and Martha snapped her wings closed and set her body into a tight backward loop.

  ‘Fight it, Kul-X.’

  ‘He’s not quite got me,’ replied Kullani. ‘Rolling here, Max, I need you.’

  ‘Coming round hard.’ Max used Martha’s eyes to fix on Kullani and, when he saw her, he unwound the loop and powered Martha forwards. Kullani was barrel-rolling, keeping the enemy from taking a hold. ‘Steady on my mark.’ ‘Copy, Hal-X.’

  ‘Now.’

  Kullani’s roll ceased and her drake spat fire into her attacker’s scales. The Maf drake grabbed at her drake’s spine with its talons and in the same moment, Martha thumped hard into it, her own talons raking along its flank and sending it spinning away. Max suggested tight fire and twin beams of flame spat out into the empty space where the drake had been. ‘Thanks, Max.’

  ‘Anytime. Clear air low.’

  Max and Kullani dived into the narrowing airspace between C-One and the melee. Messages on the open com were urgent but remained calm despite the stunning start to the attack and the losses they had suffered. The Maf drakes were reforming in a ‘V’ formation about half a click to the north of Inferno-X.

  They stayed on station, and began flying a helix pattern in formation.

  ‘Very pretty,’ muttered Monteith.

  ‘They were good enough to give us a bloody nose,’ said Valera.

  ‘Got some weight and ordinance too,’ said Redfearn. ‘All right, people. We’ve lost some and now it’s our turn.

  You have your threes and fours. Go tight com in your fire teams. I will retain open status.’

  ‘Inferno-X, Flight Com. Break and return to the HoG. Do not engage.’

  ‘Negative, Flight Com. They aren’t going to let us through.’ ‘Roger that.’ Moeller sounded irritable. ‘Minimise contact.

  Flight Com out.’

  ‘Copy Flight Com. InfernoX, you heard the boss. We’re going straight on till morning,’ said Valera.

  ‘We’re running away,’ said Stepanek.

  ‘We’re living to fight another day. Something about these drakes stinks and we need a weak spot,’ said Valera. ‘We have our orders, doesn’t mean we can’t give them a scratch or two on our way past.’

  ‘Sounds good, Skipper,’ said Max.

  ‘Your support warms my tired old bones,’ said Valera.

  ‘Break and strike. Reform two klicks south at fifteen hundred.

  Sun’s out, let’s use it. Val-Xout.’

  The fluid formation of Inferno-X gave the enemy no hint of their intent. Valera led them on; the trios and quartets of drakes flying over and around each other as they came. Max felt the thrill through Martha’s body and wondered for a moment why the Mafs wanted to take them on, never mind their marginal technical superiority.

  ‘Kul-X, Mont-X, NugeX, you hearing me okay?’ ‘Sadly,’ said Kullani.

  ‘For my sins,’ said Monteith.

  ‘Like a waking nightmare,’ said Nugent.

  ‘May you all suffer maddening crotch itches every time you fly. So, bottom of the V is ours. We’re going to count them off as they burn in the sand. Mont-X, Nuge-X, fly the flanks for follow-up to complete the kill. KulX, we’re going straight in, rip the fucker up a little.’

  ‘Go Inferno-X,’ said Val.

  The squad surged forwards, Max suggesting maximum speed to Martha. He was pressed back in his pouch, Martha’s roar joining the chorus. Max led his quartet out to the right; Valera’s dove under him, Redfearn’s over him and Stepanek’s chasing across behind. He tipped his left arm and Martha swooped across the line and squared up with the target, now just a few beats away and heading for them.

  ‘In we go,’ said Max.

  Monteith and Nugent pressed ahead on the flanks. Kullani came to his right-hand side. Nothing else needed saying. It was payback time, whatever Flight Com had ordered.

  ‘Hope your teeth are sharp, Martha,’ he said. ‘They’ve got some armour by the look of them.’

  Slate-grey and sleek, his target loomed ever larger. Max imagined a grappling attack and Martha tensed her neck and claws. The enemy came on, determined not to flinch first in the deadly game of chicken. Max accelerated further, Kullani at his side, both drakes homing in. Still the Maf came on. Kullani edged left and up a fraction and Ma
x smiled, the bastard was caught.

  Max imagined the strike and Martha cocked, swivelled and struck, jaws snapping on empty air, claws grasping at nothing.

  Max flew on a heartbeat into clear air before he understood what had happened. It just wasn’t possible to change direction and move away that quickly.

  ‘On me, Kul-X,’ said Max.

  He dropped his right arm hard to his side and stretched out his left arm, sure that the Maf drake had gone past him high and to his right. Martha turned hard, her head craning to see. ‘He’s on me,’ called Nugent. ‘Holy shit he’s fast. I’m— Shit!’

  Max raced for Nugent, seeing the grey shape batter into the Inferno-X drake and pour fire over her back and onto her left wing. Monteith hurtled in, his drake’s claws thumping into the enemy’s flank, sharp teeth sinking into its neck. He tore the beast from Nugent just in time for Max to line up.

  ‘Max, on you!’ shouted Nugent.

  Max sensed the threat in the next moment and threw his arms up, slapping Martha’s wings together above her head.

  They dropped out of the sky, the Maf drake breathing fire through the space where they’d been.

  ‘Thanks, Nuge-X, I owe you. Where are you?’

  ‘On your three and going down. Think I can control it. Dammit.’

  Max pushed Martha up again and she began to rise back into the combat zone. Right in front of him, two enemies engulfed an Inferno-X drake. One tore through a wing and the other grabbed its tail in its rear talons, shaking its victim like a puppet on a string before severing it with a single bite. The drake shrieked in agony and the two drakes let the stricken reptile go. She tumbled away, rudderless, her tail spouting blood, her one wing flapping in futility.

  ‘Who went down!?’

  ‘Fellows,’ said Kullani. ‘Get back up here, Max, I need your eyes.’

  ‘Copy that, Kul-X. Monts, the Nuge is down. Shield him; we’ve got your back.’

  ‘Copy, Hal-X,’ said Monteith.

  Max took in the scene while Martha closed in on Kullani.

  The enemy squadron was everywhere, reacting faster, turning harder and flying more powerfully. It wasn’t much of an edge, but it didn’t have to be. Max flew hard through the centre of the combat. A Maf drake shot in front of him, chased by three drakes including Valera, whose mark he could clearly see on the shiny underbelly of her drake.

  The Maf drake dumped electronic counter measures from the base of its tail. All drakes had that capacity, creating sparking, crackling globes, fifty centimetres in diameter, to deflect incoming missiles. But these ones didn’t float; they flew like they had a purpose.

  Max turned Martha on to a curve trajectory over the chase, using her eyes to sweep for threats and his own to watch the battle unfold. Valera had seen the ECMs and her trio rolled and bucked to dodge the balls of lightning.

  ‘On your six, Hal-X,’ said Kullani. ‘Monts and Nuge are out of it, no pursuit.’

  ‘Good. Follow me and watch this bastard fly. We need to get an angle on what they’re about.’

  A huge burst of flame to his right distracted him for a moment. A quick glance showed him another crippled InfernoX drake plummeting from the sky and two Maf drakes soaring through the smoke trail, four Infernos on their tails.

  ‘Holy Mother, Inferno-X five down,’ he muttered. ‘I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you, Los-X.’

  Valera was flying with Abe-X and Xav-X on her flanks. She rolled hard right, a globe brushing her drake’s belly, leaving a dark smear and causing it to jerk sharply. Abe-X climbed steeply away, a trio of ECMs scorching a path below him, but he fell behind as a result. The Maf drake dived and released more globes ahead of Valera and Xavier.

  The pair followed their target, swooping through the cloud of reptilian bodies, great wings, flame and smoke. Beyond the centre of the combat, Max caught sight of a pair of Maf drakes searching for their next target. No they weren’t searching, they were waiting.

  ‘Val-X, HalX. Break right, break right.’

  ‘Negative, Hal-X, we’re closing. He’s tiring.’

  The enemy drake threaded through another skirmish. Calder and Redfearn had flanked an enemy and were spearing flame into its neck, driving it away from its support, weaving around it in a tunnel of drake flesh. It was awesome flying and Schmidt was trailing them, ready to pounce.

  ‘Negative, Skipper, he’s leading you onto another two.

  Check your nine. Break right, break right.’

  The Maf drake drove into a climb, allowing Abraham to close the gap. He was greedy, he wanted all three of them. ‘I don’t see them, Hal-X, and we have him.’

  ‘Pull out!’ yelled Max. ‘It’s a trap. Trust the squad!’ A moment’s silence. ‘Copy that Hal-X. Abe-X, Xav-X, hard right on my mark.’

  Max watched them close on the waiting enemies who were flying in at frightening speed.

  ‘Now, Skipper,’ he whispered. ‘Come on . ..’

  ‘Mark! Break right, break right . ..’ Valera and Xav-X dipped their right wings and sheared away, turning slow rolls, losing height fast and taking themselves from the jaws of the trap. ‘Abe-X, break right! That’s an order.’

  Max watched Abraham’s drake. He was right on top of his quarry, on the tip of his tail. The Inferno drake’s mouth opened to breathe but the Maf drake dropped away in a stunning dive turn, ducking away from the oncoming pair who were poised, flaring their wings back, claws outstretched.

  Max winced at the violence of the impact. Abraham was driven backwards, his drake venting flame into clear sky, mouth open to roar her frustration. The forces in the pouch must have been horrendous, too much for the muscle and lubricant to absorb. The enemy drakes poured fire over Abraham and one of them bled electricity into its body until the drake jerked spasmodically, and fell limp, dead before it began to fall.

  ‘Bastards! Abe-X is down,’ shouted Max. ‘Kul-X, with me, let’s have one of those fuckers.’

  Max angled Martha into intercept.

  ‘Negative Hal-X. Break off, head home.’

  ‘Skipper it’s—’

  ‘Break off, HalX,’ said Valera and then much more quietly.

  ‘We’re running.’

  ‘Copy Val-X,’ said Max.

  ‘Inferno-X, Val-X. Break, break, break. Best speed to the mother ship. Watch your injured, shadow the slow. Hal-X take the rear.’

  ‘Count on it,’ said Max. ‘Kul-X,you with me?’

  ‘Always, buddy.’

  InfernoX’s escape procedure was second nature, though Max had never thought he would hear the order. The squadron broke off across the conflict and dived for the desert floor to reassemble in broken chevrons at seven-, eight-, and nine-hundred. It was an hour’s flight to the HoG, an hour to safety within the behemoth’s devastating firing arcs.

  Max and Kullani flew across the back of the squad, watching the enemy for evidence they were done. The Mafs gathered at higher altitude and used the sun to obscure their positions and direction.

  ‘What have you got, Kul-X?’

  ‘Not a lot but glare, Max. They’re tracking us I think.’ ‘Copy, Kul-X, stand by,’ said Max. ‘Mont-X do you copy? Where are you?’

  ‘On our way home,’ said Monteith after a pause. He sounded tired. ‘We had to pull some stunts on the way down, though.’

  ‘What do you mean we?’

  ‘I couldn’t leave him there for ground evac,’ said Monteith.

  ‘He’s hurt, Max. It’s pretty bad. I’ve got him in the claws, gentle though.’

  ‘Your call, Monts. Don’t Fall.’

  ‘Hear you, Max. Mont-X out.’

  ‘There’s nothing more you can do for him, Hal-X,’ said Valera, her open com relaying everything to her. Mostly, it would be silence. ‘Keep your eyes up, keep them off us, we’ve got some sick birds up here. This isn’t going to be quick.’ ‘Copy, Val-X.’

  Max turned a circle, squinting into the sun through Martha’s eyes. All ten of them were still up there, still tracking. ‘
What are they doing?’ asked Kullani. ‘Seeing us off?’ ‘I wish,’ said Max. ‘They’re waiting for our formation to show them who the weakest are. We’ll have our work cut out getting home.’

  ‘Flight Com, are you reading all this?’ asked Valera. ‘Copy, Val-X. We’ll advise as we see it. Good luck.’

  Moeller sounded tired.

  Max left Martha tracking the Maf drakes and looked down at Inferno-X, making best speed back to the Heart of Granite.

  He could see two with minor wing tears, one with a trailing hind leg and another with a tail burned black but mercifully still intact. Nothing the Tweakers couldn’t fix when they got home.

  He could only guess at the condition of his squad mates.

  Everything he could see, they could see too.

  ‘Val-X, HalX, do you copy?’

  ‘Go ahead.’

  ‘We have to use the injured as bait, Skipper.’

  ‘Don’t joke with me, Hal-X.’

  ‘He’s right,’ said Kullani. ‘They’re so obvious from up here. If the Mafs attack, they’ll target the weak. They want dead drakes on the ground not a squad we can patch up and send back out.’

  ‘Suggestions?’

  ‘We can’t defend them at close quarters. At least if we stand off we can call in threats as they go. Put a spotter on each injured flyer, a wing defence on each spotter and everyone else flies diversion and breakup. What do you say, Skipper?’ ‘I say it’s our best option. Brief it out.’

  ‘Okay, patch me across the squad. Who’s the one with the grade three tear in the left wing? Our real sloth?’

  ‘That’s Roberts,’ said Valera. ‘You’re patched. Do it, I doubt the Mafs are going to wait much longer.’

  ‘Inferno-X, Hal-X, orders orders. All injured drakes to fly line astern of RobX. Roberts, you have to keep pushing.’ ‘There’s a lot of whistle through the wing, Hal-X, and I’m a little bruised but okay to lead,’ said Roberts.

  ‘Copy, Rob-X. Right, here’s what we’re going to do . ..’