97
"Move-move-move," Jack yelled through back through the door of the 'pit. The 'lifter shuddered with the impact of boots as the medics hauled the injured over the lip of the hatch with brutal speed.
A red-headed woman with the winged patch of a pilot stitched to her sleeve and the callsign 'Firetail' on her nametag followed them, pushed past to the 'pit.
"What took you so long, Pruzza?" she asked with a grin, swinging herself into the empty co-pilot's seat beside him.
"Stopped for a bit of sight-seeing," he said drily, glancing out the window at the marines now retreating toward the 'lifter, falling back in pairs, laying down suppressing fire as they did. "Garghikor River
She laughed, harder than the joke was worth. "Drop your second seat out the window as you banked for a better look?"
"Must have," Jack said. Running for the hanger with control yelling co-ordinates over the com, "Firetail's down, she's down, taking fire ... Milko's on his way, Prudence, hold on the runway, hold, hold!"
Fly this bird single-handed on my worst day. 'cestors take me if I'm going to hang around for Milko to get his fly zipped.
"Gonna owe you a drink later," Firetail - Gina - said.
"Big enough to swim in, love," Jack told her. "Maybe it's time you learnt that full-throttle isn't the only way to fly."
Gina laughed again, a full-throated chuckle that Jack could have found distracting if it hadn't been punctuated by the low thump of artillery fire coming closer as the enemy gunners found their range. "I'm plenty sweet on the stick when I want to be," she said.
"Not what your call-sign tells me," he said. Come on, boys and girls. Twice as many of you as this old crate is rated to lift. Gonna be wallowing around over the top of the trees for too long as it is. Hurry it up, now.
"Oh, that," Gina said, leaning around on her seat to look back into the cabin. "Nothing to do with flying. Clear, let's go, go!"
He pulled hard on the stick, gunned the engines, the old 'lifter too simple for her systems to succumb to jamming, answering to brute force and subtle manipulation in equal parts. Come on, sweetheart, help your Uncle Prue out here, up, up, up ... good girl. "How'd you get it, then?"
"Buy me a drink and I'll show you," Gina said, still looking back into the cabin as they gained a few feet of altitude, engines straining with the load.
"Show me?" Come on, now, good girl, up, over the trees, not into them, there's a love ...
She turned to face him, eyes dancing, and Jack thought that even with her face half-over grease and dirt and her hair falling into her face, she was just about the prettiest thing he'd ever seen. "Well, Pruzza, carpet matches the dra-"
Whomph
"Move-move-move," Jack yelled through back through the door of the 'pit. The 'lifter shuddered with the impact of boots as the medics hauled the injured over the lip of the hatch with brutal speed.
A red-headed woman with the winged patch of a pilot stitched to her sleeve and the callsign 'Firetail' on her nametag followed them, pushed past to the 'pit.
"What took you so long, Pruzza?" she asked with a grin, swinging herself into the empty co-pilot's seat beside him.
"Stopped for a bit of sight-seeing," he said drily, glancing out the window at the marines now retreating toward the 'lifter, falling back in pairs, laying down suppressing fire as they did. "
She laughed, harder than the joke was worth. "Drop your second seat out the window as you banked for a better look?"
"Must have," Jack said. Running for the hanger with control yelling co-ordinates over the com, "Firetail's down, she's down, taking fire ... Milko's on his way, Prudence, hold on the runway, hold, hold!"
Fly this bird single-handed on my worst day. 'cestors take me if I'm going to hang around for Milko to get his fly zipped.
"Gonna owe you a drink later," Firetail - Gina - said.
"Big enough to swim in, love," Jack told her. "Maybe it's time you learnt that full-throttle isn't the only way to fly."
Gina laughed again, a full-throated chuckle that Jack could have found distracting if it hadn't been punctuated by the low thump of artillery fire coming closer as the enemy gunners found their range. "I'm plenty sweet on the stick when I want to be," she said.
"Not what your call-sign tells me," he said. Come on, boys and girls. Twice as many of you as this old crate is rated to lift. Gonna be wallowing around over the top of the trees for too long as it is. Hurry it up, now.
"Oh, that," Gina said, leaning around on her seat to look back into the cabin. "Nothing to do with flying. Clear, let's go, go!"
He pulled hard on the stick, gunned the engines, the old 'lifter too simple for her systems to succumb to jamming, answering to brute force and subtle manipulation in equal parts. Come on, sweetheart, help your Uncle Prue out here, up, up, up ... good girl. "How'd you get it, then?"
"Buy me a drink and I'll show you," Gina said, still looking back into the cabin as they gained a few feet of altitude, engines straining with the load.
"Show me?" Come on, now, good girl, up, over the trees, not into them, there's a love ...
She turned to face him, eyes dancing, and Jack thought that even with her face half-over grease and dirt and her hair falling into her face, she was just about the prettiest thing he'd ever seen. "Well, Pruzza, carpet matches the dra-"
Whomph
Can't see can't hear I'm hit I'm dead this is it too early I had things to do I've got a kid for -
He could feel the 'lifter slewing sideways through the air, vibration through the stick telling him port-side engine was gone, pulled up, up, up, no idea where he was but knowing down was guns and trees and death and up was open sky. Blinked, cleared a little red from his vision, saw a tilting treeline through his shattered windscreen and spat a curse he couldn't hear.Up, up, up, sweetheart, do it for your Uncle Prue, come on, come on ...
Blinked again as the trees disappeared beneath him, felt the starboard engine thump and miss a stroke, held his breath and felt it pick up again. Indicators showing fuel hemorrhaging somewhere, red lights blinking all over the board. Up was safe and he pulled back on the stick, nursing the limping engine with a delicate tap-and-touch on the pedals that gave the lie to his second wife's complaint that he was the world's worst dancer. Up, sweetheart, up, up ....
It was the wind whistling through the shattered windscreen that made him realise his hearing had returned. But that's all I can hear...
"All right back there?" he shouted.
Silence.
"You blokes all right back there?" He glanced away from the blue sky in front of him to turn and look back into the cabin and saw -
Jerked his gaze back to the instrument panel. Gonna be in trouble in about five minutes when the fuel's gone, he thought.Think about what you're gonna do then, Jack. Think about that. Don't think about -
He swallowed hard, took one hand off the yoke, and pushed what was left of Gina 'Firetail' Gerraci out of his lap.
He could feel the 'lifter slewing sideways through the air, vibration through the stick telling him port-side engine was gone, pulled up, up, up, no idea where he was but knowing down was guns and trees and death and up was open sky. Blinked, cleared a little red from his vision, saw a tilting treeline through his shattered windscreen and spat a curse he couldn't hear.Up, up, up, sweetheart, do it for your Uncle Prue, come on, come on ...
Blinked again as the trees disappeared beneath him, felt the starboard engine thump and miss a stroke, held his breath and felt it pick up again. Indicators showing fuel hemorrhaging somewhere, red lights blinking all over the board. Up was safe and he pulled back on the stick, nursing the limping engine with a delicate tap-and-touch on the pedals that gave the lie to his second wife's complaint that he was the world's worst dancer. Up, sweetheart, up, up ....
It was the wind whistling through the shattered windscreen that made him realise his hearing had returned. But that's all I can hear...
"All right back there?" he shouted.
Silence.
"You blokes all right back there?" He glanced away from the blue sky in front of him to turn and look back into the cabin and saw -
Jerked his gaze back to the instrument panel. Gonna be in trouble in about five minutes when the fuel's gone, he thought.Think about what you're gonna do then, Jack. Think about that. Don't think about -
He swallowed hard, took one hand off the yoke, and pushed what was left of Gina 'Firetail' Gerraci out of his lap.
No comments:
Post a Comment