Spellcrafter-Delta

by Christopher Kirkland

  “Yes…?” Chris admittedly wanted to avoid this subject.

  “She really did think you and Penny are going to be fantastic partners,” Miyato informed Chris. “I mean it. We were going to go out to eat one time and she took off to see you. Tori wanted to see how you were coming along in your combat skills.”

  “I... I didn’t know that,” Chris smiled.

  “So, if you ever need help training or whatever let me know. She was a good friend of mine,” his smile dropped a little. “It stings that she’s gone, but if she says you’re a big deal I trust her. I mean you’re the only other person to get Penny so happy, apparently.”

  “Thanks, Miyato,” Chris felt a little bit relieved to see that he wasn’t going to pin her death on him. He was actually encouraging him.

  Penny took returned to Chris’ side, took his hand and tugged, “We have what we need,” she informed him.

  “Well I guess see you later, I’ve got important things to do!” Miyato told them.

  “He’s guarding the city,” Morgan said simply as she passed by Miyato and returned to the table. She seemed a little bit off to Chris, maybe even spooked.

  Penny pulled Chris out of the room and back the way they came. On the way she told him about what Morgan had shared with her. Hunter had not been back for some time, and during the attack he had told her he was going to check on something ‘suspicious.’ He never came back, and she went to look for him, but she assumed he was fine. After the attack he came back and told Morgan he was going to go apologize to Emily. He never came back after that.

  Morgan had apparently insisted that Hunter was a good person. She had been partners with him and Jerard for a while, and never sensed anything wrong with Hunter. She had described him as ‘misunderstood,’ however if she needed to she would take the steps necessary to handle him.

  “Chris?” Penny began. “I don’t want you fighting Hunter alone if he really is the one who--”

  “Why would I? I have you,” he smiled.

  “If they make me separate from you and stop being partners I-- I’ll still have your back okay?” she walked a little faster. Chris caught her by her wrist and stopped walking. He looked her directly in her brown eyes and took her by her shoulders.

  “I will fight for you tomorrow. I’m going to be there too and I won’t let them hurt you. You’re a good person and I know you’re innocent,” he assured her. Penny nodded.

  The early warning siren began to blare loudly. A few planes flew overhead from the airfield. Everyone in the city began to scatter to safety. Soldiers and Wizards came running out of the military building along with the mages.

  “It’s an airstrike…” Penny murmured. “We need to get off the street. The city defenses will shoot them down, but they’re going to pick at them.”

  “Then where do we go?” Chris questioned.

  “To the airfield...We’ll see if they need help. It’s only an air attack from what I can tell. It’s an imperial tactic to do this before--” there was a large explosion that shook the ground and sent a large gust of wind.

  One of the Alliance planes was plummeting to the ground. Miyato ran past them, created a web of string and caught the plane. He began to make his way up to the plane that was now ensnared between two buildings to retrieve the pilot.

  “They’ll need help,” Penny insisted as she took Chris hand and began to hurry toward the airfield. The explosions began to ignite the clouds. Missiles and rapid-fire weapons could be heard above them and in the distance. Anti-air guns were sprouting from the tops of buildings to open fire. Chris’s heart sank as he ran.

  Chapter 15

  Aviator

  When they arrived at the airfield they noticed that a few planes had not yet taken off. There was a considerable number of pilots boarding their planes. Some planes were different colors from the rest, and must have been recently added by the reinforcements. Some of the aircrafts were being wheeled out to the strip.

  “Move! Don’t slow down! Get our people in the air!” Chris heard a man barking. “Get that one fueled up and in the air!”

  “Yes sir!” one said.

  “Right away!” another replied as he ran off, almost tripping over nothing to get to the fuel line. Chris assumed this man must have been one of the mechanics, because he had oil all over his blue coveralls.

  “We need more pilots! Tell the city to send some Wizards who already got their training! We need them in the air!” a mechanic instructed as he pointed at a soldier.

  “I’ll relay the message right away,” he assured as he got on his radio.

  “We need a plane,” Penny whispered to Chris. “They won’t let us take one because we don’t have the proper hours...but I can fly it.”

  “Okay, I trust you,” Chris concurred. He ran over to one of the side hangars near the main building. Nothing. He continued to the second on and there was a plane, but it was falling apart from the last attack.

  Penny followed closely behind Chris. She was keeping watch whilst they searched. There was a plane in the next hanger from them. It appeared to be a fighter plane. It had a dual cockpit. Two seats in the front, slightly spaced out. It was orange with a black interior. It had the appearance of a jet, but something more. Chris had never really seen a plane like this.

  Penny wasted no time to scale the plane, pop the hatch, and enter. Chris followed suit. She sat on the left side while Chris sat on the right. Penny had controls on her side, and so did Chris, but it would not control the plane’s aerial movement.

  “I’m nervous, I’ve never been in a plane...A dogfight…” he began.

  “Trust me,” Penny pleaded. “I’ve been learning to fly a plane since I was eight and I was in multiple dogfights.”

  Chris took a deep breath as Penny strapped in. Chris quickly did the same upon seeing her do this. Penny took the headset that was resting nearby and placed it on her head. Chris did the same with the pair near him. She gave him a moment to slow his breathing. Admittedly he was nervous that they would get in trouble, but the city needed all of the help it could get.

  Penny hit the red start button and the plane came to life. The engine roared outside of the plane. The many mechanisms of the fighter began to illuminate before them. Radar, altitude, missile warning, missile capacity, ammo capacity, and more. They began to slowly roll forward as Penny guided them out of the hangar and onto the runway.

  “Hey!” Chris heard a mechanic cry as he came running toward them. He was coming up on Penny’s side and screaming after them. “Stop! Stop!”

  “Sorry, can’t hear you,” Penny replied without a care.

  “Stop you’re not authorized! That is a prototype plane!” he pleaded, panting as he went.

  “It’s okay I’ve been doing this a while. We’ll clear the sky and come right back,” Penny replied simply as she began to close the hatch.

  “We’re Wizards so it’s okay! It’s part of the job!” Chris laughed enthusiastically as they began to reach the point where they could take off. The hatch closed completely, the man threw his hands forward as if to say, whatever.

  The plane began to gain altitude and leave the ground. Penny pulled up gently on the controls with both hands. This plane did not have a throttle like the majority of other planes. It had something of a steering wheel with two handles that could be pulled up, down, left, and right. There were also buttons to fire missiles and machine gun rounds.

  “Chris can you check the radar?” Penny asked.

  “Uh--” Chris began to look around for it.

  “On your right,” she said pointing with her right hand and then replacing it on the controls.

  Chris leaned in and examined it. There were multiple dots on the radar. Some were red and some were blue. The red ones must have been Imperials.

  “We’ve got two planes on our right and left,” he informed her, glancing up for a moment to try to see.

  “Wh-what?” Penny sounded confused. “Okay no. I need you to like tell me if they�
�re friendly or not,” she was still focused on flying. It was getting harder to see in the clouds, but she didn’t seem worried.

  “Friendly. They’re both pulling ahead--” he explained. “A yellow plane and a black plane came into view in front of them.”

  Chris thought he heard the sound of a person yawning for a moment. The screen in between Chris and Penny began to turn on. Soundwaves appeared on screen as a robotic voice spoke, “What’s going on? Who’s piloting me? Is this a test flight?”

  “Nope it’s the real deal,” Chris replied. “Who even are you?”

  A sad face appeared on screen as the AI replied, “Oh no! No no no! Not combat! Land!”

  “We can’t land. We need to help,” Penny said simply as she rolled them slightly and turned left with the other planes.

  “We’ll be destroyed! The Spark is still a prototype!”

  “The Spark?” Chris questioned.

  “I-- Wait,” a nervous face appeared on screen. “You’re not even authorized! You didn’t even know the name!”

  “Look, calm down,” Penny muttered. “We’re busy.”

  There were a few flashes of yellow as Penny quickly performed a barrel roll to dodge a missile. She began to increase their speed as the ai began to scream frantically. Chris checked the radar again. Both allied planes had gone in separate directions to shake off two imperial planes.

  “Penny we’re alone,” Chris warned her.

  “That’s fine,” she assured. “You should have a way of controlling the rear gun and a few of the forward guns over there…”

  “I see them,” he answered.

  “I need you to use them now, I see two of them,” Penny began to fire the machine guns.

  There were also shots coming back at them, none of them hit, but they came close. Penny pulled up to avoid a collision with another plane. Chris did not get a good look to see which faction that plane belonged to, but it didn’t matter once it took a missile to the rear, caught fire, and exploded violently. Some of the rubble flew up and went passed the cockpit.

  “Oh god...Penny are you sure you know what you’re doing?” he asked.

  “Do you trust me?” she answered with a question.

  “Yes, but I’m scared,” he said honestly.

  “Hold on okay? There’s one behind us. I’m going to position us I need you to shoot him,” she told him. “We’re going to get kind of close to the ground.”

  “What?”

  “I know what I’m doing, I’m relying on you to get a good hit.”

  Penny pressed a few buttons and for a moment nothing happened, but then they began to fall backwards. Chris flinched as the enemy plane flew beside his side of the cockpit and then turned hard to go after them again. He took the controls and began attempting to shoot the enemy plane down. He used screen on his side to see them. The plane was highlighted in red near the nose of the plane. Chris fired at the closest part of their aircraft. The left wing of their jet broke off as they began to spiral out of control and spin wildly toward the ground.

  “Woohoo!” Chris cried as he pumped his fist into the air.

  “Hold tight,” Penny warned.

  “Okay,” Chris shouted over the explosions.

  Penny reactivated the engines as they left the clouds and flew quickly toward the enemy planes. Alliance planes were actually just behind them. Penny seemed to have a really good sense of where she was. She locked on and upon hearing a ‘beep’ she fired three missiles. Two of the missiles hit and eradicated their targets.

  “Shoot! Shoot!” Penny told him.

  Chris began to fire at the fighters directly in their path. That plane began to spit smoke before losing altitude. Penny made the plane go straight down and flew slightly lower before coming back up and firing into the belly of another jet. They exploded. One of the blue alliance planes crashed into some of the debris from the destroyed Imperial plane and began to go toward the ground. They appeared to be trying to land.

  “Alpha-47 pull up,” a deep voice on the radio ordered.

  “No can-do sir, multiple systems down losing control.” a young male voice answered back. There was a bit of static but the plane was still intact. It landed in the grassy green plains below.

  “Are you still with us, son?” the deep voice asked again. “If you’re still alive let us know.”

  “I’m alive. I’m shaken, but alive. Go wreck their expensive planes,” he replied back. “Going off coms-- need to get out of this tin can.”

  “Whoever is flying the Spark right now knows how to fight,” a mature female voice cheered. “That’s some fancy flying!”

  “Clear radio of unnecessary chatter,” a voice commanded. Chris recognized it as Violet. “I don’t know who is flying it, but I have some guesses. Delta is that you?”

  “Affirmative,” Penny replied. “Thought we’d lend a hand.”

  “If you break that plane…” Violet began. Penny rolled her eyes and went back to scanning the sky.

  “Penny is really good. I think she’s got this,” Chris was feeling very positive by now. He felt a little nauseous, but he was okay.

  More Imperial planes appeared on the horizon. They were in a clustered formation, and there was a large ship in the middle of them. There were also a few large bombers and attack bombers with them. Chris looked over at Penny who rolled to the right and changed direction. She then flew up for a moment so they flew upside down, and then rolled back to normal once she reached the height that she wanted.

  “What are they guarding?” a grizzled male voice asked.

  “That’s a transport!” Ian’s voice came onto the comms now.

  “Then take it out,” Violet instructed. “And clear those bombers before they drop their payload.”

  “I just scanned that plane. There is no substantial force on that transport. That’s…weird,” Megan’s voice chimed in.

  “What?” Violet questioned. “Why would they--”

  “The traitor!” Chris interrupted them all. “It’s here to pick them up!”

  “Delta, Bravo, Alpha, Echo on those bombers! Foxtrot get that transport. The rest of you on those fighters! We’ll focus fire on the attack planes after they’re down!” Violet commanded.

  “Go!”

  Every plane increased their speed and headed straight for their targets. Penny peeled off and began to fire at one of the bombers from above. The bomber fired back. A few bullets hit the Spark and caused a bit of damage to the armor and cockpit hatch. Penny fired a missile into the cockpit and flew past them as they began to lose control and veer off to the left.

  Chris noticed a purple plane flying circles around the Imperial fighters, destroy the transport, and tear through multiple of their fighters. Chris was so focused on Violet’s spectacular performance that he had not seen the plane on their tail. He only remembered when the plane shook violently upon taking a hit. Chris’s head hit the controls in front of him; he began rubbing his head.

  “Chris, come on I need you focused…” Penny urged as she turned as hard as she could to the left; reducing speed, and the increasing once again as soon as the turn finished to shake the fighter. It was coming back to attack them again. The black plane from earlier appeared behind the fighter chasing them. “If we keep taking hits like that we’ll--”

  “Stand by. We’ll take them out,” Megan assured them. “Lining up…” Their plane centered behind the enemy’s. “Firing.”

  Their plane fired a shotgun like blast. One shot was all it took, the enemy fighter burst into flames as it fell through the clouds. The black plane caught up and flew beside them. Megan waved at them from the back seat, Ian was in the front seat flying. Penny glanced over and smiled a little bit, she looked relieved.

  “Thanks, guys,” Penny breathed.

  “I know. I know. Good shot, right?” Ian sounded like he was congratulating himself.

  “Ian please…modesty,” Megan sighed. “Geez, it’s like you have no filter.”

  Their conversat
ion was cut short as cut short as Violet’s voice came, “Change of plans. We’re falling back to the airport and landing. One of our capital ships just arrived. We’re letting them handle this.”

  “But Violet we can help them, right?” Megan asked.

  “No. They can clean this up, we need to get back to the city and handle the stragglers,” she told them.

  Violet turned hard and pulled away, the others followed. Penny took out one last plane before performing a corkscrew maneuver and following right behind the others. Chris turned to see the Imperials attempting to retreat and being chased closely by friendly newcomers.

  “Thanks, Fleur. We’ll take it from here. You barely left us any…” a voice on the comms grumbled. “Quite efficient.”

  “Thank you, admiral,” Violet replied briefly. “We’ll go clean up the air above the city and then make our landing.”

  Chapter 16

  Double Crossed

  The planes had begun to land back at the airfield. Chris and Penny began their descent. Penny reduced the aircraft’s speed as they came to the ground. They stopped just behind Megan and Ian. Chris laid back in his seat and shut his eyes for a moment to relax himself. It was over. He felt a little sick, but also very glad they could help.

  A few of the planes in front of them began to open their cockpits. A male voice on the comms began to speak, “I think-- Negative that’s not everyone who went up in the sky. The only one missing is Alpha number forty-seven.”

  “Come in air traffic control, this is Violet. Alpha forty-seven had a system malfunction upon taking damage. Suspected engine failure. He and his plane will need pick up. Sending you coordinates. Over,” Violet answered back almost immediately.

  “Air traffic control to Violet, receiving now. Stand by…” a female voice responded to Violet this time. “Received. A crew will be dispatched shortly for Alpha four-seven along with an armed cleanup crew for the rest out there, over.”

  “Roger that command,” Violet answered back. “Over and out.” Chris watched as Violet leapt out of her fighter jet. She placed both hands on her helmet, removed it. She had her hair in a double French braid; both braids were tied together.