Rocket’s Red Glare
Page 28
Instead he was trying to break up the enemy formation and scatter the Zuliss ships. He knew he’d accomplished that when he saw them peeling away in a hurry. The Whirlwind shot through the gap that created like a seed popping out of a watermelon.
Malloy had practiced enough that his hands moved as much by instinct as they did from conscious thought. He slid lights around in the air, thumbed actual switches, and watched the HUD in his helmet as the Whirlwind turned its nose up and climbed so steeply the g forces felt like they were trying to push Malloy back through the seat. He worried a little that Nualla might try to take over, and since she couldn’t read his mind – as far as he knew – there was a chance she might do something that would send them spinning out of control. Better just to leave him alone, even though she probably thought he was crazy.
Crazy like a fox... he hoped.
He wished the Whirlwind had a stick like his old Spad. Hauling back on it to throw the craft into a loop would have felt better than poking floating balls of light. But a fella worked with what he had.
His Vickers guns wouldn’t have done much good against those Zuliss fighters, either.
He rolled the ship at the top of the loop so it came out right-side up and above and behind one of the Zuliss raiders. The HUD told him he had target lock. He punched a switch and felt a tiny shiver go through the Whirlwind as a torpedo was away. The Zuliss ship tried to dart aside, but the torpedo’s guidance system followed it and an instant later a flash lit up the sky as the detonation vaporized the raider.
Malloy wondered briefly if any of the troops in the trenches down there saw that flash and asked themselves why there was lightning on an otherwise partly cloudy day.
That cut the odds down, but he was still overwhelmingly outnumbered. And the Zuliss pilots were starting to recover from their surprise. They looped and twisted and came at him from several different directions now. Malloy saw two of them barreling toward him and tried to sense exactly when they were going to fire.
Holding his breath, he poked one of the lights and sent the Whirlwind into a dive.
At that instant, the two raiders opened fire and blew each other out of the sky. More lightning to puzzle the humans down below.
Now the odds were only four to one.
Malloy kept diving.
During his training, Nualla had told him that the Atascans tried not to reveal themselves to the humans unless it was necessary. Colonel Crutcher had mentioned that same point more than once. The occasional sightings of their ships were the exceptions that proved the rule.
In a tight spot like this, though, Malloy figured he had a good enough reason to risk exposure. The Whirlwind tore through the clouds with the Zuliss ships screaming after it and suddenly broke out into the open air again, only a few thousand feet above the ground now.
Malloy caught a glimpse of thousands of men moving across the landscape like a muddy wave and knew that a big push was going on, but he couldn’t tell which side was making the advance and which was trying to hold it back. He wasn’t sure it mattered, anyway. During his time in the war, he had figured out that the poor varmints in the trenches were going to keep pushing each other back and forth across No Man’s Land until the politicians and the generals decided they’d had enough. All the bleeding and dying were just ways of marking the time until then.
The sudden appearance of red and green streaks across the sky above the battle might give pause to some of the soldiers, but most of them would have their heads down and their eyes on the mud at their feet as they tried to stay alive. They didn’t know anything about the war going on across this whole sector of space and probably wouldn’t have given a hoot in hell about it if they had.
Those thoughts flashed through Malloy’s mind in the split-second it took him to pull the Whirlwind out of the dive and level off. Thunder slammed through the air around him as he roared across the battlefield less than a thousand feet high now. Thunder and lightning out of a clear blue sky... the soldiers who survived this day would talk about it for a long time to come. It would make a good story to tell the grandkids.
The Zuliss ships came down to chase him, as he had figured they would. He jinked right and left to throw off their target acquisition. Was he imagining things, or was Nualla a little grayer than usual? Was his maneuvering getting to even her?
Malloy was behind the German lines now. He recognized a few landmarks. He headed for a stretch of forest and had the Whirlwind practically tickling its belly on the treetops. Then he climbed again, and as he did, he spotted something above him that made him let out a heartfelt “Aw, hell!”
“What is it?” Nualla asked. “According to the instruments, the ship is holding up well, despite what you’ve been putting it through.”
Malloy pointed. “The damn Red Baron.”
A group of red-painted Fokkers soared through the sky above them. Baron Von Richtofen had his whole blasted Flying Circus with him. And they were right in the way of where Malloy wanted to go.
Well, why not? The German planes flew in close formation, but there were a few gaps between them. Malloy headed for the biggest one.
He threaded the needle between the tri-planes and looped again. While he was upside down, he saw a couple of explosions and knew the Zuliss had tried to do the same thing, as he had hoped. A couple of them had collided with the Fokkers, though. That completely destroyed the German planes, of course. The Boche wouldn’t know what had happened and would probably put the losses down to anti-aircraft fire from the ground. Malloy hoped the collisions had done enough damage to the Zuliss fighters to make them run for home.
That appeared to be the case as one of the raiders roared away. That left three of them, however... but Malloy was in perfect position behind one of them and laced a green disruptor beam across it. That killed the engine and destroyed the guidance system, and as the raider flipped away, Malloy could tell the pilot wouldn’t be able to recover control before the ship crashed.
Instead, it vanished in a bright, noiseless blast, more than likely vaporized by the pilot’s own hand to keep the craft from falling into the hands of the humans.
Malloy zoomed to the left and hit one of the remaining Zuliss ships with the disruptor beam. This was just a glancing blow that failed to disable the craft. It knocked the screens out, though, and Malloy knew the raider would be visible from down below now.
And from the sky as well, evidently, because the surviving Fokkers came after it, flame licking from the muzzles of their Spandaus.
Malloy was astonished to see smoke pouring from the rear of the Zuliss ship. The German machine gun fire must have damaged it badly. The raider listed and then began spinning toward the earth.
Finally, the odds were even. Malloy angled the Whirlwind toward the remaining Zuliss ship. To his surprise, the raider turned tail.
“Look at him flee!” Captain Nualla exclaimed.
“Yeah, he’s lightin’ a shuck out of here, all right,” Malloy said. “He must not care for a fair fight.”
“You are not going to pursue him?”
Malloy gestured at the instruments. “We were just going out for a little training flight. We don’t have enough fuel to chase that varmint halfway around the world.”
“You are correct, of course,” Nualla admitted. “I was, uh . . .”
“Caught up in the heat of battle?” Malloy asked with a grin. “Yeah, me, too, for a few minutes. That was a hell of a dogfight, wasn’t it?”
Without waiting for an answer, Malloy banked and climbed, using as much power as he dared to take them back up through the clouds.
“You are in a hurry to get back?”
Malloy laughed and said, “I don’t want von Richtofen coming after me. He shot down one of those raiders, so I reckon for today anyway, me and the bloody Red Baron were on the same side.”
Chapter 11: The AEF
Admiral Romurr and Colonel Crutcher were waiting for them when they got back to the Malagar. As he and Nualla climbed out
of the Whirlwind, Malloy wondered if he was in trouble. Nualla must have contacted the flagship during the aerial duel to let them know what was going on, although Malloy had been too busy to notice it at the time.
Romurr looked happy, though, or at least Malloy thought that was the case. It was still hard to tell. Crutcher seemed a little put out, though.
“I’ve been informed that you destroyed several Zuliss fighters on your training mission today, Lieutenant,” Romurr greeted them. “Excellent work.”
“Thanks, Admiral. They jumped me first, and well, it seemed like the thing to do at the time.”
“Indeed it was. Captain, do you have anything to add?”
“Lieutenant Malloy acted impulsively, Admiral,” Nualla replied in a stern tone. Then she added, “But he performed admirably.”
“From what I know now, I should say so. I’ll expect a full report.”
“Of course, sir.”
Romurr faced Malloy and went on, “The time has come for you to make a decision, Lieutenant. We can return you to your planet if you’d like.”
Malloy frowned. “What? I didn’t figure you’d let me go, since I know all about the Zuliss and your war with them and everything.”
“To do so would necessitate removing those memories from your brain. It is a process... not without its risks, as I’m sure Jalton would be quick to inform you. But it can be done, if that is your wish. It has been done in the past, with others from your planet who have fallen into our hands for one reason or another.”
“Or?” Malloy prompted.
“Or you can remain on the Malagar and take your place as a member of our forces. More training would be required, but it is the judgment of Captain Nualla and the rest of my staff that you possess the ability to be of great benefit to us. I agree.”
“You want me to join your war against the Zuliss?”
“To help us put down their unlawful rebellion, yes.”
Malloy didn’t have to think about it more than a couple of seconds. Then he nodded and said, “I’d be mighty pleased to throw in with you, Admiral.”
“Splendid! I’ll leave the captain to fill you in on everything you need to know.”
Romurr and the staff officer who were with him all left the flight deck. Nualla went to remove her equipment, telling Malloy she would be back shortly.
Malloy and Crutcher stood there beside the Whirlwind. Malloy reached up and patted the ship’s metal skin lightly.
“So we’re gonna help the Atascans win this war, eh, Colonel?”
“So it appears,” Crutcher said.
“You know what that makes us, don’t you?”
Crutcher just frowned in puzzlement and didn’t say anything.
“We’re the AEF,” Malloy said. “The American Expeditionary Force, come to help the folks who are fighting the good fight.”
“Yes, I suppose you could look at it like that,” Crutcher said. “The wars we actually set out to fight are over, at least for us.”
“But war itself never ends,” Malloy said. He thought about the emotions that had surged through him while he was battling the Zuliss, then slapped Crutcher on the back and added, “And there’ll always be a place for hombres like us.”
About the Author – James Reasoner
A lifelong Texan, James Reasoner has been a professional writer for more than forty years. In that time, he has authored more than four hundred hundred novels and short stories in numerous genres. His story "The Hero of Deadwood" (TALES FROM THE OTHERVERSE, Rough Edges Press) was a finalist for the Sidewise Award for Alternate History in 2016, and Bill Crider's "It Doesn't Matter Anymore", another story from that anthology, which Reasoner edited and published, won the award. James Reasoner lives in a small town in Texas with his wife, award-winning fellow author Livia J. Washburn, five dogs, and thousands of old books and pulp magazines. His blog can be found at http://jamesreasoner.blogspot.com.
Table of Contents
Rocket’s Red Glare
Table of Contents
Orphans of Aries
Brad R. Torgersen
About the Author – Brad R. Torgersen
Manifest Destiny
Keith West
About the Author – Keith West
A Hamal in Hollywood
Martin L. Shoemaker
About the Author – Martin L. Shoemaker
Performance Bonus
Nathan E. Meyer
1.
2.
3.
About the Author – Nathan E. Meyer
Freemen’s Stand
Sarah A. Hoyt
About the Author – Sarah A. Hoyt
A Man They Didn’t Know
David Hardy
About the Author – David Hardy
Jupiter Convergence
Robert E. Vardeman
About the Author – Robert E. Vardeman
Graveyard Orbit
Christopher M. Chupik
About the Author – Christopher M. Chupik
The World Turned Upside Down
Lou Antonelli
About the Author – Lou Antonelli
Aloft in the Whirlwind:
James Reasoner
Chapter 1: Thin Air
Chapter 2: The Colonel
Chapter 3: The Atasca
Chapter 4: Flaming Onions and Little Fellows
Chapter 5: The Admiral
Chapter 6: Scout Ship
Chapter 7: A Spin
Chapter 8: The Great War
Chapter 9: Solo
Chapter 10: Dogfight
Chapter 11: The AEF
About the Author – James Reasoner