by John Ringo
“What did Herzer do?” the commander asked, looking at the lieutenant.
“He waved me down,” Jerry replied, artlessly then looked at the group who were all eyeing Herzer. “It worked, sir.”
“Yes it did,” the commander admitted. “Do you think you can do it again?”
“If the riders follow the commands, sir,” Herzer temporized. “It might be better if Mr. Riadou did the ordering; they’re more likely to follow him.”
“But he hasn’t seen it from the ship side,” Commander Chang said. “Has he?”
“The next one up is Vickie,” Jerry said. “Sergeant Toweeoo that is. I think that she’ll follow Herzer’s directions and I can follow through. One thing, though.”
“Yes?”
“It was hard to see his arms; I was catching more glints from his hook than seeing his hands. Could we get some hand flags or something?”
“I’ll have them brought up,” the XO said after a moment’s thought. He looked up at the circling wyverns and shook his head. “We need to set up a signaling system. Why didn’t we think of any of this in advance?”
“We thought it would be easy,” Evan said, his eyes glazing as he got caught in thought. “We’re working on a flag signaling system for the fleet; the dragon signals can be worked into that.”
“Work on that later,” Chang said. “I’ll get some hand flags up here and then you get those other dragons down.”
The others descended while Herzer and Jerry waited on the top-deck. Herzer noticed that despite the fact that it was October and there was a faint breeze it was damned warm up here; controlling the landings in the summer would be unpleasant.
Finally they heard the ladder squeaking and Chief Brooks’ head appeared at deck level; he had two flags grasped in his right hand.
“Here you go, sirs,” the chief said, holding the flags out. “Have fun.”
“Will do, Chief,” Herzer said with a chuckle, taking the flags from the chief who, clearly, wasn’t coming any closer to the landing deck than that. He took one flag in his right hand easily enough but found that the rounded handle of the flag was one of those surfaces his clamp had trouble with. Finally he slid it into the interior of the clamp and applied slight pressure of the cutting surfaces against it. It was awkward but it would work.
Finally he had it juggled in place and looked up at the group of circling dragons until he spotted the one that he thought was Vickie.
“Is that Vickie just turning out?” he asked Jerry.
“Yeah, I think so,” the rider muttered. “Another thing to add to the list: binoculars.”
Herzer took the flags and pointed them outward at Vickie, tracking her around the sky until he saw her wave, then pointed them down at the deck and spread them outward.
He saw immediately that she was lined up badly so he waved her off to the right. Then she was too far over that way so he waved her back to the left.
He continued to coax her down but she was all over the sky. Too low, too high. As she came in on final it was clear that she was far too low and he waved her off wildly but she still came in until the wyvern with a gobbled cry backwinged right at the stern of the ship, nearly hitting the pri-fly deck. It backwinged hard but didn’t have enough airspeed to recover so, with a tremendous splash, it landed in the bay.
Jerry and Herzer ran to the rear, fearing the worst, but from the curses emanating from below Vickie was fine. The wyvern, when they got there to look down, actually seemed to be having a good time paddling around in the water.
“What do I do now?” Vickie yelled. “This water is bloody cold! By the way, thanks for the steer, Herzer!”
“His steers were fine,” Jerry replied, angrily. “You were all over the sky!”
“Whatever!” Vickie snarled back. “What now?”
“Away the longboat!” Colonel Chang yelled, then leaned over the transom to look at the rapidly receding dragon. “I was informed those beasts could swim!”
“They can,” Jerry said. “Vickie, swim Yazov back to the ship!”
The ship was turned even closer to the wind so that it was practically standing still, but Herzer noticed that it was drifting off to one side. The wyvern was swimming powerfully, though, occasionally ducking completely under water and swimming that way so his wings could give him a fair semblance of flying. He made such good time underwater that the last burst was entirely submerged and when the dragon finally emerged next to the ship it gave a pleased burble as if it was having fun.
“Oh, yeah, sez you,” Vickie choked; she had had to hold her breath for the entire swim. “Get me out of here! This water is freezing!”
Sculling his wings on the surface the dragon could easily keep up with the slowly drifting ship, and the longboat, which had launched immediately on the crash, was able to recover the rider easily. The dragon was another matter.
“Recovery team, over the side!”
With the longboat standing by, four seamen, three males and a female, wearing close-fitting full-coverage clothing, went over the side. They were followed by a large cargo net which, with difficulty, was slipped under the wyvern. Through it all Yazov was fairly placid, poking at the divers as if they were some sort of interesting sea life provided for his amusement. But when the sling pulled up on him he was anything but amused. The net, though, closed his wings into his body so all he could do was protest as he was raised up via a derrick and swung across and then down into the hold. Only an idiot would allow an angry wyvern loose on the surface of the ship.
“We definitely need to work on this plan,” Jerry mused.
“Do you want to call the next one down?” Herzer asked, aghast at the effort necessary to recover a downed dragon.
“Nope, you’re doing fine,” Jerry said. “That was entirely on Vickie’s hook.”
“Says you,” Vickie snarled as she reached the landing platform. “You were pointing me all over the sky!”
“That’s because you were overcorrecting,” Jerry snapped. “And when he waved you off you tried to land anyway. I was there, Vickie, don’t try to snow me.”
“Just because you got put in charge it’s going to your head!” the female rider snarled. “I don’t have to put up with this shit!”
“You can leave if you want,” Jerry said, coldly. “I’ll get you a boat back to shore. But Yazov stays and you’re not going to be flying a wyvern ever again in your life.”
“You can’t do that,” Vickie said, softly. “You know what that means to us!”
“And that, Vickie, is the point,” Jerry replied, much more calmly. “We need you. I don’t want you grounded. But you have to learn that there are things that you’re going to have to do to retain what is now a privilege, namely dragon riding. And if you’re going to be flying off of carriers, you’re going to have to learn to take steers. Or I’ll have you trucked back to Dragon Home and you can fly off of nice steady aeries that don’t move around.”
“Are we done?” Herzer asked. “Because we’ve only got so many hours of daylight left and I really don’t want to be waving torches around.”
“We’re done,” Jerry said. “Vickie stay up here and watch.”
“Which one do you want?” Herzer asked.
“Take Koo, the one just turning this way,” Jerry answered.
Herzer again pointed at the appropriate rider until he waved back then motioned him down. This rider, though, took the steers well. The ship had barely gotten back underway so the slower speed might have helped but the most important thing seemed to be that he reacted immediately to each of Herzer’s waved commands. He came in on final and Herzer waved him down, then the three of them hit the deck.
“That was a blast!” Koo yelled happily.
“I see what you mean,” Vickie said unhappily. “You can’t trust your instincts, or your beast’s, up there.”
“No, you can’t,” Jerry said. “And that means you have to turn over control to the guy with the flags.”
“That sucks,�
�� Vickie said. “I don’t trust anybody that much.”
“You’ll have to,” Herzer said.
“And I bet there’s one that has even more trouble,” Vickie suddenly said with a malicious note.
“I think we’ll land Joanna last,” Jerry said, dryly.
The last wyvern, Donal, ridden by Vida Treviano, had pretty much the same problems as Vickie but Vida took the wave-off better, probably because he’d seen what would happen if he didn’t. He tried twice more but each time came in off-path and had to be waved off.
“Donal’s getting tired,” Vickie said. “I don’t think they can do it. I don’t know if I can do it.”
“Herzer, try to tell him to head for the beach,” Jerry said. “I have to get back there somehow and pick up Shep. I don’t know if Donal will be up for another try at landing by then or not. Hell, we’re going to have to ferry in and out, those of us that can manage landings, bringing out the verns.”
Herzer pointed his flags at Donal and then waved in the direction of land. He had to do it twice before Treviano either understood or was willing to agree. Finally, Donal turned to the south and headed for the beach.
“What happens if we’re out of sight of land?” Vickie mused.
“Water landing,” Jerry said. “And, yeah, if the water had been colder that would have been a problem. We need a better method of recovery for the dragons. Herzer, time for Joanna.”
“Okay,” Herzer said, “but the two of you get below. If she actually manages to hit this thing I’m not sure there’s going to be room for me much less you two.”
Herzer pointed the flags at Joanna until she waved a talon at him and lined up for a landing. She had good correction for the drift of the ship but she had a hard time maintaining height; she kept sliding under the glide path. Herzer realized when she was halfway down that the ship was just going too slow for her to easily land. She either had to start by pointing forward of the ship and hit the landing point as it passed through her glide or the ship had to be going faster so she could increase the glide angle without going into a stall. There wasn’t anything to do about it, now, but it bugged him that she had to keep flapping her wings to stay on the landing slope.
She had a good angle, though, on the final run. Herzer, looking up at the immense, and rapidly approaching, dragon realized that there was a very good chance that he was going to get squished like a bug. The platform wasn’t much larger than the body of the dragon and if she deviated in the slightest at the last she would land right on him. He put the thought out of his mind, though, and gave her final corrections. As she started to flare out on final he waved her down and dove to the ground.
The air was filled with blasts of wind but they went on far longer than they should. He jumped to his feet just in time to see Joanna, flailing wildly off to the left, dip her wingtip into the water and pinwheel into the bay.
“Joanna!”
Herzer wasn’t the only one bellowing but the dragon’s head quickly popped up above the light chop and shook from side to side.
“Sorry about that, Herzer!” the dragon bellowed. “Frankly, I lost my nerve at the last second. I was going faster than the ship and I didn’t think I’d be able to stop on that little platform. Oooh, this water’s cold.”
The dragon’s body submerged but her head stayed above the surface as she swam to the boat. Instead of using her wings, as the wyverns had done, she sculled her body back and forth like a snake. When she reached the side of the boat she disdained the recovery team, instead extending one claw-tipped wing and grasping the side of the ship. Using this leverage she got her forward talons dug into the wood of the bulwark and hoisted herself upwards.
Herzer was nearly pitched off the landing deck as the ship heeled hard over to one side. The dragon quickly writhed over the side, leaving a trail of splintered wood behind her.
“Sorry about that, Skipper,” Joanna said, sticking her head into the quarterdeck. “I think we need to work on the design of that area if we’re going to be recovering me very often.”
“I hope we won’t have to, Commander,” the skipper said, furiously. “That’s several thousand credits of damage!”
“Make the rail removable,” Joanna said, reasonably. “Reinforce the wood. Maybe give me some handholds. For that matter, maybe a lowerable ramp. If it’s good enough we might be able to use it for crashed wyverns.”
“We’ll see,” the skipper said.
“It’s not my fault if your ship’s a little fragile,” the dragon said, then shook herself hugely, spreading out her wings so that a fine mist settled over half the ship. “Ah, that’s better.”
Herzer had climbed down from the landing deck and looked around at the group at pri-fly and on the quarterdeck.
“What now, sirs?” Herzer asked.
“I have to get back to the shore,” Jerry said. “I need to see if Vida can land Donal. If not, we either go for a water landing or I’ll leave him on the beach and bring Donal out myself. If I bring Donal out someone else will need to bring out Shep.”
“I’ll go in with you,” Vickie said. “I need to figure out how to do this right.”
“No,” Jerry said after a moment. “You’re more familiar with Yazov and you’re not comfortable with landing yet. I’ll take Koo. His landing was better than mine.”
“But…” Vickie said, coloring up.
“Sergeant Toweeoo?” Edmund said.
“Yes, Duke Edmund?” Vickie replied, icily.
“You’re beginning to grasp what it means to be under military discipline, and why it’s sometimes necessary. We do not have all day to discuss this. Warrant Officer Riadou, accompanied by Sergeant Franken will go to the shore and fly out the two wyverns. You, in the meantime, will observe their landings and try to ascertain how to improve your performance. Is that clear?”
“Yes, sir,” Vickie said.
“Koo, you can fly Shep,” Jerry continued. “I’ll bring out Donal. If I have to I’ll put him in the drink. They don’t seem to suffer for it, except the lifting out part.”
“How are you getting back?” Edmund asked. “We need to get moving.”
“They can take the longboat,” the skipper said. “Or the cat. Both have sails. If we don’t make full sail they can catch up. But it will be late today.”
“No, I’ll take them,” Joanna said. “I want to find out if I can take off from that ramp you have set up. They don’t add much weight.”
That stopped everyone as the image of the dragon running out the lever stuck on the side of the ship struck them. Herzer dredged up the term “turning turtle” to what it might do to the ship.
“I’m… not sure that’s a good idea,” Commander Mbeki said.
“It… will be,” the skipper said. “We’ll turn so the wind is from the port quarter. That will give her more wind to work with and it will heel the ship to starboard. It’ll be interesting, but we’ll survive it.”
“And then there’s the catapult,” Evan said happily.
“What catapult?” Joanna growled.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
There was a wooden block on the top of the landing platform and a slot running down the middle.
“The steam generator can be used to pressurize air,” Evan said. “There’s a piston underneath. We’ll rig a sliding platform, since you’re so large. It will accelerate you off the platform and give you immediate airspeed.”
“I can run off the platform and get that,” Joanna temporized. “How much airspeed?”
“An estimated forty klicks,” Evan burbled. “More than enough for you to start flying immediately. No need for a run-up or dropping off a cliff!”
“Accelerate to forty clicks in, what? Twenty meters?” Joanna snarled. “Blow that!”
“Really, you just hold on, lean forward and spring up about halfway through.”
“Easy enough for you to say,” Jerry interjected. “I’m not sure how to explain it to the wyverns.”
“We were thinking may
be an automatic release harness or something,” Evan replied. “But the wyverns should be able to take off, with one rider, without it. Greater dragons will have problems.”
“Bloody right,” Joanna said. “One of them being to get them to use this thing.”
“I think it looks like fun,” Herzer said. “But I’m not the one using it.”
“Fun? I just crashed in the drink once, Herzer!”
“Think about it,” Herzer said. “You lean forward and spring off almost immediately. And you’re already going thirty, forty klicks. Sounds like fun to me. I’ll be surprised if people don’t start using it for kicks by the time the voyage is done.”
“I suppose you want me to go ‘yee-haw’ or something,” Joanna grumped.
“Well, only if you want to,” Herzer replied. “Daylight is wasting.”
“I need something to eat before I try this,” Joanna said. “I can tell most of my grumpiness is low blood sugar.”
“It’s time for lunch anyway,” Jerry replied.
Herzer was surprised to find that he was right; it was past noon. The day had passed in a blur since dawn.
Lunch was… interesting. So that Joanna wouldn’t feel left out, the skipper had a table set up on the flight deck and Edmund’s party joined her for lunch. There was still fresh meat and vegetables available but to give them an inkling of what the voyage would be like the skipper ordered “ship’s food” to be served alongside.
The ship food wasn’t nearly as bad as Herzer had expected. He’d read about early sailing vessels and the poor quality of the food, but the “ship biscuit” that were served, for example, were rather light and slightly sweet.
“This isn’t hardtack,” Herzer commented, nibbling one of the biscuits. “I’ve had hardtack.”
“No,” Skipper Chang said. “We know a bit more about food storage than the early ships. Those are what used to be called ‘captain’s biscuits.’ They’d go bad in a month or so if you stored them in bags, but they’re stored in vacuum-packed steel barrels. The dwarves are able to make them in quantity.”