by John Ringo
“It’s a good day to fly,” Vickie said as he came down the ladder. She and Koo were engaged in feeding the wyverns and they, too, seemed to think it was a good day to fly since they kept looking up from their feed and cawing at the overhead.
“If you can get off the ship,” Herzer said. “And back on. If you thought the water was cold before…”
“What’s it like?” Jerry asked. “I still haven’t been topside.”
“Cold,” Herzer said, opening his coat in the warmth of the stables. “Windy. Really windy.”
“I’m willing to give it a try,” Joanna rumbled, from forward. She had moved down after the first night when all the stores possible had been moved aft and the dragon deck cleaned up. Now she stretched to the limit possible and rustled her wings irritably. “And if I’ve got to hit the water, I can handle the cold.”
“I’ll go see Commander Mbeki,” Jerry said, shrugging into a fur-lined jacket.
“See if you can at least get the hatch open,” Joanna said. “I’m tired of being cooped up down here.”
Herzer and Jerry made their way aft to the quarterdeck where Commander Mbeki was striding up and down, reveling in the breeze.
“Good morning, sir,” Jerry said.
“Morning, Mr. Riadou,” the commander replied. “I suppose you want to see about getting off the ship?”
“Commander Gramlich does, sir,” the warrant officer replied. “She feels that even if she can’t land, she can make a water landing and hoist herself aboard.”
“And a joyful moment that will be,” the XO said with a grin. “The skipper is taking a much needed nap; he was up through most of the storm. I have the con, but generally evolutions like air operations would mean his presence.”
“I understand, sir,” Jerry replied. “The commander requested that at least the main hatch be opened so she can get on deck and stretch her wings.”
“That I can comply with,” the commander said after a moment. “And I would suspect that by this afternoon the wind will have moderated somewhat and the skipper will be awake. We might be able to commence air operations then.”
“Thank you, sir,” the warrant officer replied. “I’ll go see about getting the hatch removed.”
* * *
The commander was as good as his word. By the time Herzer was finishing his lunch he heard the command “All hands, prepare to come about!” followed shortly by “Prepare for air operations!”
By the time he got on deck, Joanna was on the catapult. The ship had been turned with the wind off what he now knew to be her port bow. Jerry was on the launch lever and Evan was fussing with the new launching mechanism. The detachable balk of timber had been removed and a fixed device had replaced it. Joanna had shown that she could release in time and they were trying the less wasteful system for the first time.
“Are you ready, yet, Mr. Mayerle?” Commander Mbeki called impatiently. The primary flight operations had been moved to a new station on the rear-mast, high enough that it could see to the rear of the ship but low enough that it wasn’t in the way of the sails. From that perch the commander could see both incoming dragons and the launching catapult.
“Ready, sir,” Evan replied with a wave.
“Commence launching operation,” the commander called.
Jerry looked at Joanna, then leaned into the lever. The combination of the cold air, which Herzer had learned was also denser, the strong wind and the rapid rate of movement of the ship caused the dragon to practically leap into the air.
Joanna ascended rapidly and Herzer hurried to his landing station. But when he got there, Vickie was already in the station.
“You’re late,” she said with a grin. She held up the flags and pointed them at the dragon as Joanna came around into the landing pattern.
It was clear that Joanna was having a hard time with the crosswind. She nearly made it on the first try but was blown off course by the effect of the sails at the last moment and banked off as Vickie gave her a wave off. Herzer could tell that it troubled the rider as well and he patted Vickie on the shoulder.
“You’re doing fine,” he said, realizing with a start that he had far more experience at this than she.
“Do you want to take over?” she asked, uncertainly. “This is pretty rough conditions.” That landing the greater dragon was far harder than the wyverns she didn’t have to add.
“No, you’re doing fine,” Herzer said. “She can either land or she can’t. If she can’t, she goes for a swim.”
The second time the dragon almost made it but was too low on her approach. The wave off was late and frantic and the dragon almost caught a wingtip again but managed to recover and stagger into the sky.
“That time you were late,” Herzer said, neutrally. “And it was clear that she wasn’t going to be regaining the altitude she needed. Don’t be afraid to wave off, even Joanna. Better a wave off than a crash into the ship. Remember, you’re her eyes in this.”
“I’ll remember,” Vickie said miserably and pointed at the dragon again.
The third time the dragon was high, but Vickie got her on glide path at the end. However, on final a wave lifted the rear of the ship and Joanna had to beat her wings frantically to clear the rear of the ship. She did, however, make it onto the platform, well forward, nearly pitching off the end.
“Well, that was pretty awful,” she growled.
Jerry had reached the station by then and touched Vickie on the arm.
“Vick, let Herzer do landing control,” Jerry said. “We all need to learn, but I don’t think right now is the best time.”
“Agreed,” Vickie replied, massaging her shoulder. “Those flags really get to you after a while. How do you do it, Herzer?”
Herzer frowned at her, puzzled for a moment, then laughed.
“Vickie, once you’ve trained to hold a shield and sword up for four hours, straight, this is nothing,” he said, flexing his shoulders slightly. It was apparent that they were corded with muscle.
“Time to start working out.” Jerry chuckled. “Okay, I’m going to take Shep up. You stay here and watch the landing. When Koo takes off, go get Yazov and you follow Koo. As each of us lands we watch the next person’s landing.”
* * *
By evening the riders were covered in sweat and the dragons had started to lose their interest in the game. When Koo had to be waved off twice and Nebka nearly dumped on the second wave off Jerry called the training.
“Skipper,” Jerry said climbing the ladder down to the quarterdeck, “we’re going to pack it in for the day. I think we’ve gotten all the training the dragons are up for today.”
“Agreed Warrant,” Colonel Chang said. “Good job.”
“Thank you, sir,” Jerry replied with a tired grin. He had stripped off his helmet and his hair was dripping with sweat despite the cool wind from the north. “With your permission we’ll launch a dragon for top cover tomorrow around dawn and start working out scouting mission methods. We also need to start working out a signaling system.”
“There are various things to figure out,” the skipper replied with a thoughtful frown. “I’d like to come up with a way to recover them at night, and we still need to work out a way for them to effectively attack ships, that sort of thing. I think we’ll have a dinner meeting this evening. Before then, get yourself cleaned up and get some rest.”
“Yes, sir,” the warrant officer said, saluting. “Permission to leave the bridge?”
“Granted,” the skipper replied.
* * *
“Dragon returning off the port beam,” the lookout called.
“He’s signaling,” the communications midshipman added, looking through his binoculars. “Two figure eights on the dip.” He consulted a table and nodded to himself. “That’s ‘group of delphinos.’ ”
“Bearing looks to be about one-seven-zero,” Commander Mbeki amplified as the dragon flapped nearer. “Eight of them.”
“Probably just dolphins,” the skip
per said. “But at least the signaling system works.”
“Herzer’s preparing to launch with Warrant Officer Riadou,” Mbeki said. “I’m heading up to pri-fly.”
“This should be interesting,” the skipper said and smiled at the chuckles it elicited.
* * *
Herzer hadn’t been on a dragon since the first flight but he found his position on Shep easily enough. The extended rein system was confusing at first but he soon found his holds. The reins had been extended so that Jerry had his own set behind Herzer and could take over if needed.
“Just let me handle the takeoff,” Riadou said. “I tested this out with Vickie and we shouldn’t have trouble. But stay away from motions until we’re airborne and I tell you you can take over.”
“Okay,” Herzer said.
The wyvern hopped to the launch platform and grabbed the launching baulk automatically. The wyverns had come to enjoy the takeoffs, at least the first few of the day. It was a good game until it became tiring.
Herzer gripped the straps and looked at the launching officer. The position had been taken over by one of the ship’s petty officers since there were insufficient riders to man it. The PO caught both their eyes and their thumbs up, then hit the release.
Herzer had pointed his face forward and gasped as the wyvern was hurtled forward and suddenly they were in the air.
“What a rush!” he yelled with a laugh.
“That it is,” Jerry said. “Almost makes up for the landings.”
Jerry got the wyvern up to about seven hundred meters and then turned the controls over to Herzer.
“Now just follow my commands,” Jerry said. “I know you can sort of control the dragon, but the next time you’re up by yourself you’ve got to get it back on the ship. And that takes a bit more control than your first time.”
“Will do.”
They worked through various flight contours. Level flight, slow spirals up, slow spirals down. Finally Jerry signaled for landing and waited until the ship turned into the wind.
“Try to line it up on the ship,” Jerry said, signaling to the LSO and getting a wave in return.
“Got it,” Herzer said, signaling in turn. He watched the motions of the LSO and grimaced. “I feel like I’m going to overshoot.”
“Watch the LSO,” Jerry said. “Don’t think. Let the LSO do the thinking for you.”
Herzer tried to control the dragon but he realized he was all over the sky. “I’m not up to this. Yet.”
“True,” Jerry replied. “My dragon.”
Herzer let go of the reins and watched the landing. Jerry’s handling of Shep was much smoother and in no time they thumped to the deck.
“I’m going to need a lot more time in the air,” Herzer said as they dismounted and the grooms took Shep below. He realized he was sweating even though he had done practically nothing. The landing had been physically debilitating.
“Yep, you are,” Jerry said. “And that’s going to be hard to arrange what with everything going on. I hope by the time we get to the Isles you’ll be qualified.”
* * *
As they sailed south it had become warmer and today it was, arguably, hot. Herzer thought about that as he mounted Chauncey and looked over the side. The water was a deep, cerulean blue, like liquid oxygen. The good news was that if he had to dump, the water was at least going to be warm.
But he put that out of his mind as he gave a thumbs up to the launching officer and looked forward.
He had gotten used to launchings at this point and paid much more attention to the dragon than the launching. Chauncey took the air easily, though, and he directed him into a spiral up and to the right.
“Just get up and into landing position,” Jerry had told him, so he spiraled the dragon upward until he had good altitude and directed it to the pattern.
Vickie was being recovered from a recon mission so he waited for her to land, Chauncey gliding at near stall speed on the light winds. He realized that the dragons were becoming more trained to the landings and was considering that aspect when he realized it was his turn to land. He turned on final and waved to the LSO, getting a wave in return. He checked the telltale on the masthead and prepared to correct for the wind being slightly off the starboard side. Joanna had gone for a swim and she was sculling along on her back, watching his approach. On the other hand, it looked like everyone in the ship had fallen out to watch the landing. The crew had gotten used to dragon-flights, but Herzer figured that the first time for a newbie was an event.
He put that out of his mind, too, and watched the directions from the LSO. Again, Chauncey seemed to anticipate some of his commands, as if he had gotten used to the orders as well. But, while this helped, it was still a bastard to make the landing.
He saw that cargo nets had been rigged to the rear and sides of the platform and that the recovery team was standing by. Although that was standard procedure as well, it made him chuckle faintly. If he overshot or dumped it, it was going to be heartily embarrassing.
He automatically corrected as he entered the dead air behind the sails and then he was on final. At what seemed well past the last moment, the LSO waved at the deck and Herzer pulled back simultaneously on all four reins, dropping Chauncey onto the deck like a rock.
He sat there, panting, and ignored the cheers, just quivering in reaction.
“Four line,” Jerry said, patting him on the leg. “But not bad. Hop her over to the catapult.”
“You mean I have to do that again?” Herzer gasped as the cargo nets were lifted up and out of the way.
“Welcome to maritime aviation,” Jerry replied with a chuckle.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Herzer did three more landings then switched from Chauncey to Donal. He stripped off the leather helmet the sailmaker had constructed as the wyvern was brought up from below and watched Koo coming in for a landing.
“Herzer,” Jerry called as the wyvern was hopping down the ramp. “Vickie’s on sweep. I want you to go up with her. You need to get some experience with unpowered flight.”
Herzer forbore to mention that he’d already had some on the way because he knew what the warrant was talking about. Figuring out how to stress the dragons as little as possible was as important in its own way as learning to land on the ship.
Herzer approached his new mount cautiously and let it get to know him. Like horses the dragons tended to get used to one rider, but since Treviano had decided he wasn’t up to landing on the carrier, Donal had been switched around extensively and it took the new rider phlegmatically.
Herzer mounted, hopped the wyvern onto the launch platform and again had the tremendous rush of the launching. He then pointed the dragon into a slow, upward spiral towards the distant dot of Yazov high above and forward.
It took nearly thirty minutes for him to reach her altitude and when he got there he discovered that Vickie had found a thermal and was coasting in a circle. Donal managed to insert himself into her vortex and followed the pattern of the other wyvern more or less automatically.
The dragon-riders had a complex set of hand signals that amounted to one-handed sign language and, rather than shout across the distance, Vickie made a querying sign.
Herzer thought long and hard and managed to dredge up the sign for “training” to which Vickie motioned an assent. She pointed down and to the east of the ship and off in the distance he could see a group of whales moving southward. Looking around he saw that the sea was patched with life. There was a large school of baitfish to the southwest that was being harried by birds and what looked to be much larger fish. He pointed to that and motioned at the wyvern with the sign for food but Vickie just shrugged. The ship had onboard facilities for catching fish, a large seine net that could be laid out by the ship’s boats as well as harpoons for larger game, but she clearly thought it a waste of time.
Very far off to the left there was a smudge of land that was probably the coast. It occurred to Herzer, for the first time, that
despite the fact that they were paralleling the coast, they weren’t staying close in-shore and he didn’t know why. He was sure Commander Mbeki could tell him when he landed, assuming he remembered to ask. In the same direction there was a band of water that was a subtly different color than that which the ship was in.
Finally he just paid attention to the flying. Donal was gliding well, maintaining altitude with only occasional flaps of his wings and breathing easily. Herzer had already noticed that when the dragons tired they tended to heat up and breathe much more heavily. Donal was still cool to the touch and exhibiting no signs of trouble.
The ship had passed under their constant circle and Vickie made a gesture to the south so they dropped out of the thermal and glided in the wake of the ship. She was looking from side to side and finally found what she was looking for in a group of vultures that were coasting upward. The thermal was off the path of the ship, southeast of its present position, but not far from where it would pass. They banked gently in the direction of the vultures and before they had lost more than five hundred meters they entered the new thermal and spiraled upward on easy flaps of the dragon’s wings.
This pattern continued for, by Herzer’s estimate, another three hours until a flag at the mainmast of the ship commanded both of them to return. The ship turned towards the wind, which was from the northwest, and they made an easy landing, Herzer going first.
“Well, that was interesting,” Herzer said as he climbed off Donal and let him be led below. The sun was starting to set in the west and the deck of the ship was already shadowed, which was why they had called in the sweep riders.
“Anything to see?” Commander Mbeki asked.
“Not unless you count fish and whales,” Vickie answered.
“Big school of fish in towards land,” Herzer amplified. “Can I ask a question?”
“Go ahead,” the commander replied.
“Why are we so far out?”