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“Nice,” Simeon said.
“Thanks, and tell me how the steering paddles are holding. ”
“Holding fine. You going to turn her on the way up?”
“Hard to port,” the captain told them. “We need to get our backside to the south end of the service docks; the security detail launches from the north end,” he explained, and as the ship rose it crested the last of the other dirigibles until it alone had a clear view of the clouds. “Keep us steady,” the captain said as he manned the prime steering paddles and the ship began a rotation that could’ve too easily toppled into a spin; but Simeon worked the fine steering and the ship stopped where the crew meant for it to—only to bring new trouble into the windscreen.
Lamar called it. “Two security detail flyers. Eleven and one o’clock. Sir, I think they’re—”
A spray of bullets grazed the Valkyrie’s lower cargo hold.
Hainey said, “Loaded. They’re loaded with birdshot, damn them all to hell. ”
“Not enough to crack this egg,” Simeon said with less than his usual easy confidence.
“They’re rising fast. They’ll be on our flight level in half a minute or less,” Lamar warned. “Then their aim’ll be better. We’ve got to get out of their way; we don’t know how much shot they’re carrying. ”
“Those are little birds,” Simeon insisted, though it was unclear who he meant to convince. “They can’t be carrying too much on board. They’re just security flyers; they’re meant to scare folks off, not shoot them down. ”
But another rain of shot peppered the craft, higher on the hull as the other ships crested the service yard docks and neared the Valkyrie’s altitude. The captain observed, “They don’t have the swivel turrets like this one does. They can’t hit us unless they keep our altitude. ”
“They’ve got some wiggle room,” Lamar argued. “There’s no telling how much. Higher, let’s get us higher; let’s hit some real thin air and then outrun them. ”
“Heavy as this thing is?” Simeon groused. “We’ll do well to stay above them. It’d be one thing if we could return fire, but we barely have enough manpower to fly as it is. What’s the normal crew on this thing, anyway?” he asked Lamar.
The engineer answered, “Six, as a skeleton. Maybe we can bash ’em. The Valkyrie can take it, and I bet those fellows can’t. ”
Hainey said, “They’re only chasing us because they know we ain’t got enough men to fight ’em off properly. ” He drew harder on the lever and the ship continued to rise, and with Simeon’s contribution from the thrusters it began to warm up to an eastern course.
“Where are you pointing us?” Hainey asked.
“Past town. But we’ve got to shake these things or knock ’em out of the sky. If they chase us too far we’ll only have unwanted company, wherever we arrive. ”
From her seat near the glass gun turret Maria Boyd asked, “Where are we going? If you don’t mind my asking. ”
“After my ship!” Hainey almost yelped as more gunfire strafed the ship, higher, and a couple of bullets went cracking against the windshield. Unlike the smaller bullets used on the ground, these were designed to break even the thickest glass, and even the hardest armor. Whether or not they could split the Valkyrie remained to be seen, but no one wanted to find out, so the captain drew the ship around.
“They’re only going to summon more help if we keep hovering here,” Lamar said.
Simeon shouted, “We ain’t hovering! We’re moving, just…we’re moving. Jesus, this thing is a cast-iron tank of a bastard. It’s none too easy to swing, I swear to God. ”
“But she spins all right,” Hainey observed. “Let’s try this then, back us up. ”
The first mate asked, “What?”
And the captain reiterated, “Back us up! Thrusters reverse, let’s retreat and make like a spinning top. We’ll charge them with a little backspin and knock them down, maybe. It won’t hurt us, no-how. ”
“You’re truly daft,” Maria said, but no one answered her.
“All men buckle down,” Hainey ordered as he used his elbow to whack a steeri
ng paddle into place enough to make the ship spiral. “Simeon, kick that stabilizer—pump it, don’t hold it in place. We want to keep spinning, and cast ourselves at them like a knuckleball. “
Centrifugal force was straining the interior, and the men and woman who struggled to hold themselves upright in their seats. Lamar’s hands flew over the valves and buttons, and Simeon dutifully pumped the stabilizers to pitch the craft forward—on a course directly between the two smaller ships.
“We’re bowling for birds!” the captain said almost gleefully, then added, “Impact in ten, nine, eight…hang on everybody…six…oh shit, I might be off a count or two—”
They collided, but just barely between the two security birds—winging the one and knocking the other hard enough to rock it out of its altitude. The crash was loud and the squeal of metal on metal was hard to listen to; but smoke puffed from the right side engine of the one o’clock ship, and it careened in a crazy, sinking pattern, headed back down to earth.
