Valkyria (21 page)

Nate glanced around, trying to be
conspicuous whilst looking for anyone who raised their arm. No one
did, so he knew he would have to ask his question. After all, he
had to know who would take out the anti-airship cannons. He could
not let the Inquisition use something that he and Charles had
invented.

“
What are we going to do
about the anti-airship cannons? I am probably the best suited to
disarm them, sir” said Nate.

Irving looked at him with a smile, but
it seemed to be a smile of pity rather than anything
else.

“
I am sorry Nate, but we
need you to pilot the Seadawn. It is our best weapon against the
Inquisition’s forces. Seran is going to infiltrate the compound
from the ground, using a drop pod so that he does not draw
attention to himself.

From there, he will detonate a bomb
that will knock out their power generators, disabling the
cannons.

“
But sir,” said
Nate.

“
I know what you are going
to say,” replied Iriving, interrupting Nate. “And once the power
supply is broken, you may destroy them from above when you get the
chance. However, we need you in the air, not on the ground. Do you
understand?”

“
Sir,” said Einar. “I have
a question.”

“
Go ahead.”

“
How will Seran deal with
the soldiers on the ground after the bomb has
detonated?”

“
Well,” said Seran. “The
Captain and I have spoken a great deal about that, and we feel the
best way to deal with them is to take a page from your book, so to
speak.”

“
I do not understand,” said
Einar.

“
We will draw the Creatures
of the Midland to the compound, and allow them to distract the
soldiers. Hopefully there will be enough gunfire, explosions and
bodies to keep them occupied so that I may escape
undetected.”

“
You jest, surely,” said
Nate. “Those things will tear the place apart!”

“
And the people,” said
Einar. “What about my sister?”

“
It will take time for the
Creatures to get into the compound,” said Irving. “Seran will take
out the power and then search for Alexia. Once he has located her,
he will take her to the clearing between the factory and the
fortress where Anastasia and Sherry will extract them
both.”

Nate’s muscles tightened at the thought
of going anywhere near the Creatures again. He did not want to see
any person meet the same fate as Charles; especially not a member
of the Valkyria’s crew.

Before he could raise his concern once
more, the door to the mess hall burst open and one of the lookouts
ran into the room.

“
Captain! We have
arrived!”

“
Very well,” said Irving.
“Everyone! Get to your vessels and prepare for battle! And prepare
to come back alive!”

The crew stood from their chairs and
benches and filled out of the mess hall, running down the corridor
to the hangar bays. Nate jumped into the cockpit of the Seadawn as
Einar clambered into the gunner’s turret.

“
I sincerely hope you are
not a waste of space,” said Nate. “Charles was an amazing gunner.
You need to be the same.”

“
I will do my best,” said
Einar.

“
We will see how good your
best is. You had better be worth losing Charles for,” he said as
the hangar bay doors began to open.

Nate moved the Seadawn into take off
position and increased the power to the propeller. Thrust the
flight stick forward, the Seadawn was thrust into motion, shooting
out of the hangar bay and into the open the sky. Behind him, the
rest of the Valkyria’s fighter air-taxis left the hangar bay like a
swarm of bees, and he saw a drop pod fall out of the bottom of the
Valkyria. It begins, then.

*~*~*

38

NATE

The squadron flew toward the compound,
the trees below speeding past. The skies were clear, except for a
large silhouette hovering about the fortress. The Tempest was
waiting for them.

“
They are launching,” said
Nate as he saw dozens of smaller silhouettes flying out from the
Tempest, itself now turning and moving toward them. As it sailed
out of the light of the sun, Nate’s eyes opened wide as he stared
at the monstrosity of an airship.

Whilst not as large as the Valkyria, it
was still large enough to deserve the title of “terror of the
skies” that it had been given during the Revolt War. Its three
decks were covered in guns, and Nate could see the musketeer decks
on the sides of the Tempest as well. He also noticed that the
air-taxis were not coming from hangar bays, but rather from runways
on the top of the airship.

The squadron closed in on the
Inquisition’s air-taxis, all of them painted solid black. Nate
glanced to the left to see one of his wingmen, Louis, veer off to
the north to find the nearest pack of Creatures.

“
I hope you are ready for
this,” he said to Einar as he pulled the lever that increased the
power to the propeller. The Seadawn sped up, with the rest of the
squadron moving into attack formation behind them and began to open
fire at the Inquisition’s ships.

The first of the enemy air-taxi
squadrons flew straight toward Nate and his team, forcing them to
break formation and split apart. One of the Inquisition’s ships
took up position behind the Seadawn and began to open fire. Nate
twisted the controls from left to right, rocking the Seadawn so
that the majority of the shells flew past them. The rest connected
with the Seadawn, but the armor plating deflected them.

“
Now is the time to show us
what you can do, kid” said Nate.

“
Yes, sir,” replied
Einar.

He squeezed the triggers on the cannon
and shells tore out of the barrel, through the air and straight
into the body of the Inquisition’s ship. The vessel span out after
the shells ripped its wings apart, falling to ground and exploding
into pieces.

“
Well,” said Nate. “That
was a good shot. Keep it up and this may actually work!”

“
Will do, sir!”

The Seadawn flicked around to the left,
pulling in behind another enemy air-taxi. Nate squeezed the trigger
on his level, starting the auto-cannon on the front of the Seadawn,
each shell hitting its target and taking out yet another
vessel.

“
Incoming,” shouted Einar,
and Nate glanced behind him, seeing the Tempest entering the fray.
A large cannonball was flying directly toward them.

Nate wrenched the flight controls
backwards, bring the Seadawn’s nose up sharply, the ship rising
higher just in time for the cannonball to fly past them. However,
it shot right into one of the Valkyria’s other ships,
disintegrating it in seconds.

“
Dammit,” said Nate. “Those
cannonballs are going to destroy us!”

“
Maybe not,” said Einar.
“The Valkyria’s here.”

Nate looked out of the window, and saw
the Valkyria closing in. It began to open fire on the Tempest,
drawing the attention of their cannons.

“
Right then,” said Nate.
“Then we need to concentrate on the fighters.”

The Seadawn made a long turn to face
the other direction, allowing Nate to see the full scale of the
battle. There seemed to be hundreds of small air-taxis flying
around, bullets streaming across the sky. Every few seconds, one of
the ships would either shatter into pieces or fall toward the
scream and explode.

Below them Anastasia and Sherry managed
to shoot down one of the Inquisition’s ships, but had four on their
tail. Their ship ducked left and right, but it was no use. The
other air-taxis were following them perfectly.

“
We have to help
Anastasia,” shouted Nate as he put the Seadawn into a dive. “I will
try and take out a couple, and you take out the others after we got
past!”

“
Understood,” replied
Einar.

Nate could hear the wind rushing passed
as the Seadawn dived. He fired the front cannons on a constant
stream. Within seconds bullet holed riddled the two ships closest
to Anastasia, and the Seadawn raced passed the other two. Einar
opened fire and shredded them before the Seadawn pulled up
suddenly. Nate’s stomach felt like it fell out of his body as the
Seadawn leveled out.

He glanced upward to see Anastasia give
him a salute before pointing to the ground. Below them, the trees
swayed and parted, birds fleeing the forest. From between the trees
came a sea of Creatures, following Louis’ air-taxi.

They scaled the fences in such numbers
that the fences collapsed. Hundreds of Creatures poured into the
compound, the guards opening fire in panic.

“
I truly hope that Dragoon
knows what he is doing,” said Nate.

“
He has too,” replied
Einar. “My sister is down there somewhere! I should be down there
with him!”

“
We need a gunner, Einar!
If we lose the battle up here, there will be no one to rescue your
sister!”

Nate pulled the Seadawn around and back
into the battle. The Valkyria and the Tempest were exchanging
cannon fire whilst the air-taxis were buzzing around them. However,
the Tempest had also began firing its smaller rotary guns at the
Valkyria’s fighters.

“
We will not win this
unless the Tempest falls,” said Nate.

“
But the Valkyria is hardly
damaging it,” replied Einar.

“
Then we need to do
something,” said Nate.

He flew the Seadawn close to the
Inquisition’s flagship, dancing left and right to avoid the shells
from the rotary guns. As the Seadawn shot along the side, he
noticed that the vessel’s exhausts extended from the side, rather
than the back. They were protected by armor plating from the front,
but an attack from the correct angle and the side could ignite
them.

“
I have an idea,” he said
to Einar as he turned away from the Tempest and flew directly
toward the bridge of the Valkyria. “Get the communication light
ready!”

Einar turned around in his part of the
cabin and picked up the large light, aiming it toward the bridge of
the Valkyria.

“
Now, pass me the cable
with the switch. I need to make sure the message is shown
correctly!”

Einar threw the cable down the cabin to
Nate, who picked it up and began switching the light on and off,
whilst saying his message aloud to himself so that he sent it
correctly.

“
Go to the side of the
enemy. Fire cannons at second floor. Aim for exhaust
shielding.”

From the bridge, a light began to
flicker on and off as well, confirming the message had been
received. The Valkyria’s engines picked up speed and the vessel
began to move again.

The Seadawn turned around again, and
pulled up beside the Valkyria, following it as it moved to the site
of the Tempest and opened fire. Sheets of metal and Inquisition
soldiers were blown out of the vessel, falling to the ground below.
Nate flew the Seadawn below the Valkyria and away from the two
ships so that he would have a long enough run toward the
Tempest.

The Valkyria continued to fire,
launching its cannonballs directly into the shielding for the
exhaust. Burst after burst of cannon fire hit the metal plates,
each one denting them more until finally they gave way, snapping
off the Tempest and tumbling through the air.

“
The plates are down,”
shouted Einar and Nate yanked the handle to turn the Seadawn around
as quickly as possible. He aimed his approach so that he was
directly facing the ends of the exhaust and began firing the front
cannons.

In a matter of seconds the exhausts
burst into flames, the fire travelling up the tubes and into the
Tempest. The Valkyria must have seen what happened as well as it
veered away from the massive airship sharply whilst continuing to
fire upon it.

Explosions began to erupt within the
Tempest, smoke billowing out of the windows. As the Valkyria moved
away from the Tempest, flying behind it, it fired one more barrage
from its cannons, splintering the Tempest’s engines.

At that moment, there was another
explosion, but this one came from below them. Nate looked down to
see the power supply building in flames.

“
Good lord,” he said. “The
Dragoon actually did it!”

He span the Seadawn towards the
compound and dove down low.

“
Einar! Get ready! We are
going in!”

*~*~*

39

SERAN

Seran barged out of the remains of the
power supply building, Firethorn’s motor churning and its teeth
spinning. A Creature ran straight for him, so his rolled forward
and brought Firethorn’s blade through the Creatures torso. All
around him Inquisition soldiers screamed in fear and in agony as
Creatures swarmed the compound.

Above him, he could see the smoke
funneling out from the Tempest. He smiled. Finally, that damnable
war machine will never be used again. He ran across the open yard
toward the fortress at the back of the compound, darting between
vehicles and storage containers so that neither the Creatures not
the soldiers would be drawn to him.