Tailspin, page 75
“Never thought you’d get broody,” Niko said with a huge smile.
“Never seen as cute a kid before I met Jasmine,” I added. “Is it really good for her up here?”
“It’s not so bad here now. My parents had to come, and I didn’t want anyone else looking after her. Through the day, she’s inside. I only came out for some real air. The wind’s the other direction tonight.”
“Okay,” I said. Jasmine took hold of my finger with her hand, and just that one moment. Damn. I really did want kids of my own. “I can understand that.”
“We’re heading back out tomorrow,” Niko said. “I might not get to come back for a few days, had to see you before.”
“Why won’t you be coming back?” I asked, concerned.
“Sending us down to the second line by the river. It’s easier if we hunker down there.”
Lacy frowned. “But you’ll be back in a few days, right?”
Niko pulled her in closer. “Of course. You think I’m staying out there with you both here? Not a chance in hell.”
I smiled at the three of them. They were more than adorable together.
“I should go, let you enjoy each other for a while, yeah?”
Lacy pulled me into a hug from all of them and I relished in it for more than a moment.
“Love you guys,” I said.
“Back at ya, man. Comm me later, yeah?” Niko said.
I eased away from them, dipped my head. “I will. Enjoy.”
I turned back and headed for my rack. Most were asleep by the time I hit the rack. I waited a while, drank some build up drinks they’d left out for us, and only then when I was sure I was totally alone I played the video he’d sent me.
It just looked like fire. A powerful, hot fire.
I sent Niko a message. I can’t see anything, comm me when you can.
I was asleep briefly; the call came through a little later, and I groggily answered it. “Hey,” I said. “What is it you see on here? I can’t see anything.”
“Play it now.”
I did, and I watched his view of the fire again.
“It comes up to the twenty-second mark. Focus on the left-hand corner.”
I watched it slowly and then thought I saw something. “There’s a pair of eyes in there, and they were looking straight at you!”
“Yes,” he said. “I forwarded it to Lieutenant General Michaels, but I’ve heard nothing. There’s something in that fire, Rus, and it’s gunning for me. I felt it. Every time we win and beat it back, it’s watching. Waiting.”
“You have any idea what it is?”
“No, and they’re not telling us. They also logged in and destroyed my file.”
“They hacked into your keystone? Destroyed your file?”
That was awful, they shouldn’t be allowed to do that. It was a violation.
“I managed to keep that tiny portion secret, but yes. They don’t want this getting out.”
“But if there is something out there like that…”
“Then no one needs to panic, but they’re aware. I think things will change tomorrow.”
“If Lieutenant General Michaels has seen this, yes, it will. This is serious shit, Niko.”
“It is. Get some more sleep if you can.”
Sleep…that wasn’t really going to happen for a while. “Keep that gal close.”
“I am. See you tomorrow.”
“Night,” I said, and he cut comms.
I lay back and watched his video again. I wanted to send it to Malaki, but I didn’t dare. What if they were managing our communications? Ultimately, I got up, drank some water, and then returned to bed. The morning would come fast enough, and we had to take our fireteam back up after a full night’s rest, then join the water train once again.
We stood waiting for orders; the morning sun was just about visible through the thick smoke in the distance.
Captain O’Brian was about to lay out the call when Captain Fischer ran over. I traded glances with Malaki, and we watched as the two conversed. Captain O’Brian’s face gave nothing away. It never did.
When Fischer stood beside him and looked at us, he’d already made his own decisions.
“Listen up!” O’Brian shouted. “The fire’s turning, but not where we want it to. The front line’s spread thinner than anything. You are going to be their backup. This is what I need—”
***
The new orders he would pass out crisscrossed on my HUD, and I took the coordinates for our runs in moments. We were tracking another five clicks west; it wasn’t much further, but it would push our travel and return times. Picking up water from anywhere would take far too much. Time wasn’t on our side, on anyone’s side.
O’Brian’s eyes zeroed in on me. “Airman Korolyov, Airman Bridger, you need to take your fireteams out to the second ridge. They’re to bolster the line there. You drop your first load and land. Then return, and repeat the water drops. All DPs need to be in the air with all drones you can manage. Understand?”
“Yes, sir,” I said.
“Sir,” Justin replied. “We’re better suited to the first ridge in the X11.”
I swallowed, not believing that he’d even opened his mouth, let alone suggesting he should have been out on the front line.
Captain O’Brian’s eyes held his. “Follow your orders, Bridger.” He glanced at me. “Mount up!” He turned on his heels and left the field.
I turned to our fireteam. “Second ridge, let’s go.”
Walter and Declan fell beside me as we moved off. The tech teams had done everything they could to skim over our helo. She had taken some battering over the last week, and this, heading out without a complete breakdown and fix…we all knew we were flying with a bit more luck than we had.
“That fire,” Declan said. “They’re not telling us something.”
“I know,” I replied to him. “Nothing they’re doing out there is stopping it. Nothing.”
Niko also fell in, and Malaki looked over her shoulder at me, rolling her eyes. I already knew what she thought. She’d bent my ear all night.
“They’re not kitted out for that line,” Niko said.
Or any line, Apex said. I could only agree with them both. “I know.”
“What can we do?” Niko asked.
“Nothing,” I added. “Orders are orders. They need us there. They wouldn’t put us at risk if they didn’t.”
“It doesn’t make sense,” Declan said. “There are better teams, those with more experience. We’r—”
“We’re all they have right now,” Malaki said. “Let’s do our jobs, yeah?”
Both Declan and Niko traded glances. “Of course, but…”
“No buts, prep and get in. We’re up in five.”
“Ready to go,” Master Engineer Rec said.
Malaki made her obligatory walk round despite the all-okay off of Rec while I hopped in. Everything lined up, had been checked and scrubbed, and the cockpit, though clean, still smelled of fire and smoke. It stung my nose still. I slipped my shirt off. One of these days, I’d get more uniforms with node holes. One that I wouldn’t need to be in and out of every single time I had to lock in. I didn’t have enough, and the smell of smoke on them was awful. I’d bin the lot when we got back to OOF. I knew it.
I was surprised when Fiona from Justin’s helo jumped in with us and some others. “He’s fully loaded. We’ve spread out,” Fiona said.
I filtered through my checks and connected with the drones in the hold. They were also all green, ready to go.
The next second, Malaki sat beside me, running her own checks. She flicked comms to our private channel. “All good?”
I gave her the thumbs up. “Drones, all check.”
“We’ll need them,” she said. “It really isn’t good out there.”
Her face betrayed her emotions, she was and had expressed all her fears to me, but seeing it. I glanced back. The fireteam was sitting, ready. Locked in.
Our helo’s engine flared next, and our blades spun. Before I knew it, Malaki would have us in the air, and I needed to make sure the guys were okay. Niko did not look happy. I flicked to their comms channel.
“We’ve got your back,” I said. “I promise you.”
“We got that,” Declan answered and pointed to where we were heading. “But they don’t. That ridge is a fucking mess.”
“We’ll clear it.”
“You can’t say that,” Niko returned.
“All right for you up here. You’re not in that, that shit,” Fiona stuttered. They were scared, I didn’t need to be a genius to see it or feel it. I was fucking scared.
I frowned. “You’re right,” I said, and lowered my tone. “We’re not down there. We don’t see it as you do. But it’s not fucking easy up here, either, your work is physical, this is…” I tapped the side of my head.
“Hey! Hey,” Malaki said, her annoyance pretty damn clear. “Look, we need all of you guys together, or I’m not taking off. I’ll bench the lot of us on medical instability.”
Ren put her hand on Fiona’s. “We’re good. It’s just been rough, rough on us all. This is not what any of u—”
“What we signed up for?” I asked, flexing my fists. “Seriously, you want to say that? What did we sign up for?”
“To help people, to save lives.” Malaki glanced at me and smiled slightly, she answered for them. “This is exactly what we signed up for.”
Fiona lowered her head. “Sorry,” Ren said and pulled her closer.
“Look,” I said. “Those people down there really do need you. You’re the difference between life and death for them. That’s important. Remember that.”
The call came through for us all on the primary comms. We were clear to go. I turned back to face the front. Thumbs in the air.
Malaki took the RPM up and raised the collective. Within moments, we were up and in the air. Then tracking along with the others to our first pick-up location.
My comms clicked a moment later. “Go easy on her,” Ren said. “She lost a friend yesterday. West side.”
“I’m sorry, we didn’t know,” I replied.
“Just make sure you really have our backs out there,” Ren said. “You’re the difference in life and death for us.”
I turned to look at her, nodding.
“One minute,” Malaki said. “Heading for a drop, then bucket pick up.”
She took us in like a pro, and I waited for the doors to open. The fireteam hesitated. “Niko,” I said. He turned to me, and I held my fist out. “Keep it real.”
“You, too.” He smiled and bumped my fist.
Each of them did as they needed and hopped out.
Fiona stopped, and as awkward as it was, she grappled with me into a little hug. “Aim high,” she whispered.
“Fly fast. Fly home,” I replied.
Then she was gone.
***
Malaki was back in the air as soon as the door slammed. “Picking up in two minutes.”
“Full?”
“No, we’ve got to trek to the river, join the line, and run in from there.”
This was stupid.
I raised my eyebrows at her. “Seriously?”
“That’s the only clear path they’ve given us.”
“Fucking stupid.”
She focused on her flying. No matter how much time we’d spent in the shitty smoke now, it still held that level of extra danger. Birds, other predators, monsters, other helos, so much could go wrong with this little visibility. I watched her while I could. Making sure I noted everything I needed to. I had little time to make sure she was okay.
“Mal?” I asked.
“What?” she returned, albeit too stern.
“You’ve got this.”
“It’s much more dangerous out there,” she said. “Not just for them.”
I put a hand on her shoulder. “You’ve got this.”
“When you go drone hopping, I’m on my own.” Her eyes darted around the cockpit. Everything was still green. Nothing flashed up as wrong; we’d have enough fuel for several hours. But I knew she couldn’t do several hours of flying, not in this amount of stress or shit.
“We’ll do what we can,” I said. “Cover the fireteam. Drop where we’re instructed. They trust you.”
“That’s…” Her eyes met mine for a moment. “That’s my point.”
“I trust you,” I said. It was the truth. We all trusted her.
87
The incoming line of helos and the forward position came into view, and fuck me sideways. It was…I had no words. We were the smallest of them, and nothing of this made any sense at all.
“Be ready with the drones,” Malaki said. “Taking us down in one minute.”
I listened to her and the tech team on the ground coordinate for our bucket pickup.
Malaki took us in and hovered over the X, while the men under her hooked the giant bucket in and clicked the control wire in place.
Then she lifted. “All green still.”
“River it is. Drones ready?”
“Drones ready.”
I followed my connection through my nodes right back down into the hangar below.
One more minute and I had to launch.
Incoming comms broke that thought.
“Ice71, this is Tally4, receiving?”
I quickly scanned my list. No call sign Tally4 was on it, but when I glanced at Malaki, she just nodded her head. “Take it,” she mouthed. “Command.”
“Tally4, this is Ice71. Send it.”
“Tasking you instead for drone pickup at location one-nine-four-seven-alpha.”
“Sir?”
“Can you do it, DP?”
I didn’t know about the drones or anything about who they were. “Yes, sir,” I replied. “Send the codes.”
“Incoming.”
It took less than two seconds for the new codes to land, and then I had the much more challenging job of connecting with drones that weren’t linked to this helo.
The drones responded fast. “Sir, these are—”
“In your care,” he said. “Tally4 out.”
“Mal,” I said. “I shouldn’t be flying these.”
“What? Why?”
“They’re not just water drones.”
“What are they?”
I pulled up their internal sensors. They had a capacity I wasn’t even sure of.
“Locking in drones now.” I let their info display to Malaki’s right.
Drone Model 71A
Drones x 4
Full Tank Capacity
Full Load - DemiMix A X E
Cannon Rounds x 1000
Missiles x 4
I saw her swallow. “What the fuck are they expecting out there? Missiles! You’ve no experience with missiles!”
“I don’t know,” I replied. “But I’m not carrying fucking water, that’s for sure.”
“Can you analyze it?”
I was trying.
“Coming in for the first payload,” Malaki said. “You good to go?”
“In the air,” I said.
All four drones responded to my commands like no others ever had. I had so much control. Everything was in such detail, kinda like my drones were children and these were adults.
“These are some serious kits,” I said to her. “I’ve never felt anything so easy, so free.”
“Keep it calm,” she said.
“Who was Tally4?” I asked her. Though, I already had lots of suspects. Like her father…
“You know who it is, but I’ll talk later,” she replied.
The nose of our helo dipped as she brought us in line to dip into the river. She’d done this a hundred times over the last week. I never expected it to be any different from any other fill-up, and it wasn’t.
The dash lit. We’d also have a full payload of water now.
“Tracking back to drop zone,” she said. “You with me?”
“Right by your side,” I said. I glanced left and right to see the four drones I had control of right where I knew they were.
They really were something else. “They’re really not water drones,” she said. “I haven’t any idea where they’re from.”
“Tally4 to Ice71, sending coordinates for your drop only after payload one is down. Straight there, drop, and straight back to base for reload.”
I loaded in my new coordinates. It was less than five hundred meters from our fireteam’s location. “Mal?” I asked her. “What the fuck is down there?”
“Nothing good,” she said. “And they know it.”
It was easy to see the helo line up ahead as they all did what they were trained for, what we were supposed to do.
Malaki lined us up. “This doesn’t feel right.”
It didn’t. It really didn’t feel right at all.
***
The line of men and women fighting the fire ahead of us stretched longer than any other we’d seen. Desperately, they were trying to keep it wet, to keep themselves in the green zone, not the red zone. The heat, I was getting temp readings off the chart.
“They’re in serious trouble,” I said. “I mean serious trouble. That really is no normal fire.”
“Can you comm our fireteam?” she asked.
“I’m not sure.” There was so much more comms traffic. The chances are I wouldn’t be able to.
“Try,” she said. “Please. They need to know what we see from up here.”
“I’ll try,” I said, but I really had no hope for it.
My mind and concentration were getting split all over. Each drone I had control of was taking a battering outside. Their load, as precious as it was, was no joke, either. They had enough ordinance to take us out if I spun in the wrong direction and missed even one tiny slip of Malaki’s movements.
But she was right. I could see much more from them and much more than anyone else could down there. Our friends needed this information.
I tapped on Niko’s HUD.
“Rus? What the fuck is going on up there?”
He already knew things were well out of control. “That fire is not normal. Not at all.”
“No fucking kidding, we’re almost on our asses. The suits can’t take much more of this, neither can we. You need to get those drops of yours down, double time.”
