If anyone had earned the right to question Fieran’s plans, it was Merrik.
But this time, Fieran wasn’t going to be reckless. He wasn’t going to rely on himself or his magic. After all, he couldn’t even use his magic.
This time, he’d trust in the Half-Breed Squadron.
“We’re going to take down the airship. Together.” Fieran let a steely determination ring through his voice. “I can’t use my magic. Tiny, Merrik, you can’t either. All of you, watch those wires. Our engines, radios, and the solenoid trigger system for our machine guns are powered by magic. If you brush one of those wires, you’ll probably lose all power.”
At least the rudders, elevators, and ailerons were manually controlled. If one of them lost power, hopefully they would be able to glide back to the airfield at Fort Defense.
“Does anyone have incendiary bombs?” Fieran shifted his legs as the chill seeped into him. He’d need to take the airship down quickly before he froze up here without his flight gear.
Negative responses filled the radio. As the Half-Breed Squadron had been the first to get airborne, they’d used up any bombs they’d had by tossing them at the Mongavarian ground troops to hold them off.
“I have one!” A voice—only vaguely familiar—joined the discussion. A few more voices added that they, too, had incendiary bombs.
Capt. Fleetwood rattled off a few names. “Go reinforce the Half-Breed Squadron.”
Ah. Those pilots must be a part of the Fighting Second. “Glad to have the help.”
“What about my magic?” Murray, the one human magician in the squadron, spoke up as he and Tiny turned their aeroplanes to join Fieran and Merrik.
“Only use whatever you have pre-prepared. Don’t try to form any new magic.” Fieran flexed his fingers on the control stick. Human magic was even more crafted than dwarven magic. Once it was set into place, it was fully separate from the magician. Murray should be able to safely use anything he had stored without risking the machine latching onto the magic within him. “What do you have stored?”
“Mostly water magic for Tiny, but I have a handful of globes with fire magic that I’ve been saving.” Murray dropped back as Tiny surged forward, taking the lead position.
“Good. Use them.” Fieran further clamped down on his magic, making sure there was nothing that machine could take. “Lije, Stickyfingers, Merrik, and I are going to strafe that machine and keep them focused on us. The rest of you, hold off the enemy aeroplanes and create a path for Tiny and Murray.”
“I’ll need a few good tears in the airship’s skin.” Murray, with Tiny following him, peeled away to join most of Flight B as it formed up higher in the sky. “My fire magic will do more damage if I can get it inside the airship instead of just burning the skin.”
The incendiary bombs tossed out by the pilots from Capt. Fleetwood’s squadron would also do better if they exploded within the airship instead of just against the outer skin.
The first wave of enemy aeroplanes roared down at them. Without Fieran’s magic, this would be a knock-down, drag-out dogfight pitting the pilots of the Half-Breed Squadron against those of the enemy squadron. No magic. No advantage. Just a blaze of guns and hail of bullets.
As most of Flight B soared upward and clashed with the enemy, Fieran dove his aeroplane to swerve below the airship’s gondola. He pressed the trigger lever on the control column when he was still farther out than he normally would. His machine guns spat bullets, the line of them growing closer to the box hanging just below the gondola.
Even when his bullets reached it, they simply pinged off the metal, ricocheting outward. Without magic, he wasn’t sure how he could destroy the machine shielded within. Perhaps taking down the airship and letting it crash on top of it would do it, but there was also a chance the machine would remain undamaged.
Since the airship would likely crash on the Mongavarian side of the border, it would mean leaving one of those machines still active. Sure, the Mongavarians might have loads of machines stored up. But he would like to take out as many of them as possible.
Fieran veered away before he got too close to the trailing wires, releasing the trigger before he wasted too much ammunition.
Behind him, he heard the chatter of Merrik’s machine gun as he strafed the machine’s shielded box, followed by Lije and Stickyfingers.
A pair of Mongavarian aeroplanes roared around the airship, speeding toward Fieran, their machine guns already blazing.
Fieran juked his aeroplane to the right, letting the aeroplane flip onto its side as it wanted to do thanks to the power of the rotary engine. The bullets whipped past him, just a few clipping his wheels as he peeled away.
He rolled his aeroplane all the way, coming up slightly beneath the other aeroplane. Gripping the trigger, he stitched a line across the enemy’s fuselage.
Bullets from Merrik’s machine guns tore through the second aeroplane, and then both enemy flyers were tumbling from the sky.
The Half-Breed Squadron might not have Fieran’s magic, but these new Defenders were faster and more maneuverable than the Mongavarian aeroplanes. That didn’t make this a turkey shoot, but it gave them the edge they needed.
Before the machine guns on the side of the airship could train on him, Fieran turned his roll into a loop so that he could strafe the metal box around the machine again. Perhaps if he aimed a little higher, he could cut one of the power wires running from the box to the rest of the airship.
Merrik flipped around to fall into place as his wingman while Lije and Stickyfingers continued on, heading off another pair of Mongavarian aeroplanes.
Fieran wrapped his fingers around the trigger again, holding it down as he bore down on the trailing wires and airship again. Bullets whipped between the wires, occasionally hitting one and making it swing wildly, before pinging off the metal surrounding the machine.
