“She’s a tidy ship,” Chang said, smiling for the first time in a long time. “Commander Mbeki, launch when ready!”
The catapult had been modified for the dragon. Now there were two separated perches for her feet. She gingerly got on them and gripped tightly.
“Commander,” Chief Brooks said. “When the lead perch reaches the edge it’s going to detach and fly away. We’d like you to have let go before then, but if you haven’t, let go of both of them right after or you’re going to be trying to lift them as well as the riders.”
“Got it, Chief,” the dragon replied. “Let’s get this show on the road.”
“Lieutenant Herrick?” the chief said, pointing to a large lever to one side of the platform. “If you’ll do the honors.”
“Everyone ready?” Herzer asked, putting his hand on the lever.
Jerry and Koo gave him a thumbs up and Joanna just growled.
“Okay, on three…”
“Wait!” Jerry said. “Does that mean…?”
“That means when I say three I’m going to fire you,” Herzer replied. “Now get ready. One, two, THREE.”
Herzer pushed forward, hard, on the lever and was rewarded by a high-pitched whistling noise. Then the catapult engaged and the dragon flew forward with a bellowed “Oh, shiiit!”
The catapult accelerated fast, but not excessively so, and Herzer could clearly see that Joanna had let go before the end of the launch. She pushed forward with her own strength as her wings flipped open and she soared upward, instantly in full flight.
“That was COOL!” she bellowed. “Let’s do that AGAIN!”
“First get the men on shore,” Mbeki yelled. “Then you have to land. Then you get to try out the catapult again.”
Joanna waved an assent, then headed for the rapidly receding shore.
“Prepare to come about,” the skipper said. “Might as well be in closer when we try to recover them.”
In no more than thirty minutes, two wyverns and a dragon could be seen approaching. As they got closer it was clear that there were only two riders.
“Lieutenant Herzer,” Commander Mbeki said. “Get aloft and prepare to land the dragons. Skipper, recommend we come into the wind and reduce speed.”
“Sir,” Herzer interjected. “The last time Joanna seemed to have more problems with us being really slow than not. Recommend… well I’m not sure what I recommend, but Joanna needed a higher speed.”
“What about the wyverns?” the skipper asked, testily.
“Either we increase speed for Joanna, sir, or we see if they can land at a higher speed.”
“Prepare to come about!”
The ship tacked back into the wind and left all its jib sails flying.
“Speed twelve klicks, sir,” the officer of the deck said. The speed of the ship was measured by a small propeller at the rear that carried the information to a readout via a complicated set of cables and gears.
“We’ll see how they do at this clip,” Mbeki said. “We were barely doing six before. Up you go, Herzer.”
Herzer climbed up on the landing platform, picked up his flags and pointed at Jerry. This time he maintained a good entry and there was barely a thump when the wyvern landed.
He climbed down and walked over to Herzer, shaking his head.
“When I saw how fast it was going I thought you were nuts,” Riadou said. “But I think it’s easier. More speed means we have more control on the way in.”
“Makes sense,” Herzer said, pointing at Koo. Koo’s landing, too, was much easier. Finally there was only Joanna to land.
Joanna also had an easier time on the glide path but she had more of a tendency to drift to the side. The ship could not point directly into the wind and the wind across her was pushing the larger dragon sideways. As she got on final approach the disturbance in the air from the ship’s sails threw her off path and it was clear she wasn’t going to hit the platform so Herzer waved her off. She had enough airspeed to recover and flapped back up to altitude. On the second try she figured out how to correct for drift and came in straight as an arrow. At the last moment she backwinged and then dropped, heavily, onto the platform as the two humans hit the deck. The entire ship shuddered at the impact of the multiton dragon but the platform held.
“That was… interesting,” Joanna said. “But I did it!” she added with a grin.
“Meeting in the wardroom,” Duke Edmund said, from the stairs. “There’s a skylight so Joanna can stick her nose into things.”
Everyone had some point that they felt could be improved on the dragon landing and launching system. And they hadn’t even tested the launching on the wyverns or seen if they were willing to land a second time.
“Tomorrow for that,” Skipper Chang said. “General Talbot, with your permission I’d like to spend one more day in the bay doing work-ups. I know that puts you behind schedule but…”
“Better a functioning dragon-carrier when we get to the Isles.” Edmund sighed. “Agreed. But just one more day.”
“Most of the changes aren’t crucial,” Evan said, looking up from his notes. “The biggest one is some place for the flag guy to hide.”
“We’re going to need a better term than ‘flag guy’ as well,” Commander Mbeki said.
“How about landing orders officer?” Jerry said.
“ ‘Keep your eye on the loo!’ ” Joanna chuckled. “ ‘Follow the loo!’ No, just doesn’t have that ring to it.”
“Okay, landing signal officer then,” Jerry said. “We’ve also got the problem of five dragons and three riders.”
“Do you think you can work Herzer up on-board?” the duke asked.
“I don’t know, sir,” the warrant officer replied, seriously. “Training usually takes several hundred hours, not just a few hours in the air. And then there’s landing. I’d rather he learned that on land, if possible.”
“And keep in mind that once we get to sea it just gets harder,” the XO pointed out. “This is a mill-pond. Out in the Atlantis it’s solid rollers, even if we’re not having a storm.”
“We won’t launch in foul weather,” the skipper said. “But storms do come up suddenly. It’s something to keep in mind. Think about a good foul weather recovery system.”
“Other than going for a swim?” Herzer asked.
“In the North Atlantis, which is where we’ll be engaging the invasion fleet, that’s not going to be possible,” the XO pointed out. “The water will kill a person before we can get them out. It will be on the deck or nothing.”
“I think that’s about it,” the skipper said, rapping his knuckles on the table. “Unless you have something to add, General?”
“No, nothing,” Edmund replied. “I think today went quite well.”
“Better than I anticipated, frankly,” Chang replied. “General, I’ll see your party at dinner?”
“Of course, Skipper.”
“Very well, people, good work today. Flight operations commence at dawn tomorrow.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“And what were you two doing today?” Edmund asked when he entered his cabin, Herzer trailing behind. Rachel and Daneh were sitting at the table, looking at papers spread over the surface.
“Mostly checking out the ship’s medical facilities and general health issues,” Daneh answered. “They’ve got an excellent infirmary and the two medics were smart but they’re not very well trained. We also checked out the meal preparation area. The cooks are well versed in sanitation, which I was delighted to discover. All in all it’s a well-designed ship and a well-trained crew.”