“Are you ready, yet, Mr. Mayerle?” Commander Mbeki called impatiently. The primary flight operations had been moved to a new station on the rear-mast, high enough that it could see to the rear of the ship but low enough that it wasn’t in the way of the sails. From that perch the commander could see both incoming dragons and the launching catapult.
“Ready, sir,” Evan replied with a wave.
“Commence launching operation,” the commander called.
Jerry looked at Joanna, then leaned into the lever. The combination of the cold air, which Herzer had learned was also denser, the strong wind and the rapid rate of movement of the ship caused the dragon to practically leap into the air.
Joanna ascended rapidly and Herzer hurried to his landing station. But when he got there, Vickie was already in the station.
“You’re late,” she said with a grin. She held up the flags and pointed them at the dragon as Joanna came around into the landing pattern.
It was clear that Joanna was having a hard time with the crosswind. She nearly made it on the first try but was blown off course by the effect of the sails at the last moment and banked off as Vickie gave her a wave off. Herzer could tell that it troubled the rider as well and he patted Vickie on the shoulder.
“You’re doing fine,” he said, realizing with a start that he had far more experience at this than she.
“Do you want to take over?” she asked, uncertainly. “This is pretty rough conditions.” That landing the greater dragon was far harder than the wyverns she didn’t have to add.
“No, you’re doing fine,” Herzer said. “She can either land or she can’t. If she can’t, she goes for a swim.”
The second time the dragon almost made it but was too low on her approach. The wave off was late and frantic and the dragon almost caught a wingtip again but managed to recover and stagger into the sky.
“That time you were late,” Herzer said, neutrally. “And it was clear that she wasn’t going to be regaining the altitude she needed. Don’t be afraid to wave off, even Joanna. Better a wave off than a crash into the ship. Remember, you’re her eyes in this.”
“I’ll remember,” Vickie said miserably and pointed at the dragon again.
The third time the dragon was high, but Vickie got her on glide path at the end. However, on final a wave lifted the rear of the ship and Joanna had to beat her wings frantically to clear the rear of the ship. She did, however, make it onto the platform, well forward, nearly pitching off the end.
“Well, that was pretty awful,” she growled.
Jerry had reached the station by then and touched Vickie on the arm.
“Vick, let Herzer do landing control,” Jerry said. “We all need to learn, but I don’t think right now is the best time.”
“Agreed,” Vickie replied, massaging her shoulder. “Those flags really get to you after a while. How do you do it, Herzer?”
Herzer frowned at her, puzzled for a moment, then laughed.
“Vickie, once you’ve trained to hold a shield and sword up for four hours, straight, this is nothing,” he said, flexing his shoulders slightly. It was apparent that they were corded with muscle.
“Time to start working out.” Jerry chuckled. “Okay, I’m going to take Shep up. You stay here and watch the landing. When Koo takes off, go get Yazov and you follow Koo. As each of us lands we watch the next person’s landing.”
By evening the riders were covered in sweat and the dragons had started to lose their interest in the game. When Koo had to be waved off twice and Nebka nearly dumped on the second wave off Jerry called the training.
“Skipper,” Jerry said climbing the ladder down to the quarterdeck, “we’re going to pack it in for the day. I think we’ve gotten all the training the dragons are up for today.”
“Agreed Warrant,” Colonel Chang said. “Good job.”
“Thank you, sir,” Jerry replied with a tired grin. He had stripped off his helmet and his hair was dripping with sweat despite the cool wind from the north. “With your permission we’ll launch a dragon for top cover tomorrow around dawn and start working out scouting mission methods. We also need to start working out a signaling system.”
“There are various things to figure out,” the skipper replied with a thoughtful frown. “I’d like to come up with a way to recover them at night, and we still need to work out a way for them to effectively attack ships, that sort of thing. I think we’ll have a dinner meeting this evening. Before then, get yourself cleaned up and get some rest.”
“Yes, sir,” the warrant officer said, saluting. “Permission to leave the bridge?”
“Granted,” the skipper replied.
“Dragon returning off the port beam,” the lookout called.
“He’s signaling,” the communications midshipman added, looking through his binoculars. “Two figure eights on the dip.” He consulted a table and nodded to himself. “That’s ‘group of delphinos.’ ”
“Bearing looks to be about one-seven-zero,” Commander Mbeki amplified as the dragon flapped nearer. “Eight of them.”
“Probably just dolphins,” the skipper said. “But at least the signaling system works.”
“Herzer’s preparing to launch with Warrant Officer Riadou,” Mbeki said. “I’m heading up to pri-fly.”
“This should be interesting,” the skipper said and smiled at the chuckles it elicited.
Herzer hadn’t been on a dragon since the first flight but he found his position on Shep easily enough. The extended rein system was confusing at first but he soon found his holds. The reins had been extended so that Jerry had his own set behind Herzer and could take over if needed.
“Just let me handle the takeoff,” Riadou said. “I tested this out with Vickie and we shouldn’t have trouble. But stay away from motions until we’re airborne and I tell you you can take over.”
“Okay,” Herzer said.
The wyvern hopped to the launch platform and grabbed the launching baulk automatically. The wyverns had come to enjoy the takeoffs, at least the first few of the day. It was a good game until it became tiring.
Herzer gripped the straps and looked at the launching officer. The position had been taken over by one of the ship’s petty officers since there were insufficient riders to man it. The PO caught both their eyes and their thumbs up, then hit the release.
Herzer had pointed his face forward and gasped as the wyvern was hurtled forward and suddenly they were in the air.
“What a rush!” he yelled with a laugh.
“That it is,” Jerry said. “Almost makes up for the landings.”
Jerry got the wyvern up to about seven hundred meters and then turned the controls over to Herzer.
“Now just follow my commands,” Jerry said. “I know you can sort of control the dragon, but the next time you’re up by yourself you’ve got to get it back on the ship. And that takes a bit more control than your first time.”
“Will do.”
They worked through various flight contours. Level flight, slow spirals up, slow spirals down. Finally Jerry signaled for landing and waited until the ship turned into the wind.
“Try to line it up on the ship,” Jerry said, signaling to the LSO and getting a wave in return.
“Got it,” Herzer said, signaling in turn. He watched the motions of the LSO and grimaced. “I feel like I’m going to overshoot.”