Lightning broke at the core of the cloud bank, illuminating them like a shaded lamp. Moses prayed, the rain pelting his cockpit as the sky swirled across his view with the next turn. He throttled ahead, closing with the speck beneath the clouds. White bolts sprayed from the centre of the three tiered silhouette. To avoid the barrage, he barrel rolled in a wide arc around them, already turning as the triplane passed. Moses held the trigger as the Fokker flitted by at an angle. Three, four tracer rounds raked across the fuselage, just short of the tail. He hoped that at least one of the rounds found their mark, but the plane held its course, turning.
Sudenjah laughed over the radio. “Excellent! You managed to graze my thigh. No one has ever been able to injure me before. It seems I won’t have to limit myself in the least.”
Moses had no intention of finding the extent of Sudenjah’s abilities. He swung laterally on the triplane’s tail, aligning Sudenjah in his sights. A gasp escaped Moses as the plane turned 180 degrees and fired a short burst.
“You see why I chose to modify this plane, rather than a Shredder,” said Sudenjah. “Three wings; extra lift; extra maneuverability.”
Moses corkscrewed two salvos into the blue plane. It seemed to casually elude the tracers and come after him. He banked left, then throttled into an abrupt climb as the triplane performed another disconcerting turn. White bolts fanned out harmlessly just beneath the tail of the climbing Magpie.
“You fly well,” commended Sudenjah, “but I fear, impulsively.”
Moses checked his mirror. Sudenjah climbed after him.
“You should have flown to my left, Moses. These ancient radial engines have a tendency to pull to the right. And now I will finish this.”
The Magpie arced, backward, then throttled down, effectively back flipping. Moses fired a long burst up, zipping either into or around the triplane. Nearly stalling, the Magpie turned off as the Fokker did likewise.
“I see you are not without tactics of your own,” said Sudenjah.
Fly with me, Lord Moses prayed in earnest.
He pulled up, hoping to fire on Sudenjah’s underbelly as he turned. The triplane cartwheeled into a dive, white bolts flashing narrowly past Moses’s cockpit. His Magpie shuddered, but otherwise suffered no ill effects. The tip of his right wing, smouldered like a cigarette, but failed to ignite due to the flameproof resin compound.
Both planes turned sharply to face each other. They hurtled forward, firing as they went. Aircraft and ammunition cut the air erratically in the stormy sky, making it almost impossible to maintain a straight course. Moses’ heart sank as his tracer rounds fanned around the triplane, continually missing as Sudenjah’s laser bolts did the same. In the few seconds thereafter, Moses desperately murmured prayers for God to guide his rounds; to make one hit before a white bolt struck the Magpie.
Sudenjah’s plane began a climb. In the brief moment before the triplane’s undercarriage swept above Moses’ view, he saw the Otarkwan jolt. He turned sharply after Sudenjah’s plane, firing steadily into its bulk. It made no attempt to evade him as it aimlessly climbed for the clouds.
Click here for other chapters Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9
GOD INSPIRED ADVENTURE -- THE WRITINGS OF MICK DAWSON 