FIRE ON HIGH
“Fire On High” is a work of fiction, and any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental. All characters and settings © Tigermark 2003-2018 unless otherwise noted. Request permission before using them, please.
The characters of Anatol Altaisokova and Melinda Altaisokova are my names for characters © Max Blackrabbit. They appear in this story with his permission. The characters of Brandy, Maxwell, Tonya and Zig Zag are also © Max Blackrabbit and appear here with his permission. Events and information relating to Tonya, Anatol, and their family are presented here, but are not to be considered canon to those characters or any other story but this one. ZZ Studios, and all characters associated with ZZ Studios, James Sheppard, and Marvin Badger © James Bruner and appear here with his permission. Although characters from and events referring to Zig Zag the Story appear here, this story is not canon to that one, and the author will disavow any knowledge of this story. Wanda Vixen © Chris Yost and appears here with his permission. Sabrina Mustidalae © Eric W. Schwartz and appears here with his permission. This story is not canon to Sabrina Online the comic, or Sabrina Online the Story, either. Matt Barstock, Angie Rockwell, Intermountain Charter, The Bitch, and her crew, and Jerry Kitt © Silver Coyote. See their story HERE. Gail Rutherford © me and is not canon to any other story involving ZZ Studios. Gabrielle Ryder and Jean LeBrun © Aslaug, from her Transitions stories. See them at her site, The Axe Shed, available from the links page. Aramis Dagaz is© his player and appears here with his permission.
Author’s Note: Lewiston, Maine’s airport, identifier KLEW, is actually uncontrolled. That is, it has no control tower. Poetic license was used for this story, so Alex and company talk with a control tower whilst aviating there.
Chapter 93
Reputation
Another pop announced the Bitch’s next problem. Joe and Lola looked back and up, but Alex had seen it pop.
“Says Autopilot, slot 45,” he announced.
They all felt the drop in their stomachs as the descent rate picked up. Lola was on the yoke immediately, easing the loss of altitude back to normal. They were out of fifteen thousand, stepping down to start their approach into Keesler.
“Autopilot off,” she announced. Joe was checking the other systems, but now asked, “Alex, try a reset.”
Alex obliged, reaching over and pushing the breaker in. It popped back out immediately.
“Negative, will not reset,” he advised.
“Looks like we’re paw-flying this one,” Lola stated as she maintained the descent. They were to level at twelve thousand and call Approach Control to set up for landing at Keesler.
“Well, this is going to be a pain until we can get Jerry to look at it in Columbus,” Joe groused as he set up the navigation information on one of the working MFDs.
“Approach info on Tube Two,” he announced.
“Got it,” Lola replied.
Both Alex and Tasha began to speak at once. Alex stopped and motioned her to go first. She smiled and continued.
“We have a crew working on Alex’s Tee Thirty Eight. I could ask them about it.”
Joe looked dubious. “Thanks, but if they specialize in small jets, they probably wouldn’t know about Hercs.”
Now Alex spoke. “My maintenance chief, Allaistor McCrory, is a retired Marine. I think he worked on Hercs at least part of his time. He’s at Keesler waiting, too.”
Slam perked up in the jumpseat. “Gunny Roardog? He’s practically a legend in The Corp amongst Herc crews.”
Alex nearly snickered but thought the better of it. “Yep, he’s pretty legendary among our crews as well.”
Joe looked at Lola. “Well, I’m sold as long as Matt and Jerry agree. Slam, get on the company freq and see if they’ll okay it.”
Slam released his belts and stood up, at least as far up as the cockpit would allow, and held onto the handle on the bulkhead.
“Excuse me, Ma’am, I need to sit there for a bit.”
He indicated the Navigator’s position where Tasha was sitting. She gave him a smirk at being called “ma’am,” but undid her belts and deftly slipped over to the jumpseat, leaving Slam slightly blushing at the way she’d slinked around him. She fastened her belts there and pulled them tight, well aware now of the Bitch’s proclivity for unforeseen and unannounced mayhem. Slam shook off where his head was attempting to go and got back on task. Sitting down and fastening his belts, he keyed up the radio.
“Intermountain Base, Intermountain Four Seven, you there Angie?”
There followed a brief pause, and then the reply crackled across the distance.
“Go ahead Intermountain Four Seven, what’s up guys?”
Slam relayed their problems and who was available to work on the aircraft at Keesler. After a wait of about five minutes, Angie replied.
“Intermountain Four Seven, Base, Matt and Jerry say go ahead, just don’t let Roardog do a complete rebuild on her, we don’t have that much time.”
Joe smirked. “They’d allow that if there was time and it was free.”
Slam just nodded as he replied, “Intermountain Base, copy go ahead. Thank you.”
Things then got busy as they contacted approach and began to set up for landing. The descent was smooth, as Lola had a good touch on the controls. Soon she called for the gear and Joe moved the lever. Three greens illuminated in the panel. After a glance back at Alex, the pair continued the checklists and configured the power settings and flaps, working smoothly as a team.
It was actually early evening when Lola put the mains on the numbers of Runway 21. They turned off onto Taxiway Bravo and the tower gave them over to ground control.
“Intermountain Four Seven, contact ground on one two one point eight, good evening.”
“Copy contact ground one two one point eight, Intermountain Four Seven, thank you,” Lola replied smoothly. Joe flipped the primary to the ground control frequency and called.
“Keesler Ground, Intermountain Four Seven is a Cee One Thirty awaiting clearance to taxi from the runway at Bravo.”
After a second the controller responded. “Intermountain Four Seven, pick up the Follow-Me truck, welcome to Keesler.”
They saw the white truck with flashing amber lights come up the taxiway and turn in front of them. They went down Taxiway Alpha and turned along the Backline. The truck led them on to the front of an old hangar. A fur got out and began marshalling them to the proper place. Once there they again spun on their axis as Joe worked the nosewheel steering and Lola the throttles. When they’d turned 180 degrees they stopped. The CIA ground crew immediately chocked the wheels as they began to shut down engines. Slam released his belts and got up, moving past Tasha as he headed for the back to open the cargo ramp and get ready to offload their cargo.
“All out for Mississippi!” Joe called in his best railroader voice.
The other three rolled their eyes as they got their belts undone and prepared to leave the aircraft.
# # #
“Yep Roary, you were right. Right here where they go through this fuselage rib.”
Allaistor was waiting beside a step ladder that the opossum in white coveralls had ascended. What he’d found was that where a wiring bundle passed through one of the ribs inside the Bitch, two of the power supply wires had abraided and shorted.
“Yep, right where we usually had ‘em. You got all you need up there, Blanco?” the bulldog inquired.
“Yes,” the possum replied. “Hope this is the only spot.”
He proceeded to spice new wire in to replace the shorted sections. He then replaced the anti-abrasion insulator around the bundle. Old Hercs were known for the insulator sleeves basically disintegrating and shorting wires at friction points.
“We looked over all th’ rest. I’m going up and replace that cooked breaker.”
The possum waved the bulldog on, as he had one of his techs there to spot him on the ladder now. Allaistor went to the cockpit and undid the screws for the panel face the soot-covered breaker was in. He disconnected the wires and unscrewed the collar nut. Putting a new breaker in place, he tightened the nut and, after making sure for the tenth time that the mains were off, reconnected the wires. He then screwed the panel back into place.
Looking back from the cockpit door, he noted the panels back in place and the stepladder gone. He looked at his watch and grinned. The crew was due back to check their work and preflight the aircraft in ten minutes. Seeing Blanco coming back aboard up the cargo ramp, he motioned for the possum to come with him and they went to the cockpit. There Allaistor turned on the main breakers and reset the two that had popped inflight. Both held, and they decided to leave anything further for the crew. This C-130 was far from stock, so they didn’t want to make any missteps with it.
Lola Baker was the first to come aboard a couple of minutes later. Her green eyes intently searched both the maintenance furs for reassurance. They both grinned.
“Already got th’ mains on for ya, Ma’am. Everything should be fine,” Allaistor avowed.
“Yep, found two shorted power wires at the main rib just forward of the Leading Edge Connector. Here’s the repair and inspection sheet for the maintenance log,” Blanco added, presenting a clipboard with a completed form on it. Lola looked it over and signed it. She went to take the top copy and leave the other, but there was no other. When she looked up quizzically, Blanco gave a toothy grin.
“We’re the Company, Ma’am. The less paper trail the better.”
She looked at Allaistor, who looked around whistling and then said, “I didn’t see nothin’.”
The coy-fox laughed and waved a paw. “Thanks guys, we really appreciate the help.”
“All part of the service. Now excuse us, we got a Tee Thirty Eight to fix,” Blanco replied. The pair left as Lola sat down in the right seat and pulled out a clipboard of flight planning info. She began to set up radio frequencies and navigation fixes. Today would be two relatively short hops, one up to Lexington, and then on to Columbus. A short time later Slam showed up at the cockpit entrance.
“Morning Lola. How’d the repairs go?”
“Hi Slam. So far everything is checking out fine. You should have an easy day. Only cargo today is self-loading,” Lola replied, looking back with a grin.
Slam gave a big grin in return and headed back to make sure the cargo area and rear doors were ready to go. Joe then stuck his head in.
“Morning Lola. I’m going to do the outside preflight. They already put our fuel in.”
“Okay Joe. I’m setting everything up and starting the preflight checklist in here,” she acknowledged. She noted he walked out to begin, but first pulled out his cell phone to make a call. She smiled to herself as she continued.
About five minutes later, Alex and Tasha walked aboard carrying their overnight bags. Lola heard Slam greet them and take their bags to stow. A moment later they stepped into the cockpit.
“Good morning Lola, how are things going?” Tasha asked.
“Morning Lola. Did Allaistor and company get the problems from yesterday fixed?” Alex inquired.
“Morning you two. Things are great so far. The weather looks good, and yes, I believe they got the problems fixed. Go ahead and get settled, we should be ready to go soon,” Lola responded.
The two tigers took up the positions they had been in the day before. Alex didn’t fasten his belts yet, as he knew Joe would need by him to get to the left seat. He pulled the flight engineer’s seat all the way back and sat down to wait.
A few minutes later Joe stepped up into the cockpit as Slam closed and latched the crew door behind him.
“Looks good on the outside. How about in here? Hello Alex and Natasha.”
Alex and Tasha bid him good morning as Joe stepped over and settled into the pilot’s seat.
“Good here, Joe. Ready to do preflight checklist,” Lola intoned. They went through the litany of challenge and response, bringing the Bitch’s systems to life. They then began the engine start checklist. Soon, four Allisons turning, they were ready. Slam took his seat at the rear bulkhead as Alex fastened his belts.
In a short time, they were lifting off the runway and turning right. They tried both the radar and autopilot, and everything was working. The climb took nearly fifteen minutes, and they arrived at their cruise altitude of twenty thousand feet without incident. After yesterday’s stories, today everyone was quiet. Slam pulled down the cot on the bulkhead and went to sleep. Tasha began working on something on her laptop, apparently getting a head start on her report for the trip. Joe was flying this leg, which meant he was monitoring comms and making sure the autopilot was doing its job. Lola had eased a bit to the side and was talking with Alex in between checking her side for traffic.
“So, Joe has said Matt was complaining about Kentiger taking business from him. Does Kentiger fly cargo too?”
Joe gave a snort but didn’t comment. Alex grinned and answered.
“No, we have one Kingair with no passenger seats we use as a utility aircraft to move things and personnel around sometimes, but our focus is all on passenger charter.”
Joe now chimed in. “Intermountain used to do both, but the money for us and how Matt works is in cargo, so we, ah, how did he put it?”
“Refocused the business,” Alex finished. “That’s when he sold the Gee Four and Citation to us. The only business we might have taken from you is ZZ Studios, and there we have the resources to give a better deal.”
Lola looked askance at Joe. “You used to fly porn stars around?”
Joe laughed. “Not me. Rick flew Zig Zag herself one time. Matt just likes to make it sound dramatic.”
Now she arched an eyebrow at Alex. “So, you fly porn stars around. How does that go?”
“Pretty well, usually. They tend to be a spirited group, but our flight attendant Janet Satterly handles them very well. Last time we flew them back from a photo shoot in Barbados. We were on the run from Hurricane Beryl, and about half of them got airsick from the turbulence.”
Lola snickered. “Not all naked furs, glitz and glamour, eh?”
Alex shrugged. “We’ve had worse from lecherous old corporate officers.”
“I’m surprised they haven’t hit you up for rides in Stripes One,” Joe piped in. “Seems like it would be just their speed.”
Alex chuckled. “They all liked her when they did a photo shoot with her. We have a poster of that in our office. Don’t worry, all clothing was in place for that one.”
“Why would a porn studio want so many photo shoots? Aren’t they all about, ah, live action?” Lola asked.
“You’d think so, but they have a surprising amount of marketing things like posters, calendars, and ‘making of’ DVDs. The whole Barbados shoot was for a calendar,” Alex answered.
“You know an awful lot about it for just flying them around,” Lola observed. Alex again shrugged. Nothing for it, and he was proud of her.
“Zig Zag is my second cousin. As such, she tells me more than she would just a pilot flying them around.”
They heard a “WHAT!” followed by a loud bang, followed by a string of Marine Corp issue expletives from the back of the cockpit. Slam had sat straight up out of an apparently sound sleep and hit his head on the handle above him. He sat now rubbing the spot he’d hit as everyone but Joe looked at him.
“Sorry, but did I hear you say Zig Zag is your second cousin?”
Alex laughed. “Yes, she is. She’s also a great person and a very good businessfur.”
Tasha now teased him as well. “Well, well. How does that work out? Straight-laced Ice O’Whitt related to the notorious Zig Zag.”
“Better than you’d think. She doesn’t seriously ask me to act, and I don’t ask her to fly an aircraft. She has flown with me in Stripes One.”
“Porn stars and secret agents and MiGs. You certainly lead an exciting life,” Joe stated.
“I’m just trying to get through it,” Alex replied. “Sounds like the Bitch here keeps your lives pretty exciting, too.”
“Looks like you’re doing fine to me,” Lola quipped.
Just then Joe called Indianapolis Center and things got busy as they began their letdown for landing at Bluegrass. Alex sat back and observed as the two canids worked together, seamlessly doing checklists and configuring the Herc for landing.
There were no problems during the approach and landing for once, and after a bit of maneuvering on the ground, the old lifter once again spun on her axis and the engines went to idle.
“Alex, Natasha, it’s been a pleasure. Hope to see you again,” Joe offered as he extended a paw. Alex and Tasha shook paws with him and with Lola.
“Same here, Joe. Have a safe flight home,” Alex replied.
“Thank you, you also,” Tasha added.
“Alex, Tasha, nice to meet you,” Lola put in.
Tasha nodded as Alex replied, “You too, Lola. Keep these guys in line, okay?”
She grinned, and Alex and Tasha walked out of the cockpit. Slam had their bags waiting and a paw ready to shake.
“Colonel, Ma’am, a pleasure.”
Alex and Tasha shook paws with him and took their bags.
“You too, Slam,” Tasha answered, smiling.
“Great flying with you, Slam. Semper Fi!” Alex added.
“Semper Fi!” Slam replied. He’d opened the back ramp and Alex and Tasha walked off the aircraft and on toward Kentiger. They stopped at the door and looked back to see the ramp closing and the old Herc already taxiing toward the runway. They stood and watched the aircraft take off and turn Northward.
“Great crew, hope I see them again,” Alex said as he turned and pulled out his keys to unlock the access door.
“Yes indeed. I can see why the Company uses them,” Tasha replied.
They went inside, to find no one there. After a quick visit to the facilities, they walked out to Alex’s truck. He drove the tigress to the commercial terminal, where they said their goodbyes.
“Alex, that was a fun flight, maintenance issues and all. Give me a call when you’re at Langley and Jedi and I will get together with you.”
Alex had opened her door and she stepped out into a brotherly hug.
“Yes, it was. Don’t worry Tash, I won’t be a stranger. I’ll try to have Corrie with me, so we can make it a double date.”
They released their embrace, said goodbye, and Alex watched her walk into the terminal. He then headed for home and he hoped a quiet Sunday afternoon of packing after church. Monday he would see Corrie, he thought with a grin.
# # #
Rex slipped up to the back of the hangar. He’d parked well away and worked his way around the buildings until he’d crossed the open ramp behind Old North. He was fairly certain no one noticed him, as the winds were up, and no one was flying right then. He was also not visible from the control tower as he worked his way around to the side back door. He’d been around enough before the incident with Corrinne to know there were no cameras in or on the old hangar.
He tried the door and, as expected, it was unlocked. He slipped inside and used a flashlight to look over the old green and white Huey. The color pattern was Old North’s trademark, as most of their helicopters sported variations of it. Rex had even seen Corrinne in a flight suit with the green and white motif on it.
All the covers were back in place on the old bird. All the stands and toolboxes were put away and closed. They had apparently completed repairs and the aircraft would be moved out to the ramp for Corrinne’s flight tomorrow. Rex’s first stop was the battery compartment. He opened the cover and loosened the hold-down nuts. When the battery came loose and shorted, she would lose radios and such, but not complete electrical. With the engine running, she’d be able to fly it just fine. He then got a step ladder and opened one of the engine covers. He located the throttle linkage and again didn’t undo it but simply loosened it a couple of turns. When it worked its way lose, it would cause the turbine engine to go to idle. Any helicopter pilot worth their salt practiced that type of engine out landing all the time.
Satisfied, the lion replaced the panel and put the stepladder back where he got it. As he went back out the way he came in, he laughed to himself. Let the lioness leave, and good riddance. She’d be leaving with the reputation of being a jinx. Two flights in a row in the same chopper ending in an emergency autorotation.
Rex actually snickered out loud as he slipped around the building and headed back toward his vehicle.
End of Chapter 93