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.
Author’s Note:
Chapter 78
Showtime, Part 3
Alex awoke with a start. Looking around, he noted the time was 0205. Corrie came to his mind, and an uneasy feeling made him sit up on the side of the bed and check his phone for messages.
He was puzzled for a few seconds. There had been no calls or messages since late afternoon. Then he noticed that he had no service. He stood and walked around the room, but the signal bars up in the corner stayed at zero. He quietly opened the door into the living room area and found a post-it note on the front.
Alex,
Found out the cell phones have been out since late afternoon. Someone cut a feeder trunk line and blacked out this area. They hope to have it back up by morning.
Billy
Alex shrugged, went to the bathroom, and got a drink of water. He headed back to bed, but his feeling of unease about Corrie wouldn’t go away. He finally knelt and prayed for her, and then just stayed there being quiet for a bit. Finally feeling better about how she was, he got back in bed and drifted back off to sleep.
# # #
At 0600, Alex had just awakened. It was mostly out of habit, as they didn’t have to be at the airport until 1000, and they weren’t scheduled to perform until 1400. He’d just gotten back from the bathroom and was considering doing his daily workout when his cell phone began chiming and buzzing on his bedside table.
He snatched it up and found that he had full signal again. All the texts, voice mails, and missed calls were coming in at once. He decided to wait a few minutes to see if it stayed up. If everyone’s phone was playing catchup, it might overwhelm the system and shut it down again. After a few minutes, the stream of incoming messages stopped. Alex began to scroll through the information that had come in. Seven texts, one from Billy sent right before the system went down, asking where he wanted to go for supper. They’d met up, and he’d never missed the text. Two from Loni, inquiring if they were okay. One sent before the Kingair crews got back, one after. Then there were four from airshow officials, telling them the cell phone system was down. Alex smirked at that and decided none needed an answer. If he knew Loni, she’d texted Billy as well, and he would answer her as soon as he woke up.
Five missed calls and two voicemails. He was going to listen to those when he noticed three of the missed calls were from Corrie. The other two numbers were from the airshow staff, so he figured they were calling to tell him the cell phones were down.
Without hesitation Alex pushed the button to call Corrie back. It was now 0630 there in Milwaukee, which made it 0730 her time. Early, but she usually got up early, especially if she had to fly that day. He waited, eager to hear her voice, as the connection clicked, and the phone began to ring.
# # #
The ringtone on her phone just barely roused Corrie from her sleep. She’d been sleeping so well, she reluctantly clicked the call on and answered.
“G’day, Patterson’s”
It had come out rather slurred, but suddenly the lioness sat straight up on the couch.
“Hey Chopper Gal, sorry, did I wake you?”
“ALEX! Oh, thank God, thank God. Are you okay?”
On his end, Alex blinked. “Uh, yes. Are you? I saw all the missed calls, and I had an uneasy feeling last night. Anything wrong?”
Corrie found she was now actually a bit miffed. “Oh no, I’m apples. I just thought you’d bloody well CARKED IT, is all! I got in and Ben and I saw on the news about the plane crash in Milwaukee, and then they said it happened while an airshow act was landing, and then they showed film of the Coast Guard fishing pieces of a white aircraft out of Lake Michigan, and I thought, I thought . . .”
Here Corrie ran out of steam and let out a sob. Alex answered her in as gentle a voice as he could muster.
“Corrie, it’s okay. Both Billy and I are fine. The white aircraft was a blue and white Cessna One Seventy Two.”
He continued to lay out the whole story. By the end, Corrie had calmed down, even about the phone outage. Now she asked about Tia.
“So, is Tia alright after going through that? That has to be tough on someone her age.”
“Remains to be seen, but she appears to be handling it. How about you? Are you okay?” The concern in Alex’s voice came across the line clearly.
“Yeah, I think so. I had . . . the nightmare again last night, but theah was a difference. You were in it, but something happened and all that was left were black and white feathahs. Scared me silly and I woke meself up screaming.”
Alex was silent a second, taken aback at the imagery. Then he spoke. “Well, I woke up around oh two hundred and thought about you. I prayed for you, and the uneasiness I felt went away.”
Now it was Corrie’s turn. Alex had prayed for her? “I, ah, I prayed for you too. Aftah I woke up. It helped.”
“Looks like we both had our prayers answered. You okay now?” Alex asked softly.
“Yes, I think I am. I need to be up anyway. I have anothah run to make at Ten. I won’t be back until tomorrow evening.”
“Then call me when you get in, as long as nobody else digs up the lines.”
Corrie heard the smile in Alex’s voice. “Count on it, Jet Jockey. I love you.”
“I love you, too,” Alex replied, and then with a grin. “Feathers, huh?”
“Oh, be quiet. I can’t help it if me imagination has a mind of its own.”
Both Alex and Corrie laughed and said goodbye. Corrie sighed happily. Alex was okay and had made her laugh yet again. She felt . . . blessed? Yes, that was the word. Her prayers had been answered. On that, she’d have to spend quite a bit of time thinking. She got up and prepared to start her day.
On his end, Alex clicked off the call, grinning. He’d do an abbreviated workout and then go see if everyone else was up, so they could head to breakfast.
# # #
“Airshow Control, Aeroshell Team is clear of the box, good day!” Alex and Billy heard as they prepared to climb into their respective T-38’s. Each fur acting as crew chief had a paw-held radio on their belt to monitor the show’s progress.
The two climbed in and the crew chiefs began helping them strap in. The water part of the show, consisting of several large speedboat runs and demonstrations, would take up the time until their slot. They got all the straps, lines, and hoses connected, turned their main switches on, and did a radio check with Airshow Control and each other. Then it was engine start and prepare to go.
They waited as the Aeroshell Team’s AT-6’s taxied to their parking spot, and then Alex called for taxi permission.
“Mitchell Ground, Team Stripes requesting taxi from the North Ramp to Runway One Left.”
The response was immediate. “Stripes, Mitchell Ground, depart North Ramp on Taxiway Zulu, then south on Taxiway Echo. Cleared across Runway Two Five Right, hold at HS-1 for clearance on down Taxiway Echo.”
Alex read back the clearance for them. With five runways and a myriad of runway crossings, they would be taken in stages to the end of Runway One Left. (It was the same runway as One Niner Right, but takeoff started from the opposite end due to wind direction.) All told, it took close to ten minutes to get to the hold line for One Left. With the show going on, they hadn’t had to wait for any traffic. They switched to the tower frequency and called for takeoff.
“Mitchell Tower, Team Stripes, two Tee Thirty Eights requesting takeoff on Runway One Left.”
The response was again immediate. The airshow had shut down the airport, except for a couple of airline flights that were planned for in the show schedule.
“Stripes, Mitchell Tower. You make take the runway, One Left. Winds zero three zero at twelve gusting eighteen. Altimeter three zero zero four. Contact Airshow Control at two seven zero point one five upon takeoff.”
Alex read back the clearance and made sure one radio was set for the airshow frequency. That would also be his and Billy’s ship-to-ship for the performance.
“Stripes Two, Stripes One, afterburner on my mark.”
“Two copies,” Billy replied.
The two sleek jets rolled onto the runway, one on either side of the centerline. Then Alex called the tower again.
“Mitchell Tower, Stripes, awaiting takeoff clearance on Runway One Left.”
“Stripes, Mitchell Tower, you are cleared for takeoff, good luck.”
“Stripes rolling,” Alex replied, and then on the airshow frequency.
“Three, two, one, go.”
All four afterburners lit with a solid Bomf! And the two aircraft started their takeoff roll. They lifted into the air and Alex called, “Gear. UP!” in a cadence that let he and Billy raise their gear at exactly the same time. As they gained altitude and crossed the north end of the runway and pulled back out of afterburner, Alex called Airshow Control.
“Airshow Control, Team Stripes departing Mitchell.”
“Stripes, Airshow Control, turn right to zero eight zero and orbit over the lake for five mikes. Boats are running a bit late.”
Alex and Billy eased to the right and headed out over Lake Michigan, keeping their altitude down at twenty five hundred since they were starting the show low. They had circled out over the lake for just over four minutes when the call came to start.
“Stripes, Airshow Control, the box is yours.”
Airshow Control, Stripes, the box is hot. Inbound thirty seconds.”
They came around to a northerly heading and lined up along Airshow Center, marked in the lake by a good-sized Coast Guard ship. They dropped to two hundred feet and accelerated to three hundred knots. Billy then called in for the music start.
“Stripes, music on in three, two, one, mark.”
“Smoke on,” Alex called.
The two screamed into the airshow space, low and fast. Right at Airshow Center they pulled up into an afterburner-assisted wide loop. Coming back down, they went into a wide, sweeping circle, starting to the right and then turning left to come back in. Then came a series of passes demonstrating various rolls. The show they’d designed went exactly with the tempo of the music they’d chosen.
They continued on, and halfway through the song changed. They began it in slow flight with gear, flaps, and slats down, but as the tempo established itself they went into a series of chases and spins. The last maneuver found them coming head-on at each other. They flashed past about fifty feet apart, which to the crowd looked like they almost hit. They lifted into high opposing loops. As they came down the backside, they were belly to belly and about fifty feet apart. When they reached nose-down vertical, Billy rolled a hundred eighty degrees and pulled back into formation with Alex. As they pulled out level over Airshow Center, they did a quick set of aileron rolls, two revolutions right, two left, and then a waggle of the wings goodbye. They then did a sweeping right turn out and away.
“Airshow Control, Stripes thanks you, the box is clear.”
“Copy you clear Stripes. Contact Mitchell Tower at one two four point five seven five for landing. Thank you, good show!”
Alex and Billy switched back to the tower frequency.
“Mitchell Tower, Stripes Team, requesting landing on the active runway.”
“Stripes, Mitchell Tower, continue present heading, climb and maintain twenty five hundred. We’ll take you out about four miles to the south. Active runway is One Left. Winds are zero two five at fourteen, gusting eighteen. Altimeter three zero one two.”
“Stripes copies continue course one three zero, climb and maintain two five hundred for One Left.”
They flew out and around to the south, and then in for landing on Runway One Left. Billy landed about a quarter mile after Alex. They went to the end of the runway and turned left onto the North Ramp and then on to their parking spots. As soon as they shut down and got out of the aircraft, Allaistor McCrory fixed them with a steely eye.
“Good, ya managed to bring ‘em back in one piece. Anything amiss?”
“Smooth as silk, no problems here,” Alex replied.
“Best ride on the place, no dings,” Billy added.
“Right. Now scoot so we can start getting ‘em ready for tomorrow.”
The bulldog turned away to supervise his maintenance furs, leaving Billy and Alex alone.
“Well Billy,” Alex began. “I thought that went well. We were a little loose on that third loop, though.”
“Yeah, I thought so too. The winds were starting to get a bit gusty, and I’ll definitely need to use a heating pad on these lower back muscles tonight. Still, not too shabby for a first time.” Billy then smiled and added, “Welcome to show biz.”
Alex grinned in return. “Yeah, good thing we pre-signed a bunch of those pics of Stripes One and Two. When we’re actually at the show, you may get cramped fingers.”
“Uh-huh, right. Let’s go watch the Blue Angels do their thing. I think they sent a courtesy car to take us up to the show,” Billy replied with a hint of teasing.
Alex nodded and the two went inside Signature Air Support to meet their ride, satisfied with their first show.
# # #
So far, the show had been fantastic. There’d been an assortment of small aerobatic aircraft, and several military flybys. The act that was just finishing was the Aeroshell Aerobatic Team, who flew World War Two era AT-6 trainers. Jack, Jenna, Penny, Tia, and Andrew were enjoying the show, with Tia commenting on every maneuver.
“Wow! I love the sound of their engines,” she said of the deep, throaty roar of the old aircraft.
“Those are radial engines,” Jack replied. “A lot of aircraft from this era used them.”
“They sure are loud,” Andrew observed. Penny smiled at him.
“Wait until the guys start. The jets are much louder than this.”
Andrew nodded, but he noticed Penny, like the rest of the group, was wearing earplugs.
They heard the radio call on Jack’s paw-held radio as the Aeroshell team finished and departed. The announcer where they were, in the VIP section at Airshow Center, said his last on the AT-6’s and introduced the next act, a fast speedboat demo.
“And that was the Aeroshell Aerobatic Team, give ‘em a round of applause! And now at Center Stage, it’s time for Thuuuundeer on the Laaake!”
The speedboats came roaring in and went through their act. Not far in, they heard on Jack’s radio that Alex and Billy had taken off. The airshow controller had them go out over the lake to await their time. After a couple of minutes, Tia began to fidget. She was impatient for the flying to start again. For his part, Andrew liked the boats. They were fast and loud and looked like they’d be pretty wild to ride in.
Shortly, they heard the controller call for the pair of T-38’s to come in. Tia had taken up the binoculars again and managed to spot the two aircraft inbound.
“There they are! They’re getting lower. Wow! Are they coming in fast!”
They heard Billy call for the music and Alex call smoke on. The initial thrash of drums from ELO’s “Fire on High” blared out of the loudspeakers in perfect time for the pair to go into afterburner and start their first loop. They all gasped at the timing involved. Penny beamed with pride as she murmured, “That’s my tiger.”
The music didn’t allow for a lot of conversation as the pair continued. Tia, who’d heard the song before, managed to comment.
“This version is longer than normal.”
“Yes,” Penny replied. “They had Rich Farraday edit it into a seven plus minute version of the song for the show. Same with the next song.”
On perfect cue, “Fire on High” ended and the next song began on the same beat. The rapid-fire rhythm of Bonnie Tyler’s “Holdin’ out for a Hero” announced the change from slow flight demonstration into a series of follow-me chases, rolls, and spins. The routine ended with the pair of T-38’s coming out of opposite loops belly to belly, with Billy rolling over and rejoining Alex in formation. They finished level at Airshow Center. The two aircraft, side-by-side now, did a two-revolution roll right, then left, then waggled their wings goodbye as the song trailed off into its staccato rhythm ending. The announcer had kept up a commentary of supplied information about the aircraft, the maneuvers, and Alex and Billy, including a plug for Kentiger.
“And that waggle of wings is Team Stripes’ way of saying thank you you’ve been a great audience! Let’s give then a big round of applause. Alex and Billy will be at the VIP section later on today, stop by and tell them how much you liked the show!”
As they heard Alex call clear on the radio, everyone began to chatter excitedly about the routine. Tia now sat back, amazed at what she’d just seen. In a little while, they’d see if the Blue Angels could wow the crowd even more.
# # #
Sunday had been a carbon copy of Saturday, as far as the flying went. Alex and Billy had said goodbye as Jack, Jenna, Penny, Tia, and Andrew left early to fly back. All had expressed how good the show was. Tia had stated the opinion that they were just as good as the Blue Angels. Alex had reminded her that they did their show with six aircraft, not just two.
Now, Allaistor had left two furs to act as crew chief, while he and the rest of his crew flew back to Lexington in the two Kingairs. They had left right after the end of the routine. The aircraft were ready, the acting crew chiefs strapped in the back seats as Alex called for clearance to taxi. The winds had shifted to a bit more southerly, so they would takeoff on Runway One Nine Right.
“Mitchell Ground, Team Stripes, two Tee Thirty Eights to taxi from the North Ramp for Runway One Niner Right.”
The field was busy with all the departing airshow acts, so it took the controller a moment to respond.
“Team Stripes, Mitchell Ground, cleared to taxi, take Taxiway Foxtrot and hold behind the Aeroshell Tee Sixes.”
“Stripes copies clear to taxi, Taxiway Foxtrot, hold behind the Aeroshell team.”
“Here we go,” Alex called on the intercom, letting his back seat passenger know what was going on. The lapine buck named Allen had looked a bit nervous as well as excited to be flying in the aircraft he’d spent so much time working on lately. He now nodded so Alex could see in his mirrors.
As they taxied, Alex thought about their first show. Several of the pilots from other acts, even the Blue Angels, had come by at one time or another to admire the aircraft or congratulate them on a great routine. They’d done the same, recalling from their Thunderbirds days how close knit the airshow community was. There were maybe a hundred folks, including military teams, who performed at airshows nationwide.
Just then, the tower gave the Aeroshell team permission to move onto the runway. The five vintage trainers moved into position. Alex and Billy moved up to the hold line and waited, doing their last-minute checks before takeoff.
“Team Aeroshell, Mitchell Tower, cleared for takeoff Runway One Niner Right, contact Departure Control on One Two Five Point Three Five for a west departure, safe flight.”
“Team Aeroshell rolling,” came the reply. The silver, yellow, and red aircraft revved to full power and began to roll down the runway, taking to the air together and raising their landing gear. The T-6 isn’t the fastest aircraft on the block, so it took a few minutes for them to get far enough out for Alex and Billy to safely take off and climb out.
“Team Stripes, Mitchell Tower, you are cleared onto Runway One Niner Right, hold for Takeoff,” the tower called a short time later.
“Stripes, taking the runway, holding for takeoff,” Alex replied.
The two T-38’s rolled out to either side of the runway centerline and stopped, waiting for the tower to clear them for takeoff. A moment later, the tower called again.
“Stripes, Mitchell Tower, holding for cross traffic, a seven three seven landing on Seven Right.”
Alex looked off to his right and saw the familiar Southwest Airlines paint scheme and the airliner about to touch down. The 737 managed to stop and turn onto Taxiway Tango just before crossing Runway 19R. The tower called them immediately after the airliner declared she was clear of the runway.
“Stripes, Mitchell Tower, you are cleared for takeoff, Runway One Niner Right. Contact departure Control one one two seven point zero for east departure, safe flight.”
“Stripes rolling, thank you,” Alex called out. They did the familiar litany of counting down and going into afterburner. A few seconds later, they were off and climbing, retracting gear and adjusting flaps and slats. Alex contacted departure Control and established their climbout and initial heading. Reflecting on the weekend as they climbed, he thought that except for the crash when they arrived, it had been a great weekend and a spot-on first show.
End of Chapter 78