CHAPTER 8.5: FLYING CLUB

***The City of Montserrant…***

Far from the dark, dreary underground landscape that was the mines of Montserrant, the ‘downtown district’ (it was in another nearby mountain peak) was the escape of the employees of the Cole Miners’ Guild. Here, every type of entertainment that was permissible to the dwarves was available. From ‘red light’ businesses to free flowing ‘ale taverns’, there was nothing an ordinary miner could ask for…provided, he had the money to afford all of those.

However, once in a long while, there was an event that was the object of every mining dwarf’s fantasy. Held by the 300th day after the last one, the Montserrant Aerial Skills Show was a contest of piloting talents, and aircraft prowess. It drew contenders from all over the land of Equality—dwarves of all sexes and ages, as well as visiting tourists who were lucky to be nearby. Nevertheless, the competition was only limited to the bona fide members of the Cole Miners’ Guild, and dwarves that passed a strict ‘screening’ test given by the queen of the miners’ guild herself, Paula Cole, were the only ones to enter.

“…”

Nevertheless, for the current edition of the Montserrant Aerial Skills Show—which was also the 54th since its inception, there were 24 contestants. Finalists, chosen from a long list of candidates submitted to Paula, and a close council of three other elderly dwarves. Yet, even with the list, the queen and her judges were in a dilemma.

“So, among these 24 dwarves, we’ll draw another squadron of fighter plane pilots?” one of Queen Paula’s council reiterated the purpose of their meeting, going over the papers submitted to them.

“The top 10 winners will become part of the 54th Squadron,” Paula explained, though she singled out two applications, which she showed to her council. “However, of these people, we got to be careful with these candidates…”

The second dwarf in the council picked up the papers she showed them, “Pilot 13 and 20, huh?”

“They have previous connections to the Church,” the guild queen added. “Of course, we can’t rule out the possibility that they are spies, sent to observe the activities of our flying club.”

“It’s possible, yes,” the third dwarf concurred, slamming his fists on the table. “And we can’t let these two in, if that’s the case.”

“Of course, it’s obvious,” Paula pointed out. “But, we have to accept their applications to dispel any suspicions on the part of the Church.”

The entire council fell silent for a few moments. It was stated before that one of the prizes in winning the contest was the membership into the Cole Miners’ Guild Aerial Club, one of Equality’s most prestigious—if not the only one—piloting associations. However, all the dwarves occupying the higher echelons of their guild’s leadership knew that it was only a ‘front’. Deep down, its true purpose was that of an ‘army’ loyal to Queen Paula herself, who was an accomplished pilot…and a well-known ‘dissenter’ of the Church of the Golden Hammer. Originally designed to ‘train and filter’ the best pilots of the miners’ guild for the fighter planes they were secretly making, the aerial show and the flying club grew in renown and prestige as their activities increased.

And to avoid arousing the Church’s suspicion, Queen Paula made it an ‘official’ contest and prize.

But of course, the actual goal of the club didn’t go unnoticed for long. The church leaders, ever vigilant against the miners’ guild, sought to gain control over their flying club. Although they couldn’t ban its activities outright for fear of an uprising, they wanted to put ‘eyes’ inside the guild itself…along with ‘oppressive’ quotas and ‘exorbitant’ taxes and fees.

Contestants 13 and 20 were obvious ‘moles’, an overt attempt by the church to place their spies within the heart of the fomenting rebellion. Paula knew them; she had done her assignment on those two, and both had the highest potential to win, for they were the best the Church of the Golden Hammer could train.

As such, the dilemma remains…

“We can’t refuse their applications, but we can’t also let them into the club, or it’ll be the end of us all,” Paula reminded everyone of the problem when she noticed the council drifting away from the topic. “And the Prince Uhrian has stopped communicating with us for a long while now…”

“I know it’s a bad idea to cooperate with the son of that human viper!” the third dwarf aired his sentiments. “I did warn you all about the dangers working with him!”

“Your warning is duly received and acknowledged,” the guild queen told him. “However, I got my reasons I put my trust in him. Personal reasons, and I hope you won’t stick your nose too much into my business.”

“Aye, milady,” the third dwarf answered, and relented. “I’m merely saying my thoughts, but it doesn’t mean my loyalty to your cause is wavering.”

“Well, even with all the bickering, the issue persists,” the first dwarf reiterated. “And we need to limit the movement of these people.”

“I got something in mind,” the second dwarf finally rejoined the conversation. “While we can’t do anything about these spies, we can always prevent them from winning without being too open about it.”

“What are you implying?” Paula asked, though she could feel a sense of dread from the words of the second dwarf.

“You don’t have to do anything, milady,” he reassured her. “But, give me permission, and there will be ‘unfortunate’ accidents during the contests.”

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The Montserrant Aerial Skills Show consisted of three phases, the first was high-speed target shooting. It was always being held on the slopes of the mountain where the downtown Montserrant was built, for that area had runways to facilitate the planes’ flight. As for the aircraft, most entries were modded canvas-and-steel-framed machines—reminiscent of Earth’s World War 1 biplanes, light enough to fly fast, but sturdy to withstand the gale force winds that was forever blowing through the mountains of Equality. The engines were steam-powered, which the dwarves developed to peak efficiency…the most basic of which could reach up to 20 km/h in speed. Armaments were steam-propelled machine guns, capable of firing bullets with destructive momentum to ‘kill’ the drones, but ‘gentle’ enough not to kill people with stray shots, especially the audience.

Meanwhile, the ‘high-speed target shooting’ phase of the competition tasked the competitors to shoot fast-moving ‘drones’—which were actually small, artificial machines powered by ‘magic batteries’. There were ten ‘drones’ of different colors and numbers per contestant, all of which they had to shoot down in order, while avoiding hits on a competitor’s plane. Doing so would result to disqualification, along with messing up the order of the drone shoot-downs.

“Contestants to their planes!” was the signal for all pilots and their exclusive crews to prepare for the flight. Pilots 13 and 20 were brimming with confidence, and the crowds watching the event could feel it. As such, they placed their bets on those two pilots, and they were the favorites to win the first round.

From her elevated ‘crow’s nest’, Paula watched the pilots prepare, and the red light moved to yellow. At that moment, everyone’s eyes turned on her, as she waved the green flag…

“!!!”

A shrill whistle was sounded, and the humming plane engines roared into life. The crews began their arduous push to let their respective machines catch lift, as the pilots revved the engines before they reached the end of the runway and dropping into the cloudy void below.

The announcer whipped up the crowd, “And they’re off!”

Simultaneously, the colorful ‘drones’ were released, and the contestants scattered to pursue their respective targets. Pilots 13 and 20 quickly proved their skills and mettle, as they downed four of their targets in quick succession. The crowds roared in delight, for the acrobatic movements of the church pilots were as mesmerizing as it was impressive. They even became unintentional rivals, for they outgunned their other competitors by a wide margin.

“…”

Only Paula and the members of her council looked on with anxiety. By then, the two pilots were only two ‘drones’ away from claiming victory; it was only a matter of who’d reach ten targets first. However, just as Pilot 13 locked on his ninth target…

“!!!”

Much to everyone’s shock and horror, his plane’s left wing folded and broke away while the pilot was doing a sharp turn. It sent his plane to an uncontrollable spin, eventually crashing unto the mountain side of downtown Montserrant, obscured by the cloud cover.

Paula immediately looked at the second dwarf, who wore a confident smile on his face. He pointed towards Pilot 20, though it was a discreet gesture, for fear that someone else from the church was observing them.

As the sole leader of the contest, Pilot 20 had a comfortable margin against his nearest rival. With Pilot 13 gone, he was only two targets away from winning the first phase. However, upon witnessing the death of the other pilot, he became visibly careful in pursuing his targets. The others were quick to exploit that, and soon, some of them eventually overtook his performance.

Pilot 20 placed 4th in the end of the High-Speed Target Shooting.

Using the ‘accident’ of Pilot 13 as a pretext, the contest rules were immediately changed to fit the ‘safety precautions’ of the guild. From allowing modded flying machines to compete, they determined that unmodified planes were sufficient to conduct the rest of the show. It effectively put the church delegation in a ‘severe disadvantage’ for the duration of the competition, as Pilot 20 trained solely on his own modded machine.