Dogfight

          “I hope you're happy, Slim,” Rocky crackled over the radio.

          He wasn't. Although he had complained incessantly of boredom throughout the escort mission, he hadn't been looking for a dogfight to break up the monotony. Unfortunately, that's exactly what he was getting, and while Slim didn't recognize the air pirates' colours, they were clearly experienced raiders. Flying in with the sun at their backs, they'd opened fire on the Zeppelin before anyone knew what was happening. He and Rocky were the only Rangers who had managed to get airborne.

          The way things were going, they weren't going to last long.

I've always loved the Crimson Skies series.  Well, more accurately, I've always loved the idea of the Crimson Skies series.  The concept of a 1930s United States where airplanes, and not automobiles, had become the de facto means of transportation seems like a super cool idea in my mind.  The fact that there's an entire alternate history involved where the USA falls apart and a number of small, independent nations emerge from the remains of the former country certainly does hurt either, but in this case, I'm mostly focused on the airplane aspect at the moment.

Despite how exciting I think aerial dogfights are, I don't know if I've ever actually read a prose depiction of such an event, fiction or non.  If I have, it clearly hasn't stuck with me, I suppose.  All this to say that, when I sat down to write a One Character One Hundred Words today, I came up with Slim and Rocky of the Air Rangers valiantly trying to fend off a surprise air pirate attack.  Due to my self-imposed restrictions, I didn't get too far into the skirmish, but maybe we'll get to see how the two brave pilots fare another day...