Mr. Bigmouth looked out the window at the Spire of Winter. His eyes widened as he took in how massive it was - it appeared to be size of Surf Point - if not bigger.
The massive ship lazily drifted 110 miles above the Earth.
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The transports then entered through a large hatch in the top of the ship and flew through a well lit metal tunnel. Landing lights in the form of electric blue lines on the wall pulsed in a steady rhythm as the transports flew to the hangars.
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Captain Fairchild and his two companions were still lagging behind the powerful shuttlecraft.
Unfortunately, Major Lockie had only managed to make it to about 40,000 feet - already 10,000 feet above his service ceiling and only thanks to zoom climbing. Unfortunately, his great size and slow flying speed meant that he now had to slowly glide back to the ground and try some other tactics.
Captain Fairchild managed to make it to about 55,000 feet, again, using the same zoom climb tactic that Major Lockie used. Unfortunately, he could no longer climb higher and he had to slowly glide back to the ground.
Rainbow looked at Lt. Martin, both fighter planes comfortably soared past 60,000 feet. They had no problem conversing in the rarified air thanks to the fact they did not need oxygen to live - only to move at high speeds.
"So you wanna race to see who can break Galena AFB's record for highest zoom climb?" Rainbow asked.
Lt. Martin sighed. "You hold that record! 100,000 feet!"
"Well, I'm going to break it!"
With that said, Rainbow lit her afterburners and accelerated to Mach 2.5. Even though her breed of aircraft could only reach Mach 2.15, her engines had been replaced with much more powerful ones. She then pulled into a climb that so steep, that an organic pilot would have blacked out.
"..." Lt. Martin followed suit. Even though her engines were normal for an aircraft of her breed, she wanted to try. She had only done a zoom climb once before, on a solo performance with the Silverbolts. She lit her afterburners, accelerated somewhere beyond Mach 2 and pulled into a steep climb.
Anyone watching would have seen an amazing sight - two sleek fighter jets flying nearly vertical on full afterburners and the cloudy blue plains of the Earth below and the ink-black space above them.
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When Major Lockie reached his normal flight ceiling of 30,000 feet, he radioed Stripetail. "Stripetail, this is Major Lockie, Captain Fairchild and I are having some trouble keeping up with the shuttles. Even while zoom climbing, we couldn't break 50,000 feet. I'm not sure what Rainbow and Lt. Martin can do but they aren't spacecraft so I doubt they'll be able to follow the shuttle.