Little Red Flying Hood

By Tee Morris

From one of the imaginations behind the award-winning Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series comes a steampunk novelette inspired by the Brothers Grimm.

Prepare for a dogfight with the Big, Bad Wolf...

In France a deadly battle is raging in the skies, but Scarlett Quinn has been shuffled off to reconnaissance duty in an ailing biplane that has seen better days. However, fate will put her in the cross-hairs of one of Germany's greatest aces, behind enemy lines and way over her head.

Completing her mission will be no easy task, and Scarlett must use her wits and skills if she wants to return safely back to earth.

• Language: English
• Publisher: ImagineThat Studios
• Release date: Apr 29, 2016
• ISBN: 9781310997334

Tee Morris

While Tee Morris began his writing career with Dragon Moon Press's 2002 historical epic fantasy Morevi: The Chronicles of Rafe and Askana, it is his podcast of that book and works such as Podcasting for Dummies and All a Twitter that have earned him the distinction as one of the pioneers of social media. With Phoenix Rising, Tee returns to where he prefers to be—his imagination. When he is not there, Tee lives in the Washington, D.C. area with his five cats and one daughter, all of whom have him very well-trained.

Book preview

Little Red Flying Hood

Little Red Flying Hood

Tee Morris

Published by Imagine That! Studios 2013

Copyright © 2013 by Tee Morris

Interior Layout by Imagine That! Studios

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, digital, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or conveyed via the Internet or a website without prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead is purely coincidental. Any actual places, products or events mentioned are used in a purely fictitious manner.

Also from Pip and Tee

The Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences series

Phoenix Rising

The Janus Affair

Dawn’s Early Light

The Diamond Conspiracy

The Ghost Rebellion

Operation Endgame

Verity Fitzroy and the Ministry Seven

The Curse of the Silver Pharaoh

The Mystery of Emerald Flame

The Secret of the Monkey God

Steampunk Anthologies

The Books and Braun Dossier

Magical Mechanications

Ministry Protocol: Thrilling Tales from the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences

Contents

One

Two

Three

Four

Five

Six

One

At the turn of the century, mankind had taken to the skies. Naturally, Death followed.

The Great War, so it was being called nowadays, would be over by Christmas so the recruiters had told Her Majesty’s finest. What with England’s Imperial might and Jerry scrambling to keep up, this should have been a dawdle. The Empire’s fine fighting men would be back in time to light the pudding, enjoy a Cracker, and sing Ding Dong Merrily on High at Midnight Mass. Yes, most assuredly everyone would be home by Christmas.

That was three Christmases ago.

Now as Scarlett Quinn had done the two previous Christmases before, and as she would probably do in the holidays to come, her hands gripped the stick of her Bristol Scout. The throttle opened as the Frenchman shouted Contact! just before throwing the propeller into a spin. Once the engine gurgled and spluttered to life, the antiquated biplane rolled its way to the end of the runway, the crewman who also doubled as the camp’s chef shouting something to her. It was probably the menu for tonight. It was his way of wishing her a safe flight, and an even safer return.

Scarlett adjusted her goggles, checked the modest Maxim mounted to her left, and breathed in the mix of fresh morning air and petrol fumes belching from her plane. As she continued down her checklist—the integrity of the rigging, flap response, fuel, ammunition—she recalled the words of a general passed on to her when she was admitted into the Royal Air Corps. The airplane is useless for the purposes of war.

It must have been very easy to make that proclamation from a desk somewhere in London a long way from the secret airstrip in Rang-du-Fliers on the northern coast of France. Hers was a small operation to keep King and country informed. To Scarlett this nameless, faceless general only served as their inspiration.

It was time to prove him wrong. Once again.

As always there was the rush of delight, the elation when her Scout took to the skies, but Death was here too. She had seen it during her training at Curragh Camp. Even with the advancements of science, airships and aeroflyers, and now talk of amazing rockets that could propel Man to the Moon and back, Scarlett was regarded as blessed with the luck of the Irish in how she survived flight school, especially in the wake of her fearless maneuvers in the skies.

That was her secret. Death might have followed the Empire to the skies, but she had avoided Death as she was the superior pilot.

The Scout had been refitted with better navigation equipment, a modest heating unit for her seat, and the camera apparatus housed in the undercarriage. Soon she would be over enemy territory, her solitary plane daring the Kaiser to come out and make quick work of her—at least that would be their intent. Scarlett would disappoint them in the end. She was bound to her duty to the Empire, and it would be her reconnaissance that would fulfill this pledge of hers.

A light flickered on her panel, and the small, backlit map that scrolled slowly across the screen indicated she had crossed into the Western Front. Peering over the side of her plane, Scarlett watched the scarred and pitted French countryside slowly slip underneath her. Even from her height, the toll this Great War was taking on France was unmistakable. Miles of strange patterns turned the nation into a giant, muddled jigsaw puzzle. Once she believed it had been an endless field