Community > The Cantina
The Skies have no Limit
BdrLineAzn:
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Inside the transport that he, Fu, and Slava escaped to, Fang over looks at a map of the city with small tanks and airships figurines placed in different locations. Then an aid comes over to hand him a folder.
"Sir."
"What is it corporal?"
"You may want to look at this," the man says as Fang takes the folder from him, "We just lost two of our Galleons and a handful of our tanks. Also our remaining ships are now engaged in ship to ship combat."
"What, how? The Guild's airships couldn't have scrambled that fast, I made sure of that."
"By the looks of it, they are not Guild, Sir. These are ships of unknown origins, but we have confirmed that two of the ships are Pyramidions bearing Yeshan markings."
"That Zhao's ships," cries out Fang in anger as he slams his fist on the table.
Those around him turn from their panels to see the commotion and immediately turn back to their work seeing the fuming Admiral.
"How about the ground forces, any problems that I should be aware of?"
"Sir, so far they have countered little resistance with minimum casualties. Besides the loss of a few tanks from earlier, they are proceeding as planned."
"Good, good, go tell our ships to continue engaging the enemy, especially to destroy the traitors. I want this city to be mine."
Giving a crisp salute, the corporal heads of the communications room to relay the message.
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Outside one of the windows, a pair of eagles land on the awnings looking over the city. Unknown to the transport, a small craft flies silently to the underbelly of the ship where they find a small platform where they dock. As the crew of seven secure the vessel, one hops onto the platform and opens the hatch above him. The man peaks through the opening and signals for the others to climb up. As the last man finally goes through, they were about to close the hatch until the two eagles from earlier fly right in and lands near their respective owners.
"Almost forgot about you guys, sorry about that Roc, Garuda." replies Gareth.
"Okay we are now in, but what now? This place must be swarming with guards along with the people we are after." asks Hector.
"Easy, we destroy the ship from the inside. Killing people as we go." explains Zardis as he walks down one of the corridors.
"Solid plan there, but we didn't bring much in explosives from the warehouse and if we wanted to take this ship down, we could have brought the Griffenheart." says Michael as he pulls out a knife.
"They they would have notice our approach and call in for backup. Now quiet, I'm trying to figure out where they keep the stuff."
"What stuff? Gareth are you sure we should have brought him? He maybe the Wolf but still.."
"He knows what he is doing, I believe. Plus we manage to get this far." says Gareth to Hector.
Soon they find themselves in front of a storage room. Going up to the door, Zardis addresses them as he opens the door
"Now this will solve our explosives problem."
Fully open, the room shows crates of bombs, grenades, and Lochnagar powder. Entering the room, the group eyes the amount in the room before immediately filling their bags.
As soon as they have enough to carry, the group file out of the room with Zardis giving instructions on where to place the explosives. Splitting into teams, Michael and Hector will go to the boilers and engine rooms, Lionel and Kay will go to the communications room, while Gareth, Lyre, and Zardis go up to the control room.
As each team break off to carry out their assignments, they are met with almost no resistance as majority of the soldiers are on the ground with the fighting. Easily Michael, Hector, Lionel, and Kay were able to quietly take out those were stationed in each room and plant the explosives.
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Inside the control room, Fu and Slava joins Fang as he shows the updated map. From Slava's guildhall to much of the central district and beyond is coloured red as territory is gained by the ground forces.
"As you can see, my troops are quickly moving ahead as planned. At this rate the whole city will be under Yeshan control. Soon the whole Guild will know the power of the Veil, with you leading the territory for us."
"How about the remaining guildmasters? From what I heard, your Galleons failed to finish them off but were destroyed instead." poke Slava.
Anger rising, Fang says through his teeth, "Rest assure, my men will soon find and kill those traitors. They find the Zhaos, they will find your guildmasters."
Soon an explosion rocks the ship as everyone in the room falls to the floor. Sirens ring throughout the room as various panels start blinking red. As the various men scramble back to their control panels they start shouting out the indications.
"Sir heavy damage on the engines."
"What?! Do you see who is attacking us?"
"No sir, our radars are clear."
"Go tell communications to send one of the other transports back. We are defenceless up here.
"Yes sir"
As one moves from his panel, Fu goes up to Fang, "What is going on? I thought we were safe from the fighting."
"We are, but it looks like someone manage to stowaway on this ship. You two, grabs your weapons and follow me."
As two more get up from their panels to follow the Tiger, another explosion rocks the ship.
"What is it this time!" yells Fang.
"We lost communications, no transmissions in or out. Sir I believe the ship is lost."
"I say the ship is lost when I say it is lost. We still have power so follow me, we'll handle this problem."
As they are about to exit the room, the door burst open as a few grenades are lobbed through. Seeing them, Fang pushes the two as to get away from the explosion. As the grenades detonate, the room is filled with smoke from the explosion and two eagles swoop in along with gunfire.
The majority of the personnel are either gunned down or disabled from the eagle attacks leaving only Slava, Fu, and Fang. As the smoke dies down it shows Zardis, Gareth, and Lyre weapons drawn and pointed at the three able bodies.
"Ah Zardis Dacrain, I should have know you would be the one destroying my ship. Looks like you brought friends as well, so I assume that these Arashi filth helped you escape from Dragontown."
"It's over Fang, why don't you the Deer and Slava just give up and recall your men. Then we can hand you in to the Emperor and cash in a very hefty profit."
"Haha, you think I'll give up that easily? Even if you kill me right now there nothing that can stop my men from completing their goals."
"Oh killing you can be arranged, but I think BdrLine would rather see you two on trial. As for you Slava, we got something special for all the atrocities you committed to my people." speaks Gareth.
Moments later the ship rocks again from an explosion, this time not from Graeth's men but from ground artillery.
Gareth's radio comes to as Michael speaks.
"Gareth we need to get out of here now. The city's defences are starting up and are aiming for this ship first. They really want us out of the sky."
"Ok go and tell the others to meet back at the craft, and make some room, we are bringing guests."
"Got it."
"You heard that, once the military gets going there is nothing left of your army." smirks Lyre, "Now come with us or we'll let our eagles do work on your faces."
More shells hits the transport knocking those inside down. The lights in the control room flicker on and off rapidly as the power connections are breaking free. Using the partially darkness, Fang unsheathes his sword and lunges towards Zardis. Seeing this, Zardis uses his shotgun to block the incoming blow.
As the Tiger fights with the Wolf, Fu and Slava ties to use the darkness to escape through the door, only to be caught by Roc and Garuda as they hover in front of the exit.
"Hold it, where are you two going," Gareth says to them as he hears Roc's screech. Only to stumble from another shell hitting the ship.
Gareth's radio comes on again with Michael speaking frantically, "Gareth we need to leave NOW!! They are getting more and more persistent, a few shells almost hit our craft from how much guns they are shooting at this thing."
"Okay we are on our way, got a little distracted. Be prepared to immediately take off once we are on. Zardis, we got to go, this ship may rip in two if this keeps up."
Blocking another sword blow he says to them,"You two take the Deer and Slava, I'll deal with the Tiger."
"But..."
"GO NOW!!"
Nodding, Gareth and Lyre apprehend Fu and Slava and rush out of the room with Roc and Garuda in tow.
"Oh how noble for a low life like you," says Fang as he swings again, "But now it's time for you to die."
As Zardis blocks the sword again, he pushes the Tiger with the butt of his shotgun momentarily distracting him, "No I think it is you who is going to die." He says as he raises his weapons.
He pulls the trigger and prepares for the recoil only to be met with clicking of the hammer hitting a spent cartridge.
Smirking, Fang wipes some sweat off his forehead as he goes over to a case underneath the central table.
"Hmm what a pity, not being able to have the satisfaction of killing me like a dog. Why not fight me with some grace," Fang says as he takes out another sword from the case and toss it to Zardis.
Catching the handle of the weapon, he tosses his shotgun to the side and goes into a defensive stance.
-----
Finally on the platform where their craft is docked, Gareth sees the intensity of the Guild's guns. Around the transport flak rounds explode in the air as shrapnel bucks the ship.
"Come on, get in. We overstayed our welcome." screams Michael as he starts the engines.
Pushing both Slava and Fu onto the deck, Gareth and Lyre jumps after them. Gareth then turns and shoots the latches holding the ship. The craft quickly drops before Michael engages the balloon and speeds off.
As he navigates through the hell storm of shells, Michael notices that someone is missing. "Hey where is Zardis? Also the Tiger?"
"He is still inside fighting him, I think he has some unfinished business with him." replies Gareth as he looks back at the damage vessel.
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Inside Zardis grabs his arm as he covers the cut. It is one of many that he receives from the onslaught of the Tiger who is grinning methodically.
"Does the Wolf have any fight left? Surely someone who goes to the extent of stealing my plans would put up more of a fight," he counties to swings at him.
Zardis attempts to parry most of the swings only to overextend his leg. Fang sees this and kicks him behind his knee making he fall and hits Zardis behind his head with the hilt.
Stumbling, the Wolf regains he balance while holding his acing head. Regaining some senses, he goes for an attack as he lunges his sword at the Tiger. Without breaking a sweat, the Tiger blocks and parries each swipe. The Wolf then gives all his might in one more swing only to be again blocked. This time the Tiger circles his sword against the Wolf's and disarms him.
Without any protection, the Tiger then thrust his sword into the Wolf. As he removes the sword from the body, the Wolf grabs the wound and falls to his knees. The Tiger then walks around him with the point of his sword tracing the ground.
"Hmm, I thought that you said that you were going to kill me, my mistake. Now I'm going to kill you and take a parachute and escape from this burning hellhole."
The Tiger then raise his sword over his head for the final blow only to stop as he a raspy laughter.
With coughing up blood, Zardis straightens up a little wile still holding his wound and looks out of the window.
"I don't think you'll be escaping from any hell anytime soon." he says as he opens his coat and pulls out a remote.
Noticing the device, the Tiger quickly swings for Zardis's only for him to press the button. The bombs inside the boiler room then explode from receiving the signal. The explosion is large enough as the transport breaks off into two before falling out of the sky. As the large falling pieces hits the ground, what ever leftover explosives that were on the ship finally detonate creating two massive craters.
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Flying back to the warehouse, Gareth and his team sees the explosion and feels the shock wave associated with it.
"Hmm I guess he did it. That crazy Fox," replies Hector.
"Not a Fox Hector, he's a Wolf. The Darcain Wolf." says Gareth as he looks at the smoke coming over the skyline of the wreckage. "Michael, how long until the warehouse?"
"Not that long, maybe five?"
"Ok, well drop off our Deer friend here and lock him up. Once inside start up the Griffenheart and load Slava. I think it is time to show him some Arashi hospitality.[/i]"
Acknowledging, Michael continues to fly until he reaches the building. Once inside, the rest of the team takes Fu underground and into one of the cells. Back on the main floor, the sounds of Griffenheart's engines can be heard as they switch Slava over. As soon as the rest of Gareth's team returns, the ship takes off and quickly rush out of the city and back towards the League.
(Gryphos, if you want, have fun with Slava. Maybe not in this thread at the moment.)
BdrLineAzn:
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Securing the Guildmasters underground of the warehouse, the rescue team meet on the main floor with Zankief's remaining men. As BdrLine, Ny-Lee, Alex and Richard equip themselves with their own equipment, everyone fills them in from the start of the attack.
Happy that Althea has left his rifle for him at the warehouse, BdrLine grabs an ammunition belt and adds a few Loch grenades. Doing so he listens in to Pavel.
"From Slava's Guildhall, the tanks just did an all out blitz into the city. The military that manage to mobilise did little to no damage to them, they are nothing like they or we have ever seen. Are they a newer model?"
"Yes they are," says Ny-Lee as she loads a round into the chamber of the stolen rifle she had gained earlier, "I read the reports from the development team, faster and lighter. Plus they angled the armor plating where most shoulder fired rockets just deflected off."
"You need a heavier shell to pierce the plating, something around a well placed mercury round or bigger, maybe a heavy flak." she finishes.
"How about the airships and troops?" asks Alex.
"They are scattered around the city and causing extreme havoc. The latest reports says that all transports have manage to offload all it's troops. The airships though, our ships are currently engaging them, but the craftsmanship of them are proven difficult to kill."
"We'll do what we can, right now we need to lighten their numbers. Reagan looks like you are needed in the sky, take the crew and help them out." says Alex as he files his bag with rockets. Behind him Richard slings a bazooka over his shoulder.
"What about you dad?"
"Richard and I will go with BdrLine and the Captain. If that's alright with you Bdr?"
"Any help that we can get is good."
An explosion is heard from the outside of the warehouse and smoke can be seen rising above the ceiling window. One of Zankief's workers on the balcony looks out and sees the two tanks Reagan have flow over earlier.
"Heads up, they are at our front door!!" he yells to them.
Another explosion is heard and the ground shakes as what is presume a building is falling.
"Flak, they are taking out the docks and other warehouses, and now they are looking over here."
"Reagan start your ship," BdrLine says to her, to the worker,"How far until they are on top of us?"
"Around 500 meters. If you want to get that ship in the air, we better do something about those tanks."
Gathering at the main entrance, BdrLine and those not on the Skyrunner ready their weapons. Alex loads loads a rocket into the one Richard is currently carrying as is Pavel and a few others. BdrLine opens the door slightly and surveys his surrounding.
"Ok, we have some cover out there is we run for it. There is an abound on truck on the right and crates to the left. But how are we going to kill these thing?"
Looking out through the same crack, Ny-Lee slides her brother out of the way. "We can try to take out their tracks then manuever around and hit them in the back. Their radiators is still lightly armored."
"Sounds like a plan. Ok on the count of 3 I'll open the door, everyone sprint out as fast as you can. Don't stay in the open. Ready? 1,2,3...GO,"
BdrLine opens the large doors as the small group of eight run out of the building. The tank drivers are startled for a second at the sudden emergence of people but keep on going as their tank commanders start to move the main turret.
"Pathetic merchants, thinking they can stop us. Load up the cannon," orders one of the tank commanders.
As the loader opens the breech, the turret slowly turns to the right. Once loaded the commander aims and fires at the running group. It misses by a few yards as dust and shrapnel files the air.
Annoyed on how he missed the shot, he yells to the loader, "Load another one, this time burst."
The team has split up into two groups of four after barely surviving the first shot. Those near the explosion suffered a few scrapes from flying shrapnel but are still able to fight. Hiding behind the crates, BdrLine tighten his grip on his rifle and look to where the shot has landed.
"Damn, they mean business."
Another shot is heard as they brace for an impact. Seeing nothing has been fired at their general direction, Richard looks over and sees the truck on the other side on fire.
"Shit, they might have gotten the other group, their cover has gone up in smoke."
"What?," BdrLine says and peeks over the crates. He then sees what Richard is talking about, the truck that he spotted earlier is now up in smoke and Pavel and his group is no where to be seen.
Inside the second tank, the commander peers through his scope and smiles at his success, "Nice job boys, another pest taken care off. Now let's see if our partner has gotten his group."
As he is about to call him, the second commander sees a head popping up from a pile of crates.
"Hey, I see your little group there to the right if you are looking for them."
"What? Where?"
"To the right, behind those crates."
"Oh I see them, ok turning now."
BdrLine widen his eyes as he sees the nearest to them starting to turn his turret at them.
"Ah Flak!!! Everyone run! See if you can throw some Lochs at them as well."
Four pins are pulled as they clatter to the ground as the group lobs the explosives over the crates before running out of their cover. The tank fires just as they jump out of the way sending the four flying from the shock wave. The tank then reloads again to finish them as the group struggles to get up their feet. Just as the tank is about to fire, four explosions rock the vehicle as the shot over shoots and flies above them hitting a nearby building.
"WHAT WAS THAT?" screams the commander.
"Don't know sir, I think it came from them before we fired the last shot."
"Well loader reload again, this time we have...where are they?"
Looking out of his scope the smoke clears and he notices that the four has flee its line of sight.
"The Gods, driver go out and find them."
"Yes sir."
As he puts the tank in to forward, it moves a few feet until the right side drops a few inches and a screeching sound is heard, immobilising the tank.
"Why aren't we moving?"
"The right side threads are blown, we are stuck."
Growling, he calls the second tanks and tell him his predicament.
Breathing deeply, BdrLine and the others catches their breath at another near death experience. Hiding around the corner of another warehouse they look over themselves.
"Think that work?" asks Ny-Lee as she dust herself off.
"I believe so, we would have been goners if that shot landed." answers BdrLine as he examines his legs.
"You hit?" wonders Alex.
"I'm good, now let's kill those tanks. One of them is probably looking for us since I believe we manage to disable the other one."
As they move out from their hiding place back onto the main road, they notice that one tank is sitting out in the open while the second one heads the other direction in search for them. Approaching the disabled tank slowly, they duck quickly behind another pile of crates as the top hatch opens. Popping out of the hatch, the tanks commander scans the area.
"Ok, Alex Richard, get ready to run behind that thing and take a shot of its radiator. I'm going to take out the this guy so you have a few seconds before they realise their commander is dead to shoot at you."
"That's reassuring." says Richard sarcastically.
Alex shrugs him as he gets his weapon ready. Rolling his eyes, he checks the bazooka again and gives BdrLine a thumbs up. Nodding, he places the rifle on the crates and aims down his sights. Placing the front and rear sight over the commanders head, BdrLine pulls the trigger just as the commander looks over their direction.
Taking that as their cue, Alex and Richard quickly runs out. As predicted, the crew inside notices that their commander has been shot and killed and looks at the body in shock. A few seconds later the driver looks out of his slot and sees the two running at them. He yells at the loader to get on the turret. But just as the loader gets into position and starts to move the main gun, Alex and Richard has already moved behind them. Taking aim, Richard fires his shot directly at the thinly protected radiator which eludes and engulfs the tank in flames.
Seeing and hearing the explosion, Ny-Lee and BdrLine runs out towards them just as they are reloading.
"Nice one."
"Yeah, but we are not done yet, I think its buddy heard the explosion and will come over."
Just as Alex finishes his sentence, a round explodes a several yards from them making them duck from the debris. Coming back down from the main road, they see the second tank rounding a corner while firing another shot, this time landing closer.
Going around the burning vehicle, the group tries to run but are blocked as a shot flies over them and lands in front. The smoke in front of them is dispersed as the Skyrunner flies through it.
The tank sees the airship and starts to aim its turret at it. Seeing this, Reagan pops Hydrogen as the shell flys underneath. Turning to hard right, the ships starboard guns start to open up. It cause little damage as it armor plating can withstand the light damage. Still tracking the airship, the tank commander has completely have forgotten the small group that took out its partner. With this little distraction, the group moves up behind this tank, and just like the first, Richard takes aim and fires at the radiator exploding it.
Finding this moment to relax a little bit, Alex's portable radio cracks on as Reagan's voice come through.
"Looks like you guys needed help, again."
"Well thanks for the save." replies Richard.
"We couldn't just sit back while all of this was happening. So once the ship was ready and we all heard the explosions. Hey we do what we do. Oh where that pal of yours? We have one of those guildmasters in the warehouse on the line wanting to talk to him."
Alex tosses the receiver to BdrLine as they hear the frequency changing. Once stable Reagan flies off as he speaks to it, "This is BdrLine, who is this."
The distinctive voice of Fyodor comes through, "Ah young Zhao, I have some news for you."
"Please tell me it's good."
"Well thanks to your friends equipment here in this facility, I manage get ahold of various Guild commanders and we are planning a counterattack to this Yeshan threat."
Rolling his eyes at the last comment, BdrLine listen on.
"In a moment the city's flak grid will fire on all Yeshan warships still flying. On the ground we pushing our own tank divisions to troops to combat the commandos."
"Wait...what!" Ny-Lee exclaims as she overhears the conversation, "Azn give me that." as she takes the receiver from her brother.
"Hey"
"Master Fyodor, this is Captain Zhao. Tell the flak batteries to target the ships flying red flags. I have two ships out there fighting against them and they are sporting blue flags."
As soon as she finishes her sentence, the sky is lit up as flak tracers and explosions fill the afternoon haze.
"I'll do what I can Captain, but the gunners may not see the small difference in alliance colors just the obvious Yeshan markings. I recommend you try and reach them and order your ships to land before being blown out of the sky."
Ny-Lee is about to protest but the connection is cut as Frodor ends the conversation. Angrily she slams the receiver back into its casing making Alex flinch at the force.
"Arrgh, hmmm Give me that again, I'll try to see if I can get a hold of them." Ny-Lee orders Alex.
Complying Alex hands Ny-Lee the receiver as she switches the frequency to Syá's ship. As she waits for a response, the four sees one of the transports falling out of the sky. The group watch on as multiple batteries are targeting this single airship. What they didn't expect to see an explosion from the inside ripping the ship into two fiery chucks of twisted metal. Even from a distance, they feel the ground vibrate as the debris hits the surface.
"Oh Gods, oh Gods. Dang it Syá pick up I don't want you guys ending up like that," Ny-Lee stammers as she continues waiting for a reply from her Commander.
"Hello? Hello who is this and how did you manage to get this signal." says a male voice as the signal manage to go through.
"Zankief?" asks BdrLine as he hears the voice.
"Aha, BdrLine. Glad to hear your voice." chuckles Zankief.
"Yeah, yeah. Zankief where is Syá." interrupts Ny-Lee.
"At the moment she is flying against a Junker, but things are getting hectic up here. The batteries have opened up and looks like they are targeting any ship they see up here."
"Yeah, we got a word from Fyodor. They are shooting any ship with Yeshan markings. Get her and my ship out of the sky and back to your warehouse before you get shot out of the sky like that transport."
"Oh Flak. Ok I pass it on. Thanks for the heads up. Zankief out."
Realising a breath that she didn't know she was holding, Ny-Lee hands back the receiver to Alex knowing that Syá can make it back with Zankief's knowledge of the city.
As the four man team prepares to head into the city to help the Guild troops fight the oncoming Yeshan, they look back at the burning truck where Pavel and his group has been.
Breathing through his nose, BdrLine recites an old little prayer that he has heard multiple time to himself before heading out.
"By the Skies we fly this day. Off into the Sunset to give chase. May the Winds stay at our back. Our Dusty Mistress be appeased. Our Mugs ever full. Onwards ye' Dogs, Into the Fray."
BdrLineAzn:
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"Whoa, did you guys see that!" says Courage in surprise as he spots the transport blowing up.
The Starlight is currently engaging another one of the transports with a few of Zankief's ships. No one notices the downed ship as Althea is firing the Heavy Flak, Charles is manning the side mortar/sticky grenade launcher, and Archer frantically flying to avoid the incoming flak shots.
"Sorry mate, Things are getting hectic up here I don't have time to see it." replies Charles as he reloads the gun.
Another round is fired from the front gun as Althea aims for the control bridge. She turns her head around and yells at him, "Speaking of which, stop watching and get to fixing. The amount of flak firing in the air, I'm surprised the armor hasn't brake yet."
"She's right, um if you can repair the main engine, I think it's sputtering from the burst fragments," stammers Archer as he quickly overturns the helm making Althea miss her shot.
"Hey!"
"Apologise, the air around here is getting thick."
Tuning out the bickering between the two, Charles grabs his bag and heads up the stairwell to the upper deck. Standing in front of the support beam for the main engine, Courage looks through the cross beams and sees the ground moving below. Gulping, Courage carefully places his feet on where the beams form a 'x' and quickly goes over to the engine. Once there, he notices smoke rising out from underneath the cover and a rattling noise. Grabbing a wrench and opening the protective cover he begins his work.
"Oh Flak, everyone grab hold onto something," screams Archer as he places the Goldfish into a hard left turn trying to avoid and incoming round from the surface.
Althea quickly buckles herself on her seat on the main guns while Charles hugs tightly on one of the pipes of the generator. Courage barely hears the command until he feels the entire ship going into the turn. He drops the tool that he was currently holding as the momentum makes him loses his balance. As he tries to stay stable, he trips over his bag and get his foot caught in between the beams. A sharp pain rush through his right leg as he is now dangling over the edge with only his foot keeping him from falling to his death.
"ARRRGH"
All three turn there heads at the sudden scream and sees their friend in his predicament.
"Courage!" yells Charles as he runs to help his buddy.
"Archer, get us out of here now. I don't want to lose anybody today." Althea says to him as she unbuckles from her seat to help out as well.
"How about the transport?"
"Leave it, the other ships got it. And by the looks of it, the flak grid. Just fly use out of here before those flaks get us as well." as she scrambles up the steps to help Charles.
Acknowledging, Archer descends the ship down and away from the combat.
On the main beam Charles leans over the railing and extends a hand to Courage.
"Come one bud, reach."
Trying to pull himself up, Courage attempts to do a sit up as he extends his hand to Charles. Charles leans over the railing a little more in an effort to close the gap, but feels himself falling forward.
"Oh shit." he exclaims as he tilts but is grabbed on the back of his collar by Althea.
"Gotcha. Now hurry and grab Courage out"
Nodding, Charles extends his hand again even farther as he got Althea holding on to him. Pushing himself one more time, Courage swings his body up and latches onto Charles' forearm. The duo pull their friend up with Charles slinging his arm around Courage as they walk back to the main cabin.
With the heavy shooting going on behind them, Archer manuvers the ship down to street level where he cuts throttle and heads inside the cabin as well. There he sees Charles placing Courage onto the bunk and Althea grabbing the MedKit out from underneath. Looking at Courage's leg, he let out a small gasp as he examines the extent of the damage. The lower half of the right leg is twisted and bruise from where he tripped, fell, and catch the beams. His vision is blocked as Althea moves in from of him pulling out splits to brace the leg.
"Ok Charles got the gauze?"
"I have it right here."
"Good. Now Courage, we'll try to reposition your leg back to how it was, gonna be painful."
"Just do it, I'm already in enough pain as it is."
"Ready Charles?"
"Ready."
As the two move the bones and muscles around, Courage lets out screams of pain as each movement is worse as the last.
"Stop, just stop! I think that's the most you can get. Splint it, but I think it's broken."
"Whatever you say bud. Hold the splints down Althea, I'll start wrapping."
As Charles wraps the leg, Archer moves out of the cabin to grab some fresh air. As he deeply breaths he surveys his surrounding on where he landed. Much is unrecognisable as most buildings are smoking and filled with blast holes.
"Damn." Archer says to himself as he takes in the destruction.
Looking down street, he sees blown or crushed vehicles as when the tanks rolled through. Even the road is littered with craters and rubble, which starts vibrate violently.
"What the?" he says as small rocks starting to bounce. Looking over to the other direction a decently size Yeshan force is coming down the road accompanied with two tanks.
Quickly rushing to the helm, he activates the Hydrogen canister and calls to the others inside, "Brace, rising quickly!"
The tanks sees this and quickly turns their turrets to the balloon and fires. The rounds fly through the air and pierce through the thick fabric lighting the gas. The balloon erupts into flames and the small airship drop down onto the street knocking Archer over the helm to the generator side. The Yeshan squad then cautiously move up to the down airships while the tanks hang back.
Inside the cabin, the trio are jolted at the sudden rise and crash of the airship. Courage screams in pain as Althea and Charles slowly gets up. Looking through the windows, they see the approaching Yeshan on the port side. Althea then goes over to the rifle rack inside and grab her rifle and toss Charles his.
"We can deal with the foot soldiers, but we need to get to the Merc to take out the tanks" Althea says to him as she start breaking the cabins windows.
Loading his weapon, Charles takes a shooting position.
"I can try and man it myself."
"You'll be exposed to their fire, just pick them off."
"What about me?" asks Courage.
"Sorry Courage, but you can barely lie down with that leg of yours. Here take my pistols and shoot anyone if they get too close." says Althea as she unholsters her two custom made pistols.
"Wait, where is Archer? He should have came back inside." says Charles as he looks around the cabin.
"Flak, Charles go and see if you can find him, and be quick they are coming." orders Althea as she peers over the window. She quickly ducks as a bullet ricochet off the plating. Popping up, Althea aims down her sight a fires of a round hitting one of the soldier dead in the chest before hiding again.
Opening the door to the helm, Charles rush out and jumps to the generator side as bullets whiz pass him. Tumbling to safety, he quickly huddles the wall of the berthing space. There he sees Archer spread eagle on the deck a few feet to his left knocked out.
At least he is not dead
Still under cover, he pulls the unconscious Archer next to him. Making sure he is safe, Charles then crouch walk towards the port side armor plating and takes a shooting position
He then calls out to Althea, "Found Archer, he is a bit banged up, but breathing."
Althea fires another shot, "Ok. Look alive now, they are still coming."
Charles peers over and sees that they are quickly advancing from cover to cover. He also notices that one of the tanks is turning its turret and fires at the ship. The round hits the midship plating as an entire sheet falls off.
Oh Flak me as he takes cover from the blast. Once the debris settles, he peaks over and takes a couple of shots before hiding again.
BdrLineAzn:
-----
As the battle for the sky is heating up, so is the street combat as Guild tank forces are encircling the Yeshans to the city's Center. With the loss of their main command ship, the momentum shifts to the defenders as more troops converge in the fighting.
A portion of a building crumbles as a shell from a Yeshan tank hits it. Dusting off the rubble, BdrLine takes a shot at an advancing Yeshan soldier.
"I thought we were getting reinforcements," he say as he reloads his rifle. Several rounds ricochet off the alley wall he is hiding behind causing him to flinch.
On the other side of the street, Ny-Lee pulls the pin of a Loch grenade and lobs it towards a group of three behind a destroyed vehicle. Two of the soldiers spot the explosive and jump out of the way. The last one was too slow and gets caught in the explosion.
"It may take them awhile to get here," Ny-Lee says as she observes the grenade, "The Guild tanks are coming from the outskirts of the city while we are in their downtown."
"Well tell them to hurry up." yells Richard as he and Alex slowly advance at the Yeshan line to take a shot at the tank.
Sliding behind the charred vehicle that Ny-Lee threw her grande earlier, Alex loads the bazooka. Once clear, Richard pops up and fires near the turret. The rocket flies through the air and impacts the metal plating. As the smoke clears, the pair notices that the rocket only leaves a charr mark and that the turret is still operational.
"Oh come on!"
"Remember I told you that rocket shots to the front does almost nothing." exclaims Ny-Lee, " Now get back here before the both of you gets shot up."
Acknowledging, the duo gets up from behind the truck and sprints back to where BdrLine and Ny-Lee are taking cover. Bullets whiz by them as them scramble to the alleys. A few manage to hit Richard as he stumbles forward, a few yards away from BdrLine.
Alex makes it to Ny-Lee when he sees Richard getting shot, "Richard!!"
Ny-Lee has to pull Alex around the corner as a few rounds hit the wall.
"Get in here, won't be good if you get shot as well."
"They just killed one of my closest friends! I'm going out there and kill the lot of them!"
As he reloads a new clip into his rifle, Ny-Lee puts most of her strength to push Alex up on the wall.
"And what, die in a barrage of hot lead?"
"Let me go Captain."
"If you do go out there what about your daughter huh? Do I have to tell her that her father died by foolishly running straight at a well fortified enemy."
"Hey!"
The two turn their heads to see that BdrLine is calling over.
"Richard is still moving and I may get to him" he says as he peaks around his corner.
To where Richard is lying, they can see that he is crawling forward inches groaning audibly. Richard still has ways to go until he makes it to BdrLine's alley and the Yeshan are advancing slowly again. Wasting no time, Alex and Ny-Lee peek their weapons around and starts firing at their positions.
With the cover fire BdrLine crouch runs to the crawling Richard and slings an arm over his shoulder. Helping Richard up, he and BdrLine quickly goes back around the corner. As BdrLine lays him down he notices that there is no visible blood on his hand or on Richard.
"What the?"
BdrLine pulls Richard back a bit and sees the bazooka riddled with bullet holes.
Shaking his head in disbelief, "You are one lucky guy aren't ya huh?"
"Yeah," Richard moans as he unslings the large weapon and stretches his back, "What are they packing in those rifles? They burnt like a screaming banshee."
Laughing , BdrLine call over to the other side, "He is good, the only holes I found were on the bazooka."
"Oh thank God," Alex says as he release a breath.
"That's good, but now we don't have anything to deal with that tank." proclaims Ny-Lee as she continues to shoot.
She notices that the tank is approaching as well, crushing any obstacle in its way. All four duck as the turret fires at the right side building creating another hole.
"Alex, how high can you throw that bag of rockets?"
"What?" asks Alex to BdrLine's question.
"How high? I'm mean.....just throw it in the air!"
Alex looks at Ny-Lee who shrugs as she has no idea what her brother is planning. Going to the conclusion since they bazooka is out of commission, Alex complies to BdrLine's order and chucks the bag and it's contents high in the air. Tracking the bag, BdrLine fires his rifle as it starts to descend in front of the tank and soldiers. The round hits and cause a huge explosion killing those near the blast radius and reducing the numbers by a third.
"Nice thinking there Azn." calls out Ny-Lee
"Well I am called BdrLine for a reason." he chuckles in which she roll her eyes.
Standing, Richard peeks over and sees the massive dust cloud from the explosion.
"Wow. Guess that some way to....." he didn't finish his sentence as the Yeshan tank emerge from the cloud. It fires another round at their position as it keeps advancing.
"How? I saw that it exploded in front of it." questions BdrLine as he ducks from the falling debris.
"You said it, 'exploded in front'. It may have worked if the bag actually landed on the tank." calls over his sister.
As they duck again from another shell, the tank stop abruptly and quickly goes full reverse. Perplexed all four fell rumbling behind them and sees two old, bulky looking tanks.
"Those are the Guilds? They look like it came from a museum." says Richard.
"Must be from the last Conflict, I've seen pictures of them on the coast when the Barons we're attacking." responds Alex.
Both Guild tanks fire at the Yeshan tank. The shells hit but are deflected off due to the angled armor. The Yeshan tank respond back and fires at the left one which manage to dent the front plating. The two Guild tanks turrets move slightly downward and fires at the threads blowing them off.
Still going at full reverse the Yeshan tank drives off its rails and onto the street where sparks are flying as the wheels continue to spin. Knowing that they are not going anywhere another round is fired at the left Guild tank but the round ricochet off the main turret.
Still firing at the disabled vehicle, two squads of Guild soldiers follow behind. One advances at the Yeshan tank and soldiers while the other spots the four, split up and approaches them with weapons drawn.
"You there, drop your weapons or be fired upon." orders what is assume the leader of the squad.
"What we were just fighting against them! Don't you know who we are?" exclaims Ny-Lee.
"Yes, I see an Imperial Officer and soldier with two mercenaries. Now surrender and we may let you live." continues the leader as he motions for safeties to be off.
"Didn't Fyodor mention anything about us? We are trying to help stop this."
Still unnerved at Ny-Lee he says, "We were told to be on the lookout for two particular Yeshan individuals, but was order to take precaution in case of any form of deception."
Throwing his arms up, BdrLine says in desperation, "Guys still doesn't trust us. Yes we are the two he was talking about."
Behind them they hear two different explosions as the tank manage to take out of the Guild tanks before being overwhelmed by continuous tank and rocket fire.
"Hmm these tanks prove to be extremely difficult to take down," observes the Guild leader.
"If you lets us go with you I can give you information on how to destroy them." says Ny-Lee as she comes forward.
The squad raise their weapons at her to stop her approach. Placing a finger on his chin in thought, the leader waves his hand to lower their weapons.
"If you two are the ones we are suppose to look for, then you can accompany us. But if you there is any trickery." he snaps his fingers as the squad aim their weapons at them again.
All four nods in agreement.
"Good. Now, we already launched a full-scale counter attack and are pushing them back all the way yo the Centre. But if each encounter ends up like this," he motions to the damaged Guild tank and the destroyed one, " we are going to suffer heavy casualties."
"For the next engagement, as you already notice, best to disable their movement. Only thing don't attack at the front, the armor can deflect small caliber rounds and something of the likes of a Mercury or Heavy Flak can pierce through. Or attack the rear and aim for the radiator, it's lightly armored and can kill in one shot." explains Ny-Lee
"Very well. I'll pass this on to my superiors." says the Guild leader
He motions to a radioman who runs over and hands him the receiver.
As he changes the frequency, he notices a red airship quicky rise over the rooftops.
"What the?"
BdrLine notices it as well and focus more on it.
"Is that my....is that my airship?.....The Flak it is"
Two quick black dots fly through the air, pierces the balloon and sets it ablaze as the airship drops down to the ground.
"MY SHIP!!!"
"Well we know where several of those soldier are now. Everyone move out to where that Goldfish crash landed," orders the leader.
Quickly complying, the two squads reform and starts to head out. Running pass them, BdrLine sprint to his ship with his sister running and yelling behind him. Trailing, Alex helps Richard onto the Guild tank as they hitch a ride.
BdrLineAzn:
-----
With each tank shell hitting the Starlight, more and more of its armor plating is being blown off. Only reason the hull structure is still intact is because of the design and the placement of the armor from Yiski's original Goldfish.
Under the constant barrage of both the Yeshan tanks and their superior numbers, Charles and Althea are pinned to their cover. Each time they try to peek over and take aim, bullets ricochet off the metal and pass over their heads.
Inside the cabin is a steady pinging as the enemy continues to fire without opposition. Althea is getting annoyed with herself as she can't take an open shot. She is about to hit the wall behind her with her rifle but calms herself down, taking slow deep breathes.
"Damn it, damn it."
Sitting on the other side holding Althea's pistol, Courage looks upon the Anvalan Elite, "Yeah I know how you feel. But come one, we are soldiers of Anvala, we can take them. We survived worst."
"I know we did, I just don't want to wait for them to come to us and simply kill us four while we hide. I want to go out fighting."
"Then we'll give them hell once they board. AIN'T THAT RIGHT CHARLES!?!" Courage yells at the end to his mentor.
"We are Guards, we can handle it." he replies back.
Nodding in agreement, she says to him, "If we do go out today, at least it is for what is right. And I have the both of you with me."
"Wow, BdrLine did come though to you and made you sentimental."
Rolling her eyes, Althea pushes Courage as he lets out a chuckle before clasping their hands together in acknowledgement.
She unclasp and yells over, "Charles, get ready."
"For what?"
"I'll try and give you some cover, but quickly get on the Merc and take a shot at one of the tanks. We need to even the fight."
"Are you daft?!? There is like around 14 imperials out there."
"Just do it, we won't survive long out here if nothing is done. Get ready in 3."
On the main deck, Charles inhales and exhales as he waits for the countdown.
"1"
"2"
I really thing that she is thinking like BdrLine now.
"3, go go."
Charles quickly gets up from his cover and onto the port side modified Anvalan Field Gun. At the same time, Althea takes aim and quickly offs five people with her rifle with deadly speed and accuracy. Halting their advance, the 9 remaining soldiers stop behind rumble to take cover from the counterattack.
Seeing this, one of the tanks stop and rotate its turret to the cabin. As the gunner is about to fire, the tank commander sees a flash from mid port of the ship before a shell pierce through the plating and exploding inside the main compartment.
Charles aims and takes his shot at the tank looking at Althea. He smiles as the gun and round did what it was designed todo, creating a hot molten mess and explosion.
Oh thank you Commander for making theses for our side.
His eyes widen in surprise as he sees the Yeshans come out from their cover and start aiming at him. Firing off the second shot at a nearby group, he quickly jumps behind the armor plating near the front Flak.
Landing, Charles feels a stinging pain as he looks down and covers his left thigh. He sees he has been shot near his upper thigh and is bleeding. Quickly taking out a small pocket knife, he slices off his sleeve and begins to wrap the wound. Fumbling in tying it off, he goes in and out of consciousness as the loss of blood is getting to him.
Before he blacks out, someone catches him and sits him up. Charles opens his eyes and sees that Archer has came to and is now helping him.
"Don't worry I gotcha." he says as he ducks now and again from the new assault from the imperials.
Finally putting the last knot on the makeshift bandage, Archer hits the deck as he hears a tank firing. He brace for impact but no shell hit the ship. Perplexed, he then realised that the tank fired from the opposite of the airship. Crawling over, he sees a Guild tank and two squads of guild troops. Integrated with the squads, he spots BdrLine and the others running up to the Goldfish.
As BdrLine, his group, and a squad of seven finally board the ship, BdrLine goes over to Archer, Ny-Lee runs up to the cabin, and the others take firing positions against the imperials.
"Oh thank God that you guys came," says Archer in relief, "I don't know how much longer we can last."
"Archer! What happened to my ship?"
"You see they... Blew...it....up?"
"Not again, I spent so much time on this."
"Well nice to see you too babe. Glad to see you care about us and are happy we are fine.", scoff out Althea from the cabin.
"Is your brother like this at times." she asks Ny-Lee.
"He mind may be elsewhere for the majority of the time, but he still cares. Don't blame him too much." replies Ny-Lee.
Back on the main deck, BdrLine rubs his head sheepishly on forgetting about his friends on the ship but quickly goes prone as the two tanks exchange fire.
Coming too, he shouts to those around him, "Ok, to those who have grenades, throw some over. We need to start thinning their numbers."
Five pins are heard as five Loch grenades are tossed to the imperial positions. Explosions are heard as they detonate obliterating those near the blast radius. But a bigger explosion is heard as their Guild tank support goes up in flames. A few more shots from the tank explode near them as men are blown into the air.
"Ah Flak, if you have rockets, take them out and see if you can do anything." he again orders.
Two teams start to do as he says as two people load rockets into their partners bazooka.
As they are loading, Courage limps up and looks over the cabin and notices that the Merc is still intact.
"Bdr! If they can distract the tank, you can load the Merc and take it out." he yells.
BdrLine and Archer sees the weapon and nod to each other. Readying themselves, they wait until the two bazookas fire. As the rockets leave the barrels, a thick smoke trail comes from the tail giving them some smoke cover. Under the smoke, Archer picks up the twin rounds as BdrLine opens the breach.
Once the rounds are in, the breach is closed as the two see that the rockets deflect off the plating and into the surrounding buildings. The smoke is still in the air as the tank's gunner can't get a clear shot but is quickly disappearing. Looking down the scope, BdrLine moves his scoe that the crosshairs are lined up on the tank.
Just as the smoke clears, BdrLine fires both shots one after another as both penetrate. They explode inside as the entire main turret is blown off from the body and lands a few yards behind.
Seeing that both their armor support has been compromised, the surviving Yeshan start to fall back into the center of the city as the remainder of the Guild soldiers follow in pursuit.
Staying behind, BdrLine and Archer helps and pickup the unconscious Charles. Coming down the stairs, Courage sling both of his arms around Ny-Lee and Althea as they help him. Boarding the airship, the Guild leader who, BdrLine met earlier, goes over to them with Alex and Richard in tow.
"Hmm I believe I made a wrong assumption with the two of you."
"Yes you did." cough both Alex and Richard as they go over to their pals.
Ignoring their comment, he continues," Captain, with the information that you have gave us, we are destroying their tanks and routing the enemy. We thank you for that, and now they are regrouping to make a last stand."
"Where?," asks BdrLine.
"The place where it all started."
"Slava's Guildhall." says everyone at the same time.
"Yes, we have encircled them and the only defendable position that can house them is that guildhall. We'll have this over by noon tomorrow."
"How about the Yeshan airships."
"Still holding their title, they were difficult to take out. Several of our ships that finally manage to engage them were quickly destroyed. But after constant barrage by our grid, even the mightiest transport fell."
"All that is left are the ground groups and any remaining tanks," the leader checks his watch and the sky," it is getting late, we will fight on through the night, but you should recall your allies. The military will take it from here, you all have done enough."
"Thank you, but how about my ship?" asks BdrLine as he taps the deck with his foot.
"The Guild will have your ship transported to any dock you chose. Now, I suggest you tend to your wounded," the leader points behind him as a truck pulls up.
Nodding, the team loads up Charles and Courage into the flat bed as the rest takes a seat around them. BdrLine and his sister takes a seat next to each other as Althea lies her head on his shoulder. On the other side, Alex and Richard takes up the entire bench as they lay their body's down.
Giving the the driver directions to Zankief's warehouse, BdrLine closes his eyes as he thinks back to the long day. He quickly opens them as he feels the truck go to a stop and the trunk opening. Several of Zankief's men are at the end helping retrieve Courage and Charles, the rest hop down under their own power.
As they walk towards the large doors, they see that they are open and a field hospital is set up. Racks line up the main floor and doctors go about the wounded. Before they can say anything, everyone is split up as they are being checked over by doctors.
Feeling too tired to fight against them, BdrLine submits to the checks. As he lies on the rack, a familiar face hover over him.
"Looks like you made it." says Zankief.
He smiles seeing that his old friend has survive the skies, BdrLine sits up, "Yeah, was heck of a fight though. So since you are here both of my sister's Pyras made it."
"Yup, her second is quite a pilot. Went through the thickest flak just to get out of combat. Yeshans are truly crazy after seeing that spectacular."
"Hey I'm the only crazy one, " BdrLine chuckles, " So what is all this?"
"Well, since you have 'escorted' Guildmaster Fyodor here. He has manage to use my comms and made this place his FOB and rear hospital. Now it's just swarming with Guild."
"So what are you going to do about it?"
"Move shop, find another place to run my operations. After today, we are too much in the spotlight, time to lay low again."
"I understand, but I can still contact you right."
"Always. No way I'm letting you out of my sight."
Smirking and shaking his head, BdrLine extend his hand. Zankief takes it as they both shake their friendship. Standing at the entrance of the tent, Althea smiles as she watches the two.
As the two of them continue to converse, Ny-Lee manage to find Syá and her crews and is happy to see everyone alright. Alex and Richard walk around as well and spot the Skyrunner and it's full crew looking over the systems. Seeing her father again, Lorena goes up and hugs him.
As some happy moments are being passed around, there are some not so happy. Charles is still alive, but unconscious from the amount of blood he has lost and is under doctor supervision as they replace the blood.
For Courage, he is brought to a private room where a pair of doctor remove the splint and bandages. Once the last one is removed, they look in shock on how bad his lower leg has been damaged. Not only was the bone broken from the fall, apparently it has been hit from a flak round as the skin is shredded. Not know how he is not in pain, the doctors look at Courage and he knew what they had todo. Lying down on an operating table, Courage has a mask placed over his face as he breathes deeply.
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