We all remember that epic win where all the stars lined up perfectly just for you bringing the match to a specular end. For me, the tale is that of a Galleon named Jeeves, and a nail biting match of roaring guns and smell of burning engines.
A Galleon and a Squid met in the sandy skies over the bloody sands of Dunes. Together, they faced the scurge of the skies, a Pyramidian sporting the horns of gatling and twin mortar, as well as a Junker bristling with the same, crowned with an Artemis front.
Jeeves, my trusty Galleon, carried a gatling on main deck, Artemis on rear, a Hellhound and hwacha on the right, and a pair of gently smiling Manticores below the gatling on the left. The Squid bore a Barking Dog front, flamethrower side, and gatling rear.
These worthy foes clashed near the broken monuments of the past. The Pyramidian was the first to fall, the captain thinking a hull armor strip followed by a barrage form the mortars and a kerosine powered ram would more than finish Jeeves. The soon realized his mistake as my phoenix claw brought him into the smile of my hwachas... though perhaps to his confusion, they did not fire. Rather, the only sound coming from the Jeeves was the lonely rat tat tat of gatling heavy clip. The engineer on the gatling likely ground his teeth in despair as the hull armor quickly disintegrated behind him. But he stayed there, recalling his captain's orders only a short while before the bullets began to fly.
"Let the ship burn," I spoke calmly, "Do not leave that gun unless ordered."
"Are you sure?" he had asked, perhaps questioning my sanity. "We need the hull..."
"Yes. You fire until one of us is dead."
"I think I like this captain," the gunner responded, a grin obvious in his voice.
The Pyramidian's armor broke while She was still trying to chew though ours. "Fire." was spoken, and the Manticors grinned. A double barrage of burst missiles poured forth from their gaping maws, unleashing pure hell from the lower decks at the call of the gunner and second engineer. The Pyramidian disintegrated, peppering the Jeeves with splinters and gears.
"Now you may fix the hull," I spoke over the mad laughter coming from below decks, "Then join me on the Captain's deck to fire the Artemis. We will be flying backwards to aid the Squid."
"Yes sir..." he answered between mallet swings,"And I take back anything I was about to say about your piloting skills."
The Junker fell quickly to the flames of the Squid and our Artemis fire. With the sour taste of defeat in their mouths, the two ships plotted revenge. They knew the Squid had been weakened from its last encounter with the Junker, and chose it as their sole victim. The Junker came in first, circling just out of Jeeves galtling range. A glancing blow of hwacha rockets disabled Her engines, and the Squid pounced. However, this played directly into the plans of the Pyramidian, waiting just a little further out. The Squid fell to the paired guns of the Junker and Pyramidian, leaving my Jeeves alone in the dusty wind.
I quickly ordered my gunner to fire at will with the right side Hellhound and the second engineer to empty the hwacha and go mid deck. The Pyramidian caught a full heavy clip of missiles on her nose as She tried to close, followed by loosing her balloon to the Hellhound. She dropped out of harm's way as our main engineer worked on keeping the hull armor pristine. Once again, I ordered him to the Artemis.
"Keep the Junker disabled as we turn, then jump to the gatling after your gun is empty."
Phoenix claw brought us about as my second engineer worked the hull. The Junker lost its own Artemis, as well as a gatling, but continued to close. The Pyramidian rose into our own gatling range just as my engineer got to the gun. Jeeves began losing armor rapidly, but once again the Pyramidian broke first. With only one gunner, we could not give the double killing blow. This allowed a few mortars to land before the gunner could get to the second hwatcha and send them to the sands below. By this time, the Junker was behind us, and I ran to the Artemis to fire a full clip into their guns just as our armor came up. Our Squid was fast approaching, and they chose to beat a hasty retreat.
Again they came, focusing on our Squid ally to take him down, then turning on us. Jeeves lost more hull integrity with each successive assault, but remained in the sky. The valiant Squid returned to take its turn grinding the Junker into the ground after an extended and frantic battle, but fell to the now-wary Pyramidian. The Pyramindian once more retreated to the Junker.
After a furious fight, the score rest at four to four. Our Squid had respawned at the far edge of the map, leaving no hope of them getting to us in time. Our main and one turning engine were broken. The armor was down. Only one Manticore remained alive. The screen had long gone red, signalling our impending doom as the Pyramidian and junker rained down mortars. Both engineers frantically beat at the hull. Using phoenix claw, I burned out the last engine to get the Junker just into range of the hwacha. Missiles rose to meet them in a furious roar... and we heard it... the sound of their hull armor break. In a last, desperate move, I leaped over the railing from the helm to the gatling, and began turning the gun to the raising Junker. Just before I fired, I noticed the ammo count.... 1... a single, solitary bullet in a gun designed to rain hot lead. By the time I could have reloaded, they would have raised out of arc. Knowing we were about to lose, listening to the sound of mortars and furious spanner hits on the hull behind me... I fired.
The Junker exploded. Glorious bits of junk rained down on our triumphant Jeeves. He had carried us to victory.
