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Imagine:
A little bit more stuff. It's actually a lot more difficult to write a story where the main character isn't referred to by name, makes it harder to not confuse readers as to whose action is taking place. Maybe I should've written it in the first person? Ah well, probably too late for that now. Slightly different format as well, I guess.

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*3 days before the event*

The sun's morning rays beat at the shuttered window, slithering through the cracks and burned at his eyelids. He stirred after a moment, bringing his hands to block out the brightness of the morning. Too early, it was much to early to be up this early.

"I'll really have to get that fixed one of these days..." he muttered, peering out from behind his fingers, glaring sleepily at the shutters. After several months of residence in this particular room, the season was finally beginning to turn to where it would become an everyday ordeal, and would only get worse as the days wore on.

He turned over, burying his face into the rough pillow, the morning stubble on his face scratching irritatingly. He rolled once more, scratching his chin. The morning so far had not gone in his favor, but too much had gone wrong so far to make any good attempt at falling back asleep. His thoughts would only flutter between cursing the sun, the pillow, his hair, and perhaps would roll into the regrets one has about life when they start to have nothing to do but remember things. He groaned and unwound himself from the thin blanket that had tangled up during the morning's ordeal, tossing off to the side. He stood, glaring down at the blanket, and stomped over to the washbasin to, at the very least, scrub the grime from his face, maybe even shave on this morning. He wasn't the type who shave too often, even a week's worth of growth would barely show, but he tried anyways; he often felt it had made him at least seem older, and less likely to be dismissed as a young novice. He was halfway through the morning ritual, when the banging on his door began, forceful and with urgency.

"Hey, you in there? Captain's calling for all hands, something about a new job!" came the yell from the other side, gruff and grating to the ears, even when muffled by a solid wooden door.

"Great, just great." He mumbled to himself, throwing the small towel he was holding across his neck, both sides draping across the front of his chest. He shuffled over to the door, moving lethargically from one end of the room to the other. Too early, much too early for any of this. The banging at the door began again, and the voice started calling out once more, with more force this time. "Hey! Wake u---"

He flung to door open angrily, staring at Carl, face in a grimace. Carl was several inches taller than him, shoulders wide and fit, bushy mustache combed neatly over his upper lip. Compared to Carl he was spindly, even with the rigors of working airship routes he never was able to pack on as muscle as some other crewmen. He was fine with this most of the time, often he was able to reach places others could not, could slink through a crowd to disappear when needed, but in moments like this, standing half naked and close up to someone of Carl's build, the differences were noticeably stark. A small pang of jealousy twitched through his head, but he re-doubled his efforts to frown at Carl's early morning disturbance.

"What." He said, making sure Carl knew it was a statement, not a question.

Carl paused for a moment, and glancing at the hand greeting him, still holding the razor he had in his hand, up in an almost threatening position. The edge had caught the morning sun, gleaming menacingly. Fantastic, he though, this morning just keeps getting better by the second. He flipped the razor closed, and tucked it into his waistband, putting his arms down to his side. Yes, the morning hadn't gotten off to a terrific start, but Carl's wasn't really at fault, he reminded himself. The frown on his face, however, remained steadfast.

"Ah, well, yes," Carl quickly recovered and continued on, speaking through the mustache that hid is mouth. "Didn't know you were awake. Captain's got some sort of new job lining up, wants us formed up to go over details."

"This early?" He responded exasperatedly.

It was a valid question. Too many crewmen would still be recovering from the night before, in ways that only the ones who flew the skies could think of. Crewmen had not the best record for being the right of mind, though much of that was usually over exaggerated by those who thought of the profession of something as wild and dangerous; in truth most of the time it was dull and lackluster. Only in brief flashes was it as it was romanticized, and most crewmen reveled in the attention telling of stories from grand battles they had partaken in. Why, one could even make a decent amount of coin, if not just complimentary drinks at inns that would fill when a good storyteller was weaving a tale. He suspected that half of those telling tales had never even been in battles themselves; the details were often glaringly wrong.

"Just passing the word." Carl shrugged with his entire upper body. "It's been a while we had something good come along, we've hardly been scraping by with these meager trade runs recently."

It was true. Many months had passed since the job in Firnfeld, hired to help drive out bandits harassing trade routes. It had been good pay, certainly, but he suspected the crew's funds were dipping rather low by now, and the occasional local cargo delivery had been barely enough to cover the cost of the trips. The crew was restless, he could tell that even the Captain was itching for something with more action. He had hoped she hadn't made some foolish rash decision to satiate her appetite for adventure, but she was level headed enough to think these things through. Usually.

He sighed, releasing his frown, and put his hands up dejectedly.

"Fine, fine, whatever. I'll finish up here," he said, pointing at his face, still lathered with now quickly drying shaving foam, "and I'll be down in a minute."

Carl nodded, then half-smirked.

"Don't forget a shirt." he said, then turned briskly, large feet storming the morning dust from the floorboards in his wake. He readied a quip to fire at Carl, but though better of it.

"A bad morning indeed." He muttered to himself, and pulled the door closed.

BdrLineAzn:
Okay sorry for the length, by this has been on my mind for the past 8 hours. As I said in my first post, this is the flashback I wanted to expand on.

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~Present~

Anvala, Western District

After a day of testing with the new incendiary rounds that her brother has made at the Academy's gun range, Ny-Lee and Azn walks out of the main campus towards his docks at the Western District. With the rifle strapped over her shoulder, a thought has been on her mind since she first docked in Anvala. Next to her, Azn is carrying the crate with the rounds that they didn't fire. Lost in the depths of his mind, BdrLine compels whether or not to tinker with the mixture  or to change any aspect of the round

He mumbles to himself, "Hmm what if I add more Dragon Peppers, will the flames become bigger? Or the gunpowder, add more while I take away a fraction of the peppers? I may have to ask Yiski," to his sister, "What do you think Ny. ... Ny?"

Shaken from her thought, Ny-Lee looks to answer, "Huh what? Say again, I didn't hear."

Scrunching his eyebrows, BdrLine looks over his sister. She shrinks a little from his stare.

"You okay Ny?"

"Ye-yeah I'm fine, let's just get to your house."

Looking over at her one more time, he shrugs his shoulder as the pair enters the entrance to the docks.

Nearing his docks section as well to her current place of residence, the thought comes over her again. Curling her lips, she opens her mouth to speak.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, shoot," he say while not taking his eyes off the street."

"Well... Azn what did happen to you after your call from Ho Tower?"

Stopping in his tracks at the question, he stares off towards the setting sun as he wonder his mind back. Without looking, he walks towards a bench and sits while still digging brain. Following her brother, Ny-Lee takes a seat next to him.

"As you know it was two days after the whole Market Debacle that I arrived at He and radioed back home."

Listening, Ny-Lee nods as Azn continues.

"Basically after the call, I spent the next few months traveling under the same captain I met from when I escaped. We spent the majority of our time around the Wastes, going as far north to Hanat to Sanctuary in the south. During that time, I've spent expanding and mastering my engineering, and I was in no short supply of contraptions to work my hands on."

"It was simple and adventurous, but there is one particular event that I remember well. It started at Yunin where we met my old pen-pal from the Baronies. He and a few of his men were on leave from his military and wanted to travel around with us. During that time, we already got a job to transport goods to Nalm, so he tagged along as our scout. First leg from Yunin to Bajad went by smoothly, it was after that was different...

~Three Annums Ago~

Dunes en route to Nalm

The sun is high and nigh as the only sounds that BdrLine hears is the roar of the engines and the whistling of the wind. Lying on some crates down in the second deck of the Junker, he relaxes during the lull in his routine repair rounds. As he is about to drift into a nap, a nudge on his shoulder prompt him to open an eye. Standing over him is another deckhand, slightly older than him.

Groaning, "Agh, what is it Ren? Can't I have some rest."

"Sorry Bdr, but captain wants ya. Says your friend is on the radio."

Sitting up and getting off his makeshift bed, he follows Ren up the ramp leading back to the main deck. As they exit the holeand round the corner, BdrLine sees that the helm is manned by their third deckhand and their captain on the radio. Walking towards the radio, Zankief looks up as he hears the approaching footsteps.

"Yeah, he's here," he says to the receiver. Zankief then hands. over the headset to BdrLine.

BdrLine takes the headset and places it on his head. As he is about to speak, Zankief says to him, "Don't know why he only talks to you, I mean I am the captain of this ship. Something is wrong in your friends head Bdr, it feels like he doesn't trust me."

Smirking, BdrLine places a hand over the receiver and replies back, "Maybe it's because you said that you're from the Guild. Remember that conflict between them annums back."

"I said that I run a warehouse in the Guild. I don't even look like a native Guildsman, I'm from Boomtown for flak sakes."

Shrugging his shoulders, "Hey maybe he'll warm up to you, have another friend of sorts."

Zankief shakes his head as rolls his as he waves Bdr over.

Still smirking, BdrLine takes his hand off the receiver and talk to the Squid's captain.

"So Bertram what is it now?"

"Told you how many times, don't use my first name. Sounds too awkward and fancy. And wipe that smile I can feel it from here."

"Alright, alright" , he says chuckling, "So Melin, what do you need to tell me when you could have said Zankief. He's a good guy you know."

"I'm just a little weary of people from the Guild, even if there is a truce after the conflict. But just wanted to tell you so far we find nothing on radar  and maybe a hour, two tops, until we hit Nalm."

"Okay, I'll relay that to the others. Thank the Gods we have you guys on this run, your radar really helps out."

"Yeah, tell me again how the one on your ship got busted?"

"Oh umm hehe, a minor fire erupted from some misconnections."

"Really... I'll just update you if we get anything, Melin out."

"Hold on Melin, just tell Zankief. Don't have me asking to you all the time. Also he says he is from Boomtown, so drop that paranoia."

Sighing, "Alright Bdr, out."

As the radio goes silent, he places the headset back down on the radio. Facing back towards the main deck he spots Zankief holding a clipboard and inspecting the crates. He looks up from the board and sees that BdrLine is finish and motions him to come over.

"So, what's the message."

"Skies are clear and we should be at Nalm around two."

"Gonna be ahead of schedule I see, extra money for us then. Go and take the helm from Lupez, he needs a little break."

Groaning at the irony of the situation as he was suppose to be on break, BdrLine does as he is told and reliefs Lupez.

Soon an hour has pass and a small sandstorm hits the travellers. Wearing thicker clothing along with goggles and bandanas, the entire crew of the Junker race about tying down loose crates.

On the Squid the crew adorns similar clothing to combat the incoming sand. While Melin and two others of his crew work on keeping sand out of their engines, Frey, the fourth crewman and second in command of the ship hears and notices two blips on radar.

He shouts over the storm, "Melin, we have targets on radar."

On the platform fixing the top port engine, Melin barely hears Frey shouts. He motions to him by bringing a hand up to his ear and shaking his head. Dropping his tools and jumping off the platform to the helm, Melin leans in.

"What did you say?"

"Sir, we have two blips that came up on radar and coming towards our position fast."

"Keep tracking, I'll inform the Junker."

With a nod, Frey turns back to the radar as Melin turns his radio on, "Hey BdrLine, Captain Zankief, anyone. We just picked up two ships on radar, it looks like they are coming to our position. Might want to get some weapons ready if they are hostile."

Unfortunately for Melin no one on the Junker was near the radio and miss the message. He continues to relay until someone has picked up and acknowledges him. But as fast as the blips come on the radar, they disappear from view. With a confused look, Frey taps Melin on the shoulder who looks over while still relaying the message.

"Hello, anyone ther...what the?"

Through his headphones, Melin hears a voice comes through, "What the what Captain Melin."

"Ah Captain Zankief, finally someone answers."

"Sorry, just battering down the hatches. So what seems to be the problem."

"Well we did just had two blips show up on our radar."

"What do you mean by had."

Before Melin can answer his question reports can be heard from the sandstorm as shells explode around the two ships. Screeching into view are two Pyramidions intent to kill. The first Pyramidion charges towards the Junker with guns blazing as the pops of a light flak firing fills the area. The crew of the Junker hit the deck as shrapnel from when the rounds explode flies around them.

While the first Pyramidion attacks the Junker, the second tries to ram the Squid, but Melin manages to lift his ship up in time. As this Pyramidion overshoots underneath Melin, he quickly turns his ship around and flies over the enemy with a pass with the starboard flame thrower. Not doing a sufficient amount of damage, the crew of the Pyramidion quickly extinguish the flames and gives chase to the Squid into the depths of the sandstorm.

Back on board the Junker, Zankief drops the headset from the radio and rushes to the helm as he tries to manoeuvre out of the ram. Putting the engines into full speed, he watches as the enemy comes closer to his port side.

"Ah flak. EVERYONE BRACE FOR IMPACT!!"

With a thunderous crack, the beak of the Pyramidion connects with the midsection of the Junker knocking down any loose material as well as the ship and crew. Disoriented, BdrLine struggles to get up on his feet as he hears Zankief ordering Ren and Lupez to man the port side guns. As the enemy reverses after the ram, BdrLine sees people on the top scaffolding reloading their weapons.

"Bdr!", knocking out of his daze, he turns to Zankief shouting at him, "Get ready for repairs, they look like they mean business."

Looking back at the enemy and at Zankief, he can only give a slight nod as shaking hands goes over his tool belt.

"Good, go and try to salvage what hull we have on our mid-port, that ram did us good. Ren, Lupez, are the guns ready! We need to act now!"

Stumbling, he complies and rush to the damaged section. As Zankief manoeuvres forward to get out of the front guns of the Pyra, their guns open fire again, this time accompany with gatling fire. Taking cover in the hole, BdrLine covers his ears as the sounds of explosions and bullets hitting hull ring through his ears. As the firing dies down, he assumes they are reloading and pulls out a mallet to straighten out the dented metal sheets.

Soon their own ship returns fire with a gatling of their own along with a banshee. During the reload of the Pyramidion's guns, Zankief manages to get out of the front arcs and onto their port side. With his guns firing he can see holes tracing along the wooden deck of the enemy as well as small fires springing out from the banshee.

"Keep it up boys, don't let up. BdrLine how's our hull?"

Deeply breathing, he comes out from the hole and tries to answer back, "She's... Fine, we can... Take a few more... Hits."

"Whoa, calm down and keep your head straight, we can't lose you in this."

"Roger, Zankief", he says as he place a hand over his chest.

Another explosion hits the Junker as a hissing sound can be heard from the balloon. The crew looks up and see a few holes embedded in the fabric.

Zankief turns his head back to the Pyramidion and sees a carronade shooting at the balloon, "FLAK ALL OF THIS, Ren try and put some holes into that gunner. Bdr you need to climb up there and patch it up, if that goes, we all go. Got it?"

Going wide eyed, he looks at the balloon and to the ground, "Are you mad!? What if I lose my footing and fall."

"If you don't fix it we are all falling no matter what. Now get to it! Dont you crack Bdr, our lives depend on it!"

As the carronade continues to shred the balloon, Ren and Lupez fires at the deck prompting those to take cover. As the two provide covering fire, BdrLine grabs patches of cloth as well as a roll-tacker and climbs the rigging. Reaching the top, slinging an arm through one of the top ropes and starts to sew the covers over the holes. Completing one patch job, he shimmy to the next hole and to the next. As he reaches the last hole, a blinding light shines making him drop the roll-tacker onto the deck.

As Ren and Lupez suppress the enemy crew, one of them braves the fire and runs to the flare gun. Turning to have their crosshairs on the man, he fires the flare blinding those on the Junker. With this distraction, another man fires the carronade and start shooting at the balloon again, nearly hitting BdrLine in the process.

With the light fading away, hanging on to the rigging, BdrLine sees new holes in the fabric. Looking down at the deck he spots the roll-tacker as well as the nearing ground. Closing his eyes and breathing a deep breath, he unhooks his arm from the rigging and jumps to an adjacent room connecting to the hull.

Hitting the deck with a thud, he rolls around before getting on his feet to the roll-tacker. Grabbing new rolls of cloths, he starts to climb up the rigging again.

From the banshee, Lupez looks over the deck and sees the ground racing to meet them. "Cap, 500 meters until splat."

"Keep firing we can't lose this. Come one Bdr, you got this."

As the two ships continue to fire at one another, the Junker is still dropping out of the sky as the enemy keeps pace.

With the ground almost insight, Zankief notices something on the Pyramidion. "Lupez, Ren, concentrate everything at the boiler on the deck. This is out last shot."

Reloading their weapons a new volley of bullets and rockets starts to hit the enemy boiler. Seeing this, the enemy pilot tries to rise out of the incoming fire until a banshee rocket hits the main tank. With a explosion, it rips a hole on the starboard side of the Pyramidion as power drains out. With the power out, the engines and balloon pump slowly stops working. With the advantage, the two gunners fire without discrimination until the enemy turns into a hunk of metal on the desert floor.

With the skirmish over, BdrLine has time to patch the remaining holes. After the last one covered, he slowly slides down a rope back down to the deck. Once back on somewhat solid ground, he collapse and land on his rear as hands race through his hair. Deeply breathing, he doesn't feel Zankief walk up behind him and raise him up.

"You alright? Never been under fire huh. You did well today Bdr, saved the ship and our lives."

"What did I get myself into? I heard of stories of bandits and raiders from my mother's travels, I didn't expect myself to be in a battle between one!"

"Welcome to the current world we live in. What we have done the pass few months has been way too easy on you. You didn't expect us not to be attacked sooner or later during a contract."

"I don't think I can do this. If there is more of this to come, I may become worse than what I am during the battle. I may get the whole ship killed."

"Hey, you did fine today. And don't get that negative mambo jumbo in your head, keep thinking like that and you will be dead. Just stay calm and keep a clear mind and you will survive. Got that."

"Ye-yeah I guess so."

"No guess so, know so. Get that in your head Bdr. There will be more battle like these in the near future."

With a sigh, Zankief pats BdrLine on the back, "Just get some rest, I'll see if your friend is still there."

As he leaves BdrLine on the middle of the deck too think things over, Zankief returns to the radio and tries to contact Melin. As it turns out, Melin has taken care of his Pyramidion with ease thanks to the whole crew military training. Regrouping again, the ships continue on there journey to Nalm arriving half past two.

~Present~

Anvala, Western District

Still sitting on the same bench at the start of the story, the sky has turned to a light blue as the sun finally fades over the horizon.

"So once we arrived to Nalm, I turned to and say that I am going on my own way. He nods knowingly and hands me a piece of paper with a radio frequency saying that if I need anything just call. With a brief hug he hands me a good size pouch of coins as payment before he boards his Junker and I watch as he flies off with another contract."

"As I watch as the Junker flies away, Melin asks if I can travel with him for the duration of his leave. I decline saying that I will be find only my own. Same thing as I did with Zankief, I watch as he flies off away. Now on my own with both my friends going off in different directions, I do what I know what to do. For the next few weeks I find myself on different ships to different towns across the Burren offering my service."

"Soon I found myself here in Anvala during it's Spring Festival. It was pretty hectic as there were crowds of people from all over. Needless to say I found jobs repairing quite easily. The dock master of the time saw that I was handy with all the repairs and the business of the Festival and offered me a permanent spot here."

"So as you can see by me still being here, I accepted. Got the current dock section that I have now, along with a collection of workers and housing. After the learning experience of my first annum out of the Empire, the next two has been an interesting one. From meeting and crewing for Zill to finding the Saloon with Yiski and the others. And up to now, you know the rest."

During the whole story, Ny-Lee sits silently as she listen tentatively.

"Wow, I didn't know that you went through all that."

"Yeah, besides those who were with me, you are the only one who has heard of this story. I'm glad that I can let it all out, feels good you know," he ends with a chuckle.

"Heh, yeah." Ny-Lee looks up to the sky and notices the change. " Think we should be at your house now."

Looking up as well, BdrLine nods, "Yeah, come on, let's head back."

Standing up from their seats, BdrLine grabs the the crate again and leads them back to his place. Behind him, Ny-Lee eyes her brother with a little sense of respect.

SakuraTenshi:
Not much to tell (see also: work in progress, really should brush up on the full lore), my namesake was born to the Arashi clan and developed a love for mechanical tinkering at a young age, learning to make the most of sparse materials. Once the airships really started going up, she went with them.

Unfortunately, the first ship of her service crashed and she suffered a spinal injury that has caused her reaction time to suffer (Incorporating my lag as part of my character) as well as her performance as, well, anything on a ship. She still remains a very capable engineer, when push comes to shove, she can also take the helm or man the guns, but she's cripplingly dependent on specialized equipment to do her jobs to help compensate for her injuries, and she can only keep one loadout at a time while the rest needs to be stowed.

These days she works for anyone who will pay her, moving from ship to ship for her wages. Despite her chronic pains, spotty records, and tendency to be a sole survivor, she retains a fairly cheery disposition off duty and is not the sort to drink strong alcohol (with sanitized water being scarce though, she can't afford to be pick).

On deck though and when asked to stick to her specialty, she's extremely bossy and prone to forgetting whose really in charge. True to historical airplane engineers, she seems to think any ship she's working on is hers and not the captain's and gets very irate at more reckless and self destructive maneuvers or stunts. (And especially flying into death clouds)

That's all I got and most was made up on the fly.

RedRoach:
After coming back after a long while and not expecting anything new at the cantina, I saw this. Great job Sakura, and I like the thinking of including lag as a part of the character. ;)

SakuraTenshi:
thank you, it harkens a bit back to my City of Heroes RP days when I would incorporate odd things into my characters, even applying lore from other people to my own.

I really am excited for Adventure Mode when we can actually sit and chat in towns and such, or at least on ships. (you know, might be cool to have "RP" matches where there's more focus on character and self-made stories than the actual mission.

Anyway though, I'm not 100% to read on the lore, so I tried to keep my namesake vague.

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