Community > The Cantina
Burning Skies Saloon
Yiski:
--START OF DAY 97--
--NARRATOR--
Yiski and company all woke up before the moon was even out of sight. The group convened at Port Tar Barrel making preparations to depart for Yannock.
Zill would take Then It Was Fixed Again equipped with dual lumberjacks and a mercury on the left, dual hwachas on the right, and a harpoon on the back, and along with Jun'ko, Shink, and Paradox.
Yiski would take M'Naghten Returns equipped with a lumberjack, left gatling, and right mercury and along with Lauren, BdrLine, Roland, and Ny-Lee. The surprising bit was Lauren would be piloting with Yiski gunning.
Both ships also had additional crew to man the ships for sentry watch for tomorrow and the wedding and the ships were running the new mercury rifles and tungsten rounds.
When the ship preparations were completed, it was sunrise. Luckily, the tailor and dress shops were open and Roland, Jun'ko, BdrLine, and Ny-Lee got their respective outfits. Zill, Yiski, Shink, and Paradox still had a few old tuxedos, though those were more for military formals, but the four didn't care. The tuxedos still looked decent and the four didn't want to sit for hours getting fitted with new ones.
After a final check of ship, cargo, and crew, Yiski used the M'Naghten Return's radio to call over to Liu and Shen.
"Shen, Liu... this is Yiski. We've got our preparation ready and are departing. How are things on your end?"
"Shen here. Good to hear you're departing. The Tengshe has already in transit and we're following with a galleon and pyramidion. Can't be too safe."
"Agreed. We're comin' with a galleon and goldfish."
"Roger. See you soon and clear skies."
Yiski leans over the helm railing and yells at the others.
"Let's get the lead out and ship out!"
Both Then It Was Fixed Again and M'Naghten Returns loaded up and shipped out. Though there were clear skies, the group would not experience smooth sailing.
--NARRATOR END--
RearAdmiralZill:
-Then it was fixed again-
Zill's mind was not all on the task of flying today. The previous night he had stayed up looking at the Birdman research book that he had kept secret from the Council. Not all of the experiments had dire plots involved. Some of the less graphic ones could be seen as useful even. He remembered Kyle as he read through, as they always talked about finding long lost knowledge and devious research from top nation scientists.
He shook off these thoughts as the wind picked up. His bandana mask fluttered on his face, and a new hat held tight. He took a deep breath and called Lauren.
"Smells like a sandstorm. Hold off on the kerosene till we get closer."
"Smells? We have a deadline to meet and I'm not about to....."
"Ask Yiski if you don't believe me. Either way, you can get stuck in it and we'll pick you all up once its over if you'd rather that method. Zill out."
Zill wasn't thrilled that Lauren was piloting. She had an air of pride about her, and it wasn't going to help. He sighed, and Jun'ko came up next to him. She felt the wind and wanted to see if orders had changed.
"Windy up here."
"Sure is. Everything secured?"
"All except the guns. Want those secured too?"
"Yea. Dust storm will hurt 'em too bad if we don't. They need a woman's touch."
Jun just grinned and went below to get to work with the guys on securing the guns.
Yiski:
--M'Naghten Returns--
After the short conversation with Zill, Lauren looked down to Yiski who was staring off into the distance with Blood Bolt's scope. Lauren looked back forward and did notice a few dust clouds meandering into their flight path. While she knew flying through a sandstorm was foolish, she also knew exactly how to handle a ship through one. She sighed though realizing Yiski was still the captain of his ship.
"Yiski. Orders."
Yiski took a few moments staring off into the distance before turning and responding.
"Kill kerosene. Pull to three-quarters throttle. We got a sandstorm comin' in."
"You too, huh?"
"Yeah, we passed Parrin and now approaching the Dunes. Sandstorms aren't unusual out here and you of all people should know better than to pilot through one."
"How long do you think the sandstorm will last?"
"If we're lucky, we'll make Nalm by nightfall."
Something in the back of Yiski's mind told him, they weren't going to be that lucky.
Yiski:
--Near the skies of Nalm--
Yiski and Zill were right, the sandstorm was brutal. Even though the two ships were a good four kilometers out, the strong winds were still causing Zill and Lauren problems keeping steady. Zill called over to Lauren.
"We're going to have to drop alt and drop anchor if we don't want to get swept aside."
"Understood."
Lauren wasn't up for arguing, not after being wrong again about being able to fly through this storm. She leaned over the helm to see if Yiski was looking at her. He wasn't. Lauren gave a sigh of relief as she dropped down. She really didn't want to get another lecture, but she felt one was coming.
Both ships dropped to a safe altitude and anchor. While the anchors did help with the swaying, dropping anchor on sand dunes don't do much for stability. The ships still suffered from drifting.
Yiski came up to the helm. Lauren was expecting Yiski to say 'I told you so," but Yiski called over to Zill on the radio.
"How you holdin' up?"
"Better, but the drift is still causing me trouble. You?"
"Not all that bad. Good thing Lauren hasn't missed a step in piloting."
Zill facepalmed on his end. The last thing he wanted was Yiski feeding her ego. Even if it was true. Yiski realizing the implications.
"Zill, assumin' you're rollin' your eyes or somethin', it could be..."
"Don't you finish that line! You know damn well things do go south when any of us say that."
Both Zill and Yiski looked back toward Parrin and, as if on cue, the two saw a few ships approaching. Using their respective scopes, they spot five ships. Three junkers and two squids... with raider markings.
"Dammit Yiski!"
"Shink's fault."
BdrLineAzn:
--M'Naghten Returns--
Out on the main deck, BdrLine, Ny-Lee, Roland, and the additional crew all had face scarves and googles on to protect them form the sand. BdrLine being close to the helm heard Zill over the radio.
He called over the sand.
"Yiski is there a problem"
Out of nowhere, a mercury shot rang out missing the two ships. Everyone on deck turn to face where it came from and notices the raider ships.
"Nevermind found the problem, so ... start shooting?"
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version