Burning Skies Saloon

[Yiski]

--En Route to Southern Wall--

Yiski checked Blood Bolt's ammo and cursed to himself when he realized he didn't have any rounds with brass in them. He had a clip of sunburst rounds loaded and a clip of thermite.

"Skies... of all the times to...

GGRRAHH!!!

The wall behind Yiski collapses and out comes an abomination. There's a momentary pause as the two catch each others attention. Then the abomination rushes in with its arms spread wide. Yiski manages to dodge the rush. He immediately drops to one knee and aims at the abomination's head. Yiski fires three shots, all landing... but they bounced off.

"Shit."

The abomination makes for another rush, but the three sunburst rounds pop and obstructed the oncoming rush. The abomination ran headlong into a nearby building which toppled down. Yiski took this opportunity to escape and find a defender squad to regroup on. As Yiski kept making progress to the southern wall, he grinned.

"At least it wasn't the saloon."

[Wazulu]

Having legged it to Anvala, Wazulu, his ship destroyed, had commandeered a small squad of defenders. Pinned in the West, he'd been pushed further and further to the North, only to find himself backed into more abominations. Running low on munitions, the group sticks to the small alleyways, and sets up a barricaded Burning Skies Saloon.

In desperation, the group turn to some 'interesting' tactics. Grabbing all the cutlery and Hellfire they could find, makeshift grenades are concocted out of old steam-bulbs, bits of brass fork stabbing into the demonic creatures. In fact, several houses quickly had their water pumps filled with the same Hellfire, and a simple increase of pressure would cause a large explosion in every wall.

Tricks didn't trump brute force, however, and the beasts plowed on slowed, but unaffected. Swatting the squad left and right the cracking of bones became a repetitive dance over rubble and blood. Backed into the crumbling remains of a three-storey building, Wazulu limped up the stairs, eventually collapsing. Looking at the sky, the air battle was going well. However, the land battle was at a turning point, where a mistake could lose all of their lives.

The last of his small group died under the foot of a beast, individual features stamped into the cobble tiles. Knowing his fate would soon follow, Wazulu pulled out his final trick.

He aimed his flare gun up high above his head, and shot off a single, burning shell into the darkening sky.

W: 'Hehe, I'd better go out with a bang....'

The abominations in the area turned to the Flare, and soon all movement directed towards it, the streets filled with the bulked figures. The same flare caught the eyes of the crew on the ships above, and those that were operational turned their guns to bear.

W: 'Should even us out a little down here, heh. Then again, a shame to lay waste to such a beautiful distr-'

The noise of blazing guns drowned out all sound- dust swirled around the ground, whipped up by the focus fire. Magazine after magazine was emptied, and a flak shell quickly tore through the wall Wazulu was resting on. It imploded just as an abominaton climbed up the stairs, and both of them were instantly eviscerated. After 2 minute's barrage the guns stood still. Everything in the radius of the flare had been utterly vaporised.

No evidence of any life remained in the district, except a small tavern that stood steady in the burning embers of the sunset.

[Skyraider]

As Sky was about to land, a loud "BANG" noise was heard followed by a yell. Sky looked over to see his plane was leaning to the left by a lot and something was grabbing onto the wing. It climbed toward Sky and Iris.

Sky
"What the hell is that thing?!"

Iris
"Whatever it is, it just jumped onto our wing and is going to KILL US!"

Sky saw a building up ahead, instead of trying to land he thought of something else.

Sky
"HOLD ON!"

Sky angled his wing at the building and barely missed it. Another loud "THUD" was heard and the plane was thrown into a spin. The plane landed belly-flat onto the ground, enough to cause Sky and Iris to hit their heads on the canopy. The building had a huge hole in the side and the monster was no longer on his wing.

Sky
"We're still alive HUZZAH!"

Iris
"Take that you piece of rotting flesh!"

Sky
"Ha, he couldn't even take our wing off!"

The engine on the plane caught on fire, both Iris and Sky panicked to get out of the plane. They got out and extinguished the fire with lightning speed. Then Sky pulls out his sword he keeps instead of a pistol.

Sky
"What ever that was, I wouldn't go empty handed.... Or alone. Rally up the rest of the Flying Panthers and find Yiski or Zill. So we can figure out what is attacking us exactly, that was not a human."

[Yiski]

--Main Gate--

Along the route to the southern wall, Yiski noticed a large group of defenders firing. Without hesitation, he rushed into the fray.

"Don't tell me these things breached the gate!"

Yiski witnessed a squad of heavy defenders and squad of elites struggling to take down five abominations. The heavy defenders took as many (or in this case few) hits from the abominations and let the elites flank and melee. Sadly, they weren't doing much. One abomination simply picked up a heavy defender and snapped him in two.

"Regroup and reform tactics! Elites, run diversion! Heavies, use your lancers to pin them! And somebody find a bloody gatling to shoot them with!"

Without questioning who was giving the sudden orders, the heavies and elites did what Yiski ordered. The elites used their superior agility and dodged circles around the abomination. The massive frame of the abominations made it next to impossible for them to even touch the elites. Then a group of heavies surrounded a single abomination and jabbed their lancers into it. The abomination growled, but was silenced when two elites jumped on it and took it's head off with their razor sharp swords.

Yiski smiled. For all the brute strength, the abominations were uncoordinated and easily distracted. The heavies and elites repeated the same tactic another four times. The squads then turned to Yiski and realized it was there Commander and reformed quickly.

_Yiski
"Status."

_Elite
"A transport carrying these things breached the main gate. Initial reports suggest there were forty."

_Yiski
"Largest concentration?"

_Elite
"Toward the southern wall. Orders?"

_Yiski
"Find a couple of gatlings with heatsink for the heavies and make our way to the southern wall. We can't risk constant melee engagements. Move out!"

[RearAdmiralZill]

-Then it was fixed again-

Zill spit out some blood onto the deck as more flak fire rained in. The 3 goldfish had carronades, but were too slow in taking down the formation. Gazing on, Zill made a decision.
Zill
"Brace for impact!"

Jun'ko
"I told you we can't take another ram!"

Zill
"And I said brace. We have little choice."

Jun'ko disappeared again as Zill threw all the steam he had into the engines, but in reverse. Another flak round burst on the helm. Zill winced with pain but kept her steady. The goldfish saw what was going on and cleared out, shredding the middle galleon as much as possible.
Zill
"All hands to guns! Stay below!"

A quick flashback of his past took him. The tesla boats charging him. It was short for as soon as he shook it off, he rammed the middle galleon, shredding the engines but splitting them in half. This lined up his guns perfectly for heavy volleys from each broadside, which ignited both of the remaining galleons and let off an explosion so massive it lit up the night. Zill was caught in the fire, but he had to chute vent down from the blast.
Zill
It's going to kill me one day...

A loud crack could be heard as his galleon gave way under the damage of the ram and explosions. He gunned it to get as close to the city as he could. The galleon crash landed, still holding its form and landing in a cloud of dust outside the southern wall.

Zill felt cold. He looked up at the burning city, gunfire still going off and blood running down his neck. Screams from the soldiers and engies who had worked so hard to keep his boat alive sent chills down his spine. Jun'ko was battered but helping them out of the wreckage. Shink had somehow managed to get a hwacha firing toward some abominations running toward the southern gate.

Zill collapsed onto the broken remains of his helm. A canister of green smoke was signaling their location, and he looked on as the fight on the ground climaxed. The enemy had no air power left.

[BdrLineAzn]

--City Center--

BdrLine, Lauren, and the rest of the crew goes around hiding and trying to find any of the defense personnel. With a quick look at there sourroundings, smoke can he seen coming above the skyline as well as some destroyed buildings. As they are looking, BdrLne recognise where they are and turns to the others.

BdrLine
"Quick follow me, I know where we are."

He turns off towards any alleyway and starts to run. The others looked at eachother before following suit. As they catch up to BdrLine, Lauren turns to him while still running.

Lauren
"Mind I ask where we are heading?"

BdrLine
"The biggest place where I know that has weapons, The Academy"

Lauren just mentally facepalmed as she forgot that they were at the Center after all and the Academy is just a few minutes away. Once they arrived, they enter the campus slowly, checking the corners for any enemies. Ones they see the coast was clear, they make a made dash to the armoury.

As the reach and open the door, clicks as safeties on rifles were taken off.

Cadet *In a shakey voice*
"Halt, turn around slowly or we will shoot."

Lauren just shakes her head and goes up to one of them, brushes the rifle away and show her identification.

Lauren
"Here I think this is enough prove that we are not the enemy. Now tell me what are you cadets doin here. Shouldn't you be in the shelters, by the looks of it you all are first years and have no rifle training."

Cadet
"Well Ma'am we wanted to help out, so myself and the others in here snuck out to get us weapons. Only we too afraid to go out again as what we heard on the radio we brought."

BdrLine moves past the group of cadets and motions the the crew to follow him to get some rifles ready. They follow his lead as they brought out 5 bolt action rifles, scopes for them, heatsink cartridges, and loch grenades. From the table, BdrLine calls to the cadets.

BdrLine
"Well it looks like you guys are helping us then. I know all of you are afraid, but those things are still on the loss, and we need all the help we can get. Besides, you are Cadets of Anvala, finest shooters of the lands. So load up heatsink rounds, keep you head low, and aim for he monsters eyes."

Cadets
"Yes Sir"

With that the group of 12 goes over to the ammo storage and brought out more heatsink ammunition. Lauren then goes over and grabs one of the rifles prepared by BdrLine and the crew.

Lauren
"How long you think this will last."

BdrLine
"I don't know, but at least we have numbers now. We just need to stay low and aim for the eyes. Even they are genetically mutated, eyes are still a soft spot."

After a few more minutes of preparing, the 17-man group heads out back to the city to further help out the defense.

[Yiski]

--NARRATOR--

--Southern Wall--

The small pockets of abominations had caused serious havoc within the city, but their limited intelligence and mobility along with the useful information on their weakness guaranteed their demise. The remaining abominations were situated at or around the southern wall. With the air well within the grasp of Anvala, Frank ordered all gatlings loaded with heatsink aimed inside the city. Frank ordered dsynchronized firing in order to keep a steady stream of gatling fire on the abominations.

Soon enough, Yiski, BdrLine, Lauren, and the rest of the defenders joined in surrounding the remaining abominations. With the weapons from the Armory, the defenders wiped out the rest ... within three hours. After the last of the abominations fell, Yiski ordered the heavies to either smash or impale the abominations' heads in. Better safe than sorry Yiski figured.

Yiski went up on the wall and found Frank. The two looked at each other and then crossed arms.

_Yiski
"Happy to see you're alive still."

_Frank
"I'm just happy you made it back." Frank raised his arms above his head. "Anyways, how'd you know about those monsters' weakness?"

_Yiski
"Long story, so here's the short story: Guild did some experiments and these were the result."

_Frank
"Christ. At least it's over."

Yiski nodded, but he knew if the Guild was willing to go such lengths, then there had to be more. You don't use abominations just for revenge. Even if it was for revenge, Yiski knew they could have been tracked to Yannock for the wedding.

Regardless, Yiski pushed those thoughts behind when he took a look at Anvala high atop its walls. There was smoke rising and ruined buildings scattered throughout. The cleanup was going to difficult. Yiski bid Frank a brief farewell and headed for the saloon where he hoped to meet the others... He gripped his side and sighed.

"Probably should have seen a doc."

Lauren and BdrLine were sent to a local infirmary. BdrLine was being treated for minor head injuries (and a bruised rib). While BdrLine insisted he was okay, the doctors wanted to ensure he didn't suffer any other hidden injuries. Lauren was being treated with a few bruises with a fractured rib being the most serious injury from when she hard landed in the city center. She also complained, but stayed because she didn't want Yiski yelling at her.

Rescue troops managed to reach Then It Was Fixed Again, or at least what looked to be the ship. Shink, Paradox, and other crewmen were rushed to nearby triage. However, Zill was moved to the main hospital. While Jun'ko wanted to go with Zill, she was in no condition to argue with the doctors.

When Zill arrived at the hospital, he barely had a pulse and still bleeding everywhere. The doctors and surgeon would have to work overnight just to see if he'll survive.

--NARRATOR END--

--END OF DAY 101--

[RearAdmiralZill]

--Start of day 102--

-Narrator-

The sun broke over the wasteland to the east of the city, shining light onto the battlefield that had taken place of a normally vibrant Anvala. Smoldering rubble billowed grey smoke high into the morning Skies. Rubble lined every street, and familiar shops were reduced to piles of ash. The outer wall had been secured, and only a handful of security boats were airborne. Everyone else was attending to the remains of the battle. Bodies of both friend and foe had to be identified. The grim task of giving proper burials (except for the abominations, which were burned) to the fallen on the mountainside was going to take awhile.

The group of regulars were scattered around the city, most of which were recovering from wounds in the triage clinic. Yiski took stock of the damage to the saloon. Luckily for him, the bunker-like structure that now housed the Burning Skies had survived with just some scorch marks and lodged bullets into the wall. Everyone else outside of the clinics were picking up the pieces of the night and doing what they could.

Jun'ko sat outside the main hospital, fumbling with the watch she gave to Zill not long ago. It too was scorched like so many other things in the city. Doctors and surgeons worked throughout the night to stabilize the admiral. He had severe lacerations on his body from the flak rounds, and burns from the explosion that ensued after his maneuver to end the air battle. He had three blood transfusions to replace what was lost. Just the process of removing the shrapnel took hours, and not all of it could be removed. It would forever remind him of that night.

Jun'ko slowly entered the hospital to once more check to see if she could see Zill. The nurse had seen her countless times that night.
Nurse
"He's still not able to see anyone. I'm sorry."

Jun'ko simply nodded, walking back outside. She had bandages on her forehead and leg. She again sat on her bench, and fumbled with the watch. Tears began to creep along her cheeks as she finally began to break from the emotion. A hand rubbed her back, and she looked up to see Yiski. He knelt down and looked her in the eyes.
Yiski
"We all feel what you feel. Luckily for you, his stubborn ass isn't going to give up yet. Come on. I'm headed to the triage center to check on the others. We can check back later."

Jun'ko simply nodded and they both made their way through the city toward the triage.

-End Narrator-

[Yiski]

--City Center--

As Yiski and Jun'ko were making way to the triage where Lauren and BdrLine stayed, Yiski sees the M'Naghten Returns still sitting in the middle of the city center. He spots a few dock workers trying to get it back up in the air and walks over to them.

_Yiski
"How bad is she?"

The workers are surprised by Yiski's arrival.

_Engineer
"Morning Commander. I've seen worse. We'll have to replace the blown engine before lifting it off and once docked, we'll have to scrap the armor for a new set."

_Yiski
"Carry on."

The workers turned and went back to work and Jun'ko and Yiski continued walking. Yiski still noticed Jun'ko wore a frown and staring off into the distance. Yiski wanted to say something, but he knew it wouldn't help.

By late morning, the two arrived at the triage. They entered and the first two they saw was BdrLine and Lauren. BdrLine waved at the two. Lauren jumped off her bed and gave Yiski a hug tackle which took the two of them down. Yiski lifted his head to see Lauren's face looking at him.

_Yiski
"Good to see you're okay after that landing."

Yiski's words triggered Lauren to start welling up tears. Feeling the tears, Lauren immediately buried her face into Yiski's chest.

_Yiski
"Lauren?"

_Lauren
"Mmmf ... Mmmph ... mmfmm"

Yiski sighed and patted Lauren's head. Even though he couldn't understand a word said, he knew it had to be along the lines of 'I thought I lost you'. His patting caused Lauren to lift her head up and plant a kiss on Yiski's lips. The two laid there for moments when a doctor cleared his throat causing them to break the kiss.

_Yiski
"I think we need to take this somewhere private. Hey doc? Are BdrLine and Lauren cleared?"

_Doctor
"Yes."

Lauren got up off Yiski and extended an hand down to Yiski. He took and got up, but not without some pain to his side. It wasn't enough for him to visibly wince, just enough to remind him that he was injured. Yiski had a decision to make: leave or get checked.

_Lauren
"Are you alright?"

_Yiski
"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go. I could use a drink."

With his decision, he, Lauren, BdrLine, and Jun'ko headed for the saloon.

[RearAdmiralZill]

-Then it was fixed again crash site-

Engineers and soldiers surrounded the remains of the galleon. Most of the boat was damaged in some fashion, the biggest issue being the snapped supports for the hull. They recovered all that they could from the wreck. One of the most intriguing items was a black iron box. Zill's initials were etched on the lock, and no one dared to try opening it.
Soldier
"So what do we do with it?"

Engineer
"Well last I heard, the admiral was in the hospital. Might as well take it there."

Soldier
"Makes sense. It's crazy how he managed to land this thing after that fight."

Engineer
"This boat shouldn't be alive. Put that into perspective."

Soldier
"So is it scrap now?"

Engineer
"Normally yes, but given who it belongs to, we are going to attempt to get it up and rebuild it."

Soldier
"That would be nice to see. Well I'm off to deliver the box. Good luck."

-Hospital-

Zill was in a private room in the west wing. The occasional doctor would come in to check his stability. He was still in an induced coma. The soldier came into the room. Despite the no visitor policy, the soldier felt this would be something important to the admiral. He gazed on at the gear driven machines keeping him stable. He placed the box on the lone table next to Zill, and walked out. He turned back once to see one last glimpse.
Soldier
I salute thee, oh captain.

[Shinkurex]

-Outside the Hospital-

Shink is sitting on a bench experiencing a flashback of the events that happened. The mayhem and destruction ensured that these memories would turn into new nightmares the moment he closed his eyes. He noticed a soldier walk up with a black box, and ask to see Zill. When the soldier came back out, Shink stopped him.

"Soldier, a word please"

"Sir!" the soldier stands at attention, which disturbed Shink

"Relax, I'm not one for that kind of stuff. I wanted to know what was so important about that box, that you had to violate the no visitor policy."

The soldier looks visibly uncomfortable as he relaxes his stance

"Honestly sir, I have no clue what it is. We found it in the wreckage, and figured he would want it."

Shink thinks this over, but in the end figures it's nothing to be concerned about. He sends the soldier on his way.

I wonder if Yiski has opened the saloon yet. Can't hurt to check

Shink wanders off in the direction of the Saloon

[Captain Lockheart]

Lockheart and Cecelia were sat on a bench in the city center by the crash site of the M'Naghten Returns, Lockheart had a Broken arm and a sprained ankle from his fall off of his bridge aboard the Commodore Beckett, apart from that the rest of his injuries were minor cuts, grazes or small burns. although he had to walk on crutches with his one good arm, which made quite a humerous spectacle to watch.

Cecelia
" Oh thank god your ok."

Lockheart
" you've seen me in worse condition, remember that assault we pulled on that bandit base in the Burren?"

Cecelia
"Oh of course, ha ha i almost forgot about that. we were certain you wouldn't make it out alive"

Lockheart
"Exactly, but here at least they have decent medical staff"

Cecelia
"All that aside, technically you saved my life and therefore made up for the 4 months you left me"

Lockheart
"Glad thats buried in the past..."

Cecelia gave lockheart a kiss on the cheek before helping him get up.

Lockheart
"Ready to go to the saloon?, imagine out last visit didnt happen. think of it as a take 2. ha ha *cough* *cough*"

Cecelia helped Lockheart half limp, half drag himself to the saloon, although he suffered the most minor "Life threatening" injuries it sure looked like he was on the brink of collapse.

[Yiski]

--Saloon--

If BdrLine, Lauren, and Jun'ko weren't with Yiski, Yiski would've gone out and caused more damage to the city than the abominations did. Yiski sat at the doorway looking into the saloon with a dead stare that probably could raise the dead and kill them again. The saloon was a mess. Little did any of them know that Lockhart and Coldcurse were running the saloon for the days he was gone. Instead of pulling out his rifle and running a rampage throughout the city to find who did this, to the group's surprise, Yiski simply pinched the bridge of his nose.

_Yiski
"One week... I'm gone for one week... and this happens."

Yiski sighed and started cleaning the saloon. Immediately followed were the others. The main floor is cleaned within the hour. Tables and chairs reset, bar is cleaned, and the trash collected and set outside. Despite the main floor being a mess, the back was clean and relatively untouched. Lauren gave a sigh of relief because had any of the equipment been modified ever so slightly, Yiski would skin alive anybody related to it.

With everything checked and cleaned, Yiski pours himself and the others a mug of Hellfire.

[BdrLineAzn]

--Saloon--

BdrLine goes over to the bar and takes a mug of Hellfire that Yiski made and brings it to his head.

"Ahh, so warm."

After a while he moves it from the spot where the cut was to take a sip then to put it back again. He turns to the others.

"Now since the Guild wants our heads, what are we going to do about them?"

[Papa Paradox]

--Flashback to the then it was fixed again--
He rammed the middle galleon, shredding the engines but splitting them in half. This lined up his guns perfectly for heavy volleys from each broadside, which ignited both of the remaining galleons and let off an explosion so massive it lit up the night. As Paradox and Shink let loose the volley within the confines of the galleon, scrap both of metal and wood flew everywhere across the bottom deck of Zill's galleon. A round that was loaded exploded in the chamber of the enemy's ships flak, a large flurry of metal from the flak's flew and pierced Papa's side and shot through him with inexplicable force, he lied there bleeding to death

--Triage--
He awoke, tried to move and was instantly met with debilitating pain emanating from the gaping hole in his torso. It was as if all his pain receptors had fired at the same time, he winced, but made no sound. The drugs the doctors had given him were ineffectual due to his increased metabolism. He realized that the hole was covered by a large metal plate that was bolted to what remained of his left ribcage. A doctor walked in:
"How are you feeling?"

"Can I go?"

"You're in no condition..."

Paradox stood up, his body tried to force him to do otherwise, he receded into his subconscious and focused on putting on foot in front of the other somewhere along the line the tubes that were connected to him reached their limit and ripped out of his body.

He wandered through the street and reached his destination:

--The Burning Skies Saloon--

Paradox walks through the door and collapses.