Flying high, clouds thickening, and parting them...The Bebop and it's crew. Captain Spike Spiegel, Gunner and Secondary Engineer Jet Black and lastly the beautiful and illustrious Engineer Faye valentine. All bounty hunters all working toward the same cost, life and riches. It was about high noon now as the sun crested above the ship, casting shade upon the deck form the balloon. Spike's ship was a simple one, a blimp style balloon with a narrow, two tier upper-deck and a nice hold underneath for sleeping and for keeping captive bounties. The helm resided upon the top tier with a long walk back towards the main balloon engine and the main driving engine. The bottom tier hosted a small set of guns, a Mercury Field Gun on the left and a Beacon Flare Gun on the right with a large Hellhound Twin-barrel Carronade on the stern to pop the balloons of enemy ships and blast their hull. A formidable ship under any circumstances. The front also had a large protrusion from it to increase the effect of ramming as well as leave an enemy ship up for boarding.
Faye
"Hey Spike careful round here, there's a lot of rocks and I know you had a bit to much to drink last night."
Spike
"Yeah, yeah! Quit naggin' me. You'll distract me. I want you two to keep lookout. We've a got a valuable man on board and information travels fast, you never know when a ship'll turn up to send us plummeting over a bounty head."
With that, Spike set his helm straight and looked about the deck, it was fairly dusty and scraped. The fight to get the guy in the hull was a pain and ended up with Spike blowing out a gas-line to cause a large enough explosion to cover their escape from the target's gang. The clouds were clearing now and the sky was beautiful, the winds weren't too strong against them and more at their back giving them a helpful boost in speed. They had to get back to Anvala quick and turn in this bloody pirate before things got too out of hand again. They were high in the air and going at a leisurely pace over the canyon as to not kill their fuel reserves. That's when everything spiraled out of control, the whir of Gatling Guns filled Spike's eardrums as he took note of the shadows emerging from the clouds, descending like ravenous wolves upon them.
Spike
"Faye shoot a flare in there get us a good picture of 'em! Jet you get ready for a fight!"
Spike barked orders and soon the view was clear.....four ships descending upon them. Now this was hell. The bullets erupted from the side of a junker, the first visible ship. Gatling rounds tore into the armor of The Bebop with sickening ting from each shot.
Spike
"Alright Jet! Any time now!"
Spike called and Jet quickly reacted, turning the Hellhound Twin-barrel Carronade on the Junker and blasting out i's balloon as if they had a lazer beam mounted on their stern.
Spike
"Load up that charged ammo, let's drop him. Faye load up the moonshine, we need to get the hell outta here!"
Spike was viciously slamming his hand forward, releasing gas from the balloon to drop and finish off the junker. The shotgun blast of the Carronade quickly shredded the enemy armor before they plummeted into the ground, bursting into flames as their engines blew out and their fuel exploded along with heir ammunition.
Spike
"Yeah! There ya go. Show 'em how we shoot!"
Jet
"Mhmm! Let's roll."
By then Faye loaded up the engines with moonshine and the ship was going damn fast. Almost shaking the others except for one lone Squid who was tailing them. The Squid managed to light just about everything on fire even as Spike tried to shake him. Under normal circumstances The Bebop would be able to shake the Squid except for the fact that it hadn't recently received full repairs, only field repairs after securing the bounty head. The moonshine had also burned up and fried the engines. Faye could fix 'em except now everything else was failing as the fire raged across the deck.
Faye
"We have to abandon ship before we go down Spike!"
Spike
"I'm not losing my baby yet god damnit!"
Jet
"SPIKE! Get off that helm before you get us all killed, we ain't leaving you behind!"
Spike was hard headed...like a brick. He held ono the helm, continuing to use his momentum to steer the ship a bit before the balloon gave out and they began falling. At this point Jet with his mechanical arm and already strong body grabbed Spike and carried him below deck.
Spike
"Let me go damnit! I'm not leaving."
Jet
"Oh yes you are. Faye open the bottom hatch and get the Red Tail ready to leave before this hull gives out around us. WE should have enough armor before the hull itself catches on fire and we crash."
Jet gave orders to Faye and set Spike onto his own two feet. Spike realized it was too much to resist at this point. The Bebop was toast, but worst of all...by a Squid. Spike and Jet ran and hopped into the biplane that was the Red Tail and Faye prepped it for launch. Then she came round to the front and hopped into Spike's lap. There was nowhere else to sit, Jet was already in back and he was too big to sit on and the Red Tail was only really meant for two.
Spike
"Alright, here we go. Faye hit the lever on the left."
Faye quickly moved her hand to the hatch lever and pulled it, the bottom of The Bebop opened up and dropped the Red Tail out. With a few quick motions Spike deployed the wings of the red Tail and caught some lift. He had the engines on and took off like a bat out of hell at the cost of both his ship and his bounty.
Faye
"Sorry Spike. We tried our best. I know how much you loved that ship, we all did."
Spike
"That was my home. But I know you tried...it couldn't be helped. Light me a cigarette."
Spike replied and Faye took the cigarettes out of his shirt pocket and set one in between his lips and lit it, leaving his hands upon the joystick to steer the plane. After about another hour or so of flying they had reached Anvala and an airstrip which they were able to land upon without much interference. The dockmaster who also ran the airstrip with a small sum of cash allowed spike to leave the plane in his hangars.
Spike
"We should head to a Inn. I need some rest, and some food."
Jet
"Yeah good idea, we can all rest up and see about what we can do to get out of his bad spot."
Spike
"We'll do what we do best. I'll find a Captain looking for good hands. We'll cook up something good. We always do."
Spike said and with that they made their way to the Wilds Winds Inn for a goods nights rest.
