Burning Skies Saloon

[Wazulu]

*Wazulu walks in behind him, wondering what exactly qualifies as a 'Familiar stranger', nonetheless, he'd blame Shink for the confusion. Sitting down at the bar he proceeded to whistle to himself, only to glance at his watch and swear. With a storm of expletives Wazulu ran out just as the door began to close*

[Captain Lockheart]

--Airspace outside Chaladon--

*Aboard the Maelstrom*

First Mate:"Cap'n the gun bearings are greased, engines cleaned, rounds loaded and boarding party ready!"

Fadeshade: "Excellent!, as soon as Lockheart mans up we shall kill wildly, or die painfully!"

*He smiles, the first mate walks away a bit worried about his captains mentality. Fadeshade pulls out his spyglass and looks toward the enemy ship*

"Prepare the men for combat!"

*Aboard the Aesterium*

*Lockheart was wearing his usual war room outfit, except with armor plating underneath, he also wore a green tin "Brodie" hat. He was shaking, numerously checking over very small details to try settle his stomach a little, the clouds rolled by then he caught site of the 2 ships a junker and a pyramidion. he took out his spy glass and scanned the enemy ships, his gunner and first mate were stood behind him on the captains bridge.*

Lockheart: "Looks like they also took the same initiative..."

Gunner Karl: "aye aye Commodore, ill load the hwacha with Incendiary to try burn them off"

*Karl Headed off to the front gun, Lockheart looked across the deck of the junker and pyramidion to see them bristling with more men brandishing weapons. a boarding party*

First mate Ludvig: " Orders Commodore "

*Lockheart sighed*
 
"Oh lord...., just wait for the signal i guess, and prep the men"

Ludvig: "Aye Aye"

*Ludvig walked off leaving lockheart alone on the bridge, he then quickly used his spyglass to check the 2 galleons off to one side, one of each sporting the families banners. he looked for Cecelia but all he could find was his father looking at his watch and comforting his mother*

"what i would do to get back to her alive..."

[RearAdmiralZill]

-Narrator-

Zill stood atop the highest point on his Galleon overlooking the vast nothing that was outside Anvala's walls. The Sky was busy with activity however. Three quarters of the Anvalan High Fleet were deployed and getting into position for the war games. Crowds were gathered to witness the spectacle of military might. Matty had joined him on his Galleon today. Jun'ko was hanging off some rigging to get the best angle of the wasteland. Matty turned to Zill.
"So, bets?"

"Oh you want to start that up again do yea? Red has this in the bag."

"No way. Blue has Timmy piloting the lead. He's got to be the star of that new girl's class."

"We'll see how he folds under pressure."

"Yea yea. I still love a good underdog."

"20 silvers sound right?"

"All the time."

The Council and highly esteemed citizens were allowed access to the top of the city walls for the games. Their long-winded speech to the masses was ended with the celebratory signal to begin the games. Crash coordinated the one-shot barrage into the Sky from all batteries. Zill grinned, then took out his spyglass to scan the outer borders. Representatives from the Baronies and Yesha were in the distance watching from afar. While on paper they wanted to show support for the independent city, they also wanted to know just what the world's best gunners had in development for the future. Jun'ko cheered, and the two captains watched with grins as the games began.

-End Narrator-

[Shinkurex]

*Glancing at the quickly disappearing Wazulu*

what an odd fellow

*Having gotten confirmation that the Milk was indeed still off limits, Shink orders his Hellfire and moves to his old spot*

"Where is everyone? I figured a much bigger fanfare with my return..." *Shink frowns* "Zill's not even here"

[BdrLineAzn]

--Anvalan Airspace--

Flying at the outskirts of the mock battle, a lone junker observes, oddly not the maneuvers, but at the engines of the ships. BdrLine and his usual three have binoculars and telescopes out looking at sterns of the ships at the engines to see how they hold.

"First the Council asks us to install new engines to the Fleet, now they are making us to make sure they work. They can't seem to trust me do they? Hold  on moving to get another angle, so how they holding?"

Look through his scope, Allen answers.

"The engines on this ship looks fine. They are holding, nothing is falling off, they can take a hell of a being though"

He looks away from his scope and to BdrLine.

"But can you blame the Council? I mean you have a little track record with damages."

"Hey, it's improving. And the design I made, plus the one that Zill and the others found, made these faster and more  durable."

Tommy
"Well once this is over, you know we will be paid big for fitting the Fleet"

BdrLine
"Yeah I know, just keep watching"

[Yiski]

--Saloon--

Yiski watches Wazulu rush out and simple scratches his head. Though he wanted to ask, he didn't because usually it involves shooting people. Yiski turns to Shink.

"The milk is fine. You just don't have a good tolerance for it."

Roland turns to Yiski.

"If the saloon is going to be this slow, should we close up?"

"Normally, yes, but given how much money we've made from our quests, I'll just keep the saloon open. You three are welcome to head out into the city and watch the battle. I'll just stay here and do... something. Maybe I'll make a new drink."

[BdrLineAzn]

--Saloon--

Wanting to see some excitingment after two weeks of calm, Ny-Lee goes over to Roland.

"Roland can we go? Been a while since we saw some action, not that peace is a bad thing. It was relaxing but still."

Roland gives in to his fiancé's face.

"Well alright. Yiski, you'll be fine while we are out?"

Both goes towards the door, but Ny-Lee turns to Lauren.

"Are you coming?"

--Anvalen Airspace--

Over the skies still, the 'dynamic four' are finishing their inspections.

"Well I think we are done here. Everything is functioning, no explosions, I think this is a success. Let's go back, finally a break"

BdrLine then turns his engines off and the junker just float idle.

"So who you guys think will win, red or blue?"

John
"I'm going red, just look at the moves these pilots are making."

Tommy
"But look at blue, all their shots are hitting"

The four then goes on bickering on which side will win

[Captain Lockheart]

--Chaladon--

*a flare fires from the deck of one of the galleons*

Lockheart: " Well chaps its been a honour serving with you. now CHARGE!!"

*He drew his sword and raised it in the air. the crew on both ships cheered, he set his engines to full ahead and looked over to the Maelstrom he saw Fadeshade leaning on the deck railing holding onto some rope, whilst frantically pointing and shouting his Heavy flaks were soon firing in unison at the junker*

Lockheart: " Prepare to fire on my mark Karl! "

Karl from the Hwacha: " AYE AYE, i got a fiery present for these bastards"

Lockheart: " FIRE"

*the hwacha fires a full barrage of flaming rockets unto the pyramidion, one sets the captain alight, a few more flaming bodies drop from the sides, but it still flew onwards firing its gatling and flak.*

Lockheart: "why wont this blighter sink!, Ludvig hows our hull holding?"

Ludvig: "she can take a lot more than she's getting cap'n" *he carries on tinkering with a broken gun*

*the pyramidion lined up its side where several men were standing*

Lockheart: " PREPARE FOR COMBAT!"

*several men sprang onto the deck, one landing on the captains bridge but soon kicked off by lockheart to send him falling off the ship*
*the boarding action went on for some time but ended up with the men been slaughtered and the deck of the aesterium covered in corpses and blood, luckily not much of that was any of lockhearts men*

Aboard the Maelstrom

Fadeshade: " WE-HEY Julie seems to have all but annihalted the pyramidion"

*he examines it with his spyglass while a few light flak shots hit the deck and a crewman falls*

Fadeshade: "one more Hwacha barrage should do them alright!"

*the junker carries on to rake the deck of the Maelstrom with gatling and flak fire, along with a few small firearm shots. to little success. *

*Fadeshade mans the side mercury gun and looks down the scope, and holds his breath before firing*

Fadeshade: "Take that!"

*the shot hits their right engine dead on, the ship spirals around sideways, the Flaks continue to barrage the junker which soon falls to peices within meters of colliding with the Aesterium*

*the pyramidion soon realises its hope is lost and starts to retreat before been blasted to peices by both ships heavy weapons*

Lockheart: " We did it! nice work gentlemen"

*he gives a "thumbs-up" signal to fadeshade who nods he then thrown his hat in the air. The crew cheer as they head back to chaladon leaving the smoldering wrecks of the 2 ships, he is accompanied by the Lockheart galleon aswell.*

Lockheart: thank god i survived, now how can i celebrate?... Ah of course. The Burning Skies

[RearAdmiralZill]

-Then it was fixed-

Zill and company watched as the games went on. Shots rang out as boats all flew around with tactical precision. In the end, red team barely took home the prize, leaving everyone on the edge of their seats. Cheers roared and the finally was something quite special. Matty shook his head and handed over 20 silvers.
"Damn I really though Timmy would pull them through."

"He's got some real world experience now. Next year is a better bet."

"Yea I guess. Either way it's nice to have a day off."

"I'll drink to that. How about a mug at the Burning Skies?"

"I think it's time I try out that old place you seem to frequent so much."

"Well we still have the finale."

"What finale? I thought..."

Giant armor slabs emerged from the gates and were placed in the middle of the barren landscape. Matty looked with curiosity as Crash ordered one flak battery loaded. One shot. He turned to Zill but he motioned him to watch. The gun fired, and hit dead on. The smoke cleared, and the round had pierced the armor entirely. Matty's jaw dropped. Zill quickly looked at the foreign representatives and saw them reeling. Zill only laughed.
"Oh lord, their faces are priceless."

"Dear Skies Zill, I didn't know we had rounds like that."

"Yiski's doing."

"You aren't much for secrets are you?"

"I figured it's better to scare them out of attacking us instead of killing them when they do."

"Fair call. How about that drink?"

"Indeed."

Zill signaled the end of the games, and headed to Port Tar Barrel to land.

[BdrLineAzn]

--Narrator--

After the days war games, all the ships were dock back in their original ports and everyone went of to celebrate a successful day. Zill taken everyone who was on his galleon to the Burning Skies Saloon where it was already packed with people who came to watch the games.

Inside Yiski, Roland, Ny-Lee, and Lauren are busy about handling the mass of people. Eventually, BdrLine and his group comes in as well and the night goes on as everyone goes about drinking.

Sometime around midnight, Yiski decides to close up shop, and in good ole' Yiski fashion, yells at the center of the saloon for everyone to leave. Also because he wanted to make preparations for the trip tomorrow.

Everyone leaves to their repective homes, and a reminder from Yiski, also start making things ready for tomorrow.

--End Narration--

End of Day 96

[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?"