Burning Skies Saloon

[BdrLineAzn]

--Docks--

As Niko, Zankif, Melin, and the others ready their ships, Melin is with the Baron defectors from yesterday with great news. He is in the middle of the group as he make his announcement.

Melin
"My brothers in arms, last night my men made a daring rescue mission back home. Rescue a man where our true loyalty's lie. Last night we have rescued King Gregor from prison and wants to regain his position. Now today he wants us to fight under his banner, the banner of the true King. Now who's with me."

An echo a cheers erupt from the group as they go back to their ships and strip any markings of the new reign and replace them with their original King's. Smiling, Melin moves back towards his squid where Zankif watches on with a smile as he prepares his Pyramidion.

--Triage--

As the battle comes even closer now, doctors are moving the wounded away from top side and incoming fire to down below into one of the underground shelters. Althea watches on from the entrance as doctors begin moving BdrLine down with the rest. Trying to regain her composure, she leaves the tent to find the Commander.

[N-Sunderland]

Sunderland stood on the prow of the Duck Pharaoh, watching the enemy ships arrive.

This wasn't the first time he had stared death in the face. For years he had protected Anvala, fought and beaten entire fleets, and been tortured in raider encampments. The battle scars had only made him stronger.

Sunderland

"One mistake, and we die. No mistakes, and we probably still die. Now, are you with me?"

Gunner

"I'd follow you into hell, Lieutenant."

Sunderland

"Good, because hell's advancing towards us right now. But if I can hold a Squid together using a potted plant, I'm not backing down against this fleet."

[Plasmarobo]

Plasma watches with dismay from the top of the dock as the wall of smoke billows out.
The rumble of engines is loud, even at this distance. The flak and lumberjack batteries fire a few wild shots into the cloud, but it seems to be slowly advancing on the city.

Then something issues from it. A series of somethings.
The second rocket barrage streams out in front of the first, lifting high and showering a second thick sheet of obscurity into the air. It slowly drifts towards the city.

The engines grow louder. Suddenly a series of fast moving vessels punch through the smoke wall. Squids moving at full throttle, barely 5m off the ground.

Plasma grips his radio.
_Plasma
"They are coming in fast and low, they seem to be unmanned, and I can see any weapons...oh skies. KAMIKAZE! THEY ARE FLYING BOMBS!"

The front four rush the main gate, the rest spread out, launching themselves at the wall batteries, pilots locking the helms and grabbing parachutes.
Plasma immediately seizes a Mercury, and fires at the Squids, but they continue to rush on loaded with deadly weight.

[Gryphos]

--The Wyvern--

As the Squid-bombs fly passed the smoke, the Wyvern continues to fly toward the front of the formation, travelling ever closer to Anvala, behind the wall of smoke. At this point the smoke was just starting to slightly dissipate, allowing the Wyrm, who was standing on the bow of his ship, to catch slight, rough glimpses of Anvala through the fog.
A smile cracked on his face as he went back to the main deck, beckoning at one of his mercs for his equipment. He loaded up with a rifle, several knives, more pistols than any sane person would deem necessary, and he strapped a studded iron caestus to his right hand. He kissed it and addressed his men.

Wyrm
"Soldiers, mercenaries, cutthroats, compatriots, hired guns. You see the colossal that flies with us, the army that will fight along side us. Know that you owe them no allegiance. You see the city beyond the smoke. Know that you owe them no mercy. Your allegiance is with death! And your mercy is with... err, no one."

He laughed raucously. His men joined in.

"Stop that! Back to your posts and ready the weapons. It's been far too long since I smelled gunpowder!"

[Yiski]

--Eastern Wall--

Yiski was unleashing lumberjack fire on the approaching rush like a hail storm. Just as fast Yiski could fire all his shots, he expected the crew to reload at twice the speed. Yiski's main targets were the transports which were flying in a spread formation alongside the goldfishes and pyramidions making it hard to hit the transports without clipping the other ships.

_Frank
"Yiski! Those transports are three kilos and closing fast! We got minutes before a lot of those land and start breaching!"

Yiski was still firing on the transports as he barked orders.

_Yiski
"I want Heavies and Defenders to start finding cover along the gates! Structures, rooftops, boxes, I don't care! I do not want a bloody Baron to be able to take three steps without losing his foot!"

[Gryphos]

--Eastern wall--

Yiski
"...I do not want a bloody Baron to be able to take three steps without losing his foot!"

Tristan
"I'll mobilise as many as possible."

He pointed at a group of Defenders passing by.

Tristan
"You lot, with me!"

Tristan and the Defenders ran down the steps of the wall, calling out at other troops to join them. Nidhogg saw the group's movement and called to Tristan.

Nidhogg
"I'll stay up here, I doubt the walls will remain safe either!"

Tristan gave a nod and organised the troops into cover and in formations, using all the knowledge he had acquired from his days of military grooming.

Tristan
"I want Heavies in the centre, keep putting fire on the entrance! I want Defenders on both sides offering flank support! And I need a squad on higher ground, pick off any who get passed the wall of fire! GO!"

The troops rushed into position and set up cover. Now it was just the wait.

[N-Sunderland]

After getting Yiski's message, Sunderland immediately started equipping the Duck Pharaoh with longer-range weapons on the side. The banshee and flare came off, and a merc-Artemis combo went on.

"All right. Priority one is transports. Get those things down as quickly as possible. Priority two is to wipe out the main guns on those Goldfish with the merc, and the guns on the Pyras with the Artemis. If a single transport gets in here... You can guess what I'll do."

[Plasmarobo]

The batteries managed to take down a few of the onrushing Squids. Far too few.

The remaining vessels slammed into the walls, creating a moment of expectation before rending the world apart.
Stone, wood, iron, and steel shatter into the skies and city. Great crevasses force themselves along the wall, taking men, weapons, and structure with them. The four heading for the gates become three, then two, then one on the approach. But it only takes one. The structure is blown inwards, thrown into the city. The walls gape wide, gleefully exhibiting the city to the invaders.

The gun batteries wipe ships from the sky, sending them crashing into the ground, but still more come. The begin to divide between the holes in the wall, the obliterated gates, and top of the wall, Galleons soaking up fire meant for the transports, and raining fire and flame on the defenders within.

Plasma is nearly thrown from the wall under the impact. The Commander's orders whip over the Comms. He swallows and chambers a round into his rifle. He doubted the crippled walls could turn them back. There was one section still firing, launching round after round into the struggling transports.
The Commander is teaching them to avoid that side of the wall...heh
The corners of his lips twitch.
Time to earn my stripes, I think.
He watches a transport drift towards his section of wall, flanked by two Goldfish. The Hawacha's spark, and he throws himself behind the battlements. The top of the wall is ripped apart and the transport rushes into the vacuum. He braces his rifle on a nearby displaced chunk of wall as other defenders gather around him.

_Plasma
"Alright men! Commanders orders: They go no further!"

[Gryphos]

--Tristan's gate--

The force of the kamikaze squid explosions sent disarray among Tristan's assembled troop. The gate was blown open many troops were blown back from cover. Tristan, who was previously behind the main cover with the Heavies, was thrown to the ground. But he didn't have much time to readjust himself, as just behind the squid came a transport ship, which managed to dock just before what was left of the gate and lowered a ramp for the troops.

Tristan
"FIRE!"

Gunfire cascaded from his troop into the transport, causing devastation in their ranks. But it was short lived, for Baronies soldiers emerged from the transport bearing riot shields in front of them.

Tristan
"Ah, that may prove interesting."

He ordered the troops to continue firing even as the Enemy entered slowly through the gate. They moved in formation, with shield carriers in a circle around their more vulnerable soldiers, who would occasionally let off shots between their compatriots' shields. It was like a moving fortress.

One of their shots took out the soldier to Tristan's left, who buckled over and dropped to the ground. Tristan steadied his hands around his pistol. Taking in a breath, he fired a shot that went through the seeing slit of one of the shields. The carrier of the shield took the bullet in the face and dropped to the ground with his shield, exposing a few soldiers behind him, who were quickly dispatched.

Tristan
"Need some help over here!"

[N-Sunderland]

Seeing the threat, Sunderland immediately sprang into action.

"Off those snipers! I want one man on the balloon, and one man on the engines."

Sunderland steered the Duck Pharaoh towards the breach, and positioned it above the advancing group of soldiers.

"This is gonna be tight."

He chute vented on top of the infantry, crushing them. There was hardly enough space for a Pyramidion to land, and indeed Sunderland damaged several nearby buildings. But at least the threat was temporarily reduced.

[Sgt. Spoon]

Spoon had taken shelter in a nearby building, treating himself for a rather serious leg injury when he was hastily rocked from his troubled slumber as the body of a heavy duty pyramideon came smashing down, wrecking the wall he'd been leaning against. With a scream he found himself falling out of the three storey building, landing straight on the balloon of the Duck Pharaoh.

Spoon *grabbing on for his life*
"Holy hell! Aaaaah

[RearAdmiralZill]

-Eastern District-

Zill stood over a radio, swapping frequencies and barking orders. He had placed the mercenary fleet at the back wall yet close enough to provide long range support, and moved in every ship left in the fleet to the east walls. As the initial squid suicide plunged into the earthen walls of the city, the fleet was to envelope the baron fleet in order to trap them there, cutting off another retreat. While working, he needed more vessels to provide the kills, and he simply didn't have them. The Baron fleet turtled up, and sat right at Anvala's gates.

He cursed the skies and looked around. Some heavies, along with Jun'ko, William, and Nova, surrounded him.
_Jun'ko
"What's wrong?"

_Nova
"Well I think that's pretty obvious.."

_Zill
"I was just hoping to use this later, but....flak."

_William
"Use what?"

Zill fumbled with his left torso. A mechanical click could be heard, followed by ticking.
_William
"Is that a bomb?!"

Zill gave him a glare and went to the radio to hail Yiski.
_Zill
"Yiski, get any defenders behind the wall back at least five hundred meters."

_Yiski
"Are you crazy?? You'll let them into the city unopposed."

_Zill
"Do it! You have two minutes!"

Zill cut the radio and beckoned his group forward toward the breaches, the ticking still going. What William didn't know was that while not a bomb, Zill had rigged a remote detonator to his side. It used his body at the antenna to carry the signal to the surprises waiting below the invaders.

[Gryphos]

--By the Duck Pharoah--

Tristan
"Err, I guess that constitutes as 'help'."

He gave a salute to Sunderland before ordering troops to other areas of the wall. The troops dissipated And Tristan took a break after the carnage and leant against the Duck Pharaoh, oblivious to one of the few survivors of the crash behind Tristan who had a gun pointed at him.

Nidhogg
"NOOO!"

In a daring move, Nidhogg leapt from the upper wall, drawing his sword during descent, and plunged it into the soldier's neck, before then withdrawing the blade and slashing another enemy across the face and smoothly turning it into a thrust move through the chest of a third. Tristan turned around in shock after hearing the sword strikes just in time to see all three of the soldiers hit the floor at almost exactly the same time.

Tristan
"Great Nimbus, Nid! Where'd you learn to do that?"

Nidhogg
"Adventuring. But never mind, We need to get away from the wall before it blows."

Tristan
"What?"

Nidhogg
"Just go."

He grabbed Tristan and pulled him back behind a building to wait for the explosion.

[Captain Lockheart]

Lockheart had passed on the order to let the fleet no further. He had his galleons mercuries and hwacha take out the engines and let his flaks take the ships. He saw the troops were almost going to infiltrate the city, he ordered his 15 man boarding party on the Yeshan Dragon and the 10 man boarding party on the White Whaler gather.

Lockheart
"I want our pyramidion to level with our top deck A.S.A.P!"

The pyramidion levelled with the top deck, Lockheart and the men hop on and the pyramid sinks down again back into its firing position.

Lockheart
"Sunderland! I'm going to use your ship as a landing platform!"

The 25 men threw ropes over the side of the ship, they then lowered themselves on the ropes to the balloon of Sunderlands ship. From a distance it must if looked like a curtain of light blue cascading off of the White Whaler as the men in light Blue Chaladonian military uniforms, jumped onto then off if Sunderland's ship to the city floor, then finally Lockheart in his White uniform jumping off last. He gave a quick nod to Sunderland, Tristan and Nidhogg before drawing his sword .

[RearAdmiralZill]

-1km from the east wall-

Zill stopped his group and found a rooftop to see. Most of the defenders were back, still firing on the heavy amount of troops pouring into the breaches. A heavy sigh escaped him, before motioning everyone around him to back away.

Moments later the ticking from earlier ceased, and a small electric shock passed through Zill. He cringed and gritted his teeth, still watching the wall. All at once, the road separating the first city buildings from the wall exploded. The roar shook the entire city, and earthen debris accompanied by the flash of fire engulfed the explosion area. Men flew in every direction, and fire engulfed what was left of the walls. A few buildings collapsed from the force, and the entire first line of troop transports, accompanied by their defenders, were caught in the blast.

They may of lost the wall, but they gained a breath before holding the next wave from penetrating into the city center.
_William
"You just handed the wall to them on a silver platter."

_Zill
"And took out a wave of their current forces in the process with minimal casualties for us, while also creating a dead-zone between us and the wall."

_Nova
"Remind me to never let you play with my explosives..."

_Jun'ko
"Lets go. This isn't over yet."

Zill nodded and grouped up on a team of defenders holding a main street to the city center. They prepared for anything trying to pass the now gaping space between the wall and their position. Trench warfare had just become the deciding factor.