Uncharted Skies

[Carn]

Galley

Mr Carn, are you all right?

Snapping out of it, Alister looks up and realizes that Ms. Amelia had asked him a question.

"Yes, my apologies.  Old memories is all."

Finally noticing the food in front of him in full, Alister's stomach makes a sound that would startle a Sky Whale.

"Where did this come from?  Injuries have a tendency to put me on autopilot while my brain takes a stroll down memory lane."

Ulric's Quarters? Lab?

"On top of the chemicals, there was a psychological element.  They encouraged his anger, bloodlust, and sense of duty.  However they underestimated his intelligence, so after a few years,"

She mutters quickly "and my pointing out the oddities,"

She goes back to speaking normally "He got out.  The exact terms, I do not know.  But he has some of the Republic's dirtiest secrets. Also, do you have a plush Sky Whale?"

[BdrLineAzn]

Ulric's Quarter's/Lab

Gasping at her comment, Ulric place the vials into their holders and moves towards the object in question.

"This is not some old child's doll that sits on top a shelve over their bed," picking up the whale, "This happens to be what supposedly is the correct physical shape of these elusive sky beasts. It just happens to that the umm scientists had on them to produce this model are cotton stuffing and soft fabric stitched up together. Just be assured that Mr. Frufru is not just any doll, but a key to research."

With that slip of the tongue, Ulric slaps his mouth shut as he tosses the plushie back onto his bed. Trying to hide the shade of red coming onto his cheeks from embarrassment, he returns back to his tests.

Waving a finger in the air, "Besides him, the rest are professionally done by a taxidermist for further studies," talking about the actually stuffed animals.

"Umm, so would you kindly help me please? You seem to know what to look for." asking Alison to avoid further embarassment.

Galley

"So you had an eventful night." says Belle to Banning with her distince southern drawl while cutting potatoes  to be turned into hash browns.

"Oh you don't know the half of it Janet." he says.

On one of the stoves, Charles Banning is frying some more Bacon to accommodate the First Shift coming in for breakfast. He then notices that the hot red of the metal is cooling down back to its original grey.

"What the?", he turns the knob on and off to no effect.

"Something wrong?" Janet Belle asks, putting down the knife and going over to the stove with him.

"I don't know, it was working a minute ago."

Just as he finishes his sentence, the kitchen's lights shuts and then the dining room a few seconds after. Several angry shouts are heard Fromm across the wall, as both Comm Officers look to one another.

"I'll call Engineering." says Banning.

"And I will inform the Bridge." finishes Belle.

Engineering

"WHOA EASY CROWE!!" yells Hank as he holds back a raging man, "You guys can take your break now, hehe. The boss man needs some rest, you should as well," he says to the three others in the space.

"NOW!"

Started by the intensity of the voice, the three swabbies exits the room and towards their respective rooms. Feeling the they have sufficient distance from the angry Crowe, Hank releases the man.

Whistling, "Almost had to write three incident/injury reports. Really a rubber mallet to the head? They must have really pissed you off James."

Having his forefinger and thumb across the bridge of his nose, James hold up his free hand to silence the other man as he tries to calm down.

"I just wonder where these people get their training before signing up for engineering duty on a ship." he says to Hank.

Behind both of them, a radio rings as Banning's voice comes through the receiver.

"Umm Mr. Crowe, we seem to have a problem here in the Galley.

Picking up the headset, Crowe says to him with a sigh, "What seems to be it?"

"We lost all power to this room"

Running a hand over his face, he mumbles a few words, "Ok, I'll find the problem. Engineering out."

Placing the headset back to its original position, Crowe mutters, "They broke the lights didn't they?"

Hearing the comment, Hank shines in, "You know, you were the one working on that panel. So I believe it was your fault."

Groaning he asks, "How long until Lorena gets here?"

Hank just shurgs and follows the man to the panel.

Hanger Bay

Watching the successful release of Davis's plane, Courage is about to turn to asks Kei and the others until his eyes caught the opening to the main Storage Bay where they are carting out the parts. Remembering about the Yeshan Tank and Half-Track that is on board, he puts down his tools and head towards that direction.

Only taking minor armor damage, Kei simply only had to replace the damaged metal. Checking everything over, and with the help of the manual, she found that none of her components have taken damaged during the fight.

Removing the last panel with the help of a female crewmember, she calls to Courage over her shoulder as they unbolt the piece, "So who was the one to design these? They seemed pretty forward. ... ... Courage?" she asks as she turns around.

She notices him exits the Hanger Bay and enters the forward Storage Bay. Wondering where he is going she jumps off the wing.

"Think you can finish Marie?" she asks he mechanic.

"No problem, it's the last panel anyway," Marie answers while waving her wrench in the air.

"Thanks. Just do me a favor and watch over those two." Kei points to Antonio and Farris.

Both heads turn to find the mentioned two in mid joke as Antonio falls over laughing on the wing he is sitting and into tools making a loud clatter. Farris and their mechanics bend over with tears coming from their eyes at the sight.

"Sorry," was all Kei said before leaving the area.

"What?," Marie says as she turns her head to find Kei, "Oh you own me!" she calls to the retreating female.

Storage Bay

After several minutes of walking around, he finally spots the tank. Slowly walking up to it, Courage place a hand on the metal and memories from a month ago flood into his mind. Taking a step back, he finally is able to take a good look at the war machine.

"I see you found the Edelweiss," says a voice behind him.

Startled, Courage is about to place a hand into the grip of his revolver until he recognise the voice. Turning around he sees Kei as she walks up to him and the tank.

"So that's name of these beast," looking at the tank again.

"Yeah. After what happened in both Vystorg and Chang-ning, they got a reputation of being a very durable and dangerous tank. So much unnecessary destruction at the hands of those men who initiated those attacks."

"Oh you don't know the half of it," Courage says underneath his breath.

"You said something?"

"Oh nothing," He coughs, "So you said that it's and Edelweiss class tank. You know the specs of it?"

"Not much, remember that I'm a plane gal. But she has an 88mm main turret.... Fully automated loading mechanism..... Can be ran by around 4 crewmen max... Can use smoke.... Has a mortor for its secondary and a front facing machine gun."

Going through the details in his thoughts, he checks off the the main things that Kei just listed.

Still a wonder how we survived.

"Hello? I said you want to check the inside?"

Snapping out of his trance, he sees Kei on the tank and opens the hatch. Nodding, he grabs one of the hand rails and climbs up.

1000

Tranquility

"Now stay tuned, we got more classic music coming up next."

Turning up the volume on the radio, Frey amplifies the music through the Goldfish's speakers as he and the crew sit around idly. Leaning back in a chair, he turns to the Shadow and notices that a plane has been launched, followed by a second moments later.

On the communication radio, Alexi's voice comes through.

"Commander, just received that a few of the pilots are testing their planes again."

Still sitting, Frey picks up the receiver, "As long as nothing hazardous or dangerous is happening, we are fine. So who is in the air?"

"What I heard its was Davis and Antonio."

"Very well. Just note, we are two hours away until Truth Lake."

"Copy."

Brig

Standing in front of the entrance to the Brig, an armed sentry is stationed preventing anyone from entering without proper approval. Inside, Briggs looks at the four others currently being held with him.

"So what are you in for?" asks the closes Raider next to his cell.

"Oh the usual, murders, stealing, working for a secret organisation bound for world domination. That jazz."

The Raider gives Briggs a very confuse face at the last statement, "What?"

"Oh it's a long story, i won't go into the details. May bore you a bit. But I can tell you if you and your buddies back there help me, I can help you immensely."

The Raider pounders for a moment, as he decides, Briggs signature smirk comes out as the answer is given.

[C r o w]

A dozen kilometers souther than the galley, right above Truth Lake

A battle was about to happen.

A big Crusader Class vessel was traveling at full speed, followed by two Goldfishes a couple of kilometers behind it.

A voice could be heard on the Crusader, it was feminine, sweet and talking loudly:
"Here's the boatswain speaking, all crew members are advised to reach their battle stations, as the enemy vessels are catching up with us, thank you."

The captain, while handling the wheel was giving a puzzled look at his boatswain.

The woman lowered her voice.
"Don't look at me like that! You know that if I said directly that we are going to be destroyed the crew would have just panicked!"

"You got a point Selly, but still, they are already scared." Replied the man. "We are almost at the edge of the Lake, it's about time we engage them."

The Crusader turned around, facing the hostile vessels and now moving backwards, toward the lakeside.
The Crusader was equipped with two heavy flaks, two cannons and two homing rocket launchers.
Both Goldfish were with two gats and a hwacha: standard killer-disabler setup.

"Captain! We still don't know what they want!" Yelled a crewman.

"When in doubt, burn everything." Answered the woman in the Captain stead.
Then she talked directly to the captain: "What do you think about it Emil? Can we make it?"

"It all depends on who has the best gunners....y'all maggots, OPEN FIRE!" He answered and then yelled.

The whole engagement lasted for a few minutes. The Crusader's crew was tired for the flight and was scared by the two ships that were following them.
On bkth Goldfishes the crews were eager to fight and to kill that nosey man that looked too much into their masters' plans.

Missiles roared, rockets exploded, projectiles flew, flak shot shredded both people and ship parts alike.
But in the end, the Crusader vessel was the one to lose, it's crew tired, it missed many shots and wasn't able to keep up with the repairs. Few survived the ship engagement.
When all of the Crusader's hull was damaged severely, the ship finally broke in half, falling into the lake.
The two Goldfish even shot among the wreckages to kill anyone that survived.
Too bad for them that the two officers were sublime swimmers, and reached quickly the beach, even if burdened by the clothing.

"Apparently their gunners were better." Snarked Emil.
"This armor plates float wonderfully!" Said the girl.
"This is just an example of the superior fjordland engineering" he replied "Now dear, what was the nearest town?".
"Orrington." replied the girl "But that's just small fry, north east from here there's Cathedral, and is only a few days walk."
"Well then, towards Cathedral we go!" Emil said as he started walking, the girl at his side.

And luckily enough, they were on the movement trajectory of the Expedition Galley.

[C r o w]

"Wait, Selenia, what Lake was this? Was it the one near Dragon town?"
"No Emil, as I said this is.... Truth Lake..."
"Let me guess, we have been walking in the wrong direction."
"Yep."
"Well, where should we go really to be heading towards Cathedral?"
She turned ninety degrees to the left and said with a cheerful voice: "This way! To North-West!"
"Not that I care that we nearly got lost, I am known for it, but this time it could have been extremely annoying, since we are without any kind of airship."
"Hey dear, it was you the one with the wheel!" She kept a very cheerful tone of voice.
"And stop with that cheerful tone! I can't begrumpy if you keep such a cheery attitude."
She smiled towards him.
In the end he smiled back.
"Let's keep walking."

[BdrLineAzn]

Galley

"Hey! What's going on!", yells someone in the dark.

"We are trying to eat here!"

"I just got off, can't I have a peaceful meal."

Inside the kitchen, Belle is making her report to the Bridge while Banning is at the counter trying to calm down the mob.

"We are experiencing some technical difficulties. If you want you can take your meals to your rooms, we don't want to cause a scene."

Several grumbles are heard in the dark as a handful of crew members grab their plates and make their way to the exit. Off somewhere in the middle of the room a crash is heard as someone may had tripped.

"Oh you down it now boy!" cries out one as he goes for a punch.

The one who tripped sees it coming and ducks sending the fist into another person. Soon a fight breaks out in the Galley.

Banning sees a plate flying towards him making him duck underneath the counter, to Belle. "Yeah inform the Bridge of this as well."

Sighing, she makes another call, "Bridge, we may need security here. Fighting has broken out."

Eagle Squadron

Testing his ailerlions, Antonio turns over 180 degrees and flies directly above Davis. Tapping on his cockpit, he waves to Davis as he looks up.

"So Davis, have any manuvers you want to try out." Antonio says on the radio before he breaks away and forms up on his wing, "I want to know how hard we can push these things."

Ulric's Quaters

Turning back to his work, Ulric starts to add several chemicals trying to figure out the odd white coloration he found ealier. Adding two drops of a liquid, Ulric puts it over a burner and soon the blood and white liquid starts to separate from eachother. With the liquid floating to the top, he sucks out the liquid and places it into e petri dish and under a microscope.

"Hmm interesting...Alison, do you know anything about the Maraduers using adrenaline?" he asks while motioning her to the scope.

[Carn]

Galley

With a sigh heavy with exasperation, Alister says in the generally direction of Amelia,

"Your going to want to cover your ears Miss."

Standing up, he crashes his fist into a girder, and roars in a decibel level similar to a Galleon engine,

"CEASE YOUR SQUABBLING YOU MISERABLE EXCUSES FOR MERCENARIES!  SAVE IT FOR THE FIELD! THAT'S AN ORDER DAMN IT!"

Ulric's Lab/Plushie Emporium

Pondering for a moment Alison replies,

"I'm not entirely sure, I've taken resting samples from Alister before, and I've found the drug and marginally higher amounts of adrenaline.  I've never before managed to get a post combat sample.  He doesn't know I've been doing this."

[C r o w]

Nearly a dozen kilometers from the expedition, on its movement trajectory

"Do you remember at what distance did a Heavy Battle Airbarge appeared to be a centimeter big?"
"Uhhhhh.... If I am not mistaken, it was around a dozen kilometers. Why do you ask?"
"That thing over there. Is it a mirage? Am I really seeing that?"
"Where?" Then the girl pointed in the general direction of the expedition Galley.
"Hold on" Emil said as he brought out from a pocket a portable spyglass "Well, first of all, it's on our way, now, I'd say it's a super heavy freighter of some sorts, but is less flashy than usual, so it may be one of those first heavy vessels retrofitted for war. It's not sporting any faction flag, so, judging from its shape and movement, it may be coming from either Cathedral or Nalm.
I want to believe it's from Cathedral."
Then he put away the spyglass.
"Selly, tell me you still have that flare gun and that we didn't lose it in the crash."
Smiling, she put her hand in one or her boots and then brought out said gun.
"Atta girl! We'll have to use it when they are within very few kilometers, we are direly in need of a lift right now."

[Piemanlives]

--Engineering--

Lorena had taken a while to get back to engineering, mostly because she was still tired as all hell and needed her coffee but also because she'd let them suffer a little before interfering. So, with steaming thermos in hand she quietly made her way down toward engineering. At least that was the case until she had passed three panicked swabbies who ran past back to the crew deck.

She sighed as she watched their retreating forms, "Seriously? Fine, fine..."

She made it to the entrance to engineering in short order after that. She swept open the double doors, thermos in one hand, pipe wrench in the other.

"Alright, fear not for it is I! I have to come to fix and repair things, as stated in my contract."

"Well your highness, could ya stop grandstanding and get to work?" Hank was standing next to Crowe, who was working on a panel.

"Hank."

"Yes?" She walked over to him and lightly tapped him on the knee with her wrench.

"Shut up." He smirked.

"As you order." She turned to Crowe, who was stilling working on the panel. He flipped a switch before addressing Hank.

"Right, all and see if that worked." Hank pulled out his radio and held the transmitter.

"Galley, this is engineering, Banning did that work or not?"

"Uh. Oh, oh there are lights, and the stove, shit the stove! I've got to- Hey, wait, don't throw that!" The line went dead.

The three of them just stared at each other in confusion, the radio between them. Lorena took the first stab.

"Do I even want to know?"

Crowe sighed, "Probably not."

--Galley--

Amelia was quietly sitting behind the counters in the galley kitchen as Mr. Carn and Mr. Banning were chewing out the crew for their behavior. The moment Mr. Carn had warned her she decided to protect herself and with dignified flair dove into the kitchen, Ms. Belle apparently had the same and joined her, despite having been in the kitchen initially and hadn't left.

"Think they're going to be done soon?" Ms. Belle asked her quietly. Amelia peered over the counter's surface to watch.

"I don't believe so- Oh and I do believe security is here." Sure enough a few of the ship's marines entered, probably still expecting a fight, what they hadn't expected was authority and fear to be instilled into the crew who remained standing, a few sat nursing bruises though thankfully no one had sustained anything permanent or serious.

"Well," Ms. Belle looked at her, "Feeling a bit more secure now that they're here."

Amelia looked at her with a flat expression on her face. "Ms. Belle."

"Yes?" She raised an eyebrow.

"You are absolutely horrible."

--Bridge--

"Lady Captain, the situation the galley has been resolved." Mr. Gregory Allen went back to his radio.

"Thank you Mr. Allen."

"Ma'am." Reagan had decided then that Gregory Allen was a consummate professional and that she'd be able trust him to keep a level head when she decided to pull something off that would be impossible circumstances.

"Uh Bridge, scout wing reporting, we've got two downed airman waving an rescue flag- Oh they just fired a flare." Davis' voice disappeared from the radio to be replaced by the other pilot.

"Yeah we can't give em lift, anyone here want to offer a ride?"

--Scout Wing--

"Antonio?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up."

The two of them spent the next few minutes circling the pair before flying off. Antonio on his left wing.

"Right, so, back to what we were doing, think you can keep up?"

"Boss you wound me!" Davis heard a dramatic swoon over the radio.

"Antonio..."

"Yeah yeah, I'm on your tail."

Davis gunned the engine of his craft before diving close to the ground. He performed a corkscrew as drew closer to the ground, bleeding speed as he began weaving in between the hills and sand dunes. He kicked up sand and dirt, shrouding him in a cloud, Antonio didn't exactly follow but he maintained altitude just above him, circling around the growing cloud of dust. Using it to his advantage, Davis continued to maneuver in the blinding storm, using his altimeter to stay just above the highest of the dunes. He pulled back on the stick and pulled into a steep climb just on Antonio's six, engine screeching as he climbed, becoming a speck on the surface of the sun.

"3-1 Me, Antonio."

"Right, screw that, my turn."

[BdrLineAzn]

1100

Tranquility

Overhearing the conversation, Frey chimes in from his radio, "Don't worry Bridge,I'll pick them up. I got a visual on the flare and stragglers."

"Copy Commander. we'll standby if you need assistance.' Allen says to him.

"That wont be necessary, I have Captain Kasparov with me for cover. Isn't that right?'"

"I got you six. You are clear for a landing." Alexi acknowledges Frey.

Opening throttles, Frey speeds forward breaking away from the transport towards the downed pair. Coming up from behind, Alexi maneuvers his Galleon and stations himself with his port side guns facing and waiting.

On the Goldfish, Frey decelerates and orders the crew to prepare for a landing. Pulling a lever, air is heard leaving the balloon and soon the vessel slowly descends down onto the dunes.

"Sir, should we ready the Manticore?" asks the gunner.

Eyeing the pair as they move closer, Frey responds, "They don't look like they are a threat, but ready with a rifle."

With a quick "Aye", the gun goes to the locker under the main cabin and removes one of the four rifles. Positioning himself off the bow, he pulls back the bolt and loads a clip in. For the two engineers, they move and ready to throw anchors over the side once they are a few feet off the ground.

Lifting the side fins, Frey extends the landing gears and touch down onto the sand a few meters in front of the pair. With a microphone he calls to them , "I apologies if we seem a little weary," mentioning the armed gunner ,"But state who you are and move slowly towards the vessel."

Ulric's Quarters

"It's a good thing as well," he comments, "If you can take a look, the amount of adrenaline in his blood is 5x the amount a normal human receives. A man under that much goes on a rampage, I believe that they can still fight even after losing a limb."

Taking another vial, he continues several more test and notice two more irregularities, "How long have you been taking samples?" he asks while fixing his glasses.

Galley

With the fighting secured, the Galley is empty as the lunch shift is about to start. Looking at his watch, Banning groans and looks to Belle who is coming out off the kitchen with Amelia.

"If you need me, I'm off to my quarters. My watch starts in five hours, and after this morning, I need to get some rest." With a wave, Charles exit the room as the lunch crew enters.

Rolling her eyes and smirking, Janet waves back to the retreating man, "It seems like trouble always seem to find him huh? So Amelia, you doing anything for the next few hours,cause i got nothing." she asks the woman.

Engineering

Finally closing the panel to the Galley's power, Crowe wipes the sweat from his brow, "I know you worked through the night," he starts to Lorena, "But it seems like nothing is getting fixed with the amount of new engies around here.'

Picking up his toolbox, he motions to the two to follow him as he leads them down to the final room needing to be fixed, "I don't even know if they even read their contract. I mean sheese you will be working, replacing, or repairing things as needed. This isn't some cruise." He continues his rant.

Stopping, he places the box down and opens another panel, "I dont know how you do it, but it seems like you and your team are the few competent ones here,"

Scout Wing

Breathing deeply, Antonio looks in the rear view mirror right above him, and sees Davis following behind.

Let's do this he says to himself.

Opening the throttles, he push the yoke forward putting the plane into a dive. Gaining airspeed, he looks behind and sees that his lead is still following. Pulling up from the dive, he banks right and uses his air brakes to decrease speed as he rolls over the second plane just as Davis sees Antonio pulls up. Still in the roll, Antonio notices Davis breaking right and then an immediate roll to the left to avoid letting him be on his six. Completing the turn, he rolls and  banks left as well but notices Davis change direction anticipating Antonio's maneuver. Both planes pass each other as they scissor across for a few turns. Seeing he can't out turn the man. Antonio pulls up quickly and out of the dance. Seeing nothing after his pass, Davis sees the second plane in a steep climb and follow suit.

Hearing the second roar behind him, Antonio taps his yoke for his next move. Eyes widening, he breathes out before cutting his engines, pulling back and extending his air breaks. Feeling the plane going into a stall, he sees Davis still far off into the climb. Soon, the plane loses all forward momentum and is fully turned around from him pulling back earlier, with a "clear shot", Antonio places his cross hairs over the plane for three seconds before turning on his engines and pulling up before hitting Davis head on.

Still breathing heavily, he forms up on Davis's wing, "Whoo, that was something..."

[C r o w]

The man slowly took off his helmet and attached it to his belt, then he raised his hands to show that he was not hostile. After a few seconds looking at the man who talked from the Goldfish he started smiling with satisfaction.
And then he started talking after he performed a very scenic bow.
"Oh my, lucky me, look who's here!
Captain Frey! Of all the officers that one could find on the the field, I find one of the most honest and hardworking!
You may not know me, but your fame made you quite renown in my section."

"Oh, where have my manners gone, let me present myself:
Emil Ansager, champion of the Cainhurst familiy, guardian of Cainhurst Castle, nobleman of the Fjord Baronies and a captain of the Royal Fleet, at your service, but to avoid annoyances concerning the name and titles, just call me Emil. "
"This fair lady besides me is Selenia, my companion, bodyguard, secretary, and, yeah, basically the one that remembers everything that I forget."
After Emil said that, his face became suddenly extremely serious.
"We also may have something important to give and tell you." Then looking around he added "In private."

[Piemanlives]

--Scout Wing--

"Yeah," Davis took in a deep breath. "Kei would still kick both our asses."

"Yup."

There was a lengthy silence as the two of them circled about in the sky. Eventually Tranquility and the Crimson Dragoon passed them by on their way towards the downed airmen.

"Well, come on lets head back."

"Right behind you." Bit to the left there Antonio.

--Hanger Bay--

Davis and Antonio touched down on the deck in relatively short order after their mock dog fights. The hanger crews began working on their craft as the two of them went over to where Farris was... most definitely sleeping. The two of them shared a look before nodding with horrible grins on their faces.

--5 Minutes later--

Farris woke up from his short nap. It was then, he noted with absolute horror, that both Davis and Antonio's planes where sitting in their maintenance hanger. He sighed and brought a hand up to his face to feel what stupid prank they'd played, typically Kei was the professional of their group, of the few days they'd known each other at least. Still, Davis and Antonio had hit it off in ways one would expect two idiots to get together. Which was kind of insulting, Davis was a rather intelligent guy and despite his personality Antonio was a sharp one as well. His hand made it to his altered visage and he let out an even deeper sigh as he felt the fluffy beard on his face.

"Really?"

"Yes.""Pretty much yeah."

He looked back to see the two of them sharing a meal on a maintenance cart. The two of them smiled at him before going back to their food.

"Uhg." That was when he realized, "Wait, where's Kei and Courage."

The pair stopped eating, looked him, then to each other, the three of continued trading glances until Antonio shrugged.

"Eh." He held out a third sandwich. "Want one?"

--Galley--

"I have no duties right now." Amelia offered her arm out.

Ms. Belle was confused until she saw a familiar translucent blob float down from the ceiling. Andromeda grasped onto Amelia's upper arm before migrating up to her shoulder. Her dropped quietly as she addressed her.

"Shall we?"

[Carn]

Ulric's Lab

"Fighting after amputation? It wouldn't surprise me.  This is the first sample I've been able to take since we separated, roughly four years.  Before that, over a period of two years I was able to get two dozen samples.  I first noticed the irregularity after patching him up, his blood had that odd look.  Unfortunately I didn't have the education, nor the equipment to take and examine a sample.  This is the first post combat sample I've acquired, all the rest were taken at rest."

Galley

"And if you idiots ever do this again, then I will personally join in! Dismissed!"

After having chewed out the miscreant crew, Alister heads up to the bridge to discuss this with Reagan.

The crew is idle, they're itching for a scrap and are undisciplined.  We need to divert that kind of energy, or there will be more incidents.

Hangar Bay

James and John roar with laughter at the sight of Faris.

"That's brilliant!"

"But we'd,"

"Have gone with,

"A more creative color."

[BdrLineAzn]

Tranquility

Emil Ansager...hmm, Frey in thought as he eyes the man up and down, Oh code named Strayed from CRIES, no wonder he thinks I'm a Captain, deviated from missions one too many maybe he deviated from the briefings as well.

"Well welcome aboard Lord Ansager," he finally addresses the man, "Well escort you and your companion to our main ship where we can discuss your situation."

Waving a hand to the gunner, he places his weapon to safe and proceeds to unload it. One of the envies tosses a ladder over board where Emil and Selenia uses to climb.

"Captain Kasparov, I picked up two new passengers. We are going to head back to the Shadow." he says on the radio.

"Understood Commander."

"But don't worry, I'll send another ship out."

Laughter is heard as Alexi tries to make out his next sentence, Me worried, you Barons have a funny sense of humor."

Giving a small chuckle, Frey changes the frequency to the Bridge, "Bridge, Tranquility, Mr. Allen we retrieve the stranglers and are proceeding to Hanger Bay to dock."

"I will inform Hanger Bay for your arrival. And I assume you want a second escort out?"

"You know me too well."

"Copy, at the moment Mr. Culvin is available. He will be up shortly."

Satisfied, Frey lifts the Goldfish off the ground and follows Alexi's Galleon back to the transport.

Hanger Bay

After being informed of the details of the tank and actually be inside the vehicle, Courage and Kei return only to find a fully bearded Farris and two smug face pilots holding their laughter.

"And I thought my friends pranks are bad,mow do you manage with them?" he asks Kei.

"Yes how do you manage them Kei," says an exasperated female voice coming down the bay.

The pair turn and sees Kei's mechanic, Marie, walking toward them.

"Oh I don't know," Kei shrugs, "Someone must be the adult at times."

Galley

Catching up to the female before she exit the room, Belle asks the female, "Shall we what?"

Ulric's Quaters

Before continuing with more tests, the PA system turns on, "Captain Culvin, you are needed to relieve one of the escorts. I repeat, Captain Culvin you are needed to relieve an escort.", says Allen.

"Whooops look like I'm needed. You can try to find out but this is all I can do at the moment."

[BdrLineAzn]

1120

Eagle's Shadow

As Frey nears the transport from its port side, the Hanger Bay door on this side opens and emerge a Junker. As the two ships pass, Ulric on the Junker waves to Frey who gives a simple two finger salute. Entering the transport, he soon cuts the throttles to allow the Goldfish to coax in slowly and be handled by the waiting crane operators. Several loud thuds indicating the ship as been latched properly, the massive doors start to close as the cranes manuver the ship into its holding berthing.

Once secured, Frey dismisses his crew with a nod and starts to de board the airship.

"Lord Ansager, if you and your acomplice would follow me. We have some things to discuss in my quarters." he calls behind him.

Frey's Quarters

After several minutes of walking from the Hanger Bay and to the living compartments, Frey shuts and lock the door behind him as he gestures to the seats in front of his desk.

"So why in the bloody skies are two CRIES operatives doing out here." he starts as he takes his seat.

[C r o w]

Frey's quarters

While Emil remained standing up beside the chair, Selenia accepted the offer and sat down.

Crossing his arms on his chest, Emil simply answered:
"It's... complicated."

Selenia then started talking in Emil's place:
"I believe you know that C.R.I.E.S. stands for Corps of Recon and Intelligence Ex-State.
So not only when we're deployed in missions it is always out of the Baronies.
Hell, even when not on mission we must stay as far away as possible from the fjordland!
Except for a few days when every year we must report our discoveries to the HQ.
Our vessel got shot down on our way there.

Nodding in approval, Emil then added:
"Now, as she said, our current objective is to report our discoveries in any and every field to a CRIES royal high ranking officer, but, since it is far renown of your loyalty towards the Baronies, and you work too in an intelligence section, I'll have to give you this"

He said while bringing a little scroll out of a pocket.

Selenia then said, with a serious tone of voice:
"We fully trust that you already know about this organization known as the Birdmen.
This organization was born in Yesha, and then hunted out of it, for the fact that it was causing many troubles.
It's just a rumor going around deep in the underground, but it says that after the Yeshan Civil War, the Birdman have regained power."

Then Emil again added:
"Being the Arashi the natural enemy of Yesha, they know quite something about this sect, as we believe that they have fought against it many times in the past.
Apparently, they have indeed risen again recently,and even
some of our operatives have entered in direct contact with a little number of them while scouting.
We had a 100% casualty rate, so my intelligence section doesn't know much by first hand."

He then redirected the attention to the scroll: it had marks of burns and some little cuts.

"This little scroll had quite an adventure. In here are written the tribal stories that I managed to gather.
I actually don't know what is written exactly in here...
Because most of it is in Arash tribal language.
The last time I asked someone to translate it they tried to shoot me and then pushed my ship into an ambush. So that's also why I was in the middle of nowhere."

"Now, I notice that you are no longer a captain, and you have indeed been promoted, Mr. Frey, and I'd also like to ask what are you doing on the field too."

"Can we join your expedition?" Intromitted Selenia.

Emil facepalmed.