Uncharted Skies

[Carn]

Gunnery Deck

"Ms Amelia, I believe you are fully qualified for your job. Was not expecting you to have a rant like that in you, well done." Alister gives a informal salute to her, "Now then, is there any injuries at all? Or was that interchange over the comm completely overdone and made things sound far worse than they are?"

Giving an annoyed glare to the recently scolded crew, Alison notes not much more than a few minor scrapes, burns, and blisters. Very common among swabbies. "Any injuries that require my immediate attention. I'm not your mommy, I won't com running to kiss your boo boos."

"I'd listen to her lads, she could prescribe you something with nasty effects if you agitate her."

"I think you boys would like to avoid impotency."

[BdrLineAzn]

Eagle's Shadow

High above even the tallest structures, The medium transport, with it's Galleon and Junker escort, slowly maneuver through the busy skies of Cathedral. Being one of the biggest vessel in the air currently, the Shadow does cast quite a large shadow beneath her. Those on the ground look up in wonder as the ship passes overhead. Stopping and going several times, even for it's size, the transport must give yield to the dozen of ships from the six factions. After an hour of this, Shadow and company have finally reach the edge of the city where clear desert and skies await for them.

Wondering the halls, Renard looks over a clipboard in his hand only to look up as the PA system comes to life.

Attention crew, we are leaving the city's limits. Current heading, Southeast to Sunder and onward to Albys. From there we are crossing the Gulf to the Guild. Station first watch on the Gunnery Deck and launch two scout planes. Bridge out.


"Finally underway," he says underneath his breath. Giving a quick look over on his board, Renard  moves towards his room to get some needed rest. With Ulric and Alexi's ships out on escort duty, he assumes that he will take the next rotation with his Goldfish, which may go through the night. The halls of the ship is relatively empty as majority of the crew is out either in the Mess Hall eating dinner or setting up watch. Finally in front of his door, Renard enters to find Courage's half tidied up and said person in heavy clothing.

Having securing his revolver in the holster, Courage turns his head at the sound of the door, "Ah, afternoon Renard. Well you can't complain about the mess now huh?"

"Yes," he slowly says as he sets the clipboard on a desk, "May i ask Mr. Bell...."

Renard is cut off as Courage gives an annoyed glare to his bunk mate.

"Sorry, Courage," Renard corrected, "But whats with the outfit?"

"Well you heard the announcement, got to set up first watch. So I'll being going topside with a small group as lookouts, while the Gunnery Decks man the big guns."

Renard raises an eyebrow at the mention of the Gunnery Deck which prompt Courage to ask, "Whats with the look?"

"Are the main guns fully operational? I mean i saw the reports that there were several problems associated with them."

"Pssh," Courage with a wave of a hand, "Amelia and I Personally fixed them, we just had some complication with the engineering crew. Well I'm off, have a good afternoon Renard."

With the door closed in the small room, Renard sighs to himself, This is one odd crew. he thinks before resting in his bunk

Brig

Having someone to bring in some tea, Frey sits just opposite of the ship's only prisoner. Silence lingers in the room as Frey waits for the tea.

"So Mr. Brigg, willing to divulge any new information?"

Behind him, a knock is herd on the metal door. With a hand, Frey stands to retrieve the beverage. Placing the the kettle and two cups on a small table, Frey pours himself and Brig a cup and offers him one.

Hanger Bay

Attention crew, we are leaving the city's limits. Current heading, Southeast to Sunder and onward to Albys. From there we are crossing the Gulf to the Guild. Station first watch on the Gunnery Deck and launch two scout planes. Bridge out.

Lying down idly on a few crates, Farris and Antonio woke up with a shock at the announcement and commence to fall off their temporary sleeping arrangements. Giving a slight chuckle, Kei moves to one of the strapped down planes and proceed to undo the straps.

Coming to, Antonio sees Kei and goes over wondering what was the announcement.

Before he even have a chance to speak, she answers without even looking up from the current harness, "Got orders to send up two planes to scout ahead, I'll go out as one of them."

Signalling to several crew members in the compartment, she and five others maneuver the plane into a overhanging hook from a crane. Getting into the cockpit, she turns on the many panels and goes over the pre-flight checklist. From her position, she calls out to the two, "Don't know who is going to be the second pilot, you and Farris and decide with Davis, but now... CLEAR BAY 2 FOR LAUNCH."

With that command, red lights begin to flash throughout the the Hanger Bay as the crane begins to lift the plane. The floor beneath it lifts up safety railings to prevent the crew from falling over board as it opens to allow the crane to lower the plane into the environment. Once she sees that he has enough space, Kei lowers the wings from its storage position and fully extends it out. Starting the engine, she allows it to reach maximum thrust before hitting the release button disconnecting her plane form the hook.

Feeling a large jerk, the plane goes into a vertical dive before Kei pulls back on the yoke allowing the plane to come up from the dive. After doing several maneuvers, Kei levels out and flies with the Shadow as she waits for the second plane.

"Bridge, this is Eagle 2 standing by."

Weather Deck

Courage and his group of seven arrives at the topmost level of the transport. Taking up positions around the ship, they watch as the lone plane does its fancy maneuvers before coming into formation with the ship.

"Wow, who is ever in that may compete with the Anvalan pilots." Courage says with a whistle.

[Piemanlives]

--Hanger Bay, Eagle's Shadow--

Davis cracked an eye and watched as Farris and Antonio righted themselves. The two of them began looking each other, the unspoken question floating between the pair. Then their eyes landed on him and for a while the three of them shifted their gaze from one to the other. Davis sighed and sat up from the wing of the craft he was laying on.

"Well," he said as he pulled open the cockpit, "seems like I'm taking a second shift today."

He hopped in and motioned for a crew to push his craft of choice to the launch zone as he examined the instrumentation. It was the usual fare plus a few incredibly useful extras, magnetic compass, heading indicator, plenty of useful tools for night flying, which he would most certainly be doing quite often. He located the button to deploy or fold his wings and pressed it, watching as the wings folded upward as the crew pushed his craft over the closed launch bay door.

The whirring of gears alerted him to the presence of the crane above as it lowered to latch onto his craft. The sound of straining metal as his craft was lifted to allow the bay doors to open properly, the sudden lurch as he descended, the blinding light as he found himself outside.

He let the engine warmup as he took in his surroundings, watching the city slowly recede behind them, the sand dunes, the telltale signs of activity on the ground. He checked the engine levels and found them acceptable. He checked the release and took a deep breath.

Welp, now or never.

He punched the release and immediately felt the drop as his craft, almost regretting everything as he continued to drop. Something snapped and he found himself leveling out above the sandy dunes, he blinked and increased his altitude to match that of the fleets. He did a few shallow banks as he rounded the vessel he would be calling home for the next few weeks. Eventually he spotted Kei in the air, watched as she effectively danced among the clouds.

Davis liked to consider himself a decent pilot, but watching her he realized he didn't hold a candle to her. It made him wonder, where all of his wingmates such amazing pilots? On one hand Kei was the quiet professional who seemed to loosen up on occasion, on the other Antonio and Farris broke a radio antenna together.

He decided to shelve that thought for later and keyed his radio.

"Eagle 2, this is Eagle 1. Well Kei, looks like we'll be sharing the skies for a little while. Form up on my wing and we'll head out.

"Alright."

Just please don't show off too much. He quietly added to himself as he keyed the radio to the bridge.

“Bridge, scout wing is deployed and heading south east ahead of the fleet.”

--Bridge, Eagle's Shadow--

Reagan tossed a marker in her hand as she leaned against a railing. Still confused about why Alister was looking upon the young boy so disapprovingly before the two of them had left the bridge. Probably because he had done something stupid, she wouldn't have been surprised if that was the case.

"-heading south east ahead of the fleet."

"Copy that scout wing, keep us posted."

The Comm officer hung up the receiver and recorded it in the logbook. She took a look around, there was no reason for her to take the helm at this moment, navigation had a complete set of weather reports over the gulf and a course set well till they left the guild at Gura Lupulul. She took out her flask, it's contents replaced with tea for the time being and took a swig. It was most certainly going to be a long day.

[BdrLineAzn]

With the last rays of light disappear over the horizon, the distinct silhouette of Cathedral's skyline blends perfectly with the night sky. Several dots of light illuminate the top most deck as Courage and his team keeps a watchful eye into the darkness.

Weather Deck

Sighing, "Here we go again," he mutters under his breath. A small cloud comes off his month noting the dropping temperature in the desert. Still bearable than the snow front that comes into Anvala occasionally, Courage look to either side of him and notices that several members are donning gloves to combat the cold, releasing a chuckle form him.

"What do you mean 'again' sir?" came a voice from behind.

 Raising an eyebrow, Courage turns around fully to see the youngest member of his watch team with a quizzical look on his face before turning back to look out at the sand.

"Oh, nothing just me and my thoughts. Also i don't like the 'sir', didn't join the Guard as an officer, they are uptight individuals." COurage says as he taps the railing next to him.

Accepting the offer, the young man goes over next to him and places both of his arms on the barrier and look out as well, "So it is true," he starts prompting Courage to looks over.

"What is?"

"You were part of the city's militia back in Anvala. Couple of the guys here we were trying to figure out where you were from. Some said Sarrin, some Parrin, but majority of us but our money on Anvala."

Courage gives out a small laugh, "well there is some truth to that, i was born in Sarrin, but spent most of my time in Anvala. Names Courage." he finish with an outstretched hand.

"Theodore, Theodore Cutler," the man responds as he shakes the hand.

As the two continue to converse, the two planes can be seen breaking off their formation with the transport and flying ahead.

Eagle Squadron

"Alright," Kei responds to Davis through her headset.

Forming behind his left wing, She follows closely behind as they put some distance between them and the small ship formation. Holding one hand on the yoke, using her free hand, she turns on the on board radar. With a click, her headset is filled with silent pings verifying that its is working.

"Eagle 1, 2, I just truned n my radar, skies are clear at the moment."

Waiting for a respond, Kei glances out to her left and does a small double take. Looking closely out of the glass dome, she shrugs it off.

Don't get jittery now Naga, we are on the job.

Crimson Dragoon

"Bridge, this is Kasparov. We seem to have mechanical problems," coughs Alexi into the radio

"Captain Kasparov, what seem to be the problem?" a static reply comes through.

"My main engine has overheated and died. My men and I are trying to fix it at the moment, but the smoke is too thick and i don't believe that my turning engines can handle the strain of being the current  main propulsion."

Bridge

"Copy, Captain Kasparov, Start heading to the repair bay. We'll send a replacement ship out." says the Communications Officer

"Copy, back to the Shadow."

Looking out the Bridge's windows, those currently in the room sees the large trail of smoke as the Galleon slowly limps back. At one of the panels, one of the crew members pulls back a level as a jolt is felt across the whole transport as the mid-ship bay doors open to allow the Galleon enter.

Though the Communications Officer's headset, a message form the Hanger Bay is received, "Bridge, Hanger Bay, The Crimson Dragoon is secured, you can close the bay doors."

"Copy", and with a nod to the operator, he places the lever back to its original position to close the large doors.

Once done, one of them turns to Reagan, "Ma'am, should we send up Captain Carn or Captain Larson?"

[Carn]

Bridge

After leaving the repair crew to the mercy of Alison, Carn makes it back up to the bridge in time to hear

"Send up Captain Carn or Captain Larson?"

"What's going on then?"

Brig

Taking the proffered cup, Jasper takes a sip.

"Mmmm lovely. In regards to information, it all depends on what you wish to know?"

[Koali]

Gunnery Deck

Koali awoke, slightly dizzy. He'd forgotten to recalibrate his steam legs to properly grip a ship's flooring and had therefore tripped and hit his head when the Eagle's Shadow took off.

"Aw, crap. If that Carn guy finds out it's this easy knock me out he'll probably just toss me overboard."

He adjusted some dials and walked over to what was left of the flak cannon and the engineers puttering around trying to fix it.

"So, uh... Is there... Is there anything I should do to help, or...?"

[ShadedExalt]

Gaige, Gunnery Deck:

"Skies be damned, who sold these people those guns?  I haven't seen guns that poorly maintained since, god, back when I commandeered an Arashi ship."  Sitting down heavily on the seat of the nearest heavy flak, he sinks into the padded chair and pulls off his newsboy cap, rubbing his scalp with his cleanest hand.  "Amelia, excellent job having the swabbies soil themselves.  Sometimes a more subtle approach with the promise of much violence later is the best course of action.  Do you have any idea why these guns look like they were pulled out of a scrapyard?"

[Piemanlives]

--Bridge, Eagle's Shadow--

Reagan looked from where she was leaning to find Carn closing the bridge door behind him.

"What's going on then?"

Reagan gave her flask a few taps and sighed, Running empty. That wasn't the only issue, the tea had gone a rather disheartening lukewarm while on duty, she'd have to grab one of the spare thermoses from the galley later.

"Mr. Kasparaov suffered a mechanical malfunction in his vessel's engines." She said, "Me and Mr. Banning here," she pointed to the comm officer, "Were discussing if we should send you or Mr. Larson up as his replacement, since you're here though..." She gave him a noncommittal shrug, "You might as well do it, if you want that is."

--Eagle Squadron--

Davis took another more look around and spotted something out of the corner of his eye, Well, there's a thought.

"Ok Kei, got another for you." He heard a dejected sigh.

"Ok, one more."

"Ok, I spy something... that begins with s." Again he heard a sigh on the other side of the radio.

"Is it sand?" She guessed for the 10th time.

"No it's ship." He keyed the radio to bridge keeping Kei on the line. "Bridge, Eagle squadron reporting, you have what appears to be a freighter heading your way, adjust course South West 7 degrees to compensate.

"Copy that, continue your sweep, we'll send the next flight out to relieve you."

"Copy that Bridge, Eagle 1 out." He keyed the radio back to her. "Right... so... I've got another, begins with s."

He heard a smack on the other side of the radio. "Is it sky?"

"No it's Skimmer, take a look." He took a shallow dive and rounded around a small region, sure enough Kei saw a small sand skimmer was treading the dunes heading south east as they were.

Eventually their moonlit flight was interrupted as Farris and Antonio came up on their radars.

"Alright you two, having fun out here." It was less a question but Davis answered anyways.

"Eh, you could say that. Come on Kei, time to head back to the barn."

"Copy that, forming up on your wing."

Davis keyed into both Antonio and Farris as all four craft passed each other.

"Right you two, try not to shoot up the countryside while I'm away." Somehow I feel they'd manage it anyway.

"Will do boss man." Antonio answered, Davis would have keyed out right there if it hadn't been for the following exchange.

"Right, so Farris, I thought we'd engage in a time honored tradition among scouts."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, goes a little like this." Davis heard a clearing of throats, "I spy something that begins with...s."

"I'm going to punch you."

"Haha, that doesn't begin with s Farris."

"Silently, you will be punched."

"Now you're not even trying."

--One End of The Gunnery Deck, Eagle's Shadow--

Of the four man crew working on the beleaguered flak cannon, one of them stopped to look at Koali.

"Well it's not like you can help- Hey, not like that really." He panicked slightly when he saw his face change. "Look, see that blond over there?" He pointed over to where Amelia was sitting reading a book as she quietly chatted with Gaige, "She's scary, I feel we got threated with bodily harm if we-" He pointed to the rest of his crew, "don't learn how to personally maintain the damn thing." He patted the flak cannon.

--The Other End of The Gunnery Deck, Eagle's Shadow--

Amelia looked up at Gaige, framed by the open stars shining through the open gun port. The Caronnade deployed to it's firing position. She closed the book she was reading and set it on her lap as she thought.

"I have no idea, it's a bit odd isn't it? Perhaps they thought we'd remain more inconspicuous if it hadn't seemed as if we were funded by a military organization? I can see the logic, however I do agree they could have invested more in our weaponry. Though many of the weapons were not as bad as they seemed..." Which was technically true, they were much worse. Over the entire day Amelia, Gaige, Courage, and the maintenance crews had toiled to bring the ship's main armament to operational status, having replaced a majority of the components, it was almost as if they had replaced the guns entirely, now most guns only had spots of rust instead of being piles of steel fragments and fractured iron.

"I don't suppose these are new models either... Though Courage might appreciate that when it comes to the flak cannons."

--Ship's Quarters, Eagle's Shadow--

Lorena had learned that most of the rooms on the ship either came with 2 or 4 beds, discounting the general quarters which held a great deal of beds for the rest of the crew who were both unlucky or lazy enough to not be able to claim a room. Lorena had learned that the room closest to the Med Bay was only occupied by 1 of 2 possible occupants, and they were female, which was lucky, considering she would rather bunk there rather then the general quarters.

She threw her equipment into the foot locker near the unoccupied bed and popped open the manual the head engineer gave her on the adjoining desk, the ship's engines were of an unfamiliar model yet the manufacturer, an Anvalan based one, was familiar due to her work with the Skyrunner's own engine compliment, even so she wanted to be prepared. As she flipped through, she wondered when her roommate would be returning.

------
Poster's Note:

So, what are the twins up to?

[Carn]

Bridge

"No problem, could use some fresh wind anyways. I'll grab some grunts and deploy.  I'll be fanning out in a gradual arc in front, and above the Shadow, roughly 500 feet out by 100 feet above."

Turning around Alister heads to the cargo bay. Upon entering he sees the twins trying to start some ball game on the hangar floor.

Hangar Bay

"Alright boys, sadle up I need you two geared for squid duty in five minutes."

Signalling over another engineer who has the marks of competence, Alister introduce's himself and gives the new guy his orders.

"How come Alister is more polite to strangers than us?"

"I supose he's just jealous of our dashing looks."

Despite the griping, Alister's hastily gathered crew is ready.

"Bridge, this is Captain Carn of the Squid Kibeth, we are ready to deploy."

Medbay

Sighing, Alison notices the time and decides to clock in. Going to her bunk, she notices another woman the other cot.

"Well helo, I'm Alison, medical officer. You?"

[BdrLineAzn]

Earlier

"Take a look at her.", whistles one as he lowers his binoculars and pushes his partner awake.

"What where?," his partner grumbles as he sits up.

"There, coming from Cathedral." the first points out in the distance.

"Oh, I see it,' came a sarcastic reply as he eyes the dozen of ships leaving the city.

"I know right, i can only imagine the she is carrying."

Smacking the back of his partner's head, the second one snaps, "You wit, i don't know which ship you are talking about. You said it coming from Cathedral, hundredsof ships come out form that city each week. Now give me those and point out which one."

"You don't have to be mean about it," he says as he hands over the binoculars while rubbing the back of his head, "There, the medium transport with the Galleon and Junker escort."

Scanning the horizon, the second person finally spots the formation. Taking it all in, a small smile forms on his face thinking of the payout.

"Oh, this is juicy. Come on, we need to tell the others to get ready." He says as he throws back the lens and head toward their parked skimmer.

"We sending up our ships to go after them?" catching the thrown object and following.

Starting the engines, the second person puts on goggles and turns to the first, "Not yet, i bet they can pick them up on radar first. Contact the camp to get ready the cannons, we'll try and set up ahead of them"

Eagle's Shadow 2200

Weather Deck

With a yawn, Courage looks down at his watch, Where is our relief?

Just as he is about make a call, the hatch opens and a group of eight exits and sprawl around the entire deck. The man in charge goes toward to Courage as his own team start to head down.

"Finally," he jokes as he shakes hands with his relief.

"Hard to get a few men out of bed, but we got it from here." the man says with a laugh.

"So far the night has been calm, we already pass Sunder. One of the escorts had to come back in for repairs as we are changing he flight wings." Courage informs the man.

"Got it, now you go and get your rest."

With a final pat on his shoulders, Courage follows behind his watch group. Staring out one more time, he sees the first two planes coming in.

Hanger Bay

With his Galleon secured onboard, Alexi, his crew, and a small team of engineers start to inspect the malfunctioning main engine.

"Wow, this one is shot beyond hell." one of the engineers exclaims.

"Sir, where did you find this piece of metal?" asks another.

Opening one of the side panels, Alexi and one of his actually crewmen takes a look inside, "A reward from a Baron after i completed a mission for him. She and i have been together ever since."

Poking his head out and facing the engineer who asks, "Got a problem with that." he says with a glare.

Gulping, the man quickly apologize, "Oh nothing sir, she is a great ship. Tip-top and top notch."

"Good," Alexi says as he goes towards the man and place a wrench in his hands, "Now you are your team fix her while my men and i rest."

With a nod, the engineer whistle to the others as they start.

Smirking, Alexi motions for his crew to get out of the way. Walking off his ship, the red lights start to flash as the drop point for the planes start to open.

Eagle Squadron B

"Antonio, asks me another I Spy question again, I'll personally run this propeller through your fuselage." says an irritated Farris`

Antonio laughs at his partner's dispair, "Come on lighten up just a little or you'll become like Kei. We have a few more hours until morning."

"And it can't come soon enough"

"Okay, okay." antonio backs up, "Well back to our jobs."

Looking down, he sees a land caravan traveling along the same route as them.

Must be trying to get to Brigfern Antonio says to himself.

Fifth Season

"Bridge, this is the Junker," starts Ulric," Where is our second ship?"

"Captain Culvin, please hold just a little longer.

"Copy" he says before turning off his radio.

turning to his crew he excitedly exclaims out to them, "So who wants another lesson on the phases of the moon!" which earns a collective groan as Ulric lecture on to deaf ears.

Trying to tune out his captain, one of the crew members spots the land caravan which stopped.

Must have made camp for the night.

Shrugging it off, he is about to turn his back when he spots several flashes of light from below.

Oh Flak "BRACE, INCOMING SHELLS!!" HE yells to those on the Junker.

"Land Caravan"

"Looks like just one escort," Says the second man from earlier, "Call Thorne to get our ships in the air."

With a lift of his hand, the men around him remove several tarps off their trucks to reveal multiple 88's. With a swipe down, the cannons open fire above.

Bridge

The room rocks as several shells impacted the hull.

On the radio, Ulric voice comes through, "Ambush, raiders directly below"

"No penetrations at them moment," calls out another radioman.

"New contacts coming up on radar, two Squids, a Junker, and a Galleon inbound." cries out the radarman.

Eagle Squadron A

As both Kei and Davis line up to the the hooks that will retrieve their planes, they see the shells impact the belly of the transport.

"BREAK," She yells out avoiding the shells.

Brig

As Frey is about to start his line of questions, he felt the ship vibrate and alarms going off.

"This your doing?" he asks Jasper.

"I have no clue just like you," He says with a shrug.

Exiting the Brig, Frey hurries as fast as his limp can take him and arrives to the Bridge.

"What's going on!"

[Carn]

Hangar Bay

Upon hearing the sirens blare, Alister raises his voice to a level that can carry over thunder.

"ALL HANDS ON DECK! EVERYONE TO BATTLE STATIONS! DEPLOY THE SHIPS!"

And with that, he unhooks his ship, sending her into the fray.

"New guy, your front, spray them with the gat! Idiots, decide which of you is on banshee and the other on mines! First target will be that sorry excuse for a Squid!"

Suddenly the Squid in mention hurtling straight towards them.

"Lay some mines! Drogue shoot in 5 seconds! Light em up with the gat!"

[Piemanlives]

--Eagle Squadron, Alpha Flight--

"SHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHITSHIT!"

Davis banked hard right as the shell exploded in front of him, he nearly shut his eyes as he heard the screeching and tearing of metal. As luck would have it, only his right wing was damaged. That was still bad, still, whoever was firing at that proceeded to ignore the two shadows dancing against the black of night, well, really it was one dancing and the other limping about as he tested the damage to his craft.

"You alright?" Kei's concerned voice came over the radio as he leveled his craft.

"Alive but my craft has taken one hell of a hit." He paused to look at his left wing, metal panels having been torn off when it passed through the flak cloud, allowing him to see the interior structure. Lucky that I'm still up really. "So what the hell is going on anyway?" The fleet had come under fire from ground based guns to to the south east, no one had noticed them earlier so they had to be a recent development. The freighter he had spotted had also disappeared and somehow he felt the two events were connected.

"Pirate raiders most likely, the Shadow is deploying additional vessels now but we need to buy time for them to deploy. Additional hostiles are approaching from the northwest."

"Right." The ground based guns weren't too effective against the massive transport but given enough time they'd be able to punch through, to the northwest he could see them coming over the horizon. He watched as one of the hanger doors disgorged the docked squid he had seen earlier.

"Farris, Antonio you guys there?"

"Right here boss man.

"We read you, where do you need us?"

"Head back and support the fleet against the oncoming vessels, me and Kei and will handle the ground based batteries."

"Will do, Come on Farris, let's go."

"Oh, and Antonio."

"Yeah?"

"Remember what I said about shooting up the countryside? You can ignore that now."

"Hehe, music to my ears."

--Eagle Squadron, Beta Flight--

"So I was thinking Farris, that we should try and disable that galleon."

"What seriously?" Farris was in slight disbelief at what he was suggesting, it was a galleon after all and as such they were tough targets.

"Come on, we come in high, circle around and take out their engines, they won't even have engines by the time we're done."

"Fine fine, I'll follow you in."

"Just watch how it's done."

--Bridge, Eagle's Shadow--

"Ah Frey," Reagan took a long swig of alcohol she found sitting in the navigation room. "Just in time, we're under attack by raiders." She then went on to ignore him as she began figuring things out.

"Right, we'll leave the ground batteries to our fighters, Banning if you would."

"Aye ma'am." The young man gave her a salute as he began contacting the various fleet elements they had available.

"Helm, pass over control to me."

"Aye ma'am." The helmsman stepped aside as she grasped the wheel in her hands, she quietly ran her fingers over the spokes as she picked up the command pipe that sat next to it. Though the crew was probably aware something was happening no one had given a formal declaration.

"This is the Bridge to all sections, all hands to battle stations, I repeat all hands to battle stations."

--Alison/Lorena's Room, Eagle's Shadow--

Lorena looked at the woman who had just entered and introduced herself.

"Ahh, name's Lorena, engineer." She leaned the chair back on it's hind legs and held out her hand just as the sirens began to blare about the ship, prompting her to kick back, time seemed to slow as both of them, Alison watching, and Lorena feeling as she feel towards the floor. The back of the chair hit the deck yet she remained as if sitting in it. She blinked and opened her mouth as if to speak before closing it again.

"We should probably get going." As if to exacerbate the situation the deep thundering of gun fire could be both heard and felt from the above decks. She rolled off and grabbed the kit that was sitting atop her foot locker before sprinting all the way down to engineering.

[Carn]

Kibeth

One of the twins managed to lay two mines out before the Alister activated the drogue chute, one of the engineers quickly repairing the damage.

"FULL REVERSE, AND HARD TO STARBOARD! FIRE WHEN TARGET IS IN SIGHTS!"

A millisecond after Alister's most recent bellow, two explosions can be heard as the enemy Squid plows into the mines. With ten more seconds the Kibeth rose, turned, and began to fire upon it with gatling and banshee.

Alison and Lorena's Bunk

"And I just got off shift too!"

Quickly, Alison straps an emergency med kit to her back and preps the medbay. Grabbing a comm she calls the bridge,

"Bridge, this is medbay. Any reported injuries?"

[Piemanlives]

Real post incoming later, for now? Well...
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ANDROMEDA INTERLUDE

Deep within the heart of the ship a translucent bulb clung to a bulkhead, amidst the gunfire and explosions it slumbered, the deafening explosions becoming lulling thumps in the distant, the sounds of automatic weaponry fading into what one might equate to droplets of rain. Of course Andromeda was an intelligent creature, and was fully capable of recognizing the panic of the beings very similar to master as they scurried about their flying nest. Of course this mattered not as bead like eyes scanned for rodents, a meal was perhaps in order yet these thoughts were interrupted as Andy felt a tapping the currently appropriated perch.

"Andromeda," beady eyes turned to stare at Master's friend standing in the middle of the nest tunnel, "Well, aren't you a sight for sore eyes." She patted her left shoulder, "Come on, can't just leave you here all day."

Andromeda detached from the bulkhead and came to rest on Master's Friend.

Sit, sit, sit? Sit, sit, sit.

"Well, aren't you a... good... squid thing." Master's Friend looked thoughtful before jostling both shoulders. "Well, no time to think about it now. Lets go."

I am a squid? I am a squid.

[BdrLineAzn]

Eagle's Shadow, Renard/Courage Room

With a yawn, Courage enters the dark space he shared. Still in his rack Renard shifts his body towards the wall to block out the light coming from the door. Rolling his eyes, Courage proceeds to remove his weapons and sand clothing and place them in his locker. As soon as the first few shells hit the belly of the transport, it caught him off guard which prompts him to fall onto the floor.

Quickly coming too, Renard sits up on his rack just as the room starts to flash red and sirens blazing. Swinging his feet over the side, he steady himself as another shell hits.

"The hell is going on?" he yells over the siren.

I just got off.... Courage inwardly sighs. Grabbing his pistol and carbine out of the locker, he turns to Renard, "Looks like a surprise attack. How did we not see this ealier?" he says the last to himself while hurrying to the door.

"You should get your ship ready," Courage then braces himself on the frame as the shell fire intensify, "We gonna need it."

As Courage runs off, Renard quickly grabs his coat and runs out behind him.

Gunnery Deck, Starboard

Minutes after leaving his room, Courage finds himself at the Starboard Battery. Around him the gun crews are scrambling to open the gun ports to bear the four main guns. Hurrying towards the forward end, he helps them open the gun bay doors and place the Heavy Flak on service.

"Load me up and get the rest of the guns online!" he yells to the crew, "Tell top side to mount Gatlings and Mercurys, need some small gun fire as well."

"Right away." Ame a quick response as a crew member goes to a near by radio to call the Weather Deck of the orders. From the seat of his Heavy Flak, Courage soon hears the familiar sounds of multiple chain and field guns going off. Soon he sees the tracers from overhead flying out in the distance.

Cracking a smile, he then trains his sight on to the Galleon before firing a salvo.

Raider Caravan

"Nice one. We got the surprise on them!" exclaims one.

"Don't let up," the leader snaps, "It only just begun."

He looks through his binoculars and notices two explosion near his Squids. Damaged, the two are still airborne but now a third Squid appeared out of nowhere.

Looks like this ship has a few tricks up its sleeve, hmmm

Moving the lenses, he see the two small ports where Kei and Davis should have hooked onto.

"I want a gun to fire into that breach, the rest handle that other Squid."

A chorus of acknowledgements, the leader goes to a radio and contact the the ships in the air.

"Alright, I want the Junker and our Galleon to set up a firing line on the starboard side of the vessel. Squids, try to get that guy off of y'all, if not bail onto their topside and board them."

Turning off the radio, the leader's ears perk up as two silent engines approach his position. Eyeing the Northwest, he squints but spots the two planes flying fast and low.

"SCATTER."

Eagle Squadron Alpha

Escaping the initial barrage unscatheted, Kei leads Davis as them fly all the way down the length of the Shadow towards the stern. Dropping altitude, she banks left into a wide turn to minimise the stress on Davis's plane. Making a 180 degree turn, the two are just above the sand dunes as they approach the artillery battery.

"Ok Davis, I'm going to fire both racks of rockets, you'll follow in with guns."

"Copy"

Flicking a switch up on her panel, several lights turn on indicating all eight Artemis rockets are armed. Going over one more mound, she sets here sights over the middle of the group hoping to inflict as much damage. Pulling the tigger, the plane shutters as the rockets detach and fly towards its target. Pulling up, Kei turns her head and sees Davis strafing with his guns.

Levelling out at a higher altitude, Kei notices three burning vehicles. Before she can make a report in, her and Davis's plane are surrounded by multiple flak clouds.

"Dammit," she swore, "Shadow we manage to take out a quarter of the ground guns, but are under fire."

Just then she sees a small explosion coming from the bottom of the transport.

Hanger Bay

Finally making it to the massive room, Renard sees the open launch ports for the planes. Time then began to slow for him as he sees three shells enter from underneath.

This is some start Renard thinks before being blown back from the impact.

As the shells impact the Hanger Bay's ceiling, several scaffoldings and metal bars fall as fires start to spread from the high explosive shells.

Ringing in his ears, he sees several crewmen run toward fire hoses trying to fight the fire while Alexi runs towards him.

"You alright?" he asks as he lifts Renard.

"I'm fine, but we are not unless we get into the fight." shrugging off the man's grip, Renard runs toward his Goldfish which has managed to escape damage.

Calling for several others, three sees Renard and hop onto his ship as he opens the hatch and detach the ship.

Eagle Squadron Bravo

Going in a line formation, Antonio pulls his plane up into a 90 degree incline.

"Whoooooo!" he yells as the gees start to take hold.

"You know your are crazy right?" Farris says with a grunt.

"I know. Whoo" Antonio finishes as he levels out. Looking over his right wing, he sees both the Radier Galleon and Junker in a fire line going against the starboard side guns of the Shadow.

"Looks like she need help, ready?"

"As I ever be."

"That's the spirit." he laughs as he manuvers his plane over the Galloen before rolling his plane over and pulling down on the yoke. In the dive, he flicks open the trigger safety as he line up for the shot on the engines.

"Guns, guns guns," he calls out.

Sending out a three second burst, Antonio eyes widens as a flames thrower opens up on it's aft gun. Breaking off the attack and making a hard right, he and Farris barely avoids the flames.

"Looks like they got smart." comments Farris.

"Yeah, Shadow, we need support on this Galleon." calls Antonio.

Instead of Banning, Ulric's voice comes in, Don't worry! We are on our way!

Fifth Season

Coming over the Weather Deck of the Shadow, Ulric manuvers his Junker towards the Raider equivalent. Going at full speed, both ships salvos fly behind the charging Junker.

"Hehe, Brace for impact, and fire starboard guns," Ulric yells to his crew.

A large crunch is heard as both ship collided. With Ulric's Junker hitting the forward end of the ship, it causes the Raider to spin right to block the Galleon's guns and allowing his crew to fire his.

A Gatling and Mortar opens up on its deck doing massive damage to the ship.