The New World

[The Corsair]

The call came to Falko very suddenly. The yelling ensign must have been a little over-excited as the three seconds took up far less time than suggested by their working title. Still, when 'one' arrived Garrow floored the engines and Falko removed the air in front of the ship, creating a vacuum which the Implacable was more than prepared to fill. Most of the crewmen fell over but Falko concentrated on stating upright. Suddenly, they were behind the enemy and had shaved the sides off about 3 enemy vessels by grinding against them at high speed. The flank line was broken.

[Blindwalker]

A blast rang in the air. The scream of torn iron and steel. The airship was rocked.
"Whoah..." Hugo said to himself, as he tried to steady himself on the swaying hunk of metal.
An engineer burst from a door nearby. "Captain!" he bellowed.
"What?" the captain shouted back
"Engine room wall destroyed, and engine structural integrity, bad! Also the cooler is a down!"
"Alright! Hugo, te-" He was cut off as a huge explosion came from the engine room. "Tell everyone to grab a parachute and get off this airship!"
"Yes sir!" the officer replied, then saluted. The ship was losing altitude.
He turned to the squads. "Everyone grab a 'chute and jump!"
But everyone already knew what to do. They rushed to the emergency supplies room and piled out bags.
Everyone grabbed one, apart from Hugo.
"Why ain't you got one?" Yelled the captain.
"There ain't any 'chutes left! I'm gonna have to jump and hope I don't die! Now, jump!" he said as he gave the captain a 'small' helpful push.
"Don't die, you owe me a drink!" he shouted back.
Great, what am I gonna do now? He thought. Impulsively, he jumped.
And failed.
He jumped too high and hit his head on the ceiling of the falling airship with a loud GONG.

[The Corsair]

The lead ship on the front line suddenly went down. Large numbers of men leaped overboard but some never deployed their parachutes, or at least that's how it looked to Falko from where he was. It was a lucky shot and it didn't stop the spearhead, which continued to wedge its way through the front line. Falko had broken the flank. The battle was undoubtedly in their favour. However, experience told him they would fight to the last, wearing the defenders down as much as they could. The fight ahead of them was downhill, but it was still long.

[Miss Alva]

The Boston she knew was burning, and everyone was going with it. People screaming, fires burning, praying was the only thing she could do to stay calm while the building below her burned like wildfire. No way out but a three story leap, and nothing around to hold onto, no sheets, nothing. It seemed like she was doomed in this aspect, and that she and her bird would perish in the wake of war that tore through the port city. Every so often, bombs rattled the already decrepit apartment house, threatening to take the floor out from underneath her while she cowered with a blanket overhead.

"Alva? Al, where are you?" called out a voice, and the ebony head poked out of her screening blanket. It was John, the resident mechanic for the ship, his face covered in soot, his brown hair already singed from the heat. "Bring th' blanket, let's go!"

In a rush, the Lakota woman clutched to the parrot beneath her shirt and the blanket covering her head and darted towards her friend, who guided her towards the second floor while fires glowed below them. It was creeping up the stairs it was, and drew ever closer. The mechanic man grabbed the blanket from her, throwing it across a power line sticking out from the wall and handing the end to her. "Go!" he shouted, lifting her petite frame onto the window sill.

"But John! What about you!" she shouted back over the roar of another bomb.

"Dunna worry 'bout me jus' go!"

With that, he pushed her out the window, sending her screaming and sliding towards the ground, just as the floor gave out, and the building collapsed. Slack in the wire sent her tumbling down into the rubble, and her bird let out a frightened squawk. "Shh, Eddy, shhh. It's okay..." she whispered, grabbing the grey wool fabric and standing up. Oh, would she be feeling this in the morning! Silently mourning the loss of her dearest friend, her companion and mentor, Alva LaughingFox fled the burning spires of her Boston, her home for the past nine years, and took off towards the docks. If anything, underneath the walk was the safest place at the moment, hidden from enemy fire.  It was under neath here that the Native woman withdrew the white and yellow cockatoo from her shirt, and cradled him close. He was the only family and home she had left, and she would hold onto him until death took her.

"Dammit Edward...what's happening?"

The bird gave no response, and for that he was just. Indeed, who knew what was the reason behind this hell?

[[ Meanwhile, further South on the East Coast.... > u> ]]

[The Corsair]

-Arch-

The Dutch boy Falko had somehow turned the whole of the Implaccable into a missile and the enemy's formation had turned to custard. The orderly fighting line they'd held so valiantly for the last half hour could finally be abandoned and the Vancouver Crew could break formation and engage in the disorderly brawl they excelled in. His ship, Justice, dropped sharply and he floated below a carrier that was now haphazardly trying to go backwards to get out of the mad brawl that it was ill-equipped for. The enemy carriers that had held back in the main engagement had been found out in front on the flank, proving their worth in a head-on engagement. Archibald hoped he could stage a takeover of one of them, or perhaps more, just as Falko had. The ability to produce ships constantly and rapidly would be invaluable in the coming months no doubt and, as the battle waned, he could begin thinking about those months.
Justice drifted lazily beneath the carrier as he waited for it to get away from the main patch of fighting. The Saxon, Scratch's ship, came up alongside his.
"The other three are out cleaning up the Dutch man's mess." Called Scratch from his vessel.
"Hm. Anyway, plan here is to board and capture. Think we can?" He responded, avoiding the topic of Falko. He knew that discussing people like Falko, Specials they called them, would only cause arguments.
"I say yes. Maybe we can set an example!" Scratch laughed in reply.
The two men continued to play their waiting game. He knew there was no need to make a more detailed plan, he and Scratch had known each other long enough by now.

[Blindwalker]

Hours later...
Hugo didn't feel anything, he felt like he was floating in space. It was like he was deprived of food and water and had all the energy sucked out of him.
He knew that half his ribs were broken, his left leg broken in two places, a dislocated arm, and had had his head beat up good from the small sharp needles of pain. Luckily, the pain was numbed by the cold, comforting, numbing water.
Somewhere in his head, he wanted to get up, but his body said to his head NO.
He was content. He felt pain, and he rested. He just really hoped someone will fish him out of the water. He hoped all his men were alright.

[Ella, Aerial Musketeer]

all of the sudden explosions had nocked ela far away from the man and in an moment of fright she had taken off but this time she did not try and leave the city instead she flew toward the fighting
"this is for you daddy" and she kissed the pocket watch wrapped around her wrist as she flew closer and closer she could feel some kind of disturbance in the air she looked below her and saw a small shadow hiding underneath the docks and a man floating in the water a little way off with his left leg on an odd angel "it must be broken" ela said in a small voice out loud "he will die of the cold if i dont get him out" and with that she swooped towards him

[Blindwalker]

Hugo saw something swoop towards him, but he couldn't really make out what it was. A small figure, flying towards him. Maybe it was a bird. Maybe it was an angel. Then his sleepy mind had a sudden shock. Was he... DEAD?
The disturbing thought went away, and he thought, No way, I'm stronger than that. Well, I think I am. Too bad I can't move.

[Ella, Aerial Musketeer]

Ela puled the man out of the water or at least she tried to he had so many injures that it was almost imposable not to hurt him at least he was lucid that ment that he would not die soon.
"right" she muttered to her self   "lets get you out"
 she moved round to his good looking arm and put his arm around her shoulder, his are tightened instinctively around her. She then put her other arm under his bottom and circled her hand up so that it sat on his upper leg.
"because this wont be odd at all if he wakes up all proper like later" she thort to her self, and she puled him dripping out of the water and started toward the docks.

[The Corsair]

-Tommy-

About half an hour had passed since Arch and Scratch had flown off and boarded a carrier. The vessel had since stopped moving entirely and floated lazily in the middle of the defender's line which had moved forward steadily.
The battle was almost over and the flank battle had become a free-for-all over the carriers, which were by now the only ships remaining. The enemy was retreating, but their ships were far slower than those of the privateers and military strike teams fighting on the flank.
Tommy signalled to Kevin and after brief chat and planning they flew ahead of the other privateers and landed their ships on top of the largest remaining carrier, which had previously been putting out upwards of 10 ships every construction cycle. Kevin took the explosives Cliff had tossed to him on their way to the carrier and set them off on the ship's uppermost deck not covered by its envelope.
With a large hole now torn above the bridge, the two men silently dropped in.

[Augustus Longeye]

Julius stood up. He had no idea how long he'd been sitting there, but people had run backwards and forwards ignoring him. He took three steps and staggered, grabbing someone's shoulder to support himself.
"Hey you, got off!" the man yelled at him, but he held on.
"Listen to me and answer quickly. Where is the fighting? Give me a gun quickly and point me at the enemies before I vomit all over your nice uniform." the man hesitated but didn't hand over any weapon.
"Who are you?"
"Julius Rowe, one of the aether touched... Gun please." but the man still looked skeptical and didn't hand anything over.
"Listen to me, I'm going to go out there and try to make a difference by killing as many people as I can and you're currently standing here pulling stupid faces! Do you want help fighting this war or not?" and he waved a hand to pull up a pillar of earth to lean on. That finally got the man moving and he handed over a rifle.
"The fighting is that way sir, good luck..." he pointed and scurried off, looking back as he did.
Julius sighed and hefted the rifle, he'd not fired one but it could be that ha- *BANG* it went off into the air. He carefully lowered it and looked at the panicked faces around him.
"sorry... sorry..." and he handed it so someone walking past. He needed a handgun, rifles weren't his thing.
He sighed and set off to the fighting, hopefully he'd come across a friend who would give him a hand, he could still feel the weight in his mind and it was making everything harder. With a jump the earth shot him skyward and he was back in the running.

[The Corsair]

The ships on the front were either downed or captured and about 3 carriers remained on the flank. They had won, there was no disputing that. However, in typical 'to the last' fashion the enemy had dropped its spare crewmen on the ground with whatever weapons were still available. Their obvious lack of skill with the weapons didn't stop them and they raved and fired in a grossly fanatical fashion, some of them holding cannons and flak guns far too large to be held by a normal man. None of them were angels thankfully but they were altered somehow and were slightly superhuman. They still went down like humans.
Falko had dropped to the ground soon after rushing the Implaccable through the enemy line and, having discovered he had very little sense of aim in his weary state, had taken a sword from an officer overseeing some of the now unneeded AA batteries. He avoided using his abilities out of fear for what prolonged use might do to him.
As he slashed and hacked his way through the few dozen freak-people attacking them he found himself again thinking the dangerous things he had thought earlier. Why did he have to save this country? After a short while, that thought again yielded to visions of smiling Rosie. He stopped the train of thought before it arrived at its next station; his downed ship.

[Mark Peiterson]

The fighting was almost over , with the last ships and ground troops being dispatched, they had done it! They had one the battle for new York! He let out a cry of joy that was echoed down the lines. But in the distance the last part of the fleet flew of into the distance, vowing for revenge.

[Blindwalker]

His heart thumped. It thumped again, desperately trying to keep it's host alive. His lungs responded with a sickening lurch, Hugo woke up and flipped over to pour seawater all over the place. His next reaction was the sudden pain striking every limb and joint and muscle in his body.
Then he noticed the warmth of a pair of arms carrying him along, and he looked up at the friendly face.

[The Corsair]

-Kevin-

The ship Arch had disappeared on to was drifting nonchalantly by. Had Kevin not been faced by a rather intimidating officer the passing ship would have been almost comical.
His large combat knife was soon out of its sheath and en route to the officer's midsection. Clearly the man's stomach had no intention of being stabbed and suddenly the arms attached to it lashed out with a blade and brushed the blow away. By this point Tommy had brought out his own blade. The officer would have a hard time staying alive now.
Tommy made the expected lunge and Kevin made an unexpected jab from the officer's blind side. The skilled enemy of course swept Tommy aside but had no clue a knife was less than an inch away from his flesh. The blade sunk in satisfyingly. Kevin pulled it out and stabbed again quickly just above the initial wound. The officer would bleed out no doubt.

Of course, the rest of the bridge crew that was human, two officers and the captain, had by now noticed the strangers with sharp things in their bridge.
The two officers had their blades out first but it was the captain who marched out in front. Kevin wasn't an idiot, his knife flew out and struck one of the officers firmly in the chest. The man fell back on to the metal decking and foolishly pulled the knife out. Kevin was by now half way to the downed man, ducking under the captain's blade. Upon arrival, he gave the blade a slight kick so it flew out of the officer's hand before he could do any damage with it. Tommy was more than capable of handling the captain until Kevin had his now very red length of steel back.

In his rush to the blade he had refused to check his peripherals. Something was oddly un-human about the remaining officer, as was made apparent by his arrival at Kevin's knife slightly before he himself had made it. Reaching down to grab said blade was only instinctual for Kevin and the officer clearly knew this.

Now, it was only after the blade sunk cleanly into the space between two of his ribs that Kevin processed what the officer had done and realised his slight superhuman abilities. The captain had hit the deck already and was staring, glassy-eyed, at something behind Kevin as he himself hit the metal. He heard a yell, or something similar to one. It may have said 'Kevin!', it may have said 'Here's your change!', there was no real difference to Kevin at this point.
But, interrupted his brain, it's just a punctured lung and a flesh wound at the most. You can survive that! This ship is pretty much taken, you'll be at a medic in no time.

Kevin arrived at a medic in no time.
"Nothing, sir, he's gone."
Tommy sat down and breathed as deeply as he could manage. Kevin only knew this because his being wasn't far enough into the aether to lose sight of his best friend. Kevin's last glimpse of the man who had known him since the days when he learned to read, who had rescued him from prison, sometimes illegally, who had given him a whole damn airship, was of him leaning over his own body. Maybe a tear had hit his face, maybe it hadn't. He couldn't tell through the sticky smoke around him what was seen and what wasn't.

[Ella, Aerial Musketeer]

He twitched. A gasp in, and then he twisted in her arms and barfed al over her legs .
"nice" she muttered "thanks for the bath"
he then rolled over and and looked at her a grimace appearing on his face. her heart went out to him: he mush have been thru so much. a thort then occurred to her: she could not fix him up by herself and she could no longer see the figure under the the dock any more, she needed a medic and she needed one now. she turned and started to fly towards the city were the fighting look like it had almost stopped she flicked her head to the side and a projection of the city appeared on the lenses of her goggles with little blue dots being friend and little red ones being the enemy she started looking for biggish clumps of blue, she soon spotted one that had a lot of slow moving dots around it and tiny clumps coming and going this could only mean one thing: doctors, medics and for her safety and a good bed: home...well almost. and so she set off. "soon" she said "soon it will all be ok" it was only then she thort to look down at her passenger by some miracle he was still conches "we" she said "are getting you help" and with that she flew as fast as she dared towards her destination

[Augustus Longeye]

Julius reached a broken building and jumped to the top of it, looking out over the battlefield. They'd won. It was done now, and he hadn't been there to help in the end. He suddenly felt useless, and when a ship began to veer off and try to escape he absentmindedly impaled it on a wedge of stone.
He didn't know what had happened back there, but he needed to find out more. He didn't really want to find anyone else from their group, he was worried that as soon as he did it would mean someone else dead. He was certain that not everyone had survived, and he was mentally preparing himself for the names to come. He sighed and headed off to the battlefield anyway, there were a few stragglers he could help take out if needed, but he also had some investigating to complete and he hoped there was enough left in the enemy ruins to point him in the right direction.

[Miss Alva]

Shivering was all she could do in the heat of the battle, but as she watched fire rocky shores glow with the fire of a burning city, the Lakota woman shivered beneath her blanket, waiting for the distant screams to stop. So many dying on the streets, most likely people she knew. These invaders had brought with them a wake of destruction, and thinking about the parents she had waiting back in Illinois was the only thing keeping her from bursting into tears and bringing attention to her hidden form.

Hours passed, hours that seemed like days and Alva held the squirming parrot close, who had not made a sound since the fighting had began. The only sound she could hear was the heart thumping in her ears, the sounds of buildings falling. Boston was gone, from what she could see from her hiding place under the airship docks, and she clutched the blanket closer around them.

The sounds of retreat drew her thoughts away from solitary and apathetic goings, as heavy boots ran above her, and the unmistakeable rumble of engines roared above her

"New York siege failure, pull out all units. Retreat"

Radio chatter filled her ears. New York too? It's a bloody war...


As presences died away and the sound of silence echoed through empty space, the Indian woman dared to stand up, dared to peek around the corners at her beloved city, seemingly reduced to a pile of ash. NOt entirely, building stood and burned, citizens rushed to save comrades and the dockworkers were putting out the hydrogen fires created around the hangers.

"Dear God, Edward" she muttered, allowing the snowy bird to climb up onto her shoulder, "It's all...gone"

[The Corsair]

Falko made a point to find wherever Gebbert had set up his new communications station. He hadn't received anything from the older German man for a while and guessed his communications were down, either in part or in whole.

Upon arrival, Falko was told to pass on word to Skarssen that Boston had been hit too. The radio reports that had come through were almost useless and were seemingly sent by a madman. What they had discovered was the Boston was, for all intents and purposes, no longer existent and that the military there had only 3 survivors.

He sprinted to HQ, where Skarssen was managing the closing aspects of the operation. Head counts were being conducted, more triage centres were being set up, the Sky Docks were being searched for survivors (the enemy had thankfully passed right by them in their rush to re-engage the defenders along the Hudson), the whole of New York was being assessed for viability as a military stronghold. Falko made no pause in giving his news, even going so far as to interrupt Skarssen instructing a very young looking officer. Upon hearing of Boston's destruction Skarssen paused briefly then finished instructing the officer, though with more haste this time, and turned back to Falko.
"We have to assume the whole north east has been hit then. For all intents and purposes, this city is the only major centre still intact." Said Skarssen, partly to himself. There was a pause as Skarssen thought, then he continued.
"We will have to set up some sort of localised military administration for this area of the USA. As far as High Command is concerned, we are now acting independently of the USA military. We need to see which cities have been hit, which have remained intact and which are destroyed. On top of this we will need to establish a communications network among the intact branches of the military in the north east and form  an organised force which we can use to mount a more solid defence. There'll be more attacks no doubt...
Falko, can your lot- sorry, can you and your companions do a search along the eastern seaboard to establish contact with as much of the military as is possible? I give us 5 days until a new attack comes this way."

Falko took a deep breath and left for the Sky Dock where he would signal the others. If they were to mount a full search of the eastern seaboard they'd need everyone. Those of them on that doomed ship from Europe, Gebbert from here in New York, the teenagers from San Francisco, The Vancouver Crew, The soldiers Mark and Hugo commanded, everyone.

He could only wait and see if all of those people were still alive...

[YetAnotherMatt]

Gebbert strode down the gangway from the Hammer to the sky dock. While his hastily requisitioned maintenance crew would stay with the dreadnought, the Osprey was now part of their manufacturing process, and could not be removed from the larger ship with any ease.

Headquarters was now the sky dock. What remained of New York's military was now organizing the beginnings of a plan to turn the city into a network of defense in depth. Casualties of ships totaled to 45%. Personnel casualties were higher, with nearly 35% dead, 20% wounded, and nearly 5% officially listed as missing, presumed dead.

Gebbert walked over to where Falko was briefing the irregulars, and the few mercenary leaders that survived the battle. "Falko. Captain Skarssen has decided to go sleep for a while. Most of the military ships are detailed around the city, but Commander Lyrren has detailed the Massachusetts, a frigate, to your command."

"Which brings me to my main point. As these forces are no longer US military, Commander Lyrren has suggested we use our irregulars to supplement his remaining officer corps. All aether-touched are entitled to the rank of Naval Lieutenant, Junior Grade, Provisional. They will not have command rights until they have either proved themselves in command situations, or taken the standard officer candidacy tests. Falko, as leader of our little group, you have been summarily promoted to Lieutenant Commander, Provisional. Commander Lyrren regrets that he has to supervise the Hammer, and can't be here for this."

[Blindwalker]

He felt air rush about him. His vision was blurred, and could not see straight. He did hear his savior's words, and apologized with a quiet 'sorry'.
Hugo gasped as a sharp pain in his ribs struck his nerves - some of them were broken.

[Mark Peiterson]

Mark walked slowly through the sky dock, glancing down corridors and at ships, he had just learned he and his squad where being reassigned. He finally found who he was looking and strode firmly toasted the person.
"Lieutenant Falko?"
Falko nodded in greeting.
"Scince we are being reassigned to your command I thought it would be best to inform you of current numbers, dispositions and wounded."
"Well then, fire away!"
" at current , including the command that joined us at Boston and Lowell, 775 men, with only one of the gunships destroyed. But I think that most will seek redeployment back to Boston, I think up to 2/3 could go, and frankly I was half thinking of transferring to Lowell, but my duty is with you, so I'm staying."

[The Corsair]

"Boston is gone. I'm sorry..." was all he could bring himself to say to Mark after he detailed his plans to let most of his men redeploy there. The implication of the words was massive. wouldn't just be Boston gone, it would be most, if not all, of Massachusetts. Lowell was probably gone too.
He had to tell the poor man what the general plan was before he felt too guilty about passing on the grave news.
"Mark, we have to search the East coast for survivors. If you want, you and your men can be part of the expedition to Boston and further north of that but I don't know if you will want to see what will be there..."
He turned to address the growing crowd, with most of them having made it to the Sky Dock by now. The Vancouver airmen were nowhere to be seen, though he knew Archibald, Cliff and Scratch had survived. Two of them had even brought back a carrier.
"I-..."
He wasn't sure where to begin, or who should go with who, or where exactly they should even go.
"Um... decide amongst yourselves who will go south and who will go north. Be ready to leave in two hours."
He had to find a ship to carry him to wherever he himself was going to go.
Nashville, Tennessee echoed back into his mind. The name Forsythe drifted along side it. The man Berkley had told him about before he died! Admiral Forsythe! Maybe they could still find out something about their enemy, fight back rather than wait and defend indefinitely. He pulled Rosie aside to talk with her about it.

They decided they would go t Nashville themselves. They didn't need a massive fleet behind them drawing attention to themselves. He was sure the men could organise themselves without him, he wasn't prepared to be the leader of that many people. He had only ever ended up being the 'leader' initially because he had discovered what was to happen to the ship the original few of them had been on. Now it had snowballed into the rank of Lieutenant Commander. He wasn't really in a place to complain though, he just wanted to sort out all that role model stuff later.

As the two hours drew to a close, he pulled Gebbert aside and told him of his plan to fly out to Nashville. He asked Gebbert to follow up on whether the Falcon could be repaired and tried to borrow the Osprey before discovering it was somewhat permanently attached to the interior of the Hammer. It was after he ended his discussion with Gebbert that he ran into Arch, looking somewhat downtrodden and appeared to be gritting his teeth with the intention of sinking them as far into his gums as possible.
"Archibald, is everything alright?" he inquired
"Kevin got done over in the battle." Arch replied, keeping his jaw firmly clenched
One part of Falko wanted to give Arch as much sympathy as he could and wanted to make sure the man held it together, while another, more pragmatic part wanted to ask one thing. Could he use Kevin's old ship?

[YetAnotherMatt]

"The Falcon will be alright, but it might take a few weeks to repair. Less if we can look at some of the automated production equipment those carriers had. Initial looks say we won't be able to make ships with them- we don't have the raw energy needed. With your help, or one of the other Aether-touched, we can definitely make heaps of ammunition and spare parts, replacement plating et cetera. The amount of energy they were using was phenomenal. Our estimates are they were using about five times your maximum output. Per bay."

"Anyway, the various intel boys want to have first crack at the captured stuff, so I figured I might tag along with you and Rosie for now. If that's alright with you, that is."

[Ella, Aerial Musketeer]

Ela landed on the ground "MEDIC" she yelled "DOCTER" "SOMEONE PLEASE HELP THIS MAN" she made her way throu the crowd "DOCTER" "PLEASE SOMEONE THIS MAN NEEDS HELP" "please" she ended in a sob "please help him"