Fight For The Skies [Game Thread]

[vermillion]

Vel admired the gift from Nate
"he sure recognized we're power hungry, didn't he?" she laughed as she looked at the new small ion-cannon atop of her steam cannon..

Nall looked sickened "that was hard to put on.... his hand writing was extremely hard to read, I'm just glad I didn't blow the restrictor on the Stec..... we'd have to abandon your plans..." he tilted his head "hows the arm?"

"Still needs work....whats the deal with the mini-imperials? are they any threat to us? and why such a small fancy ship, not for catching some of the pirata here....."
she started for the ramp to the dock below

"where are you going captain" nall didnt like the look in her eyes before she walked off...  "its too soon to start this, you should wait for them to come back!"

she walked across the dock to the very end, where the small imperial ship was docked...it wasn't a chaser ship, not the warships she was used to, must be a reconnaissance ship...not very big, there were only a few deckhands, she scratched her head under her lacy black captains hat.
'who the hell ARE you' she thought going through faces in her head of officers and commanders.... none fit the ship.

She turned from ship to the middle of the dock where she stopped. she turned back to see everyone on the small ship watching her....
"damn"

[Bellono]

"OH CAPITANO HE HAS ROYAL PISSED ME OFF NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

[ShredsnPatches]

Shreds stepped out from behind Captain Burnside. She had changed from her usual shipboard garb of cut-down men's clothing and a leather bodice to a green dress with sleeves loose enough not to irritate her wounded arm. Her braids were looped up at the nape of her neck and caught with a matching green ribbon.

"Chiaves... calm down. Please?" she asked sweetly.

[Bellono]

"OHHH what i do?? he trip me and insult me!! and he kicked me!!! THE BASTARDO!!!!" Chiaves Bellono reasoned with his commander and seamstress he started routing around his coat in search of a fully loaded magazine

[ShredsnPatches]

"Captain, if I may be so bold...?"

Shreds caught Bellono's searching hand and held it in her wounded one, grimacing as still-healing muscles protested. Then with her good arm, she extended her index finger and moved it in front of his face.

"How many fingers am I holding up, Chiaves?"

[Plan_B]

Damien Price walked the catwalks high in the cavernous gasbag of the RMS Incorruptible, donned in a leather flight jacket and pants, goggles to protect his eyes, and a respirator machine so as not to pass out in asphyxiation. He felt elation as he walked, his steps light, for he knew no greater pleasure in this world than soaring above the world in an airship as beautiful as this. The catwalks were his place of choice for the solitude of this lowly deckhand, and the gentle thrum of the engines through the metal grating set his heart at ease. Nothing could bring his love for the skies down.

He approached the airlock-style compartment at the end of his stroll, and closed the first door. As he turned the wheel on the opposing door, he thought back on his past as an American soldier, the lack of respect and pay, and how he left for the Brit- excuse me, Her Majesty's Royal Air Force. He always managed to mess that up, even though it had been two years since he signed up.

As the door opened with a hiss, he took a startled step back, not expecting to see his overseer, Leftenant Godley, standing before him.

"Price, what are ya doin', lad? Ya got guns ta clean, boy."

Damien pulled the respirator off, hanging it on a hook in the ready room. "Well, Le-" He stopped in mid sentence, realizing with a start that his breather must've had a leak. His voice was higher than the Crystler Building!

Godley let a hearty laugh escape his chest, bracing himself on the wall as he regained his breath. "Ya see, Lad, ah dunt ta berst yer bubble, but tahts why you're not part a the maintenance crew. Come now, lad, let's get ya to yer station before tah Captain sees ya."

Damien smiled, nodding and following the good Leftenant aft, towards the side-guns for point defense against pirates. They'd been getting nasty as of late. He shook his head, the helium having made him a bit dizzy, and he approached one of the beautiful Browning repeater rifles mounted on the deck. He'd studied the thing, but never truly understood how it could reach a high rate of fire without having to reload for such a time. As he pulled a stained oil rag from his back pocket, he looked to the Leftenant, flashing a grin and the customary phrase used exclusively on the ship. "Fly under Her wing, Leftenant".

Godley was in the process of returning the honorific, when a loud metallic ping echoed through the chamber. Godley stiffened, his hand on his sidearm, and steam burst from an auxilliary pipe on the wall. The Leftenant suddenly collapsed, and Damien rushed to catch his superior as he fell to the deck. He was stunned, not sure what was going on, until he saw the pool of dark red spreading in Godley's lower chest. The Leftenant grabbed Damien's collar, looking into his eyes as something whizzed by both of the men's heads, and whispered, his words wet with the blood in his lungs: "Fight. You're Supervisor now."

As Damien set him down on the deck, he closed his friend's eyes and took his sidearm, a Colt Single Action Army. He slowly stood and looked out the open gun deck in time to see another Zeppelin rise directly beside them, flying unknown colors.

[Sir Nikolas Vendigroth]

Captain Kershaw of the IFS Herbstwind stared intently through his field glasses. Steam was pouring from a hatch set into the bulkhead of the British airship, sillhouetting a man's figure against some source of lighting inside.

"Seems there's been an accident...Communications, warm up the strobe lights. Signal that we have no hostile intent and offer assistance."

As the strobe lights on the airship's hull picked out their laborious message in morse code, Kershaw permitted himself a horrible thought: The Fleet, based in, or rather under the Sahara desert wasn't recognised as a nation...

And that tended to make people nervous.

[Plan_B]

Damien twitched for a moment, shaken by the ordeal, until he remembered th first step of any emergency protocol aboard the Incorruptible: Tell the Captain. He dashed over to the voice tubes for this chamber, attempting to pick out the correct one. When he located the one that read 'BRIDGE', he shouted over the drone of the engines "Captain Taylor! This is Deckhand Damien Price! We have an emergency! There's a zeppelin off our port that just did something, I'm not sure what! Leftenant Godley is down, Sir! He made me Overseer, what do I do?!"

After a few seconds of loud intermission, Captain Taylor's strong, capable voice responded "The other airship, has she hailed us? Speak up, Boy."

"Yes, sir, I think so. She's flashing a strobe of some kind, I think it's morse! But these are no colors I've seen before."

A pause. "Alright, son, you're Overseer, then. Tell everyone on the defense decks to go to action stations. Have them ready to open fire, but do not do so. Stay here and listen, you'll be my liason between myself and the crew."

After answering in the affirmative, Damien prayed to God that it wasn't what he feared: A full-scale raid on the ship. If pirates discovered that boarding this craft was a waste of time, they'd be none the more happy.

[Sir Nikolas Vendigroth]

But for the sound of the engines and the strobelights, the bridge of the IFS Herbstwind was silent. This, however, was soon to change.

"Guns are armed on the British airship, captain..." said the tactical officer, her voice cutting across the near silence.

This was exactly what Kershaw had hoped to avoid.

"If the worst comes to the worst...What chance do we have against her?"

"None, sir. We're inferior in every way that matters. Less armour, fewer guns. We've got no chance."

"Nothing at all?!" shouted Kershaw, "The last thing we need is a war with the British! Take in our flag, and find me a bedsheet, and make it a white one. I'm going on deck."

[Plan_B]

"Alright, son. This is going to frighten you, but just hang in there, eh? You are to take one of the rifles, Major Grenwald has unlocked the armory by now. Inspect each of the gun crews, make certain they're armed and ready to-"

Damien yelped in excitement as he noticed a change. "Sir, I don't mean to interrupt, b-but they've raised a white flag! I think they may want to negotiate!" He waited as the voice tube went silent for a moment, and then the Captain spoke up. "This may be a trap. I'll meet with them, though. Find Major Grenwald and have three of his aerocorpsmen accompany you to the bridge. You will be my bodyguard for this encounter. Understood, Boy?"

He shivered at the thought, then remembered his days in the American Army, his mind recovering thoughts, memories from Basic, and he suddenly snapped upright, his mind steady, his will resolute. "Sir, yes Sir! On my way!"

"Good, son. Get your arse up here."

Damien found the tube that read "ARMORY" and spoke to the Major. When the relay had finished, he began to make his way towards the newly installed elevator that drove through the midsection of the ship, when he froze. He moved over to the dead Leftenant's body, and whispered "I'm sorry, my friend." Tearing a strip of his white uniform off, he moved towards the edge of the wooden deck, waving the cloth back and forth over his head for the other Captain, hoping he was visible.

[Bellono]

"Eh two?? three??" Bellono quiped in the vague hope he was right with one of the answers the view was blerry he stopped struggling so hard for the spare mag given that the poor girls arm had well and truely had enough...

[vermillion]

She had just finished packing a few last minute supplies when she noticed the two familiar shapes of Addy and Kylen walking onto the dock.
She was glad to get out of that skirt from yesterday, as nice as she looked it wasnt a fighting skirt, today though she was ready....dark green shirt, black corset with black trim and embroidery, non steel-boned for maximum movement, tattered halfskirt and black trousers with a few pockets with knee high boots, black lacy long coat and matching hat. She wanted everyone to see her for a change, not to hide..... she grabbed attention before.
She grabbed her pack, put both her new knives into her boots, her poison vial under her hat, and headed out for the both of them.

"Capitan, you both look lively this morning, so glad to see you both so happy"
as she got closer she lowered her voice to them both "we are ready to move, whenever you both are....and with our present company" she motioned over to the small imperial recon ship  "no threat to us right now.... but i think staying here will attract the much ...bigger of his friends"

[Stella Gaslight]

Addy nodded "Yes I think we have imposed of Nate's hospitality for long enough but I think we had better make this look like a leisurely departure.  No need to alert them to our presence by running scared."  Addy was quite good at keeping up appearances and had learned early on how to hold one conversation in speech and quite a different one in clicks and taps.  She informed her crew of the plans while chating with Kylen about childhood misadventures, she was hoping to make it look less like all three ships were joined with one mission and more like a chance meeting of old friends.  They left smoothly in to clear skies but Addy couldn't shake the feeling they where flying in to a lions den.

[Kylen Phylar]

The rougish captain went with it, smiling and chatting with his favorite lady pirate, before bowing out to head to his own ship and take off a minute or two after her.

[ShredsnPatches]

Shreds rolled her eyes. Bellono was well and truly smashed. She turned on her heels, moving the hand that gripped Bellono's so they were arm-in-arm. Giving her sweetest, most innocent smile - the one that always got Bellono to listen to her - she said

"Chiaves, why don't you come back with me? You promised to show me how to hold my liquor, and I happen to have a bottle of Ratcheter's Comfort in my chest."

[Plan_B]

Damien desperately attempted to signal to the opposite craft, waving the makeshift flag back and forth in the turbulent air. His arms began to slow as he heard a hissing sound, and the cloth fluttered off the deck and down towards the earth as the seam in the ruptured pipe blew, rivets flying every which-way. One of them blew through the muscle tissue in his left calf, causing him to drop to one knee as though he were penitent. Billows of the white vapour plumed from the ruptured pipe, and Damien winced, slowly taking his feet and limping towards the voice tubes.

"Engineering! Ruptured pipe on the gun deck! Captain, Price here. I'm injured, took a rivet to the leg."

The Captain's voice was preceded by another, less authoritative. "Deckhand Price, our instruments confirm pressure loss. We're sending an Engineer to the gun deck." The Captain was soon to follow "Are you alright, son?"

Damien winced as a jet of steam brushed over his arm. "Yes, Sir. Just a graze. The other craft isn't responding, I'm not sure what to do. I tried to signal with a white cloth, and I got nothing back. I'm starting to think that this may not be an accidental collision, Sir."

A pause. "Have you been briefed on the use of the new Browning Auto-Rifles yet?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Fire a shot across her bow."

Damien forgot to respond, bolting to the nearest gun stand facing the ominous zeppelin. He lifted the top of the weapon, exposing the chamber. Dropping a belt of ammunition on top of it, he lined up the leading round with the barrel, closing the chamber and racking the bolt for the first time. He grunted as he exerted more force than was necessary to move the new bearings, taking aim well in front of the other craft and squeezing the trigger. Tracers slung forth into the day, casings fluttered all about the deck, and Damien's heart sunk, knowing already that he had made a mistake.

[Sir Nikolas Vendigroth]

The bridge of the IFS Herbstwind erupted in a clamour of voices.

"Tracers off the bow!" "We're being fired upon!"

"Communications!" howled Kershaw, who had just sprinted back onto the bridge, "Alert admiral Petrovich at once! Request immediate assistance and advice!"

"Aye sir!"

"Tactical control, close all hatches and arm the deck guns. Make it obvious we won't be bullied."

[Plan_B]

The morse lamp flashed quickly, eager to convey it's message to the opposing ship.

"Alert, unidentified zeppelin. Stop. This is Her Majesty's Airship Incorruptible. Stop. You are hereby ordered to heed and stand down. Stop. Disregard of this order will be taken as hostile action and will be responded to as such. Stop. State your business and situation report. Message repeats."

Damien stood fast at the gun station, watching as the other ship sealed it's hatches and readied it's own defenses. He grasped the voice tube nearby, desperate for options.

"Captain Taylor, she's preparing to engage, Sir. Might I suggest that we negotiate, Sir?"

The captain's voice was harsh, stern. "Dammit, Price, we're working on it, now shut your trap and watch for return fire. Understood?"

[Sir Nikolas Vendigroth]

"Captain, she's signalling" said the communications officer, pensively. "Asking what we want, and ordering us to disarm our weapons."

"Flash them again. Repeat that we have no hostile intent, and offer assistance for their incident."

Kershaw covered the few steps to the front of his bridge quickly, and crouched between the communications officer and the tactical officer.

"Have the Authority confirmed that they've recieved the signal?", he muttered.

"Yes sir. They say they'll issue orders in 10 minutes."

"Good. Keep signalling the message until we get a response. Tell them I'm ready to talk whenever they are. What other ships are in the area?"

"The IFS Rosenrot's 200 miles to the south, captain. For all intents and purposes, we're on our own." said the tactical officer. She was obviously unhappy with the matter.

"All we can do now is wait..." mused Kershaw.

[Plan_B]

Captain Jonas Taylor circled the round map table on the bridge of the Incorruptible, his fingertips tracing along the brass collision railing. Beads of pensive sweat hung on his forehead, and he stopped in his stride, looking out through the wide, outward-angled viewing glass to the other ship. He placed a rolled tobacco cigarette between his lips and lit it with a match, taking a puff of the aromatic fumes and sighing. Turning to his communications officer, he nodded, following up with his orders. "Leftenant, send the following. 'Unidentified airship, we confirm that you are standing down and will follow suit. Our gunners will, however, remain on station for security measures. We accept your proposition to negotiate, and will send Incorruptible Actual to speak with your Captain. Prepare to receive boarders and signal when ready."

Upon confirmation of the sent message, Taylor motioned to his bodyguard and strode from the bridge, heading towards the deck with anticipation. His path took him across the gun deck, and past Damien. He paused for a moment, looked the young deckhand in the eyes, and smiled ever so slightly. "Deckhand Price, the ship is yours until I return. Keep her well."

As the Captain moved on towards the docking gantry, Damien shook his head as if to clear it of unwanted thoughts. He rushed to the bridge, tripping over a step or two, and muttering to himself how odd the situation had become.

[Bellono]

Bellono greatfully accepted the offer another nice drink but for FREE and nice company, he needed to get back to Reckless anyway he needed to rearm he had too many empty mags

[Kylen Phylar]

(*pokes* I haven't been here in months and this RP hasn't moved an inch)

[ShredsnPatches]

(Good point. I'd almost forgotten about it, let's give it a go.)


Shreds smiled patiently and led Bellono back to the ship.

[Bellono]

Bellono was off balance he hated that but at least his nightmares and memories had subsided for a brief while

[ShredsnPatches]

Back on the ship, the last of the spirits were gone, and Shreds and Bellono were very, very drunk. For Shreds this was something new and odd. And she couldn't help feeling protective of the hulking big Italian for some reason. Putting down the empty bottle, she gave Bellono a hug and a peck on the cheek.

"So... more lessons then? In fightin' an' drinkin'?"