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The Sky Pioneer Stuff
copy-pasted from my DeviantArt account. i've been working on this story since last year and nursed it around long before then. already working on chapter two right now. enjoy.
THE SKY PIONEER: CHAPTER ONE
Above a sea of clouds tinted purple by the setting sun, a large bulk of metal drifted steadily through the air, propelled by chugging rotors and guided by enormous canvas wings. As small as it seemed compared to the infinite blue surrounding its form, the Carrier type sky ship was really a behemoth of an aircraft with more than a hundred metres of steel plating from head to tail fins and propellers. Painted in large white letters across the side of its dull brass hull was the name of the ship, Gloria. Despite is name however, there was nothing glorious about the bulky vessel. Of all possible variations there were for a Carrier, the Gloria was most likely the least flightworthy to have ever graced the skies.
Powered by nothing more than steam driven propellers and the wind in its sails, the vessel crawled through the air at such a pace that a couple of wagon bearing horses would have been able to outdistance it, and its form was essentially that of a colossal box; its corners angular and not at all aerodynamic, except at the front where the bow was broadly curved. Embedded at the very head of the ship was a sphere of glass framed in a web of steel, which allowed a wide field of vision for the ship's handsomely dressed pilot, Isaac Rondelle.
Wearing a dashing black uniform, a pair of spotlessly white gloves and an equally neat moustache, Isaac was the very image of a sky ship captain. Mistaking him as such was, in the real captain's opinion, quite forgivable as he really did look the part. As Piper Macleod, captain of the Gloria, mused upon this thought whilst consuming a meal of bread and water, the ship bucked and the entire floor of the bridge began to tilt.
Stumbling and spilling her breakfast onto the floor, Piper grabbed the side of her chair and said, "What in the Sam hill just happened?"
"It must be the wind," Isaac replied, unruffled. Noticing nothing abnormal in any of the dials on the console in front of him, he frowned and reached for a button labeled 'VOCI'. "I shall check with the navigator… Anthony, this is Isaac. Tell me what you can see from where you are."
"Are you serious? It's right below us!" a cranky voice barked through the console.
Isaac was thinking of a suitable retort until he looked down and saw a Carrier type sky ship, through the holes of the steel panel under his feet. It was rising fast and, though still some distance away, there was no mistaking the profile of a mounted cannon pointing directly at the belly of the Gloria.
Anthony shouted before Isaac thought the words, "We're getting attacked by bloody pirates!"
"Alright Ike, you know what to do," Piper said as she drew her revolver from its holster with a twirl. "Accelerate to full speed and alert the crew, we got a fight on our hands."
"Aye captain. All hands move to the cargo bay and prepare for combat, we are under attack!" Isaac shouted into the console as he pushed three levers forward, each one controlling the speed of a different set of rotors around the ship.
No matter how fast it could fly however, Isaac knew that the Gloria was a slow vessel and it was only a matter of time until the pirates boarded. For now, he busied himself with adjusting the sails so that the ship would not end up tumbling through the sky, but his main concern was whether the new recruits would cause any trouble for the captain as she went to organize the defence. For their sakes, Isaac hoped that they would not.
~~~~~ 1
The walls shook as the Gloria began to accelerate, rattling its crew about like beads in a tin can. Marcus poked his head out of the kitchen and watched as his crewmates scrambled out of their quarters. He recognized the first ones to step into the mess hall as the more experienced crew members, all looking highly alert with some bearing firearms. The rest that followed were, like Marcus, the new recruits and they wandered about like lost sheep, bleating questions and complaints.
"We're not seriously supposed to fight them are we?" said a middle aged man with balding hair.
"It's either that or lose the ship," replied a younger man who had a shaggy mane of brown hair and a shallow beard covering his jaw. "Don't worry about it, mate. Just leave it up to us and the captain, we know what to do."
"But wouldn't it be better to just give them what they want?"
"We do that then they'll go after some other poor buggers, somewhere and some time. It's better to deal with them here if we can; shouldn't be too much trouble."
Marcus was surprised at the young man's confidence. Many would have balked at the mere mention of bandits, but it seemed that the captain and crew of this ship fully intended to face them in battle. It was impressive to say the least.
"You nervous?" asked Curtis, the head chef.
"Not really," Marcus replied as he turned to address the tall and wiry man. "By the sound of things, I take it that it ain't your first time dealing with pirates."
"That's right. The last attack cost us a lot of crew, which is why you newcomers were brought in."
Marcus became somewhat demoralized. He did not want to know that.
"But we also got a lot of guns in return. You know how to handle one?"
The head chef waited for a reply as Marcus fell silent, as if contemplating some deeply philosophical question. After a moment, he said with deliberation, "Give me a loaded rifle and I'll give you an outlaw's shooter for each bullet it can hold."
"I'll take that as a yes then," Curtis replied as he went back into the kitchen and returned with a hunting rifle. "Tell me how it handles when you get back. I haven't had a chance to fire it myself yet."
Marcus said a word of thanks as he took the rifle and some spare ammunition. He was beginning to admire the people here more and more with each passing minute, and wondered what the leader of such a confident crew was like. Hopefully they were just as competent.
As he checked the sights and firing mechanism of his rifle, Marcus was aware of all the muttering in the mess hall dying away as a stronger and louder voice called for attention. A quick glance outside of the kitchen told him who it was. Though she did not very much look like the captain of a sky ship, she was still a recognizable figure dressed in a blue long-sleeved shirt, brown leather vest and dusty trousers. Her sandy blonde hair was tied back in a short ponytail and her cloud grey eyes surveyed the room as she said with perfect clarity, "Everyone get to the cargo hold and fortify the platforms. Anyone that doesn't have a firearm will stay behind the others and drag any wounded to the back of the room, then pick up a gun and join the fight. I'll say it again, if the man in front gets shot, drag him back then pick up his gun and join the fight. Do I make myself clear?"
The crew nodded in reply and began to move out of the mess hall. Marcus stepped in to join them and noticed that he was walking at the front, next to the shaggy haired man. Though dressed in the blue overalls of an engineer, there was something about the man that gave him an air of authority. Perhaps it was because of the confidence he showed earlier, or the fact that he was walking ahead of everyone else. Whatever the reason, Marcus decided that it was probably both.
"Be careful everyone," Piper added as an afterthought as she led the way with revolver at the ready. Looking back however, she noticed a bob of red hair amidst the group of defenders and turned to address the shaggy haired man. "Lead the way Wyatt."
"Aye ma'am," he responded with a lazy salute.
~~~~~ 2
As everyone made their way through the corridor to the cargo hold, Piper waited with her back pressed to the wall until a flash of red hair moved past. Reaching out and grabbing a shoulder, Piper pulled the person in and hissed, “You are NOT going to join the fight, Penny.”
The red haired youth look up with her water blue eyes wide with shock. “I-I just want to help the others.”
“I don’t care; you are not going to the cargo hold. Wait here until this is over!”
Without another word, Piper forcefully turned Penny around and shoved her back into the mess hall, then quickly left for the cargo hold.
Penny ambled towards the back of the mess hall and slumped onto a wicker chair, crestfallen. Why do the others get to fight for the ship? she wondered. “Why don’t I get to fight for my home?”
“Talking to yourself again?” Curtis said as he left the kitchen, wiping his hands against his brown apron.
“The captain wouldn’t let me help,” Penny replied with a dispirited sigh. “What’re you doing by the way? I thought you’d be in the cargo hold with the others.”
“I gave my rifle to one of the newcomers, so now I’m just cooking up something for when everyone gets back.”
“Pirates are attacking and you want to cook…? What happens if we end up losing? You’d be feeding them bandits.”
Curtis chuckled. “If that happens then I’ll just have to poison all the food. Won’t let them have a taste without paying for it… But in all seriousness now, you seem way too eager to get into a scrap. I can’t say that I’m surprised, but did you really think the captain would let you?”
“I guess not, but it’s stupid that she won’t let me help. We could lose this time and then what would have been the point of keeping me out? And the ship…”
As if in reply to what Penny said, the boom of a cannon thundered through the air and a screech of shattered metal sounded from the cargo bay. The Gloria quaked violently and knocked everyone, including Penny and Curtis, off their feet.
Seeing the alarm in Penny’s face, Curtis stood up, helped the girl onto her feet and said, “C’mon, let’s see what we can do about rustling up some grub for the crew. They’ll be very hungry when they get back.”
Penny only nodded in reply as she followed the head chef into the kitchen. She knew that Curtis was trying to take her mind off her worries, but they were too loud to ignore. One black-hearted little voice in the corner of her mind told her that she would not have to worry about pirates boarding the ship, because it would fall out of the sky first. “That is not helping,” Penny muttered angrily to herself.
~~~~~ 3
A shell tore through the floor of the cargo bay and punched into the ceiling, scattering shards of metal in every direction. A particularly sharp piece had stuck itself point first into the ground, directly in front of Marcus as he dropped onto his belly and covered his head.
"Everyone get onto the platforms and get ready, there's no more time to move them crates, HURRY!" Piper shouted down from the catwalks.
Slightly dazzled, Marcus slowly stood up; using the wooden crate he was meant to be moving out of the way as support. The man who helped him carry it was still trying to drag the heavy box across the floor. "No, we can still get this thing out a here!"
"C'mon folks, it's time to go… Riley, what're you doing?" the hairy man known as Wyatt said before he was about to rush by.
"Help me with this, just one more box!"
Marcus could not hear what they were saying, since the explosion had filled his ears with a loud ringing noise. Even so, he could guess that the man known as Riley was refusing to leave the crate. What's inside it that's so important? Marcus wondered as he saw Wyatt shaking his head solemnly and then turning to leave.
A small popping noise sounded in Marcus's ears and, at first, he thought that his hearing had finally cleared. When he recognized the muffled shouts of alarm from above, he turned around and saw two black cables rising out of the hole in the floor and attaching themselves to the dented ceiling. Driven by instinct, Marcus ducked behind the wooden crate and pulled his partner down with him. It was then that he began to regret leaving his rifle on the platforms after volunteering to move the cargo.
"What the heck are you idiots doing down there?" Piper roared over the side of the hand rail. When she realized that the two men taking cover behind a crate were not going to leave, she grabbed a shotgun out of the hands of the nearest crewman and tossed it down towards them, along with her own revolver. "Don't waste your shots!" she shouted before moving back from the edge of the platform.
"Was that really a good idea?" Wyatt asked as he stood at the captain's side.
"At least they can defend themselves if they have to. Now give me your rifle, you know I'm the best shot around here."
"Aye ma'am, here's the ammo too."
"Wha' th' hill em ah suppose t'do now?" said the man who's shotgun was taken away.
"Stay at the back of course… thank you Wyatt," Piper replied as she took the spare ammunition and went to the edge of the platform, lying down in a firing position alongside the rest of the defenders.
~~~ 4
Marcus had caught the captain's revolver just before it could hit him in the face. The shotgun ended up clattering onto the ground without discharging upon impact, through some miracle, and Riley quickly picked it up, holding it close as he muttered, "Aw shit, all the medicine's going to get shot up."
"Why do you care about it so much?" Marcus asked, glad that his hearing was returning to normal.
"My wife lives at the town we're heading to. She's really sick right now and NEEDS the medicine we're delivering, so I ain't letting any damned pirates have any of it!"
Marcus simply nodded to show that he understood and then leaned over the side of the crate. He looked out just in time to see the first pirate rising out of the hole, dragged along by a fast moving device attached between the two cables protruding from the floor. Motors whirred furiously as it zipped along the lines and descended again as soon as it hit the ceiling. The pirate vanished below the floor as quickly as he appeared and left in his wake was a round black orb, hurtling through the air until its fuse burned out.
Too fast! Piper thought as she tried to aim at the intruder. A second after he disappeared, there was a small hiss and then silence. It took another second for Piper to realize what it was and she turned around, almost too late, before the bomb exploded in a blinding flash of light and an ear shattering bang.
Marcus cursed his luck as he ducked back behind cover, blind and deaf now. The dazzling effects of the stun grenade were mercifully short lived, but Marcus could already hear gunshots in the time it took for its effects to subside. More shooting erupted from the platforms above, amidst Piper's clear shouts of command, "FIRE! Now everyone move back, we're too close to the edge!"
Bullets ricocheted off the bottom of the metal platforms, showering Marcus and Riley with fragments of hot lead. One had struck Riley's scalp and caused him to yelp in pain, driving him to panic. Without any thought at all, the man leapt out from cover and emptied both barrels of his shotgun in the general direction of the enemy. In an instant, he realized the mistake that he had made and ducked back behind the crate before a storm of bullets whizzed by, passing straight through where he was standing only a second ago.
~~~~~ 5
"What the hell was that?" Marcus said in a reprimanding tone.
"I don't know… all outta rounds now," Riley replied.
Damn fool's going to get me killed, Marcus thought as he snarled with contempt. He checked the cylinder of the revolver in his hand and saw that it was fully loaded. Six shots, hopefully it would be enough to deal with any pirate who felt brave enough to advance across the cargo bay. Marcus felt uneasy handling the revolver since his true skill was with a rifle, but that would not stop him from using it if he had to.
As soon as he felt that no more bullets would be flying in his direction, Marcus leaned out to the side for a quick look and immediately saw two pirates rushing towards him, armed with shotguns. They had not seen him before he pulled back again, but they were now also using the crate as cover. It was a strange predicament. He could even hear them whispering to each other.
"Close enough do you think?"
"Yeah, I think so. Let the fuse burn for a little while first though, we want em to go bang in midair… but don't hold it for too long."
"Of course not, you think I'm stupid?"
Marcus felt a chill in his gut as he realized what the two pirates were planning to do. He frantically thought of ways to disrupt them, his mind switching from scenario to scenario, but all of them included him getting shot to bits. He was finally about to settle with shouting an alarm when Riley suddenly said, "Whatever you're doing, don't do it!"
While not silent at all due to the ongoing exchange of bullets, the moment was sufficiently awkward and Marcus could only hope that the pirates were successfully distracted. They were.
"I, uh, I think there's someone behind the crate," one of them said.
"I figured that for myself," the other replied venomously. "Alright, listen up, guy! We got bombs and we ain't afraid to use em, so either you let us go with the cargo or I blow us all up! What's it going to be, eh?"
"I think you're in no position to make demands when there's still shooting going on," Marcus replied diplomatically.
There was a pause… and then, "Alright, blow us all up it is!"
"NO!" Riley yelled as he shoved the crate hard, pushing both pirates out into the open. They were immediately cut down by gunfire from above.
Marcus was expecting Riley to receive a bullet to the face. The crate had slid across the floor at an angle when he pushed it, leaving him almost completely exposed, so it came as a surprise to Marcus when instead of being targeted and immediately shot like the two pirates, Riley simply stood where he was, not even bothering to duck down behind the crate. Marcus chanced a look and was even more surprised to see a thick wall of white smoke that was not there before at the other end of the cargo bay, and the enemies retreating into it.
"I think we won," Riley said.
~~~~~ 6
The defenders whooped and cheered, having won the fight. Even the new recruits reveled in the victory, despite most of them never participating or firing a single shot. Marcus was more relieved than joyful that it was all over so quickly. A lightning raid, that's all it was. The pirates were not expecting a challenge.
"Don't relax yet, folks. They've still got a cannon on their ship," Piper said as she handed Wyatt back his rifle, and then leaned over the railing of the platform. "As for you two silly chaps, good job staying alive down there... now which one of you has my revolver?"
"That'll be me, ma'am," Marcus replied as he turned around and presented the firearm.
"Yup, just toss it up here."
Marcus looked down at the revolver, then up at the captain, then down at the revolver again. She wanted him to throw it, THROW it! Guns should not be thrown around willy-nilly! For that matter, the revolver was still fully loaded and the hammer was cocked down. Marcus was about to point this out when he heard a sudden buzzing at the other end of the cargo bay, followed by a heavy clank of metal upon metal. He turned to look and though the wall of smoke was still there, it had thinned out enough for him to see a most chilling sight. Standing tall in over two metres of steel plating and hissing hydraulics was a man fully encased in bulky metal armour, wielding a monstrously large flamethrower.
"My gun, NOW!" Piper shouted as she saw the igniter on the pirate's flamethrower flickering to life.
Without hesitation, Marcus tossed the revolver up to the captain as if his life depended on it, perhaps literally, and then ducked down behind the crate with Riley who was also on the verge of soiling his trousers.
Almost immediately afterwards, a blazing gout of flame spewed forth and splashed onto the platforms, dripping burning fuel in its wake. Marcus looked up with horror as he saw a raging inferno where the captain used to be. He did not even hear a scream.
The stream of liquid fire stopped for a moment, but then the pirate's weapon hissed again and there was another burst of flame, this time in the form of a wide spray of conflagration. It covered the entire edge of the platforms now and Marcus could hear cries of panic. Damn it all, he was panicking too. He had been in many sorts of ugly situations before, but they all utterly paled in comparison to this. What could possibly be done about a fully armoured man wielding a flamethrower that was most certainly not meant to be man portable?
~~~~~ 7
Isaac tried to stay focused on maintaining a steady flight, but he could not stop feeling nervous about the pirate ship hovering below his feet.
It was a lot longer than the Gloria, though not as wide and heavily plated. There were numerous exposed sections showing bridges and platforms. Some of them had rail mounted hook launchers which were meant for guiding and anchoring a landing sky ship, but the pirates were no doubt using them for other purposes.
Isaac could not see the ship's cannon anymore and assumed that the pirates had pulled back to make a direct assault on the cargo bay. This made him all the more nervous since it meant that the pirates' cannon could breach the Gloria's steel plated skin. Such a threat had only been encountered once before and it reaped a heavy bounty on the lives of the crew. Isaac prayed that this would not happen again.
"Isaac, I'm coming up. I can't take this anymore!" Anthony's voice grated through the speaker.
"What's happening?" Isaac replied.
"Them pirates are using me for target practice, that's what! Anyways, it looks like they got into the cargo hold, so I'm going to see if I can help give them a hiding."
"No, stay where you are, we need to maintain situational awareness."
"WHAT? Screw your situational awareness; I'm getting shot at here!"
Isaac sighed. "Listen to me, Anthony. We don't know if they'll try something else so you need to stay put and keep a lookout. Can you do that?"
There was silence for a moment. Isaac could tell that the old navigator was seething with anger. He had always been a stubborn old crank. After some consideration, Isaac continued with carefully chosen words, "Remember the last time."
"Yeah… alright," Anthony eventually responded.
"Good man. Alert me if anything new happens."
~~~~~ 8
Marcus flinched as he felt the heat washing off another blast of flame. He could scarcely stand it anymore and tried to move back, but he was already as far away as he could possibly be without accidentally bumping Riley out into the open. They were both trying their best to keep their feet tucked in from the edges of the narrow side of the crate.
Just one lick of flame will set the whole damn thing on fire, Marcus thought as he looked hopelessly at the grained timbers of the crate. He was beginning to regret returning the revolver to the captain. She was most likely dead now, consumed by the flames without even having the time to react. What could she have done anyway? The pirate was as heavily armoured as the Gloria; nothing but steel plates from head to toe.
Riley tapped Marcus on the shoulder as he whispered, "Look."
Marcus followed Riley's pointed finger and saw the two pirates that were also using the crate for cover earlier, lying dead on the floor now with their shotguns and bombs scattered around their bodies… the bombs. They had a whole satchel full of the explosives. Marcus did consider making a dash for them before, but dismissed the idea as nothing more than suicidal.
"I'd never make it," he said.
"If you're not going to do it, then I will!" Riley replied in a low hiss.
Another blast of flame whooshed by.
"I'll do it… I WILL do it!" Riley continued with forced determination.
Marcus was about to stress the total, utter and supreme foolishness of rushing out of cover to retrieve a satchel full of explosives in front of a man armed with a flamethrower, but before he could even open his mouth, a gunshot rang out loud and clear above the hiss of the flames, followed by the sharp sting of a bullet ricocheting off metal.
The muzzle of the heavy flamethrower was knocked downwards, causing the pirate to release the trigger and take the time to readjust his aim. The spray of fire was cut short long enough to reveal a vengeful figure, standing amongst the still burning flames on the upper walkways.
"You ruined my vest, you bastard," Piper muttered angrily as she fired again.
~~~~~ 9
The bullet punched into the centre of the pirate's forehead, or at least where it would have been behind the face of his steel helmet. It was entirely sealed, even at the eye area where a dark panel of glass, almost as thick as the steel around it, covered the narrow horizontal slit through which the pirate saw his target. Still alive, he noted with surprise before his head snapped back from the force of another bullet. But not for long.
Piper fired again, and again, and again until her revolver was empty. Each shot was a deadly precise headshot, enough to completely shatter a human skull into many jigsaw pieces, but they all bounced harmlessly off the pirate's bucket shaped helmet. Piper cursed under breath when she realized that none of her shots had hit the pirate's eye slit, then cursed out loud when the pirate recovered from the buffeting hail of bullets and brought his flamethrower up to bear. He had just pressed the trigger when yet another bullet struck him, this time in the gauntlet covered hand bracing the muzzle of his heavy weapon.
"Aim for the gun, mess it all up!" Wyatt shouted as he stepped beside Piper with five other crewmates. Together they unleashed a fusillade of rifle rounds and shotgun pellets.
"Jus' lahk ta'get pra'tice," said the one whose shotgun was currently in the hands of Riley.
"Glad to see you 'men' finally got over your fear of fire," Piper said as she reloaded her revolver.
"Can't help it ma'am, you were ON fire. I thought you were done for," Wyatt replied defensively as he cracked off another shot.
"Yeah, glad to have had help with that too… hey, whose rifle is that, Ian?"
"B'longs tah Cur'is ah fink. Jus' saw et la'in aroun', ah did," Ian replied with a wolfish grin.
"Right… just lying around," Piper replied sarcastically as she closed the fully loaded cylinder of her revolver, thumbed down the hammer and aimed it at the pirate.
Her sharp eye saw that the rubber hose connected to the back end of the flamethrower was slightly exposed, sticking out to the side as it snaked off towards the propellant tanks mounted on the pirate's back. They were completely hidden from view, but Piper decided that the hose was a good enough target. She carefully adjusted her aim and fired.
It took two shots. The first glanced off the pirate's side, but it still forced him to turn. By this time he was so enraged that he simply held the trigger of his flamethrower down, not letting go even as it was repeatedly knocked around as bullets slammed into the muzzle of his gun, and his own armoured body. Miraculously, none of the flames touched the crate where Marcus and Riley were still hiding behind, or the explosives that lay scattered around the floor. It seemed as though the pirate's efforts were focused on incinerating the very air. The second shot from Piper's revolver cleanly severed the hose connecting the flamethrower to its propellant tanks. It was now rendered useless and the pirate threw it aside as he cried with fury, though his rage came out as an oddly muffled noise through his helmet.
"Now's our chance!" Marcus said as he scrambled out from cover, dashing across the floor of the cargo bay and seizing the entire satchel of bombs.
Though the floor was solid metal, it was still on fire in some places where burning fuel spilled from the pirate's weapon. It was almost absurd how the flames continued to burn, as if they refused to die out, and it was at one of these defiant embers where Marcus lit the fuse of a single bomb. He turned to throw it, but was stunned to see Riley charging straight towards the armoured pirate. Marcus was even more shocked when he saw the intruder actually getting tackled down.
Riley quickly shoved the pirate's metal encased bulk through the hole in the floor. Any slower and he might have had to contend with the hydraulics augmented strength of the pirate's armour. Whatever was powering it must have been an internal system since there were only the fuel tanks mounted at the back. Penny would have liked to take a look at it, Riley thought ruefully, but the second of regret passed as soon as he saw Marcus holding a lit bomb.
"Throw it here!" Riley urged as he tried to kick the pirate down, who was now holding onto one of the cables that brought him to the ship in the first place.
As though suddenly becoming aware of the live explosive in his hand, Marcus yelped an oath and tossed the bomb into the air. Riley dived away with his arms over his head just as the bomb exploded in midair, blowing the cables apart.
"Give me the rest of the bombs!" Riley shouted as he stood up again.
"What, why?" Marcus asked, even as he closed the satchel and swung it towards Riley.
"We're not done yet."
Riley caught the satchel, opened it up and took out a single bomb. Lighting the fuse from a nearby flame of stubbornly burning fuel, he stuffed it back into the satchel and stepped towards the hole in the floor. He could see several pirates crowding around the armoured body of the one that fell. They looked up and lifted their guns to aim, but Riley had already disappeared. A loaded satchel landed heavily amongst them, spilling its contents around their feet. By the time they realized what they were seeing, it was already too late.
An explosion lit up the sky and shook through the air. Even the crew of the Gloria could feel it. "I think we're done here," Piper said as she turned away, holstering her revolver. Wyatt saluted. Ian smiled. Riley sat on the floor, still feeling the high of adrenaline. Marcus simply stared, dumbfounded. Penny and Curtis looked at each other in bewilderment for a second before returning to their work, laying out food on the dining table in the mess hall. Isaac returned the Gloria's flight settings to normal. The rest of the crew cheered, but none more so than Anthony.
"Take that you bastards!" he roared as he watched the pirate ship going down in flames. From where he stood in the observation nest underneath the belly of the Gloria, it was a sight to behold.
~~~~~ 10
THE SKY PIONEER: CHAPTER ONE
Above a sea of clouds tinted purple by the setting sun, a large bulk of metal drifted steadily through the air, propelled by chugging rotors and guided by enormous canvas wings. As small as it seemed compared to the infinite blue surrounding its form, the Carrier type sky ship was really a behemoth of an aircraft with more than a hundred metres of steel plating from head to tail fins and propellers. Painted in large white letters across the side of its dull brass hull was the name of the ship, Gloria. Despite is name however, there was nothing glorious about the bulky vessel. Of all possible variations there were for a Carrier, the Gloria was most likely the least flightworthy to have ever graced the skies.
Powered by nothing more than steam driven propellers and the wind in its sails, the vessel crawled through the air at such a pace that a couple of wagon bearing horses would have been able to outdistance it, and its form was essentially that of a colossal box; its corners angular and not at all aerodynamic, except at the front where the bow was broadly curved. Embedded at the very head of the ship was a sphere of glass framed in a web of steel, which allowed a wide field of vision for the ship's handsomely dressed pilot, Isaac Rondelle.
Wearing a dashing black uniform, a pair of spotlessly white gloves and an equally neat moustache, Isaac was the very image of a sky ship captain. Mistaking him as such was, in the real captain's opinion, quite forgivable as he really did look the part. As Piper Macleod, captain of the Gloria, mused upon this thought whilst consuming a meal of bread and water, the ship bucked and the entire floor of the bridge began to tilt.
Stumbling and spilling her breakfast onto the floor, Piper grabbed the side of her chair and said, "What in the Sam hill just happened?"
"It must be the wind," Isaac replied, unruffled. Noticing nothing abnormal in any of the dials on the console in front of him, he frowned and reached for a button labeled 'VOCI'. "I shall check with the navigator… Anthony, this is Isaac. Tell me what you can see from where you are."
"Are you serious? It's right below us!" a cranky voice barked through the console.
Isaac was thinking of a suitable retort until he looked down and saw a Carrier type sky ship, through the holes of the steel panel under his feet. It was rising fast and, though still some distance away, there was no mistaking the profile of a mounted cannon pointing directly at the belly of the Gloria.
Anthony shouted before Isaac thought the words, "We're getting attacked by bloody pirates!"
"Alright Ike, you know what to do," Piper said as she drew her revolver from its holster with a twirl. "Accelerate to full speed and alert the crew, we got a fight on our hands."
"Aye captain. All hands move to the cargo bay and prepare for combat, we are under attack!" Isaac shouted into the console as he pushed three levers forward, each one controlling the speed of a different set of rotors around the ship.
No matter how fast it could fly however, Isaac knew that the Gloria was a slow vessel and it was only a matter of time until the pirates boarded. For now, he busied himself with adjusting the sails so that the ship would not end up tumbling through the sky, but his main concern was whether the new recruits would cause any trouble for the captain as she went to organize the defence. For their sakes, Isaac hoped that they would not.
~~~~~ 1
The walls shook as the Gloria began to accelerate, rattling its crew about like beads in a tin can. Marcus poked his head out of the kitchen and watched as his crewmates scrambled out of their quarters. He recognized the first ones to step into the mess hall as the more experienced crew members, all looking highly alert with some bearing firearms. The rest that followed were, like Marcus, the new recruits and they wandered about like lost sheep, bleating questions and complaints.
"We're not seriously supposed to fight them are we?" said a middle aged man with balding hair.
"It's either that or lose the ship," replied a younger man who had a shaggy mane of brown hair and a shallow beard covering his jaw. "Don't worry about it, mate. Just leave it up to us and the captain, we know what to do."
"But wouldn't it be better to just give them what they want?"
"We do that then they'll go after some other poor buggers, somewhere and some time. It's better to deal with them here if we can; shouldn't be too much trouble."
Marcus was surprised at the young man's confidence. Many would have balked at the mere mention of bandits, but it seemed that the captain and crew of this ship fully intended to face them in battle. It was impressive to say the least.
"You nervous?" asked Curtis, the head chef.
"Not really," Marcus replied as he turned to address the tall and wiry man. "By the sound of things, I take it that it ain't your first time dealing with pirates."
"That's right. The last attack cost us a lot of crew, which is why you newcomers were brought in."
Marcus became somewhat demoralized. He did not want to know that.
"But we also got a lot of guns in return. You know how to handle one?"
The head chef waited for a reply as Marcus fell silent, as if contemplating some deeply philosophical question. After a moment, he said with deliberation, "Give me a loaded rifle and I'll give you an outlaw's shooter for each bullet it can hold."
"I'll take that as a yes then," Curtis replied as he went back into the kitchen and returned with a hunting rifle. "Tell me how it handles when you get back. I haven't had a chance to fire it myself yet."
Marcus said a word of thanks as he took the rifle and some spare ammunition. He was beginning to admire the people here more and more with each passing minute, and wondered what the leader of such a confident crew was like. Hopefully they were just as competent.
As he checked the sights and firing mechanism of his rifle, Marcus was aware of all the muttering in the mess hall dying away as a stronger and louder voice called for attention. A quick glance outside of the kitchen told him who it was. Though she did not very much look like the captain of a sky ship, she was still a recognizable figure dressed in a blue long-sleeved shirt, brown leather vest and dusty trousers. Her sandy blonde hair was tied back in a short ponytail and her cloud grey eyes surveyed the room as she said with perfect clarity, "Everyone get to the cargo hold and fortify the platforms. Anyone that doesn't have a firearm will stay behind the others and drag any wounded to the back of the room, then pick up a gun and join the fight. I'll say it again, if the man in front gets shot, drag him back then pick up his gun and join the fight. Do I make myself clear?"
The crew nodded in reply and began to move out of the mess hall. Marcus stepped in to join them and noticed that he was walking at the front, next to the shaggy haired man. Though dressed in the blue overalls of an engineer, there was something about the man that gave him an air of authority. Perhaps it was because of the confidence he showed earlier, or the fact that he was walking ahead of everyone else. Whatever the reason, Marcus decided that it was probably both.
"Be careful everyone," Piper added as an afterthought as she led the way with revolver at the ready. Looking back however, she noticed a bob of red hair amidst the group of defenders and turned to address the shaggy haired man. "Lead the way Wyatt."
"Aye ma'am," he responded with a lazy salute.
~~~~~ 2
As everyone made their way through the corridor to the cargo hold, Piper waited with her back pressed to the wall until a flash of red hair moved past. Reaching out and grabbing a shoulder, Piper pulled the person in and hissed, “You are NOT going to join the fight, Penny.”
The red haired youth look up with her water blue eyes wide with shock. “I-I just want to help the others.”
“I don’t care; you are not going to the cargo hold. Wait here until this is over!”
Without another word, Piper forcefully turned Penny around and shoved her back into the mess hall, then quickly left for the cargo hold.
Penny ambled towards the back of the mess hall and slumped onto a wicker chair, crestfallen. Why do the others get to fight for the ship? she wondered. “Why don’t I get to fight for my home?”
“Talking to yourself again?” Curtis said as he left the kitchen, wiping his hands against his brown apron.
“The captain wouldn’t let me help,” Penny replied with a dispirited sigh. “What’re you doing by the way? I thought you’d be in the cargo hold with the others.”
“I gave my rifle to one of the newcomers, so now I’m just cooking up something for when everyone gets back.”
“Pirates are attacking and you want to cook…? What happens if we end up losing? You’d be feeding them bandits.”
Curtis chuckled. “If that happens then I’ll just have to poison all the food. Won’t let them have a taste without paying for it… But in all seriousness now, you seem way too eager to get into a scrap. I can’t say that I’m surprised, but did you really think the captain would let you?”
“I guess not, but it’s stupid that she won’t let me help. We could lose this time and then what would have been the point of keeping me out? And the ship…”
As if in reply to what Penny said, the boom of a cannon thundered through the air and a screech of shattered metal sounded from the cargo bay. The Gloria quaked violently and knocked everyone, including Penny and Curtis, off their feet.
Seeing the alarm in Penny’s face, Curtis stood up, helped the girl onto her feet and said, “C’mon, let’s see what we can do about rustling up some grub for the crew. They’ll be very hungry when they get back.”
Penny only nodded in reply as she followed the head chef into the kitchen. She knew that Curtis was trying to take her mind off her worries, but they were too loud to ignore. One black-hearted little voice in the corner of her mind told her that she would not have to worry about pirates boarding the ship, because it would fall out of the sky first. “That is not helping,” Penny muttered angrily to herself.
~~~~~ 3
A shell tore through the floor of the cargo bay and punched into the ceiling, scattering shards of metal in every direction. A particularly sharp piece had stuck itself point first into the ground, directly in front of Marcus as he dropped onto his belly and covered his head.
"Everyone get onto the platforms and get ready, there's no more time to move them crates, HURRY!" Piper shouted down from the catwalks.
Slightly dazzled, Marcus slowly stood up; using the wooden crate he was meant to be moving out of the way as support. The man who helped him carry it was still trying to drag the heavy box across the floor. "No, we can still get this thing out a here!"
"C'mon folks, it's time to go… Riley, what're you doing?" the hairy man known as Wyatt said before he was about to rush by.
"Help me with this, just one more box!"
Marcus could not hear what they were saying, since the explosion had filled his ears with a loud ringing noise. Even so, he could guess that the man known as Riley was refusing to leave the crate. What's inside it that's so important? Marcus wondered as he saw Wyatt shaking his head solemnly and then turning to leave.
A small popping noise sounded in Marcus's ears and, at first, he thought that his hearing had finally cleared. When he recognized the muffled shouts of alarm from above, he turned around and saw two black cables rising out of the hole in the floor and attaching themselves to the dented ceiling. Driven by instinct, Marcus ducked behind the wooden crate and pulled his partner down with him. It was then that he began to regret leaving his rifle on the platforms after volunteering to move the cargo.
"What the heck are you idiots doing down there?" Piper roared over the side of the hand rail. When she realized that the two men taking cover behind a crate were not going to leave, she grabbed a shotgun out of the hands of the nearest crewman and tossed it down towards them, along with her own revolver. "Don't waste your shots!" she shouted before moving back from the edge of the platform.
"Was that really a good idea?" Wyatt asked as he stood at the captain's side.
"At least they can defend themselves if they have to. Now give me your rifle, you know I'm the best shot around here."
"Aye ma'am, here's the ammo too."
"Wha' th' hill em ah suppose t'do now?" said the man who's shotgun was taken away.
"Stay at the back of course… thank you Wyatt," Piper replied as she took the spare ammunition and went to the edge of the platform, lying down in a firing position alongside the rest of the defenders.
~~~ 4
Marcus had caught the captain's revolver just before it could hit him in the face. The shotgun ended up clattering onto the ground without discharging upon impact, through some miracle, and Riley quickly picked it up, holding it close as he muttered, "Aw shit, all the medicine's going to get shot up."
"Why do you care about it so much?" Marcus asked, glad that his hearing was returning to normal.
"My wife lives at the town we're heading to. She's really sick right now and NEEDS the medicine we're delivering, so I ain't letting any damned pirates have any of it!"
Marcus simply nodded to show that he understood and then leaned over the side of the crate. He looked out just in time to see the first pirate rising out of the hole, dragged along by a fast moving device attached between the two cables protruding from the floor. Motors whirred furiously as it zipped along the lines and descended again as soon as it hit the ceiling. The pirate vanished below the floor as quickly as he appeared and left in his wake was a round black orb, hurtling through the air until its fuse burned out.
Too fast! Piper thought as she tried to aim at the intruder. A second after he disappeared, there was a small hiss and then silence. It took another second for Piper to realize what it was and she turned around, almost too late, before the bomb exploded in a blinding flash of light and an ear shattering bang.
Marcus cursed his luck as he ducked back behind cover, blind and deaf now. The dazzling effects of the stun grenade were mercifully short lived, but Marcus could already hear gunshots in the time it took for its effects to subside. More shooting erupted from the platforms above, amidst Piper's clear shouts of command, "FIRE! Now everyone move back, we're too close to the edge!"
Bullets ricocheted off the bottom of the metal platforms, showering Marcus and Riley with fragments of hot lead. One had struck Riley's scalp and caused him to yelp in pain, driving him to panic. Without any thought at all, the man leapt out from cover and emptied both barrels of his shotgun in the general direction of the enemy. In an instant, he realized the mistake that he had made and ducked back behind the crate before a storm of bullets whizzed by, passing straight through where he was standing only a second ago.
~~~~~ 5
"What the hell was that?" Marcus said in a reprimanding tone.
"I don't know… all outta rounds now," Riley replied.
Damn fool's going to get me killed, Marcus thought as he snarled with contempt. He checked the cylinder of the revolver in his hand and saw that it was fully loaded. Six shots, hopefully it would be enough to deal with any pirate who felt brave enough to advance across the cargo bay. Marcus felt uneasy handling the revolver since his true skill was with a rifle, but that would not stop him from using it if he had to.
As soon as he felt that no more bullets would be flying in his direction, Marcus leaned out to the side for a quick look and immediately saw two pirates rushing towards him, armed with shotguns. They had not seen him before he pulled back again, but they were now also using the crate as cover. It was a strange predicament. He could even hear them whispering to each other.
"Close enough do you think?"
"Yeah, I think so. Let the fuse burn for a little while first though, we want em to go bang in midair… but don't hold it for too long."
"Of course not, you think I'm stupid?"
Marcus felt a chill in his gut as he realized what the two pirates were planning to do. He frantically thought of ways to disrupt them, his mind switching from scenario to scenario, but all of them included him getting shot to bits. He was finally about to settle with shouting an alarm when Riley suddenly said, "Whatever you're doing, don't do it!"
While not silent at all due to the ongoing exchange of bullets, the moment was sufficiently awkward and Marcus could only hope that the pirates were successfully distracted. They were.
"I, uh, I think there's someone behind the crate," one of them said.
"I figured that for myself," the other replied venomously. "Alright, listen up, guy! We got bombs and we ain't afraid to use em, so either you let us go with the cargo or I blow us all up! What's it going to be, eh?"
"I think you're in no position to make demands when there's still shooting going on," Marcus replied diplomatically.
There was a pause… and then, "Alright, blow us all up it is!"
"NO!" Riley yelled as he shoved the crate hard, pushing both pirates out into the open. They were immediately cut down by gunfire from above.
Marcus was expecting Riley to receive a bullet to the face. The crate had slid across the floor at an angle when he pushed it, leaving him almost completely exposed, so it came as a surprise to Marcus when instead of being targeted and immediately shot like the two pirates, Riley simply stood where he was, not even bothering to duck down behind the crate. Marcus chanced a look and was even more surprised to see a thick wall of white smoke that was not there before at the other end of the cargo bay, and the enemies retreating into it.
"I think we won," Riley said.
~~~~~ 6
The defenders whooped and cheered, having won the fight. Even the new recruits reveled in the victory, despite most of them never participating or firing a single shot. Marcus was more relieved than joyful that it was all over so quickly. A lightning raid, that's all it was. The pirates were not expecting a challenge.
"Don't relax yet, folks. They've still got a cannon on their ship," Piper said as she handed Wyatt back his rifle, and then leaned over the railing of the platform. "As for you two silly chaps, good job staying alive down there... now which one of you has my revolver?"
"That'll be me, ma'am," Marcus replied as he turned around and presented the firearm.
"Yup, just toss it up here."
Marcus looked down at the revolver, then up at the captain, then down at the revolver again. She wanted him to throw it, THROW it! Guns should not be thrown around willy-nilly! For that matter, the revolver was still fully loaded and the hammer was cocked down. Marcus was about to point this out when he heard a sudden buzzing at the other end of the cargo bay, followed by a heavy clank of metal upon metal. He turned to look and though the wall of smoke was still there, it had thinned out enough for him to see a most chilling sight. Standing tall in over two metres of steel plating and hissing hydraulics was a man fully encased in bulky metal armour, wielding a monstrously large flamethrower.
"My gun, NOW!" Piper shouted as she saw the igniter on the pirate's flamethrower flickering to life.
Without hesitation, Marcus tossed the revolver up to the captain as if his life depended on it, perhaps literally, and then ducked down behind the crate with Riley who was also on the verge of soiling his trousers.
Almost immediately afterwards, a blazing gout of flame spewed forth and splashed onto the platforms, dripping burning fuel in its wake. Marcus looked up with horror as he saw a raging inferno where the captain used to be. He did not even hear a scream.
The stream of liquid fire stopped for a moment, but then the pirate's weapon hissed again and there was another burst of flame, this time in the form of a wide spray of conflagration. It covered the entire edge of the platforms now and Marcus could hear cries of panic. Damn it all, he was panicking too. He had been in many sorts of ugly situations before, but they all utterly paled in comparison to this. What could possibly be done about a fully armoured man wielding a flamethrower that was most certainly not meant to be man portable?
~~~~~ 7
Isaac tried to stay focused on maintaining a steady flight, but he could not stop feeling nervous about the pirate ship hovering below his feet.
It was a lot longer than the Gloria, though not as wide and heavily plated. There were numerous exposed sections showing bridges and platforms. Some of them had rail mounted hook launchers which were meant for guiding and anchoring a landing sky ship, but the pirates were no doubt using them for other purposes.
Isaac could not see the ship's cannon anymore and assumed that the pirates had pulled back to make a direct assault on the cargo bay. This made him all the more nervous since it meant that the pirates' cannon could breach the Gloria's steel plated skin. Such a threat had only been encountered once before and it reaped a heavy bounty on the lives of the crew. Isaac prayed that this would not happen again.
"Isaac, I'm coming up. I can't take this anymore!" Anthony's voice grated through the speaker.
"What's happening?" Isaac replied.
"Them pirates are using me for target practice, that's what! Anyways, it looks like they got into the cargo hold, so I'm going to see if I can help give them a hiding."
"No, stay where you are, we need to maintain situational awareness."
"WHAT? Screw your situational awareness; I'm getting shot at here!"
Isaac sighed. "Listen to me, Anthony. We don't know if they'll try something else so you need to stay put and keep a lookout. Can you do that?"
There was silence for a moment. Isaac could tell that the old navigator was seething with anger. He had always been a stubborn old crank. After some consideration, Isaac continued with carefully chosen words, "Remember the last time."
"Yeah… alright," Anthony eventually responded.
"Good man. Alert me if anything new happens."
~~~~~ 8
Marcus flinched as he felt the heat washing off another blast of flame. He could scarcely stand it anymore and tried to move back, but he was already as far away as he could possibly be without accidentally bumping Riley out into the open. They were both trying their best to keep their feet tucked in from the edges of the narrow side of the crate.
Just one lick of flame will set the whole damn thing on fire, Marcus thought as he looked hopelessly at the grained timbers of the crate. He was beginning to regret returning the revolver to the captain. She was most likely dead now, consumed by the flames without even having the time to react. What could she have done anyway? The pirate was as heavily armoured as the Gloria; nothing but steel plates from head to toe.
Riley tapped Marcus on the shoulder as he whispered, "Look."
Marcus followed Riley's pointed finger and saw the two pirates that were also using the crate for cover earlier, lying dead on the floor now with their shotguns and bombs scattered around their bodies… the bombs. They had a whole satchel full of the explosives. Marcus did consider making a dash for them before, but dismissed the idea as nothing more than suicidal.
"I'd never make it," he said.
"If you're not going to do it, then I will!" Riley replied in a low hiss.
Another blast of flame whooshed by.
"I'll do it… I WILL do it!" Riley continued with forced determination.
Marcus was about to stress the total, utter and supreme foolishness of rushing out of cover to retrieve a satchel full of explosives in front of a man armed with a flamethrower, but before he could even open his mouth, a gunshot rang out loud and clear above the hiss of the flames, followed by the sharp sting of a bullet ricocheting off metal.
The muzzle of the heavy flamethrower was knocked downwards, causing the pirate to release the trigger and take the time to readjust his aim. The spray of fire was cut short long enough to reveal a vengeful figure, standing amongst the still burning flames on the upper walkways.
"You ruined my vest, you bastard," Piper muttered angrily as she fired again.
~~~~~ 9
The bullet punched into the centre of the pirate's forehead, or at least where it would have been behind the face of his steel helmet. It was entirely sealed, even at the eye area where a dark panel of glass, almost as thick as the steel around it, covered the narrow horizontal slit through which the pirate saw his target. Still alive, he noted with surprise before his head snapped back from the force of another bullet. But not for long.
Piper fired again, and again, and again until her revolver was empty. Each shot was a deadly precise headshot, enough to completely shatter a human skull into many jigsaw pieces, but they all bounced harmlessly off the pirate's bucket shaped helmet. Piper cursed under breath when she realized that none of her shots had hit the pirate's eye slit, then cursed out loud when the pirate recovered from the buffeting hail of bullets and brought his flamethrower up to bear. He had just pressed the trigger when yet another bullet struck him, this time in the gauntlet covered hand bracing the muzzle of his heavy weapon.
"Aim for the gun, mess it all up!" Wyatt shouted as he stepped beside Piper with five other crewmates. Together they unleashed a fusillade of rifle rounds and shotgun pellets.
"Jus' lahk ta'get pra'tice," said the one whose shotgun was currently in the hands of Riley.
"Glad to see you 'men' finally got over your fear of fire," Piper said as she reloaded her revolver.
"Can't help it ma'am, you were ON fire. I thought you were done for," Wyatt replied defensively as he cracked off another shot.
"Yeah, glad to have had help with that too… hey, whose rifle is that, Ian?"
"B'longs tah Cur'is ah fink. Jus' saw et la'in aroun', ah did," Ian replied with a wolfish grin.
"Right… just lying around," Piper replied sarcastically as she closed the fully loaded cylinder of her revolver, thumbed down the hammer and aimed it at the pirate.
Her sharp eye saw that the rubber hose connected to the back end of the flamethrower was slightly exposed, sticking out to the side as it snaked off towards the propellant tanks mounted on the pirate's back. They were completely hidden from view, but Piper decided that the hose was a good enough target. She carefully adjusted her aim and fired.
It took two shots. The first glanced off the pirate's side, but it still forced him to turn. By this time he was so enraged that he simply held the trigger of his flamethrower down, not letting go even as it was repeatedly knocked around as bullets slammed into the muzzle of his gun, and his own armoured body. Miraculously, none of the flames touched the crate where Marcus and Riley were still hiding behind, or the explosives that lay scattered around the floor. It seemed as though the pirate's efforts were focused on incinerating the very air. The second shot from Piper's revolver cleanly severed the hose connecting the flamethrower to its propellant tanks. It was now rendered useless and the pirate threw it aside as he cried with fury, though his rage came out as an oddly muffled noise through his helmet.
"Now's our chance!" Marcus said as he scrambled out from cover, dashing across the floor of the cargo bay and seizing the entire satchel of bombs.
Though the floor was solid metal, it was still on fire in some places where burning fuel spilled from the pirate's weapon. It was almost absurd how the flames continued to burn, as if they refused to die out, and it was at one of these defiant embers where Marcus lit the fuse of a single bomb. He turned to throw it, but was stunned to see Riley charging straight towards the armoured pirate. Marcus was even more shocked when he saw the intruder actually getting tackled down.
Riley quickly shoved the pirate's metal encased bulk through the hole in the floor. Any slower and he might have had to contend with the hydraulics augmented strength of the pirate's armour. Whatever was powering it must have been an internal system since there were only the fuel tanks mounted at the back. Penny would have liked to take a look at it, Riley thought ruefully, but the second of regret passed as soon as he saw Marcus holding a lit bomb.
"Throw it here!" Riley urged as he tried to kick the pirate down, who was now holding onto one of the cables that brought him to the ship in the first place.
As though suddenly becoming aware of the live explosive in his hand, Marcus yelped an oath and tossed the bomb into the air. Riley dived away with his arms over his head just as the bomb exploded in midair, blowing the cables apart.
"Give me the rest of the bombs!" Riley shouted as he stood up again.
"What, why?" Marcus asked, even as he closed the satchel and swung it towards Riley.
"We're not done yet."
Riley caught the satchel, opened it up and took out a single bomb. Lighting the fuse from a nearby flame of stubbornly burning fuel, he stuffed it back into the satchel and stepped towards the hole in the floor. He could see several pirates crowding around the armoured body of the one that fell. They looked up and lifted their guns to aim, but Riley had already disappeared. A loaded satchel landed heavily amongst them, spilling its contents around their feet. By the time they realized what they were seeing, it was already too late.
An explosion lit up the sky and shook through the air. Even the crew of the Gloria could feel it. "I think we're done here," Piper said as she turned away, holstering her revolver. Wyatt saluted. Ian smiled. Riley sat on the floor, still feeling the high of adrenaline. Marcus simply stared, dumbfounded. Penny and Curtis looked at each other in bewilderment for a second before returning to their work, laying out food on the dining table in the mess hall. Isaac returned the Gloria's flight settings to normal. The rest of the crew cheered, but none more so than Anthony.
"Take that you bastards!" he roared as he watched the pirate ship going down in flames. From where he stood in the observation nest underneath the belly of the Gloria, it was a sight to behold.
~~~~~ 10