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Description
Chapter 2

"The Sky Conqueror"

The explosion was deafening, it thundered through the Remirath mountain range which was known throughout the empire as the Spine of Jormungand. Its sound reverberated against the tall peaks, carrying its roar miles away. Moments earlier Aerick, the King of Gackt, had watched in horror from the deck of his airship, Sunrise, as the other airship in his fleet, the Valiant traded canon fire with the flying orcish dreadnought, the Doom Hammer, above them. The Gackt vessel quickly withered from the brutal barrage. An artillery shell from a 240 MM canon from the Doom Hammer tore through the Valiant's hull and hit its Dragu Engine, causing the explosion. Aerick shielded his eyes with his hand for a moment, as hot wind reached where he was standing, blowing searing fumes through his brown hair. He stood firm, broad shoulders not budging as some of his other crew members were thrown to the deck around him. Aerick was standing by the gun ports as he turned and shouted a command at the top of his lungs to the ship's captain and his close friend Cerise Windrider who was in the quarterdeck, her hands firmly clasped the steering wheel, a look of shock was evident in her face. She is a tall woman with fine features, well built and athletic. She wore her brown hair in a messy, wind-swept bob with a pair of goggles serving as a headband. Cerise was a highly decorated Dragon Knight. Though two years ago, she and her dragon, mount Kylan Firemaw, volunteered to hold a large detachment of Orcs at bay. While the Queen of Gackt made her escape, they were both willing to sacrifice their lives, but as Kylan fell from the sky, blood streaming from the ballista bolt lodged on his majestic chest, he used his last breath to cast a protective spell on Cerise, saving her from the fall. She was inconsolable for many months, and had tried numerous times to kill herself, but Aerick never gave up on her. He helped her get through her depression, reassuring her that her Dragon saved her for a reason.

Aerick had long advocated the use of airships to bolster Gackt's aerial might even before the first airships of the Orcish Armada entered Gackt's skies. Although the old king was still in favor of the traditional Dragon Riders, he allowed Aerick to indulge in his dream of using airships, by supplying him with land allocated for a foundry and workshop as well as tinkers and blacksmiths. Aerick had always believed that even the common people of Gackt had every right to fight
for their kingdom and take to skies as the noble born Sky Knights do. With King Alex dead and Aeirck ascending the Iron Throne of Gackt, his airship program went full throttle. Aerick managed to recruit the services of Vannevar an exiled visionary inventor from the kingdom of Lirin and Babbage an engineer from Tanbarun. And they were able to come up with a feasible design of the airship as well as the Dragu Engine which uses dragon stones to power the airship's buoyancy tank to generate lift and keep the airship afloat. When the first Airship was completed and Aerick had to assemble a crew, he offered the honor of being its captain to Cerise. She declined at first, and Aerick remembered telling her "The Sky beckons.." and Cerise smiled for the first time since her dragon mount died. "Yes it does my lord." taking the tricorn hat ad goggles that Aerick was handing her. And thus Aerick had successfully saved a dear friend while seeing his dream realized.

But now five years into the war against the Orcish Armada, his dream is coming down in flames.

"Hard to starboard!" Aerick heard himself now, as the ringing in his ears subsided, "Cerise hard to starboard!"

The ship's captain snapped from her dazed state and put all her strength to stir the ship right. Narrowly avoiding the burning and plummetting tangle of steel, wood and iron that used to be the Valiant.

"Veer off" Aerick barked looking up as the 300 ft. long dreadnought dipped its bow and started to descend towards them.

"Head for that cloud bank" Aerick was pointing to thick mass of clouds yards away as he was making his way to the helm.

"We can't face them board on board" He told Cerise as he made his way up the stairs to where the captain was navigating the airship.

"Larissa we need some cover" Aerick called out as the Sunrise disappeared through the thick clouds. Larissa is a highly skilled zephyr mage, and one of Aerick's long time companions. Wind blew through her long raven black hair as she made graceful motions with her hands and body, while conducting her staff in mesmerizing circular motions, she soon conjured thick layers of clouds that clung to the ship, making it virtually invisible from the Doom Hammer.

"All hands on deck!" Aerick cried. He went down the gun ports and stood on a cannon so everyone can see him.

"Hearken mates! Our King speaks!" shouted an elderly, grizzled man who shuffled with an almost crablike walk who parted the gathering crew. Aerick nodded to acknowledge the ship's first mate. Hvel has been with Aerick's airship program from the very beginning, a veteran of many battles, he had come by this odd method of movement due to injuries sustained when he had flung himself from a burning airship.

"Don't loose heart men! We stalked the Orcish flagship for days and what we have now is an opportunity to take down the Doom Hammer!" Aerick shouted trying to lift the morale of his crew!

There was little reaction from his men, and Aerick, obviously irked, turned his gaze on a young deckhand, whose face had turned pale and was obviously shaking.

"What is your name lad?" Aerick asked in the most patient sounding tone he could manage at this moment.

"Pym it is m'lord"

"Speak freely then Pym.. what says you?"

The deckhand shook his head and stammered. "This not be much of 'an opportu'ny sih' i saw what that ol' dam'hammer done to the valiant.."

Aerick put his right hand on the boy's shoulder, "Aye.. that is true.. I have seen what it did to the Valiant.. I have seen what it had done to our other Airships and Mighty Dragons alike.. and I tell you this! I Have seen enough!" Aerick stood straight to his full height as he shouted. The family crest on his breast plate, a lion w/ a crown and wings seemed to shine in the faint rays of the sun that found its way through their cloud cover.

"Fear grips me too.. but to give in to our fears.. to turn away now would mean to surrender our lives and that of our families to these.. orcs! These monsters.. I do not know about you.. But that is a fate that I would never wish upon any citizen of Gackt!!" The faces of the crew lighted up with defiance against the orcs and they started nodding to each other and Aerick.

"I have always believed that the true measure of a man is not determined by his birthright.. but by the courage of his heart. That is what truly makes a man noble.. and that is why you are all here! And that is what these orcs are about to find out!" The crew shouted their agreement.

"True that the Doom Hammer is bigger. True it has more powerful canons and thicker armor. And I have no doubt that it can blow us right out of the sky any day.. any day except for today!" Aerick shouted defiantly and the crew cheered.

"Today we out-gun it, we out fly it and today we take back the skies of Gackt! Are you with me!?"

The crew joined Aerick shouting and raising their weapons.

"Clear the deck for action! Make ready the guns" Cerise shouted and the crew quickly went about their stations, running.

"Man the guns!" Hvel echoed barking out additional orders.

"Hvel take the long gun, and see that every shot is pitched into her." Aerick turned to their 200 mm canon. "We hold fire until they are within range of our 32 round shots"

"Aye m'lord" The first mate nodded shuffling to his post.

"Riflemen!" Aerick called, and a squad of soldiers bearing flint locks, and radium rifles which fired highly explosive bullets to a very long range stood in formation before him, "Stand by and handle your pieces, look to your primings and wait for my word"

"Yes m'lord" the soldiers responded in a chorus.

"Look there! the Doom Hammer approaches portside!" Pym shouted from the crow's nest.

Aerick drew his sword, he was both nervous and excited. "Look lively men! This shall be our finest hour!"

~~~

The Bosun of the Doom Hammer, Grot was starting to run out of what short patience that he had. The senior officer eyed the skies around their ship. These puny humans had attempted to ambush their mighty flying fortress earlier today. Five Gackt Airships attacked the Doom Hammer, the most that the humans could manage was down their two escort cruisers, and make some dents on the Doom Hammer's Armor, one engine was damaged, but still operational. Their ship was very far from being defeated. They had downed four of the human airships as payment for their insolence, and now he was very anxious to finish this last one off, the one that bore the royal crest of the ruling house of the Kingdom
of Gackt.

Grot licked his lips. "Look sharp ye dogs! she's out there!"

A lookout pointed the bosun's attention to a dark storm cloud. "Look there! That be an ominous cloud indeed." Grot called out as he ordered the helmsman to investigate.

Grot was looking intently when suddenly multiple flashes, followed by a low rumbling of what certainly couldn't have been thunder and lightning came from the cloud. The violent impact of cannon balls, bludgeoning the side of their hull soon followed. Grot was thrown from where he was standing. Another salvo struck them again and he heard their king Raggar growling in fury "Canons ready! Return fire!"

As orcs came to man the deck canons, a hail of rifle fire came from the cloud and with deadly accuracy picked them off one by one. Massed fire of radium rifles and canons was devastating but the humans precision was far worse, an orc seemed to drop at every single shot. Clearly they had underestimated the humans. Only some of their mid ship cannons that weren't damaged managed to return fire at the cloud, but not really sure of what it is they were firing at, the orcs were pretty much firing blindly.

"Head straight for it!" he heard the king yelling, "We'll ram it"

As they neared the cloud, The Sunrise, flagship of the Gackt Aerokorps flew right above them, it flew at an angle allowing its canons to blast at their deck. Most of the orcs scrambled and ducked for cover. Grot stood up drawing his flint lock, his eyes grew wide in terror as he saw a bolt of lightning emerge from one of the figures at the sunrise's deck, in the blink of an eye, the electric lance tore through the wooden deck of the ship right exactly to where their boiler room was. Grot feared that it might have hit their engine, a loud explosion, with a force that shook the entire ship and threw them to the deck confirmed his fear. He soon realized as he pulled himself to his feet that their airship had stopped moving, though he was thankful they were still afloat. He looked up and saw their quarry circling above them, making deadly passes and picking out members of his crew, while staying out of sight of their canons.

Grot shouted a curse. "Fight like men you cowards!"

He then saw, much to his horror as his challenge was realized, grappling hooks, and ballista bolts bearing rope and line struck the the Doom Hammer's massive hull or tangled on its rigging, He saw figures of Gackt warriors descending from their airship to the Doom Hammer.

"Turn out! To arms! To arms!" He shouted frantically, some orcs looked at him in utter disbelief. "Cutlasses, you swabs! We're being boarded!"

~~~

Look outs from the farthermost bastion of Gackt's royal palace saw a dreadful sight. A huge craft swung over the crest of nearby mountain. It was the Doom Hammer, and bells were quickly sounded as the Garrison went on full alert, panicked men ran about. The Orcs had never flown this deep into their territory before. The Garrison's mage quickly used an orb to relay the grim news to Gackt's Archmage, and Aurora the Golden wasted no time to inform the Queen. Queen Behati's heart sank. A few days ago her son had told her that he was going to bring down the Doom Hammer and flew of with his remaining airships, she cursed silently, maintaining her composure and fighting back tears. Maybe the orcs victory over Aerick's ragtag fleet emboldened them to venture this deep. She ordered Storm Wing the Sky Marshal of Gackt to assemble all the remaining sky nights and take down the Doom Hammer. She will have her vengeance on the orcs for taking her husband and now her son.

Description
Chapter 2

"The Sky Conqueror"

The explosion was deafening, it thundered through the Remirath mountain range which was known throughout the empire as the Spine of Jormungand. Its sound reverberated against the tall peaks, carrying its roar miles away. Moments earlier Aerick, the King of Gackt, had watched in horror from the deck of his airship, Sunrise, as the other airship in his fleet, the Valiant traded canon fire with the flying orcish dreadnought, the Doom Hammer, above them. The Gackt vessel quickly withered from the brutal barrage. An artillery shell from a 240 MM canon from the Doom Hammer tore through the Valiant's hull and hit its Dragu Engine, causing the explosion. Aerick shielded his eyes with his hand for a moment, as hot wind reached where he was standing, blowing searing fumes through his brown hair. He stood firm, broad shoulders not budging as some of his other crew members were thrown to the deck around him. Aerick was standing by the gun ports as he turned and shouted a command at the top of his lungs to the ship's captain and his close friend Cerise Windrider who was in the quarterdeck, her hands firmly clasped the steering wheel, a look of shock was evident in her face. She is a tall woman with fine features, well built and athletic. She wore her brown hair in a messy, wind-swept bob with a pair of goggles serving as a headband. Cerise was a highly decorated Dragon Knight. Though two years ago, she and her dragon, mount Kylan Firemaw, volunteered to hold a large detachment of Orcs at bay. While the Queen of Gackt made her escape, they were both willing to sacrifice their lives, but as Kylan fell from the sky, blood streaming from the ballista bolt lodged on his majestic chest, he used his last breath to cast a protective spell on Cerise, saving her from the fall. She was inconsolable for many months, and had tried numerous times to kill herself, but Aerick never gave up on her. He helped her get through her depression, reassuring her that her Dragon saved her for a reason.

Aerick had long advocated the use of airships to bolster Gackt's aerial might even before the first airships of the Orcish Armada entered Gackt's skies. Although the old king was still in favor of the traditional Dragon Riders, he allowed Aerick to indulge in his dream of using airships, by supplying him with land allocated for a foundry and workshop as well as tinkers and blacksmiths. Aerick had always believed that even the common people of Gackt had every right to fight
for their kingdom and take to skies as the noble born Sky Knights do. With King Alex dead and Aeirck ascending the Iron Throne of Gackt, his airship program went full throttle. Aerick managed to recruit the services of Vannevar an exiled visionary inventor from the kingdom of Lirin and Babbage an engineer from Tanbarun. And they were able to come up with a feasible design of the airship as well as the Dragu Engine which uses dragon stones to power the airship's buoyancy tank to generate lift and keep the airship afloat. When the first Airship was completed and Aerick had to assemble a crew, he offered the honor of being its captain to Cerise. She declined at first, and Aerick remembered telling her "The Sky beckons.." and Cerise smiled for the first time since her dragon mount died. "Yes it does my lord." taking the tricorn hat ad goggles that Aerick was handing her. And thus Aerick had successfully saved a dear friend while seeing his dream realized.

But now five years into the war against the Orcish Armada, his dream is coming down in flames.

"Hard to starboard!" Aerick heard himself now, as the ringing in his ears subsided, "Cerise hard to starboard!"

The ship's captain snapped from her dazed state and put all her strength to stir the ship right. Narrowly avoiding the burning and plummetting tangle of steel, wood and iron that used to be the Valiant.

"Veer off" Aerick barked looking up as the 300 ft. long dreadnought dipped its bow and started to descend towards them.

"Head for that cloud bank" Aerick was pointing to thick mass of clouds yards away as he was making his way to the helm.

"We can't face them board on board" He told Cerise as he made his way up the stairs to where the captain was navigating the airship.

"Larissa we need some cover" Aerick called out as the Sunrise disappeared through the thick clouds. Larissa is a highly skilled zephyr mage, and one of Aerick's long time companions. Wind blew through her long raven black hair as she made graceful motions with her hands and body, while conducting her staff in mesmerizing circular motions, she soon conjured thick layers of clouds that clung to the ship, making it virtually invisible from the Doom Hammer.

"All hands on deck!" Aerick cried. He went down the gun ports and stood on a cannon so everyone can see him.

"Hearken mates! Our King speaks!" shouted an elderly, grizzled man who shuffled with an almost crablike walk who parted the gathering crew. Aerick nodded to acknowledge the ship's first mate. Hvel has been with Aerick's airship program from the very beginning, a veteran of many battles, he had come by this odd method of movement due to injuries sustained when he had flung himself from a burning airship.

"Don't loose heart men! We stalked the Orcish flagship for days and what we have now is an opportunity to take down the Doom Hammer!" Aerick shouted trying to lift the morale of his crew!

There was little reaction from his men, and Aerick, obviously irked, turned his gaze on a young deckhand, whose face had turned pale and was obviously shaking.

"What is your name lad?" Aerick asked in the most patient sounding tone he could manage at this moment.

"Pym it is m'lord"

"Speak freely then Pym.. what says you?"

The deckhand shook his head and stammered. "This not be much of 'an opportu'ny sih' i saw what that ol' dam'hammer done to the valiant.."

Aerick put his right hand on the boy's shoulder, "Aye.. that is true.. I have seen what it did to the Valiant.. I have seen what it had done to our other Airships and Mighty Dragons alike.. and I tell you this! I Have seen enough!" Aerick stood straight to his full height as he shouted. The family crest on his breast plate, a lion w/ a crown and wings seemed to shine in the faint rays of the sun that found its way through their cloud cover.

"Fear grips me too.. but to give in to our fears.. to turn away now would mean to surrender our lives and that of our families to these.. orcs! These monsters.. I do not know about you.. But that is a fate that I would never wish upon any citizen of Gackt!!" The faces of the crew lighted up with defiance against the orcs and they started nodding to each other and Aerick.

"I have always believed that the true measure of a man is not determined by his birthright.. but by the courage of his heart. That is what truly makes a man noble.. and that is why you are all here! And that is what these orcs are about to find out!" The crew shouted their agreement.

"True that the Doom Hammer is bigger. True it has more powerful canons and thicker armor. And I have no doubt that it can blow us right out of the sky any day.. any day except for today!" Aerick shouted defiantly and the crew cheered.

"Today we out-gun it, we out fly it and today we take back the skies of Gackt! Are you with me!?"

The crew joined Aerick shouting and raising their weapons.

"Clear the deck for action! Make ready the guns" Cerise shouted and the crew quickly went about their stations, running.

"Man the guns!" Hvel echoed barking out additional orders.

"Hvel take the long gun, and see that every shot is pitched into her." Aerick turned to their 200 mm canon. "We hold fire until they are within range of our 32 round shots"

"Aye m'lord" The first mate nodded shuffling to his post.

"Riflemen!" Aerick called, and a squad of soldiers bearing flint locks, and radium rifles which fired highly explosive bullets to a very long range stood in formation before him, "Stand by and handle your pieces, look to your primings and wait for my word"

"Yes m'lord" the soldiers responded in a chorus.

"Look there! the Doom Hammer approaches portside!" Pym shouted from the crow's nest.

Aerick drew his sword, he was both nervous and excited. "Look lively men! This shall be our finest hour!"

~~~

The Bosun of the Doom Hammer, Grot was starting to run out of what short patience that he had. The senior officer eyed the skies around their ship. These puny humans had attempted to ambush their mighty flying fortress earlier today. Five Gackt Airships attacked the Doom Hammer, the most that the humans could manage was down their two escort cruisers, and make some dents on the Doom Hammer's Armor, one engine was damaged, but still operational. Their ship was very far from being defeated. They had downed four of the human airships as payment for their insolence, and now he was very anxious to finish this last one off, the one that bore the royal crest of the ruling house of the Kingdom
of Gackt.

Grot licked his lips. "Look sharp ye dogs! she's out there!"

A lookout pointed the bosun's attention to a dark storm cloud. "Look there! That be an ominous cloud indeed." Grot called out as he ordered the helmsman to investigate.

Grot was looking intently when suddenly multiple flashes, followed by a low rumbling of what certainly couldn't have been thunder and lightning came from the cloud. The violent impact of cannon balls, bludgeoning the side of their hull soon followed. Grot was thrown from where he was standing. Another salvo struck them again and he heard their king Raggar growling in fury "Canons ready! Return fire!"

As orcs came to man the deck canons, a hail of rifle fire came from the cloud and with deadly accuracy picked them off one by one. Massed fire of radium rifles and canons was devastating but the humans precision was far worse, an orc seemed to drop at every single shot. Clearly they had underestimated the humans. Only some of their mid ship cannons that weren't damaged managed to return fire at the cloud, but not really sure of what it is they were firing at, the orcs were pretty much firing blindly.

"Head straight for it!" he heard the king yelling, "We'll ram it"

As they neared the cloud, The Sunrise, flagship of the Gackt Aerokorps flew right above them, it flew at an angle allowing its canons to blast at their deck. Most of the orcs scrambled and ducked for cover. Grot stood up drawing his flint lock, his eyes grew wide in terror as he saw a bolt of lightning emerge from one of the figures at the sunrise's deck, in the blink of an eye, the electric lance tore through the wooden deck of the ship right exactly to where their boiler room was. Grot feared that it might have hit their engine, a loud explosion, with a force that shook the entire ship and threw them to the deck confirmed his fear. He soon realized as he pulled himself to his feet that their airship had stopped moving, though he was thankful they were still afloat. He looked up and saw their quarry circling above them, making deadly passes and picking out members of his crew, while staying out of sight of their canons.

Grot shouted a curse. "Fight like men you cowards!"

He then saw, much to his horror as his challenge was realized, grappling hooks, and ballista bolts bearing rope and line struck the the Doom Hammer's massive hull or tangled on its rigging, He saw figures of Gackt warriors descending from their airship to the Doom Hammer.

"Turn out! To arms! To arms!" He shouted frantically, some orcs looked at him in utter disbelief. "Cutlasses, you swabs! We're being boarded!"

~~~

Look outs from the farthermost bastion of Gackt's royal palace saw a dreadful sight. A huge craft swung over the crest of nearby mountain. It was the Doom Hammer, and bells were quickly sounded as the Garrison went on full alert, panicked men ran about. The Orcs had never flown this deep into their territory before. The Garrison's mage quickly used an orb to relay the grim news to Gackt's Archmage, and Aurora the Golden wasted no time to inform the Queen. Queen Behati's heart sank. A few days ago her son had told her that he was going to bring down the Doom Hammer and flew of with his remaining airships, she cursed silently, maintaining her composure and fighting back tears. Maybe the orcs victory over Aerick's ragtag fleet emboldened them to venture this deep. She ordered Storm Wing the Sky Marshal of Gackt to assemble all the remaining sky nights and take down the Doom Hammer. She will have her vengeance on the orcs for taking her husband and now her son.