Chapter One: A Crew of Disorderly Misfits

After the quick meal, Cecil went off on his own to inspect the guns before the battle. They were real beauties in a gunman's eyes and he could hardly wait to use them. They were nicely made and made of polished steel. The ammunition was set up behind them for easy access. Cecil took a big whiff of the scent of the room.

"Gunpowder," he said to himself. "Never gets old."

After an hour or so of inspections Cecil decided to head back up to make use of the time they had. When he was walking around the ship he noticed something outside of one of the portholes. He walked up to the window and looked out, peering at the dark shape until he noticed that it was a ship.

"Probably just some traders," Cecil thought to himself, but then he noticed something on the side of the ship. "It's a jolly roger! That means... pirates!"

Cecil ran away from the window yelling to everyone.

"The pirates are flying right towards us!" he yelled. "Errorprone is here!"

OOC: The hook side of a skyship is its port side, as skyships dock on skyhooks. Easy.
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Indeed he was. The airship loomed over a village below, a deal bigger than the Legacy and just as heavily armed. She was painted jet black, with glaring red stripes--an unmissable warning, a demand, an order: stay away and stay alive. Already, her sails began to furl up; she was arming up for battle.

Alexander knew not her crew compliment or what her guns were capable of, but what he did know was that this would be an open-air battle. Nothing fancy, nothing different--a cannon battle.

"Full power to engines!" he bellowed. The entire crew could not help but hear. "Helm! Take us directly past that vessel. Cecil, Bishop... man the guns on the left side. We're raking her."

The grinding of gears could be heard, and the swoop of rotors from both ships. The clouds framed the airspace the battle would take place in; below, a town watched the skirmish from redoubts and bunkers. Both ships were at a similar altitude, with the hookside cannons of both combatants in a perfect position to decimate the enemy. Alexander stood on the bridge, contemplating and calmer now.

"Barry and Markus, you're going to help me with damage control and lookout," he explained calmly. He looked Barry striaght in the eye. "That Gaardish medicine of yours is going to come in quite handy if someone's hurt. Prepare your supplies."

The ships drew closer now, and it could be clearly seen that Errorprone's guns were also manned and swivelling forward to meet the Legacy. The battle had begun in earnest and without warning, but the Captain was confident that it could be won with enough conniving.

Thatch brought the Legacy down, descending to around the same level as the enemy skyship. The opponent was currently at their six o' clock, therefore Thatch turned the Legacy hard to port. The two ships, one many times larger than the other, headed toward each other. The mad shark face at the bow of the Legacy was aimed menacingly toward their enemy.

Thatch grinned and looked toward the helm of the opposing ship.

"Let's see who's the better pilot." He said more or less to himself.

Thatch cut the engines down, slowing the ship for preparation of a broadside barrage with cannon. Over a speaker which went throughout the entire ship, Thatch gave a signal.

"Oiii! We are currently heading broadside to the enemy vessel, open the gun latches and prep the cannon."

Cecil nodded at the Captain and immediately ran to the lower floor where the cannons where stored with Bishop. He readied a gun on the left side and loaded it with a swiftness that only came from years of practice and expertise. These pirates don't know who their messing with, Cecil thought to himself with a grin. No one can defeat a ship with Cecil Gunray on it! He opened the gun latches so they could fire out the ship and he peered outside.

Cecil aimed the cannon at an angle that he seemed to be appropriate for firing and awaited for the ship to draw nearer. After a minute that seemed to take forever, the enemy ship seemed to be close enough. They were almost side by side now.

"Alright, let's give 'em hell!" he said to Bishop. Cecil ignited the cannon and a great blast occurred, sending the shot flying towards the enemy vessel at high speed. The ball smashed into the side of the ship, making a gaping hole, but not really accomplishing much.

"Damn!" Cecil cursed. "That was a bad shot. I seem to be getting a little rusty!"

The smoke of powder could be seen outside, as the volleys continued, obscuring the form of their target; the village below looked on in awe as the fire was exchanged.

"Exactly as I'd hoped for!" Alexander thought aloud. "All hands, brace for returning fire!"

Before he could finish his sentence, well aimed shot came right through the side of the Legacy--it has hit straight on the armour, but failed to penetrate the secondary hull. As the noise subsided, Alex gave the order once more over speakertube.

"Return fire! Aim for their turret housings!"

For his party on the bridge, he had other instructions. "I believe that hit may have been in a mechanics room. You've both got damage control to perform. Move out!"

They raced down the ladders, tools in hand as the battle raged outside. Alexander remained on the bridge; his direction was a necessity. The rest of them would be stuck fixing the mechanics below.

Cid took no time in making for the area of damage. From a quick inspection, there was no damage at all. But Cid wasn't convinced. He'd seen many a thick armoured airship take a hit and receive no noticeable damage.

:But it's all in the little parts. The gears, the belts, the fans. All of that.:

Cid removed the machine housing, doing a quick inspection, his speed spelling years of experience. Nothing was damaged or out of place. Which was very, very lucky for them. And him.

:I don't have to shut down this machine or reach my hand into a moving machine....:

Cid made quick work of replacing the housing and then made his way to the bridge.

"Well, Ribault, we managed to get lucky, there. Nothing was damaged or knocked askew. Might want to have our gunners target those engine housings, by the by. Pirates are deadly, but they didn't build their ship with enemies in mind."

Thatch moved the joystick ever so slightly in order to swing the ship around for another broadside maneuver. From the helm, he could hear both small arms fire and cannon. White smoke from the guns going off slowly passed by the bubble window. As he completely turned and now faced the enemy again in a broadside, the cannon roared once more.

Thatch, seeing an opportunity to get some active himself kept the joysticks locked in position and ran out from the helm. He climbed up the stairs to the Navigation Deck and stood atop. Running to the port side, he looked below and saw the enemy ship. There were large open hole from where shot had blasted it apart or where the hatches to their own guns were wide open. Thatch grinned and took both of his flintlock pistols from his belt. Cocking the two hammers back, he aimed at two enemies who stood just inside, completely oblivious that they were in the open. Thatch waited for a telltale sign, the dying of a wind current that would undoubtedly blow his bullet of course. The wind died down, and he fired once, then twice. The bullets hit their marks, and two gunners fell dead to the ground with bullets to their heads. Thus, two cannon aboard the enemy ship fell silent.

"Never underestimate a Pirate... now, back to the helm." Thatch chuckled as he blew the smoke away from the barrels of his flintlocks.

Cecil loaded the gun quickly and aimed at the turret housing like the Captain had ordered.

"This time I won't miss," he said to himself as he lined up a perfect shot. "Say goodbye..."

Cecil it the fuse and the cannon exploded as the shot went sailing through the sky at the pirate ship. The shot went straight through one of the turret holds, smashing things to bits. It was quite a good shot and Cecil was proud of it. He loaded another shot and fired once more at the same area, hearing destruction coming from the ship.

"They'll have trouble shooting us for a while now!" Cecil yelled, whooping.