Aether Shanties RP (PM if interested/Started)

[Terratina.]

The sound of battle had reached a crescendo, but Vasco had always found music distracting and was engrossed in the medical measures that these military men needed. Word came that the Third Mate had died, cut to pieces by cannonballs. The masked doctor sighed, such an injury was beyond his abilities, Mr. Riley would have died in seconds from the trauma and blood, and Vasco had yet to find a way to bring back the dead. Still he did what he could to prevent more deaths; the sick bay was a conveyor belt of wounded going on one side and the healed coming out the other, injuries permitting of course. The room was thick of the smell of blood, one thing Vasco wasn't particularly fond of, the ferric scent cutting the air like an iron blade.He mentally pushed his thoughts to one side, best not to have distractions.

If Vasco had but one weakness, it could be said that he cared a little too much for his patients, especially Annis, whose face was trapped beneath a brass and copper mask for the rest of his life. The treatment, for her affiliation had been particularly hard to swallow for both patient and doctor. In a way, she was his greatest success and greatest failure, her survival proved his rather intrusive treatment to be a success and yet he had failed to cure the root of the problem - the toxin from the Misbegotten quill still there in her body. But enough of that, now he had other lives to save. He adjusted the lenses in his mask seeing the foreign bodies that plagued his current patient. In the efficient but delicate manner of his, he quickly liberated the patient's body from such nuisances, all the while in a little insular bubble of concentration that kept out from the world from interrupting him from his duties.

 

[Evrant-Knight]

"Thank you Gar-" Adrianna started to say, before catching herself mid-sentence, and carried on saying something a bit more formal. "-Mr. Corvus." She then rushed to the wheel, and started giving out orders to all around her. Engines were being powered with great haste, the starboard cannons were loaded and primed for a full on broadside, and the crewmen were getting ready for boarding.

It was soon enough that Annis's boarding party made the first leap into battle, cutting several down in her first pass. Garrett meanwhile scope out the situation, picking targets for his rifle, and began loading bullets into the three chambers. One pirate had the guts to try and leap over to the Invincible, but Garrett slashed at the mans chest with his sword, causing him to hit the deck without much struggle.

'Hmph, that will show you what it means to cross me or the "Invincible".' He said to the deceased pirate, sheathing his sword, and then he re-aimed with his rifle. His sights were set on several pirates, and he pulled the trigger, letting all nearby hear the howl of Cerberus as all three were fired.

 

[hiei82]

Lanester smiled as the boarding party crossed over; the pirates were done for, it was only a matter of time. They had superior numbers, with soldier training, and led by the most ferocious commanding officers in the fleet. They had little chance of surviving the destruction of their ship.

No matter what action they took.

Still, Lanester was an admiral, and any chance they had was therefore unacceptable. Taking to the rigging, she started to climb, ignoring the kerfuffle on the pirate vessel, until she'd reached far enough into the heights to get a solid view of the battle. From there, she took stock of the situation. As expected, the Imperial forces were advancing; more slowly then she would have liked, but advancing. Annis, Exeter, Capricorn, and Garrett were each pushing the forces forward, carving their way through the pirates. By the same note however, some of the pirates were unexpectedly skilled at the art of war. All in all, from up above, she could see the battle quickly turning into a battle of attrition; something they had not the time to deal with.

Raising her arm, she peered through the scope, searching for her target. The chaos of the battle did little to aid her, but after a short time, she found her. Putting her other hand to the trigger, she took her shot at the enemy "captain": Winged Beth. "for the empire." she said without emotion, then began to reload.

 

[PlastikBulb]

Feron lingered for a while after the doctor had finished tending to the misbegotten, eyes forward facing and unseeing. He remained out of no obligation to the animal that lolled before him, but more out of a lack of anything else to do. The good doctor had declined to give him any further orders and he had only been swabbing the upper hold out of a necessity to do something while the ship was in port.

While in the back of his mind Feron figured he should in some way associate himself with the beast before him, he found the very idea to be somewhat repulsive from a hygienic standpoint, not that he really had to worry about that, but the smell was still something he took into-

He stopped himself. Mindless wanderings. Unnecessary. Return to work.

Everything stayed the same for a while, but soon enough Feron was caught up in the rush that was the sighting of the pirate ship and the subsequent call to arms. He assembled along with the rest of the new automata and was designated to one of the main boarding parties, the one led by the owner of the misbegotten.

Feron stared blankly forward. His aptitude for fighting essentially didn?t exist. The only reason he was used for boarding was because he was small and quick and often went unnoticed by the opponents. His standing orders on any raid was to do whatever he could to disable the ship from the inside out, acting like a standard automaton should he be seen, and should he be discovered, attack and give no quarter.

 

[Driekan]

The cannonballs flew, crushing through decks, spreading death and destruction through both ships. The floor shook, and the noise assaulted her ears with full intensity, despite having her far higher ground. Crushed wood creaking and breaking, men screaming, the ship complaining as something at the back suddenly failed.

It all only barely registered. She'd been hard at work, with the calm precision of one who once stared into the eyes of giant lizards before firing. She'd sent bullets one after the other, spreading the fire over the work crews on the deck. She wasn't hitting that many fighters, and the influx of injured and dead crewmen would be gradual, hard to find unusual - perhaps that is why the call of sniper hadn't gone up, perhaps that is why there had been no return fire yet. She didn't linger long in that thought. There were men to kill.

After the initial exchange of cannonballs, the Mermaid started to lose speed - Jessie could see the imperials catching up, and knew what that would mean. With an advantage in speed, they were almost certain to board, making the loss of mobility she planned to cause by cutting down their deck crew not very significant at all.

A brief sigh escaped her lips, a single instant of thought outside of the action of shooting. Her attention roamed the other ship's deck, watching as the boarding parties organized, trying to get a sense of who lead who, and how. Eventually, her gaze fell on one of their officers, a brief appreciative whistle escaping her lips as she caught sight - however vague - of the triple-barelled gun he bore. That would be fine spoils.

She set the gun to her shoulder, calming her mind and body as she'd done before in preparation of the shot... But a sudden light just off the corner of her vision brought her attention around. Someone had just fired a weapon, and in that direction Jessie's attention went. There was no mistaking it this time- that woman was definitely an officer: she wore the odd, uncomfortable-looking clothes she'd come to associate with the imperial warriors. Their chief. An even better mark.

Breath slowed until it stopped completely. Thoughts ceased, she forgot even why that woman had been chosen as her target: All that existed was the gun's long barrel, and the target at the end of it. A single exhalation, and she pulled the trigger.

 

[hiei82]

It was as she was reloading her rifle that she saw it; or rather heard it. first came the shot. It wasn't particularly surprising; it was a battle after all. However, the loud clang as the bullet impacted her metal arm was surprising.

She watched as the upper part of her metal arm bent inward, then felt the force of the blast as it knocked her back. The dent was hardly a problem; but the unbalancing effect was. With only one arm to hold her steady, there was little she could do to stop herself from tumbling from the rigging.

 

[Sehnsucht Engel]

"Cap'n, Cavanaugh is working the Lightning Gun. Thought I'd come up here and watch your back, make sure no Imp's get close. We can't afford to lose you."

She couldn't complain, even if Sheska had disobeyed her order and left her post. The cannons were fired again.

"A captain is only as valuable as his crew thinks he is. Anyone can actually do it. Anyone with basic leadership skills and an understanding of how to fly an airship. Very few have an absolutely loyal crew, and even then they may only remain loyal as long as you lead them to their fortune. You watch your back, Beth, I would hate to hear a knife in the back ended your life."

It was the last advice Roberts had given her, before stepping off the ship in Isla Aether. As he walked away, with a bag across his shoulder and disappeared in the crowd, she had saluted him. It was the first and only time in her life she had saluted anyone, but it felt strangely appropriate.

"It's probably better if you're up here when they board."

Everything went fast after that. The imperials jumped aboard the mermaid and the fighting began. Pirates were rushing up from below deck to replace those who fell, while the imperials continued jumping over to their ship.

Beth kept an eye on everyone around her, and cringed when someone tried to jump over to the imperial frigate. Damn rookies.

"Isaac, get down below deck if you're not going to fight!" Beth stayed at the wheel and her crew did their best to keep the imperials away from her. She needed to speed up and pull away when Jason had fixed their little mishap.

She felt a pain in her arm, as a bullet grazed it. It started to bleed, but the pirates around her were taking worse damage. Beth searched for whoever had shot her, it might have been a stray bullet, but she did see someone climbing the rigging of the frigate. Someone who looked a lot like a commanding officer. Farthing looked at Beth, probably wondering if she was alright.

"Don't worry, it's just a scratch, their captains couldn't aim even if their life was on the line." Neither could Beth though.

Farthing smiled.

"You reminded me of someone for a second there. I hope I'm around to see you surpass him one day."

She doubted she could surpass Roberts, which they had both been sailing under, but it was something to aspire for. Roberts must have seen something in her, as he had chosen her as his successor instead of Farthing or anyone else.

"Quite a goal that."

Farthing nodded, and then they both laughed as the one who had fired at Beth fell from the rigging. She saw Jason back up on deck.

"I take it you're done then? Farthing, you know what to do."

The older pirate put the grenade he was holding behind his back, and gestured for two others to follow him.

"Aye, just a little welcoming gift."

 

[Arcanist]

"I take it you're done then?"

"Aye. The ship should be back to full capacity as soon as the steam pressure builds back up in the starboard rotor. That should be any minute now." Jason unholstered his revolver, a furious glint in his eye as he cocked it. "Those shitrags fucked with my ship, Beth. Remember what I said I'd do to anybody that fucks with my goddamn ship?"

"Farthing, you know what to do."

The older pirate put the grenade he was holding behind his back, and gestured for two others to follow him.

"Aye, just a little welcoming gift." Jason cracked into a fiendish grin at those words. "You know, Farthing, I hear third-degree burns are in vogue at the Emperor's court. When you think about it, we're doing these bilgeswallowers a favor. Got to be presentable when you're kissing Viccy's ass, right?"

 

[3quency]

"Isaac, get down below deck if you're not going to fight!"

Isaac nodded quickly, eyes still on the battle.
"Captain."
He turned and ducked down below decks as fast as he could. It wasn't that he was cowardly (thought being afraid was his main state of existence), but quite frankly there was nothing he could do. Maybe he'd take one or two of the Imps down if he put out all the stops but what then? He'd get lost in the melee and Beth would be without her navigator.

Not sure where to head, Isaac decided he'd get to the engine room.

There was always a small chance the boarders would try their hand at sabotage, and if they did then somebody needed to be ready for them.

That somebody may as well be him.

 

[Evrant-Knight]

A flash of light, a single bullet as it danced through the air, the impending clang as metal made contact with metal. What pain must she be feeling? Then Adrianna falls from the rigging. And then I see it, the one who pulled the trigger; a pretty woman no older than twenty five, her garb shows her to be one of the Neobedouin, and judging from her skill with a rifle, an Outrider. All these actions happen in a few brief moments. Regardless, she hurt my beloved, seems only fair that I return the favour so to speak.

Garrett steadied his aim as he looked down the scope of Cerberus, three fresh rounds were loaded into its chambers. His left thumb pulled the cocking mechanism back as he aimed at the woman's head. But then he moved his aim slightly to the left.

'No, I don't want to kill her; I wouldn't want the world to lose someone as pretty as you. Instead however, I'll make it so you were found. Apologies, but I have a duty to perform.' Garrett said to himself, but his words directed towards the Neobedouin, a brief smile being shown towards his opponent as he pulled the trigger. Anticipating a counter attack, he took cover, and began making his way towards a more defensive position on the Invincible.

 

[Tips_of_Fingers]

-Exeter St John-

With Capricorn trailing behind, Exeter slowly paced through the violent chaos raging on The Mermaid's deck. To look at him, one would never have realised he was surrounded by the cries of the wounded and dying, the ringing clash of steel or the loud cracks of gunfire. He semeed totally at peace, taking deliberate steps without weapons raised.

As a young pirate rushed at him with a cutlass, Exeter casually sidestepped, giving Capricorn a full view of the assailant. With lightning speed, Capricorn dashed forward and ducked under the cutlass's high arc before connecting two vicious jabs to the pirate's ribs. Before the unfortunate man had time to react, the misbegotten wrenched his swordarm round and clutched a heavy hand round the pirate's face. With barely a strain, Capricorn twisted the pirate's body in an almost impossible way. Exeter continued his walk. He was looking for a worthy opponent to fight, one of the ship's notorious misbegotten leaders.

"Do any of you think you can take the Skulk-Hound on?!" Hearing the cry, Exeter wheeled round. He stared hard at the disgusting countenance of The Mermaid's First Mate. It was twisted and blood-thirsty, just like the rumours promised. Exeter would enjoy putting this dog to sleep. He gestured to Capricorn, allowing the misbegetton to leave his master alone, to fight where it pleased; then he moved towards the Skulk-Hound with sabre raised.

Exeter gutted one pirate on the way to his target, a poor swordsman who had his back to danger. Taking barely a breathe, Exeter pulled his sword free of the dead pirate and swung at Sheska's face. Despite being taken by surprise, the Skulk-Hound's block was strong, knocking Exeter off balance. He attempted to plant his foot behind to steady himself but only found a corpse to stand on. As he stumbled, Exeter felt the full force of Sheska's forehead in his face. He felt the blood drip from his nose into his mouth as he raised his flintlock. But too late.

Before he could even think of firing, Sheska performed a flourishing heel kick to his gut, sending the Imperial sprawling to the deck. Winded and blinking through the blood, Exeter felt a heavy boot plant itself on his swordarm. He grunted painfully but resisted, reaching with his other hand for his flintlock. Sheshka kicked the weapon away and aimed her own firearm at Exeter's face. Her eyes burned like a blacksmith's forge.

A long monent passed between the two enemies, it was as if the rest of the battle was no longer raging on the The Mermaid. Exeter blinked furiously at the pirate before throwing his head back in a fierce cry. "CAPRICOOOOOORN!!!!"

As Exeter's cry died down, Sheska cocked her revolver, a smile of deep satisfaction on her twisted features. Exeter heard the deafening shot but didn't feel the cold embrace of death. As Sheska had fired, Capricorn, reacting to his master's summons, had cannoned through the fighting crowd and gripped the misbegotten pirate's gun-arm, causing the shot to graze Exeter's left shoulder.

From gripping Sheska's arm, Capricorn brought his livid face right to hers and bleated angrily. His grip was like a vice and his strength stopped Sheska from pulling away. Capricorn glanced over to his master who was being helped back to the Invincible by a few of his boarding crew, them fighting off any pirates who threatened their passage.

Exeter glared furiously at Sheska. After this, he wanted to kill the creature himself. But he would allow Capricorn to exact some vengeance, ensure the pirate scum never forgot who she was dealing with. "MAIM!" He cried to his pet.

At the order, Capricorn twisted Sheska's arm, causing her to drop the revolver. He locked her elbow and punched through it with three sharp blows before twisting again at the shoulder and striking through her collarbone. The pirate didn't have time to cry out before Capricorn had thrown her to the ground and stamped heavily on her shoulder, dislocating it smoothly. One final twist and a strong pull from the crazed mesbegotten ripped Sheska's arm off.

Capricorn looked slightly surprised but quickly regained his instincts and bounded back aboard the Invincible, dropping the arm overboard on his way.

 

[Sehnsucht Engel]

The three pirates lit the grenades on fire almost at the same time.

"One."

Beth would give them enough time to throw and aim, but she really needed to get them out of here now. She saw her crew fight for their lives, their ship and her. She did not enjoy seeing them die or hurt, but the dead imperials made up for it. Sheska was beating up what looked like an officer, which just made the captain smile.

"Two."

They prepared to throw their grenades and Farthing had a sickening grin on his face. Beth probably had a similar one, but she couldn't see it without a mirror. She put her hands on the wheel.

"Three."

When she turned back to the mermaid's first mate, she was shocked to see her getting beaten up by a large misbegotten. What the hell? Why would they fight among themselves in this situation? She was about to order them to stop, when it ripped Sheska's arm off.

"Eat shit and die!" Farthing screamed.

The grenades went flying through the air and exploded on the imperial ship's deck. Beth reacted, but it was as if she was in a haze herself. She knew the mermaid was leaving the imperial frigate behind, and that the pirates on deck were making mincemeat of whatever imperials there were left on their ship.

The last two imperials alive were tortured to death. The pirates got to have their fun, starting with cutting off their legs in pieces, then moving onto doing the same with the arms, then leaving them to bleed to death on the deck, while sharing a bottle of rum. She loved hearing their cries for mercy, but something else occupied most of her attention right now.

"Farthing, take the wheel." She had gotten them out of there. The imperials should be busy with their gift and they shouldn't be able to catch up with the mermaid anyway, not at this speed.

"I'll..."

Her voice was cracking up again, but she couldn't even tell why. He put a hand on her shoulder, as they passed each other.

"You don't need to excuse yourself. I understand."

Beth walked over to Sheska, bent down and picked her up in her arms. She had to keep a wheel steady on a regular basis and during storms, that threathened to tear it apart, so carrying someone else wasn't very hard.


"Attention proud members of the mermaid, we just set fire to an imperial frigate and escaped. I'd say that's bloody well done. Still, it wasn't without losses. Count the dead and check the ship for damage. Doc, Beth is on her way to your cabin with our wounded first mate. You better be there. The rest of the wounded will be carried there as well eventually."

It wasn't a female voice on the intercom. It was a male one, which it hadn't been in a long time. Beth was reminded of a simpler time, when she might have carried one or two wounded pirates through these corridors, not someone who she genuinely cared for and was pained to see wounded.

"What are you afraid of? People die all the time. They know they might get killed, during a raid or a boarding, or in a drunk brawl. It's not about death, it's about life. If you focus too much on getting to the end, you might lose sight of the journey. We've all chosen to die as pirates. Aye, it's tough when a friend perishes, but I can't tell you to not make friends. Just to live on for them." It was one of her earliest conversations with Roberts, before she had even been made first mate and after a particularly nasty boarding, which had cost her two of her friends in the crew. She still couldn't say why he had approached and talked with her, maybe it was the way he was. "You should be worried if you ever develop deeper feelings for someone though. That is a lonely and painful road, to end up walking alone."

She had asked if he knew that from experience, he had nodded and excused himself. She had never asked him about it again, it didn't feel right to pry. Beth stopped outside Samuel's cabin.

 

[Arcanist]

"HAHA! TAKE THAT, YOU EAGLEFUCKERS! THIS IS MY SHIP, AND DON'T YOU EVER FORGET THAT!" Jason cackled with glee as he saw the Imperial frigate go up in flames, its deck consumed by a growing inferno. They had no chance of catching them now - by the time they had those flames put out, they'd be well out of sight. He caught his breath after his tirade, trying to center himself. 'Well, that was therapeutic. But, as the old priests say, no rest for the wicked.' He turned to the deck, surveying any obvious damage. Nothing too serious - the holes in the deck could be fixed in a couple of days, if he put his team to work on it when they docked in Helium City. He continued his sweep, nodding in approval at the Empire's dismal failure to destroy his handiwork, until he came upon Sheska, hunched over in pain...

Oh, shit.

Sheska... was just mutilated? What... what happened? He stood, dumbfounded, as she was hauled off by the crew, presumably to Sam's cabin. 'Her entire arm, gone. Not even cut off - ripped off. What manner of monster...' He shook his head. Now was not the time to worry about that. He made his way down to his cabin, where he opened up a large lockbox. Inside was a large contraption the size and shape of a human arm and hand. I've been fitting this for myself, but retooling it shouldn't be too difficult once we're in Helium City. Sheska has quite a bit more use for it.' With the arm in hand, he headed to Sam's cabin. He saw Beth waiting, a concerned look on her face. "You alright, captain?"

 

[blaze96]

One the Mermaid pulled away from the imperial ship Samuel had finished patching up the man on deck and was halfway back to his cabin when the order sounded through the ship. He immediately began to run only to see Beth standing in front of his cabin. He spoke as he opened the door.

"What's wrong captain? Not like you to..." He trailed off as he saw Sheska on one of the beds, sans an arm.

"My god Sheska, what happened?" He said as he ran over and began checking the damage on the missing arm.

'Damage is obviously extensive, even if the arm were to be found it would be unlikely I could successfully reattach.' He thought as he immediately pulled out a large cloth after checking the shoulder and finding the broken bone.

"This is going to hurt ma'am, a lot, but I need you to stay as still as possible." With that he tied on the cloth tightly near the stump of her arm to stem the bleeding as much as possible.

He kept some clean water for these occasions and set about cleaning out the wound being extremely careful, as he cleaned some light bleeding came back and he applied pressure to have it slow. Once he had cleaned the wound he rinsed the area around liberally to make sure any dirt had been washed away before bandaging the wound.

With that finished he wrapped the whole stump in bandages and clipped them on so that they wouldn't fall off.

Samuel then set about setting the broken shoulder so that it might heal. Once finished he looked at Sheska.

"Ma'am, you are going to live and your shoulder will heal in time. However, with the extensive damage done during the severing of your arm it is unlikely that I will be able to successfully reattach the limb. I'm sorry ma'am, but the maiming is permanent. I'll see about getting you a simple prosthetic once we reach the next port, I'll also handle the training required to use it properly. Unfortunately the more advanced prosthetic limbs are unavailable to me and any powered ones are simply theory to my knowledge." He said honestly with a look of sympathy. He knew for a while that a prosthetic limb, even the more advanced ones, took a long time to get used to and never gave the full range of movement one had experienced before.

 

[Texas Joker 52]

-Sheska-

Sheska was taken by surprise when someone came up from behind to accept her challenge. But she managed to catch a glimpse of him at the corner of her eye, and whirled around. She raised her cutlass, blocking his sabre with little difficulty, but she could admire the power that was behind the swing. Grinning a little wider, she pivoted, taking her chance as he stumbled back over a corpse to ram her forehead into his face, disorienting him further.

Even as his nose bled, she continued with a firm heel-kick to his belly, knocking him back onto the deck of the ship. Taking a step forward, she kicked his flintlock out of his hand so he couldn't bring it to bear, then pinned his sword-hand beneath a bare foot.

It was then that she finally got a good look at her opponent: An Imperial Officer, judging by the uniform, but his hair was greasy, his greatcoat filthy, and--she sniffed--he stank like a pirate. As he stared up at her, she felt a familiar clenching in her gut. He was giving her the same look that her Chuno Ggun commander gave her, one filled with contempt, disgust, and said that they didn't see you as human.

Her eyes narrowed as her face twisted into a similar look of disgust, bringing up her revolver and aiming it at his face. She cocked the hammer back, and was about to fire when he called out.

"CAPRICOOOOOORN!!!!".

The First Mate merely quirked an eyebrow before pulling the trigger. The moment she did, some monstrous thing had barreled through the ongoing slaughter and grabbed her arm at the last minute, causing the bullet to go into her enemies shoulder. Her shout was angry as she struggled, and that was when she noticed that it was a Misbegotten, like her. It pushed its face into hers and bleated like a goat, which seemed appropriate due to the look of its eyes. Her momentary confusion was enough to give her opponent time to get away, and give one last order.

"MAIM!".

The Misbegotten acted quickly, too quickly for her to react. He twisted her arm, making her drop her revolver to the deck, then locked her elbow and broke it with ease with three heavy blows. Another twist and he did the same to her collarbone, breaking it with a single hit. Then she was thrown to the ground in pain, her shoulder stomped on to dislocate it, just before it finished the job. With a sharp tug and a hard twist, the flesh connecting her shoulder to her torso tore, the dislocated bone straining, then breaking out of its socket as her entire arm was ripped off from her body in a spray of blood and gore.

Sheska did the only thing she could under that amount of pain. She writhed and screamed, the sound long, high, and as excruciating as the agony she was experiencing. She clutched at the torn remains at where her shoulder should have been, even with her cutlass still gripped in her other hand. She looked up at the Misbegotten with utter terror, only to push it aside with anger and indignation.

Even as the nausea and physical torture washed over her, she struggled to get to her feet and back into the fray, but she collapsed, only to see the beast that beaten her take off, tossing her limb overboard as it went back to the ship. Then she fainted.

She passed in and out of consciousness for a time, opening her eyes just slightly as she felt the sensation of being carried, and she looked up to see the Captain carrying her. A dull feeling she couldn't begin to describe in her current state welled up in her: A combination of embarrassed pleasure and utter disgust at herself. She murmured something just before fading back out.

The next few times she faded back in, there were voices, a bed, and sharp pains where her arm used to be as it was cleaned, then bandaged, but she couldn't comprehend what was going on. When she finally went out completely, she laid back silently in the bed, her gray skin pale as death, her dreadlocks loose and spread around her head. And her mouth twisted in silent pain.

She looked weak, vulnerable, and utterly defeated.

-Half an Hour Later- [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRAqYRdE34w&feature=relmfu]

When Sheska awoke, the first thing she noticed was pain, and a sick roiling in her belly. The second thing she noticed is that she woke to a voice.

"Ma'am, you are going to live and your shoulder will heal in time. However, with the extensive damage done during the severing of your arm it is unlikely that I will be able to successfully reattach the limb. I'm sorry ma'am, but the maiming is permanent. I'll see about getting you a simple prosthetic once we reach the next port, I'll also handle the training required to use it properly. Unfortunately the more advanced prosthetic limbs are unavailable to me and any powered ones are simply theory to my knowledge."

She didn't respond immediately as her golden eyes opened slowly, dulled by pain. Then she looked around and quickly leaned over to one side, grabbing a nearby bucket that had had the water that cleaned her wounds, and promptly vomited. When she finished, she laid back and closed her eyes again, panting heavily.

Her face was sweaty, her skin still had an unhealthy pallor due to blood loss, and when she opened her eyes again, they looked frustrated and angry, though brighter than before. Glancing over, she noticed that Beth was there, as well as Sam. Grabbing the nearest blanket, she pulled it over her chest, knowing that her shirt was sure to be elsewhere, thanks to the dressing her arm needed.

She forced herself to sit up, and she looked at Beth after a moment. "Sorry, Cap'n. Didn't kill nearly as many Imps as usual. That big Misbegotten sumbitch took me by surprise... I guess I'm not exactly fit to be First Mate now, eh?", she asked sadly, looking down at her lap.

With one arm, she couldn't keep up with the crew anymore. She couldn't be as good a fighter now. She couldn't protect Captain Beth.

Then, pushing aside her disappointment in herself, her feelings of defeat, she looked back at the Captain and nodded. "How's the ship, the crew? How many did we lose, Beth?", she asked softly.

 

[3quency]

-Annis-

Annis stormed across the deck, shouting orders at the top of her lungs. It didn't even occur to her that this should be Exeter's job, she just saw the problem and started dealing with it. Most of the surviving deck crew were so used to her orders by now that they couldn't help but obey.

"I want a bucket-chain up from the galley! You and you, get to it! Get those injured men out of the way, the sick-bay will fill up quickly so I want a CAREFULLY selected group of men taken down there, the rest will have to wait. You!"
She pointed at a fresh-faced recruit, face stained with dry blood.

"We need blankets. Come with me."

And with that she was off, marching as fast as her legs would carry her to the the sick bay.

The escape from the Pirate vessel had been short and brutal. Annis knew her combat, and she could tell long before it actually happened that the fight was going badly. She held out as long as was sensible before cutting her way back to the ship, choosing speed over accuracy or defence.
A couple of her men had made it back too, far less than she'd hoped but more than she'd expected by the time they were retreating. And of course, as soon as her boots had hit back home those damned grenades had landed.

"The ship is on fire. I need assistance NOW."
She hissed before Vasco even had the chance to get a word in. She stood in the entrance, glaring at him until he obeyed.

In all the chaos, she still hadn't noticed the huge gash on her shoulder.


-Isaac-

"Oi! Watch it!"
Isaac ignored the shout and continued barrelling down the corridor. Yes, crewmen were busy and he should watch his step. Yes, the ship was damaged and stress levels were high. And yes, panicking wasn't helping anybody.

But Sheska was injured.
He hadn't seen it for himself, but it's all anyone had been talking about. The captain hadn't even given the moving orders after the battle, so at best guess the injury was bad.

But he didn't know anything, and the thought of his best friend dying on the surgical table turned his stomach to ice.

He burst into the med-bay and took in the scene.

Samuel was leaning over Sheska, Beth stood nearby, worry written all over her face.
Sheska's arm was gone. Not damaged, not mangled, just plain gone.
"Oh hell." Isaac muttered.

Sheska was awake, he moved a little closer, looking at her.

"Fucking hell Sheska. I'm so sorry."

 

[Arcanist]

"Fucking hell Sheska. I'm so sorry."

"Don't be. It wasn't your fault." Jason couldn't help but wince a bit at Sheska's state. It wasn't the gore that put him off - years of industrial accidents had a way of hardening a man to sights of blood and missing limbs. No, it was her demeanor - no longer the confident taskmaster he had come to respect. In her place stood a broken and defeated woman. "However, all may not be lost. In fact, this might be the start of something very..." He paused, looking for the right word. "...interesting, to say the least. Sam, you have a minute? We have something to discuss."

 

[Evrant-Knight]

Garrett ducked under cover as the pirates launched a barrage of grenades, which caused the deck of the Invincible to be set alight. Small fires peppered the area as the crew desperately scrambled about, either trying to escape the pirates, or to try and extinguish the flames. The Mermaid meanwhile could be sailing off into the distance, obviously proud of their minor victory despite losses. He could see that Adrianna lay at the bottom of the rigging, in a slightly crumpled heap, her eyes closed, and she herself not moving.

Carefully moving about to avoid catching fire, Garrett made his way over to examine her, to try and see if she was still alive.

'Don't you dare die on me now Adrianna.' He said quietly, his voice a mixture of anger, concern and desperation. From the looks of things, she appeared to be simply unconscious, and fortunately he could feel a pulse from her neck. Taking care not to cause any further injury, Garrett carefully picked the woman up, holding him gently in his arms.

'You know, if this was any other occasion, I'd find this to be either very romantic, or at least rather cute.' He said with a smile, the ensuing chaos masking his voice somewhat. Garrett then tried to carefully avoid the fires, as he made his way across the deck, and towards Adrianna's cabin. After moving past several crewmen who were busy tended to the fire, he was inside the cabin, and made for the couch that was along the wall.

Garrett carefully laid Adrianna on the couch, making sure to remove her coat, and to make sure she was comfortable, he laid it across her like a blanket. He then crouched beside her head, and whispered in her ear.

'Now, you stay here my love, get some rest, after what has happened here you need it. Don't worry, I'll be back soon.' He then kissed her on the forehead, a playful smile escaped his lips as he stood up, and he began to make his way to the door.

 

[blaze96]

Samuel first took the bucket and dumped it out the window placing it back at Sheska's bedside. He then took a syringe of morphine and filled it to the proper amount, making sure to clean it of air bubbles before injecting her with it.

"That should help with any pain you are experiencing Sheska. Also don't try and tell me you didn't need it, I'm not so bad at my job as to believe that for a second. You also need to take it easy and rest." He then turned to the rest of them.

"As I said she needs to take it easy, if she shows more signs of stress I will not hesitate to kick you out. Especially with patients piling up." With that he took Jason aside, keeping an eye towards Sheska and the others who were under his care.

"I'm assuming you have some solution to the current state of her?" He asked Jason once they were off to the side.

 

[Arcanist]

"I'm assuming you have some solution to the current state of her?"

Jason reached into his satchel and produced the mechanical arm, presenting it to Sam. Its frame wasn't complete, so if you looked closely you could still see the parts interlocking together, a mesh of wires, gears, and various devices modern engineering had yet to properly name. "Aye. I originally tailored it to fit me - you'd be surprised how common maimings are amongst engineers - but with the right gear, I could easily retool it to fit Sheska."

He produced another tool, a modified voltometer, and pressed the contacts to one of the wires protruding out of the limb's end. The arm contracted in response, each finger moving individually as he powered different wires. "I've spent tons of time with anatomy books, honing the mechanics behind mimicking the range of motion of a natural arm. It took some trial and error, but I'm fairly certain that if you could find a way to interface this arm with the nerves she has left, she'd regain full range of motion."

He put the voltometer back in his satchel, handing the limb to Samuel. "Unfortunately, I don't have the equipment needed to do that onboard. We'll need to wait until we dock in Helium City before I can do anything else. In the meantime, though, feel free to look it over, and don't hesitate to ask me any questions about its functioning."