The massive automaton had been one of the party recruited in Helium alongside him, Zach remembered. It's not like the guy was exactly hard to find in a crowd, even if most paid automaton's no mind. Zach's curiosity had long ago helped him discover, through serving alongside them on ships, or in the underbelly of Helium city, that automatons, or some of them at least, were much more than the masses assumed them to be. It was a little strange, considering mechanical prowess was not something that could ever be considered within his skill set (although growing up in the badlands usually meant making the most of the scrap you could find), but the automatons were often the group he found himself identifying with most, more even than his own kind. They were seen as naught but tools as he had once been. Resources that were given no credit for their accomplishments, and discarded as soon as they became inconvenient.
"Hey... Oley. Oley, that's it! And please, just call me Zach." Zach replied cheerily "Let's see... Gunshot wounds, dangerous cargo, and a race against the Empire to change the future. Y'know, same old same old. How about you?"
"Okay, just Zach," Oley said. He found it odd that this man should find so much joy in what seemed to be daunting and dangerous work. Perhaps he would learn to enjoy such things as the man before him had appeared to have done. Though now wasn't the time to stand there and ponder - he engaged in a conversation and he needed to follow through with it. "It sounds like you have plenty of...excitement in your life. From the look of it, your wounds have not been too serious. I am...relieved."
Oley did what he could to form something of a smile, though it was a mystery to him as to how it really appeared. Quickly realizing that his expressions may need some work, he put the smile to rest. "For me, things are very good. I feel free. I am relieved. I...I was made for carrying great weight but...the weight of not being in control of what I do is more heavy than I am...comfortable with. But that is all over now. I am better than I have been in years. Now, I am sorry if I am being too...forward here, but who is that person next to the Captain?"
"It sounds like you have plenty of...excitement in your life. From the look of it, your wounds have not been too serious. I am...relieved."
"It's a good life if you've got the aptitude." Zach said with his usual, easy confidence. "I like to keep a clear distinction between 'excitement' and 'stupidity'. Most fools wear their battle scars with pride, while I consider it a matter of pride to live such a life of danger with so few scratches on me. I'm sure plenty of dead men have lots of impressive war wounds, but in the end, I gave them the only one that mattered."
Zach was faintly amused by Oley's attempts at a smile, with so few movable features with which to convey expression. However, unusually, his empathy won the day. The guy couldn't help it and he was trying his best, so Zach would let it pass without comment, neither scorning or patronising.
"who is that person next to the Captain?"
"Well, she's from nowhere around here, I can tell you that much." Zach replied. "Easy on the eye I'll give her that, but something about her seems... off, and I'm not just talking about the obvious. She's got lots of shiny looking jewelry, but no real money that I can see. For all we know, the Captain could just be taking a load of pretty junk as payment for her passage; but then I supposed if whoever we sell it on to is no more the wiser than we are what does it matter? Anyway, she seems to me like one of those people who could be a lot more dangerous than they look. The other one she's with is her 'friend', apparently, but I don't believe the half of it. She seems more like some sort of escort to me, and a hard as nails one at that. Question is, is her job to protect the other one from the likes of us, or to protect the likes of us from her? Maybe both, but I'll be keeping my eyes and ears open."
To say Jacob was surprised by the sudden arrival of an enemy combatant was an understatement. They'd still been well above the deck and away from the nests, but the madman intruder had overcome this obstacle via extremely unlikely acrobatics. Still, unexpected annoyance though it was, he hardly feared it. What more, the unlucky gymnast had picked perhaps the poorest choice of skiffs. The one with him on it.
As the interloper rushed forward, aiming to kill or maim him in some no doubt impressive way, Jacob merely said to his crew "Continue boarding" as he took his stance and unfolded his mouth. Then he waited.
Just as Drustan reached him, Jacob twisted out of his direct path in his inhuman way and set to bite him. A moment later, the skiff crashed into the side of the Invincible, attaching to the top deck.
The intruder/interloper/etc is Drustan. Just so you are aware, Jacob is meant to be the kind of enemy to create a challenge against not just Drustan but Exeter, Wilhelmena, Dr. Roque, and everyone else still on the ship. He will not be going down without help.
[HEADING=2]*On the Invincible[/HEADING]
After dropping their bombs, the enemy skiffs moved toward the Invincible with surprising speed. The skiffs closed quickly, slamming into the side of the Invincible with enough force to shake the mighty Imperial vessel. The bows of the small ships quickly latched onto the sides of the Invincible - locking them in place - and opened to allow a surge of pirates onto the deck. Dozens poured from each little ship, engaging everyone on the top deck in no time.
@Everyone_On_The_Invincible: You can see that one of the Skiffs has fewer people coming out of it. It's the one Drustan landed on
[HEADING=2]*On Hell's Harbinger[/HEADING]
Captain Ironskin was displeased. Here he had some of the most ruthless pirates in the sky and they were falling prey to one worthless little Imp. It was easy to see what he was; a beast dancer - no one else could move like them. Meanwhile, some mercenary wasn't doing half bad either. In all truth, he was somewhat surprised how few actual imperials seemed to be aboard the vessel. He wondered if it had already been claimed by another pirate; not that he really cared.
Seeing the swarm of Imperial pawns swarming over his deck, he quickly ordered the rest of the enemy crew forward - keeping only a handful of his officers behind - and marched to confront the Imps himself. If things went south... well, they had their orders. Besides, it had been some time since he'd had a chance to let loose.
Walking forward, he reached out grabbed an Imperial who'd been too far out, held the man up by his neck to stare into the mans terror-shaken soul, then threw him across the deck, aiming to hit the Skyfolk mercenary with his ally. Then he drew his gun - a massive hand-cannon of a weapon - and pointed it at the beast dancer and fired; eager to see if he could dodge a pound of lead.
@Evrant: There is a crew member being thrown at you. He is still alive just so you know
@Ruedyn: Cpt. Ironskin just fired a cannon at you. Have fun.
Whilst it appeared that the battle for Hell's Harbinger was going well for the Imperial boarding party, Garrett knew that the outcome was still undecided, the tide could change at any moment. As he was fighting some more pirates, Garrett could see an imposing figure moving across the deck, obviously this man was the Captain. Garrett thought that if he could get one good shot, the man would fall, and crush the morale of the pirates.
Before he could take aim though, one of the boarding party was thrown at Garrett, with the crewman's head to impact with his chest, causing the Skyfolk mercernary to come crashing to the ground, dropping his revolver onto the floor in the process.
"Bloody hell!" Garrett shouted at the sky above him as he regained consciouness, his eyesight slightly blurred due to the force of impact; but he could make out the Captain firing what looked like a small cannon in James's direction, who he could see dancing about as he took out pirates one by one. At least he knew what the man was now.
He helped up the crewman as he regained consciouness, but both stumbled a bit to support one another.
"Are you alright man?"
"What the hell... whose that talking? Ah it's you sir, sorry about that, some blasted pirate picked me up and threw me somewhere; I felt like a ragdoll being tossedd about in the wind."
"That is alright, the main thing is that your alive." Garrett said as he picked up their repsective weapons.
"Now then, enough talk, we've got a ship to attack." Garrett said with courage in his voice, as he fired a single shot straight into a pirate was coming up behind them, knocking him down instantly. Then took his sword out as another pirate came at him from the side, blocking the cutlass swing, then booting the pirate over the ship's railing and into the sky below.
"An escort? To protect us from her?" Oley asked as the shutters over his eyes blinked then narrowed as he focused on the jeweled woman. She seemed more odd than dangerous, though perhaps her oddities were what made her dangerous, in a sense. After all, there was a great deal he didn't understand about the woman, and she may very well be as much of a threat as the idea of needing a handler, so to speak, implied. Perhaps, he considered, prying at the matter would do him no good. But he still couldn't shake the feeling that he needed to know more about her, his curiosity practically fighting his better judgement to inquire tooth and nail. "Do you think she is that...capable? I do not wish to question the judgement of the Captain, but do you think there is reason to...worry about the chance of trouble?"
"I tend to assume everyone is trouble until they prove otherwise." Zach responded "She seems like she's just trying to keep her head down, and in that case I don't think we need to worry about what she could do personally unless somebody else tries to start something. However, what she could do is only half the problem. Dangerous or not, she's valuable. That much is clear; and valuable people tend to have trouble following them around wherever they go.
If I were you though, I wouldn't worry about it. We're pirates! Trouble is what we're good at."
Good at trouble? Oley wondered. There was certainly a lot he needed to learn about pirating, though from the tales he overheard at the docks, pirates were unruly people and often brought trouble with them. He supposed it would make sense that they were good at everything to do with trouble - bringing it, starting it, and likely even ending it, though perhaps when it was convenient for them.
For us, Oley had to remind himself. He was one of them. Wearing the title of 'pirate' will take some getting used to...
"Yes...I guess it is," he said, trying a smile again. Once more, he found himself hoping it didn't look nearly as awkward as it felt.
"Hell, you're the last person who should be concerned." Zach reassured him "You're a man-mountain of cast iron violence. Any Imps or mercs we might have on our tail are gonna shit themselves after one look at you!"
That was when Oswin returned, perching on Zach's shoulder like he always did, and further nipping his ear to get his attention. Whatever it was, it must be important.
"What is it?" he asked seriously, getting out a treat from a pouch around his waist. "What did you find?"
Oswin then launched in to a sequence of chirps, whistles, and bobs of his head that only Zach could interpret.
"Duty calls, excuse me." Zach said to Oley, before marching off to the starboard side of the ship, unsheathing his collapsible telescope as he did so.
It wasn't in visual range yet, not with the cloud cover to the east. However, Zach found the shadow, and tracked it, until eventually their pursuer revealed itself briefly though a small gap of clear sky. The vessel, of a similar size to the Mermaid, was not of a design Zach recognised. This was no Imperial vessel, but it flew no other colours either. A bad sign. It wasn't moving to intercept them yet. It was shadowing them from a distance, waiting for the opportune moment, like a Sabre Cat, slung low in the long grass. No guns had been rolled out yet, but from its port-side hatches Zach could tell it carried firepower to match the Mermaid's.
"Captain!" Zach yelled "Unidentified vessel, extreme range, 4:30/25 degrees. They're not... wait... ok, now they're moving to intercept!"
Zach unsheathed his bow, and smiled. It was time to go to work.
This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies.
