"We are not going to blow up everything," Gerlach purred at Greyson over the comm, "Just raising a spot of hell and getting attenti--"

The woman was rocked off her feet and nearly sent toppling to her hands and knees when the ship was thrown violently to the side. Klaxon horns and red lights began to go off. She righted herself quickly and steadied as the navigators took the ship out of range of the guns. Their own ordinance was quieting as the gunners took the maneuver as a chance to reload and get ready for the next blitz, but there was panic over communications. Something about smoke and one of the engines but Gerlach was having a hard time getting anything useful out of the chatter. One thing was for sure; that mechanical howl from the depths of the ship was wrong.

"Quirke!" she snapped into her headset, "What is your situation? What did they hit?"

There was no response.

"Quirke!"

She could feel the ship slowing down and what was left of the engines turning over at a much higher RPM. Another blast of flack struck the ship. This time blowing through two ports where Vulcans were bolted. The guns and their crews were torn apart. Shrapnel ripped through the battery, ricocheted dangerously off the interior and embedded itself into equipment, walls and people.

"Damn it all!" Gerlach cursed and barked at one of the men on deck, "Get someone working on those guns and then get up to the engine rooms and find out what the hell is going on!"

"Johannes, Grissom! I've lost contact with--" she began to call up to navigation but was interrupted.

"Sir! Outside!"

Carson's eyes shot up to the display where a single little marker popped up on something falling and falling fast. It looked identical to when the ground team had made their descent. She ground her teeth together.

"Is that..." she didn't need to ask, "Son of a bitch! Navigation, it seems our engineer has gone AWOL. I had hoped that our orders to fight to the death wouldn't become quite so pressing, but we're ready to make another pass when you are."

The fire had become to intense for Cyrus to handle, the cover he had chosen had been reduced to dust and ash and now he had relocated into a warehouse. As soon as he stepped into it, bullets tore through the weak metal walls and ricocheted off of the stone floor, going all about the room. The room was an explosives ordinance storage facility and was filled with boxes full of bombs, explosives, missiles, and all sorts of fun toys for pirates. Cyrus sprinted and got down behind a large crate of who-knows-what and leaned against it, breathing shallowly. He looked down nearly lost it when he saw all the blood starting to pool. Four, maybe five, bullets tore through his armor. Turns out running at somebody with the cloak on wasn't a good idea. He groaned as he hefted up his left arm. It had felt heavy since sitting down and only now did he realize that there was a knife sticking in his forearm. He screamed with agony as he ripped it out and flexed his hand a little. He went to work digging two bullets out of his back and forcing his fingers through the bullet holes in his legs to get the bullets out.

Once he was done, he grabbed his rifle and checked the ammo. He was pleased to see that he still had plenty, but his pistol was in a sorry shape. Just one magazine left. He shook his head and rose from his position, getting against the crate and looking around. He spied a couple windows he could scale up to and get a good position on the outside battle, but before he did so he froze and held his breath. He heard voices and footsteps from the door he had come through.

"Find him and rip out his throat. No Pirate gets to attack my sky boomstick without MY SAY SO!" The other two fanned out while their leader slowly scanned the upper stacks of crates. The right pirate slowly made his way through the eastern side of the crates while his partner closed in Cyrus' position in the west. She heard something scrambling from around a corner and popped out at the loction screaming "Ahaha!" With her rifle pointed, but saw nothing but a rat running away. "See something, dawn?!" Said the eastern guard.

"Nah, not a thing, gi-" She froze as a gun was placed on her back and a hand wrapped over her mouth. She was dragged into the hallway of boxes she had surprised the rat in and felt her heartbeat pick up as Cyrus whispered into her ear. "Say a word and I'll blow you and whatever you had for breakfast all over the crates," she forced a nod out and shallowly sighed through her nose as Cyrus put her on her hands and knees.

"I don't make enough for me to get violated! Don't!" Cyrus paused and looked at the woman with a cocked head. "I'm...just going to conk you on the back of the head and come back later to get you to a doctor...geeze. Stop watching Law and Order: Skyward." "Oh. Wait, really? I'm...in the wrong type of pirate crew aren't I?"

"Yep." She simply grunted when Cyrus hit her in the back of the head with his pistol, knocking her out cold. He picked up her Rifle as well as a couple of magazines. Smiling under his mask, he fired a couple rounds into the ceiling before climbing onto one of the boxes and hiding in the darkness.

The other two pirates came to investigate the noise when they stumbled upon Dawn's body. "Shit, she's dead!" The captain said as he approached her. As he drew close though, he heard a slicing noise from behind and turned just in time to see Cyrus' blade pushing into his throat. Cyrus ran him through the adam's apple and ripped the blade out. With one pirate decapitated and the other bleeding out on the ground, Cyrus grabbed Dawn, picking her up, and placed her on top of a crate so she wouldn't get swarmed by rats.

Using his belt to steady his climb, Cyrus made his way up to the rafters and one of the windows. With the new rifle on his back, it was a bit more difficult, especially considering his wounds, but he made it up there alright and got against a steel beam before kicking out the window. Thankfully, nobody was watching at the moment and he was able to get set up without anymore incident.

Before he could get firing however, a crew-wide transmission came in on the transceivers for the ground team from Faulkner. "AttenSHUN maggots! Your little...diversion had been more of a boon than a mishap! I have cleared out thew western most AA gun myself have it under control. Good job! Now just don't die!"

___

Carson's own transceiver would pick up Faulkner's next message then giving her a little much needed intelligence. "Attention, Carson. I have cleared a landing pad for you at the western AA Gun. If you need to touch down for repairs: DOOOO SO! The second and third AA Guns should be dealt with shortly! Faulkner out!"

A second message would come through just after Faulkner's. But it was the captain instead. "Mansion AA gun is down, repeat. Mansion AA gun is down." The transmission was cut then as the captain went back to work.

Just as Cari predicted, the locals rushed to the sound of the explosion and responded to the hysterical acting of Niesha. The distraction plan had gone perfectly to plan with Niesha's suggestion for using the zip line a now possible option again. Cari watched as Niesha prepared her bow and fired a shot over towards the side of the AA Gun. The arrow lodged itself through a thin metal facing and with a slight pull of the rope, the arrow itself created a decent anchor point for the zip line. The two began to tie off the rope on their end when a startling scream of panic caught them off guard.

"CARI LOOK OUT!" @Voltus_Ventus

Cari turned towards the voice and was greeted with a body pound that held enough force to knock her completely off balance and push her over to the side of the rooftop. She had lost her grounding, her feet drunkenly repositioned themselves in an attempt to try and stabilise her body, but this only resulted in her tripping over the very rope that they were tying off and she rolled over edge that she was attempting to avoid.

The sight of a blue sky filled Cari's vision. She could see the white clouds above with the occasional flash of brightly coloured rounds skimming across her view, scaring it's majestic beauty. Each moment that passed meant that she could see the edge of the rooftops rise around her as if they were encasing her in a tomb. With little time to think and acting on instinct she rotated her body around so that it faced the wall and with her fingers held straight, she punched into the hard facing. She felt her decent begin to slow as bits of debris exploded out of the trail that her hand left behind. Her shoes landed on the surface adding additional support for her body, but these attempts were only performed in vain as she saw her two middle fingers snap back in the reverse direction with her grip of the wall letting go and forcing her body to land on the hard surface below.

She laid there on the ground in pain, looking up to the ceiling. A high pitched ringing sound echoed throughout the room. Smoke filled the air and the smell of something burning tickled the nostrils with it's foul odour, an odour that was diluted by the taste of blood. As Cari screamed in pain no words came out of her mouth except for a bubbling gargle. She reached up in an attempt to feel what had happened to her jaw, but she caught glimpse of the stump like arms with fragments of bone and twitching nerves hanging out of the ends. Cari felt the tears begin to fall down her cheeks, just as her eyes reopened to once again reveal the buildings of Tirbetha.

Cari's arms shot straight up in the air as she laid there motionless on the ground. She examined her forearms and hands slowly, turning them around in an almost soothing dance so she could see every form of detail in the cybernetic design. Her right hand however was in sorry shape with the fingers bent in different directions and occasionally twitching in the wrist from a short circuit somewhere. She breathed a sigh of relief as her hands where bought back down onto her chest. Closing her eyes she listened to what her body had to say. She could feel her toes, she could feel her body's movement, but a faint pain in her chest area was something that she noticed. A possible broken bone? A fracture? She wasn't completely sure but this tingling sensation crept over her body and up towards her face. As she opened her eyes Cari could see two beady black gems from a familiar face staring right back at her.

"Hello there Shitface," she responded in a snarly remark realising who it was that created this scenario. She lifted her left hand and began scratching behind the ferret's neck, waiting for a moment to pass so she could have enough energy to pick herself back up.

At the scream, the warning, Niesha looked up. She was slightly away from Cari, checking to make sure everything was okay with her arrow, her bow hanging loosely from her bionic hand, which was, she learned seconds later, a mistake. As Nikola crashed into Cari, Niesha tried to grab Cari, to prevent her from falling, but only succeeding in nearly wrenching her pathetic human hand back completely, nearly breaking it.

She bit back a curse, stumbling forward quickly, she tried to assess her options. She planted her feet against the wall, leaning over to watch Cari's sickening fall. Nausea rose in Niesha's stomach like a tsuanmi, threatening to spill out her mouth in a fountain of vomiting, but she swallowed hard, and knocked an arrow, as if she could pierce Cari and hold her, but she knew she couldn't. Knew it would just end in disaster, but she couldn't just do nothing.

Niesha let out a frustrated growl, knowing all she could do at the moment was make her way down to Cari. She couldn't very well just leave her there, she would need defending. To Niesha, the plan was gone. She couldn't just let a team mate die, so she put the mission behind her, and she brought an arrow, rope tied to the end, down hard enough to embedded in the wall with her cybernetic hand, testing it with a few quick pulls.

Her fear of heights forgotten for the moment, Niesha swung a leg over the side of the building, took a deep breath, and holding the rope in both hands, let herself fall. She slid down the wall, falling faster then she wanted, and hung tight to the rope. It slipped through her hands, burning the skin on them with friction, but Niehsa didn't let go until her feet hit solid ground.

She stumbled, and looked around for Cari, seeing her lying on the ground, Dorkface by her. "Cari!" She cried, darting over to her, but as much as she wanted to kneel and check Cari over, she didn't, instead, she stayed standing, bow in front of her, an arrow in one hand, looking about them, ready to shoot an arrow at the slightest movement or sign that they were being attacked.

The moment the parachute began to go out of control, Dorkface felt Nikola grab her from her little pocket on his chest. He didn't do it gently either, grabbing her torso and squeezing the air out of her lungs before hurling her out and away from him. For a moment she free fell, her little legs scrambling to find a purchase in the rushing air around her, she panicked, she screamed in her little head, she even tinkled in fear as she plummeted to what she assumed was going to be her untimely death. A small click sounded from behind her head, then she heard some springs and gears whirr within a small box attached to her back, she was suddenly and violently jerked to what she thought was a stop. She tremored with her eyes shut, she thought she was dead and dared not open her eyes to see what kind of afterlife she was living, it was starkly quiet but for the gentle sound of a slow breeze; except that the breeze wasn't the only thing she heard, it was a gentle whirr, a continuous shoomp, shoomp, shoomp. She dared a glance at the sound above her. To her suppose, spinning a few inches above her head, was a small set of 'Rotor-blades' she thought to herself in amazement, 'Nikola, you ingenious ba-' then it occurred to her, she couldn't see Nikola anywhere. As she looked around in panic, her slow decent brought her to the ground, she looked around, scanning for any sight of him but found nothing. She was about to scurry off and find him but was stopped when a hand gave her a gentle stroke, she flinched, rolling on her back to see the hand and the arm and then the body that it was attached to, coincidentally Dorkface was lying on the body. 'Cari! She can help me find Nikola!'



Nikola watched in horror as his feet hit Cari square in the chest, he tried to lift them out of the way of her but it was no use. He watched her free fall down the side of the building and his guts felt watery, 'Did I kill Cari?' he never managed to answer himself. Moments later his body smashed through a large pane of glass, the glass turning into reflective shards as he sailed into the building. His body hit the floor, then bounced, then hit the floor again, the process repeating over and over as he was violently pounded against the shattered glass until he was jerked to a stop, his paracables taught as the rest of the chute was snagged on a scary looking piece of glass. Nikola had come to a stop on his back, facing the ceiling above him, for a moment he couldn't feel anything but bliss because he had survived the jump but then he was overcome with dread when he remembered throwing Dorkface away from him and kicking Cari off the roof; finally he felt immense pain. His side hurt like hell, he was certain that he had broken a few ribs and his arm hung limply at his side, most likely dislocated at the shoulder. Nikola staggered to his feet, his body awash with pain but he was alive, he stripped off his parachute harness and let the breeze whip up the chute and send it and the cables flying off; he reached for his radio to find a shattered, crunched piece of plastic at his hip, looks like he couldn't inform command of his brash actions. 'Now to get out of here and get those parts.' He looked around and found himself in a massive room occupied by cubicles, it appeared to have once been an office building but what didn't come to him as fast was the location of the elevator.

'But first lets find a way out.'

"That ended up messier than I would have liked." The captain said as he used a scrap of a soldier's black uniform to wipe the blood from his sword. The light blue themed mansion hallway in front of him was littered with the bodies of Tronik's cohorts. Most had electrical burns and slash marks indicating where Renault dealt the killing blow. Others had bullet holes in the head and chest areas. These were few and far between as the captain tended to enjoy getting up close and personal with those that he deems as his prey.

He knew this mansion well, this was where he had stayed when his old pirate crew, the Tiranade, had controlled it. Though he was in the personal guard of the captain, a woman once infinitely his better, he was allowed to stay and sleep here. It was an honor that he was beyond honored having and he knew that he would have the honor again. He made his way down a set of stairs at the end of the hallway, away from the decomposing bodies behind him, and emerged from the dark corridor into the basement level where yet more guards awaited him. Four of them raised their rifles to fire at him, but Renault wasn't in the personal guard for no reason. He already had his rifle out and firing, planting a bullet in the chest of the first guard and cocking the lever to plant the next shots into the others in less than a second, before they even got a shot off even. He shouldered his weapon and stepped over their corpses. All throughout the mansion he had payed the same mercy to all those under Ulysses' underlings. Each had died quickly and proved to be a pathetic match to Renault. He had spent years slaughtering men and women across the traverse, all of which called themselves Lost Wolves. He had yet to meet one that could even pretend to put up a real fight. This did not mean that the captain underestimated any foe. He knew that at any point, the next fight he faces may be his last. He offers his enemies the same mercy they offer him: None.

Through the door, past the guards he had killed, was an underground landing bay. A massive airship sat underneath, men and women loading supplies into it and rushing to prepare it for take off. They knew that the island was lost and was making off with whatever they could. At the front of the ship, surveying the operation, standing with his 2nd in command, was Ulysses Tronik. Captain of the Lost Wolves pirate crew. Both turned towards him and took a step forward. Ulysses spoke, crossing his arms as he did so, a smile carving it's way across his face.

"Renault. So you're the one leading the charge. I thought I recognized my ship." Ulysses laughed after he finished.

"I see that you're acting as you always have, running away with your tail between your legs." Renault replied, drawing his sword.

"Ya wantin' me to finish this welp off, boss?" Barked the second in command, raising his arm cannons menacingly. "No, Jessie. Go to the ship and take off. I shall finish him myself and catch up to you." The 2nd in command bowed his head and turned away, leaving the two captains to face one another. Ulysses flicked out his hand and a black hilt built itself from his hand, connecting itself bit by bit to form the hilt of a blade. He flicked his hand again and a longsword extended from the hilt, dark gray in color as as sharp as could be.

Without waiting, the two flew at each other and clashed blades, electricity sparking out from their swords, scorching the ground around them for but a few moments before they disconnected and swung at each other again, their blades clanging and sparking off of one another. They struck at one another, their blades clashing off of one another multiple times before Renault took a step back and jumped into the air to break through Ulysses' voltaic defense.

Smashing through his defense, Ulysses' blade was knocked down and he was left open for Renault's followup attack, slashing upward diagonally and ripping open his shirt and skin. Though metal wiring permeated much of Ulysses' skin, he was still human and as such he still bled as a human does. As he staggered back from Renault's assault, he was left bleeding profusely, though it did little to slow him down as Renault continued his attack and wouldn't let up. He struck out at Ulysses without mercy, forcing his foe back with every strike. Renault hit fast and hit hard, but his enemy was just as fast and feigned a defense, stepping to the side for a quick counter attack that left Renault with a deep gash up his right arm. He took a step back as Ulysses stepped forward, retracing the steps he had lost in the fight and forcing Renault back.

Determined not to lose ground, Renault blocked a strike and snapped into an underhanded elbow smash to Ulysses' chest. The wind knocked out of him, Ulysses bounded backwards to give him as much ground as he could to recover. Behind the duel, the ship had finished preparations at last and detached from the couplings that held the ship in place. It dropped out off the hanger and into the cloud sea below. Seeing that his ship was off, it was time for him too to be off. Grabbing a small round explosive from his belt, Ulysses threw it at Renault's feet. The bomb exploded into a cloud of stinging dust that blinded Renault right there. Sprinting past him, Ulysses jumped onto the railing and turned towards Renault as he came out of the smoke and recovered. "So long, dear friend! Lets not wait too long to do this again!" Ulysses yelled before crossing his arms and falling backwards out of the hanger.

Renault, still trying to recover, sprinted at where Ulysses fell and looked down to see him standing on the deck of his ship, waving as the golden Gyroscope on his ship started to spin blindingly fast, emitting a golden light. Ignoring what he was seeing, Renault climbed onto the railing and jumped off, but he was just barely too late as the ship moved forward and he had to use the gliders from earlier to keep himself from falling into the sea. He tried to follow the ship, but was forced to witness the ship moving out over the cloud sea and, much to Renault's amazement, part the cloud sea. Ulysses looked back to see Renault trying to catch up with him and smiled as his ship, using some type of strange technology, descended into the safety of the clouds and escape from Renault's grasp.

"NO!" Screamed the captain as he wheeled upwards and caught a draft of air that sent him into the sky and back to the top of the island. When he landed he was greeted by several guards that tried to gun him down, but in his blind rage, he only saw the face of Ulysses on the Guards' necks. He let out his anger into their bodies with every slash of his blade with no care for his own safety. When they all had finally fallen, he sunk to the ground and smashed the pavement with his hand hard enough to break it. "I HAD HIM! I. GOD. DAMN. HAD. HIM." He smashed his hand again and sat on his knees on the ground for what seemed like hours, the new bullet holes and gash on his arm bleeding severely. "Damn him. Damn him to the lowest circles of hell. His little tricks will not stop me. If he thinks he can show his face here again...I'll rip him in half!" Renault yelled and stood up slowly. He was covered in blood streaks now, one could not tell if it was blood or liquid rage seeping from his wounds. He looked up to see the Dusicyon circling and was disappointed in the damage he saw in the hull, but it was not unexpected. He regained his composure and started to walk to the location of the eastern AA gun.

"We are not going to blow up everything," Gerlach purred at Greyson over the comm. Grey wasn't convinced. "Just raising a spot of hell and getting attenti--"

And then the impact hit, knocking the ship asunder. Grey yelled his vain concern, while Grissom wrestled with the controls. Flak pattered against the hull as the airship struggled to turn. The navigator felt himself heating up in his clothes, a layer of sweat threatening his forehead. Had one of the engines been taken out with that hit? He didn't quite have time to worry, as the Dusicyon suddenly dipped lower into the city's skyline to use the buildings as cover. A clever tactic, but not when they were flying at 100 miles per hour.

"TODAY WOULD BE NICE!"

Greyson's panicked yell was finally met with response as the Dusicyon narrowly pulled up and away from an oncoming skyscraper. Grissom cried back in frustration "I'm workin' on it, ya whiner! The controls aren't responding right! One of the engines must've-" Another interruption, as a blast of flak from the north tore into the bow of the ship. Desperately, the airship climbed up, up, away from the city, and well out of the range of the guns before it was able to bank about again.

"That's just it," Grey returned fire with his worries, "One of our engines must've been shredded in the first blast. And that second blast just hit..." The implications began to sink in with the navigation team when Gerlach barked up over the communications:

"Johannes, Grissom! I've lost contact with--"

Greyson grew a concerned frown with her sudden silence following- the comms were still running, based on the windy feedback the crew was getting over the receiver. "What? Could you finish that thought for us, please?"

"Is that...?" Another moment of silence, and then, "Son of a bitch! Navigation, it seems our engineer has gone AWOL." Eyes widened on the bridge, and Grisson pounded a fist on his console in frustration. "I had hoped that our orders to fight to the death wouldn't become quite so pressing, but we're ready to make another pass when you are."

"Very funny," Grissom growled back over the comms. In the span of 10 seconds, the Dusicyon had been turned into a limping mass with a chunk of its guns lost- he had the right to be angry about it. Not to mention how the Captain was going to tear into them if the ship got any worse off.

Luckily, their break came soon, in the from of Faulkner from the ground team: "Attention, Carson. I have cleared a landing pad for you at the western AA Gun. If you need to touch down for repairs: DOOOO SO! The second and third AA Guns should be dealt with shortly! Faulkner out!"

Before Carson or anyone else could say anything more, Grisson bleated out into his headset, "We're gonna be taking a pit stop at your new landing pad, Faulkner. Not because we have several wrecked Vulcans and a gaping hole in one of our engines, but because our primary asshole qualified to fix 'em decided to hot drop into the field!" A pause for dramatic effect (actually just moving away from the mic to breathe), and he continued, "That's right! Quirke's gone and flown himself somewhere into the city, so if any of you in the ground team find him, bring him to the western gun so I can CHEW OUT HIS STUPID HEAD!"

And with that, the Crimson Dusicyon, still on a wing and a prayer, dipped back down into the fray to fly over the western gun. Luckily, Greyson was able to point out to the pilot that the path tracing from the northern gun was open now, thanks to the Captain's intervention.

Cari laid on the hard ground as she watched Niesha descend from the top of the building and began counting the number of windows that the girl passed, loosing interest after about 5 or so. She wondered if she had really fallen that far? If so, she was one lucky girl to survive two near death experiences in her lifetime.

"No wonder I had a memory relapse..." she speculated to herself, wishing she could have a good drink to dull the mind and the pain. She could see her partner kneeling over her, mouthing some words but failed to recognise what they meant before witnessing an act of bravery in order to defend her friend. Niesha was an archer with the bow held so taught that it was almost at breaking point, a scout who scanned the horizons for the slightest possible danger, a companion who had tears starting to well up and the twinkle of their reflection could be seen in her keen eye.

Picking up Dorkface by the scruff of the neck, Cari moved him off her body and began to roll onto her stomach. She had to move, there was no other choice in the matter. This place was just too dangerous to be soaking up the sun like you would on the beach. Pushing her body up with her able hand she sat there on her knees and breathed in exhaustion from the amount of energy used in just a small amount of movement. She lifted her right arm she placed it around Niesha's shoulders and used her as a prop before hearing an angry Navigator bellow over the crew's headsets.

"That's right! Quirke's gone and flown himself somewhere into the city, so if any of you in the ground team find him, bring him to the western gun so I can CHEW OUT HIS STUPID HEAD!" @Penultimate_Pi The message came at such a volume that the speakers reverberated with a ringing sound that sent nails through Cari's skull.

"Oi Fuckwit!... Get, in, line..." ending her reply with several large gasps for breath and a cough that may have had a faint taste of blood if only she had a sense of taste. Cari turned towards Niesha and gave her an instruction, knowing that the shock of seeing what had happened to her accomplice could have possibly clouded her judgement, "We have... to move."

Carefully she was lifted to her feet and they began to move into a better location. They had failed to capture the Eastern AA gun but survival was now the highest priority on the list. @Vash Reaching back, she struggled, but managed to extract one of her pistols from her holster and held it to her side. "Don't blackout now," she begged as her eyes grew even more heavy the longer time moved on. Occasionally they would spark open and she would suddenly lift her hand up to aim at nothing air or a wall,with the sudden use of energy sending her back into her exhausted, critical state.
@Caits

"Step right into the...Danger zone!" The sound of Cyrus' rifle firing and the bolt being cycled filled the warehouse where he still sat, ignoring the fact that he was probably going to bleed out soon. "Danger zone! OW" The sound bounced off of the walls again and echoed back to him, though he helmet kept him from losing his hearing. After his next shot, he nearly off of the beam he was sitting on as he burst into laughter. "Oh my god, his head. Oh man. I hope somebody saw that, it was all like...PPPTHHH. I'm going to have to tell faulkner about that one." He regained his composure and looked back into the scope to kill somebody else advancing on his position. He froze for a moment and looked over the scope and out the window. "Oh shit." He rolled over and off of the beam, barely having time to connect the grapple and rappel down to the floor. The second he touched down the side of the building exploded inward and metal shards rained down onto his head. He dove for cover and got up against a box as the metal monstrosity pushed through what was left of the wall and into the warehouse, spreading smoke and debris everywhere. "A Spider tank?! REALLY?!" he screamed as the tank stepped out of the smoke and fired it's gun at a grouping of boxes near where Cyrus was hiding, obliterating the bombs in them and setting off a chain reaction as the ammunition inside started to go off like fireworks. Cyrus covered his face and tried to shield himself as a string of curses poured out of his mouth. He took at least a half dozen bullets as they went all over the place and screamed as he felt his collar bone break from a bullet smashing into it. Hefting himself up, he sprinted through the pain and smoke across the warehouse. "Shitfuckpissshitwhoreassmotherfucker can't fight a tank, won't fight it. Nope nope nope NOPE! Crap, the woman. DAMN MY SELF RIGHTEOUS SENSE OF HONOR." He screeched to a halt next to where he had lay down the woman soldier from his previous encounter and reached down to lift her up. He lifted her up and onto his shoulder and started to book it. Even though he was a strong man, this woman was heavy in her armor and as he ran, he unstrapped her armor bit by bit.

Making it out of the warehouse and across the alleyway, he reached a door just as the wall he had just came out of exploded as the spider tank drew closer to his position. He panicked and tried to open the door but it wouldn't budge. He couldn't get the strength to bash it down with nameless soldier #3 on his back so he turned and ran around the corner with his knees smashing into his chest as he did. Thankfully, he had chosen the back side of the building instead of the front. Running along, he noticed that the building was a large, empty, @Voltus_Ventus office building. He knew that the building would slow the tank down and just kept running. He hoped that he would run into Cari or something as he did because at the moment, dying by tank was not a way to go.

Least not without some flair at least.

________

Though the two were on their last legs, a helping hand from behind them lifted them to their feet. @NuttsnBolts @Caits They'd both look to see the Captain helping them along. He took over for Niesha and hefted Cari himself. Faulkner approached with his rifle at the ready. "General, there is a tank to the west of this building. Deal with it and get it to the western AA. Niesha, scout ahead, find us an escape route. Travis. " The outlaw came from around the corner behind them and approached. "Assist her." The captain commanded and didn't wait for an answer from Niesha or Travis. Faulkner sped off to do as he was told while the captain set down Cari against the wall nice and gently. "You're not done yet." he said and procured a first aid kit from his satchel. He knew she had a lot of cybernetics but she was just as human as the rest of them and the gauze would go a long ways towards keeping her alive.

He paused for a moment and held up her quickly sagging head. "No, look at me, stare at my face, stay awake. Do not close your eyes for a second." He forced her to stare at him while he applied medical gel to her deep wounds. He grabbed an adrenaline pen finally and injected it into her thigh. "Now get up. Come on. Fight's not done yet. We will retake this AA in time, we just need to get to the western AA."

We will be doing far more than just "touching down, Carson thought among all the yelling.

With the change of plans she started barking orders once more, "Get me a maintenance report and try to get this smoke cleared! Prepare a second ground team to secure the areas around the landing site as soon as we are down! We will need a foothold to take the rest of the city from. I need sharpshooters on all sides! Nobody comes within two hundred meters of this ship, is that clear?"

The woman leaned with both hands on the control panel between two officers. As they descended and the flak cleared and more of the city came into detail she searched frantically for any sign of this landing pad Faulkner said he had cleared for them. There was the inactive AA gun up on the screen, but where... Carson couldn't help but notice a rather wide and very long main street flanked by low rise buildings leading to a huge plaza under the shadow of the gun. Not a landing pad. A street. No anti-gravity suspension, no holding field, no magnetic locks. Just a God damned street.

A question that had never occurred to her before crept to the forefront of her thoughts: How does one "land" an airship? The navigators must have seen it too. The fact that the ship was lining up with this makeshift runway did not escape her attention. She found herself gripping the sides of the panel until her knuckles turned white.

"Boys," she called up to the bridge again, all the while watching the ground come closer and closer, "I have concerns. Many of them." @Penultimate_Pi

Niesha knew that they had to move, but she wasn't stronger enough to assist Cari, so she had done the next best thing, which was defend he. As Cari rose, Niesha kept herself ready to fire her bow, but constantly looked back to Cari. How could anyway survive something like that? Unsettled, Niesha knew that it was now her job to defend Cari in her somewhat helpless state.

At the approach of someone, Niesha spun about, an arrow knocked and ready to let it fly, when she recognised the captain. She let out a soft breath, but was then told to scout ahead, with Travis. She wasn't given a chance to answer, so Niesha grimaced, looking to Cari. "Stay safe, okay? And no more falling off buildings" She said, managing a smile, before going to do her job, figuring that Travis would catch up, or find her.

She kept her bow in hand, an arrow ready to in her other hand to knock and fly. She didn't particularly enjoy this, but she would follow orders. She used every bit of stealth skills she had to make sure she wasn't seen by anyone she didn't want to be seen by, looking and searching for an escape route.

Niesha never would have thought that she would be doing this, even a few months ago. She wanted to do well, and didn't want to be a burden, but so far, she hadn't really done much. Unsettled she searched, looking for the perfect place to escape from.

With her hazy sight and lack of awareness Cari felt a hand grip her jaw and pull it in line with the eye and patch of a familiar face. There she sat staring at her captain as he mouthed a command for her to follow before punching a needle into her thigh. Starting gradually and building up across her body she could feel the blood begin to pump harder and harder with her heart's increased pounding spreading up to her ears where she felt as if she could now hear each and every individual beat. Cari opened her mouth, gasped for air and felt her body reawaken almost giving it new life on this battlefield.

"Now get up." @Vash Captain Renault instructed to which she firmly acknowledged. She pushed herself up, making sure to use the wall as support so that she could readjust her balance, "Come on. Fight's not done yet. We will retake this AA in time, we just need to get to the western AA."

Renault could see Cari's pupils begin to dilate as her sense of awareness began to return. With this, she spun her head over towards some office buildings in the west and heard the sounds of a mechanical contraption and random explosions. "Shit, yeah I agree," she swore, realising the gravity of their current situation and the immediate danger that they were in.

Niesha and Travis had been sent on ahead to scout for a suitable route as the tank was going to be a bit of an obstacle, while the General was assigned the task of taking the said tank head on. A suicide mission for the average person, but for a man of his grand stature it would be more a challenge to his ego than anything else. With the the ground units all dispersing to complete their set missions an airship could be seen making it's way towards the location of the Western AA.

The Dusicyon was descending onto the island to make it's landing... No, that was incorrect. With smoke and fire pluming out of one of the engines and it's angle of entry all wrong, it looked like it was on the verge of ploughing into the ground itself. It was going to take an absolute miracle for it to land and with Carson at the helm Cari knew that she would be working in absolute overdrive to not only save her crew but protect as much of the vessel as possible.

The Captain and Cari began to move, making their way through the streets and avoiding as much exposure as possible. She held her gun firmly within her hand and cautiously peeked around every corner for the first signs of trouble. They didn't need any more surprises as they made their way towards the western rendezvous point.

Eventually, Nikola found a way down, though it was not the elevator he told himself would be there, instead he had to descend a flight of steps that seemed to go on for infinity, as he climbed down he felt as if he were unconscious, like his body went on auto pilot from the monotony of the task; he mused that if he were to die then he would continue to walk down the stairs. Upon reaching the bottom, he was relieved to feel the glow of sunlight from the windows, a welcome respite from the eery darkness of the long stairwell. Though it seemed that the moments of relief were just the universe's way of making him drop his guard.

Looking around for an exit, he found that the nearest one was a back door, propped shut with a chair, as he approached it, he suddenly found himself being hurled backwards. The wall had exploded into a cloud of cement dust and chunks of debris, sending him flying into a pillar, his body lanced with a blinding, white pain. As his vision cleared and the ringing in his ears died away, he heard the deep, guttural rumble of an engine and felt the floor tremble as the vibration neared, in the cloud he saw the easily distinguishable figure of a spider tank. He panicked and jerked to the left but instantly recoiled in pain, looking down, he found himself pinned to the pillar, a jagged rebar post sticking jaggedly out of his shoulder, right between the dislocated ball and socket joint.

At that moment, his adrenaline that had been expended on the climb down had suddenly returned, the pain that he still felt from crashing into the building was replaced by a deep of fear of dying. He struggled, slowly, trying to free himself of the metal, inching forward slowly and feeling the bar sink into his flesh, grinding abrasively against his bones. Nikola stifled a scream, he knew he must not scream but the pain was intense and he felt like he was going to back out, he could only hope that he could free himself before the tank spotted him.

"Brace yourselves for impact!" Grissom yelled over the intercom as the ship down down towards the western AA. They had slowed it as much as they could, but they had no way to dock the ship and had to make an emergency landing. On the bridge, Grissom barked out orders to ensure the ship landed without severe damage. "Full power to the shields, shut down the engines and weapon bays, launch the air brake balloons." Grissom gripped onto a railing hard enough o turn his knuckles white. Even with every precaution taken, they would be hitting things very hard. The lower decks had been evacuated as four huge balloons jettisoned out of the back by ultra-strong ropes and cords, slowing the ship down tremendously. Even with the shields at full power, the ship slammed with incredible force, destroying the "landing strip" as it scraped, nose first, along the ground tearing up all the asphalt and stone that made up the road. It tore it's way up the street, mangling houses and whatever was inside as it went towards the western AA, grinding it's way into the plaza surrounding it, slowing to a stop as it neared the AA itself. Once at a stop, it rolled backwards a bit onto it's bottom and balanced on it.

In the sparking and damaged bridge, the crew dragged themselves to their consoles and feet respectively and started to patch up the damage. "Damage...report...ensign." Grissom yelled out, picking himself off of the floor and brushing off the debris.

The Ensign, a skinny young woman with red hair, pulled herself into her seat and punched the console she was working on. It flicked back on and gave her the readings she needed. "It's not RUINED...it's not good...but it's not ruined." Annoyed and endlessly pissed off, Grissom stomped over to the Ensign and slapped her upside the head, eliciting howls of pain and annoyance from her, before looking at the screen himself. "Thirty two percent structural damage, shields are shot, ten percent power, we're missing our noses...and forces inbound. Brilliant."

He went to the intercom then and his voice boomed over the loudspeaker. "Alright crew, no time for dillydally. Pick up yourselves as best as you can, get to your battle stations, and armor up. We made a bit of a ruckus with our landing and the rest of Ulysses' little bastards are coming to pick us apart. Also, Carson-" He trailed off a bit. "-We need somebody to repurpose that big gun outside."

______

Carson and the rest of the Dusicyon had done a brilliant job clearing out the soldiers. If it wasn't for them, the entire plan would have gone to ruin by now. The lost wolves would have swarmed them, but because they all but desolated their barracks and holdings with their barrages. Their reserves were dropped well below the 20% line. The only had time to get a single tank out of storage and even now...

Faulkner was screaming as he ran, assault rifle in hand, at the edge of a building, jumping off of it and landing on top of the tank. The pilot immediately tried to turn the tank to get him off, but Faulkner grabbed onto the handle of the hatch, pulling it open and unleashing hell into the cockpit. It wasn't more than a couple seconds before the tank came to a halt and Faulkner pulled out the body, throwing it to the side.

Faulkner was taking care of it. The crew fought hard, harder than Renault was expecting. Persevering under heavy fire and grueling injuries.

Seeing the tank being distracted by the General, Nathaniel stepped onto the scene, coming into the building after seeing Nikola from outside. "I have you." He said as he reached up and grabbed Nikola, helping him off of the metal and to the ground. He gave Nikola a shoulder to rest on for the moment before Faulkner approached them and took Nikola by the arm, dragging him towards the tank. The boy didn't get to object to being thrown on top of the tank. "Listen here you sat sack, my orders are to beat you to a pulp for abandoning ship, but I'm just going to ASSSUUUME that you came down here for the sole reason of stealing this here highly dangerous device with an extreme potential for explosive mayhem, so I shall forgive you on one single condition: You show no mercy and you rip this ball suckers limb from god forsaken limb! Now get to it, boy!"

"Wait wait! Don't shoot! I'm friendly!" A woman yelled over the gunfire as two Crewmates pointed rifles at her. She had Cyrus bleeding and unconscious hanging on her shoulder, barely alive. "He saved me...he needs a doctor, now!"

There were even some surprising allies from unexpected places.

Turning the corner with his partner, Renault and Cari came to a stop as thirty soldiers dressed in Lost Wolves' armor stood with Niesha and Travis. A lithe woman in light armor stepped forward, taking off her helmet. She had light blonde hair and dark blue eyes and light scarring. "I am Melanie, and we are here to join you. We've been beaten into the dirt time and time again by the Lost Wolves and we've had enough. We'll help you take that AA." Renault was in no position to refuse her and simply nodded. "Clear the plaza and you have yourself a home on the Dusicyon." He said. She smiled and yelled, the soldiers behind her yelling with her and running past them, leaving them to escape to safety.

With the assistance of Melanie's renegades, the forces at the AA were split trying to attack the western AA and defend the eastern AA. They were easy pickings for the crew of the Dusicyon, especially once Carson climbed her way into the western AA and started to unleash her bottled up fury onto them. With Nikola patrolling the streets and clearing out stragglers, the assault of Tirbetha came to a close and the last of the soldiers retreated into hiding while the weary and wounded were attended to by the doctor.

Over the next few hours, what crew wasn't laying down from fatigue was helping clean up the mess and start repairs on the Dusicyon as well as the area. Even Renault and Grissom came down to help patch up the ship and clean wounds. It was going to be a long, sleepless night, but even though they were battered and beaten...Tirbetha was theirs.

They had won.

The crew of the Dusicyon scurried around like ants in a nest, each one picking up it's own role and helping out in as much of the cleanup as possible. Cari on the other hand was sitting over on the ground to the side. In her condition she couldn't do much for too long before she would feel the familiar signs of exhaustion sink in. With her was Doctor Bishop.

The doctor had the back of Cari's shirt up and was examining the deep bruising that she obtained after the fall. She gently felt around, making sure none of the possible broken bones had shifted. Until she was able to get to a proper working medical bay, this was going to be the best that she could do.
"I'm surprised you're still alive after what Neisha and Nikola told me," she opened quietly, trying to break the silence.

"Nikola has a lot to answer for," Cari replied as she gently stroked the back of the ferret that was asleep on the ground next to her, "But even still this was a bit of a suicide mission anyway. Taking on a fortress with nothing more than a row boat."

Cassandra understood where Cari was coming from. The crew had won the battle, but the cost was more than what they all envisioned. The real question was what were they going to do now? Ulysses had escaped and it wouldn't be too out of the ordinary to expect him to plan some sort of counter attack. On top of that there seemed to be some connection between the two captains, something more than what Captain Renault was letting on. Cari had rarely spent the time to sit down and talk to 'James'. Most of the times that they talked it was about supplies and tactics but never anything too personal. She often wondered if he knew how much the bounty was on her head with more zeros than you could count on one hand. An amount that would tempt the majority of people if they at all knew.

The doctor pulled down Cari's shirt and placed her bright jacket over her shoulders.
"I'll have to perform a few scans and checks when I get the chance, but miraculously you don't seem to have any broken bones. I couldn't tell if there are a few fractures and you seem to be suffering from shock and post-traumatic stress..."

"I had a relapse," Cari cut off the doctor, looking down at her right hand and seeing it twitch from the damage it had taken.

"Sorry, didn't mean to bring up old memories," Cassandra spoke, realising that Cari probably already knew what was going on inside her own head. "I've got to go tend to Cyrus now. Shout out if you need any more assistance." She stood up and tuened to walk away before asking one last question. "Oh, and if you don't mind, where 'did' you get that jacket?"

Cari chucked for a moment and calmly responded, "Where else... I stole it."

Niesha did what she was told. At times, she had to detour, assuming that Travis was following her, around too many soldiers to fight, but she found a route to escape in. Returning was harder, but she managed to do it, sometimes getting rid of opponents but mostly trying to stay out of sight, as she made her way back.

Over the next few hours, Niesha did what she could to help, whether it be cleaning up, or taking out some last few soldiers, or even acting as a runner and getting more supplies if needed, she just didn't want to be standing around doing nothing, and she knew she'd be hopeless are helping to fix the ship. So she worked to her other skills, doing her best.

From time to time she found her way to Cari, wanting to make sure she was alright, still seeing the horrifying few seconds of Cari falling in her head. There were just some things that never left you, and Niesha figured this was one. So it was that by the time things seemed to be okay, Niesha was exhausted. Muscles she didn't know she had ached, but she was better off them some. She only had a few scratches that were nothing, and being tired was just fine.

She didn't know what her next move was, what she was meant to do now. Things just seemed to...level out, from the hectic battle and capture to this, and it made Niesha feel edgy, like something else was going to happen even if it wasn't. She glanced about her, and ran a hand through her hair, which had escaped the tie she had put it in and was now a mess, but she used her fingers to try and smooth it over, before putting it back up. She took a few moments, taking a couple of deep breaths, and checking to make sure she didn't have any injuries she was unaware of, but all seemed well.

There was probably still lots to do, and so Niesha went to see what else she could do, even if it was simply fetching a drink or some food for someone who couldn't, or if it was just cleaning up the ship some. She liked to feel useful.