[IC] To the Ends of the Earth

[May]

The sky was clear, only a few trailing clouds could be seen in the blue expanse. It was a good day, a good day for flying. The Valkyrie was tethered to the docs off the peer in the great salt lake Erie. It bobbed above the water like so many others, dotting the shoreline for quite a ways around the little harbor. Most were civilian, merchant ships, ferries, passenger, freight, the whole spectrum of type and size. There were heavily armored military ones as well, but they were fewer and farther between.

The Valkyrie was close to take off. The numerous gangplank that had been leading up to it prior to help load the last of the goods were now gone and only the last one for passenger loading remained. Soon their engines would be coming to more fuller life than the idling they'd been at. Soon they'd cast off their ties and float up into the sky and off on their adventure.

Will was standing in the bridge, dealing with the last of the things before departure. Their last few passengers had not yet arrived, but they would be here soon. Then they could get on their way. He was anxious to get going, they had already been here for almost two weeks and while it was nice having stop overs, there was a limit to it too.

Emma clutched her bag to her chest as she climbed out of the car that had brought her to the ship yard. She'd been preparing for this journey for a long while, but that didn't mean she was quite prepared for it. She'd traveled a lot, she'd seen a good portion of the world, she'd spent time away from friends and family, but this was something entirely else. This was employment and discovery of a kind she'd never been on before.

But she could handle it, right? Taking a deep breath, she started up the walk to the ship, her short heels clicking on the wood as she went. When she made it to the bridge, she knocked on the door frame before stepping in. “Captain,” she said with a nod, taking his much larger hand in hers when he offered it for a shake. “I'm sorry for my tardiness, nearly left my bag behind.” She patted at the bag that now hung at her hip from her shoulder. The bag held important things that she was going to need, she had to go back for it.

He smiled and shook his head. “We couldn't have left without you, so you're just in time, Miss Clarke.”

“True enough,” she sighed. “We will be leaving shortly then?”

Will nodded and stepped back. “Shortly indeed, you know your way to your room?” When she nodded as well he smiled again and said, “Well I'll let you go settle in then.”

“Thank you, captain,” she murmured and turned on her heel to find her way to her room through the ship. She'd been there, before all her things were there aside from her one bag, and she'd been in plenty of airships. Just had to separate the others from this one. She'd figure it out in the end though.

[Karos]

Otto sighed as adjusted the valve coupling on the Valkyrie's third engine unit. 'Half corroded honestly William', he tutted to himself. He lent back relying on his grappling unit to hold himself in place as he examined his array of tools trying to find the wrench setting in order to remove the valve's coupling.

For a great many people Otto's position must not have seemed very pleasant, dangling as he was some 50 or so metres above the ground held aloft by only a single tether secured to one of the Valkyrie's idling engines. Otto didn't mind though, all in a day's work for him. After a few seconds he found the tool he was looking for and nimbly removed the coupling. He flipped the large piece of bronze around in his hands a few times examining it through his helmets lenses before searching for another tool on his wrist. Eventually he fond what he was looking for and cleaned the coupling as best he could before re-securing it where it had been. He wasn't happy with the repair, but what with the engines spinning up and William wanting to depart soon he didn't really have much of a choice other than to jury-rig the repair. It would hold until they reached their first destination at any rate, and once there Otto could set about doing the full repair.

Looking about him Otto noticed that the majority of the gangplanks had by that point been retracted and so he winched himself down to the ground with great care most certainly not wanting to end up in the water above which the Valkyrie was hovering. As he made contact with the ground he retracted his line the long thin wire snapping back into his gauntlet with immense speed. Otto inspected the gauntlet as he walked, wanting to make certain that it was still functioning properly. He could've sworn on the decent that the blasted thing was running slightly slower than it should've done.

Reaching the gangplank he continued all the way up still tinkering with his gauntlet trying to work out where the fault was. Eventually he found himself on the bridge and looked up half confused at how he'd quite managed to navigate his way there. He pushed the thought aside and slowly walked over to William.

'Err Captain' he began, his voice sounding rather tinny through the modulator in his helmet, 'The repairs you asked for are complete, but engine three is in need of more work when we get to our destination'. William turned eyeing Otto for a moment, 'You're sure it'll hold?' he inquired. 'Of course' replied Otto with as much confidence as he could muster, 'just don't push the old girl to far.' At that William nodded and Otto took his leave setting off down a corridor trying to find his quarters. He bustled along the corridors retracing his way to the engineering decks where William was usually kind enough to billet him out of the way of everyone else. Otto didn't know quite where the Valkyrie was going, but then again it didn't really concern him as he'd mainly be with the ship. A nice quiet trip he thought to himself.