Fantasy [Steampunk] The Last Ship

[Duke of Doge]

Raewin followed Henry and their assigned Marine through the maze of corridors and hallways. All while the ship buckles and shakes with the hits taken. Raewin herself appears particularly shaken as the quickly move around the ship until they arrive at the mess hall. Looking around the room, there were several other refugees in various states of panic or grief, some families huddled together while individuals attempted to locate their own families, others were just crying. Raewin felt a twang of guilt mix in with her fear. She stared at the sight in stunned silence. She needs to be strong. She needs to show her people they still have a leader. But she can't be strong right now. Fear kept her in an iron grip. She hasn't even registered that her parents are probably dead. She looks over to Henry. Her amber eyes watering now as her mout hangs open a bit. She doesn't know what to do...
Sizniche

 

[IsCarbonBased]

Ernest Yarmouth
The Cabin Boy
The Hallway


Sirens continued blasting on-board the Intrepid as Ernest ran towards the captain's cabin. He needed to relay the engineer's message as well as keep the communication between the divisions flowing.

"Ernest! Ernest!" called a voice behind him as he took the first few steps towards the upper decks. Ernest turned around to see Jennie, one of the nurses from medical. She had blood all over her mid-section which, thankfully, did not seem to be hers. She paused to regain herself before addressing him again.

"Sorry...but I was running around for so long...a refugee ran away...we need to find him. He is just a child and badly wounded."

"How did he run away?"

"I don't know, the explosion might have scared him while I was tending to the others. Please he has no family here and I need your help"

Ernest hesitated "but I need to tell the captain..."

"We have no time! Please I made a mistake, I need to find him or he will die. I cannot let him go". Jennie's mess of hair covered most of her face and she tried to blink the sweat and tears out of her eyes. Ernest nodded.

"He must have hid himself in one of the storage areas. Those places are filled with small spaced where a child could crawl into. I will take the left wing and you take the right. And don't look in medical or the mess hall , I covered them already"

Ernest nodded again before heading towards the right wing. The intrepid housed many small storage rooms where gear of all sorts are housed. Most are located in a cluster of rooms a few paces ahead, next to the living quarters, which are also mirrored on the other side of the Intrepid. It was less crowded here since most are running around trying to keep the ship afloat.

Ernest ran from room to room within the storage area. He opened all the lockers in each area, sifting through the personal items of the crew members. Unsuccessful, he continued on towards the living quarters, going from door to door, looking in each bathroom and below every bed. He was at the point of giving up when he heard a light cough emanating from the room to his right. He quickly rushed in and found the child, wedged in a tight space between a storage chest and a wall. Ernest pushed the chest aside and pulled out the child. He looked around six or seven years old, caked in blood and each breathe came with a concerning wheeze.

Taking the boy in his arms, Ernest headed back towards medical. He found Jennie on the way, still looking for the boy within one of the storage spaces which housed a variety of tools used for quick maintenance.

"Over here! I found him."

Jennie looked over and quick ran towards Ernest and the child. "This looks bad, was he conscious when you found him?"

"No he was like this when I first saw him. Will he make it?"

"I'm not sure. Follow me to medical and I will see what I can do"

He held the child as he followed Jennie back towards medical. It was awful, all of this. How could things become so wrong when it felt so safe only a few weeks back?

 

[Archie]

@RayPurchase, @Bradchon, Duke of Doge , @PapaJonny, @ShadowStar66 @LetsGoGuy, @Togy, Archie , Viper Actual , @Scourge Jobias, IsCarbonBased , @BlueHawk, @-Mork-, @TheTypestitute, Trektek

((Everyone - very sorry for the delay. This is the end of the quarter for us, so I've basically been pulling 16 hour days. I'm going to do a timeskip soon, and this battle is about to end soon))



Engine Room/Third Level

The mechanics scrambled to follow Delphine's orders, carrying plate metal and binding it to the water tanks with welding - generally, best practice was to rivet, but there was no time for this. One of the tanks leaked at the seam, searing part of Delphine's face before a gloved deckhand was able to cover it up with a metal plate.

"Looks like it's workin!" one of the mechanics shouted to Delphine as the leaks entirely ceased after around ten minutes of working on the areas where the bulges were occuring the most. The steel boilers screached as maximum pressure from the stream inside forced their metal outwards, but ultimately they held.


Gun Deck

"Yes sir!" shouted tow of hte deck hands, almsot in unison, as Jorgen started barking orders at them.

"CO's dead!" a third man responded as the gunners scrambled to position. It was timely. Just then, two Volkarine planes started their attack run, descending on the Intrepid from above. One was hit by an anti-aircraft gun, spiraling to the right of the ship and crashing into the cloud layer, while the other was able to release its bomb.

"Roger!" shouted the seamen on the other side of the deck as Kaze ordered them to clear munitions. The deck hands who hadn't scrambled to get below the deck charged towards the destroyed turret, discarding some of the shells by throwing them overboard. As they were completing their task and running into the turrets, the bomb dropped by the second Volkarine plane descended downward onto the deck. However, a gust soon blew over the ship, blowing Jorgen's officers' hat off the ship.

The main turrets returned fire against Graf Aulitz as it came in range. As the deck hands cleared the deck, flak shots would be useless from the Graf Aulitz. Apparently noticing this, Captain Steligmann was now firing HE rounds, intended to destroy the bridge, imitating the Furoshi tactic in the Battle of Furusato. The turrets, now under the direction of the new Warrant Officer and the other two on the deck, fired a salvo of over two dozen guns at Graf Aulitz. The impressive firepower of Intrepid manifested itself, as two armor-piercing rounds of Intrepid smashed into Graf Aulitz's lead turret, setting off a magazine and resulting in a detonation aboard the ship.

Just as the last round was off, Attwell had managed to restore the lead gun to working conditon.

"I got this from here!" a big gunner named Caven shouted, saluting the engineer for his unexpectedly quick work. The gun was completely unarmored - its turret having been blown off by the Konischer class destroyer - but the gun was still working.

"Three, two, one" Caven counted down, inhaling as he pulled the string attached to the gun's fuse, setting it off. The front gun crew, having had the benefit of adjusting their aim based on the other shots, landed a direct hit at the bottom of Graf Aulitz's bridge, setting off another visible fire, and cheered. One of the seamen, cheering, slapped Mereworth on the shoulder.


The Skies

"Direct hit!" cackled the voice of Midshipman Welles into the radio as Daevas dropped his bomb. Welles was in charge of observation during the battle, and was atop the bridge looking at the action below with the two destroyers through his binoculars.

"Direct hit!" Welles shouted with excitement as Connor also dropped his bomb, "wel done!" the young officer shouted with excitement. Then, his radio line devolved into static. Looking to the side of his cockpit, Theo could see that the top of the bridge - the observation post - had been cut off by a high-explosive round. The mast, with Welles on it, fell into the cloud layer below, the midshipman's lifeless body parting with the mast at it tumbled below.

Theo had bigger things to worry about, however. Firing his guns at the fighter in front of him, he managed to strike its fueselage, causing a leak of fuel. The plane soon ignited, causing a torrent of flame to shoot out its backside. Unfortunately, Mihaly Kopacs' aim was no worse than his - no, it was better - and he heard the back of his cockpit shatter, and felt the air getting sucked out of his plane. He banked upwards, knowing that the Aeternain Falcon fighter could climb higher than a Volkarine VS-450. But Barracuda was subtle, rolling initially downwards, then upwards to prevent overshooting Theo. The Aytman ace pilot unleashed a hail of bullets, and Theo felt a pain in his left shoulder. His left arm soon went limp as he felt a wet fluid soaking into his flight uniform. He pushed his joystick forward, unleashing maximum speed from his Falcon, as bullets continued to streak aroudn him.

Booker had hit the second Volkarine plane, hundreds of yards away from him. The plane's pilot was apparently no great flier, and continued straight ahead, his guns also blazing. At the end of the exchange, Booker, having had a superior position to being with, saw the enemy plane disintegrate by its propeller first, but not before shards of metal ripped off his own right wing. The kid had managed to hit him, dying an honorable death.

The pilot tailing Connor, meanwhile, hadn't managed to land a hit, as Connor was performing evasive maneuvers while bandaging himself. Soon, the chase would end in Connor's favor - thanks either to luck or God. Connor saw the mist in front of him intensify, until it completely whited out his cockpit, front and back. He had flown into a cloud. Or rather, the cloud had flown into him. With the massive windspeeds of a gas giant, storms were able to travel faster than ships in some cases. Soon, Booker too would see his plane engulfed by the cloud. They were too far away from the epicenter of whatever giant hurricane they were flying into for the winds to affect to destabilize them, but visibility was effectively zero.

Not so for Theo. His decision to climb into the air, the Volkarine triple-ace hot on his tail, had proven the wrong one, as he was now flying above the cloud. Theo smiled. Even if he died of blood loss, he knew that the VS-450 would stall before his own A-33 Falcon - then, he could knock the famed Mihaly Kopacs out of the sky.

Except that didn't happen. Theo looked back to see Mihaly tilt his wings left, then right. He was mocking the Aeternian pilot. Then, Mihaly rolled upside down before descending downwards.

"Fuck!" Theo shouted, also banking downwards. What was Barracuda thinking, descending early?

As soon as Theo unleashed his guns above Mihaly's cockpit, he saw the black-painted VS-450 covered in clouds. Theo charged in after Mihaly, determind to down the ace, only to emerge on the other side of the cloud to see nothing but the cloud layer below him, two sinking Konischer class destroyers, and a few falling planes. His eyes widened as he looked upwards. Mihaly was headed towards the Intrepid.


The Bridge

"Direct hit!" shouted Midshipman Kellog, reporting the gun crew's success in firing on Graf Aulitz. A second shot, hitting Graf Aulitz's deck, caused the ship to turn. Despite being badly undermanned, and having mostsly green seamen, the quality of the Intrepid's hand-picked officers was now becoming apparent to the Captain and XO. Engineer Mereworth had managed to restore the front gun in no time. The second ranking gunner, as well as the Quartermaster and Marine captain had apparently rallied the deck.

"We're gaining speed!" shouted Midshipman Trystane, reporting more good news. Whoever was commanding the engine room - probably Delphinium since Mereworth was above deck - had managed to somehow squeaze more output out of the ship's engine and propellers. Suddenly, both Graf Aulitz and Intrepid's rounds started falling short. The Intrepid was getting away.

"Sir, storm approaching!" shouted Midshipman Welles, manning the observation deck, shortly before his radio went static, following the ship being rocked. As the bridge staff looked to the right of the ship, they could see Welles' body, as well as the observation post, falling off the deck and into the clouds.

To the front of the ship, a wall of mist approached. It was clear that the volatile skies of Celestis had the greatest surprise of all in store for the Intrepid, as soon the bridge started to mist up.

"We should send a messenger to get a loss report" suggested Kellogg,

"Both Konischer destroyers eliminated, two direct hits on the Graf Aulitz" he continued, as if the battle were already over and he was about to write its After Action Report.

It wasn't.

Out of the clouds emerged a black plane, painted with white shark's teeth in the front. Headed directly for the bridge at full speed, it unleashed its cannons on the bridge, the rapid fire .50 caliber rounds piercing through the structure's glass windows and showering the interior. Firing directly into the bridge required just the right angle - this was a surpreme act of marskmanship, and whoever this pilot was, he was good. The crew ducked for cover as Midshipman Trystane's head exploded, and a bullet smashed into the chest of the captain.

Normally, this pilot's maneuver would have been suicidal - he'd crash into the observation mast of the ship - but the observation mast had been struck down. The VS-450 finished its strafing run by banking upwards, and away, followed by what remained of the Volkarine planes. In the distance, the XO and Captain could see that Graf Aulitz was starting to turn around - seeing that it was beaten in speed, and apparently unwilling to follow Intrepid into a storm.

The captain could see. He was not dead. Still standing, the captain when he looked down would be able to see that the bullet that had hit him had impacted the Medal of the Royal Order worn on his left breast. The medal was ruined, but, as if in an act of God, he was safe.

Trystane was not. The headless ensign's body lay limp, gushing blood onto the navigation charts.


In the immediate aftermath of the battle, the pilots would be able to return to the ship - the hooks underneath the ship latching onto their planes and dragging them into the hangar. There, medical officers would customarily be in waiting. Connor was hit in the leg, but had managed to bandage himself. Theo, meanwhile, fainted almost immediately after getting out of his plane, his uniform soaked in blood from a wound to his shoulder. His body hit the ground, completely limp.

"Sires" Kellogg stated, looking at the bloodied navigation chart after a seaman had removed Trystane's bleeding corpse from the bridge.

"The winds of the storm will start hitting us in an hour. We can either leave the storm quickly, or ride it out. If we leave, we'll be headed in the direction of Ceallaigh" he said. Ceallaigh was often considered the most repressed of all Aeternian colonies. Its inhabitants had endured everything from having all their land taken to man-made famine. Still, the island was ruled by hardline colonists, who would be the last Aeternians to surrender to Volkaria - knowing that the Volkarines would give the Ceallans their independence. The island was home to consulates from multiple nations, and Intrepid, the most powerful battleship ever built (if it were properly staffed) could make deals there. Further, it was unlikely that anyone knew the Princess was still alive - that kind of declaration needed to be made as soon as possible to galvanize Aetrnian resistance.

"If we ride it out, we'll land in Fremar"

Fremar was another Aeternian colony, whose population almost entirely consisted of the descendants of settlers. Close to Eltaria, it hadn't achieved its independence unlike its neighbor. Still, having been given self-rule for the past fifty years, the colony would almost certainly have made a peace agreement with the Volkarines after the fall of Aeternia, and the local government's loyalty and friendship were far more in doubt than that of Ceallaigh. However, the air currents around Fremar was dominated by the Eltarian navy, the only powerful force outside the orbit of Volkaria and Furusato. It was unlikely the Volkarines could follow the Intrepid there.

"We'll also need to decide staff promotions. The gunnery commander is dead, and we need a new midshipman on the bridge"

 

[Sizniche]

Henry Gunther Bridge of the ANS Intrepid - Day 1 - Leading Raewin to the Mess Hall

While Henry Gunther was somewhat uncomfortable to have Raewin behind both him and the marine, as it was rare to not have someone watch an assigned VIP's six, Henry told himself to tolerate it, as it was unlikely there was any immediate threat to her on the ship. The Graf Aulitz was nowhere near close enough for an effective boarding action, as far as his admittedly slim naval knowledge went. Still, Henry intermittently looked behind himself to make sure Raewin was okay, and that there was nothing else in the hallways that might bring harm to them. When they arrived at the mess hall, Henry leaned himself against a table, closed his eyes, and took a long, deep breath. His injuries during the evacuation weren't anything to be really worried about, but even so, it, compounded with the stress of the situation, made it draining to be on the move. Staying still wasn't an option, though, and while it may have been a miserable walk, Henry would likely later learn he may have saved his own life by powering through it and carrying himself out of that bridge.

When Henry opened his eyes, he looked back at Raewin to see her tearing up. Henry didn't blame her at all. Each and every Aeternian had lost something that day, but, not only had she lost her family, as if to add insult to injury, she had lost an empire as well. He put a hand on her shoulder, almost as much to comfort her and remind her that he was here for her as it was to comfort himself in making sure she was still safe. He couldn't really say anything to her, because anything helpful he could say would be a lie. There was no way of knowing if everything would be okay, or if anyone was going to be safe, and hope, if there was any to be had at all, was but a distant comfort. And so he could only stand there, as the the rattle of gunfire and shell impacts slowed in rate, then weakened in intensity, and then finally came to a stop.

Duke of Doge

 

[Viper Actual]

Jörgen instinctively looked up and grabbed his hat as the wind tried to steal it away though he quickly widened his eyes as he also spotted the bomb falling towards them. Looking around he began to yell at the men near him: "Scatter!"
Upon ordering the others to flee Jörgen yanked his rifle away from its sling, kneeled down and opened fire- upwards. With any luck he might strike the bomb before it blows another hole into the deck. Beside him several of the marines follow suit hoping to save themselves from a fiery death.

 

[Fray Dracoheart]

Morigan had finally made an appearance on the ship, before all the commotion she was working on maintaining her guns but several yells and explosions forced her out of the armour and into the gun deck of the ship. The woman paled as she saw her brothers at arms scatter through the deck and she followed suit, taking shelter behind a stack of boxes for the moment, pressing her back to them and drawing her rifle.

Looking over the pile she saw her senior officer and gulped as he took aim at something falling from the sky. The young marine pulled her goggles down to get a better look, that was defiantly a bomb and she also took up aim over the stack of boxes trying to be helpful in case someone missed.

 

[Trektek]

Delphinium Wilburforce
Engineer
Location: Engineering

Everything seemed to be going off without a hitch. The temporary repairs and bolstering of the various tubing and boilers would and should hopefully hold until they could get to safety. Or, they would explode and kill them all. But she'd cross that bridge when and if they had to. The bridge wanted speed and by god dammit, she was going to get the most out of the engines as she could.

As she was overseeing some direct work from one of the boiler tanks, boiling hot steam leaked out from out under the seam and scalded the left side of her face. Too late had she attempted to block it with her mechanical arm even as a gloved hand covered up the seam that the steam was escaping from. She let out a rather loud scream that at least was partially covered up by how loud the engine room currently was. The pain was immense and even though it was not the case, it felt even more painful than when she had lost her arm in that accident when she was younger. Of course, this pain was far less than that one and even though there would be scarring, she wasn't going to lose her face because of it. Pain in the moment was a tricky thing.

Delphinium held her face where it was just burned by the steam as the rest of the repairs continued, with her continuing to supervise as best as she could. The pain eventually subsided, though the scarring would most likely be forever.

She listened with joy as a mechanic approached her and let her know that it was working. After ten minutes, it certainly seemed less likely that it was going to imminently explode. And that at least brought a smile to her face.

"Good work everyone. I'm proud of all of you."​