7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
VOTES LOCKED
At no point did I ever say putting no points into Explosives was a good idea.
At no point did I ever say putting no points into Explosives was a good idea.
Danse Macabre
7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
Looking out the window, you hissed quietly. Pirates. God damn them, pirates! You were barely armed, had no armor, and were on your maiden voyage no less! Still, as your veins went to ice, you heard your father's voice in your head, the mariner and airman of nearly thirty years before his disappearance speaking loud and clear.
"Pirates are a menance, Aleksander, make no mistake. They're ruthless, cruel-hearted things. They favor fast ships, light and quick to overtake their lumbering prey. Never travel unarmed, and hopefully never unescorted either. When you meet them, fight, and fight hard. They hate to spend their loot on anything they can't use, so don't expect them to bring many weapons to bear- good guns are expensive, after all."
"All hands to battle stations!" you said, looking around carefully. "Telegrapher, engines to full steam, speed full reverse. Helm, bring our bow gun onto them, and set flaps to twenty degree climb! Talker, I want Espatiers ready to repel boarders- we're not getting out of this without entering the melee!"
As a round of "Aye, Sir!" went out, you carefully leaned forward to see what was about to happen.
{Handle Ship: 1d100=47 +20(Pilot) +15(Ship Bonus) -10(Reverse Manuver)= 65/60 Success!}
It was a bumpy few seconds as the engines went to full astern, and you could hear Jack grunting as the ship's helm started fighting him as the reverse airflow stated interfering with his flaps.
"Captain, we're not going to be able to sustain this maneuver." He grunted out, checking his rudder movements constantly. "The tail flaps aren't built for it!"
"Hold it as long as you can." You said, calm. "Talker, gun crews are to fire when ready!"
"Guns are ready- firing!"
{Fire Gun x10: 1d100 (10)= 76, 21, 33, 73, 19, 41, 94, 83, 69, 63 +10(Master Gunner) +5 (Gun Crew) -15(Maneuvering Ship) -20(Small Targets) 2/10 hits!}
Feeling your ship rattle and rumble from the prolounged back engines, you watched the black puffs of exploding shells rain down on the pirate floatilla. It should have been an inspiring sight, except for the fact Lauri was missing so damn much! Two hits in ten shots, only two hits!
"Message for the captain- backwards turbulence spoiling aim!" the talker said, looking at you. Nodding at him, you called out to the engine telegrapher and pilot.
"All engines full, hard port rudder. We can't keep-"
{Ship Handling: 1d100=18 +15(Ship) +20(Pilot)= 53/60 Failure!}
For a second, you paused as a loud crack rang out and the yokes slammed into Jack. Pailing, the Talker looked at you.
"Damage report from engineering- main elevator coupler just snapped!" the talker said, looking at you expectantly and listening. "They have it under local control and can do a midair repair once the fight's done, and piloting station will have secondary elevator control soon!"
"Thought that might happen." Jack muttered, rubbing his head from where the yoke hit him. "Croixs-Zeppelin tail surfaces hate backdrafts."
"Well, next time tell me." You said, frowining. "Talker, send to broadside gun stations to prepare for engagement."
"Wilco."
Your mind was churning, wheels turning. You'd gained some altitude on the pirates, and maybe a minute with that little stunt. In exchange, you'd definitely need some time in a serious port facility to commission a new main elevator coupler.
BOOOM…
Growling, you heard the whistle of the enemy cannon, and hissed quietly. "It seems the bastards want to fire at us. Talker to Guns- take out the one that just shot at us!"
"Aye sir!"
{Fire Gun x10: 1d100 (10)= 42, 82, 40, 55, 23, 49, 38, 61, 41, 15 +10(Master Gunner) +5 (Gun Crew) -20(Small Targets) 1/10 hits!}
Again, you watched the barrage of angry shells fly out, the time with only one hitting the offending skiff that had fired on you. The shell's explosion left it tattered, the crew frantically scrambling to jettison material as you saw it stagger drunkenly and descend without the precipts of control behind it. The first craft you'd hit was in similar condition, having jettisoned the guns with attached parachutes for a resumed later recovery. Ballast had already been dumped, the water glimmering as it trickled out of the holes in the tanks they used.
"Port broadside claims they have a solution, sir" the talker said, avidly watching the destruction.
"Port broadside may fire at will."
{Fire Gun x10: 1d100 (10)= 8, 2, 39, 79, 20, 10, 87, 41, 30, 80, 95, 93 +5(Gun Crew) -20(Small Targets) -10(No ranging) 3/10 hits!)
As the Gatling mounted in the Caroline Anaheim's waist opened up, you watched with intrest as seemingly nothing happened, until the stream of bullets crossed over the enemy craft for a moment. Undettered, the gunners kept searching with their streams, finally getting a solid bead and raking the craft over. Moments later, a lucky shot caught her engines or fuel tanks, prompting a fireball in the sky as the ship's fuel caught on fire, her hydrogen balloons going off a moment later.
Hissing, you watched the fireball carefully, shapes plummeting from the balloon.
"They knew what they were getting into." Jack said flatly, nudging the nose further port to give the gunners better shots on the remaining two craft. "Let's hope they don't mind learning how soft the ground isn't."
"Still…" you murmered, thoughts racing to the lift cells that held your own craft airborne. "It can't… just…"
"And this is why I left the Navy." Jack grumbled, kicking the elevator up a half degree. "Yo, Gauges, what's our feet ASL?"
"About six fifty, Chief."
"Gotcha."
Shaking your head to get the macabre thoughts out of your mind, you thought carefully. Your Espatiers needed to be blooded, after all, and your ship was a nightmare to fight in. Besides, given the massive trauma those lifters had taken you figured that they wouldn't be shooting any more. Damage control would be a far more important task.
"Talker, get me the Espatier Chief."
Moments later, Lucia was on call. Moving over to the talker's station, you moved over to the listening pipe.
"Captain to Espatier Chief- How do you feel about a practice boarding?"
You could feel Lucia scoffing, and her denial was no surprise. "Hell no. We're barely capable of fighting on this ship, and I don't think you've got boarder recovery equipment. Besides, better to just put those two ships down and be off with it."
"Alright, then." You said, stepping away and letting the talker take his post back. "Order a resumption of fire."
---
Sighing, you wiped a little exhaustion sweat from your brow before heading to the wardroom to meet with McCloud, the chief engineer about that steering linkage. The rest of the battle had concluded long ago, but you wanted to learn about the one piece of damage you'd sustained.
"Captain." The man said, standing up as you entered. "Good to see you."
"Likewise." You said, before looking at the schematic on the table. "I take it this is the diagram for the broken part?"
"Yep." McCloud said, chuckling. "One standard control chain rod. We've got a spare, but they're not cheap."
"Think they've got 'em in Toulouse?" you asked, joking. McCloud shook his head.
"Nope. We'd have to custom-order it, and Toulouse isn't one of the better places for it. We could probably pick one up in Vienna, though."
"Vienna?" you asked. "I never knew the Austrians to be big in the aerostat trade."
"They're not." McCloud said, chuckling. "Thing is, the Germans are, and they're very friendly with the Austrians. More importantly, the southern Serbs are starting to figure out that the skies are the road to the future, and the Russians aren't having it. Might lead to a war eventually, and God knows tensions there are running high, but until then Vienna's the place to pick up American airship parts."
"Noted." You said, chuckling. "We'll have to see if we can arrange a layover there after Toulouse."
"Who knows?" you said, smiling.
Who knew indeed?
VOTES
Battle won- what do?
[] Head into port, report the pirates and see if you can find a new spare.
[] Straight for the Aether- you have hot cargo in your holds, and you need to get it to Toulouse or you're going to run out of money uncomfortably fast.
[] Drop off a message at port, but keep moving. Something's telling you to stay moving, and it's not the promise of a paycheck.
You've got more sky to travel, and enough free time to start planning what to do better next time. What's your next improvement going to be like?
[] You're short on skilled hands and long on ratings. You need to get that fixed!
[] Today showed that while you might be able to beat off a mess of rats, you're no warship. Most air-routes aren't safe, so that might stand changing.
[] Blowing open a chunk of your steering system by accident is a hell of a reminder you need to keep learning the limitations of your ship.
Last edited:
- Location
- Sydney australia
[X] Drop off a message at port, but keep moving. Something's telling you to stay moving, and it's not the promise of a paycheck.
[X] Today showed that while you might be able to beat off a mess of rats, you're no warship. Most air-routes aren't safe, so that might stand changing.
It might just be the excitement of the battle but something about the pirates is off like they knew you would exit using that drop point.
Also were we able to knockout all enemy vessels
[X] Today showed that while you might be able to beat off a mess of rats, you're no warship. Most air-routes aren't safe, so that might stand changing.
It might just be the excitement of the battle but something about the pirates is off like they knew you would exit using that drop point.
Also were we able to knockout all enemy vessels
7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
You got all of them, yes. I decided to just do a coup de grâce instead of rolling all the shots because rolling ten to twelve dice and doing modifiers gets kinda old, fast. The last two were fucked after their turns, which is why I stopped rolling.
- Location
- National Capital Region, USA
Ouch. RNG fucked us there a bit. 6 hits out of 40 shots? I think I can shoot better than that blindfolded. We need some gunnery practice, better gun crews, or both. And more guns, preferably.
[X] Drop off a message at port, but keep moving. Something's telling you to stay moving, and it's not the promise of a paycheck.
[X] You're short on skilled hands and long on ratings. You need to get that fixed!
Just a quick note to the local port admiral, and on our way. And we need better gunners and a crew that's not just 'what we could scrape up'. I don't think the pirates were waiting for us in particular, just any ship that happened to come by on a well-known and well-traveled route.
Not even that - remember that we transitioned through a less-than-stable point. Probably not one that's commonly used.
7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
I'm taking my rough guidelines on how the hits should pan out from Rule the Waves, which is the first and last stop for turn of the century naval combat simulators. Since turn of the century naval gun hit rates were in the 2-7% range, I figure your 14% hit rate is right in the sweet spot between playable and historically accurate.
You guys rolled a 2 out of 100 on the Random Event and Pirates chart. There was no escaping your fate.
Yeah, but I meant, like....we weren't using a point commonly used by traders. So the pirates most likely either were waiting for someone or just recovering from a raid, not lying in actual ambush. It was opportunism, pure and simple. And it did not turn out so well for them.
7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
Another thing to remember is that these guys are using skiffs and cutters- craft that are over-engined, under-weight, and meant to haul cargo for short, non-Aether hops. As a result, pirates love them to death because they can get up to altitude lightning-fast from balloon heating, carry 20-50 guys for the raiding, and carry an obsolete muzzleloader cannon to shoot at people with. If their one, singular shot had hit you, 1d12-2 damage is a hell of a ding in your HP pool and Lift capacity, as well as casualties you'd be hard-pressed to replace.
TortugaGreen
Constantly out of the loop
- Pronouns
- She/Her
That's fair. I have many memories of a line of my raiding destroyers like 5 ships long raining shells onto another DD for something like a half an hour and only hitting once. But then, with DDs you don't have to hit very many times. Gunnery wasn't very accurate then.
- Location
- norway
[X] Drop off a message at port, but keep moving. Something's telling you to stay moving, and it's not the promise of a paycheck.
[X] Blowing open a chunk of your steering system by accident is a hell of a reminder you need to keep learning the limitations of your ship.
[X] Blowing open a chunk of your steering system by accident is a hell of a reminder you need to keep learning the limitations of your ship.
[X] Straight for the Aether- you have hot cargo in your holds, and you need to get it to Toulouse or you're going to run out of money uncomfortably fast
[X] Blowing open a chunk of your steering system by accident is a hell of a reminder you need to keep learning the limitations of your ship.
I would have liked to try and claim the dropped armaments of the pirates. Even poor guns sell high. Even more so if you get them for free.
[X] Blowing open a chunk of your steering system by accident is a hell of a reminder you need to keep learning the limitations of your ship.
I would have liked to try and claim the dropped armaments of the pirates. Even poor guns sell high. Even more so if you get them for free.
- Location
- norway
yes, looting the fallen foes is a well regarded tradition of RP
ConfusedPotato
Unverified Verifier
- Location
- Australia
[X] Drop off a message at port, but keep moving. Something's telling you to stay moving, and it's not the promise of a paycheck.
[X] Blowing open a chunk of your steering system by accident is a hell of a reminder you need to keep learning the limitations of your ship.
[X] Blowing open a chunk of your steering system by accident is a hell of a reminder you need to keep learning the limitations of your ship.
7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
See, that would involve bleeding off hydrgoen. Very expensive hydrogen. It would cost more to refuel than the guns were worth, easily.
[X] Straight for the Aether- you have hot cargo in your holds, and you need to get it to Toulouse or you're going to run out of money uncomfortably fast
[X] Blowing open a chunk of your steering system by accident is a hell of a reminder you need to keep learning the limitations of your ship.
[X] Blowing open a chunk of your steering system by accident is a hell of a reminder you need to keep learning the limitations of your ship.
- Location
- Pilipinas
New
[X] Straight for the Aether- you have hot cargo in your holds, and you need to get it to Toulouse or you're going to run out of money uncomfortably fast
[X] Blowing open a chunk of your steering system by accident is a hell of a reminder you need to keep learning the limitations of your ship.
[X] Straight for the Aether- you have hot cargo in your holds, and you need to get it to Toulouse or you're going to run out of money uncomfortably fast
[X] Blowing open a chunk of your steering system by accident is a hell of a reminder you need to keep learning the limitations of your ship.
- Location
- St. Petersburg
6 out of 30, and two of those checks were basically DC80 shots after all the modifiers. 20% success rate is about right for those.
The only thing we underperformed at was the second check which was a DC65 shot, yet we only landed 1 hit out of 10.
What we need is the factors that can overcome the negative modifiers. We already have a master gunner, so better - or rather, better specialized - guns is probably the way to go.
[x] Straight for the Aether- you have hot cargo in your holds, and you need to get it to Toulouse or you're going to run out of money uncomfortably fast.
[x] Blowing open a chunk of your steering system by accident is a hell of a reminder you need to keep learning the limitations of your ship.
Can we get the more detailed stats (HP/Max Lift) on pirate vessels after they got downed, just to see what we were dealing with? I take it Continuous Fire didn't even trigger as we defeated them in the very first round?
7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
Continuous Fire did trigger, actually- you'll note there were twelve rolls when there should have been just ten. As for actual numbers, they vary by encounter as I do roll the dice and discard rolls under half for enemy ship HP and Lift. What's important to note (and was planned for you to learn if you'd ran or used a crappy battle plan) is that weapon damage deals in full to Lift, but half only to HP.
Also, as a note to Rounds in Combat, the entire encounter was actually 30 rounds long theoretically, with rolls handled in 10-round batches. Thing is, Strypgia's plan worked like a charm, and when the pirates attacked they needed to spend a lot of time getting into range. Add five rounds from Stryp's plan, and the one, singular shot they got off missed by a mile (mostly because it was a DC 95 after modifiers) so you had plenty of time to handle the issue.
menosay
Quietly laughing at nothing in particular.
[X] Straight for the Aether- you have hot cargo in your holds, and you need to get it to Toulouse or you're going to run out of money uncomfortably fast
[X] Blowing open a chunk of your steering system by accident is a hell of a reminder you need to keep learning the limitations of your ship.
[X] Blowing open a chunk of your steering system by accident is a hell of a reminder you need to keep learning the limitations of your ship.
prince84
In central Dogma flirting with Lilith.
- Location
- The Madness Place
[X] Straight for the Aether- you have hot cargo in your holds, and you need to get it to Toulouse or you're going to run out of money uncomfortably fast
[X] Blowing open a chunk of your steering system by accident is a hell of a reminder you need to keep learning the limitations of your ship.
[X] Blowing open a chunk of your steering system by accident is a hell of a reminder you need to keep learning the limitations of your ship.
Silk and Canvas
7734
Trust and verify.
- Location
- Philmont
Sighing quietly, you sat in your Bridge Chair and looked around. You should be on hand for this, and anyway all you were doing was looking for the main Aether transference point. Still, you and everyone were rattled after getting jumped, so things were not exactly skippy.
"Captain." Jack said, calmly from his piloting chair. "Listen, you know this is going to be slow, right?"
"Yes." You said, breathing in and out.
"Well, mind letting me off shift a little early?" Jack asked, hopefully.
"Hmmm." You replied, raising an eyebrow. "On one hand, fresh pilot for the Aether transition tomorrow. On the other hand, said transmission is again tomorrow. Plus I have the midnight watch, and that's bound to be fun."
Jack blinked a few times at this. "Wait. I've got the morning to noon. Who's our third pilot?"
"Me." You said, chuckling. "Didn't exactly have the cash on hand to buy a crew, and a ship, and a cargo. Had to cut somewhere."
"You paid me in shares." Jack said, blinking. "I never asked how much said shares were worth."
"Well, considering that right now we're worth the ship and the cargo and that's it…" you said, shrugging. "Right now, we're actually pretty well set up for treading water. A good trip after this, and we should be raking in the cash."
"My Da told me never to accept pay in shares." Jack muttered, before you patted his shoulder.
"Relax, Jack! How long have you known me?"
"Eight months ish."
"And have I ever done you wrong?"
Jack raised an eye. "Aside from a pressing case of alligator arms, no."
"Exactly." You said, chuckling. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to catch a nap."
---
Moving off the bridge, you went to your modest cabin and sighed. The captain's cabin was almost on top of the bridge, and more importantly was also right under the crew's mess. Anaheim Shipbuilding had fucked up the design there all right. Sighing, you just stripped down to a ratty pair of breeches to sleep in and buried yourself in the nest of covers and duvets that made up your bed. Curling up in a ball, you started to snooze happily.
Hours passed, until you felt a hand on your shoulder. Muttering, you looked out at Donald, who just smirked at you.
"Navigator's found the next jump point, and we're about a half hour out." He said, looking at you. "C'mon, Alek, up and at 'em."
"For fuck's sake, Donald…" you muttered. "Can't a man wake up by himself?"
"You? No." he said, chuckling. "C'mon, there's soup in the kitchen, and the cooks have mostly fresh bread."
"Fiiiiiine." You complained, getting out and getting dressed quickly in the cool air. "Gonna need to look into a better heating system." You said, frowning.
"Yeah, well, it's an Anaheim boat." Donald said, pointing to the company seal buried in a bulkhead. "You know they hate running steam lines outside the engine rooms."
"No, actually, I didn't." you replied, slinging on your coat. "My dad's ship was a tea clipper from Roscoe and Heismann."
Leaving your room, you took the short walk to the kitchen's small wardroom. An officer's mess in essence, there was a counter to the kitchen where a server stood, blinking.
"Food." You said, making food-shaped gestures. The server nodded, passing you a steaming mug of tea. Taking a sip, you grinned. Coffee it might not be, but a thick black tea was almost as good. Soon enough, a bowl of black bean soup followed up with a thick ham sandwich were produced. Dipping the sandwich in the soup, you looked around for Donald, who'd predictably disappeared to do first-mate-y things. Once the soup and sandwich were done, you topped off on tea and got back to the bridge.
"Captain on deck." You said, smirking quietly. Jack looked half-dead at the wheel when you tapped him on the shoulder and gestured for him to move.
"You sure?" he asked, blinking. Nodding, you shooed him off the bridge.
---
It was ten minutes later when Elisabeth showed up, smoothing her skirt out and now only with her octant.
"Good morning, Elizabeth." You said cordially, watching her take a bearing carefully. Wordlessly, she nodded and scurried around to her seat, looking at one of her charts carefully.
Minutes later, you sighed. It was just you, her, and the signals man here right now on the bridge, and to be frank the odds of your designated staring man striking up a conversation were none. Sighing, you squinted a little, looking for the flashes in the sky. Fiddling with a slide rule, Elisabeth frowned behind you.
"Captain… I think it's going to be a high point."
"Noted." You replied, taking a moment to engage the lock on the wheel and walk over to the talker's tubes. "Bridge to forward lookouts, come in."
"Forward lookouts, aye." A voice replied, their teeth practicly clattering. "We can't see shit, Bridge. Also, there's icing on the forward cats."
"Rodger." You said, rolling your shoulders. Looking over at Elisabeth, you sighed and started scanning the skies. Looking over to port, you thought you saw a glimmer. "Is that it?"
Humming, Elisabeth checked her charts. "Should be."
{Handle Ship Roll: 1d100= 77 +39(Air Sense) +5(Skyborn) +15(Ship Bonus) -25 (Murky Transition) 101/80}
"Wait, I think I see it." You said, squinting. "Gonna be a hat trick to grab it. Can you ask the spotters what the wind is?"
Nodding, Elisabeth went to the speaking pipes, coming back moments later. "Wind off our port stern, small downdraft."
"Good, good." You replied. "Alright, time to fly."
Reaching over, you slugged down the last of your tea, and pocketed the warm mug before reaching over. Pulling the elevators to the max before the alarms, you looked at the gauge man.
"What's our angle of ascent?"
"Eight degrees, sir."
Frowning, you looked over. Disabling the angle alarm on the elevators with a sharp rap, you kicked it up further until you felt the deck stabilize.
"Fifteen degrees, sir. We're at max ascending tilt."
Glaring at the Aether Point, you slapped the alarms. Now it was time to strike the rudder, jiggling the elevators to put some roll in the ship. Locking your feet against the deck, you held the wheel steady as you approached.
"Navigator!" you called out, hearing the Roll and Tilt alarms sounding. "What's the other side look like?"
"I don't know!" she said, holding onto her chair with a death grip.
"Only one way to-" you yelled, as you transitioned abruptly. Unlike before, this one was sharp, lighting your skin on fire for a brief second as you pushed through.
That's when you heard the wind.
{Handle Ship Roll: 1d100= 7 +39(Air Sense) +5(Skyborn) +15(Ship Bonus) 66/65}
"FUCK!" you roared, as the ship started rolling sharply. You'd come in sideways to the wind, and with your elevators still canted you were starting to go into freefall if you didn't grab the roof handle as you ballenced the elevators.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" yelled Elisabeth as she toppled out of her chair, banging into the speaker's station as the ship nearly went to a right angle of reality. Meanwhile, you were slamming the emergency alarm, balancing the rudder, and trying to get the ship steady. As the roll started to subside, you hissed quietly as you kept slamming on the elevators to keep the ship's rocking down.
"AAAAAaaaaaaahhhhhh…" Elisabeth said, petering off. "My ribs…"
Sighing, you opened the top button on your coat and breathed out. "Damage report?" you asked carefully, looking around. The gauges man seemed to be doing fine, having grabbed his strap and stayed at his station through thick and thin. Elisabeth was moaning quietly, and you were sweating bullets.
"The hell?" Donald yelled, coming through the door angrily. "What happened, Alek?"
"Bad transition." You said, sighing. "Scrounge up a spare helmsman, please. I need to do something."
Shit Happened.
[] (Write-in)
"Captain." Jack said, calmly from his piloting chair. "Listen, you know this is going to be slow, right?"
"Yes." You said, breathing in and out.
"Well, mind letting me off shift a little early?" Jack asked, hopefully.
"Hmmm." You replied, raising an eyebrow. "On one hand, fresh pilot for the Aether transition tomorrow. On the other hand, said transmission is again tomorrow. Plus I have the midnight watch, and that's bound to be fun."
Jack blinked a few times at this. "Wait. I've got the morning to noon. Who's our third pilot?"
"Me." You said, chuckling. "Didn't exactly have the cash on hand to buy a crew, and a ship, and a cargo. Had to cut somewhere."
"You paid me in shares." Jack said, blinking. "I never asked how much said shares were worth."
"Well, considering that right now we're worth the ship and the cargo and that's it…" you said, shrugging. "Right now, we're actually pretty well set up for treading water. A good trip after this, and we should be raking in the cash."
"My Da told me never to accept pay in shares." Jack muttered, before you patted his shoulder.
"Relax, Jack! How long have you known me?"
"Eight months ish."
"And have I ever done you wrong?"
Jack raised an eye. "Aside from a pressing case of alligator arms, no."
"Exactly." You said, chuckling. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to catch a nap."
---
Moving off the bridge, you went to your modest cabin and sighed. The captain's cabin was almost on top of the bridge, and more importantly was also right under the crew's mess. Anaheim Shipbuilding had fucked up the design there all right. Sighing, you just stripped down to a ratty pair of breeches to sleep in and buried yourself in the nest of covers and duvets that made up your bed. Curling up in a ball, you started to snooze happily.
Hours passed, until you felt a hand on your shoulder. Muttering, you looked out at Donald, who just smirked at you.
"Navigator's found the next jump point, and we're about a half hour out." He said, looking at you. "C'mon, Alek, up and at 'em."
"For fuck's sake, Donald…" you muttered. "Can't a man wake up by himself?"
"You? No." he said, chuckling. "C'mon, there's soup in the kitchen, and the cooks have mostly fresh bread."
"Fiiiiiine." You complained, getting out and getting dressed quickly in the cool air. "Gonna need to look into a better heating system." You said, frowning.
"Yeah, well, it's an Anaheim boat." Donald said, pointing to the company seal buried in a bulkhead. "You know they hate running steam lines outside the engine rooms."
"No, actually, I didn't." you replied, slinging on your coat. "My dad's ship was a tea clipper from Roscoe and Heismann."
Leaving your room, you took the short walk to the kitchen's small wardroom. An officer's mess in essence, there was a counter to the kitchen where a server stood, blinking.
"Food." You said, making food-shaped gestures. The server nodded, passing you a steaming mug of tea. Taking a sip, you grinned. Coffee it might not be, but a thick black tea was almost as good. Soon enough, a bowl of black bean soup followed up with a thick ham sandwich were produced. Dipping the sandwich in the soup, you looked around for Donald, who'd predictably disappeared to do first-mate-y things. Once the soup and sandwich were done, you topped off on tea and got back to the bridge.
"Captain on deck." You said, smirking quietly. Jack looked half-dead at the wheel when you tapped him on the shoulder and gestured for him to move.
"You sure?" he asked, blinking. Nodding, you shooed him off the bridge.
---
It was ten minutes later when Elisabeth showed up, smoothing her skirt out and now only with her octant.
"Good morning, Elizabeth." You said cordially, watching her take a bearing carefully. Wordlessly, she nodded and scurried around to her seat, looking at one of her charts carefully.
Minutes later, you sighed. It was just you, her, and the signals man here right now on the bridge, and to be frank the odds of your designated staring man striking up a conversation were none. Sighing, you squinted a little, looking for the flashes in the sky. Fiddling with a slide rule, Elisabeth frowned behind you.
"Captain… I think it's going to be a high point."
"Noted." You replied, taking a moment to engage the lock on the wheel and walk over to the talker's tubes. "Bridge to forward lookouts, come in."
"Forward lookouts, aye." A voice replied, their teeth practicly clattering. "We can't see shit, Bridge. Also, there's icing on the forward cats."
"Rodger." You said, rolling your shoulders. Looking over at Elisabeth, you sighed and started scanning the skies. Looking over to port, you thought you saw a glimmer. "Is that it?"
Humming, Elisabeth checked her charts. "Should be."
{Handle Ship Roll: 1d100= 77 +39(Air Sense) +5(Skyborn) +15(Ship Bonus) -25 (Murky Transition) 101/80}
"Wait, I think I see it." You said, squinting. "Gonna be a hat trick to grab it. Can you ask the spotters what the wind is?"
Nodding, Elisabeth went to the speaking pipes, coming back moments later. "Wind off our port stern, small downdraft."
"Good, good." You replied. "Alright, time to fly."
Reaching over, you slugged down the last of your tea, and pocketed the warm mug before reaching over. Pulling the elevators to the max before the alarms, you looked at the gauge man.
"What's our angle of ascent?"
"Eight degrees, sir."
Frowning, you looked over. Disabling the angle alarm on the elevators with a sharp rap, you kicked it up further until you felt the deck stabilize.
"Fifteen degrees, sir. We're at max ascending tilt."
Glaring at the Aether Point, you slapped the alarms. Now it was time to strike the rudder, jiggling the elevators to put some roll in the ship. Locking your feet against the deck, you held the wheel steady as you approached.
"Navigator!" you called out, hearing the Roll and Tilt alarms sounding. "What's the other side look like?"
"I don't know!" she said, holding onto her chair with a death grip.
"Only one way to-" you yelled, as you transitioned abruptly. Unlike before, this one was sharp, lighting your skin on fire for a brief second as you pushed through.
That's when you heard the wind.
{Handle Ship Roll: 1d100= 7 +39(Air Sense) +5(Skyborn) +15(Ship Bonus) 66/65}
"FUCK!" you roared, as the ship started rolling sharply. You'd come in sideways to the wind, and with your elevators still canted you were starting to go into freefall if you didn't grab the roof handle as you ballenced the elevators.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" yelled Elisabeth as she toppled out of her chair, banging into the speaker's station as the ship nearly went to a right angle of reality. Meanwhile, you were slamming the emergency alarm, balancing the rudder, and trying to get the ship steady. As the roll started to subside, you hissed quietly as you kept slamming on the elevators to keep the ship's rocking down.
"AAAAAaaaaaaahhhhhh…" Elisabeth said, petering off. "My ribs…"
Sighing, you opened the top button on your coat and breathed out. "Damage report?" you asked carefully, looking around. The gauges man seemed to be doing fine, having grabbed his strap and stayed at his station through thick and thin. Elisabeth was moaning quietly, and you were sweating bullets.
"The hell?" Donald yelled, coming through the door angrily. "What happened, Alek?"
"Bad transition." You said, sighing. "Scrounge up a spare helmsman, please. I need to do something."
Shit Happened.
[] (Write-in)
Spectral Waltz
Scatterbrained Writer
- Location
- Walking the Endless Corridors
[x] Check for injured? Get a report from the engine room on the current state of the machinery? Make sure nothing got too horribly screwed up by the maneuver?