[i]Annaveya Kushrina[/i] - [u]The Western Cross[/u]

[u]Good Company for Lennard[/u]

A clear voice that was not the Kushrina Captain echoed through the depths of Lennard's ship in response to his request. It was the Dawn's Air Traffic Controller, with his always monotone, professional demure.

[color=39b54a]"Copy that, change course to zero-niner-zero degrees and hold course for the catch wires."[/color]

Far ahead of Lennard aboard the Dawn, a scattering of men darted across the top landing deck. Thick, tensile wires then stretched across the width of the ship itself, waiting patiently for the former military man to land his craft and a wave from the crewman to the tower marked the readiness for the Tower to speak once again.

[color=39b54a]"You're clear to drop. The Cross will be out shortly on a reconnaissance sortie, but she'll be back soon enough. Enjoy."[/color] Once Lennard would come to a skidding halt upon the blackened flying runway, he would find nearly a dozen crewmen standing sharply at attention with a Pilot, the Callsign Hrist-Zero-Seven waiting for him once he departed from his Airship.

[color=f7941d]"Welcome aboard, Captain. The Mistress will be dropping in on Coldiron shortly. She'll be back to speak with you about an opportunity at hand. Would you like to hear it from her, or from me?"[/color] He spoke crisply, sharply, with the hint of arrogance that Kushrina Pilots were known for. 

[hr]

[u]Dropping In For a Party[/u]

Far below decks in her personal office, Annaveya smoothly picked up the envelope in her hands as she slipped a knife into the edge of it. Sliding the blade across, the Merchant Naval Captain carefully extracted the series of blueprints. Leafing through them mildly, she crooked an eyebrow. They were roughly hewn, as expected of a military force who was still experimenting in aviation; but the project itself was plenty ambitious. 

[i][color=f6989d]A Flying Fortress, hm?[/color][/i]

Compared to the blueprints she possessed concerning the Dawn and its inner workings and machinations, it certainly needed a good amount of work and improving. That aside, she simply folded her fingertips together in front of her after she settled the blueprints down upon the table. 

[color=f6989d]"Well, good Valkyrie."[/color] The infamous Western Cross stated amiably with a constantly unsettling professional air about her. [color=f6989d]"We of the Kushrina Mercantile Company will be more than happy to assist your Queen in this venture. But as you very well know, such talents we hire are rather credible, oft revolutionary in fact in terms of their inventiveness."[/color]

Drumming her fingertips upon the envelope that held the blueprints for a moment, the Kushrina Captain studied the Valkyrie for a moment. She knew all too well the kind of metals that could be unearthed from Archadian soil; and of course there was doubly the benefit of raw currency. 

Why not have both?

Yes, both. Both would be good. 

[color=f6989d]"Our initial offer is we will lend you seven of some of our most talented Aeronautical Engineers for a period of four years. This however, will come at a price, as all talent does. Twenty-million worth of Archadian Gold, and private ownership of forty-five of your most bountiful Mines in return for our investment. Naturally, the locale of said mines will receive benefits of such fruit; it is only just that it happens as such."[/color]

A long pause happened then as the sum was rather large, but it was well known that there simply wasn't another company or privately owned corporation that was further along in Aeronautical development than the Kushrina Company, so the Valkyrie begrudgingly nodded.

With a wry and cunning smile, Annaveya took a little satisfaction in the advantageousness of this deal. Archadian mines oft held rare metals, ones that were sturdy but light; and were simply magnificent to combine into alloys for further advancements in speed and agility. 

[color=f6989d]"Well, I will have my Second in Command oversee the writing of this contract,"[/color] She continued, only to be interrupted by the knock upon her office's door.

[color=f6989d]"Come in."[/color]

Hurriedly, a crewman pushed the door wide open and Annaveya impatiently looked to him as he finally spoke. [color=0072bc]"Ma'am! We're over Coldiron now, at thirty-four thousand feet. They do not have a dock for a ship our size, it's still being built."[/color]

Sighing in almost mocking dismay, the Kushrina Captain made a simple order. [color=f6989d]"Fine then, I suppose we'll have to [i]jump[/i]. Insure that the [i]Devil's Folly[/i] and [i]Mjolnir[/i] do dock under heavy armed guard in Coldiron since they do have the facilities to handle them."[/color]

Casting a sideways glance to Genie, Annaveya offer a telepathic word of sympathy as she ruffled scratched the thick hide between the massive white direwolf's ears. Affectionate words that only she and Genie could hear. [i][color=f6989d]Seems like there is no rest for the wicked, my dear friend, I should be back soon enough. Keep an eye on the Valkyrie and her [b]pet[/b] for me, will you?[/color][/i]

Standing then and dusting off her hands, she would look to the waiting crewman.

[color=f6989d]"Order Strike Team Six to the drop deck. Edoric and I will meet them there. Full weapons"[/color] Motioning for the two guards at the door to take the Pirate, she only offered a nonchalant glance to the Valkyrie in departure while the crewman sprinted away.[color=f6989d]"Sorry, I have some pertinent [b][i]business[/i][/b] to attend to. My dear Genie is good company, she knows this ship just as well as I do. Won't you give them a tour, dear?"[/color]

Perhaps it seemed a little insane to outsiders that Annaveya was speaking with her hound as if it were truly sentient; but then again only she and Genie knew the truth.

[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOPonJDIQFI]It was time to drop.[/url]

Leading Edoric and the two armed crewmen through the winding labyrinth that was the Dawn's Guard itself, it took some time as she inevitably found herself standing in sealed, pressurized area with eight men that were heavily armed. A far cry from the original teams that had captured Edo, these men were similarly draped in black. Yet the weapons they held were not quite what was normal.

They were slightly longer, made of a subdued blackened metal, and they were sleek. The Pirate might have seen something similar before, but he would be able to recognize them as magazine-fed weapons. 

[color=f6989d]"Afternoon gentlemen."[/color] The Western Cross stated simply. [color=f6989d]"Are you ready for some vacation time?"[/color] A casual chuckle emanated from a few of them while the others remained rigidly silent. [color=f6989d]"We're here today to deliver Edoric Thatch here back to his crew, and naturally recruit them for a future...much more dangerous task. Nonlethal, but disabling rounds. We don't want to kill any of them, copy?"[/color]

A resounding "AYE!" echoed through the empty hallway. [color=f6989d]"You've already all been given reconnaissance reports on the target location, as well as old blueprint records. We're going in quietly...we do not want to make a mess today."[/color]

Quickly, two crewmen came forward and strapped a heavy backpack onto both Edoric and Anna. Attaching then a mask with a bottle of oxygen also attached to it that lay embedded in the chute, Keener eyes would realize that the eight men that stood before them had similar equipment. And then they bolted as the loud sound of machinery going to work caused a crack of light to appear at the end of the chamber. Once it was fully opened, all could stand at the edge and see Coldiron far below, as tiny as ever while Viltgances also circled beneath. 

Two of which were heading in towards the city's dock for purposes alluding to repair.

At once, all eight men broke into a sprint like madmen and leapt from the Dawn's Guard.

Edoric, while standing at the edge would feel a boot plant into the middle of his back as Annaveya promptly kicked him off the side with a sense of utter satisfaction. She had been waiting for some time to do that after all. 

Lastly leaping from the craft itself, she folded her arms inward to give herself a more aerodynamic figure as she caught up with the descending pirate while the wind roared past them. With increasing rapidity, Coldiron rose up to meet them, and simultaneously as the city was so close that they could almost touch it, all ten parachutes opened at the last possible second.

Barely moments later, all ten dropped and hit the ground and with a swift, silent hand motion from Annaveya, five of them disappeared. Tailed slightly by three others who blended impeccably into the shadows, Anna walked with Edoric into the entrance towards the docks that supposedly housed his Pirate crew. By now, the Pirate's bonds had been cut and he could walk freely...mostly. 

[color=f6989d]"Well, where are they?"[/color]

[hr]

[u]A Radio'd [s]Warning[/s] Greeting[/u]

Elsewhere in the distance, Gutters managed an outstanding streak of luck as he escaped his pursuers and emerged from the thick maddening depths of the fog and once again saw the sapphire beauty that was the sky. Distantly over a town he could see a massive shadow that slowly circled about the town accompanied by silhouettes of other airships alongside it. 

Judging by the fact that the nose of his vessel was also pointed directly at the circling Capitol Ship certainly didn't bode well. 

Yet more importantly, there was a garbled breaking of radio traffic upon the small, barely functioning airship full of corpses that he had [s]stolen[/s] borrowed. 

[color=39b54a]"Hail and respond, unknown vessel. This is the Air Traffic Control Tower aboard the Kushrina Mercantile Navy. State your bearing and purpose or you will be targeted as a Pirate. Over."[/color]