[center][i][h3][color=0054a6][b]Now I Only Want You Gone[/b][/color][/h3][/i][/center] [i]They stood in a circular pattern around it, their hunchback forms attentively observing it. Their eyes were filled with anticipation. Soon, soon it will begin. A time of worship. A time of toil. For it. For the Great One. The merciful Great One. The one who guards them. The one who sheltered them in its womb when the whole world was falling apart. Ah, ah, here it comes. The lights! The pale blue shine struck their near-blind eyes used to the darkness, but it didn't hurt. No, no, the blessings of the Great One can never hurt. As the light got brighter they could feel the ground beneath their feet tremble. No, not just ground. Everything around them quaked. Their whole world. Realizing this they began feeling ecstatic and prostrated themselves on the ground. Suddenly a loud DUM filled their ears and they saw the light above them expand to twice its size and the blue lines started rushing out of it in every direction. The tremors grew stronger and a wail so loud it swallowed every other sound came from everywhere around them. It is here! IT. IS. HERE! They lifted themselves to the sitting position, then prostrated again, then lifted, then raised... They began repeating that process indefinitely. The movement of their bodies exhibited liveliness and joy of magnitude their pitiful existences didn't feet in ages. And how could they not feel it? The time has come again! [color=92278f]""[b]The Great One has awoken![/b]""[/color] [/i] [center]--------------------------------------[/center] [u][color=00aeef][b]11th of May, Year 214 of the New Imperial Calendar (Year 2556 of the Old Imperial Calendar) Imperial Base Trigal, Albaham[/b][/color][/u] Looking at the pile of paperwork stacked upon his desk, Grand Marshal Bela Eskatez felt that he was growing old, even though for a baraki he was still in the full swing of his adult strength. When did things get so huge? He started his military career in the army of 7000 men, but now he's leading one made out 500,000 soldiers and his was only a fragment of the whole machine which was being prepared at the borders of the Warden Kingdom. Somewhere during the past century, when the Empire lied dormant for a few decades, the scale of war it was capable of conducting became incredibly large. He made a wry smile thinking about the generals in Juren. They'll probably never think to raise an army larger than few hundred thousands. They'll be cruelly and bloodily awoken to the new reality of the world. Bela was stirred out of his thoughts by the sound of his office door opening. A young oxidal woman entered the room and gave a salute. [b][color=f49ac2]"My lord Grand Marshal, Commander Shuda is here."[/color] [/b] [color=0054a6][b]"Send him in."[/b][/color] Bela scowled. He didn't like Shuda. In fact, he didn't like arkards, at all. They felt utterly alien to him and he had too many bad past experiences with their kind to be comfortable around them. Which is why, as the young looking man entered his office, Bela skipped the greetings and immediately got the point. [color=0054a6][b]"I'm sending you to do some pirate hunting."[/b][/color] He pushed a document in Shunda's direction. [b][color=0054a6]"There's this one pirate who seems to have a bone to pick with the Empire- she's been attacking our gold fleets relentlessly for quite some time now. Soldier's named her "the Red Hood". You are to hunt her down and capture her, alive. I'll be lending you two people in my employ to help you find a ship, crew and the Red Hood herself. These two are not part of the military and neither should the people you hire and the ship you buy be. You are not working in the official capacity here, so if you get yourself in trouble you did it on your free time and the Army has nothing to do with you. Likewise, you are free to do anything you deem necessary to get that pirate to us. We have a few questions we'd like answered."[/color][/b] [hider=Grand Marshal Bela Eskatez] [center][IMG]http://i454.photobucket.com/albums/qq263/Animanijak/BelaEskatez_zpsa009d4b6.jpg[/IMG][/center] [/hider] [center]--------------------------------------[/center] [color=00aeef][u][b]18th of June Skies over Tanjen [/b][/u][/color] Well... that was impressive to be honest. Tyhr was proud of her talent at finding people, and she was scouted by the Empire- Bela, more specifically- because of it, but seeing her in action and getting result real-time was something else. In just a little over a month the hunting party managed to pinpoint the Red Hood's smuggling routes and now they were staring at her ship, about a kilometre away from them. Now the only thing left for the group is to reach it and capture the pirate. "Only". Although their ship had canons and other armaments, they wanted the Red Hood alive and the best case to ensure that is to shot at her ship as little as possible. Add to that the fact that the Red Hood was supposedly damn good at piloting skyships and this was bound to be a difficult chase. The only helpful factor for the hunters is that the ship they were using wasn't any of the standard Imperial ships, so there was no reason for her to feel alarmed at the sight of another vessel. [url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJ-drpEGRc0]The final stage of their hunt was about to begin...[/url]