Raymond awoke from the crash. He was still strapped into his seat, and the skyship was still intact, mostly. People were calling out across the ship, running through the corridors. The alarms were blaring, and pipes were bleeding steam. Raymond unbuckled himself from his seat and fell to the floor. He fought the urge to hurl as he stood and grabbed a passerby by the arm. He wore the uniform of a skyship engineer. "What's going on?"

"We crashed." Raymond asked what in specific was happening. "There's a fire on the aft starboard deck, it hasn't hurt anyone, but it could ignite the hydrogen balloons and blow us all to hell. Also the aft cargo door is jammed so we can't disembark anyone or anything, I'm looking for anyone who can help."

"Alright, go to the forward port passenger module and tell the people there the Chief needs them. Send them to help with the fire and the doors. In the mean time, start evacuating people through the maintenance hatches." The skyship engineer nodded and ran off. Raymond started limping towards the cargo bay. 

As far as he could tell, their skyship was struck by another. Perhaps it had lost control or been damaged in the storm, maybe infected had overrun it and left it without guidance. Raymond hoped the case was one of the former. Their skyship had already had some issues with infected aboard, but they were swiftly dealt with. Raymond hoped the accursed plague hadn't followed them, but there likely wasn't much hope of that.

The cargo hold was packed with supplies and people trying to get out of the imperiled skyship. Ray had to push his way through the crowd to get to the doors and examine the malfunction. People were calling out questions, each trying to get a grasp of the situation and add their advice. "Why aren't the doors opening?" "Somebody get to the door controls." "Where's the Captain?" "Why'd we crash?" "Try prying them open!" "Who's in charge here?" "Those doors are too big to just pry open." "Why ain't the buttons working?"

Raymond noticed the motors weren't moving which meant there was no power or the wiring was damaged. He had no time to hunt down a break in wiring, nor the tools to fix it, so he started looking for a manual crank. Sure enough he found one, and no one had noticed because nobody by the door had any mechanical experience. Calling for help to turn it, Raymond got the crank turning, but slowly: the rusty thing hadn't been maintenanced in what looked like months. People began pouring out of the skyship in an ever increasing trickle. 

Once the cargo doors were fully open, Raymond joined the throng outside the airship and took in his surroundings. The mass of survivors looked around and chattered as they took in theor surroundings. They had landed on some kind of plateau on a mountain slope. [i]We can at least get a good view of their surroundings from up here.[/i] Raymond thought. A jungle was a few miles down the slope, and only a mile or two up the slope was snow. [i]At least water won't be too much of an issue.[/i] Raymond's thoughts were interrupted by a woman in her 40s or 50s. "You are the one who opened the doors, am I right?"

"Um, yes, ma'am."

"You saved all our lives. Thank you." 

Ray was taken aback; he hadn't really thought about the situation like that. People began murmuring to one another about this revelation, some skeptical, others grateful, most confused. The old woman lingered, expecting Raymond to say something, so he dumbly said, "Well, there was a fire onboard and I had to get everyone off before the hydrogen balloons went up. It could have killed everyone." This admission only stirred more chatter among the survivors. Their gossip increased in volume again when the skyship engineer Raymond had stopped came out of the ship with some of Raymond's union members and explained the fire was under control and that the men Raymond had directed to help were instrumental in putting the fire out.

"So, where's the Captain?" Raymond asked. 

The engineer shook his head. "That skyship that hit us sheared off the entire cockpit."

"So who's in charge?" Ray asked. "You?" 

The engineer shook his head and raised his hands. "No, sir, not me. If anyone, I think you should be in charge."

The crowd looked on expectantly, and Raymond sighed. "Okay. I need someone, uhh, you. Get a head count going, find out how many people are alive and kicking. You get a burial detail organized for anyone who didn't make it. See if we have a preacher in the group. I need you two to take inventory of what supplies we have, and you," he pointed to the engineer, "Get me a report on the skyship's condition." 

The engineer saluted. "Sure thing, Chief... uh..."

"The name's Skalter. Union Chief Raymond Skalter."