[color=lightgray][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/67cmA6b.png[/img][/center][hr]
Location: The Bridge of the [i]Stormrider[/i]
Mentions: [url=https://i.imgur.com/ayufbBc.png]First Mate Duren Reiss[/url]
Interactions: Scratch [@Apex Sunburn] [hr]

The bridge of the Stormrider was in chaos. The wounded groaned. Broken panels sparked and hissed. The air hung thick with the iron stench of blood and the aroma of ozone…and the pulsing hum of the elemental ring was beating faint and irregular, like a heart too tired to keep pace. Somewhere aft, a control panel crackled as arcane script unraveled into static. One of the steering servos gave out with a shriek and a burst of blue-white light.

But Captain Jovik Cindralis didn’t hear any of it.

He stood motionless near the shattered forward console, framed in the ruined light of his once-proud helm. Blood ran a thin line down his temple, curling along the edge of his cheekbone before dripping quietly onto the worn decking below. His coat hung heavy, torn and darkened where it had caught the worst of the blast. In one hand, he still clutched his Brelish war saber; old steel, nicked and blackened from the fight. In the other, a custom elemental pistol, its barrel still trailing smoke.

At his feet lay the bodies. Masked assassins, cut down where they’d tried to seize the bridge. Crewmen who died defending it. And [url=https://i.imgur.com/ayufbBc.png]Duren[/url]…his first mate, his friend, the only bastard in the sky he trusted more than himself, was dead among them. The man had died a hero. 

Jovik’s eyes stared through the bodies like they weren’t even there. His jaw was slack, his breath shallow. All the noise in the world had collapsed into a dull, endless ringing in his ears.

Something in him had broken loose during the fight. Not shattered, but... unmoored.

He didn’t know how long he stood there.

It might’ve been seconds. Might’ve been minutes. Time stretched thin in moments like this, suspended between grief and duty. Then a sound filtered through.

A voice…faint and crackling, just beneath the buzz of the broken comms.

[color=EBA536]“Engine control to bridge… you have to land the airship as soon as possible…”[/color]

At first it didn’t register.

[color=EBA536]“…I say again, you have to land the airship as soon as possible…”[/color]

His fingers twitched. The saber in his hand scraped faintly against the floor. He blinked.

[color=EBA536]“…engines we have left aren’t going to last much longer… hull’s on its last legs…”[/color]

Jovik sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth. The ringing in his ears dulled just enough for the weight of the message to settle.

[color=EBA536]“…elemental core is stable for now… but we can’t power any more flight control surfaces without risking another meltdown.”[/color]

The world slammed back into motion.

Jovik turned, eyes sharpening back to form. He dropped to a knee beside Duren’s body…just for a second. Just long enough to press a hand to the man’s shoulder and mutter something the rest of the bridge couldn’t hear.

Then he stood.

He holstered the pistol, slammed a fist into the override rune on the wall, and barked into the damaged comm line with steady fury.

[color=2F8C99]“Scratch, this is Captain Cindralis. Message received. We’ll find a place to land. Just buy us as much time as you can, I’ll buy you a bottle for every minute. Bridge out.”[/color]

He turned toward the shattered console, hands already flying across the controls. Fire spat from exposed lines, but he didn’t flinch. Sparks hissed across his knuckles, but he didn’t stop. He whispered in Draconic, cajoled the elemental ring with every ounce of experience he had left, and set to work rerouting what power they could spare to navigation.

His war wasn’t over. Not yet. The ship was bleeding, the skies were burning, and his first mate was gone.

But the Stormrider was still flying. And so was her captain.
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