Jarred ended up looking for Jac and Beatrix to tell them how his talk with Payam went. He knew the bridge should be the best place to find the captain so it was most likely the best place to start. He made his way up to the bridge and came upon the door, giving a few knocks instead of just barging in. "Captain Jac, Jarred. I've finished talking with Payam."
Kiimi was standing as close to the large glass windows as she could. When she turned to see who it was that came in, she seemed surprised. "Payam? I had a thought for a moment that you might have been Papa.... I'm not sure if I'm ready to talk with him yet, though.... I know I should...," she said before she paused for a while, staring off into the clouds. She then remembered how injured Payam was when she quickly turned back to him,"Are you... feeling better? You probably shouldn't be moving around too much, you were seriously injured." She did have a look of worry as she looked him over.
"I appreciate your concern, My Lady." He said, giving her a small bow. Physically, he looked much better. He had changed into a pair of new clothes and he looked more alert. Though, under all that he appeared preocupied. It was faint, but a careful look at his body language and expressions would reveal it.
"But, I'm doing much better. How about you?"
"I'm uh.... doing okay... I think?" She replied in more of a questioning tone. "So much of what I thought I had know had been wiped away in just the matter of a day. Then it was replaced with gunfire and a bloodline I never knew I had.... and I'm not sure I want. It's all just... a little sudden." She stayed looking to the sky, soaking in every moment of the view.
Payam walked over to Kiimi, stopping right next to her. He took a moment to look out into the sky. Taking in the rare sight of a clear blue sky.
"So it is true, then?" He asked, glancing at Kiimi. If it was... if she was truly King Havkar's daughter. Then it would explain everything.
Kiimi shifted uncomfortably for a moment, "I'm... not sure. But my pendant did match the one the king sent you with. And I don't believe Papa would lie about such a thing. It just feels so unreal, like I'm in a dream I can't wake from." She then turned to Payam before continuing once more. "I also hate the fact that anybody is suffering just because of who I am. Its unbearable to think people are being killed because of it, me being here puts everyone at danger and I am just now realizing that. I'm... worried. For everyone else."
Payam chuckled softly. If only she knew how much she and her brother had in common. Why didn't he notice all this before?
"Your brother would have said the same thing. Took King Havkar several weeks to convince him to accept me as his Royal Bodyguard." He said, recalling fond memories from his teenage years. There it was again. That ache in his chest. His smile faded as soon as he felt that. "In the end though. That's why people like Jarred and I are here for. To make sure you're safe. It's risky, but in the end we do it either because it's our duty or because we care. Sometimes-" He paused for a moment, glancing at the sky before returning to Kiimi "-sometimes it's both."
"I've never seen that side of Papa before today... I knew he got into fights on sone of his, well, what he called 'errands', but it was because he said that it wasn't the best areas to go to. He would come back wounded or a part broken all the time. Slowly, over the years, his organs started to fail and things needed replacing until he became what he is now. Auberi would take care of me while he was gone or would be out getting special parts for Papa. I wonder if Auberi ever knew too..." Kiimi sighed and put her back against the wall under the window and sat down on the floor, her legs folded to the side. "So....what was the king like? And my brother, you said he is a lot like me?"
Payam mimicked Kiimi, sitting down beside her. Though, he sat down with his legs crossed.
"Your father, King Havkar. He was a man of principle, a masterful strategist and politician. It always seemed like he was one step ahead of everyone. Demanding at times, but you knew it was because he cared. A true man of the people and the right person that we needed to lead Leinstein through the War."
Payam said everything with a smile on his face. His eyes seemed to wander off into the distance as he reminisced on the good memories of the past. Though, he seemed to have completely forgotten that Kiimi had asked about Valkner too.
Kiimi nodded. She wasn't sure what she was looking for in the questions, as if she was trying to fulfill some sort of curiosity but not satisfied with the outcome. There was another question she wanted to ask, but she didn't know if she should, as she felt it might undermine their efforts, but she couldn't help but think such efforts were wasted on her, who always seemed so sickly and feeble. What kind of princess is that? Even less a queen if they couldn't save Valkner... Her face still had tell tale signs of being troubled about it.
"Thanks, that helps..." Kiimi stated. Being able to talk with someone helped sort her racing thoughts. She did wonder why he didn't answer about Valkner though. In fact, For someone that was his bodygaurd, he didn't seem to mention him a lot. Maybe he served him out of just 'duty', as he mentioned earlier. "Are... you and Valkner, um...not on good terms?" she asked innocently. "You don't talk much about him..."
"I-I..." Payam stuttered, chuckling to himself as he tried to fix the misunderstanding. "It's not like that. We-we're fine. I just..." He sighed, letting go of whatever was bothering him.
"When we met for the first time, I was supposed to befriend him and then kill him when I had gained his trust. As I got to know him, I continued to miss my chances to accomplish my mission. I-I just couldn't go through with it. For the first time, I had repeatedly failed to take out a target." He took a deep breath, before continuing. "I then realized I just couldn't go through with it. Before they left Delni, I admitted everything to him and your father. How I was part of the Assassins Guild, and what my mission was. I was expecting to be killed on the spot, but your father instead gave me a chance. I pledged to protect the Prince. To give my life for him if I had to in exchange for clemency. He accepted. From then on, Valkner became my purpose and my meaning. For the first time, I had some kind of direction. Your brother and I grew closer after that..."
Payam trailed off for a moment, growing silent. He felt a knot form on his throat then, followed by that same aching feeling on his chest. "I apologize, My Lady. I-I didn't mean to reminisce out loud. Your brother and I are very close. It's... difficult to talk about him."
"N-no, its fine, I don't mind listening. And please," Kiimi continued with a warm smile, "you don't have to be so formal... I'm still just an outcast girl from Mohburg, just call me Kiimi." The less 'princes stuff the better rigt now, especially when she still is trying to wrap her mind around the subject. "If you don't want to talk about him, I understand.... Its hard to talk about people while you are worried about them, wondering if you will see them again," she said, thinking of all the times she worried of Jarred would ever be back.
"So.... my mother then...," Kiimi left it as an open statement, making the connection that it was her mother that very well may have started all of this, and even was the one who wanted to cast her aside.
"Your mother." He paused for a moment, sighing. "Well. The King and Deborah, they married for political reasons. It was to ensure that Cordoria and Leinstein never went to war again. You father told me once that he tried his best to make things work between them, but she hated him. Out of all the things he was able to figure out throughout his years he was never able to get through to his own wife. Even when she despised him, he loved her and tried his best to accomodate her wishes. Eventually, they had a son together. Your brother. Then, tragedy struck. Or at least, that was the official story. I can't tell how she knows you survived your birth, but somehow she's found out. I suppose she wants the throne to herself. Never pretended to know the political machinations of Atmosian nobles..."
Payam sighed, looking at Kiimi for a moment. If only things would have turned out differently. But, perhaps all this suffering and death was worth something. Havkar had to be right.
"Kiimi. No matter what happens, I want you to know that I'll do anything to get your brother back and reunite you two. You deserve that, at least."
Kiimi nodded, as if confirming her suspicions about her mother. As for his promise, while she was interested in meeting her new found brother, she was also quite nervous about it. How would he react to the idea? What would he think of her? Would he see her as some infectious disease like other richer people, or would he welcome her? In her own mind, she thought it may be somewhere between the two, if not for her being an outcast then probably just because their separation would make them mutually distant to one another.
Kiimi looked to Payam once more. "Payam.... thank you for stopping by. I know it may not have been planned for you to come talk with me, but... I'm glad you did," she said as she stood up. "I'm going to go find Auberi and lie down for a little while, I'm starting to feel a bit light headed. You take care of yourself, you are still recovering after all," she said with a wink and then a mini courtesy before leaving.
Jarred rotated the wheel to the bridge and pushed his way through, closing it behind himself as he walked in. "The boy is clean, his story checks out, but if he tries anything, I won't hesitate to put him down. As for the prison, are we closing in? You should see a set of train tracks leading towards a large prison facility. Big, bleak, ugly, and plenty of places to defend from or quell riots within. I can't see too far out from this ship, so you will have to let me know what you see," he said to Jac. "If you notice any trains heading towards the prison instead of Leinstien, let me know. That could be our target in transit, but you will need to use a spyglass to check for enemies in the cars. With any luck, we can intercept them before they even get to the prison."
It just so happened as Jarred was describing this, a train did just come into view, almost exactly how he described, headed in the direction of the prison. "A number of trade ships come through here, so we shouldn't look too out of place.... well.... until we close in that is...," Jarred mentioned, still unaware of the train on the tracks.
Before Jac could even reply to Jarred, they both heard the metal door leading into the bridge open. Stepping inside was Payam, who was now wearing a more appropriate combat attire. He then ran up to the viewing port, looking out to the mountains below.
"I think I know where Valkner is. We've got a chance to get to him before he's sent to Mountain Peak." He said, using one of the observation telescopes that looked out from the viewing port to the ground. The Delni bodyguard barely elaborated on what he was talking about. At that moment, his focus was to get to the Prince. No matter what.
Jac’s day had started well enough, ship was fixed up, crew was paid, all they needed was a job. Now they had a job and Jac wasn’t sure if it was a good one or not. The pay was supposed to be good, if those gems were worth as much as the metal man said they were but getting involved in geopolitics like this might be so dangerous no amount of money could even it out. At least it hadn’t been too hard thus far.
They’d crossed the border into Leinstien earlier in the day, without permission or a flight plan. But crossing borders illegally was old hat for the Libertas, at worst that would result in fines. Approaching a maximum security prison, on the other hand, would be worse than a slap on the wrist. The prison were the leaders of a coup were planning to imprison the only threat to their rule could likely be deadly. Which is why Jac was using every trick he knew to avoid being spotted, they’d avoided all major towns and shipping routes before descending to barely a thousand feet above the ground once night fell. All external lights were off, any rooms with windows that couldn’t be covered were also unlit. The bridge itself was bathed in a dim red light instead of the normal bright incandescent, it was possible to read the displays under the light, but the chances of being spotted from below were effectively zero.
“Two degrees to port,” Jac was saying, watching the line of lights from the rail line below them for navigation. The DRI was decent for finding their way around but it was best when paired with some manner of external assistance. So far they’d been proceeding by following the tracks while taking constant sightings of nearby ‘mountain peaks’ to compare with navigational charts. Jac half snorted to himself when he learned they considered these mountains.
“Aye, captain,” the helmsman nodded, nudging the wheel while watching his compass.
Naturally Jarred and Payam took that moment to barge into the bridge. Jac glanced over at the metal man, suppressing his confusion about his ‘inability to see beyond the ship.’ He didn’t seem to have normal eyes but surely, he could still see? Or maybe whatever clockwork passed for his eyes simply weren’t effective in the dark. Hal, the ship’s engineer, had a pneumatic arm that acted up in odd ways.
“I’d much rather hit a train instead of a prison,” Jac agreed, squinting into the darkness at the distant lights of the train, “but if your man isn’t on that train then surprise will be gone. We should easily be able to catch that train, no way some rail car is going to out run my ship, but information on this rail line is minimal. Would be dangerous for us to pull up alongside, might be best to get ahead of the train and take out a bridge with the forward turret. Try and force them to stop.
“Or,” Jac continued after a moment, “a couple good shots could decouple the engine and train, make it coast to a stop. Either way we’ll have to be fast or we’ll be swimming in Leinstien fighters.”
"I like it. A train would be much easier to take on. We can separate the the prisoner car from the passenger car, board the train, take out any remaining forces, and then pullbthe emergancy break in the car. Should be easy to extract then,"Jarred sgreed. He turned to Payam eho seemed to slip in and rush to a telescope. "Oi, you see anything, kid?"
"That train down there." He said, gesturing at the telescopte he had just used. "It's the only military train that goes to and from Mountain Peak. The insignia are all correct. They must have him in there."
Payam turned, thinking for a moment. Neither Jac's nor Jarred's plan would work.
"None of your plans are going to work." He said, sounding a bit irritated. Desperation, coupled with an increasing adrenaline rush was starting to get to him. "That train is designed to defend against attacks from airships. And, the tracks have been reinforced and protected against sabotage. We'll have to take the direct route and attack the train itself. Drop into the carts and search them. It's the only way we can do this."
The plan sounded like suicide. Get in close to the train and then board it? It sounded mad, but even in Payam's altered state he could make use of his excellent memory. Out of all the plans suggested, his had the highest chance of success. No, it was the one that was going to succeed.
“So…” Jac said slowly, looking across the darkened bridge at the strange young man, “you want me to fly an airship, in the dark, alongside a speeding train while you climb down a rope ladder? You realize that if the train suddenly enters a tunnel, or passes through some trees, or goes around a corner, you’ll end up an unpleasant stain somewhere right?”
"It's worth the risk." He said, replying in a quick fashion putting into doubt whether he was acting on impulse or he was actually telling the truth.
“Your funeral,” Jac said after a moment with a shrug, moving to take the helm from the crewman who had been manning it, “all crew to combat stations, prepare for rough winds ahead, only fire if fired upon.”
A chorus of ‘aye captains’ echoed around the bridge as an alarm buzzed a couple times to put the rest of the ship on alert. Jac positioned himself just to one side of the helm where he could see the instruments easier, as well as reach some additional controls that controlled the ship’s airbreaks and elevators. Neither was super useful in day to day operation, but in combat the ability to suddenly slow down or temporarily gain/lose altitude could be important.
“Engines all ahead flank,” Jac ordered, the ship surging forward after a moment to catch up with the train.
Already wearing her armor and ready for the battle, Beatrix was nearby Jac, watching him operate the ship as they got closer to the train. This time, she was prepared, unlike the Aerodrome and she would definitely repay the Tal-Karans for what they did to her dress. They wouldn't have the same luck as her dress to have someone to sew them back together though.
"The only one we need to bring back alive is this Valkner, right?" Beatrix asked, to Jac with a rather dangerous smirk on her face.
"Jarred and Payam will probably need some... distraction, am I correct?" Beatrix asked. By now, Jac would already know where this was going.
"On the contrary, I'll be part of the distraction myself. Payam and I will drop at the front of the train, at the engine next to where the prisoner cars are. I will work on stopping the train and then making my way through the train, clearing out combatants while Payam secures the Prince till it is safe to transfer him to the ship. However, if you drop in on the back and engage first, it will give us more time as they are alerted to you, and I can meet you in the middle, takong them from behind," Jarred replied, giving Beatrix's proposal serious thought. He nodded to her, it would be with a smirk of approval, if he still had a face.
Auberi let the frontliners make their plan before stepping forward. "This plan is very much an all out assault. What would you like or need me to do? As you know, I am far more of a flanker than assaulter." He winked at Beatrix. "Though, I do like the plan of leaving no witnesses, mon tendre." He drew his stiletto and began essentially playing with it, doing small flourishes. It was mostly to keep his hands occupied as he waited for an objective he was suited for.
"I'll go grab my things. The faster we do this, the faster we can rescue the Prince and get him to safety."
Payam didn't even wait for anyone to agree on the plan. To him, all that mattered was that he was going to have an opening to get the Prince back to safety. The two of them had been apart for way too long and Payam was growing increasingly anxious. He felt that he was neglecting his duty to the Prince and failing on his promise.
“All engines ahead two thirds,” Jac barked an order, somehow managing to command the ship while swinging it over the moving train, in the dark. As they got closer to the ground the ship began to judder in the more turbulent ground winds. His right hand was constantly moving the wheel back and forth minute amounts in response to shifts only he could feel, occasionally he would move it further as the ship seemed to sway to one side in a sudden crosswind or as the train turned.
He did all this while watching a crewman on the bow who had tied herself to the safety railing, leaning against the bow sprite and holding a flag in each hand. Something about how she moved the flags told him where they were above the train. The only other movement out the bridge window was the boxy metal turret hanging from the upper bow sprite as it wheeled around to point down at the train. For whatever reason Jarred didn’t want to use the 7-pounder breach loaded rifled cannon to disable the train’s engine. Making this whole operation that much more difficult for Jac. But he didn’t plan to have the main gun of the ship just sit around and do nothing, if things did go loud and the train had anti-air capability, seven pounds of high explosive would quickly put an end to that before the ship or its crew was threatened.
His left hand held the elevator controls, trying desperately to keep the ship steady even as he ordered ballast reduced so the ship descended even closer to the train. Finally, his right foot rested on a large pedal sticking from the ground that controlled the airbreaks, he was constantly feathering them to keep even with the train. The Libertas was much faster than the vehicle stuck on the ground below them, but it also had a harder time maintaining one speed.
"One advice, Jarred... If you keep making your strategies centered in you acting like a suicidal superman, you will have a very short life." Beatrix said after she heard Jarred's plan. She didn't know if it was arrogance or simply self-destructive behavior but she knew that his plan wasn't really that good. Judging by Auberi's words, he also seemed to recognize the flaws on Jarred's plan.
"We will need two teams, as I mentioned previously. One distraction team and an extraction one. Payam and Auberi will be on the Extraction team, as you two seem to be more fit for this type of job. Me and Mr. suicidal superman will be the distraction team. We will enter first and create a distraction. As much noise, chaos and mayhem as possible. Payam and Auberi will enter the train soon after, using the confusion to silently make their way to where our target is and extract them in silence if possible." Beatrix said, explaining the plan with a surprisingly serious and authoritative voice.
"It would be smart to keep an eye on Payam, Auberi." Beatrix said in a low voice, looking to Auberi after Payam got out earlier, not even caring to hear the plan.
"There is no more time to argue about the plan. If something goes wrong with the rescue Auberi, send us a signal and either me or Jarred will go to you in order to secure a safe path to..." Beatrix continued explaining until she was interrupted by Jac.
Before she could continue, Jac, in the middle of driving the ship mentioned that he would prefer her to stay aboard to provide 'security'... For reasons unknown to Beatrix. They were on a fast frigate and had a good amount of weapons on board. Anyone foolish enough to follow the ground team would be killed on the spot. Beatrix didn't try to hide the fact that she was extremely annoyed by the fact that no one was hearing the strategist...
"What...? You want me to stay behind to provide... security? Why would you keep the best frontline you guys have behind?" Beatrix asked, on the verge of exploding.
"You know what... I give up. I am trying to make sure this mission will succeed, but you are all TOO EAGER to throw yourselves in there and just shoot everything that moves. What a great plan. There's surely no way it won't work, right?!" Beatrix said, visibly angry.
"I don't know why I am even trying. Jarred's death won't be something that will surprise me after seeing his own apparent desire to kill himself with his bravados." she finished, leaning on a wall, without any intention to actually going down to the train anymore.
Auberi was about the only one to listen intently to Beatrix. It was a more solid plan, so he figured it would be good. However, no one else took heed of her. After he near explosion, he walked over to her and gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "I will make sure this gets done. Even if they just throw themselves in, I will get the prince out as first priority. I am sorry no one else was listening, mon cheri." He left her with a small peck on the cheek, his rouge lipstick leaving a very small lip mark on her cheek.
He then took the first move and slipped out of the ship, lightly landing on the top of the train. He flattened himself on the roof, moving cautiously to prevent the inner boxcars from registering any noises he made. Jarred would see to the noise, Auberi to getting the prince out safely.
When Auberi dropped down on the car behind the engine he encountered Payam who was already there. The Delni bodyguard was laying prone on top of the roof.
It wasn't a surprise to anyone in the room that Beatrix was, at least, annoyed with the situation. Now of all times, wasn't the time to provoke her in any way or form.
"Beatrix. Not now, Jac. I'm not in the mood for that." Beatrix said, looking to Jac, after realizing that he had called her 'Bea', which for her, was him trying to mess with her.
"Unbelievable. Simply unbelievable!" Beatrix said to herself, slamming the end of her shield on the ground with an audible sound as she let go of it, resting it against the wall.
While Auberi's words were a bit reassuring, she wasn't expecting Auberi to come closer and give her a small kiss on the cheek so suddenly.
"Hey! W-what?" Beatrix exclaimed, surprised and not knowing how to react to Auberi's actions. No matter how much Beatrix thought about it, the only conclusion she was able to reach was how confusing was dealing with Auberi... He had told her that he was in fact straight, but more and more she could only see him almost as a girl friend, of the type who would try on dresses together, paint nails and talk about girly things…
"It's better that you do... Such a dumb 'plan'..." Beatrix replied, looking away as she cleaned the lip mark on her cheek, obviously not knowing how to react to what happened.
As Auberi left though, Jarred looked to her, talking to her in a way she could only describe as provoking her.
"Don't test me, Jarred. I am not in a mood for such thing." Beatrix said, almost hissing to him.
"Don't think I'll go down there to gather your pieces if something goes wrong." She finished.
"Hmm, alright then, guess I'll be the lone distraction at the tail end of the train, and hope thy don't fall back on top of our friends up front. Pity, I expected.... a bit more. Guess I'm to be whatever this 'suicidal superman' is, I guess. Can't say I wouldn't have appreciated another, but maybe it's for the better," Jarred said as he walked to exit the bridge and head out.
When he reached the outside, Jarred took a look at the ladder. The ship seemed to expertly be just enough feet below the train to not be too big of a problem to drop off from the ladder. Jarred's dilemma, was that the ladder didn't look like it could hold him as well at this speed. He may cause too much drag and, and from the looks of the type of ladder, it would disconnect it it seemed to be snagged. So, he did what only seemed rational. He went to the bow and looked down. Right below them was the train, nearly perfectly aligned. Jarred lined himself up with the train, crunched a few roundabout numbers in his head for trajectory and leaned over the side. At just the right time as he leaned over, body aimed at the train, feet against the side of the ship, his pneumatic legs shot off, sending him like a bullet to the rear most car. He landed on the top with a loud thud, anyone inside would have heard the heavy metal man make contact with the roof. To anyone inside, they would see a silhouette drop to the rear door before it slid open.
A large mechanical man would then come through the door, shotgun drawn and aimed as he surveyed everyone inside, that is.... if there was anyone left. "What the hell...", Jarred managed to say as he saw a room full of dead Tal Karans. From the looks of it, they died of a steam based weapon, the steam still floating around in the room. While keeping his weapon raised and looking for other threats, he reached for the emergency brake in the car and pulled it. The train started trembling a bit as it suddenly began losing momentum.
"They're all down!" a crewman called form the bow, waving towards the bridge.
"About damn time," Jac grumbled, pulling the ship away from the track and signaling for the ship to be set for a higher, safer altitude. He made a note in the back of his mind to go speak with Beatrix afterwards to apologize for keeping her out of the fight. Right now he had more important things to do, like stay close enough to the train so they could see a pickup signal while being far enough away to avoid any AA fire when Jarred and payam ended up kicking that hornets nest
"Finally." He said, sighing and glancing at Auberi. "This train has three prison boxcars including this one. Two of them are decoys with traps."
Auberi nodded silently and moved to the upper hatch of the first car. "Then, let us get to it. I will open this and you survey the inside for traps. If it seems alright, we proceed in carefully in case of pressure plates or trip lines. Is that a sufficient plan?" He looked at Payam, giving him a look of pure professionalism.
"Yeah, let's get to it."
Payam crawled over to the hatch, unlocking it and opening it. Looking inside, he spotted a small cabin on one side and a cage on the other. As soon as he saw the person behind the bars, the Delni bodyguard rushed inside jumping inside.
The floor below made a loud metallic sound as he landed. Drawing his rifle he runned over to the cell. Payam dropping down into the car made enough noise to wake Lennart up, who was inside the cabin on the other side of the car.
Lennart shot up quickly, hearing the commotion in the cabin. He quietly slid off the wall stretch pulling his 45 from his abdomen holster. He doesn’t bother grabbing anything yet. He opens the door, holding it up as he rounds the door. He points it at Payam as he stands there but doesn’t recognize Payam from the rear.
”Step away from the cell.” he says cooly.
Auberi followed Payam calmly, seeming to fall into the persona of a cold, hardened operator. He landed far more silently than the assassin given his career in espionage. Upon seeing the confrontation, he drew his shotgun and levelled it at Lennart. "I'd rather not have to use this, mon malheureux ami. How about you let us do our job and you get to leave with your life?" As he spoke this, Auberi had moved closer to some objects he could use as cover. He was far less tunnelvisioned than Payam, so he could at least be the one to try and establish control.
"Payam?" Lennart asked mostly to himself. He holstered his pistol letting out a light sigh. "Funny meeting you here. I was wondering if anyone would come for the Prince." Lennart turns to Auberi, "My name is Lennart Pirhonen, I'm a royal guard in charge with protecting the Prince. You see, his arms are unshackled from the wall. There's little I've been able to do. Since you seem more coherent, who sent you? What do you know?" Lennart slowly walks up to the door leading to the other car opening a peep hole and inspecting the next car through the small door window if possible.
When Lennart looked into the car, he saw a gruesome sight. Every single person on the other side was dead. The Tal-Karans were all laying in different positions across the passenger car. By the light mist still floating about inside, he could tell they had been killed by steam.
While Lennart spoke, Payam managed to open the cell door and get to the Prince. Using a small tool kit he carried on his person, he managed to take off Valkner's shackles. Gently he removed the Prince's gag and then gave him a hug which the Prince returned.
"Don't worry, we're going to get you out of here." Said Payam, as he helped Valkner to his feet. Carefully, the two stepped onto the narrow hallway of the prison car.
"We should go. Now." Payam said, directing himself toward Auberi.
Lennart nodded as Valker and Payam spoke. He began gathering his gear: dugout, pipe, helmet, rucksack. He tore a small piece of paper from a notepad on his cabin desk and writes "L+P+V" on the paper. He folds the paper and writes the letter F on one side. Maybe Foltz will get it somehow. He puts his helmet on hermetically sealing his head from the environment with a light hiss. Lennart flips a small switch on the face plate and the eye holes begin glowing red. He chambers his gunrifle, "Ready." He says.
The prince falling into unresponsiveness was not expected by Auberi, but he was prepared for something like that. He took out a syringe and stabbed it right into Valkner's heart. The syringe contained epinephrine, also known as an adrenaline shot. The medication should keep the prince going and conscious until they could get up to the ship and get a proper medical diagnosis. "That's all we have time for. We need to get back on the ship. Speed is necessary."
He made a strong leap, grabbing hold of the hatch they opened and acrobatically flipping up onto the roof. He then laid on the roof and reached down to offer an arm to the next one coming up. "Let's go, we have a schedule to keep and a mother to destroy."
Payam felt like arguing with Auberi over his decision. But seeing the Prince again brought a clarity to his mind he had lacked over the past few weeks. If the Prince was going to come out of this alive, he needed to trust the people who were helping him, even if he thought their actions were questionable. He didn'y say anything.
When Auberi climbed up the hatch, he almost dragged the Prince there. Valkner was slow, he could remember everything going to black just a moment ago. Now, everything just felt fast. He was dizzy, but didn't feel as tired as before. Looking up, he saw Auberi reaching down to grab him. He reached up, grabbing Auberi's hand as Payam helped him up to the roof of the train car.
"Lennart. You go on next, I'll cover you." He said, looking toward both entrances of the car to make sure that they weren't ambushed.
”Okay!” Exclaimed Lennart as he pulled himself up on the roof, tossing his backpack up beforehand. It’s rather weighted so it doesnt blow away. He climbs up with Auberi’s help and slings his backpack back on, gunblade hanging from his shoulder. He suddenly remembered something: ”The Tal-Karans! They’re dead. They were killed by steam.” He said this pointing to the cabins ahead, ”The other train cars are full of them but I don’t expect anything different...we need to get out of here.”
As Jarred moved on to the next car, he heard a loud bang on the roof of the car in front. Before he could go investigate, the door leading to it was blown open. Emerging from the entrance were what he knew were Blackguard soldiers. However, their armor had been updated along with their weapons. They had tightly sealed gas masks and armor that appeared to be made of leather and reinforced with metal. Seeing Jarred, they drew metallic batons which lit up with electricity as they charged toward Jarred.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the train near the engine Payam climbed up to the roof the car with the help of Auberi and Lennart. As the train slowed down, he saw the Libertas in the distance drawing closer. At the same time, he saw another airship approaching behind them. It was a much larger combat airship, one he recognized.
"Oh no. We have to get to the Libertas. Now." Said Payam, as he helped Valkner to his feet while the train came to a complete stop.
Lennart saw Payam look up, and he saw the same thing. It wasn't something he wanted to see while they were in such a vulnerable position. Right after, he saw several soldiers parachuting toward the train. They were coming in fast with some landing on top of the train cars at the very back of the train.
”Well, didn’t think I’d be firing on my own men, but:” Lennart unslings his gunrifle, ”You guys secure a place for the Libertas to pick us up,” He pulls the slide on his rifle and puts his recon skills to work. He crouches down and begins shooting at the Blackguards. While his rifle and ammo are a little dated, they still pack enough punch for this range of combat.
Lennart managed to hit one of the few descending Blackguards, making him crash into the nearby forest. The rest however managed to land just a few cars away from them. Once the Blackguards had them in their sights theh charged, running across every car toward them. Seeing them coming, Payam settled Valkner on the floor near him along with his rifle. He then looked at Lennart as the Blackguards approached.
"Time to prove your worth." He said, drawing a Delni style dagger from his belt.
"Likewise." Lennart says ejecting his magazine into a small pouch. He presses a button on his rifle causing the stock to fold out a light hand guard. He pulls the rifle forward and the double sided blade now becomes something similar to a bastard sword.
Lennart and Payam defended against two Blackguards while the rest headed to the cars at the back. They each focused on one of them, drawing stun batons and redying themselves. One of them launched a grappling hook at Payam grabbing one of his legs and making him fall over. He used this to try and get a strike on Payam. The Delni countered by stabbing the Blackguard in the thigh right through his armor spilling blood on Payam and making the Blackguard fall over. The two struggled on the ground a bit until the Blackguard managed to hit Payam with his stun baton.
Meanwhile, the other Blackguard went for Lennart, swinging at him with his stun baton.
Lennart managed to dodge a few blows from the blackguard back and forth. He parried one hit and kicked the Blackguard in the stomach, but it wasn't enough. The guard got inside Lennart's swing and smacked him on the chest with a Ting! Lennart dropped his gunrifle on the flat roof of the train and engaged him in hand to hand combat. The blackguard was confused for a second why Lennart didn't respond to the hit, but now he knows: Lennart's recon armor has a light metal sheet inside to stop things from crushing his chest, similar to a steeltoe boot, however, the leather armor, paired with the metal plate, insulated Lennart from the blow. He elbowed him in the mask, took the guard's right arm under his shoulder and in one swoop snapped his elbow at the joint bringing all 200 lbs of Lennart down on that singular joint. After breaking the guard's arm, he lets him fall to the ground.
The Blackguard shouted under his mask, but got back on his feet, this time brandishing a Steam grenade. As soon as he managed to get up, the face of his helmet exploded splattering blood and bits of the Blackguard's brain over Lennart's armor. The man fell to the ground dropping his steam grenade beside him, rolling harmlessly off the roof and into the forest below. Nearby, Payam managed to kill the other Blackguard too. Looking behind them, both Payam and Lennart saw Valkner who was sitting up and holding Payam's rifle.
“Unknown ship off Stern!” a call echoed down one of the voice pipes into the bridge, “looks like a capitol ship!”
“Damnit,” Jac swore, following a string of more colorful words as he considered his options. His descriptive rant ended as he started giving orders, “All ahead full MEP, activate all smoke generators, and all hands prepare to receive boarders!”
The Libertas surged forward under the Military Emergency Power while Jac threw it into a hard turn, the ship groaning in protest. Smoke first puffed, then began billowing out from various small ports along the sides of the ship forming a large cloud to try and obscure their movements. Between the dark and smoke it was likely very hard to see the fast frigate.
“All Engines Halt,” Jac ordered as he threw the wheel the other way, the ship straightening up only to turn the other way, doubling back on itself to keep the thickest parts of the smoke between them and the enemy ship, “Blow ballast tanks, set for ground plus fifty feet, drop land anchor on my mark.”
Elsewhere on the ship he could hear gunfire but would have to trust that to Beatrix. While Jac had been planning to apologize to her for holding her back, he suddenly felt completely justified and, in fact, glad he had done so. Without her it was even odds they would lose the ship. Not that Jac was planning to make it easy for them. The bottom seemed to fall out from under the ship as the ballast tanks blew, deflating rapidly as helium was vented.
.
With the Libertas in a cloud of smoke and now almost falling, it was all Jac could hope that the ground team would be quick on the uptake and get aboard before the smoke dispersed. One good hit from any real capitol ship would quickly put an end to everyone, something the main turret gunners understood as they held their fire. The small and outdated 7 pounder cannons were pop guns compared to what modern ship of the line had, all it would do is give their position away.
The altimeter plummeted as Jac watched closely, hoping the person manning the ballast controls was good enough for this, admittedly rather crazy, maneuver.
As soon as the Libertas descended and stopped right above the train, its radio operator received a transmission request from the approaching battleship. Whoever was on the other line, demanded to speak to the captain.
“Drop land anchor!” Jac shouted as the Libertas ground to a halt in its decent, it felt like he suddenly weighed far more than normal. That feeling ended soon enough as they leveled off, only for the ship to jerk hard to one side as the land anchor caught a tree or something. Without prompting one crewman kicked the rope ladder off the side before diving for cover from the gunfire zipping either way.
“Radio?” he looked up in mild shock, they had people boarding the ship and they wanted to talk? Unfortunately, he was in no mood to talk, not that they needed to know that.
“Pass it around!” Jac ordered, the radio operator smiling as she handed the handheld to the man at the engine controls.
“Engineering,” he spoke into the radio, “how can I help you?”
"This is General Balthasar von Horgen. I will give your captain and his crew one chance to get out of this alive. Hand over the Outcast girl to the Blackguard and I will order them to stand down. I won't ask twice."
Said the commander of the Leinstein ship, his voice sounding distorted over the radio.
While Beatrix was in silence, it was incredibly obvious to everyone due to how unquiet she was and the heavy aura emanating from her as she simply stood by, leaning on the corner of the room that she wasn't satisfied at all due to the recent events. That said... She was starting to get bored, not only just to Jac's dismay, but pretty much everyone who was nearby too. When the warning was given of a unknown ship approaching the Libertas and enemies boarding either using magnets or parachutes, despite the grim situation they were in, it would mean that they would be able to work without having to deal with Beatrix's terrible mood and her cold, piercing gaze towards them.
"Great! I really needed something to help me calm down..." she said to herself, grabbing her shield and her axe-shotgun. Those who were nearby when she said those words and walked away could only feel bad for the ones whom she would be against...
As the blackguards parachuted down the back of the ship, Beatrix's heavy steps echoed through the Libertas' corridors as she went to the back of the ship to intercept the intruders. Just the moment she arrived, she saw the first blackground touching down. While he was still taking off his parachute, Beatrix rushed towards him, greeting the intruder with a crushing shield bash and pointing her axe-shotgun towards him as he fell to the ground.
"Hello... And good bye." Beatrix said, pressing the trigger.
The noise coming from her axe-shotgun and was loud enough to echo through the entire ship as the flechette ammo exploded against the blackguard's gas mask. Even though they wore reinforced leather armor, it was highly unlikely it would be able to stop a flechette round from Beatrix's weapon, both due to it's caliber and the type of ammo she was using. Even knowing that, Beatrix purposely aimed towards his head, turning it into a grim mess, only partially hidden by the shredded remains of his gas mask.
Auberi made sure everyone was up on the roof and ready to go. He had managed to avoid notice for teh most part. Once the ladder came down and the others made it up, he began the trek. He had gone into another car while the firefight went on and "procured" some explosives. He rigged them on the car below the ladder and then scrambled up it. About four seconds after he reached the ship, about twenty grenades would end that train car's existence to prevent any from trying to climb the ladder.
While Jarred was checking the cars to see if they were all clear, the doors suddenly blew open, two soldiers rushing in. Upon seeing Jarred, they seemed to instinctively reach for shock batons instead of conventional weapons. Charging in for a melee. Now, if Jarred were any old rust bucket, this may pose enough of a threat to catch him off guard. However, it more or les reminded him of the days as a human, the shock batons being this day's sword.
"Shit..." Jarred cursed as he fired off both barrels into one of the advancing blackguard to slow him down. The armor, unfortunately did its job to save his life, for now. As for the second man, Jarred had to choke down on his shotgun so that he was only holding it by the wood grip so as not to have the electricity travel to him when he moved to parry. When the man went to bring the baton down on him, Jarred swung up to parry, the heavier weight of the shotgun and Jarred's mechanical strength, easily knocked the baton from his hand. The man wouldn't have time to react as Jarred returned with a devastating kick to the sternum with his pneumatic leg. The armor wasn't table to stop the force of the kick, its speed and strength traumatizing as bones were crushed and organs were pierced by bone and the metal plates meant to protect the man as he went flying down the cart and back out the door, slamming hard against the other car's door with a sickening crack, only to rebound and fall under the train between the cars. One could say he was lucky the train wasn't moving if t hadn't been that he was dead before he hit the tracks.
"You bastard!" screamed the other man as he lunged with a thrust towards Jarred with his baton. Jarred aimed his left hand at the man's knee and fired the five shot salvo from his hand once more into the man's leg, making him stumble. In tha same movement, Jarred sidestepped the man and raised his right arm quickly, his sword coming out of his right arm as it severed the man's arm, the baton clattering to the ground. Jarred used the momentum of the sidestep to get behind the man, grabbing him by the neck with his left hand and then running him through the back with his blade. He would then turn the blade inside him and rip it through the man's body to the side and letting him fall to the floor. the blood pooling in the floor of the train rapidly. Jarred quickly scavenged the man's communication gear and one of the shock batons as he quickly made for the top of the train to check on the others. When he put the headset around his neck he heard something that made his nerves freeze. "Frinnia located, moving to extract," a voice chimed in on the radio. "Copy that, Tal Karans eliminated and moving in to capture Vaulkner, but we are taking casualties," another responded.
"K-KIIMI!" Jarred roared as he jumped from the door and up to the top of the train. He holsted his gun and dropped the baton that he was originally planning on holding onto as he made a mad sprint to get back to the Libertas. Jarred could see Auberi, Payam, Vaulkner, and someone else escaping to the ship, being chased by four more blackguard. Jarred, in mid sprint along the top of the train, pulled out his 45-70 rifle and opened fire, taking two down buy surprise with two shots to the back each, their armor no match for the heavy and powerful calibur. Though powerful, Jarred reholstered the weapon as it only held four shots. Te other two turned to face their new attacker, drawing shock batons as well, ready to face down Jarred. Jarred, however, was hell bent on getting back to the ship, and slammed into the two men. One man fell off the train while the other was crushed and dragged under Jarred's momentum on the top of the train. Jarred made it through, but it didn't come without consequence. The batons still made contact and staggaring him momentarily, his systems faltering for a moment and making him fall onto the train top with a blackgaurd beneath him. As he regained footing, he tried to get up to the ship before they were able to pull away. It was just in time too, because oddly enough, not even half a second after he leapt to grab the lowest rung of the ladder, an explosion went off, toppling the train car and totaling it. Jarred yelled up to Auberi at the top. "AUBERI, GET TO KIIMI!"
---
Kiimi woke to the sound of gunfire, starteled that fighting had started without being told, however, what else was odd was that some of the gunfire sounded closeby. Kiimi rushed to lock her door with a chair and then dug into her supplies. She pulled a rfle from a case and made sure it was loaded. She then checked to make sure her revolver was loaded as well. Her hands were nearvous as she looked over her weapons, never having to oad it with the intent of maybe having to kill someone. She backed to the corner of her bed, which was also the corner of the room and stayed there for what felt like ages where she just watched the door and clutched her rifle with bated breath. It felt like an eternity had passed though it was just a few minutes. At one point, it sounded like the gunfire had stopped when she heard doors being slammed open. She gripped her rifle hard when something hit her door. The man on the other side could be heard making a radio call, "Frinnia located, moving to extract." It was a blackguard that had snuck on board the ship.
The door then burst open, toppling the chair to the side as the black guard forced is way in. The man quickly made his way to Kiimi, who vocally screamed out as she flinched and fired. The round hit the man in the side, the speed of the round doing well against the armor though, not the best. The man cursed as he closed the gap and grabbed the rifle from her. He then threw a punch which hit her in the cheek, making her lose the rest of her frail grip on her rifle. The man then struggled slightly with her as she tried to fend him off from dragging her away. Kiimi, wildly kicked at him yelling at him o leave her alone. One of the kicks landed on the man's fresh bullet wound, making him release is grip, giving Kiimi the opening to reach for her revolver she set on the besdide table and shoot at the man, striking him in various places, some in the armor, but one in the neck, which pu the man down on her floor quickly bleeding out. Kiimi's left side of her face was bruised from the strike, her eyes tearing up from the ecperience as she shrunk to the corner of the room again with her gun in hand, shaking and traumatized. She was terrified of what just happened as she started to cry, struggling to keep in in yet failing. The experience of her first kill tearing at her and the fear of the moment overcoming her. tears turned to coughing, which only started to make things worse. She tried to calm herself down, her heart was beating quite fast, she tried to hide her face from the gruesome site by drawing her knees up and folding her arms around the top of her knees and covering her face. "I-I can't do this anymore, this is all just too much," she cried out, "I...I just can't..."
Over the gunfire Jac managed to catch the crewman at the top of the rope ladder signaling that everyone was coming, a point that was punctuated by the distant crump of an explosion below the ship. Jac signaled for the land anchor to be cut while reaching for his own radio handheld.
“Ready the bends,” Jac ordered to the man at the ballast station as the anchor line fell away.
“Well Mr. Balthasar, that’s an interesting offer,” Jac said into the mic while carefully watching where the ladder was attached as the first person made it onto the deck, gunfire echoing down the hallways. Jac noted with a smirk the deep boom of Beatrix’s shotgun as he continued, “I’m not sure what you want with some random outcast girl, but it is rather hard to think right now-.”
Jac paused to make his point, holding down the mic as he quick drew his revolver and fired two shots into the still closed bridge door. The gun’s report echoing through the bridge and, with any luck, over the radio. Everyone in the bridge flinched but the thick bulkhead door was more than capable of stopping even the heavy .40 cal rounds. More importantly another figure climbed up the ladder onto the deck.
“This is the Captain by the way, in case you hadn’t noticed,” he continued as a third person crawled onto the deck, “and I must say, while your little ship is quite scary, I’m not a huge fan of anyone threatening my crew. So, out of professional courtesy, I should recommend you take a more friendly approach next time.”
The crewman on the front bridge signaled there was one more person coming up, apparently, they’d picked up two new people instead of just one. Great, Jac thought, a problem for later.
.
“As a navy veteran I should also point out that, while battleships are intimidating, they lack the speed and agility to interdict other airships. It would have been better to send down a couple smaller escorts while keeping your big guns at altitude to provide cover,” the final form crawled onto the deck, the rifle making it clear the last one up was Jarred, “what I’m trying to say is… Bye!”
With a nod the ballast operator through the helium tanks wide open, almost instantly filling all four altitude pouches to full. The Libertas jumped like a spooked cat, Jac struggling to stay on his feet as they rocketed skyward. It felt like he was being slammed into the ground, the altimeter spinning too fast to read. Gunfire across the ship faltered to be replaced with the rushing of air and groaning of metal. Jac felt his ears popping rapidly and knew he, and the rest of the crew, would suffer for pulling this maneuver. But it was better than waiting under the guns of that battleship.
From the outside the Libertas took to the sky, flying from the smoke cloud like a balloon lost by a small child. In seconds they flew past five thousand feet, the ballast operator having to vent some of the Helium so the expanding gasses didn’t rupture the pouches.
“I hate that maneuver!” someone groaned as the ship began to level out at ten thousand feet.
“All ahead full,” Jac ordered quickly as soon as the force pressing him into the floor let up, “and someone deal with the last of these roaches!”
With any luck many of the blackguard had lost their footing from the sudden jump in altitude, either falling off the ship altogether or hitting something that disabled them long enough for the crew to deal with them. Jac simply hoped that there weren’t any deaths in his crew, but these were the elite of Lienstine so he didn’t honestly believe they could escape unscratched.
.
As that thought passed through his mind, he felt his anger rising, they’d fallen directly into a navy ambush and been boarded. If Beatrix had been on the ground, they may have all died. All for these damn royals. Someone was going to get the chewing out of their lives, but that would have to wait till they were clear.
when Jarred made it on deck, he bolted straight in the direction of Kiimi's room, straight by Auberi, despite him getting there first. When he got to her room, he instantly went to attack the body out of sheer instinct, stopping himself as he quickly realized he was dead. He looked up to find Kiimi still curled in the corner. He audibly breathed a sigh of relief as his sword withdrew. He dragged the body from the room, tossing him into the hall as he entered.
"Kiimi..," he called to her, When she looked up, Jarred had to quell the instant rage he felt when he saw a black eye forming around her good eye. He stepped inside and sat next to her. Kiimi didn't say anything as she dropped her weapon and nearly jumped to embrace him, burying her face in his metal chest as she sobbed. Jarred held her close and patted her on the back. "Shhhh, It's alrigt my child, I am here now, it's alright...."
"Papa....I don't know....if I can keep doing this...,"Kiimi said quietly wiith a wavering voice.
Jarred sat for a moment, going over the past day in his head before slowly shaking his head. "No... I don't think we should... The prince is free once more... I think we are done...," he said. Jarred helped free the prince, but in doing so, he had now put Kiimi through more danger than ever, and thought he had lost her for a moment. No, he couldn't keep going like this. The kingdoms problems seemed to melt away fromhis mind as he thought of the girl he saw as his own daughter. 'Would you be disappointed in me, old friend?' he wondered to himself when thinking of Havkar, 'or would you do the same to try to save the ones you loved? If you are watching right now....I am sorry... We can't keep this up... not like this...,' he finished his thoughts to himself.
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