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" live radio chatter "
aka. "News from the Front Line"

Static creaks over the radio waves. Blips of chatter, a piecemeal cacophony of ship to shore, ship to ship, and single-family flat to basement bar-room; the din of a thousand voices saying nothing. Scratch. A distinguished voice tunes in, overpowering the audio chaos.

”Citizens of the Aether, this is your President speaking from my office in municipal capital of the Coalition of States.” The voice belongs to Maxwell Clifton, appointed president of the Coalition of States as of 1239.

”Ladies and gentlemen I know many of you have family members currently in the air and in the field doing their best to help us counter this latest threat to our peaceful enterprise. To those who have been hearing rumours of increasing concerns regarding air piracy, I am unhappy to inform you that such things are to some extent true. Piracy is the greatest and most recent threat to the prospering economy of our grand Coalition, threatening both the safety of our citizens and the resources that help us survive and grow as a community. For more news on the front lines, we've managed to get a wave through to our commander in the fray, Admiral Morrow. Admiral?”

Scratch. Scritch.

"Mr. President, not sure I'm coming through clearly but that update you were hoping for to soothe the masses could perhaps have not come at a better time. Here on board the C.S.S. Seaboots we've been in a holding pattern with the Atlas for nearly a week, not gaining any ground but not losing any either. Both parties are current in temporary retreat will we dedicate ourselves to repairs and counterattack. Due to the unsecured nature of these waves I cannot say more than that."

"Admiral, can you give us any notion of progress outside of the front? Do we have any ships rallying together to protect our towns by pursuing and capturing any commandeered ships?"

"Sir, on this matter I can only say that we have a strong feeling that it won't be long before we have an advantage over the pirates. My ships are cleaning up and doing their best to defend the land-bound from attack. The best thing the citizens of the Coalition can do is continue about their lives, continue production of ships that run with kalydium engines, and report any suspicious activity suggesting support of the pirate cause to their local authorities. Excuse me Mr. Pr-"

Scratch. Screeech.

"Admiral? Admiral Mo- Miss Morrow? Well, looks like we lost that wave, but citizens have no fear. I will repeat that last from the Admiral; the best thing we can do to aide the cause is continue supporting our Coalition Air Force and report any suspicious activity in an attempt to accelerate the end of this civil confrontation. This is President Maxwell Clifton, signing off the waves."

More static and a return to the idle hum of multiple transmissions.


☠ Unspoken by the Admiral, the CAF has sent the C.S.S. Grogram to a discrete location in Moore Town where they believe a map may exist that will direct them to an extensive vein of kalydium, enough to turn the war strongly in the favour of the Coalition. She set her sails 3 days ago and will arrive in Moore within 2 days time.

☠ Unbeknownst to the Coalition, the pirate armada has ears everywhere and has wind of the map and its general location. The Absolute Bearing, lately the scourge of port cities throughout the Coalition of States, has been redirected to descend upon Moore and locate this map before the CAF. She is not far behind the Coalition ship.

☠ Since its inception, the C.S.S. Sanglante Ruth has been commissioned as a search and destroy vessel, a small and lethal ship for hunting and shooting down supporters and parties of the pirate armada. She has been on the tail of the Absolute Bearing for nearly a week and is awaiting orders to engage the larger ship in a firefight; standing orders are to continue tracking.

Four days, five perhaps... It had been overlong since their last received transmission from CAF command. Old and new charts laid out somewhat haphazardly over the roll-top desk indicated their course over the last week or so; the blue dotted line marked the path of the Ruth, and the red line that ended just ahead of it was the Absolute Bearing. Abigail seethed, her frustration aggravated by the baking heat of her cabin. So close and yet so far from blowing another damn pirate ship from the sky, and not just any ship but the scourge that was the Bearing. And yet so far. No new orders meant they would continue tailing the monster and resist engagement.

Abigail brushed the sweat glistening at her temple away and glanced out the window. No clouds for kilometers. It meant they had to hang back much farther than they might otherwise, less they be spotted by their quarry.

The tall brunette heard steps beyond her door; the captain's distinguished foot falls. With only six on board, it was easy to learn the unique sounds of individual people. Sweat beaded again by her eyebrows and she shook her head; this was becoming a nuisance. Abigail stood and buttoned up the collar of her bolero, the uniform threatened to chaff her skin, but being the only woman on the ship she'd be damned if anyone saw her unkempt. She rolled the desk shut and locked it before exiting the small cabin, the small heel on her boots clicking over the metal threshold.

She made directly for the wheelhouse, the glass-encased cockpit on the mid-level of the ship, descending the spiraling stairs and moving towards the bow. Israel Watson had the watch, an older fellow with years of piloting dirigibles under his belt. He'd been the perfect pick for a ship like the Ruth with her antiquated design - she didn't fly like the modern airships. He nodded at her approach.

"Helm, raise altitude by 500 meters. Let's see if we can't chill out this sweatbox." The woman said firmly, her gaze finding the captain leaning out over the upper prow. "Aye, ma'am, raising altitude to 1400 meters." Watson repeated the latter over the horn, allowing the crew no unexpected shift. Abigail felt the ship begin her slow ascent and shifted her jaw a little as her ears began to adjust to the change in pressure. The Ruth continued to rise and Abigail exited forward of the wheelhouse to a second spiral stair up to the upper level.

"Captain Morrow," she murmured in acknowledgment and she stood at attention with her hands folded behind her back. Her eyes were fixed ahead but she could see Reim as he passed stern-wards. She watched the horizon as it moved slowly lower ahead of them and imagined she could spy the infinitesimal dark blot of the Bearing ahead of them. She couldn't; at this range it would take careful eyes with a powerful spyglass to see them, otherwise they would just as easily see their pursuer.

The brig of the C.S.S Grogram was a damp, dark affair, full of drips and bugs and dirt. George thought the conditions for prisoners were quite inhumane for people who thought of themselves as the "good guys." But after years of imprisonment, she had gotten used to it. It helped matters that as the only woman prisoner, and one of exceptional value, she had a cell with a measure of privacy, set far off from the other inmates in a separate nook of the ship. It was akin to solitary confinement, and would have been entirely unbearable for such long jailing if it had not been for the guard posted at her cell door. George supposed she had him to thank for the fact that she had not gone insane in this dank hole, though they never spoke and she would not under any circumstances let him know how he helped her; simply the presence of another human being had been enough to help her hold on to her mind.

A clinking sound erupted from near her cell bars, just out of sight to the right. Light spilled in as the door swung open, and her nameless guard snapped a smart salute. Tiredly, George stood and smoothed her dress. Her guard opened the gate and stood to the side, allowing her room to exit. The man who had just entered, the ship's engine man was waiting for her with his hands behind his back. The two of them walked down the corridors in the bowels of the ship to the engine room. He hadn't bothered cuffing her or trying to restrain her in anyway--there was no point. It had become part of her routine to accompany him to the engine rooms and help out with maintenance of the huge airship, a task she had once resisted, but no more.

A few hours later, when she and the engineer had caught up enough on the work that he felt he no longer needed help, George was escorted back through the narrow halls to her cell. The guard was already waiting, back from meals and sleep or whatever he did when he wasn't watching her. Usually the engine man would leave now and that would be that; today, however, he stayed a moment and chatted with the guard.

"Not much longer now, Ah reck'n," he said. "A few days, tops. D'ya suppose we're ready?"

"Aye. We've prepared as much as possible," the guard responded. "Has she been much help?"

George listened carefully, head down, not giving anything away. She frowned. From snatches of conversation, she'd picked up that something big was happening, but she wasn't sure what it was. At one point, she'd been called into a room she hadn't seen before to help decode something. It was all very mysterious.

She listened to the rest of the conversation, but nothing more interesting was said. As the engineer left and silence returned, George considered all she knew but still couldn't puzzle out exactly what was happening. She supposed it had to do with the hunt of the pirate ships and the debacle that was kalydium, but all other details eluded her. Deciding that she'd find out what was happening soon enough, George sat back on her bed and settled in for the long hours of confinement. She could wait.

Ah, the C.S.S Grogram. The glided through the air as its sails captured the wind and pushed forward. The sun had just risen as Hester stood at the wheel with a bright smile on her face. They were only two days away from Moore Town and Hester could not wait for them to dock. In the city, there was a rumor that a map was hidden away and this map was going to lead them to a large sum of kalydium. Hester hates kalydium but she does as the coalition tells her, even though she would much rather be out hunting down pirates then running after a rumor. But these were not the thoughts that had her smiling, obviously. She was smiling because as much as she hated kalydium she loved being up in the sky and feeling the window blow through her hair and there was nothing more fun than having the wheel in her hand as you looked down at the ship before you and ahead at the world before them. Hester had been up for hours, never being able to sleep when they are up in the sky. Seeing the sun rise and set when in the sky was so much more magical than back down on land and running the ship through clouds was one of Hester's favorite things to do. Even though the crew did not much like it because it made it difficult to see. She was like a child once again when she was in the sky and nothing could touch her, not even pirates.

With a frown her thoughts went back to her father and pirates alike. They were the reason why the skies were not safe anymore, why the sea was never safe. Pirates were the reason why women and children were scared to sail and it made Hester sick. She was sick to see people so weak and hurt as it only reminded her of her mother. Capturing pirates and bringing them to justice was all that Hester wants to do with her life. Crew or no crew, she could do it every day of her life. She always seemed to know where the pirates were going to be before they themselves knew they were going to be there. Just like she knew where kalydium was, which aided in her avoiding it. Those two reasons alone were why she was chosen for this mission. She would know what path to take to avoid pirates and she would know if the map were true once they were close enough for her to sense the kalydium. It was the perfect match, only one problem. She hates kalydium and would rather be hunting pirates. Hester would have much rather had Captain Morrow take the job but they had other plans for him and he was too far from Moore Town to take on the mission. Well at least one of them were enjoying themselves, she thought bitterly as she sighed and ran her fingers over the rough wood of the wheel.

Her second in command was standing behind her as he waited patiently for her to release the helm to him but like her crew already knew, once she had her hand on the wheel she was not going to be removed from it until her destination. Just what that destination was, no one knew, not even Hester but all she knew was there were going to be pirates. Moore Town was there destination too but Hester knew there were going to be pirates, either before, during or after they dock she did not know but she knew they were going to be there. They must have caught wind of the rumor as well which was no surprise to Hester and her crew was used to being on the watch when she took the helm so they were never caught by surprise when it came to pirates. For now though, there thoughts were on Moore Town as this was the first time they actually had a destination that everyone knew of. So things were calm and smooth but it was not long before her second in command tapped her on her shoulder. "Captain Whitlock. I have just be informed that the waitstaff have been complaining about a passenger who has been criticizing their work and making their work even more difficult. They asked that you would speak to this man."

"What is this man's name?" Hester asked as she looked back at her second in command, letting the wheel go reluctantly as a crew member took up the position.

"Archibald Twitch, Captain." He answered and Hester nodded her head as she walked back and to her office, this Archibald already having been brought into the cabin. Hester eyed him as she sat down in her seat and gestured for him to do the same. The air filling with silence as she read the report on his. It all seemed rather silly to her as most of the things Archibald had pointed out she saw as true and should have been pointed out. She then set the parchment down and leaned forward, placing her hands on the desk, interlocked together.

"I have two questions for you, Mr. Twitch. Possibly three if I like your answers." She remained neutral as she spoke to him and tilted her head to the side, "One: Why did you decided to be a passenger on my ship? And two: What is your profession?"

Never was a more perfect cradle built than the main stay of a ship; swaddled in canvas and cushioned by flax, rocked by the waves and sung to by wind. It was a thing to be missed with the advent of airships, vessels that needed no cocoons for their sails when they had them, and a sailor's lullaby was no longer the soft whistle of the breeze but the dull yet insistent hum of a kalydium engine. William missed being a child of seawrights and ships, borne to the hold and wrought by the waves. William wanted that life again, the simplicity and beauty of carving fine beasts from the hearts of trees and teaching them to swim. That's why William had to be left behind, and had been left behind to allow Roy to become the monster many would claim him to be.

Raising his chin from his contemplative hand so the brim of his hat no longer shielded his face, he cast chocolate gaze over the ship. Due to her nature, the Absolute Bearing had no single deck but several levels, all partially enclosed in unusually designed hull. True all decks saw more shelter from inclement weather, but it made it impossible to put her down on the sea, lest she be scuddled and drowned. Most of the crew toiled idly, fastening lines or lounging where they pleased. The captain had said Moore Town, though he was secretive as to why, and gave no date of arrival - such lax orders often meant a certain laziness might become contagious among the men.

"Come on, be ye dogs or men?" Rob Roy bellowed without warning, knocking one of the lads as he tangled his bowlines. Roy quickly straightened out the line and secured it himself. "We'll be seeing the towers of Moore soon enough. Then ye can sink yerselves down in her ruddy banks and drink off yer sweat."

"Ay prefer un-ruddied banks meself!" One of the pirates said, eliciting a bawdy laugh from several others. Roy smiled with the rest of them but keep his thoughts on the matter to himself, instead snapping his fingers and pointing at the man with a wink. "Remind me that when we make port and mayhap I remember to leave the lacy little ones for ye, Mister Coggins."

More raucous laughter followed by lewd innuendo and gestures. Roy reminded himself to knock Coggins in the back of the head if the man made any advances on girls that looked more like children than women, the sort that shouldn't be in bars and brothels but by misfortune had found their way there. His eyes drew to the towheaded mop of little Gerald Willington. The boy had been behaving oddly lately, more so than was typical of him, staring off about the sky as though he heard something in the distance. He was an odd one to be sure, but little surprised Roy these days.

The tall man abandoned the crew to mind the wheelhouse, waving off the fellow currently at the helm. Running his hands over the worn wheel-wood, Roy considered what Moore might bring. Complications from the past, more complications for the future. If the captain meant for them to raid the port, Roy might be inclined to see that the captain accidentally fell off the ship at altitude. He didn't disagree with the man on much, but Moore was like a second home - even if he rarely saw it. That, and from purely practical standpoint, Moore was one of the few places after Isla Malvalis that they could expect little trouble from the Coalition and less from the locals.

"What are you hiding, old man," Roy muttered to the no one. The captain was being awfully non-specific about what they sought and he couldn't help but be curious as to the nature of the visit. Moore was good for drinking, gambling, whoring, drinking more, getting in fights, provisioning, and drinking. What else waited for them there that had Rijindael so reclusive?

No matter how much he disliked just looking at pirates, much as Abigail, it was nice to not risk the life of everyone. So being high above them would probably be good. There had to be some clairvoyant pirate among the Absolute Bearing to know they where behind then. There was this itch in his chest to get closer, to look upon the bastards and study them. Gently he leaned forward and looked upwards. He'd gone higher before and now though of high could he take the Ruth. "How close to them do you think we can go? We're small but the naked eye can see far. I want to look upon them and I also want them to see us. Keep them alerted." As he removed himself from the window a big smile had reached him. There a idea nesting in his head, it was growing towards a plan. There was one thing to disobey and order directly and there was another to miscalculate the enemy and end up fighting them.

"Aye, as you clearly stated. I do enjoy your so caring touch on the temperature on my ship. Maybe if we get some higher I'll put on the rest of my uniform." The smile turned to a quick smirk and then his face turned to the relaxed expression as he usually had and lit another roll of dried leafs. The silver package was soon empty and Reim rolled his eyes up and to the left as he did a quick inventory. They had to find port soon or he'll have huge issues ahead of him. The smoke traveled down his lungs and then out his mouth, away from his mate. At the same time he contemplated on her words. "I have no idea what you are talking about." There had been times when he could have sword she was doing some sort of research. Must have been his imagination. No point in chasing after the notion anyhow as it had only been a hunch. Then again she was the one he turned to when evaluating people. That skill was something he truly lacked and needed her to aid him.

"Oh? Well then it must just been me and no. My mother have told me nothing new. She hasn't even asked me for any updates last few days. After all I'm not even sure where this ride is taking us. It seems we're headed towards Moore Town but then again. If we get close enough maybe we can ask them, what ye think ms Merrill?" Tiredly did he move his left hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead, while looking how his daring plan would sunk in. Even though his word was law upon his deck, it wasn't hard to loose the respect with few men on deck. If one man died over a poor choice or reckless behavior it was easy to blame and for most to do so. The smoke left his nostrils as he released a deep breath and turned his gaze front. Mutineers, cowards and traitors, the lot of them. The Absolute Bearing would crack, burn and fall into the ocean and be swallowed. Yesterday if it was truly up to him. It was tiresome to be the tail of pirates. These skies was his to protect, well at least he got more action the CSS Grogram. Oh how he would love to ask Cpt. Whitlock how he treasure hunt was going. He almost chuckled at the though. It must drive her crazy that she was falling behind in the sunken pirates list.

Hester suppressed a smile into a smirk as she listened to Mr. Twitch go on about her ship. The idea of her crew being told off by a passenger was a rather amusing one since they were a rather lazy bunch after her housing manager quite. He had gotten an offer closer to home and with less traveling. He was never too keen on traveling. Though Mr. Twitch seemed to be very passionate about his career. She liked people like Mr. Twitch, letting no one get in their way of doing what they are passionate about. It was rather refreshing to listen to him tell her about all the troubles with her crew. At least she finally found someone who could put them back in their place. Of course her cabin was kept cleaned and she was looked after by her staff but she would rather her guest be looked after and her staff be held up to high standards just as she holds her crew to high standards. As Mr. Twitch got up and moved behind her, her guards made to move but she held up a hand to holt them and she looked back and watched him as he went about cleaning her window. As he turned and walked back in front of her, she was please to note the added light that shown in the room.

"I am rather embarrassed by my staff's lack of attention to the details of our guests' stay. They are very important to me but I am afraid that the safety of everyone on board is my top priority and after my housing manager left I am sorry to say that the staff has been a bit slacking as no one has been able to fill the position. Everyone who has been interviewed has just not been able to hold themselves up to standards. I do take pride in my staff and their handling with the guest when he was around as he made sure they upheld to their high standards." She paused as she tilted her head to the side. "How would you like to fulfill his position? I know it is a bit sudden but we are in need of someone like you who can guarantee that our guest will enjoy their stay here."