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Hidden in a cloud grouping not far from the Pherkad docks, Eronus stood on the bridge of the Excelsior, waiting through an awkward and tense silence while he waited for his scouts to return. All the junior officers were awaiting orders from him, and to give those orders he needed information from his scouts. Eronus hated being stationed here, but the Captain had ordered it, so he didn't protest. No sooner had he begun to think that they'd never show up than two men came striding onto the bridge, retracting their wings.

"Scouts reporting sir!" the man in the lead snapped a salute, which Eronus politely returned, silently awaiting his report. "Sir, nothing of interest is happening in Pherkad, although I learned you've garnered yourself a couple nicknames sir."

"Hm?" Eronus inquired, only halfheartedly, he never cared much for the groundside report, it very rarely contained useful information.

"Well Vicecaptain, it seems the people have taken to calling you the Wingblade, and the Excelsior Pirate." the scout tried to contain his grin, but seeing his stiff assed Vicecaptain have to hear this was more than he could handle. Eronus however, did not return the grin, he simply turned to the second scout and said

"What of the skies?" This was the report Eronus wanted to hear. If there was going to be conflict, or merchant ships, it would be in the vast sky, not the confines of cities.

"Sir. News to report. Three known pirate outriggers are moving swiftly for Pherkad's dock. All armed to the teeth, and they appear to be working together. They may be trying to raid Pherkad."

"Do they know we're here?"
"I doubt it sir. We've been running silent since we arrived and they've made no aggressive moves towards our location. They're located here, moving at about 25 knots." the scout pointed to a section of one of the many maps adorning the bridges walls.

"Good work. Keep your wings fresh for a fight. We'll be engaging them. Dismissed!" The two scouts hurried from the bridge, and Eronus turned to face his junior officers. "All hands to battlestations, we will be moving to engage three known pirate ships immediately. Helmsman, bring the ship about, heading North 35 degrees West, decilnation 003. Speed 20 knots."

"Aye aye. Coming about, heading North 35 degrees West, declination 003. Speed 20 knots."

Eronus turned to one of the many communication tubes near him and spoke "Chief Engineer, whats our arms and armor status?"

"We're in pretty bad shape Vicecaptain. Two primary cannons are out of ammunition and the operational port cannon only has two salvos available. We have plenty of Magnus ammo and a few torpedoes left, but still no Pyroblaster Shells. As for armor, we have some minor damage on all decks, but there is moderate scraping and armor loss on several lower decks, I'd reccomend avoiding letting anyone ramming you from starboard."

"Understood. Thank you." Eronus wiped his brow; the Excelsior was a tough ship, but even she'd have a difficult time with three enemy outriggers when she had no cannons to fire, the flight course he'd ordered would bring the starboard side of th ship to bear against the oncoming phalanx trio of enemies, leaving him in exactly the position the ship was weakest. Still, it was too late now, it was fight or die. "All unoccupied hands report to the top decks for boarding action, be prepared to repel boarders. Wingknights, see if you can't get a preemptive strike in and disable one of the enemy ships, we might be dead in the water if you don't." No reply came back through the communication tbe, but he knew the order had been acknowledged, he could see swordsman readying their winglets and drawing their weapons on the main deck via the main viewport on the bridge."Magnus Cannon Operators, as soon as one of those ships comes in range, open up, I want you to focus your fire, use scattershot, see if you can't destroy the masts."

The silence that was present only moments ago was gone, it'd been replaced by an energetic buzz as all members of the Excelsior's crew made ready to do their part. The Excelsior broke free from the cloud cover in a dramatic white wisp, reflecting the sun as it pulled into view, it soon levelled itself out, sitting between Pherkad's docks and the three oncoming ships. Eronus saw a small group of fifteen spread their wings and take flight; his Wingknights moving swiftly into action. Next came the two starboard secondary cannons firing their volley, both squarely finding their mark. The lead ship in the phalanx came to a sputtering halt as it's main mast was splintered to pieces by the scattershot. Of the two remaining ships one stayed it's course, threatening to ram the Excelsior, and the other brought it's cannons to bear. Eronus waited with bated breath for a moment, awaiting the iminent volley, but it never came. The ship managed to fire only one shot, the rest of it's gunners likely slain by the Wingknights. That one shot put a fair dent in the prow of the ship, but it wasn't damage the Excelsior couldn't survive. Much more problematic was the impact from the final ship. Eronus hadn't even given the order to brace and the ship came slamming into the starboard stern of the Excelsior, it's prow splintering and shattering on the Excelsior's steel hull. What he witnessed after that was not so much a battle as a slaughter, the pirates were clearly poorly trained, and were unready for the Empire soldiers waiting on the Excelsior's deck. All in all, the battle lasted maybe one minute, and the Empire soldiers were the clear victor.

Allowing himself a small sigh of relief, Eronus began barking orders again "Send out raid parties on the longboats to capture the crippled ships, gather any supplies you can fit! Chief Engineer, give me a damage report."

"You didn't listen at all did you? The impact to starboard has left us near dead in the sky! I can fix it enough to get us home to Mintaka but we'll have to dock in Pherkad while I work on the repairs. We also had to shutdown the starboard engine prop, the impact threw the rotor out of alignment."

"I did what I could. We were a tad outnumbered you see." Eronus sighed, the engineer had a point, there was no need to let the Excelsior take such a tremendous beating. "Helmsman, dislodge us from this wreckage and take us into the docks. Once we arrive, everyone has three days shore leave." Cheers erupted on the bridge, hearing your tight-a** boss say words like "shore leave" was nothing short of a miracle and they didn't need to be asked twice to be released from the Vicecaptain's vicegrip. Eronus sighed, he wished he could give himself the same break, but the problem was, he'd just engaged in a very loud battle, and the Captain was probably awake now, and pissed as hell.

Sera was beginning to get slightly annoyed with the newcomer. While she could not see past the illusion herself, Kersi had alerted her to it, and thus the situation was not as formal or respectful as it normally would have been. However, the captain would rather accompany him on her own rather than let someone else do so: she had someone with her always, whereas anyone else would have to do so alone. Not to mention the fact that she had not yet gained a true trust for her fellow crewmates quite yet.

"All right. Everyone else get the ship docked, I'll show you to your quarters," Sera replied. What should she call him until able to confront him? Sir? She glanced over towards the addressee, grinning breifly. "Follow me."

She started off towards the entrance to the below-deck portion of the ship, expecting the Razor Angel to follow suit. She didn't want to give him her own room, having no idea what sorts of incriminating things she may have left there from previous voyages, but for some reason, even if it was simply an illusion, she felt the regular bunks to be inadequate. Perhaps she'd bring in newer blankets, or something.

Entering the dark bunkroom after a quick journey down some stairs and through a creaky door, Sera presented it casually. It was fairly unglorious: six beds, three long by two high, lined the farthest wall, half sporting navy-blue blankets. The other two walls had simply hammocks for resting in. "It isn't much, but you'd have it all to yourself."

The man was enjoying himself above words. During this whole time the real eyes never left her a** and the overall shapely body of the captain. The illusion however was looking up, showing unsurpassed greatness. "Hey Ji, do the floating thing. I'm an angel after all!" the mastermind said mockingly through telepathy to his eyeball companion.

"So then, we're docking? I suspect that you would need to leave the ship to restock. Are you really going to leave me alone to do as I please?" the angel had no intention of making this easy for the woman. Nope, might as well be as much of an a** as possible. "If I indeed to decide to stay on this ship any longer I must request I private room. If you don't mind I do believe that this one will do. Now I must thank you for your hospitality." the blade covered figure boomed, making his voice heard all around. "Now then, it is time for me to retire for the day. I request that no one enters this room or disturbs me at all. If they do... well, I can't guarantee their safety here. It would be most unpleasant to invade a guest's privacy. Again I thank you for this room. No food or anything else is necessary. I shall stay here and bid you a most fond farewell." Zhinji was getting abit too eager to finish this conversation and make himself at home within this room. Some remodeling was in order but that's a small matter, nothing too drastic.

Kaethe's eyes scanned the interior of the kitchen slowly, unable to look away from the carnage. His mind numbly tried to reassure him there would be survivors; there had to be something in the wreckage of what should have been a kitchen. Pathetically, the rogue’s stomach gurgled it’s own dismay at the apparently lack of dinner that might be coming their way tonight.

Only then did the pirate's eyes light upon Ofelia were she knelt with a lizard. He thought, just for a moment, that she was talking to herself. For another moment he seriously considered whether he was going completely insane finally. Slowly and quietly Kaethe stepped back through the doorway he had come in through, trying to will both lizard and girl to remain oblivious to his presence.

When the door closed behind him the world came back to Kaethe. Razor Angel? Talking Lizard? What next? Docking Fee. A quick shake of his head and he went to find Sera. Not only for the docking fee but to ask more than a few questions. What sort of crazy ship was this? For the first time since he'd lost his ship, Kaethe felt like he was at home.

Kaethe blinked at Sera a moment as she ran right into him, momentarily distracted from the rampant onslaught of thought racing through his mind. Long day indeed. Looking around for a second he reached out and opened the first door in the hallway. Storage room, perfect. Well, not perfect, with the light spilling in the room was nearly empty. Without further ado, he shunted Sera into the storage room, closing the door behind them.

"Okay, look, I think there's something seriously wrong with your ship." His voice truly did sound serious, blue eyes picking up the tiniest bit of light filtering into the room from beneath the doorway. The lazy accent seemed to have dissapeared completely, leaving something that was almost cultured. "You've got false angels chasing after you, talking lizards, no kitchen, and I can hear the voice in your head! Now, I know this ship has a reputation for being haunted, but I think you have a few things to explain."

(( I'm going back in time a bit, to before the ship docked -- and then making my way up in my next few posts. I missed so much, that I deemed it necessary. I should get another post up by tomorrow. Soon I should be able to join you peeps. :3 ))

Merchant vessels came and went many a time through the commercial towns of Sadal Suud, docking at the coast with an arrogant attitude common to most sailors. They would arrive with a horde of money unspent, supplies un-stocked; and then, after a few days of the ship's stagnation and sailors frequenting local pubs for the purpose of intoxication, they would leave with the same arrogance -- and all money spent and supplies replenished.

This was the custom of the exporting towns, and the cycle repeated a thousand times over throughout the years. Time always had its ways of dwindling commodities, so indeed, a vessel was always needing new supplies. Verily, it was no phenomenon that with such a present need, a trader's job was never finished...

Nor his pocket ever empty...

And Tess made sure of this. Her job levitated around keeping both sides happy. She was a mediator of sorts, an arbiter between two investors; between the Merchant she delivered to, and the Master she delivered for. To said merchant sailors went supplies. To her master went the payment she recieved.

To Tess, not a so much as a penny.

***

In the distance, the traces of a ship aligned themselves, slowly ebbing its way to the shore of Sadal Suud. Barely visible it was, cloaked in cloud and fog; it was no wonder the small, curly-topped girl made no notice of it.

She, instead, had soon abandoned her tiresome watching, and found herself stretching to bask in the day's sun, on two or three aligned crates which were all carefully labeled with large, black-inked letters.

One: "Citrus Fruits. Protects from scurvy."

Another labeled: "Green Vegetables. Warning! Highly perishable."

And yet the third, the one she rested her feet upon, merely was labeled: "Meat. Salted and Dried."

She rested with considerable ease. At least until her memory disturbed her -- what was the name of that ship, 'gain? She had never forgotten the name of a ship before. But, a lot of things weren't the same this time; the ship was late, and the day had a spooky calmness about it. She grit her teeth in frustration as she laid and thought. What was it? Oh, bother. It was only the beauty of the day that brought back her amiable aura, and subjectively gave her peace of mind.

She sighed.

It's... all right. You won't miss it. You won't.

There was no point in wracking her brain for the name of the ship, or especially, the tardiness of its docking. Was it not coming to her? She made it a point to relax. She carefully -- so not to break them -- set the water flasks that she held down at the base of the crates. All save one, which she used as a head-rest to lean upon.

The next few minutes were spent by studying the skies from her lying position. It was not as windy as usual, but merely sporting a healthy breeze. And such a breeze was not nearly strong enough to make good speed for a ship, right? Perhaps that is why they are late, she decided, squinting at the vast expanse of air and cloud above her. No good wind. Yes, that is why the ship is late. And then slowly... slooowly... her lids began to close over the two, green eyes.

The ship... it'sss.... la...t...e....

No sooner had the girl laid down, she grew tired, and quietly dozed off.

(( Man, even though I'm not super fond of this post, I'm finally glad to get *something* in here. YAY FOR ME. And g'night, everybody. ))

The moment that the door closed the illusion ended and Jikaak let out a relieved squeal. A second after that slamming was heard all over the ship and it was coming from the room where the so called "Razor Angel" was staying. The slamming and the crashing continued for about fifteen minutes. There, the deed was done.

"Well then, Ji, I think this'll do. Kind o' reminds ye of home, don' it?" Zhinji looked around the newly remodeled room in triumph. "Yeap, that's it. Now we can go to sleep... although I'm still bloody 'ungry as hell." The duo looked around the room and indeed with the new changes it did remind them of the shanty that they lived in not too long ago. The first bed standing against the door and the remainder of the beds were standing against the windows. The inventor liked small spaces but didn't like being touched, always thinking that someone was after his life.

"Kersi, eh?" the newcomer whispered to his spirit friend. "So the dame has a spirit. No doubt she knows that this was a trick o' the eye. We'll 'ave to watch that one, we will. Pack these damn wings Ji, they way a ton or more! They're killin' me back, they are." The eyeball squealed, as if laughing, and over time the four winglets faded, as they became fainter and fainter. At that point the ex-pirate let out a relieved sigh. "Oh 'ell, this feels so bloody good. Don't they have anything lighter to make this from?!" the man exclaimed while stretching in all available directions.

"Well Ji, I'm off to sleep. Ye can guard here if ye want. Make sure that damned spirit doesn't wander in here, or anyone else for that matter." the false angel finished as he put one arm behind his head, another in front of his eyes, legs crossed, laying on the hammock already asleep.