This choice: I'm a mercenary, through and through • Go Back... As authorized by GENERAL GRUNNEL of the Imperial Sky-Navy; CAPTAIN EIANNA JACOBSEN is authorized to act on behalf of his Imperial Majesty, Emperor Varon III in the region of ILLUM.
The CAPTAIN is authorized to act on behalf of the Imperium within the following boundaries:
1. The CAPTAIN may engage in combat with any enemies of the Imperium, including but not limited to Pirates, Outlaws and individuals aligned with the Republic of Ainarth.
2. The CAPTAIN has the right to detain or arrest anyone who they believe may fit the criteria in the aforementioned declaration.
The expectations of the CAPTAIN is as follows:
1. The CAPTAIN will muster immediately when summoned by the current regional administrator. At the time of the formation of this contract, the current regional administrator is CAPTAIN. The mercenary contract MUST be reinstated in the event of the changing of the regional administrator.
2. The CAPTAIN must maintain their vessel to an adequate standard as expected by the Imperium.
3. The CAPTAIN must, at all times, act in the interests of the Imperium.
The benefits of this contract are as follows:
1. The CAPTAIN has the right for free refueling of HELIUM-2 at any Imperium controlled port.
2. The CAPTAIN has the right to claim any goods acquired by detained, arrested or dead enemies of the Imperium, as stated under the section Authorization, clause 1.
The Imperium has the right to destroy and nullify this contract at any time.
Signed: GENERAL GRUNNEL
----------
Eianna clutched the contract in her hand. After a decadent life of growing up as a street urchin in the Babylon, the capital of the Imperium, she had recently had a massive stroke of luck. To say that she was happy right now would be a massive understatement.
In the past few years, the Imperium had been expanding it's borders, engaging in a heavy war against the Republic of Ainarth. Eianna was lucky again though, as that war was on the western front of the empire and the region of Illum, where she was currently living, was on the far east, bordering the sea. If her luck kept holding, she'd have little more than bandits and looters to deal with in the rocky mountains and the various outlying islands.
Eianna left the military office, running down the cobbled road towards the skydocks where her new ship was located. She could barely contain her excitement.
Eianna's first venture out into the open sky was only a year ago, working as a deckhand on a merchants ship that regularly worked between Papua and Babylon. She had quickly mastered the art of not only maintaining the ships engines, but also learning how to fly it when Magyar, her master, would allow her to. It was sad to recall that the Magyar's frivolous drinking and gambling had lost him his ship to another merchant, which also cost Eianna her job as well.
But as luck would have it, Eianna was in the right place at the right time. An old pilot was ready to retire and sell off his ship, a badly run down Blockade Runner that was in dire need of repairs. The pilot happily sold the ship to her for less than ten percent of it's original value. "Aye, she's old and worn, she is. But fix her up right and you'll have one of the fastest ships around" He said.
Eianna couldn't wait to show it to her friends, all four of whom had eagerly signed on with her. However, they all less enthusiastic when they saw it.
The ship in question was a Corveyan Hog. It measured out to 25m in length and 8m at the widest. The hull was made of thick oak wood, available abundantly nationwide. A propeller was featured at the rear on both the starboard and port sides of the ship, with the respective engines measuring at one meter in diameter and the extended blades at 2 meters. Two chain guns were mounted near the front, one on each side. Most prominently however, was the helium-2 container which kept the ship in the sky. It was a cylindrical oval shape, measuring at twenty five meters in length and seven meters at it's width. The balloon was held fast to the ship by a number of thick ropes which attached to the front, rear and sides of the ship. A small rubber pipe extended from it to the rear main engine, allowing for the easy ability to both rise and fall at the captains discretion. Aware that the balloons would always be a massive target for enemy gunners, the material was made of thick, ballistic resistant cloth which could withstand the worst of explosive fury. It was now more efficient for gunners to target the hull instead. Research and development initially made it expensive, but the acquisition and inclusion of cheap, renewable materials made it extremely easy to produce for the open market.
Unfortunately in this case, the ship was in bad condition. The hull was missing multiple planks, leaving gaping wounds showing the inside of the ship. Some of the balloons ropes were badly frayed, looking like they were ready to snap. The chain guns were horrifically rusted, showing clear signs of a lack of maintenance. It would cost Eianna quite a bit to repair the ship.
"What a piece of junk!" Mark Hapsburg exclaimed. He was an expert in mechanical engineering and would be serving as the chief engineer.
"Yea... Not so sure about it myself" Cappa said, pushing his long black hair out of his face.
"Can it still even fly?" Tina asked. Cappa and Tina were near identical twins - their only real difference being that Cappa was male and had long hair while Tina was a woman with short hair. However they both shared an extreme passion for guns and blowing things up, leading Eianna to immediately put them in charge of the ships ammunition stores.
"He already took me out for a flight! I swear it flies fine!" Eianna beamed. Her crewmates were still unimpressed.
Mark hopped onto the ship, still moored to the dock. It was good that both he and Eianna had experience on airships, as the dock was on the edge of a cliff and it was a long way down to the sea below. Falling off would be fatal.
Mark flipped open the outer casing on the starboard propeller. "This engine is completely worn out and it's empty on oil. Sure, it'll fly... but you'll be doing some serious damage the longer it goes for." He said, examining it.
"Can you repair it?" Eianna asked.
"Ehh.... I can jerry-rig a few things but without some new parts I can't do much" He said, scratching his chin. Cappa and Tina jumped on board, opened the door to the interior and went inside to explore.
"I'm fresh out of cash at the moment. No chance of being new parts, or even used parts. I've barely got enough for two days food for us" Eianna grimaced.
"Then we've got three options. Either you help me repair everything here and we make do with what we've got, or I can maintain it while we're flying and hope we come across a wreckage we can salvage, or you sell something else on the ship to buy the parts we need" Mark said.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
| Members who added to this interactive story also contributed to these: |
<<-- Previous · Outline  · Recent Additions © Copyright 2024 Shadow Writer (UN: mistywriter at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
Undbitr has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work within this interactive story. Poster accepts all responsibility, legal and otherwise, for the content uploaded, submitted to and posted on Writing.Com. |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author