"But I already said that... the crew was... too dangerous?" Mizuki piped in with a slight wheeze. She felt like she was not even there. She shrugged slightly, enough where shrugging would not offset her posture. At least the crew are in good spirits, what with their talk about spicy foods. Mizuki remembered when she last tried a spicy Fire Nation curry that Mala had cooked up. Her tongue burned for hours, and any water she tried to waterbend was steaming hot.
Shouren was meanwhile taking in what was going on, as well as the strengths and weaknesses of the opposing crew, and simply remained quiet most of the time.
Yet, if we don't board them, then they'll be free to continue on like this.
"If we refuse to board them, then our options are drastically limited."
lord of the gays
"I mean, I totally understand that there are a lot of people on board," Mala sighed at Katsu, "but I can dream, can't I?"
Then hearing Shouren, Mala nodded.
"That's a very good point. I mean, I guess we can just pray for port, but my money is still on an inevitable confrontation."
Suddenly Mala smiled. "Five dozen you say? I mean that's really only five for each of us to take down, which truly is not impossible".
And then, seeing Mizuki's expression, Mala hastily added, "I mean, it it comes to that, of course."
OUT OF THE CROOKED TIMBER OF HUMANITY NO STRAIGHT THING WAS EVER BUILT
The Mighty Pen
Sharif stared grimly ahead, as if nothing could pry his attention from the promise of safety ahead. But he listened and feared. They do not respect Captain Mizuki. They may be grateful to her for giving them a place, but she does not command them as a leader must. Else they would never dare pay her no heed in such a crisis as this! Or perhaps it is simply that crews of criminals are more at ease with each other than true warriors. I am new to this life. He said nothing, but waited for the shot he knew would be coming.
And sure enough, it appeared. A second flare from the deck of their pursuer became a second fireball rising up into the heavens.
A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent upon arriving. -Lao Tzu
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
Katsu looked around for moment.
"Have any of you ever been on a Fire Navy Warship? Its different from a normal sailing ship, labyrinthine. These people live onboard and can walk it almost blind. We'd be outnumbered and without the home advantage. And they would be close enough to burn our sails to cinders which means our means of escape are gone."
She took a deep breath.
"Those are soldiers. People who train boarding actions and the like every day. We do not want to tangle with them unless we have to. So stop screwing around and listen to the Captain."
And then in a fluid motion she turned back again and blew a long lance of flame to meet the incomming fireball at an angle, to make it veer of course.
edited 28th Oct '14 3:17:33 AM by 3of4
"You can reply to this Message!"
My crew aren't use to a stern leader, Mizuki admitted to herself. Usually I'm much more laid back than this, and the crew listen to me because they like me. But on such occasions as this where I need to assume the role of an authority and not a friend, most of them just don't know how to deal with me. She stared at the ever closing gap between her ship and the Fire Nation steamer. Then again, there were not many occasions such as this where a Fire Nation steamer was fast enough to chase them for almost an hour. Katsu and Sharif take to this side of me better because they're soldiers. They lived much of their lives in societies where discipline took central place. We aren't soldiers, though. I need to take a different approach with my leadership.
The stony cliffs of Basalt Bay came into view. If one turned and watched the ship's bow, they found that the cliffs surrounded the Sea Dragon at every direction, for Basalt Bay was crescent shaped. The waters were shallower than they were before, with more and more rocks poking through the waters.
"Sharif, see if you can... chart a course through... to the shore... to avoid as many of those rocks... as possible," she said as clearly as she could. "I can't slow down yet..." As she said this, Mizuki focused her waterbending some more to resume her previous speed. Mizuki's body cried out for rest, and the sweat ran in droves. One other advantage the Fire Nation steamer had was it did not need to worry about a rock puncturing its hull due to the dense metal that encased it. The steamer showed no signs of slowing, and it was harder to take evasive manoeuvres without a rock ripping through the hull of the Sea Dragon. The steamer was close enough where Mizuki could make out the distinctive black flame that spread across the red banner of the hostile ship.
If I can see their banner, then that means we can hit them from range without getting too close. "Lanyin! Hosu! Prithvi! You know... what needs to be done," she said with a playful smile. "Start raining hell!" Supposing if the Fire Nation steamer did get close enough for a fight, they would still find their numbers worn thin. Lanyin, Hosu, and Prithvi would be able to cripple at least a dozen of their soldiers with their arrows, ice spears, and rocks without getting too close. Plus, it was a chance to give them some action, which was a compromise.
edited 28th Oct '14 11:13:22 AM by JumpinJackFlash
Back after a long hiatus
After hearing Mizuki's command for Lanyin, Hosu, and Prithvi, Haile pouted a bit. "Man, now I wish I was a bender. Then I could take some of those guys out myself!"
“Not a promise, not an oath, or a malediction or a curse. Inevitable." - Taylor Hebert
"Aye, Captain!" Prithvi said, relieved that he could actually do something now. It was nerve wrecking watching that ship gain on them and not being able to retaliate. He punched forward, and one of his rocks flew across the gap between ships and crashed into the Fire Nation Steamer's deck. He rotated a few more rocks around him and fired them of one at a time, aiming for people clustered around the catapults.
Bark Bark Man
"Aye, Captain!" Lanyin cried out, finally releasing the arrow she had kept notched. The arrow sailed onto the ship, and was soon followed by yet more arrows. Her speed and precision belied years of hard work and rigorous training.
Each one was either aimed at a soldier's hand's, helmet, or chest, or at the ropes keeping the fire-cannonballs in place.
"Gimme your pants.. and now your other pants"
Mizuki smiled, for she had found a way to balance authority with her own charisma. So long as found the right compromise between meeting the needs of the situation with sating her crew's enthusiasm, she was able to maintain their respect in even the most dire of situations.
edited 29th Oct '14 2:29:34 AM by JumpinJackFlash
The Wildest of Ronins
"Aye aye captain!"
Hosu lifted all two dozen of his ice spears into the air above him with his bending. He spread them out somewhat before launching the entire mass of them at the largest cluster of fire nation troops on the enemy ship he could see. Given how brittle ice was compared to metal, they'd only likely inflict injuries on those troops that either weren't fully armored or had the misfortune to get a spear through a gap, like say an eye hole in the helmets.
With his supply of spears exhausted in one move, Hosu began pulling out more sea water out of the ocean and then letting it splash down in an open barrel placed near the stern to use as a more convenient source of liquid for his bending then having to constantly pull it back out of the ocean.
Click Click Boom Boom
The Mighty Pen
"Aye, Captain!" Sharif answered, feeling his arms ache as he hauled the wheel around, his heart pounding. It was easy enough to avoid the shallows and reefs outside the port, else no ship of size could dock there, but going into and through them without knowing which way might rip open the fragile wood of the hull? That was such madness as he himself might have done and he found that he was grinning, a fierce look that promised death to his enemies.
"All of you, hold onto something! I will not turn back if you are lost over the side!" he roared to the crew as the last fireball hurtled by, a clean miss that still showered them with acrid spray. Then the Fire Nation was close upon them and he saw and felt the first volley fly out from the decks of the Sea Dragon.
"Captain, we're almost within range of the city earthbenders!" Li's first officer warned him, sweat trickling down her face, "And they're heading into the shoals! We can't maneuver through that!"
Li swore violently. Damn waterbenders! One of these days we need to wipe them out like the airbenders! At least I won't give up without trying everything we have!
"Launch the flame-cloak!" he ordered, "Then hard starboard! Turn us around!" While it was true the Stormblade's iron hull could withstand any ordinary attack, at the speed they were going, to ram onto the jagged rocks ahead would sink them for sure.
As the Fire Nation ship, slowing considerably, began its turn, the Sea Dragons'' shots came flying up at them. Lanyin's arrow hit first. Whether by luck or skill, given that both ships were turning and tossing on the waves, it punched through one sailor's thick quilted armor into his chest. He didn't even have time to fall before Prithvi's stones and Hosu's spears followed. Most of the stones shattered on the deck, sending bits of rubble flying everywhere and causing many minor wounds among the throwing-engine crew. One unfortunate soul's arm was snapped cleanly by a well-aimed stone, and the ice spears completed the barrage by badly wounding many, who were saved only by their armor. With twenty spears in the air, though, two men died, one from a spear to the face, the other from one to his unarmored leg, sending blood flooding over the deck.
The sturdy throwing-engine was undamaged, however, and the enraged crew launched their payload at once. A Fire Nation flame-cloak was a short-range weapon, only a barrel of oil with firebombs tied all about it on short fuses. It burst in midair above the Sea Dragon and the sky turned to fire as a sheet of burning oil came hurtling down at them.
"Captain!" Sharif cried out, even as he wrenched desperately at the wheel. "Above! Above!"
A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent upon arriving. -Lao Tzu
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
Crap Katsu thought and turned around, trying to burn a hole into the oil sheet with a blast of fire of her own.
"You can reply to this Message!"
It was in that moment that Mizuki stopped bending the ship's currents. Trusting that the currents had stirred enough to move the ship forward for a few precious moments without her intervention, she bended a long thin whip of water out of the sea in an attempt to carry the burning oil away before it landed. The water whip snaked under the burning oil, and as the oil floated on top of the whip, she flicked both water and oil out the side of the ship. She hoped it was enough as she resumed her waterbending of the ship, which had lost some speed in those few moments.
The Sea Dragon was thankfully still out of range of the firebenders, but it was even more vulnerable to the catapult than it was before. "Let's keep raining fire of our own!" she called out as she called for more arrows, rocks, and ice spears.
Back after a long hiatus
When the Fire Nation ship launched their flame cloak, Haile yelped and sprinted inside, yelling "TAKE COVER!"
“Not a promise, not an oath, or a malediction or a curse. Inevitable." - Taylor Hebert
The Mighty Pen
Mizuki's quick reflexes and waterbending talent saved the ship, the long, paper-thin sheet of water sweeping aside the burning oil, which crashed into the sea to port. The waves still roared with flame, though, and patches of the port railing smoldered and crackled where the edge of the oil had caught it. They had escaped only by a fraction. And now they were among the rocks and shoals just outside the harbor.
Sharif's course was constrained, and he had to trust to his intuition to steer them clear of the outcroppings of stone that lurked just below the water, ready to gut them. As quickly as he could, he made their course towards the open water once again.
"All we need do is avoid their parting shots, should they take any," he called to the crew, "And we have won!"
A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent upon arriving. -Lao Tzu
Wizard of science.
After the tenth or so time that the ship shook, Xue could have no more. Ignoring the commotion outside- as it was so easy to do with... noises such as the one currently filling the air- he stood up and walked into the prisoner hold, carrying the parchment, the brush and the ink with him. Despite all that was going on, he walked over to the spot on the floor that he had used before, his legs crossed, and without asking if the prisoner was alright, he looked up at their prisoner with a tender smile.
"What is your opinion of the current events?" He asked, the backdrop of his crewmate's battle providing an eerie dissonance to the question.
Zhu Heiyaoshi remained serene throughout - if Xue thought Zhu would be nerve-wracked, he would find himself very disappointed. "Mizuki is a professional," he said with a regarding smile as he scratched his long, silvery beard. "Many a time she has tangled with the Fire Nation, only to emerge unscathed - more or less," he quickly noted as he recalled that one time when... But he was getting old. "How close are we to port?"
It was only three more minutes until the Fire Nation steamer was within range of the Basalt Bay earthbenders. The Sea Dragon was almost there, but there was still time for something to go wrong. If the rocks dashed the hull open or if the steamer got just a few yards closer, they were done for.
Mizuki kept waterbending, fighting the urge to collapse with all her will.
edited 31st Oct '14 1:25:39 AM by JumpinJackFlash
Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
Katsu looked around and then turned toward the steamer.
Whoever is in command there is either brave, stupid or utterly devoted. Either option is bad in its own way.
"You can reply to this Message!"
Wizard of science.
"Telling you that would be a breach of my research environment." Xue replied without taking his eyes off the parchment. "Do you simply lack the fear of sinking?"
huzzaaaaaaaah
Choden kept to himself, hiding in an area of the stern where he couldn't distract and confuse the crew members of the ship who were busy with the Fire Nation steamer. A part of him wanted to jump in and help, but the other part of him kept screaming 'help HOW'. He was passing off as a harmless non-bender, and while he could bend, it wasn't much: apart from an air swipe, there wasn't much use for his abilities.
Plus, it's not like he could actually will his limbs to move. They seemed to be frozen, and Choden wasn't sure if it was out of fear or if he was glued to the action. Either way, he had this look of confusion in his eyes, which were snapping from one source of action to the other, whilst his hands kept a tight grip on his bag, feeling the wooden staff inside.
Bark Bark Man
Lanyin did not stop firing.
Quickly, sacrificing a bit of accuracy for speed, she rained arrows down one after the other onto the approaching steamer. She'd run out soon enough. She wasn't an archer after all, she was an assassin by profession.
Was an assassin. Regardless, sniping was more her thing, but there were too many targets and too much "turbulence" for sniping. Quick firing would have to do for now.
"Gimme your pants.. and now your other pants"
"Research environment..." Zhu stopped mid sentence when he realised what Xue meant. He was a plaything for Xue's amusement. He smiled at the thought of a fellow player starting a game. "Whether or not I am fearful of sinking has no bearing on the survival of our ship. Besides, I'm an old man with little to lose, and still much more to gain". He studied Xue with an intense gaze. "You don't feel fear, do you? I heard the scurry, shouting, and various other onomatopoeia of a battle from above. The rest of the crew is on edge, and here you are, as serene as a sleeping baby. Have you nothing to lose?"
The Mighty Pen
As the Stormblade slowly came about, just skirting the edge of the earthbenders' range, said earthbenders chanced a volley, and several titanic stones flew through the air. They all fell short, though, crashing into the ocean.
Sharif had managed to get the Sea Dragon mostly clear of the rocks, but now he faced a choice. There was a large outcropping blockint the route that would take them to safety the soonest, else he would have to parallel the ironclad's course for a brief period, giving them a good chance to connect.
"Captain!" he shouted, pointing to the outcropping in question, "Hosu! Can the two of you get enough water under the keel to lift us over those rocks?"
Aboard the Stormblade, Li let out a deep sigh. Misfortune piles on misfortune. But at least we can make life difficult for those bastards even after they make port.
"For our next shot, target the city," he ordered, "Aim for whatever part of it looks the most densely populated."
The smugglers might be surprised as the next fireball sailed far over their heads, only to be dismayed as they realized where it was headed.
A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent upon arriving. -Lao Tzu
After hearing Katsu's assessment of the crew of their pursuer, Haile quickly changed his tune. "Uh, on second thought, how about let's not board them. I'd rather not have my face singed off."
Not least because it would mean that my beard would be destroyed!, Haile thought.
edited 27th Oct '14 5:49:13 PM by Tojin
“Not a promise, not an oath, or a malediction or a curse. Inevitable." - Taylor Hebert