Just going to put the first half of the prologue here so that I can get the process started to actually get my series, as I am half way through writing the prologue and don't want to wait for hours on it going through.
Enjoy the first half, comment, follow, rate plz :D
Oh and for those who question the world, know that steampunk worlds in general don't logically work, so fuck you, just read the damn story without complaining…
Now, lets begin…
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The fluffy white clouds split quickly in front of the small wooden monstrosity known only as “Cerberus” to those who witness its attacks, as the ship descended into the upper cloud layer. White clouds encased it completely as it slowly drifted downwards until its periscope could peek at what lay below it.
The “ship”, if you could call it that, looked like nothing more than a few decks bolted together with a few ballast tanks on the side, outstretched on two stubby fabric wings. One might even ask how the abomination flew, as it had no main balloon to speak of, nor props large enough to keep it afloat in the air, let alone at the speeds which it was traveling at...
In place of the standard yellow flag of neutral traders stood an odd black flag with a skull and crossbones. This symbol only came about recently, having gained notoriety and infamy far and wide as a flag of piracy.
The cause of this fame for the flag was this very ship, and all of its cruel and violent deeds. Cerberus and its crew are known to strike hard and fast, overwhelming the defences of a single ship in a convoy before dragging it to the depths below the clouds to plunder it.
One might ask how a small wooden skiff, no more than twenty meters long could pose a problem for the hundred meter long convoy escorts. The bristling battleships indeed have more straightforward firepower, however they are slow, oh so slow… Their guns cannot track the small skiff until it is too late.
As the skiff lowered itself silently into the fluffy white clouds upon its unsuspecting targets. Below the waiting skiff were several ships, seen through a strange device called a periscope.
Two of the ships below were very large, one of them was medium sized, and an assortment of smaller vessels could also be seen, ranging in size from a dozen meters to a few dozen.
This particular ship group had large red flags hanging from their main masts, indicating their allegiance towards the Imperial Sky Navy.
The skiff’s target today was the medium ship, which actually was a large cruiser, consisting of a large metal box atop several balloons, roughly a hundred meters long, with several massive props located at the rear ten meters wide to power it forwards. Large black plumes of smoke were coming out of its engine room, leaving behind a trail a black as tar through the sky.
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The shape of the ship was very bulky, the back was situated directly above the balloon, and looked very streamlined, however the front of it slipped past the curvature of the balloon into what appeared to be several decks of ship. The entire design appeared to be shaped like a sideways “L” where the narrow part was the back, and the large part was the bulky front and the gap was the loft balloon.
On its main deck, several massive guns could be seen, enough to pulverise smaller ships to bits in a matter of volleys.
On smaller side pylons, several smaller ships were docked, refueling and rearming for the coming conflict with opposing forces of the Vanguard, the other large empire in this quadrant of the world. The Vanguard had been aggressive for a long time, and this pod of ships was a part of a task force sent to quell the enemy.
While it may seem large, in reality this ship is not a combat ship, and is therefore only half the size of a main battle ship, which generally sit around two hundred to three hundred meters long.
In the grand scheme of things, it could be said that in the entire Imperial fleet, this ship was rather small, and rightly so, for this was not a combat ship.
Yes, it had guns. Yes, it had armor. Yes, it was large. But the main purpose of this ship was its massive fuel tanks, located in the front of the ship.
The large reserves of hylox (fuel) would serve as the fulcrum for the Imperial attack against the vanguard, and thus this ship was very very important, warranting the assignment of two full sized battleships to its defense. That was a total of 20% of this task forces firepower.
And why not? The amount of hylox this ship had was more than enough for several months of combat and movement. If the Vanguard was able to destroy it, or even worse, capture it, that would mean that this offensive would be lost, and all of the forces would immediately fall back towards more friendly space.
The skiff, knowing the importance of this ship, decided that it would take advantage of this golden goose which had been presented before it on a silver platter. The battleships meant nothing to it anyway, and they wouldn’t fire upon their own ship unless it was about to fall into the hands of the Vanguard.
Pirates on the other hand, had a tendency to sell it back to them, just at a high price. A price that the Imperial Navy was willing to pay most of the time. So they neglected to destroy higher priced ships when it was pirates who captured them, but destroyed them no matter what when their enemy would otherwise acquire them.
The skiff simply laid in wait as it armed its weapons and prepared to attack.