The noise was immense. The rustling of fabric, the scream of an engine being pushed past its breaking point, the various yells and swears of the crew. I sit with the rest of the 58th scouting division in the hold, trying my best to remain stoic throughout the anxiety of first deployment.

I am sitting on a bench in the cargo hold of the ship, facing a young man. The engine is to my left on the next higher deck. I can see the orange glow of coal burning, reflecting off of the corrugated metal bridge crossing over the bay. On the other side of the bridge was, ironically, also the bridge. From my vantage point I can see the roof of the bridge, and it was covered by pipes, levers, and gauges. All of these parts play a part in keeping the ship aloft, in the eternal struggle against gravity.

Turning back to the boy, he is no older than 25, and scared to death. He has no scars or blemishes and has good teeth. A well raised and never challenged boy, suddenly thrust into war. He has heavy armor on, and is clutching his harpoon rifle.

I have a feeling that he will be a problem. I just hope Aial can deal with it.

To the boy's right is an older dwarf clad in heavy armor, adorned with a dozen small satchels attached to his belt. He is holding one of the high power Ziplabs harpoon rifles, with the under barrel shotgun’s cylinder gleaming in the dim light. He looked like he was 40? His contract was definitely complete but he probably couldn't return to his home.

Further towards the captain there was the pilot of the scout vehicle, a war hardened human male. He just looked impartial to what they were doing, sitting in an old ship's cargo hold. Their commander clearly trusted him, as he was also holding the commander's orders, even though they weren't supposed to read them.

To my right was the engineer, a human with a simple shotgun. The shotgun of course had a collection of wires, pipes, tanks, and coils that I reckon probably had a chance of blowing up. Their pack was unusually large as it contained a lot of the coal and starter that they needed for the engine. The rest of the supplies were in the crates shoved in the back.

Far to my right was the medic, a female russet tabaxi, wearing a tactical vest full of vials of molds fllyr dust, and seeds. There was also a small pistol attached to her hip, so she was clearly a Ziplabs medic. Normally the PPE medics don't carry weapons, but ziplabs didn't care enough to monitor if the medics had weapons or not. It probably was good that she had it though, as they were going far behind enemy lines.

Blast, where are we even going? We have enough supplies for a full scale attack but there's just ten of us, counting the support ship crew.

At the front head of the hold sits a relatively old aarakocra, 16. Pretty old for his species. His name is Aial and he is our excursion commander. I have a hunch it's because he can fly, and we are being deployed via an airship. I actually met him before we were sent to the frontline via train. That ride was also uncomfortable, as they were in a boxcar. The group didn't talk much in the boxcar either.

A young human male with pointed ears climbs down from the command bridge quietly. He walks over to Aial and whispers something into his ear. Aial stands up, clears his throat and tries his best to speak.

¨ We are approaching the drop point. Prepare your weapons and get ready to load the runner ”

The official name of the scout vehicle was something like “The high capacity scavenging vehicle” or something, but it was normally referred to as just the scout, or the runner. The runner was at least cooler than using an acronym like HCSV. That just sounds like a diease.

His orders are very squeaky but can still be understood ,and respected. I looked down at my left hand and screwed the brass knuckles into the knuckles and tips of my mechanical hand. Hidden behind its brass interior and framing are countless gears and a green glow.

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I looked up to see the boy across from me staring at my hand as if it was gone. Which it was up until recently. While I was a kid there was an accident at the mill that we got our wheat from.

My hand got caught in one of the gears and was crushed beyond repair. Thankfully I was young so I barely remember the incident. This mechanical hand was made in the Ziplabs forge and was very expensive. I had also made some of his own modifications as of my own, feeling the weight of the small cylinders on my belt.

If the modifications didn't work, I also had the reassuring weight of my personal crossbow. I got it as a gift for my 16th birthday, and helped hunt for food while moving away from the holy line. My dad was a somewhat skilled carpenter and managed to make it usable with just one hand, which I was very thankful for.

The sunlight diffusing through the front glass tapers off and there is a sudden scrape. I can feel the airship crashing through the tree cover and cringe instinctively. Several seconds later I hear the ship groan, and then come to a halt. The Airship crew is probably using the harpoon guns they have to tie the ship to the ground for now.

The dwarf yells¨ go go go!” Before getting up, clomping across the loose metal floor, and kicking the door open. Me and 3 other soldiers get up and start grabbing things. The young human across from me balls up in his chair as the others run out.

¨Get your butt out of that chair and grab that nitrogen!¨ Yells the engineer gesturing to the 2 foot tall canisters surrounded by a metal frame.

He might be scared, but he needs to get going. I mean I'm scared, but not that scared.

I pull him out of his chair and hand him a canister. I then grab one in my right hand and run out of the airship into the sunlight.

After my eyes adjust to the brilliance of the sun's glow I look around. We are in a deciduous forest in a clearing. The sun is shining at around a 3rd of the way through its arc of the sky. The ground is covered in thin leaves, grass and small stones. A grape tree sits at the edge of the clearing, next to a quiet brook. A unreasonably nice day behind enemy lines. You can see the gap we left in the trees while landing the airship a crashing wole going back dozens of meters. The bottom of the airship which was previously a fine goods craft is now covered in bullet holes and scratches from the branches.

Several dozen meters in front of me I see the runner. Its aggressive, non aerodynamic front is dented and scratched, and it's missing most of its water from its back mounted tank. But it otherwise looks intact. I can see the line it made crashing through the forest, crashing through trees and bushes.

I get to the scouting craft and throw my canister in the back. I watch the driver, and the engineer climb inside and hear the pouring of coal and the harsh snap of the boiler slamming shut. There isn't any noise except us and the birds.

The birds are really going at it, I think to myself. Something must have spooked them.

Aial suddenly swoops down and lands on top of the runner.

¨Enemy drones incoming” he yells.

I quickly turn around to get the last of the supplies on the ship. About 10 meters in front of me is the young human. He drops the canister, and then falls to the ground as I see an energy bolt hit his arm. Behind him, almost immediately I see movement from the gunner ball on the airship, and the grinding of the gearbox. Behind me I hear the pilot starting the engine on the runner, and stalling it. I run over to the boy and tried to pick him up.

I look to the right and see half a dozen ironbound. Large humanoid automata powered by the glass bowl of fluid replacing their head. Under their iron armor and frame, you can see the purple of power and sparks flash through their insides. In the glass bowl I see a collection of floating points, slowly turning and shifting as if they were thinking. I point my left hand at them and let the fire fly at them.

I drag the boy up into the back of the runner before jumping up myself. The engine roars to life and we take off slowly leaving an obvious trail through the forest until the pilot starts to get control of the stealing. I look down at the boy and see the wound. He has a small chit in his armor…

“MMEeeedicc!!!” he calls, even though he wasn't actually shot.. Or even hurt. I throw the first empty sphere off the back of the ship. I didn't need it, and it was extra weight. Above us was the thick cover of trees and past that you could barely see the bottom of the supply ship. The ship looked to be having more issues, as I heard the fire of its rear mounted machine gun intermittently.

The medic jumped out of the top port, and ran down the back of the crew compartment.

“He isn't actually hurt” I say to her as I walk by. She looks confused by this information but before she can ask me for clarification I jump into the crew cabin.

The crew cabin was dusty, and cramped. There were two bunk beds on either side of the small table area in the middle. The table was covered in personal belongings and supplies. Along the back wall there was a small bar table, and a map bolted to the wall. There was a course plotted up along the entire continent, leading to a small marker. I walked over to see what it was marked as.

The marker read “The 5 stones”. I stepped back in shock, and followed the line to its destination from where we were. We were just slightly past the holy line.

Might as well get comfy.

We're going to be traveling for 3 weeks.