Dellen's attention snapped ahead, searching for the source of the noise.

Another boom sounded ahead, coming from a ship pointed toward the fleet. Dellen’s eyebrows shot up, it wasn’t a ship he recognized.

“Pirates!” Aurora yelled.

A cannonball fired from the rogue ship into the fleet ahead, it gouged a hole in the hull of a ship.

Dellen's heart pounded in his chest, he had had too many shocks in too little time. He felt a wave of full-body fatigue wash over him.

The Phoenix's Flight veered sharply, its sleek form cutting through the air in an attempt to create distance between them and the pirate ship. Captain Aurora's hands gripped the helm, and she pointed them skyward.

Ships burst from behind the low clouds left behind by the storm.

“Three, four, five,” Dellen muttered, looking about.

“Six, seven,” Aurora yelled, “Hold on or get below.” She spun the wheel, aiming them away from the closest ship. The ship responded, its propellers roaring to life.

The captain's eyes scanned the sky, and Dellen watched the pirate ships.

Each of the seven ships unleashed a volley of cannon fire.

The sides of five ships of Thaddeus’s fleet tore open.

“We can’t stay here,” Dellen said.

Finnegan cringed from the noise, and Eliza dragged him below.

“Northcote, can you do anything useful?”

“Maybe, captain.” He said, unsure, but knowing he was among the least helpless facing the pirates.

“Stay topside, and do as you’re told.”

Dellen nodded and did his best to stay out of the Bogsmith’s way as the man went running by.

The five pirate ships drew alongside their wounded prey. “Why aren’t they fighting back?” Dellen yelled.

“They’re not armed, and even if they were, they don’t know how to! We’ve only ever read about pirates in fables.” Aurora yelled.

She tucked the ship down, and they dropped toward the ground. A black ship followed.

Dellen heard the crack of cannon fire and thought he saw cannon balls fly past them.

“This is worse than the rain,” Gilgamesh said.

A rough grunt slipped past Dellen’s lips.

Aurora pulled up and used their momentum to climb faster than he’d seen the Phoenix’s Flight manage before.

Captain Aurora weaved the airship through the turbulent skies. She exploited every advantage Dellen could imagine, utilizing the wind currents and cloud cover to her advantage.

The airship dipped and dived, executing sharp turns and sudden rolls that would have flung Dellen off, if not for his skill with Aether. Their movements were swift and unpredictable, like a bird of prey. The pirates' cannonballs soared past, mere inches from their target, as the Phoenix's Flight evaded with a dancer's grace.

“Why are they chasing us?” Dellen yelled, “There are fourteen more ships to choose from, and we’re not the biggest!”

Another sharp turn threw Dellen’s weight to the side, his fear spiked higher and his Spark Core spun. He slipped sideways, already falling before Electrical Aether shot down his arm, reaching his fingertips to bloom into a magnetic field, holding him to the steel.

A cannonball tore through the deck, roughly above where the passenger cabins were.

Dellen’s heart sped up, he lunged up the deck, ignoring the precarious angle they flew at, and looked inside. The cannonball had slowed down too much to tear through the cabin’s floor and had stopped after passing through Eliza and her bed.

Guilt crashed over Dellen, she’d never have been there if he hadn’t invited her.

This was even worse than dying in the storm.

“What are you going to do?” Gilgamesh said as he caught up a heartbeat later.

Dellen jumped off the ship.

Twelve attempts later and every path that led them safely through the storm brought them to the pirates. It had come to the point where Dellen recognised each of the ships and could tell them apart on sight.

A thunderous boom shattered the quiet.

“Pirates!” Aurora yelled.

A cannonball fired from the rogue ship into the fleet ahead, it gouged a hole in the hull of a ship ahead.

“There’s more of them in the clouds! They have cannons and grappling hooks.”

“What?” Aurora exclaimed, even as her hands spun on the wheel.

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The Phoenix’s Flight dove even as the rest of the fleet hesitated.

Dellen's mind raced, struggling to comprehend the change in the time loop. The wind howled in his ears.

Captain Aurora's voice cut through the chaos, “Hold on, if you fall off I’m not coming back for you!” The Phoenix's Flight veered sharply, evading a cannonball.

Panic and confusion gripped the other ships, they scattered, the ragged formation of Thaddeus’s fleet further devolving.

“Can we help them?” Dellen yelled.

“This ship look armed to you, Northcote?” The captain yelled, back.

Dellen knew the Phoenix’s Flight didn’t have a weapon on her, he just couldn’t stomach the idea of leaving everyone in the fleet behind. “What’re my options?” He said to Gilgamesh.

“Fight or flee. I recommend you flee.”

Dellen didn’t want to flee.

Aurora accelerated, leaving the conflict behind.

Eliza ran to Aurora and grabbed her arm, “We have to help them.”

Aurora shook her off, “Mr. Stevens, restrain our passengers if necessary.”

Finnegan ran to Dellen and said with alarm, “Are we going to leave them behind?”

“You could try something crazy,” Gilgamesh said.

“I’m open to suggestions,” Dellen replied.

“Go back for them. Fight the pirates!” Finnegan said.

“Drop off the Phoenix’s Flight from above a pirate ship, use magnetism if you’re veering too far away, and then repulse just before you land so you don’t break yourself landing on the deck.”

Dellen turned to stare at Gilgamesh. “That’s insanity.”

Finnegan looked at him in confusion.

Still, he was almost First Trinity. “Captain?” He called, “What are the pirates likely to do to the fleet?”

“We don’t have pirates in Copperopolis!” Aurora yelled to him.

“Scuttle the ships? Rob them? Kill them? What did you think?” Gilgamesh asked.

“Can you circle back, approach from above, and let me drop onto one of their ships?”

“Fancy yourself a hero out of some story, Northcote? No, one soft noble against a crew of pirates is not worth turning The Phoenix’s Flight around for. We continue to Evergale; maybe some of the smarter captains will have escaped too.”

“You could overpower her and take the ship,” Gilgamesh noted.

It was true, being Aetherforged, Dellen was stronger than Aurora and her crew, if he bullied his way to the helm, they’d be unlikely to stop him… There was the not-so-small matter of him not knowing how to pilot an airship. “And steer it how?” He muttered.

“Lord Northcote?” Finnegan said, sounding confused.

He’d spent two days on the ship, but Captain Aurora wasn’t particularly fond of him, and he hadn’t bothered her or any of the crew when they took their turns at the helm. He didn’t know to fly, and trying to come alongside or over a ship so he could jump to it seemed like a task for an experienced pilot.

“I don’t like this any more than you do, Northcote,” Aurora called from the helm, “But there’s nothing we can do other than continue to Evergale. We have no weapons and no combat experience.”

“She’s spent her entire captaincy flying over the same city,” Gilgamesh said, “She’s probably terrified.”

Dellen nodded, “You’re right. There’s nothing to be done.” His stomach burned, and the words itched his throat.

Finnegan’s face was long, and Eliza looked furious.

“What do you mean nothing?”

“Tell me one thing we could do,” Dellen said, his words flat, feeling listless.

“We could fight them,” her tone was firmer, “You could fight them.”

“I’m one Aetherforged, and there are seven crews. Seven!”

“We were in a fleet of Aetheric Cultivators!” Eliza said, “A fleet of Copperopolis’s most talented Aether users! Do you really think that given a little time and a little help, they couldn’t rescue themselves?”

Dellen locked eyes with Aurora. Indecision flickered on her face. “Captain, you can drop me off the side and run.”

Aurora looked at him, eyes narrowed in thought, “I won’t be coming back for you if things go poorly.”

Dellen nodded, “Agreed.”

She heaved the ship around, steadily gaining height, “This madness is on your head.”

Dellen felt a mixture of relief, optimism, and creeping dread. He didn’t want to jump off of The Phoenix’s Flight, he just wanted to leave people behind even less.

Their path took them higher than before, Dellen watched them draw closer to the pirates, the ships had been but a minute behind them. Two more ships from the fleet were missing; he was all but certain missing meant crashed.

On the closest ship, Dellen could see people being walked, single file, over a boarding plank, onto a black ship.

“It’s now or never, Lord Northcote.” The captain said, hands on the wheel.

Dellen jumped.

Wind streamed in his hair. The ship below coming up fast. His aim had been a little too good. He was on target to hit the center of the deck, at speed. Heart pounding, Dellen tried to build up a magnetic field that would repel, rather than attract. Charge built in his hands and his feet. He felt the moment his magnetic field was close enough to interact with the ship’s frame, suddenly he was falling through gel, not air. He crashed into the deck with enough force to bruise, rather than break. Feet hitting first, knees buckling, fists slamming to the wood.

Pain radiated through his joints and along his spine. Blood ran from his knuckles.

Laughter sounded around him, “Look at this, hungry to be sold.”

Dellen pushed himself to his feet.

A grim-faced man separated himself from the crew and sauntered toward Dellen. Every inch of his visible skin was Aetherforged. Dellen glanced around, every crew member he saw sported the telltale shimmer of steelskin. The man coming for him had a dagger on his belt, and wore a studded leather vest. “I’m going to take you below, and you can have a nice stay in a comfortable, secure, private room.” He grinned, showing his teeth.

Dellen exploded into action, coming up just inside the man’s guard and swinging an Aether-charged fist into his jaw. Electrical Aether coursed over Dellen’s split knuckles, and splashed across the pirate’s face when their steelskin made contact.

The pirate’s neck didn’t move. He barked a laugh, “This mouse thinks he’s a lion.” He backhanded Dellen across the face.

Dellen woke in the dark.

His face hurt. His head hurt.

He blinked his eyes and waited for them to adjust.

He was in a dark hold, similar to the cargo hold on the Phoenix’s Flight, but filled with metal bars. “Gilgamesh?” He said.

Dellen sat up and felt his face. There was dried blood caked across his left temple. The split skin on his fists burned. He was in a cage with a half dozen other passengers from the fleet. They all sat and stared, almost catatonic. None of them had steelskin.

“How long have we been here?” Dellen asked.

Most acted like they hadn’t heard him, a few glanced in his direction, before returning to staring blankly.

“Thaddeus?” Dellen called out.

“Dellen?” Came the surprised reply.

“Tristan?”

“How’d they get you?”

“Boarded our ship and slapped us all down,” Tristan’s words were raw, “Like we were rusted metal.”

“We’re going to get out of this,” Dellen said before thinking about the fight. He’d been overmatched. In Copperopolis, no one, not even Thaddeus could have shrugged off a punch like that from him. Out here, he hadn’t even slowed the man before he’d been knocked unconscious. His confidence ebbed.

“How?”

Dellen wrapped his fingers around the bars in front of him, braced his feet on the ground, and heaved. He felt strain all through his body. The bars didn’t budge. Dellen increased the pressure, feeling veins bulge in his neck and arms. “That won’t work, I’ve tried,” said Tristan.

He stopped pulling, it wasn’t going to work, he didn’t have the raw strength. Tristan had Steam Aether, not the most useful tool for bending metal. Electrical Aether, might let him soften the steel enough to bend. Dellen lay his hands flat on the bars and pushed Electrical Aether into them. The Aether conducted away without trouble, leaving no trace of heat behind.

Dellen cut the flow of Aether. There were bars to either side of this cage, if he could create a strong enough magnetic field, he could push them. He limped to the centre of his cage, still ignored by his cellmates.

His Spark Core spun.