Captain Francis

“We are all set for departure,” I said as Emperor Michael sat on a chair to my right on the bridge.

“Stopping by The Abyss first?” he asked, and I nodded at this.

“Yes, to pick up the first batch of soldiers, while we test out formation flying. We won’t be able to maneuver, since we will be covering for the other airships. We will be going low and slow for the most part,” I added.

“That is fine. Two days out there, and then another day into the wilderness, and then grinding for a day, and then a final day to reach New Kochi, right?”

“That is the itinerary. At least that is the hope. We will be pushing on empty, which is a major concern,” I said.

“I know, but nothing we can do. Food and water?”

“We are fully stocked with extra supplies packed away. Once we show up to The Abyss, we are going to load everyone we can up, to make the trip,” I explained. A lot of this had only been worked out in the last few days, arranging for the soldiers to go on ahead on foot, instead of loading up in Purgatory.

I had pushed for that since we needed more time to ensure we had formation flying down, since almost the entire Airforce was coming along. Only one small and one medium airship were remaining behind at the capital.

“Our crew compliment?” Emperor Michael asked.

“I arranged for double shifts. A total of 52 soldiers including myself, with most beds on rotation.” That was another change I made. The new airship was big enough that we needed multiple shifts of people and being able to have replacements in the field if something happened.

A total of 25 beds would have two people sleep in shifts, while myself and the vice-captain would share a room. That left two beds free, with Michael and Michelle getting the private rooms. He had insisted, and if he insisted then there was no argument I was going to make.

Once we loaded up with people it was going to be incredibly cramped, but we would be able to manage for three days. While it wasn’t the best living conditions for the crew, it was better than a submarine. The hardest part was that there was no easy way to clean the sheets, but each person would have their own set of sheets they would switch out after sleeping.

Also with that many people, we could afford to have four dedicated cooks, to keep the mess hall going at all times. And if there was an emergency, there would be replacements for people manning the beam emplacements. The lower-level beam cannons we had would be used for practice this trip. We would be swapping them out later, but I could make sure the new people knew what needed to be done and get their accuracy up.

Losing most of the crew from the last Crystal Vortex had been hard, quite hard. There had been a quiet service, which Emperor Michael had attended, but no one had much to say. The risk of death was incredibly high. The pay was good though, since people needed stats to be able to survive.

I had spoken with Emperor Michael about diverting funds to boost the soldiers manning the airship, if we had to go into higher level zones. He told me to remind him after a long grinding session, but it was doubtful that the airship would go into a level 6 zone any time soon. Even a level 5 zone would be pushing it, but the crew had enough stats to manage without too much difficulty.

“A lot of crew. Two shifts?”

“Three shifts actually. With two shifts being called up while traveling,” I explained.

“We couldn’t make do with less?” he asked.

“It is also a matter of training people up and keeping shifts up constantly. This airship can take a lot more damage, and if we take casualties, we need people ready to step up. If we are going to use the beam cannons, having people aim them is crucial,” I explained.

“Food reserves?” he asked.

“We can operate for 200 days away from civilization. If we really back things in, then we could double that to 400 days. That is also why I wanted to have more crew, if we are away for a longer period of time,” I explained.

“Good. Well you seem to have things well in hand Captain. Depart at your leisure,” Emperor Michael said.

“Yes, sir. Helmsman, declamp and bring us up.” We released from the tower and rose up into the air into formation with the rest of the airships that were already present. The Crystal Vortex maneuvered up and in front of the rest of the airships.

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“Set speed and heading, take us away,” I ordered once we rose to the front of the formation.

“Accelerating, target speed in five minutes,” the helmsman said.

Young Michael

I was up on the roof with a bunch of the other kids. There was a rumor going around that there was a big operation planned for all the airships. “Look, they are moving into formation,” I pointed out. Thankfully, the caretakers had let us watch the departure.

It wasn’t every day, that most of Purgatory’s Airforce left to go fight. There was even the new Crystal Vortex. It was much larger and more impressive looking. At least 20 beam emplacements. It was probably going to crush whatever destroyed the old one.

We cheered and waved a Purgatory flag as it maneuvered into position. After watching the rest of the airships fly into formation this morning, I could tell that the person flying the big airship knew what they were doing. It didn’t overly speed up and had a smooth acceleration and positioning.

“I am going to be flying one of those one day,” John said.

“That would be cool. You would get to see everything,” I replied.

“It isn’t a plane,” one of new kids replied. Us lifers rolled our eyes at the idiot.

“It’s an airship. And shut up about pointless Earth things. This is the Systemic Lands,” I said, and the other lifers nodded with me. The stupid kid shut his mouth so I could focus on watching this event. The Crystal Vortex moved into position and then after half a minute it took off with the rest of them following behind and beneath it.

I watched them disappear in the distance, towards the outer wall. “That was cool,” John said and I nodded at that.

“Agreed. Whatever is out there is going to be crushed by the Emperor. Bam!” I punched my left hand into my right palm.

The Leader, Hamid

“The monster is dead?” I asked again, just to be sure.

“That is what our spies are reporting. Should we mobilize? If the Indians get more cities, then it will be a disaster,” my advisor said, and I shook my head at this. I knew who would be expanding into those cities and I didn’t want anything to do with him. That man was too powerful and dangerous. Better to keep my head down.

“No. It is going to be a blood bath. I suspect that they are going to run headfirst to their death. Emperor Michael is not a person to be trifled with. The fact that he was able to kill the monster is proof of that,” I said.

“We don’t know for sure if he killed it,” my advisor replied.

“There is no such thing as coincidences. He showed up and then the monster died after all these years. Since he could kill it, the sword won’t be able to do anything either. What we can do is prepare to take a couple zones once the Indian Sultanate pushes East. There are five level 3 zones we can take. We should begin preparation to rotate our people to make a move, in the next 100 days,” I said.

“That is a long time,” my advisor countered.

“It is, but it will take a long time for the Empire of Purgatory to run into the Indian Sultanate. We should also send word to the Empire of the Nile, build up some good will and warn them,” I considered that option. That would mean using an airship, which wasn’t cheap. I normally tried to avoid making trips to other nations.

“Perhaps a defensive alliance, against the Empire of Purgatory?” my advisor suggested.

“That is like building a sandcastle in front of a hurricane. It just makes you feel good but is pointless. What we need to do is establish diplomatic relations, long term relations. We will keep our airship in reserve for now. Let the other nations blunder into their deaths, we will push on the level 3 zones that Meech controls, and make sure we can keep those zones as well,” I added.

“That means devoting a lot of our resources into increasing the stats of people and establishing a new defensive line. The road layout won’t be to our benefit,” my advisor pointed out.

“Meech will waste people reclaiming cities and will have a severe manpower and crystal shortage for a while. Also, their government structure isn’t set-up for easy expansion. Once they overextend, we will attack.”

“Perhaps push on Meech itself?” I considered that suggestion.

“It depends on how much they get pushed back, but I would prefer a buffer, between us and the Empire of Purgatory. We can’t afford to fight them in any way. And we need to get a better handle on their plans now that their Emperor killed the monster. Put togeather an embassy. You will lead it. Once they have claimed a city, you will go and negotiate a peace,” I said.

“I am guessing you want to keep our three cities, limited tribute, and limited interference?”

“Preferably no tribute, and no interference. But if they are set on expanding, then we need a better understanding of their laws and government structure. Avoid war or conflict no matter what,” I said.

“As you command,” my advisor said. I would need to get look over our deployments and keep an eye on the situation myself going forward. One mis-step would mean I would be dead. I considered the long-term implications of 6 cities now being unclaimed.

The Empire of the Nile was well positioned but they were supporting The One in their conflict with the other nations to the West. It was complicated and a mess down South, which was why I didn’t like interacting with those cities. Each of them had a higher opinion of themselves than the last. And the places that had a rulership council, were helplessly inefficient and mired in corruption and factions.

My position was isolated, but pushing out into the Indian Sultanate was the best idea. If there was no pushback we might even take the level 2 zones around the city. Cutting it off entirely would not be a good idea. There were enough strong people there and that blasted sword things could get difficult.

But three level 3 zones would be a huge boon, regardless. It would allow me to develop more high level individuals and hopefully start considering level 4 zones. I could only imagine the vast stretches of land that the Empire of Purgatory had and the strength of their leader. The battle was lost before it had even begun. The only thing was to hope we could find some form of mercy and that I wouldn’t be killed.

At least I had made a good impression, at least that was my hope. And it would take time to bring that many cities under control. Time I needed to improve my position long term.