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538 - The Second Wave

The New World, Mecca, North East of Fort Hensink, The Atoll

Roughly two hundred kilometres offshore from the beaches of Hensink, lies a small archipelago of islands and reefs formed from volcanic rock. The islands have steep slopes densely covered in vegetation and trees and were devoid of people. Wild animals and monsters roamed the islands surrounded by steep rocky cliffs and at the highest peaks of one of the islands, dozens of wild winged dragons flocked around the peak.

In th...

537 - The Stand

Stamford glanced back to see dozens of tiny figures appearing at the distant forest edge from which hours ago, they had come out of. Blue Thunder was too hurt to be able to take into the skies, and hence, they could only trek across the forest and grasslands, heading towards their destination.

Seeing their pursuers hot on their heels, Stamford could only increase their pace. There wasn't any point in keeping stealth nor hiding their tracks as it was almost impossible to hide the tracks ...

536 - Trust

The New World, The Old Kingdom of Foral, ???

Blue Thunder was enjoying the look on Saphia's face when she tried the dried rations for the first time. Suddenly, he jerked his head around, his nostrils sniffing the air suspiciously before he roared out a warning, "CONTACTED!"

Stamford and the rest were taking having their rations when Blue Thunder's warning came. They dropped whatever they were doing and whipped out their weapons, each one of them taking aim at four directions. "Whe...

535 - No

The New World, United Nations, Haven, Fortress Singapore, Captain's Quarters

Lieutenant Tavor returned the salutes of the two Marine guards and knocked on the closed hatch. The hatch slide opened and Tavor entered to see Blake seated behind his desk. His eyes were reddish and covered with dark eye bags and he seemed to have been wearing the same uniform for the past few days.

"Sir, are you alright?" Tavor asked in concern as he gave a once over on the Captain. The Captain looked t...

534 - Long Distance Flying

UNS Vengeance, Command Bridge

Commander Ford stood next to Captain Nimo as they stared out of the armored windows of the bridge to the port side of the ship. The Task Force was currently traveling through the middle of the channel between the island and the mainland which the locals called Exile's Passage, en route to Fort Hensink.

Ford could see the sandy beaches piled with dozens of wooden ships that had what appeared to be paddle wheels constructs on their sides bearing Imperia...

533 - Handsome

Blue Thunder circled around the growling black dragon who was curled in a defensive stance in the middle of the courtyard of the inn. Stamford and the rest had returned with a large wagon which carried the black dragon and now with its restraints off, it stared at Blue Thunder and her surroundings cautiously.

A magical slave collar ensured the black dragon does not misbehave or threaten its new owners was worn around the base of its long serpentine neck. A crystal controller sat inside ...

532 - The Black Dragon Princess

Saphia was in a state of desperate panic as she woke up in an unknown environment. The last thing she remembered before her memory became fuzzy was that she had sneaked out from a side hatch of the ship and followed behind the raiding force at a distance.

The next thing she knew was seeing dazzling orbs darting towards the raiding force and bright bursts of light that left white spots in her eyes. She saw flames and smoke as the force led by Lord Jesper came under attack from an invisib...

531 - The Auction

Stamford stood before the brightly lit facade of the auction house which the address of the invitation had been written. The auction house was like an estate by itself covered by a perimeter wall artfully disguised by lush bushes. Lavish looking carriages were rolling in one after another through the wide wrought iron gates where a team of smartly dressed muscles were guarding.

A self important looking steward stopped Stamford and his men as they walked up to the gates. He cast a dismis...

530 - Future

The New World, Exile's Passage, UNS Vengeance, Admiral's Quarters

"Recon has lost contact with the remaining airships of Group Alpha when they entered the mountainous region of the island," Commander Ford spoke to the display on the desk. "We suspect they went into active magical camo protocols as we lost track of their positions shortly after. And the mountain peaks are causing radar interference. Unless we send in the recon planes into the mountain region, we won't be able track anyth...

529 - Bad Luck

Emperor Aslan stood before the lake with its surroundings totally devastated. Trees were unrooted or shattered into many pieces and the earth was churned up and filled with large ugly mud filled craters. Wreckages of buildings and airships were scattered all over the place, including bodies and bits of unidentified parts. Finally, he understood the meaning of seeing is believing as he stood before the aftermath of a one sided attack.

Even his Imperial Court who flew over from the United...

UNS Vengeance

The first of its kind built with a mix mash of local workmanship and salvaged parts from the UNS Singapore. It took over one year to be constructed and was a technological marvel to the New World.

Class: Vengeance Class

Type: Battle Carrier

Displacement: 112,400 tons

Length: 332.7 m

Beam: 91.32 m

Draught: 8.71 m

Installed power:

• 22 Standard Boilers
• 1 Arcane Thermal boiler
• 1 Magic Converter Array

Pro...

528 - Good Will

The New World, Kingdom of Foral, Castle Wand

"Ooooo!" Blue Thunder grinned happily as he listened to Stamford's retelling of the events that had happened during the welcoming dinner last night. His previous grouchiness gone as he leaned closer to Stamford and said, "Let's go! A black dragon? I never seen one before!"

"You do know that we have to get to Fortress Hensink to speak with the prisoners right?" Stamford shook his head at Blue Thunder's suggestion. "We got no time for sig...

527 - Good Or Evil

The New World, Exile Island

Duchess Manarva gripped the armrests of the command chair tightly as she glared out of the crystal windows of her flagship out to the skies. Plumes of grey smoke rising into the skies covered her view, each smoke plume signifying the death of an airship.

"Any more of those flyers in the skies?" She asked the spotters armed with far seeing spells and eye glasses posted on the observation decks above her.

"Aft clear!" The spotters yelled out as they...

526 - Fast Travel

A series of ear shattering booms shook those inside the throne room wildly and balls of flames and smoke could be seen in the air where a dome of shimmering magic barrier held off the attacks. Yet despite the protection of the magic barrier, those soldiers and servants that were out in the open of the flying fortress and closest to the attacks, had their eardrums ruptured and inner organs damaged from the shock waves.

The magical barrier extended out to roughly twenty meters around the ...

525 - IT

UNS Vengeance, Flight Deck A, Munition Stores

Racky the goblin was a red jacket, an Ordnanceman onboard the Vengeance. He was also the head priest of the Faith of Superior Firepower!'s chapter onboard the Vengeance. And now, wielding a mighty piece of white chalk, he was blessing the racks of 127 mm heavy anti ship rockets that were being transported up the armoured elevator to the top decks to be loaded onto the returning aircraft.

He scribbled phrases from the Faith's canon onto...

524 - The Core

Crown Prince Yemen Winterborne, Duke of Warren, Supreme Commander of the 3rd Iron Fleet was enjoying a splendid lunch of roasted local game and greens when ear shaking thunderous roars made him jump in shock and he dropped the piece of perfectly grilled meat on to his pristine clothes, leaving a stain of meat sauce.

The crystal chandeliers swung wildly above him as the ground shook underneath his feet and his personnel manservant and steward rushed in, half dragging him out of his chair...

523 - The Faith of Superior Firepawer!

UNS Vengeance, Forward Main Gun One, Projectile Handling Floor

The biceps of the Seaman Broken Tooth bugled as he and the other Oerkin manhandled the massive shell that was almost as tall as the goblin hoist operator in the hoist. The shell weighed as much as over five times his weight, at five hundred eighty kilograms, was harnessed to a chain and pulley system which he and his buddy was pulling to transfer the high explosive shell into the waiting jaws of the elevator hoist.

Onc...

522 - Plan Alpha

Emperor Aslan had an uneasy feeling in his chest as he looked around the dimmed room. He was seated on a very comfortable chair before a magical table which surfaces were glowing. White lines and runes of some sort glowed and changed constantly on the table's surface. More similar magic covered the rest of the room's walls and tables in front of a group of United Nations soldiers.

His Court stood behind him, the nobles hurdled together unconsciously as they stared around their surroundi...

521 - State Visit

Emperor Aslan Bluewood was feeling a sense of wonderment as he saw the massive 'island' like ship seemingly made entirely out of metal or at least grey painted wood. But wood did not have the sharpness nor the hard edges the massive island ship had as details appeared the closer the dragon he was riding on got.

Like the rest of his court, the nobles all had their heads stuck out of the pavilion that was mounted on the backs of the heavy weight dragons. The flight of nine heavy weight an...

520 - The Magic Converter Array

One week ago, UNS Vengeance, Battleship Central, Magic Converter Array Room

"Be careful!" Magister Thorn resisted the urge to hop around as he nervously watched the group of mages handled the metal crate with its edges painted with yellow and black stripes. The group of Marine guards continued to remain on guard after they delivered the package but upon seeing the nervous Magister, the Marines instinctively edged as far to the bulkheads as possible.

The junior mage techs who had r...

519 - Freedom!

The New World, Exile Island, Combined Fleet of the 3rd Iron Fleet and the Tri State Exploration Fleet

Rows of airships were parked parallel to each other with ample distance between each ship to prevent any accidents or fire from spreading, were docked to a series of towers. Dozens of metallic leg beams extended out from the bellies of the airships and supported the entire weight of the ships as the ships' boilers went cold and the aetherium cooled down to a solid state.

Only the ...

518 - North Sea Imperial Fleet

Knight Colonel Sander stood on the crumbled sea walls that overlooked the port of the city, seeing workers and slaves laboring away at the broken ships and harbor debris. Sea worthy sailing ships were swarmed with a small army of carpenters and ship wrights as they made repairs and replaced broken masts and sails.

"How can we win with these ships when the enemy flies in the air?" Knight Colonel Sander asked in a respectful tone to the Sage beside him. "Won't we be throwing away the live...

517 - Balloons

The New World, Port of Sunder

The city shook under the bombardment of the guns of the raiding airships. Two distinctive looking groups of airships came swooping in over the city walls, the black muzzles of their steam cannons jutting out from under their bellies and spewed steam and iron down.

Having given up the high altitude bombardment, which not only burnt more fuel to keep the aetherium heated up, the accuracy of their steam cannons drop drastically the further they were from...

516 - Intentions

The New World, Empire of Bluewood Territory, Exile's Passage, UNS Vengeance

Professor Hamlot watched the crew of the massive ocean going ship that seemed more like a small island instead of a ship, navigate the behemoth into the channel. The loud roar of the single winged flying machines the crew called Vipers and the double winged machines called Cobras, came overhead from the open air observation deck, he was at with a few others.

The machines known as 'er kaft' in the locals' l...

515 - Battle Tested

"Great Sage!" An Imperial soldier with a bloodied bandage over his head rushed down the flight of stairs of the dungeon that were lit brightly by glow lamps. The messenger came to a knee before the cloaked figure standing at the head of the large dining table that had some time during the siege made its way down into the Governor's stone dungeons.

Originally, the Imperial soldiers had scorned the need to hide underground like rats but after experiencing the first bombardment of the city...

514 - Extreme Reactions

United Nations, City of Haven, Fortress Singapore, Captain's Quarters

"So what did the survivors say?" Captain Blake asked without looking up from his computer, his fingers dancing on the keyboard.

"The survivors picked up by the Navy and the surrendered crew all thinks that somehow we have killed one of the heir of the Dragon Lords..." Lieutenant Tavor reported. "They are claiming some sort of blood debt with us or some kind of vendetta as translated."

Blake paused in his w...

513 - Strange Times

Goblin Coast, UNS Vengeance, En route to Far Harbor

"Good FUCKING morning gentlemen!" Master Sergeant, 'Top', Pike yelled at the assembled troops that had formed up on open decks of Flight Deck 'A'. "Seems like you boys have been having a good time of your lives, yes?"

"NO, MASTER SERGEANT!" The Marines roared out as Pike walked down the line doing an inspection.

"Holy fuck, boys!" Pike shook his head dramatically. "You lot look like you need some exercise to trim those beer...

512 - The Sage

The Empire of Bluewood, Exile's Passage, Port Of Sunder

The once disused and poor maintained city walls were transformed in a just span of a few days. Hundreds of slaves and labor gangs now toiled on the city walls, covering it with scaffolding and cranes hoisting stone and other materials. Gangs that were once prominent in the city, had now all retreated in the face of the hundreds of Imperial soldiers patrolling the streets.

Strange long black iron tubes were carefully emplaced ...

511 - The Master Plan

United Nations, Hope Naval Station, UNS Vengeance, Marine Deck

"Attention on Deck!" The Marine closest to the hatch yelled as he stood up to attention when a group of officers entered. Marine Major James headed straight for the podium at the front of the briefing deck while the other officers took up positions at the front row.

"At ease, people," James said as he cast an eye around the seated marines, noting some familiar faces among the two company sized attendees seated in the b...

510 - Scum and Villainy

The Empire of Bluewood, Exile's Passage, Port Of Sunder

Many years back. the Port of Sunder used to be a small fishing town, sited at within the northern fringe of the growing Empire. Over the years, it grew larger and larger as the closest gateway to the large island that was known as Exile's Island as escaped slaves sought a safe haven away from the Empire and the straits between the two became known as the Exile's Passage.

Now, the bustling coastal city was filled with criminal...