Nearly sprinting back to the bridge, Seba grabbed Lepper's arm and somewhat forcefully took him aside from the gauge panel for a moment. In a low tone that only could be heard between the two of them, she continued. "We are not fine. Have you forgotten that Saguaria storms change like they have a mind of their own? If it's a magic storm we're screwed, those things change course to attack flying vessels. How far off in the distance is it exactly?" Letting go of his arm, she waited for a reply.

"About 100+ miles. Jesus, you act as though I don't go anywhere outside of Gaia. Hell, I couldn't even attend a wedding due to a blizzard." He looked at her, frowning a bit. "Besides, aren't those storms you talk about nothing but myths and legends Dessarians start spreading around the campfire? I mean, there is absolutely no way in hell a storm made up of spirits of the damned will be flying about will suddenly turn about and attack a flying airship."

The anti-Dezari comment was a bit uncalled for, yes, but he couldn't help himself. Born in Vickers, Aekea, his city always faced off with Dessarians in the border wars. He only participated in two small firefights that lead to only a few wounded.

Sighing inwards - his mouthful of cigar smoke disappearing - he soon sighed it out, clambered off the bed and made his way out of the room.

Following signs and the usual Multi-deck navigation of any ship, Demetrius soon found himself staring intently at a sign labelled 'Bridge'. Pushing open the door lazily, Demetrius stepped in, side-stepped to lean against the closest wall, and then frowned. "Am I interrupting, something?" He asked, although didn't particularly wait for an answer.

Leaning up off the wall, Demetrius moved over to the large bay of windows, planted his hands flat on th desk and stared out of the window. "Is big storm, ahead." He said, before removing the cigar from between his teeth, stubbing it out on the palm of his hand that was marked with faint burns from doing it many a time before, and then slid the cigar behind an ear. "You think maybe, it one of them storms you Gaians doubt existence of?" He asked, raising an eyebrow in question. "The..." Demetrius paused, before continuing, "Anomaly, storms? With power to spread lightening across aircraft, and make compass spin like Ballet dancer." He added, twirling a finger in the air to mimic the movement.

"Legend says, the ground they move over gets scared, and stones hover inches off floor." Demetrius added, holding thumb and forefinger apart, hand raised, showing the height of an approximate inch. "Strange shit happen in storms..." He added, warning in his tone. He then sniffed, and shrugged. "Doubt its scared though, but is not natural; people go in unprotected, never come out same."

Turning and listening to what Demetrius had to say before responding to Lepper, she grinned. "Learn for yourself if you don't believe us. There are things in this world that you'll never understand unless you experience them on your own. These anomalies, bonding with a weapon; there are no words to describe it, least in Gaian. Just prepare for every possible outcome." She shrugged.

Seba wasn't Dessarian, though she had spent half of her life there; which Lepper knew. The territory wars that they waged were all too true, and many tribes would end up being annihilated due to them. "Oh, and the only time we told stories around campfires was when we were roasting our enemies." With a teasing grin she walked away from him and went to a panel; checking the storm's range.

Lepper shook his head. "Nothing but ghost stories..." He looked out at the window towards the storm brewing off in the distance, his eyes now glued to it. "Though I gotta admit, it does look somewhat intimidating."

He stretched a bit, yawning as he began to make his exit. "I'm hitting the hay. Wake me up when the haunted storm starts attacking us or we enter Norune." He laughed a bit, waving back at them. "Nai-nai. Don't let the storm clouds bite!" He continued to laugh down the corridor to his personal quarters.

Engine #2 suddenly shut itself down. The man at the console pounded at the gauge lightly, muttering "come on" repeatedly as he tried to will the thing to work. The engine outside sputtered a bit, coughing up a massive cloud of black smoke before restarting, the gauge inside reading normal again.

Demetrius smirked a little as Seba spoke, staring out the window as everyone conversed.
Waving the Captain goodbye half-heartedly, Demetrius soon leaned over, yanked the monocular out of a Pirate's pocket, extended the object, before staring through it at the cloud. After focusing the lens a little, Demetrius grunted. "The bloody thing is glowing with lightening." Demetrius said in fluent Dessarian, many of the cabin crew eyeing the Mercenary with a slight disdain - as people did when listening to an armed Mercenary speak in a language they couldn't understand - "Lightening usually sparks now and then, although there are always cases when such lightening happens... No, this thing is sparking so much lightening is crossing paths." He added, before frowning. "And, I think there's some rocks in there, too..."

Shrugging, the Dessarian removed the monocular from his eye, snapped it shut, and handed it back to the pirate he'd stolen it from, who snatched it from his hand. "Is magic, I think." He said with a grunt. "If we go through there, hope lightening does not pass through your bullets, or you have big balloon sieve." He added, before tipping his head back in laughter. "Although, that would be sight to see, Da?"

Seba's eyes narrowed while Demetrius spoke in Dessarian. It wasn't a pretty truth, what they were up against. Glancing down at the gauge she had been standing near, she looked up at Demetrius and replied in the language. "It is growing stronger, and coming closer. Will be fun." Turning to one of the crew hands that was now staring at her gawking for speaking a different language; "What?! Get back to your post!" she snapped with an eye roll. Which they did.

Looking out at the cloud for a bit, Seba started tapping one of her fingers on a panel. "Someone get Lepper back in here. A decisions gotta be made; we've got to alter course before that thing hits us or the #2 engine goes out again." One of the random background people hopped up, and with a salute, went off to Lepper's quarters to get him.

Lep didn't even get a chance to open the door when he was immediately called back to the bridge by a runner. Shaking his head, he made his way back over, picking up a cup of coffee brewed by the mechanics. He winced at the taste, then walked through the door and entered the bridge.

"What is it now?" He looked down at the instrument panel, the needles bobbing in the green. Even Engine #2's gauge was reading normally. He looked back out towards the storm, then to the Navigator. "What's our position in relation to Norune?"

"Still about 125 miles to go. We're only about 7 miles from the Dessarian border, and about 30 miles from the Gaian border."

He frowned a bit, looked at the map on the wall. The navigator stared into the screen, the little blip on the map blinking occasionally.

"Storm might be interfering with the signal right now, but if we can get over that mountain range into Dessaria, we'll be able to get to Norune without any delays."

Lepper shook his head with a grin. "That is if our friend's countrymen don't try and blast us out of the skies for flying over them."

Demetrius grinned as the Captain mentioned the unprovoked Anti-Air raides, and snickered. "I went once as child, used Oerlikon twenty-millimetre." He smirked, nodding a little. "Sometimes, planes from Norune fall down, and cargo is intact. Good way of collecting trade." He smirked.

"Still... When we fly over, I'll step outside, tell them not to shoot." He laughed, "If, of course, storm does not shoot us down first." He added with a smile, before snatching the monocular from one of the crew again, and thrusting it into the Captain's hands. "You look. Thunder there is constant. Lightening, over-laps. Even boulders in the storm! Explain that with ordinary storms..."

Lep put the monocular to his eye, peering at the storm. "Could be a very strong tornado. Hasn't shifted direction." He looked over at both the Commissar and the Mercenary. "If you guys can keep these ships from getting blasted by trigger-happy nomads in Dessaria, we'll shift direction over the border. I'd do it myself, had I known Dessarian."

He looked at the storm again, then shook his head. "... definitely a tornado..." He never actually experienced a tornado, being that Aekea was so mountainous. He got earthquakes.

"That's why you have me, remember? To do everything you can't." Seba snickered. "In any case, tornado, anomaly, it makes no difference; any storm in Saguaira is deadly." Crossing her arms, she continued to watch the progress of the Ruby; both through the monitors and the glass window to the outside.

The storm in the distance changed its angle as the ship changed its course, heading into Dessarian air space. The ground below looked nearly the same as what they had just left; baron, lifeless, and overblown with dust. Passing over a mountain range, they were safe from the storm.

The Burning Sky was relatively light on passengers but it was making up for it in cargo. The Sky Knights were in force, using the trip as training for the greenest of green recruits. Many conscripts fresh out of basic training had yet to even fly or go through combat. They were also carrying a full contingent of planes, along with jeeps, tracked vehicles and the emergency helicopter left over from the previous Captains reign. Allestrial Adamani had stationed herself on the bridge just before deployment orders had been broad casted at the caves, and now she was busy keeping track of the communication concerning the storm. She felt about as good flying over Desserian airspace as she did about flying through the building storm. There were stories about those storms of course, and since she wasn't aware of the Commissar and Captain Lepper's conversations that was what she was thinking about.

Aircraft roaming into Levanian territory without clearance were treated harshly, and if the Desserians were anything similar in military courses of action then she suspected they would dislike it just as much. The Burning Sky due to her younger age was build with a layer covering the outside of the vulnerable gas filled balloons capable of withstanding lightning strikes, and small to medium arms fire. So lightning was of no concern, the engines would be effected though. Dirt and sand were the bane of any Captain's existence. Anyone on the outer decks would feel like they were getting sandblasted, and if the lower hulls too a lightning hit they would receive some of it.

Captain Adamani was still on her probation, and this was only her first full trip since taking control of the airship. So for now she stayed off the airwaves and followed along. Updating her crew on the conditions and sending out minor orders for any loose supplies to be fastened down, for non essential crew to be brought in from outside and for checks to be made of all equipment. One of the spotters stations in the upper deck above the ramming spike of the airship called down. The buzzing of the handset indicating a line was open.

It was just one of them noticing the puffs of black smoke from the Ruby, but when asked if it was a continual stream of smoke they replied with a negative. For now, they were to observe if it happened again, and keep watch for any incoming planes, airships and that storm.

The Mercenary eyed the Captain, before nodding with a grin. "I'll do my best, Captain." He replied, giving a half-hearted salute and a nod. "It would be ironic to die by the hands of my own people; not that it doesn't happen often." He shrugged, before adding hastily, "Although, I have never died, by the hands of my people. But, others have."

Moving over to one of the doors, Demetrius twisted the 'handle', before dragging the door open, and then stepping outside, using the brim as a walkway, cuddling the wire ropes and the corners of the control pod that hung under the balloon. The Mercenary wasn't stupid, but he wasn't too bright in various self-preserving areas. This, ironically, aided his survival by a lot, removing the fear of doing the insane.

"Hey! Dessarians! Shoot and I'll gun you down, 'kay!" He yelled at the top of his voice in Dessarian, down at the land bellow him. Soon giving a frown, he eyed his skin. The hairs on his arms were standing on edge, and a faint tingle ran over his body like static electricity. It could be electricity caused by friction between the balloon and the air, or, or was the storm...
"Seba!" Demetrius shouted into the cabin, "Are your dials moving any? Just, I think the Captain's tornado is causing my skin to tingle!"

It wasn't just him, either. Closer to the storm, Dessarian sand was moving towards it - against the wind - and the wind screamed as if passing between two thin gaps; screaming storms were always storms to be wary of... "Part of me things I should get in, now..." He frowned, sighing heavily.

"Like a dog after its tail..." She muttered without looking up at him. "Did you see anyone out there? If not, you know..." They both knew what that meant if there wasn't anyone out there; the gunners had taken shelter in preparation for the storm. The sky was getting darker, and if they couldn't out fly this thing; there wouldn't be much left of either the Ruby or the Sky.

A small bolt of electricity ran its way across the ship, with just enough power to disrupt the ship-wide lighting and electrical equipment on the bridge for about a second or two. The ship stayed stable mid-air during that time somehow, but when the gauges flickered back to life they showed that there were multiple system failures with the internal wiring and the #2 engine.

Seba looked over at Lepper. "Now do you believe in ghost stories?"

Lawrence groaned, sitting up as he noted the lights were off. Flicking the switch, he realized they STAYED off. Getting up, he slowly walked out the door...

... only to bang his head up against the top of the door frame again. "Holy Dooley! Not bloody again!" He cursed and mumbled, keeping hunched over as he slowly made his way to the bridge, rubbing his sore forehead. This wasn't anything LIKE the harsh wide open wilderness of Randers. He listened to some yelling up ahead, his feet carrying him forward a bit faster.

Opening the door, he looked at them, blinking slowly. "If you would stop with the earbashing, mind giving me the drum?" He wanted to know what was going on, but didn't know if his Randers dialect might end up confusing people.

Before Lepper could manage to get an answer in edgewise, the Ruby suddenly shuddered and lurched to the side suddenly, the #2 Engine suddenly erupting into a ball of flame, smoke, and debris. Shrapnel shot out every which way, ripping through thick fabric, thin armor, and shattering windows. Crew members fell as Wrench punched the emergency button, sirens blaring throughout the ship wherever they still functioned. He was forced to send runners for more repair crew and medical personnel, not knowing the situation with the electricity. Wind hissed through holes in the armor, and the repair crew started its perilous climb into the sea of gas bags above to repair the tears. They were unaware the steering hydraulics were torn.

Lep was forced into a console, slamming into it before stumbling back onto his feet, pain wracking his body. He blinked, turning and shouting to some of the engineers. "Report?"

"Sir, Engine #2 just exploded! Bunch of tears in the gas, but we can fix it. We got casualties throughout Section B, Ranging from decks 1 through 4."

Waking up at the sound of the siren, Medic grabbed a small bag of supplies and ran out of her room. Looking around quickly, the lights in the corridor she was in were flickering sporadically, just enough to show where she was going. A runner met with her, explaining the situation. Nodding and thanking him, She made her way as quickly as possible to the 2nd floor of section B; treating and stabilizing wounded as quickly as possible.

Section B was trashed; broken glass and bits of metal were everywhere, and there were small holes in the outer hull even from where fast enough moving pieces had pierced through. Blood was glistening on many metal surfaces from bodies, alive and otherwise, being thrown around.

Mac had been knocked out of bed, sirens blaring in his ears. Gritting his teeth, he got up, grabbing what equipment he could muster on such short notice, making his exit and running in no particular direction. A runner caught up to him, pointing him over to Sector B. He followed the runner, calling up several more combat medics on the run over while they arrived, seeing a scene of carnage before them.

The engine was located around Decks 2-3. They had managed to arrive at the epicenter. It looked as though they had been hit by flak, and the whooshing and whistling of the holes in the hull was all too true a sign for that.

He immediately got to work on several of them, some of his personal staff pulling out permanent markers and marking off what they believed their patient to be. Mac himself never seen so many P's in one place. Hopefully, the pain in the ass he was indebted to was working the night away as well.

He gritted his teeth, already getting his sleeves stained in blood as he applied pressure to a crew member's severed femoral artery while another medic busied himself with tying a tourniquet.

Standing up from being knocked over, Seba muttered a few indistinguishable curses before going back to the panel that she was monitoring. Trying to reroute power to the other engines from the #2 and its generator, she was hoping to stop any further electrical accidents from occurring in sector B.
Too late however.

"Lepper, we've got a problem.. Second engine's generator is at critical, it's gonna blow. If you can get a message over the intercom I suggest you do it now!"

Lep nodded and ran over to the intercom, only to step back as it sparked wildly. Gritting his teeth, he looked over at the Commissar. "No good, the damn thing's fried! Someone get a damn message out there NOW! They need to evacua-"

At that exact moment, the generator was giving a very loud hum. The crew ran about, trying to unplug massive power cables from the generator to keep it from overloading, power throughout the front of the ship beginning to suddenly shut down. Wrench was busy holding his guts in near the front, away from the generator.

The ship shuddered violently, the sounds of crunching metal and groaning infrastructure was heard, knocking everyone off their feet and seats to the ground. Lep could have sworn the ship had been torn in two. The ship miraculously held, though you could hear a jaunty tune played through all the holes in the ship. Flames licked about the decks, quickly being put out by any able-bodied people that were still either conscious or working functionally.

There was an explosion, and then there was pain. Medic had been running over to Wrench to help him with his wounds, and instead caught shrapnel and hit a wall. Clinging to the solid surface, she remained conscious; though the slow moving room was willing her to not be so. Shaking out of it after what seemed to be forever, she made her way to her patient; taking care of his wounds well but without much extra thought on her end, unaware that she was bleeding herself.

Finishing, Wrench patted her on the shoulder and said something that she didn't quite understand. Sitting down, she watched aimlessly as he slowly walked off to help with the additional wreckage that had just been caused.

The explosion knocked him down, forcing him to get back up, grab his helmet, and slam it down on his head. "Can't I enjoy at least ONE flight on this damn ship that DOESN'T result in an explosion!?"

He got to his feet, scampering with two more combat medics towards the source of the explosion, seeing small tongues of flame up ahead, already being put out by the airship crew. He moved through quickly with the other two, looking around. "Dear God... it looks even worse here."

"From what I hear from everyone still alive, sounds like the #1 Generator overloaded and exploded."

"Miracle we didn't get ripped in half." He looked left and right, nodding to the other two. "... alright, split up and start tending to the wounded wherever you can. We'll each be on our own here."

"Looks like the medical staff's he-Oh my God, Medic's down!"

Mac turned his head rapidly to look where the person pointed over. He gritted his teeth, muttering under his breath as he headed over, sliding on his knees to a stop next to her. "Damn it, Alison... why the hell'd you go and get yourself injured..." He started to check her over, trying to find the wound.

She looked up at him; his words were warped and hard to understand, and his facial features were distorted. The injuries on her body were minimal; some small cuts here and there were all there were, only a few were possibly worrisome. But the large gash on the side of her head from where she collided with the wall was what was causing the confusion and majority of the bleeding.

Turning her head slightly in either an attempt to look around the room or to show Mac the wound, Medic's eyes slowly grew dimmer and her eyelids heavier.

Mac looked at her, gritting his teeth as he smacked her cheek lightly. "Stay with me, Alison. Ain't about to get you killed." He reached into his pocket, pulling out some Oxycodone and popping several pills into his mouth, swallowing them, then chasing them down with water from his canteen. He was almost out. Once he saved Medic's ass from this predicament, he'd have to ask for a prescription refill.

After he was done, he shook his head, his hand moving to his breast pocket and sliding out a small flashlight, turning it on and assessing whether or not her pupils dilated to the light. "Come on, Talk to me, Alison. Tell me how much you hate me."

Te'j was lounging on a bench on the observation deck of the Burning Sky, a small human finger hanging from his mouth. He leaned into the guard rail, dropped his hat beside him on the floor, then blankly stared out at the Ruby.

"I wonder what Norune will be like. It would be much more interesting if we were just... what do they call it, a vacation? On vacation."

His eyes moved to the ceiling, and he began counting tiles. One, two, three, four, five.

"What was I supposed to be doing?" he asked himself. Thirteen, fourteen, fifteen. "I wish something exciting would happen." Twenty-two, twenty-three... Te'j turned his head back out to the window.

The engine of the Ruby began smoking. In a matter of seconds, fires had appeared, and an obvious explosion took it out. The remnants of the finger dropped from the cannibal's mouth, and his eyes widened in fear and apprehension. One of his hands began feeling underneath the bench for his hat, and upon finding it, placed it haphazardly upon his head.