"... Pill popper..." She managed to mutter. The light in her eyes was annoying, but there wasn't much she could do about it. Her pupils dilated in reaction to the light, and the source of annoyance shortly went away. Blinking, Mac's face slowly came a bit more into focus.

Medic looked up at Mac with a scrunched up face. ".. 'Splosion."

Standing up after being knocked over again; Seba gritted her teeth together, slamming a fist on a console.. which made it produce sparks. "Everyone okay!? Any reports coming in yet or are all communications cut off?" She said with almost a snarl. "Uh, ma'am.. the first generator blew as expected, sensors say that the hull integrity is stable, and no; we don't have communication with any part of the ship" a random deckhand replied.

"We'll send runners then, see how everyone's fairing.." picking up the monocular that was now lying on the floor, she focused it on the storm. "I know you caused this." Seba snarled in Dessarian before looking around for Lepper. "It's shifted course, we're safe from the storm now; but we've got other pressing matters, if that wasn't obvious.."

Demetrius was slumped in the corner, using a broken window and the control panel to keep himself up. Blood poured from his hand, and several other places after the lightening had snaked over the window, causing it to explode inwards - and Demetrius had been there to block most of the glass' path. Other than pouring with blood, the Dessarian was laughing Maniacally.

Soon dragging himself from the corner, the Mercenary brushed his hair back, and managed to lower his laughing down to a snicker. "You know, that was fun." He grinned, before looking around the current room. Apart from the small amount of blood, the smoke from Engine Two and the sparks, among debris of other kinds, all seemed alright.

"Well Captain," The Mercenary began, "That storm just saved your ass." He said. "Everyone on ground worth their lives hid in tunnels as soon as stones started to lift off ground." He said with a laugh.

Looking around as Seba, Demetrius sighed, and rubbed his eyes. "You know it'll be back." He said in Dessarian. "These storms aren't famous for taking prisoners. Once the winds change, and the ship drifts back through the anomaly field, it'll be pulled back to us." Nodding realistically, and speaking from experience, Demetrius rubbed his eyes again, getting blood over his left eyelid and eyebrow.

"You should probably descent as close to the ground as you dare. The effects of the anomaly will be worse, but the storm's discharge should be less... Though I'm not promising anything for a ship this size. This much metal becomes saturated very much... Very fast."
He snickered, and then added in Gaian, "Might find we just pull the storm down with us." Eyeing his cuts, he grunted, and started pulling shards of glass from his skin, with obvious discomfort.

He gritted his teeth, looking over at the others in the room, shaking his head. Getting up, he wiped blood from his forehead, his arms cut up by exploding gauges and sparking electronics. He looked at the Commissar, then over to the Merc.

"We'll fly low then, gun engines #3 and #4, and punch it to Norune before anything else decides to explode. Commissar, see if you can get more medical personnel up and running and start fixing people up now. Last thing I want is this ship piling up with the dead."

He looked out the window towards the storm, frowning a bit. "... just one huge coincidence.... That's all it was." He took in a breath, running a hand through his hair.

Shaking her head, Seba headed for the door. "Learn when you're beat Lepper, there's a reason I don't believe in coincidences... And you," she added, looking at Demetrius, "Don't laugh like that, it freaks Gaians out." Leaving the bridge and walking through the ship, she noted a lot of damage. Wires were hanging out of the ceiling, light fixtures were sparking sporadically. It was indeed a miracle that the Ruby was intact.

Section B was even worse. I-beams were sticking out of random places, fire damage was everywhere. All the medical crew were busy tending to wounded, and the crew that weren't wounded were starting to clean up the debris that was everywhere. ".. damn." Seba muttered.

Spotting Mac with a patient she walked over, soon to find that the patient was Medic. "The hell happened here, she okay?"

He didn't bother looking up, still trying to get her up and ready. "She said explosion right after she called me a pill popper. That explain anything for ya?" He tied bandages over Medic's wounds, giving a sharp whistle to two of his staff. "Get me a stretcher over here. I need someone attending her till she regains her senses." He frowned a bit, looking at her head. "Tell me what hurts. You seein' stars or anythin' like that?" He looked over to the two that came up with a stretcher, nodding. "See if you can find her staff. From there, she'll be up and runnin' from what I figure." He looked at the guy. "Make sure she ain't sufferin' from brain hemorrhaging or aneurysms whenever we get within range of a good hospital." The men nodded as they picked her up and lay her down in the stretcher, then picked her up and headed to the ship's infirmary as quickly as they could, disappearing around the corner.

Seba watched the stretcher disappear before looking back at Mac. "Pill popper, eh? Even in a concussion she's got something to say against you... Anyways, listen; we need medical personnel on the bridge, one'll be fine. I know your short staffed, especially with Medic being out of commission, but we've got some injuries up there; some are bleeding pretty badly. I'm lucky to have just gotten a few scratches. Wouldn't be surprised if we've got injured ship-wide honestly... Unfortunately communications are down so we don't know the full extent of everything just yet."

Moving out of the way for a crew member that was cleaning up, Seba looked at Mac's face, then grinned. "You're worried about her, aren't you..?"

Te'j was recklessly sprinting across the top deck of the Sky, headed for the closest phone. A sudden light wind blew from the side, spraying his body with sand. Sputtering and moving his arm to cover his face, he continued to the phone, picked up the receiver, and dialed the bridge.

"Come on, come on..." he muttered, attempting to spit out more sand. He looked out back at the Ruby as he waited, tapping his foot impatiently.

Mac blinked, looking at the Commissar with a raised eyebrow. Snorting some, he reached into his pocket, looking down as he slipped the butt of a cigarette into his mouth, taking out his lighter and torching the tip, starting to puff away at it, the white smoke curling from his lips as he flew out a massive cloud, looking at her.

"I'm not gonna lie to ya. I am worried, but not for the reasons you'd think..." He took another drag, the embers at the tip glowing bright orange. "I'm kind of in a blood debt to her for letting her husband die during the Battle of Saladin out in Indanur. The Field Hospital got hit by artillery from the enemy, ended up costing us about half the doctors in the company, including her husband Doc. Guy's been haunting me to take care of her, and that's how I got stuck with Medic..." He looked at her, blowing smoke out of his nostrils.

He turned, looking at the phone ringing on the wall. His hand reached out to it, and he picked up the receiver, putting it to his ear. "You got the Ruby, all of our operators are mostly busy bleeding on the floor, you got Mac."

"Does it have to be him?" thought the cannibal. "Well, at least I got a hold of somebody."

"This is Te'j aboard the Sky! What just happened over there?"

He tilted his head towards the Ruby, staring at the smoking engine where he assumed Mac was. He had absolutely no idea what sort of protocol was needed to be taken in such a situation, but he figured that making contact was a good first step.

"..." Walking away from Mac, Seba looked around and eventually found some other random medic that wasn't occupied with a patient. Surmising the needs of the bridge to him, they finally headed back.

"Sorry it took so long, Mac decided to explain his Oxycodone addiction by justifying his hallucinations." She said shortly upon reentering the bridge. The medic immediately assessed everyone's wounds, deciding that Demetrius' gouged hand was the worst of them, promptly getting to work on it. "They've got communication down there with the Sky; Mac grabbed a call from them just before I left section B. Which, by the way, is a disaster... Has the communication situation changed up here?"

Demetrius held out his hand to let the Medic work upon it, thankful his hand currently had no feeling in it, a smirk still plastered over the Mercenary's face. He didn't know if it was just the adrenaline, but he still found what had happened funny...

Looking over at Seba, Demetrius grinned. "You, do not laugh like that, you scare little girly-man Gaians." Demetrius grinned, putting on a mocking tone and attempting to copy Seba's voice - at least on a basic level - before laughing again. "For a Dessarian, Seba, you have lost your sense of humor." He grinned, in Dessarian. "Not Dessarian by blood, but you followed our customs and know the storms. That's Dessari enough for me..."

He suddenly winced, and almost slapped the medic. "Bloody hell!" He barked in Dessarian, before continuing in common language, "What the hell you do there?! Stung like bitch!"

"I-I'm sorry!" stammered the medic, "It's just an antiseptic, I'm cleaning the wound!" The man hurriedly finished cleaning the area before stitching the large gap up, then placing gauze and tape over it. He nearly ran away from Demetrius to get to his next patient, which happened to be Lepper.

Slowly shaking her head with amusement, Seba stared out in front of her. "I had one at one point Demetrius. Stories are all I have left of that now. You know how that is sometimes." She spoke in the language. Looking over at him she grinned, before walking over to a panel to check on the power status of the other generator.

The Ruby seemed to be in trouble, but until communications were up and running again there wasn't much the Sky could do. There were no inbound fighters to keep occupied, or enemy bombers or airships to take on whilst the large WFAP airship recovered. For now they had to watch in case of evacuations, or in case they have to steady the airship. They had a cable and harpoon system, that could be fired into the hull of the Ruby and with effort they could keep her stable, but she was a very big ship so if they ended up losing too much lift there wasn't much hope of keeping them in the air.

The storm was licking at the side of the Sky as they moved along at a steady pace. Lightning seemed to spark in the sky and come directly for the ship. The hull took a hit, but internal systems were insulated with safety switches built in. Anything electronic cut out instantly, the engines continuing to remain on but the lights were out, radar was down, and for a second so was internal communications. A few seconds later systems came back online, running scans to check for damage.

"Negative electrical damage, no casualties reported."

Allestrial Adamani looked out at the storm, her brow cocked. It was a very unusual formation, and she knew that it was dangerous even if she was unsure of it's magical properties. She pulled her head away as another crack of lightning hit the top of the ship. Trying to get at the flammable gas stored in bladders. But the plastic lining that covered the airship stopped the charge from getting through and dissipated it across the ships surface.

They continued on their journey, so far unscathed.

Picking up the phone she called through to the Bridge of the Ruby, but there was no tone. They must still be unable to get communications back online.

"Buzz the entire Ruby for any connected communications, then patch them through. If they remain unable to get a call out for more than ten minutes I want someone in the forward observation room sending manual messages on the signal lamp."

The Dessarian nodded faintly in reply to Seba, before dragging himself to his feet with a grunt.
"When we get to Norune?" He asked, before holding down the intercom button, any of the still-working speakers thumping into life, and buzzing with loose connections. "'cause I need Dessarian Vodka and cuddly Elf! Or Gaian sisters." He added, before leaning off the intercom.

"That feels sorta better." He said under his breath in Dessarian, before leaning back against one of the walls with a smile. "But seriously, when we get there?" He asked with a blink, scratching the bloody-side of his head.

Lepper blinked as he looked at Demetrius, rolling his eyes as the speakers crackled with the words "Dessarian Vodka" and "Cuddly Elf". He looked over at him as the medic tended to his arm, shaking his head. "You're insane, you know that? Please don't play with the intercom unless you got something more to say rather than raising up most of everyone's hopes here that they too can afford a cuddly elf after purchasing overpriced liquor someone brewed in an artillery gun without cleaning it first."

Aekeans always had something to say against Dessarians. It couldn't be helped.

"Then again, you gotta admit the crunch of gunpowder in it gives it that special taste." He grinned from ear to ear, looking out to the other airship. "As for the communication in here, no go. Circuits are fried, and I think the communications officer decided to start roasting s'mores over the burning embers of what used to be his post." He wasn't joking about that last part either. The communications officer literally was roasting s'mores, a long fork keeping the thing together as he slowly span it over the embers.

Demetrius grinned. "Is over-priced because Gaians can't brew Vodka. They brew potato water, and even then mix it with other drinks to make it taste better... At least we make decent booze. The solids in drink are less corrosive than the drink, for sure..."

"And I not that insane." the Dessarian frowned. "Even if I was, I not insane enough for you not to employ me." He smirked. "We take getting used to, but we get job done - with or without collateral damage."

Looking over the damage of the controls, he sighed. "All this machinery reminds me..." He said quietly, looking over at the Captain. "On way there, or way back, can we stop in Dessaria?" He asked, "Close to boarder. I need to up some stuff..." He said. "You know... Business hardware." He added. "I brought plane, but, nothing else. Left some boys home, too. If I can't bring it, than fine. But it would be nice." He said. "Plus... I need to deliver something slow and heavy to Norune, and it take forever to drive it from Dessaria across boarder." He sighed.

Vedran was sleeping in his cot since the Ruby took off. When the engine exploded, he was thrown out and slammed into a wall. A moment later, an improperly secured bottle ricocheted off the back of his head and he blacked out. A little while later he came-to, his vision swimming back into focus and the words "Dessarian Vodka and Cuddly Elf" filling his ears. He sat up too quickly and began groping around for something to steady himself with, despite his growing headache. His hand closed around the neck of the bottle and he brought it to his face. Premium Dessarian Vodka, half empty.

Half chuckling he unscrewed the cap and took a sip to relieve the pain. He put the cap back on and stood up, stumbling slightly as his legs tried to wake up. Not knowing what happened, he grabbed his Colt Python off the floor and holstered it before heading off towards the bridge, the vodka still in his hand.

There was no reply from the Sapphire Ruby when the Sky methodically checked all the communication posts, except for a busy signal somewhere on the mechanical decks. This news was relayed back to the Captain. They traced where the call was coming from, and identified that someone on the top deck had an open line. Picking up the intercom she addressed the entire Sky.

"This is Captain Adamani speaking," she announced. Her Levanian accent thick as she spoke her name. "Whoever is contacting the Ruby from Top Deck receiver 402, please pass on this message. Sky is unscathed. What is the Ruby's condition? How can we assist? Manual signals being sent. Get it passed on to Lepper ASAP. Keep the line open as long as you can. Out."

Putting down the receiver she moved over to the mapping table and picked up a blue soft lead pencil. She marked down their position after changing course and took note of the mountains. The storm for now was leaving them alone, but the Ruby was still billowing black smoke, although she stayed relatively stable.

"Send the following signal. Visual damages of Ruby. Stop. Engine #2 on fire. Stop. Minor hull breaches section B decks 1 - 4. Stop. White smoke from section B deck 3 (internal fire). Stop. Drifting off course. Stop. Reply. Stop."

The message was sent to the forward top deck observation post and soon flickers of light in short and long intervals were getting sent. The message would repeat until confirmation was sent back.

Visual damages of Ruby. Stop. Engine #2 on fire. Stop. Minor hull breaches section B decks 1 - 4. Stop. White smoke from section B deck 3 ((internal fire)). Stop. Drifting off course. Stop. Reply. Stop.

The cannibal nodded to himself as each instruction came through the intercom. The Levanian accent threatened to throw his understanding off a bit, but luckily the short sentences were decipherable.

"Mac, the Sky hasn't been hurt, but what about the Ruby? Is there anything we can do about it? Also, we're sending manual signals right now. Can you see them?"

Shaking her head, Seba looked over at Demetrius. "Unfortunately, I do not believe that we have the ability to carry something large at the current time, whether it be a ground vehicle, or Gaian sisters..." At the last two words she broke up laughing; it was unavoidable. "Maybe when we get this thing back together we can take another trip out here.. That is, when Lepper decides to believe in 'ghost stories'..."

Going over to where the communications officer was roasting s'mores over the rubble of his post, she gave him a stern look which promptly made him put the fire out and start re-routing wires and regain communications and power for the ship. The medic on the other hand had seemingly finished with the injured on the bridge, and left to treat those elsewhere.

Demetrius frowned. What he needed to carry was very large indeed... And many of them. Sighing, he shrugged. "Then maybe I have friend pick them up later." He replied. "Won't be cheap, but, heavy haulage never is... Another trip out here would be nice, though." He nodded.

Taking a pair of Binoculars off the side, Demetrius stared through them, and out of the craft. Ahead, the slowly growing walls of the city seemed that much closer through a magnified lens, and Demetrius couldn't help but smile a little at the prospect of getting off the Sapphire Ruby.

"Good." Demetrius smiled, speaking once again in Dessarian for the select few to interpret, himself included. "We're not too far from the Dessarian boarder. Nor is the city..." Taking the binoculars away from his eyes, he placed them back down, and nodded a little. "I have job to do for someone in Norune... If anyone wants to follow, then do so. The company would be nice." He chuckled.

Walking through the ship, it became obvious to Vedran that this was not an attack; There wasn't the sense of urgency. Sure, people were running around and yelling, and sure there were alarms blaring, but there wasn't the gilded fury or wholesale panic that came with an attack. This was calmer, mellower, and somehow, a hell of a lot more frightening.

After a minute he came to the bridge. He entered and made a beeline for Lepper whilst yelling above the wind, "Oi, Royce! Mind tellin' me who the hell's drivin' this thing? I mean, one minute I'm takin' a nice relaxin' nap, an' the next I'm flyin' into walls! An'...", he glanced out of a broken porthole behind Lepper an' at the storm. "An' please tell me that's not what I think it is.", he whined as he unscrewed the cap of his bottle before taking another sip.

"Oh great, don't tell me YOU believe in these phantom storms too..." He looked over at him, shaking his head, looking at his bandaged up arm, now staining red a bit from the blood. His eyes went to the remnants of the bridge, the communications officer already eating the first S'more while he fiddled around with the wiring, trying to regain communication with the second airship. He laughed a bit, shaking his head. "Could've waited until he made enough for the rest of us."

He looked over at Vedran again, frowning a bit. "Don't like the driving, you could always get out and walk, buddy." He nodded out the window. "The storm outside's the one that did all this. Blew one of the engines as well as the forward generator."

"Oh yes, normal storms cause planes to crackle, compasses to spin, generators over load." Demetrius mumbled, before eyeing Vedran with half an accusing glare. There was something... Different; something that differed him from everyone else... Something that made him angry, and he couldn't quite explain why.

Then it hit him. His expression blinked from the normal I'll break your arm, to You've got my sandwich?, before sinking back into the I'll break your legs if you don't give me back my sandwich posture many a Dessarian had become used to, when they were given a gun and weren't told what they shouldn't shoot.
"Also-" Demetrius began, his eyes sinking to one of the two things he had told the world he wanted, "-Where in name of Sanguaria did you get..." He struggled for the Arcand word, before deciding not to use it, "Premium Dessarian Vodka?"

He'd admit to anyone he was starting to feel grumpy, and when loose cannons became moody, it helped to face them towards something that could shrug off the cannon-ball, and probably hit it back, too.