Prologue
Traveling through the vast desert where Azuria made her principality was often held to be a titanic task. The heat alone could dry a man to a husk by noon, water was scarce at best, and a variety of highwaymen, bandits, and vicious creatures made even a short trip perilous enough to give any man pause. But worst of all were the winds. They blew across dune and waste alike, never seeming to fully cease. They brought scorching heat during the day, while at night they chilled to the bone, and at any hour they could lash across a traveler with whips of sand and dust. Even airship travel wasn't entirely safe; many passenger and cargo ships ran overloaded, and as a result were forced to fly low and still within reach of the devilish desert squalls. Even the Officers of the Azurian Sky Navy with their armored hulls and high powered engines were wary of the desert winds.
But then, none of those pompous sandtoads knew how to listen, Amelia thought to herself as she gazed out of the window in her Captain's Quarters. They were far too busy making their own breezes to hear what the desert air was telling them. That was how she and any ship she captained seemed to soar so effortlessly; she listened to the wind and danced alongside it rather than try to push against it to get her way. Sometimes the winds blew in her face and forced her to alter course, but they would always bring her around. She just had to open her ears.
The sound of singing drew her attention to the other side of the door. She stretched as she rose from her chair, grabbed her hat, and strode out onto the Dagger's main deck. One of the deckhands was leading the others in a rousing, horribly off-key rendition of "Derby Ram" as they swept the deck or coiled ropes or peeled and sliced various fruit and vegetables for Kara's ingredient store. Leaving them to their ways, Amelia strode over to where Krystal balanced herself on the railing, keeping a hand on the rigging for support as her auburn hair flowed behind her in the breeze. "Miss Septem," she said as she approached with a curt nod.
"Captain!" the Lieutenant replied, saluting with her free hand.
"At ease. Any sign of our afternoon appointment?"
"None yet, ma'am. We're still on the edge of their hunting grounds though."
"I see. And our friend below?"
"Steady as she goes. Should be a tempting target once the bugs wake up."
"Well, do keep a close watch. If harm should come to the Tradesman because we were lax, I'll never hear the end of it."
"Absolutely ma'am. I'll head up to midsail for a better view."
And with that she was clambering up the ropes. Her skill at moving about the ship was remarkable; it was hard to believe she'd never sailed before her appointment to the Dagger. Amelia looked over the railing at the ship they had been shadowing for the past day. The Tradesman, one of the largest shipping vessels in Azuria, trudged along her merry way. Normally she wouldn't be caught dead in these skies; the Azurian Orebors had become a nest for a pirate crew calling themselves the Sky Scorps, and they had quickly made a name for themselves with their brutal practices. Rather than disable a merchant ship and disembowel it of anything valuable, they simply screamed out of the sky and sent the ship crashing into the mountains, where a ground team located the crash and salvaged what they could from the wreckage. The Sky Navy was content to set up half a perimeter around the mountains and keep watch while advising merchants and shippers to stay away from the area. Amelia, on the other hand, wanted it stopped cold.
That was the plan for today; the Dagger would escort the Tradesman across the mountains, and when the Scorps moved in she and her crew would intercept them. Survivor reports indicated that while the Scorps were brutal and chaotic, their weaponry wasn't much more advanced than any given pirates. Their effectiveness was simply from well-planned tactics and shooting to kill. Amelia had every reason to believe the men and women under her command would dispatch them easily. The only hard part, she thought as she strode to the bow and sat on the railing, would be the waiting...
OOC