Birds of a Feather
Chapter 1
Thick clouds filled the silent sky, fighting the strong wind that attempted to push them away from their usual home on Terra Gale. A muffled humming made its way through the calm and grew louder as something approached. Suddenly a Talon Switchblade broke through the clouds and immediately changed course to dive for the next batch, the Rider glanced over her shoulder, searching among the white walls. Nothing. She began to breathe a sigh of reliefbut it caught in her throat. …Wait… A sound reached her ears, like a pillowcase full of angry bees. Another Switchblade emerged through the clouds, then another, then more one right after the other. The Rider growled and sped towards the clouds below, the Talons dove after her, firing before they too were swallowed up by the immense white.
x x x
The Condor's great bulk moved cautiously through the crowded sky as the pilot grumbled quietly at the helm, checking various gauges and navigation instruments. Aerrow could only guess what the Merb was muttering to himself, probably something along the lines of doom and destruction. With a small sigh Aerrow turned his bright green eyes back to bridge windows, nothing but endless layers of white and grey stared back. The redhead frowned and moved up to Stork's left, closer to the windows to get a better view above the ship. More clouds.
Finally Aerrow addressed the pilot. "So Stork, have any idea of our position?"
"Mmmm not sure." He replied quickly, now scanning wildly with one of the sixty foot periscopes. He turned back to the Sky Knight and gave a helpless shrug. "Your guess is as good as mine man."
"Well we can't be too far from Terra Gale" Piper put in thoughtfully.
Aerrow turned to face her; she stood gazing at the multitude of charts spread out on the table in the lower area of the bridge, as Finn stretched out in a chair studying the latest Air Skimmer models and parts. Piper glared at Finn as he put his feet up onto the table, but dismissed it with a shake of her head.
"According to these charts we should be just in the edge of the terra's storm clouds. Sometimes, if the wind is strong enough they can travel for miles!"
Junko and Radarr entered as she finished, having obviously come from the kitchen. Junko joined Piper and Finn at the table as Radarr leapt onto his favourite place on Aerrow's shoulder.
Stork seemed to get even twitchier at this news. The tall Merb returned to fussing over the scanning equipment. "Near Terra Gale? Ohhh not good, there are Cyclonian mining cargo routes all over this area."
"Which are now out of commission" Aerrow reminded him.
"Yeah, thanks to The Storm Hawks!" Junko added with enthusiasm and finished off his sandwich, even Radarr added a little cheer.
Finn spoke up from behind his magazine. "Besides if there were Cyclonians out there we would have to literally run into them to even see them with all those clouds."
Stork stopped tapping on the scanners screen. "Hmm yes, with my luck…" He said quietly.
"Awe relax Stork, at least nothing went wrong during the mission." Piper encouraged, not looking up from her charts.
"True…" the Merb paused thoughtfully. "…But that just means that the evil energies of Fate are building, and as soon as you let your guard down it will be there to strike down from the heavens without mercy!"
A Talon Switchblade suddenly burst through the clouds, low and fast right for the bridge windows. Stork gave a yell and dove for cover while Radarr screeched and wrapped himself around Aerrow's head. The rider looked as startled as they did before pulling up sharply and disappearing overhead.
Stork stood up from his duck-and-cover position. "See… told ya"
Aerrow finally managed to peel his co-pilot off of his face; the blue creature gave him a sheepish grin and returned to his perch.
"What in the Atmos was that?" Finn exclaimed from the floor in annoyance. Junko reached down and tried to help untangle him from the chair.
"Whoever it was, they didn't look like a Talon" Piper stated, quickly regaining her composure. "They looked-"
"Watch out!" Junko yelled. He abandoned his attempt to help Finn as more Switchblades sped towards the Condor, veering left and right, narrowly avoiding a collision.
"Battle…!" The last Talon disappeared after the others. "Stations…?" Aerrow finished, confused. "Uhhh Stork?"
The Merb hurried to the periscope. "No sign, they went up through the cloud layer."
"Looked like they were after that first rider!" said Finn, regaining his feet.
"Stork, after them, full speed!" commanded the Sky Knight, "any enemy of Cyclonia is a friend of ours!" his green eyes burned with intensity.
"Aye, aye" Stork saluted, and steered the Condor up into the clouds.
