Chapter 3: Dive Deep

Aerrow remained as still as possible, his ears straining to hear some sign of the Blood Crow. He heard Stork whimper quietly in front of him, driving at the helm as always.

Out of the corner of his eye, Aerrow saw Junko looking around nervously. The Wallop's eyes were still frighteningly pink, nearly red, and he still had a sock in either nostril. However, Aerrow noticed with relief that he wasn't sneezing.

Junko noticed it, too. "Hey, guys," he whispered over the radio, "I think those Raiders might be gone."

Just then Aerrow heard a pinging sound that made his spine stiffen, and the sensory wave washed over them.

Junko scratched his head. "Uh, never mind."

Just then, Finn, who was looking through one of the periscopes on the bridge, saw something that made him visibly nervous. The Blood Crow was descending upon them! He pulled away from the periscope. "Topside, six o'clock!" he warned, pointing to the ceiling in the Blood Crow's general direction.

Topside! They had to get down! "Stork, dive!" Aerrow ordered immediately. He hadn't really thought that through. He just knew it was the only direction away from the Blood Crow and her Murk Raiders.

Stork obeyed as soon Aerrow gave the order.

There wasn't much time to really know the situation. Aerrow knew that they were going down into a cavern—there were caverns all over the place around here—and he hoped that Piper knew their bearings and could tell them which one. Piper had already gone to the round table to look at the chart she had lain out upon it. Aerrow stepped up beside her. "Piper," he asked, "how far down does this tavern go?"

"So deep it's not even on the map," Piper answered anxiously. She slid the map over to him to see. Sure enough, Aerrow could see no depth reading. That can't be good.

Piper added to the bad news. "Aerrow," she told him, her voice almost shaking, "those aren't just any clouds down there!"

Stork took up for her, turning around to address them. "Deeper we go," he began holding up a hand, "the denser they get. Until finally . . . crunch!"

Aerrow was nervous now, but he had to go through with it. They could use this to their advantage, he thought suddenly. "W-what's the Condor's limit?" he asked Stork hesitantly.

"Fifteen hundred," Stork answered. "Give or take."

Aerrow put a hand on his chin thoughtfully. "I hope it's deeper than theirs," he thought aloud.


Standing on the bridge of the Blood Crow, Captain Scabulous watched as the Condor disappeared into the cavern while Eyeball drove. "Big mistake," the captain said. "We were made for those clouds!

"Boys," he announced with a smirk, "prepare for running the Deeps!"

Everyone on the bridge smirked at this, and a one-eyed crew member with an eye patch over his missing eye disappeared down the hatch to join the rest of the crew in getting prepared.

The crew was busy going to work. The ties on the cannons were tightened, the bolts on the machinery were tightened, and more crates of yarr crystals had to be brought in. And while they worked, the Murk Raiders sang a highly off-tune song, their voices making a low, grating, and forbidding sound. One of them, a one-armed Merb with a mechanical arm with a skull-shaped hand on the end of it and a crystal-studded chest, sang a low solo for the final line. They sang:

"Deeps, Deeps,

They'll crush your tiny hulls!

Deeps, Deeps!"

Solo:

"Leave nothing but your skulls!"

In the end, the one-armed Merb clanked the jaws of his skull-shaped hand together to emphasis the last line.

They were ready to run the deeps.


On the Condor, Piper monitored their depth, using a small tracker in her palm and using the chart on the round table. "Crossing fifteen hundred," she announced.

Aerrow's face was set in a hard line, trying to avoid any fearful reaction that might escape from him. He stood behind Stork, who was, as always, at the helm. The Merb shivered. "I bet at two thousand," he said, "we'll be flat as a flapjack!"

As if in answer to him, the Condor let off a shifting crack.

"Two thousand!" Piper read out, her voice jumping a couple octaves.

From somewhere inside the ship, a pipe blew a bolt. Both Aerrow and Stork flinched. Stork was wide-eyed, his teeth clenched. Aerrow could feel himself wanting to react the same way, but he couldn't do that. Not now. And more than anything, he needed his pilot to keep control, too. "Come on, Stork," he scolded jokingly. "Where's your sense of adventure?" That came out bad, Aerrow noticed. His voice was a little high and a little more frantic than he had wanted to betray, and his smile had been weak. He hoped the others hadn't picked up on it.

"Twenty-five hundred," Piper announced.

Amazingly, Stork still took Aerrow seriously despite the fact that it had been a bad cover-up. Now the Merb was annoyed as well as afraid. "This is the most fun I've ever had," he grumbled sarcastically.

Just then, Aerrow was nearly thrown forward and Stork was forced to hug the helm when something else broke and the Condor gave a sudden jolt. Around them, gauges stopped when their glass coverings cracked. Pipes all around them began to blow steam. Finn grunted as he began to turn the wheel to seal the pipes, working frantically. But more pipes continued to fall apart due to the pressure the ship was under. Aerrow didn't even want to think about what it was like in the engine room right now . . .

The engine room! They needed to keep that together. He needed someone to cover that. And there was only one person not doing anything. "Junko," he ordered the Wallop over the intercom, "forget your allergies! I need you in the engine room to help hold the ship together."

Well, Junko took the socks out of his nostrils and went to work without complaint. After all, when he was already feeling this miserable, he didn't think Aerrow would make him do anything unless he absolutely needed him.

Surprisingly enough, Radarr joined him. Having picked up on Aerrow's frightened mood, seemingly invisible to everyone else, the little creature had been made frightened by it as well . . . the very reason Aerrow had been trying to hide it in the first place. So Radarr had gotten away as soon as another job presented itself.

As the ship descended lower, Junko grunted as he hooked together a pipe in the engine room, one that had burst at the seams. No sooner had he done that when a pipe off to his right did the same thing.

As more pipes began letting off steam, Junko went to turn the wheel to seal them up, letting out a loud Wallop grunt as he did so.

Meanwhile, Radarr was trying to stop-up a hole in another steam pipe. But the pressure built up, and the copilot squawked as he was shot backward. Junko immediately went to another wheel to close that one up, too.

Radarr went to fix another leak in another pipe, putting his front paw over it to stop it up. No sooner did he do that when he squawked with alarm as another leak startled him. And of course, this one had to be just out of reach. Radarr reached over and stopped it up with his opposite hind paw. Then one right in front of his face flew. He leaned forward against the steam with a low growling sound, the hot steam penetrating his fur and stinging his face. He tried to stop up the whole with his mouth, but his eyes widened as the unbearable heat went up through him and out his ears with a loud, painful whistle.

Maybe he should have stayed on the bridge with Aerrow after all.

But luckily, he wouldn't have to deal with it for long. Up on the bridge, Aerrow could finally see that the Condor had reached her limit. "All stop!" he ordered.

Stork pulled a lever down on the helm, and the Condor emitted a whirling noise and went black as her power was cut. She leveled out and let the dense clouds wash over her from the high wind currents. They whistled, creating an eerie sound that made Aerrow suppress a shiver.

Finn was back at the periscope he had been looking through. Apparently he didn't see the Blood Crow, because he pulled back from the scope and whispered, "Do you think we lost 'em?"

Aerrow's eyes narrowed. He hoped he'd lost them, but he wouldn't bet on it.


Sure enough, luck was not on their side. Captain Scabulous was looking down on them from the Blood Crow's bridge. "Right on them, boys!" he announced with a smirk and a small chuckle. "Drop the charges!" And with that, he broke out in hysterics at the thought of what would happen when the charges were dropped.

Smirking with his captain, Eyeball, who was at the helm, let loose the Murk Raider depth charges from trapdoors in the bowels of the Blood Crow. Each was a giant mine studded with explosive crystals. They had skulls painted on them and three rods coming out on either side so that they were shaped like the Murk Raiders' symbol. It was these rods that had the crystals.

The Storm Hawks were in for it now.


A roll of thunder rumbled overhead as the Storm Hawks waited in silence. Aerrow was tense as ever, but surprisingly his heart rate was under control. He was rather proud of himself; so long as he thought only in a strategic manner, it seemed he could escape fear in the conscious mind.

Piper was looking at the ceiling fearfully, waiting for something to come down on them. As the seconds dragged on, Aerrow, too, felt uneasy about the stillness, and his temporary escape from fear was breached. He watched the ceiling, his ears tuned to the softest sounds. Stork, too, was on alert, his eye twitching nervously.

Then . . . BOOM!

"Whoa!" Aerrow yelled as he was thrown forward. From somewhere behind him, he heard Piper scream. They'd been hit.

Three more crashes slammed against the Condor, which was already unstable due to the pressure she was under. It was Finn who first figured out what was wrong. He slid across the floor on his feet into the starboard side of the window, slamming his face into it. "Proximity charges!" he shouted. He gasped as another one struck them.

Stork was forced onto his knees at the last blow, and he slid across the floor of the Condor toward the helm. As he stood up and took control of the helm, he said, "I give us three more of these near-misses before," he smirked, "crunch!"

Another blow crashed against the Condor's stern. Aerrow's ears rang with the sound of a busted pipe singing. Finn squealed and turned around to him frantically when the window under the sharpshooter's hands began to crack.

"Okay," Stork corrected. "One more near-miss."

Piper clutched the round table desperately while Aerrow grasped the railing behind the helm. The Sky Knight could see this was doing them no good. Besides, he was tired of this whole mess and had forced his fear into indifference. "Change of plan," he announced. "It's time to take these guys head-on! Stork," he ordered, "take us up."

Surprisingly, Stork smirked. With skilled hands, he turned the Condor about and pointed her upward as depth charges went off around them.


Eyeball looked down upon the Condor from the Blood Crow's periscope as the smaller ship headed toward them with depth charges going off around her. "Here they come!" he cheered to Captain Scabulous, who stood beside him with his hands on his hips.

"Eyeball!" Scabulous addressed his first mate. Eyeball turned around expectantly, holding his hands together and smiling. "Prepare a boarding party," the captain ordered. Eyeball rubbed his hands together at the thought of the prospect. "We're about to replenish our supplies!" Captain Scabulous finished. And with that, he let out an evil laugh.


Stork's eyes narrowed as he aimed the Condor toward the Blood Crow, with depth charges still going off around them. Aerrow's hands were sweaty under his gloves and his heart fluttered with excitement, but he did not dwell on what he was feeling, only thinking strategically, and therefore was unaware of any fear within him. "All hands, battle stations!" he shouted to the others.

Both Junko and Finn got on one of the energy cannon turrets on either side of the Condor, pulling out of the gun ports in the Condor's hull to shoot. Stork had his finger on the blasters. Everyone was ready for Aerrow's next orders.

Aerrow narrowed his eyes at the Blood Crow as they approached her. Wait, he thought to himself. Wait . . .

Now. "Open fire!"

The Condor zoomed by the Blood Crow. She was on the Condor's starboard side, where Junko was stationed, and he and Stork threw everything they had at it. The Murk Raiders were caught off guard during this first charge, and their cannons, run out along the ship's hull, gave very few shots back, and all missed. But although most Junko's and Stork's shots hit, the Blood Crow was hardly affected, getting away with little more than a few scratches on her ugly sides.

As the Blood Crow recovered, their cannons began to blast mighty shots, some frighteningly near-accurate. Stork pulled the Condor nearly up on her port side to avoid some shots while Junko kept blasting and Aerrow held onto the railing for all he was worth. He caught only a glimpse of the window, and saw a one-eyed, one-armed, scaly creature block the light of the Condor's shots from his eyes. The captain, he guessed.

The next thing he knew, the Condor was free of fire and heading for open, murky skies. They'd made it past the Blood Crow.

But what he didn't know was that the Blood Crow was turning about and ascending, chasing them once again.

Aerrow didn't let his guard down just yet, but his relief was real, and he could see it in the others. Finn and Junko were unbelievingly optimistic about losing the Murk Raiders for good. Finn turned around to Junko. "Nice shootin' there, sneeze-o!"

No sooner did he say this when suddenly, the jaws of the growling Blood Crow's bow suddenly appeared in front of them. Aerrow's heart missed a beat as Stork turned the Condor up on her side to avoid a collision, a collision that the Blood Crow would certainly have withstood, smashing the Condor to pieces in the process.

Soon as they were clear of disaster, Stork spun the Condor around a pinnacle tower of rock to fire at the Blood Crow once again. Finn was firing his heart out, shooting left and right and always hitting his mark. Mostly he aimed for the bow. Eyeball was blinded a second by the lights of the exploding crystal pulses, but other than that, the only damage were a few scratches, and bow was hardly scathed. Stork did his best to avoid shots on them, tilting the Condor this way and that.

Unfortunately, it was impossible to avoid all of them. Aerrow felt the floor lurch under his feet as a cannon blast from the Blood Crow blew a hole in the Condor's hull on portside. "Whoa!" he cried as he felt himself thrown to the side with the impact, and he grabbed the railing for support. The Condor was listing to starboard, falling. Piper screamed and her hand met his on the railing, and Aerrow found it a strange comfort.

But the Murk Raiders would not let them fall. After all, what was the point of conquering their quarry if they didn't get the prize? No, they shot out two grapnels that gripped the Condor on either side of the now-gaping hole in her side. As soon as they were secure, the Murk Raiders working the ropes began to reel them in!

Aerrow braced himself with a grunt as he felt the Condor lurched in the opposite direction she had been falling. Slowly he lifted his eyes to see what was happening, fearing what he would find.

The Blood Crow was reeling them into her, pulling them up toward her skull-shaped bow. Finn, who was on the side toward the skull, gawked at it a moment before he collected himself and began firing at the bow. It did not faze the Blood Crow at all.

Then, as Aerrow watched with a horror, he was shaken to see something he had never expected. The jaws of the Blood Crow began to open. The "mouth" widened and widened until it looked like the Blood Crow was going to swallow the Condor whole, like some giant, ship-eating monster. Aerrow heard Piper cringe and saw her turn her head away. Meanwhile, his own stomach was churning. He'd never seen anything like this . . .

Just when their portside, pontoon-like engine was in the mouth, the jaws closed again, this time trapping the Condor in between the two jaws. Finn tried a few more desperate shots, but it was useless. They were trapped.

On board the ship of their captors, Captain Scabulous covered his eyes from the light of the cannon shots from the Condor. But it was a smirk he wore on his face as he let his hand down. "Lower the slider, boys!" he ordered. "We're going aboard!"

This caused great excitement among the Murk Raiders. Eyeball smirked, and the one-armed Merb next to him let out a battle cry. Other Murk Raiders laughed in their hoarse tones and drew their cutlasses from the sheaths on their belts, igniting the cutlasses. Then the captain let out his own evil laugh and drew his energy saber, a duel-ended cutlass powered by a deadly purple fathom crystal. It was intended to stick through the heart of any crew members who would not cooperate. They would tear apart the ship and steal any money and crystals they could find . . . and take the crew and give them their choice.


Author's Notes: Storm Hawks related trivia #1: Captain Scabulous may have gotten his name from a couple words. Firstly, he had a scab over his unseeing left eye. "Sabulous" also was a possibility for an origin word, a word that describes something with a gritty texture, perhaps describing his skin and/or personality. "Sedulous" means to work with great zeal and persistence, perhaps describing the way Captain Scabulous hunts down his victims.

Storm Hawks related trivia #2: Diving down into the cavern where cabin pressure increases is very similar to what it is like to dive deep into the ocean. The deeper you go, the more water pressure you're under. The pressure about five miles down below the surface of the ocean is so great that it can swash a car like it was a soda can. Imagine what the pressure would be like in the Marianna Trench, the deepest part of the ocean. That's about seven miles under the surface of the ocean!

Anyone want to review? Yes? No? *greeted with silence* Ah, come on! What do I got to do? Stand on my head and sing, "Mary had a Little Lamb"? Hey, no I was being sarcastic. That's not going to happen. Nope, no begging.

Fine. You guys are cruel. "Mary had a Little Lamb, blah, blah, blah." Hey, this is actually kinda hard. The blood's rushing to my head! Can't sing!

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