"Boss, Viper is on the radio. He says he has made contact," one of the crew informs Dustin as he works in his office.

Dustin looks at the pipes as he puts away some paperwork. "Great. Tell him to set up the meeting on an empty terra so we can talk professionally," he orders while trying to figure out where the following paper goes. "And that this is a talk between leaders. Not a fight and prepare The Last Crux for launch."

"Right, boss," the crew member says before Dustin hears the pipe cover close.

"Rorack, keep us on track while I am gone," Dustin instructs, getting up and heading for the cargo bay where The Last Crux is being held.


Dustin pilots the old ship onto the bleak-looking terra, which only has a shady-looking tavern on it. He sighs carefully before landing near the building. Dustin then turns his head and eyes the more angular and menacing-looking craft on the other side of the building as it still steams and heats the air. "Good. No waiting," he murmurs to himself while shutting off the airship and taking the keys.

Dustin then takes a deep breath as he steps outside and walks toward the dilapidated building. Some gruff callous voices stem from inside while the sound of metal hitting wood enters his ears as well. "Relax," he whispers to himself as he takes another deep breath and then pushes the old door open with a creak.

Looking around, he spies what he assumes is a bunch of pirates, smugglers, and others who have underworld ties. Then he spots Viper sticking out like a sore thumb. Mostly it is because of the large feline skull head on his shoulder and the faded colored markings on his head and arms. No other living being in this room is wearing anything close to Viper's unless it is part of a necklace or a pin for clothing.

Dustin shakes his head as he walks past Viper and sits down at the remaining chair in the room. Viper steps up behind his seat as everyone else gathers around. The only light coming into the dim room is a broken section of the ceiling where light rays pour in and bathe the table in a yellow glow. Some of the rays touch the ones sitting at the table and allows Dustin to see them all in some detail, which makes him understand the differences right off the bat of how to speak to them.

"I take it you are the leader of the Murk Raiders?" Dustin asks the one sitting opposite of him on the table.

The dreadlock growing and toothy monster-looking being huffs as he stares down Dustin. If Dustin can guess, this could be considered a challenge to see how flinches first. Too bad he is here for something important. "Yes. And you called us here for a deal?" the murk raider asks, tapping his metal claw against the table.

"That is correct. I want you to let me and my crew explore and map Terra Deep. I don't mean normal altitude; I mean the deeps," Dustin informs, showing no fear to him and even sizing him up from the looks of it.

Scabulous and the others stare at Dustin with a blank expression before they all start to laugh madly. "Exploring the deep?!" someone howls with gleeful laughter.

"Did I stutter?" Dustin asks, unamused.

"Captain, I think he is serious," a slightly portly raider, with a leather eyepatch over his left eye, a member of the raiders says, noticing Dustin and Viper's expressions.

Scabulous comes to a stop from the crazy laughter at the table before the silence becomes uncomfortable from how the captain isn't laughing anymore. Dustin raises an eyebrow as everyone slowly stops laughing and looks at the two while they have an intense staring contest.

"Well?" Dustin asks, wanting an answer. His gaze is piercing. It reminds Scabulous of a predator or something akin to it as he evaluates them all there.

Scabulous slowly places both his arms onto the table with a heavy thump before humming gravely. "I will consider it, lad. If you can prove your worth," Scabulous informs before snapping his fingers, and ten dice are placed on the table with two cups.

Dustin looks at the cups and dice before humming in thought. "A game of liar's dice?"

"The best way to judge a man is to see how good he is," Scabulous says before the both of them throw the dice in and begin playing.

Dustin is the first to peek at his cup. He does so briefly and sees he has a four and a pair of threes and sixes. "I will go first then. Two ones," Dustin says, his expression unchanged, his eye entirely on Scrabulous. His eyes fixated as if he is a bird of prey watching a potential kill.

Scabulous growls under his throat before peeking at his dice. A five and two pairs of sixes and twos. "Three twos," he huffs out. His expression never changes away from that happy smirk of his while he stares down the young pilot and captain. "Raise?" he goads on, tapping a finger against his cup.

"You're lying," Dustin says, making everyone's eyes widen at how soon that is called, and the raiders start to laugh.

"Seems this one doesn't know how to play captain," one of them says as Scabulous is the only one of his crew who didn't join in. Instead, that look Dustin is giving him makes him feel wholly uneasy. Dustin moves his cup showing his hand. Not a single one of the dice is a two. When Scabulous reveals his own, the entire room goes quiet. Their captain only has two. Reluctantly Scabulous takes one of his dice and tosses it into the center before they reshuffled.

Dustin once again briefly peeks at his dice as Scabulous takes longer. Dustin has three fives, a four, and a two. Meanwhile, Scabulous has a pair of fives and threes. "Four fives," Dustin says without hesitation, looking for Scabulous's reaction.

Scabulous spits to the side, turning a grinning glare at Dustin. "Five fives. Your move," he goads again, almost doing the same thing as last time. 'Anyone who bets bigger on even mine will lose. This is too many chances unless he takes the fall,' Scabulous thinks, tapping his finger against the cup.

"You're correct. There are exactly five fives," Dustin says, moving his cup, showing he only had three fives.

Scabulous's eyes widen at that. ' Did he play me again?' Scabulous thinks, reluctantly showing his hand and his two fives. 'This can't be right. He has to be cheating somehow.' Scabulous tries to rationalize as he tries to figure out how he is doing this as he throws away another dice before they shuffle again.

Dustin peaks under his own briefly and sees he has a pair of ones and three fours. He looks back at Scabulous. Dustin could see clear signs he is starting to panic now. He is down two dice and all within four rounds of starting the game. Dustin glances around the room, taking note that many of the pirates had moved. At this point, they are either about to try and help their captain cheat or cut off an escape. The former is not possible unless he allows it with how he looks at his dice. Dustin then turns his gaze back onto Scabulous, wondering if he will play it safe or try to bluff him. "One one."

Scabulous keeps a glare leveled at Dustin. "Two ones." It is almost begging to have his dice taken by how much he keeps up that changing style of glares.

"Two fours," Dustin replies. He can see Scabulous has just made a guess as he isn't entirely sure of what he just said, but he can't tell if he has one dice to back that guess up with and is using his bet as a basis for it.

Scabulous raises an eyebrow at Dustin, almost judging him. That is a giant leap in a bet. It would be his exact bet if he wanted a jump in logic. "Five fours."

"You know what? I think you are correct," Dustin says, and Scabulous feels like there is a knot of dread in his gut now.

'Something is going on,' Scabulous thinks, frowning before showing his dice while Dustin lifts his. A set of five fours are sitting on the table before Scabulous takes out one die of his group.

"Shall we continue or would like to concede with grace?" Dustin inquires.

Scabulous slams his cup down, shaking the dice once again just by force on the table. "Your raptor must have better eyes than it should have." Scabulous growls after seeing he has a four and a two now.

"One five, and no. I have much better eyes," Dustin informs after seeing he has a one, one five, and three sixes.

Scabulous scoffs as he keeps tapping his cup with a finger. "Two twos. Then you must have something that sees my dice."

"No, but I can see you, and I have an excellent grasp on your tells now lair," Dustin says, removing his cup showing not one of his dice is a two. Scabulous is very reluctant to lift his cup, seeing that. "Let's call it here, so we both keep our dignities. So I want to explore and map Terra Deep. This meeting is a courtesy since it is your home, and hiring local guides will help our survey," Dustin says.

Scabulous nods and takes the cups away before they both start to negotiate. In the end, Dustin agrees to buy them a kitchen upgrade with new utensils and everything and manages to score an agreement to trade with them in the future in exchange for their protection and aid as guides in the territory.


Dustin and Viper return to Cyclonia and check on the Tailwind to see how the retrofits are coming for taking heavier pressures. After another week of work, the Tailwind is ready for her test flight. Many officials of the naval and defense branches of the government came out to watch along with Cyclonis herself and those interested in the Tailwind. The Tailwind does a few laps around the terra where everyone can see it, along with a certain sky knight who is undercover spying on Cyclonia.

"Engines nominal. Armor has no issues, weapon power and maneuvering all green," a bridge hand reports.

Dustin smiles as he looks at the readings and reports from some of the sensors and pressure gauges. "Okay, before we head to the Terra Deep, fly us low there. That way, we can put our new ride through its paces. And we can catch any holes we missed," he orders the helmsman.

"Aye aye, captain," the blizzarian answers as he steers the ship.

Dustin slowly nods as they dive down low to the wastelands. This leaves the entire collective group back on the terra to watch in surprise as this new ship made to sink starting early by taking the low road. Even some captains and shipmasters keep watching in rapt attention as they disappear through the clouds below, wondering if they can use this type of material to fix their various ships. But then they would have to redo all the metal in them. Better to make a new one out of it.

Cyclonis chuckles to herself as she sees Dustin and his crew go again, just like last time at their race. They are making a big grand spectacle of their work. But the question is, can it take the high pressure of the Terra Deep and not just the Wasteland's meager offerings?

Salv remains by the captain's side, ready to inform him of any changes to their new hull and structures. And already she can see the waves coming from everywhere. The shapen metal is holding its shape and bending slightly before it relaxes back to its original form. She hums thoughtfully before leaning over to Dustin. "We might have to increase some thickness next time. It does seem like the metal gives a little before it goes back to normal," she informs him.

"That is one purpose of easing the pressure and impacts. Makes the Tailwind more durable," Dustin informs as they sail through a pillar of magma with no damage being taken as the shield protects them with no discernible drop in power.

"Power holding. And steady as that magma is sticky," Condor informs as she looks at the power and engine gauges. "I think we should test differences in our shield to conventional next time we head back to the dock. I want to see limits and how much it can take."

"Add it to the list. I see one of the big monsters of the badlands. Bilge harpoon, aim, and fire when in range," Dustin orders as they approach the colossal lava eel. From the size, Dustin is sure it is ancient and strong to get that big.

Some of the crew near the windows lean over and watch as one of the raptors aims their harpoons towards the lava eel. It hisses and spits lava at the incoming ship before they fire off a harpoon bolt. The launcher, which has been slightly modified to tap into the engine and even added some crystal infusers in the barrel, lets off a spark of blue light, and the bolt flies through the air. It then strikes the eel in its eye, making it screech and reel its head and neck back. As it slowly falls back, it then falls onto the cold and warm stone, unmoving while the Tailwind flies by the creature. Silence is heard before a canopy of cheers and hisses ring throughout the ship as the raptors celebrate their biggest kill in their longest years since hatching.

"Circle back around—that hide we can use and study to improve our gear," Dustin orders.

Daria grins. "Making our ship lava proof now? Want to swim through it?" she jokes with a smile towards her captain.

"The hide is very high heat resistant. Our R&D has been having trouble with that on a few of their projects," Dustin informs.


Duke Arnor sighs as he reads through a report he had gotten for the government. The naval board, after hearing about the Tailwind and seeing it in action, had demanded better quality from all manufacturers. This is easier said than done as his company and factories have been building skimmers the same way for years now. Their skimmers are superior to the rebel Atmosians in everything but the fuel consumption, but a small price to pay since they controlled most of the known crystal mines of Atmos. None of his engineers can come up with a way to improve on them. The naval board wanted isn't feasible, and he knew he and his company's reputation would take a hit.

Arnor is considering how he should prepare for this when he hears a knock at his door and someone in an engineer outfit enters. It is a distant relative he recognizes from a few parties, but why is he here? From his outfit, he is with the national R&D lab. "Greetings, Duke Arnor. I came to give you something," the young fat man says, pulling out a copy of blueprints he had 'liberated' while working on the Tailwind.


"I hope you and those of your crew find your quarters acceptable, Captain Scabulous," Dustin says as the leader of the Murk Raiders walks onto the bridge after being given a quick tour. Scabulous hid it well, but he is very impressed with this ship and the quarters. His first mate, Eyeball, really likes his room's soft mattress bed as usually most of them sleep in hammocks.

"It's…more acceptable," Scabulous growls as he notices his other crewmates looking at everything. But they almost touch any buttons and switches before Dustin's crew slap their hands away before they can do so.

"Right, send a message to the Blood Crow and let them know we are ready to descend," Dustin instructs the radio operator. "All crew attention, we are about to dive. Get to your stations and secure all loose items. Especially the kitchen," Dustin says over the voice tubes.

Scabulous crosses his arms as he watches firsthand how this new airship style can handle the airship crushing pressure. In all of the ships in the Atmos, his Blood Crow and other fleets of ships under his control are the only ones to handle heavy air pressure in the Terra Deep. Even able to live down low for a while considering their food and water supply.

Once the Blood Claw gives a confirmation reply and all hands reported in, Dustin gives his command, "Helmsman, take us down at a five-degree drop."

The Tailwind slowly dips forward and sinks in the Terra Deep's clouds. The Blood Crow follows their movements close behind, battening their hatches as well while the clouds part away for them. The first few hundred feet is easy for most airships, but the real test comes around one thousand feet deep. "How far now?" Scabulous asks, trying to find their altitude gauge to watch himself.

"We are going as far down as we can as we keep mapping," Dustin informs.

A deep ring echoes throughout the bridge, and Scabulous looks over at the map image appearing over a large table. The stone pillars from the ground appear and move past the airship image placed in the middle. In time, the larger base of the pillars appears, catching every jaggy edge. "Impressive," Scabulous comments, walking over to the map and then notices the altitude. "You must be fu-!"


Weeks pass as the Tailwind and her crew map Terra Deep. Their escort, the Blood Crow, had to disengage for a supply run, leaving them alone as they explored the depths and mapping it.

Dustin sighs as he manipulates the map on the table to move it around. "Lots of ships. But I'm sure you knew that considering half might be your doing," he mentions offhandedly to Scabulous sitting nearby after seeing the jagged figures of ships.

"No, we mostly take them to one of our bases or leave them perched on one of the rock formations if they are run aground. There are a lot of ships that fall into the chasm that we never know about. Contrary to our reputation, we are not the only danger in the Deeps," Scabulous informs.

"Would that explain this thing?" Dustin asks, pointing to the floating figure appearing and moving on the bottom of the map. "About…twenty-five percent of the ships?" he asks, with some of his crew moving around to prepare for any fight coming towards them.

"Wait. That's movement," Scabulous says, getting up now rushing over to watch this.

Dustin nods as he sighs. "I saw movement before and had at least two of my crew watching for anything. But I wasn't sure until now. You know anything about this?" he asks, both of them watching the figure move around below them.

"There are dark things in the Deeps, lad. One of them has claimed more than a few of our smaller ships," Scabulous informs. "We call it White Shadow. It is a sky shark unlike any you have ever seen."

Dustin turns to look out the window and sees a large sky shark fin rise out of the heavy clouds ahead of them. "I see. Viper, get everyone ready. We are grilling sky shark tonight," he announces and sees Viper grin excitedly.

"Lad, don't underestimate White Shadow. It's not something to be trifled with so casually," Scabulous cautions.

"Whether we seek conflict with it or not is irrelevant. It's coming at us now," Dustin informs, pointing it out, and, in fact, the thing on the map has changed course and is heading for them.

"Let's go, raptors!" Viper calls. Both captains are suddenly noticing that the hunter-killer is gone and his voice coming over the voice pipes.

Dustin sighs. "Yeah. He does that," he says, a bit amused as Scabulous rushes to the window and sees every raptor in the ship handling the harpoon guns while Dustin moves to a control panel staffed by someone. "Ready the batteries. Charge this thing. Time to put it to the test," he orders the operator.

"Batteries charged. We are ready to fire!" one calls.

"Alright, helm. Let's get her lined up. Raptors, try to lead it into our hook," Dustin orders over the pipes to the cheers and roars of the raptors.

"Right, we will take this thing head-on," the helmsman says, turning the Tailwind to face the thing that has Scabulous unnerved.

At this point, even Scabulous looks so unnerved; his face is a mixture of fear and anger at the craziness of this crew. He slowly realizes that he might die along with all of them. Oh well, at least some deal was made. His crewmates would be fine, but they might have to find their crashed and eaten ship somewhere.

"We should be able to see her soon," Condor says, cameras waiting to take pictures.

Yep. Dead. It is all Scabulous can think with everyone acting this way around them. A true madhouse of a ship.

"Four hundred. Three-fifty," the one who is manning the sonar calls as they close in. Then at first, they spy a white dot ahead of them. "That must be White Shadow," Dustin says as they keep closing in on the sky shark.

Scabulous braces himself as they are about to make an impact as the crew starts to marvel at the size of the Albino Sky Shark. It is to an average cruiser's bulk, and its hide is adorned with many scars. As they pass one another, Dustin glares into its eye, which isn't blank like a sky shark's usually is. Its pupil is visible, meaning it's aimed to kill them. Then a salvo of shots hit its side, and the beast bellows at that.

Dustin laughs as the ship turns and aims its main harpoon down the face of the giant beast. "Let's show it some new teeth," he orders before a loud bang sounds out.

"Harpoon cannon one, firing!" one of the crew yells before they hear something like compressed air being released, and they hear a second bellow. "We hit it, but we hit its tail."

The famous sky shark, White Shadow, rounds around and tries to fly away. In their time, they see a large harpoon rod stuck in the tail. The tail bleeds hot red blood and drops down into the chasm below, slamming into the pillars and ship caresses with a crash as the drops compress to be almost like falling rocks.

"Oh, it's mad now. Helm, increase speed to thirty-five and bring us around. Harpoon one, reload. Harpoon two, prepare to fire in case it tries to come from below!" Dustin orders. Hearing that, the crew hastens what they can as Scabulous is surprised. He has never seen White Shadow hurt like this as it disappears into the clouds. The Tailwind picks up speed, turning around and avoiding incoming debris from above as they search for their quarry.

"Amazing…" Scabulous breathes out. His eyes on the window as he tries to see any sign of the beast. If a godly creature can bleed, then it can finally die. And as of now, he slowly grins as a sizable second harpoon is reloaded into the first firing chamber.

"It's coming around. It's going for our engines!" one of the radar operators calls.

'Makes sense. White Shadow has fought several ships. It probably knows how to destroy them,' Scabulous thinks.

"Helm, one-eighty! Now!" Dustin orders as everyone braces, and Scabulous flies and hits the wall, not bracing in time with the rest. Getting up, he sees a familiar white figure start to appear coming into view. "Seems time is catching up to you, White Shadow. Up until now, you must have never come across a ship with our level of maneuverability. All forward weapons, open fire!" Dustin orders.

The Tailwind's cannons and turrets start to fire off the crystal, and AA weaponry, pelting the side of the sky shark. Only duvets and small holes appear before the AA gunfire tears small holes that slowly become bigger as they focus fire on some parts. "Take it in, boys. It's a sad thing watching a legend die," Dustin says with a bit of remorse.

White Shadow bellows as its blood starts to flow more freely. Scabulous watches before looking at his arm. 'Aye, this might be the revenge I have been looking for my first crew,' Scabulous thinks, recalling how he lost his first ship and arm to White Shadow decades ago.

"Turrets one and two, attach a line to the harpoon before firing it," Dustin instructs as the Tailwind circles White Shadow, easily keeping up with it now with their increased speed and its wounds. The moment Dustin both confirms that they attach the lines after Dustin gives the order. "Fire!"

The second harpoon launches with an almost silent hiss. A large metal wrapped around the hooks at the tail end before embedding the hook-like spear into the beast. A controller in the bridge grins as he turns the dial and diverts their engine's power into the line. The White Shadow screeches and starts to slam into the pillars, breaking off pieces and sending some tumbling down. Only then does the sky shark slowly fall out of the sky, its screams silent before they send the power back to the engines and slowly rise out of the Terra Deep. A roaring cheer rings throughout the ship as mostly the raptors, finding this as the best kill in all of the Atmos, would grant them great recognition back home and abroad. "I...I can't believe it," Eyeball manages to say as the other harpoon launcher shoots another harpoon with a line to secure the kill more as they rise out of the clouds.

"Believe it, Eyeball. It's the end of a legend and maybe the beginning of a new one," Scabulous says, looking at the young captain.