Dustin sighs as he returns to his ship from his meeting with the Cyclonian representatives. They had commissioned him to make a Cyclonian merchant cruiser. Unlike the Atmosian commission, this one is purely for merchant use. Dustin heads straight for his office as the Tailwind starts to head off to their next destination. When he reaches it, he looks at the two designs on the boards. Both are unfinished, but the calculation and details are thought out. Anyone who looks at this would tell that these were not started in the last few days. Dustin takes a seat and thinks about the designs as the ship travels. Their destination is Terra Wallop. An odd choice to some, but not for the Ravens as Rorack, now almost in his forties, suggested to start recruiting more crew amongst his people.

But these designs before him are a wildcard and take up most of his thinking. Besides, the most obvious thing is that ship plans haven't changed much in at least a hundred years, and these reflect it all. He starts with the hull, which is round or sharp to cut through various obstacles. Then the layout either had small civilian housing inside or ample space for cargo on top of the ship. Engines are constantly out on separate parts that make the wings of the vessel or housed in the back. Dustin will admit if you are a civilian vessel, you might as well have something easily repairable or throw the section away and get a new one for simplicity or going easy on what should be a tiny bank account. And finally, how the piping and electrical lines are run…

Yeah. He is not touching that with a Cyclonian Terra-sized pole.

Dustin groans, leaning back in his seat and throwing his head back. "It might have been easier to ask me and give me specifications on what it does. I can't modify this crap job of a design," he mutters while closing his eyes and trying to ease his minor headache.

He is about to reach up and massage his head, but another set of softer hands beat him to it, giving him a gentle massage. Dustin opens his eyes and looks to see Salv giggling at the tired and dumbfounded look on the captain's face while she tries to ease his trouble. "Those designs have been around as much as those designers. What else did they have to go off of? You? I doubt it since you aren't in a sharing mood yet," she chuckles jokingly.

"True enough. So we are scrapping most of this and starting from scratch. This will be my work till we get to Wallop," Dustin says, sighing before leaning up out of her gentle hold and getting on the radio. "This is Dustin calling Suzy Lu. Repeat, this is Dustin calling Suzy Lu. Over," Dustin says into the transmitter.

Dustin waits a few seconds as Salv walks around his desk before leaning against it. He slowly eyes the swinging tail behind the raptor, and Salv giggles, making him look away and blush. "Ey hoser!" Suzy cheers over the radio. "Whatcha calling for? Another date?" she teases, getting a snark to the side from Salv and another level of blushing from the usually calm captain.

"Yeah, Suzy, is Starling there as well?" Dustin questions as Salv takes the initial designs down.

"Yeah. She just went to deal with paperwork. Why? Going to ask her out?" Suzy still teases. A happy chuckle comes from her as the blizzardian remembers the fun days from back then coming back. "Or is it a double date?" she jokes, and Salv stifles a laugh behind a hand.

"No, it's about the initial designs I was given," Dustin says, and Suzy went silent for a bit.

"I ain't going to like this, am I?" Suzy questions.

"Yeah…no, I basically have to start from scratch," Dustin informs.

Suzy doesn't say anything for a bit before some shuffling is heard. "Yeah…Dustin…this is Starling. You just made the blizzardian shut up for once. And the guys back at the shop aren't going to like you now if you tell them," Starling explains before more shuffling is heard.

"Dustin, you better think things through carefully. You don't want to get on the bad side again. Heck, I doubt even the Cyclonian hosers would like you throwing away their…what was it?" Suzy asks Starling as Salv and Dustin watch the radio.

"Five to ten years of work," Starling lists out.

"Five to ten years of work," Suzy finishes.

"Ah-hem," Dustin says, getting a piece of paper and flicking it in his hands, making it sound like it is a document or some other study paper. "Problems from a cursory analysis," Dustin starts. "The wings of this design are too broad. It makes the profile too big. The engines are in said wings, so you can not get to them for repair or if something goes wrong unless you land. The engines are too exposed in case they are attacked by anyone or anything. The hull is too rounded for its purpose. The housing is inside in an inconsistent manner, or cargo space is more of a flat top like the ship has a chunk of it cut out. The piping and electrical are a rat's nest. Need I go on?" Dustin asks, tossing the empty paper behind him for dramatic effect.

Both girls are silent, and Salv turns her head to lean her ear towards the speaker to check if it's broken or not. "Dustin…these are old designs. The most these guys hope for is a massive improvement in…everything. They want something like your airship—form, comfort, functionality, everything. At times, they are happy to get five percent more efficiency from the model of the last version. And when they see yours…what the heck can they offer but what they consider their best?" Starling asks, trying to ease this in as Dustin can feel the headaches coming from her.

"I have to do this design? I can't just give them a custom one?" Dustin asks, a bit hopeful.

"You really sound hopeful there, bud," Suzy interjects and then sighs. "These guys want better things. They want to be able to reach the levels you do. I mean, crystal burning alone takes you about two refills on a large ship. Don't get me started on those little personal ones. Yours act more like a single fill and can drive forward and back across the entire Atmos. And that's just one thing. I'm sorry, Dustin. But you may have to make a new one," Suzy apologizes. "Those designs they gave were their hope their best would give ideas. But knowing you, it looks like a little hopper's drawing," Suzy describes. At that point, Dustin thinks up some little Suzy Lu's running around and trying to make a drawing of airships just from what they have seen.

"I guess I can clean them up. Also, Suzy, for your information, I told Cyclonis herself to ax most of her R&D department," Dustin informs.

"Well, there goes my work," Starling mutters to the side.

They heard a soft thud before Suzy chuckles. "Good to know you bought us something without meaning to. Less worry about new and important devastating ships. Like the rumor, they would make one with tons of cannons. How crazy is that one?" Suzy laughs off as Dustin has a minor headache from even trying to think up and fix something that is literally a cannon on wings.

"The one who proposed that is named Snipe," Dustin informs.

Suzy's laughter slowly comes to a stop before clearing her throat. "Anyway…you need another talk Dustin?" she asks gently in a soft voice.

"I just wanted to discuss this whole thing with you before I threw away the designs given to me. Now, I have to clean this up…Salv, have the boys bring me several to work on with this. Also, going to need a pot of coffee," Dustin instructs.

"Don't stay up for a whole week, or we will come up there and knock you out ourselves," Suzy jokingly threatens.

Dustin smiles as Salv goes off to do the work he listed out. But seeing as she came here to his office in the first place, it could be that she has hardly any work to do and is mostly biding her time until someone gets hurt. But at least she is a great assistant. "I will give you full right to kick me into tomorrow," he jokes along with her. At least he can sometimes see when Suzy and Starling are trying to help him out and warn him if he is about to do something outlandish.


"Seems like Dustin is going to have a hard time, eh?" Suzy says, leaning against the table.

Starling smiles as she lays her head down on the table. "I feel like us saving him is going to become a regular thing," she breathes out tiredly onto the hard table while chuckling a little at the bemused idea.

"Problem is tying him down to do so unless we join his crew twenty-four-seven," Suzy points out.

Starling sighs heavily at the thought. "Wish we could," she says softly and notices Suzy's ears twitching and relaxing straight down her back. "And you do too. Just spending so much time with him," she teases, starting a slight smirk on her face. "Maybe you can bunk with him in the office."

"Only if he turns the temperature down," Suzy informs.

Starling blinks as she now sees Suzy smiling and humming with imagination at the idea. "So…you do want him in the same bed," Starling catches, seeing the growing happy blush on the daydreaming blizzardian while she leans her head on her arms.

"Mayd…May…" a voice says coming from the radio. It is barely being picked up as it is probably on another frequency.

"Got it," Starling jumps up and calls out. Suzy snaps out of her daydreaming before rushing over, and Starling tries to get a more clear voice through.

"I…eat…der…ck…unk…ders…th…are…killi…everyo…Terra Vastos. Send…" the broadcast ended as an explosion is heard, and only static is on the air.

"Damn," Starling curses, trying to get the signal back. "This is Starling of the Interceptors. Do you read? Can you respond?" she calls into the radio before messing with the dial. "Come on. Please say something."

"Starling, is it back on?" Suzy asks seriously.

Starling Starling frowns as she tries to narrow the frequency down. "Respond, is this about a Cyclonian attack? I repeat. Is this a Cyclonian attack?" she asks, getting some static. "Dang it," she curses, still trying to see if this noise can be cleared up more.


"Fire ba…" a Talon calls before a sword is buried into his face, killing him.

The one who did that laughs crazily as he and those he is with fight almost suicidally as they charge into the incoming fire from the Cyclonian crystal staffs. Some fall after several hits and lay there dying as the rest keep charging.

"They just keep coming!" another talon calls while moving back with everyone else. "We have to leave! Now!" he calls, trying to search for a way out.

"And how can w…" another talon calls before they are cut off permanently when several cannon shots hit where they were, leaving no sign of them.


"What?!" Cyclonis yells, looking very pissed off. "How the fuck in the deep Atmos did we lose an entire outpost in a single hour without us noticing all this time?"

"We are sending a fleet to investigate it now, Master," one of the ministers explains.

"It must be those damn Sky Knight rebels. They are the only ones who would have the gall to do this!" one of the officials who wanted war with the free Atmos now proclaimed.

"I do not believe this to be the case," Dark Ace speaks up.

Cyclonis immediately turns her head towards Dark Ace and frowns. "And what did you find?"

"The position was completely razed, and bodies were everywhere. On those that weren't Talons, was this," Dark Ace informs before showing them all an emblem he had torn off from one of the dead's clothes. The symbol is one they had never seen before. It is a human skull with daggers coming out of its eyes on a fire pattern.

Cyclonis seems to hiss and breath out at the same time as she glares at the torn tatters. "Find who this group is. And do some razing of our own for their gall to attack us."

"Yes, master," Dark Ace says before turning and leaves smiling as he gets out of sight, knowing this is an opportunity to advance himself again.


Later that night, Cyclonis sits alone in her office, thinking this over. She thought about the group and what they did is inconsistent with the sky knights' tactics. This is more raiders than that, and part of her questioned if this is staged by someone or a group in her court as this wouldn't be the first time they killed their own for their own goals. One of those attempts is trying to kill herself. Even Dark Ace's intentions are clear. He wants to use this as a means to advance himself or gain more fame.

She keeps thinking about this until her eyes move to look at her private radio. The one that is set to the frequency she and Dustin use.


"You never personally call," Dustin informs as he looks out at the passing clouds and landscape in the night sky. Salv snores on his little bed that he rarely uses as she tries to catch up on her sleep. A pile of paperwork lying down at the limp hand against the ground. "I assume another one of the courts tries to…court death with you?" he tries to joke but sighs as this is a bad one. "Or is this related to the attack that was pulled on Terra Vastos against the Sky Knights?"

"What about Terra Vastos?" Cyclonis questions.

Dustin frowns as he keeps looking out the window. "Yeah. Guessing it's not you guys killing off an entire group there since you tend to knock each other out of the sky. Or at least not kill at all. So want some juicy information I might have related to whatever has been bugging your mind for the last hour or so?"

"One of our outposts was attacked. No survivors, but plenty of corpses from what I am told with the same emblem on them," Cyclonis explains before describing the emblem to him.

"Hum. That is concerning. Do you suspect a group trying to turn the war hot? Or a group doing this for their profit?" Dustin inquires, wondering what she is thinking.

Cyclonis takes a deep breath. "War…or something else."

"Want me to pass along these raids to the Sky Knights?" Dustin offers, knowing she will get it. He is suggesting this to keep some hotheads in the squadrons from attacking Cyclonia territory.

Cyclonis hums. "Please. Maybe they can help stop them from happening if they come across the attacks at one point or another…" she then pauses as Dustin turns to look at the radio. "I will inform the various outposts that are speculated to be in trouble to use both Cyclonian and Free Atmos frequencies. That should give the squadrons a heads up if anything happens."

"Right, I also won't be back to the terra for a bit. We are going on a recruitment drive to fill up the ship more. Rorack wants to recruit more Wallops for a heavy strike force. I believe that is how he put it," Dustin informs, shrugging before looking at the radio with a slightly worried expression on his face.

"Good luck with that," Cyclonis hums. "They are a proud race and easy to get into trouble with if you are not careful," she warns. "Showing your hands to them means you want to fight with them."

"Oh, don't worry about us. We got one of them aboard already, and I have instructed him to go over things with the crew. Especially the raptors of the crew," Dustin replies.

Cyclonis snarks for once. "You had that much faith in your crew that you knew they would mess up?"

"Yes, like how I know that one on one, a talon will almost always lose to the free atmosian squadrons," Dustin says.

Cyclonis makes a grumbling noise before Dustin recognizes it as her just humming deep in her throat. "You painfully remind me."

"You know you could use this as an opportunity to increase training of your forces coming in. Maybe make those who are the best into royal guards?" Dustin suggests the idea of consolidating a unit of Talons with only loyalty to Cyclonis coming to him as if out of nowhere. 'Where did that come from?'

Cyclonis taps her finger against the microphone a few times. "You want me to build up my personal guards? Even though I already have a decent amount?"

"How many of the Talons are only loyal to you?" Duston questions back.

Cyclonis sighs tiredly. "You never cease to give me orders and get me so tired," she admits with a wry smile.

"Well, I am also one of the only ones willing to speak their mind to you and give you decent advice. Besides, you can never have too many truly loyal guards, can you, with all the assassination attempts?" Dustin asks.

Cyclonis chuckles. "There is such a thing as assassination from your guards."

"Yeah, but you can weed out those who aren't fully loyal to you for the guard. Also, you know what would boost morale and some loyalty since your economy is doing much better and you have unallocated funds?" Dustin asks, surprising her slightly that he knew about that.


"Mr. Moss, sir," Hamish, a pale auburn-haired Cyclonian, says entering the warden's office.

"What is it, son?" Moss asks in a very southern accent.

"The new supplies have arrived, but along with them came more men. It seems they were transferred," Hamish says, handing Moss some documents on a clipboard.

"Let's see," Moss says, reading the papers. Everything is in order, and their complement of guards is increased, but then he gets to the bottom. "Hamish, listen to this. 'Because of your loyal service and spotless record so far, you and your senior staff are all getting a pay increase.' How do you like that?" Moss asks as he chuckles. "Seems the new master knows how to reward people better than the last."


Dustin sits in silence as Rorack makes his case to the assembly of the Wallop clans present on the terra. While wallops usually don't care for outsiders much, they listen to Rorack as he is a wallop in which he is a respected fighter amongst the clans. So his words carry weight amongst the clans here, especially when it involves offering jobs and making money. Rorack's wife steps up after Rorack finishes and sits down, and she voices the support of him as his wife. This, Dustin believes, is a formality amongst the wallop clans, but it is another joining supporting it, so he is not about to say anything.

It didn't seem there would be any opposition to this until one wallop stepped forward from the Chief of Terra Wallop's side. The wallop proclaims he would represent those who opposed this and challenges Rorack to a contest of strength by Wallop law. Dustin raised his eyebrow as it seems counter to what he perceives as the Chief's policies. Until he spots the chief smirking as Rorack and the Wallop proceed to wrestle. 'You told him to dive, didn't you?' Dustin thinks as Rorack pins the wallop to the ground, ending it.

Now that it is over, Rorack tells Dustin he would handle it from there, and he should return to prepare rooms for the new crew members they will get here. He also said he would be taking shore leave to spend time with his wife and children.

Dustin smirks and looks around. "Where are your kids anyway? Thought they would be excited to see you?"

"They are at home. The meeting is no place for a child. You will learn that one day when you have your own," Rorack says, waving him off as Dustin proceeds up the ramp.