They will not bend to the wills of tyrants like them.

They will break under the strain. You put too much faith in anyone who gives you the merest glimpse of hope.

Whether I was wise or foolhardy remains to be seen. Let the cards fall where they may. We have much to do.

Markus: "So this is the new ship? It looks... strange."

River: "What, you don't like the trimaran hull?"

"What's the gauge on that cannon?"

"The Gauss gun? Half a meter."

"No, the- wait, what? Where did you get the parts?"

"It's just an electromagnet, I don't get why you're so excited."

"And the computers and batteries to run it?"

"The old ship had dozens of battery banks, all nearly brand new. The computer was stripped off the Kalmar."

"And where did you get those batteries from to begin with?"

"The hundreds of wrecks littering the sea thanks to you and your old buddies back in Janwall, ironically enough."

Reginald began to reply, thought better of it, and wandered off into the town.

"Don't you think you were a bit ruthless with that comment? I don't like him, but that was too harsh."

"A little. He'll get over it. We'll find him in the morning, just give him some space. We've all had a very rough day, especially him."

The morning quiet was split by shouts and clattering boxes. A boiler roared to life, a turbine began to spin. A string of shadows eclipsed the town, and people scattered in every direction. Reginald nodded to the man next to him and ran through the winding streets to the dock, and straight into Markus.

"Great timing. Get below deck, we're leaving."

"And they'll chase us to no end, are you daft?"

"You're the only man on that council who isn't! They don't care about collateral damage. We need to get whatever the hell that thing is outside away from the town."

"And how do you propose we do that without getting obliterated?"

River: "Reggie, get on the radio in here. What did Goldwater send here?"

"We brought a whole combined armada in the dead of night. The Plunderer, the Delight, the kraken, and a slew of experimental something or others in need of field tests, that's everything he had in range. I brought the remains of my personal fleet. The Falkenheim, the Moray, the Barricuda, and their interceptor escort."

"Think you can get yer crew to help us?"

Reginald walked up to the deck and entered the command tower situated around the colossal main cannon. River followed him and nodded toward a terminal with a headset rested on a keyboard. Reginald sat and placed the headset over his ears. He tapped a key and a grim face appeared on the screen in front of him.

"Splinter contingency is now active."

"Admiral, can you copy? We don't have a 'splinter' in our records."

"It's need-to-know only, the admin passcode is 'S-B-A-L-K-U-C-D-O-T"

"Uhhh... admiral, can you confirm?"

"I repeat, execute splinter contingency. As of now, the remaining pirate lords are our enemy. Spread the word to the rest of my fleet, call me back when you get in the air. Over."

Reginald ended the call with a brief salute, and gave a thumbs up to River and Markus.

"Reggie, you're a tactician, right?"

"I suppose you could call me that, although I was more of an advisor under Goldwater."

"Good enough. The table back there has a real time holographic display of the area according to the total pool of sensor data, I'm certain you can see the value of that. I'll man the gun. Don't kill each other please."

Engines roared to life in the dense jungle expanse behind the town, and three large aircraft rose from the canopy in unison. The smallest and largest craft stayed back and launched their garrisons one by one. The third craft circled the pair of whirling obelisks looming over the town, then suddenly sped toward the jungle. The dry dock hissed open and a black and purple blur sped out and circled toward the channel between the vast jungle and the small island which held the town. The colossal floating towers followed, and Goldwater's fleet emerged from behind the town as a fourth airship rose into the sky.

"Markus, Reggie, brace for recoil!"

A booming thud shook the craft, and the Plunderer's main gun exploded into a cloud of shrapnel and splinters. The Delight turned and entered a broadside. Up in the clouds, the aircraft carrier Barracuda was fleeing from the new airship, which dwarfed it by an order of magnitude. The Falkenheim swerved to avoid being crushed as the swarm of shrikes engaged the floating brick.

The Moray opened fire on the smaller obelisk, its shots bouncing harmlessly away from the spinning coat of shields. A missile struck the tiny vehicle and it plummeted into the sea. The Moray turned its attention to the airship. The barracuda fired a CRAM shell at the airship, and a flash of light obliterated the bomb. The Moray opened fire and the remaining obelisk continued toward its quarry.

The kraken angled its guns and fired into the dogfight overhead. Another shot from the coil gun struck the Kraken before a rain of shells began around the small ship. Another shot from the coil gun sailed through the air, and a thundering echo signaled the destruction of the Delight.

The Falkenheim burst into flames as a laser raked its hull. The left turbine exploded, and it fell to the sea. The moray's endless volley of shells eventually found its mark. A single shot slipped through the laser defenses and beheaded the mechanical beast. It fell unceremoniously onto the Kraken, and the Moray turned its guns on the Plunderer as the remaining Shrikes swarmed around the Barracuda. The looming obelisk froze over the ship, and the spike below it rotated into firing position.

"River, the cannon-"

"I see it. Let's see if I can't pull off some high stakes skeet shooting."

"Oh dear god."

The cannon pulled back, and the coil gun fired. Everything shook in the blast as the ship plummeted into the sea in a rain of shrapnel.

Reginald: "And the coffin nail is blunted at last."

Markus: "We actually won!"

River: "We lost a ship, but we won against all odds. Nothing stands between us and the Davy Jones, but we should definitely take the rest of the day off, we've earned it."