"Sell the ships? Or keep them and salvage them?" Dustin asks himself.
Viper hisses happily. "We do need to clean up and repair our ship. I say salvage. Sell the rest."
"But if money is more pressing, selling whole ships gives better prices," Rorack says.
"And we could need the material for the inventions and repairs. Heck, even more ships and weapons," Daria mentions.
Dustin, hearing this, starts tapping his head before speaking again. "Daria, go and examine both ships with a team. Let's figure out what we have before we decide on what to do with them," Dustin instructs.
Daria nods. "Sure. I'll grab some guys and check them out," she informs before turning and walking away.
"Until then, keep an eye on the prisoners. We will be dropping them off to a sky knight terra and be done with them," Dustin says, looking to Viper and Rorack.
Dustin and the Tailwind crew make their way to terra Mesa to find it is abandoned, and most of the things are taken. The only exceptions were the buildings themselves. Similarly, they also noticed there isn't as much air traffic around the terra as it should be or even slightly above it. This is one of the few times they have flown around and feels unsettling for the crew members as they look out of the windows and cargo bay doors. "What the scales happened here?" one of the raptor crew members whisper as they try to see any movement from the scorched and smoking buildings just up ahead.
"Boss?" Condor calls as they all keep staring out the windows.
"I see," Dustin says, frowning as he grabs one of the staff weapons from a raptor and walks to the elevator. "I will go and check. Feel free to come with if you want," he orders, now with worry in his voice.
"Be careful," Rorack says.
"I intend it," Dustin calls as he rides the elevator down to the cargo bay. He then walks out and grabs a crossbow as well while Viper walks up beside him. "Coming along?" he asks as the door slowly opens.
"Orders from Ms. Cyclonis. She doesn't want a scratch on you," Viper hisses as he grips his spear handle tightly. "And she would be pissed at us."
"Be careful. The locals last time were wary of you. If there are any still there, they might attack," Dustin informs as he and Viper head out.
"Bah," Viper spits as they walk along the pathway leading to the town. "What I found weird is there isn't any sort of vehicle here," he voices as he looks around, staying behind Dusting to watch their back.
"Hum…could that be it?" Dustin voices thinking it over, looking for signs of a fight but finding none. "Viper…I think the population abandoned this terra."
"That's what I am thinking. So where are those groans coming from?" Viper asks, and Dustin looks at him with a confused expression. "Hunter. Have to hear the sounds of a wounded animal. Burned house by the way," he notes, pointing to one that is partially collapsed down the road.
Dustin immediately runs off and rushes to the house before trying to step inside past the debris. "Anyone there? Call out!"
A soft groan reaches his ears, and Dustin rushes over to a small pile of wood before trying to move it out of the way and finds Starling staring back at him as she cradles her arm. "Dustin?" she asks, taking a deep breath as he and Viper pull the rest of the wood off of her. "What the heck are you doing here? Can't be a regular delivery?" she tries to joke before groaning and clenches her arm.
"What happened, Starling?" Dustin asks, picking her up and helps her along.
Starling groans and tries to walk with him. "The bastard Repton attacked my team. Killed them all. Without them, the terra was easy prey. And everyone left," she coughs while being placed on a stone wall that surrounded a burned tree. "No use in staying here when you can be attacked at any time in the streets," she huffs before seeing Dusting hold up her nunchucks to her. "Thanks," she says, taking and sheathing them on her person.
"Viper. Get back to the Tailwind. Inform them of this and tell them to salvage what they can from the pirate ships and scrap the rest," Dustin orders.
Viper nods before running off towards the ship. Starling groans and holds a glare at a crashed pirate skimmer. "I'm going to fucking kill him."
"Talk later for now," Dustin says before picking her up bridal style. "It's time to get back to the ship," Dustin finishes, starting to walk with her.
"What?! Put me down!" Starling demands and smacks his chest with her good arm. "I still got a skimmer, and I can still kick ass even if down by the arm."
"No, you won't!" Dustin says harshly. Starling gasps as she stops dead cold when she sees his heavy glare leveled at her. "You are in no condition to fight, and you don't know where they are. Though, even if you did, you would have to fight through all of Repton's underlings."
"Dustin…" Starling tries to start, but another harsh huff from him makes her shut up. At this point, she doesn't say anything. Rather, she tries to figure what changed Dusting to a more hardened person than the last time she has met him.
Dustin sighs as he steps into the infirmary and puts down Starling on one of the beds. "I am staying with you, so you don't run off and cause trouble for all us to chase you down," he states sternly and sits down in a chair next to the bed.
"Thi…this doesn't seem like your ship…did you upgrade?" Starling asks, trying to change the subject now.
Dustin sighs as he slowly calms his senses and smiles. "Yeah. We built a new ship. You heard about a new sharp-edged airship breaking the Condor's airspeed record and being almost two days ahead of the competition?" he asks, chuckling a little as it did sound like he was boasting.
"Wait, that was you?" Staring asks, stunned as she remembers hearing about that the day before the attack.
Dustin nods. "Yeah. I got eyes from both Cyclonian and Atmos people. They all want one, but I told them it isn't finished."
"Isn't finished?" Starling asks, jolting up, trying to process this.
"It is not up to the specs I want it to be. The issues were money and time. Time to make the race, money for obvious reasons, but it was clear from the first attempt this would be the case," Dustin says.
Starling slowly looks around and takes in the sight of the more advanced room. She figures that this is even a step above a clinic on a terra with how clean it is. The metal walls to the steel floors make her wonder how much time and money Dustin spent on this. "Spared no expense, did you?" she asks, wondering if this room alone is more than a regular clinic's building.
"I spent almost all my money on this. The Tailwind is the foundation on which my future projects will be. It also heralds the end of the age of the sky knights," Dustin adds.
"Why is that?" Starling asks, groaning as she gets up, but then is pushed back down by Dustin, who keeps a hand on her chest to make sure she doesn't get up.
"I will show you later, but our technology and ships have not advanced for centuries. The last great advancement was the Condor, but its plans were lost when its creators died. I also suspect they burned the plans as well so it could never be replicated, and no cruiser since has come close to it," Dustin points out.
Starling sighs as she lays down on the bed. "Please…let me go and deal with these monsters."
"You run off, and I will kick your ass," Dustin informs sternly.
"Dustin…" Starling tries to start, but Dustin presses down harder on her chest and makes her grunt in pain.
"Rest. You will have your shot. But now is not the time," Dustin informs.
Starling keeps frowning as he holds a hand on her chest before pressing down again and makes her grunt as he starts to loom over her. "Damn it, Dustin," she whispers, annoyed, relaxing now.
"Good. We will get your skimmer and see what condition it is in as we head to the next terra," Dustin promises.
"All looks good," Dustin says as he operates the wheel of his ship. "Angus, did what we salvage from the ships give you anything you need to start on your first project?" Dustin asks.
Angus sighs as he looks over a report. "Enough to get something. But we will need more material for the rest."
"Make do with what we have for now. As for if you run out of them before we get more, put the project on the back burner and work on something else," Dustin informs.
"I'll see what I can do, but I can't make promises," Angus informs as he walks away.
"I don't expect miracles. Just work on what you can for now. Now Condor, status on our finances after collecting the bounties from those pirates?" Dustin asks.
Condor hums as she looks over a couple of papers. "How does close to eighty percent of expenses count?"
"Great, we will need more money. Give me the nearest terra on the map, Condor," Dustin says.
Condor nods as she walks over to the map and starts to mark down the nearest large terra for their ship. "Lived in or empty?"
"Unless you can make rocks into money instantly lived on," Dustin says a bit sarcastically.
"Dustin," Condor voices sharply and makes him cringe. "I know you are worried, but this is not the time to snap at your crew."
"At least we don't have to worry about fuel for a while with all the fuel crystals we have onboard…actually give me a rough estimate where we are," Dustin says, walking over to the maps as another crew member takes hold of the wheel.
Condor starts to track and markdown on a paper map before pointing to the transparent map. "Here," she says, pointing to one area. "Right now, hovering a few terras above the livable levels."
"Helm, take us down. Radar, start scanning for any derelict," Dustin calls, seeing where they are.
Condor blinks and looks up at him curiously. "Boss?"
"This was a lot of old skirmishes that happened last time the factions were constantly fighting. There is bound to be some things in the wastelands in this area," Dustin explains.
Condor nods as she goes to the radar station and starts to change the system to check the wasteland below. "I would think it would be still able to bounce off weird areas from the rocks."
"Yes, but ours give more readings," Dustin says before going to the voice pipes. "All hands battle stations, we are heading down into the wastelands."
Condor frowns now and looks at him. "You know it won't be as easy as going to the scrapyard to pick up what you want, right?"
"We won't need to if we find a Cyclonian destroyer. We will be getting a finders fee if we inform Cyclonia where we find a few. Cyclonis asked me to do this if we find any of their ships," Dustin informs.
Condor sighs and watches as he leaves. "Sometimes, I don't know if he's crazy or elated at points," she whispers, frowning.
"Boss, the crew that is down here want to know that if we kill anything, can we claim it?" Viper's voice comes through the voice pipe.
"Of course. You kill it; it's yours. But the scrap is at my discretion," Dustin warns, trying to remember what exactly he can grab from the wrecks on top of the destroyer.
"Right. Hey boys, the captain says yes, so aim carefully!" Viper's voice was heard along with raptors cheering, which comes out as hissing.
Dustin shakes his head, amused as he comes down to the loading bay. "Raptors," he chuckles before seeing Starling on a walkway, overlooking the raptors preparing with some armor and weapons. "Guess you got cabin fever, or are you suspicious of them?" Dustin asks, walking up beside her.
Starling doesn't respond at first as she watches them before receiving a light smack to her head. "Hey, what was that for?" she complains, holding her head and looks at Dustin frowning at her.
Dustin keeps frowning as he observes her reaction. "Because that grudge will only get you closer to death. Besides, these are my crew. They had nothing to do with what happened to your squadron," Dustin reminds.
Starling frowns as she looks back at the raptors while gripping the railing tightly. "I am not OW!" she cries out when he slaps her behind the head again. "Hey! I am not OW!" Starling keeps complaining when he does it once again. "Cut it out!" she demands, poking his chest threateningly.
"Then stop looking at them like you will be killing then," Dustin informs, shocking her as she hadn't realized she had been doing this to the crew.
"Crew…wait…" Starling tries to realize as she looks at the raptors again to see they are more or less uniformed somehow. Almost like the rest of the crew members.
"We need to get a uniform design for ourselves," Dustin mutters as Starling watches them before they descended some hatches.
Starling looks out a nearby window and frowns. "You are not going, and you are going," she notes flatly when she turns back and sees Dustin going towards a hatch. "Why do I even bother?" she whispers to herself.
"Lots of debris down here. I can tell this was a hotbed for battling," Viper says as they look around at all the wreckage and scrap lying around. No empty areas are uncovered by the metal bits or even pieces of crystal or tech.
Dustin hums as he looks at all the ship bodies' style or tail numbers listed on the ships' side. "This is tougher than I thought. You would think at least one destroyer is here," he comments while not finding anything he needs at the moment.
"Captain, I see one over there," one of the raptors calls at the top of a hill.
"How is it looking?" Dusting calls as he walks over.
"Mostly, the biggest problem seems to be pulling it out. It landed nose-first into that mountain," the raptor informs as he points at the airship halfway into the ground.
Dustin groans and rubs his head. "Dang. Well, this would be a good test of pulling power for our airship. I do wonder what we can carry, at least. We haven't tested the finite limit of our carry weight or even the pulls by cable. Okay. So, let's try pulling first. I want to see what we can get. If not, then we call Cyclonis and see our carry weight," he orders, looking at the raptor. "Go inform Condor, would you?"
"Right boss," one of the raptors says, heading off before they hear war cries.
"Please tell me that fight is under control," Dustin asks before smirking. "It would be fun to see our cannons try some ground targets while landed."
"Looks all good. Just one scorpion," Viper says, watching five raptors attacking it.
"Good," Dustin voices before seeing the Tailwind start up their engines and slowly fly over their heads. He hums as he watches the bay platforms' workers take out cables and ropes before sliding down them and onto the ship. "If we improve the engines, does the weight limit get better? Or is it the build of the ship? Maybe both?" he asks himself as the cables are wrapped or attached.
The engines flare on the ship and then rise before stopping short as the cables are pulled tight. "How much does the ship weigh?" Dustin asks particularly no one as he watches the Tailwind almost rev the engines to pull the destroyer out of the ground, but it wasn't happening. Then the ropes snap first and break. "Shoot. Cut it!" he calls, and the engines die down as the Tailwind comes in for a landing.
"About two thousand metric tons," Viper says.
Dustin keeps humming as the workers come down or explore the destroyer. "Noted. At least we have a mark on the meter. Now we need to narrow it down," he voices as the Tailwind rises again, but this time with a net being carried by wires. "That should do it. Start collecting boys!" he calls over to them.
"Boss, Conder contacted Cyclonia, but the one on the other end wants to talk to you personally," an engineer informs.
Dustin frowns as he looks at the approaching engineer. "Who is it?" he asks as the raptors carry the corpse of the fire scorpion by them to the Tailwind.
"Condor didn't say," the engineer informs.
Dustin sighs before heading back to his ship and, along the way, meets up with Starling, who is watching the cargo bay work. "Starling, ask Viper about who attacked you. He is a raptor, so he should have some insight on this," Dustin says while passing her.
Starling watches Dustin go into the elevator before he rides it upward. As he does so, Starling slowly turns to Viper walking inside and leading the other raptors on setting up their net. Her view slowly turns to a bloody hue before it quickly goes away as she sighs and lets go of the railing she was gripping tight. "Dammit," Starling huffs and walks downstairs before ending up beside Viper. He doesn't notice her as she wonders how she came down so fast without realizing she has taken a long walk.
Viper blinks as he turns and looks at the girl beside him. "Yes?" he asks, wondering why his boss's potential mate is waiting beside him. "Guess you have a question about the ship?"
"What do you know about Repton?" Starling growls.
Viper raises a scaled eyebrow and hisses. "Repton, huh? He is one of the highest raptors in terms of prestige. He has an organization composed of several members from multiple raptor clans," Viper explains before seeing her holding a seething rage behind her glare. "Ah. Right. Yes. He is a formidable foe. If you are going after him, I recommend caution. He has multiple clans at his beck and call. If I go against him, I would be liable to bring my clan into war unless I go for an honor fight. But even then, other weapons and armor are allowed. Looked down, but allowed. So knowing him, he would try dirty tricks to get his win as long as it's within the rules," he advises. "For you, though," he starts, looking her over, "get better. Taking down an injured kill like yourself isn't good when you are limited. It takes the fun out of the honor and hunt," Viper warns.
"So, he can't fight if I am injured?" Starling asks herself, smiling a little.
"Doesn't mean that even if you take him down, the other clans will descend upon you," Viper adds, observing her. "A shameful kill and shameful death. That's your destination if you listen to your rage more than your thoughts," Viper lectures. "Please, for our captain's sake, heal yourself. After he has let you go, then he might allow you to seek your revenge with care."
Starling is taken back by this statement as she tries to process this. Even more so is that rules still exist for Repton. And here she thought he and the others of his group act more like pirates. But if he tries to bend the rules without breaking it, it might be harder to handle her revenge target.
"Right. Found an intact destroyer at those coordinates, but it landed nose-first into a mountain. But at least it wasn't into a volcano," Dustin says to Cyclonis over the new radio.
He can tell Cyclonis is rolling her eyes at his joke. "I will send a salvage team. But what about your salvage needs?" she asks the captain looking over the short report of what they have found.
"Don't worry and…one moment. Hey, tell the raptors not to fill up the hold with fire scorpions! We got salvaging to do!" Dustin calls. "Sorry about that," he apologies.
"The raptors? You must have hired quite a few," Cyclonis partially jokes but wonders how many he has on his crew.
"Yeah, they are excellent raiders and fighters. The more challenging the quarry, the more they love it and work harder at it," Dustin informs.
Cyclonis hums. "Did you get a whole clan to work for you?" she asks with a joking tone.
"No. Just members of one," Dustin says.
Cyclonis chuckles as she wonders how she can gain clans for herself. "So what did you do to earn their favor? Offer amazing kills?"
"Depends on the clan. If going for someone big like Repton, You need to intimate them, then offer some territory for them to hunt in. You need to have enough clout that they listen to you," Dustin informs.
"I see," Cyclonis replies. "Then I guess I have to set things aside in that case if I want to have a clan on my side."
"Yeah, forward the payment to the guild with a note saying ongoing contract, and no questions will be asked," Dustin adds.
Cyclonis chuckles. "Are you trying to get caught of being mysterious? You know that would not help you if you keep going back to them. How about coming to me only for contracts? I can provide better," Cyclonis offers.
"You gotta clean up your empire first," Dustin says.
Cyclonis sighs. "Yes. That's the worst part. I am hoping to research the family houses to see who I can trust and not. But that will take time as all the families tend to meet at times."
"If you can't figure out who you can trust, make them indebted to you," Dustin advises, and for a while, he was met by silence on the other end.
Then the radio crackles. "I assume you have an idea for this?"
"No, but you will think of something. You're a smart girl," Dustin says.
The radio becomes silent for a while before the noise shuts off. Dustin chuckles as he wonders if Cyclonis is now wondering how to deal with a compliment like that. But for now, he has to take inventory and figure out if they found all the material they need for their projects. He gets up from the table and walks out of the radio room to head out to the cargo bay.