In Cyclonia, Master Cyclonis is holding a meeting in her crystal workshop. In the room are Snipe, Ravess, three elite captains of the talons, two of which commanded two of the newest additions to their fleet. The Thunder Strike series of ships. The Talons had taken to them like a fish to water. Logistically, their production is actually cheaper and faster than the previous model of the cruiser. Not to mention they were faster, more maneuverable, and had a longer operational time because of their fuel efficiency. Many veteran captains of their cruisers clambered to be transferred to them as a result when they first came out while the remainders of the previous models of cruisers still in service are posted to guard duty until they could be retired.
The others in the room are Repton and his entourage representing the Raptor squadron. The biggest collection of Raptors in the Atmos. They were here to discuss an arrangement that Cyclonis had offered to them. The only one who was missing was the Dark Ace. She had already preemptively sent Dustin a message that they were turning the war hot now as they finally had rebuilt the Talons and their fleets back up to acceptable levels. Dark Ace was due back from reviewing the fleet that they had put together for this important mission, but he was late, something Cyclonis disliked quite a bit, but not all can be as efficient as the Royal Guard, the Nightcrawlers, or the Typhoon Ravens as it was the only justification keeping Cyclonis from going off on the Dark Ace as he entered the room.
The clanking of metal shield boots against the ground gets everyone's attention as he walks in through the large doors with a smug grin on his face. "The illustrious Dark Ace. So glad you can join us," Cyclonis greets as she keeps working away on her machine.
"Master, all preparations are finished. The fleet is ready to move out at your order," Dark Ace says, not keeping his excitement very well hidden.
Cyclonis rolls her eyes where they can't see as she keeps working away before pressing one final key. "Good. Then it is time to get to work. I want all of you to get to your assigned ships and follow the plan," she orders, watching as a crystal slides down to a drop slot in front of the keys.
"And what of our arrangement? I could care less about your plans." Repton growls, his patience running thin from having to wait for so long.
"Ah yes, my offer is untold riches from the sacking and raiding to come as a start," Cyclonis says, turning to him with a crystal in hand. She then uses the crystal to grab and slam Repton against the upper part of the wall with energy concentrated through the crystal which took the form of a claw-like hand holding him there. "And I promise not to destroy your terra Bogaton and hunt down and kill all of your group," Cyclonis adds before releasing him, sending him crashing down onto the floor.
Repton growls under his breath before huffing and standing back on his feet. "I…have no more objections," he relents, understanding the power and strength Cyclonis can put on him.
"Good. Begin the operation. Repton, I have a list of targets for you to start," Cyclonis informs.
"Yes…" Repton hisses with a bow of his head, "Master Cyclonis," he answers before being handed a list with a few very wealthy terras in the northern quadrant.
"Great. Go to your ship, now," Cyclonis orders and hears the squadron hiss at each other as they walk away.
Ravess looks between them and Cyclonis, a surprised expression on her face just like the rest in the room. "How did you make them submit so quickly Master Cyclonis? I have been trying to get them to listen for weeks," she asks, wondering what sort of deal did Cyclonis work on the backend.
Cyclonis smiles as she spins the crystal around in her palm. "You just have to know the magic touch. That, and I sought the advice of an expert when dealing with Raptors."
On Atmosia
Aerrow smiles as he looks at his team. They had finally done it. After years of practice and training, not only did he pass the Sky Knight trials and was knighted, but his team was officially registered as the Storm Hawks. Aerrow's musings are then interrupted by the sounds of engines. Looking up, he sees the Red Eagles escorting a few vehicles hauling some materials, but it was the emblems on them that caught his attention. It is the emblem of the Typhoon Ravens. In recent years, they had become an inspiration for him and his team. They dared to go further and do things that no one else had dared to even dream were possible.
If you looked into the skies, there is now a chance you would see one of the ships that they designed flying in the air. Stork himself had even expressed astonishment from reading the latest on the Nimbus and now the Thunder Strike cruisers. He had spent a lot of time working on the Condor to keep it up to specs as it was his ship, but that didn't stop Finn from talking about possibly trading the Condor in for a new Thunder Strike cruiser. The crew got used to the crazy yellings of the merb against the guy when it happened.
"Come on. Let's go see them," Junko says excitedly.
Aerrow shakes his head a bit. The Ravens were also very popular amongst the wallops. Not only were they one of the few companies that made items tough enough for them, but their exploits brought a lot of honor to the wallop people as well.
"We will someday Junko. But we already have plans today to meet the sky knights," Aerrow reminds, taking the pamphlet from Junko's hands.
The six walk after the convoy which leads to the front of the main building of the Ravens. Looking around, they see Nimbus and Thunder Strike cruisers in a holding pattern overhead. They seem to be waiting for clearance to land in Raven's facility. Finn looks up and whistles at the six cruisers as they hold. "Man, I wish the Ravens were a squadron. We would beat Cyclonia in no time," Finn comments.
Aerrow frowned. That was the thing. The Ravens are powerful, but they are a part of the exploration guild. A purely neutral faction in this war. If only they would see how bad Cyclonia is and just join them. Aerrow is sure that they could finally defeat the evil Cyclonians and end the war.
"The only time we get that is if the Cyclonians attack them…but that seems less likely because of the business deals," Piper explains, sighing. "I almost wish they only deal with the Free Atmos."
"Many here are glad they don't, young one," an older man says, using a cane to help him walk up after having heard that.
"Why not?" Finn asks unknowingly as they look at the old man. "Wouldn't just making business deals with Free Atmos be better?"
"Well, we are glad for it because, through them, both sides have access to the other's stuff. Take a look over there," the old man says, pointing out a shop with a very beautiful and well-made tapestry hanging from the wall for sale. "Tell me, what terra do you think that is from?" the old man asks the storm hawks.
"Uhh…?" Junko starts as they all look at the rug and the design. "Terra Rex?" he guesses, looking at the crazy design on it. "Looks fancy and old-fashioned."
"Terra Cyclonia," the old man says, shocking them. "Through the last few years, the Ravens have become an intermediary between the Free Atmos and Cyclonia. It's through them we know a concept that Dustin calls free trade. Five years ago, a shop like that would have been burnt to the ground for daring to sell anything from Cyclonia," the old man informs.
Aerrow frowns a little as he turns to the old man. "How come it hasn't? Wouldn't there at least be people hating this being here?"
"They tried to destroy the source it came from," the old man says, pointing to Raven's main building. "It was a sad day. One day we had to condemn our own for breaking the law," the old man says.
"Ah, you mean the twenty trials in recent history. The ones that nearly saw the exploration guild being completely alienated from the Free Atmos," Stork says, surprising the others.
"That is correct," the old man clarifies. "Since then, no one has attempted anything as selling through the Ravens is too profitable."
"Can't argue with money and supplies," Piper adds frowning.
"Not to mention many uses the Ravens for diplomatic immunity being a neutral organization for talks. Some even think that the newest Empress of Cyclonia will be more reasonable to peace talks as well," the old man says before starting to walk away.
"More reasonable?" Aerrow questions in a small whisper. "How the heck can Cyclonis or even the Cyclonians be peaceful?"
"Um…Aerrow, it looks like the Red Eagles will soon be leaving," Finn points out, getting his attention to the squad preparing their skimmers.
Aerrow turns his attention to them and quickly moves to talk to them with his crew. "Uh…hi, Carver. I am Aerrow, sky knight of the Storm Hawks. It's a real honor to meet you," Aerrow introduced.
Carver looks up from his skimmer and stands up fully to look over the other sky knight. "Good to meet you. I assume you and your team recently got registered?" he asks, looking behind the leader at the rest of the team.
"Yes, just finished the proceedings," Aerrow informs proudly.
"Aren't you all a bit young to join the squadrons?" Carver asks after a pause to look them over.
"Hey. We're old enough," Finn shoots back. "And we trained a lot and went through a lot of tests…a lot of tests," he grumbles to the side as he remembers the pain and sores from tests they all took.
"Uh-huh? You may be registered, but that outburst shows you are just kids still," Carver says getting on his skimmer and starting to drive, followed by his squadron.
"Hey," Finn calls out offended. He can't complain more as the team rides away out of earshot. "Kids. Geez," he huffs, crossing his arms.
"Wonder what bugged him," Piper speaks up. "Wouldn't he be happy to have more sky knights joining up and those who are excited about it too?" she questions, making everyone on the team look at each other at the thought of that.
"Hey Carver, what was that about?" one of the Red Eagles calls as they drive around on a patrol.
"They remind me of those young squadrons that went down south in the Dengar raids," Carver calls back.
The Red Eagle member looks behind him at the retreating figures of the new team as they leave the city. "That was four years ago, man. I doubt that kind of thing would happen again. They had enough time to do it if they wanted," he points out.
"They are still too young. You all know for a fact the standards were dropped greatly for numbers. Doubt that kid even went through a proper apprenticeship under a sky knight," Carver yells back.
"And we can still train them. Just because you're a sky knight doesn't mean you stop training and learning," another member adds, remembering something his scholar master taught him.
"Lay off guys. Carver just doesn't want to have to see those things done to the kids like that," another defends Carver, making them recall the pictures in the news at that time and the fresh graves they had also seen in them.
"Maybe when we get back and they are still there, we can give them a recommendation towards the Rex Academy to learn more," another member suggests.
"Anything to keep them away from the frontlines," Carver agrees, wondering if those kids will protest when they give them the paperwork. 'Poor kids, there may be more casualties in the war soon enough.'
Later, the Storm Hawks are mulling around talking to other squadrons on the terra. It turns out they weren't the only new squadron around at least by the council's measure. The two squadrons they are mingling with are actually a few years older and had been doing missions.
Though, by mission count, the Storm Hawks have around fifteen missions to their name, though none were official. But these two other teams have six or seven. However, if their accounts are correct, then Aerrow can guess their missions are more intense as they are near the borderlines between Free Atmos and Cyclonian. The Storm Hawks, if compared, are all around the Free Atmos with only a few near the border and fighting against small groups of Cyclonians.
"I'm telling you, that's not going to work. The Wind Runners tried going behind the lines to get a terra to rise and liberate themselves from Cyclonia. The population nearly stoned them to death," one of the squaddies says after Finn suggested they just had to get to a terra under occupation and they would rise against Cyclonians.
"Maybe…try…going to speak to the leaders? Make an offer?" Piper suggests, trying to help this whole downwards situation.
"They don't want to be 'freed'. They see sky knights and their squadrons as nothing more than invaders," the sky knight of the squadron informs.
"They had to use their wind crystals to blast out of there before their rides were permanently damaged," another mentions offhandedly.
"There are also rumors they ran over a kid on the way out. This is why many want them to come in for questioning, but they refuse to. That seems like an admission of guilt to me," the other sky knight says.
"Or just a way to drag them back legally?" Piper brings up, wondering why not just bring this whole issue to neutral ground.
"Last I heard, they limped back to Terra Gale before going off somewhere else after a patrol nearly crippled their ship," one of the squaddies working on a skimmer says.
"And…we have one squad down if something happens. The first step to our door of doom," Stork rants off whispering to the side.
"He is always like this?" one asks as one of the squaddies tells Stork of the engine in their Thunder Strike cruiser.
"Wait, you're saying it has that alignment? It's been Hobfly proofed," Stork says with a smirk.
"Oh boy…" Finn sighs, knowing that Stork will have a field day at this point.
"This can only mean a Merb helped design this," Stork says thoughtfully as most of his race were living under Cyclonian rule as their terra is on the Cyclonian side.
Aerrow raises an eyebrow as he wonders now. "How did you get your skimmers?" he asks, wondering if these rides are merbian made, then they would be going across the borderlines.
"We got them from the Crane Wings company as part of a deal with our Thunder Strike cruiser. They sometimes will do a package deal for squadrons," the sky knight of the squadron informs.
"Wow…must be a very good deal to get skimmers with it," Finn notes, eyeing a very sleek and weaponized skimmer.
"Unfortunately, they aren't designed by the Ravens. They have been sticking to Cruisers when it comes to that field," the sky knight adds.
"That explains a lot," Aerrow mentions, seeing that some prices and deals have been falling lately. "I kinda want to see what they make for skimmers anyway…even if they don't want to."
"I think it's mostly their leader. Very much focused on the Tailwind," the squaddie working on the skimmer informs, reminding Aerrow of the article from years ago that claimed Dustin wanted to make stratosphere flying to be a standard feature of his future cruisers.
"That guy keeps raising the bar," Piper adds. "Anytime he finishes a goal, he wants a new standard made. By the time he's done with that Tailwind of his, we would have a new set of guidelines and standard rules to follow on making airships and skimmers and nothing of old…not that I am complaining," she chuckles a little, smiling. "The new crystal information they are getting is pretty interesting."
"I have heard rumors about the inside of the Tailwind. Some claim the generator is several times bigger than a normal engine and more powerful than a Cyclonian destroyer," one squaddie says.
"And another that their armor is strong enough to handle the depths and high altitude at the same time. Like I only know Murk Raiders doing it, but they live more in not-so-good ships," the squaddie working on the skimmer says, patting his skimmer's armor.
"I also have heard the Tailwind has more firepower than four Cyclonian destroyers put together," another adds.
"And can do turns on a dime without shearing the ship in half," the last member mentions.
"Guys, I know the Tailwind is impressive and all, but it's just a ship. It can't do all that," Aerrow says, and as if in response the entire sky started to darken as the beacon went out.
"I think the whole Atmos just heard you," one jokes smiling before noticing the light disappear from the lighthouse tower.
"It's a sign. Quick, we need to do a sacrifice before the age of eternal darkness sets in," Stork says.
"No one is sacrificing anybody," Aerrow orders before frowning at the darkening city. "We better get back to the city, now," he orders, going to his skimmer and starting it up.
The Storm Hawks quickly made their way back to the settlement and towards the beacon tower. When they arrive, they find most of the Red Eagles frozen in ice.
"I don't think the storms did this…" Junko counts out, tapping one of their frozen shoulders to see if it's really what he is seeing.
"Quickly!" Aerrow calls running up the steps followed by his squadron. When they reach the top, they find the aurora crystal gone.
"Oh no…" Piper voices, staring at the empty area where the crystal was as storm clouds keep forming outside.
"Someone has taken the Aurora stone," Aerrow growls, gritting his teeth.
"But where the heck can have it gone?!" Junko exclaims before rushing around to find any trace of it.
Piper rushes over to where the crystal was and looks it over for any sign. "They can't have gone far. It's only been a minute or two since the light went out," she explains, trying to look as closely as possible.
"So…would that explain one of the Red Eagles' skimmers being jacked?" Finn asks, looking out the window before the others rush over and crowd around him. Outside, they can see someone getting on one of the skimmers and starting it up as something glows bright blue off of their belt.
Aerrow frowns as he quickly runs to the middle of the towers and takes out his blades. "I'll go and keep him busy. You guys try to find some backup somewhere," he orders before jumping for the window.
The rest cover themselves as their leader smashes through the glass and falls to the ground. His small backpack wings then extend and let him glide towards the perpetrator in more control and kick him off the skimmer just as he is about to ride off. Aerrow grunts as he hits the ground hard, rolling to a stop as the man groans and gets back up to his feet. "You are under arrest buddy…" Aerrow groans in pain, picking himself up off the ground. His wing backpack is smashed and crushed to bits from the rough landing.
"Great. A kid," Carver says, rising to his feet.
Aerrow looks up in shock and frowns in disbelief. "What? Carver? Wha…Why are you stealing the Aurora stone?" he questions, trying to understand the intentions of such a great sky knight.
"Stealing? Is it stealing by reclaiming something that was stolen already?" Carver questions, igniting his sword.
"How can it be stolen in the first place if Free Atmos always had it?" Aerrow questions back, holding up his blades and igniting them as well.
"You know nothing. The Free Atmos has not existed from the dawn of time. It was once a part of the Cyclonian empire. The Aurora Stone was stolen when the first sky knights slaughtered over a hundred cyclonians to take over this terra," Carver says with disgust.
"They gave us freedom from the Cyclonians. And you just turned your back on the entirety of Free Atmos. Why? There is no way they offered something better than what we have," Aerrow argues, trying to step around and make Carver move away from the skimmer as he holds his weapons at the ready.
"Nothing. They opened my eyes. The war is unwinnable for the Free Atmos and it is so corrupt. It sends kids like you to die for nothing but their own pride. I will accelerate the end of this war and save as many as I can," Carver says defiantly.
"And how to start that? By killing the capital first and everyone on it?" Aerrow challenges, pointing a blade to the thundercloud-filled sky. "I imagine it would make it hard to even take off from the terra too."
"You young fool. Do you think Atmosia is so fragile that a storm will kill everyone? You truly have no idea what the real world is like. You're just a stupid kid. Not even ready to be a squaddie, let alone a sky knight," Carver scolds, and Aerrow completely loses his cool and attacks Carver initiating a duel between them.
"Aerrow! We told the council and Piper is working on getting to the radio whoa!" Finn calls as he stops and sees Carver fighting against Aerrow. "Carver?! He stole the stone?!" he calls in shock as he sees the Aurora Stone hanging off of his belt.
Carver effortlessly parried strike after strike from Aerrow before he kicked Aerrow in the knee, hurting him and unbalancing him enough for Carver to disarm one of Aerrow's swords. "Hang on buddy," he says quietly, taking his crossbow off of his back and loading a crystal bolt into it. "Almost there," he grunts, struggling to get the rope to snap into place and steadying his aim. "Come on Finn. You can do it…" he says to himself as he aims at the nearly triumphant sky knight standing over his squad leader.
"It's over," Carver says, starting to move towards his ride as he sees more start to arrive and he has to leave. Then he was shocked from behind as Finn shot him in the back making him fall to his knees. Aerrow, seizing on this, grabs the aurora stone from Carver's bag, but as the squadrons arrived many looked disapprovingly.
"Alright, we did. Score one for Atmos, am I right?" Finn asks cockily.
"Sir, the spy has not made contact. We are officially past the waiting period. Should we proceed to contingency plan B?" a talon operator relays the communication to Dark Ace.
Dark Ace frowns, not seeing any sign of Carver coming over the horizon. "Do it."
"All ships, green light. All pilots to your skimmers. Gunners, prime all cannons," the operator starts instructing over the comms.
"Dark Ace, as the Attache, I am required to review you on the latest reports of the current strength of the Atmosian defenses the spy sent us a few hours ago before we get into combat," an officer informs.
Dark Ace sighs, turning to the officer. "What is it?" he asks, walking towards his skimmer.
"The last report informed us there are two Thunder Strike cruisers with an estimated average of ten skimmers each. Along with this, the Condor was spotted and a new squadron was formed around it. They took the name Storm Hawks. Numbers are five young adults or younger and one sky monkey," the Attache informs, getting mild interest from Dark Ace he heard about the Condor but lost interest completely when hearing the ages.
"In total, they have three cruisers to our two cruisers and our destroyer and around an estimated thirty-one skimmers if the Red Eagles are still in play compared to our one hundred and forty," Dark Ace concludes.
"That is correct if the report is up to date, but we should take into account possible reinforcements. I would advise we engage with you, Commander Snipe, and Commander Ravess's squadrons and four more while holding the rest in reserve to deal with surprises or reinforce where necessary," the Attache informs.
'Seems like Cyclonis's reformations in our education for cadets has merits after all,' Dark Ace thinks looking at the young female talon officer who was showing competence despite being fresh out of the academy. "Very well. We will go with that," Dark Ace informs as the destroyer they are on pushes engines to full power, making straight for terra Atmosia with its two escorts.