7115/FATE: The Castle Run In Under 12 Malms

FATE: The Castle Run In Under 12 Malms
Date of Scene:	03 March 2020
Location:
Synopsis:
Cast of Characters:	N'raha Tia, 7201, 6860, Arcadia, Staren

---

N'raha Tia has posed:
    IT has been several tense weeks for Savlens and Aeta cen Titeus. The good news is they were no longer being blackmailed and held semi-captive by a rude Lalafell and his trading company. On the other hand, their baby, a rather fancy Ceruleum fueled airship, was stuck doing slow laps over parts of uninhabited Eorzea to try and keep out of the sight of the Alliance and the Syndicate and...
    And on that note, there's been a lot fewer patrols looking for missing airships and a lot more patrols watching for All Of The Dragons. Thanks, Lezard?

    But a message has gone out to the Concord, and specifically 'Captain' Arkae. It's got to be now or never, the ship is running low on Ceruleum and they've got to either land it to refuel or get it out of Eorzea.

    Might be time to use all that nonsense about Bahamut and whatever to get sneaky?

Arkae Zellar (7201) has posed:
Captain Arkae has been practicing - or at least learning the controls and grilling the engineers for tips. She's pretty sure she's got this.

Pretty sure.

"We need more of this ceruleum stuff anyway to keep using the airship long term... let's find a mine or pump or whatever, load up as quietly as we can, and then just power out on a full tank," is her call.

"And so... um..." She glances at the map, thinking.

Katt (6860) has posed:
Katt was involved with helping ...acquire the airshop (let's go with acquire) and so she promised to help get it off Eorzea too. She is easy to convince to help if she thinks she might get to fight someone or do something else that's fun, and joy-riding in an airship counts.

Also she has climbed to every high part on the airship in sequence so she can take a better look around. Just in case someone does come after them.

Right now she's watching out from over Arkae, balanced on a railing like it was no big thing. "Aye aye, cap'n," she says, with a half-joking tone to her voice. "Does that mean we're gonna run the gauntlet?"

Pause. "IS there a gauntlet?"

Arcadia has posed:
Arcadia for one actually got a bit giddy when the message came in that things were about to go to hell in a handbasket with a future forecast of Dragons, Dragons and More Dragons. "Ooooh, this is perfect! For all my poking around in stuff lost and ancient, I've never actually seen a World Ending Event with my own eyes!"

The sphinx pauses, likely due to getting a few odd looks from her excitement. ".. What? Okay, it sucks for this world, but not gonna lie your world is kind of in a deep hole of crap already. Now its just with more Dragon Crap."

She tilts her head a little to the side. "Do we have time to pitstop for more fuel? Or should we make a run for the figurative border and come back to 'aquire' some power juice later?" She doesn't actually do air quotes but the emphasis is there in her voice.

N'raha Tia has posed:
    It's Aeta who answers that one, wiping her hands on her long apron anxiously as Savlens tends to the engine down below. "So we can handle... both of those options at the same time. But it will take some... creative measures." She motions at the map, and points at a section of Northern Thanalan. "There's two points here. There's... Here." She points at the Ceruleum Processing Plant. "This is where the Savages are busy using our technology to make their own Ceruleum."

    Her finger slides north, to a point marked 'Castrum Meridianum'. "And there is still a functional warpgate that can accomidate... this ship in here. I think. It will be interesting to see if it still functions after the carnage that Gaius wrought."

Staren has posed:
    Staren is here in his flight armor; the struts and hyperglass thruster nozzles, vaguely suggestive of wings, lack the polished appearance of a finished product, clashing with the curved white plates of the armor itself. "We might be able to make a ceruleum substitute if we learn about how it works."

    He leans over the map. "Well if THEY can do it, the Concord should be able to set up our own plant off-world, right? Or perhaps we can arrange for one of Eggman's experiments to give us a better chance at taking that one..."

Arkae Zellar (7201) has posed:
"I'm feeling like taking a risk," says Arkae.

She points at the Castrum Meridianum mark. "We fuel up, take the warpgate. If there's resistance, we'll just have to fight it off while the ship refuels."

She glances over at Staren. "I mean... I'm literally an alchemist. There's a decent chance I can figure it out for myself, eventually."

She doesn't actually know if there's a decent chance of that.

Arkae moves over to the controls, and puts the ship into motion. "Aeta, you and Savlens are in charge of keeping the ship up and getting it refuled. Staren, you assist if you're needed there, otherwise you're with me, Arcadia, and Katt on keeping everyone else away from my ship."

"Gear up and get ready. I've got a pile of potions over on the counter there, grab some if you need them."

There is indeed a literal haphazard pile of glass vials with various glowing liquids.

Katt (6860) has posed:
"Well, we only need to borrow some to get through the gate, right? Once we're out you can worry about making some more or whatever." Katt drops into a crouch on the railing so she can talk to the others more easily without being lifted up over them, her feet gripping onto it.

Katt pulls out a canteen and takes a swig from it (it's just water). "I like this plan," she decides, hopping off the railing and wandering over to the pile of bottles. She picks out a couple of the more interestingly colored ones to save for later.

Arcadia has posed:
Aeta points out they can hit one need on the way to the other, and Arcadia ohs softly. "Okay, that works. Two birds with on--Oh sorry Arkae, that's probably racist. ANYWAYS!"

She pats Arkae on the shoulder to quickly scoot past the little faux paus. "Don't worry, we didn't help you get this far with lifting a ship off some greedy assholes to let it, uh," she taps her chin with a finger. "Would it be sink or crash for a flying boat? Probably doesn't matter. It's adventure time!" She scampers over to snatch a few bottles and drop them in her inventory subdimension, and then hurries off for the main deck.

Arkae Zellar (7201) has posed:
"There's more than one way to skin a cat."

Arkae gives Arcadia a thumbs-up. "There! We're even, so don't worry about it.

Katt (6860) has posed:
"Hey, what did I ever do to you?" Katt asks, distantly, while holding up a green-filled vial to the light to judge its tint.

Arkae Zellar (7201) has posed:
"... Darnit, okay, quick, make some tasteless bird joke, Katt."

"And that'll make us even... I think?"

Arkae looks over at Katt, then Arcadia, then does some self examination. One cat, one bird, one half-cat-half-bird, and one Staren.

"Should I have made a joke that was half about birds and half about cats and involved a robot monkey too instead? This is getting complicated."

Staren has posed:
    "Aren't you part bird too?" Staren points briefly at Arcadia's wings.

    "I'm not a monkey!" He takes his helmet off to show the cat ears.

N'raha Tia has posed:
    There's a grunt from the newly installed loudspeakers in the wheelhouse. Savlen's voice from the engine room. It was nice to have new toys. "Aye aye. I can get you to the Plant but we'll need fuel to take off again."
    Aeta smiles. It was nice having something they could actively do, rather than just rig up the new kit that Arkae and Arcadia had brought to spiffy up the ship.

    The main airscrews rev up, the windsails catching what breeze they can to help assist, and then the ship is off on it's (last?) voyage in Eorzea.

    The trip takes the better part of a half hour, with some interesting rumbles and rattles coming from the engine and belowdecks. Savlens is leaning out the mix, it seems and the enginee isn't enjoying it. He really was pushing this. But eventually, the brown and grey sands of the Sagoli give way to the blue and white crags of Northern Thanalan... and the smoke stacks of the bustling Ceruleum Plant. There's a half dozen or so other airships just milling around out here. Nothing overtly military, but then again, this vessel wasn't overtly military either.

    Aeta is the first out on the edge of the decks as the ship pullllls in slowly to a slip, and 'anchors' by casting lines out to hold it in place. "That's all we've got," says Savlens over the speakers. "We're here on just the lift crystals now, only the natural bouyancy. You want to move, you get us fuel."

    There are steveadors starting to head for the ship, and Aeta glances back at the rest of the 'crew'. "They're expecting cargo, what now?"

Staren has posed:
    Staren blinks at Aeta. "Say you lost the cargo to sky pirates? If there are sirships those are a thing, right? Or is there actually some cargo here?"

Arcadia has posed:
Arcadia pauses, turns back to the others. "Was any of the stuff the previous owners were loading left? It might distract them for a bit?"

N'raha Tia has posed:
    Savlens helps with that one. "We've still got three crates of copper ore left, if that helps? It's not much and probably not what they were expecting."

Katt (6860) has posed:
"I'll save it for when you least expect it," Katt promises Arkae, with a slightly toothy grin. She glances over at Staren - huh, she hadn't seen his ears before. Her own ears (which are not quite feline, despite her name, though they certainly aren't human) flick absently, or at least the left one does.

But: to the Ceruleum Plant!

Arkae has a plan. Katt isn't terribly fond of it, really, but it does have at least a chance of working, and so she accepts it - it's not a horrible plan as these things go. Which means...

"Do you have a spare box?" Katt asks Savlens. "I'm gonna get in it. They can load *me*. Won't they be surprised!"

Arkae Zellar (7201) has posed:
"We have some cargo that we grabbed along with the ship. Let's pick out two or three of the bigger boxes and hide in it- along with the other cargo we don't want."

"I mean, I'd prefer to hang onto all of it, but the ship here is the real prize, so it's fine."

Arkae goes to quickly do just that, isolating the three crates and quickly emptying them. "Arcadia, Katt, pick one each and get in. Staren, keep acting like you belong."

She pauses. "Maybe cover your forehead and act like you've got one of those little jewel things there, too."

Arcadia has posed:
Arcadia was liking this idea, up until Arake points her to a box as well. Then she doesn't like it so much, ears laying back partially. "But they're so small!" Even though they're kind of not. It's not like she's clastrophobic or something.

It's the idea of -sitting still- that bugs her... But oh well. It's to help friends, mission, and what not.

Despite the grumping Arcadia climbs in, collapsing her wings to do so. At least she's more than enough flexible, like a real cat, to curl up to fit. "If I end up Shrodingering in here, I'm coming back to haunt everyone one of you."

Katt (6860) has posed:
Katt, on the other hand, is pretty small, and can get in boxes easily enough. She is mostly hampered by trying to find a way to get her staff in where it does not jab her.

"I wish I'd saved my drink," she says, as she pulls the box closed so they can't see her.

Staren has posed:
    There's some quick discussion about how to keep the Eorzeans busy. Some people will go ahead in boxes -- Staren, by chance, actually looks like a native. "Alright... I guess I could pretend I'm an Eorzean adventurer that looted this sweet armor on another world." He slips the helmet into his bag. "What's an appropriate Miqote name?"

    Once that's sorted out he walks to wherever the stevedores are going to board; explaining his cover story and that they lost much of their cargo to pirates.

N'raha Tia has posed:
    People are being loaded into boxes, there's tenders starting to clamber up and onto the ship, and it's...

    TOPSIDE A Miqo'te lady who's first on the scene. She's not wearing any of the colors of the obvious Alliance Grand Companies, but she's got on... Blue and blacks. Hmmm. "Ahoy... Incidental Profit! This is a rather interesting design." The blue skinned cat lady is carrying a clipboard, and has a smart looking gun at her hip. She licks the tip of her pencil, and glances to Aeta and... S'taren. "Oh! Hello!" There's a little trill at the end of that 'hello!' and the girl licks her lips a bit, her tail poofing. "I'm Quhri!"

    Alert: Someone is flirting with you, Staren.

    BELOWDECKS The main cargo doors open, and a small horde of Roegadyns star to shuffle onto the ship and... year, the cargo hold is in a sorry shape. Not a lot of profits here today boys. Oh well, work's work. They start hauling out the crates and down into the facility. Two of the crates are surprisingly light, but... well. They're not having to do much. This is fine.

Arkae Zellar (7201) has posed:
There's not really much for Arkae and Team Cats in Boxes to do yet, if everyone else is sticking to the plan.

Sit still, wait for the boxes to get into the facility...

Katt (6860) has posed:
Katt is a perfectly healthy ninety-two pounds, thank you! Which, admittedly, is a lot lighter than the copper ore would have been.

Katt braces herself in the box to avoid rattling around in it, making sure her staff is not making an obvious clatter or banging. Travel by Roegadyn is not the most comfortable way she's ever gotten around, but she can manage. Still, Arkae's going to owe her for this, at least a little...

Arcadia has posed:
Arcadia has to bite her lip to not make any awkward noises as her box is jostled around while being carried off the ship. It's a good thing she's purposely lightweight for exceptional flight capability so there's not a ton of magitek weighing down her box. It probably just feels like it's full of a bunch of tools or machina parts or something else not nearly as interesting as actual treasure.

Staren has posed:
    "Thanks! Well, I can't take credit for the design, it's not like I built it." Staren turns around with his hands on his waist as he tries to look like a captain surveying his ship. After a few seconds he turns back to Quhri, and smiles. "Nice to meet you!" He extends a hand to shake. "How are things going here at the plant? Sky pirates, dragons, and artificial primals... these are dangerous times. ...Do you need to hire any additional protection? If it pays better than trade, maybe my crew and I can help out when we get back from this next shipping contract."

N'raha Tia has posed:
    Aeta chuffs a bit, and manages at least a passing Thanalan accent. "My husband and I are the designers. We work out of Ul'dah." She chuffs up a bit, and fiddles with her goggles, as if to make the point. Who else but engineers wears goggles at night?

    Quhri smiiiiiles at S'taren, just, frankly ignoring Aeta, and then blinks a bit. "Your crew is looking a little light up here, are they all belowdecks? It's not... we don't have very FANCY amenities out here, but..." Oh Twelves.

    TEAM BOX CREW will find themselves moving down some ramps, and hear other people hiking back up the ramps, carrying... well. A voice. "Of course it's some strange bloody ship. I thought they made all of them with fueling ports on the OUTSIDE these days." "Nah, it's some tripped up hackjob number. Who knows, popping up all over now. Just make em proper at the Ironworks, I say..."

    And then one by one, the boxes are set down in... somewhere. Sounds like you're still outside, but the voices are going quieter. Also Katt's box is on top of Arkae's. Hmmm. Issues.

Arcadia has posed:
Oh, the box stopped moving. But that doesn't mean they're exactly alone yet.

Arcadia squirms a little, and failing to find a way to comfortable move an arm, resorts to using her tail to activate her magitek visor. She really needs to get a less manual way of activating it, but the dramatic touch and swipe as the visor materializes is too showy to pass up. Not that anyone can see it right now.

More to the point, once it's activate she can use to infrared vision to see if there's any other body heat signatures near the boxes.

Staren has posed:
    "Some of them." Staren's ears splay and his tail droops and he looks down at the deck for a moment. "We lost some to the pirate attacks..." Then he straightens up. "Hazards of the job, unfortunately. I was planning to try hiring some mercenaries from offworld on this next trip."

    Staren tilts his head innocently, tail curling into a question mark. "What's not what?"

Arkae Zellar (7201) has posed:
Arkae finds herself wishing she'd brought a book.

She grips the hilt of her sword. Katt's box being on top of hers is going to make getting out a bit trickier, but she thinks she can manage, when it comes time...

Katt (6860) has posed:
As soon as Katt hears the voices leaving, and isn't being moved around any more, she gets to work.

'Work' in this case is using her staff as a crowbar to pop the box open, so she can lever the lid off (she doesn't realize she's on top of Arkae) and pop her head out. Followed shortly by the rest of her, if she doesn't see anyone around. Or possibly even if she does.

Katt doesn't exactly wait well. Patience is for other people.

N'raha Tia has posed:
    TEAM BOXES is in a holding stockpile for gear. As Katt pops herself out of her own crate, she's going to... very much surprise a lanky elezen man who's passing by with his own clipboard and a stamp and... He yelps with surprise, and screams. "My word! Stowaways! Guards! Guards!" So much for free travel in Eorzean stolen ships you stole yourself! Gosh.
    Arcadia's going to get a REALLY good view, through her visor, of more people in those blue and black uniforms angling over towards the stockpile, a hyur fellow unhooking a large gun from his hip while the miqo'te lady next to him is pulling a spear from her back to point at Katt. "STOP! RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE!"
    

N'raha Tia has posed:
    TEAM FLIRT: Quhri smiles and sighs. "Oh, nothing, just... ah don't mind me, it's just been a while since a miqo'fella showed up at the port, so.. AH! Right." She shuffles over and holds out her clipboard. "Right, I just need you to sign here and here an-"
    Belowdecks, there's a yelp and a bang and a clatter of tanks of something. "OY! I know this ship! Innit this the one that the Syndicate was lookin' for?" "Oy! It's the Profit, yeah." Running feet, and then the scruffy hyur is glaring up at the deck from the docks. "MISS KEFNU! THIS 'ERE'S THE STOLEN SHIP!"

    Poor Quhri is blasted out of her flirting to glare at S'taren and Aeta... "Oy what's this then? Who are you?"
    One of the answers is a yelp and a gunblade firing down in the hold of the Profit, and the corpse of an unfortunate porter being kicked out of the hold. The other one runs screaming, as Savlens snarls. "No Savage will surry my good name saying I stole my OWN SHIP."

    Damn.

Arcadia has posed:
Whoops, Katt went and jumped the gun (box) while Arcadia was doublechecking the surroundings. Which is kind of funny. Arcadia isn't exactly patient herself, but she is experienced in dungeoneering adventurer stuff to know sometimes you need to take a second look.

But it's kind of a moot point now.

So instead of bothering being careful with getting out of her body she just hits the lid and expands her wings, smashing the crate open around herself. "These aren't bags but the cats are out of them! So you can just blow off!" Elemental energy swirls around her arms briefly as the sphinx thrusts one forward and a powerful blast of wind rips free, aimed at hurtling the guards away from Katt and preferably into something heavy. "Time for stealth is over, now the real fun begins~"

She enjoys this sort of thing maybe a little too much.

Arkae Zellar (7201) has posed:
"-Ah-"

Arkae tries to get out of her box, and bangs on the side if she can't. "Hey!"

She grips the Red Bird Relic in her offhand and considers her options if she can't get out. Setting everything on fire would work, but probably would catch her on fire as well...

Katt (6860) has posed:
Katt *was* taking a look! She can't see through boxes and didn't actually know Arcadia could, either. Oops.

Katt ducks back down in the box.

This is only so that she can spring all the way out in a single leap, launching the lid in the general direction of the armed soldiers; her aim with the lid of a cargo crate is middling, but she comes down with her staff in hand, spinning it before her in a menacing display.

"C'mon!" she says, making a 'come here' gesture with one hand, her staff whirring to a rest position. "You want to fight, let's fight!"

Well, they did say they wanted a distraction. Only once she's threatened the group does she think: hey, where's Arkae? Well, maybe if Katt makes enough noise Arkae will find her.

Arkae Zellar (7201) has posed:
NEVERMIND ARKAE SHOVES HER WAY OUT OF THERE

"Yeah! Let's fight!" she yells as she jumps out of the box, drawing her sword.

N'raha Tia has posed:
    TEAM CAT BOXES: Arcadia is going to surprise the hell out of those two poor guards, winds knocking the lancer clean over to her backside, but the Hyur fellow stands tall, and he raises his gun, firing off a volley of shots into the growing crowd of Thieves, only to be LID'D to the ground by Katt. Moore guards are starting to move in, a mix of archers and sword and shield types. Looks like only the fancy people here get Actual Guns. Don't want to cook off all this fuel.

    Arkae's keen BIRD SENSES will hear the engines of another one of the airships starting to spin up. People are making their move, but rather to intercept or flee isn't sure at this point.

Staren has posed:
    Staren finally realizes what Quhri was asking. "Oh. Sorry. I, uh..." He takes the pen and is about to start writing when the screaming starts. He drops the clipboard and tries to just grab Quhri with the armor's strength. "This ship belongs to the Concord now. Let us fuel up and go and..." he sighs. "Look, I'm here supporting my allies. All I know is your 'alliance' is making beastmen summon Primals and released Emperor Xande, putting the world in danger. I'll do my best to see that noone dies today whether you fight or not, but I can't say the same for my allies. Look, can't you just claim insurance on the lost fuel or something?"

Arkae Zellar (7201) has posed:
Arkae glances over at something. The engines on another ship are starting up...

"You guys got this!" she yells, and then runs in the direction of the airship that's starting up, chugging whatever mobility potions she needs to get there faster (water walk, spider climb, jump) and then try to get on board *that!*

N'raha Tia has posed:
    The grabbing part is going to be tough, because as Staren goes for that, Quhri suddeny disappears into a cloud of smoke as stuff on her belt explodes and obscures his vision enough for her to sneak out of that grab. There's one, then two shots that spang off Staren's armor. "You're doin' a poor job of that, then! Who's that killin' my men in the hold?" The miqo'te is readying herself for battle, a pair of magitek drones deploying from a large container at her hip, both whirring to life and deploying small guns that take aim on Staren.

    Aeta is already moving from Staren's side, scrambling for one of the ladders down into the hold of the ship. She's got to help her husband.

Arcadia has posed:
There's a few shots, sparking as they ding into Arcadia's armor and defensive wards, but she's been shot by much worse things before. Katt clobbers the big dude before he can do worse.

But there's other guards coming. "Now for the real fun!" And her getting to show off for her allies. It's a good day for Arcadia.

"Hey, Katt." The runic stones imbedded in her forearm armor flicker as they shift to a bright sparkling blue-green color. "How about we light up these poor sods lives a little?"

The sphinx thrusts out her arms, lightning leaping from as she releases the crackling energy. "Chain Lightning!" It doesn't really matter who or what it hits first, as the electricity lives up the name and starts forking off, trying to jump from one victim to the next.

It's not hard to see Arcadia has experience in dealing with enemies swarming.

Staren has posed:
    Staren sighs. His forcefield is up and he puts his helmet back on. "I'm not the one leading this operation. I'll do what I can for them. Look, can we trade something else for the fuel? Information, medical supplies, guns?" He fires his beam cannons at the drones as he backs further onto the ship, but he doesn't attack anyone yet.

Katt (6860) has posed:
Oh, *there's* Arkae.

Katt gives her a grin as she runs past, making way for her and not incidentally trying not to get shot. She's pretty quick, but the gunfire stops her from attacking immediately, dancing away from it.

Seeing an opening, Katt winds up and swings her staff like a baseball bat, with both hands. She isn't aiming for the crate but instead assorted debris, sending it flying toward the gunner in a return fire!

Once she's wound up and smacked it, she darts in after it. "You got it!" she calls to Arcadia, grinning again. She tries to stay away from some of the ones that are being lightninged so it doesn't chain to her, using lunging strikes of her staff to fight at maximum reach.

N'raha Tia has posed:
    TEAM EVERYONE:
    And I mean EVERYONE because as a whole, as that chain lighting arcs out from Arcadia's hands, it zaps several of the the approaching guards, arcs off a pipe, and then touches off a stack of barrels filled with Ceruleum. They... explode. In a rather loud, noisy and extremely toxic manner. As in, this shit's toxic and explosive.
    People go scrambling for cover, expecting... other, secondary explosions, that do not come.

    Arkae will see the crew on the large cutter she's climbing abord trying to get going faster and faster. This here crew is in a woody sort of themed ship, and it's flying the colors of the Twin Adders. The elfy people's alliance, in the woods. Makes sense. Miqo'te ladies and elezen of both genders are scrambling, and it's only the few marines on deck that take notice of Arkae's appearance, archers starting to take aim. Several people wielding magical staffs are... staying back.

    No one wants this place to cook off.

N'raha Tia has posed:
    The explosions down on the ground get Quhri to just glare at Staren. Down below, it's clear that something is happening, because the engine starts to rev up again, the Profit's main rotors starting to move at an idle pace.
    "You can get the hells of this swivin' ship, it ain't yours!" She glares at her drones being shot down, and it's clear that little pack on her hip is gearing up more of them at this point. It's a paired set, apparently. Ammo packs and gun and catgirl.
    Quhri considers things, and then hip fires twice more at Staren, and steadies herself, a third shot coming at him not at gunpowder speed but gauss rifle speed, blistering against his shields and penetrating to strike armor. "We ain't deal with actual pirates and I dislike dealin' with the Maelstrom so just shove off, and leave! and STOP BLOWING UP THE DEPOT."

    There's more motion belowdecks, and someone's running up the stairs back to the deck.

Arcadia has posed:
Zap go the guards... And BOOM go the barrels!

"That's why I didn't use fire!" Arcadia yelps, briefly about as surprised as everybody else. But it quickly passes, because there's not enough time to be surprised for long at times like this. "I think we've wore out our already thin welcome here. But we shouldn't leave empty handed either."

The fuel containers are a little too big for her to carry off, she's super-fast not super-strong. The sphinx instead looks for something else that might be useful. Like tools or stuff the two engineers could use to keep those engines running properly, that would be easy enough to grab on the way out.

Arkae Zellar (7201) has posed:
Arkae grins at the combatants assembled on deck. Big beaky grin.

"Hi! You've been selected to take part in distraction duty!" she calls, and attempts to just simply run past them, dodging or tanking their attacks, to get to whatever controls the airship has...

... and then use her sword to simply cut and stab at whatever control systems are there, steering wheel, control panel, whatever!

N'raha Tia has posed:
    ARCADIA: You are in the region for offloading. There is a region of the stockpile where the fueltanks are, that seems to be heading onto ships that are leaving this depot. Several crates look... maybe promising?
    Your systems are chunking on reading colloquial Eorzean, but maybe... 'resupply' or 'rations' or something?

Katt (6860) has posed:
An explosion!

Katt thinks that she's being attacked at first and launches herself straight up... about twenty feet straight up. She hangs onto one of the overhanging struts, dangling from one hand and one foot.

...but then she realizes that Arcadia did it, and most of the guards are in hiding from further explosions. Katt has no idea what is likely to explode and thus assumes nothing is; she swings herself on her odd grip. "You grab something then! I don't want to leave the ship behind!"

Katt launches herself in an enormous leap from the strut. She twists in midair and hits the ground running, plowing through any guards that try to block her exit with sweeping staff strikes. It is likely to clear the way for Arcadia, too, which is Katt's secondary objective.

N'raha Tia has posed:
    ARKAE: Several archers try to pepper the Captain Bird with arrows, but it's heard to do that in such close quarters, and people instead start coming with knives and truncheons and...

    Really, little these people are going to do in their OWN SHIP is going to stop Arkae while she's hopped up on POTIONS and moving through a crowd of their own people. She's got advantage on her side for as long as her alchemy is going to work.

    And the wheelhouse is probably the right call. Someone in an EXTREMELY fancy hat is already taking cover as Arkae busts in and... just sort of breaks the wheel. Huh. Better get moving.

Staren has posed:
    Staren grunts and staggers back at the gauss shot, and uses the matter manipulator to deploy some concrete barriers as cover. "Leaving is what we're doing! We're just taking this ship with us!" He fires back stun bolts from some kind of energy pistol. "Look. What's fighting us here accomplish in the grand scheme of things? You think there's some poor downtrodden folks who will starve without the family airship? Or is it just about upholding the law at all costs, the laws of the same society driving the beast tribes to summon primals? Where's that concern and heroism when it comes for THEM, huh? Where's that concern and heroism when Eorzian heroes freed emperor Xande? You wanna be a hero, there are plenty better places to do it!"

Arkae Zellar (7201) has posed:
Wheel broken!

"Good luck!" yells Arkae unrepentantly as she runs off the side of the ship-

- and down the side towards the bottom, casually breaking physics as she runs straight down as if the side of the ship was the ground.

Arcadia has posed:
Close enough! It looks like it could be relatively useful and that's all Arcadia really cares to worry about at a time like this.

She grabs onto two crates, digging in with her claws for extra grip. Then engages her various flight magi-systems, intending to use the additional lift in substitute for strength. Mana surges through the hyperglass conduits within, producing considerable thrust at a rediculous rate. Plumes of energy erupt from the protrusions on the back of her armor, followed by the smaller thrusters built into her wing pylons and battle skirt for additional life and control.

In the end it should send the sphinx rocketing out of the depot and towards their airship, with a couple of whatever these crates are in tow.

N'raha Tia has posed:
    STAREN: The airscrews are turning faster now, and Savlen's voice calls out. "Both tanks are in, get moving."

    Quhri was not expecting bloody entrenchments to appear on the deck, nor was she expecting the stun bolts. She staggers to the deck and yells. "I have n-no idea wh-what you're talk-talking about!"
    And at Staren's side, Aeta comes rushing back up on deck and snarls. "Why are you talking to her? Bloody useless." She's grabbed a gunblade from somewhere, and sprints past Staren and his concrete to stab the disabled Quhri right through the chest. The Miqo'te lady gasps and tries to lift up her own pistol to shoot the other engineer, but Aeta pulls the trigger on her weapon, and ends that discussion.
    The Garlean spits on the catgirl, and pulls out her sword, moving to kick the quartermaster over the side of the ship.

Staren has posed:
    STAB! "Hey, wait!" Staren reaches out a hand, but Aeta's already finishing Quhri off. Staren can see the next part coming, and is already flying over the edge of the ship to dive down and catch her so she doesn't sustain even more injury from falling. If she's not already dead, he pours a potion of healing on the wound and a potion of feather fall down her mouth and drops her -- if she is, he flies back to the ship with the corpse.

    "It's not their fault we decided to steal from them today. And these aren't the Eorzians we need to stop." He explains to Aeta. "I'm reviving them and sending them home after this. Their lives are not worth so little."

    When Aeta and Savlens grump about this, he points out: "I'd have done the same for you."

Katt (6860) has posed:
Katt picks up the pace once she's pretty sure Arcadia is on her way too. Arcadia is faster than Katt is, but Katt is faster than most people when she wants to be, and right now she's acrobatically bounding over obstacles, around people, and in one case off a wall to corner faster than she would have at ground level.

Destination: her ship! Well, Arkae's ship. Close enough.

N'raha Tia has posed:
    EVERYONE:
    The moment one of you madmen touched off the Ceruleum, people being hopped up about stopping Pirates have suddenly and quickly stopped being hopped up on stopping Pirates. Resistance is now MIGHTY LOW and you honestly could probably steal more if Aeta and Savlens weren't already making the ship ready for departure. Ms. cen Titius is more than a little mad that they're saving the lives of Savages, but Staren is insisting.

    If there's no other objections, the Incidental Profit pulls away from the Depot, and floats off towards Castrum Meridianum...

    And this is likely the first time most people here have seen this. The place is half dead, lights still flickering on and off in parts, where it appears that teams are busy working inside the facility. Alliance teams, probably, but who knows, there's probably some adventurers diving into the ruins.

    But one great section of the facility is carved out and ruined, and it looks like something like a magical nuclear device was touched off, a still glowing crater half a mile wide scarring the earth.

    Savlens barks over the comms. "I'm not seeing anyone chasing us on this fancy detector you got us, Miss Arkae. Are we clear?"

Arkae Zellar (7201) has posed:
"I think we're clear!"

As soon as she's aboard Arkae takes the helm, since she practiced for this, damnit. "Where's the warpgate?" she calls through the bridge PA. "Just need to get through that, get this to Concord territory, and we're untouchable!"

Arcadia has posed:
The airship is already in the process of taking off, but that's okay since Arcadia is the one that can fly anyways. She clomps the crates down on the deck, and wiggles her digits a few times so they don't lock up in that claw-clutching grip she was using.

"I have no idea what's in these but they were in the depot and they looked useful." But now they've got the rest of the ship to sort it out, right?

Katt (6860) has posed:
Katt has been to Eorzea before, but not much recently (helping Arkae excepted) and never to Castrum Meridianum. She leans what looks dangerously far off the side of the airship and shades her eyes to get a better look, tail lashing.

"Wow! I've never seen anything quite like this before." Katt finally pulls herself back onto the airship, landing lightly - but she still keeps trying to peek over. "It looks like half of it is going to fall down. What exploded over there?" She points toward the crater.

She also has sharp eyes: "Oh, and there are totally people down there. But I don't see, like... someone looking for us."

Arcadia has posed:
After depositing the crates Arcadia trots back over to the edge of the deck to see what everyone else is looking at. Lets out a long whistle as she adjusts the settings on her visor.

"I'm detecting mainly aether residue in the structures. Without getting a closer look I can only hazard a guess it was a -very big- magical explosion. Like. If someone shoved a nuclear bomb full of mana instead of uranium." Really that she can scan that much from up here in itself says how big of a thing went boom down there.

N'raha Tia has posed:
    It takes a bit, but as the Profit clears around the side of the Castrum, the crew will spot... the old Airship Mooring docks. Oh good! There's the warp gate!

    Oh no. There's two manacutters, intercept craft flying the colors of the Maelstrom, that are spinning up their engines, a moment before the intercom crackles. "TWO SIGNALS CLOSE, MA'AM!"

    The patrol craft deploy aerosails and flare to life, sweeping a long curve as magical cannons start to pepper the side of the hull of the Profit with raw aetheric energy.

Arkae Zellar (7201) has posed:
Arkae curses. "Pig knuckles!" That seems like a good curse.

"Arcadia, impress me!" she calls over the PA. She figures Arcadia has a better idea of how to handle aerial combat than she can. DELEGATION!

"Katt, um, fight back if you can, if not then shout when you see attacks coming! Everyone else, help keep this thing together and going!"

She focuses on flying, continuing on towards the warp gate...

Staren has posed:
    Staren's applied stabilizing nanobots to the corpses before coming back to the deck. He takes in the surroundings curiously but then... enemy ships? All the way out here? It DOES make sense someone would be watching the gate, but...

    Well, the most immediate thing to do is try to neutralize their offenses -- Staren starts firing missiles at the enemies' cannons from the deck. He feels a bit more justified fighting them since they're apparently LOOKING for a fight, but it's still most expedient to target the weapons anyway rather than try to blow up the whole enemy ships.

Katt (6860) has posed:
"I take that back!" Katt yells. "There are ships! I didn't see them because they were parked!" She pauses. "Or whatever you do with ships. Anyway. Um. They're there now!"

Katt does not fly and is not going to take off in response to the patrol craft. Instead, she raises her staff, gathering power of her own. It makes her a visible target as energy swirls around her for a moment, building up...

Katt sweeps her staff out in a wide arc. "Ha ha, catch!!"

A gigantic clawed hand made of fire sweeps out of absolutely nowhere and swipes at one of the ships. It breaks apart into a wash of flame as soon as it touches anything, its form unstable, but the sudden plume of fire is hopefully enough to get one of the ships to back off even if there's no way it will cause it to crash. Especially if they think she can do it again.

Which she can't. Katt has no idea what 'restraint' is. Her magical style is throwing every little bit of power she can gather into a single mighty blow. She wobbles on her feet afterwards, planting her staff to steady herself enough that she doesn't fall over. The weakness is only temporary, but she's completely spent all her magical reserves; while effective, there is absolutely no efficiency there.

N'raha Tia has posed:
    Missles and fire claws lash out at the manacutters, the pilots doing their best to try and take down the ship but... for some reason it's a lot more armored than anyone properly reported to the authorities. Hmmmm.

    The loudspeaker crackles. "Miss Arkae, please point the ship at the gate. Everyone else... hold on." And then the engine kicks. Astually, to say the engine kicks is putting it mildly. It ROARS, and the Profit lurches as the engine that is apparently built for a ship a class size larger than this suddenly lurches to full speed, threatening to put people overboard if they don't hang on.

Arcadia has posed:
Arcardia leans over a bit more to look ahead at what pulls attention away from the wreckage below. "And here I thought the rest of this trip was going to get boring~" Could Arcadia sound any more -excited- about the turn of events? Probably not. At least not in a short amount of time and she's not going to stand around longer than that. She vaults over the deck railing, rolling away briefly before spreading her wings and rocking off ahead of the Profit.

As she does so Arcadia engages her attack bits, spreading them to her sides in formation. Multiple targeting + flicker across her visor sensors.

The sphinx and her magitek swarm pull up in front of the manacutters, it becoming more clear that her flying is at least part magic levitation as she has no problem with sweeping both her wings forward and spreading them to display the ports in the ends of the primary struts already glowing, along with the multiple bits floating around her.

"BULLET HELLSTORM!"

Every equivilent to a gun port she has opens fire in multiple bursts screaming through the air between her and the enemy crafts in more dakka of magic lasers and bullets than you could shake several sticks at. The lasers blaze straight ahead, while the bullet volleys are in cascading arcs that sweep across several directions.

Arkae Zellar (7201) has posed:
Presumably Arcadia is going overboard anyway to do her impressive thing, the engineers know to hang on, and Katt seems like the sort of person who can survive a fall, so Arkae isn't *too* worried about people hanging on.

"Pointing at- CHIRP!"

The tengu is impressed twice over. It's all she can do to keep the ship pointed straight ahead at the gate...

Katt (6860) has posed:
Katt could survive falling off the ship, sure.

But she prefers to stay on it. Having thrown the biggest, most violent offensive magic she can manage, Katt has nothing else to add to the aerial battle anyway; she runs across the deck as the speed kicks in, skidding several yards (with the claws on her feet leaving a score on the deck that will need to be fixed) before catching herself. "Waaaaugh!"

Staren has posed:
    This thing can MOVE. Staren scrambles to get inside once it becomes clear that it's gonna just KEEP GETTING FASTER!

N'raha Tia has posed:
    And the last thing the rest of the crew of the Profit is going to see is Arcadia gleefully engaging in GLORIOUS DANMAKU with these poor fighter pilots, only for them all to sweep off into Concord space... with a souped up blockade runner.

    Congratulations, Captain Arkae. What's your ships new name?

Arkae Zellar (7201) has posed:
"Okay, the ship needs a new name, and I can only think of one possible thing it could be!"

                   ARKAE'S SOUPED-UP AIRSHIP WORK IN PROGRESS                  

                               FEATHERED MAJESTY