Chapter 46 The Road to Dunthir Choo! Choo! The first sounds that the Sidherthan empire were mounting a counterattack were just train horns blaring at unattended cattle that had wandered on the train tracks. Aside from that the entire movement of forces from the capital and the second staging region of East Helms went off silently throughout the night. Hundreds of air ships and three Capitol class ships, the Deadalist included, were already in position around the town of Dunthir. The response from the king of Sidhertha had been fast and efficient. The battle was to be an overwhelming victory, one so fierce and bloody that no one would dare strike at the Sidherthan empire again. Or at least that is what the orders dictated. Lykan Vita, or Captain Vita as he was now called passed his examination. He was allowed to fully graduate, his only problem, he had to get a crew together who would be crazy enough to follow him into battle. Fortunately, since he was an RDT officer he was allowed to freely poach anyone currently serving under someone else’s banner. There was of course one catch, the person being poached had to agree. This tactic of allowing RDT to poach crew members was often a way to get troublemakers out from underneath the hairs of Captains. It was known that a way to avoid punishment for various crimes was to get assigned to RDT, as such many chose RDT as a final way to avoid permanently ruining their military career. This was a way the military self-corrected itself. The troublemakers would be allowed to leave, and commanders would be free of one problem child from amongst their ranks. This was the typical way such efforts went. With Lykan, the great dragon slayer. A person who was known to be able to fly. A person who had bested a corrupted psychic dragon in aerial combat, news of joining his crew were different. Especially when they learned what he based his patent off. His patent was to be an improved defensive strike formation, one that was designed to withstand the very same corrupted dragon he slew. The same corrupted dragon who managed to disable three different ships, one being a defensive shield for students. Hearing this, and with Lykan’s reputation many offered their services. In the end Lykan had to turn down applicants as his ship being a prototype was only allowed a crew of twelve. That included a helmsman, or person who would steer the blimp. An executive officer, two gunners, two bombers or people who would drop bombs from below the ship as it passed over a target, three repairmen, a navigator, a supply clerk, and a chef. Surprisingly each slot was filled with highly capable and qualified people. Once he had all twelve signed up, he immediately gave each a parachute that was to be their common gear while in combat. Then they each got a chance to test the parachute out, with Lykan flying down with each person as a precaution. When the chutes all deployed and were able to save their lives, they all relaxed slightly. They also inadvertently assured that Lykan would be able to graduate as a full Captain. Of all the crew Luis, the Chef was the first to try out the parachute. His gung-ho nature and the thrill he seemed to have while falling was infectious for most of the crew. There were of course those who were slightly less than pleased with the idea of jumping from a perfectly good RDT ship with untested runes, to use an almost equally untested means of safety. But after pointing out that everyone else had made the jump, and that it was an RDT ship, one that was the most prone to random fires and damage the remaining crew members jumped together. Well fell, after being momentarily tied up would be a more accurate statement. Fortunately, Lykan was there and able to free fall with the pair as he helped get the two first free. Then he made sure both pulled the release strings. Poof! The first parachute opened letting Legg slow down her descent to a reasonable level. That only left Deroze’s, the supply clerk’s chute. The only thing keeping her calm the entire way down was the fact that Lykan was there the entire time. Knowing that he could pull her away at any time, like a god from the heavens was the only thing that kept her calm and let her focus on the second cord. The cord that Lykan himself was also pointing out. Seeing him that close, with energy flowing through his body his eyes began to glow. It was clear that he was a man of unprecedented strength. Locking eyes with Lykan, she steadied herself and pulled the second cord, ready for anything. Poof! The chute expanded and in an instant Lykan went from locking eyes with her to falling below her. A slight sense of panic struck her, as she saw him continue to fall. He was gone from her field of vision so quickly that she was afraid he would smash against the ground below to his death. “Great job.” A voice called out from behind her, so close that it sent shivers down her back. She turned to see Captain Vita smiling warmly at her. “Th-thank you.” Deroze stammered out. Only now did her mind begin to relax and accept the flow of air around her. “Now careful as you approach, tuck your legs up, and kick off the ground and try to roll on your back.” Lykan said. “O-okay.” She said, as she looked down to see the ground quickly approaching. They had all gone through a brief demonstration. One where Lykan himself then made a fall using only the parachute to break his fall. During the fall he went over the safest motions he had found for landing. When she looked back, she saw that Lykan had already left. From overhead she saw a shadow forming on the parachute, then slowly getting smaller. It took her a second to realize he was likely going up to check on Legg, to make sure she was also okay with everything. Before Deroze could think too much about what was happening with others, it was soon her time to react. She had to go through everything quickly in her mind. Pull up her legs, aim for a flat patch of ground. Then oof! The impact was tougher than she had expected, but still amazing. She landed, the world spinning as her mind and body tried to get on the same plain of existence. She wanted to just sit there for a second, but soon Alan Luis, the head chef was yelling at her. “Get up your chute quickly and clear the way.” Hearing that Deroze looked up to see that Legg was quickly incoming as well. With quick movements Deroze grabbed up large swaths of the parachute and quickly tried to get out of the way of the other falling parachuter. Thump. Legg landed. Everyone watched, and then were relieved when she too got up and began pulling up her own parachute. Breathing a little easier, Deroze grabbed the rest of her chute and began walking with wabbly legs to the evaluation circle. This was an area where Lykan was not allowed to go near, as this was where his potential crew would evaluate the effectiveness of the equipment he had provided. “Well?” The evaluation officer asked once both Legg and Deroze joined the circle. “Well, what?” Helmsman Jurig asked. “Should this be something that should be implemented to everyone?” The evaluation officer clarified. “Well yeah. We had twelve jumps from a height that would normally have meant death. And here we are all alive and well.” First Gunner Hoyt answered. “Any recommendations on improvement?” The Evaluation officer asked, going through his standard list of questions. “Can we make each parachute a giant flag of our country?” Repairman Oliveras answered. Shaking his head, the evaluation officer made a note in his form. “So, I take it that you all would have no problem using this equipment in a real battle then?” The evaluation officer pressed. “None whatsoever.” Bitler, the executive officer answered, it was clear he was ready to be listed as an officer under Captain Vita. “One final question then. Is there anything you would like to say?” The evaluation officer asked. This was normally when the enlisted could make a final gripe about being transferred to RDT. If they complained now they would not be forced to go to the RDT officer in question. “Yes.” Luis, the chef said. Hearing this everyone turned a questioning glance to him, as he seemed to be the one most ready to sign on with the new Captain. “What is it?” “Can we jump again?” Luis asked, holding up his chute in his hands and gesturing to the blimp that had been used for testing that still flew in the sky. That of course had been two weeks ago. Since then, Lykan and his ship filled with poached crew members had trained relentlessly to get used to attacking and coordinating movements as part of the fleet. So far there were no obvious signs that the runes created by Lykan worked any differently than the ones used by the empire. Then again for these training scenarios the forces being used were kept to a minimum to avoid unnecessary casualties. Those were simpler days. Days where training was just that, training. Days when one could make light of ridiculous orders like being prepared to jump from perfectly good blimps in the hope that should anything happen, they would be able to land safely below. Now the crew of the RDT Project X82 was but one of a hundred blimps in the air. Going to war with an untested magi-officer. One who was the only one capable of wielding magic from the crew. That was the other thing, while anyone could be poached, only those without magical abilities were up for this exchange. Everyone else had the benefit of being on larger and more cumbersome ships. While every blimp needed at least one Academy trained Magi Officer on board, that was the minimum. Ships like the Deadalist had whole crews made up of magi-officers all trying to get one seat higher in the pecking order to one day lead the capitol class ship. While minor blimps like RDT-X82 were relatively cheap and easy to produce. All the work and customization were to come from the RDT officer who had been assigned the ship in question.