New Firefly chapter on track · 1:04pm Aug 20th, 2019
Tentatively titled Answers, it's coming quickly now, and will likely release well before September 1st. Which is fine, because that means the second chapter can be reserved for the anniversary of the story's launch. Expect no combat in this chapter but its aftermath, and a tearjerker scene or two including another harmony-fueled song inspired by a certain famous fantasy series.
A teaser was promised. And so it is delivered:
At half-speed, ‘twas nearly sunset before we reached what we thought was sanctuary at Royal Naval Base Ursa on the east shore of the Lunar Sea.
Unfortunately, ‘twas soon apparent that it was anything but, as the evidence of a gryphon attack was all around. Half the facilities were lost, with some fires still smoldering. Two airships lay fallow, smashed in pieces on the ground, and the third, though still intact, was heavily damaged and being quickly stripped of anything useful; as we watched, cannons were taken off an undamaged deck to another ship in the distance.
“That’s odd,” I couldn’t help but note. “That’s the Armistice. They look like they’re not repairing it, but breaking it down.”
“They are,” Ensign Kusema reported, having grabbed only a few hours of sleep before returning to her station, her hoof at her ear gem again. “According to the reports I’m hearing, they’re cannibalizing it to make the Yoketown flightworthy again.”
“The Yoketown?” Tailwind asked in disbelief before I could. “But that’s a museum ship! It hasn’t flown in over half a century!”
“‘Twould seem they had no choice, sir, given the Alliance and Entente were total losses along with most of their crews,” Kusema explained, her voice numb, either from the news or from simple fatigue. “The Armistice likewise sustained heavy casualties and damage, though ‘twould seem ‘twas her guns and air wing that finally succeeded in driving off the attack. Her engines are dead and ‘tis unlikely they can be repaired before the gryphon advance overruns the base, so they decided to try to bring the undamaged Yoketown back into service instead,” she explained, and as we watched, we saw the old ship’s ballonettes being slowly inflated, with some visible leaks quickly patched from salvaged patches of fabric.
I shook my head at that. “Can they even crew her?”
“Using surviving crews from all three ships… yes, if only barely. The Port Admiral, however, requests any crew we can spare for them.”
“Tell him we’ll see what we can do.” The Naval Base commander, Port Admiral Ironclad, had been both shocked and relieved to see us--they had indeed been told of operation that we intended to return to Ursa, but he had been certain, and ‘twas certainly not without reason, that our foalhardy rescue mission would result in our destruction.
Such was relayed to me by Kusema, who passed messages between us as the Port Admiral had lost his communications office, destroyed along with his headquarters which he had been absent from that morning only by happenstance. He was thus forced to use civilian dragonfire gems to coordinate his remaining forces, which were neither secure nor had the range or networkability of military grade crystals. Until I could receive a paired gem, of which he had none to spare, this meant I could not speak to him directly, forcing Kusema to act as a go-between, as she alone could listen in on civilian communications. “Perchance he could at least tell us what happened here?”
Kusema asked the question, and waited until she had an “The Port Admiral reports they had barely started to mobilize when they were struck by a reinforced Knight cohort not long before noon, and their defenses are severely damaged, ma’am. Army troops are en route to garrison the facility, but in the meantime, he request that the Loyalty and Vigil remain on patrol and ready to repel any additional raids. He offers the remnants of the Armistice’s air wing for the purpose as well, but warns ‘tis ‘but a few dozen brave and bloodied souls’ that remain.” She sounded like she was quoting him.
I offered up a silent prayer. “Any reinforcements are welcome, but tell them we need to dock for at least an hour in order to take on supplies and get our wounded off.”
Kusema relayed the message only to grimace. “He says they will give us what they have and can offer us some fuel, but report their surviving healers are overwhelmed and they have no room for our wounded, ma’am,” she said grimly. “He therefore requests we keep our wounded aboard and ask in turn if we have any room for theirs.”
I closed my eyes, wondering if the situation could be any less dire. “Not unless we want to lay them out on the upper deck. Check with Copper Coin to see if he has space,” I directed, referring to the Commander of the Vigil, a slightly snobbish unicorn stallion who, like Sterling Silver, had been born to minor nobility. Somewhat to my surprise, he had acquitted himself well that day, successfully repelling the Talon attack on his ship and even leading the effort personally.
“Aye, ma’am. He also states that they are transferring their more minor wounded to healers in nearby towns. But most of their transports were lost in the raid, so they request the use of our lifeboats in the effort.”
I rubbed my eyes with a hoof at that, making a mental note to exchange communication crystals with the Port Admiral as soon as possible--’twas annoying and inefficient to have to go through Ensign Kusema like this. “Tell him our lifeboats are likewise drained of power given we used their crystals to enable our escape. So the choice is: he can either fuel our airships or our lifeboats, but not both.”
“Aye-aye, ma’am.” If Kusema was annoyed at being used like this, she did not show it. “He suggests splitting the difference--he will partially fuel the Loyalty and a select number of her lifeboats whilst the Vigil can remain docked where her guns can cover his hospital and headquarters whilst she can also be used as a second and sorely needed infirmary.”
I grimaced again, not liking the idea of having no escort and certain Copper Coin would be none too happy at such orders either. But methinks I could not find a better solution, and the Port Admiral was a superior officer anyway. “Very well. Tell him we will pass that along to the Vigil and dock at their convenience.”
Another minute passed before the Port Admiral spoke again. “He requests the Vigil to put down by the infirmary, and the Loyalty to put down over the drill fields, ma’am, a mile ahead on the port side,” Kusema relayed. “As their docks are destroyed, they’ll wheel in supplies using borrowed civilian carts and workers.”
‘Twas certain at that moment I felt the gryphon attack had driven us back to the dark ages for the damage they’d done us. “Orders acknowledged. Mister Sora, take us in. Advise the crew of our instructions, and prepare to lower the boarding ramps. Mister Tailwind, I place you in charge of the resupply operation. Get it done quickly and efficiently while I work out the details of our lifeboat transfer and arrange with Phantom Flight to have the Armistice air wing merged with our own.
"Aye-aye, ma'am," he acknowledged, and then strode out of the bridge, already barking orders into his command crystal.
Current chapter size is 8400 words and growing with 10k or more a likely size when is said and done. There will be one or more graphics included in this chapter as well. Be looking for it within the next week and possibly as early as the weekend, depending on how fast things get done.
Out of danger for now, things are definitely not looking fantastic..
5108980 Such is the nature of war, unfortunately.
Or, to quote Union General William T. Sherman: "War is hell".
Write on!
5109302
Writing on! And speaking of your avatar, a certain Final Fantasy song will figure quite prominently in the new chapter...
5109309
*fandom squeeing*
5108980
Nope. Pretty bleak, actually, and it's only the second day.
5108982
I believe his exact quote was: "War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over."
Actually, I may end up using this as my closing quote of the chapter.
5109569 Hmm, I thought for sure he said that.
Methinks I need to bone up on my Civil War history and generals/leaders.
Huh.
I just did a search for that exact quote and this is what I found: "War is Hell" quotes
Looks like he wasn't the only one to say that, in one form or another.
Here's a few more by him along the same vein: William Tecumseh Sherman Quotes.
And that's a great idea.
I think you should, too.