//------------------------------//
// Aeronautical Evasion 
// Story: Thorned Rose 
// by Salty Alty 
//------------------------------//

Aquila blinked. "Pardon?", Rose grunted, adjusting various dials and pulling a larger lever, which extended more magnification lenses.

"Yup. Trying to I.D her now. Odds are I wont find anything, but it's worth a look.", humming to herself for a moment before tsking. "She's got some damage across her bow, some patchwork in her gasbag, and she's tilted slightly. Can't tell much other than that."

Aquila hopped off of the helm, running down to wake the rest of the crew, leaving Rose to herself for a moment. Rose weighed their options in her head, not liking their choices. "Can't run, we don't have cargo to pay em off with... and unless they've got Hydrogen in that bag of theirs fighting will only get us killed."

As she heard the others rushing out from their quarters she lowered the telescope and looked at the stairs. Chessur was the first to clamber up the small staircase, huffing and puffing, eyes widened in fear. "How long until they reach us?!" He asked in a panic, his voice cracking in the middle of the sentence. 

Rose clicked her tongue for a moment. "Well, I can't tell her size due to her being directly bow on to us, but she's definitely got bigger engines. If she's a sloop or a cutter, I'd give it 3 hours tops. 5 if she's a brig, 7 if she's a galleon. I've only helped hunt a few pirate vessels, but the few that the Morrighan was dispatched to hunt were the bigger fish; The Squall, for example.", Spinning in her chair, she continued. "Only way in Tartarus I can see us outrunning them is if they have Hydrogen in their bag. We've got the supplies for a flaming bolt, and that would send em straight down to the 'Sunker, but... we'd need to get into ballista range." Rose winced at the thought. "And in a boat as small as this one, we'd get torn in two."

Aquila bit her lip, before asking hesitantly. "Would you mind if I used the telescope for a second?". Rose's bow raised, but brought the telescope to Aquila's eye. "See the patchwork there Rose? It doesn't match the fabric on the envelope."

Rose let out a grunt. "I think I see where you're taking this. Normal envelopes are made of cotton laced with rubber..." 

Aquila grinned. "And if the patchwork gets hit with lightning, the energy won't be dispersed over the envelope. All that hydrogen would be ignited...", Before a look of realization crossed Aquila's countenance. "Only problem is getting a powerful enough thunderhead that close."

Chessur and Rose looked at each other, before Chessur spoke. "Do you know basic illusion magic? We could perhaps keep the cloud hidden long enough if we worked together."

Rose flinched. "Ain't my strong suit, but I know minor illusions. Nothing as advanced as Invisibility though.", she said as he pulled the telescope back up to her eye. "'Quila! Turn the helm 10 degrees east real quick!"

Aquila quickly complied, the ship lurching from the slight, but sudden turn. As the ship turned, Rose let out a satisfied grin. "Gotcha."

Chyrp tilted his head. "What'd ya see?", Rose leaning back in her chair as she replied. "Good news and Bad news everybody! Good news is that it's a sloop."

Gavin huffed. "And the bad news?", Rose biting her cheek at the question. "That means we've got around 2 and a half hours before they intercept us."

Rose quickly hopped out of her chair. "Chyrp, get in that chair and keep an eye on them. Aquila, get working on that Thunderhead.", She finished as she cleared the stairs in a single jump. "I'm gonna get my armor on and get those bolts prepped. Chessur, keep er' steady!" 

Gavin rushed down after her. "What's the game plan here? You and Aquila are the only two that seem to have any idea what's going on!" 

Rose kicked open the door to the room she shared with Aquila. "I'll explain once we're all together. I know it seems asinine, but here's the basics." She began as she strapped her boots on and pulled the brigandine and began fastening it on. "We let them get close enough to board us, and if they're smart they send a negotiator over. If they don't and start trying to fill us full of holes, we delay until Aquila can get her Thunderhead off. If they decide to play nice, our plan becomes a lot easier.". Rose strapped her saber to her side, not even bothering to grab her crossbow. 

As Rose walked out the door, she heard Gavin cough. Looking back, he nodded to her and said simply. "Godspeed sister.", Rose giving a faint smile in response. "Don't know if this will work, but drinks are on me if it does. We'll get through this Gav'... one way or another.", rushing upstairs before Gavin could reply, grabbing a bundle of blankets and sheets on her way, along with a bottle of rum.

As Rose arrived on deck, she immediately went to work. Grabbing a few of the bolts from a lock box located near the port side of the ship, she hastily cut up the blankets and sheets and wrapped them below the broadheads, and dousing them each in alcohol. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Aquila had brought a cloud down to the deck, and was in the process of hitting and pushing it at various points across it's surface. The cloud steadily growing darker, as more energy and magic was pushed into it.

Rose's ear flicked as Aquila spoke. "Hey Rose? How are we going to get the thunderhead off the deck without them spotting it?", Rose pausing as Aquila continued. "If we can get eyes on them at this distance, wont they be able to see whatever we try and do?"

Rose stopped to think for a moment, biting her lip. As she pondered, she spoke. "It entirely depends on how fast you can move. I could blind their lookout with a large enough blast, but the longer it takes you to get into position the less mana I'll have if push comes to shove." 

Aquila bit her cheek. "I could get it far enough away in say... 15 seconds? I'm not the fastest flier in armor.", gesturing to the faux leather armor. "Not to mention that I need to make sure the Thunderhead doesn't go off early, especially one as powerful as this.", as she gently patted the now nearly black cloud, electrical energy sparking across it's surface. "It's nearly at critical mass as is."

Rose flinched as if smacked across the face. "That is gonna put a wee dent in my reserves. 'Spose there ain't a way around it though."

As Rose went to prepare another bolt, Chyrp shouted. "Rose! Somethin' ain't right here! You might need to take a look here!"

Rose sighed and walked up the stairs to Chyrp, standing upright and leaning on the chair, yanking the telescope over as she spoke. "What are you yapping abo-" Stopping abruptly as she saw what had gotten the gryphon into such a panic. "Oh. That's not good at all."

Glancing down the lens, the ship was... far too close. Closer than it should have been. Where before it would have taken it 2 hours to catch up with them, it was at the least twice as close as before. As Rose watched, she spotted a few stray lights of different colors on the deck of the sloop. "Likely unicorns.", She thought to herself. 

"Fuck this." She said, before shouting to the rest of her compatriots. "'Quila, we're getting you into position now!", before pointing at Chessur, who was still on the helm. "Bring us to a full stop on my mark."

Chessur nodded, and Rose watched with a careful eye as Aquila steadied herself, the Thunderhead clutched carefully in her hooves. It was about the width of Gavin's shoulders, and as tall as Aquila. Aquila nodded up at Rose. "I'm ready whenever you are."

Rose let out a deep sigh, closing her eyes and gathering her wits. Breathing in deeply, she gathered roughly half of her mana reserves. Opening her eyes, the world was different. Wisps of energy flowed around her, and soared through the air. Everything was tinted a shade of red, and she could physically see the spell taking shape in front of her. She let out a final breath, before shouting at the top of her lungs and unleashing the gathered maelstrom, "MARK!"

Immediately, all the mana and energy gathered around her shot into a tight beam, shooting out a great distance before exploding into a bright disk of energy, colored a pure red. Peeking her eyes open, Rose immediately shut them from the blinding light. She held the beam for another few moments, before releasing. Immediately, she felt as if she just ran a marathon, dizzy to her core. 

Blinking rapidly, and breathing hard, she looked around. Aquila was nowhere to be seen on deck, and the ship was no longer moving. The disk remained for a few seconds before dissipating harmlessly, it's purpose having been served.

Looking over to Gavin, Rose took a few deep breaths before speaking. "J-just... get those Ballistae loaded. I think I need to sit down...", before Rose laid flat on her side, trying to recuperate.

After a few moments, she felt a prodding on back. Craning her head, Chyrp sat next to her looking worried. "Are you sure you're gonna be okay Rose? you look pretty..." he clicked his tongue for a moment before finding the word he was looking for. "Knackered?"

Chuckling softly, Rose cracked her neck. "Yeah mate... Have not had to expend that much mana in a single setting in a long while." She rolled over to get a better look at him. "Where'd 'Quila perch at?", as she looked through the clouds.

Chyrp pointed to a larger, far off cluster of fluffy white clouds. "'Round there. Should've seen her, she was faster than the Hussars!" 

Rose rolled her eyes, before gingerly picking herself up from the deck. The sloop was closing rapidly now that they weren't running. She looked towards Chessur, gesturing to a small box near the helm. "Lets go ahead and run the white flag. Makes it less likely for us to get pincushioned."

Chessur let out a "hmph", but walked over to the small box and unlocked it. Digging through it for a moment, he pulled out a very large, bright white flag. Walking over to the rigging, he attached it to a set of ropes, before using a pulley system to extend the flag out towards the hull. 

The sloop slowed down to a much more leisurely pace, no longer being pushed or propelled by whatever magic the unicorns on board were performing. 

Every moment from then on seemed tortuously, agonizingly slow. Every second lasted a day, as they couldn't help but watch what could very likely be their death approach them like a bird of prey. 

Confident. Cocky. Sure of itself. 

Rose scoffed, "Whoever's captaining that boat is gonna get their mug busted if I get my hooves on em'. Cocksure bastards."

They could hear the engines now, loud and arrogant, each chuff of the propeller louder than the last. 

It felt like a year, but in actuality it was a mere 10 minutes before the larger sloop pulled along the Chamomile's broadside, and a gangplank was extended. A single equine figure sitting at the other end, clad in a dark red doublet with 2 large white wings, dappled with black spots, poking out of the sides. A beautifully made tricorne sat upon the figure's head, lightly obscuring a scarred white face, clad with a beard of black fur. 

"Now... who's the captain of this ship?"