The Celestial Way

Chapter 10.2 - Guardians of the Way

The upper decks of the skyship were quite cramped even by spacecraft standards. Stamat explained the two hangars running the length of the skyship were the only really open spaces in order to house dragons, while the rest of the available room was taken almost entirely by weapon and shield modules, gravitic lift generators, life support, and the engineering section. A series of gravshafts, both vertical and horizontal ones, led them to a large circular area which housed the crew quarters. The bridge was near the top, and as they headed that way, Airo noticed several groups of people huddling around the multi-tiered deck. His gaze lingered; he recognized them as inhabitants from Dragon Retreat.

They entered the bridge. Like the hangar, the place was wide and open-spaced, with battlestations arrayed on three levels. Dozens of Radiant Knights in red-gold armors were present, keeping the skyship's systems fully staffed. A spherical hologram-haptic interface over a huge circular mainframe acted as a Command-Information-Communication center.

The lights were currently dimmed as the skyship was still in combat mode. Airo saw two familiar figures outlined by the CIC's blue glow. He narrowed his eyes. It could not be...

"Boss!" Zuckeroff shouted. "You're alive!"

"Commander!" Kiana seemed genuinely happy to see him.

Stamat smiled widely as he approached the CIC center. "We got them just in the nick of time, but everything turned out fine. Everybody's safe now."

"Thank the stars! Is Veralla okay?" Kiana asked.

"Who? The Goddess?" Stamat was confused. "Ah, the little dragon you told me about."

"She is fine," Airo cut in impatiently. He glared at Kiana. "Did you use your powers to call another set of delusional idealists, instead of real backup?"

"Hey, there's no need to be rude," Stamat said, mildly miffed. "I know you Consortium types aren't very fond of us, but we're not the bad guys here."

"I didn't call anyone," Kiana said crossly. "This skyship came to us by chance. If it wasn't for them, we'd all be dead now!"

"Right, right," Airo relented. "That much is true," he added, trying to close the matter quickly. To his surprise, he felt relief seeing Kiana and Zuckeroff alive and well.

"Actually, we did come to Dragon Retreat on purpose," Stamat said. "Our patrol was originally bound for another region, but there was... well, some sort of energy spike in the local Æther, and we came here to investigate."

"I sensed a strange surge, too," Magus said. He gazed thoughtfully at Airo. Airo was getting annoyed at these weird inspections the old Knight gave him. He resisted the urge to punch the man.

"Yes, you saved us, thank you," he said to get their attention and shift the conversation to more important matters. "I will consider it a personal favor if you tell me where are we headed now."

"Home," Stamat said.

"Which is where exactly?" Airo asked pointedly.

"Oh. Yeah. About that. I'm not sure if it's right to discuss the location of our base to outsiders," Stamat said, rubbing his neck and smiling apologetically. "I think it's better to talk to Glawlrhain or Lylana once we arrive. They're in charge after... well, after what happened at the Shard." Stamat hurried to change the subject. "Come now, I'll introduce you to Zozzy!"

The front bulkhead of the bridge was comprised entirely of a single one-way observation window, inclined inward. The helm was a triangular area nested slightly lower than the deck's floor, with seats for five pilots and three command officers.

The main pilot's seat was taken by a bulky humanoid as large as Stamat. The armor hid many of the Knight's features, but Airo saw enough claws and striped orange fur to realize this was not an ordinary human being.