Brass Skies vol 2 (Draft)

Hired Gun part 28

As the captain of the least damaged ship, Robert ordered Peters to take most of the mercenaries down to help fight fires and to keep order in the town below. Since Clarabelle was already rounding up her people and getting repairs to the Revenge started, Robert wisely stayed out of her way. Instead, after conferring over the radio with the other ships, he ordered some of the crew to take life boats over to the other two ships to help with damage control and cleanup, especially the Sword of Phobos which lost it's forward main-mast and one of the port side masts.

The Dancing Yasmine had faired better, but still lost some of the spars, a propeller and, like the Sword of Phobos, had several large holes in the hull. As she headed to one of the lifeboats headed down to the town, Asuka glanced over at the Dancing Yasmine and saw Captain Juan Ostentatious, climbing one-handedly out along the mast toward the damaged propeller; his other hand holding onto the overly large, vibrantly feathered wine-colored sombrero.

***

Three days later Asuka and most of the mercenaries were back aboard the Robert's Revenge and heading for the Virginian colony, the Sword of Phobos and the Dancing Yasmine, trailing behind, as best as they could with hurried repairs.

Three days of seeing death up close and personal as she helped keep order; pull survivors from burning and collapsed buildings; and sifted through the wreckage of the British airships had taken it's toll on her, and as a result her cold, uncaring persona had reappeared.

Paradoxically, with the return of her coldness, Clarabelle found Asuka to be a more attentive, concerned, and demanding taskmaster. Every waking second that she was not overseeing the furnaces or working on repairs, Asuka required Clarabelle to spend either practicing her Kata or sparring with Peters or Asuka herself. In the two days that it took for them to reach their destination, Clarabelle had never felt more tired or battered in her life. However, it felt worth it, when even Peters remarked favorably on her progress.

Peters on the other hand seemed distant. Neither Asuka's taunts and insults nor Clarabelle's friendly banter seemed to affect him.

When the ships finally reached their destination, a training camp hidden in a valley deep in the mountains of the colony of Virginia, they were startled by the presence of three other airships already on the ground and another floating above. The Three ships on the ground were obviously warships, and though the sales were furled, a black flag peaked out from behind the aft castle of each ship. Above them, the Iron Rose stood guard.

The Robert's Revenge, Sword of Phobos, and Dancing Yasmine, all landed in the valley as well, coming to a jarring rest on makeshift berths. Between the various ships and the tents and makeshift training fields, Auska found the valley rather cramped even before she was invited to disembark along with a party consisting of the captain, the sisters, Peters, MacFlint, Anna, and a few others from the Revenge. The party along with similar numbers from each the Phobos and the Yasmine would be meeting with representatives from the camp and from the other ships.

Although she did her best to hide it, Asuka was surprised by the invitation to be part of the group. She was even more surprised both that the invitation came from Robert himself and that the captain had told her he wanted her along because he wanted her impressions and her opinions.

They were met at the bottom of the ramp by a man that introduced himself as a former British Army Sergeant who was now one of the people in charge of the camp. After gathering up the parties from the both the Phobos and Yasmine, he led them to a large tent at the center of the camp. There they were met from representatives from the other crews and the leaders of the camp.

Asuka found out that this was one of a handful of camps like it that the pirates were setting up to train an army made up primarily of mercenaries as well as a small but growing number of colonists that either wanted an end to British rule, wanted to see the Empire reformed, had been victimized to the breaking point, or simply had nowhere else to go.

While the pirates were becoming more numerous and many were starting to become more organized, they weren't yet capable of truly taking on the British, but they could not sit by and watch the British terrorize the people. Thus, the creation of the training camps. The idea was that if an army could be raised, on the ground, it might be able to skirmish with the British long enough to buy the pirates time to build up their forces and challenge the British for the skies.

Unfortunately, no one realized that the British were going to start a campaign of razing towns and cities from the air this soon. The plan was going to have to shift. Most the mercenaries that the Revenge, Phobos, and Yasmine brought would be staying at this camp integrating in with the other forces to become one portions of what would hopefully be a larger army. However, Asuka, Karen, Anna, MacFlint and several of the others would only stay for six weeks, teaching their fighting skills to specific core croups that would hopefully serve as a cadre that would be able then to teach the others while former British army and marines members would teach the leadership skills, strategy, and logistics.

In the mean time, most of the pirate ships would head out for more supplies and mercenaries except for one, The Dreadmoon's Shadow, which would provide air cover and warning. After six weeks, the Robert's Revenge would return to pick up Asuka and the rest.

The meeting over, Asuka returned for her last night on the ship for a while. The next morning, most of her belongings were transferred from the ship to a tent she shared with Anna. The rest she left in the cabin, where Clarabelle assured her that, barring the loss of the ship, it would be waiting for her when she got back.

When it was time for her and the others to depart, Robert, Jezebel, Peters and Clarabelle personally gathered to see them off. The two sisters gave her big hugs, telling her they would see her again soon. Robert simply gave her a nod and told her he expected to hear great things about her when he returned. Peters, on the other hand, asked her several odd questions about her people and then told her both that he would miss her, and that the ship would be worse off in her absence.

Despite herself, Asuka felt touched, which irritated her greatly. Worse, she realized she actually was not looking as forward to his absence as she wanted to. To cover up her irritation she gave him her coldest look she could summon. "Don't die, Baka," She ordered before turning and heading to the ramp. Giving her hair a quick flip, she descended the ramp fully intending on enjoying every minute of the six weeks away from Peters.

If you see more mistakes than normal please forgive me.  I was trying to squeeze this part in between various errands and projects surrounding the holidays.   If I don't update again before Christmas, enjoy your holidays everyone.