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Althalos Fizen (played by EonRising)

(I already posted this in the general RP forum, but I get the feeling it's going to be more or less ignored there)

WHAT IF THE IDEA OF THE AIRPLANE NEVER SUCCEEDED?
WHAT IF THE HINDENBURG NEVER CRASHED AND ZEPPELINS RULED THE SKY?
WHAT IF WILLIAM CHURCHILL DIDN'T SURVIVE BEING HIT BY A TAXI ON HIS TRIP TO NEWYORK?
WHAT IF HITLERS OPERATION BALBAROSA NEVER FAILED AND HE WON WWII?
WHAT IF THE GODS OF ANCIENT EGYPT, NORWAY AND GREECE WERE REAL?
WHAT IF THEY WERE AT WAR?

Althalos stood aboard the USZ Roosevelt He was the captain of the American war blimp, the newest and most technologically advanced of it's kind. The Roosevelt was in the front of a large air fleet, about 30 blimps in all and one airborne aircraft carrier, which had two large blimps on either side and had about 50 FA-27 War Eagles, which were very fast and maneuverable orntithopters. The aircraft carrier aside, the Roosevelt was the largest airship, with five decks and four 2 barreled 130mm cannons on each deck as well as the howitzer cannons on the third deck and the 50 cal. machine guns all around on the sides.
"Mr. Yaskov, what's our heading?" Althalos asked the Russian.
"47 degrees north-north-east captain," the man replied. "We'll make it to England by sundown."
"Good. Are all six engines working properly?"
"Yes, sir. They're all at 75% power," another man answered just as an alarm rang out.
"We've got a hostile battle group heading our way. There's only ten of em, but they're big," the man at the radar called out.
"Calm down and warn the rest of the fleet," Althalos ordered and pushed the intercom button "All men to their battle stations, this is not a drill. Enemy battle group approaching, arm the 120mm cannons and don't fire until I order."
Arianna (played by PenGryphon2007)

"Hold to port!" Arianna shouted to her squadron, the goggles on her face keeping the wind out her eyes. Her brown hair was fastened back in a bun. At her left side was a holstered pistol with six shots. "We're almost on them."

Even from her vantage point of being the last airship in the fleet, she could already see the much larger, opposing fleet ahead of her. Americans, she recognized their symbol and their prowess, but scowled when she didn't recognize the leading blimp.

Her father's orders came from the airship in the lead, telling them to spread out, make less of a target.

Arianna passed the message along to her squad and then added, "Let's take out the biggest one first; go for their weak points. Engines, then guns. Force them to land. We're taking the big one." Under her breath she added, "I'll show you, father, what I'm capable of."
Althalos Fizen (played by EonRising) Topic Starter

(I appreciate you taking notice :))

"Somebody turn that blasted alarm off!" Althalos barked and the blaring signal turned off. "All engines 50 percent, turn hard starboard prepare for a broadside on that approaching airship," he ordered and he felt the slight change as the Roosevelt turned, now all the large primary guns focused on the approaching blimp. Bullets from machine guns were already whizzing through the air, puncturing some of the blimps, but not sinking any. A friendly orntithopter spiraled past the bridge, flaming from the back and the pilot laying limply against the controls.
"On my word, let all cannons loose!" Althalos ordered and he could see the tension in his officers. "Hold... Hold... Now!" the man shouted and all the cannons let loose their volleys of shells into the bridge of the hostile ship, which crumpled under it's own weight and the bottom portion fell off, making the blimp light enough that it rose until it burst, crashing down on top of a smaller american craft and destroying it.
"Sir? Permission to use the Zeus Cannon?" one of the senior officers asked. The weapon was a massive, single-barreled cannon that would extend from under the bridge. It had been granted to the Americans by the Greek god himself. Althalos was glad that the Greek god of the skies were on their side, but he did have to worry about Thor, who was supporting the Federation. The Egyptians were mostly neutral, mostly weapons dealers and Anubis and Osiris helped Hel and Hades take care of the dead.
"No, you know that's only a last resort. I think this battle will be won with or without the gods. We outnumber them three to one and we're bigger," Althalos watched with satisfaction as a squad of ornithopters took out another blimp, but noticed that the aircraft carrier was listing dangerously to port. The massive craft slowly steadied itself by releasing the helium in it's starboard balloon, but it began to sink. At least France was a country currently controlled by the revolutionaries against the Federation.
"Fire at will," Althalos ordered and sat in his chair.
Arianna (played by PenGryphon2007)

(I feel I should warn you, my steampunk skills are a little lacking.)

Arianna cursed as she saw the first of the blimps on her side sinking. But they weren't going down without a fight. She stayed low, not wanting to get struck by a stray bullet, but her eyes searching for an opportunity to attack.

"Take us full-speed ahead," she ordered. "And concentrate all fire on the..." she squinted and made out the name on the blimb. "Concentrate all power on the Roosevelt! Use the Loki screen if you need to!"

Her next order would be risky--but she rather thought it was worth it. "Raise us higher! We're going to try to attack from the back." Under her breath she added, "With such a large ship they can't be fast at turning around, and the rest of the crew wouldn't dare try to fire on their own airship."

One of the men manning a machine gun went down with a cry. She didn't have a choice as she slid into the rigging and filled his position. "Bring us in!" She squeezed off a dozen rounds, aiming for the blint's balloon.
Althalos Fizen (played by EonRising) Topic Starter

(It's fine. I'm glad you at least understand what's happening)

Althalos watched in disdain as a medium sized hostile airship started flying over top of them. "Angle all of the motors straight down and give 100 percent to the port side, bring starboard down to 30. We're gonna take out the bottom. Switch to napalm rounds on the port side howitzers and open fire once we're in position and rotate the port side engines 180 degrees with all engines at 30 percent," the man immediately felt his blimp start to tilt sideways and she was vertical before the other airship had finished passing over. The massive artillery cannons opened fire on the hull of the enemy ship.
Arianna (played by PenGryphon2007)

Arianna yelled as the bottom of her airship erupted with an attack from below. There was no time to act or duck for cover, and they were unable to fire back. Her plan had backfired in oh-so-many glorious ways.

The rest of her men were yelling orders, running about, or trying to abandon airship. There wasn't anywhere for them to go, however, as she'd effectively cut them off overhead.

Worse, a look around from their height indicated that only two or three of the original blimps from their original ten remained. The others had either left or been grounded. "Damn!"

"Men pull it together!" she yelled. "We're going to get hung up on them--the least we can do is try to board them." Right, because all her decisions thus far had been grand and executed perfectly. Boarding an enemy airship that had shot them out of the sky using an impossible trick would be something worth dying for at least. Better than falling to her death at any rate.

"Fire up Loki!" she yelled--her last command before a cloud of blackness engulfed them as their blimp lowered.
Althalos Fizen (played by EonRising) Topic Starter

Another alarm sounded, this time it was one long blare a lot like a bomb raid siren. This one meant a boarding though, which was almost as bad as bombs if said boarding was on a blimp, which it was. Althalos heard quite a bit of commotion outside of the bridge and looked out to see the soldiers on board getting ready, each with the brand new, American made M-19 assault rifles, designed specifically for airship combat, each weapon producing only enough power to shoot through thin Kevlar, but not pierce the flexi-carbon balloon or the hull.
If this particular battle group had a Norse god on their side, it certainly wouldn't be hard for them to board on to any location aboard their ship. The Roosevelt's crew was more than ready though, having trained in simulated circumstances. American soldiers were covering any and every corner of the ship to include the rafters within the balloon, underbarrel tazers ready to be shot at any hostiles that appeared. The marines reflexes were good enough that they could immediately shoot the second they saw one of those Federation bastards.
Arianna (played by PenGryphon2007)

The smoke cleared and with it, Arianna's hopes of taking the blimp by storm. Her father had been foolish to even suggest they take on this fleet--though he'd only heard of it through a wire tap. What he'd done to get that far, she didn't know. Except she was about to pay the price for his negligence.

She had two options: die or surrender. She didn't like either of them, as the wind whipped around her skirts. But the number of guns aimed at them wasn't reassuring. What she needed were bombs and they were on her ship.

And it was descending to the ground far far below. She raised her hands in defeat. "Don't shoot...or if you do...don't miss." The few men who had followed her orders to board did the same; surrendering when she did. Maybe, if she lived, she could still make something of herself.
Althalos Fizen (played by EonRising) Topic Starter

There weren't nearly as many Europeans boarding as Althalos had thought. The report of surrender came from a soldier and Althalos turned to his engine controller. "Right the ship. I'm going to confront our prisoners," he ordered. The Roosevelt slowly righted herself and Althalos was happy to be standing on the floor rather than the thick glass walls of the bridge. He straightened his uniform and made his way towards the conference room, where they were all being held. He entered and looked at the small pile of weapons on the far side of table away from the Europeans. They mostly AUG's and Famas', the standard European rifles. There were plenty of side arms piled up as well and each Federation soldier had a marine at their back, pointing a barrel to their heads.
"Captain on deck!" the commanding officer yelled and each marine saluted and stood at attention.
"At ease," Althalos dismissed and the marines raised their guns again. "Hello, Federation soldiers and welcome aboard the USZ Roosevelt. I am Captain Fizen, and I will be your host for the time being. Now," he turned to the woman who seemed to be in charge, "Would you mind explaining to me what a group of 10 airships hoped to accomplish against our fleet?" He was about to ask more, but heard the distant boom of another Federation blimp being blown apart by the USAZ Hampton's katyusha rocket artillery pods. Althalos looked back towards the woman, waiting for an answer.
Arianna (played by PenGryphon2007)

She scowled at the captain when he entered and had half a mind to take a swing at the man behind her holding the gun, when they quickly resumed their guard. Damn.

"Obviously not much," she replied, hands curling into fists when she heard a blimp explode. She really hoped that hadn't been her father's blimp. "We were supposed to stall you before you met up with the larger Federation fleet which is getting into position as we speak. You'll never make it to England."

She smiled suddenly. "I must say, the Roosevelt certainly impresses; but I don't know if it'll hold up to the Asgard."
Althalos Fizen (played by EonRising) Topic Starter

"Ah, yes, I've heard of that one. Massive, double ballooned thing correct? A true work of art she is," Althalos said thoughtfully. "But I'm going to tell you two things right now: first off, we didn't know that your fleet was moving over to England. You just gave us classified information. Second, if you think this is our entire fleet, you're insane. This was just an aircraft carrier escort group. Granted we didn't do too well of a job and the carrier was grounded, but she'll be back up within a day. We were never going for Wngland either. In case you've forgotten, we're over France, and right now the revolutionaries control it. We Americans are in friendly territory. You pencil necked Nazis on te other hand are, to put it bluntly, knee deep in sh*t." Althalos turned towards the door. "Get these people ground side. Put em in one of the life balloons and send em off. No provisions, extra fuel or weapons," he ordered the CO.
"You heard the captain! Stand up and move towards the loading bay," he barked. The marines forced the federation soldiers in a line and escorted them to the loading bay, whose door was open and a hot air balloon painted bright yellow was waiting. The hostages were loaded on board at gun point and the door locked. Althalos grabbed a wine bottle and smashed it against the side as it was lowered off. He saluted and turned to the man who had given him the bottle.
"I've always wanted to do that," he said and the door raised and sealed.
Arianna (played by PenGryphon2007)

Arianna didn't bother to hide her silence as they were escorted into the 'life balloon'. She cursed as good as she got, and made a point to trip over the threshold between the Roosevelt and the life balloon. When she did, she twisted one of the gears off her left boot and tossed it into the Roosevelt before the door sealed shut. With any luck, they would have been too distracted by their "success" to notice such a miscellaneous item on the floor of their blimp.

The gear would remain simply that for a few seconds, before emitting a surprisingly strong, effective charge. A capacitor fully charged could provide trouble if the charge were located near enough helium. Even if it never got near the helium, it should at least short out something important. Navigation, communications, something.

She still slammed her hand against the wall in frustration as they drifted down in the life balloon. This hadn't gone to plan at all. And it was going to take more than the Asgard to get them out of this.
Althalos Fizen (played by EonRising) Topic Starter

"Captain! There's an electronic pulse jamming our radar and communications. It's somewhere aboard the ship. The ship diagnostic said it was coming from the docking bay, right before it went kapute as well," one of the officers informed Althalos. The captain scowled and looked at the fuzzy screens.
"Send the sweeper down there. Dispose of every material on the ground in there. They probably dropped something. Clear the entire floor of debris and search every crate."

About a half an hour later, the screens all came back on.
"We just finished dumping everything out the waste chute. I assume since I don't hear static, we got it?" a soldier radioed in.
"Yes sir, you got whatever it was. Well, the carrier should be up and running again in a few days, so until then our fleet waits. There's a small French town about a mile south full of revolutionaries that probably saw our battle. They'll most likely try and help," Althalos reclined in his chair and looked out at the wreckage below them. There were six of the ten european airships on the ground, burning up and nothing left but charred scrap metal. The only American vessel destroyed was a small one, but the death toll on board was unfortunately 100%. Two more American ships were grounded, including the aircraft carrier, but the dreadnaught war blimp should be back in the air by the end of the day.
Arianna (played by PenGryphon2007)

Arianna forced herself to remain calm as France drew ever nearer. If they were lucky, they'd land in a location far from any revolutionaries.

"I want everything on this stupid life balloon harvested for parts," Arianna ordered the dozen or so men who remained to her. "Anything you can turn into a weapon, do it. I have no idea what we're going to encounter, but we can pretty much assume that everyone will be hostile to us if they know what and who we are."

Unfortunately, with no provisions or supplies, they wouldn't be able to pass themselves off as fellow revolutionaries. And her gun was still on board the Roosevelt.

"Thirty seconds til landing," one of her men warned.

"Alright, stay low and expect hostiles. Maybe, if we're lucky, they'll think the Americans tried to abandon ship and they'll come bring supplies. We need weapons to ensure our survival and that those supplies don't escape. Move it!"

The landing was hardly soft, but that was a good thing too. Scavenging parts would be easier if the life balloon had taken damage. "Take what you can and spread out to take cover," Arianna ordered as they recovered and hastened to obey.
Althalos Fizen (played by EonRising) Topic Starter

Althalos watched as the hot air balloon impacted the ground and crumpled through the 10 inch glass floor panel. The thing wasn't supposed to crumple at all, being a life balloon, but what happened happened.
"Turn us about and fire some machine gun bursts at em as well as one 120mm cannon shell. Try not to kill all of them," he ordered and listened to the satisfactory sound of machine gun fire and one blast as the cannon fired and exploded near the crash site. "Bring us over the carrier. She's about 20 miles south, so order the whole group there."
"Yes sir," the communications officer started relaying orders to the rest of the ships and theirs started moving south.
Arianna (played by PenGryphon2007)

Arianna cursed as shrapnel began flying. "Go for cover!" she yelled, glancing skyward to see the Roosevelt turning towards them.

If only she had some sort of weapon. She fished into a hidden pocket on her skirt and pulled out a pocket watch. Gears turned and clicked, keeping time. No good, it wouldn't work on an airship so high up. And she didn't want to lose the watch either.

She ducked as a spray of shells fired down upon them, forcing her men to scatter in all directions. She glared up at the ship, shaking a fist at it. "I'm not afraid of you!" she yelled, taking cover as another barrage of decidedly unfriendly fire rained down upon them.

"Ugh, we're no good like this. I've gotta find help...or something." She kept an eye to the sky, watching for the Roosevelt's next actions.
Althalos Fizen (played by EonRising) Topic Starter

"What's the body count on the POW's?" Althalos asked.
"Four dead by the cannon round, 2 by the machine guns."
"Alright. Leave the rest. They have no way of surviving the night. Send a message to the nearest Revolutionary outpost giving them the coordinates of the hostiles. They can do as they please."
A few minutes later, he felt the Roosevelt turn to the south, the rest of the fleet already ahead of them and they started moving towards the grounded aircraft carrier.
Arianna (played by PenGryphon2007)

What the Roosevelt couldn't see were the six injured by flying shrapnel or catching a bullet in the leg or arm or shoulder...

Arianna made quick work of forming bandages out of what they had--which wasn't much of anything. But she kept track of where The Roosevelt went. South. She frowned. What was South?

"Grab the wounded, we're gonna follow them."

"What? Are you nuts? We're not going to follow the guys who just tried to kill us."

"Then you want to get captured by whoever they tell to come out our way? They've probably already called for their allies...our only way to remain uncaught is to keep moving. So let's go!" Arianna strode to the South, leaving the rest of her men to decide whether to follow or stay behind. They followed as they were able.

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