Devils Own ( A Steam Punk and Mystic Tale ) 2.4

2.4

Irina rushed to the mounted binoculars and focused it on the three dirigibles. She looked up and saw the laser that was directed to the ground. It came from the bottom of the center dirigible hull. It was bluish in shade with an occasional flash of yellow streaks. She had heard of such lasers, but they were tested in the labs. The experiment used gas in a tube where a high voltage electric current which travel down the length of the tube. This interaction between the electrons and the atoms of the gas atoms; it become ionized and are excited to a higher energy state. The interaction of moving it from one state to another, a photon light would be generated. The light would interact with other atoms and a chain reaction would take place, with more generation of photon lights. With the use of mirrors, the photon lights would be tuned and resonate one or more colors of light. That light was the basic form of laser. That was in experimental small models, but the one that was on the dirigible was a huge one; the diameter of one yard. It was tearing through anything that it comes into contact with. Even the ground levels were torn off creating a tear in the surface. That larger model needed a lot of energy to power it up. Then she saw the cables that were interlinked with the dirigibles. The three dirigibles were harnessed together in row.  

“They are powering it from the other two ships. I got to stop it.” Irina shouted out. She ran back to the basement and moved to the one place where they held the bikes. There was one there; powered up but the rider was still getting instruction. She side stepped the rider and mounted the bike. The bike roared out leaving the rider protesting but she was already out. She rode on along the runway designed for the bike, before it reached the end of it to a takeoff platform. It was about the distance of three hundred yards tapering upwards gradually. Irina gunned her machine till she got enough power to spread the wings. She then lifted up the front of the bike to soar to the sky. The bike slowly lifted up and then wing spread out to its full extent. It climbed past the roofs of the buildings and then soared to the sky before Irina swerved it towards the dirigible. She always liked to fly but her father had forbidden her for the bike was for only for the riders and assassins. She had her free rides with Kassius, when he was around, but those were few.

Irina saw three other bikes were in the skies with her and they were heading for the dirigibles. The front guns on the carriers saw the bikes and stared firing. Irina pedaled to get the bike faster and did some swerving to avoid the shots. It was not easy with three sets of front guns crisscrossing her forward path. She pushed the bike upwards when some of the shots hit the wings but the wings held up. She climbed the bike up and then hit the upper echelons of the skies. The guns were silent focused on the other bikes, when they could not hit her above the balloons. She saw the frigate had joined the battle with its guns. She could not resist the need to help and turned down. She moved her flame thrower onto the bike front, and went down with a steep dive.

She timed her dive to come beside the frigate on it post side, and then directed the nozzle towards the deck. She pressed the trigger to release the flames. Her streak of flames singed the deck and the sailors there who were focus on the battle on the stern. The flames caught some flammable materials and then it started to spread. The sailors had seen her and stared hurling anything they could get their hands on. The fire soon spread and that took the attention of the sailors.

Irina found her situation precarious and decided to swerve away. She hit the bike downwards, and then hovered below the frigate dirigible. She maintained her height there and used the flame thrower on the wooden hull. The flames burned through and soon the below deck was all lighted up.

She then soared out and pedaled up the bike. She soon was towards the balloons of the trio sets, but the firing towards her was too close for comfort. She pedaled the bike up and soon soared above the trio of dirigibles. He headed towards the middle one and hovered over the top. She unslung the flame thrower again and fired at the balloon surface. The balloons were made of sterner stuff to withstand the stress of the strong winds. Her flames were more intense and cut through the material. She pedaled off from the surface but it was not fast enough. The flames burnt through the surface and then it became a combustion fireball. The bike was thrown upward by the fire but the wings saved Irina. The bike went out of control into a series of spin. The wings had then caught fire and were rendered useless.

Irina fought for control of the bike but she was going down fast. She saw the big billboard, and may cushion her fall. She moved to remove the canister off her back. It came off just before she hit the billboard. It all happened in seconds. The bike hit the billboard just before she jumped off. She still went crashing in after the impact but she reached for anything to hold onto. She managed to grab a torn piece of the billboard canvas and held it while it tore further. The bike crashed into the ground with her hanging over it. She dropped down the height as she was taught. Once she regained on her feet, she heard the explosions. It was over two streets across. She rushed to the main street to see what extend of the damages.

The three dirigibles had gone together with the cables still interlinked. The one of the left exploded before it hit the ground, but the two went down in flames. The explosion leveled two blocks of buildings and created a major fire. It also tore a hole into the basement, and killed some of the recruits. The explosion gave a whiplash of its power on the frigate which was nearby. The frigate had extinguished its fire had steadied its flight path when it was hit by the blast force.

‘Fire them bastards.” The Captain of the Frigate gave the command. The sailors then swiftly went into action, and setup the breech loading cannons. The loaders picked up their metal cartridges loaded with the gunpowder to load it and then the propellant cartridge before they sealed the breech by screwing in the cover. The bombardier was at the rear of the cannon, checked the breech and then leveled the cannon for its shot. The bombardier on getting the all clear from the loaders pulled the trigger to fire the cannons. The cannon roared when the gunpowder lighted up by the flint inside the breech and cartridge out. They were firing the cartridge towards the rooftops. The gunpowder inside the cartridge exploded on impact and brought down chunks of the building.  The explosions blasted at random at the rooftops managed to dislocate the observers, and also the mirrors.