Devils Own ( Steampunk and Mystic ) 4.7

4.7

“Damn!” Kassius cursed out when he missed the Scorpion on the ground. He had trailed the trooper vehicle with his machine gun, but when the vehicle made a right turn, he could not get the Beast to move fast enough. It was not the Beast but his lack of training. He was to continue on, but he was shot by a Pegasus that had swooped past his position. He was to return fire, when he saw a dragon had caught on the tail of the Pegasus. The dragon was in tethers in its form, but it summed up an orb of flame. The orb hit the tail of the Pegasus and then swallowed up the flying contraption with flame before it exploded.

Kassius was to curse again, but he sighted the Dozer that was doing some damage on the ground level. He saw the marking there. It was Dozer X and it had another emblem there; the red skull with the blue flame around it. He heard of that Dozer; it was known as the Skull. It was commanded by an experienced tanker and reputed to win all the conflicts it was in.

“Screw ball, Gunner.” Commander Darius shouted at his cannon gunner. “You missed the Stinger there.”

The gunner on the Dozer traversed the gun while the loader locked the breech. He had realigned the gun and was to release the shot when the machine gun bullet from the Stinger ricocheted through the gun slot. He was grazed by the bullet at the left eye and caused him to cry out.

“Damn you!” Commander Darius was upset. Gunner Locke was his best. “Carl, get on the gun. You are the gunner now.”

Locke jumped to the opportunity to be the gunner. It was his aspiration to be one and the main gunner of the Skull. He strapped in and laid his right eyes on the sighting. He saw the Stinger who had took the lucky shot. He lined up the cannon and pulled the lever to fire the cannon.

The shot went wide and landed ahead of the Stinger, but it caused the oncoming vehicle to crash before it overturned.

“Good shot, Locke. But the next one must hit or I would shaft you into the cannon.” The commander told his new gunner off. It was then he sighted another Stinger. “Get the one at three o’clock.”

Locke moved his sight and caught the Stinger on a tangent approach. Its right view was in his sight and the speed was estimated. He adjusted for that and pulled the lever. The projectile hit the Stinger and blew it up. The next thing Locke knew was the left sponson was hit by a Stinger projectile. The explosion blew up the section and took out the loader, but it was controlled by the commander with his fast reaction.

“Yahoo!” Derreen jumped up on her seat but the strap held her down. She had reloaded the projectile onto the sling shot. She had hit the Dozer among the midst of smoke and carnage.

“Lucas, let us move to another one.” Derreen shouted out to him. He was holding himself well on the seat, and picked up another target. He was happy to impress the lady. He pursued the Scorpion. Irina was focusing her gun on a nearby Scorpion that was in firing on a Stinger crew which had taken cover behind some wreck.

Lucas did not see the oncoming shot by the Dozer.

Locke had targeted the Stinger which hit them earlier. The commander had given the order to pursue. He lined up the sight and pulled the lever. He saw the projectile missed the Stinger again, but its shrapnel had struck out. He did not see where the shrapnel struck, but the Stinger had crashed.

Irina climbed out of the wreck and pulled away. She looked back and saw Lucas dead by the side of the vehicle. He must have died in the crash but she could not see Derreen. She looked around and then saw the lady straggling in dragging her left leg. She was thrown off the Stinger when it crashed.

“Hello, Irina. I got this.” Derreen showed the amulet to Irina. “Father gave it to me for my clumsiness, and accidents. I once burned a section of his chamber.”

“We need to find shelter.” Irina grabbed the other and ran for the nearest wreck cover. It was then the Dozer’ guns opened on them.

“Fire at those two, Stefan.” Commander Darius gave the command to his right sponson gunner. The gunner opened up at the two ladies. On the Citadel wall, Kassius was on the Beast; saw the crash of the Stinger. It was Irina and Derreen who was running for cover.

Kassius edged his guns on the Dozer. He targeted the guns at the right sponson and blew it away with his four machine guns. He then focused with the projectile to land it on the front of the Dozer but the war machine had backed off.

“Focus on my shot!” Kassius shouted to the crews to tell the others. They ran off to carry out his order. It was soon added in by the other guns from two more Beasts. The armor of the Beast cracked and the shots were hitting inside the shell. The bullets ricochet soon hit on some stored armory. The explosions tore through the gunner and the commander.

The Skull had perished in the glory of the battle.

But by then Dreadnaughts and Frigates had joined the battle. Their broadside cannons blasted at the Citadel walls. The cannons shot also destroyed a number of Beasts on the platform. There were only two dragons on the sky.

“We are done for.” Irina lay back onto the soft ground behind the wreck. She saw the arrival of the two fleets which had encircled the tower then. Derreen was next to her while holding the wounded leg. The shrapnel had cut into her left thigh just above the knee. It was a flesh wound but she was bleeding.

“I won’t think so. The Beasts are still there.” Derreen replied. “And so is my father.”

Irina counted only half the Beasts are still operable, and one of them was Kassius.

On the platform, Kassius had leveled his guns at the Frigate rigging to the balloons. He was not able to match the firepower of the frigate but he intended to level the odds. His shots shot the rigging cables and then the frigate hull tilted to the side when it lost its rigging cables. With the tilt, the crews were struggling to re-attach the flinging cables, while some tried to secure the items slipping to the side. It also exposed the upper deck to the Beasts’ guns which fired at it.

“I am back.” Kassius muttered to himself when he released the projectile onto the deck. The explosion tore the flooring and more fires broke out. That frigate was going to dive later.

Then the Dreadnaughts came to join the battle. The huge ship fired their broadside and did considerable damages. It looked a defeat was at hand when the klaxon in the tower went off. On the upper section of the tower, openings were seen like narrow windows. They were level or above the fleet dirigibles, and then came the surprise.

More slingshots were seen when it shot the incendiary explosives towards the dirigibles. The projectiles were slung over on the sling shot design, with a lighted fuse. The explosions took off the balloons or rigging, and on some shots, it landed on the decks.

“Fire on the deck.” Third Mate Karl of the Dreadnaught named Michelin II grabbed the hose that was attached to the water pipe, and aimed at the fire. He turned the nozzle to direct the water jet. The water did not douse the fire, but actually spread further with the water. Merlin had changed the incendiary contents and it fed on the particles inside the water.

“It’s not working, Commander.” The deck hand told the Third Mate. “We may need to abandon ship.”

“No one abandon until the Captain said so.” Karl looked to the crews. He then looked to the section where the fire was spreading. It was near to the stern, and further to the right. If he does not douse the fire, it will burn through and there was the armory below deck. He then got an idea. He gave the order.

“Tell the gunner below there to fire at the stern walls.  I want it collapsed outward.” Karl looked back to the fire. “I want to drop the fire before it spread.”

Below Ernie at the stern was the Chief Gunner there. He shook his head at the order, and then re-looked at the stern area. His crews had cleared the armory while the others were preparing to fight the fire when it burned through the flooring. Then Ernie got the idea and gave the instruction.

“Do it.” Ernie shouted out to the gunners. The three gunners looked to their Chief, and then when they saw his glare they moved the cannons towards the stern wall.

“Fire at the wall, lazy bastards.” Ernie shouted once again. The three cannons roared and the projectiles at point blank. The wall was breached and then the gunners aimed at the flooring. The fire had then spread through and found nothing to burn at, but the fire was sucked out by the air currents.

“It’s working.” Ernie shouted out.

“Okay, now tell the Captain we need to turn back.”

Half of the dirigibles sank, including one Dreadnaught.

The Citadel had won once again.