NationStates Jolt Archive

The waves were getting bigger now. The Pacific was hungry.

The four islands of the Kingdom of Four Hearts had lived in the ocean for more than a century, but now it appeard that the ocean was to swallow them whole.

The sky was dark. The only light came from the Kingdom's fleet of airships, the pride of Fourhearts, and now it's only means of survival.

The King had ordered the evacuation after learning of the terrible storm that was appoaching. His scientists had poured over the data again and again, but the conclusion was the same. The storm, powered by a warmer than normal ocean, would compleatly eliminate what was left of the four islands.

The Airships were truly unique. While most of the world had given up on the airship as unsafe, the country had perfected them. They could just about anything. They would have too now.

Lighting struck one of the ships as it boarded passengers. Women and childeren screamed, but the airship absorbed the blast.

Aboard the Royal Flagship King's Cross, the King was looking at charts to see where to go from here. They would have to find refuge soon. Luckily, the same wind that would destory his homeland would give them enough of a push to make it to the nearest land mass.

He just hoped that they were freindly

The Prince was worried. This family had waited far too long to leave.

The Prince raced down the island pathway in his small airsail. The wind provided him good speed, but it also meant the storm was coming closer.

Far in the distance he could see a family franticly waving from the top of thier roof. Their house was flooded. They were trapped.

The Prince raced down to pick them up and get them to saftey. It was the 5th rescue today.

He was beat up by the wind, drenched by the rain, and he wasn't even halfway through his patrol.

He was running out of time. The Airships had to be above storm level before the storm hit.

"Sir"


"....Sir!"

The King glanced over to Evo, his most trusted advisor. "Yes, Evo"

"Sir, it's time. If we don't leave now the winds might tear the airships apart"

"Has my son returned?"

"......yes....but he refuses to stay on the ship. He seeks to make another run.."

"Keep him here, he's done all he can do. I understand his feelings though. You might want to send half a dozen gaurds. Knowing my son, he'll resist. "

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"NO! There are still people out there! WE CAN'T LEAVE YET!" The Prince was furious.

"Sir, we must leave n- UGH!" The poor hapless gaurd was knocked out of the way by the angry younger man. A dozen gaurds tackeled the Prince. There were tears in his eyes as he felt the airship lift into the air...

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The Fleet was a thing to behold. 42 Airships had escaped the islands and were now above the strom that was destorying thier homeland. Led by the King's Cross the Fleet was heading towards a land mass east of the islands.

A place called....Texas

The Fleet had been traveling for days.

Airships used to be just one ballon and a cockpit powered by a rotor engine.

The Airships of today used two ballons on ethier side and looked more like naval vessels. The wings that protruded out of the sides of the ballons were hallow and could be filled with air to provide extra lift and could be adjusted to help steer the craft.

To power the vessel wind would pass through the ship turning small wind generator. Fourheart's had particularly advanced technology in this respect and could generate all the power it needed.

The ship could fly through the use of rotors or sails. Despite their ancient design, sails still provided all the speed that was needed consdiering how high up the vessels flew. Thanks to the Gulf Stream, the Fleet was making good time.

Onboard the King's Cross, the King and the Prince were training. It was more like a heated family argument, but it was still swordplay.

The King thrusted, "Why did you knock out Staff Sargent Spade?"

The Prince feinted, "He wouldn't stay out of my way! I still had time to make another run!"

The King struck again, "He was acting under MY orders, We could not put the entire vessel and all 10,000 souls at risk any further"

The Prince blocked, sidesteped, and thrust, "WE HAD TIME!"

The King parried, "That's still no excuse to knock out a loyal soldier! The storm was getting worse, The Banner took a direct hit by lighting!"

The Prince continued to strike, "I could have saved more"

The King suddendly struck hard upward, knocking out the Prince's sword.

"You will apoligize to SSG Spade."

The Prince hung his head. "Yes sir"

"In the meantime", the King continued, "You will take command of the Queens Cross. Your actions in the storm resulted in the rescue of 45 familes at great risk to yourself. You have shown you are worthy of command. You're first mission will be that of diplomacy."

The Prince looked a bit awestruck. "Diplomacy sir?, Shouldn't I be out there helping to build our new home?"

"Our new neighbors are the key to our surviaval. We need food, trade, commerce. We'll never make it if we don't establish diplomatic realations with Texas. I understand you want to help re-build, but this is more important!"

The Prince sighed, "Yes sir"

The conversation was broken when the ship's first officer came rushing to the King.

"SIR! Scouts aboard the Paladin, report a small vessel in the water. It appears to be a fishing boat."

"Good! We're near land. You better get going son."

The Prince hopped into the Airsail and flew aboard the Queen's Cross. Granted, not many people would do this stunt so high in the air, but it was nothing to the Prince.

Once aboard he was greeted by an old freind and mentor. Peg.

"DRAKE! Is it ye lad? By the winds you've grown! How the bloody hell have you been lad!? It's been AGES!"

Normally, nobody talked to the Prince this way. However, Peg (Rear Admiral Peg) was a freind of the family. While most royalty gets pampered growing up, the Heart Family sent Drake to serve under Peg's command when he was 13. He started out as a cabin boy. As per tradition, nobody knew that Drake was the Crown Prince. Peg rode Drake hard, but because of this Drake turned out tough and a damn fine sword fighter.

Peg was a lot older now and more pirate than Admiral, but Drake had a fondness for him.

"Well, Drake, isn't this something. You start out as Cabin Boy and now you're the Commander! And as good a Airsalior as they come too! That was some crazy trip you took from The King's Cross!"

The Prince, now turing slightly red, "PEG! I...I mean..Admiral. Prepare the ship for landing. We're diplomats now, so be sure all flags are flying and the guns tucked away as not to upset anyone. Prepare a squadron of Airsails to accompany me in asking permission to enter the Texas Territories"

The Queen's Cross was the fastest ship in the fleet. Why this was so is unknown as it was built the same way as the other airships. Their were rumors of course, but Drake knew from experiance that the ship's engineer, Bradley, had made some major modifications to it.

The ship left the main force to scout for a place to land the ships. The Prince had already sent messages to the capital asking permission to land the vessels. He was still waiting for a reply, but making good time to shore.

A young shipman came running into the bridge. "SIR!" He saluted.

"At ease!", Peg exlaimed. "What's up?"

"Sir, you're not going to belive this, but the tower has spotted land!"

"Well that's no suprise! Don't make me-"

"There seems to be a pack of....ummm....I don't know what they are but they're holding up a big sign that says "Welcome to Texas!"

Peg looked at the Prince with a raised eyebrow, "I guess we're ok to settle here then"

The Prince nodded, "Let's go take a look then."

The Prince and a dozen other airsails dove out from the Queen's Cross all heading earthward.

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The Prince was looking at the notes. "Highly trained....armadillos?"

The men seemed to just absolutly love the "fajitas" He tried one. These were....wow. Apparently, Texans knew how to eat. Along with the paperwork was a map of the region and several messages from well wishers including an offer to send over 10,000 pounds of 'brisket.' Most important was a message from Big Tex, granting permission to settle here (and a big Texas welcome).

He looked over the maps. The territory they were in was uninhabited. The Prince started to look around. He had never founded a city before. Glancing at the maps, he saw an area that had a bay, good access to the coast and was close to some forestry.

He rounded up the boys, loaded up the food, and sailed back up to the Queen's Cross.

Drake had his crew in formation as the Fleet approched from skyward. He had decided to call the new town, Julia, after his mother. His mother had passed away long before, and Drake felt it was a good choice.

The smaller fishing type ships landed first. The fisherman quickly glanced out to the bay and talked about what kinda catches they'd get there. The larger ships took more time, as the air from the ballons was compressed and turned into liquid allowing the huge craft to sink gracefully to the ground. Drake had them land in a circle. He'd let his father's flagship land in the center to act as town hall.

He started to walk around and inspect the various ships. They were a little worse for wear, but they'd make it. There were injuries, and some sick, but it seemed they'd be ok.

Then, the King's Cross, the largest airship of them all landed gracefully into the center of Julia.

The Evacuation of Four Hearts was complete.

(OCC: End of thread, OCC comments welcome)