NationStates Jolt Archive

Captain Rodgers gazed in wonder at the bridge of his ship. It never ceased to amaze him how wonderfully everything worked. His men did all the work quite easily, and never hesitated. The navigator was deep in thought, the pilot steered the ship quite easily, and various instruments were being checked and re-checked. After all, the Pangaea was the largest airship in all of Florencia...perhaps even in all of Lunia.
“Sir! I didn’t even see you come in.”
“It’s alright lad. What’s our current speed?”
“107 miles per hour sir.”
“Excellent. Maintain course to the ‘empire’ of the Drak. George, any messages from Florencia?” The scrawny man put down his headphones and rapped a pencil against his desk.
“No sir. Nothing. Sir....permission to ask a ques-“
“George, you know how I feel about that. What if we get attacked and you carry on with such...academy procedures. On my airship, niceties are unnecessary.”
“Yes sir. I just want to know...what are we doing? Why are we going to cross into Drak airspace?”
“Well as much as I’d like to tell you boys,” a sigh of disappointment escaped from the crew, “ I would prefer to wait until we are out of Gist-Tor airspace. Piracy has become more common since their king was deposed.” Silence fell over the crew assembled. Gist-Tor had once been the most powerful nation, even more so then the Drak. But once they rebelled against their king, they abolished their military. Now Gist-Tor officers and enlisted men were reduced to pirates.
Suddenly a voice rang out from the radio. “Cap’n!” Captain Rodgers rushed over to the Communication Room.. He grabbed the microphone and answered back.
“Yes?”
“This is Dimitri, on the top observation bubble. I have spotted one small airship, D-class. Closing in, about 60 feet above us. Sending photo now!” A vacuum tube dropped down. Captain Rodgers pulled out the rolled paper and looked carefully(http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/5858/laputa-tigermoth.gif). “Sir, they look like pirates!” The entire crew seemed to stop, although if Rodgers was worried, he never looked it.
“Get the mega-phoner ready.”
“Aye-aye sir!”
“Volume up to 11 please.”
“Yes sir.”
“Ahem. Attention unidentified airship. This is the Florencian airship Pangaea. Please identify yourself, or we will be forced to engage. I remind you piracy is a crime.” One of the newer additions to the crew lodged a question. “Sir...what happens if we engage?” The captain laughed.
“My dear boy, need I remind you the Pangaea is the newest battle airship in the army. We have a crew of 360 and the awesome firepower of four cannons on each side in addition to over 20 machine guns! Pangaea carries 3 fighter planes beneath her belly. AND we are over 312 feet in length, 82 feet in height, and 84 feet in width, yet she can still fly with the maximum speed of 181mph. With cruise speed at 107mph, she can fly more than 16000 miles!”
“Uh sir...you left the mega-phoner on.”
“Oh...” The radio began to crackle again.
“Sir! The ship is moving away! You scared it off!”
Captain Rodgers smiled and switched off the mega-phoner. He put his hand in his coat, much like Napoleon and replied “Well, I am the captain after all.”

EDIT: Map of Lunia: http://img309.imageshack.us/img309/1363/map21rc.png
The Captain:http://www.filrobb.com/ArtWork/Nox/nx07_airshipcapt.jpg

Charles Rodrick awoke to the bickering of his crew. He rubbed his eyes, muttered a curse and left his cabin. As he made his way to the bridge of his airship he threw on his coat and readjusted his eyepatch. He entered the bridge to find his firstmate and secondmate arguing.
"...ran away!"
"We didn't run away! That thing would have destroyed us!"
"Gentlemen! Whats 'is I be hearin bout runnin away?" The firstmates eyes shot to the floor.
"I'm sorry sir, but you said not to wake you...and there was an airship...and-"
"AND WHAT?" Charles' face was getting red.
"The aiship was too powerfull sir...it was 312 feet in length...it was a very heavy Florencian airship sir."
"Lad, cumere will ye?"
"Yes sir-" Charles whipped out a pistol and shot the firstmate square between the eyes. He dropped like a wet rag, and yet nobody flinched. Charles hosltered his pistol and began to bark his orders.
"Alright lads! She should still be at crusing speed, so lets catch 'er. Ready the Ravens, and get us to about 21,000 feet! And Bobby!" A small man peeked from behind a corner.
"Yes?"
"Put my favorite record on."
"Aye aye." The small man grabbed a record from a box and put it on the record player. It was a song from the Opera Wars of the Star, titled Imperial March...


Whittly & Douglas M210 Raven stats:http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/7328/map21cz.png

"There she is boys! The border into the Empire of the Drak." The crew looked at the windows of the control cabin. Even mechanics stopped for a few seconds, to look out their windows. Various towers and a large wall clearly outlined the border. The Drak were expecting the airship, and let it pass. Although the Pangaea could have easily flown over the wall, which was a mere 80 feet high, planes were always on guard for threats. At 40,000 feet the waving Draks were but ants, but still they waved back.
"Excellent work men." Captain Rodrick smiled. "Now, if you must know, I can tell you of our mission."

The pilot and communications officer kept their ears in the direction of the captain, while the others gathered around. The mega-phoner was brought down so that the other crew could hear as well. "My dear crew. We have served together on the now retired Bismark, and are getting use to Pangaea. Already however, I can tell she is a fine ship, mild tempered and forgiving. So, even though I have been briefed to keep our mission from you, I shall tell you. You handle this craft so well, that I dare say the end of the world could not shake you."

"The Drak have come under heightened attacks from dark side tribes-or darkies as those more familiar with them refer to them-and wish to seek Florencia's help. We, along with the Feniris carrier Creeping Doom will strike out on a campaign against the dark side of Lunia, in hoped of breaking up an alliance of tribes. This campaign could take a year...but you will all receive a parade on our return!" Yells of "Hurrah!" echoed through the Pangaea. Men went back to work, now more diligent then ever. Except for the communications officer. He slammed his fist on his desk and grumbled.
"Why do those Drak bastards need our help? The Czar damn crazy...bringing our best airship for their use...Kaiser must be off 'is rocker."

Captain Rodgers payed no heed to the man. Instead he stood over the pilot and watched his course. The lad needs a little faith in his government, he thought, he's lucky I'm the captain, otherwise he could be jailed for anarchism...