Chapter 2 Part 3 of 4 (Patreon)

Erik walked onto the bridge of the Cruiser Eagle. Lightly bobbing on its iceberg dock around the water floor’s airship docks. He took in the arrow-shaped room. To the left side were communications and sensors, at the front was flight control, and to the right weapons. Back from the pits was a raised command platform and his target, mirroring the flat arrow design of the room.

“Officer on deck!” Harrod’s voice boomed through the area. The bridge crew rose from their seats in the pits, coming to attention and turning to the starboard door Erik had walked in through.

He returned Harrod’s salute from the command platform and continued on his path.

“At ease, from now on, command your stations no matter if there is a new officer on the deck or not,” Erik said as everyone returned to their seats. Harrod joined him at the command platform.

Erik lowered his voice. “You’re looking rather clean.”

“Stores told me I would have to start paying for my uniforms if I kept using them in my off hours experiments. Delfina secured me some coveralls.” Harrod grinned. “Brilliant things, fire resistant and they have some formations added in for greater protection.”

Harrod was one of Edmond’s earliest friends and the chief innovator for the Sha clans. Since joining with Alva he’d found a place working alongside Taran, Qin, Delfina, and Julilah. While he was a great innovator, there was a reason his body tempering was one of the highest in Alva. He’d been boiled, burned, and beaten up every way physically and magically that a man could. He was a mountain of a man, even larger than Rugrat.

“How we looking?” Erik glanced to the ‘pits’ watching people new to their positions just a few short months ago, now running like a well-oiled machine.

“All stores are in place and ready. I had the crews run checks on all systems, greens across the board. We’re ready to depart.”

“Good, we just finished four days of testing, now we get the real thing to check they remember everything.” Erik raised his voice, sure it would be heard by the crew and passed on faster than he could send out a broadcast.

He moved closer to Harrod so others wouldn’t hear him. “What’s the feel of the crew themselves?”

“Eager. They’ve been training for this for months. We’ve had live fire drills, but this is the first time with a real target.” Harrod’s voice dipped lower, losing some of that eager edge. “They want to get some payback for Vuzgal and the attack on Alva.”

“Do you think it’ll be a problem? I want them focused on their tasks not on revenge.”

“No, there are enough veterans among them to give them an iron spine and show them how to act. They’re channeling that eagerness as professionals. Everything I’ve thrown at them, they’ve completed faster and to a higher standard than in training.”

Erik raised an eyebrow. “I feel like you might adjust their training in the future?”

“Of course, Captain.” Harrod grinned.

“How is the rest of the fleet looking?”

Harrod raised his voice. “Comms, status on the rest of the fleet.”

A young woman turned her seat around. “The Cruiser Reliant, Destroyers Vuzgal, the Tan Xue, Guerre a Mort, Independence, Stalwart, Frigates Boomtown, Spear, Trident, Golden Opportunity, Javelin, Loyalty and Dart all report full readiness, awaiting final crew to return. All Corvettes are fully crewed and ready to deploy.”

“Contact Admiral Dujardin aboard Reliant and inform him we’re ready as well,” Erik said.

“Yes, sir.” She rotated back to her station, reviewing information coming in through her communications personnel.

Erik’s gaze ran across the main screens that took up all three walls. To the left there was a map of the ship broken into compartments. The ship was shaped like a lambda wing with one forward ten centimeter wide, ten meter long three rail cannon turret and two more raised and back, repeated on the underside. Missile hatches lay under the armor of the craft, while rocket nozzles lay in alcoves under and behind the warship with large air scoops built into the frame. Each section, dotted in multiple around the massive warship, engineering, turret operators, missile reloaders was labeled green.

A glance to the middle screen showed a live view from the front of the warship as if they were looking out of the nose, instead of safely entombed at the center of the vessel. The Eagle bobbed on the massive, flattened iceberg she called a landing pad. Other completed ships lay around her. The Destroyers, laid out in the same manner as the Cruisers but smaller. The Frigates festooned with missile hatches and Corvettes with their bomb doors, lighter turrets, and hard mounted railguns in their wings.

The right-most screen showed a map of the area around the Cruiser, the fleet in their berths and the docks where they had been built, filled with ships in different stages of completion, from nearly finished Corvettes to the Battleship behemoths.

“Admiral Dujardin requests we get in the air as soon as possible and to use the King’s Hill Totem,” the communications officer called out.

Erik rested his hand on the dungeon core built into the armrest of his seat. Formations as big as a dinner plate to the size of a small car rotated and turned into position, power flowing through them as the ship’s systems were brought to full readiness.

He activated a formation to carry his voice across the ship. “All personnel brace for lift and teleportation.” He cut the formation. “Helm, make it so.”

All around Eagle, Alva’s fleet engaged their flight formations, creating waves and throwing up water spray.

“Aye aye, sir.”

Tattoos in the metal skin glowed as the Eagle the formations and thrusters pushing its landing pad downwards, creating a divot in the water as it rose vertically.

Erik breathed deep, feeling the power thrumming through the decking, running through the ship like blood through the body. His own mana channels resonated with its power, willing him to bend it to his will.

Ships disappeared all around them as the monstrosity of weapons, armor and wings that was the Eagle retracted its landing gear.

“Teleporting.” Egbert’s voice rang through the ship.

Light surrounded the ship. King’s Hill stretched under the Cruiser as the light dissipated, the Alva fleet now all in position.

Erik’s sound transmission device chirped. “All captains, this is Admiral Dujardin, make weapons ready, teleportation in three minutes. Once we’re through the totem go for rocket acceleration on heading two seven zero. Admiral Dujardin out.”

Each section carried out their tasks with drilled proficiency.

Erik knew that the next time they carried out their tasks they could be in combat. He glanced over King’s Hill, it had grown ever larger, with wood buildings being replaced with magically extruded stone. Its roads widened to support the increased commerce from across the realms. Gathering formations built into towers glowed, focusing and increasing the mana density closer to the heart of the beast mountain range.

He couldn’t see the edge of the Beast Mountain Range, and the farmlands beyond. All part of the Alvan nation.

“Teleporting in ten seconds,” Helm called out.

“All hands brace, brace, brace.” Communications rang through the hull.

The first realm disappeared the twenty-four-warship strong fleet appeared in the seventh realm, above Kriva City.

“Turning on heading two-seven-zero.” Eagle pivoted with the rest of the fleet in a careful dance.

Aerial wings in their Sparrows shot out from the warships, turning away on their heading. The Corvettes, much more agile than the larger ships, moved to support them.

“We are being contacted by the Kriva City officials,” Communications said.

“They’re scrambling warships and aiming weapons,” Sensors said beside her.

Erik noticed the city turrets turning and their barrels elevating.

“Good thing we’re not sticking around long. Weapons, how are we looking for firing solutions?”

“We’re out of range still, sir. Turrets are shifting to pre-planned altitudes and latitudes,” Weapons said.

Erik nodded. “Understood.”

“Accelerating.” Helm’s word kicked as formations turned and power routed through different sections of the ship. Fuel was injected into the rocket engines, creating a cone of force.

“And… we’re flying.” The helm’s sense of wonder made Erik try to hide his grin.

“I read the math, but damn, hearing that they would stay aloft just going forward, I didn’t think it was possible,” Harrod whispered.

“Maintain our position in the formation. Helm, time till we are in weapons range?” Erik called out.

“One minutes for missiles, eight for guns, Captain!”

“Very well, I want the turrets to fire from the bow backwards, offset their timing so we know what they’re hitting.”

“Aye aye, Captain.”

Erik settled into his chair, eyes darting between the different views on the walls. The dungeon core under his hand thrummed with power, mana gathering formations and air scoops working together as they piled on the speed.

Eagle and Reliant were in the middle of the formation. The Eagle forward of Reliant. The Frigates around them interspersed with the Destroyers. The Corvettes and all of their Sparrow wings were broken into five formations with three corvettes at their center, using their smaller mass and greater speeds to surge ahead, gaining distance with every second. He fought to keep his hand from balling into a fist, eyes flicking to the area’s map on the wall.

He turned to Harrod. “How are we looking?”

“Everything is going smoothly. Teams are working well together, like an oiled gear, as you say.”

“Thirty seconds till we’re in range,” Weapons called out.

There was a slowness to the air, a weight between his shoulders as muscles bunched, ready for the pounce, the attack. He ran through plans and thoughts and actions even while knowing that there would only be time to act and react. He’d done it tens, maybe hundreds of times before. He wished that he didn’t know that they were about to get into a fight. He hated the fucking wait.