The first crash

"I have to put you in the rear ship," Barda said. The Queen turned to look at him. He had forgotten to add the 'your majesty' clause. While this did not matter much especially when they were all alone, the Queen still took note of the fact that he was absent-minded enough to forget it.

Looking at him, she could see a look of worry. Unlike many of the situations Barda had found himself lately, this was one with dire consequences if he failed. It was also one of the biggest risks he had taken thus far.

Barda knew that if worst came to worst, he could still escape alive, but that would mean doom for everyone else. This was not what he wanted. However, given war was a fluid situation, one could not control all the scenarios. He had to trust in his abilities and inventions as well as the abilities of his soldiers.

"I want to fight," The Queen sounded like she was begging rather than commanding.

"If you go down, then all of this would have been for nothing," Barda answered her. "Don't worry, I will also insist on all of Tristan's top guys to accompany you as well."

"They won't like it,"

"Which is why it needs to come from you," Barda answered. His authority seemed to reach the soldiers' level. The top dogs needed a nanny to get them in line.

She did something she hadn't done in a long while. She reached out her hand and took his. Leaning in, their lips met in a warm embrace.

"All the best," Deep down, Lady Maara still believed Barda was doing all this just to win her hand, which moved her greatly. "Kick those b*st*rds b*tts for me!"

As she left, Barda went ahead and gave the signal. An hour ago, he had made a judgment call to have the ships come down and have everyone rest. They were 10 miles away from Tristan. The moment they set off, it would be the final charge into the city.

Barda wanted everyone rested and in fighting shape, this included Lady Arnea. Barda guessed that the biggest threat they would encounter was mostly magic, which is why they had her. After the deckhands and shipbuilders had worked on the ships, the things could practically be steered, negating the need for a wind mage for travel.

For his distribution, Barda ensured anyone with sufficient authority was sent to the rear ship, where the Queen and General Morio took the helm. The soldiers on that ship had only one job, to protect the Queen and the dignitaries.

Barda also made sure to spread out all the key personnel. He and Commander Greer were not on the same ship. He knew that if his ship went down, people would turn to his for leadership.

Since he was in the leading ship, Barda knew he would be the focus of most of the enemy's offense. Which was why he couldn't have the Queen on this ship. That being said, his ship could not go down since that would disrupt the whole operation irreversibly. They were the tip of the spear.

As such, Barda chose 2 top combatants, Lady Arnea and Catalina. Catalina had proven herself both as a commanding officer and as a devoted soldier. Barda also knew she was dying to kill a wyvern, so he decided to give her a chance.

Moreover, everyone in the lead ship understood the risks they were taking. They had to be in their stellar performance or face death. However, these men were more than ready to bring a bitter reckoning to those who invaded their city.

Finally, the ships took to the air in a triangle formation. This way, the ships were spread wide enough to avoid suffering concentrated attacks and at the same time, they could cover more ground. Tristan was indeed a big city.

An eerie silence ensued. They were not in any hurry. Lady Arnea was not using her magic but was busy detecting whether there were any magical signatures. Against the power of Gumina, even she couldn't afford to be careless.

Suddenly, a giant smoldering boulder whacked the capsule attacked to Barda's ship, rocking it violently. However, the kevlar was tough enough that it held. Looking up, Barda saw boulders whacking the capsules of not just his but other ships as well. It seemed Tristan was very ready for them.

They were not yet in the city gates. This group seemed to be sentries posted in anticipation of their arrival. They were trebuchets that had been set up 5 miles off the city walls. The welcoming party.

"Signal the others, we are going higher," As Barda said that, he went over to the coxswain and pushed a level slightly up. Among some of the many advancements that had been made to the design of the ship, one was to centralize the canister release valve controls. That way, there was one central position to handle the altitude.

As a horn blast was sounded, the other ships also did the same, rising above the range of the trebuchets. Now, the boulders would just fall away harmlessly without touching the ships. However, this was a temporary fix.

"Arm the Ballistae!" Barda commanded. The order was relayed to the rest of the ships. While each ship had a captain, they all answered to the central commander. Everyone waited impatiently as the distance closed in.

Barda had done the math. At that altitude, if they were within the range of the attackers' trebuchets, then the enemies would be in the range of their ballistae. Critical seconds passed.

"Fire!" Suddenly, massive bolts were sent off the ships and unto the enemies. Before the enemies could react, they were faced with a heavy rain of ceaseless bolts. Barda had custom-designed the ballistae to be semi-automatic, capable of firing several times without reloading.

Moreover, the ballistae were ordinance-tipped. This time, he had used RDX rather than gunpowder, which packed a considerably bigger punch. The moment the ballista bolts landed, it seemed as if hell was unleashed. Massive explosions followed, obliterating the welcoming party in one move.

***

"D*mn it, it seems they are better than we expected." Commander Dossan lamented. "Lord Hantil, it's all up to you now."

The tall slender man had smiled indifferently, if such a thing is possible, before saying, "I think I'll start by cutting off the head."

***

Watching from the ship, Barda felt a bad feeling. His senses were instantly alerted, but he didn't know where the threat was coming from. Suddenly, he powered up his Fire-Elemental magic and thrust it forward.

At that moment, from the cloud closest to them, lightning had struck at Barda so powerfully that it lingered for at least 2 seconds. Had Barda been any slower, he hated thinking what would happen.

"Seems like someone's got some skills," Lord Hantil was amused, no one wanted an easy opponent.

Suddenly, the clouds all around them were moving mysteriously and very fast. They seemed to be assembling to form a storm.

"My Lord, I believe this storm is magic," Lady Arnea said with a scared look on her face.

"Yeah, thanks for stating the obvious. Any way to stop it?" Barda shouted back over the loud winds.

"I can try and reduce it, but remember wind does not suppress storms, it only antagonizes it further." This was a valuable lesson that she expected anyone with Elemental-Magic training would have been told.

"Do what you can and buy us time," Barda shouted.

"Time for?"

"You'll see," Barda yelled back with a sinister grin.

Lady Arnea didn't have time for 20 questions, and she got to work ay discharging her wind energy to disrupt the storm brewing. However, just as she had anticipated, the mage used the wind energy to revert the clouds and speed up the storm formation.

As the clouds were gathering, Thunder Elemental Energy would coalesce to form a powerful thunderbolt that was sent the ships' way. Some struck the capsules, while others struck people. Travelling at 4 knots, Barda was not sure which he hoped for the most.

While the Kevlar was tough, the lightning was powered by magic, it boiled the exoskeleton. With every strike, Barda calculated 7% Overall defence reduction. The capsules could only take so much.

The only way of fighting at this point was using the sniper rifles. However, the maximum effective range of the light 50 was 2 miles, and they were 4 miles out.

"You've got to be kidding me!" When the storm finished forming, Barda was beyond shocked. He had expected a normal storm, but to his shock, this seemed to be the beginning of a tornado.