The impact was as hard as if the ship hit the ground, not the sea. The air filled with people screaming, sounds of wood breaking and splashes of water. Celia lost her grip on Zed and got thrown away. Her body flew for a moment to be harshly pulled by the rope still fastened to her belt, and she hit the deck hard, her head banging on wet wood, and everything got dark for a moment.

More shouts and commotion brought her quickly back, and she slowly opened her eyes, blinking and trying to focus. She could see broken masts and just one balloon floating, barely higher than the main deck. Suddenly the ship skewed to starboard, and Celia slid toward the broken railing. She gasped and grabbed the rope, still securing her to the chimney to stop her descent. She saw the second balloon under the surface of raging waters, utterly devoid of hydrogen. Its heavy metal reinforcement was slowly sinking, pulling Percy with it.

"Cut off the balloon!" Celia shouted, but her voice was so hoarse that it could hardly be heard over the rest of the crew's fearful screams and painful groans. She coughed and yelled again with all her might. "Cut that damned balloon, or it will drag us to the bottom of the sea!"

Not waiting for a response, she grabbed a dagger from her boot and cut the rope keeping her secure. Immediately she started to slide towards the edge of the ship, so she positioned her body the way she hit the remaining railing with her feet. She cried out as her left ankle erupted with a burst of pain, and she almost toppled over the edge. Celia gritted her teeth and regained her balance. She dashed towards the stern, where the balloon was latched to Percy's side.

In the corner of her eye, she spotted some of the crew already in the water, struggling against high waves to keep themselves afloat and crying for help, but now she had to focus on securing Percy. If they ignored the ballon pulling them down, the ship would sink, and even if she saved those people for a moment, they would all drown in the next couple of hours. So, she steeled her breaking heart and ran faster, ignoring the pain in her ankle.

When Celia reached the latching point where the steel rope was securely fastened to the ship, she took out her revolver. A brass enclosure hid the hook to ensure it wouldn't unlatch by accident and could be opened only with a specific set of tools. Celia did not have time to fetch the engineer, so she fired two shots at the thing. It was enough to dislodge the casing and blow off the hook, releasing one side of the ballon. Suddenly relieved of a heavy weight, the stern shot back upwards, forcing Celia to grab the railing to keep herself on the deck.

When the ship found its new balance – now tilted towards the bow where the last latch was connecting the balloon to the starboard, Celia turned to run towards it, but to her relief, she noticed Rhody already worked on it, her many dark braids lashing on the wind like whips. When the last rope was released, Celia was already holding tightly to the railing so she didn't fall when the bow rapidly tilted back upwards. Percy stood tall again, with only slight skew toward the portside where the remaining balloon hung sadly above the waves.

"We have people overboard!" Celia yelled. "Whoever can, grab the ropes and lower down the rowing boat to get them back here!"

The remaining crew was already arranging help for those in the water, and Celia sighed in relief. She was still in awe that they had survived this crash. Most of the crew were beaten and bloodied, but she didn't see any bodies or body parts lying around. Hopefully, most of them made it by some miracle.

She turned her gaze at the ruins of the helm. Sadly, Percy was busted. Even if they averted the catastrophe in the sky, she had no idea they would get anywhere now. They could hope to find an alternative way to steer her, but she assumed the helm, balloons, and the main mast were not the only broken things. And in this very vulnerable state, they would be easy prey for Chief's dogs following their trail.

That was a worry for the next hour or so. First, Celia needed to ensure all her crew was safe and received needed medical attention. Confirming the people overboard were receiving the help, she moved toward the stairs leading under the deck, her heart heavy with worry. But before she reached it, Eugene appeared on the stairs helping Theo, who leaned heavily on him. Blood stained his right tight, and his metal enhancer was gone.

"Theo! Are you all right?!" Celia rushed to his side and wrapped his other arm around her shoulders to help him up the stairs.

"It's nothing. My enhancer got busted, and I had to take it off before it sliced me to the bone."

"That sure sounds like nothing." Celia scoffed, ignoring her ankle pulsating with pain with every step.

"So, care to fill me in on what happened up here?"          

"There were dragons involved."

"Dragons?" Theo and Eugene shouted simultaneously.

As on cue, an ear-piercing roar sounded above them, and a long, coiling shadow fell on Percy.

"Rust and starvation!" Celia cursed. "It's still not done!"

The blue-scaled creature was circling them, high enough to avoid being shot at but ready to dive down and strike them any moment, as if to make sure they would sink.

Celia let go of Theo to grab her revolvers. "Whoever can still stand, grab your weapons! Keep that thing away from Percy, or she won't hold on much longer!" She knew their guns wouldn't hold the monster for long, and the beast was too agile for cannons. But she refused to sit and wait for doom to come down at her.

The dragon roared again and spat out lighting that illuminated the dark sky as if it gave them a warning never to come back up there. A few startled crew members fired at the creature, but it was still too high for bullets to reach it. The beast roared again in annoyance, and its movements became faster and more frantic.

"It's going to come at us any moment! Hold your fire till you can reach it!" Celia ordered, all her muscles painfully tensed. "Don't waste your bullets!"

The creature slowed its pace, its reptile eyes focused on the ship below, aiming when a horrible sound pierced the air. Celia cried out in surprise and raised her hands, still holding the guns, to cover her ears. It was as if a thousand saws scraped at metal, and it was screaming in agony. But if the nose was unpleasant for her, it must have been a hundred times worse for the dragon. Its roar turned into a painful shriek as its head snapped to find the sound's source.

And then Celia saw it too─three huge steamships made their way towards them, the Confederacy red flags flying proudly in the wind. On the bow of the leading ship, Celia spotted two men scraping oblong pipe-like metals together right next to a megaphone turned upward towards the sky that was amplifying the awful sound.

The dragon shrieked again and dived towards a new threat, but the ship's crew was ready for it. Celia watched with her mouth agape as they propped a giant, sleek-looking cannon upwards, angling it towards the sky. But instead of shooting the cannonball, it spat out a pure fire. The creature rapidly turned to the right, barely dodging the burning wave and pulled back up. With a final frustrated screech, the beast flew up and disappeared in the dark clouds.

"Thanks Lady Luck, we are saved!" Abner shouted with relief, fist pumping in the air.

"Not really," Celia contradicted, her eyes never leaving the Confederation ships that divided to surround Percy. "We just fell from one broken platform to another on the brink of collapse."

"What's your order, boss?" asked Zed, appearing at her side. "Shall we fire at them and make a run for it?"

"Yeah, about that," Theo interjected. "Percy is not going anywhere anytime soon."

Celia bit her lips, watching the ships. They were almost upon them, and she saw no way out of this. "What Theo said. Plus, they outman and outgun us. It's three fricking government gunships. We are not risking a fight because we have no chance. We need to try to talk our way out of this. Zed, bring me the vest."

"The vest?" Theo gasped. "That's what you call talking things out?"

Celia shrugged. "If I'm going to negotiate with the government's dogs, I need some solid bargaining chip."

Theo didn't protest further, but his mouth made a thin line, and there was a wrinkle between his brows.

"Lower down your weapons," Celia ordered to the surprised crew. "Let them board Percy, and don't resist. We'll parley for our freedom."

The crew mumbled complaints, their faces marred with frowns and worries. The Confederation ships weren't here to help them. They were pirates, and the government would be happy to seize and hang them. Dropping the weapons and letting that happen was not in their nature. But Celia saw in their eyes that after all the disasters, they still trusted her, so they reluctantly put down their weapons.

Celia watched with a heavy heart as two ships flanked Percy, and their crew threw hooked ropes to bind the vessels together.

"Are you sure about this, boss?" Zed asked, a heavy black leather vest in his hands.

"No, but we don't have another choice, do we?" Celia handed her coat to Theo and let Zed put the new garment on her. She groaned when added substantial weight inflamed the pain in her ankle again. The vest was too big for her, but it wasn't supposed to be fitting or fashionable. She squared her shoulders and put her coat back on to cover it.

Meanwhile, a unit of armed men and women in crisp red uniforms boarded Percy aiming their rifles at the crew.

"Freeze! Hands up, and don't make any unnecessary movements, or we will shoot!"

Celia nodded to her people and raised her hands obediently, letting more soldiers board the ship. When she and the crew were shepherded together with guns aimed at them, a tall man with a captain hat adorned with a scarlet feather walked onto the ship.

He was probably in his late forties; his hair and beard had more silver than natural brown, his face stern and eyes sharp, assessing his prey. His red uniform was decorated with several flashy medals and badged. The pistol at his belt had a well-worn wooden handle, signifying it was heavily used and its owner most likely knew how to use it.

He stopped in front of Percy's crew and glared at them. "Who is the captain of this pathetic ship?"

"Who are you calling pathetic?" growled Celia taking a step forward. "Last I've heard, Percy was the only flying ship of this magnitude."

"Well, she doesn't fly now, does she? You are the captain, I assume?"

Celia raised her chin. "Yes, I am. Captain Celia de Visher."

"Huh, who would have thought we would catch one of the notorious Plunderers' lieutenants," said the man looking her up and down. "I thought you would be taller."

"And I thought a government admiral would be a gentleman," she snarked back. "We no longer serve Plunderers. Besides, who said you caught us? I'm pretty sure it's us who caught you."

The admiral raised a brow, a mocking smile dancing on his lips. "Really? But it's your ship pincered down and your crew at my mercy. I think you should double-check your eyes, miss de Visher."

"It's Captain de Visher," she corrected with a sweet smile and spread her arms wide, letting her coat hang loose and revealing the vest underneath. As it was not fastened, it opened, showing its flaps loaded heavily with explosives tinted red with the crystal's powder. The soldiers surrounding them gasped, and many took an instinctive step back. The admiral's face changed from mocking to furious, making Celia's smile bigger. "I have enough explosives to blow up three of our ships and damage the one you left at the stern. Would you like to check your eyes now, admiral?"

"You're bluffing. You wouldn't sacrifice yourself to blow us up!"

"What alternative do I have? If I let you arrest my crew and me, we will hang anyway. And I can't have that. Collars don't look good on me. See, I have nothing to lose, unlike you."

"I can get you shot before you even think about detonating this thing."

"Can you?" Celia twirled her fingers around a small detonating device that appeared in her hand. "I can push that button pretty fast. Do you want to test it?"

The admiral clenched his fists and narrowed his eyes. Celia felt a cold sweat sliding down her spine. They were at an impasse here, and none wanted to back off, but she held the detonator firmly, ready to push the button. If they were to die today, at least they could go out with a bang.

"Wait! Don't shoot!" A voice called from another ship, and a young man with a mane of blond hair rushed to Percy's deck, avoiding soldiers who tried to hold him back.

"Get back to the Tide Runner, my lord. It's not safe here," barked the admiral, not taking his eyes off Celia.

"Well, that ship is not safe either. The lordling will get caught in an explosion too if you screw it up, admiral," Celia pointed out.

The young man stopped short, and his face paled while he stared at her as if he was looking for something. Celia risked a glance at him. He wore fine clothes─shiny black leather boots, breeches, an expensive-looking vest embroidered with golden thread and a pristine white shirt with a dark green bow tie. The image was completed with a fitted leather trench coat in the same shade of green. The newcomer stared at her with such intensity that she finally turned to face him.

"What are you staring at, lordling?"

The noble suddenly smiled as if he had heard the best news ever. "It is you!"

"My lord?" the admiral asked, clearly equally confused as Celia.

"When I saw this ship flying over our heads, I knew it would be you!" the stranger continued fervently, taking a step towards Celia.

She raised the detonator threateningly. "I have no idea what you are raving about, lordling."

"Yes, you do. I'm sure you remember me too, little fish!"