Masters of the Sky

Chapter 6 Fight or Flight

All eyes turned to see who dared to intrude on their moment. Celia only sighed, as she already knew who it was.

"That was such a touching speech!" Hector said, his voice echoing through the cave walls along the stomps of feet in heavy shoes. "What a shame your little plan failed before it even began."

Celia looked at her team. "Get Percy ready to go. We are leaving now."

The main crew of the ship dashed under the deck to start engines, while the rest pulled out the guns and aimed at intruders. With her revolver in hand, Celia jumped off the railing and moved to the other side of the ship to face Hector.

"I suggest you leave and pretend you hadn't seen us. I have working canons here."

Hector scoffed and aimed a massive rifle at her. "And I suggest you drop your weapon and get off my ship. Right now, or it will end bloody."

"Maybe for you." Celia aimed her weapon over Hector and his thug's heads, where the heavy planks and other building materials were stored on the wooden shelves along the walls. With two shots, she weakened supporting beams enough that they broke, sending hefty supplies falling and rolling down the narrow plankway. Hector cursed and had to scramble out of the way. Not all his men had such quick reflexes, and the painful screams filled the cave.

Celia didn't wait to watch it and was already heading towards the helm, shouting orders.

"Get a move on, now! Zed, go and make sure those cannons are manned. I bet we're going to fire a couple if we want to get out of here. Abner, make sure those thugs are not getting close to my ship! Rhody, are those safety clamps taken down?"

"Yes, boss! Percy is free to go as she will!"

"Fantastic." The deck underneath her feet trembled, and the ship slowly started to ascend with a creak of wood and metal.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Hector shouted. The gunshot pierced the air, and the next second the bullet took a chunk of wood from the railing next to Celia. Luckily, the extortionist was much better with his fist than with rifles. "Tim, Josiah! Go and close that gate. Don't let them leave this cave."

"Rust and starvation," Celia cursed. She completely forgot about the gate. Because of the ever-changing level of the seas, Chief fitted most of the entries to their base with heavy brass doors that could be closed to prevent flooding. Unlucky for them, the mechanism operating them was close to where Hector and his thugs were.

She reached the helm and rested her hand on the wooden ship wheel. They were still ascending slowly, but they were already out of time. Celia grabbed the voicepipe and blew the attached whistle. The airpipe ran all the way down to the engine room, enabling easy communication. But because of all the machinery noises inside, she needed a sharp whistle first to announce incoming communication. She didn't have much time, though, so she took out a whistle and shouted, "We need to start the propellers now!"

"But we are not high enough yet!" came a distorted answer from Theo.

"I don't care! If we don't start moving now, they'll close the gate, and we'll be trapped."

Theo cursed but didn't argue more. "On it, boss."

The whole ship trembled when giant propellers started to slowly come to life, the rotors spinning faster with every passing moment. Celia moved the helm slightly to ensure Percy's crawling movement was straight towards the cave opening. The scrapping sound filled the cave when the hull dragged through the dry dock's supporting construction. They should wait to ascend higher, but there was no time.