Airship

Note: There are little speaking parts in this draft (I will add them in later)
Main Character- Leeak, 16 years old, 5ft 4, grayish blonde hair, golden blue eyes (slightly glow in the dark), inventive, creative, smart, and likes to build steam machines.
Keep in mind this is a story version of a sequence of events more detail will be added.

The airship was hit and was nose-diving. The bridge was on fire and flames licked the controls. He tried to get out but fire blocked his path. He looked out the window as the airship broke through the clouds and saw the cold hard ground rush up to meet him.

Leeak woke up screaming covered in sweat. He looked at his clock and saw it was almost 3:25. He laid back down and tried to calm himself. He looked out his window and saw the clouds below him and the stars in the sky with the moon shinning in the sky. Out of nowhere a Baromatist balloon came up from the clouds. He saw "Tundra" on it's side. It shimmered in the moonlight as it revolved around it's rotating axis. He laid back down and closed his eyes while taking deep breaths, and listening to the quiet hum of the engines. Looking at the clock, he listened to its rhythmic ticks. He had built the clock when he was seven. He remembered messing around with his mother’s [???] and ended up taking it apart without being able to fix it. So to make his mother happy he used the pieces to make a clock. So he closed his eyes and slept.

He remembered a girl from The Airship Academy. Her name was Fallacy. She was no older than 16 with reddish-brown hair with one blue eye one green that shown with a strange glint. She was in some of his classes in The Airship Academy. She always got A's on all tests, and yet when he tried, he only got B's. She was nice and funny for the short time he knew her. She said she wanted to be a Baromatist, unlike her father who was a sky merchant. She was in his senior class. They rarely knew each other but seeing the Baromatist balloon outside made him think of her. But on that very balloon there was a person by the name of Fallacy.

She had always wanted to be a Baromatist while her father fully agreed and encouraged her to pursue her dream. She had always wanted to go up into the sky. A Baromatist balloon is a weather balloon filled with Hydrictum that can hold one to two people. They sent weather readings back to the city that they are tethered to for weather reports. They were first only used for the U.S. Aeronautics, but then a law passed that civilians with a permit could have one. They have an outward motor but are use just to stay on course. Although sometimes the tether line could snap and they would drift away.

When he woke he got ready and walked down the hallway but seeing Richard he took a detour. The engines grew louder as the airship crested the hill. They had just received word that the diggers were nearing their location. He looked out the window and saw the Aero planes flying in formation and saw the destroyers heading toward the fortress. The mission that he was informed on was going as planned. Looking towards the fortress he saw something rising from behind it. It was another airship but it wasn't their own. The flags and insignias were different. This airship must be eleckrical because of it’s size and lack of smoke stacks like the Discord has.

Alarms started wailing, the metal clanking of footsteps were heading to the artillery section. Leeak walked to the bridge and looked through the binoculars. It definitely wasn't their own. The captain started giving orders to arm the turrets and aim at the approaching airship. Suddenly a boom was heard and a bright flash was seen through the binoculars and he went blind for a second. When he looked out, one of the aero planes had caught fire. It flew for a short distance before spiraling into the clouds.

Suddenly all the guns started firing. The sound was deafening and his ears started ringing. Outside aero planes broke formation and started firing at the airship. The firing ceased as the airship went along the starboard side. It was so close the engines shook the cabin and they saw the name: Dragix imprinted on its side. Then the airship started firing. Shells shot in and out of the Discord as it passed.

He saw bomb doors open and bombs slowly fall out. One of the diggers that had just resurfaced was struck by a bomb and the shockwave shook the cabin. The Discord slowly rose to escape the fire. The turrets slowly turned and fired which rocked the airship. Just then a wave of shells hit.

Glass shattered, the floor bent and the control panels blew their circuits. He was thrown back and hit the wall. One of the aero planes flew straight into the steam engines causing them to rupture. The propellers slowly stopped and the fire inside the airship caused the Hydrictum tanks to burst and the airship slowly started to nosedive. He slid foreword with other objects on the bridge. Looking through the window and he suddenly thought this is it before going unconscious and the airship dropped through the clouds and headed straight for the cold hard ground.

A mechanical groan and shrieking of metal filled the air as the Discord crashed. He opened his eyes and the cabin was on fire. Fire licked the walls (or what was left of them) and it was like a nightmare. He started crawling out of the bridge when it collapsed. Leeak struggled out of the flaming mass of metal just as an aero plane fell to the ground a couple feet from him. The earth trembled and the ground exploded as one of the diggers resurfaced. The crew of the digger came and ran to the wreckage to find any survivors. When all the survivors gathered 216 crew members out of the original 537 survived. The captain held a moment of silence. After inspecting the wreckage the steam engines, propellers, and turrets weren't damaged but the overall damage was bad. Three aero planes and one digger was all that remained.

Suddenly sounds of engines were nearing just as bright spotlights that were slowly growing brighter as the airship descended through the clouds. The beams swept across the wreckage. The crew hid inside the gnarled insides of the ship. When they were satisfied there were no survivors the airship ascended into the clouds. The crew came out and started to regroup when the sound of mechanical clinking and hissing of steam was heard. In the dim light they saw moving shapes coming closer. He heard something scrape the ground behind him. Turning around something approach him and scuttle back and forth. It was a steam creature. It had a pair of golden glowing eyes, four blades as legs, but no taller than his knee. A cold shiver went down his spine when he realized what this creature was.

This creature was a creation of a Steamonic. A Steamonic was a master craftsman who could make a steam creature and as some say, give it life. These steam creatures didn't need to replace its water or fuel to power itself. But whatever you put into it when you create it is what it will run on. But if you hit a vital "artery” it will stop and also as some people say they will "die". But they can be made to do the deeds of the creator or another master under certain circumstances. But this one looked like it was confused it was going back and forth looking at everything with its golden glowing eyes. It slowly came forward and he kept still, it cautiously came up and rubbed against his leg and made a series of high and low clicks. He guessed it must be their language. Then out of nowhere a dozen of them came in to view, looking just like the one at his feet but bigger about waist high.

They peered at the crew for a while, and then they moved in. They crawled everywhere they started attacking the men and in turn the men did the same. On these particular creatures the weak point was in the tubes that connected the boiler to the rest of the body. So in a couple of minutes they were destroyed or scuttled away. Walking towards the airship for a second time something brushed against his leg. Looking down he saw the small steam creature. This one seemed different than the others. Besides its size, it acted more "alive". It rubbed against his leg like a cat would. This one had a lot of feelings when it was created for it to act like this he thought. When he started heading back to the airship the steam creature would follow and wouldn't leave. He burst out running and hid behind a piece of wreckage hoping to lose it.

Unfortunately he did not; the steam creature looked for him and around the other pieces of wreckage and eventually found him. Heading back to the airship (or what was left of it). The steam creature would not leave. The Captain wouldn't like this he thought. He walked toward a group that included three navigators and some of the senior crew. When he arrived they were discussing what to do about the airship. "What do you got there Leeak?" said Richard. Leeak didn't really like Richard which was one of the many reasons he ignored the senior crew. Richard had always taunted him about his hair or changing eye color due to his mood. So he would always want to make him mad to see his eyes turn red. So when he walked up to the group the creature hid behind his leg like a scared child would. "Nothing that concerns you" Leeak retorted. “Maybe it does" he spat back. Leeak not wanting to get into a fight, slowly turned around and walked away while hearing taunts directed toward him. The ground slightly trembled under his feet, then he saw them on the horizon. They were giant walking machines about thirty feet tall with claws for hands. They haven't seen them yet, but they were approaching.