Sky Pirate Air Ship

The captain gives them a quick tour around the facilities of the
airship. Ben is very excited to finally be back in a flying machine
again. They peruse the lower floor first- including the ultralight
launch hanger and basic crew cabins. They are informed that the
bridge is on this level, but are not allowed to view it.

The top floor contains the mess hall, repair room, armory, crew
cabins, and observation area.

It takes a bit of time for the airship to get up to speed. The
captain mentions it will take about 7 hours to arrive in Junkyard,
provided the weather holds up.

After the tour is complete the members of the posse break out into
separate areas. Ben heads down to the hanger to talk shop with the
pilots and mechanics. Nigel heads to the mess hall with Soria. Ben
decides to stick around and speak with Simon.

Ngiel talks with Soria about the perils of being undead, and freakish
look of the cyborgs that can change their faces. She is not phased-
claiming she has to deal with being a horror show all the time, they
are just getting a bit of self plastic surgery.

Crew Cabin

Hammond’s conversation is short. Simon commends him for his
dedication to duty, but requests to have at least a bit of time to
rest before the big meeting. After all, he will have Biletnikoff
constantly watching over him considering his condition.

Cleibold does ask if he can have any more information regarding the
conference. Mr. Mercer does offer up some of the members attending.
There will be representatives from a group known as the Chamber
(junkers not affiliated with junkyard), Biletnikoff will be in
attendance as a member of the Librarians. The Schismatics, a purple
robed variant of the Cult of Doom will be there as well. Simon
expresses his distrust of the Schismatics, citing their beliefs as not
being all that different from those of the Cult. However, if Taylor
feels that they can contribute, he will go along. There will be some
other smaller organizations, but none of more notable mention.

Hammy expresses his instinct that this whole situation could be a set
up. Simon understands the concern, but points out that as Templars,
they are not above using their enemies as allies- as long as it puts
them in the front line. Sometimes, justice is served when evil
destroys evil.

Mess Hall

Ben returns from the hangar and grabs a quick bite. Hammond arrives
and grabs a bit of dinner as well. The posse returns to the crew
cabin to try and sleep.

Crew Cabin

Nigel takes a few moments to run through his rest cycle, then takes up
guard duty. An hour or so passes. Winnie emerges from the cabin
complaining of being unable to sleep. She starts talking with Nigel,
asking what it is like to be a cyborg. Then she heads off to take a
walk.

The Bridge

One of the 3rd shift crewman is surveying the skies. He is wearing
night vision goggles. Off in the distance he notices a little flicker
of motion. Suddenly there is a squad of Combine Raptors hovering out
from behind a rocky cliff. The sharp eyed crew member spots it,
shouting out a warning to all on deck. They fire off the alarms and
startle the whole ship awake.

The airship manages to start making some evasive maneuvers. The Sky
Pirates launch their own barrage of missile back, hoping to land a hit.
One of the Raptors is hit and crashes to the ground. This alerts the
raptors that their presence is know, and they begin a full on assault.
Unbeknownst to the passengers and crew, a large cargo raptor flies up
above the airship and offloads a squadron of automatons onto the
airship’s “balloon”.

Various areas of the Airship

One of the raptors swing up the site of the ship firing it’s machine
guns. Throughout the observation deck (2nd floor near the cabins)
glass shatters in a steady stream. Nigel sees this and takes a look
into the observation room. He finds that the gunner at the front of
the ship has been killed and hops into the pod to take his place.

Ben scrambles down to the hanger to see if he can assist there. Some
of the pilots have been shot up, so Ben hops in an ultralight and
launches out after the raptors.

Hammond is a bit shaken, so it takes him a moment to determine a plan
of action. He grabs Simon and carries him to the bath/shower area,
assuming the thicker walls may provide some protection. He gets on
the radio trying to coordinate and determine what the hell is
happening.

Nigel manages to place a few bursts from the gun pod into an incoming
raptor. This deals some damage, but does not down the aircraft.

Ben coordinates with the ultralight pilots. Some serve to distract
the raptors while others attempt to get shots off with their high
powered bombs. During this time Ben spies the automatons on the top
of the airship and radios down to the others.

Hammond sees some of the Sky Pirates heading down towards the Mess
Hall. He asks Dennis to keep watch over Simon. Soria and Hammond
gear up and head towards the Mess Hall to join in the fight with the
Sky Pirates. As they come upon the entrance they spy an automaton
tearing through the ceiling of the hall.

In the observation deck, an automaton shoots a hole in the ceiling and
climbs down. Nigel exits the gun pod and spots the automaton. He is
joined by a small squad of Sky Pirates. They manage to take down the
automaton, but suffer some casualties in the process.

Ben shoot down several of the automatons on the hull of the balloon.
He then joins in with the others to try and take out the Raptors.

Hanger Area

One of the Raptors circles around and rams it’s back end into the
hanger. A loading door opens on the back and a squad of automatons
dumps out. They begin mowing down the Sky Pirates. The Raptor frees
itself from the hangar and flies off.

Various areas of the Air Ship

Hammond scores a head shot to the automaton. Unfortunately this kills
it instantly and the explosion injures or kills most of the Sky
Pirates in the hall.

Ben, having exhausted his only bomb, bail from the ultralight and
floats himself into the airship through one of the automaton’s holes.
He rushes to meet back up with the rest of the posse. Nigel also
makes his way to meet with the rest of the crew.

Realizing that the ship is likely lost, the posse plans to abandon it.
They grab Simon and head down to the lower level. Unfortunately the
automatons in the hanger prevent using the ultralights to escape.

Winnie at the hangar door trying to hold off the automatons. The
posse remembers that there are repel ropes on this level. They locate
the ropes and harnesses. Unfortunately there are not enough harnesses
for everyone, and the automatons will need to be slowed to allow time
for Simon to escape.

Dennis and Ben decide to stay aboard, fighting the automatons so that
the others may have a chance to escape.