Re: Chains to the Sky
Aggri Moraa was tired, and sore. Sore from the helioa mines, the rock, although made up of helium, was heavy. Very heavy. From sunrise to sunset, he had worked endlessly among the mines of a ruined city. Every city built after the Great Rebellion was burned to the ground, and only there seemed to be helioa the precious stone.
Sitting around, numerous slaves had staked themselves into posts, the ground, or carts, refusing to work. Beaten, and beaten, they had been and not had they moved. Aggri didn't care. It freed up food in the mess hall, and beds in the barracks. Lately, many of those that had worked were allowed to get four or five cots and make a larger bed out of them.
Already the stench of death surrounded the mines of Algariana. Those that died staked to something, or Algari Ubera, stabbed and then crucified at the entrance to the main mine. Others had been crucified as well, those that lived moaned in pain in front of the mines.
Large and muscular, Aggri didn't care about this equality. He knew as soon as war was launched, the Aira didn't care if you were a slave or freeman, you were drafted into the navy, and sent in against the enemies of the sky.
The Aira were known to call it "Auxilita" after the founder of the war to freedom paper, Auxilta. Knowing the greatest motivator was freedom, Auxilta drafted a paper, saying that any slave who was of strong stature, and well could serve in the navy, and fight for his freedom. That had inspired many a boy to join the navy during the wars, and few came home.
Suddenly appearing, his son, Barris, a boy of thirteen, short and spindly. The work hadn't made him stronger.
"Father, have you heard?" he inquired in a sheep's sigh of a voice?
"What my son, what have you heard?"
"The Aira have launched a suprise war against the Iscalindia!"
"Iscalindia, the harbor city state?"
"Yes father"
Waiting a couple of seconds, he stood looking away
"Freedom", he whispered slowly.
Marcus watched as the disc rose slowly, a new prototype, a military polis. The same size as a regular city, the polis seemed flipped upside down. The copper bubble was facing to the sun, glittering like a jewel. The underside was a jungle of cannons, bomb doors, and turrets.
Marcus couldn't be happier, despite his very solemn face. Iscalindia had been attacked. Near Utopolis, that harbor had always provided Timbri with submarines. Now it had been surrounded, to be tested by the new polis Milespolis. Ordered to take command, Marcus was more than happy to leave and fight against the barbarians below. On the bridge of his flagship Lycurgus, a war airship.
Aira airships had three designs. Transport airships were simple, with a larger bag, and little habitable room, with four engines.
War airships were larger than that, with a box iron hull with two large engines, and two banks of breech loading artillery with a range of two miles, fired straight. The bridge was at the front of the iron hull, with a blast shield for when they enter combat.
Lastly were "Motherships", large airships with a very large bag, and four clamps for the hulls of war airships. Inside, massive loads of helioa rocks to burn for a liter of helium.
Milespolis was innovative, as it could house eight motherships in the hull, along with the accompaning war airships, or sixteen war airships. The Aira were ready for war. Pacing the deck, Marcus was dressed in the knee length blue navy tunic, with a pair of bracae on underneath because of the lack of heat. Descending, his airship would meet the new ship, Marcus waited to meet the Milespolis.
It was like a toy, something new he had not tinkered with. A big boy toy, a manly toy, a war toy. He could envision the terror of the Milespolis over Iscalindia, the fun of bombarding from above. This is what all Aira nobles and leaders enjoyed the most. Being superior, above the rest of the world.
Superiority.
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Re: Chains to the Sky
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