A cannonball careened into the side of the ship, and I tripped as our ship slowly shifted to the left. “Someone activate the stabilizers!” “On it!” I held on tightly to the pole, gritting my teeth as my fingers slipped a cm down. As my feet found steady ground again, I let out a quick sigh and shook my wrists to lessen the ache. “Our wing is damaged! I activated the backup thrusters as a substitute but it won’t last long!” “Okay, yeah that’s fine, totally all good,” I mumbled under my breath. “What if we take out their thrusters? No- no they have way more ammo and ships and people- FUCK ah what do we do?” “Hey! Mr. Strategist aka the only one of us with a PhD aka-“ “I’M THINKING OVER HERE! Why don’t you shu-“ The ship suddenly rocked, and I fell backwards just as a bullet grazed right over my head. Dazed, I sat there for a few moments, barely registering someone coming to my side. “Leo, are you al-“ “I got it!” I whipped around to face her as I dragged her with me to the flight system. “Where are we going, huh?” “Uh- I don’t kn-“ “Exactly! Up ahead is the Nebula Spiralis. If we go through it, we’ll easily be able to loose the Republic and _their 800 gazillion ships_.” I turned to her with a smile, clapping my hands in delight. “You don’t look amused.” Her eyebrows furrow as she stares at me in silence for a few seconds before she looks to the ground and heaves out a big sigh. Then she suddenly slaps me in the face. “Are you stupid! The reason the Republic WON’T be going in is because the winds will rip their ships apart and the rain will destroy their thrusters AND MAKE THEM FALL TO THE GROUND just like OURS will be doing!” Now it’s my turn to look at her in annoyance. “Do you think I’m an idiot. _Oh, no of course I wouldn’t think about that!_ Do you think I chose this specific ship because it was pretty? It’s ugly as hell in fact, but guess what? It’s equipped in a weather protection system because it’s not made for gunning down us escapees. It’s made for hunting.” “Oh, my bad.” She looks away sheepishly, hiding her hand behind her back. _“My bad, _she better feel bad.” I mutter under my breath, mocking her. “Anyways, the weather protection system isn’t perfect by any means but we will be able to make it through. However, to limit the sustained damage, there is a little more to my plan.” “Everything’s ready, Leo!” “Perfect.” I arrogantly laugh to myself as I stand at the front of the ship. “I-“ I bullet zips past my ear. I frown, “Way to interrupt my monologue. Anyways, just fire the catapult.” The ancient catapult creaks under the weight before it springs forward, launching a conglomerate of junk found around the ship. We needed to make sure our ship was as light as possible so it could handle the rainfall. Rika and Atticus are handling the wind situation. If we go fast enough, we may be able to create some sort of pocket around our ship so that the wind will go past us instead of through us. The problem with the vortex is that the wind changes directions quickly so going with the wind won’t really work. However, if we put all our shields on the front of the ship so it’s inpenetrable and then turn the ship to match the wind, it would lessen our damage immensely. The wind would hit the shielded part every time. And then we would use our anchoring system so we stayed in place until the winds came from behind to push us forward. But we would have to know the timing of the change in the winds. Well- I’m not really too sure about any of this. My PhD is in veterinary science after all. Not any of this. But I’ve already decided not to chicken out, so here we go I guess. “Were approaching the Nebulas Signalis! Everyone in positions!” We were runaways, a haphazard group of strangers that decided to steal a sky ship together. Ever since the great war, the few humans left alive have lived in the same small community, imprisoned by the rules of the government. A utopian society where they control your every move: no staying out past 8 pm, no romantic relationships until 25, work 6 days a week, no vacations. We just wanted to see more, wanted to do more, wanted to laugh more. And now we’re doing it. We reached the land I had only discovered after breaking into the government’s vault. The land stretched as far as the eye could see. Trees grew into the skies, leaves of every color delicately touching the blue. And above that, beings that were never in any textbooks. The creatures danced above us in the clouds as we marvelled at the sky. We had not expected to find a world as amazing as this.