Bronze Valve brought the new wings onto the bridge. This was the last place of the tour. 23 Ensigns, fresh out of Basic Training and then Officer School. They were doing their practicum on the Buttercup.

And then there was Sunny Swirl. She had been promoted on schedule to First Lieutenant. That was soon after she had been at the Squad Barracks, serving as Vice Admiral Breezy Sky’s assistant. She had also served a short time with Vice Admiral Purple Breeze to help jump start her in her new role. She was critical to the smooth change. For all of her critical work, she proved to be more of an asset than a First Lieutenant, and had been promoted to Lieutenant Commander. And now she was finally on a bridge to be an officer, but just as new to it as the others.

Bronze Valve was almost done covering the each piece of equipment on the bridge when he heard clamoring down the hall. Deke, Little and Ruby Snow were in a conference of some kind with an unknown arrival time. The only ponies who came down that hall without calling over the com first was officers. The officer quarters were along the hall that lead to the bridge.

Bronze Valve readied himself. As the pony scrambled in he gave the order.

“Captain on deck!”

Every single new wing snapped to attention.

“Oh, its just you,” Bronze Valve said as Deke careened in and dashed to his corner.

“Ignore me,” Deke said, rushed and distracted. “I’m not here. Officially. I need multiple screen. One terminal wasn’t cutting it. Fuckers.”

Bronze Valve took a deep breath in, turning back to the new wings. “I have no idea what he is doing. We will do proper introduction soon enough.”

Little silently jumped into the bridge.

“Captain on deck!” Bronze Valve order, snapping everypony to attention.

“What the fuck Deke!” Little shouted, ignore the others. “You can’t just get up and bolt out of a meeting like that! And then go halfway across Nellie Air Force Base to the ship you are posted on!”

“I needed more screens,” Deke shot back, not looking up. “Nowhere else has what I need! I have to prove me telling him to fuck off is right. Give me 40 minutes. I swear, I will be back by then.”

“I’m not sure we can hold that long!”

“Show them that lightning you have,” Deke said waving her off with wing. “I need to do this. I can’t look at multiple reports at once with one fucking screen.”

“Alright,” Little growled. “40 minutes. If you are late, you are toast.”

“As long as they have butter, I’m good.”

“Fuck you,” Little spat, leaving.

Bronze Valve sighed, unsure what to do with this interruption. The Com line beeped.

“CV-001, This is tower. I am relaying a message.”

Bronze Valve opened the channel. “This is Chief Warrant Officer Bronze Valve on CV-001, what is the message?”

“I’m quoting this. ‘What the fuck is going on?’”

Deke was paying attention enough to shout his response. “Tell them to fuck off! I am checking to make sure they don’t fuck us over. Tell them to trust me like normal. I needed multiple screens to sort all of this shit out.”

“Roger that. Tower out.”

Bronze Valve shook his head. “You are going to lose a stripe.”

Deke chuckled. “If I am wrong, yeah. But I’m never wrong.”

Deke opened and then slammed a drawer under his terminals.

“Where is my paper and pens?” Deke demanded.

“I don’t know,” Bronze Valve calmly replied. “I wasn’t here when they redid the bridge.”

“No, I got those back,” Deke said, rifling through another drawer. “And put them in that drawer.”

“Aha!” Deke shouted jumping up. “I was at Navigation last!”

Deke jumped through the new boots to get at the drawer under the Navigation terminal.

“I was calculating if we would roll or skip first on extreme turns. We had some great maneuvers going on two days ago.”

“And?” Bronze Valve asked, forgetting about the new wings around him. This was an exciting thing. None of them had calculated that.

Deke chuckled. “We will be fucked. Its a skip and then when we hit, we will roll in the direction we lost control at. We won’t roll into the turn. And it will tear this ship apart. That’s isassuming if we are over 40% on our speed.”

“We are always over 40%,” Bronze Valve shot back.

“Exactly,” Deke smiled as he got back to work.

Bronze Valve recovered, figuring out how to proceed with the new wings. “I know we discussed that the Buttercup is for patrolling, her speeds and such. We have to watch out. This design comes with less mass. Our roll factor is high. Our skip factor is higher.”

“Motherfuckers!” Deke exclaimed. “They are going to get us killed!”

Deke scrambled to pack all of the papers into a file folder and jumped over the center console. He was gone as fast as he came.

Bronze Valve sighed. “I have no idea where I was. Obviously we operate a bit differently. Our missions require it. And so do our officers. But they are top notch for a reason. And a lot of jokes get thrown around.”

“Is he actually going to lose a rank?” Ensign White Snow asked.

“We joke about it,” Bronze Valve replied. “He started the jokes about it. No, he won’t. It doesn’t matter what meeting they are in, he won’t. Because he was right about one thing. He is never wrong. If Deke puts his hoof down, he can back it up. Even if it means walking out on an important meeting to prove it. I have no idea what he is up to.”

Bronze Valve finished up and let them go. They just had to stay on the ship for the meeting so they could be right on hoof for introductions and appointments. Their Captain and First Officer had to meet them before they were put in charge of stations. They had to assign them stations.They probably would be launching soon after assignments were given out.

Deke got back to the stalled meeting. Admiral Ruby Snow, Captain Little, Vice Admiral Purple Breeze and several other captains were in attendance. The Chief Meteorologist of the Science Department had called the meeting and had a group of his own.

Deke dropped the folder on the table. “That’s why. We can’t handle the storm. You fucked up making it. We don’t have the mass to be that close for an escort. Learn how Cloudships function.And don’t make the storms so big that you piss off the ponies you put in the way.”

“I know how Cloudships function. You don’t get to be an Admiral and Chief Meteorologist without knowing that.”

“Then why?” Deke growled. “Am I doing your job?”

The Chief Meteorologist picked up Deke’s calculation.

“You have too much atmospheric change. The dew point is off. Same with the atmospheric pressure. You think you know what you are talking about, but your schooling, you never went to a science school. You never learned it correctly.”

Deke leaned on the table, getting face to face with the Chief Meteorologist. “No, I did not. But, you don’t need to go to some fancy school in order to learn this shit. Your blind reliance on those schools is just that, blind. We would not be riding the storm, we would be escorting it. Its a completely different game.”

“So, let me reiterate. Your reliance on a single program to teach something doesn’t automatically disqualify any other program. I can learn the same shit you had to learn. And I have.”

Deke leaned in a bit closer. “Fuck. OFF!”

Deke pushed off the table as Ruby Snow asked for a summary.

“The side bands will roll us. They can’t keep the storm contained enough to not have radiating fronts that will slam into us. Its deadly if we try and escort it. That goes for all classes. Even the Thunderheads and Monitor would have trouble staying steady as the waves bashed into them.”

“Guns will get damages and torn from their placements. That is at minimum for the damage. It doesn’t account for tossing the crew around, things breaking loose and other flying shit. And that isn’t even touching on the perception of the citizens. Ships escorting a powerful storm will cause problems.”

“I believe you,” Vice Admiral Purple Breeze stated. “No Cloudships from the Second Fleet will be released to escort that nightmarish storm.”

“The Third is standing with Commander Deke,” Ruby Snow declared. “Kindly fuck off.”

The Chief Meteorologist growled at Deke. “If any of the weather crews are injured because of this-”

“Its on your head!” Deke shot back, cutting him off. “I didn’t make the storm. The Weather Factory going to shit isn’t because of me. That’s not something I am involved in, or ever have been involved in. Tell them to fix it.”

“The storm is already built,” The Chief Meteorologist stated. “Nothing we can do.”

“You mean nothing you want to do,” Deke corrected him. “You would rather unleash it than properly dispose of it because unleashing it is faster and less hassle. If I know how to fix it, you can figure it out too.”

“Please Leave,” Ruby Snow kindly said. “You have our answer.”

“I’m writing a formal complaint!” The Chief Meteorologist warned Deke.

“Good,” Deke smirked. “We need some more reading material to laugh at. While you are writing it, why don’t you actually enroll in Basic Training and earn those Admiral Stars.”

The room was silent. Deke had just gone further than any of them expected. It was a personal attack. Deke never went after the individual, always the logic or facts. Tangible aspects. He never stooped so low. The Chief Meteorologist had hit a personal nerve.

The Chief Meteorologist stepped back from the table and straightened his uniform, looking as tall as he could. He calmly departed, with the other meteorologists quietly in tow.

Deke turned around to find himself face to face with a dangerously angry Little. She pushed him hard onto the table, pinning him on it. His back was arched as much as possible. It was easy for her to pin him.

“I have never pushed the topic,” Little growled. “But now I have to ask. Where the fuck did you come from?”

“I don’t have to answer that,” Deke growled back. “I have proven my worth. That is what matters.”

“Worth!” Little spat. “You now have a high ranking admiral gunning for you. Basic Training or not, he is an admiral. I don’t know if I can project you. If any of us can. You would be a shitty Second Lieutenant if it wasn’t for Ruby. If you would even be an officer. Where did you come from?”

“Let it go,” Ruby Snow ordered it Little. “It doesn’t matter.”

Little kept Deke on the table, but glared with everything she had at Ruby Snow.

“Let him go,” Ruby Snow said again.

Little gave one last shove and let Deke go. “I’m getting a hold of your record. I deserve to know as your Captain.”

“It’s redacted,” Ruby Snow stated.

“You redacted it?” Little asked, shocked, but still very angry.

“No,” Ruby Snow chuckled. “I don’t have that power. But his backing, well it was impressive. At least one General backed him. But most of it was blacked out.”

“No military background?” Little spat.

“Do I need it?” Deke growled. “If you say yes, I will have you removed from your chair, even if it means ruining my career.”

“You wouldn't dare try,” Little growled.

“Guys!” Vice Admiral Purple Breeze shouted. “You said you could work together!”

They ignored her.

“Yours must be pretty thin,” Deke spat. “Or did you forget that ADMIRAL Ruby Snow has none.”

Ruby Snow groaned. “Let them do it. They are going to have to get it out now that its been opened.”

“The Admiral doesn’t give a shit about backgrounds,” Deke continued. “He looks at potential and skill. I have it. You have it. We know he has it. The Ensigns we just took on no doubt have it. You have to believe in them and say fuck it to blood.”

“How do you know weather so well?” Little asked, not giving up yet.

Deke sighed a growl. “I took the time to learn. As a hobby. Because I decided to care.”

“And you didn’t go to school for it?” Little pressed.

“I was a year or two too late,” Deke hissed. “And even if I got in, I didn’t care that much. I don’t want a career in weather. I just enjoy it. A hobby.”

“You don’t have hobbies,” Little shot back. “It always means something to you.”

“So?” Deke growled. “A hobby should mean something. Or else its not fun!”

A nasty grin came over Little’s face. “Little is a nickname. I don’t hide that my name is Lightning. What kind of name is Deke?”

“I go by Deke, and Deke is all that matters. I. AM. DEKE!”

The two of them stared at each other, anger billowing over.

“Well Lightning?” Deke asked a minute later. “Care to divulge your background?”

“Fuck you!” Little snorted.

Little walked out without a word. Deke sat on the table, facing everypony else. His entire demeanor was lighter, like the argument hadn’t happened.

“The First Mate is still here. And the Admiral is still using the Buttercup as his flagship. This started as a discussion about the Second Fleet Seventh Task Force and the Third Fleet getting together to work on some things with the Aerial Combat Units. Before we were interrupted.”

“Commander,” Purple Breeze said. “Can you handle three ships?”

“Which would I be on?” Deke asked.

“The Raptor Derecho.” Vice Admiral Purple Breeze smiled. “Plus two Sky-tanks.”

“Derecho?” Deke asked, raising an eyebrow. “What kind of name is that?”

“I’m surprised,” Purple Breeze batted back. “Its a weather formation. Didn’t you just claim to know weather as a hobby? Its when the clouds stack up on the front, in a long line.”

“I know,” Deke said confused. “I just never expected that would be a ship name. I don't recall it on my list. It’s kind of a dumb name.”

“Not if you like weather,” Purple Breeze smiled. “Its a unique, but formidable weather pattern. Its rarely seen and nopegasus knows its name. But the power behind that line is immense.”

"As to the list, the Derecho was recently overhauled, so it's been out of commission for a good decade. It's a solid Raptor with a bold name and true for her might."

Deke sighed. “I know. We saw it up north. It was my first and only time I have seen one. The strength and power. Oh boy. Its immense. Not something to be dealt with. It makes its own way. It brought that ice.”

“Well, do you feel comfortable to handle three ships? As a commandant for the training?”

Deke almost said yes, but thought for a second.

“I can. But we have brand new wings. 23 Ensigns and a Lieutenant that has never been a bridge officer before. So, I will probably have my wings full on the Buttercup. If it’s secure, sure. But I doubt it will be. We are talking 6 weeks.”

“Respectable,” Purple Breeze said with a nod. “We shall see how it goes.”

“Is there anything actually important to discuss right now?” Deke asked. “Its the Seventh Task force joining the Buttercup and maybe the Red Dawn. The biggest thing is operation area. We should stay by the Squad Barracks, and that means we have to get permission to set up there and slow the area down. Its just trying some new tactics. I can organize this in my sleep.”

“Then go sleep,” Ruby Snow said, shooing him out with his wing. “Let the adults talk.”

“Alright, alright!” Deke said walking out with a smile.

Deke headed to the mess haul. It was almost lunch time. He would grab an early lunch and make it back to the ship before the introductions happened. As Deke ate he couldn't help but feel bad for the ponies that were going to be getting that nasty storm. He would warn them if he could. But he couldn't. Not all of them. But maybe there were some who needed the extra warning.

Deke immediately finished his food and dashed out of the mess hall. He had several near collisions on his way out. As soon as he was outside he took to the skies. Deke went above the safety ceiling and gunned it across Nellie Air Force Base.

Deke landed on top of the Buttercup and popped in through the nearest hatch. Deke scrambled back to the bridge. It was empty, to his relief. Deke jumped into his seat and began to work multiple terminals sifting through news reports. He was looking for anything that would be in direct danger from the storm, like building projects.

Deke was pulled out of his work by Ruby Snow calling his name.

“Where is Little?” Ruby Snow asked. “She isn’t aboard.”

“I don’t know,” Deke shrugged. “I got food and then came here. We have a problem.”

“You always have a problem you are working on. Figure out how big of a problem it is later. We have to find Little. Where does she hang out?”

“I don’t know,” Deke replied. “I don’t hang out with her here. Its too busy for me. I basically stay on the ship.”

“Of course you do,” Ruby Snow groaned. “And Bronze Valve doesn’t even know you are on board.”

Deke chuckled. “I came in a top hatch. I was cruising above the safety ceiling. I had to get here to work on this project.”

Deke went back to writing.

“You two are going to have to speak sooner, rather than later,” Ruby Snow warned Deke.

“I’m not hiding,” Deke said.

“That’s not what I mean and you know it!” Ruby Snow huffed.

“I have a bigger problem to solve,” Deke replied distracted.

“That’s what has me most concerned,” Ruby Snow mumbled.

Deke lost track of time. He just sat there, playing with everything in his head, round and round. He was expecting Ruby Snow and Little to arrive so he could talk to them. But they never came. He sat there all night, never moving except for some slight rocking in his chair.

Deke was pulled from his thoughts when Ruby Snow stepped in front of him, blocking his view of the empty bridge.

“You stayed here all night?” Ruby Snow asked, neither approving or disapproving.

Deke flashed a glance at the terminal for the time.

“I guess so,” Deke sighed. “I just kept waiting and thinking, and it all failed. You never showed and a solution eludes me. Little?”

“Waking up,” Ruby Snow replied. “Bronze Valve is taking care of her.”

“Where?” Deke asked.

“That’s not something I can share. Its between you two.”

Deke narrowed his eyes at Ruby Snow, but didn’t say anything.

“We will meet the new wings in two hours. But Deke, you have always had a solution. You have always known what to do. There are times when you can not win. No matter what you do. It is possible to commit no mistakes, and still lose. That is life, not a weakness.”

“Hmpf,” Deke huffed.

Ruby Snow stepped to the front of the bridge, so he was right in front of the glass. He watched things happening on the Cloudship terminal in front of them. They were still flanked by Raptors.

Little entered the bridge. Her uniform was freshly pressed. Deke did a double check and realized that it wasn’t freshly pressed, it was brand new. She had enough uniforms. Something must of happened to the one she had been wearing if she bought a new one.

She was stoic, but it was what Deke expected from her. He knew she was concerned about taking charge. It wasn’t about being a Captain, it was about the formalities of it. When it was just the four of them, informality wasn’t a hindrance. Now that she had a full crew, and as Captain, she couldn't get involved as best friends like she had been able to do with Deke. Ruby Snow was reserved and Bronze Valve was quiet when he was around.

Little sat down in the Captain's Chair for the first time. She was tense. Now was the moment of truth. Now was the moment Little defined herself as a Captain.

Ruby Snow stepped back to the Admiral’s station and called for them all to assemble. Bronze Valve got them all inside and in front of the Captain's Chair. It was crowded. Little took some time to look at them all.

Deke stood up and walked to her left side, the console in between them. He was using it as a barrier, while still presenting as if nothing was wrong.

“Welcome,” Deke said, not smiling. “Welcome officially to the Buttercup. Flagship. Corvette. The second fastest and the most agile ship in the Enclave. We are the Third Fleet. With quirky ships and no real structure comes a different style of command.”

“You all will have to learn each position on this bridge. Not to be perfect, but to be able to perform those duties. That is what is required. We should always have enough hooves, but no self respecting officer learns only one part of the bridge. Especially if you want to move up to command positions. If you have a problem, go first to Bronze Valve. He is our Warrant Chief for a very good reason.”

“Now, there are 24 of you, and six stations. They will have somepegasus at them at all times. Even sitting in port. That means that you will work for eight hours a day. You will alternate shift changes, so that they happen in the middle of the other’s shift. No shift changes will happen so that both at that station are fresh.”

“Now, who wants to be at the helm as a pilot?”

Deke held back a smile at their hesitation.

“Come on, lets see your hooves up.”

Thirteen of them raised their hooves.

“Who wants to be on weapons at Fire Control?”

Seventeen put their hooves up. Deke was happy to see some of them already wanted to do more than one role. He could tell the assertive ones from the quiet ones. But that only told them temperament, not skill.

“Alright, now Navigation?”

Twelve put their hooves up.

“Communication?”

Nine.

“Systems?”

Three.

“Weather?”

Nopony put their hooves up. Deke didn’t have a response fast enough before Ruby Snow began to chuckle like an old pony. Deke looked at him, sitting there watching. It wasn’t his show anymore, He just got to sit back and watch. Deke saw him for what he now was, an old Pegasus who had seen many years of service under his wing. A Pegasus who deserved the stars he now wore.

Deke looked back at them and thought. He realized Sunny Swirl was not only hiding in the back, but she hadn’t put her hoof up.

“Um, Lieutenant Sunny Swirl? You haven’t raised your hoof. Why?”

They parted so that Deke and Little had a perfect view of her.

“Sorry,” Deke said. “I didn’t know you had received a promotion, to Lieutenant Commander.”

“Its okay,” Sunny Swirl blushed. “It only happened six days ago.”

“But you still haven’t raised your hoof. Why?”

“Because… I have stood on plenty of bridges before, but I have never desired a specific job.”

“Explain,” Deke pressed.

“What matters is ship and crew. Not where you are. How you all work together is important. Naturally, you will put your crew to their strongest positions. I don’t know where I belong in that.”

Deke skipped back to his area and pulled a thick file out of the drawer.

“Answer as best as you can, but I want to check something. No pressure. There is no passing or failing this.”

Deke pulled out a card, with a black Cloudship profile on it.

“Easy,” Sunny Swirl said rolling her eyes. “I just came from the Glorious Dawn.”

Deke pulled out another card.

“Really? That’s obviously the Solar.”

Deke continued to pull out random cards. Sunny Swirl got most of them right. Deke couldn't stop the smile beginning to crest on the right corner of his mouth.

“That’s the Buttercup,” Sunny Swirl said annoyed.

Deke pulled out another card. They were not in any order at this point.

“Boring. That is the Red Dawn.”

Deke pulled out another card.

“That’s a Net Layer. They are exact copies of each other, so it could be either the Buffy, Willow or Xander. If you pull out the Lord Clove...”

“Its not in any particular order,” Deke shot back. “Seriously. But that is enough of that. Its mighty impressive. I could tell the others couldn't do it. But they will learn. You might have to help them.”

“We have the longest radar range of any Cloudship. We see them before they see us. The job of the navigator is not just to plot the course, but to work around incoming ships, objects, Pegasus teams, anything. As well as helping the pilot adjust for weather changes.”

“The Pilot has to pay attention to flying. Duh. It’s the job of the navigator to tell the pilot what is out there. The navigator should be looking to see what ship it is. Or at least what type and class, if possible. On a solid day, vision can beat radar. And often, vision can beat the communication lines.”

“Lieutenant Commander Sunny Swirl, you shall start at Navigation. I do believe that job is perfect for you and will be your main home.”

Deke flashed a smile at her. His peripheral vision caught Little’s eyes narrow as he flashed it. She didn’t like it. And Deke was pretty sure it wasn’t about the placement of Sunny Swirl, but the smile in the first place.

Deke gave Little a solid look. She gave her nod of approval and he continued to sort all of them out into their first positions. Little nodded in approval as she surveyed each station and the four pegasi in front of that station.

The communication terminal beeped. They didn’t know how to answer it so Deke just walked over and did it himself.

“This is the CV-001, Commander Deke speaking. How may you make or break my day?”

“Uhhh,” The Tower Controller stalled at the unconventional greeting. “CV-001, this is the Tower. We are sending out a general information warning. The First Fleet’s Ninth Task Force has just experienced an accident while on patrol. It is being handled. However, they suffered some casualties and injuries.”

Deke’s heart stopped beating as he began to panic. “WHERE THEY TRYING TO ESCORT A WEATHER TEAM!”

“Yes,” The Tower replied, confused.

“Fucking retards. I warned them! We are taking off NOW!”

“They don’t need rescuing!”

“I don’t intent to rescue their asses,” Deke yelled cutting the call off.

“Sit down on the floor,” Deke ordered the new wings. “On the floor on the steps facing the glass!”

Deke got to the pilot’s seat and hit the ships whistle.

“Commander Deke here. We are about to take off on an emergency run. Strap in. Its going to be a rough take off.”

Deke looked back at Little but the chair was empty. He found his notes in his face. Deke grabbed them and Little sat down at the navigation terminal across from him. She flashed a smile at Deke. Deke called the engines to life and took off like last time. A good 20 degree lift as they backed out and up.

“I need 12,000 more feet of clearance,” Little calmly said. “Or else we will run too close to a Sky-tank. Distance is one mile.”

“I only need three quarters of that,” Deke shot back. “Cause we need to go south.”

“Are we going to be beating that storm?” Little asked.

“Or die trying,” Deke replied as he rifled through his notes. He found the right page and passed it to Little to enter in.

“What’s the rush?” Little calmly asked.

“Remember that Fifth Conclave rumor?”

“Yeah, it wasn’t anything more than a rumor.”

“Well, it wasn’t a conclave. It was a meeting from some of the biggest farming hot shots in the Enclave. Turns out, right in the path of that storm, more of the end really, is where a bunch of the top farming homesteads are working to fix an entire district that just died out with their farming capabilities. Also, I think its where Olive Pit is from. Its the only place with Olives.”

“Focus,” Little said.

“Right! Well they are not going to be prepared for that storm. From the news reports about South Cloudsdale District I was reading, whole farms have been demolished, giant holes have been dug, and they are wiping large areas clean for a fresh start. It sounds like several homesteads may no longer exist.”

Little growled. “Fuckers. They are going to kill them with that storm. Plan?”

“Uhhh,” Deke stalled. “Get there and warn them so they can run. But we won’t have much time.”

“Yeah, like an hour or two,” Little said, flipping through his calculations. “If we are lucky.”

Deke hit the whistle. “I need all port side and center cannons armed with high explosives. Except for 9. Put nine as a flare.”

“WATCH THAT REAR!” Little shouted.

“Oh! Right,” Deke said shifting the Buttercup forward, but at that same angle so they were continuing in their ascent.

The new wings were thrown around a bit, but they stayed in their spots well. It was why Deke had them sitting down like they were.

“Deke?” Ruby Snow asked. He was now standing besides the Captain's Chair. “We will have to cross the storm, right?”

“The tale end,” Deke replied. “Which is why we are climbing.”

“And too fast,” Bronze Valve warned them as he sat down at systems. “Engine output has dropped 15%. We are moving too high too fast for it to compensate for the lower oxygen and pressure.”

“As long as we do not go below 60%,” Deke replied. “So, warn me when we hit 65.”

“When?” Little asked.

“Yes, I know. We will hit that. I am fully aware.”

“Same old Deke,” Little chuckled.

“72%,” Bronze Valve said.

Deke cut them engines clean off. The Cloudships didn’t drop out of the sky with their engines off. At least not right away.

Little groaned “Are we seriously-”

“Yep!” Deke cut Little off.

“Fine,” Little replied. “Recalculating. Where the fuck is our weather? How do you change the sharing terminals again?”

“I’ve got you,” Ruby Snow said sitting down at Weather.

Deke put the engines back on, slowly. In 15 seconds they were going to start falling. And they engines would need to be at 60% to notice them slowing down the fall. The engines would not be warmed up enough, but Deke had the flaps ready. The ship would more of float down, while moving south. It would not tumble.

Deke watched the altimeter begin to count down as they fell. He applied the engines slowly.

“Watch the balance,” Bronze Valve cautioned. “Loading the guns is shifting the weight.”

“I see it,” Deke said glancing at the attitude indicator.

It began to balance out the other way before Deke could adjust for it.

“They loaded the starboard side,” Bronze Valve said a minute later. “They have your back. 5 is loaded with a flare like 9.”

“Fuck I love her,” Deke said. “Tell Wingnut I love her.”

Bronze Valve chuckled as he relayed Deke’s thanks to Lieutenant Commander Wingnut, their Engineering Officer.

“Lets do this,” Deke smiled as the engine power moved over 70% and they stopped dropping.

Deke had them cruising at almost 40,000 feet. It was beyond pushing it for the Corvette class. The engine efficiency was at a steady 68%. The Corvette was meant for low altitude patrolling, not high altitude travel. They were burning fuel staying so high.

Deke put the ship on yellow alert. They were going to be dealing with some very nasty weather in the upcoming hours. The red battle alert would go on when they got up to it.

“What is the attack plan?” Little asked. “You had better have one.”

“Teach that mother fucking idiot sorry excuse for an admeerail a lesson on cloud busting.”

“Please tell me that means the guns, not ramming the storm.”

“Yep,” Deke grinned at Little. “Shoot the flare to scattered the remaining weather teams and then send in the High Explosives. And when I mean send in, I want them nestled in the center before they go off. We need to blow them clean apart.”

“We will gun the tail end, in an attempt to kill mass behind the storm, but then we have make it forward to sound the warning.”

Deke stopped. Little waited for his thought process to catch up.

“Yeah, we will sound the abandon ship. Send everypony packing with the alert. They will be safer cloud side. We will keep a bare hoof crew here to man the guns and we will open up with everything we have on that front.”

Little grinned. “I like it. Make a stand. For the safety of the ponies below! And to stick it up his ass about how wrong he is!”

“Damn this storm is bad,” Ruby Snow said. “I can see it on my terminals now.”

“Shit,” Little swore. “I can see the Ninth Task Force. All one giant ball on the radar.”

Little moved to the front of the bridge and gulped. “I can see smoke. And, an active fire. Its bad. At least a dozen ships. At least.”

“We have to catch up,” Deke reiterated. “Bronze, I need 5 to target the rear and fire that flare. Send three out. Fuck it, send one every 25 seconds on my mark.”

Deke hit the red alert alarm.

“All personnel, this is Commander Deke. We will begin to dive. Its going to get hairy. We are coming up on a really bad storm. The Weather Factory overcooked it. And worse, they are sending it towards an entire farming district that is being torn up and relaid. They had so many problems they are resetting it. They do not have sufficient anything to weather this storm.

“We will be giving the call to abandon ship. We will be arriving slightly ahead of it and we need to spread word quickly so the safe areas can be reached. Below is far safer than in the Buttercup. We are going to be pounding the front of the storm with everything we have to break it up and halt it in it’s tracks. So prepare who is staying and who is going. I want as few as possible on board when that front slam us.

“And Lieutenant Commander Wingnut, you are ordered the abandon ship. It is a nonnegotiable order.”

“Understood Deke,” Wingnut said back over the ship’s com system. “In five I’ll have those staying for you to approve.”

Deke looked at Little. He didn’t need to tell her he was going to need help on the bridge.

Little had an answer. “Deke, you have your control station.”

Deke’s grin neared it’s peak. “You’re right. I’ll take it as we abandon ship.”

“And why is Wingnut ordered to abandon ship?” Little asked.

“Because the Buttercup is going to get hammered,” Deke replied. “At minimum we will need repairs. I hope our actions can spur more Corvettes being produced, by showing their strength and worth. As to Wingnut, she was just a lowly Sergeant when she joined the Buttercup on it’s maiden voyage. She is one of the three original crew left.”

“And the others?” Little asked.

“Me,” Bronze Valve said. “Although I became a Warrant Officer and she went to Officer School.”

“That’s still only two,” Little replied.

Ruby Snow sighed. “I was a Second Lieutenant. At weather. I served under six captains until I was given the Buttercup by Admiral Purple Breeze. She was the Captain before me. She could fly the Buttercup. The previous five never had the right stuff.”

“I lost half of the bridge crew when I took over. Soon after, half of them were sent to the Lord Clove for her maiden voyage. A yearish late I acquired Little. As she joined, the rest quit. I transferred them out to other ships. They were solid officers, but not the right fit. They had backgrounds on Raptors, but the Buttercup isn’t a Raptor.”

“That is why we need brand new Ensigns, to mold them to a slightly different role. Be it on here or on one of the other Third Fleet Cloudships.”

“I had no idea,” Little stammered. “I thought the Buttercup and Lord Clove were older designs.”

“Everything else is old,” Deke stated. “I’m surprised by you. You know everything about all four classes. Lord Clove is an old design, but it never was built.”

“I guess now I do,” Little replied.

“Deke, look at this,” Ruby Snow said.

Deke picked his way over to the Weather Console. Little hopped over to the helm to hold them steady.

Deke chuckled as he sat down. “We are repeating things. I came onto the bridge after begin kicked off the Lenticular. You took off right away. Then when I got to the bridge, you pulled me here without introducing yourself. Little was right about there at the helm. And then we headed north, and dealt with that weather emergency.”

Little, Bronze Valve, and Ruby Snow laughed with Deke.

“Yeah, that is bad,” Deke stated. “Worse than my calculations. We need to break that tail up with a volley. It will also tell us how it reacts to our high explosive shells.”

Deke moved back to the helm but didn’t remove Little yet. He sat down at the second seat. Little was reading the other sheets Deke had scribbled on. The two of them whispered back and fourth for a bit.

Little stood up and moved back to Navigation. Deke took the primary helm seat.

“Assignments,” Deke announced. “While we get there, you will have several hours to observe and be at positions. So, I need Lieutenant Commander Sunny Swirl at Navigation. Ensigns Snow Song and Swift Concert, take the Com. Admiral Ruby Snow will watch over com. Silver Fire, observe Warrant Chief Bronze Valve at Fire Control. Bronze Valve will be running Fire Control and assisting Systems, who will have Prized Emerald and Crimson Rain working it. Weather needs Winter Wind to assist the Admiral. And I will take...”

Deke had to think carefully about who would be watching him. It was close up observation. It would set how that officer flew. He couldn't just toss any pilot on it. He needed one who would be daring and learn, but not dangerous.

“Divine Storm,” Little said. “Take the helm with Lieutenant Commander Deke.”

Deke stayed silent. It was a great choice. And it asserted Little’s rank. She had been following her First Officer into it all, but not because she was weak. Little knew he had the plan and trusted him. The new wings didn’t know that though. Not yet.

Deke blew the whistle. “45 Seconds to dive.”

“Deke, we are loosing ground flying so high,” Little warned. “We need a new plan after we dive.”

“I was afraid of that,” Deke replied. “We are going to run a parabolic flight path. It should help us not only save fuel, but give us the speed and a safe altitude to work with.”

Deke hit the ship’s whistle again. “Beginning parabolic flight path, watch your heads.”

Deke readied himself for the dive. When the seconds ran out he shifted the nose forward and backed off on the engines raw power, refining them to work with gravity.”

“Fire flares!”

“Firing!”

“Prepare to open fire with guns in 154 seconds.”

“Ready,” Bronze Valve replied.

It was a tense drop. Deke was antsy. He hated diving, especially like this. They were essentially falling. Deke backed off on the engines to prepare for the shift at the bottom. Deke readied the flaps as well.

Deke pulled the ship up as much as he could by the flaps, gunned the engines and then ordered the guns to fire two seconds early. The ship shifted a bit from the broadside. As it evened out and they began to pull up, the ship shook violently as the storm stuck.

Thunder cracked as the bridge was blinded.

“Fucker,” Deke spat.

“Is that a problem?” White Snow asked petrified.

“Nah." "Nope!" "Never.” Deke, Little and Ruby Snow all said at once.

“We are clouds,” Deke added. “We are like a thundercloud. We are flying a giant mass of water and shooting lightning.”

“Breakup looks nice,” Ruby Snow said. “But you are going to need a lot to stop this storm.”

“Pick up your altitude,” Little ordered. “We need more clearance for the Ninth Task Force.”

“Fine,” Deke groaned. “At least they got to see us issue some vengeance for their situation.”

“You guys planned that?” Divine Storm asked.

“Took advantage of,” Little corrected. “It just so happened to be, so we planned things around it.”

“But you didn’t even talk about it, right?” Swift Concert asked.

“They are that good together,” Ruby Snow said. “They know each other that well.”

Deke and Little discussed altitude factors and safe operating levels. Ruby Snow put his two bits in and Bronze Valve reminded them of several System factors.

“Bronze, do you have that report from Wingnut yet?” Deke asked.

“Passing it along,” Bronze Valve said, without opening it.

Deke and Little used the center terminals to review it.

“We have the final team,” Ruby Snow said. “So, where are they leaving at?”

“Working on that,” Little replied.

Ruby Snow sighed. “I have to leave.”

“You?” Little said socked. She even turned around to face him.

“Yes,” Ruby Snow said slowly. “Deke did a very good job researching. The Cherry Homestead is there. Along with several others. I can get them to follow us 100%. The entire district will listen to me and act exactly how we need them too.”

“Of course,” Little nodded. “We need them to listen. Besides, it is my ship now. You are the Fleet Admiral and we know we will be jumping ship because of the storm. You should be sent to safety, so you can continue to command the other ships in the Third Fleet. I know that sounds-”

“Its logic,” Ruby Snow finished. “I need to. But it sucks. Mostly the Buttercup no longer being mine. Despite how much I trust both of you.”

“But where?” Deke asked. “I haven’t figured that out yet. I don’t have that organization figured out yet.”

They thought for a bit.

“They will have a post office,” Ruby Snow finally said. “We can use the emergency phone. But where did they put it?”

“Try under the console,” Deke said. “I think there is a trap door thingy.”

“Thingy is a useful term,” Little playfully shot.

“Eh,” Deke shrugged as he sent them back down in their parabolic path.

Several of the Ensigns screeched as they felt weightless from the shift. Deke and Little just chuckled.

The emergency phone wasn’t there. Bronze Valve began to hunt it down by having stations reporting in. They needed every spare minute to help cover the whole district.

A unit was brought onto the bridge. Ruby Snow got Ensigns Snow Song and Swift Concert immediately on the task of finding it in the phone book. It was painfully slow. Sunny Swirl had to relay data to them so they found the right one.

Ruby Snow took the phone handset to talk. He struck up a conversation as they came out of the dive. The Ship listed a bit as they opened another volley.

“Hold fire!” Deke ordered. “We need to conserve ammo for the front.”

“Sorry,” Bronze Valve said.

“My mistake,” Deke replied. “I should have made sure that you knew not to.”

“No rounds will be loaded. We will be off balance.”

“Compensating,” Deke replied.

Little glanced at Deke. Deke shrugged back about Ruby Snow’s conversation. He had stretched the cord to it’s max by stepping to the back and sitting down in Deke’s chair. They had no idea what was going on. But from what they had heard from the opening, Ruby Snow hadn’t exactly warned them of the dangers of the storm.

Deke just continued on the parabolic flight path for a while until it became too dangerous for them to drop any lower. They moved back up, settling at 32,000 feet. The ship’s engines were at 93% efficiency at that altitude. Deke was satisfied with that. Little wasn’t giving him any information. She was running calculations.

“We won’t even have an hour,” Little warned Deke. “Assuming we stop at the edge of the district.”

“Map,” Deke called.

“Here!” Divine Storm said, switching the shared terminal to the map of the Enclave.

“Good try,” Deke chuckled. “But I meant areal map. The paper ones.”

“Where did they put those?” Little asked. “Oh great. They better have not taken our maps!”

Neither Deke or Little could easily leave their seat.

“You!” Little pointed. “Lieutenant Blue Justice. Search the Admiral’s drawers.”

“Search the Admiral’s drawers?” Ensign Blue Justice gulped.

“That’s an order!” Little barked.

She scrambled to her hooves and began to gingerly peer into a drawer.

“I said search!” Little yelled. “Not pick through!”

They were not in the Admiral’s drawers.

“Here!” Ruby Snow said around the phone call. “They put them in Deke’s drawers.”

“How did you not know they were there?” Little quipped.

“Hey! I… have no idea where anything is. I barely know where the personal stuff like my papers are.”

They both chuckled. Deke usually had something to knock back. It was funny to them that he didn’t. And only because they were both lost when it came to where stuff was.

“Ensign,” Deke said, pausing to think about who he wanted. “I’ll pick Armored Sky. I need you to head to the mess and get me something light to eat, but more than a snack. And a bottle of water. Oh, and I have a private stash of Cloud Cola, please grab one. Its in the box marked with my name and a bunch of warnings. No particular flavor. Its all mine and I like all of what I brought.”

It was now solidly past lunch time.

Little was snickering. “Ensign Little Wrath, go with him and help out. No knives or sharp objects, in case we hit turbulence. Get me the same. That includes the cola from his stash.”

“Uh, get you food?” Ensign Armored Sky asked. “Isn’t that normally somepegasus else’s job?”

“The crew is at full alert,” Little reminded him. “They are at their own stations, which doesn’t include mess duty. And we can’t leave our seats, so yeah. It falls to the secondary positions to get. No matter what rank you are.”

“Alright,” Ensign Armored Sky replied slowly. “I guess.”

“Its not an insult,” Bronze Valve told them. “Get them taken care of, and then others will switch out to grab others food.”

“I don’t really know how to cook,” Ensign Little Wrath admitted.

“We are just talking something like sandwiches,” Bronze Valve clarified. “Battle Stations change things. Nopegasus is in the mess, you don’t use knives, leaving the stove on is dangerous, and such. What matters is getting the job done, not who does it. They are fair.”

“I didn’t eat breakfast,” Deke told Little.

“Neither did I. And I was fine until you asked.”

“I need the cola to help me not shake.”

“Yeah,” Little chuckled. “We do not need you shaking.”

Deke and Little laid the map out in the center isle between them and began to plan. The maps were coated, so their pencil marks could be removed later. Ruby Snow silently finished with the phone call and surprised them when he marked seven locations on the map.

“Those are the safe locations,” Ruby Snow explained. “I spoke with the captain in charge of three Sky-tanks. They are housing the homesteads while they do their job. They will be evacuating the young and the elderly. Those who can not be of immediate use right after. I had to set an age limit, or else too many would stay.”

“That eases my mind a bit,” Little stated.

Ruby Snow just kept going. “I will have the crew orders worked out momentarily. But I will be here, at number 3, where my family is. And where the Turnip Homestead is. It is where I am needed, as an Admiral, and as a homesteader. I can get things moving before and after. And after the winter, I am highly esteemed in these circles. All three of us are.”

“I thought I saw Turnip Homestead,” Deke absentmindedly stated. “But I had more important stuff to deal with.”

The Lieutenants came back with sandwiches and the drinks. They were thanked and two more sent out to get Bronze Valve and Ruby Snow something to eat. They would be doing that until every officer ate. The other posts on the ship were also getting food in the same manner.

A while later, Deke let out a low growl.

“Everything alright?” Little asked.

“No,” Deke spat. “None of this is right. We shouldn’t be heading into this storm. It never should have been created in the first place. It never should have been sent out this strong. That idiot should have more concern with our safety. Now not only has the First Fleet lost it’s Ninth Task Force, the Third Fleet is on the verge of losing it’s flagship. I’m going to burn him alive. Fuck rank.”

Little sighed, having no response. She was just as horrified and angry, but they showed their wrath differently. Deke was blatant, Little was more subtle, letting it pass unless she had to face it. Deke could be subversive. Little found it worked against everything that mattered. Deke was wanting to take on a well established Admiral. Little would only set the warning down and not let her ship be used.

But perhaps Deke was correct. Their ship was being used. Deke figured out the end result, looking at the bigger picture and acting as a better officer than the admiral, albeit in a less respectful way. That is where Deke lost approval. But it was also done when the shit had hit the fan and Deke had to make a stance.

Sometimes Little wishes she had the balls to do what Deke did. And not just in how she handled others, but in how she handled the ship. Little was just as good of a pilot, if not better, but Deke shined for his bold actions. If he crashed it would be a different story. But, once committed, Deke never hesitated or doubted himself.

Ruby Snow had finished the departure plans. He made it simple, keeping stations heading out together. Bronze Valve was going to be in charge and lead all of the new wings. When all orders had been given, Ruby Snow turned to Little.

Little’s breathing got faster as she began to panic. She knew the question was coming, and that it didn’t have to be asked.

“I… I don’t want to abandon my ship,” Little finally stated. “I just got her. But I have to admit, that Deke can run this show from his station. And he doesn’t need me.”

“No, I don’t,” Deke said. “But I could use assistance. I can’t fully watch weather while I pilot and target. I also can’t see systems. I only have 5 screens to cover 6 stations. And one is passive and behind me. I can do it, and if the Buttercup goes down, its better to save you. This isn’t a time to cry honor.”

“I’m not trying to cry honor,” Little replied confidently. “I just do not believe me leaving is something that… is more important. I have no idea where I fit in with it all.”

“Then stay,” Ruby Snow stated. “Deke shouldn't do this on his own. If this ship is to survive, you will find the way. Both of you. Neither of you are able fully shine alone. And you both know it. That is why you don’t feel that leaving is the right thing, and that staying isn’t about honor. You both need each other. Don’t forget that, ever.”

Deke actually looked back at Ruby Snow and smiled. “Thanks.”

“Alright,” Little said, thinking. “Thanks Ruby. I won’t. This trial will solidify it in my mind.”

Deke hit the ships whistle. “T Minus 30 minutes until mandatory departure. For those staying, I want to say it now before I get too focused, thank you. Thank you. Not for me. Not for Little. Not for Ruby. Thank your for the ponies below. Thank you for protecting them.”

“You mean again?” Wingnut responded.

Deke chuckled over the com system. “Yes. Again. But this time we know what we are getting into when it comes to the weather. Mostly. We were way out of our league last time.”

“Deke, we are shooting a storm,” Wingnut said, trying not to laugh. “That isn’t being out of our league?”

“Well, I… Right. That sounds insane. Fuck. It is insane.”

“Yeah, well, the Buttercup has never seen a Commander like you.”

“Funny,” Deke shot back. “Its only one other.”

“Yeah, but as good as Ruby is, he can’t compete with you and Little.”

“I heard that!” Ruby said, using his button to speak.

They all chuckled and got back to their jobs and final preparations.

Deke watched the clouds move below them. They were finally in front of the storm. Unfortunately there was no giant line to see when the district change. He had to rely on navigation for that. Little began to give him distances and minutes. Deke angled the ship down so they reached the correct altitude. He was focused too much out the window, flying by feel.

Deke missed the ship whistle and only hit the com line open. “Prepare for departure. 10 minutes. We open fire soon after.”

“Relax,” Little told Deke. “You are getting hyper focused.”

Deke shook his head, breaking his line of sight. He leaned against the console and rubbed his temples, eyes closed. Deke took several slow, deep breaths in, exhaling just as slowly. This was the first time he had entered combat, even simulations.

This may not be a breathing enemy, but it was one that would show no mercy. It was one that had them out gunned, out maneuvered, and didn’t show pain. It would roll over them without a thought. And it had already killed ponies.

Deke stood up suddenly and moved to the front of the bridge. He lightly trampled the map. Deke began giving orders to Divine Storm. Little joined his side, leaving Navigation to Sunny Swirl. Outside of the orders, they were silent, not even looking at each other. It just felt right to stand side by side as the headed into danger.

Divine Storm put the Buttercup in park and then jumped out to follow the others. Little and Deke stood there, watching each group’s leader come into view and give the all clear. They took the extra minute to watch them get safely out of the way.

Deke moved to his spot and Little sat across from him, at the Admiral’s chair. It gave her four screens to work off of. And she had moved the map to the floor besides her.

“Crew, this is Little. Prepare for a fight. Give it your all, for the Buttercup will give us her all.”

Deke finished calculations and looked straight at Little. “Why do you have a brand new uniform?”

Little looked Deke in the eyes. She almost didn’t respond. “I didn’t have a hot night last night. My record is no longer spotless.”

Deke chocked on a laugh. “My record was gone the day after I graduated.”

“Yeah, but you did that yourself.”

“Nope,” Deke shot back before she could continue. “I hit on the wrong mare in the common area after my first shift, and it went south from there. A few drinks later… I was in the brig to cool down. That is when Lieutenant Green Shield set himself against me.”

“Over a mare?” Little said, trying to not laugh.

“It got me here,” Deke said playing with the ship’s location. “I never had a chance to do real, justifiable damage to my record.”

“Did you learn your lesson?”

“Yes mum, I did.”

“Ha ha.”

“Did you learn yours?”

Little sighed, loosing her playful attitude. “Yeah. I did. Mostly from embarrassment.”

“Hey, I had to see and work with those fools after that, with no break. I am sure you didn’t do anything new or special.”

“Alright,” Little said getting them on topic. “You need to move 1,500 feet up.”

“I’ll have to give 500 feet.”

“Marked. Are the guns ready?”

“Yes. And Fire Control is live.”

“Nervous?”

“A lot.”

“Any final words to get off your chest before we meet death?”

“You will be just as dead as me, you can’t know where I am from to tell them personally.”

Little scoffed. “You think I can’t out survive you?”

“No. We both know I’ll make sure you die with me.”

Deke took a breath in. “We had our first fight yesterday. And it got… well you finally showed me why you are called lighting. That strike gave me a really good shock. It felt the burn of all that hot electricity… I’m sorry. I so much more prefer working in perfect sync with you.”

“Same,” Little said quietly. “I let my lighting get away from me. We both made mistakes. But I think we learned a lot about how badly we need each other, to function properly as officers.”

Deke adjusted the targeting and approved it.

Deke looked a Little. They locked eyes. She gave a nod. Deke almost told her to give the order, but it was Little and their less than skeleton crew. They all knew she was Captain, without a doubt. They were following her, not Deke.

Deke spoke with more than confidence. It was truth. This was their fight to win. “Fire!”

The Buttercup shook as all turrets let loose every cannon. They wouldn’t let up. The cannons reloaded at different speeds, depending on caliber. The 10 inch guns were the longest, but the 6 inch guns could hammer away at the target. They had auto loaders.

The 10s were assisted loading, forcing the loader to push the round in, close the breach, and then after being fired, remove the spent shell. That was the advantage of the 10 inch guns. It was easy to switch the type of ammunition. And a lot faster of a change than the 6 inch guns.

They hammered the front of the storm. Deke was making plenty of adjustments to each turret’s targeting as Little fed him navigation and weather reports. For every 100 yards of clouds they busted, the storm moved forward 150 yards. And the front only got nastier the further in.

They pounded the front with full broadsides for twenty minutes. The eight 6 inch guns ran out of ammo first. Five minutes later the 10s came up empty. They had a whole stock of armor piecing rounds, but none of them would work against storm clouds. And the defensive 25mm machine guns were useless against a storm.

“Quarter mile,” Little warned.

“Retreat?” Deke asked.

“Not with the atmosphere. We won’t outrun it.”

Little hit the ship’s com line. “TO THE ENGINES! WE HAVE TIME!”

“Run it,” Deke grinned.

“You better pull those flaps down hard,” Little warned as Deke pointed the Buttercup head on. “You have 3,600 feet on the face of front.”

Deke rammed the engines on full power, jammed the flaps in place and sent the Buttercup in a heavy lean as they rocketed upwards at a 60 degree angle.

“IMPACT IN 13!” Little yelled over the coms and the engines.

The bottom of the Buttercup slammed into the tall front. Deke’s face slammed into the console and he fell out of his chair. But he kept his hoof on the controls, keeping thrust at maximum.

Little tried to crawl back into her chair but couldn’t. She didn’t understand why not. All she could hear was the engines’ high pitch whining. Little tried to clear her head, but couldn't. Rubbing her temples only caused pain on her right side and left plenty of blood on her hoof.

It was then that Little understood why she couldn't get into the chair. They were almost thrusting up at 90 degrees. The Buttercup wasn’t capable of going up at an angle greater than 75 degrees. And she was the most agile Cloudship the Enclave had.

An engine exploded, rocking the Buttercup. Little climbed up so she could see Deke. He was standing on the back wall, stretched up to the controls, as he kept the Buttercup moving. He had sustained a gash as well, and probably a broken nose from the way blood was dripping off his upper lip. Little did what he did so she could assist him.

Deke winked at Little when he saw her. He had a plan. Deke grimaced as another Engine blew. They were down to two engines.

Little saw the flaps. Deke was forcing the Buttercup down, into the front. It was no different than if he was driving her into the cloud base instead of taking off. Except he was using the front for lift, with enough thrust to keep them from tipping backwards.

Little glanced around, trying to identify where the flashing lights was coming from. She couldn’t see it and looked to see if Deke knew. Little wasn’t confident she could speak. Not with the sound of whining engines in her head. Deke just winked at her again and then gave a nod. He nodded again. And again. Little picked up that he was timing something. She couldn’t feel it, but she wasn’t at the controls.

Deke narrowed his eyes at Little in warning and then flipped the flaps. Little expected to feel the Buttercup go backwards, but she found herself falling onto the floor. Little could feel the Buttercup humming through the floor. The engines were working, but not screaming. Still, all she could hear was their high pitched whine.

Little finally climbed into the chair and saw Deke. He was sitting in the chair as if nothing was wrong, playing with the flaps. Before shecould ask, the Buttercup shifted and began to go in perfectly timed S curves.

Deke glanced at Little and winked again.

“I can’t hear,” Little said. She was certain she had screamed it.

Deke raised an eyebrow. After a second he shrugged and focused on his navigation terminal. Little looked at the weather report. They had shifted out of the path of the storm and were headed straight towards New Cloudsdale. New Cloudsdale didn’t have any shipyards. Las Pegasus was the only place with Shipyards. Deke should be taking the damaged Buttercup there.

And then blood hit the terminal. Little’s blood. She remembered that she bleeding. And so was Deke. He was bleeding quite a bit. A damaged ship with no crew, and what crew was aboard was probably hurt just as bad or worse than they were. New Cloudsdale was the nearest place for help. And Deke was probably going to literally drop them on the hospital.

Deke looked at Little with wide eyes to get her attention. He began to move his head all around. It took Little a while to pick up that he was telling her to get a pad and to write on it.

Little ransacked the drawers at her feet and found one.

Little wrote: I can’t hear.

Deke took the pad and replied: Bottom engines blow, but tops at 70%. Bottom crushed. Flaps good. We can’t get up any higher than 24,000. Heading to NC hospital.

Little read it and wrote below it. Heard from crew?

Deke rolled his eyes. “I can’t hear anything. I can’t feel anything but pain everywhere. I can’t see out of my left eye.”

Little hit the ship whistle and opened the com line. She said it as loud as she could, whatever that was. “Little and Deke alive, but hurt. Neither of us can hear. Message bridge to report in!”

Deke shrugged, waiting for them to respond. Little looked at the systems terminal. It was flashing red, warning after warning after warning. And some she knew were wrong. It had all four engines off line.

The terminal in front of Little flashed. Little opened the message.

“All reporting in. In the common area, nursing wounds. Multiple second degree burns. Concussions evident in most. Several fractures. Two compound fractures. Most of us also can’t hear. Four gashes we are trying to close, but two are surrounded by burns.”

Orders from Bridge: “Hold position. We are making a beeline for NC. Can any of you actually use something to communicate out?”

“No. Recommend you spam their com line with bursts of beeps. Fuck morris code.”

“Hold on. We are giving it all we have to get there ASAP. No time estimate yet.”

“Did it work?”

“We did a damn fine job at cloud busting. I would have to review the records to see how much we actually did. But we are both very optimistic on what we did.”

“So are we.”

Little got up to move to the communication console and slipped into the console’s corner. She felt her Humerus crack. Little rolled on the floor, not even trying to hide her screams of pain. It didn’t matter, nopony could hear them.

Little finally sat up. Deke peered over the console to check on her. His eyes were filled with sorrow. He couldn't physically hear her screams, but he heard them in his mind. She flashed a smile at him to let him know she was up and moving.

Little scooted over to the com terminal. She slammed her hoof on the protective case, shattering it rather than flipping it out of the way. Little flipped the emergency broadcast switch and then began to push on the button for morris code from the floor. She lost herself in pushing at different intervals. She couldn’t remember simple morris code. The pain was blocking it out.

At some point Deke got to her and lifted her into the seat so she wasn’t straining so much. Little looked at the note he gave her. It had “ETA 4 H” and the arrival time. Little finally got the messages up and sent it back.

Deke held his own out of pure adrenalin. He blocked Little out. She was just pressing the button. He was no good to her or anypony else. He had to get them to New Cloudsdale. That was all he was good for right now.

Deke held his breath as the city came onto the radar. He saw three Cloudships approaching them on an intercept. They had gone around the city. Deke didn’t let up. He knew where the hospital was. It was by the weather factory. They used the low fly zone to make it easy for emergency vehicles to do pick ups and drop offs on the roof, without needing to shut anything down.

Deke pressed on ahead. He saw the Cloudships brake. They didn’t know how to properly and almost collided with him because they allowed themselves to coast a bit. Deke pushed the ship forward at full speed, ignoring the buildings that popped up below him.

They came over the no fly zone and Deke immediately dropped their elevation. They went almost straight down. The Buttercup barely caught them, but she did better than Deke expected. Deke pulled the brakes. He could feel the Buttercup groan and scream, grinding every gear and probably stopping the city from the shrieking. They sat down right on top of the hospital.

Little rolled her head over to look at Deke. He nodded. She stumbled up and out to the nearest top hatch. The others came out further down. The ramp was inoperable. Medical teams swarmed the Buttercup and scooped them up.

Deke saw them get clear and gave the engines a push. The Buttercup groaned and fought for it all. Deke reversed it all right before she gave out and caught her, setting her down on the top of the roof again. This time he had to let all the weight sit on her.

The hospital should be the sturdiest building in the city, but he hadn’t planned on setting her down fully. There was nothing he could do now. Deke stood up and walked to the nearest hatch. He got on top and looked around. A medical team quickly landed and ran over.

Deke held them back as he saw one of the Cloudships approaching high above them. He couldn’t think enough to tell which one it was. Deke just began to wave. A Pegasus jumped from a side battery and dove to the Buttercup.

He immediately began talking. Deke waved his hoof in front of his neck, finally cutting him off. Deke pointed at his bloodied and bashed ear and then shrugged. The officer only got it once one of the medical staff told him. Deke led the officer to a point on the Buttercup’s top deck.

Since the Buttercup was almost flat on top, she had anchor points where she could be lifted up from. The officer understood that quickly. Most other Cloudships were too big to have their anchors on top, and required a team of two or more to work from side anchors. This was simpler.

Deke took a deep breath in and let it out. The medical ponies got him to a sky chariot. Deke stopped. He refused to get in. Deke tried his wings. But he never got off the ground. His left side had been bashed in and most likely fractured.

Deke didn’t have to get on the sky chariot. At least not while awake. Deke knew they were giving him something from a needle, but he couldn’t feel any specific pain. He just lost consciousness as they caught him.

Next Chapter: Chapter 89 - Sixth Conclave Estimated time remaining: 3 Hours, 41 Minutes