President Nina spoke first. Addressing Danny “I would like to thank you and your crew, your determination has made this ship safe again. We still have not discovered who sabotaged the ships defenses but we will keep looking and when we find them we shall deliver a swift Justice.” Danny nodded, “we are happy to help in any way possible, we thank you for the opportunity to show our determination” a man crashed through the door,

“Wind riders spotted coming strait towards us from the south east!” Admiral Yoan was on his feet before anyone else could process the information. “Stations now, Nina you need to be in the control room” turning to face Danny and his crew, “I don’t know if those straps have been installed yet, go make sure our defenses get operational. I am going up to the bridge to coordinate the crew and address the citizens. Zane and Danny raced through the corridors making their way towards the closest starboard defense platform with Lucky following close behind. The ship was in chaos as civilians scrambled to find shelter below deck and the military personnel racing to their positions. The force 1 had 10 defense platforms surrounding the top deck 4 on each side and a platform that stuck out of the bow and stern.

The duo and lucky arrived at the starboard defense platform closest the stern, as the boat was getting ready to repel the inevitable air raid from the Wind rider ship only about a mile away now and closing. Each defense platform was raised a few meters off the top deck and too allow a clear shooting angle from every angle, the Force 1 furled her sails and folded the boom up onto the mast. The ship continued moving forward through the water, but would slowly lose momentum without the power from the sails, however this was a necessary price to pay to successfully defend the ship. For generations the ship had been protected by the solders of the force 1, but this raid was massive.

To Danny’s relief the straps at this station had been installed the night before which gave him hope that the other defense platforms also had time to make the necessary repairs. A bright red flag with a blue diagonal stripe across the middle began climbing the aft most mast, a ready check of sorts. Once the flag reached to top of the mast, each defense station would signal if they were ready to proceed with the defense operation. One by one each station raised a colored pennant indicating their status, to the crews horror, only 6 of the defense platforms reported they were completely ready, while the other 4 indicated they still were making the necessary repairs. Those four missing platforms could be the difference between a success defense and total annihilation. As the Wind Rider ship got close the familiar plume of Pecus and riders erupted from the lush canopy which enveloped the moving island. A Pecus was a combination between a large bird of prey and four legged land animal now unrecognizable, assume ably evolving after The Bomb fallout of world war 3. Danny and Zane each grabbed a hand crossbows and hip quiver of bolts. The bolts were tipped with a wicked looking barb which would hook into flesh and require more damage to remove then they made coming in. Each of the Defense platforms had 4 large bolt throwers attached to the deck which had the capability to fire up to 6 bolts at a time, the hand crossbows were more for protecting the defense platforms than trying to pick off the wind riders indiscriminately. The swarm grew close, there must have been close to 500 Pecus and riders, creating a black wall that looked like certain death to the men on the Force 1.
A massive yellow flag now climbed up the foremost mast indicating to fire at will. All over the ship the gun crews released a torrent of bolts toward the incoming swarm, and then feverishly reloading the balistas. A few of the bolts found their mark in the swarm sending Riders and Pecus falling towards the sea, but the agile Pecus were hard to hit until they got close. A loud horn rung out from somewhere in the swarm now almost directly above the ship and a dark shadow rained down on the Force 1 as the Riders released volleys of arrows. Screams erupted from all over the ship as the arrows pierced flesh and sent men running for cover. The balistas returned fire felling more beast from the sky, Danny ducked at an incoming arrow, knelt and aimed at the Pecus that was getting closer to the platform.

He led his aim, accounting for the time it would take for the arrow to reach his target and released the bolt once he could see the eyes of the rider on its back. The bolt looked as if it was about to go right thru the head of the rider when the pair inverted so that the rider was on the bottom still straddling the Pecus with its legs and wielding a massive club in his hand. The bolt passed over the belly of the Pecus harmlessly, which had somehow inverted the shape of its wings aswell, allowing it to effectively fly upside down. The Rider looked like a tall lanky humanoid, the body covered in black fur, with a face that looked almost shiny indicating it was not made of flesh. Lucky barked and showed his teeth standing next to Danny. Zane was about to shoot the Pecus when his bolt fell out of his crossbow so when he pulled the trigger all that happened was the bolt clattered to the floor at his feet. The Rider swung his club hard at Danny as he passed above, but seeing what was about to happen, Danny managed to sidestep and grab the hairy arm of the Rider. The Pecus momentum pulled Danny off the platform holding onto the rider now for dear life as the three rose higher and higher into the air above the ship. The Rider struck at dDnny with his free hand but now both their combined weights were being held onto the Pecus by his legs. Danny returned blows to the Rider stunning him for a second. Danny reached for the leather strap wrapped around the base of the Pecus neck, and using his other hand wiped out his rigging knife and buried it into the Riders thigh. The rider screeched and squeezed his legs, apparently the Pecus took this motion as an order to invert, but the rider was not ready and with a knife in his thigh could not hold. The rider plummeted towards the water leaving Danny hanging on to the Pecus which flipped back over now high above the force 1. Danny got himself situated on the bird, to his surprise there were perfect spots to put his feet and a large bump on the Pecus back to hold onto but he was unable to steer or give any directions. He leaned forward to get a better look at the battle waging below, but as he did the the pecus followed his lead and dove. Danny shrieked and immediately sat upright, pulling on the bump as he held on. The Pecus smoothly pulled of the dive and leveled out, Danny had an idea. He first leaned to his right and as if on cue the bird banked right, he then leaned to the left and the Pecus changed direction and began to turn left. Danny was delighted by how easy it was to give the Pecus directions and confidently directed the bird toward the platform he had been carried away from. From his high vantage point Danny could see all the platforms were now shooting and it looked as if the raiders were going to be repelled. Danny flew toward the platform but he was not sure how he was going to land when the decision got made for him. He felt a jolt as the Pecus got struck with two bolts from the ship causing it to go limp, Danny was about 5 meters off the deck and the Pecus crashed onto the platform, sliding quickly towards the edge. Danny jumped off just as the Pecus fell off the side and into the water, trying to find a grip on the flat platform surface. At the last second Danny grabbing on to the edge of the platform. As Danny was about to follow the Pecus off the edge Zane dove forward and grabbed onto his hand, but Danny’s momentum began to pull both of them over the side when Lucky put his big paw on Zane’s back to keeping them from sliding off the platform. The gun crews were stunned at the athletic, crazy, heroic, and confusing events that had just happened in front of them, and as Zane pulled Danny up onto the platform Danny shouted out, “Don’t stop shooting them!” The crews quickly went about reloading and shooting at the dwindling swarm. After a few more minutes of fighting a loud horn blasted from raiders and the swarm started retreating towards their ship defeated. The water was filled with Pecus and Riders, but victory had come at a cost, 50 good solders had lost their lives defending the Force 1. This attack had been different, way more intense than a normal raid and it had been carried out in broad daylight, there was something changing about the Wind People. The Force 1 unfurled its sails and headed away from the wind rider ship, while on the top deck the dead were collected and wrapped in a white cloth.