While all were asleep on Kat’s ship, a couple of soldiers showed up to secure Kat’s ship to the deck of the Skybaron. The noise the chains made instinctively woke her up, as she was laying in a hammock close to the deck. Once awake, she yawned and climbed out of her nest. “Hey… who’s there? What are you doing?” Upon hearing a voice, Kat could hear whispers from below the ship. “Blast… I think we woke her up.” Shortly after, a helmet with a gasmask popped up from the side of the ship. “Oh, nothing to worry about, kiddo. The colonel is expecting some minor turbulence, so we’re chaining loose cargo onto the ship to keep it from sliding off.”

  “You’d best go back to bed, dear.” Another voice added from below the ship, presumably that of the other soldier.

  A few moments later, the Colonel walked over the deck of the Skybaron, gazing into the distance. “Sir, be honest. How bad is this going to get?” The colonel remained quiet, looking into the dark, flashing clouds that loomed in the distance of their course, an intense scowl forming as they approached. “Double check all the fuses securing the cargo, hang up 30 extra parachutes on the masts accessible to anyone. Raise the lightning rods, set up the hail cannons and tell all soldiers to get rid of their rifles with metal bodies, get the wooden ones...” The colonel looked at Kat’s ship, noticing its metallic construction. “Also, get the research team out of that ship and put a lightning cage over it.” The soldier nodded. “Anything else?”

  “Yes, retract the sails, rev up the engines and tell everyone to fasten their seatbelts! I want this ship ready to fly through a Bloodspike hell class lightning cyclone pronto!” The Colonel yelled, before his soldiers ran off to secure the ship. He made sure his soldiers did what they were told as the Skybaron slowly approached the massive wall of black clouds, with blue flashes lighting the sky.

  The Lieutenant stared at the storm: They had to go through a mountain pass and the winds were already getting incredibly strong. A battalion of soldiers approached Kat’s ship and woke up those inside. “Which one of you knows how to handle a weapon? Get below deck if not.” The Lieutenant commanded loud but clear. The mercenaries naturally reported first, then the Cykx technomancer, whose extra terrestrial race dominated the galaxy with their technological superiority, then the dwarf, and oddly, Kat as well. “Right, there’s a weapon locker at the main mast. You will find handheld cannons there, grab one and await or- hey! Where do you think you're going? You're not old enough to handle weaponry!” The Lieutenant yelled, pushing her in the direction of the researchers. “But I want to help!” Kat hollered, running back in the direction of the mercenaries. The Lieutenant just picked her up under her arms and returned her to the other non-combatants. “I'm not going to be responsible for letting a kid get hurt. Stay with your friends, this is going to be rough.”

  Kat frowned and followed the civilians to the below deck. At the main mast, the mercenaries were trading their regular weapons for small handheld cannons along with the other soldiers while the Colonel gave instructions, already possessing a cannon himself. “Listen up, everyone! In our path lies a Bloodspike hell-class thunder and lightning storm, the most lethal weather anomaly in the realm. Hail blocks the size of a Karrar, aggressive lightning and strong winds. Orders are clear: Don't shoot the smaller lumps, the ship can handle it. Instead, go for the larger blocks, our handheld cannons are powerful enough to shatter them but you have ONE shot. Make your shots count, keep your powder dry, and reload quickly. Clear?”

  “YES, SIR!” The soldiers shouted in unison, heading to their post. Keya stood by the mast with Bernard, loading the cannon with his own shells. The Cykx, while not incompetent with weapons, was stopped by Keya when he ran off to the deck. “Hey, gremlin. Won't you forget your protective gear?”

  “Protective gear…? Something going to attack us?” Keya rolled her eyes and handed him a set of rubber clothing. “Lightning, genius. You don't want to be running around with a metal cannon on the deck of a ship during a bloodspike hell-class storm without protection. Put it on.” Keya told him sternly, pushing the set of rubber armor into his chest before walking off. The Cykx grumbled while putting it on. His exoskeleton cannons were superior, he thought...

  As everyone got into position, the Skybaron slowly closed in on the storm, strong gusts of wind blowing Keya’s hair about and making the coats of the soldiers wave like capes, while strong updrafts shook the entire ship violently. Everyone on the deck remained tense, ready to handle the most vicious weather phenomenon in the entire realm. The deck was sparsely lit by the torches and floodlights, but even more by the lightning that flashed every few seconds.

  The Skybaron slowly entered the giant black clouds. Soon, the entire deck was shrouded, no one able to see much further than a few meters. “Clear the mist, activate the fans!” A couple of soldiers activated a number of strategically-placed propellers located at the jibboom and forebeak. The power of the rotors cleared most of the mist from the deck and cleared vision, only to reveal that massive chunks of hailstone were already shooting towards the deck. Without hesitation, the soldiers took aim and fired at the projectiles, effectively shattering the first wave of hailstone downfall. The hail kept coming and, despite the frequent volleys of cannon fire, the unending rain of hailstone was gradually closing in on the deck.

  Crushed pieces of hailstone littered the deck of the Skybaron. Lightning struck both conductive rods and occasionally soldiers tasked with keeping the hail at bay. Then, one of the deck grates opened somewhere near the masts. “Kat! Get back here!” Melissa shouted from the below-deck. “I'm not just going to sit by and watch! I want to help!” Kat yelled as she escaped Melissa’s grasp, then made her way to the cannon rack through the heavy rain. The storm was getting stronger by the minute, lightning struck brighter and more frequently, winds howled ominously and rain almost flooded the deck along with shattered pieces of hailstone, yet the worst was yet to come. Kat grabbed one of the handheld cannons and joined the other soldiers. “What’s the kid doing here?” Abdone yelled at Lorkill, who glanced at Kat and just raised his shoulders. “Kid?! The kid is ‘ere? What’s she doin’ ‘ere?” The dwarven engineer yelled, his voice was barely louder than the moaning of the wind.

  Kat made her way to her ship, trying to get to Cloudpiercer. Just as she was about to squeeze through the bars of the cage, lightning struck the top, scaring her back inside. She was about to try again, before being frightened back by another flash. Dexter crawled out of the pouch he hid in to help her. “You’re going to get us both killed! Stop trying to get on the ship!”

  “I need to get to Cloudpiercer, I'll be able to see where they are falling!” As she spoke, she watched the cage, noticing the cycle of lightning being followed by thunder. Something clicked in both of them, as the time between flashes seemed to be consistent. “...Kat, you thinking what I'm thinking?” Kat nodded. “You have a 5-second window of opportunity…”

  “Or we’re both fried…” Kat crept closer to the cage and once she heard the loud rumble, she lept forwards, between the bars of the cage just before lightning struck it. “Yes! I made it!”

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  Kat looked into the telescope, getting a clear vision of the chunks of hailstone falling onto the deck. She loudly instructed the soldiers as to where the hailstones were coming from, with Kat’s shouting, those in earshot were able to take proper aim and effectively shatter the more dangerously over-sized hailstones falling from the sky. Things seemed to ease as the Skybaron neared the eye of the storm. However... the hailstones were getting larger and larger until suddenly they stopped falling… A tidal wave of uncomfortable silence hit the deck of the Skybaron until one nervous soldier briefly broke it “What’s going on? Where is the hail?!” Aiming the cannon around in confusion.

  Kat scanned the sky with the Cloudpiercer, as the lightning got stronger and brighter by the second. “Lass! What’s wrong, is the hailstorm over?” The dwarf shouted over the winds as Kat peered into the Cloudpiercer before locking onto something, then putting the device aside and muttering something in her native language as she looked up in fear and awe. “Ohhh… T’or ‘lois Vanguardia…” She uttered, brushing her hair out of her eyes as she stumbled back. “What? What is it, junior?” Bernard asked, before attempting to spot what she saw.

  Mere seconds later, the lightning revealed the silhouette of a massive chunk of hailstone, easily 7 maybe 9 times the size of a sunblessed elephant from the Sunset Isles. “Keya, 50 gold says I don’t survive this journey.” Bernard scoffed, seeing the sheer size of the hailstone meteorite. “You’re on, cynic.” Keya grumbled. “Soldiers! Focus fire on that thing, NOW! Kat! How much time before that thing hits the deck?” The Colonel shouted as the hailstone meteorite approached the deck. “About 5 minutes! Maybe 7 if the winds are in our favor!” Kat yelled over the howling wind, as lightning struck the hailstone, casting it down with even greater speed. “5 minutes! Definitely 5 minutes at best!”

  “Soldiers! You heard the girl, take that thing out before it trashes the Baron!”

  Once commanded, the soldiers took aim and fired at the massive chunk of hailstone but to no avail, their light explosives barely made a dent in the hailstone. Panic began to arise among the soldiers on the deck. “We’re all going to die!” one of them cried. In this chaos, Kat thought of a way to increase their chances of survival. She waited for a window of opportunity to escape the cage and stood on the deck, watching the meteorite approach… After a moment she looked at the Majolkkrat reloading his handheld cannon in a desperate attempt to shatter the massive chunk of hail, but even his explosives were not enough to damage it. “It’s no use! It’s spinning too fast!” As another lightning flash lit up the sky with the rod absorbing the strike, something clicked in Kat’s mind. “Mister Bernard! Could you make explosives that launch something?”

  “Not now, junior. I'm trying to keep us all from dying.”

  “We don't have a lot of time! Can you do it or not?”

  “Yes! Yes, I can, what do you want me to do, kid?” Kat looked at the lightning rod with a smile.

  Once she had escorted Bernard near the lightning rod and explained her plan, he was less than convinced. “You want… To launch this thing into that ‘meteorite’?”

  “Yes.”

  “Right, it’s marginally better than just letting it hit the Baron.” Bernard grumbled, while he begrudgingly attached a firework thruster to the lightning rod and tilted it to aim at the meteorite. “You’re insane, do you know that…?”

  “Just trust me!” Bernard rolled his eyes and lit the fuse before dragging Kat away from it. Keya showed up with her cannon. “What are you two doing?!” Keya was interrupted by the lightning rod missile igniting and taking off, startling her into hitting the deck. “Bernard! What was that!?” She yelled. “It’s what’s going to save us!” Kat shrieked back. “I’m going to lose your bloody bet, Bernard!” Keya barked at her Majolkkrat friend from the ground, who could still find the humor in the situation as his friend threw her gun at him.

  The lightning rod missile flew up into the sky, impaling itself into the spinning chunk of hailstone that by now was only a few 150 meters off of the deck. It spun, eventually resulting in the lightning rod ending up on top. Lightning struck the rod on top of the hailstone chunk and as powerful as the cannons were, the storm’s lightning was stronger. The surge of power that the lightning delivered cracked the hailstone meteorite which, combined with the next wave of cannon fire allowed the hailstone chunk to be effectively shattered. “It worked! I knew it would work!” With the impending threat gone the ship entered the eye of the storm.

  With a brief respite the soldiers instinctively began preparing defenses against the other half of the storm.. “Well, junior… I got to hand it to you. That was good thinking, well done..” Bernard smiled, standing next to her. Keya then coldly approached Kat. She tapped on her shoulder with a stern look on her face. “Let the adults take care of these situations next time, kid.” Keya scolded before walking away, leaving Bernard with a frown and Kat disheartened.

  Kat walked towards her ship, looking over the ship she saved with a sad, confused expression in her eyes. Soldiers were cleaning up the mess that the hailstorm made while the wounded were being dragged off to the below-deck. The Colonel and his Lieutenant wandered over the ship with a contented smile, they got through the worst of the storm. “Alright everyone, treat the injured and repair the damages… and erect a new lightning rod, since our last one got launched into a lump of hailstone.” The soldiers around the colonel saluted and quickly got to work. With the crew set to work, the lieutenant and colonel parted ways. “Sander! Did I do good?” Kat shouted from across the ship. She excitedly rushed to the Lieutenant, who greeted her with a smile. “I hear from the mercenaries that you’re the one that saved the Baron by firing a lightning rod into that projectile to help shatter it. About 5.000 men and women owe you their life.” The Lieutenant took a moment to look over the ship and smiled warmly. “You did more than good, you did great.”

  “Thanks, Sander...” The Lieutenant smiled again, before walking further onto the deck of the ship.

  The Lieutenant walked up to the Colonel when he spotted him, unaware that Kat was following him. “Ah, Lieutenant. Give me a damage report.”

  “We took heavy casualties: 35 men lost and 40 injured that are currently being treated. Our primary and secondary engines are busted, due to electrical overload, and the decks that are now covered in ice and water from the weather are a major slipping hazard.”

  “Ugh… Anything else…?”

  “Well, the paint is chipped and private Layline's is hungry.” The Colonel glared at the Lieutenant for a moment before turning back to look over the ship. “Alright, joker. Get the men to clear the deck of any major slipping hazards. Tell Chief Engineer Mugarod to get to the engines.” The Colonel ordered, wandering onto the deck. “Colonel, that won't be possible. Mugarod is one of the casualties.”

  “How long until he recovers?”

  “Indefinitely, sir. Mugarod fell off the ship during the storm, too stubborn to put on his lifeline, you know how he was.” The Colonel stood still for a second, grunting in annoyance and grief. “Send my personal condolences to his family and make sure he gets a proper funeral. Meanwhile, find someone to cover his duty and get to the engines, if we don't repair them the Baron is going to go down before we get through the rest of the storm.”

  “It will be done, Colonel.” Kat then ran to the colonel. “Uh, Colonel? Perhaps I could take a look at it?” Jack watched Kat for a moment, thinking about the offer. “Well, maybe. It could be dangerous. Lieutenant, what do you think?” The Lieutenant turned to Kat and kneeled in front of her. “Hey, here’s the deal: You go down there and I'll send some of my friends down there to help you once they’re available. Deal?”

  “Deal!” Kat shouted, before running off, while the Colonel shook his head. “Never knew you had a way with kids, Lieutenant.”

  “I have a daughter and a son of my own, sir.”