"So this is how he plans to deal with the wyverns," Commander Greer commented as he caressed the sniper rifle. He had to admit, despite its weight and bulkiness, the beast of the rifle had a nastiness to it.
Catalina wouldn't hide anything from her commanding officer, nor was she required to. However, there were stringent measures that had been put in place to maintain secrecy. After training, they had been instructed to keep the guns a secret, such that they had to travel with them disassembled to avoid attracting attention. They were not to practice within the city.
"Impressive isn't it? You wonder where he gets these ideas from," Watching the woman disassemble the weapon, General Morio was filled with admiration.
"Do you think he will win?"
"Commander, are you asking if I think my men will prevail against the biggest enemy they have faced yet under someone else's rule?"
"Yes, that is exactly what I'm asking."
"I think we will overwhelmingly win!"
"One thing though," The commander said, "I don't agree with his strategy, I think the people should know about these weapons."
***
"What it is?"
"Is it a house?"
"Is it a ship?"
"How can it be a ship, we are on land?"
"I don't know, it looks like a ship to me."
"Could it be... an airship?" Some laughed at the idea, others nodded.
That morning, residents around and in Steel street had woken up to a behemoth smack in the middle of the road. Moreover, Barda was still bringing components out and assembling it.
The structure looked much like a ship as one person had said, or more closely like a boat but with higher sides, reaching up to a man's diaphragm. These boats extended with a width of 40 meters by 150 meters wide.
The curious thing about the structure was that there was a very large oblong capsule that had been built above it. It measured about 80 meters wide and 200 meters long, as well as 50 meters high. It was colossal. Barda had effectively created a modern-day aerostatic rigid airship.
Under the capsule in the ship, there were canisters attached below. Barda had considered several kinds of lifting gases before settling on hot air. He could have used hydrogen, but given that they were going to war, such an uncontrollable and highly flammable gas would do more harm than good. Barda also considered Helium. It was the best bet, but highly inaccessible.
To produce the canvas that coated the capsule, Barda had had to process up to 20 barrels of crude oil. That much oil wielded quite a significant amount of natural gas, which he was able to store. He then made regulators on the canisters.
The reason for summoning Lady Arnea was because Barda needed a reliable way of steering the constructions. The hot air allowed him to control its upward mobility, how high or high low the construction went. However, moving left and right was a challenge.
The most effective method Barda could think of was wind sails. However, he knew the wind was not so reliable, especially in such a time when he didn't have enough time to learn how to sail. However, with a wind mage, maybe steering could get better.
Barda had briefly considered introducing the motor, but he felt the time was not right. The motor was one of the greatest revolutions to the engineering world, and he was not ready to get that craziness in the picture just yet.
When everything was assembled, Barda sat down, panting as if heavily exhausted. He looked at the crowd that had gathered and smiled. He didn't want to hide this trump card of his. Even if it was exposed, he didn't think the enemy could come up with an answer overnight.
Barda was waiting for Commander Greer to assemble 19 trustworthy men whom he would teach to operate the airship. As he did, Barda noticed the crowd was getting bigger. Even Lady Maara and a few other monarchs came to see his invention. Once Lady Arnea arrived, Barda summoned the men and the lady and they boarded the ship.
Barda had 15 men man the fifteen canisters attached below the capsule. These would give the capsule buoyancy. Next, Barda had the other 4 men at the sides, responsible for the management of the sails.
Part of the reason Barda chose the wind-sail ship configuration was that he knew Tristan was a seafaring city. He suspected that a few ship makers would have something to say about the design, but he had no trouble with it, getting a few more hands to help was better than none.
Finally, all the preparations were done, Barda had 2 men, one at the front and the other at the back to open their valves. The sound of burning gas could be heard from both, which made the men take a step back. Barda did his best to assure them that it was all safe and sound, but you know how it is with humans and things they don't know.
Starting at 5% from 2 canisters, Barda was shocked to see that that was still too high. However, thinking about it, there were only 19 people on board in a ship meant to carry 500 men, not to mention war machines and siege engines, so reduced the thrust to 2%.
Although many speculated that this was indeed an airship, seeing it rise from the ground still made many to gasp in shock. Such a huge behemoth structure flying seemed to defy all sense, but against all odds, it was flying.
When it floated above the houses and structures, Barda had them kill thrust and maintain altitude. He then ordered the sail hands to get to work, extending the sails. As they did, the Tristanite soldiers cheered since the sail had a large Tristan sigil on it, which was a leviathan.
Next, Lady Arnea extended her hands, causing the wind to blow. Showing off, she took the ship in circles. As part of her training, most wind mages were taught to sail. The advantage a wind mage had while sailing was obvious, second only to the water mage out at sea.
On seeing this, many people cheered. Already, Barda's naysayers were eating back their words. Could it be that he could pull this off?
Barda was not done with the demonstration yet. When he set the ship back on the ground, the crowd was not too quick to disperse. He went and grabbed a bow and an arrow and shot at the capsule. Seeing this, many expected it to burst out loud, but to their shock, the arrow just bounced off harmlessly.
Now that he had everyone's attention, Barda arranged 2 rows of 100 men on either side of the capsule and hed them fire arrows at the capsule. Fascinatingly, none of the arrows broke through the capsule's outer core, they just seemed to bounce off.
Next, Barda dismissed the bowmen and substituted them with gunmen, which caused the crowd to take a step back. Having experienced the battle, most Tristanites and crane city residents had learned to fear that deadly and loud weapon. The guests did not know what the weapon was, but they too stepped back on account of their counterparts doing the same.
The few that had been present in the court recognized these weapons from the fateful night where the Commander had faced off with the blacksmith. They had held such weapons. They were curious to know what the weapon did.
The next second, they had their hands firmly on their ears as the loud blast of 200 rifles took to the air. The fear-factor was amplified by the screams from the crowd. After an entire magazine was emptied, there were no holes in the capsule's exoskeleton.
As everyone was marveling, Commander Greer exchanged a glance with General Morio, before nodding to Catalina. She understood his command, and while she felt she might be betraying Barda, she also understood where he came from.
She took down the hefty bag she was carrying and started assembling the gun. Barda at the time was not near her so he couldn't react, but her actions drew a lot of attention.
"Wait, Stop!" Barda was livid when he finally saw what she was doing, "This is supposed to be secret!"
"What is it?" King Helios asked, very intrigued. Looking at him, Barda found no reason to offend him, so he decided to answer.
"This is how we plan to deal with the wyverns, Your Majesty."
"Then we got to see it!" Everyone was in agreement. Catalina was energized, but as she was aiming the gun, Barda stopped her. He ran back to the workshop and came out holding something.
"Use this," Barda handed her a silvery bullet. It was still a .50 caliber round, but this one was different from the lead bullets she had been using. Barda knew that for the kind of armor he had used, only a bunker buster would do, and even he wasn't sure.
Catalina took out the magazine, took out the bullets in the magazine and placed the new bullet in the empty clip before loading it back in. She knew of easier ways to do it, she was just enjoying the limelight too much.
Taking aim, she fired.