The sky lands of Altea had always been lands of mystery, with a past shrouded in shadows, the people of the sky lands adapted to the floating lands of their world through the use of advanced airship technology. With the power of magic-infused crystals this wasn't a hard thing to manage, specialized float-stones being powered by the energy of the crystals allowed for even the smallest of boats to fly through the air at a decent speed. Larger ships obviously had greater demands for resources, but ultimately airships became the way for different lands to trade with one another.

But at the same time, this meant warfare could occur, at first it was one kingdom raiding another for supplies, but then full-scale war broke out between some nations. Truces were made, peace treaties and trade agreements were written up, but there would always be discontent. Eventually smaller groups of individuals started to pop up. Sky Pirates, dedicated to their own desires, their own sets of rules, with no-one to hold them back or tell them how to live.
And even among these, the good and the bad could rise up, some dedicated their lives to greed and power, others to freedom, but all pirate groups were considered rogues by the nations, so they would be hunted, more often depending on the severity of their crimes, but this was not always feasible.


Among the most recent groups to spring up, however, there was the High Winds, they'd never done anything that could be considered nefarious, or evil, but their actions had caused their own problems regardless, after all they opposed not only other pirates but also various kingdoms activities. If it meant scoring big on a raid and getting in the face of the Dernstad Empire, the worst of the bunch, then they were always up for it.

-----------------------------------

Apparently a scout ship of some kind had been spotted entering the free territories. It was a Dernstad unit, but why they were entering the free territories was unknown. The Dernstad soldiers weren't one for just simply exploring, whenever they went out somewhere, it was with an actual purpose. This meant they were either after something interesting, or doing something interesting.

Naturally this caught the attention of the High Wind pirates, and so they were following at a distance, watching the ship as it moved further and further from the Dernstad territories. Scouts were light and fast so likely they were trying to chase something down, or get somewhere fast, that kind of urgency also meant they weren't being careful enough to notice the vessel tailing them.

Irvine stood at the front of the ship arms folded as he kept a weather eye ont he ship in the distance, the scout was definitely moving with some purpose, though after a while he could see something else. The scout had been skirting around an island in the free territories, however it was slowing down, getting closer to the edge. He stood closer tot he edge a moment, trying to see what he could of what was happening until he saw the gleam of the cannons on board, aiming towards the island, the forestry growing over the edge of it.

He saw the flash first as the mouths of the cannon spat fire, a streak of cinder flying towards the island as the sound of the cannon fire finally reached them, the whistle of the large iron shots screaming through the air. Seconds later another ship seemed to burst from the forest, a much smaller vessel. It looked like a skiff, much too small to threaten a military vessel, it certianly couldn't have had any weaponry on it, but regardless, the scout ship was firing on it. Immediately Irvine half-turned calling back towards the captain,
"Ma'am, civilian skiff spotted, unknown silhouette, the Dernstad scout ship is firing on it. I think it found it's quarry. I don't recognize the make of the skiff they're attacking, could be a personal vessel." He stated calmly, glancing towards the scout vessel again as it continue dot fire ont he retreating skiff. Their shots were going rather wide, if anything it looked like they were trying to graze the vessel rather than destroy it. Were they attempting to capture it? They were chasing some-one?
"So lets sink them already, we're wasting time standing around here," Mertens, the ships marksman added bluntly, he rested his hands behind his head as he climbed to Irvine's position and looked out across the open air, the thundering crack of cannon fire still resounded from the distant ship, "Hah, stupid Dernstad soldiers, they couldn't hit the portside of a ship if they placed their cannons against the hull, what a bunch of losers. Waddya say, boss? Can we cut loose on them already?"