The Briefcase Blues

Intermezzo 6 - The Damocles

The Damocles
This aerial home of the Firebirds is a former Russian strike zeppelin that served as the CCCP Vostok. Strike zeppelins are a combination of a small fighter carrier and a destroyer, built for speed, firepower and rapid deployment of fighter aircraft. The Damocles is powered by six original Berevsky and ten new Ford engines, four of which have been added later to increase speed.

Her armament consists of a tight defense of .50 caliber turrets and no less then six broadside cannons, mounted on a swivel to fire out of either side of the zeppelin. This heavy firepower, capable of reducing most zeppelins to flaming debris withing seconds, is necessary because the Firebirds operate out of a single zep, where other pirates use strength in numbers.

History
The CCCP Vostok, under captain Tamarlain Salaty, came to the aid of a civilian Russian tanker, when it was under attack by the infamous Fortune Hunters, led by Nathan Zachary, the so-called gentleman pirate. The Vostok was crippled and was forced to limp back to the mainland of Pacifica. Even though it was a disgrace for captain Salaty, he had no choice but to have the Vostok repaired at Boeing Field. The crew fixed her up themselves, replacing the missing engines with Ford V12’s bought from Boeing and within two weeks she was ready for active service again. Scheduled for launch the following morning, the crew of the Vostok stayed on board as they had done for the entire stay at Boeing Field. At midnight, a couple of Boeing guards strolled up to the Vostok guards and asked them if they’d care to share a farewell beer as a sign of good will. The guards, who never had a chance for a beer or any other common luxury for that matter, agreed. Their superiors were fast asleep anyway. Not five minutes later, the guards were just as fast asleep themselves, still clutching their drugged beers.
The men dressed as Boeing guards quickly slipped aboard and knocked the night watch on board unconsciously as well. More people were let on board, all out of sight of the real Boeing security forces. All in all, the Vostok was invaded by seven men and women, better known as the Firebirds, who were looking for a replacement of their former zeppelin, the Filibuster, after it was shot down after a nasty tangle with Blake Aviation Security. They worked their way from nose to stern, locking all the crew compartments, disabling the radio room and taking out any one who was unfortunately enough to be found awake. When the zeppelin was secure, the tether was cut loose. With her gasbags pumped up to the maximum, the Vostok rose up in the night sky as fast as possible. Below, Boeing Field woke up and hailed her on the radio. Jason Grant, leader of the Firebirds, spoke a word or two in Russian and told the tower that they had been radioed for an immediate return to Russia and that they had no time to deal with petty American bureaucracy. Boeing, figuring they’d been paid anyway, decided not to bother any further.
Inside the zeppelin, the crew slowly awoke to the gentle swaying of their airborne zeppelin and tried to escape their make shift prison. Yet the Vostok rose higher and higher and already broke the cloud cover. The pirates fought off anybody who made it through and it wasn’t long before the effects of lack of oxygen occured. Drowsiness, fatigue and finally unconsciousness dropped crew member after crew member, until only the Firebirds were left, breathing easy in their oxygen masks. They had but to tie the entire crew together and the zeppelin was theirs. They descended to a safe altitude and set course for Skyhaven. While underway, they made an offer to all the crew below the rank of officer. Stay and join the crew, or be dropped off along with the officers in the Western Disputed Territories to make your way home and probably face the Gulag. They were promised an even share of the spoils to send home, or keep and in the end most of them stayed.
Grant ordered to repaint the entire fighter complement of no less then twenty-four MiG-1’s, low-quality copies of the Hughes P21-J MkII Devastator. Looking almost exactly like their American originals, the Firebirds sold them for a small fortune to a greedy representative of the isolationist nation of Utah. They used the money to modify the Vostok to their needs. Her military background meant that the Firebirds did not have to spend money on armaments or armor plating, as the Fortune Hunters did have to on their formerly civilian zeppelin, the Pandora. The Firebirds rechristened her the Damocles and for a moment, it almost looked as if they would never get the chance to fly her, as several other pirate gangs tried to steal this prize possession. This resulted in the first aerial battle of their new home against the most notorious of all pirates, Redmann’s Gang. It was Anna ‘Cossack’ Rasputin, second in command to Bill Redmann, who was left in command of the John Wesley Hardin as Redmann himself flew a sortie against the Red Skulls in the Disputed Western Territories. The over-confident Rasputin thought to have an easy target with the then largely unknown Firebirds. It was a mistake that almost cost her life.
The skies around Mount Wausa thundered with broadside cannons as both airborn giants spat hellfire at eachother. At the last possible moment the Firebirds managed to get the height advantage with their zeppelin, as the enemy lost the first gasbag.. The John Wesley Hardin, who was too low to launch fighters was then bombed into flaming wreckage by the Damocles. What is left of the John Wesley Hardin now serves mainly as a stunt flying challenge in Skyhaven, while the Damocles continues to serve the Firebirds faithfully to reap the bounty of the skies.