It was 2006. Blimps floated gently across the sky, as the repeated crack of artillery rang out in quick succession. It was the scene of a steam powered battlefield. The war broke out in 1939, just after the extremely successful pilot and strategist Andrew, and the master marksman Joseph graduated from pilot school. Due to his ecstatic grades in school, he was immediately promoted to captain in the UK Air Force. Joseph, after graduating, disappeared for years, presumably to hunt and work on his skills. He returned with a homemade Steam-powered Railgun, the strongest ever manufactured, and was immediately drafted in the very same air force. Captain Andrew himself asked for joseph to be in his fleet, and soon they were working side by side once again.

The repeated batter of a mounted gun sounded on the deck. Andrew walked by, adjusting his shiny captains hat, as joseph hurried to his side. “Sir!” joseph shouted, “You don’t have to call me ‘sir’, Joseph. We’re friends, not just colleagues.” “Yes, sir.” Andrew let out a sigh. “Whatever.” Andrew said, “What did you want to say?” “I spotted some of the enemy a few miles from here.” Joseph stated, holstering his railgun nervously. “Alright, thank you joseph. I’ll make note of it for later inspection. What heading?” “8:00, at our current position, sir.” Andrew sighed again. “Alright, fine. I’ll want to see you on the captain’s deck in 20 minutes for briefing.” “I’ll be there, sir.” Joseph saluted and started to climb the ladder leading up to the watchout deck. It was Joseph’s favorite place, to sit and think about things. Sometimes he brought a book up there if he could sneak it past the other officers. Andrew walked forward to the main deck, which was lined with windows and had two copilots on the left and right, constantly making adjustments to the ship’s orientation. They saluted as Andrew walked in, At which point he sat in the captain’s chair. The ship dropped away as he shot into the air, Sitting on nothing. He stood up. He was in a hologram, used to make sure that all the ships were in line. All of his actions in this place could be seen by all the ships in his fleet. He turned around.

at least a hundred ships dropped cloak as he watched, all the engines humming to life. He could hear every voice of the captains of their respective ships, all signing in to their net and giving their greeting. He had not seen the full extent of his fleet until this moment, and it was truly breathtaking. He told them all that his lookout had seen a similar fleet of ships heading south, and that they would be heading towards them. He told them to ready their battle stations, and pointed forward. The engines burst into life and the ships shot forward at tremendous speed, one at a time. Andrew’s fleet was the most advanced ever created, with the fastest engines and even cloaking devices. This was the UK and US’ last hope at stopping Hitler and his associates. Eventually, they would have to hit the ground, and together, Andrew and Joseph were unstoppable.

Andrew rubbed his head in his soft captain’s chair. The holograms always gave him a headache. The two pilots were working hard to keep the ship on course at this tremendous speed. Andrew walked out of the cabin, off to check and see if there was any news. As they approached, he saluted his fellow pilots and got into his fighter plane. While most captains were advised to stay out of trouble, Andrew always (politely) refused. He always went with his men, no matter the mission. He started up the steamjet, and listened to its roar. He closed his eyes a captain, but opened them a pilot in his element. All that training has led up to this. He slammed the throttle as far as it would go, and shot into the sky leaving a trail of steam.

As his pilots formed a battle formation around him, he got himself acquainted with the pilots. As the enemy ship came into view through the morning fog, he curved around and started to speed up. He lost his crew for a moment, but they shot out through the haze and turned around, ready to fight. They flew back into the dew, and as the ship came into view for the second time, the group revved up their guns and started to shoot. A planes split off to focus on their reinforcements, while Andrew and the pilots behind him started to focus on the blimp. Andrew, guns blazing, went until he was a few feet from hitting the balloon and pulled up sharply. He curved around and shot the other balloon, which was also leaking a little thanks to his other pilots. He gave a ‘good job’ to his compatriots and went off to help the others take out the other planes that were bugging the other members of his crew.

Soon, he found himself in a dogfight, looping sometimes to get out of the way of the hailstorm of bullets. He pulled up sharply, and did a corkscrew to end up facing the plane that was chasing him. Let’s see how good you are at a game of chicken, Andrew thought. The planes shot towards each other until Andrew could see the other man’s face. He could see the panic. But in Andrew’s heart, there was only determination. The other plane curved away, and Andrew saw his opportunity. He shot it throughout the entire loop, which ended at the ground. A flash shone through the bottom of his plane. He called out to the others that they could head back at their leisure. He pulled out of the dive that he was in and headed for the mothership.

He jumped out of the plane while it was still slowing down, and took off his helmet. He shook his hair around a little before heading for the rigging. Andrew heard a shot go off while he was climbing, which was never a good sign. He poked his head through. “What did you shoot?” Andrew asked. “Some fighters followed you back here, I had to take care of them.” “Sorry.” “It’s perfectly okay, sir.” Sighh. “What did you need me for, Sir?” Joseph countered. “I just wanted to ask you if you would want to go down with me onto the surface. I got a message while we were coming back that our crew is needed on the front. On the ground, sadly.” “I would love to, Sir, but I don’t see how a sniper would be useful on the front. I’m more of a back guy, if you excuse my terminology.” “I just think you have the skills to be there. Lord knows, you’ve trained enough. Probably more than I have.” “I’ll give it a shot, sir.” “thanks, Joseph.” Andrew said, chuckling. Another two shots were fired by the time he had gotten down the rigging.

Andrew was starting to put on his wingsuit when Joseph walked in. He sat down and started to suit up. Andrew was too engaged in putting on his own stuff to notice that Joseph was blushing. Leg strap, other leg,  wrist, other wrist, straps all down one side, straps all down the other side, and done! “There was something I’ve been wanting to say to you...” Joseph said, out of nowhere. “What is it?” Andrew responded. There was silence for about a minute, during which Andrew noticed that joseph was bright red. Joseph got up, and they locked eyes for a moment. Time slowed as Joseph reached forward and kissed Andrew on the cheek. They stayed there, as Joseph’s blush moved into Andrew’s surprised face. Joseph pulled back after an immeasurable amount of time, and jumped out of the waiting cargo door.

When Andrew landed, Joseph was already shooting. The hiss of steam filled the air for a second. “Jesus! is it really that loud?!” “Yeah. Sorry, sir.” “Stop calling me ‘Sir’!” “Alright, Sir.” Joseph retorted. “Okay.” Andrew said, fondling his custom-made weapon nervously. “What’s the situation out here?” “We’ve got enemies on all sides. It’s gonna be tricky...” “I think i can deal.” Andrew said, pulling out his twin revolvers. they were a custom made silver six-shot, with an extended barrel. they connected to two cords which went into a gauntlet on each of his arms. As Joseph watched, part of the painstakingly inscribed handle fell out, and a blade telescoped out, which formed an arm blade. The same happened to the other one. Andrew pointed, and shot twice before throwing one of the revolvers like a boomerang. It flew out and stuck into a member of the crowd. His gauntlet tugged at his entire body, and he shot forward, kicking the man so hard that he flew a mile before landing. He tugged at his sides, and pulled out of the dive in a wingsuit. He pulled up, retracted his gun into his hands and started to shoot. He spun and shot straight downward, before launching straight into a dive. He pulled up at the last second, but left his guns flying downward. They caught two different people, and he reeled them in, gaining a boost from their mass. Andrew slung the two people through the sky, and shot them with pinpoint accuracy as they fell. Andrew slowed down and landed next to a dumbfounded Joseph. “Impressed?” Andrew said, before kissing him on the lips.

Andrew’s fleet had saved the entire war, and it would go down in history as the most efficient group of men ever to grace the battlefield. The UK’s army went on to have the strongest military the world’s ever known. Andrew and Joseph would never work apart, and sometimes even slept in the same room. In this story, things wrapped up quite nicely. But the world went on. The world always will go on, and so will the story. It just depends on what you know.