Tensions rise as the<span style="font-style: italic">Maiden</span>breathed down the neck of the<span style="font-style: italic">Lady</span>. Everything seems to be going well. The Weapons Master rushed out of the bridge and roared for every man to arm themselves with a standard rifle. The Captain on the other hand still held his confidence. Even as an inevitable battle approaches, his face showed no sign of fear or hesitation. How he was able to do it is beyond Lu. His heart, despite being in so many battles since he first enlisted, still pounded wildly inside his chest. Making his way back to his post, Lu anxiously watched the distance between the ships shrink.<br/><br/>"We're gaining on the--"<br/><br/>As the chase was finally reaching its climax, with the<span style="font-style: italic">Lady</span>just a few hundred meters away from the range of their harpoon guns, a loud<span style="font-style: italic">bang</span>followed by the sound of metal crashing onto metal echoed within their ship. It was accompanied by hard rocking that nearly threw Lu off-balance had he not grabbed on to one of the mounted cannons. That sound was all too familiar. It was their engine blowing to smithereens. The distance stopped shrinking and the<span style="font-style: italic">Maiden</span>began to slowly lose altitude.<br/><br/>"No, no, no!" he yelled and rushed off towards the engine room.<br/><br/>When he got there, Lu was slightly taken aback by the heat emanating from beyond the blast doors. He turned the door valve open and was swallowed by smoke and steam upon entry. He called out to the engine room crew but nobody answered. Beads of sweat already trailed down his skin as he ventured further, the sound of metal clanking and steam hissing preventing Lu from hearing anything from the crew. He called out again, at the top of his lungs this time. He was relieved to hear someone answer back.<br/><br/>"<span style="font-style: italic">God damn engine!</span>"<br/><br/>It was the Chief of the engine room crew. He had a monkey wrench in his right hand and an extinguisher device on the left. "What in the hell happened?!" he yelled.<br/><br/>"What?! Are ya blind?! The engine blew! That's what happened! Damn boilers couldn't take the pressure! We fed it too much coal, thought she could still handle it! She was purring like a kitten a second ago then boom! She's toast!" said the chief.<br/><br/>"Can you fix it?" Lu asked almost demanding. "We're on a chase and we can't let them get away!"<br/><br/>"Look kiddo, six of my men got killed by flying bolts and whatnot in that explosion! In case you haven't noticed, it's not just one connecting steam pipe that blew off, we lost a boiler too! Fixing it is going to have to wait till we can dock. Sorry kiddo, there's nothing more I can do here, the engine's dead." the chief said and handed Lu the monkey wrench. "Want to try your luck? Be my guest."