The telephone crackled again in the bridge, this time being chatter from the weapon crews on the port side of the airship.<em>"Davis, watch that goon, he's going to try to break and attack one of the engines."</em><br/><br/>Within moments, the unknown gunner's prediction ran true, the two Defenders on the port side of the Ridge angling in to try to make an attack run on the foremost engine, only to be met with a blistering fusillade of .50 calibre fire from all ten guns, forcing the planes to break off, and move back into position near the Zeppelin's tail, allowing another gunner to contact the Gondola<em>"Bridge, this is Michaels. They're shifty buggers; we can't scrape them off, but they can't get close enough to do more than bounce some light rounds off of the ship's skin. Any advice?"</em><br/><br/>In the main Hangar, the five planes that had so recently arrived were being loaded onto the massive rotary launcher that dominated the cavernous chamber, the Lighter and faster Interceptors, being loaded up first, though an Exception was made for Maxwell's 'Silver Hammer' which was being delayed so it would be last out of the zeppelin; The crew, even with what little combat experience they had overall, knew that sending a damaged plane out into a battle early would be tantamount to suicide.<br/><br/>It took ten long minutes to load all the planes onto the launcher, each one being given their preflight checks so all that needed to be done was to have the pilots arrive and climb aboard.<br/><br/>At the far end of the hangar, leaning against the railing of one of the higher catwalks crossing the bay, Mister Johnston watched the procedure, before nodding to himself, apparently content with his decision to fly aboard the Blue Ridge.