Kalinda continues to direct the gunnery crews. Even though the Apparition in Time bears no chase guns on her bow, the crew might catch the plummeting beast in time for another broadside and she wants to be ready.

Archie hangs on and steers through the incredible turbulence of such a steep dive. A loose bit of rope whips him across the face and he jerks involuntarily at the slashing injury. Even that minor tweak to the helm causes the Apparition to swerve precariously and one poor soul screams as he's thrown loose from the rigging. The unfortunate sailor seemingly falls up as he's shaken free from the Apparition's momentum and slipstream.

The ship draws slowly closer to the falling dragon and its rider. Creeping up on their descent velocity.

The Captain pulls an Alkenstari pistol from a sash around his waist and levels it at their foe. Zeph and Storms have no idea how the man intends to hit his target in the midst of all this wind and the erratic motion of the diving ship. Still, a crack of gunpowder issues from his hand. A split second later, the dragon's rider arches like his spine is full of lightning and then goes slowly limp. He is pulled unceremoniously and clumsily from his saddle and streams behind the falling dragon, held by nothing but the leather strap of his riding harness.

The dragon, feeling the death of its rider, suddenly shifts. It shrinks quickly from the size of a bull elephant to the size of a horse. Then to the size of a man. Its wings disappear and its riding harness slips off, sending the attached corpse of the rider spinning into the wind. The dragon takes the shape of a man and stabilizes its fall with its arms, splaying itself and quickly rising through the air to let the Apparition dive past it.

Lictor Mournholdt shouts orders back to the helm while tossing another shadowy lance at the quickly retreating dragon. The lance of darkness misses and the dragon makes a rude gesture as he slowly continues his relative ascent.

Spoiler
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Archie almost failed his operator skill checks mightily and we've lost a sailor in the air above us. Captain hit with his attack. Rider is dead. Dragon changed his shape into that of a humanoid and the App's velocity quickly outsped it. Mournholdt misses his attack. The now-humanoid dragon is 50ft away and climbing.

Storms' turn, then Zeph.