The Big Score - Part 1

**The Big Score - Part 1** is the first episode of the original Airship Pirates series.

## Plot

The Shadow of the Deep is returning to the Den of Thieves. On arrival, Morton welcomes the crew back to the Den of Thieves and tells them that he will be with the captain and that the crew should enjoy themselves, but be ready to leave the next day. Morton and Robert Bellamy exits the Shadow, after which Bellamy asks Morton about the readiness of their second ship, the Tiger Shark. Morton tells Bellamy that the Tiger Shark should be ready in a couple of days and that the longarm torpedoes have been mounted according to Bellamy's specifications, to which Bellamy comments that this extra firepower might soon be neccesary and that how bad it is that the Tiger Shark can't hold many reloads. Morton agrees, while Bellamy objects to Morton referring to him as "sir" as Bellamy is no longer a blueshirt. Bellamy then tells Morton that they have plans to make and takes him to The Salty Wench tavern.

At The Salty Wench, they are greeted by Frigga, who point out that it has been a while since she had seen Bellamy. After greeting her with a simple hello, Frigga tells Bellamy that she had been waiting for Bellamy to return and that she had the finest vintage set aside for her and Bellamy and the most comfortable room. Bellamy turns down the offer and tells Frigga that him and Morton need a quiet place where they can look over charts and make plans. Frigga then tells that she is the one who organize the network of merchants that sell the loot that Bellamy brings in from pirating other ships, as well as equipping his fleet and that she should have more consideration than a simple hello, before she leaves. Morton then tells Bellamy that he believes that he may have offended Frigga and that she has a point considering that Bellamy have been away for 3 months and that Bellamy cannot afford alienating the merchants. In response, Bellamy promises to make up with her later before he and Morton gets to work. In a bedroom inside the tavern, Bellamy presents a shipment that he think is the perfect one to go after, to which Morton asks Bellamy if he wants the pirates to go after some wheat. In response, Bellamy point out that the ship used in the shipment is the Majestic Pearl, and that she is not the kind of ship used for shipping wheat, in addition to pointing out that the ship is sailing to Verace, and that the capital of the Silver Empire is the last city anyone would ship wheat to. He points out that the entry that tells that the ship is shipping wheat is false, and that the real shipment may actually be a lot more valuable.

Two days later, the Majestic Pearl is en route to Verace, crossing the path where the Shadow lies waiting, which surfaces and takes to the air right in front of her. Bellamy tells the Pearl's captain that his ship is at gunpoint and that he will treat him fairly if he surrender, but threatens to sink the ship if it tries to resist or escape. The Pearl's captain tells Bellamy that he will surrender if Bellamy can guarrantee the safety of his crew, during which a razorclaw enters the Pearl's bridge and kills the captain; the struggle is noticed over at the shadow, where Bellamy wonders what is going on over on the Pearl. Moments later, the razorclaws on board the Pearl launches fighters to engage the Shadow. In response, Bellamy orders the fighters to launch from the Shadow. The first launches successfully. The first razorclaw fighter drops a bomb on the Shadow's tail section and the second fighter sets the Shadow's lifting cells on fire. Bellamy orders the crew to put the fire out, and Morton to keep the ship airborne while he heads aft. When Morton asks about the status of the second fighter, the fighter crew tells him that it won't launch and that they suspect that the fire is to blame. Morton tells the fighter crew to keepworking on the problem while telling the fighter pilot to keep the enemy fighters busy, to which the fighter pilot tells that there are two enemy fighters and him being the only friendly one. While Morton instructs what the fighter pilot should do, Bellamy is busy trying to put the flames out. The fighter pilot has lured the razorclaws alongside the Shadow's anti-aircraft guns, which open fire on the razorclaws once the fighter pilot is clear, while Bellamy and his crew at the same time have managed to extinguish the blaze in the tail section of the Shadow.

On board the Pearl, Bellamy asks the crewman if all the Pearl's crew are dead, which the crewman confirms, stating that they were killed by the razorclaws. Bellamy and the crewman heads aft to see if the Pearl carried something that was worth the Razorclaws' killing of her crew. In the cargo bay, Bellamy eventually discovers that the cargo is a white missile.

## Characters introduced

* Morton D. Walker
* Robert Bellamy
* Frigga Fyordgendotter

## Ships introduced

* Shadow of the Deep
* Tiger shark
* Majestic Pearl

## Trivia

* This is the first episode where the white missile is seen