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You feel as if you have just narrowly evaded a nervous breakdown. But the entire situation is just so alien, so different that you can't quite comprehend what has happened, not yet. You are sweating, and the smoke is irritating your eyes and throat - you are forced to crawl around to avoid the smoke, which is accumulating in the upper parts of the room.
You feel wary going out the door that the masked soldiers used, but you must leave the room. You briefly consider leaving through the broken windows - large chunks of the wall have been taken out along with them, so it should be manageable - but as you come near the windows and look up, you can see the large bulk of another airship. It is a lot more menacing that the sleek, rounded lines of the Empress. It is bristling with masts, cables, and cannons, and tubes, and rigging, and all sorts of small protuberances whose purpose entirely eludes you. It is quite a bit larger, too. It is looming around ten to twenty yards above the Empress, so you can only see its bottom and a bit to the side. All you can see are observation domes and rows of small, evenly spaced, circular windows. There is no sign of a ship name or a flag that you can see.
You decide to not go outside this way. The hem of your dress gets stuck on a bit of glass and debris as you try to move back into the room. You immediately rip away a large portion of the dress, and a part of the petticoat. It was quite an expensive dress, but something tells you you will never put it on again in your life. Ladies' dresses aren't really meant for subterfuge or ease of movement. You look at the massive table that had protected you from certain doom. Had it been any smaller, you feel as it wouldn't have been able to hide you.
Carefully, you approach the door of the lounge - and peek through. There aren't any soldiers there, not yet. In fact, you would expect much more hubbub and screams for a ship that is being boarded by mysterious murder-soldiers. You manage to get to the outside without being seen. This time, at least, you don't go through the motions of attaching a harness. Not only would it take time you don't have, it would also make you slower, and the sounds of the carabiner sliding along the railing would give you away.
While you're at it, you take off your shoes. Through your stocking, you feel the metal of the catwalk drain the heat from your feet. The sun has been down for maybe half an hour at this point, and the metal has cooled.
