Seven months ago...

HMS Sprightly, a Royal Navy aerial gunship, was reported destroyed yesterday by hostile forces unknown.  The circumstances of the crew and passengers are also as at this time unknown.  The Sprightly, travelling near the Oenotrian border, was transporting a mixed group of diplomats and an archaeological team.   

Six months ago...

Survivors of the lost Royal Navy aerial gunship HMS Sprightly have reportedly reached safety.  Accounts tell of a vicious attach by sky pirates, in which the Sprightly was lost.  There followed harrowing battles against High Martians, in which the crew and passengers armed only with small arms and a salvaged Hotchkiss Revolving Cannon saw off a major assault from the Kraag Barrovar, and a trek through the Martian desert in the most extreme of conditions.  Reports of brief contact with a remote German archaeological expedition are at this time unconfirmed.