The ships themselves.

Yes,I have put way too much thought into this!

The ships:

There are 4 ships in the Quad A:

The Apparition home to Commandant Sovereign AW Doyle, Warden of the fleet. It houses those who are inclined to try to escape and those prisoners who are not claimed by any country, they are the ghosts.

The Arsenic, a woman's prison.

The Atrocity, commanded by AirMarshal. Cain. He serves as fleet First Officer. It houses Air pirates and mercenaries.

The Abomination, which houses the mad scientists and biologically altered fiends. Those that are hell bent on world domination, those that experimented or are experiments of biological or genetic alteration or are trying to create some sort of super race, be it robotic or biological.

The fleet is funded by the governments of the world, but works for no one. In this agreement, it will house a variety of criminals, most whom are unfit to be kept in regular prisons, and the governments of the world agree to allow the Quad Afree passage anywhere and everywhere it wishes to travel.

Sometimes we are also contracted as bounty hunters, seeking and capturing criminals, pirates and mercenaries.

We have a vast network of contacts, moles and lookouts as well as governmental connections that afford us unparalleled access and control.

The ships themselves are large wooden ships, slung underneath  dirigibles. They are filled with a lighter than air, yet non-explosive, gas. We cannot be bought down by mere fire. The air-sacs of the dirigibles are made of a highly elastic material, which reflects the force of most objects. This makes them virtually unpuncturable, and able to expand to a huge size, allowing the ships to go to higher altitudes than most. They are propelled by individual propellers, and steered by rudders  or moveable propeller arms.

They are free floating in  a diamond formation, but attached by ratlines to allow the brave at heart access to other ships. There is a central ship, which is the officers meeting rooms, extra supplies, and living quarters when one wishes to escape the madness of the inmates.

However in rough weather, when under attack, and for ease of troop and crew movement, the ships are able to attach to become one huge, combined  fleet. Each ship houses a telescopic walkway, which extends towards the central ship, and attaches to one of its four radiating  arms. These lock onto each other and form walkways several meters across. Once attached all ships are locked in altitude and speed.

As to communications between ships, as electronics does not yet exist, the Quad A has a huge troop of highly conditioned monkeys. (Don’t laugh, I am going somewhere with this!) The monkeys have message tubes attached to their backs. To be directed to its location, it is given a colour coded and ship specific nut, which it may not consume till the message is delivered. The Apparition uses walnuts, the Arsenic uses almonds, The Atrocity cashews, the Abomination peanuts, and the Officers ship brazil nuts (the toughest nuts there are!) Within ship, the monkeys know where to go by the colour, red for brig, yellow for engine room, blue for officers quarters, orange for storeroom, green for prison quarters, and more I am sure will come with time… (you do not need to mention the colour whenever you send a message) These monkeys swiftly traverse the ratlines and rigging of the ships. Besides, they are cute. And they allow for some tampering of messages at a later date……