Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I wasn’t even born when they appeared. When the Free Seas Alliance (FSA) was revitalized, and the creation of the Imperial Alliance (IA) and AL. Some of my earliest memories are of discussion in my homeland about who to join, a topic that the baby me paid no heed to (For those unaware the Principality of Kanjrick joined the IA, a foolish decision in my opinion). But now it's been 30 years since their arrival and the world has changed. Who knew these strangers and their ships would change the world so much? The colonization of parts of the world and the arrival of Yvornian ships and settlers doesn’t even begin to compare to their impact. Yet little is known about them, for 30 years they have been establishing themselves in this world. Whether called ship-spirits, ship-girls, Kansen, Senki, or Kanmusu these new strangers have been rather mysterious. Only recently with the release of the Kingdom of Oceanic Islands, and the Merchant Republic of Sulfian records regarding the Corfian Incident has there been large scale information widely available about these enigmatic organizations.

Out of a passing interest I happened to pick up a copy of the official reports from each country and began to peruse. The more I read the more I became intrigued, and not just how much was finally revealed about these organizations. I then sought out what few other written stories about these mysterious organizations. From there I kept finding references to an enigmatic figure known as the commander. Little was said about them, but they seemed to be very important to AL, even founding the organization. The few noted encounters with them showed them to be very competent and a great leader. But that was it.

No physical description or information on gender or anything. Just a mention, and then they seemed to disappear from record. This intrigued me, who is this mysterious commander who formed Azur Lanes? Why was so little known about them when they had founded one of the most well-known organizations on Daear? More was known about the creation and formation of the FSA and IA than of AL. Even then when members of FSA and IA could join AL. Why was that? Was the commander of AL really that persuasive and charismatic? That was the spark, from there I sought out every contact I had, everyone I knew who might be able to help. Thus, I started on my quest: to discover what I could about this mysterious commander.

Along the way, I discovered more about the organizations, and many mysteries of the strangers started to be unraveled. The FSA, or Free Seas Alliance, a collection of ships who belonged to the ‘Allied Powers’, who stand for free trade, and free passage of the seas. The members come from the ‘Allied Powers’ of Eagle Union, Commonwealth, Iris Orthodoxy, Dragon Republic, Mountains Kingdom, Flat Kingdom, Lowlands Republic, Bear Republic, Belkn Kingdom, Hellenic State, and the Northern Republic. These ships would eventually gather and originally from a different organization, its name unknown, just to be together and able to support one another. Then their enemies or rivals appeared with a different organization.

The IA, or Imperial Alliance, is a collection of ships from the ‘Axis Powers’ who stand for similarly free trade of the seas. But there is a difference, no one is sure what it is, but there is one. Which lends itself to the continuation of the conflict between the two. The members hail from the ‘Axis Powers’ of Ironblood, Sakura Empire, Sardinia Empire, Translvayian Kingdom, and the Siamese Kingdom. AL is a collection of ships that belonged to both sides, and some neutral countries. Its goal is the guardianship of the ocean’s pathways. A fourth lesser visible organization is the Neutrality Patrol, making up members from ‘Neutral Powers’. Those powers being: Sapin Kingdom, Forested Parliament, Lustanian Republic, and the Turkick Republic. Their expressed purpose is to minimize the conflict between the FSA and IA, taking up patrols of neutrality for that very purpose. There are rumors of other organizations, such as the SAA, and the mysterious Northern Union.

These discoveries only fueled me in my investigation. Causing me to pry even further, seek out more contacts. I went further afield, climbed higher in the ranks of each organization, pursued contact even further. This mystery only added more to the hole of unknowing that hangs around these organizations. But in the end, I was able to discover answers. Not to everything I sought, but enough that I was sated for the moment. That said the relationships, and friendships I built over the course of writing this will likely last all my life. For I did not go lightly into this work.

Interview 1

The backdrop was not what I expected, rather than some sort of fancy hall, or military base, I instead found myself at a café in the Parliamentary Kingdom of Szent István, a neutral country that contained a small AL base. The sun shone, and winds lightly blew the flowers and leaves, creating eddies and shapes from flower petals. My prey on this day was one of the first people to interact with what would become the founding forces of the Azur Lanes. He took a sip of their ordered drink and sighed in contentment.

“It's hard to find a good proper Hanvarian soft drink in this part of the world,” he commented. Their companion, a white-haired silver-eyed ship-spirit, rolled her eyes. Muttering something unheard as she messed with her cap, placed on the table. I couldn’t help but let out a slight laugh. The way they interacted showed that the way they had been working together for decades, something I took to be a good sign. With smiles playing on their lips at the laugh, I asked my question.

“Sure, I know a bit. Don’t get your hopes up, I haven’t directly interacted with the commander, as you call them, much” he started, breaking for a sip of the soft drink “In that regard Tirpitz can likely share more. But not by much” he concluded indicating the so far silent companion. His companion nodded.

“I have had more interactions with the so-called founding group of Azur Lane, if you truly want to start at the beginning, I can share what little I know about the start…”

Chapter Text

I felt the wind, waves, and heat. That is what woke me with a start, eyes flying open as I rocketed up into a sitting position. I hurriedly looked around confused about what was going on. This wasn’t Scotland or Britain for that matter. It was hot, and a dry but cool wind was blowing. My surroundings were very unusual, it looked like metal, perhaps from a ship, and a few lengths of wood, holding up what appeared to be a lean-to of some kind. From the entrance of the lean too, I could see a clothesline of some sort with some clothing on it, and the sea. The lean-to appeared to be on a beach of some kind, though the floor of the lean-to was covered with branches and large leaves. It was surprisingly comfortable. I then seized in fear; my Javelin was gone. Which was weird, I’d never had one as far as I could tell, but I knew deep down I was missing it. This panic drove me upwards, as I rapidly rose to unsteady feet, trying to get out and look.

However, as I made my way out of the lean-to my legs gave way and with a thump, I impacted the sand blinking my eye ferociously. Disturbing a bunch of something as I did, seeing as there was the noise of something falling or collapsing afterward. I tried to get back up but I couldn’t. This was only more disconcerting as I heard footsteps approaching.

“Oh! are you awake?” came a voice from behind. I didn’t respond but tried to get up again, fear gripping me. I didn’t know who this was or if they had kidnapped me. I couldn’t get up, I guess I was just that weak for whatever reason. “Did you fall?” my blood ran cold as the voice came from directly behind me, “Let me help you up, you must be weak from your experience”. Suddenly arms grabbed me from behind, lifting me up. This startled me, and I got scared.

“H-hey! Leave me alone! Who ur ye!? If ye dae anything to me th’ Roy’l Navy an’ Bri’ish government will find you!” I cried, trying to struggle in the grasp that held me. That said I was too weak for whatever reason so my flailing felt very weak to me.

“W-whoa calm down! I’m not planning to do anything to you” the voice replied, “Please stop struggling I might drop you!”

“How dae ken ye won’t!?” I responded.

“Why would I do that?” the voice replied, rife with confusion. At that I stopped struggling and tried to turn my head back to look at whoever this was. But I was unable to. I didn’t offer a response, as the sound of confusion was so palpable, I couldn’t believe that she, the voice sounded feminine enough so I decided this was a she, had kidnapped me. That just left the confusion of where I was, and who this was. She moved me back into the lean to, which had apparently not been what fell, and with some difficulty laid me back down saying “You really should rest, I’m sure your ordeal was rather hard.”

I finally got a good look at whoever this was, and was met by a surprising lack of clothing on them. “W-wait!, whit aboot clothing!?” I cried more in surprise than embarrassment.

“Whoops!, I thought I might have been missing something” She responded with, her voice sounding as if some great mystery had been concluded “I’ve been here too long” the last part in a lower voice, I could tell I wasn’t supposed to hear that. She retreated from my immediate line of sight. She returned momentarily; this time clothed. “I’m sorry about that, I’ve been here by myself for 2 years, and well there isn’t anything suitable to make clothes with here and the rest of mine are unwearable now, so I tend not to wear my last set” Came her explanation.

“ ‘at seems reasonable” I replied, “But where ur we?”

“I’m not entirely sure, I know somewhere in the Te Rangimarie Ocean. Beyond that I don’t know” was the response. The name didn’t sound familiar to me, I didn’t know of a single ocean or sea called that, and I had sailed most of them in Europe.

“How can you not ken? Ye said yerself ye had been here two years?”

“Involuntarily”

“Whit dae ye mean involuntarily?”

“Well how did you get here? I imagine it was the same way.”

“I don’t ken, last I knew I was floating in Troon, next I was here” I responded confusion, driving frustration into my voice. Her expression at that was one that confused me, as she now looked confused.

“You were floating? In Troon? So like a Harbor?” she asked, words slow like she was voicing a hesitant theory.

“Aye” That was met with silence while she thought about it.

“I’ve never heard of Troon, but more importantly are you sure?” I could sort of understand that; I hadn’t heard of it until I was sold. But she seemed strangely hung up on what I had been doing last.

“Aye” I replied, a bit more force in it.

“Okay” was her response. I opened my mouth again to ask her why she was asking me this. However, I was interrupted “Your probably thirsty, here have some water” she reached behind her and held out a glass bottle, that looked nothing like any I had ever seen. It seemed more primitive, than anything else. Thrown off guard, but realizing she was right, accepted it. She helped me sit up, and I drained the bottle. “I’m sure you are tired, so lie here and rest, I’ve got some more things to do but I’ll be back. If for some reason you need anything call for me, I should be nearby.”

“Wait! Whit aboot otuhart” I started but was cut off by

“Otuhart can wait, you need to rest, we can talk about it tonight”. With that she smiled at me then stood up and left. I thought I heard the person from earlier didn’t seem to be around. A ‘not shipwrecked?’ but I couldn’t be certain. I set the bottle next to me and tried to think about the situation I was in, but instead, I fell asleep. I awoke later, and noticed that there was less light, looking out of the lean-to, I saw that the sun seemed to be setting. But I noticed that the person from earlier wasn’t here. I contemplated going to find her. But a quick test told me I hadn’t recovered from whatever had left me here.

“Are you awake?” came her voice from the left outside. As I sat up to see and respond her head poked around the top left corner of the lean-to.

“Aye” I replied, she fully entered into view as I replied.

“Good, I was a little concerned that you might not be up to eat” was her response. I then noticed she has a basket or container of some sort in her hands. “I figure after sleep and rest; you are going to need food to recover”.

“True I am feeling rather peckish” I concurred with her. Though I wondered how this would mesh with the engines. Hopefully not ruin them.

“Here” I was offered a basket full of different fruits, “They are all safe, unfortunately, that's all there is”. I nodded and took the basket and started to eat. Still mostly in the lean-to, my vision blocked to the sides. The fruit was rather good, and I started to feel more energized as I ate. She also ate, and for a bit there wasn’t much sound passing between us. I then noticed something.

“Why isn’t thir any ‘ire?” I asked, commenting on what I noticed.

“Ah, well the problem is there aren’t many trees on the island and not a lot of driftwood. We are in one of the most remote places in the ocean.” Came her reply. I nodded at that and continued to eat.

“Wait! I don’t know yer name! I’ve been so confused an’ disoriented aboot everything it never occurred to me to ask! am sorry” I apologized. I hadn’t meant to be rude.

“Oh, same I guess, I’m Rangitaiki Lahti. What’s your name then?” she replied between bites of fruit.

“I’m HMS Javelin pendant number G61!” I replied with gusto. It was only right for me to answer her. However, Rangitaiki seemed to become confused.

“Wait does HMS stand for? What’s a pendant number? Why would you have those? Those don’t sound like parts of names?”

“You don’t ken?” I replied the pendant number part made sense, but I thought the HMS would be self-explanatory “Well HMS is easy! It stands for His Majesty’s Ship. The pennant number is an Identification system. The letter stands for a type of ‘hip, in this case, G means destroyer, and the number is simply th’ number identifying me”. This only seemed to confuse her more.

“Why would you have any of those, you’re not a ship?” now it was my turn to be confused.

“Aye, I am! I am Javelin of the J-class destroyers. I was commissioned June 10th, 1939 in Clydebank Scotland in the United Kingdom of Great Britain to the Royal Navy!” I shot back, getting frustrated. Rangitaiki looked away from me, forehead creased and confusion reigning.

“I don’t know about any of that, you mentioned some of those words earlier, but ships are ships, not people. That’s what you are a person” she started slowly, setting down the basket she held, reaching out. She gripped my arm and held it up for me to see. “Ships don’t have arms, or hands” she interwove her fingers with mine as she said that “and they for sure can’t talk like you have been”. I was quiet. As that factor just now sank in. I had felt my arms, and body, since I had woken up here. But before, I had felt… cold, ridged, and lonely. Why was I like this?

My thoughts caused tears to flow from my eyes. I didn’t know what was happening. My body instinctively fell to the ground and started to curl up, eyes closed. Crying.

“Jervis, where ur ye? Am scared” My voice was weak and wavering. I was scared. I didn’t know what was going on, I had an idea of why I was in Troon, scrapping, but Jervis had been there. And that had made me feel better. But now I was a person, somewhere in the world. Alone. “Kelvin, Kimberley” I sobbed out my half-sisters’ names. I didn’t know them well but they had also been in Troon. Even if they weren’t Jervis, I still cared for them.

Suddenly there was a comforting weight on me.

“It's okay, I’m here, I may not be the people you are asking for but I’m still here for you” Rangitaiki whispered to me, embracing me. I couldn’t speak so I just nodded in response. She held me while I cried. She wasn’t as comforting as Jervis, which was not her fault, or as funny as Kelvin. But it was enough for me at this moment. Eventually, the crying settled down. “Are you feeling better?”

“A-aye” I replied voice strengthening “Thank ye”.

“It's okay, everyone has moments like this. Besides, if we are to get through this, we need to work together” she responded.

“Yea” I responded. I was silent for a bit “I wasn’t lying aboot th’ ‘hip stuff, I know I canny prove it, but I’m not lying aboot this. I ken it’s odd, but that’s what I am.” I didn’t expect her to believe me, or perhaps she would claim I was crazy, but this is me and I needed to say that to feel in place and retain my sense of self.

“It's what you believe, then it's what you believe. I can only say what I can see, and I can see that you are upset and a person” was the response.

“Thank ye” It went quiet again. I didn’t know much about Rangitaiki, but so far, she seemed like a good and kind person.

“If you are in better states now, I’m going to sit up. There are still a few things I need to do. But I won’t be too far off.” She told me.

“Aye, thank ye” I replied. Rangitaiki unwound herself from me and presumably sat up. I opened my eyes and saw that it was much darker than before.

“I’ll be just within talking distance of the shelter” Rangitaiki told me standing up “So if you want, we can talk, especially if it will help you feel better.”

“‘at’d be nice” I replied. I sat back up with difficulty. Rangitaiki nodded. “Oh, this might sound weird” I started “But I hav an impression ‘at I may hav had a Javelin with me, so if ye could keep a lookout for it”

“I can do that” she responded, with that, she disappeared from my sight.

“How old ur ye?” I asked her, I wasn’t sure what to talk about so I defaulted to what I thought would be some basic stuff to get us started.

“17” came the reply. She was young about the same age as the men who had served on me. Just a year younger. Then I recalled that she had uttered something about having been here for two years. That would mean she would have been 15 when whatever happened; happened. I expressed as such to her. “Oh! I was signed on as a cabin boy, well girl, and as a navigator’s trainee or assistant. So, I wasn’t a proper member of the crew. I mainly fetched things and did chores. I wouldn’t really count myself as part of the crew.” Was her response.

“Why wuild they leave ye here then?” I asked. I hadn’t been able to think much about why she was here, but if there had been a crew, and if she had been 15 when she got here, why was she here? I wasn’t sure but I figured that she must have been manning some sort of installation here. I doubted; she would have been allowed on the ship given her age. At least in my experience as a warship, she would have been too young to serve on a ship. However, after my question the sounds of whatever she was doing stopped. It was quiet, only the sounds of waves.

“I was shipwrecked here” finally came the quiet reply. Oh. It all made sense now. I felt bad after my confusion and chaos that I had created with my arrival; I had now made it worse. I had brought up something that must have been terrible for her. I teared up. I couldn’t help it, I was still a bit scared, and now I had accidently brought this up.

“Am-Am sorry” I sobbed, bursting into tears again. I couldn’t even imagine what that would hav been like. I had almost sunk in 1940, but had survived. But that wasn’t a shipwreck, and that had been during a war. That was such a different set of circumstances. I was also a ship, so my perspective would be vastly different from that of someone in the ship. Suddenly I was hugged.

“It's not your fault. You couldn’t have known, based upon your story. It's okay.” Rangitaiki whispered to me. Rubbing my back trying to calm me down. I didn’t know if it was helping, but I didn’t try to stop her. Instead, I hugged her back. I continued to cry. Perhaps harder now. I couldn’t try and respond to what she was saying. Eventually, everything caught up to me, and I drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Text

A warm wind blew over my body. It felt cool and nice; I could tell that today was going to be another good day. It had been about a week since I had awoken on the island and met Rangitaiki. I had only been able to get up and help on the island for a few days now. I had gotten up before her today and was just outside the lean-to we slept in. Vaguely looking out to the ocean. Hoping in vain to see Jervis’s silhouette appearing over the horizon. Or perhaps even Kelvin or Kimberly. Maybe even Eskimo, Piorun, or Błyskawica which would be even more unlikely.

“Oh! Javelin you're up already?” I heard Rangitaiki call behind me.

“Yep!” I replied, spinning around to face her, a wide smile on my face. Rangitaiki was slightly taller than me, and I figured I was in the lower to mid-5-foot range. She had hair that reminded me of copper, with highlights of a red color reminiscent of what I imagine wine to look like. She let it fall down across her back, and had bangs and her ears were covered. Her skin was a warm olive color that reminded me of Mediterranean peoples that I had encountered in my service. But her face was bright, looking more natural with a smile. Her voice sounded like a pleasant water brook flowing over rocks. I could personally listen to it all day.

“Well let’s start trying to enlarge the lean-to, seeing as we are both up” Rangitaiki told me. I nodded and we got to work. The lean-to had been large enough for Rangitaiki, but not for both of us. As such, we needed to try and enlarge the lean-to. We had discovered a few days earlier that I was a lot stronger than I appeared to be. So, my role was to hold up and adjust the metal plates used. Rangitaiki could hold one with difficulty, but not as easily. I had been concerned as I discovered that it was fairly heavy. The wood holding it up didn’t seem terribly stable.

“Ur ye sure it's safe to use this? It seems awfully ‘eavy and dangerous.” I commented, holding the plate.

“Well” Rangitaiki started working on moving around the wooden supports, “I didn’t really have any other option. You’ve seen the island; I didn’t feel it was a good idea to try and cut down any of the few trees on the island. It's also too dangerous to go onto the ship, so I grabbed the lightest piece of sheet metal I could find from the ship, and the sturdiest pieces of wood I could find. I then tested different ways to construct it, which is what lead to the way I had it.”

“Still seems a tad dangerous”

“True, but you may not have noticed but the part we sleep on is actually lower than the sides, that way if it fell it shouldn’t directly fall on us, or well me at the time” came the better explanation. I thought about it and the sides had felt sloped though I hadn’t put much thought into that. I watched as Rangitaiki made quick adjustments to the locations of the different support pillars and the sides. Once she was done with that she climbed out of the danger zone. “All right set it down gently, if this holds we’ll move on to expanding the inside area”. I nodded and gently set the metal plate onto the supports, stepping back quickly I looked at it.

“‘At appears to be holding”

“It does appear to be, in that case we can-” Rangitaiki started, but was interrupted by a loud cracking. As we watched the wood holding up the metal plate snapped and the plate fell into the bottom. To my understanding these wooden supports were the only ones that could hold the metal. Without them we couldn’t have a lean-to. Neither of us said anything looking at the fallen plate for a moment.

“Am glad ‘at didny happened while we were init” I finally said. I got a nod in agreement from Rangitaiki.

“I guess we will have to see if we can find any sort of replacements.” was her verbal reply. The problem thus lay in the fact that there wasn’t much on the island. There were trees, but according to Rangitaiki they took a really long time to grow, so effectively each one cutdown was one that could not be replaced. None of the other plant life was strong enough to hold up the plate, nor able to be walls without wooden support beams. I looked over the island already anticipating not finding anything. As I did so my eyes drifted over to the only place that might contain the required parts. The ship.

“Ur ye sure we can find anything?” I asked her.

“No, but we don’t want to sleep exposed every night, so we need to see” she explained. I could hear her moving things around behind me, which suddenly stopped. “No it's too dangerous, it’s not stable. I refuse to step foot on it after my first try” she must have seen where I was looking. Her voice conveying fear and concern.

“A’ll be careful! Besides am a Destroyer! It’ll take more than some weak wood to dae me in!” I wasn’t sure if that really soothed her fears or not, but I heard a deep sigh in return. She offered no more protest as I headed off to the remains of the ship. Rangitaiki hadn't told me the name of the ship, and from what I had seen it wasn’t visible anywhere on her. The style was old, I wasn’t very well versed in ship design, but it looked to come from the previous century. Few ships of that kind had been around while I was active but a few had remained.

The ship was long and sleek, reminding me more of modern ocean liners. Yet it still maintained three large masts, supplemented by at least one funnel. From the shore I couldn't see any propeller, but I also didn’t see any paddlewheels either. Whatever had hit the ship, had caused her list over 60-80 degrees onto her portside, revealing an alarming portion of her hull to the sunlight.

I decided to enter by using the hole on the starboard side of the ship. I figured that that would provide me access to the internal part of the ship. cutting down on me having to find a way into her from the deck. I waded out to the wreck then, and carefully climbed the hull. Most of this part should have been under the water and thus wet, but now it was unnaturally dry on my hand. I tried not to think about how the ship was lost (Rangitaiki hadn’t told me how she sank), as a ship myself it was like considering my own mortality.

Once I reached the hole I looked around from my position. I could see a fair bit of the Island now, it was maybe 9ish square miles, long and thin. Rangitaiki was also still at the camp watching me, I waved to her, let the breeze blow my hair and hood for a second, then jumped down. I landed in the cramped companionway of the ship. It was wider than I was expecting, as I could stand up on the walls and walk. Due to the way the ship had come to rest on the island it was impossible to walk on the floor.

The companionway I found myself in was long, it appeared to cover the whole length of the ship, though I couldn’t tell. Past a point, everything faded into darkness. The wall above my head was the hull, and the wall under my feet had doors set into them every so often.

“Well at least thir shuidn’t be ghosts aboot,” I remarked, hoping to fill the silence. The feeling the wreck gave me was off-putting. Shaking my head I walked over to the first door and knelt down. I hopped the door opened inward as if it didn’t that would make this more annoying. I reached over and turned the knob, I was relieved to feel the door open inward. I let go and watched the door swing open, peering over the ledge once it was.

The room appeared to be a standard cabin, with beds attached to the sides of the walls. The mattresses and bedding were all across the wall that was now acting as a floor. There appeared to be some personal effects mixed in, but I had already decided to leave those alone. There didn’t appear to be anything worth risking getting stuck for, so I jumped over the hole and headed for the next door.

The next cabin appeared to be in the same state, similarly offering no usable items. Given the look of the ship, I had thought this to be a mixed passenger and goods vessel. As such, I had hoped there would be a chair or two that could be broken down for new supports. So far there didn’t appear to be any. The next several cabins presented the same results: tossed around beds and personal belongings but no chairs. I was rapidly approaching the darkness in the depths and paused to consider my next actions.

I could abandon my search attempts, given I was running out of light, or continue. If I did continue I would face problems with locating items, mainly relying on feel. On the other hand, I had not found what I was seeking, and the wreck was quite large. Perhaps there were some hatches on the deck I could open to add extra light. With the ship at the angle it was, I could crawl up to the ceiling and feel around, or I could make my way back to the main hole and try climbing back out and approach from the exterior.

Weighing my options I decided to continue, heading back out the hole to reach the main deck and see if I could find some hatches or perhaps what we were looking for. I could also use the chance to examine the bridge and captains’ quarters if I could find them. Nodding my head with that decision made I turned and carefully made my way back to the hole. Once there I jumped up and pulled myself through the hole. I briefly looked for Rangitaiki, and saw her much further down the island. I started the climb up to the top of the hull and onto the railing. Looking down across the main deck I could get a better look at the chances of finding a hatch or two.

Unfortunately, there didn’t appear to be any, at least here. As I was close to the bow, and wanted to investigate the captain's cabin I started along the railing. The superstructure and deck were not in good shape. There was a lot of damage. Not so much holes, but evidence of wave action or something being bashed up against the superstructure. Windows smashed in, parts of the riging damaged or completely snapped. whatever had hit the ship was strong. Rangitaiki was lucky to be alive, though it made me wonder about the rest of the crew.

As I was moving along the rail something caught my eye. It was an unnatural glow. I stopped and looked down towards where I had seen the mysterious glow. I thought it was perhaps a reflection of something. However what I was seeing appeared to be some sort of hatch into the cargo area. I had already passed the more obvious passenger areas. The light didn’t appear to be a reflection, due to the way the ship was positioned and the fact it wasn’t noon yet the main deck was in shade. That meant it couldn’t be due to a reflection, plus the light wasn’t like anything I had seen before.

I decided this warranted a look and carefully swung my body over the railing and onto the deck. I let go of the railing and slid along the deck to the hatch. Right as I was about to start trying to peer into the gaps into the hold, I heard a creaking noise. Suddenly I felt the deck give under my feet. I didn’t have time to try and grab anything before I fell straight down. I helplessly watched the hole shrink as I fell. squeezing my eyes closed I waited for the inevitable collision with the floor of the hold. splash. I hit the ground hard, sending up some water as the hold was partially flooded. I opened my eyes to darkness. Had I been blinded? had I hit the ground so hard I had lost my eyesight?

I started to hyperventilate, sitting up, in a panic I grabbed at my face and felt a cloth. I then remembered the bear hood I had. Feeling very foolish I pulled the hood back enough to allow me to see. The hold was more empty than I had expected. There were some crates but not very many. Bits of wood floated in the water, with what felt like others on the wall I was sitting on. The water felt about a foot deep at most. However, what drew my main attention was glowing.

The hold was not as dark as I had expected it to be. Instead, there was a bright blue glow. Strong enough that I could see the entire hold, from the tallest point to the furthest wall. I shakily stood up, rubbing my back and behind from where I had landed. As I grew closer to the glow I realized that it was coming from a couple of small objects. Two cubes to be precise. They looked nothing like anything I had seen before. They appeared to be made of glass, with a very clear outer layer. there was an interior sphere around a yellowish-colored center. Each one appeared to be large enough for one to fit into a hand each. They floated in the shallow water, though they didn’t appear like they should.

Mesmerized by the cubes I reached out and picked up both. they had a very smooth glasslike feel, pleasant to the touch. I lifted them up intending to get a closer look at them. suddenly without warning, they began to sink into my hands.

“Whit? wait stop!” I cried out, I shook my hands but that didn’t stop the cubes from continuing to sink into my palms. My hands becoming warm as they did so. I tried to grab them with the fingers on the opposite hands, but they didn’t catch and the cubes finished sinking into me. My hands glowed for a second then faded, with something like a clunk sounding in the room. Strangely I didn’t feel fear, only now like I was complete. Which did not help me with the immediate problem of figuring out what just happened.

I then realized a new problem, with the cubes now in me the light was gone. The room was plunged into darkness, and the sun still wasn’t shining into the hold hatch or the hole I had made. This meant I now had to navigate in the darkness. I quickly started to make my way to the wall I had seen in front of me before the light had completely vanished. It was the far side of the hold, but I had an inkling of how cluttered the path was, and figured in the dark that was my best bet. I slowly started to make my way forward, when I felt something cylindrical underfoot. I had barely processed it when I felt myself slipping.

With a startled cry, I fell forwards into the water getting my front even wetter than it had been by my last fall. I quickly got to my knees and frantically started searching the waters around me. I wanted to find this and assess what it was before trying to move toward the wall again. I only felt random wood bits and who knows else, when I felt it. Something cylindrical and metallic. I grabbed it and triumphantly lifted it from the water. I couldn’t make out much in the darkness, but it appeared to have a long cone-shaped end on one side, with something that stood out at the base of the cone.

I wasn’t sure what it was but it was about 4 feet long, and rather lightweight. seeing as it was rather long I decided to hold onto it. I could use it to feel for obstacles in front of me as I walked. I stood up and using my new discovery in a feeling matter, I managed to reach the far wall quickly.

Despite the darkness, I still looked at the wall hoping to find a door or something. I didn’t see any and considering the angle of the wreck even if there was, it would be unlikely I could actually reach it. It looked like I would have to wait until the afternoon for the sun to light up my surroundings. Deciding to pass the time I felt the pole thing I had found. I still couldn’t tell what it was, but it felt like it was completely made out of metal. As I examined it, I couldn’t help but wonder what the deal with the cubes was. As far as I knew no electronic component I could possibly have would glow like that. Perhaps it was some native table weight or something? Even if it was, I didn't know of anything capable of sinking into someone like that. I concluded I would have to ask Rangitaiki once I got out.

I felt the top of the cone part and realized it was quite sharp. An Idea started to formulate in my head. Perhaps if this was sharp enough I could use it to climb up or out. I needed to test to see if I could get it to stick into the wall. I grasped the pole in both hands and thrust it into the wall. I expected it to penetrate the wood a little bit, and stop. However, I had forgotten about my strength.

With a resounding crack, the pole went all the way through the hold wall and up to my forward-placed hand before I could even try to stop. My fingers stung a little as they collided with the wall. I withdrew that hand and shook it, attempting to see what damage I had done in the darkness. unable to see anything I tried to pull it out. the pole moved, but then got stuck on something. So I put my hand back onto the pole and pulled harder. With another different-sounding crack, the pole came out of the wall. I almost fell over at the sudden release but managed not to. Again I wished it was light so I could see the strange thing I had recovered better.

I then realized there was a little bit of light. I reached out towards it and felt that I had made a decent-sized hole in the hold wall. I couldn’t fit through it, yet, but if my experiment had been any indication I could make the hole bigger. I smiled, finally having a solid plan of escape. I grasped the pole again and set to work.

It only took a few more strikes before I could fit through the hold. I then gave it a couple of extras just in case. Once the hole was big enough I carefully made my way through. There appeared to be some sort of hatch or hole far above me which let the light in. I still didn’t have a good idea what the pole thing was, but it looked vaguely spear-like to me now. In the light I saw a ladder to the next deck. Despite the angle of the ship, I was able to clamber up to the next deck. Upon reaching the next deck I lost my footing and slid down to the port side of the ship.

“Damn list” I muttered, using my free hand to rub my shoulder that had impacted the wall. “oops” I breathed when I realized what I had said. This part of the ship was barely lit up, but what I could see indicated this was more of a crew area. Now that I thought about it I could be closer to the captain’s cabin. With that realization, I stood back up and started aft again. The light faded behind me, but using the pole I found, I felt my way forward. I eventually came to a wall. Thanks to the sun finally being past noon a dim light was filtering into the space through something. In the light, I spied the door along the wall.

It was the only door roughly 20 feet above me, and better yet it was open with the knob side closer to me. I was probably pretty far aft now, and this meant that this was more than likely the captain's quarters. Which would hopefully have important documents, or a chair for materials I could use. With that, I looked to see if I could figure out a way up there. The walls were smooth, so I couldn’t grip them to try climbing. I only had one pole, and as I hadn’t figured out how to control my strength yet, I didn’t want to risk trying to use it to either climb up or risk destroying something important by beating my way in. It was for a similar reason I hadn’t simply busted my way through the side to escape. If I could fall through the deck the last thing I wanted was to risk causing the entire wreck to collapse onto me.

Wait, I was very strong, so that meant I might be able to jump very high. It was not something I had tested but now was as good a time as any. I looked back the way I came and saw I could back up for a running start for this jump. I quickly retreated before sprinting forwards. Once I judged myself to be in a good position I jumped. My guess appeared to be right as I soared up, barely missing the corner the companionways formed. I however had not considered the landing and slammed into the door frame with my face and legs. I almost dropped my pole but managed to hold onto it while also grabbing the side of the door before I fell.

“‘at was too close” I sighed, hoping my pain would go away soon. With some difficulty, I managed to pull myself onto the door frame sitting on the edge, peering into the room. It appeared as though my guess was right, as only the captain would have this sort of room. Pluse there were actual windows allowing for better light. This room was much smaller than the full length of the hallway, but it appeared that there were some rooms to the side. I ignored those and carefully slid down to the wall. Here everything in the room was scattered across the new floor.

Setting the pole to one side, I quickly rifled through the items on the floor. I couldn’t read anything, and none of the papers appear to be maps or charts. Disappointed I set the papers down and sat next to my pole. I had made it to my goal of the cabin, but found nothing. Surprisingly there weren't any chairs either, so both reasons to enter were a bust. Considering the pain and weirdness I had encountered, I decided to call it quits. At least for now. That left me with the question of how to get out. I pondered breaking my way out, but that still seemed like a bad idea. I looked over the room again, alighting on the closed doors on the now floor.

With nothing else better to do, I stood up, grabbed my pole and made my way to the door. These were outward opening, so I had to move back with the door to see what was inside. The first was just some sort of closet or storage space. I let out a disappointed sigh, before moving on. The second would not open, but once I bashed my way in, I was even more disappointed. This room appeared to be a liquor storage room. Why it would be in the captain's cabin I could never guess, but I was starting to suspect why the ship had been sunk now. The final door was unlocked, so I opened the door and looked in.

Inside there was a ladder up. Seizing this chance I climbed into this room and made my way up. At the top was some sort of closed hatch. There wasn’t much light and I couldn’t seem to find the handles, so I used my pole to force a way open. Once the dust had settled, light started to pour into the ladderway. Poking my head through it appeared to lead to the bridge, which had more windows. More importantly, it was at the main deck level so I could finally get out. Some of the windows were broken so anything in the bridge was long gone. The wheel looked like it had taken a beating and was not properly in its place. I gently removed myself from the captain’s passage and lowered myself onto the wall.

Below me was the deck sloping down into the water. I wasn’t sure how deep it was but I could at least stop myself with my pole if needed. Taking a deep breath I jumped through an opening and landed on the deck. I slid across it struggling to stay face up. I hit the water and realized it was deeper than I thought. I couldn’t touch the bottom, but it didn’t appear to be tremendously deep. Looking forward I saw the remains of the aft mast rigging. I was close, so I struck out swimming for it. Once I reached it I climbed onto it to catch my breath. It appeared as though the water was getting shallower as I went along the ship. Eventually I should be able to wade back to shore. With that, I swam to the next place to stop, the next mast’s rigging. I repeated this process until I was at the bow and able to safely walk.

Once I made it to shore I collapsed to my knees, using my pole to hold my upper body up. The exhaustion of getting out of the ship was just now hitting me. even then I felt more tired for some reason. Maybe it had to do with the cubes? I looked back out to sea and wondered what the cubes and everything meant. At the same time, I felt a weird sensation, like a pulse through my body. I didn’t have time to dwell on it as suddenly I was enveloped in a hug.

“Are you okay? you look bedraggled!” Rangitaiki cried. I leaned into her hug and let her hold me up.

“Mostly? It was tiring to get out after I fell into the hold” I replied.

“You what!?” with that she pulled me to my feet. “Looking for materials can wait, you need to rest!” she exclaimed. With that she pulled me back to camp, ignoring my protests she laid me down. “I can’t believe you, first you have to enter the ship, then you get hurt!” she was rambling on while looking over me.

“I feel fine now really, just tired” I insisted. I instead got a hard look.

“I will say if you are or not. I may not have proper medical training, but I can get a better look at you” with that she set about examining me. “You look fine, but you have to rest the rest of the day. I won’t take no for an answer” I nodded at her instructions. I wasn’t particularly feeling up to moving around anyway.

“Anyway, where did you find this spear thing?” Rangitaiki asked me, holding it up. I finally got my first real look at it. It was all metal with a long point at one end, there were wing-looking protrusions at the base of the point. These were also metal, there appeared to be some sort of design stamped into the top of the shaft.

“I found it on th’ ship” I replied, “After I fell into the hold an’ saw th’ weird cubes.”

“The what? What do you mean?” she sounded perplexed.

“Well I noticed summant ‘at was glowing, so I went to investigate. ‘at’s when the deck collapsed, an’ I found myself in the hold. Well in th’ hold, thir were these two glass cubes floating and glowing in the water.” I told her.

“That’s odd we weren’t carrying any glass as far as I know, and we definitely didn't have anything like this onboard” she held up the spear as she replied. Rangitaiki had a thoughtful look on her face.

“Anyway I think we should keep the spear, it could be really handy” I nodded in agreement to her statement.

“Fit’s th’ design at th’ base of th’ point?” I asked her. She spun the spear around and looked at it closely.

“Hmmm, I think it's hand holding some sort of spear in it. there also appears to be some sort of badge around the -ack” she cried as I sat up.

“Let me see!” I asked, reaching for the spear. Rangitaiki nodded and handed it over to me. I looked closely at the design, and memories of my ship’s badge flooded my mind. “I found it! I found my javelin” I cried, falling onto my back, clutching the weapon to me.

“Oh! you did mention that, how did you not recognize it?” she asked.

“I hadn’t seen it before” I replied, “ I ken it existed but I just hadn’t seen it.”

“Well, now you have it. Rest now I’ll work on seeing what I can do for the rest of the day. I nodded, and let the exhaustion take me. I quickly fell asleep listening to Rangitaiki sing her songs as she went about her work. I had the first truly refreshing sleep I had since my first day. In the morning I woke up feeling refreshed. I was ready for another crack at the ship. I looked over and saw that Rangitaiki was still asleep next to me. I smiled, glad for her presence yesterday. I sat up.

“Rangitaiki. Rangitaiki. Rangitaiki!” I called shaking her to get her up.

“Wh-what it is?” she exclaimed, sitting up, looking around. She caught her breath. For she had to be looking at what I was. A large metal object floated off the island. It had three gun positions with open-back turrets, two guns per turret. One main mast forward a funnel, behind the trapezoidal bridge, and a hurricane bow rising up above the rest of the ship. On its side was painted G61. An anchor chain left the ship and disappeared into the water holding it by the shore.

“My hull” I breathed a response.

Chapter Text

Chapter 3

To say I was surprised was an understatement. Yesterday this had not been here, now it was. It also felt weird, as if I was looking at myself yet still in my body. I almost felt like I could feel the waves lapping against the hull. Though that could be the waves on my toes. Rangitaiki and I were standing in the surf looking at the hull floating there. I wasn’t sure how long it had been but neither of us had said a word after I woke her.

“So you claim this is your hull?” Rangitaiki finally asked breaking the silence.

“Aye, see it's got my pennant number oan th’ side.” I pointed to the giant G61 on the side. Rangitaiki nodded at this.

“Is it possible to get aboard?” she asked. I thought about that. Theoretically, we should, but in the time we had been watching it not one person had appeared on the hull, which was weird. The only way up to the deck was the anchor chain, which I for one did not want to climb. Theoretically, there should be cargo nets or something that could be thrown over the side to make it easier. But that required someone on the ship to set that up.

“Thir shuid be” I acknowledged. Maybe if we could cause a motor launch to be deployed, we could swim to it and then climb up the ropes? But how to deploy the boat. I lost myself in my thoughts when suddenly I felt Rangitaiki shaking me.

“Javelin, Javelin, look!” she was urgently uttering. I looked and saw one of the motor launches amidships had swung out and had slowly lowering to the water. I gasped, as there was no one operating the controls. When I did, the launching stopped, leaving the boat hanging in the air.

“Whit th’?”

“What the?” we both asked. I knew that without someone to operate the controls the boat should not be like this. I just hoped this wasn’t some ghost ship situation where I was now haunted by my hull. I stole a glance at Rangitaiki, and was surprised to see her looking excited.

“Is that some kind of magic?” she asked.

“Nae, it's mechanical, but it shuidn’t be happening wi’ oot someone to operate it” I replied. Her face fell, a bit. Magic? In this day and age? Hadn’t the last time witches and mages and stuff been thought to be real the 1700s? I shook my head and looked back at the hull. I was frustrated, of course whatever had caused the launch to start being deployed had to stop before it was fully down. In frustration, I wanted the boat to be deployed. The launch then moved. Downward. “It's no’ possible” I breathed. This was drowned out by Rangitaiki’s reaction.

“It's moving again! are you sure it isn't magic?” I had willed it to move and it had. Maybe. I then wanted the launch to stop. At the same time, the movement stopped. I willed it to move. It started again. I couldn’t help it as a smile spread across my face.

“It is me!” I exclaimed.

“What do you mean? You said it was your hull right?” Rangitaiki asked.

“Well aye but nae listen” I started my excitement causing me to talk faster “Am controlling th’ launch being lowered or no’. I think because it's my hull am able to control it”

“Slow down, I didn’t catch all that” she retorted, confusion playing over her face.

“Am th’ one controlling it watch” I waved my hand willing the launch to stop and it did. I waved it again, willing it to start, and it continued to lower. This time compersion flickered into Rangitaiki’s eyes.

“I see so you are the ship!” she exclaimed, “Wait this means we can use that to get aboard right” I nodded my head in agreement.

“Ye can swim right?” I asked her.

“Yes! My parents wouldn’t let me join the crew unless I could!”

“Then let’s go!” I cried, grabbing her hand and pulling her out into the water. She nodded and once we had to swim she struck out next to me for the boat. I hauled myself aboard first and helped her in. Once we were both ready I willed the davits to draw us up. In growing excitement the lines drew up and started to lift the launch back aboard. Once the davits stopped moving I climbed over the side and on to the deck. I was overcome with a strong feeling of nostalgia.

“Am home” I sobbed, unable to contain myself anymore. I felt a weight around me as Rangitaiki hugged me. She didn’t say anything but her presence helped me get a hold of myself. “Follow me” I told Rangitaiki once I was calmer. She nodded and we set off up towards the bow. After climbing the latter up to the next deck I reached out and opened the door into the superstructure. “Come in” I invited Rangitaiki. She nodded and I followed her into the superstructure.

“This is where most of th’ officers an’ command personnel ur stationed” I informed Rangitaiki. As we moved up to the bridge I pointed out the different rooms and functions to her. The weird part was the fact that there didn’t appear to be anyone on me or I guess my hull. In one regard that made sense I had been decommissioned, I had fought a hard war, but I felt great, as if I had just been freshly finished. Which is what I should not be feeling. “ ‘ere is th’ bridge!” I announced as we climbed up the last stairway to the top of the command tower.

“Wow” Rangitaiki replied. I had to agree. the Bridge was an open area with the instruments in the center of the open space. It was sunk down from the top of the superstructure, with the sides the top of the command trapezoid. To the front the steering wheel was placed below the main deck level in an alcove. From here you could see the entire ship, and a good ways over the island and wreck. The bridge was also abandoned, leading me to wonder how the ship had gotten here.

This question led me to ponder something. If I could control the davits and motor launches, what else could I do? Could I get the egnines running? by the looks of it if there was anyone aboard we would not have made it this far into critical areas of the ship with out being stopped. Further contemplation also indicated to me what I could still feel the waves. As I stood on one of the tallest point of the ship, I shouldn’t be able too. The cubes, my javelin, and now this? Something odd was happening.

While Rangitaiki looked out from the bridge, I focused. Trying to feel the hull as a part of me. Starting with the feeling of waves, I went deeper. letting my sense of touch flow into the new area. It felt cold, except the davit we had used to get onboard. I could feel us standing on my bridge. I then went deeper. Into the depths. this was harder and I closed my eyes to concentrate better. The turrets, the barbets and ammo lifts entered into my scope. I kept reaching looking for one section in particular. I found it, the cramped compartment with the most technical aspects. I put force into my will.

Thrummmmm! With a start, I almost fell as the feeling of vibration started. Up here on the bridge the noise wasn’t very loud, but the feeling of the engine starting could be felt.

“What the heck is that!?” Rangitaiki cried.

“My engine!” I couldn’t help by smile as I revealed this. Rangitaiki looked confused at first then her eyes opened wide.

“Does that mean..?” she couldn’t even bring herself to finish her though. I nodded.

“We ur getting aff ‘is Island!” I finished it for her. Rangitaiki smiled, and flung herself at me in a tight hug.

“thankyouthanuye” she cried, collapsing into me. I held her as she cried, not know what to do, hoping that this was enough to comfort her. It was finally my turn to help her. Granted it wasn’t much but to me, she had helped me tremendously. I started to rub her back hoping to help clam her down a bit. My eyes drifted over the horizon, letting the Type 291 surface radar, and Type 293 air search radar come online to assist in expanding my senses. In time Rangitaiki’s sobs got quieter.

“Ur ye feelling better?” I asked. She nodded, rubbing her eyes, before fully standing up.

“Much, I’d just completely given up hope I could actually escape this Island. I-I’ve-I’ve…” she could finish her thought but I got her general meaning.

“Lets focus oan seeing whit supplies ur aboard me, then go oan from thir?” I suggested. Rangitaiki nodded at that. “Come oan then, I can show ye around me as we go!” I hoped my energy would help Rangitaiki to feel better as we descended into my hull.

Unforntally our tally had not revealed may useful supplies. For example there was no food, but everything in the galley was in working order and stocked up with utensels. There was no fresh-water, but the storage appeared to work. I did strangely have full magazines (which I had examined alone), and the ready use lockers were full, but there were no firearms or side arms a person could use. Leaving my javelin as the only weapon we had between us. I had decided the test of my armaments would have to wait. The cabins and sleeping areas were fully furnished with blankets and hammocks. But the ship’s store was also frustratingly empty. I was in the room below the bridge where the charts and other tools were stored. Slowly going over the charts.

“Javelin I’m done!” Rangitaiki called as she entered the room. I had sent her aft to do a more through look through of the captain’s cabin and other installations. “The rooms were well furnished, but I could find any food or water” she lamented “Oh what do you have here?” I now recalled she was part of the navigation team on her ship.

“Charts, am no’ sure where we ur but it seems lek th’ Pacific, so I pulled them oot. Here come look over them yerself” I replied. She looked a little confused but came over.

“These charts don’t look right. I don’t recognize any of the landmasses, they look like charts but are you sure they are?” That stopped me, I hadn’t really considered much about this world, but now that I thought about it, Rangitaiki had never heard of Britain. She had also called the ocean something I hadn’t heard of before. I mainly had Pacific Ocean charts out, so now I flipped through the charts to pull out a world map.

“Does any o’ ‘is look familiar?” I asked her. I watched as Rangitaiki slid over closer to me and looked closer. I watched as her brows furrowed as she looked at it. The longer she did the more it furrowed.

“I don’t recongize any of these landmasses, some look nominally familiar, but its all wrong. That said here” she started, indicating New Zealand, “looks in the general area where my home land would be on a world map, but the map is too small.” That stunned me, I now had no idea where I was anymore. Up until now I had presumed somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. but with this, and Rangitaiki’s confirmation she didn’t recognize any of this forced me to abandon that idea.

“Well, couid ye navigate or track oor progress?” I asked her, quickly putting the maps up, and getting a blank chart out. At this point I couldn’t think of any other option.

“Yes, but I can’t guarantee I can find us our way to anywhere but I’ll do my best!” She beamed at me.

“ ‘ats all I can ask f’r” I responded. With that Rangitaiki hugged me, a massive smile on her face.

“It's been too long since I was able to practice navigating. I’m looking forward to it” she respond. I smiled back, our energies fueling one another.

“Now we need to start final preparations!” I started, Rangitaiki quickly nodded backing off a little “Seeing as we hav nae food an’ water, we need to gather as much as possible, and store it aboard!”

“Noted, lets get to it” Rangitaiki respond. With that we left the superstructure to the motor launch. Before I got in the Motor launch, I threw cargo nets over the side so one of us could climb up if needed. This time when the launch hit the water I disconnected it from the davits. I quickly started the engine.

“Hold on” I told Rangitaiki, she quickly grabbed the side but looked puzzled. I smiled back, and gunned the engine, doing a quick lap around my hull, before bringin the motor launch onto the beach.

“What is that? It was sooooo cool” Rangitaiki asked me.

“It’s a motor launch, so th’ engine propelles it forward at a high speed. It’s used to transfer crew an’ officers from th’ ‘hip to shore.” I reponed jumping out to pull it onto the beach “I figure we can use ‘is to bring a lot o’ supplies over to my hull an’ then store them.”

“That makes sense, so as much food and water as we can find, without destroying the environment?” Rangitaiki asked, as she jumped out of the boat. I nodded at that, starting towards that place where we slept. Rangitaiki, headed off to gather food from the island.

We spent the next couple of hours gathering supplies and moving them aboard my hull. I looked at the island from the side as we moved the last of the supplies from the motor launch.

“I think to help supplement the water, we should set up a still of some kind and some collection buckets” Rangitaiki was concerned about the water situation. overall we had more food then water.

“Aye, seeing as we can use my galley, we shuid be able to mek a still thir.” I agreed. “Before we set out, tomorrow lets use one of the larger barrels to gather some salt water.”

“Tomorrow?” Rangitaiki asked.

“Aye I figure it's best to head oot early tomorrow to mek sure we are in good shape. Having a proper night’s rest before traveling is a good idea” I told her, picking up some food to run to the gally.

“I see what you mean” Rangitaiki responded “I like that plan, lets spend the rest of the day getting ready for a long haul. Once we leave we need to find the near land mass and get proper charts.” I nodded at her addition.

“We can also pick oot where we ur going to sleep and mek sure oor blankets ur good” I continued. She beamed at that.

“I haven’t had a bed for a long time” she repsoned “I can’t wait!” With that we set about the last few tasks of the day. I primarily stored food, and made sure everything was secured. This was because I knew where everything was. Rangitaiki, went to look at the navigation tools and to search out where the best place was to sleep. I also took the time to fully check my munitions, and was pleased to find I was fully stocked just in case. I hadn’t noticed anything on my surface search or air search radar, even my ASDIC was quiet. I has relived at that, but after our talk earlier about the world I was unsure if they would even help in searching out threats.

That night we lay in the captain’s sea cabin next to one another. Ironically we had both chosen this for our first night aboard. after sleeping together for so long it wasn’t easy to break that. I had laid my javelin with in arms reach, and lay on the outside of the bed. We were trying to get to sleep early, but even with the light off I wasn’t feeling tired.

“Javelin? are you awake?” I heard Rangitaiki whisper next to me.

“Aye? is summant wrong?” I replied.

“I want to aplologize.” came her voice. I rolled on to my side to look at her.

“Whit you mean?”

“About not believing you with the ship stuff. I really didn’t think you were a ship. But after seeing all of this?, and being here with you tells me I was wrong. I don’t really know what to make of the world anymore. I thought I knew a lot of things, but now I’m not so sure. I just want to make sure that I… well…” she trailed off.

“Its okay, I wuidn’t hav believed myself either if I had bin in yer position” I replied.

“Maybe but, your helping me, and I feel bad about doubting you” I could tell from her voice that this was really bothering her.

“It’s okay” I reached out and hugged her “I wuid hav helped ye anyway!”

“Thank you Javelin” she replied. I smiled at that, felt her lean into my hug. After a while I heard her breathing get deeper and knew she had fallen asleep. With that I finally fell asleep. In the morning I was the first one up. Seeing that Rangitaiki was still asleep, I quietly extracted my self, grabbed my javelin, and headed out. I had been running my engine the entire night, and I now started trying to build up steam. I quickly ran through the last few checks. Gathering salt water to distill, and setting out containers to catch rainwater just in case on the fordeck. With those done I looked over the Island from the main deck. I hand’t been here that long, but it still felt weird to be leaving it behind.

“There you are!” Rangitaiki’s voice came from behind me. Looking to my right I saw her coming up the raling next to me.

“Hehe, sorry, I woke up e’rly so I decided to dae the stuff we needed before we headed oot.” I explained.

“That fine but it freaked me out to wake up alone!” she chided, coming to stand next to me. Nothing was said, both of us looking over the island. “Is it weird to say i’ll miss it?” she asked.

“Nae, I got a similar feeling” I replied “Mibbe, because its where I meet ye”. I glanced over the Island one last time before facing Rangitaiki. “Ye ready to leave?”

“Yes”. I nodded at that. I tuned toward my bow and willed the anchor chain to raise. It did so with a slow rhythmic clank as each chain was raised up. Once the anchor was raised I finally put energy into my screws. After building up steam for the past half hour or so, I was ready to go. I beamed as I felt them start to move, and slowly my hull started forward. Gradually it speed up. “bye” I heard Rangitaiki say behind me. I turned and saw that she was looking at the wreck.

“Rangitaiki?” I asked.

“I’m fine” she turned to me, a smile growing on her face “let’s go!” I nodded at that.

“Let us get oot of here!”

Chapter Text

Chapter 4

I stood on my bridge looking out to sea. I could hear Rangitaiki behind me working on something. We had been at sea for a week or so now, and had seen nothing. I hadn’t detected anything on radar, or ASDIC. We hadn’t seen anything either. Rangitaiki was trying to chart our progress but without proper charts it was a guess at best.

“Well I think we are making good progress” Rangitaiki told me “But as i’m not sure where we are, its hard to tell.” Part of the issue was Rangitaiki had no idea where we had been in the first place, only having a vague idea. So she couldn’t use latitude or longitude properly.

“It’s fine!” I assured her “we will find summant soon!” I heard her sigh.

“I agree but I feel like a failure without being able to say, though I never did fully complete my training.”

“Rangitaiki! come here! ye’ve been looking at th’ charts long enough!” I told her, turning back meet her eyes. She nodded, and reluctantly rolled the chart up, putting it in the case where were using, and walked up next to me. The wind was blowing, and adding that we were sailing into it, that made the bridge a pleasant place to be. Overall today was a good day for saling, the seas were mostly calm, with waves at most 5 foot, and a moderate breeze. Or a Beaufort scale 4 day, as duitfly recorded in my new logbook.

“I’ve been wondering” Rangitaiki started, wind whipping her long hair behind her “but why is the bridge open? I know saling ships have open bridges like this, but steamships increasingly don’t, and this appears to be some sort of advanced steamship.”

“Ah! well, th’ idea th’ Royal Navy has is ‘at a captain needs an unobstructed view of th’ battle so RN ships hav an open bridge. If th’ weather an’ conditions are bad enough it is possible to lead from th’ deck below!” I replied, I was lucky in that I hadn’t run arctic convoys, but still my open bridge was thought to be unusual by some at the time. Rangitaiki nodded at this, turning her gaze back out to sea. Perhaps now because we were finally on our way to civilization, it occurred to me that I didn’t know much about Rangitaiki. “Hey, Rangitaiki cuid ye tell me aboot yerself?” This seemed to catch her off guard.

“What? why are you asking all of a sudden?”

“Well I’ve told ye a lot aboot myself, but I don’t ken much aboot ye” I replied “am not trying to be invasive but I want to know ye better.” she nodded at that.

“I understand, perhaps I had been avoiding it due to being trapped on the island, but now?” she pondered what to say. I had no reason to rush her, so I made myself comfortable by leaning my back against the front of the bridge side. “Well I’m from Aotearoa, its a island in the southern part of the Te Rangimarie Ocean. We are in an association status with the United Republic Kingdom of Welvern. One of their many colonial or territorial positions around the world.” She started. I did appreciate the geopolitical lession this was, but that was not what I wanted. “I personally am from one of the native groups on the islands. The town I’m from isn’t on any maps, not for any reason other then we are still more traditional then is liked by the government. We do accept new technology, and especially ships, but we incorporate it into our traditions.”

“I see, so a margnilized populace in the territory?” I asked, feeling uncromfortable at that implication.

“Not quite, the government wants to promote the fact we are equals to the Welvens, but our continued insurance on tradition, does not help that image. We are treated fairly in the country, especially by those in the seafaring business, as our ability to navigate is legendary, but we tend to get shuffled to the back on the international level.” Rangitaiki explaned. I nodded at that. It was heartening to see that the local traditions were still vauled somewhere, that they hadn’t been whiped out.

“As for me, I last I knew I had no siblings, I was an only child, My grand parents lived in the town with us, but not in the same household. I don’t look much like my family, my skin is too light, similar to what my great grandfather’s from what I hear, pale white and red eyes.” she continued. That surprised me. I had nominally heard of others like that but that was it. I looked at her eyes, properly for the first time, and saw they were green with a red tint.

“Ye eyes appear to hav some red themselves” I replied. Rangitaiki nodded at that.

“I have been told many times, it seems I took after him. As for why I’m out here with you and not back home? Well the sea called me. I’ve been learning the traditional ways of navigating that my ancestors used to conquer oceans. We once sailed the Te Rangimarie Ocean at will, on boats that were nothing like what you have seen. I trained for years, and once I was old enough I started looking for a ship bound position.” I could hear pride in Rangitaiki’s voice. As she had explained, she had held her hand up in a certain way. I’d seen her do it before when she was trying to navigate. Perhaps that was part of the methods she employed? She did use traditional tools, but supplemented them with her hands.

“I was lucky one of the regular long route ships was hiring. The captain was familiar with my village and well, the current navigator was looking for a student. They also realized that it wasn’t magic as some people claimed, we do have magic in our tradtitons, but we don’t use it for navigation.” Rangitaiki contiuned her story. That mention of magic caught me off guard. This was not the first time she had mentioned that. But they had steamships, the wreck was a clear enough indication of that, and she had mentioned steamships minutes ago.

“Hey Rangitaiki? Whit was ‘at aboot-” I started. Then I jerked my head to look forward. Rangitaiki caught my action, concern growing on her face.

“What is it?”

“I got a contact oan my radar” I replied, turning around fully to look forward. “It's no’ big, much smaller then my hull. Its no’ travling fast either, comparatively speaking.”

“Radar?” was her response.

“Radio Detection and Ranging, radar, using radio waves I can detect objects beyond visual range.” I replied quickly. With that Rangitaiki, ran back to the makeshift table we had set up here and grabbed some bincaulars, which had usefully come with my hull.

“Where!?” she asked me.

“It’s no’ yet in visual range” I replied shaking my head. We were currently cruising at 15 knots, based upon the revolutions my screws were preforming. My Type 291 radar had about a 35 nmi range. “It’s going to be a bit before we can see it.” I increased my speed as I told her, up to roughly 20 knots. For the first time since leaving the island this was the first contact I had. The prospect of finally meeting another ship had us both excited. Rangitaiki had lowered the binoculars, but held tightly on to them. I quickly retrieved my javelin, and held onto it, the prospect of meeting a ship driving me to some sort of comfort.

I gradually speed up the the increased power drove the propellers faster. neither of us had the means to see what time it was, but it felt like an eternity. I scanned the horizon knowing that it should be reaching visual range shortly. Able to tell the distance thanks to my radar. Soon something started to break the horizon.

“Thir it is!” I cired pointing it out for Rangitaiki. She already had the bicnocluars to here eyes and was rapidly adjusting it. From what I could tell from my eyes, was this might have been a sailing ship. I couldn’t tell it was too far away, and I hadn’t yet tried to use my rangefinders remotely yet. Silently cursing that decision, I could only wait for what Rangitaiki’s report. Then I heard her gasp.

“Slavers”. Slavers, that sent some level of primordial rage through me. But I managed to remain calm for now.

“How can ye be sure?” I asked squinting to try and make the ship out better.

“The sails, and the mast the flag is flown from. I personally don’t recognize the flag, it looks Yvonian, but the symbols on the sails, and the flag flown on the first mast are strong indications its Slavers. I hate to admit it but I know the company.” Rangitaiki replied, disdain entering her voice the more she explained. That caused the rage I had to boil back up. Every Royal Navy ship knew what to do with slavers. We may have once enabled it, but once we stoped, we destroyed the institution. I increased my speed again, intending to catch the ship.

“Well then, time to intervene” I replied, shivering at the sound (my voice making myself uncomfortable). This earned me a look of confusion from Rangitaiki.

“What do you mean?”

“The Royal Navy does no’ allow th’ contiunation of th’ institution of slavery. We seek it oot an’ destroy it.” I replied, moving to the starboard side of the bridge.

“I easily agree with you sentiments, but we are two people!? How do you expect us to stop them? besides we don’t know where we are, certain nations still allow it, depending on where we are we could be breaking the law!” Rangitaiki was sounding concerned. A quick look told me she was nervous about this.

“Those who do no’ act are no better than enablers. Besides” I started with a grin “Am a destroyer, an’ ‘at evens th’ scale.” Rangitaiki still didn’t look convinced but she did look less nervous.

“Are you sure? You can do this? Javelin you are my friend I don’t want to lose you, there will be trained fighters on that ship!” Rangitaiki quickly approached me and spun me around, putting her hands on my shoulders.

“Aye” I replied gripping my javelin tighter. “If I didn’t think I cuid then I wuidn’t be taking daylight action.” Rangitaiki still didn’t look please but nodded.

“I’ll come with you!”

“Nae, we only hav wan weapon, an’ I wuid feel much better if ye remained here.” I replied. Rangitaiki looked dishartned, but nodded releasing her grip on me. I gave her sympathetic look, then looked back at the ship. It was much closer now. I quickly adjusted my speed to make sure we came up next to the sailing ship. They had seen us and a lot of activity was happening on the ship. Sails being adjusted, people amassing on the deck. “Rangitaiki, when we pull aside, go to th’ deck below, a’ll lock the doors so they can’t get to you. You shuid be able to watch thir, please you need to be safe while I do this?”

“Okay” she didn’t sound happy but she didn’t try to protest.

“Hey if ‘is goes well, we shuid hav charts and information on where we are. plus stopped at lest wan slaving vessel” I encouraged her the best I could. I wasn’t sure if it helped but I had to focus on the action now, as we were soon to be in range for me to board them. I watched as we gradually dew up next to the ship. I was managing the speed so that my hull should be matching speed with the slavers. the ship was a smaller sailing ship, a brig rig set with two masts about 200ish feet long. several of the people amassed on deck had weapons. I quickly calculated my move before we drew level with the midships.

“Look! its a Girl!” I heard from somewhere on the ship. Any other responses I didn’t catch. As the ships finaly drew level, with a quick hop I was on the side before fully jumping off. I landed exactly where I hoped I would, right behind the amassed group. My landing did surprisingly rock the ship a bit causing some to lose their balance.

“Get her!” someone ordered. They group behind me didn’t have a chance, I swiped hard with my javelin, knocking them down. A couple others who hadn’t been in the group slowed their approach. Perhaps concerned by my ability to displace around 15 people at once. I jumped back, trying to open a better positon, and not be surrounded. This put me even farther from my side, though allowed me to have better vision of my enemies. They started to group up infront of me. My second large concern was if there were any slaves below, and now that I was firmly on board this start to nag me. I decided the best way was to knock out the people in front of me and either confront the captain or get below.

That decided I charged at the closest person. They tries to swipe at me with their club, but missed. I didn’t. Catching them with the shaft part of my javelin. I was trying not to severely harm anyone. I figured that on the off chance Rangitaiki was wrong if they were only unconscious and not badly hurt we could smooth things over better. This foe went down hard, allowing me to focus on the next. They brought their sword down, I managed to deflect it with my javelin. I struck out with my leg, catching them in between the legs, felling them. I followed that up with a wack to the head to knock them out as well. The next two backed off, wearily walking around me. I also noticed that some of the first group I hit were starting to get back up.

Crack. Something whizzed by my head. I snapped up to look at the castle aft. There were a couple of people with rifles of some kind. That changed things, as guns could definitely do damage if they hit. I jumped back, primarily to keep from getting attacked from the front, and ran aft towards the castle. I jumped up, sailing up onto the castle, earning some verbal response I didn’t catch. As I landed the second fired at me, luckily going between my legs. I reacted by swinging my javelin hard, catching them in the legs, knocking them down. Before they could react, I used my free hand to grab their weapons and pitch them over the side. I took a look around, and saw that there were only two other people up her. The helmsman, and someone else, who looked fancy enough to be a captain. With that I dashed over to the fancy man. I grabbed him, lifting him up with my free hand, using my javelin to threaten him.

“Ye hav any slaves aboard?” My voice was low. No nicites for slavers. His eyes went from fear and confusion to fear and understanding.

“Now why would I discuss any business venters with an intruder?” he responded with a laugh.

“ ‘ats no’ an answer” I replied, poking the javelin lightly into him.

“Pray tell even if we did, why should I tell you?” he was trying to sound calm, maybe attempting to control the conversation “what our company does it not your business, unless you are interested in buying any? Though too bad on that side” I wasn’t sure what he was trying to get at, but so far what he had said did line up with this being a slaver. I now had to figure out my next action. I could see the crew on the top of the castle, watching me. I needed to figure out the best way to capture this vessel. The captain was saying something, but I was tuning him out.

Suddenly I shuttered. I had an indescribably bad feeling. I quickly glanced at the captain and saw his eyes were focused on something behind me. At the same time, it felt like ASDIC might have detected something, right under the sailing ship. Without thinking I slammed my wheel hard over in my mind, intending to ram the sailing ship. I was focused on the feeling and not thinking. Then it hit me, ramming the sailing ship was a bad idea. Before I could correct that action, I heard the creaking of wood. My hull was already starting to run the ship over, a severe list was already forming. Acting quickly, I threw the captain back and raced for the side. Jumping up, and grabbing my railing and looked back watching in horror as the sailing ship was overtaken. With a massive crack, the foremast snapped and fell. The list greatly increased, and as I watched the ship capsized. My hull continuing over only slowed little by the action.

“What the hell happened!?” Rangitaiki called. I looked and saw she was on the bridge looking down at me. Shock plastered all over her face.

“I don’t ken! I just got a bad feeling an’ acted on it!” I responded climbing onto the deck. I started to turn my hull around so we could rescue any survivors. I raced across the deck, behind the funnel to the other side. I hoped to get a good look at the scene to figure out the best corse of action. They may have been slavers but I was not going to abandon them in the middle of the ocean. However there was a problem.

“Where ur they!?” I exclaimed. looking where the ship had been there was nothing. Which shouldn’t be the case. There would be some sort of floatsum, especially the damage done by my hull, but there was nothing. No one was in the water floundering. There was no wood floating on the surface. No screaming, and no trace of the hull, which should have been partially visible, based upon where the ship was in the process of sinking when it disappeared underneath my hull. Instead it was as if nothing had been there. Thinking quickly just in case, I ran to the closest motor launch, and deployed it. Racing over to where the ship should have been.

Nothing. The only thing I saw was a weird reflection under the water. Without thinking I dived over the side and swam to it. I grabbed it, and surfaced, luckly close to the launch. I was able to climb back in and look at the prize. It was some odd glass or crystal shard. It appeared to glow, but I wasn’t sure. Tearing my eyes from it, I looked back out across the water. Badly hoping to see anything. I didn’t, so I fired the launch back up and started racing across the water looking for anything. I also used my ASDIC to see if I could detect any sound of the ship breaking up underwater. After what felt like hours, I was forced to give up, there was nothing. I hadn’t even heard anything on ASDIC. In defeat I motored back to my hull and got back aboard. Rangitaiki was there and she shook her head before I could ask her anything.

“I hate to ask, but what happened? I thought you meant to take the ship not sink it” she sounded confused. She didn’t approach either, like she wasn’t sure what to make of my actions.

“I don’t ken, I was questioning th’ captain, they were a slaver but I don’t kenw if thir were any slaves aboard. Suddenly I had a terrable feeling, lek we were in danger. I-I I guess my combat instincts kicked in. Withoot thinking I ramed them.” I told her, trying hard not to break into tears at the though of possibly killing salves “I also thought I detected something oan wan of my sensors. I never meant to do ‘at, after we-no I hit them I hav no idea what happened. I was ready to rescue anyone that survived, but there was no trace of th’ ‘hip. All I found was ‘is”. I held up the glass or crystal thing, tears starting to stream down my face.

Suddenly I was hugged. I managed to blink the tears out of my eyes enough and saw it was Rangitaiki.

“I didn’t see anyone either. I don’t know what happened, but I believe you didn’t mean it” she told me “How about we take a break for a moment and compose ourselves before moving on?” I nodded at that, hoping that at the very least the ship was not carrying anyone when this happened.

Chapter Text

Chapter 5

It had been several hours now. Rangitaiki and I had been over what happened several times. We had now resumed our original course, and were making 15 knots. In the meantime, we were in the chart room around the table looking at the glass or crystal shard I had recovered.

“I wonder if it’s related to whatever caused the ship to disappear?” Rangitaiki aske me. I shook my head.

“I don’t ken, but for sure it was were th’ ‘hip shuid hav bin sunk.”

“Hmmm” was her only response. She reached out and flipped the shard again. It was an unusual blue hued shard. It was pointy on both ends, but one was longer then the other, overall it was about 7 inches long and ½ inch thick.

“Rangitaiki, I-uh” I started, wanting to know where our relationship was after the incident.

“It’s okay, I belive it was an accident. Honestly I was in shock too after it happened, but I do admit I also got a bad feeling. I was afraid to admit it, but I think I might have been around when you had yours. Besides with it vanishing like this, and no one somehow getting off? I don’t know something is admiss” she replied, looking me in the eye. I let out a sigh of relief.

“Thats good I wasn’t sure what I would do if you hated me.” I admitted. she smiled at that, and nodded.

“I can understand that. Now getting back on topic, I’ve never seen any glass or crystal like this before” she continued “I almost feel something coming from it when I handle it, but I’m not sure. Here do you feel anything?” she offered the shard to me. I took it in my right hand. I wasn’t sure if I felt anything. I absent mindly tapped it against my left wrist, seeing if I sensed anything. Then something happened. Even though I watched it, I couldn’t easily describe what it was that occurred. The shard bent around my wrist, as if it was fluid. Out of shock I let it go, and watched as it made itself into a wristband. I looked up and saw that Rangitaiki meet my eyes. confusion just as prevalent on her face. I reached with my right hand and grasped at it, pulling it over my hand carefully. Once it was off the shard returned to being a shard. I got it close to my left hand and it returned to being a wristband.

“I hev never seen summant lek ‘at before” I commented.

“Neither have I”. I removed the shard and set it back on the table.

“I think we best leave it here for now” I told her. Rangitaiki nodded and we left the room. I made sure to lock the doors tight, and then headed down to the main deck.

“What are you going to do now” Rangitaiki had followed me down.

“I think its aboot time I figured oot how to use my rangefinders and main guns” I replied “Perhaps if I’d used them to fire a warning shot, th’ fiasco could have bin avoided.”

“Main guns? Rangfinders?” Rangitaiki asked, clearly confused by those terms.

“Main guns, ur th’ main weapons I use! For my class its six 4.7 inch guns, two in each turret. Due to th’ range, about 170000 yards at a 40 degree elevation, th’ human eye can’t mesure th’ range or accuracy. So rangefinders provide a way of measuring the range using optics.” I explained. I pointed at the two forward turrets, as by now we were on the foredeck able to easily see them. As I did, I rotated the turrets to face port. I was intending to practive with them, so launching them forward would not give me the best idea for their accuracy for practice.

“So these are those weapons?” Rangitaiki asked. I nodded. “What is a destroyer exactly? I’m not familiar with that type of ship.” she continued. I pondered my response as I elevated the guns.

“I can’t say am very familiar with th’ history, but a Destoryer is an escort ‘hip! Genrally ye can break th’ main warship types, or at lest whit am familiar wi’, into 5 categories. Submarine, Destroyer, Cruiser, Aircraft Carrier, and Battleship. Some of these hav subcategories, but ‘ats no’ important for now. A battleship and aircraft carrier ur th’ two most important ships, they function as th’ flagship an’ main display of power in a fleet. Cruisers are th’ all around type of ‘hip, able to escort or function as a display of power depending on how ye use them. Destroyers ur escort vessels! They exist mainly to escort th’ other types, to offer assistance an’ protection against enemies. Especially against submarines! Submarines ur commerce raiders, an’ hunters. They seek out enemy ships and destory them, either as a group or individually. They don’t fit into th’ fleets as th’ other types do.” Rangitaiki nodded at this. I took this opportunity to examine the turrets while I loaded some rounds. Before messing with the range finders I wanted to make sure the guns worked.

“So in short you are one of the work horses? like a ironclad frigate?” was Rangitaiki’s question. I stopped at that. That didn’t sound right, especially as frigates were another type of escort vessel for convoys, but ironclad told me that it was not that.

“I don’t think so. Ironclads ur well before my time, an’ I did say generally. Th’ roles I carry oot depends on whit’s asked of me. For example I ken some destroyers who helped ground forces with fire support, or led sweeps to clear oot harbors an’ stretches of water of enemy craft. A’ll hav to think more on whit the best way to describe myself is. Now ye ur going to want to cover your ears! I plan to test my guns, an’ these are loud!” I infromed her. Se quickly slapped her hands over her ears. I then fired.

Kerbang!!!! The four forward guns fired at once. Sending a shockwave across parts of the deck. I hadn’t thought about that, but with luck we were behind one of the turrets so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. When they had gone off I had felt the vibration in me. It didn’t bother me, but I hopped that it didn’t unsettle Rangitaiki. Instead she looked a combination of shocked and impressed. Which is not what I had expected.

“Ye okay?” I asked her

“Ye-yes, I just wans’t expecting that.” came her reply. I nodded in understanding.

“Well, am aboot to practice a little wit th’ guns, so if ye want to be away from th’ sound, ye’d best head inside, It’ll defen th’ noise. Plus I’m no’ going to be doing much else so there’s little reason to stay oot here wit me.”

“All right, it is late so I’ll go get something ready to eat!” with that she headed to the gally. We didn’t have much variety of food, but Rangitaiki was much better at getting it prepared then I was. I left her to do that while I tired to focus on using my rang finder independently. I focused on my hull trying to feel them out. Instead of heading deep into my hull like I did for the engines, I felt around the upper structures. I had readily been able to use my Type 291 and Type 293, perhaps because it passively added onto my senses. Same with the ASDIC. I did manage to find the rangefinders. I rotated it to face the proper direction and then tried to use them.

This disoriented me, as with my eyes open not only was I seeing what was infront of me but, what I could see through the rang finders as well. creating a nusating experience. I quickly closed my eyes, and focused on sensing the output for the rang finders. this time, I just saw the rang finders’ view. this kept me from getting nauseous. I mentally adjusted and tuned the range finders, to get me at around 1000 yards, to practie close range shooting. once I did that, I ran the caculations through my fire control computers, and adjusted my main guns accordingly. once my preparations were ready I fired. This time, I watched with my rangfinders as the shells splashed down.

I repeated the process several more times, getting closer to my aim point every time. I kept meticulous count of how many rounds were fired. I knew I was operating on a limited supply, even if full, so I decided to keep my pratice short. After I watched my last shots, I looked up, and noticed that it was late in the afternoon. Considering everything that had happened today it hadn’t felt like it had been that long. I returned the turrets to their starting positions, and headed inside.

I went back to the chart room, to look at the shard some more. That was the last big mystery now. I didn’t expect to solve it, but perhaps I might come up with something if I examined it. Entering the room, the shard was where I left it last, on the middle of the table. I picked it up and looked closely at it. I was at this for some time, before I heard a knock.

“Enter!” I reposoned, not taking my focus on the shard. I heard the door open and Rangitaiki entered.

“Here’s the afternoon meal” she told me, setting a plate down on the table.

“Thank ye!”

“Are you hoping to see something?”

“Aye, theres no good reason why ‘at should have been there.” I replied, reaching out to grab some of the food. “How low ur we?” I asked her.

“We still have another week’s worth, but we might want to start rationing it.” she replied. I nodded. I had hoped that by now we would have run into someone or some land mass. Excluding the slavers from earlier we hadn’t run into anyone. I wasn’t sure how big this ocean was, but my understanding was this wasn’t too different from the Pacific. I sighed.

“Hopefully we encounter sommant soon. Those slavers wen’t oot here for th’ hell of it”. Rangitaiki agreed.

“There has to be something nearby. I just hope we find it soon.” There wasn’t much to say so we continued on in silence. I wasn’t having much luck with the shard, unsurpsingly, so I held it up to the light in the room. Nothing happened, but the refraction of the light was interesting. I noticed the sun was starting to set of the port side, or roughly to our west. For the heck of it I held it up to the sun. Closing one eye as I did.

Clunk. it felt as though something changed. Then suddenly we were weightless. It lasted a brief moment, before: splash! My hull landed in water. We were shaken off our feet, but nothing fell off the shelves.

“Whit th’ hell!” I cried, picking myself off the ground.

“Are you okay Javelin!”

“Aye, and ye Rangitaiki!?”

“I’m good, just a little startled”

“ ‘st’s good, lets ….” I trailed off, looking out the windows properly since what ever happened, happened.

“Javelin what is it?” Rangitaiki asked. I didn’t answer. I grabbed my javelin and bolted to the route to the bridge.

“What the!?” I heard Rangitaiki call after me, before I heard footsteps following me. I burst out onto the bridge and fully took in our surroundings. The sea was unusual. The amount of light was too. Instead of evening, and a setting sun, it was like midafternoon, with a lot of light. The sky was an unusual blue, and the water reflected it perfectly. The water was also flat. perfectly flat, not a calm flat, but an unusual flat. There were no waves, and it reflected the sky perfectly, like a mirror. I looked behind us and I didn’t even see a wake behind us. There was no noticeable sun in the sky, nor any clouds, and no wind. This was in stark contrast to what the conditions had just been.

“What’s going on….” Rangitaiki started. I shot a glance at her, and saw she was looking around as welll.

“So its no’ just me then” I breathed. She nodded.

“No I see it too. Do you know what happened?”

“Nae, I just looked though th’ shard at th’ sun, when suddenly ‘is happened. Can ye see if ye can figure oot where we ur?” I asked her in return.

“Let me see…” she set to work with her tools to see if she could figure out anything of where we were. As she worked I felt out with my radars, and ASDIC to see if I could sense anything. I couldn’t. The sensors were working, but they weren’t picking up anything. I ran to the edge of the bridge and looked at the horizon. It was hard to see where the sky ended and the water began due to the reflections. I couldn’t see anything with my eyes, in any direction.

“I don’t know where we are, less so then before. Its almost like we fell into somewhere that shouldn’t exist” Rangitaiki told me. I sighed.

“ ‘at’s no’ good. Run doon an’ grab some binoculars, am no’t getting anything on my radar or ASDIC. So were are going to have to scan ourselves!” Rangitaiki nodded and vanshised into the superstructure. I continued to look around, hoping to see anything that broke the glass like water or sky. At the same time I ran what happened through my mind hoping to see something that could help. Nothing came up.

“Here” a breathless Rangitaiki had retunred, shoving a pair of binoculars into my hands. I accepted them and started to sweep the horizon. Frantic minutes of searching brought nothing. Neither Rangitaiki or I saw anything.

“Am no’ seeing anything.” I informed Rangitaiki “I think oor best bet is to keep watch.” Rangitaiki nodded at this.

“I didn’t see anything either.” We silently continued to stand watch on the bridge. Sweeping the horizon in all directions ever so often with binoculars. After what felt like hours the first change happened. Suddenly it went dark. Like it was night. There was a small amount of light, such as what you would expect from the moon, but there was no moon in the sky. By the same token, there weren’t any stars either. There was one unsuall glow though.

“Is the shard glowing?” Rangitaiki asked. I held up the shard so we could both see. It was indeed glowing, a faint blue light.

“ ‘at’s unsual” was all I could say. We sailed on like this for a long time. As it was dark the binoculars were almost useless. I monitored my radar and ASDIC, but detected nothing. Eventually Rangitaiki and I were sitting side by side, backs to the wall, as we faced aft.

“I can’t think of any explanation” Rangitaiki was saying. I nodded in agreement. “I have heard of a lot weird things, from different folklore and supposedly magic creations, but this is the weirdest. What did you do again before this happened?”

“I looked at th’ sun through th’ shard” I held it up again.

“Hmmm, thats it?”

“Aye. I canny say as to if ‘ats th’ cause, but that all I ken.” we sat in silcence for a little longer.

“You know, you might as well try doing that again?” Rangitaiki finally said. I looked at her. “Oh don’t look so concerned, it doesn’t hurt to see what will happen. whats the worst it could do?” I sighed and decided not to tell her how it could, in my opinion, get worse. That said this was the first real suggestion on any method to solve the problem.

“It’s worth a shot!” I finaly said standing up. I looked at the sky, hoping to see something I could use for a sun replacement. I didn't see anything, unsurprinsly, but I got a feeling to look at one place in particular. I raised the shard and looked at that spot, closing my other eye. Clunk. The feeling of weightlessness returned, along with a splash. At the same time the world was bright. The sun was in the sky, and a breeze was blowing.

“You did it!” Rangitaiki cheered, giving me a hug.

“I did” I responded, still confused as to how that worked. I looked down at the shard.

“I guess the trigger is looking at the sun or something through the shard” Rangitaiki followed my vison. I contemplated for a second, flipping the shard around in my hand. I then slapped it on my wrist, letting it form the wristband.

“I think it’s best we don’t let ‘is oot of oor sight” I told Rangitaiki. She nodded in response. With that I looked up to try and see our surroundings. It was still open ocean, but something felt different. “Rangitaiki, check where we are! Am going to check my clock” I told her. I rushed downstairs to the chart room where my clock was. If I remembered correctly it had been about 20:31 when I had rushed out to the bridge. Now the clock read 10:45. That couldn’t be right. there was no way that we had spent that long in the weird other place. I hadn’t been able to keep track, but by my reckoning it had only been about 1:00 when I had looked though the shard. At the very lest it had been what ever passed for night in that place. Not morning. Confirming the time I raced back up to the bridge. Rangitaiki was still working out where we were.

“I got it!” she cried after a couple minutes “We appear to have moved a couple hundred mils!” I didn’t know what Mils were, but it was probably some measurement system.

“So we somehow managed to travel a long distance in ‘at other world?” I asked. She nodded at that.

“I don’t understand it myself but we did!” she responded. I walked over to the side of the bridge and looked forward. My thoughts were interrupted by something. in the distance there appeared to be a smudge of some kind. I raised my binclulars for a better look. What I saw made me catch my breath.

“Rangitaiki! I see land!”

Chapter Text

I had just finished up investigating a lead I had in the IA. This lead had tuned up nothing, as the person I was looking for had died a week before I had arrived. With that frustration diving me, I was now heading to a contact in the FSA. I was unable to take a direct route, so I found myself far off corse in the Harbor city of Toricva, one of the largest cities in the Federal Republic of Vanconer, a former colony of Versi, now in a federation with the Nrdlands. I was getting off my steamship when I noticed something along the harbor. It was a small building that looked out of place. While most of the buildings along the waterfront were connected in someway to the shipping industry, this didn’t have any shipping company names on it. There was a flag outside, but there wasn’t enough wind to fully reveal it.

After finding out that my next ship wouldn’t be leaving until tomorrow, I hit the streets. I strangly found myself drawn to this building. With uncertain steps I made may way to it. Once I grew close, my attraction became clear. The flag that was fluttering outside was the Azur Lanes flag. The sign out front only made me more certain about visiting the establishment. “Azur Lanes Musem, Early Years to Present '' is what it read. There was no AL base in this part of the Federation. In fact the Federal Republic of Vanconer was distinctly non-algined, not allowing any orgninzation to set up a base here. That meant that what ever this museum was about, was not a hold over or funded by AL. With a newfound sense of hope and interest I entered the building.

The first floor was mainly open, with a desk to the right side, with a door behind it. To the left was a massive open room that had different pictures and displays in it. In the back I could see some stairs. The only people in the building were two women that sat behind the desk. I entered and paid the fee, taking my time to explore the exhibits. There were a lot of pictures I had never seen. I reconginzed some of the ships, such as Javilen and ________ some of the most famous early ships in Azur Lanes. One picture was of Javelin smiling holding up some sort of reward, while another figure was next to her. I couldn’t make them out as they weren’t fully in fame, and it appeared as though someone else off frame was attracting their attention. The placards offered up some interesting information. For instance the one that had Javelin smiling with a reward was labled: “first reward for capturing slavers”. Some of these pictures seemed too personal for a standard museum to have. Needing information I decided to ask the recpetionest about the start of the museum.

“Oh that? Well we are really too young to remember it well” one of the two women replied to my question. The other nodded.

“If you really want a good answer you need to speak with our father”

“The easy answer is, these are personal encounters, but given the way you have been taking notes in the museum that’s not going to cut it for you” the first one added. I couldn’t help but nod at their assessment.

“If I may ask, why do you want to know?” the second one asked me. I then explained my cause. I wanted to know about the organization, about its founding, and publish what I learned. The two of them looked at one another. They didn’t say anything. Instead, a voice from another room answered.

"It's okay, that just reason enough." Out from the doorway behind them came an old man. He appeared ot be in his 60s. He had smile lines around his face, and his eyes were warm. "If you could follow me, the main floor is not for discussions such as this" I did agree with that, so I followed him to the stairs. It was only now I noticed they were cordoned off. the old man removed the cordon and beckoned me on. I followed through on that, heading up the stairs and reaching a living area. there were even more photos here, not just of the Azur Lanes members, but of the two women downstairs, and what must have been the man, and his wife.
Interview 7

We sat at the table in a dining area. For a long while, neither of us spoke. Finally, I asked him what he knew.

“Hahaha. I can’t say how much I know, but I do have some information. You see when I was younger I was one of the city guards, predecessor to the police force. I was in charge of the anti-pircacy and slaver elements of the guard. It was in this role that I first encountered them.” I had not expected that. Here was someone of the masses, one who was not a government official who knew them. “I remember when they first arrived. It feels just like yesterday, yet it's been nearly 30 years. Yes, I can tell you what I know, but you better listen well…”

Chapter Text

Chapter 6

Both of us watched the approaching coast in relief and awe. For me this was the first land I had really seen, not counting the island. I couldn't say for Rangitaiki, but this was for sure a new land for me and I wondered what awaited me. I also finally felt like we had made our first real step, getting off the island was just the first part.

"Do ye recognize this shore?" I asked her. I was greeted with a shake of her head.

"No, not at all." I had sort of expected this, but I had hoped she might, so we could figure out where we were.

"I guess we shuid coast, an' see whit we find" I couldn't think any other plan.

"Agreed" with that I turned starboard and followed the coastline. Sweeping the land with binoculars, and keeping tabs on my radar. The shore was covered in lots of forests, with mountains further back. I couldn't get a good look at those, but I could tell that the trees were primarily pine, or what appeared ot be pine. We continued like this for a while pointing out small natural things to one another. Sueddenly I felt something on my radar, I jerked my head in response.

"What is it?" Rangitaiki asked, noticing my reaction.

"I've got one maybe two contacst oan my radar, its th' first one since we saw th' slaver" I replied. Rangitiaiki nodded.

"How long before we come upon it?"

"Not long, shuid be oan th' port side" I replied, moving across the bridge to be in a better position to spot the contact. I also raised my guns from the resting postion, but did not rotate the turrets. I wanted to be ready with a warning shot, but did not want to antangonize anyone with aimed guns. Rangitiaiki quickly joined me, binoculars to her eyes. I figured this was likely some sort of trading ship, given the fact that the coast was also on the port side of the ship. With nothing left to do but wait, I grasped my javelin in uncertainty.

"I see it!" Rangitaiki called after an eternity.

"Whit do ye see?" I asked, cupping my eyes looking in the direction she was faceing.

"Its a packet boat of some kind, sail vessel, with several small boats around it! That's unusual, anyway the flag appears to be that of Versi's so we should be safe" she reported. I didn't understand part of it, but I got the impression it shouldn't be more slavers, and someone actually willing to help. Maybe.

"A'll bring us up slowly so as no' to startle them" I told her, relaxing the guns. Though Rangitaiki didn't relax.

"Javelin, something up, I don't think that ship is properly under control" she told me.

"Whit ye mean?" I inquired. I looked at the ship through my rangefinders, and indeed something was up. The smaller boats were empty, some kind of coastline sail craft, and there seemed to be a lot of activity on the deck.

"I can't explain, but something about the ship tells me she's not under proper control." was her response.

"I agree, summant isn't right." I retrieved my javelin from where I had left it on the deck and retuned to my positon my own binoculars raised so I could get an unobstructed view of the ship. The ship was a three master with square rig set, perhaps a barquentine. As we pulled closer it became more clear something was admiss.

"I think those are Pirates!" Rangitaiki exclaimed "Not the ship, but the small boats, I have heard they will prey on ships close to shore like this before!"

"Ur ye sure?" I asked back, but I didn't need a verbal answer. I could now see the deck clearly and tell that there was a fight going on. On the deck a massive brawl was ensuing. I could roughly tell the two general sides, but I couldn't tell who were the pirates, and who were the crew. As we grew closer I spied a group in the castle at the back of the ship. They seemed to be protecting the wheel.

"I hav an Idea" I quickly told Rangitaiki what it was. She nodded in understanding.

"I'll get inside, and see if I can do anything to make you look more crewed" I nodded at that as it would help the deception. I quickly adjusted our speed and heading, so that we would come up alongside the packet vessel. It didn't appear like many noticed out advance, which was good I wanted the element of surprise. The sounds of fighting wafted over the water to us, the fighting sounded hard. Once we were in the right position I jumped from my bridge onto the castle of the ship.

"What the-!"

"Another Enemy!?"

These were some of the reponses to my arrival I heard. The sounds of fighting seemed to lessen a bit.

"Ur ye th' captain?" I asked the person who looked in charge.

"Um Yes, I do happen to be" he replied, sounding a little shaken from my arrival.

"Good, am not an emeny, am here to help!" I told him. He looked confused at that. "These ur pirates correct?"

"Yes, but how can you help?" he was skeptical, which I could understand.

"Am a lot stronger then I look" I replied, "besides I hav a plan!" He didn't look convinced but nodded in acceptance anyway.

"We are in dire straits, we do need all the help we can get. You get us through this, and we will be eternally grateful" I nodded and ran to the stairs that descended down onto the main deck. I stood at the top, looking down I could tell this was a hard battle. The Pirates themselves had a more disprginzed appearance to them, and lacked the even slightly uniform appearance that the crew did. I couldn't tell who was winning, but I shouldn't dally on my plan.

"Those loyal to the captain prepare to counter attack!" I yelled trying my best not to let my accent slip through. I got a couple of confused looks, but I gave them a moment.

Dun Dun Dun! I opened up with my QF 2 pdr Pom Pom guns. I was aming over the heads of the crew, and between the masts. The powerful rapid fire gun should cause enough of stir to demoralize the pirates. Even without a demonstation of its destructive abilities. It did appear to have this effect as most of the pirates, and unfortunately some of the crew coward, or dropped to the deck seeking some kind of cover. The crew that hadn't been affected by the demonstration saw their opportunity and acted.

I also stepped in to help, launching myself down the stairs toward one of the pirates that seemd to be in a leadership positon. Despite cowering from my QF 2 pdrs, he recovered quickly and was barely able to put his sword up in time. It managed to catch my javelin, but he was forced back a couple paces. Before he could fully recover I jabed at him. he could react in time, and I got hin in his shoulder. I figured I could now use my weapon's better reach to wear him out. However that seemed unnecessary, as suddenly several crew member appeared around me completely out numbering him.

I quickly looked around and saw that most of the pirates were delt with already. Leaving this man as one of the last few standing. He seemed to realize the hopeless of his situation, and dropped his weapon. With that the last few priates also surrendered. With that a cheer was raised by the crew. I quickly made my way back to the castle to talk with the captain. I was pleased that my plan had worked. I walked up the stairs and saw he was in discussion with what seemed like his officers, some of who looked the worse for wear.

"Ah here she is!" the captain said noticing my approach. "we couldn't have done this with out your help. For that we thank you."

"Its ma pleasure, we just happened to notice ye were in trouble an' helped, lek any reasonable person shuid." I replied.

"Still, we would have been hard pressed to keep the ship with out your help!' he started "We for one are willing to give you and your ship's crew the reward money for this, our desitnatnon happens to contain the regional headquarters for the government, and this pirate crew has been wreaking havoc for months."

"Ur ye sure?" I asked, we hadn't done much. It hadn't even been much of a plan. the captain nodded.

"This is one of our regular runs, so we are set to get in the purple this run. besides we have some rare spices this time, so we are likely going to be getting more pay this time anyway." I nodded at that.

"if thats how you and the crew feel we will accept." All thing considered Rangitaiki did need the money, as we were low on supplies, and lacked charts and other critical navigation equipment.

"That said, could i trouble you with one more thing?" the captain asked.

"Aye, if its in oor power to do, we'll see whit we can do."

"Could you give us an escort in to harbor? It's only a couple of hours to port, and despite having won here, we don't know if there are more laying in wait for us. There has been an uncomfortable uptick in pirates and slavers in these parts recently, so having had this occur I want a little extra support". I could see his concern, despite being victorious the crew had been injured and it was questionable if they could repulse another attack.

"Aye, we can, though we may no' follow ye all th' way into harbor, we do hav oor own mission, er time table, we can delay long enough to receive th' reward, but not too long, so its better for us to stand off the coast rather then to enter and birth" It was a lie, but given how unusual I was, and the fact we still wern't sure what we wanted to do, I decided it was for the best not to enter the harbor directly.

"I understand, well I appreciate you assisting us, and being able to journey with us to Toricva" came his reply. I nodded.

"If that's all I will return to my vessel" her nodded, and I turned and ran to the side jumping back onto my deck. I quickly headed up to the bridge, running into Rangitaiki on the way. she joined me on the bridge and we watched as the crew got the packet back underway.

"It was a success, and the captain wants us to accompany them to harbor, Toricva I think?, he is also going to give us the money.

"Toricva huh? I think thats in Versi's colonial territory in the Vercian continent. That aside we do need supplies so hopefully the reward will be decent". I nodded in agreement, starting a head now that the packet was under sail.

"Am glad wan of us kens sommant aboot it." I replied "I was thinking that we could stand off th' shore beyond visual range, an' go in oan a moter launch to receive th' money." Rangitaiki nodded.

"Yea that makes the most amount of sense, I've never seen anything like you before, and I personally want to remain as low key as possible for now."

"Agreed. For 'is section, I was thinking wan of us shuid be on th' bridge at all times, just in case something happens. Th' other can do whit they want, and we keep rotating who it is." I explained to her. We hadn't gotten much sleep or rest, after the weird mirror like sea, seeing land and now this. So I wanted to make it possible for one of us to rest. Rangitaiki also nodded at this.

"Let me take the first rotation then, you were just fighting and need a bit of time" I wanted to argue, but she was making sense.

"Okay, a'll head below an' let ye take first watch. A'll be in th' captians sea cabin resting." She nodded in response and I headed below. Once I made it the sea cabin, I collapse into the bed and fell asleep. Before I knew it, I was being shaken.

"Javilen, time to switch" she was saying as I came to.

"All right" I nodded, getting off the bed. She took my place and I headed up. a quick look at the clock told me it had been about two hours. I continued up and settled in on my bridge, to the port packet was still there. Some of the crew waved at me, which I retuned. I looked ahead, scanning with my eyes and radar for anything. There wasn't. I quickly settled into a routine of watching ahead and looking at the packet. the trip was uneventful. after a similar amount of time I woke Rangitaiki. she took over, though now i felt more rested and decided to stay with her on the bridge. not long after she came up the shore started to change.

Now there were houses and signs of development now. from the occasional house or building to a large number, possible villages or towns. Looking ahead revealed that there was more development.

"I think we might be getting close" I told Rangitaiki. She just nodded. Soon in the distance a proper city started to appear. large buildings, and many different kinds of ships.

"Well, welcome to Toricva I guess" Rangitaiki said. I only nodded in agreement.

Chapter Text

Chapter 7 

As we neared the Harbor we needed to make a quick decision. On one hand, we wanted to make sure the packet arrived safely, and on the other to make sure we didn’t get found out.  

“Rangitaiki lets head off to stand offshore, I’ll let the packet know,” I told her making the decision now was the time to leave. She nodded, I ran over to the side of the bridge. We were rather close to the packet boat, just in case we were needed fast. I yelled over to the packet our plans to split off. The captain responded via megaphone that they would keep a lookout for our boat in the harbor. With that settled, I turned to starboard and sped up hoping to find a good location to stop. Ideally on the side of a small island to give us shelter from those approaching from one side or another.  We continued in this direction looking for a place to anchor for another half hour. 

“Ye see anything?” I asked Rangitaiki scanning the horizon with the binoculars I had picked up.

“No” came her response. I wasn’t eager to anchor, out in the open, so I was hoping there might be an island or something. I was weighing my options in my mind, as I didn’t want to anchor out in the open. I was also uncertain of my ability to move my hull without me being nearby, so I wanted to actually anchor my hull while we headed into the harbor.  As I was starting to run out of hope, I saw something.

“An Island!” I exclaimed. It wasn’t very big, but it would be enough for now. “Rangitaiki, I’m going to anchor out beside the island,” I told her already adjusting speed and course.

“Okay,” she replied. With the location chosen, we just had to get ready. That itself wasn’t hard as we lacked much in regard of gear. I dropped the anchor and made sure it was fully down. With that completed, we left the superstructure. I locked the doors as we headed out to the motor launch. 

“So we are going to sure this to get to the shore?” Rangitaiki asked. I  nodded swinging the launch out over the side. 

“Aye, this is exactly what the launch is fo', besides, do you really want to row to the Island,” I asked her. She shook her head in response. With the boat swung out Rangatiaki got in. I moved to follow but halted. I quickly moved to a line and threw it overboard, just in case something happened we could always get back aboard. Upon entering the launch I started to lower us down. once we were in the water I unhooked us from the davits, and started the engine. Rangitaiki stood beside me watching as I steered the launch away from my hull and around the island. 

Now that we had left my hull behind, we were finally about to explore the city. There wasn’t much talking as we headed into the city. The journey seemed to last forever, but soon enough the harbor appeared in the distance.

“There it is!” Rangitaiki exclaimed. I nodded having spotted it at about the same time. I started to keep an eye out for the packet, as it was my understanding that the crew would guide us to where we needed to go to receive the reward. That was made hard by the sheer amount of different ship types in the harbor. everything from small sailing ships to large iron-hulled steamships were in the harbor. Some being loaded or unloaded, others receive passengers. This was the hustle and bustle of a port that I knew well. although it was a bit different from a navy base.

We were cruising toward the south part of the harbor when we found the packet. Upon seeing us the crew on the packet waved at us. I motored the launch over to the packet, tying it off on the rope provided by the crew. 

“You made it faster than we expected,” one of the members told us.

“Yea, we just finished turning the prisoners over to the city guard!” added another. 

“The captain went with them, I can show you where they went” another added, as we climbed up the ladder dropped down to us.

“Okay, show us the way!” I told him. He nodded and quickly guided us off the packet. He lead us away from the ship into a more densely packed area. There were people everywhere. It was clear that this was a major port city. I had to force myself not the stare at the different sites around us and focus on following the crew member. He lead us through what looked like a market, filled with people and shops. From the quick glances, I was getting some of the people didn’t look like I expected, with different ears, unexpected features, and hair colors not naturally occurring. Additionally, I couldn’t help but notice the lack of technology I was used to. even in the harbor, there were still predominantly sailing ships. Overall it seemed like this area was a blast from the past, as I didn’t see a single thing that I would recognize as modern. These factors and differences caused me to have questions, but those would have to wait.

After following the crew member for a while, we arrived at a stone building. the building itself looked like it belonged to an old-fashioned defensive structure. Like something from a castle. with barely a pause we entered the building. Inside was a lobby-like area, with a reception desk, and a doorway to the right and left. I heard quiet voices coming from somewhere.

“Reason for visit?” the woman at the desk asked. 

“I’m delivering the representatives from the ship that helped us” the crew member respond, “Oh member of the Rickjin ’s Crew”. This was met with a nod, and we were motioned to the right-hand door. The next room was open with a desk at the back and smaller side rooms with what appeared to be more desks inside them. There was a group of people at the desk at the end of the room, one of which was the captain of the packet apparently called Rickjin . Upon entry, the group looked up at us.

“Ah, here are the members of the ship that saved us,” the captain of the Rickjin told the group. One person was standing behind the desk. He looked to be in a uniform of some kind. The bars on his shoulder seemed to indicate he was a higher ranking than the other two next to the captain who was also in uniform. He looked at us, before looking back at the captain.

“Are you sure? They don’t seem like much?” he remarked. 

“That may be true, but they still helped us. Even if you give me the reward, I will simply pass it to them.” the captain replied. this seemed to leave them at an impass. We, Rangitaiki and I, had not gone far into the room but now we were motioned forward.

“I would like to hear the account from your perspective,” the man behind the desk told us.

“Yes Sir” Rangitaiki replied. she seemed to have an idea about how this man was, or at least if he was important. I was less sure. Perhaps it came from my origins as a destroyer, but he didn’t feel like he outranked me. I however decided to defer to her judgment. 

“Aye sir” I repeated. An eyebrow was raised at my accent. Between the two of us, we recounted our version of events. I started first, doing my best to avoid mentions of my advanced technology and capabilities. As such I started when we got a visual on the packet and subsequent tale. Rangitaiki caught on quickly to what I was trying to do, as she explained that my 40mm gun was a very fancy machine that was used to make noise and illusions rather than a weapon. All in all, I felt that we did a pretty good job telling the tale, without revealing too much. By the end, everyone was nodding in understanding.

“Hmmm. In light of this tale, I will authorize the reward.” the man behind the desk said. At that one of the two other uniformed people left, and slipped through another door that I had missed until now. 

“If that is satisfactory, I will return to my ship” the captain responds. He was met with a nod and wave, so he and the crew member that brought us here left. The other uniformed man gave a quick salute and also left. That just left us and the man behind the desk in the room. “Have a seat, it may take some time to get the reward,” he told us. I personally didn’t mind standing, but Rangitaiki took him up on it so I sat down as well. The man behind the desk also sat down when we did.

I was curious about this establishment and its purpose so I decided to ask. “Pardon ma ignorance, but what is this place?” I asked. that seemed to catch both Rangitaiki and the man off guard.

“Why its part of the city guards’, does your origin place not have anything one?” He looked skeptical as he answered, eyeing both Rangitaiki and I.

“Nae, summant similar, but no’ a city guard” I replied, “based upon the name it functions as a law enforcement organization?”

“Yes, it does. I’m the head of the Piracy and Smuggling division, Earnest Smith” with that he held his hand out. I took it and shook it. 

“Call me Javelin” I replied.

“That's an odd name.”

“I’ve gone by it long enough ‘at it's all I respond to noo” I replied, deciding not to reveal it was my actual name. “Based upon th’ fact thir is a reward, is thir a lot of piracy an’ other smuggling issues here?”

“More than I would like” came his response. “Enough to keep me busy, if you are so interested, there are posters in the entryway for the ones we are offering a reward for”. That caused me to start to get an idea. I would have to run it by Rangitaiki, but it might help us in the long run. With my immediate questions answered. I was content to wait for the reward. I watched while Rangitaiki introduced herself. Soon enough the reward came when the uniformed person who had left the side door came back. we were handed an envelope and thanked again, before being ushered out. back in the entryway Rangitaiki pulled the money out and checked it.  We had, what I presumed to be, a large sum of money. This relieved me because then we could get supplies.

“That’s a lot” Rangitaiki murmured. I nodded in agreement, glad to have confirmation of my presumption. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a poster. I looked at it and saw it was the posters mentioned before. 

“Oh, I want to look at these” I commented, heading for them. upon arrival, I encountered a problem. I couldn’t read it. to be precise it wasn’t like any language I was familiar with. While they had spoken English, or what was english to me, I hadn’t thought about their writing system. “Could you help me here I can’t read these” I whisper to Rangitaiki, who had followed me. 

“Wait, you can’t read?” she replied.

“I canne just not this” I replied. It also now occurred to me that had she been able to read my charts when I had shown her. But that was a separate matter.

“Okay, well…” she started to read the poster off to me. The poster fell into three rough categories, smugglers, pirates, and slavers. The smugglers were primarily different rings or oginazatiosn rather then individuals, probably given if they knew who there wouldn’t be posters for them. The pirates, had descriptions of the different ships and individuals, with an uncomfortable amount having obtained steamships of some kind. I wasn’t sure why the Navy hadn’t destroyed piracy completely here but again that was a separate matter. The slavers were more a list of ships thought to have traveled through their territorial waters with slaves. Which was very illegal in Versi.

“You know what? let's find a good place to eat here!” Rangitaiki proclaimed. That caught me off guard, as I had been so wrapped up in my thoughts I hadn’t thought of that. “We’ve not had much food variation in a long time, we should!”

“I canne find ‘ny fault in ‘at” I replied accenting. With that Rangitaiki grabbed my hand and we ventured back onto the bustling streets. I wasn’t sure if Rangitaiki was lucky or had a good sense of direction and Intuition combined because we rapidly found an interesting restaurant. I would have gotten lost trying to find this place by myself. We quickly entered and were seated at a booth near the back. Up to the point we were shown our table I didn’t actually realize there was a table there. Rangitaiki took the side closest to the door facing the wall, and I took the other side. we were given menus to look over. I couldn’t read them, so Rangitaiki had to tell me what everything was. Overall nothing really stood out, though it was odd to see grape juice, tabasco sauce, and blood oranges advertised as new.

Rangitaiki took her time to decide what to order, I occupied myself with examining the people. With the events, I hadn’t really gotten a good look at anyone. Rangitaiki wasn’t a good guide as she had been stranded on an Island, so her clothes were more worn down. Now her short sleeve top and shorts were vastly out of place in the current environment. Long sleeves, cotton or wool, shirts, and dresses were the norm. With a large number of hop hats, canes, and overcoats on the men. It seemed like a lot of older people were coming out, with their older clothing. 

“We do need supplies, any other plan aside,” Rangitaiki told me. Having decided what to get she had distracted me from my watching.

“Aye, ‘st’s true” I conceded “I ‘ave an inkling of an idea, but we can discuss it later”  she nodded. The waiter then appeared, and we quickly ordered. At the same time, the both in front of us were filled. I didn’t think much of it, letting their conversation pass by me.

“Has everything been arranged? They almost caught us last time, we need to avoid the guard better” That got my attention, and I focused in on what they were discussing. It also seemed strange that they would even discuss that out in the open like this. 

“Look I know were are in a safe place, but look the staff are complicit but not the customers the last thing we need is to get found out” a second voice responded.

“There is no one back here! it's fine” a third voice answered. this was met with a noise that sounded frustrated but accenting. 

“In short yes everything has been arranged. the ship, the Sea Lilly , will be coming in from the north. They will head into Barter’s Bay to unload. That far north the city guard will have no authority, it would be Inftono’s and they don’t have the resources to stop us. stop worrying it will be fine” the second voice explained.

“Good. the last thing I need is another charge Vinsion told me I wouldn’t have to worry but after last time…” the first voice responded. these were noises in agreement from the others. However, that name caught my attention. I glanced at Rangaitiaki, and she was looking me dead in the eye. My guess is she had also heard that. The name was one of the most wanted smugglers by the city guard.

“Perhaps after this, we should see if we could obtain some charts?” I whisper to Rangitaiki.

 
“I agree it dangerous to sail without charts, besides the waters near Barter’s Bay could be dangerous,” she whispered back. we shared a smile, then spent the rest of the wait quietly to make sure they didn’t find out. Luckily the seemed engrossed in what they were doing so they didn’t notice our food arrive. We ate quickly. Not just because of the information, but because we did need supplies and along with charts we had a lot to grab.

Once we were done we, carefully left trying not to be seen by the other booth. At the front, we paid before slipping out back into the city. 

“It’s no’ ‘at late if we hurry we can get everything” I commented examining the location of the sun.

“Yep, let's get the charts first, I know where to go” was Rangitaiki’s response.

“All right, lead oan!” I replied, following her into the winding maze.

Chapter Text

Chapter 8
The sun was rising over the island, it was great to watch with the wind blowing over me. I had stationed myself on my bridge in order to be better ready for an intercept. After leaving the restaurant last night we obtained the necessary supplies. Once returning aboard we plotted a course to intercept. I hadn’t slept, I wasn’t tired for some reason. Instead, I had carefully guided us to an intercept location. It was a nice morning, I had taken the opportunity to sit on the side of my bridge, legs hanging over the superstructure. I needed to run some calculations now that the sunlight was just over the island, I could start. Having already recorded today’s conditions for the first part of my log, I set to work.

“This is where you are” I heard Rangitaiki’s voice. I turned to see her entering the bridge area. The higher sun illuminating more of the bridge.

“Aye, I haven't felt th’ need to sleep” I replied quickly jotting down some final numbers before closing my log.

“Nerves?” she asked coming to stand beside me, leaning on the bridge wall.

“Nae, just don’t feel tired” I replied. “Mibbe it has to dae wi’ what our plan is?” A plan that neither of us had committed to in words. I was ready to do it, and I guessed Rangitaiki was willing, but until that final confirmation or committing to the action I couldn’t say.

“Huh, not what I expected” was her reply. With that, she looked over the island watching the birds and sea animals as they played oblivious to my slow cruising. We sat in comfortable silence watching the animals. A couple of small fishing boats passed by, their crews alternatively waving or gawking at us. I so far hadn’t detected anything on my radar yet, my guess is that the fishing boats were too small for my sets to detect. Not that it mattered in this case, it was unlikely they could warn the Sea Lilly. “Do you have a plan?” Rangitaiki’s question caught me off, guard.

“Aye, hav wan, an’ th’ outline of another,” I told her. It was true, though neither was particularly safe.

“What are they?”

“Th’ first wan, is using ma guns to get them to stop. From there we, I, can then board them. At ‘at point, a fight is likely to unfold, but I can win. Once capturing th’ ship, we can either tow it or have th’ crew sail th’ ship wi’ us back to Toricva. Alternatively, we can issue orders from here an’ have them sail wi’ us back to Toricva.” I explained the first plan I had. Rangitaiki didn’t seem satisfied with that, she looked back out to sea, brow furrowing a bit. “Th’ second plan is simply to use ma hull to physically prevent them from reaching shore. With how much I weigh, they literally canne force me out of th’ way. From thir we force them to Torvica an’ hope that there is some form of coast guard that can help us then.” This got a more positive response, with her lip biting in a contemplative gesture as she bit it.

After some time she responded “Lets try the second one. I know you are probably nervous about that after the last ship we encountered, but that should leave us with the least amount of legal problems overall.” I hadn’t thought of legal issues, that had been left up to the diplomats in London. Though now that I was in this place, which didn’t seem to have a United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northen Ireland, it was something I needed to consider more.

“Aye, we’ll go wi’ at wan then.” I responded. The last factor is the tipping point. I just hoped whatever I had felt wouldn’t happen again, as I wasn’t sure if I could resist that primal call for action. Having decided on a course of action, I swung my legs back over onto the bridge and slid onto the ground. “Wi’ ‘at settled, wan of us needs to get a meal ready. We have a big day and food is necessary for the proper operation of a vessel!” I declared.

“Agreed, I’ll do it. No offense Javelin, but your not the best cook yet, and besides its probably better for you to remain on watch right now” Rangitaiki (). I couldn’t help but agree. I hadn’t had much practice, and on the way to Torvica, I hadn’t had the best luck trying to prepare some sort of meal. Though I hopped to practice with the cookbook we had obtained yesterday. though with the mission at hand, it would be better if I stayed at watch. I turned to face forward out to sea in the direction I expected the ship to come from.

“Oh, Rangitaiki, are ye sure aboot this corse of action?” I asked her turning to see she was off the bridge about to head down. her lip upturned, and her eyes grew distant, clearly involved in great thought. “Thir’s still time to leave. I’m no’ so worried aboot maself, but ye have a lot more options than I do. If ye stick with me ye will probably lose a lot of paths in life. I jus’ want t’ make sure this is something ye want to do.” This was met with further contemplation.

Finally, she answered: “It is. I can’t really put it into words, but don’t worry Javelin, I'm with you to the end!” with that she disappeared out of sight. In truth that didn’t satisfy me. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I still didn’t feel sure, like she was holding back. However, I could tell that she was not going to allow further conversation about it at the time. I let out a sigh and looked forward again, leaning on the side. I quickly shelved my concerns about Rangitaiki and focused on the watch. I had remembered to grab my javelin from the officer's quarter I was using as my room, but had not remembered to grab binoculars. This left me with just what I could see with my eyes, range finders which were not the most suited for the task, and my sensors.

That didn't matter as nothing happened. No ships passed by or entered radar range, no mysterious feeling. Just the wind and waves, carrying the animals about their day. I wasn’t sure how fast time was passing, but it might as well have been stopped. I did check the chart I had brought with me. I needed to be sure we were off Barter’s Bay, which it appeared we were. With that done I went back to watching the waters.

As time passed I couldn’t help but find myself cursing the group we had gotten our information from. Not because they had shared it, but because they didn’t give time. Due to that once we had loaded up on supplies I set course for Barter’s Bay. Now that we were here, early it appeared, there wasn’t much to do. The boredom was getting to me. If I could actually sail and maneuver, rather than slowly make ovialer patters off the coast, that would be different.

“I decided to bring up something light” Rangitaiki's voice broke me from my near trance. I had focused on searching so much I hadn’t even noticed how long had passed. The sun was much further into the sky.

“Oh thank ye” I replied. She had just brought up some toast with fruit for a side. I took it from her, setting my javelin aside. I looked out to sea while eating. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Rangitaki step up next to me on the railing. “Ye don’t have to say here,” I told her between bites.

“No, its better than being below” she shook her head “Besides you’ve been here on watch long enough, let me take over. I looked at her directly and saw a determined gaze with her equipped with binoculars.

“Aye, ye can take over, I’ll be over here jus’ in case” I told her walking over to the table out here. I quickly scarfed down the food that I was given. Trying to keep my hair out of my food. From sidelong glances, Rangitaiki had taken to this well. she had a pair of binoculars, and was scanning the horizon at intervals. Unlike me, she had made sure her hair was braided and unable to blow into her eyes. I finished quickly and rejoined Rangitaiki at the side. I wasn’t really keeping watch as much as keeping her company. I watched the ocean go past, setting the air blow over me.

“What is your long-term plan here Javelin?” Rangitaiki asked me.

“Who knows, I was hoping ‘at we could-” I started. However, I got a reading on my radar, causing me to stop and look in that direction. Rangitaiki, reading my reaction, raised her binoculars and looked.

“Its still a ways oot” I told her. She lowered her binoculars, sheepishly.

“I’m still not used to the fact you can see over the horizon” she replied. I nodded in response and adjusted my course and speed for a better intercept course.

“Understandable, ye’ve never delt wi’ radar before” I told her. With that, we fell into a comfortable science watching the horizon. From what I could tell the ship wasn’t particularly large, possibly under 100 ft. The course hadn’t changed, though we were approaching rather fast comparatively speaking.

“I see a sailing ship” Rangitaiki called, her binoculars raised. I concentrated and looked using my rangefinders. The ship was low to the water, a fast design for what it was intended for. With two masts, with a snow rig set. Unlike last time the ship didn’t seem to be alarmed by our presence. I couldn’t make out the people on deck very well, but there wasn’t a general hubbub.

“Is it th’ wan we’re after?” I asked her. she had been able to read the description of the different ships on the poster, and this had been one of them.

“Yes” came the reply. I took a deep breath and changed course. I planned to head towards them. Passing them initially before looping back around to come up next to them. This would minimize the chances of running the ship over and give me plenty of room to maneuver.

“Watch them Rangitaiki, if they mak any sudden moves let me ken” I told her. This received a nod in response. That meant I could focus on the maneuver and myself. I was starting to get nervous something bad. The first part went well, according to Rangitikei we only got some looks as we passed. I steadied my nerves as I started the next maneuver. Once I camp up alongside the ship, I was going to have a lot of difficulties. I shot a glance at Rangitaiki, and saw she was focused on watching the other ship. However, she seemed set and determined to carry this though. I took that as all the sign I needed and continued with my plan.

Once the turn was completed I focused on my speed and course. I had to make sure to come up along the ship and mark her pace. I would not intentionally hit her, as I had the slaver, and I had to make sure of that. None of my previous war time experience prepared me for this, so I needed to focus.

“You’ve got this Javelin!” Rangitaiki’s voice startled me. I shot her a quick look and she gave my a reassuring smile, the wind over the bridge making her look like a daring captain, despite the braid. I nodded in response, I nodded in response, if she had this much confidence in me, then I could do it.

I shifted my focus back to the Sea Lilly. We were now rapidly approaching her, and it appeared that the crew were paying us more attention. With more action on the deck and pointing. I shifted my focus onto my speed, the entire plan called for me to keep them from reaching shore. So as we approached I slowed, as quick as I could, threw my hull into full back. As soon as we matched their speed I started forward momentum again carefully matching speed.

“They not sure what to make of it” Rangitaiki reported to me. I nodded in reponse, the moanuvers taking up my entire focus. Now that we were parallel to the Sea Lily, the hard part came. I now had to use my much larger and heavier hull to nudge them away from the shore, and towards Torvica. If I messed up, it would be a repeat of the slaver. Gently I started to turn, hoping to lightly touch the Sea Lily’s hull. ever so lowly my hull shifted and bumped the bow of the Sea Lily. I held my breath as we started to slowly shift their course.

The yelling from the Sea Lily, increased, as the ship came about to match our course. I watched as the ship slowly leveled off as I completed the turn. With this, the snow was now pointed south towards Toricva. I now started to focus more on what was going on. The crew on the Sea Lily, were yelling angrily at us, with lots of pointing and gesturing at us. Those not focused on us were rapidly climbing the masts and checking the rig. I hadn’t noticed at the time, but some of the booms had been hit and damaged.

“Javelin, should we reply to them?” Rangitaiki asked me.

“ ‘at ye mean? oh, ‘at ur they saying?” I asked realizing what she mean.

“They are asking what we are doing” she replied “yelling that we are delaying them.”

“Hmm” I wasn’t sure how to reply. Then a thought came to me “How weel do ye understand me?”

“MMmm pretty well, though I had a hard time at first” came her reply. that brought a smile to my face.

“Alright, let’s see if this works,” I told her before yelling “We’re ‘ere to clype an’ peep, ov’r aye skirl in search o’ tatties an’ neeps ‘n a massive clapshot” I called to them. It was essentially gibberish and heavily reliant on my accent, but it should confuse them for a while. It appeared to have the desired effect as the men on the stern near the wheel were looking at one another.

“What was that?” Rangitaiki asked me, confusion flitting over her.

“Gibberish, don’t worry aboot it” I responded. It appeared to have the desired effect as some fo the crew looked at one another. Which was helping overall in keeping them from trying to come up with an effective countermeasure to this. his meant that all we had to do now was keep heading in this direction. unless they could escape. They did still have their anchor, and could theoretically drop it. However, they made no action to do so.

As such we slowly made our way southward to Torvica. I made sure to watch their action without fully revealing myself to them. It was slow going, though a great boost to saving fuel by not having to run fast. In time it was Rangitaiki’s turn at watch. I headed to the internal component of the bridge, the map room, and just sort of existed. There wasn’t really anything for me to do, and I was on edge enough I didn’t want to sleep. If something happened I need to be nearby to help Rangitaiki. Time seemed to crawl ahead, but soon enough it was my turn again, and I switched places with Rangitaiki. This continued for the day, and in the late afternoon, I was on watch again, as we started to approach Torvica.

I was starting to get anxious, I had hoped we would run into some vessel of authority by now, but so far we hadn’t. I stole a quick glance at the Sea Lily then back at the horizon. I really hoped we ran into one soon. Something entered my range of view. I pulled my binoculars up to take a look. I didn’t recognize the flag, but the ship seemed to be some sort of revenue cutter. I hoped that was it.

“Rangitaiki!” I called attempting to focus my binoculars to get a better look, “What is that vessel?”. At my call, she had popped up from below and raced over. I bit my cheek waiting for her answer.

“It's the cutter service in Versi!” she cried, relief flooding her voice,. I let myself finally calm down a bit.

“Cane ye hail them or someant?” I asked looking back at the Sea Lilly’s masts.

“I can try” uncertainty hovered around “Oh! I don’t think we have to” I shifted to quickly look at the cutter. There was a series of flags displayed I didn’t recognize.

“Whit does it say?” I asked, ending my attempt to decipher it.

“They are asking us to stand by for inspection and boarding” came the reply. I couldn’t stop the smile that spread across my face. that made everything so much easier. Instantly I stopped the engines. As my hull started to slow, I turned my attention to the Sea Lilly, as the last thing I wanted was for them to get away now. They didn’t appear to have seen the cutter incoming, but it was best to keep it that way. I looked at the hooks made from the cable. Perhaps I should hook the Sea Lilly to keep it from escaping.

Now as they realized something was happening the crew on the Sea Lilly became active. I quickly looked up and saw that the cutter was getting closer. I had an idea. My hull was still moving forward with momentum. I grabbed the hook and threw it at the railing on the Sea Lilly. At the same time, I slammed my wheel over hard. It took a few seconds before I could feel the response, but gradually my hull moved left. as that occurred the hook caught on the railing and I pulled tightly. bracing myself along the side of my bridge, and hoped it would be tight enough that they couldn’t pull it off.

“What are you doing?” Rangitaiki cried behind me.

“An Idea” I replied, looking at the cutter quickly followed by the Sea Lilly. There was activity on both vessels, with more cries of alarm seeming to come from the Sea Lilly. As I watched t cutter changed course and headed for the Sea Lilly. At that moment I felt a tug on the cable I was holding. I quick glance told me that the Sea Lilly’s crew was trying to get the hook off. I wasn’t fully prepared for it and I started to be pulled over.

“Javelin!” I felt Rangitaiki wrap her arms around me to assist.

“Its okay, they jou’ surprised me!” I replied, pulling back and quickly righting myself.

“Oh” with that she moved beside me and we watched as the Sea Lilly was boarded and sized. It was all done very quickly and efficiently. once that was done I loosened up on the line so the hook could be removed. one of the people from the cutter got back on and the cutter started over to where my hull was drifting. As the cutter got closer I got a better look at the person.

“Earnest Smith!”

“Javalin and Rangitaiki!” It was the head of the city guard in charge of catching pirates, slavers, and smugglers. “What are you doing out here?”

“I cuid ask ye the same” I replied. However, his expression made it clear he wouldn’t go first. I decided to bend the truth a bit just in case they would get upset for not informing them. “We were up north when we came across her” I indicated the Sea Lilly “an’ Rangitaiki recognized her from the poster, so we…, er gently assisted her south in hope of finding the proper authorities”

“Yes, we are actually quite glad you showed up when you did” Rangitaiki piped up. Earnest looked thoughtful for a moment.

“Well we had heard a rumor that the Flower ring might be receiving a shipment today, so we decided to head out” Earnest explained, “you’ve saved us a lot of problems today, once we are done processing the ship you will be eligible for the reward.” Rangitaiki and I both smile at one another at that. “Can I just say you have a pretty interesting ship” Earnest added.

“Um Aye, very experimental” I replied. I was not nervous about being out in the open like this “If that's all could ye get my hook freed up an’ we will be on oor way” He nodded and shouted an order, and the hook was tossed overboard. I quickly reeled it in, while starting the engines. Rangitaiki and I waved as we slowly left the cutter

Chapter Text

Interview 7 con.
“That was the first time they brought in a bounty. It most certainly would not be the last” he finished. shaking his head as he did so. he looked down at one of the pictures on the table he had brought out. “Over the next couple of months, I kept running into them, even off duty”. he flipped the photo around to show a family, with two young girls, fishing off the side of a metal ship with Javelin and the now-named Rangitaiki. “We became close and one day they invited us aboard of a weekend sail. we took it and that was the best weekend we have ever had. Eliza and Floria loved it, gave them the love of the sea. When they aren’t here they are out sailing, both of them own successful merchant ships based out of Torvica.” He smiled again and put the photo down, and picked up another one.

“One time we reached an agreement and I was allowed aboard on with some of my most trusted men. We had heard an infamous slaver would be passing through the area, and all of us wanted to capture him. we searched all day and early in the afternoon we saw him just disappearing over the horizon. my men and I were dismayed there was no way we could catch up. Javelin just laughed, and Rangitaiki just smiled. ‘Naw, don’t worry we’ll catch them’ she said. My men and I questioned her on that but she didn’t look worried at all. We angrily started at where the ship had disappeared. Eventually, we noticed that the ship was going fast. I turned to look and Javelin had an expression on her face. The thrill of the hunt is the best way I can describe it. Not in a bloodthirsty way, but in a 'that's cute you think you can escape’ way.”

“Here we were pounding through the waves faster than any of us had before.” his eyes had a twinkle in them now "and before any of us knew it there was the slaver. Full canvas out, water on the sails, everything just trying to outrun us. They couldn’t and once we caught up they gave in. Afterwards I asked Javelin how fast we were going and she told me somewhere around 36 knots. At the time I had never heard of any ship going that fast!” he showed me the picture. It had the large hull of Javelin behind the wooden form of a small fast ship. I presumed it was the slaver he was referring to [I would later be informed that this was indeed correct]. Now his shoulders slumped and his smile faded. “It couldn’t last forever though, eventually the Assembly got wind of a strange metal ship operating in the area and grew interested. They planned to deploy forces in order to capture it and study the ship. Someone, I still don’t know who had leaked that they worked well with the guard so the plan was to lure them in somehow. That didn’t sit right with me. after everything they had done for us, we were now to betray them? I wasn’t going to do that. So I created a plan…”

Chapter Text

Chapter 9

I found myself deep in the cool reaches of my hull counting the ammunition supply. We had been run ragged, dashing up and down the coast for months now. Making matters worse some of our prey had required some more persuasion. We had finally caught our breath after a much-needed rest, and for the first time in weeks, we were taking stock of our supplies. Rangitaiki was covering our food, laundry, and other ‘lighter’ supplies that she better understood. I took stock of fuel, ammunition, and spare parts, objects I understood much better. I now found myself in an interesting conundrum.

I was on my third count of my ammunition for my 4.7-inch guns. Over the past few months, I had recorded every shell fired, and their reason in my logbook. Now instead of 987 shells, mainly expended practicing gunnery, I had a full 1200. Which should be impossible. I had taken a brief glance last week and I was definitely missing some, but as I didn’t count I had no idea how many. Now I somehow had a full complement. I laid down on my back keeping my legs crossed on the floor and thought. Staring at the ceiling in between boxes of powder and rounds.

I didn’t really have a good explanation. I had no real theories, well nothing that sounded solid and plausible. First, I miscounted how many shells I had fired. Second someone was sneaking shells onboard. The problem was I didn’t miscount, and having seen this world I doubted that anyone could make the shell. Furthermore, if someone could the chances of them finding us and getting aboard were so small it wasn’t even worth considering. I already knew I was something of an anomaly but that didn’t explain how I had somehow regained 213 shells.

Unable to come up with an answer I righted myself and stood up. I should run through the AA guns, though I had only used under 10 rounds of 40mm when we had rescued the Rickjin ’s crew. I quickly checked the interior ammo, moving through the enclosed cave-like rooms, before returning to the deck. I waved to Rangitaiki, as we crossed paths near the radio room on my way outside.

“Anything we’re critically short on?” I asked, hoping to distract myself from my mysterious gain of shells.

“No, though maybe we should get some more clothes, as really despite how cool your laundry facilities are, we just don’t have much” I couldn’t help but agree as the basket in her hands was only halfway full. That was including everything we weren’t wearing, though not all the sheets and blankets aboard.

“Hmmm,” I really didn’t need many I had enough of my own outfit in the captain's main cabin. However, I doubted that Rangitaiki would be fine with so few outfits. “Let's finish this and make a plan for tomorrow” she nodded at that and we passed each other.

I opened the door and stepped out onto the main deck. I lowered my hood, and let the breeze blow through my hair. The sun was warm and nice on my skin, having just returned from the metal-encased magazines below the waterline. I stretched my arms, leaning against the railing just outside the door. Small waves and bird calls, meet my eyes and ears as I looked out across the water. I hoped that the next bounty would come soon, to maximize the great weather.

The first target was the 40mm ready-use ammunition. I wasn’t sure how it loaded itself, but when I wasn’t in combat or on edge the ammo could be found in this locker. standing up straight I headed down the gangway and amidships, where the 40mm gun was located. I ducked below the small boats and grasped the ladder. clambering up the sound of birds. I quickly opened the lockers and brushed my hair out of the way. I considered putting my hood up again but decided I’d get too warm. I sat down and started to lazily count the ammunition, letting my mind wander a bit. I couldn't help but reminisce about the different AA guns I’d had. An unfortunate necessity, as my duel purpose 4.7 in guns hadn’t been duel purpose enough. I did miss my … my thought process stopped at I realized what my count for rounds was.

I slowly looked down at the clipped rounds laying on the ground around me. Visually confirming what I had felt. A check on my logbook confirmed what I had counted. I had all of the rounds in the locker. I had fired roughly 10 rounds helping the Rickjin . Sitting in front of me was a full locker. Except I had a full magazine in my hull. I quickly stood up and bolted down to the deck, racing forward and back into the superstructure. I bolted up the gangways, and past the fire control room, onto the exterior gun position. I approached the 20mm guns and tore open the lockers. Just to see if they had full ammunition. Quickly counting, and rounding the superstructure to the second forward gun repeating the same hurried process.

That completed I reentered the superstructure and made my way to the main deck again, and aft. I rapidly passed the boats and 40mm position and approached the searchlight tower, where the last two light 20mm guns were. I hurled myself up the first ladder to the first gun. quickly opening the locker and counting as fast as I could. I paused once I had the numbers, before hurriedly, descending to the main deck again. Sliding between the searchlight tower and the aft torpedo tubes, I grasped the second ladder. I launched myself up and to the last ready-use locker. Within seconds I had my answer, and i couldn’t help but shudder.

They were full. No rounds were missing. While I have never fired my 20mms, I was hoping that some of the rounds might be missing to make up for the lack of the 40mm rounds. I stumbled back away from the locker and leaned against the rail, looking up past the searchlight. I had no idea what was going on, or what to make of it. Did this mean I had endless ammunition? Was there a limit? What else did this apply to? Though I already knew it did not apply to food, toiletries, or laundry detergent. My face crinkled up the more I thought about this, and how I didn’t understand what was happening.

I remained there for a time, letting the rocking and bird calls soothe me. I closed my eyes, and I threw my weight forward, and recovered from leaning. I put the rounds up I had pulled out, slowly making my way back past the torpedoes, to the other searchlight tower-mounted 20mm gun. I climbed up and slowly started putting the rounds up. counting them again just to do something, rather than think about what this could mean. Once I closed the locker I pulled my logbook out and leaned against the rail. I opened it and held my pencil ready to note the ammunition for the ready use in the aft guns. Only a few scrawled words in I thought I heard something. I scanned the horizon and noticed a sail.

I stored my logbook and took another look. As the boat got closer I recognized it. It was Earnest’s sailcraft. It was a small one-masted boat that he owned. I had seen him primarily take it out for weekend trips. I Waved at it and made my way to the main deck. It looked like it was Ernest and his daughters Eliza and Floria. I grabbed the cargo nets that were permanently ready and threw it over the side.

“Hey, whit ur ye doing oot here? It's rather unusual to see ye!” I called out as they approached. When we weren’t dashing up and down the coast, we were anchored behind the first island that we had many months back when we had first arrived in Torvica. as such if you knew where we were, it wasn’t hard to find out, though anyone heading into the harbor could see us easily if they approached from the right direction.

“Looking for you” came the reply. Earnest carefully watched, poised to move, as his two daughters climbed aboard.

“Oh? whit, cuid we h’ve done to attract attention?” I replied helping Eliza and Floria down to the deck from the railing. With them over, Earnest made sure his boat was fully secured, before coming up.

“Well” Earnest started, grasping the cargo nets. “I’m not quite sure how to breach the subject” he added. That was unusual, more so than him seeking us out.

“How aboot ye go forward?” I knelt and suggested to Eliza and Floria. I got a feeling that this might be a heavy subject. they nodded and ran forward laughing.

“Good call,” Earnest told me, swinging over the railing. neither he nor I wanted to start, so a tense silence started. with faint laughing from the bow drifting to us as we stood. “I’m afraid I have bad news” Earnest finally started. I didn’t like the sound of that, I tensed expecting to hear a bad update on one of the ships or people we had captured.

“The navy is coming for you. … I don’t know how or where, but somehow the government heard about you, and they want your ship.” That was all I heard.

shit, Shit, ShiT, SHIT. I had no steam built up at all! I couldn’t pull the anchors or I might drift onto the island or rocks. I was a sitting duck, I literally was trapped until I could get steam up. But how close were they? Could they just be around the island? Just out of sight? I started the breathe faster rapidly looking around. We had to get away, I wasn’t going to be the first Royal Navy ship in hundreds of years to be boarded and captured, nor did I want to drag Rangitaiki into this. I tried to run calculations in my head on how long it would take to raise enough steam to get underway. At the same time, I was feeling overwhelmed, all the battles I had fought and this was so different I could quite focus.

“Javelin, Javelin!” I heard Earnest yelling “Eliza, Floria! find Rangitaiki!” that was enough to start and breakthrough. I suddenly realized I was on my knees, and looked up. Earnest was anxiously hovering over me, hands awkwardly in the air.

“i-its-its okay” I managed to utter unsteadily rising, “Ye jus’ caught me off guard” I was now feeling much more focused. I didn’t know how close they were but I quickly started my engines and began to build up steam. I still didn’t have radar or ASDIC up, though the island would hamper it, up so I could only rely on my eyes. “Cuid ye repeat, some of ‘at?” I needed to make sure I hadn’t missed anything.

“JAVELIN!” before he could, I heard someone shout my name. we turned and saw that it was Rangitaiki. she had just come through the door and was racing towards us. “Are you okay? What's wrong?” she asked pulling me into a hug.

“I’m fine, better really” I coked out.

“Oh that’s a relief, what happened?” she asked again.

“The navy is coming for you two” Earnest replied, “they want to capture you to figure out how the ship works, you need to escape” Rangintiki tensed, and somehow managed to hug me harder.

“How soon?” she asked. I cursed myself for not asking that sooner.

“I don’t know, but we got the message yesterday. I know they are bringing in La Galissière to assist, so it could be weeks, or it could be days.” He answered. I didn’t recognize the name, and from the looks of it, neither did Rangitaiki. However, the fact the name was mentioned had to be a major ship in the fleet. However, this meant that we had some time to get ready. I loosened up at that, properly breathing again.

“‘at’s good, we have time then” I looked at Rangitaiki “I don’t think ‘at we will h’ve time to spare now to run ashore”

“Are you sure” It sounds like we have some time? I could run out now and get some things” I shook my head at that suggestion.

“Nae, I-we will be ready to steam in an hour, and if they ur coming fo’ us it's best we head oot soon to put th’ most distance between us an’ them” I told her. I quickly thought over some convoys and operations I had been a part of. Sadly none of them would help us in this situation. She reluctantly nodded, also letting go.

“Then we need to make sure we will be ready to sail” Rangitaiki replied “I’ll head up and get things stowed.” I nodded.

“I’ll stow the deck objects,” I told her, starting forward to pack the ready-use lockers again.

“Javelin” I looked back hearing Earnest call my name. “Could you let us stay a little, I want Eliza and Flora to have one last time aboard?” I nodded at that, I didn’t know if we would come up here again, and I wanted to give them some happy memories.

“Ye have half n’ hour, we don’t want someone to put two and two together” He smiled and called his daughter's names. I rushed into my superstructure, and things started to blur. I quickly put the ammunition up in the three guns I hadn’t made it to yet. I ran several smaller things around for Rangitaiki. As steam built up my systems came online. I felt much better knowing that I was not fully defenseless now. soon it was time for Earnest and his daughters to leave, and both Rangitaiki and I saw them off. we stood and watched as his boat caught the wind and sailed off, all three of them waving at us.

“We need to discuss our course of action, and where we want to head,” Rangitaiki told me. I agreed with that thought, I for one did not want to wander aimlessly around a large ocean again.

“Let’s head up to the chart room then,” I told her “Wait! i need to check something, I’ll be real quick” With that, I raced aft and headed below to the hot engine room. I hadn’t gotten a chance to check to make sure it was fully working earlier due to the ammunition problem. A quick examination told me everything was in place and in working order. I just hoped that no engine problems would develop, as I expected this to be quite the dash. However, the main object was I wanted to check my fuel reserves. I hadn’t brought it up to Rangitaiki, but I was concerned bout fuel due to all the scampering we had done seeking bounties. I was expecting about a third or fourth left in the tanks. I held my breath as I checked the gauges.

It was full. I couldn’t believe that! Between the escape from the island and the bounty hunting, there was no way that the tank would be full. I had even turned the engine off for the couple of days we were here beforehand, just to make sure to save fuel. I shook my head, I didn’t understand what was going on. First the full ammunition load, now a full tank. I wanted to think more on it, but I could feel a good amount of steam being built up and knew I need to make a plan with Rangitaiki. So instead I noted this in my logbook and clambered back out onto the deck.

I wasn’t even panting when I entered the map room, despite my hard running. I quickly shook my head again to focus back on the main objective. There were just too many weird things going on.

“I’m here” I told her. she nodded in reply not looking up from the charts we had obtained in Torvica.

“Do you have an idea of what you would like to do?” she asked. I thought about that, I had heard rumors of things. Metal sea beasts that rapidly appeared and then left. New flying machines that made a buzzing sound, yet could not be replicated.

“Aye, I wuid lek to chase some of these rumors. They sound lek me, if ye didn’t know whit I wis.” she nodded at that as if expecting that answer.

“I agree, but that's a vague plan, where do you want to go, is the important part.” I approached the table and saw that she was looking at the world map. Her fingers traced possible routes to countries I didn’t know, lands that were vast.

“Here” I pointed at the ocean roughly analogous with the Atlantic ocean I knew. “I’ve heard some stronger rumors about the other side of the continent. and well. It's the closes thing to home I can call an ocean.” I elaborated, hoping she would agree with my reasoning. “Plus I don’t want to wander in the ocean we jus’ escaped from.” she laughed at that.

“I agree, so south it is!”

“Aye, I figure we run oot away from th' coast for a couple days then coast the rest of the way. Th’t way we can better navigate quickly.”

“Well perhaps only coast every couple of days, I am a navigator after all, we don’t need to constantly be in sight of land.”

“Even the best navigator can make mistakes. but, let's get underway first, and decide the finer details later” She nodded in ascension, and pulled her tools out, rapidly making a course for us to follow. I left her to it and, grabbing my javelin from where I had left it, headed up to the bridge. The wind had picked up a little with a chill in it and far to the west clouds were gathering. I pulled my hood up and looked south, making sure our path was clear. letting the wind and gentle rocking absorb me.

“We’re good to go!” my stupor was broken, by Rangitaiki’s appearance.

“Good, let's get underway!” I now had enough steam built up that we could leave. I raised the anchors and advanced the throttle. slowly my hull inched forward, carefully avoiding the rocks to my port side. Once we were clear I increased speed and made my way over to Rangitaiki. “So which way souid I head us?” I asked her.

“We’re fine for now, I’ll let you know when to break south” she replied, hair waving in the wind. A smile spread across her face, “You know I love when we’re just heading out. It feels like a brand new adventure is coming. Not just the simple thrill of sailing, but the fact I get to sail with you!”

“Ye okay?, ye’r sounding like a sommant out of a novel,” I asked, hoping she wasn’t having second thoughts.

“No, just it feels weird to be leaving Torvica. well, that and the new does frighten me, I’m not ready to stop exploring with you javelin.” Came her reply. I could understand that. I looked forward and noticed something. despite the prevailing wind, there was a familiar sailboat ahead of us. “Is that?” I asked. Rangitaiki quickly had her binoculars, which she must have grabbed before heading up here, and looked.

“It is! they must have wanted to send us off!”

“Well, that heartening!” I waved at them as we passed, my hull gaining speed and leaving them behind. Soon I looked forward, shielding my eyes from the midafternoon sun. Looking forward to what awaited us to the south.