The Tyranny of Queen Elsa
Season 4 Endless Winter
Episode 1 Dark Waters
10 August 2055
Widefjord Fuel Depot Town
Ten am
Mark docked the Whitesparrow. As soon as the anchor points were secured he spoke to Hobbins. "We need to both top off our fuel reserves and complete refuel of the tanks, pay whatever they ask" He said
"Yes sir, restock full fuel stores, refuel the main tanks. Anything else ?" Hobbins asked
"Inform the crew that you are acting captain in my stead. I have date to keep. Also, have the men ensure the rudimentary controls to the rear deck are working properly for engine control and full helm access control" Mark said, he patted Hobbins on the shoulder, acting captain meant a big deal for sure.
"Aye sir" Hobbins said as Mark left the bridge
Stepping into the corridor Mark headed for where Talak was, Miao was with her right ? Oh nope, there she was Mark saw his cousin wandering the ship, once again guzzling a Coke, in this case a three litre of the stuff. At least Talak was able to kill off the other drugs, the caffiene sadly was stuck with Miao for the rest of the young tigers life.
Of course Mark didnt remember when Miao got tattoos of any kind before, but the markings on her face were infact quite pretty regardless. They made her look more tiger like, "Good morning Miao" Mark said stepping closer
"Slurk" Replied Miao as she guzzled through a straw of her drink "Good morning, cousin!" Miao chirped after a brief hiccup, Mark briefly saw some fizz on the young womans nose
"Have you seen Talak ?" Mark asked her
"Mhm" She nodded
"Where ?" Mark asked
"That way" Miao said jerking a thumb back the way she came. Which of course was a two way split at that point. Which meant which way ?
"OK that way but which way ?" Mark asked
Miao turned and saw what he meant "Slurk" Was her only reply as she pointed to her right. Towards the butt of the ship
"Thanks, oh, and Miao" Mark said starting off, he stopped and turned towards her as she looked at him confused "We're docked now, refueling the ship, please, dont go ashore until Mother or I say to, OK ?" Mark said, Miao looked confused, but nodded
"Where's Aunt Charry ?" Miao asked, once more the little girl, she always called Charity, Aunt Charry.
"Last I knew in her room, if not there checking weapon stores like I asked her to. If you can, stay with her, something tells me she'll need a strong person to lean on. Namely you, since Diamond is somewhere aboard ship" Mark replied
"I saw Diamond. Marion is pretty since I last really got to see her." Miao said.
"Yes. But she insists to be called Diamond now. Dont pester her about it I think. She's still Marion at heart though. Just a different name now." Mark explained
Miao nodded "She told me that" It was funny to see a white tiger blush like Miao was doing just then "I think I'll be with her, she seemed lonely and since I've nothing better to do"
"It'd be nice if you could catch up with her. Talk about old days maybe ?" Mark suggested. It made sense, the last time any of them had seen Miao, or Miao seeing either Mark or Marion was when Miao was seven, Mark eight, and Marion six!
"Mm. I'll do that" Miao said, she gave Mark a hug and then wandered off down the corridor as Mark smiled watching her leave. His cousin a happy go lucky tiger, just like when they were kids. Miao was the most active in the house.
Stepping onto the main deck he found Serenity drilling some of the crew in a good sized group of six men and women on the drill to load into the hovertrucks on command, fast, easy and without cramming in. each man got a seat it was that simple. Mark watched for a moment as his sister drilled the men. Finally Serenity called for a break so the men could get their breakfast and saw her brother. Stepping over to him She spoke up "Teaching humans is easier than herding other tigers. Though Miao is sweet. Innocent too."
"Miao is, in essence, still a child when you really think about it" Mark replied "How are the men doing ?"
"At the moment better then hoped, four groups so far have been drilled, I think if the need calls for it, we can do this" Serenity said
Mark nodded "How many more groups do you want to drill ?"
"How many of the crew are left ?" Serenity asked
"Well, Diamond scared up a skeleton crew, Mother and you and Serena brought the rest with you on the hovertrucks, each truck can hold a good third of the crew nice and snug and not overloaded" Mark said, he started pacing, here he was, looking for his wife, and ended up talking with his older sister. "Elsa has a massive navy, sea based entirely. Nothing air based." He said
Serenity nodded "So that is why Arm and Serena are taking stock of the ships weapons, missles and otherwise." She mused
Mark nodded "Exactly, we'll have to pick and choose our shots carefully, Unless..." Mark went to the rail and looked out onto the port town of Widfjord. He nodded, not only was it a fuel depot, but a weapons depot storage zone "Serenity I have a mission for you, I want you to take a group, drill them to board the hovertrucks, then take them ashore in a hovertruck to the warehouse directors office."
"Why ?"
"Uncle Arm and Serena are taking stock of our weapons aboard ship, should anything be low, we not only refuel, and top off our reserves, but also restock our ammo and weapons as required to get a full stockade of weaponry" Mark said
Serenity saw what he was thinking, the Whitesparrow was just a single battleship, against at least four dozen other ships in Elsas navy. If they were so much as short one shot.,... "Good plan, I'll drill another group, then take them ashore once we get word of our stores from Uncle Arm and Serena."
"What about us ?" Came Serenas voice
"Speak of the devil" Serenity smirked as Mark spoke up to the two as they arrived "Tell me you have good news ?"
"Good news and bad news" Arm replied
"You know I like my desert first" Mark said
"Weapons stores are good, missle stock however is low, a good chunk of it is missing, I remember that when I took this ship under impound in Oslo I had the weapons removed in small ammounts, about half the missle stores are empty" Arm reported. "Small arms, pistols, rifles, the ammo for both, those are in mostly full stock. Sniper rounds are gone so if we want to take out anything from long range we'll have to restock" He said
"Good, I just told Serenity here that once we got that report, drill a group of men for hovertruck exiting in the case of abandoning ship. Hobbins is working on getting a rudimentary control set to the aft end of the ship as we speak. Soon as you each drill a group, take that group ashore and restock on those items, missles, sniper rounds, rifle and pistol ammo as well, I want full stores of everything. Elsa's got a huge navy so we're gonna go right down its throat."
"And those ships ?" Serena said spotting three vessels coming in for fueling. They all flew Elsas colors, and each one had Diamons mark on the prows
"Those three ships will take a small dent... Fire off a missile on the lead vessel, under water, we want it intact so we can get its colors." Mark said, "The other ships, sink them entirely"
"Time for a party" Serenity said heading for the door to get down a deck as Mark headed across the deck to the staterooms for the crew. He had to see his wife
As he walked Kalda joined him, the astral pojection floating and moving as if walking along "Well, we found the counter spell book, and we know the spell that did it"
"The problem is" Mark said as he walked "Do we know who did it ? Why they did it ?" If he knew why it was done in the first place there was a possiblity it could be ended, or worse, prolonged.
"Yes to the first and no to the second, well, possibly to the first now that I think about it" Kalda replied
"What do you mean ?" Mark halted and turned to his other self, confusion on his face.
"The possiblity of who did this to you two is hinted to be a demon, a high standing demon. Possibly I assume, to be either a Harpy or the like." Kalda said
"Harps... Uncle Arm said that one of the magic users put in jail who worked for him as well in the same building was named Harps, had a perchant for hexing others." Mark said
"You think this woman named Harps is a Harpy ?" Kalda asked
Mark nodded "A possiblity yes, now. You said no to the second question. Why is that ?" Mark asked
"Easy, if it was this Harps woman, and she did it to you two, her reasons arent known. Hence my answer." Kalda pointed out. Well, Kalda had him there.
"And Georgina ?" Mark asked
"Here" Georgina replied, projecting herself as well"I cant wait to get out of this, your mind is so dark!"
"You slept with the man and you didnt know that ninety percent of his life revolves around either killing people, finding new ways to kill people, remembering killing people, watching people die, as well as teaching people to kill other people, and the other ten percent of his life and personality generally revolves around him dicking around and joking about most of it ?" Kalda asked her
Before she could reply Mark spoke up "That's not true, sometimes I think about happy stuff, You know, like my wife"
"That's why there's an island in all that murkey swampland sludge. Its your 'happy place' and let me tell you, its pretty small, and its not getting any bigger" Kalda said. Mark gave him a dirty look as Georgina finally got a word in
"He's right, if I didnt find that rocky outcroppiing to get out of the sludge I'd be worse off. I cant tread water that long" Georgina said. Mark didnt dare think about what could have happened to Georgina if she had to be in the sludge and swamp if it wasnt for Kalda making things a little brighter for her in there.
"So what do we do ?"
"Talk to this Harps person" Georgina said "Find out why if it was her, she did it in the first place"
"I agree" Kalda said "I still dont understand how you got in here with me. Its not like I got a big sign saying 'SPACE FOR RENT' stamped to Marks forhead" That made Georgina smile and briefly made Mark snicker
"Can we focus here ?" Mark asked the two got serioius again "If this woman is indeed the one that merged us into my body. Its possible that she can reverse it. I hope"
"You hope ? What about me ? Im stuck in here, no food, no change of clothing, nothing. Well some food, Kalda was kind enough to share, but still, no change of clothing, no fresh air save for small bits and pieces of switching we did" Georgina grumbled
"Hey, Im not the one that killed Frelya, you did that remember ?" Mark said
"Yes, and it felt great too!" Georgina replied, she had a smile on her face, killing Freyla for killing, or assumingly killing her son felt good, it felt right actually, a mothers love was a powerful thing
"Now, shall we speak to this Harps woman now ?" Mark asked, Georgina sighed and nodded, fading away as did Kalda. "Though, if she doesnt want to help us..."
"I'll get involved ?" Kalda mused. If a Dragon got involved with Mortal and demon affairs...
"We will cross that bridge when we come to it" Mark replied, he headed down the corridor, There was an easy means of finding Spyder, since he was told what to look for. Look for the webbing, spider silk, whatever and it'd lead right to Spyder. But then again he didnt really trust Spyder enough, sure she owed him her life debt with the passing of his father, but even then.
think of the devil Mark thought seeing Spyder coming towards him "Ah, there you are!" The demoness called out when she saw him "I have a harpy under web right now, she's kinda gagged on Diamonds orders. Sazhori said she smells funny and I asked her to leave. Another woman with wings showed up and took Sazhori to another room or something. Spike I think her name was" Spyder explained, Mark nodded at mention of Spike the woman was a supermodel, with wings.
"You said you have a harpy, under web... care to explain that ?" Mark was almost too scared to even ask what she meant by 'under web'
Spyder nodded and motioned for Mark to follow her, the two went to her stateroom, there was whisps of spidersilk on the door, and walls. Easily opening the door Mark took stock of the room. It looked Alright for the most part, occasional spider webs in the corners were common, one or two dangled from the ceiling.
But it was the web wrapped bundle on the sofa that had all the attention needed, strands of spidersilk held the Harpy fast, fully gagged too until Spyder removed it at Marks request to do so. Strands of spidersilk anchored the coccoon. Seeing Mark enter the Harpy waited until Spyder removed the gag and started laughing "Well well. Look who shows up!"
"You're sure this is the one ?" Mark asked to Spyder
"Of course Im the one you sent another demon after!" The harpy, named Harps, said in reply with a sharp bark of laughter. "Why else would you send another of my own kind after me ?"
"Alright, say you're the one that did a spell to merged a man and woman into one body. And you were caught a week or so later" Mark said looking down at her "And they asked you simply, could you un do it ?"
"Depends, It was a scroll and spell given to me by my master to use on two people at the right time, you and the woman. She's here I can sense her just as well as the spider does." Harps replied a smirk on her face as Spyder glared at her
"So you are admitting then that you did it ?" Mark asked
"Yup, did you forgive each other yet ?" Harps replied
"The fuck does that have to do with it ?" Mark asked
"Everything" Harps said
"Define everything" Mark requested
Harps sighed "Fine, Let me put it this way, the only way the spell can be undone by the counter spell is if those merged have come to terms with why they were merged in the first place"
"So you cant do it ?" Mark asked
"Not until both parties involved have forgiven each other for certain things" Harps said "Namely, you guys were fighting and it woke me up. And I think I got poked too."
"OK, let me get this straight" Mark said "The only way you can undo the spell that merged Georgina into my body is if we forgive each other for why we were fighting that woke you up ?" He looked to Spyder "Am I the only one that thinks this is silly ?" She shrugged.
"May I cut in ?" came a cultured voice. That of Kalda, unseen at the moment
"Uh... Who is that ?" Harps asked
"That is Kalda, my past self. A Dragon" Mark said
"Oh this is bad" Harps said simply
"You said it bitch" Mark agreed, if Kalda got involved then Harps would have to undo the spell regardless of forgiveness between Mark and Georgina as it was!