Day 1.- Shipwreck
Blessed be the kind souls who lead the holy fight against BABYLON…
This is just another day of diving on Jamaican continental shelf, for old ships can always bring joy to treasure hunters. But in this case, it's just exploration for sports. Looting seems a bit moot after years of coast exploration. And in Croft's case, there is only a yacht that has been rented for the purposes of admiring the Caribbean, and its naval history.
Diving must be a pleasure around this waters, but the deeper you go… You better be equipped for that. You would likely want to avoid any unnecessary dangers, like getting sharks mad. While shoals abound, it'll be ok though. And such seems to be the case for now. There might be some predators around, but there's also plenty of food.
And now, she has gone even deeper, and finds something of interest… "Nice!" Ms. Croft says. "A galleon!" The name? Still to be found. For now, no treasure looters around. She steps on the deck, which is now mainly composed of coral reefs and soon realizes that this one may carry a treasure. "Where was it headed?" she asks herself. A shipwreck's direction may not give so many details, especially as she cannot determine the cause of the wreck in the first place.
There's a detail, though… "Shackled skeletons…" Lara says. "Slave traffickers… A never ending business, it seems." For her it's hard to tell, but she assumes the corpses must have been brought from Africa to the Caribbean. At least, that was the norm those days. So, she keeps researching, but she's a bit far from her yacht, and it's time to go up again.
She ties up a line holder to the shackles and then starts going up. A beacon is attached to the end of the line, so as to guide the next descent. She tries to locate her yacht, but she's far from it. "Where's the damn thing?" she asks. She fires a flare and waits. Her wingmen will soon arrive to aid her.
"Welcome back, little bird," Jonah says. "Found anything?" Lara takes off her equipment for a while. "Slaves," she says. "Wanna see?" A bottle is flung to Lara and she picks it up. "He's more of a surfer than a diver," Abby says. The couple of Jonah Maiava and Abby Ortiz have willingly joined Ms. Croft to another adventure. No secret societies, no family ties in the way, hopefully. "I'll be staying here," Jonah says. "Someone ought to cook. You'll be starving when you come back."
A second dive, and back to the shipwreck… "Gotta find the captain's quarters," Lara thinks. "There might be something there." The deck cedes, and the shackles sink deeper, which means a lost line. "Damn," Lara says. "Rookie mistake! I only got one shot now." Lara starts marking the path to the quarters possible location. She arrives at the slave storage first. Wrong way. She stays watching for a while, as it looks like a motionless army of the dead. "No gold in here…" Lara thinks. "Haven't gone to the quarters yet."
She manages to find her way to the quarters. Captain's still there. "Must have been an accident," Lara thinks. "There's no way he wouldn't escape." But what is he wearing? A rusty cross? An orthodox crucifix? "This is something new…" Lara thinks. "Doesn't match with the ship." She scans the quarters and picks up the crucifix. It's definitely the odd one in the place. The rest… It looks Portuguese. No way there'd be orthodoxs in there.
She's looking at the gas reserves. "Time to go up!" she thinks. And the ship naturally starts collapsing... She escapes through a newfound route, back into the cargo store. "No gold…" Lara confirms. "Haven't sold anything yet." A crack opens to open water. "Might fit in…" She thinks. She isn't THAT slim, especially with the diving equipment. But luckily, there's a crowbar for prying and the collapse has seized. A bit of effort, and the opening gets bigger. She swims fast, but then a shoe gets trapped. She takes it out and gets to surface.
The sun… so ever brightly. She's escaped from certain death once again. It never gets old, to feel alive. She might have gotten addicted to adrenaline. And then gets a cramp… Another flare is shot. "Oh my…" Jonah says. "She's drowning!" Abby is the most athletic of the two, and takes a lifeboat with her. By chance, she manages to get Lara afloat again. But Croft was quick, as she took off the diving tanks to make it easier for Abby's attempt.
"You're getting old, lady…" Abby jokes. Lara is still spitting water, and gasping. "Found anything?" Abby asks. "Yes…" Lara answers. She's still trying to catch her breath back. "Worth dying for?" Abby asks again. Lara looks at her. She clearly doesn't understand that question anymore. She simply relaxes and watches the bright sky. "Who knows…" Lara says. But that's a thought that might have slipped away.