Quick Note:
While this story can be read without the context of WoF: Salvation, reading that first could help make some bits of the world make at least a little more sense.
The sky was draped with dark, heavy clouds; their great stores of water drenching the raging ocean below. The wind whipped by viciously, casting titanic waves across the ocean's surface, crashing into one another in a violent display. Not a hint of sunlight shone through the blanket of grey mist, leaving the world shrouded in darkness, despite it being midday.
A lone beacon of light shone out amidst the blackened, windswept sea; a shimmering silver cruiser cutting its way through the raging tempest. Its lower thrusters lit up the churning waters with a bright blue hue, carrying it above the surging waves, their crests barely brushing against the bottom of its hull. The twin propulsion rings at its rear lay silent, the vessel traveling forward on low impulse power alone.
A dragon stood at the end of the ship's bow, staring out at the darkened horizon beyond. He was a SeaWing, with bright pink scales and a well built form, though the small horn on the edge of his round snout and dark red spots running down the sides of his torso and tail alluded to his SkyWing grandfather. Around his neck was tied a large white collar of silk, an etched metal badge pinned to it describing his name and rank.
Spottail, General of the 42nd division of the Alliance Armed Forces.
He had worked hard to attain such a prestigious title, tirelessly climbing his way through the Alliance's ranks. The allure of captaining his own flagship, of exploring the multiverse, and embarking upon countless adventures had driven him to soar above his peers. And when he had finally stepped aboard the bridge of his flagship - the Resurgence - he had felt more free than he ever had. The multiverse had been spread out before him, just waiting to be explored.
It hadn't been long, though, before he'd realized what an utter slog being a General in the Alliance truly was. Rarely did he ever get to venture out into the great unknown, instead being largely confined to giving orders from the Resurgence's bridge. With a civil war breaking out between the Alliance and a gang of unruly timelines (not long after he'd become a General, no less), most of his missions involved traveling to previously explored timelines along the warfront, rather than embarking into the furthest fringes of the multiverse.
Also, there was the paperwork. Spottail sometimes wondered if the higher-ups dumped so much upon him just to spite his (occasional) impulsiveness.
While the hybrid would gladly give his life for the Alliance, and for the preservation of peace throughout the multiverse, even he had grown tired of their convoluted protocols and procedures. And so, with the Resurgence docked for renovation - granting him a bit of vacation time - he had taken his private yacht out on a little...excursion...to get some much needed fresh air.
What better place to forget his everyday woes than Timeline 03-5376, a version of the world almost entirely covered by water, save for a talonful of tiny islands, each populated by one of the 10 common tribes (save for the SeaWings, of course). While it was technically considered a non-interference timeline - a designation given to timelines which had not achieved multiverse travel on their own and had yet to be incorporated into multiversal society - the world was so sparsely populated, and so far out on the fringes of the multiverse, that nobody really cared about visiting it. Moons, it wasn't even within Alliance territory!
Spottail hadn't been anticipating a raging storm to be thrashing the part of the planet that they'd arrived upon, though it wasn't too much of a bother to him. A thin energy shield over the upper decks of the yacht protected him from the heavy wind and rain, and the ship could easily fly out of the storm if they needed it to. Besides, it gave the trip an adventurous mood, something that had been sorely lacking from most of his previous missions.
"G-General…." a voice timidly called out. Spottail turned his head to see a small, grey RainWing standing just behind him, scrolling through some holographic windows of information projected by the PDA hooked around her ear.
"Oh, Greyscale! Is something the matter?" Spottail asked, turning to face the meek RainWing. Greyscale was the lead science officer aboard the Resurgence, and a personal friend of Spottail's from his earlier days at the academy. She'd been born with scales that could only change between shades of grey, and despite her often fearful nature, she had one of the brightest, most capable minds Spottail had ever seen.
"Well...it's just…." Greyscale mumbled, glancing away from Spottail's amber eyes. "I was picking up some...some weird readings...not sure what they are. Th-The storm seems to be disrupting the ship's sensors…."
"A strange reading you say?" Spottail questioned, sitting back on the deck and scratching his chin with one of his claws. He could tell that Greyscale was unnerved by whatever she was picking up, but quite frankly, he was excited by it. Knowing the multiverse, an odd sensor reading likely meant that something strange or dangerous was waiting out there.
Something adventurous!
"It's probably nothing, though if it is, I'm sure we can deal with it." Spottail reassured. "There's no need to worry Grey."
"Y-Yes...General Spottail..." Greyscale replied, looking somewhat unconvinced. Her scales shifted to a slightly darker shade of grey, tiny black spots popping in and out here and there.
"Please, it's just Spottail."
Greyscale nodded, and was about to head back inside of the ship, when thundering talonsteps suddenly echoed across the deck. The duo turned to see a sleek metal dragon making its way toward them, its form vaguely resembling that of an IceWing, but with a slightly thicker snout, and a wide assortment of armaments strapped to various parts of its body. A machine gun here, a flamethrower there; any sane individual would have considered it overkill.
Well, anyone except its pilot, Jeremy.
The head security officer of the Resurgence, Jeremy was known (and feared) by most of the division. He'd modified his combat-grade SteelWing with a plethora of additional weapons, and tended to pilot it just about everywhere he went. He had almost no respect for authority, never refraining from speaking his mind, to Spottail or any of his other superior officers. And Spottail wouldn't have it any other way; he could always count on Jeremy to reel him back when one of his plans was going too far.
"Some vacation this is…." Jeremy grumbled through the SteelWing's speakers. The metal dragon sat down upon its haunches, its chest opening up to reveal a tall, dark haired man with dark brown skin sitting inside. "We finally get a break and you decide to drag the three of us out into the middle of nowhere."
"You didn't have to come along if you didn't want to." Spottail replied.
"Yeah, well it was either this, or go with that smoke-breather Ochre and the others to 02-1564. Dude never shuts up about being a consistency, ya know?"
Spottail chuckled, thinking back to the overweight MudWing that often raided the Resurgence's mess hall after hours. The dragon certainly never missed an opportunity to remind others that he was one of the few dragons with consistent doppelgangers across most of the multiverse.
"Still, I don't see why we're just slowly flying through this storm." Jeremy continued, staring up at the shield covering the upper decks, trickles of rainwater sliding across its surface. "Can't we just fly this thing up above the clouds or somethin'?"
"Yeah, but where would be the fun in that?" Spottail returned, turning back to the jagged horizon ahead. "We're on an adventure! Exploring uncharted seas, with untold mysteries and treasures awaiting us!"
"And dangers." Jeremy deadpanned. "You know how unpredictable the 5000's can be. Another reason I came along was to make sure you didn't get yourself and Greyscale killed. "
Spottail briefly glanced over at Greyscale, the RainWing having silently watched the two argue for the past minute. She looked between the hybrid and human, before taking a step back.
"I'll...just...h-head inside and keep an eye on those readings…." she mumbled, as she turned and strode back away from the bow.
Spottail turned back to Jeremy, grinning. "The unpredictability of the 5000's is what makes them some of the most exciting timelines out there! And it's not like we've gone to a completely undocumented timeline. What's the worst that could happen?"
Jeremy stared in silence at Spottail for a full minute.
"Well, let's see…." Jeremy finally continued, "Renegades, pirates, giant sea monsters. Actually, a giant sea monster wouldn't be so bad. I've wanted to test out my new concussion rifle, and I haven't fought a sea monster before."
"See! You're already getting it!" Spottail jubilantly replied, almost missing the faint beeping of his own PDA that signaled that someone was attempting to contact him. He pressed the talk switch on the side of the curved earpiece, the sound of Greyscale's voice playing directly into his ear.
"G-General...I mean...Spottail...sir." she sputtered.
"Yeah Grey, what is it?"
"That sensor reading...it's...it's gotten closer!"
Jeremy cast Spottail a concerned glance, likely deciphering Greyscale's message by the goofy, excited grin growing across the hybrid's snout. It didn't take long for the two to spot what was causing the strange reading.
A massive shadow had crept up beside the yacht, a vessel more than twice its size. Its twin propulsion rings, set side-by-side at the back of the ship, along with its long, wide hull were instantly recognizable to Spottail as a small Alliance battleship. The entire top portion of its hull had been blown apart, three towering masts protruding from its jagged frame. Brightly colored flags were strung up on ropes attached to the masts, whipping violently in the torrential wind. Across the ship's side, Spottail could just barely make out the words BT-137 Northwind, though the faded paint and low light level made it difficult to confidently discern.
"Grey, get us out of here!" Jeremy immediately shouted into his own PDA, Spottail having been too captivated by the modified battleship to jump into action. The yacht began to drift away from the battleship, its bottom thrusters lifting it up toward the dark clouds above. But before it could get very far away, five large harpoons were fired at it, piercing straight through the yacht's weak hull. One of them flew higher than the others, striking the upper deck shield generator.
Spottail quickly braced himself as he was slammed by the vicious wind, his claws digging into the wood-paneled deck to keep him from being blown away. Cold rain buffeted the hybrid's scales, Jeremy sealing up his SteelWing's cockpit to prevent the same from happening to him.
The yacht slowly began to be dragged toward the battleship, the harpoons creaking as they reeled in their struggling catch. Spottail could see at least a dozen dragons standing about the exposed deck of the battleship, many with gruesome scars covering their bodies, and a few even having missing limbs.
"We need to get higher! We can't let them drag us in!" Spottail shouted, the freezing rain having slammed him out of his astonishment.
"No, we do that, and the whole ship will be torn apart!" Jeremy retorted.
"Then we cut the harpoons, and make a break for it!"
"Not before that thing shoots us outta the sky!"
The two were interrupted by a trio of dragons rising up off of the battleship; gliding over to land at the edge of the yacht's bow. Spottail and Jeremy both stepped back, staring tensely at the dragons that had attacked them out of nowhere.
At the back stood a SandWing with a scar over one of his eyes and a missing tail barb, beside him a brawny MudWing with few scars and a vicious glare. At the center stood an IceWing, with sky-blue scales and a triumphant grin on her pointed snout. She looked between the hybrid and SteelWing standing before her, as if they were offering her a lavish gift.
"Who the moons are you?" Jeremy abruptly asked. The IceWing stared at him for a moment, before addressing the two together.
"I am captain Solstice of the Northwind, and I'm afraid that your ship now belongs to me."
AN:
I'm back! This is only the first part of this little adventure, which mainly serves to establish the characters and setting. There are already some inconsistencies with how this event was described in WoF: Salvation, like how they're on a small leisure yacht instead of the Resurgence (it would have been way too big for a smaller-scale pirate battle, and likely for the outpost's landing pad too). I tried my best to explain some details about the multiverse here for those who haven't read the main story, though it does get a little convoluted at times. The next part should contain most of the action, and I'm not sure yet if there will be a third, or if the second will wrap it up. Until next time!