Chapter 2

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 shakally stood up, rubbing my back and behind from where I had landed. As I grew closer to the glowing 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 which rose 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.


Historical Explanation: The ships that Javelin names in this chapter are not random. Kevin, Kimberly, and Jervis are the only survivors of the J Class and the half-sister K Class. The rest all served with her in Destroyer Division 10, which is full of impressive and notable ships. to the point that Javelin may be the least impressive, despite losing her bow and stern in 1940 and with Kelvin sinking an entire Italian convoy by themselves. I personally think that it's Piorun for the fack she did one thing, which was later outdone by KNM Stord. Destroyer Division 10 was very active in the lead-up to D-day and also featured Haida and other Canadian Tribals. In short, Javelin is among legends, and she doesn't even know it.