Matt Dovey
The wooden hull of the Drachma cruised easily through the clouds, scattering a shoal of Moonfish as it sailed West over Nasr. A congratulations present from his father, Vyse had quickly gotten the ship modified to incorporate the Yafutoman engine design, and they had a ready supply of blue moonstone fuel back at Crescent Isle - also a congratulations gift, this one from the Yafutoman prince, Daigo.
After the partying had ended and the loqua hangovers dissipated, various realities began to sink in. There were the vague problems of where is there left to go? What dreams are there left to dream? But as Captain, Vyse had to concern himself with the more realistic problem: how can we live? As an Air Pirate, they'd always lived off raids made on armed ships. But the Nasr fleet was destroyed, and Valua was now an ally, as was the newly discovered Yafutoma. After much thought and debate, it was decided that the only raids that could be made were against the Black Pirates. But with a ship the size of the Delphinus to run, as well as the Drachma and enough crew, raids against the Black Pirates could not sustain them. So it was decided that Osman would leave the crew and instead would work as a freelance merchant, selling equipment to Crescent Isle at lower rates and trading any items that the Rogues found for them. They would also hire themselves out using the Delphinus, as it was not only the greatest battleship in the world, but also one of the only in the world now. They refused to partake in conflicts, but were usually hired for dealing with threats such as the Roc that had been seen above Ixa'Taka. These were rare jobs, but at least gave the crew a decent challenge once in a while, as opposed to the easily-defeated Black Pirates.
They were after a Black Pirate ship now, so they had taken out the less recognisable Drachma and headed towards North Ocean, where many Black Pirates could still be found. The Black Pirates had become more succesful since recent events, as armed ships were so low on the ground that the Black Pirates could attack who they wanted without fear of retribution. Thus, it seemed almost a duty to Vyse, to go over and keep them in check, as well as a chance to sail once more.
As they came down beneath the cloud level once more, Vyse stretched and yawned. "Take the wheel for a bit, Don, I'm just off below decks for a rest."
"Aye aye Cap'n," came the reply of Don. Now Lawrence had left to find another job, Don had become the sole helmsman in Vyse's crew. He was starting to get yearnings as deep as his soul now though, to go out and make his own glory, possibly to help revive Esperanza, which was getting livelier by the day since the disappearance of the sky rift after the sinking of Soltis. But for now, he was happy in here.
Vyse walked to the back of the bridge, and swung himself down the stairs on the banisters, taking 5 steps at a time. He walked quickly to the door of the brig, turning the handle and opening it even as he walked through. As he walked over to a seat, he moved his shoulders in little circles, releasing some of the tension in them. He almost dropped down onto a seat, relaxing his muscles completely. He leant back against the wall, breathing deeply and closing his eyes. As he began to fall into asleep, his hearing caught the "click" of the door handle being turned slowly. Dragging his eyelids open, he looked across to the door. "Unnh..." he yawned, "hey Fina."
"Hey Vyse... I didn't mean to wake you, sorry. It makes a change to see you even sitting down, you know. You've been doing way too much recently." She walked over to him, and sat next to him, taking one of his hands in both of hers. "You need to learn to let other people do things for you."
"Fina, you know as well as I do that things haven't been as easy recently, with so many people leaving us again. And as the Captain, it's my responsibility to see everything gets done, and it's easier for me to just do it than to explain it to someone else, as often as not."
"Your crew isn't stupid, Vyse, they can learn new things. All they need is someone to guide them along every now and then. We could teach everyone something new. I could learn cooking, and we could probably get Aika to dress up as a Jester," smiled Fina.
"Heh," laughed Vyse, "I'll let you tell her that she's going to do that now." He yawned again. "I don't know... maybe you're right. We'll take some time off when we get back, get some rest and work out what everyone can do."
Fina smiled at him. "That sounds better than you being a one man crew, huh?" She squeezed his hand.
"Vyse, we need you on the bridge again, something's come up," came the echoey voice of Aika through a speaking tube. Fina kissed Vyse on the cheek quickly then got up, releasing his hand. "What are you doing Captain, sitting around when your crew needs you? Get a move on!"
Vyse shook his head at her as he smiled, slowly standing and stretching. "I guess you'll just have to find a replacement, huh?" He walked over to the door, still stretching his legs as he went. He opened the door, waiting and holding it open for Fina who had followed him. Once she had passed through, he let the door swing back on its own as they both went back up to the bridge.
"Ok, what's happening?" asked Vyse as he walked back into the bridge, instantly regaining his air of command.
"Hey again Vyse," welcomed Aika, "it's Baltor again."
Vyse rolled his eyes. "Ah well, at least he's a bit more of a challenge than most, and we'll get a fair bit off him I suppose." He moved over to his battle-station, leaving Don with the wheel. Fina went to her place, and Aika finished what she was doing before move to her station as well. "Alright guys, standard procedure for this battle, Baltor's got some powerful guns but doesn't take much damage, so its a case of offence is the best defence. Take him down as quick as we can and we should be ok. Alright, let's go!"
The two ships moved towards each other quickly, circling slightly. Both waited for some signal to begin. As the two ships passed broadside of each other, a bird out of view of both ships called out loudly, and the battle began.
Baltor's cannons rang out, the foremost ones launching a heavy lead ball at the Drachma. Don spun the wheel rapidly as Fina launched a pair of torpedoes, leaning the ship away from the shot, but the ball still caught the keel of the ship, splintering the wooden hull. As the Drachma righted itself again, Aika lined up the secondary cannons against the Blackbeard, firing them off as the center of the ship passed by. The Blackbeard shook with the impact, and as a result the shot of its own secondary cannons went flying high into the sky, narrowly missing the bird that had signalled the start of the battle. As the Blackbeard attempted to right itself and regained its course, Aika fired off a second shot from the secondary cannons. her blow landing almost simultaneously with Vyse's shot from the main cannon. The Blackbeard shook violently, a series of small fires starting up near the engine's. Although the damage was crippling, Baltor still seemed to be limping on, when Fina's torpedoes came crashing down, embedding themselves in the deck before exploding, a mist of splinters billowing high into the air, a smudge against the yellow moon now visible in the distance. His ship half missing, the fires starting to take hold, Baltor slowly turned away from the Drachma, attempting to retreat first. Vyse directed Don to pull along beside him, and went out onto the deck. As the two ships pulled level, Vyse shouted across to the Blackbeard's deck, where Baltor stood, almost quivering with rage.
"Hey Baltor! Still not given up?"
"You just wait Vyse, one day I'll beat you! Your arrogance will be your downfall!"
"Hehe, see you soon then Baltor?" laughed Vyse as he turned and walked back inside.
"Let's head over to Pirate Isle, it's been a while since we visited," announced Vyse, back at the wheel.
"Sounds good to me," grinned Aika from her station.
The Drachma glided up to Pirate Isle easily, slowing to a halt on the west side of the small island. Vyse, Aika and Fina all boarded a small boat and quickly made their way across to the landing dock. Stepping off their boat, they were greeted by Briggs, the Vice-Captain to Dyne. "Nice to see you kids back home again," he smiled at them.
"It's nice to be back," beamed Aika in reply.
"Is Dad in his office, Briggs?" asked Vyse, stretching out again, breathing in the air and stamping on the solid ground.
"As always, Vyse."
"Great, I'll go down and see him, you guys can look around if you want and I'll catch up later." Vyse set off down the ramp, still shaking out some of the tension in his body.
"Let's get going Fina, I want to see if my old house is still here! C'mon!" said Aika excitedly, "Catch you later Briggs!"
The sky was a glorious wash of oranges and deep reds, sweeping over both the sky and the clouds within it, and contrasting beautifully against the shine of the silver moon which rose high above Mid Ocean. Vyse, Aika and Fina sat on the grass of Lookout Isle, lying on their fronts and taking in the sunset with wide eyes.
"I can remember..." came the soft voice of Fina, speaking from her memories, "the first time we sat together up here... it was all so new to me, even the grass we're laying on, the sunset we're lost in now..." She sighed, lost momentarily in her thoughts. Vyse and Aika lay still, gazing into the sunset, while Fina looked down at the grass in front of her, before the pair of them turned to look at the blonde Silvite. Just as Aika opened her mouth to say something, the sky was filled with a sound like a hundred thunderclaps. The trio covered their ears, staying low to the grass. When they looked up again, there was a thin white line near Shrine Island, stretching from Deep Sky in an almost vertical line to the high heavens. "What the..." muttered Vyse as he stood up to look up at the top of the trail, disappearing off as high as the moons.
"It looks like something went into Deep Sky, Vyse!" said Aika as she too stood up.
"Either into it... or out," pondered Fina, who was still laying down.
Vyse and Aika both looked at her silently. "That trail is near Shrine Island, which means it's near the Vortex... if anything were to come out, it would come out there," she continued.
"You're right," agreed Vyse, "and the way that trail fades near Deep Sky... We'll have to investigate tomorrow, we can't do anything now, none of the crew are ready at all."
"I guess so..." came the voice of Aika, "we better go and get some sleep now anyway, the sun's almost gone now." She signalled to the western sky, where the last crimson rays of brilliance smudged the horizon.
I know it's taken me ages to get this up, I've been kinda busy... however, I'm now on study leave, so have got lots of free time :) I just need to work out where the hell this story is headed, lol. R+R if you care, flame if you don't, they're always funny. Thanks :)
#~~Matt