Chapter 4

When I finally reached the bridge I saw her, more cuts and bruises had appeared across her body. She stood there both hands on the railing as she stared out to sea, as I walked closer Javelin didn't seem to notice my presence.

When I was next to her, I saw her lips moving but I couldn't hear anything, her eyes seemed to dart around not focusing on anything.

I put a hand on her shoulder. She spun round grabbing my hand with such a tight grip it felt painful. She stared directly at me but it felt as if she was looking straight through me.

"Javelin you good? We did it, it's safe now." I shook her gently,

It seemed to do the trick, the grip on my hand loosened as focus returned to her eyes. "We did, that's great I just need to lie down for a spell."

Legs buckled as strength left her body, moving quickly I helped her stay upright before picking her up in my arms. "Let's get you cleaned up, then you can rest as much as you like."

She hummed before rolling slightly in my grip bringing her head closer to my chest and lightly holding my shirt with her hand.

Walking down from the bridge being as careful as I could to not trip or hit anything I made my way to what was seemingly a wardroom or an officer's mess.

Laying javelin down in a large leather chair I began my search for a first aid kit.

Fortunately in a hundred years the design for first aid boxes hadn't changed, the large white cross on a blue background made it easy to find. Inside was some basic medical supplies. Grabbing Cotton swabs and bandages I looked at a glass jar that contained a clear liquid.

"Well I can't be too dangerous if it's in a first aid kit." Removing the cork on the top and taking a light sniff of the contents. The burning in the back of my throat confirmed my suspicions, it was a jar of medical alcohol.

"Wish it was the drinkable kind, could definitely go with a drink right now." I murmured, walking back to a javelin who hadn't really moved much.

"Right just need to clean and disinfect the cuts, then put a bandage on any large cuts, it might sting a little." She nodded giving me the ok to continue, opening her eyes she watched me kneel down in front of her.

Lightly damping the swap in alcohol I went to clean one of the cuts on her leg. "Probably best to check its strength first." Moving my hand away from her leg as I put my other hand out, the cut on it still slowly bleeding as I opened it up.

Pain erupted from my hand as I touched it with the swab, biting through it I removed all the blood around the cut before cleaning the cut itself, while it hadn't gone deep it was long and wide and would definitely take a long time to heal fully.

After bandaging my hand I moved back to javelin, her leg moved away from me as I went to clean it. "I think that cut has gone now no need to put that stuff on it."

I sighed, she had seen me wince and was now apprehensive. "It's fine, I will just use a dry swap to just clean it and only use the slightest bit of alcohol to get at the cut, which is" I paused, after removing the mostly dried blood I found completely smooth skin.

"Well that's strange, what about you're arm I definitely saw a cut in there." Once again after cleaning the blood there wasn't any sign of injury.

"How in the world, did your cuts just heal?" I looked over her, only small amounts of dried blood, soot and some small bruises were left.

"There supposed to heal, aren't they?" Javelin had sat up straight, colour had begun to return to her face.

I stood up. "Usually not that fast, could be because you're a ship. Do you feel injured anywhere?

Javelin moved her hands around her body, feeling where she'd been injured. "My bow is damaged, A turret is completely destroyed, the funnel is buckled resulting in a loss of engine power, one torpedo launcher is too damaged to operate and the other can only be manually moved. There is a hole in my deck and some shells impacted the superstructure, while not causing major damage the shrapnel has hindered some systems."

It was strange to see her speak as if she was me listing out maintenance requirements. "I was asking about your body, but that's definitely going to require a lot of work."

She tilted her head. "I was talking about my body, but if you mean my human body it feels better but it's hard to move much and my eyelids feel heavy now."

Pausing for a minute I realised what she meant. "Ah right, you're probably exhausted, can't blame you for that. Do you think you could make it to land?"

Javelin shook her head. "The engine is overheated, along with the damage to the funnel, exhaust will heat it even further. it's going to be awhile before I can get underway again"

"Darn, guess it's hurry up and wait then." I sat down on a chair. "How are you feeling anyway, not the ship or how you are physically. but more mentally, you did just take on four Siren ships and win, that many would normally take a entire ports worth of firepower but you did it with mostly six cannons."

Javelin put her head back, looking up towards the ceiling. "I don't really feel different at all, thought it felt good to feel my guns fire. Next time I could probably go about it more efficiently." She relaxed into the chair. "Would probably be best to have some other ships providing backup for me."

"Hopefully we can find other ships or maybe Some of those cubes." The thought of seeing more girls like javelin would definitely be amusing.

She hummed in agreement. "I had a fair few sisters, I wonder who is out there. I hope they're ok." I began to relax, feeling the ship move slightly on the waves.

After a short while I got back up and put the medical supplies away. Javelins eyes were slowly dropping, she was probably exhausted by now, not to mention having nothing to eat all day.

My stomach ached as I realised I hadn't eaten or drunk anything now for over two days, and now with my adrenaline beginning to wear off it was getting harder to keep going.

I noticed without the drum of the engine or either of us saying anything the ship was eerily quiet. I decided to break the silence. "I'm going to check on the damage, I don't have any tools or materials but I might be able to repair some of the damage. You just rest here and try to get your strength back.

After receiving a slow nod from her I returned back to the deck. While the fog had dissipated but the weather was still overcast and visibility was low, the sea still remained calm with a gentle breeze coming through.

For the first time ever, I felt relatively safe on the ocean. Javelin had proved herself capable of going toe to toe with sirens and come out on top. This deck was probably the safest place to be on the ocean right now, I felt a calm come over me as muscles I didn't know were tense finally relaxed, this also alerted me too how sore they were.

"Right let's see if there's anything I could do to get you back to being ship shape again." I tapped against the hull.

I felt a sense of embarrassment when I realised, I had just talked to what was technically a living being. Walking down to where the hole on the deck was, I pondered to what extent was she the ship. she has said she could feel everything on the ship and it was obvious that she could control it. There was also the fact that the cannons and other guns had seemingly reloaded themselves, even with her control of the ship the weapons were designed to be reloaded by humans.

There was also the fact the she refers to herself as the ship first and the girl second. Could this just be because she's only now gotten a human form, or was she really more ship than human. When the ship took damage so did she. A lump formed in my throat as a thought came to my head, what would happen to her if the ship was to sink?

Pushing the grim thought away I began looking over the damage on the deck, it had seemingly looked worse when I climbed over it earlier but after a closer inspection all that would be needed would be a new panel to be welded on and some pipes and wires to be replaced. It was still a flooding risk in high seas or heavy rain but without any signs of splintering or cracking the structural integrity was good. Turning round I looked at the funnel, hopefully this would also be an easy fix.

Unfortunately, when I finally climbed up to have a look down, I could see the full extent of the damage, the shell had arced down into the engine and wreaked havoc with the cooling and exhaust. the heat still coming off from the engine along with the low visibility meant I wasn't able to get a closer inspection in. Javelin was right we would have to wait until it was fully cooled and then slowly limp our way back to a port.

I noticed that the light level had begun to drop signalling that the day had already begun to end, I began to make my way back to javelin.

When I entered the room, I saw her still sitting there half asleep, it made me realise how tired I was as well.

Realising with the damage to the engine and no idea where we were was going to result in us spending the night in the open ocean. I spoke up rousing her up from her half sleep. "You were right about the damage so were stuck here. Can you still sense your instruments. are we still alone?"

"I've not detected anything out there, radio is still quiet, just faint signals bouncing in from far away."

I began preparing myself mentally for a long night watch. "We'll have to find land in the morning, it's too dangerous to navigate in the dark. If you want to find a cabin to sleep in, I will head to the bridge and keep lookout."

"It should be ok for both of us to sleep, I can leave the radar going through the night and have it alert me if anything comes close."

"Oh, that's useful. Well guess we should both get some shuteye then. Know where some beds are near the bridge?"

She stood up and began moving towards the door. "Yep the officers rooms are close enough. They may not be the big fancy ones you get on the larger ships but they make do."

She lead me up to them. Opening the door I found a room smaller than the one I had on the endurance, one normal sized bed on top of of a storage cabinet and a sink with a mirror above it. They were definitely designed compact but still keeping in mind the rank of the sailor using them.

Javelin walked in, putting both her hands on the bed she tested the softness of it. "It's a little small and will probably be a bit of a squeeze for us, but everything you need is in here, not to mention with it being the captain cabin you get the view." She pointed to the porthole.

"It's fine a bed is a bed not matter how fancy the room it's in." I leaned back looking down the corridor seeing several more doors leading into rooms. "if you want to take this one I'll go to the one next door."

She was turned round, several emotions seemed to appear on her face before she sighed. "No you have this one, you are the captain after all."

Now it was my time to feel a mix of emotions. Remembering what she had said earlier "I'm not a captain. I'm not even a first mate. I know you said every ship needs a captain but I'm not him. You are a free woman Javelin you are in command of yourself. Not to mention I'm in no way qualified to be a captain.

She stood silent for a while before smiling and grabbing one of my hands. "I thought for a while earlier. About what I wanted to do, you said that there were other cubes out there that you know about, and there is bound to be more out there waiting to be found. so I feel like it's my duty to ensure that there all safe. After all I was designed as an escort

She let go putting her hands together on her chest. "And I know I'm free to do what I want but you've already done so much for me and I feel like I can trust you. It was something about you that saved me from that dark place and gave me this wonderful body to boot."

She giggled and placed her hands on her hips. "And as for rank, well technically trough power of succession I'm probably the highest ranked surviving member of the Royal navy so it's fully within my power to bestow you with the rank of captain, that is if you want it of course. If not that's fine, we can just get back to the mainland and figure out what to do from there."

I thought for a moment. I'd never thought about what I really wanted to do in life. And javelin had already decided on a course that would probably put her in harms way. I thought back to the battle earlier, the pain I had seen her go through. I knew I couldn't prevent her getting hurt again but maybe I could help her at least not be alone for it.

I put my hand out. "Ok, I'm definitely not in any capacity qualified or suited for it but I will try my hardest to help you."

She grabbed my hand, shaking it. "Then give me your full name and and I will make it official."

"James Adam Dawson."

"Well I javelin, J class destroyer. Pendant number F61 herby appoint sir James Dawson the rank of captain."

She giggled again. "That's probably not even close to how they did it but it will do. Not to hard now, was it?"

"don't worry about how they did it back then, probably took hours of useless ceremony anyway. I will have to write a letter to my mother, she would be so proud of me now."

Javelin reached up and patted my on my shoulder before walking past me and towards another room. "of course she would, you are now in command of a ship in the greatest fleet to ever sail the seas." She turned to me. "But captain I must advise you to get your sleep, you can't lead a fleet if you're tired."

I called out as she went into a room. "Don't think a single ship can be classed as a fleet."

She was right though, sleep was something I definitely needed. Kicking off my boots and going down to just my shirt and trousers I jumped up and got in the bed.

It wasn't the most comfortable bed in the world but with how tired I was a solid rock would have been fine.

I laid for a while, still going through the past two days. I had experienced my first direct siren attack, previously we had been in large fleets and were able to slip away, or in port where I'd gone to the shelters.

The sheer firepower one could bring to bear was enough to destroy entire ports. Even though siren attacks are rarely seen nowadays, stories of fleets of hundreds of sirens was always at the back of a sailor's mind.

My thoughts drifted to javelin, A small girl like her controlling a warship. The power she could bring to bear was nothing I had ever seen before. And she was only a destroyer, I have seen drawings and old photos of the old fleets with the great steel behemoths called battleships, I wondered what they would be like to meet.

I shifted, grabbing my coat I pulled my old captain's pendant from my pocket. I ran my fingers over it, there was no distinctive features on it just some metal filled smooth with a chain running through a hole in it.

He had said it came from one a warship his great grandfather had served on. If there are other ships like javelin out there the. maybe one day I would find her, if I do I will give her this, I knew it didn't belong to me.

I wrapped it around my neck and rolled over until I eventually drifted into a dreamless sleep.

I didn't know how long I was asleep for. the sound of screaming had me stepping out of the cabin before I'd even realised I was awake.

Immediately opening the door to javelins room and switching on the light, I found her still laying in bed, she was tossing rapidly her arms swinging around seemingly trying to push away whatever was in her dream. She was still screaming.

I moved over to her side, she spoke occasionally, most of it was incomprehensible. "No, please I don't want to go again. I'm sorry I couldn't save you." Sweat was dripping off her brow.

I grabbed her arms with one hand had shook her ship with the other. "Javelin it's me, it's just a nightmare wake up." I tried again her eyes shot open, a slight blue glow came from them before fading.

Her eyes darted around as she awoke. "Uh I, I was. Where am I" she paused. "I don't feel so good." The colour drained from her face as she inhaled. From years of dealing with drunk sailors I knew what was coming.

Grabbing the small metal rubbish bin on the floor I moved her head over it I knew it was forceful but she'd understand.

Holding her hair as she emptied her stomach slowly using one hand to rub her back hopefully calming her.

After a few dry heaves she raised her head back up. Taking it, I placed it back on the floor before putting one arm over her shoulder as she sat up and hugged her knees.

"I was there, watching myself sink. I could feel it all but couldn't do anything, I felt my crew die. Their souls called out for me to join them." She leaned into me. "I don't want to die again."

Her body felt cold, I moved closer to her trying to share my body heat. "I can't begin to imagine what you've been trough, but I can promise you that I will do all I can to keep you safe.

Wrapping her arms around my body she buried her head in my side. "I'm sorry, I must be an embarrassment of a ship."

I looked back seeing that her bed had become damp with sweat. I cursed whoever would put a girl like javelin through this. "Come, my bed is still warm, it's a bit small but it will make do."

Feeling her nod I picked her up. As I walked back to my room she kept her face hidden, the dampness on my shirt told me she was crying.

I put her on my bed. Looking at her she'd gotten vomit on her shirt. I removed my shirt. "Here take off your shirt and wear this, it should be big enough to cover you."

Taking it she began to unbutton, I turned round giving her some privacy. "Can I remove my skirt it's gotten. Wet"

"It's fine."

I heard some movement. "I'm done." Turning round she was sitting on the bed, my shirt loosely hanging of her body. Her clothes were now on the floor.

"Right let's get some shuteye." I climbed onto my bed and laid down, holding the covers I gestured for javelin to join me. She moved her body as close to mine as possible with her head just below my neck.

Putting my arm around her I began to hum a slow tune. Remembering how my mother did the same for me whenever I had nightmares. Closing her eyes, she muttered "Thank you." I waited until I felt her breathing slow before letting myself drift back to sleep.

The warmth of the morning sun on my face awoke me. Javelin was still sound asleep, somehow she'd gotten closer to me in the night with now one of her legs over mine and her arm pulling her into a hug.

After a few minutes of careful movements I was out of bed without waking her. Still sleeping peacefully I pulled the covers back up and grabbed my sweatshirt and shoes. It itched without my shirt under it but it would have to do for now. Going into javelins room I brought her hood Shoes and crown back to mine leaving them neatly for her.

Picking up her dirty clothes I made my onto the deck I looked out at the morning sun, the horizon was shining a bright red as one of the clearest days I'd seen in a while began.

Finding a fire bucket and line I filled it with sea water. Giving javelins clothes a rinse before hanging them on a railing to dry.

"Right with that done, best to check the damage." I muttered to myself.

I looked in amazement as the ships smokestack looked brand new. "That can't be possible." I knew it had been hit yesterday yet it had no signs of damage whatsoever.

Moving down the ship I made it to where she'd been hit, the hole was still there but the bent plates were straightened and all the pipes and witting had been fixed.

"Does javelin have some kind of magical maintenance crew I don't know about." I made my way to the front of the ship thinking about what the crew would look like, it would probably have to be as outlandish as her. a image came together that made me chuckle.

I made it to what I was looking for. Javelins front turret had taken a direct hit yesterday completely destroying it, but now the shell of it had appeared. I looked closer at the edges seeing slight blue arks of light as the metal seemingly grew to replace what was missing.

Giving up on trying to make sense of anything anymore I moved to the bridge. Going over the instruments I could see javelin was right in that she could keep them running as she slept.

Turning on the radio receiver I sat down in a chair and watched the horizon, occasionally glancing over to the radar to ensure nothing was out there.

I had almost fallen asleep as the sound of footsteps approached the bridge. The door opened on its own allowing a yawning javelin to step through. She was still wearing my shirt but had put On her hood and boots leaving her hair loose as it spilled over her shoulders.

"Morning, sleep well."

I smile came across her face. "I did, thank you."

"So, it seems that just like your body the ship also heals itself, you able to get underway?"

To answer my question the ship juddered slightly before the feeling of it accelerating to a cruising speed. "More than capable, still some minor damage but everything is in a good working condition, also with a day as clear as today finding land should be a breeze. Just need the date and time and I can probably guess where we are."

"Well, it's around mid-April and as for the time." I walked outside and took a guess with the sun. "Probably around seven in the morning"

She stuck her hand out pointing towards the sun, tilting her head and slightly sticking her tongue out for a few seconds. "Got it." the ship begun to turn until it was almost facing directly towards the sun.

"Well, it's not perfect but if you are right, I place us somewhere in the Irish sea, with this heading we should be seeing land soon."

We had barely moved with how much we had been lost I half expected to find us out in the Atlantic.

"Tell me, is Liverpool Still a thing." she asked, her eyes scanning the horizon.

"Should be its one of the largest ports out there, only matched by Portsmouth in terms of size or commerce."

The ship moved slightly. "Good we will head there, I frequented that port many times back in the day, as did many ships of the royal navy."

I moved inside sitting myself down and watched the horizon. "Also happens to be our original destination, along with the two cubes that were sent off before us, might be able to find the ship they were on still unloading. If not it's a train journey all the way down to London." I looked at Javelin and at the ship. "That may be a problem, I don't have enough money on me to keep a ship at dock."

Javelin looked away from the helm and turned to me. Walking over before deciding to plant herself in my lap, I didn't mind the action and moved myself to make it more comfortable for her. "Well, if we need to, I could just wait out at sea, or we send a telegram down, but if your right and there are other cubes, then we need to make ensuring their safety a priority. What's so important down in London anyway?"

"Apparently, it's the University of London that have been studying the cubes, so they might have some answers as how you came to be, could possibly also have some of your own kind there but with how stumped that scientist had been with yours I wouldn't bet much on it."

Javelin moved to look at me. "you're not going to leave me with them, are you?"

I realised what I had been implying. "Oh no I didn't mean it like that, we can talk to them nicely and see if we can't help each other, you're my friend Javelin along with being my ship, I'm not about to pass you onto some scientists." I wrapped my hands around her in a hug, I hadn't known her for long but I had already found her company to be enjoyable.

"Thanks, I don't know why but the thought of being left with a bunch of scientists makes me feel uneasy for some reason." she leant back putting her head against my chest.

"Well, I promise that I won't ever ask you to do something you don't want you to do, and if I do be sure to tell me. This whole leadership thing is new and I don't think there's many books on commanding a vessel that can talk for itself and wears cute clothing."

"You think my clothes are cute?"

"Yep, your other clothes should be dry soon with this wind and then your outfit can be complete again." she moved her face away from me, trying her hardest to hide how cheery red it had become. I was glad I had distracted her from the thought of what to do once we made port as it had been a concern on my mind for a while.

After all Javelin may say I'm her captain, but I have a feeling that the university or the powers that be might have different opinions regarding the subject.

Just over an hour later Javelin was still on my lap looking out to sea, she was back in her usual outfit with a thanks for being lent my shirt. I was letting my mind wonder when she stood up and properly looked out the window.

"Well, I've got good news and bad news." she spoke while turning around.

"The good news?" I asked. I had been keeping an eye on the radar and radio for a while. Without any returns I didn't feel like we were in any immediate danger."

"Well, the good news is that I was right, I can see the land formations and we are defiantly heading towards Liverpool, and should be there within an hour or so."

"And the bad news?" suddenly not having any contacts on radar was concerning with how close we were to a busy shipping lane."

"The port seems to be almost completely on fire."

I got up and looked out, while it was still too far away to distinguish any features, there was a gigantic smoke cloud going up from the port.

A phrase I had once read in a book came to mind.

"Out of the frying pan, into the fire."