Disclaimer: I hereby declare that Roosterteeth studios RWBY production crew may freely use any ideas, characters, or events written in this story free of charge and without any threat of lawsuit for any production, though it would be preferable to inform me of the use of the idea if used.

Ch 39

Sirens began blaring all across the cove as droids swarmed down from above. Those with their wits about them had taken up firearms and had begun shooting down the drones in the sky.

"We need to evacuate." Said Christopher over his comm.

"What?" said Tora "We can take these *******, why do we need to run?"

"I'm sure we can, but not while protecting the noncombatants" said Mao. "We can either fight right now and endanger our friends and family or we can make a strategic retreat, bring them to a safe place, and return to vanquish the enemy later."

"…You got a point" said Tora "So what's the plan?"

"From what the engineers have told us, only three of the ships remain functional" said Christopher "We'll use those to mount a short assault to distract the enemy while we move the noncombatants to the evacuation zone."

"What about Admiral Nyataro, have we been able to get in contact with him?" said Edward.

"Afraid not" said William "our best communications equipment was taken out by those exploding birds, and the ones we have left are being scrambled by the Blackstones."

"Yeesh, they must have really emptied their pockets for this one" said Henry.

"Anyway, I've already planned things out based on all your abilities" said Christopher.

"Alonzo, you and you're crew focus on long range firepower, so you're going to shoot down as many drones as possible"

"Got it amigo" said Alonzo.

"I'll take command of evacuation procedures and neutralizing any enemies that attempt to impede the endeavor" said Christopher "and as for everyone else, you need to get those three ships airborne and distract the enemy ships as best you can."

""Can do"" said the other captains.

After that, instructions were relayed to all the crewmembers in the cove via short range encrypted comms.

"Got it." Said Lan, who nodded his head, he then turned to Trey and said "We need to evacuate people to a cave near the beach."

"Got it!" said Trey "We shall prevail and—"

A beam was fired from a drone and burned the tip of his shoe.

"They're shooting at as" said Trey "TAKE COVER!"

"This is why I keep my weapons, gear, and backpack with me at all times!" shouted Lan who proceeded to shoot down a few drones with his bow.

"Hey look!" shouted Trey, "It's the Dust Eagles!"

A huge swarm of white emerged from the cliffs above the cove and began to engage the droids in a fierce battle. Moments later, a wave of gunfire came from below to complement the avian assault.

"The airborne enemies are suppressed!" said Lan "come on guys, we need to evacuate people!"

Back at the airship docks, a fierce battle raged as the enemy ground troops attempted to impede the takeoff of the ships.

"Not on your life!" shouted Tora who swung his blade and sent dozens of Blackstones flying "Can't believe my ship was one of the ones that ate it. When is this tub going to be ready?"

"Don't insult my ship you ass!" shouted Anne "we'll be airborne in less than a minute."

Back in town, Lan was leading a group of people to the beach.

"Enemies ahead!" shouted Trey.

"Charge!" shouted Lan,

George pulled off some of the orbs hanging off the top his staff and threw them the approaching Blackstones and droids. The moment they hit the ground, a cloud of green gas rose up.

"Gah!" cried the Blackstones in the gas "The stench!"

They quickly tried to get out, but found themselves tripping over one another as their ankles were wrapped with small vines. This was George's semblance, which similar to Daylen, allowed him to control plant growth to a certain extent.

Ignis then turned his head and pulled on one of the handles connected to one of the cylinders attached to the belts surrounding his body. The end of it was a blade which unfolded to the left and right side. The little wolf then charged forwards into the green gas, his body glowing with a fiery light, and moments later all of the droids fell to the ground, their ankles severed. Lan then quickly followed and finished things with knives into the robot heads, and feet into the human faces.

"Go, go, go!" shouted Lan at the people waiting in the back.

Then from the corner of Lan's eye, he saw another enemy group a ways away kick down the door of a house and march inside. Lan felt his muscles twitch as he began to bolt in that direction, but stopped as he looked at the people behind him. He couldn't just go off leaving these people on his own, but then again the people in that house might need him. But he could leave Ignis and George to protect them, but then again something crazy might happen while he's gone that the little guys wouldn't be able to handle.

These thought flashed through his head as he looked back and forth between the two areas. The people near him grew increasingly concerned as they saw their guide growing more and more frantic, and then

'THWACK'

"OW!" said Lan, who grasped his head.

"I wake up to find the cove in Chaos, and one of the first things I see is you having a panic attack" came an annoyed voice.

Lan looked up and saw his uncle Ishiku towering over him.

"Saw you looking back and forth like you were deciding which was the lesser of two evils, but was too scared to make an actual decision since you didn't know what was the right choice." Said Ishiku "Am I right?"

"…yeah" said Lan dejectedly.

"I heard that something got you down during your flight with the Sapiens, but this is ridiculous" said Ishiku, pushing up his sunglasses "I don't know what happened. But let me tell you something there's a shitload of unavoidable messes that you will get yourself into and some that will end badly, but you know I've always felt worse about situations if I didn't do anything and something bad happened rather than when I didn't do anything and something bad happened. At least if I caused problems, I would at least know enough about the situation to fix what I just did. You're a member of this crazy family kid, and let me tell you, we always get into unavoidable shit. The best you can do is dive in on the path you feel is best and get through it by pushing yourself to your limits. That's why the old man always trains us so hard, so that we're ready! So get that damn confusion out of your head before I slap it out!"

"But—" started Lan

'Slap''Slap''Slap''Slap''Slap''Slap'

"The confusion gone now?" asked Ishiku who's hand was raised into the air in preparation of another volley.

"…Yeah" said Lan, who nodded while rubbing his cheeks. The boy then took a deep breath and then put on a determined expression "Thanks."

"Great, and I can slap you more if you need it in the future." Said Ishiku. "By the way, can I borrow that magatama of yours? It would really help the assault I'm about to launch."

"Okay" said Lan, taking it off his neck and handing it to Ishiku.

"Great, and as thanks, I'll help you bit with your current situation." Ishiku slammed his feet on the ground and a stone pillar burst out of the house that pirates Lan had seen earlier had entered. The pillar had all of the hostiles pinned against its head and crashed into the ground. A few moments later, a woman holding a small child shakily came out of the front door and fell to her knees.

"Go help boy" said Ishiku "I got stuff to do."

"Yes sir!" said Lan who darted towards the woman.

"Now" said Ishiku as he surveyed the pandemonium "Where should I start?"

On the central Blackstone Ship, Goldhorn was surveying the chaos.

"Nice, Nice" he said as he surveyed the spreading flames "This new tech is really making a difference."

"We aim to please." Said the shadow standing in the corner of the room.

"Captain, the main cannons are fully charged once more" said a man at a control console.

"Great, Fire at everything that looks important!" said Goldhorn.

The fronts of the ships slid open again and the cannons began targeting different parts of the cove.

"Shit!" shouted Tora "And we're barely taking off!"

"Brace for impact!" shouted Alonzo into his comm.

The ships in the air fired at everything they could see, red beams of energy surging through the skies, heading for ships, buildings, and most importantly large groups of evacuating people.

'Boom'

Suddenly, 16 huge stone pillars erupted from the ground and ceiling, intercepting and blocking the beams. The pillars exploded, but surprisingly the debris from the pillars didn't fall. Instead, they floated towards a central point, forming what appeared to be a giant stone lotus flower, and standing right in the middle of it with his arms folded and the sunlight reflecting off his sunglasses, was Ishiku.

"What the—" said Goldhorn "Who the hell is that!?"

Ishiku had never joined the other crews on any raids or pirate meetings, so he remained relatively unknown to the outside world. He also didn't leave his shack near the back of the cove very often so the spy birds didn't really catch sight of him. But in reality, he was the most powerful warrior in the cove (when Byakko wasn't there of course) having completed Byakko's training up to the 177th level. But of course, even he couldn't do what he just did normally (at least not with the amount of effort he gave just then).

"Whew" said Ishiku, wiping his brow "Good thing I borrowed that magatama."

He then made a lifting motion with both of his arms, causing two of the petals of the lotus to break off and float into the air. He then made a throwing motion and the two petals rocketed forwards, smashing into and destroying two ships.

"Hey!" shouted Goldhorn as he rounded on the shadowy man in the corner "I thought you said we'd be prepared this time!"

"We had no information on that man" said the shadow, "But it seems he is most concerned with protecting those who are evacuating. I suggest setting the remaining ships' weapon systems on them."

Goldhorn nodded, and ordered his men to do so.

"Huh." Said Ishiku, as he raised dozens of boulders to protect the evacuating people from harm "looks like they got a good strategist on their side."

On Tora's side, their last 3 ships had finally risen into the air and had begun to attack the enemy ships.

Tora stood on the deck and quickly gave the enemy ships a glance. He quickly pointed to six in particular and said over his comm.

"Those ones have the emblems of the enemy Captains, they're likely onboard."

"We each take one right?" said William.

"That would be for the best" said Mao

"Right, get close and let's board! That's our specialty after all!"

The three ships flew deep into enemy lines, each ship pulling alongside two ships and firing two sets of boarding chains. The enemy ships attempted to use their smaller weapons to shoot them down, but to no avail.

"Charge!" shouted Tora as he led his men onto his chosen ship. The captains of the other crews promptly did the same.

"So he's coming huh?" said Goldhorn as he watched the men cross the chains. "I guess it's time we finished this."

Goldhorn got up, pulled out a pair of golden revolvers, and barked at the men on board to get ready for battle. He then turned to the shadow in the corner.

"This isn't going as well as you said" said Goldhorn.

"I never said anything" said the shadow "I just gave analysis based on the data that was given. But there always will be unforeseen variables in battle. Is that not true?"

Goldhorn narrowed his eyes and growled.

"Luckily though, you paid our special service fee, so I will attempt to bring down the man in the middle of the stones down there."

The man then melted into the shadows and disappeared.

At the same time, each captain was arriving on the deck of their chosen ships where they found their foes waiting for them.

1st ship:

"Why Anne, how lovely it is to see you again." Said Ariel with charming smile.

"Yeah, can we cut the crap and just get to fighting?" said Anne, who pulled back a bow attached to a gauntlet she was wearing.

"Oh your no fun" said Ariel "I just wanted to talk, but then again I guess ******* like you are too busy ******* **** ** *** **** ****** ********."

"…you're dead." Said Anne letting an arrow fly.

Ariel put on a special face mask and let out a sonic scream, knocking the arrow out of the air. She then turned to the men behind her and said.

"The enemy crew is all women. Do what you like."

The men let out excited war cries and charged forwards.

"Worse than pigs" said Anne "Come on girls let's show them what we can do!"

2nd ship

The deck here had been flooded with a green poisonous gas which separated the forces of the Onyx Owls, and Gaius Hydros's crew. No one dared enter the poisonous fumes, except for two who could be seen by the flashing of sparks every time their weapons collided in the din.

"Always prepared aren't you Mao" said Gaius who slipped back into the mist.

"Indeed I am" said Mao as he threw two knives after Gaius's form "I could tell the ingredients in this poison with one whiff, so I simply injected the antidote."

"But it will only last for so long" said Gaius as he appeared right behind Mao and threw a punch with his heavy gauntlet.

"True." Said Mao, as he slipped to the side and stabbed Gaius in the stomach.

"Arghhh!" said Gaius who slipped back into the shadows.

"But I won't need long to finish you."

3rd ship

"Bring it on shorty!" said William.

"Oh you can't take me Fatso!" shouted Karcinos.

The two captains were currently engaged in a punching match. William's iron bear claws clashing with Karcinos's crab claws. Similar battles occurred all over as the crew clashed with each other.

4th ship

"Stop hopping around!" shouted Lusca as her whip once again hit empty air.

"No way" said Edward who hopped and jumped all over the place "but here's a little present from me to you."

He reached into his pocket and threw several boomerangs which pinned the whip to the deck.

"You ****!" shouted Lusca who tore her whip free.

"I got all day sweetheart" said Edward "I got all day."

5th ship

The air between the two sides kept exploding as Henry's rockets kept colliding with Whirl's Whirlpool grenades.

"Bahaha you looking fat and tasty you pig" said Whirl, hefting his large grenade launcher at his side "I can't wait to eat you!"

"Eat me?" said Henry, chuckling as he fired his rockets "You eat people often you cannibal?"

Whirl gave Henry a manic smile.

"..Oh you sick freak." Said Henry. Who charged forward, transforming his rocket launcher into a large cudgel which resembled an Iron ball with a pig's face coming out of it. Whirl's changed his weapon as well, his weapon being a giant spiked club that resembled a meat grinder. The two weapons clashed together causing a shockwave that caused cracks to form in the metal around them.

6th ship

"Tora"

"Goldhorn"

The two men stared each other down on opposite sides of the deck, each of them fingering their respective weapons.

"What do you say we settle this one on one?" said Tora who drew his blade.

"I thought you'd never ask" said Goldhorn, who transformed his two revolvers into cutlasses.

The two then charged at each other, beginning a fierce sword battle.

Back down on the cove

"In here!" shouted Lan, who stood in front of a cave near the beach. The groups of people that he had been leading followed him inside. Inside the cave was a luminescent cavern with the sand leading to a lake at the far end. Parked in the lake were many large submarines which Christopher's men were helping people clamber into.

"Great job Lan" said Christopher "That's almost everybody; we should be ready to leave soon."

At Ishiku's stone lotus

"You gonna come out?" said Ishiku as he destroyed another ship with another flower petal. "I can sense that you're there bub."

"Impressive" said the man who emerged from the shadows "Not many are able to detect my presence, most are sent to the next life before they even realize what happened."

"You're new, I guess you're the one those guys hired?" said Ishiku

"In the flesh" said the man, who gave a bow.

"So, what should I call you?" said Ishiku as he raised stone crags to block missiles. "Need to know whose face I'm about to cave in."

"I don't really have a name" said the man "But you may call me Executioner." Two large and heavy looking shotguns appeared the in man's hands with a puff of shadowy smoke.

"Cute." Said Ishiku, who cracked his knuckles. "My name's Ishiku Muteki."

Executioner then began to unloading his shot guns at Ishiku, who raised a stone wall out of the ground to protect himself. Ishiku then sent the wall forward to collide with Executioner. With a puff, Executioner turned into a cloud of dark smoke.

"You are unable to hurt me" said Executioner.

"Really?" said Ishiku, who then closed his eyes, waited for a moment, then launched a punch at a patch of smoke that surrounded him.

"Ugh!" grunted Executioner as he stumbled backwards.

"Sensed you became solid again." Said Ishiku "look like I can hurt you after all."

"Most impressive" said Executioner, "Had we met under different circumstances I would have offered you a position at the company where I work."

"No thanks." Said Ishiku, who lifted his arms to cause boulders to surround Executioner, and then clapped his hands to make them collide together. Executioner avoided the blow by turning into smoke and escaping outside the pile, but was kicked in the stomach the moment he turned solid again.

"Hah!" said Ishiku, who then frowned "Shit." Ishiku turned around and created a wall of stone to protect some of Alonzo's men from a missile barrage fired by an enemy ship, and then turned and blocked a blow from the claws Executioner's shotguns had transformed into.

"Dead weight can often make the difference between victory and defeat." Said Executioner.

"Yup." Said Ishiku "But not for me!"

On the ships above two battles were came to a conclusion.

1st ship

Anne was blown back by a sonic scream, did a backflip and then landed on her feet with her eyes closed. She and Ariel had taken many blows from each other already, and Aura wise, Anne was currently at a disadvantage.

"Go down already *****." Said Ariel who was panting from exhaustion.

Anne said nothing and quickly opened her eyes, which flashed with a pink light.

"Hah!" said Ariel who turned her gaze away "Won't get me agai—"

She froze as she saw a piece of broken glass behind her, which reflected Anne's eyes. Ariel was then hit by a sudden spell of dizziness and began to wobble. Seeing the opening, Anne grabbed an arrow with her toe and released the bow on one of her shin guards. She then leapt into the air, knocked and drew the arrow with her leg, and fired it at Ariel. The arrow struck Ariel square in the face, smashing the sonic enhancer on her face and depleting the last of her aura. She then flew backwards and hit the deck unconscious.

"Go captain!" yelled Anne's crew.

"We're pretty much finished here as well" said one of them as she kicked a Blackstone that had been bound and gagged. "What should we do with them?"

Anne turned to look at the defeated crew and said.

"Bring Ariel for interrogation. As for them" she eyed the bound and gagged crew "Do what you want with them and before we blow this tub out of the sky."

The girls then began laughing as they rounded on the whimpering and crying men.

5th ship

"AARRRGGGHHH" said Whirl as he was knocked backwards.

"Hmph" grunted William as he hefted his great cudgel.

"Are you all right captain?" said one of the Blackstones who came up to Whirl.

"Food." Said Whirl "Bring me FOOD!"

"Uh, now?" said the man "We're still fight—"

Whirl roared in anger and smashed the man with his spiked club, depleting the man's aura. The spiked club then began to rapidly spin. The man screamed briefly before his entire body was turned to meat paste. Whirl then dived onto the mess and began scooping the bloody meat into his mouth, he then turned to his crew and yelled.

"Bring me food and make sure no disturb while eating, or I EAT YOU!"

His crew, now completely terrified, formed ranks around the man while others ran into the ship and quickly brought back casks of preserved meat.

"Disgusting" said Henry whose face was now red with anger "Doing that to your own crew. Whirl! You are a dead man!"

Henry transformed his weapon and began firing at the men who were protecting Whirl, blowing them off the ship. Henry kept firing until he ran out of ammo after which he stared into the smoke while he reloaded.

"Ha Ha Ha" came a manic voice "I full now."

Whirl came out of the smoke, a horrifying smile on his disgusting face.

"NOW I KILL YOU!"

He charged forwards at Henry, who once again fired rockets. But Whirl merely smacked the rockets away while he laughed. You see Whirl's semblance increased his power proportional to how full he was, which means that right now he was at the peak of his strength. In seconds he was on William and swinging his meat grinder down. William barely blocked the blow with his transformed cudgel, but was sent flying back several meters.

"HaHaHa, I going to tenderize you well!" shouted Whirl.

Henry slowly got up and wiped a patch of blood on his brow. He then clapped his hands together and let out a furious yell. The area around him exploded with heat and steam, creating a cloud that was similar to his earlier rocket barrage. The steam was soon blown away by the ocean breeze, and standing there was a new man. Gone was the bulging fat stomach, pudgy cheeks, and thick limbs. In their place was a wall of powerful muscle. Henry had just triggered his semblance, which allowed him to burn up the fat in his body for extra power.

Henry, who tightened the belt on his now loose pants, turned to his crew and said:

"Return to the ship, I'm getting serious now."

The men nodded and did as their captain ordered.

"Gah, you don't look tasty anymore, I kill you!" shouted Whirl, who charged forward, swinging his club down.

Henry's right arm flashed forward and caught the club, stopping it in its tracks.

"What?!" said Whirl who tried to pull his club free. "Leggo! Leggo you pig!"

"You know Whirl, I am actually quite proud to be called a pig." Said Henry, who tightened his grip on the club, "Because, do you know what pigs are?!"

Henry swung his cudgel, striking Whirl in the side.

"Loyal!" 'Smack'

"Aiyeeh!"

"Caring!" 'Smash'

"AGHHHH!"

"Honest!" 'Crush'

"AHHHHHH"

"AND LOVING!" 'CRASH!'

With that blow, Henry sent Whirl high into the air before crashing down onto the ship, forming a crater in the deck.

"Guh, Urghhhh!" mumbled Whirl, who was dazed from the barrage he had just received.

"And you Whirl. You are none of those things!" shouted Henry, whose skin turned bright pink and began giving off heat. He then leapt high into the air; his cudgel raised above his head, and began spinning as he began to descend. Whirl, who sensed the danger, tried to get up but was still to dizzy to do so.

Henry's mallet slammed into Whirl's stomach, forcing him to throw up everything that he had eaten. The impact of the blow then shattered the deck and sent Whirl smashing right through the ship as well as through the one below it before crashing into the ocean.

"Hup hup hup!" said Henry who turned heel and ran back onto the chains leading back to a friendly ship.

"Phew!" he said jumping on board the moment the enemy ship exploded, he then looked up at his crew and said "Does anyone have anything to eat?"

Every person there pulled out a snack.

At that moment, a high pitched whistle rang out across the cove.

"Ah, the evacuation is complete. Time to head back then!" said Henry.

The other captain's heard the whistle as well and quickly finished up their fights.

2nd ship

"It seems our time here is finished" said Mao.

"You're not going anywhere" said Gaius.

"That" said Mao, who pulled out a bomb, "is where you are wrong". Mao triggered and threw the bomb at Gaius, who dove out of the way. The bomb then exploded, releasing vast amounts of flame, which ignited the poisonous gas, causing a large explosion.

"Was never trying to beat you" said Mao, who was already back on a friendly ship.

"****" cursed Gaius.

3rd ship

William and Karcinos were grasping each other's hand and attempting to push the other off balance.

"HaHa, seems we must finish this another day" said William, who proceeded to spit into Karcinos's eye.

"Agh! You ****!" shouted Karcinos.

Using the opening, William knocked Karcinos's feet out from under him and threw him at the ship's bridge.

"We're pulling out everyone, back to the ship!" yelled William.

4th ship

"Sorry Love, seems we're done here" said Edward who threw more boomerangs.

"Hah!" said Luska, blocking them with her whip "You're not getting away that easily."

Edward smiled and pointed at her whip. Luska looked and saw that the boomerang's stuck to her whip were flashing and beeping.

'Boom'

Luska fell to her knees as he covered her ears and eyes.

"Flashbangs Love, I'll be seeing you later." Said Edward who leapt back onto his ship.

6th ship

Tora and Goldhorn's blades clashed against each other, sending sparks flying. Goldhorn's skin was shining with a metallic golden sheen as the two clashed.

"Watcha gonna do?" laughed Goldhorn, as he crossed his blades "Can't hurt me!"

"I'd really like to show you how wrong you are! But I'm afraid you'll have to settle with this little parting gift!" said Tora.

Tora kicked Goldhorn away, and then took a stance with his blade which began glowing white.

Goldhorn charged forwards, the golden sheen extending to cover his cutlasses. With a lightning fast thrust, Tora swung his blade at Goldhorn.

"HaH!" said Goldhorn who caught the sword with crossed blades. "**** yo—"

Before he could finish, he felt his cutlasses vibrate. Vibrations traveled up through his blades as though they were being struck over and over again. Goldhorn was forced backwards as his swords were repeatedly struck with blows.

Watching this, Tora smiled, sheathed his sword, and jogged back to his ship. You see Tora's semblance allowed him to apply multiple blows with a single stroke, which turned his one sword swing into a maelstrom of hundreds of blows.

"Gah, Tora get back here!" shouted Goldhorn as he was forced against the door leading back down into the ship. "Get back here!"

His instincts told him that things would be even worse if he just dropped his cutlasses, so he was forced to hold on to them as he watched Tora walk away.

Tora turned, smiled at Goldhorn, and then gave him a rude hand gesture before hopping back on the chain leading to his ship.

The three Beast ships pulled away from their foes and quickly flew down to the beach, where the crewmembers quickly ran off the ships and towards the cave with the subs.

"Oh thank god" said Alonzo, as he monitored his troops' dwindling ammos supply "We couldn't have kept those drones back much longer, the eagles are getting tired too."

"Looks like we win." Said Ishiku.

"Seems…so" said Executioner who was gripping his side.

"Well, guess I better head to the subs also," said Ishiku "But first."

He placed his fingers in his mouth and whistled.

"Ready!" came voices from the wreckages of some of the ships.

Although the ships were no longer flight worthy, a few of them still had working weapons systems. Systems that some of the Diamond Donkeys had put back online.

"Uoryaahhhh!" yelled Ishiku, who made a lifting and then spinning motion. This caused the ground beneath the ship wreckages to rise up and rotate, so that the main cannons faced the enemy ships in the air. "Fire!"

The cannons shot forward and slammed into the sides of the ships, knocking them into each other. The ships whose shields had already been battered were crushed and exploded, while those still in the air were struggling to right themselves.

"Smell you later" said Ishiku, who then dove into the earth, where he began to swim underground towards the evacuation caves.

Within a few minutes everyone had made it into the caves and crammed into one of the subs.

"You made it!" shouted Lan as Tora crawled into a sub.

"You knew I would!" said Tora, who gave Lan a thumbs up.

"Hurry up!" shouted Alonzo, who leapt into a sub "The drones are coming."

With a hiss, the hatches of all the subs closed and the submarines dove into the sea.

"Boss, the sensors have detected underwater vehicles." Said a man who ran up to Goldhorn as he blocked the last blow

"Then hurry and drop the damn depth charges!" shouted Goldhorn.

The ships flew over the portion of sea where the submarines were and dropped the charges.

"Yeah, you wish," said Ishiku who was sitting in a sub, he then lifted his arms, and pulled up rocks from the bottom of the sea to circle and protect each submarine from the charges. Before long, the subs had dove deep enough that they had completely disappeared from the Blackstones' sensors, and headed out to sea.

Whew, two chapters in one day, well a 10 hour plane ride will do that to a person.

Once again, suggestions and comments appreciated. Also spread the word if you can.