2. Pirate lords
From the moment of his creation he was one with water; it moulded his flesh and very soul, it was his blood and all he knew. As most of his brothers were tossed through the warp, fearing for their very souls, he slept peacefully as the tides of the immatrium rocked him. Some of his brothers were forged in fire or in the darkness or the mist but he was forged in infinite cold deep of sea, both physical and ephemeral, it stained and cleansed his heart in equal measure. So from the deep he was born so to the deep he will return.
The world of Krake was brutal and savage, the surface was over 90% water and the lands were scattered islands where a man could eke out a simple life, so many people made their lives out on the sea; as a merchant trading, a mercenary sailor protecting the merchants, a dredger reclaiming whatever the sea has taken, a platform worker extracting whatever resources were under the sea or as a pirate terrorising all of the above. The power of pirates varied from a couple of dozen men on a small escort ship to massive fleets of thousands of sailors manning battleships and cruisers capable of rendering an island a lifeless slab of glass. The most feared of all pirates were the pirate lords of Krake, men who had at times hundreds of ships and multiple fleets under their command and were capable of assaulting even the most heavily defended islands.
He sat atop the observation deck just above the bridge, feeling the salty wind of the sea blow through his long black hair, his golden eyes looked at the unending expanse of water seeing nothing but unwavering sun beating down on undisturbed sea. His skin was a dark brown colour, like everyone on this world, his chin was covered in stubble and a few jagged scars. He took the salty air in to his lungs, puffing out his chest, and expelled it just as another man ran up behind him.
"Report!"
"The destroyer Fury has spotted the convoy, heading east at about 30 knots sir" the man stood stock still, clearly scared of his superior
"Tell the Fury to meet up with the Wrath and the Flame; head north, come back around and push the convoy south towards us" He stood up, tall and quite slim, an excited smile spread across his face, "even pirates have to work for a living, tell all the men to get battle ready"
The massive battleship cut through the waves surrounded by a dozen or so small escorts, followed by 5 slightly smaller cruisers and another battleship bringing up the rear of the line, this was the fleet under the personal command of Atris Nelson, one of the most feared pirate lords on the world of Krake. Atris had a reputation of being brutal and effective, leaving his enemies as drifting hulks or sunken wrecks, his crew were known to fear him just as much as anyone who stood in his path adding to his infamy.
Atris strolled in to the command deck as multiple men looking over maps or manning communication equipment stood stock still at attention, they all wore black short sleeve shirts with different ranks displayed over their left breast pocket, he had to keep organisation somehow. A young man, probably in his mid teens ran up to him, one of the low ranked runners that delivered messages all over the ship.
"We're closing in on the convoy fast my lord, there are no signs they have noticed us yet" he avoided looking the pirate lord in the eye as he waited to be dismissed
"Good" he gave the boy a tap on the shoulder to send him off and took his seat in the centre of the deck, "Kismet"
A thin man in his 30s came up behind the chair, he wore a black tunic with golden edging and clasped on his left shoulder with gold buttons styled like some terrifying creature of the deep, Atris and the other senior officers wore the same thing. He was Captain Navis Kismet, Atris' first mate and second in command and the only man under his command who could say what he liked to the pirate lord.
"The convoy is heading right for us, the escorts are doing their job" Navis looked out in to the horizon as if searching for their prey, "the Fury first spotted it, you should reward Captain Kaledy, he's served well for a long time"
"Yes, I'll think of something, who's protecting the convoy?" Atris asked
"According to reports from Kaledy a ship matching the description of the Last Bastion was spotted so it should be Amason"
"I hate that bastard, he sunk the Warspite and her escorts, I liked that ship" An excited grin graced the pirates face, "I'll finally get to avenge it, I want Amason dead and I want his ship, tell Kaledy and the other destroyers that"
"I think that'll be a fine prize" Navis went to inform the communication officer of the new orders
Atris sat back in his chair as he looked along the ships deck at the men running around preparing for battle; dragging more ammunition on deck, doing last checks on the titanic 16" naval cannons, arming boarding parties and whatever else needed to be done.
"Sir, contact!" the man on the radar system caught his attention, "From the south, traveling 40 knots and speed seem to be increasing"
"Who is it?" He knew it was probably a rival pirate but depending on who it was would determine if he could just tell them to back off or if he would have to fight, "Hail the ships and tell them that convoy is our prey"
The communications officer repeated his message a few times before a reply came back, "is that Atris I hear?" A woman's voice came as a reply, "Have you replaced those ships yet?"
Atris motioned for the handset and spoke in to it, "Asla, so nice to hear from you" he chuckled after hearing the woman's voice, "Are you here for that dredger ship we spotted, you're a couple miles off course if you want directions, or are you finally here to join my crew"
"I'll join you on that floating scrap heap you call a ship when these seas dry up"
"Always the sharp tongue, that's what I always liked about you"
"Knowing you Atris I would have thought it was my superior ships and crew…. Or my tits"
"Your ass is much better but back to the matter at hand, that convoy is our prey back off"
"Can't do that, I wanna buy some new cannons and those aren't cheap"
"I'm sure you can find plenty of cannons at the bottom of the ocean, I'll point you in the right direction"
Kismet came up and whispered in to Atris' ear, "We can't afford to fight her here, it'll scare off the convoy"
The pirate turned to him, "I know, this will be so much easier if she wasn't so stubborn"
"Still there Atris? Or has your hunk o' junk sunk already?"
"Tell you what Asla, how about we tag team it, cut it even 50/50" Atris offered, "But I want that battleship don't sink it"
"Fine but I'll only give you the battleship if you beat me to it" communications cut off
Atris turned to one of the runners, "Get me my weapons and get as many boarding parties ready as you can"
Commodore Alst Amason was an aging man, closing in on his 50s, his greying beard and scarred face showing experience, his once muscular body was slowly being replaced with fat as he spends more time sitting around than killing pirates although he could still do the latter well enough. He sat on the deck of his battleship, the Last Bastion, as he watched the men moving around the cannons, six 16" cannons running the length of his ship that have ripped through the hulls of hundreds of his foes, it was one of the most powerful ships on the planet. Amason has been part of mercenary fleets since his late teens and in his long almost 30-year career he has boarded pirate ship and commanded ships as small as escorts all the way up to his current pride and joy.
"Have we lost those damn pirates yet?" the old sailor was irritated at the fact he had to divert his ships instead of engaging in order to protect the convoy that trailed just behind his ship
"They hit our radar sir we can't see them but the lookouts haven't spotted them" the radar officer reported, "the Scarred Hide's radar is still functional, it isn't picking anything up but it isn't as powerful"
"Well that is good" Amason turned to his navigation officer, "How long until we reach our destination again?"
"Another 3 days sir" he sighed at that answer
"I just want to get this job done with, I heard Atris the Wolhark and Asla the Seeran were spotted in the area we're heading to a few days ago"
"While they are worthy prey and we might be able to eke out a win against Asla, we'll need more ships to face Atris" Alst's oldest friend and first mate, Captain Jast Elay, walked over to his side
Elay was only slightly younger than Amason, his body still in good shape and no wrinkle cut into his clean-shaven face or grey hair grew on his short black hair, the tragedy of age hadn't fully reared its head yet. The two joked around as they have done over the decades they had known each other
"Sir the Scarred Hide reports contact!" the communications officer relayed the message as he heard it, his face going pale as he heard the last part
"What is it?" Amason demanded, practically shouting at the frozen officer, "Where are they? Who are they?"
"Two fleets heading straight for us from the south and from the south east, multiple signatures and at least three battleships sir"
"Tell all ships to increase speed maybe we can out run them"
"How fast?"
"As fast as they can go!"
A lookout practically jumped down from the observation deck and ran in to the bridge, "Sir the pirates are back, bearing down on us from the north and fast"
Amason bite his thumb as the thought for a second, "Ignore them, if we stop to engage the other fleets will block off any escape route, stay east, don't let us get cut off"
"Yes sir!" the bridge came alive as men ran about relaying messages and preparing for battle
Amason soon saw three small escort ship form a line and pull up parallel to his own formation. The commodore had arranged his ship as a shell around the vulnerable trade vessels he was protecting, with his battleship at the head, his 5 cruisers surrounding the line of freighters and his handful of escorts providing a screen to spot danger, although they seemed to be slacking off. He watched as the three pirate destroyers focused their fire on one of his and sunk it in a few minutes.
"Tell the Baneblade, the Heart and the Tide to pull off and engage the pirate escorts" Amason ordered a cruiser and two frigates to deal with the harassers
"Contact sir!" he was informed of more enemies
"Which is it?"
"From the south, according to lookouts ships matching the description of the Soul Reever and the Heart Ripper have been spotted"
"Atris" Elay bit his nail as he realised the situation they were in, "Those escorts are probably his as well"
"To the east!" the communications officer delivered more bad news
"More of Atris"
"No it's the Seeran's Scream, Asla sir"
"They've teamed up" Amason fell back in to his chair in shock, they were doomed, surrounded with two powerful pirate lords bearing down on them
The old sailor took a deep breath as he sat back up in his chair, "Give me the handset and relay this message to all ships in the fleet"
"Men! We're about to fight a battle we can't win but that doesn't mean we shouldn't fight it" He spoke to every man under his command, "if these pirate scum want to get at our pay day they're gonna have to go through us and I am not easy to get through, how about you?"
He heard the men on his ship roar in approval, "This money is ours and the only thing I'm gonna give those bastards is a ton of shells and a whole lotta salt water, WHO THE HELL IS WITH ME?"
He heard the men across all his ships roar, "TAKE UP ARMS MEN! We're gonna die kicking and screaming"
Atris pulled his fleet up to the convoys starboard side and started sailing parallel, seeing his escorts already sinking the smaller ships, the pirate lord walked out on to the walkway just in front of the bridge, looking down at the men and cannons ready for battle, "MEN!" He screamed, his powerful voice carrying across the deck, "Let's get paid!"
His crew roared and howled, "All ships fire on the closest cruiser, I want the battleship intact"
All his ships shot off their cannons in a beautiful symphony of destruction, he looked through binoculars as several shells landed in the water around the ships and then one or two of them hit the midship, one of them causing a small fire.
"Kismet you have command" Atris put the binoculars away and rushed down to the deck where a couple dozen men waited with small fast boats, ready to launch
The small boats zig zagged through the water as they approached the Last Bastion, the water around them came alive as machine guns mounted to the side of the ship fired on them, a few men being hit and falling out of their boats, but most of the boats reach the battleship relatively unscathed. The pirates fired lines up to the deck and started to climb as others fired up the side, providing suppressing fire. Atris jumped on to the deck and pulled out his favourite weapon, Wolhark's maw, the large chainsword whirred to life as the pirate cut through the mercenaries, he was soon forced to pull out his second favourite weapon, Call of the deep, an ancient bolter pistol that could rip through two men in one shot. As Atris sawed men in half and blew others heads from their shoulders he heard people screaming high pitched war cries, he looked to the bow of the ship and saw Asla and her raiders boarding the ship as well. The feared pirate lady carried two plasma pistols, the Seeran's screech and the Seeran's song, burning a hole in any man that got too close to her, the two groups of pirates fought their way to each other and started pushing the mercenaries off the deck.
"Asla good to see you" Atris walked over to her, dripping blood as he went
"Why do you use that barbaric thing?" Asla was short, almost a foot shorter than Altris but no less fearsome, she was a beautiful woman with the dark skin, black hair and golden eyes of everyone from Krake although she did have a scar running along her jaw on the right side of her face
Atris held up his gore covered chainsword and laughed, "It's loud and distinctive, all the men I kill know just who sent them to the deep"
The two stood on the deck and talked as fire filled the air, their men kneeling behind sandbags that had been set up as cover, "I can see why you wanted this ship" Asla batted her eyes at the taller pirate, undoing her top button, "I could really do with a ship as strong and powerful as this"
"That's not gonna work on me, for the cargo maybe but not for the ship"
"Can I have the cargo?"
"No" Atris burst out laughing, "come on we have mercs to kill"
The battle lasted hours but ended with all the mercenary ships sunk and the Last Bastion under the control of Atris and Asla. The pirate lord walked the deck as he watched men throw dead bodies over board or sometimes live bodies that wouldn't cooperate, he had other men commandeering the trade ships they had come here for.
"Half of that is mine" Asla walked up behind him, watching their ships sail past each other as they protected their prize
"So you still won't join me?" Atris asked
"No I won't but you can join me"
Atris chuckled, "Come on, the two of us together would be an unstoppable force, even Evis the breaker wouldn't be able to stop us"
"That the speech you give all the girls" Asla gave him a pat on the shoulder, "I'm fine working my way up on my own although if you're that desperate we can celebrate our impromptu partnership in your quarters tonight"
"This isn't just about your ass it's also about your ships"
"Just what every girl wants to hear"
"Whatever just don't expect me to be this nice in the future" Atris walked past her towards several men who were dragging Amason and his officers on to the deck
"Let go of me" the old man looked beaten and dishevelled, "Just kill me already so I don't have to watch you defile my ship"
"Commodore Amason, I have wanted to meet you for some time" Atris smiled down at the defeated commander as he was shoved to his knees
"Atris the Wolhark" Amason spat at his feet, "Didn't expect you to look exactly like one"
"I heard you were funny" Atris whipped out his bolter and shot one of the officers kneeling behind Amason, "It was quite funny when you sunk the Warspite"
"That was your ship, easiest fight ever, really need to get yourself better crew"
"Well considering the situation, seems my crew is better than yours" he shot another officer
The two exchanged a few quips until Amason was the last one kneeling, "I can't wait for the day that someone finally cuts off that ugly head of yours, I'll show you around the deep"
"And I'll find a way to kill you again" Atris pressed the barrel to his head and pulled the trigger, reducing it to a pink mist of brain matter and skull fragments, he watched as men dragged the bodies across the deck and threw them overboard
"Lord Nelson" a young man wearing the black and gold tunic of his officers walked up to the pirate lord, he slightly taller than the pirate and clearly quite muscular
"Captain Kaledy" Atris greeted the man, "You did quite well pushing the convoy towards us"
"Thank you, sir, but I think you'll be a lot happier with me" Kaledy smiled at the praise
"What is it?"
"My men managed to capture the cruiser Baneblade in relatively good condition, it's still seaworthy at least"
"Well done" he laughed as he pat the captain on his back, "You'll be rewarded for this, I'm taking this ship as my flag, I'm giving command of the Soul Reever to Malson and you'll be given his old ship, the Albion"
"T-thank you sir" Kaledy gave the pirate lord a curt nod and went off to celebrate
"So what are you gonna do with the Baneblade?" Asla approached him
"Given the way he described it the ship is probably half sunk" Atris smirked, "but I could be convinced to part with it if we…. Say split the loot 55/45"
"You know women are attracted to generosity"
"And who says I'm trying to attract you?"
"Please when aren't you"
"All the time" Atris turned away from Asla and walked back down the deck, "Think on my offer, I'll be more open to negotiation after a drink"
The pirates anchored their ships in the middle of the ocean, it's still surface acting as a mirror and reflecting the light of Krake's two moons, wooden planks acting as bridges from one ship to another as the men of both pirate lords drank and sang songs together. Atris looked down from the bridge of the Last Bastion, the deck illuminated by multiple small fires with men gathered around them, the bridge was vacant except for Asla who sat in the captain's chair.
"A fleet that no one can withstand" he whispered looking out at the armada that surrounded him
"You've been unusually insistent that I join you" Asla walked up to stand next to him, "what is going on?"
Atris looked down at her before looking back out clear walls of the bridge, "I cannot conquer this world, not in my life time, it'll be my son or grandson who rules this world but unfortunately I need to put up with a woman for extended periods of time and you're the only one who doesn't bore me after a couple of days"
"Wow such a romantic but that does sound nice, to be remembered forever, to build something that will no fail"
"An unsinkable legacy, so will you join me?"
"Maybe but I'll have to be your equal, I'm no one's subordinate"
"Even the islands of Krake will sink under the power our armada"
"With such powers of persuasion, you should've been a trader"
The two grabbed each other's wrist, to seal the agreement, and as they did a ball of fire streaked across the sky and smashed in to one of the anchored freighters, reducing it to a flaming ball of twisted metal that slowly sank beneath the waves.
"That was your half" Atris quipped as he rushed down to the deck to survey the damage up close
"What's yours is mine, I'm not joining you until you swear to all the gods" Asla quickly followed him
The two got to the edge of the ship just in time to catch a glimpse of what sunk the ship, Asla turned to one of the many gathered men, "Take the Fury and the Wrath find a dredger ship and bring it back here as fast as you can"
The man looked to Atris who was still looking at the sinking ship, "Do what she says" he snapped and the man ran off
Men on other ships ran about as they manned their battle stations and prepared for another attack but nothing came, they waited hours but nothing else happened. The escorts came back just before sun rise with a dredger ship and its crew, by the time they were ready to start pulling things back from the depths the sun was already climbing in the sky.
"What the hell was that thing?" Asla wondered as the two pirate lords stood on the deck of the dredger ship, watching the massive crane lower its hooks in to the water
"I don't know, wasn't a weapon, I think it came from the sky"
"A strike from Zotris?"
The people of Krake believed in multiple gods but they mainly worshipped two warring gods; Zotris the god of the skies who struck at the seas to whip them up and sink ships and Ortris the god of the seas who retaliated with high waves that would consume whole islands. Zotis was mainly worshipped by islanders while Ortris was mainly worshipped by pirates and other sailors.
The pirate lords watched them pull up the lost cargo for hours until they were approached by the dredger captain, "Our divers found something down there that isn't cargo"
"The thing that fell" Atris realised, "Bring it up right now, I want it"
They didn't have to wait to long for it to be dredged up, the two stood by the crane with baited breath as it slowly brought the heavenly object to the surface, the surface tension of the water was soon broken and the mysterious object was pulled on to the deck. Atris and Asla rushed over to it, it looked like the pod of a fruit, metal with a glass lid and the symbol "XI" etched on it.
"Give me something to open it with" The pirate lord was handed a piece of metal to leverage the lid open with
Atris used all his might and the lid popped off with a rush of water, he moved closer to inspect what was inside and found was a sleeping child, a baby with dark skin and dark hair sleeping like he wasn't just thrown out of the sky. Asla picked the baby up, careful not to rouse him.
"A baby?" she looked at Atris confused by the turn of events
"A god" the whisper came from one of the handful of officers that joined them on the dredger boat
"Ovis" another whispered
Ovis was the patron god of all pirates, said to be the son of Ortris and Zotris' wife, Nadala, when the sky god found out he threw the young god from the heavens and in to the ocean where he is said to guide pirates to vulnerable ships to raid and embolden the hearts of the raiders, all in exchange for a small portion of the bounty.
"That is a good name" Atris took the baby from Asla and held him up, "I'll name him Ovis, Ovis Nelson, my son"
"Our son"