A/N: Now we get to meet the captain…
A man sat in the throne room-like captain's quarters of the Bahamut-class battle cruiser "Crimson Angel". As he looked around, he found himself looking into mist-shrouded skies through the windows outside his cabin. The captain wore a full-faced demonic mask with a hole carved in the mouth to allow him to speak. His eyes were the color of rubies that once held a fire in them…a fire he had lost more than thirty years ago when he had broken his oath to return to his beloved alive, and his hair was like straightened curtains of black silk. But now, after seven years of waiting, he had finally found another opportunity to renew his oath of eternal love—not simply to free himself of this curse, but to find someone whom he loves, and whom would love him back.
"Captain," said the holographic avatar, "we've spotted a merchant vessel. Shall we plunder it?"
"We may as well Shelke," said the captain, standing up, "we don't have much else to do but to engage in piracy. I am well aware that the war had ended almost thirty years ago, but that doesn't mean that the curse is over yet…I still need to lift it, or else none of us may get rest…it's my responsibility after all, to free us all…"
"You were never like this when I first met you," said Shelke, looking at her captain, desperation in her eyes, "the day your father gave me to you, I've noticed that you had this spark in your eyes—one that never died. I may just be a mind implanted into a machine, but I still have feelings, and I still have eyes to observe you. It was never your fault—if you want to point fingers at anyone, then point them at me. I thought it was safe on that mission…I never counted on a bomb being in my core unit…"
The captain got up from behind his desk, his red officer's coat added some contrast to all the form-fitting light black armor he was wearing while he went to a wall east of his current position. A sigh had accompanied his voice of despair as he walked. "That does not change the fact that I made a promise to return to Lucrecia alive—I heard from the afterlife that she had cursed me for leaving her; she put this curse on me because I allowed her family to go on with the arranged marriage to Hojo, thus stopping me from taking her away from a life of abuse. In any case, don't dawdle, we must arm up the crew and accelerate the speed. We're intercepting that merchant, so get us on broadside with them…it's about time I paid my crew."
The captain pressed a button revealing a rack of weapons, all of them ornate and beautiful like the "Crimson Angel", and equally deadly in a boarding assault. At the upper end of the rack were four firearms of different classes: one was a Galian Beast .500-calibre single-action revolver, a sawn-off Death Gigas pump action shotgun chambered for 12-gauge shotgun shells, a Hellmasker lever-action carbine, and a Chaos sniper rifle. At the bottom of the rack was a gigantic robotic gauntlet with long and thin clawed digits for his left hand, as well as a Wutainese katana.
The captain tied the katana to his left side with the edge of the blade pointing upwards before slipping on the robotic gauntlet onto his left forearm and over the sleeve, testing that the connections in the gauntlet by flexing the fingers—they moved with the agility and dexterity of a real hand. With his right hand, he selected the revolver, and checked its cylinder—it was fully loaded for six shots…as he holstered the pistol, he reminded himself that he'll have to be careful in case it turns out that he'll be needing to shoot his way out. The crew knows that they are not allowed to kill any member of the target ship without his permission…there are dire consequences to those that violate this rule on his ship, and so the best case scenario is that they take the cash, they leave, no harm done…and then the reputation of the "Crimson Angel" will spread like wildfire. After arming himself, the captain found himself walking towards the starboard side of his ship—after dragging in the airship with grappling hooks, they eventually found the doorway that would open for the docks.
The captain watched as his men prepared to breach the door with shaped charges while everyone else stacked up and waited a good distance away before going through the breach. As he stood by door from the other end, the captain remained emotionless as he gave the orders to detonate. With that, all members of the boarding party had poured in through the entrance, and started making noise. Gunshots were heard and the sound of men howling and roaring for the attack could be heard everywhere. The men had their fun, and he was going to make it to the captain's quarters…a typical merchant vessel such as this would have not only the captain onboard, but also the employer as well. He started sneaking his way around the ship, hiding in dark corners while men ran to and fro in order dispatch of the distraction his men had caused. This was way too easy…as he stole his way through the dark areas of the ship he found a closed set of reinforced doors…there was his target! He came out of the shadows, and looked around—he found an airshaft. The captain melded back into the shadows, and waited…he then watched as the doors opened—and three men ran out…the captain's breaching crew must be forcing them to call in reinforcements. With that, he remembered where he had to go before the door closed…a trick that he had picked up during his years under the curse.
From his area in the shadows, the captain saw why it was too easy; they had concentrated the rest of their forces here in the captain's quarters. His chain-smoking opponent wielded a spear—decent reach and even deadlier in the hands of a master, which he was. There were twelve guards including the captain, and one unarmed man—a Wutainese man with a beard and mustache, wearing high-priced clothing. That was the employer all right. "What the fuck makes you think he'll come here?" asked the spearman, "It's standard Wutainese Special Operations tactics," said the Wutainese calmly, "whoever it is that's attacking us is only using his crew to divert our attention. I'm very sure that he will try to approach this room using a very subtle method, and so we'll have to assume that he's in this very room."
The Wutainese man glared in his direction. He had been found out…a shiver that had not run down his spine in a very long time had started to chill him greatly. "Very good," said the captain, appearing such that he was back-to-back with his target, "if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were a part of the Wutainese Special Operations unit yourself. Perhaps I can have a word with you, ninja to ninja?"
"Judging by your skill, I'd say you're a master-level ninja at the very least…perhaps you are a rogue ninja?"
With that, the captain kicked off and began his attack: he brought out his revolver, and started shooting three rounds as the spearman charged in and attempted to impale his opponent in one thrust after slicing all three bullets in midair. The captain dodged the attack, and brought his claw down in an attempt to slice the spearman only to succeed in slicing up his spear in five places and landing a pistol whip to the back of his opponent's head. His next move was to leap into the air, and landing a sweep kick that tripped up the six sailors around him upon landing, stabbing them all in the thigh muscles to stop them from fighting back. He then moved quickly to avoid the spray of automatic rifles aimed at him by hiding behind a table he had kicked up, and taking advantage of the cover to wait until they ran out of ammunition. Upon hearing that telltale click of rifles running out of bullets, the captain leapt out from behind the table, and started slicing up their rifles before they could reload, and then turning his attention to his goal: he had just barely and gently touched him with the blades of his claw, and just as he was about to draw that katana from his left side.
The captain shook his head. His target knew better than to draw when he had a master on him this quickly—especially when his head was in between his opponent's index and ring fingers while his thumb was over his rib cage and his remaining fingers were over his left shoulder; one wrong move will guarantee a very deep cut that could sever his subclavian arteries and target his heart in one go. "I really wouldn't mess around with a weapon such as this…the power claw just happens to be one of the weapons I have mastered first. You as a ninja should be very familiar with its use…how the blades at the tip of the claw vibrate as they rip through armor and flesh alike, and still be as agile as an organic hand. Do you yield?"
"I beg of you not to kill me," he said, "I have a daughter at home. She isn't married yet. I'd like to see her married before that happens. She's all I have left of my wife." The look in the captain's eyes had softened before he drew his revolver, and cocked the hammer upon hearing the spearman grunting as he started getting back up—he had to respect the man's stamina. "A daughter?" he asked, his hands leaving neither his opponent nor his target. The captain gazed at the merchant's eyes…there was no greed in them—just the look of a father who really did love his daughter.
With a sigh, the captain released his hold on the merchant, and gently released the hammer of his revolver. "Perhaps I can make a compromise then. I will let you all live, and even pay you for it." The spearman and the merchant both looked at each other with confusion before looking towards the man that had masterminded the attack on their ship.
"There is one stipulation however: I wish to wed your daughter…the money I am giving you will pay for everything."
"Hold the fuck on…" shouted the spearman, before he was interrupted by the sound of the revolver cocking, his voice was steady knowing that he had to choose his words carefully, but it still betrayed the anger in his voice, "I didn't mean it like that…it's just that you're buying yourself a wife? Where in the world the do you get such an idea like that?"
"Who said I'm buying her? I don't need to buy, not when I can just steal it away. No, I'm not buying nor am I stealing anything…I just want to get to know her…I want to see her laugh…see her cry…I want to see everything about her, the good and the bad. So you see gentlemen, this money is not for bride, but for the bride price…after all, is it not customary in traditional Wutainese manners for the man who declared his intention to marry to pay a bride price? I am not asking much…just a week or two to get to know her will be fine."
The merchant looked on at the captain as if inspecting him. "What if you don't like her? Are you going to kill me then?" The captain turned to face the merchant as he released the hammer of the gun and holstered it. "No, you can keep the money all the same—I can always plunder for more. So will you accept the terms of my agreement?" The merchant had a look on his face of careful consideration—was he willing to give his daughter up to this stranger? The captain did not blame him. They barely just met, and so he has a reason to be suspicious.
After five minutes of thinking, the merchant spoke up. "I'll do it, but under one condition."
"Name it."
"If you hurt my daughter in any way…ANY WAY…I will kill you myself. Am I understood?"
The captain stretched his right hand out, and shook hands with the merchant. The deal was sealed. Once done, the captain released his hold, and pulled out a small old-fashioned walkie-talkie from his sleeve. "Reno, call everybody off. Make it known that nobody is to harm the crew of the 'Highwind', nor are they to take anything from this ship, and call Doctor Gainsborough down here…we need her and her nurses to tend to the injured. Also, get Shera over here from the engine room—we have some repairs to make as soon as we land."
With that, the captain pocketed the walkie-talkie, and reached for his mask. Underneath the demonic visage was a man in his late twenties with eyes the color of rubies…his looks put women to shame. "I am Captain Valentine," he said, bowing before the merchant, "a pleasure to meet you."
A/N: I had to add elements from the Dark Eldar Archon miniature to describe Vincent's sky pirate form.
Vocabulary
Subclavian arteries—these are the arteries under your shoulders…do not let these get cut!!!