The training on fire handling and prevention went on longer than the instructor had originally planned as several of the team asked for further instruction and practice with the equipment. They picked up the basic skills quickly enough, and the crew member seemed happy to teach such willing students. When they had finished practicing, the chief petty officer was called, who escorted them to the rooms put aside for them. The rooms were comfortable but basic – similar in a lot of ways to a mid-range hotel room. A pair of bunks lay on one side of the room with a few straps that could be secured to hold a sleeper in place in the event of rough seas, with a large trideo display on the wall opposite. A large desk lay against the outer bulkhead with a pair of portholes giving a view of the ladders and superstructure beyond – it wasn't a good view, but it at least let light into the room. A bathroom was next to the entry door, and there was sufficient storage in cupboards and wardrobes for all of their gear.
No doubt the full time crew had a number of creature comforts to decorate or accessorise their rooms, but compared to the cramped conditions on the tilt-wing, it was fairly luxurious in terms of space, and as long as they could get used to the rolling motion of the ship promised a good night's sleep for them all. Marius paired off with Hunter, Aswon with Shimazu and Tads with Kai, settling into their rooms and having discussions in all three rooms about who got the top bunk…
The chief gave them a few minutes to get their immediate baggage stowed, then returned to give them the tour of the ship. Starting with the galley, gym and recreation rooms, they worked through the accommodation block, finding the small first-aid station, the damage-control centre, stowage lockers, the large tanks for fresh and soiled water, store-rooms and cleaning stations, all packed together in a tight honeycomb, using up every square metre of available space. From the bottom of the port staircase, they were led astern through a tight corridor that ran the length of the ship, passing through a number of watertight doors that divided it up into sections, until they reached the engineering section, where the rumble of the massive diesel engines made the entire walkway shake along with their spines. Crossing over to the starboard side, they worked forwards, passing alongside the huge cargo holds until they reached the bows of the massive ship and the smaller thruster rooms that helped ease the ship into dock.
Each area was identified to them, with some being out of bounds – though they noticed there was very little physical or electronic security that would stop them directly. It appeared that generally speaking they were being trusted to stick to the rules. They weren't sure if they were being shown the restricted areas as a courtesy and point of interest, or if there was a motive to ensure they at least knew what areas were vital to the ship in case they had to help defend it, but they were interested enough as a party to find something of interest throughout the tour.
Once the below-decks tour was complete, the chief bought them up the port staircase again, and to the door leading out onto deck. There, much like the fire-fighting course, they were given the safety primer for moving around the ship and working in the cargo area. The different types of lockdown bolts and chains were identified, the main risks they'd face were explored and details on what weather conditions there were permitted on deck for were discussed. Along the way the chief told them a number of stories, some of which had the edge of personal experience indicating just how easy it was to hurt yourself whilst on board a ship carrying eleven thousand containers each potentially weighing twenty thousand kilos, all stacked together in columns ten high on a ship that could heel or list over twenty degrees while it ploughed through the rough Atlantic seas.
Fortunately, the team were no stranger to horrific injuries – having suffered a few and dealt out many themselves, and had a healthy appreciation for risk avoidance where possible. The chief was gratified to find them listening carefully, taking notes and asking sensible questions and agreeing to limit their time on deck to only that necessary.
As they moved around, Aswon and Hunter in particular were paying careful attention to the layout of the ship, with Aswon pointing out some of the key choke-points and defensible positions on the ship. Working on the basis of a smaller boat launching an attack via ladder or grapple gun, he and Hunter found themselves trailing along at the back of the group, muttering to each other as they worked out the best way to defend the ship from external attack.
When the orientation was complete, some of the team did some testing, working out the fastest and safest way to reach the tilt-wing in the event of an attack or emergency, making sure they had the route down pat – who knew if they'd have to make the same journey in the middle of the night through heavy rain and seas where it looked very different to their slightly overcast dull day they currently were experiencing.
Before the chief left though, Tads attracted his attention.
"I noticed that your bridge area didn't have any magical defences. I was wondering if you, or rather the captain, wanted to do something about that? It just so happens you see that we have some fairly expert warding skills amongst the team."
"You do? Oh. I don't know. Do we need magical defences? I mean… how does that even work?"
"Well, we inscribe runes or patterns around an area normally, building up a magical barrier to stop spells and creatures breaking through. It takes some time – and it will only last a while."
"A while?"
"Yes, depending on how successful we are, it may only last a month, maybe two. And that depends on how strong the barrier is. The stronger the barrier, the harder it is to create. If you want a barrier to last permanently, then it needs special materials, which we don't have at the moment."
"I can speak to the Captain and let him know. But I don't think it's a thing we have on any of the ships…" He looked uncertain and confused, and very uncomfortable with the idea. Tads realised with a flash of inspiration that this was probably because he WAS uncertain and confused, and not used to that feeling – at a guess his years of expertise in ship operations normally made him confident and comfortable discussing anything about the ship he was likely to be involved with, but now he was being asked to comment on an invisible 'force field' that he didn't understand and couldn't even experience. "Yeah, I think I'd best talk to the Captain."
"No problem. We won't do anything magical to the ship, unless the Captain agrees to it." She saw the little look of relief on his face, realising that this was exactly what he'd wanted to hear.
"In the meantime though – could I get an introduction to the ship's chef or cook?" Kai asked as he slid into the conversation. "I think we have some items on board the tilt-wing that they might be interested in." Kai gave Tads a subtle wink, and she gave him a tiny nod in return, wondering whether it was going to be steaks or fruit that was more in demand.
"Sure, this way…" The chief led them back down to the galley, the team splitting up and going about their business. Aswon and Hunter were still on deck, now fiddling with a datapad and comparing notes, doing a slow patrol around the ship. They noticed with some interest that at key points on the flanks of the ship there were mounting holes for some kind of weapon system – a primitive pintle-mounting system that would allow the deployment of heavy weapons that could be used to provide close-in defence against boarding parties.
When Kai met the cook, he was busy preparing the evening meal, working on preparing dinner for twenty-four – though for half of the crew it would actually be breakfast. The food was split roughly into two – presumably so the night shift crew would eat first, then go on duty, relieving the day shift who would then come off station and down to eat. He introduced himself, and got straight to the point, announcing that he had a supply of fresh food on the tilt-wing that they were going to use or trade if they hadn't found a ship – but seeing as they had, it was now not really needed, and was available for use.
Much to Kai's surprise, the cook seemed incredibly suspicious of him. At first it was a flat-out dismissal, saying that they'd restocked in New York, and had plenty of fresh supplies on board. Kai turned on the charm a little, feeling like he was being challenged, but the man seemed remarkably resistant to his silver tongue, and the more Kai offered, the more recalcitrant the cook became. It seemed that the man just found it impossible to believe that he was getting something for nothing, and the more Kai offered him and tried to ingratiate himself into his good graces, the more the man closed up and became harder to deal with.
Kai stopped – sensing that this wasn't going his way, and feeling that the man was rapidly approaching a point where it would turn from a civil if suspicious discussion into something more harmful. Partly out of confusion, and partly because he didn't want to spend the next week eating food that tasted of spit, he instead thanked the cook for his time, apologised for any delay he might have caused for that night's food preparation and backed away, heading back to his cabin to ponder on just how that conversation had gone – and why. When he was back in the cabin he saw Tads working on her spell notes.
"Doing some designs?"
"No, just checking over what I've already done. Can't really do anything new out here."
"Why not?"
"It's just not right. Elk is a land creature, not a sea creature. It's just…not right. Can't concentrate properly."
"Oh – ok, I think I understand that. Does that mean you can't do spells and spirits and things either?"
"Those I can do – well, mostly. The spells work just the same, but the spirits I can only summon things from the domains we're in. So sky spirits and water spirits. No land spirits."
"Ok, that's fair enough. Right, can you whistle up some of your spirits to do a check on the ship then please? Check it over for castaways, people being smuggled, magical treasure or artifacts or that kind of thing?"
"I did say that I'd get the Captain's approval before doing any magical things."
"It's just looking though, right. Not doing anything. All we want to do is know if there's any risk to us or the ship. I mean, it's hardly any magic at all, when you think about it. You've already summoned the spirits right, at dawn this morning? And they've not got long to do 'til dusk? So it's a waste not to use them…."
Tads sighed, then summoned the spirits to her, against her better judgement. It was true enough that without anyone on the ship's crew that was magically active they wouldn't be able to see her spirits at all, but it still felt a bit wrong. Still, she gave them detailed instructions, being very clear that they were to return to her and report in before dusk, and that they were to stay out of sight and definitely not interfere with any magical barriers, wards or alarms in any way.
A short time later, Aswon and Hunter sought out the chief, asking if he could spare a few minutes.
"Sure, what's up? I'm not due another deck walk for thirty minutes, so I can give you that much."
"Thank you. Hunter and I have been making some notes as we were on our tour, as you noticed. I happen to have worked as a mercenary for a few years, and Hunter has experience out in the field, too. We were just wondering if Maersk has a fast response force or defence plan for the ship? Or if in the event of trouble, you're on your own to keep things safe."
"We don't have a response force generally – we spend so much time crossing the oceans that we're probably out of land range for the vast majority of the time. There is a manual for the ship, though. Give me a moment…" The chief pulled up the defence plan on his workstation, while Aswon keyed alive his tablet too, so they could compare. Over the next few minutes they worked through the defence plan, and found that the two documents were remarkably similar, with about ten percent of the contents differing between the two. The chief seemed pretty impressed with their efforts, giving them a look that seemed to re-evaluate their experience and status, but didn't say anything further.
"Well, ok then. It looks like your guys did a good job – hardly surprising when it's your own boats, I guess. But in the event of an issue like piracy, we'll head to our craft to recover weapons, and can slot in with your defence teams. We've got a 12.5 mil machine gun that we should be able to mount on those pintle addons, and we've also got a man-portable assault cannon that should deter any small craft. For precision work we've got a range of sniper rifles that should be able to serve us well, and of course our Shaman. If she can see it, she can affect it…"
"I will speak to the Captain and bring him up to speed. Hopefully it will be a nice, quiet crossing through. Generally speaking we're not bothered much, even by the pirates and wildlife. Eugen is just too big to make a good target – they generally go after the mid-size merchantmen and travellers. Just easier to handle with a smaller crew. And with that much cargo," he waved at the stacked containers out of the window "it's like looking for a needle in a haystack sometime. Sure, they want the container of cyber-decks coming from Japan, but unless they've got an exact manifest, they could end up with squeaky dog toys from Huang or a container of raw rubber from Manilla." He shrugged and grinned a little. "Even if they do know where the container is, if it's not in the top layers, it's such a bastard to get to that they might as well give it up. Can you imagine trying to lift out five of those to get at a shipping container down in the middle of the hold?"
It was easy to see his point – the specialist dock cranes at the major ports were optimised to lift and move the containers, their custom designed grabbers locking into place on the corners of the standardised size and shape boxes and lifting them up with massively powerful winches to bring them over to shore at dizzying speeds. Trying to lift them using either a mobile crane or even hand labour… the mind boggled. Even a crew of trolls with lifting tackle would take some time to try and lift a container, and it would chew up time when they had to be worried about a potential mayday signal from the ship.
Thanking the chief for his time, they headed back to their rooms, checking in on the others and then settling down for the long sea journey ahead. The Eugen Maersk pushed through the waters easily enough, maintaining a steady speed and course through the mild swells. While the Atlantic could be treacherous and had a reputation for nasty winter storms, especially at the northern lattitudes, the mild weather they had now was inconsequential to a ship of this size which didn't so much slice through the water like a speedboat but told it to move out of the way or it was going to get a slap.
The team settled in to life on the ship, slotting in smoothly with the crew at meal times, sharing time in the small gym and doing careful laps of the deck when the weather wasn't too bad, chipping in where they could with minor maintenance to help the crew and stay on their good side. The weather was grey and a little unpleasant, with constant drizzle and rain but fortunately only mild winds, making the already bleak view truly monotonous, and the days started to blend into one another.
On their third day they had a short break from the drudgery when one of the crew found them and advised them to head to the stern of the ship as there was something they might find interesting there. Making their way back towards the stern they were directed down a flight of stairs, descending to the level just below the deck. Working around the huge winches and mooring lines that were used in port to secure the ship to the dock, they could peer out of the enormous oval windows that the lines fed through, down to the water ten metres below – and from which they got a grandstand view of the large pod of dolphins that were leaping through the ships wake and occasionally tail-walking across the surface like some aquarium performer.
Several of the other crew were down enjoying the show as well, and they saw a few of them had a small container of waste food that they were throwing overboard, sending a deluge of snacks down to the waiting dolphins. Those of the team that could dropped into astral, evaluating the pod, checking them out and making sure they were safe – though none of the crew seemed worried. The pod was mundane, all the creatures appearing to be just regular dolphins without any mutated or magical powers. Chatting with the crew they found out that this was not common – but not unheard of, either. The huge ships often had algae and seaweed growing on the keels, depending on how long they'd been at sea and how old they were, which in turn attracted certain types of fish. Those fish inevitably found that the younger, injured or just inexperienced members of the shoal were drawn back towards the propeller, steadily rotating at the back of the vessel, and were drawn through the slow moving but inexorable blender blades, either killing or stunning a number of them. That in turn made for easy pickings for the slick grey dolphins who feasted on the fish, putting on a show for the sailors and occasionally getting a treat thrown overboard as well.
After twenty minutes or so, most of the sailors left – either to head back to duties or to bed, depending on their shift, and most of the team left too, all apart from Tads who stayed and studied them carefully, a plan slowly forming in her mind. She was somewhat tempted to dive in – she was pretty sure she could levitate out of the water and back onto the ship easily enough, and with a couple of spirits to guard her she probably wasn't in any danger either – but if anyone saw her either 'falling' or hitting the water, they'd probably assume the worst, and she didn't want to have to explain to the captain that he'd had to stop the boat or swing it around for no good reason…
That evening though, as they sat around the table at one end of the galley, she outlined her plan to the rest of the team.
"I was thinking – we should get some practice flying in. If you're willing to give it a try?"
"Practice flying? I think Marius is pretty good, he doesn't need to practice more. Even if the landing on the ship was a bit bumpy." Hunter grinned at the German who refused to rise to the bait.
"No, not like that. Although Marius was actually going to be the first person I would suggest. I mean, using one of my spells to shape change you into a bird, an actual bird capable of natural flight. And then fly around for a bit."
"Why?" Kai asked. "I mean, it could be fun… but that doesn't strike me as the reason you're asking."
"Well, it could be fun. I mean, riding the Quoll looked like fun. Hunter certainly seemed to be grinning. Either that or he was scared for his life. But I think it could be useful on a mission or job some time, too."
"I was not scared. But that thing needed a saddle, I tell you. Every time it landed, it nearly smashed my plums, and I'm not letting Kai or Shimazu near those with a bandage, I tell you!"
"Why Marius then, and what for?" Kai persisted, ignoring the concept of fondling Hunter's testicles.
"Just imagine we're on a job then… say like we were scouting out Dekita Oil again. And we knew they had good electronic systems, lots of sensors and radars and things like that, so Marius didn't want to fly over there with his drone. But they're weak magically – just passive wards on the buildings and no active spirits or mages. Well, if I could turn Aswon into a large bird, something like a vulture or eagle, and he could fly over the target, he could map it all out from high above, without setting off the alarm. Just a big, natural-looking bird flying overhead, looking for food as far as the defenders are concerned. Nothing to concern them. And that means we get easy intelligence on a target, without them being prepared. It's possible even that you could carry over explosives or a small cargo maybe as well, but that's more complicated."
"Ahh, I see. That… has some interesting possibilities. Certainly an overhead view and recon of a target is good, and no offence to your abilities to scout astrally, I think having someone else with electronics experience or looking at the tactical layout might pick up some information that you wouldn't."
"Exactly Aswon, that's what I thought."
"You still haven't said why Marius first, though?"
"Well Kai, if I have it right – he's probably going to do better than anyone else, because he's had the closest experience to actually flying out of any of us." She looked around and could see puzzlement on most of their faces. "Look, the rigger thingy in his head. As far as I understand it, he's not just using control to move the plane about and fly through the air – though that's useful, too. But the thing in his head makes it feel like the tilt-wing is his actual body. That's right, yes?"
"Essentially yes, I become the craft. Engines feel like muscles straining and the lungs working, the sensors feel like eyes and ears and suchlike."
"So if Marius has already 'felt' things like that, then he's most of the way to feeling what a bird feels as it flies through the air. I mean I guess he understands the physics of flight and how air currents work just from being a pilot already. But he's also got experience of what it feels like to fly over a hot area with rising winds, or how it feels to fly into a rain cloud, or to bank sharply, or how fast you need to go to gain altitude. So if I turn him into a bird, then he's probably going to be better at flying than anyone else, at least to start with."
"I can see the logic behind that, and I agree." Marius nodded along. He felt conflicted – this sounded like magical mumbo jumbo to him, and they all knew how he felt about messing around with astral nonsense. Yet, on the other hand, he did find the idea intriguing and thought it might also give him a new found appreciation for flying and some alternate viewpoints on flying in various conditions.
"And if Marius goes for a fly, and his happy to share his thoughts with me, I can relay those experiences and understanding to you lot with a mind-link. I can use his experiences from his flight as a training tool to help you all get accustomed to it."
"Ahh, I see. Well, that makes sense, I suppose. And I can certainly think of some useful situations for it. But I'm not sure a vulture with a massive set of dreadlocks is that subtle…." Kai grinned broadly.
They experimented, and in breaks in the weather went up towards the tilt-wing, transforming the team into giant birds, one at a time. Sheltered behind the stacks of containers and the giant accommodation block they got chance to try taking off and flying around a little, getting used to moving in three dimensions and feeling the air-currents under the wings.
They practiced for hours, watching each other and trying to learn from their mistakes, or trying not to laugh too hard when someone messed up a landing and slid across the deck or face-planted into a container, but gradually they all became proficient in flying around and understanding just what was possible. It turned out that while Marius was the best natural flyer based on his experiences, both he and Hunter suffered when shapeshifted as their cyberware became useless, transformed and 'disconnected' from their new form. It was such a part of them that they both reported feeling like they'd lost a limb, their body just not reacting as quickly or proficiently as it would normally.
Tads reminded Kai about his broken ID several times, reminding him to get something done about it with a dogged persistence that seemed to just bounce off Kai without effect, until Marius took matters into his own hands and contacted Milo, arranging for another ID to be cooked up using the same basic statistics and details as the previous one.
Part-way through the eighth day they saw land finally appear on the horizon, a faint brown smudge at first that slowly resolved into the shape of the southern Spain on the port and the northern shores of Morocco to the starboard. Traffic thickened up here, as they encountered other vessels steaming south from the coast of Europe or travelling up from the west coast of Africa, all aiming for the eighteen kilometre side straights leading through into the Med. The ships slotted together like a zip, traffic merging into a long line of vessels. About ten kilometres ahead of them was a large bulk carrier, travelling a few kilometres closer to the shore than they were, while behind another container ship from the Evergreen line kept station with them.
Over the course of the next few hours they closed on the bulk carrier, slowly overtaking it, and bringing another vessel into view some way ahead. It appeared that there were two channels or routes in either direction, for slower and faster ships to run towards their destinations in roughly parallel tracks. There was plenty of open water though, with room to manoeuvre and pass without ever getting too close to another vessel.
On the eleventh day at sea, having passed Malta and heading towards the coast of the former country of Libya, Marius was taking a jog around the ship and saw a strange mist forming to the west. He stopped and wiped his brow down, then took a few deep breaths to steady himself, checking again. A bank of fog seemed to be sliding out from the north Africa shore, heading out to sea, and he couldn't work out what was going on. They were late enough in the day that the early morning mist that sometimes formed had long since burned off, and though it wasn't what he'd call 'sunny', the clouds were quite high and light.
"Team, Marius, I'm at the stern and there is some strange fog moving out towards the shipping channel. Very unusual conditions – this does not look natural." He listened and heard various answers, most of which boiled down to 'on our way', and he pulled out his phone and patched through to the weather site and checked the forecast for the day, wondering if there was any weird meteorological conditions that could explain this.
"That's a magical spell or spirit power of some kind – I can see it in astral clearly. Well, I say that, I mean it could be a mana storm or something – but it doesn't look chaotic enough for that. So almost certainly a spell or spirit." Aswon had arrived first and peered at the cloud, giving his opinion. When Shimazu arrived, he confirmed with the same thoughts. Hunter couldn't see the magical realm of course, but his eyes could zoom a significant distance and he peered about, before announcing that he couldn't see anything that was generating the fog bank.
"It's a spell – I can see the astral signature quite clearly. But it's all wrong. Very, very wrong." Tads announced when she arrived to study the phenomenon. "It's all out of proportion. How far away is that ship?"
"The Ever Gentle? It's a touch over ten kilometres behind us. I asked the Chief the other day, and that's about the average they try and keep to, because of how long it takes them to slow down."
"Well Aswon, that cloud is way too big. It looks like a mist spell, like the one used to cloak the area around the black market site in Tehran. But… it's pretty powerful in terms of the thickness of the fog and how much it blocks the sight. I'd say about as powerful as my illusion to hide the truck or the tilt-wing. But it's covering way too big an area."
"I see what you mean. It does look extensive. I mean, it's got to be at least half a kilometre across." Aswon tried to estimate it as best he could.
"Assuming my range-finder is accurate at this distance, and my trig is correct, I make it six hundred and five metres from edge to edge," Hunter announced, double checking his maths on his pad and squinting out to the Ever Gentle, measuring the angles again with his cybernetic systems.
"Is that a problem?" Kai asked
"Maybe. Look, normally a spell cast that covers an area will cover a few metres. For the average mage, untrained in any special methods or techniques, you're looking at five to six metres. So a mist spell or a darkness spell would cover a circle that might fill a house, or most of the footprint of our tilt-wing, ok?" Tads saw Kai nod, then continued. "It's a well known and understood technique to improve the area of a spell though, by just jamming more mana into the formula. Well, it's not that simple, but it's the best way to describe it. You put more mojo in, and instead of five to six metres across, it's fifty to sixty metres across. Enough to cover the width of the ship here… but no more than a fraction of its length."
"The one we saw in Tehran was bigger than that?"
"Those figures are for an untrained mage. As you amass more control and finesse, your ability to shape the mana goes up as well. When I'd just met you lot, if I was to cast a mist spell, it'd probably cover a house, just like I said. If I was to do it now, knowing all that I do at the moment, then it's more like twelve to thirteen metres across. And that means if I jam more mojo into it, then it jumps up by the same factor – so a hundred and twenty metres across. Now I can cover perhaps a quarter of the ship in mist. And that's about the sort of level of what we saw in Tehran. "
"So that means that whoever cast that is like… five times more powerful than you?"
"Either that, or there's some kind of weird new technique at work. Maybe a way to make a spell cover not just an area, or extended area, but a massive area. I don't know. If it was someone untrained, other than this particular technique, then it would seem to fit – a normal kind of bubble six metres across, turned into six hundred. Or it could be someone halfway between that power and mine, but multiplied up six times more than normal. Or seven times. I don't know."
"Well that sounds bad. I mean the not knowing thing – there's obviously someone at work to make that, and it looks to have pretty much settled over the ship. We should go find the officer of the day and let them know."
They trooped forward, heading up the superstructure until they found an intercom they could call through to the bridge with.
"Watch officer."
"It's Kai – have you seen the cloud that's covering the ship behind us?"
"One moment – ok, yes. That's weird – wrong time of day and weather for sea fog…"
"It's not natural. Our shaman has just checked it out and says it's a huge spell effect. Can you contact them to let them know they may be under attack?"
"Can you explain more? I need some details…"
"It's a big spell that's being cast by a mage – which means there's someone within line of sight of that ship that's doing this. And they're keeping their concentration up on it as well. It's also pretty powerful, she says. I don't know what they're after, but you should be aware they could change their minds about that ship and slide over to here nice and easily."
"Is there anything you can do?"
"We could take off to go investigate – but that should be the last option, as that's bound to attract some attention. We could try to affect the spell, but that's a direct attack in a way, and may draw magical attack in response. Or may make whoever is over there angry enough to come and face us. So, neither of those are great options."
"Come up, I'll radio through." A moment later they heard the ship's gong sounding, then the amplified voice over the PA system. "All hands, all hands, this is the office of the watch. Possible pirate activity in the area. Check systems and report to section chiefs. Bring the ship to ready status."
"Ready status? What's that mean on a ship like this?" Kai threw out.
"All watertight doors get checked and locked closed, all electronic systems energised and ready to go. If it was a warship, they'd be loading weapons and activating defensive systems, but on here it probably means making sure the lifeboats are ready to deploy, and their systems have fired off a position report to their headquarters just in case." Aswon thought for a moment. "And if they have got any weapons on board, maybe locked away in engineering somewhere, they'll be getting them out and ready to issue to the crew."
They reached the bridge landing at the same time as the Captain, and he waved them into the bridge as he stepped in for a report.
"Sir, the ship is coming to ready state. Our…guests… have informed us that the cloud of sea fog over the Ever Gentle is magical in nature, some kind of spell. Radar is up and running, but reports no additional targets in the area. There's also no military patrols or transits on the scope. Posrep is away and set to auto-update."
"Very good." The Captain grabbed a radio microphone and fiddled with the settings for a moment. "Ever Gentle, Ever Gentle, this is Captain Lutzein on the Eugen Maersk. We have reports that the mist enveloping your vessel are not natural. Be advised you may have boarders approaching your vessel. Do you require assistance?"
"Maersk, this is Ever Gentle, our scopes are clear. We've been monitoring the weather, and saw it move in from the coast. It did look odd, but it's everywhere we can see. We're running on the scope, and the scope shows no activity."
"Gentle, we can see the cloud enveloping your ship. Otherwise visibility is good, fifteen to eighteen kilometres currently, in all directions."
"Standby." The voice sounded suddenly distracted, and they could imagine the scene on the other bridge as they discovered that the fog wasn't everywhere, but in fact just over them in particular. "Maersk, thank you for the information, but we have the situation under control. Ever Gentle, out."
"Sure you do." The captain snorted, but hung up his microphone back on the rack. "Well, we offered, but they said no. Helm, adjust course one degree starboard please and raise speed to sixteen knots for thirty minutes. Let's push away from that a little, without making it too obvious."
"Do we have your permission to take off and go help them Captain?" Kai asked.
"If you do, then don't come back." The Captain had a pair of binoculars raised to his face and was staring back at the cloud, trying to peer through the thick fog or mist to see inside. "Sorry, that sounded harsher than I meant. But if you do take off, then you'll need to head elsewhere. If they are under attack, then they'll be calling for help, and I don't want any trouble coming back to the ship. Even if it's not an attack, I don't want your craft buzzing them and then coming back here. Makes it look too much like a corporate hit-squad."
"But you just offered them assistance?"
"The law of the sea is one thing. Corporate competition is another. If they had asked for assistance, I would have rendered it, as I would expect them to if we called a mayday. But now they have refused it, we sail on."
The team watched as the distance between the two ships crept up and their course adjusted slightly – the one degree change didn't have them diverging from their original course much, but if there was anything pre-planned based on their expected position, it meant the Eugen Maersk wouldn't be where it should have, without disrupting their actual navigation too much.
It was about thirty minutes later when the fog cloud started to dissipate – or so they thought. But, as they watched the fog didn't actually spread and thin, but rather moved. Moving at a speed of about ten knots, it headed for the shore, completely in contradiction to the actual wind direction and speed. If there had been any doubt still about the artificial nature of the cloud, it was removed at this point. Slowly the bows of the Ever Gentle appeared, thrusting through the thinning edge of the cloud as they continued to head east.
Hunter gestured towards the large binoculars resting on the edge of the Captain's station and waited until he got a nod before grasping them and turning to face the stern, looking back and adjusting the position of the binoculars to match his orcish features. As he bought the view into focus, he started to describe what he could see.
"Containers still stacked up, twelve wide, side as us. Looks like a fairly even spread. Ok, on the middle containers, I can see debris, scattered around on the top level. Loose material blowing around, and some chunks of something. Can't make out what it is, but it's definitely heavier." He moved a little, leaning his body against the guard rail and spreading his feet wider to give him a touch more stability. "Looks like the same thing in the next container over, and possibly the two behind it as well. Yeah, four containers look to be breached, in a two by two grid."
"Ever Gentle, this is the Eugen Maersk. We see damage to the containers at your bow. Do you require aid?"
"Negative, Maersk. Everything is fine here. We're all fine here. How are you?" The captain hung up the microphone, not bothering to return the broadcast.
"Does that sound fake to you?" Tads said, turning to Shimazu. "It just doesn't sound natural at all."
"No it doesn't. There's elements of voice inflexion there indicating that they know it's not true, but they didn't say enough to get much more than that.
"Captain – if you're boarded and pirates seize your vessel, I presume that you have code words to use in broadcasts back to Maersk to indicate that you're under duress." The Captain just stared at Kai, lips pressed together. "Ok, I'm guessing if you do, you have orders not to reveal them to people, or that they exist. But do you know what they'd be for that ship?" Kai waved to the stern.
"Got some deck crew appearing over the containers now, investigating the situation," Hunter informed them.
"If they had such a thing, I don't know what their codes would be – they would be a closely guarded secret known only to the Captain and maybe the chief engineer, and the home office." The captain responded carefully, more or less confirming that Maersk probably did have such a system in place.
"Ok, Hunter – can you find the details for the Evergreen head office, and see if we can get a call through to them. Maybe they'll want to know what's happening here." Hunter nodded to Kai and pulled round his deck, slotting in the jack cable into the socket on the side of his head. Marius reached down and pulled out his sat-phone connection and cross-wired into the deck, making sure he had a good strong signal for his search, without interfering or relying on the Maersk's sat-uplink.
While this was going on, Tads moved over to a handy corner of the bridge and sat herself down, propping her body up and then leaping her astral form out and speeding across the kilometres of open ocean in the blink of an eye. Very carefully she stopped and moved down onto the top of the bridge, landing on one extreme end of the bridge wings. Much like the Maersk ship, it appeared to be unwarded, and she slowly pressed through to examine what was going on inside, spending a few moments watching the crew, before she moved down into the ship, heading for engineering first, then back up and out towards the bow and finding a concealed position between some containers to lurk in while she manifested again. Moments later she disappeared, rushing back towards the Eugen Maersk and joined with her body once more.
"The crew on the bridge are alarmed and stressed. What I think was the captain was pacing back and forth, giving orders and sounded very upset, and the rest of the crew were all responding with lots of strong emotions – but no fear or violence. Down in the engine room the crew there were alert, but not as stressed. And at the front of the ship, the deck crew were curious and a little fearful, but not worried or hurt. Hunter was right – there's four containers that have been opened. All of them had big squares missing in the top, and you could see inside to the goods. I could see boxes of materials that had been opened and scattered around."
The Captain and several of the crew stared at her in confusion, wondering just how she had this information, and it reminded the team once more just how rare mages were in the world. The kind of astral travelling and surveillance didn't make for exciting trideo shows compared to flying around and fireballs – Karl the Kombat Mage had a lot to answer for as the number one rated show that explained how magic worked to a mostly ignorant world…
"The holes, Tads – can you describe them in more detail?" Aswon asked.
"The holes were straight edged, and roughly the same size. Perhaps one and a half metres to a side. The metal looked to have been cut, not ripped open or blasted. I could see marks extending past the hole a little, making a cross shape."
"Hmm – it sounds like someone was using a circular saw or angle grinder, maybe a cutting torch – doing plunge cuts and making four clean and quick cuts to peel back the roof section then and get at the cargo. At least from the sound of it."
Kai nodded and nudged Hunter, having to poke him several times to get his attention out of the matrix, before telling him to abort his search and not to worry. Once it was clear they'd been robbed, he was sure the Captain would report in – or work hard to cover it up. Either way, he didn't think they'd be able to do much as a team to work on the situation now. He did have a sudden thought though and turned back to Captain Lutzein.
"The cloud… just wondering. Could you work out where it was, when it was over their ship, and where it is now, and see if you can draw a line – work out where it's going to hit shore? I wonder if there's maybe a little pirate cove over that way that could do with investigation…"
A moment or two later the navigator had plotted the course and bearings, and informed them that the cloud appeared to be heading for the Bin Jawad – or at least where Bin Jawad had once been. Since the nuclear attack on Libya and the events of the past few years, it was likely the town was in ruins and the people long gone – which only made it being a pirate base even more likely of course!
They stayed on alert for another hour before gradually relaxing when nothing further happened, other than the Eugen Maersk turning slightly to get back to their original course, dropping speed to once again match their original schedule.
Finally, on the 10th of November, they started to slow as they neared the northern waiting area, a few kilometres north of Port Said. The Captain informed them they would be berthing here for a few hours, waiting for the next south-bound convoy movement through the Suez Canal. The team grabbed their gear, transferring everything back to the tilt-wing and made their goodbyes to the crew – Tads trying to offer the cook some supplies before she went but finding him even more suspicious than before.
When they were packed and ready to go, Marius started the engines and Hunter called back, asking for a course.
"South-west, I think first. We're going to head down to Alexandria to drop Shimazu off near the university so he can go see the Professor dude he was studying under. After that, probably north to Constantinople, to go and pick up that new ID."
"Roger that. Working out a course now. Ok, Marius, course is 265, range about 220 kilometres."
In the back, Kai hit the send button on his phone again, watching as the screen flashed up his contact's name – 'Praneeth Al Maktoum'. He'd tried earlier, when the crew were packing their bags and the phone had rang and rang, then just stopped – not even going to voicemail. As he dialled again, the same thing happened. Kai frowned – he'd been hoping to talk to the man who was a technician working in a container port, wanting to pick his brains about a number of things.
He was distracted as they took off gently, rising up above the container wall that had sheltered them for the last eleven days, and slowly rotated to face a few degrees south of west, then accelerated into the night sky, leaving the stationary form of the Eugen Maersk behind them.
