JaceVAmor
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Chapter 156: Domestic Dispute
🕑 Added 2023-11-10 16:11:01 +0000 UTCAs they sailed toward Ghost Reef, leaving the mainland behind, the passengers fell into an uneasy silence. It was the second time many of them were effectively riding off into the sunset as they left Empress City, but the outlooks of where they were going and where they were coming from had flipped between trips. Coop reassured himself that it was easily within his own power to influence their futures before they deteriorated into the realm of unacceptability.
Coop slid his hand against the damp bow railing, splashed by sea water as the ship carried them forward, and calmed his own thoughts while he gazed toward the horizon. Coop surprised himself as he reflected on his own lack of hesitance when it came to defending the settlement, even with the knowledge that he would need to continue taking lives. In the back of his mind, he was slightly perturbed by how comfortable he was growing with the new order of things, but if there was anyone that could benefit from a bit more callousness, he expected he would be one of the top contenders. It was a fact, at least on Earth, that survival was often a life or death competition. As humans, they simply weren’t removed from the struggle any longer.
Observing his companions, he watched Charlie lean against Camila as they sat on the worn wooden deck, finding a comfortable spot that also wasn’t in the way of the sailors. They had their backs against the railing, adjacent to the ship’s wheel, where Charon was silently steering. The fact that they were charging into another struggle so soon was obviously weighing heavily on Charlie’s mind. That she wielded more power than so many others meant that she was feeling the burden of responsibility as well, much like Coop did. It was written across her face. She was quietly working through her emotions as she resolved to not let anything happen to her own family while remaining accountable to her own morals. Coop knew it would be a difficult balancing act. It was one that he constantly felt lingering in the back of his mind.
Whatever progress they had made with Coop’s distraction tactic of grinding a Slayer title had gone out the window when they learned that Ghost Reef was under attack. Charlie was struggling with the morality of killing, anticipating more situations where it became necessary for her to become an arbiter over others’ lives, and she didn’t have the time to come to her own terms like Coop had hoped. He related to the pressure she was feeling, as he had been thrust into the same state all the way back on the oil rig. He was determined to relieve as much of the pressure from her as he could. That was another important facet of his role as Champion, but also as her friend.
Sea Burial had made rapid progress across the sea, leaving Empress City’s port and approaching Ghost Reef as the day wound down. Admiral Kayla had them reduce their speed so that they wouldn’t stumble into any Sapphire Armada sentries as they drew closer. They would time their arrival so that they could take advantage of approaching under the cloak of darkness. The pirate ship’s black sails would be effective camouflage for a stealthy approach in the night. Without the need for Charlie’s masterfully wielded gusts, she was left as a mere passenger along with Coop and the others who weren’t a part of the crew.
“What’s up with them?” Carlos poked Coop, gesturing toward Charlie and Camila. The pair had effectively claimed a quiet spot in the middle of the ship for themselves. Even the least socially aware would avoid interrupting their sober seclusion as Camila silently supported Charlie.
Coop raised an eyebrow. “They just found out the home they’ve been working to help create is under attack and they’re coming to terms with the fact that they’ll likely have to kill people to defend it.” He idly explained.
“Hm.” Carlos murmured. “What’s the big deal? It’s kill or be killed now that the factions came to town.” He revealed his simplistic world view. “No one’s gonna threaten me or mine.” He declared his own willingness to fight.
Coop frowned as he exhaled, finding himself agreeing up to a point. From a practical point of view, the problem was that killing would ultimately hurt their own chances of survival. “It’s not really that simple.” He started.
“Sure it is.” Carlos firmly interrupted. “Don’t worry, friends of Camila’s count.” He added, with a reassuring slap on Coop’s back. “Dunno how she ended up so soft, though.” He mumbled.
“I mean, it’s more than just the factions.” Coop began, realizing that he would need to figure out a way to explain the situation with mana and the system to others in a concise way, especially if he was going to recruit for their own faction. He decided to try summarizing what he learned from the Avatar, deferring to her experience in revealing the information to others. “Mana isn’t magic, it’s a weapon that searches for, and cripples, technology to prevent future threats from developing across the universe. If it determines there could be a potential threat if left alone, it raises armies to eradicate the offending species. Apparently, humans are next up for eradication.”
Carlos just stared at Coop with a blank look before he blinked and slowly scratched the stubble on his chin as if he was trying to decide if Coop was full of it or if there was something else wrong with him.
Coop shrugged. “Basically, fighting each other is detrimental to all of our survival.” He added in an effort to clarify the seriousness of his declaration. “Once enough mana has activated, we’ll all end up on the same side.”
“Right.” Carlos agreed unconvincingly. “You should probably tell all that to Gabby. In the meantime, I’m gonna stick with what I was doing before, just doing my best to survive with the people I care about.”
“Me too.” Coop concurred, waving off his own warning with an indifferent motion. “But mana canceling the assimilation to kill us all sometime in the future is something to keep in mind.”
Carlos nodded slowly, eyes squinting slightly in suspicion. Coop got the impression he thought he was dealing with a crazy person on the train, but at the moment, he had more pressing concerns. A few firm thumps knocked against the boat as the ship’s hull collided with something in the water. Coop was leaning over the railing and squinting into the dark water even before Kayla joined them.
“We’re getting close.” She relayed, beckoning Coop to give his attention further out in front where scattered pockets of debris floated in the water. “Looks like there was fighting all the way out here. We are still outside of the settlement’s territory by a good 10 miles, but the Tempest Fleet intended to keep the lane clear for us to return as predicted.” She pointed at what was unmistakably a portion of decking, but made of a material that could have only come from a system service, with a texture more like pumice than any tree or metal Coop was familiar with. “Looks like the Sapphire Armada took some early losses.” She stated, not hiding the pride she felt for her crew.
As they sailed forward into the darkness, Coop felt like it was agonizingly slow, but they were being vigilant, seeking out any scout vessels that may have been waiting for them. They didn’t find anything other than an increasing density of debris floating on the surface of the black sea, scorched and warped from what he imagined were explosive detonations. The Tempest Fleet hadn’t ceded the space without a clear struggle that resulted in an absurd amount of ship destruction. Coop thought he might even be able to run across the surface of the ocean as packed as it was with ship materials, assuming they were buoyant enough to support his weight as he leapt between bits of flotsam.
“Look!” A pirate hissed from his perch in the rigging of their sails. “There!” He kept his voice down but clearly enunciated with enough urgency to get others’ attention. Coop followed his pointed finger and spotted a ship in the distance, still far enough to seem like a blurry speck, but dimly lit with some onboard illumination that gave its position away.
Kayla extended a telescopic brass spyglass as she stood at his side and peered into the darkness toward their first point of contact. While she carefully assessed the distance, she gave Charon a series of hand signals from over her left shoulder that led to him steering the ship in a northerly angle so that they would bypass the other ship by a wide margin. She then spent another minute scanning the rest of the horizon. Once she was satisfied with their new bearing she condensed her spyglass and turned to Coop. “Think you can hit that from here?” She gestured toward the first dot on the horizon.
Coop shook his head. Without any particular landmarks to judge the distance, he wasn’t exactly sure how far away it was in the first place. Maybe he could get the distance if he took a running start and really heaved his spear, but it was well-beyond what he considered his limit when also considering accuracy.
The pirate queen nodded as if she didn’t expect him to be able to either. “We’ll get into range of the ballista artillery first and coordinate our opening salvo and combine our firepower. I expect we will be seeing more of those ships by then.” She gestured toward the rest of the horizon where she had used her spyglass to observe.
Kayla was proven correct after barely two minutes when Coop spotted another dimly illuminated ship south of the first one. First, there were two, then two dozen, then Coop lost count. There were hundreds of ships in a loose formation that created a perimeter around Ghost Reef, but the first one had been the closest. As the numbers became daunting, they also got a better look at what they were dealing with. Curiously, the enemy ships had no sails. Rather than a wind powered vessel, like those designed by the pirates of Ghost Reef, the Orlando settlement had been crafting what definitely seemed like an alien design with some alternative propulsion. Coop guessed these were specific to the Sapphire Armada’s faction services.
The enemy vessels were shaped like paper boats, with both the front and the back pointing high into the air and a central triangular shaped structure in the middle. The rest of the ship seemed to sit deep in the water, like it was on the verge of sinking, but judging by the rest of them, that was just how they floated. They were semi-submersible naval vessels with open tops.
“Ugly.” Charon commented as they got a better look at the ships, breaking his more typical silence. Judging by the expressions of the pirates, they didn’t approve of the alien design.
Ghost Reef was still not visible, but Coop recognized the familiar green glow of spectral mana flowing through their territory once they were closer. The Sapphire Armada had established a blockade after all, one that ringed the settlement’s territory at the border between it and the untamed sea.
Sea Burial was barely entering its maximum range, and Coop was preparing with his spear when some of the flotsam in the sea reacted to their presence like a proximity mine. A screaming gout of ruby red sparks shot into the night sky, loud enough to wake the dead and bright enough to completely reveal their ship. The sparks continued to glow as they drifted and clung to any surface they touched. Their ship was highlighted in red as the trap’s siren faded.
The enemy vessels slowly rotated toward them and started plowing through the water once they faced the correct direction. Coop had the impression that they accelerated at an unnatural speed and moved like pack animals. The central triangular structures in the ships seemed like dorsal fins and whatever was propelling them had to be underwater and was likely provided by mana.
Kayla scowled at the red glowing trap that they had set off, using the toe of her heeled boot to try and smother some that had stuck to the deck, finding it stuck to the leather just as easily. “Well, that’s new.” She grumbled, disappointed in herself for not taking into account alien countermeasures that none of them had ever witnessed before. She turned to the crew of pirates who had all already taken battlestations and waited patiently for direction. “Send them to the depths.” She commanded.
With her quiet order, the ballista fired an enormous bolt. A solid thump of wood and the rattling of iron overwhelmed the waves being split by the hull, as the mechanism sent the projectile through the darkness. Coop planted his foot and threw his spear at a different vessel, joining the opening salvo with a line drive that he expected to pierce the hull of the second ship. The pirates yelled threats at their enemies while Charon pulled the ship’s wheel to keep the enemies in range of the port side cannons, putting them on a perpendicular path to the edge of the blockade. They weren’t heading directly toward Ghost Reef any longer, and would end up circling their destination at best.
The ballista bolt splintered into pieces when it smashed into an energy shield that protected the first ship. Coop’s spear bounced harmlessly off a similar protective barrier as it reached the second ship, plunging into the dark water with a dramatic splash, but no clear damage. Coop’s target slowed down, falling into a vague flying V formation that left the pirates with one single target.
“Keep firing!” Kayla shouted, pulling her sword out and pointing it at the Sapphire Armada’s nearest ship. “Look at the debris in the sea! Those shields aren’t impenetrable!”
Coop followed her directions even though they weren’t necessarily meant for him, resummoning his spear and blasting it at the first ship, joining the ballista in concentrating their fire. His second line drive tore through the air before it was once again repelled. The second ballista bolt was similarly deflected after colliding with the invisible barrier.
The semi-submersibles were closing the distance while Sea Burial strafed to their north side. The port-side cannons fired next, drowning out the pirates’ shouts as the enemy ships entered their range. Ten cannon balls flew at the closest ship, splattering the energy shield with each shot. The shield rippled as if it was turning liquid under the pressure of the heavy projectiles, but it still prevented any from reaching the vessel itself. A handful of pirates stood against the rails to cast their own spells, but none of them reached the destructive power of any of the siege equipment. The bolts of energy and blasts of elements were deflected or absorbed by the front of the protective barrier.
Their first pursuer slowed down, in an effort to let the second vessel take point, probably to allow its shield to recuperate, but Coop had already lobbed his freshly summoned spear. Despite putting as much Strength into the throw as he could, its shallow arc would barely reach the ship. The high-pressure spear was so unnaturally heavy that even he couldn’t manage a perfect arc, but his target’s forward momentum narrowly placed it within range. When the spear collided with the shield it exploded like a bomb, sending mana-based shrapnel in all directions before the shards dissipated into smoke after bouncing off the neighboring ships’ shields.
At first, it didn’t seem like it had any more impact than the previous attempts since the ship itself remained untouched. However, the shield illuminated the dark sea with a chilling blue light, escalating like a reactor going critical, revealing itself to be shaped like a pyramid around the exterior of the low-sitting boat. A cascading surge of the blue light fully encompassed the ship with a brief flash, then coalesced in a single point at the apex of the central pyramid. When the wave of light reached directly above the structure in the center, a beam went straight down, into the ship, and it exploded like a boiler having a catastrophic failure.
The first vessel combusted into blue fire for a split second, with only a flash of bright light that left the illusion of a strange mushroom cloud burned onto their retinas. Even before Coop’s eyes readjusted to the darkness, they could hear the sounds of more debris splashing into the ocean. The pirates cheered as they confirmed the fallibility of their targets, aiming their attacks at the second ship with even more vigor.
The cannons erupted with another bombardment as Charon readjusted their direction, and Coop resummoned his destroyed weapon. Sea Burial was now heading further away from Ghost Reef, avoiding a closer confrontation with the Sapphire Armada’s pyramid ships. The explosion of the first one had drawn the attention of significantly more, and to Coop’s eye, there was a carpet of gently illuminated vessels making their way toward the disturbance.
With a closer look, they could see that the ships were relatively small. They weren’t even the size of the Tempest Fleet’s corvettes, which had 50-man crews. The difference was in their architecture, where the pyramid ships were built like a tub. They reminded Coop of the landing craft used for unloading troops for amphibious assaults.
The Sapphire Armada intended to rely on their defensive mana shield, rotating their ships so that none would be overwhelmed, but they hadn’t expected Coop’s level of firepower. The vessels hadn’t revealed any offensive capabilities, and Coop wouldn’t put it past them to have none on the ship at all, relying on their crews instead. It wouldn’t be the first time he witnessed a faction emphasizing tactics with logic that Coop didn’t immediately follow.
With the destruction of the first ship, the rest of their pursuers were playing it safer, rotating their point ships after just one or two attacks and crowding out further strikes. Coop wasn’t bothered, but breaking the line of sight between Sea Burial and her targets was enough to prevent the ballista or the cannons from following up on weakened shields. Coop switched his focus to high arcing attacks with dense spears, slamming straight down from above, in an effort to follow cannon barrages before the shields had a chance to rejuvenate. The ships couldn’t hide in the herd when the strikes came straight down.
“Hold up!” Carlos shouted, jumping onto the railing next to Charon, interrupting the crew in the middle of a battle. “I’ll take care of the next one, just quit your attacks for a minute.” He demanded with a smile that oozed confidence.
The crew looked to Kayla before they stopped anything, but she seemed to admire the audacity of the Shadowdancer’s promise and gave a subtle nod that had the next cannon barrage delayed and the ballista swiveling as it followed their target without firing. Carlos bowed his head, then let himself fall backwards, off the railing, toward the hard deck, almost like he had fainted. Instead of crashing against the wooden boards, he disappeared into his moonlight shadow.
A moment later, the nearest pyramid ship had growing shadow tendrils extending from its interior, into the air, then wrapping the ship in a swirling mass of darkness, pulling the enemy into a gloomy embrace. The shadows obscured the entire ship until it was impossible to perceive its form. As quickly as the darkness had gathered around the dimly lit ship, they were even faster to disappear, but once they were gone, the ship had deteriorated until it barely qualified as scrap.
Carlos climbed out of Camila’s shadow, back on Sea Burial, and immediately leveled up. “How was that, Cici? Impressed?”
“Do it again?” Camila immediately suggested. “There’s plenty of ships.” She pointed out, encouraging him to continue with only a hint of sarcasm.
“I’m gonna leave the rest to you guys.” Carlos generously offered, obviously tapping out due to his own limitations.
There were still nearly a hundred ships that had broken off from the blockade in order to chase the red glow that coated their corvette. Sea Burial was both faster and had more firepower than each of the individual pyramid ships, but they would still be overwhelmed if they were forced to engage them all at once. Picking the pyramid ships off one after another wouldn’t be feasible given the amount of reinforcements available and the time it would take. They could flee at any point, but they were there to help Ghost Reef, so leaving wasn’t an option they would entertain. They’d need to try some new tactics.
Comments
Daniel
So no new ghosts for ghost reef? Autonomous mini ships?Or is it just we don’t see any crew yet (they just are dead in the black water of night)?
