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Chapter 155: The Largest Fleet
🕑 Added 2023-11-08 16:11:01 +0000 UTCEmpress City’s northernmost inner gate consisted of sections of a chain link fence that were wrapped around panes of tarnished industrial flooring and the hoods of a few discarded cars. The artless construction was rather apocalyptic, really giving off the feel of a scraped together defense, but it got the job done. The outer wall effectively separated the large and previously empty inner portion of the airport from what had been the crowded outer ring. It rolled open on a pair of pallet jacks that were only accessible from the inside, leaving narrow tracks in the dirt. As the metal gate lurched open, Coop gestured for Camila’s extended family to come inside.
He had a bunch of questions, but didn’t want to jump right into them before they had a chance to reconcile with Camila, who they had clearly gone through an ordeal to reach, judging by their physical states. Once they found a place for them to rest, he would find out all he could. Hopefully, they would have news about other monster variants for him to grind, but he’d take information on other settlements back to his advisors if that’s what they shared.
None of the three newcomers made any effort to come inside, though. Coop put his hand down when he realized they weren’t accepting his invitation. The redneck engineering of the door shouldn’t have been enough to discourage anyone from the accommodations. The scrap wall wasn’t so much intimidating as it was desperate, but the scale was pretty impressive from Coop’s perspective.
“I’m afraid we might not have time to relax.” Gabriela spoke up, having a pressing message to share first. “This isn’t Ghost Reef, is it?”
Coop shook his head, frowning in confusion. “No, this is Empress City. You could say it’s under the protection of Ghost Reef.”
“So, you are from Ghost Reef, correct?” Gabriela sought clarification. “We made some assumptions based on the event scoreboards and concluded that Camila had been staying there. Of course we took note of all the top performers.” Gabriela continued, at least answering one of Coop’s preliminary questions, though he could have guessed that the siege event exposed Ghost Reef to literally everyone in the world by that point.
“That’s right.” Coop played along, wondering what she was getting at.
“Listen.” She cut to the chase, realizing that the situation might be more urgent than they expected. “Ghost Reef is under attack.”
“Huh? What do you mean?” Coop questioned, glancing at Camila who was looking unsettled. Gabriela’s words carried enough credibility in Camila’s eyes to have Coop believe them as well.
“On our way here, after we barely made it through the wild areas, we discovered that the Florida peninsula had been severed by the ocean. The only obvious way across, other than swimming to land beyond the horizon, was through a rather large settlement. It was certainly larger than this one, and it was built in the center of a long bridge that connected to the rest of the country. We were in bad shape at the time and didn’t want to risk the swim, so we requested aid. They responded by attacking us.”
“They messed around and found out.” Carlos added pridefully, having no love for the ones that attacked them.
Gabriela continued without comment. “We defeated the initial efforts, then led the rest back into the wild. From the ones that pursued us, we learned that they were on the verge of launching a massive assault with essentially their entire fighting population. The reason they attacked us was to prevent information from leaking out, just in case we were affiliated with their target, who they revealed to be Ghost Reef when we pressed.” She stated neutrally, but Coop felt they had been brutal when necessary.
“Ironic, right?” Carlos pointed out. “By trying to stop us, they ended up exposing their goals. We would have been none the wiser if they lent us some beds and let us go on our way.”
“They should have launched their attack four days ago and the ones we interrogated boasted that they had thousands of ships that would empower them to conquer the world’s oceans.” Gabriela concluded.
“I wanted to hang around and take a shot at their civilization shard while the bulk of them were gone, in retaliation, but finding Cici was our first priority.” Carlos shared. “If their attack was as large as they claimed, their settlement should be relatively exposed.”
“They were quite proud.” Sofia contributed, speaking with a kind, gentle voice that contrasted with the fact that they had just explained how they fought to get to Empress City.
Coop nodded as he decided what to do. “Alright.” He took a deep breath. “Thanks for the warning.” Coop turned toward the gate again, finding Marcus. “Did you get all that?” When his advisor bowed his head with a serious look on his face, Coop started walking. “I’m heading back.”
“The Sapphire Armada was on the move after all. Looks like they divided up what they assumed would be the spoils with the previous Champion. He got to keep his settlement as their subordinate and they would claim ours. They might not have arrived yet.” Marcus suggested hopefully as he fell in with Coop.
“I’m sure they went faster than Camila’s injured family on foot.” Coop suggested. He had to imagine the terrain was difficult, considering it was unclaimed territory, and judging by what lay beyond the golf course, had been reclaimed by the Everglades. Not to mention they had been moving at a diminished capacity.
“Hey, we’re plenty fast.” Carlos pointed out as he appeared from Marcus’s shadow. “Gabriela just had to carry Aunty Sofia on her back.” He tilted his head to where she was doing just that, flanked by Camila and joined by Charlie who had arrived at the tail end of Gabriela’s ominous heads-up.
As they moved past the gate, Jackson spoke up. “We can come too.” Following the group as they moved briskly, leaving the gate and angling so that they would arrive on the highway that led to the port. “We have a few fighters that can help. If there’s that many ships, you might need it.”
Fabiana joined in. “You would have been with your settlement if it wasn’t for us expecting them to come here.” She admitted. “Let us send our most experienced people.”
Coop shook his head. “No, you need to stay and make sure that Empress City works out. The wounds from all your fighting won’t be healed just because we showed up and threw some credits at the problem. In the worst case scenario we might be forced to come here for shelter and I’d rather not have to break up another civil war if that happens.”
Coop shrugged to himself. “I can’t really imagine Ghost Reef actually being in trouble. Between Shane and Gideon, and all the experience gained during the siege, I think the Sapphire Armada chose the absolute worst possible target to attack. We don’t need to panic.” He glanced at Marcus. “I should be there anyway, as Champion, but you can stay here and keep helping get their feet underneath them.”
“Nonsense. It’s my fault we didn’t leave even sooner. I’m coming too.” Marcus declared, not bothering to hide his own frustrations.
Coop turned to the girls, but before he said anything, Camila gave him a pointed look. “Don’t even offer. We can come back for the Slayer quest any time, especially after the pirates set up a regular ferry. It’ll barely be a simple commute to get back and forth.”
“What about your family?” Coop asked. “Madison could heal them, but maybe they should stay away from any fighting until then.”
“We’re fine to enter battle.” Gabriela stated, expressionless as ever, with Sofia giving a thumbs up from over her shoulder, letting the tip of her thumb spark with dazzling energy as she smiled.
“We’ll show you how it’s done, Mr. Bigshot.” Carlos promised with uncanny shadows gently caressing his features even under the bright sun.
Gabriela’s eyebrows twitched, almost forming a scowl for a fraction of a second. “Please, forgive him. He probably doesn’t remember that Coop was the name of the individual that scored higher than our entire settlement during the siege event. I’d hate for you to need to remind him.”
“C’mon, Gabby, that’s just ‘cause we didn’t have more stuff to fight, sharing with everyone else handicapped us.” Carlos disputed her admonishment as they all followed along with Coop.
Gabriela pointed out that he hadn’t even outscored Platinum, who was in the same settlement as they were, but Carlos argued that she was a special case. The cousins rehashed what seemed like familiar discussions.
Camila gestured like there was no stopping them from coming anyway. “It’ll be good to let them see Ghost Reef or we’ll constantly have them coming to check on me.”
“Actually, where are they from, exactly?” Marcus wondered, finding some potential diplomacy to distract himself from what was surely an oncoming conflict, which he was never a fan of.
“New York City.” Camila stated. “You couldn’t tell from the accent?” She looked bewildered.
“I didn’t want to assume, with the mixture of accents.” Marcus explained with a hand wave. “What settlement is that?” He asked as his eyes unfocused while he checked the settlement leaderboards.
Camila got Sofia’s attention and relayed the question. Sofia was happy to answer, ignoring the ongoing debate between the cousins. “Neon Park. It’s named after the gentleman who claimed the shard. Nice boy.” She added helpfully. “It started as a small portion of New York City and has grown much more. After the last upgrade, the territory extends over a hundred miles in each direction, until it bumps into our neighbors in Boston and near Philadelphia.”
“That many cities survived?” Marcus wondered, excited for more information.
“Neon did some excellent negotiating in the earliest days, even before the Chosen started their coordinated strategies, which basically made an alliance that prevented any other groups from muscling their way in. It helped that the population of Neon Park was multiple times larger than any of the other settlements right from the start. The civilization shard just happened to be right in a park inside the city while the other settlements were all on the edges in nature preserves and things like that, where less people lived, making their footprint smaller.” Sofia chatted away while riding Gabriela, piggy-back style. Gabriela continued scolding Carlos into submission.
“How did you end up all beat up?” Coop asked. The confident trio of travelers should have been up to the task when faced with just about anything the assimilation would throw at them.
“A large portion of the trip was through completely untouched wilds, where monsters and Field Bosses had been roaming around unchallenged for who knows how long.” Sofia explained. “There were some scary monsters inside that had even warped the atmosphere, or that had set traps, and things like that. We spent most of the time just doing our best to escape. I wouldn’t recommend the route we took to anyone. The entire southern portion was completely Primal Construct territory, right up until the coast where Florida is disconnected.”
As Sofia regaled them with the narrow escapes they had gone through, Coop paid close attention. It didn’t seem like there were an enormous number of monster variants, but there were a few and there were certainly bosses. He suspected that some of them had formed Hives and whatever open-air dungeons came next.
Even though it seemed like she was discouraging them from testing their mettle in the region north of the Orlando settlement that the Sapphire Armada called home, Coop wasn’t getting the same message. Every danger she suggested was hidden in the woods, hills, and mountains ended up sounding like challenges that Coop would want to explore. The problem was that he was getting pulled back and forth by the responsibilities he had already accepted to make sure Ghost Reef and his companions were safe. First the Endless Empire, then the Sapphire Armada, and of course there was Chakyum in the Yucatan that demanded his attention.
“Looks like the vacation really is over.” Coop mumbled as they walked along what would become Empress City’s Memorial Highway.
The highway that had contained so much death and destruction was already cleaned up. The future adventurer’s of Empress City had diligently worked for the last few days, clearing the debris and laying the dead to rest. It was the sort of task that Coop would have lingered on for weeks or months if it had been more directly connected to Ghost Reef, but the residents of Empress City were already taking a big step forward. It wasn’t the first time he felt like he needed to give them credit for a subtle resilience that was different from the stubborn fortitude he had seen grow in Ghost Reef. It was different, but it was encouraging in its own way.
When they arrived at the pier that extended from Port Front Park, where Admiral Kayla had been waiting, they found her lounging on top of the railing of Sea Burial, with Charon standing at parade rest next to her. There were strangers hanging around the end of the jetty, sitting on rocks having conversations with the pirate crew. Some residents of Empress City, who had joined the resistance, hadn’t returned to the airport, but had decided to create homesteads in the port, becoming the preliminary settlers of the other end of the Memorial Highway. Apparently, they had been receiving tips from the pirates regarding what they would need to reestablish the port as a functioning feature and were intent on being the connection that Ghost Reef would have with the mainland. Coop wasn’t sure if it still counted as the mainland, given that the peninsula had become a large island itself.
“There’s our Champion.” Kayla observed, sliding her legs off the top of the railing to lean forward. “Are you bringing along even more injured people?” She asked as she got a good look at the state of Gabriela and Sofia. “You know the Doc is gonna be mad, but at least these ones are conscious.”
Coop hopped onto the edge of the ship and pulled himself up, skipping the gangplank. “That Sapphire Armada we were keeping an eye out for seems to have attacked Ghost Reef directly.”
“Tch.” Kayla’s mood shifted like the tide reversing directions. “Let’s get going then. We can’t let Sharkbait take the glory all by himself.” Charon relayed the information to the crew in simple terms that undermined the urgency of the situation, but the pirates were accustomed to their captain and it was only moments before they were preparing for a speedy trip.
Once everyone else had boarded, they cast off. Charlie headed for the helm where she started working her magic so that they would be able to arrive as quickly as possible. Camila naturally joined her side and Gabriela, Sofia, and Carlos found themselves doing their best to stay out of the way as the crew went to work.
The residents of Empress City that had been hanging out with the pirates waved them goodbye. It was a bit of an anticlimactic exit from the new settlement, and Coop hoped it wouldn’t have any negative influence on the mood of the fledgling city, but as far as he was concerned, Ghost Reef had to take priority. Jackson and Fabiana would need to keep it together with the help of the new guilds in the meantime.
After Coop and Marcus brought Kayla and Charon up to speed, sharing exactly what Camila’s family had relayed about the Sapphire Armada they considered the different possibilities in order to plan how to engage.
“Thousands of ships?” Kayla ended up clarifying. “That’s really quite a claim.” Charon nodded solemnly next to her. “The largest fleets were 20 or 30 ships back when we were sailing the seas. Thousands is a number that you could only reach if you combined every ship in the absolute largest trading companies across every ocean. Are we sure that isn’t an extreme exaggeration?”
Coop couldn’t answer with certainty. “It’s information that has been passed through like 5 different people at this point, but given that there are aliens and magic involved, I don’t think we can dismiss it as impossible.”
“I suppose if their goal is to control the entire planet’s oceans, that’s about what it would take.” Kayla muttered. She looked at Charon who simply nodded, taking the exact same position of confidant that Sharkbait normally held.
The gold bangles on her wrist rattled as she tapped at the hilt of her cutlass. “If that’s the case, we should expect to find the fort under siege. Sharkbait and the other captains would have made an effort to keep our path clear, preventing a full blockade, but against that many ships they would have needed to fall back to incorporate the fort in their defenses.” Kayla frowned as she allowed her expertise to guide her imagination of the situation.
“We are only one ship, but this is unconditionally the best ship to harass a blockade.” Kayla concluded. “Charon’s ballista and the speed of the corvette, not to mention the Aeromancer, should make us unmatched. Alternatively, we can make a break for the fort and focus on unleashing our abilities along with our allies. It would work best if we decided right away so that we could take advantage of any element of surprise.”
“Before we left, one of the last purchases I made was on a mana shield.” Marcus added. “I expected it would be quite the surprise when it was first discovered, but the mana cost was said to be extremely high. In any case, it promised to block all sorts of attacks, much like the Envoy’s proximity shield, except it was based around our walls. That, combined with the fort itself, should make withstanding a human siege much more likely.”
“Good call.” Coop acknowledged. “I haven’t received any notifications that the shard has been challenged, so all signs indicate that they haven’t made it through the various defenses we accumulated.”
Coop considered the options that Kayla laid out. “I’m inclined to suggest we take it slow, I reckon I can sink some ships with my spear and we have a range advantage over most conventional opponents. A thousand ships could just be a thousand spear throws, and I was looking forward to throwing 10,000 to finish my next grind.” Coop summoned his spear subconsciously, feeling the mists solidify for reassurance. “I can also teleport to the island and let you guys play it safe and stay at range if we lose the opportunity to actually run the blockade.”
“Fine by me.” Kayla agreed. “We’ll open up seeking to sink some ships.” Charon bowed his head and moved to inform his crew. “More ghosts for Ghost Reef.” She grinned.
Comments
Grim220
Like, you would think, that someone would have something like a strength or agility version of coops revenant passives
Grim220
Is anyone else weirded out that the only person to have "X stat gets bonuses from other X stat" is coop and Noone else
Gunmetalrhino
Can't wait for the Carlos dude to be slapped in the face
Samuel Lévesque
Was gonna write the same, good line to end the chapter!
Daniel
The fort has sunk ships from every era. What’s one more?
Nyroe
More Ghosts for Ghost Reef is a pretty cool line.
