Imposter System

"First, I wish to apologize. We attempted to deal with Mr. Adams quietly, but he put up much more of a resistance than expected. As for the device you acquired, consider it my apology gift." The captain made a knowing glance which caused Matt to tense up slightly. The soldiers were sent by him, so he would certainly be aware of what equipment they had on them. "I trust you'll be responsible with it."

Although the captain seemed to be apologizing, in reality, he was using this opportunity to pressure Matt. Leaders come in many different types. While easy going in his policies, his leadership talent lied in the way he managed the individual, rather than the whole group. If a select few were under his thumb, they would then keep others in line for their own gain or protection.

However, the risk in using a method like this was those folks that wouldn't succumb to pressure. Matt wondered if Willard was someone that the captain tried to pressure in order to keep the engineers in check. Instead of succeeding, he created an enemy for himself and the crew. If Matt was his previous self, he may have wanted to resist such tactics. However, his best choice currently was to dance to the captain's tune.

"Well, now that that is settled, I wanted to let you know the wedding will proceed as planned. I have already arranged for security to be tightened. Did you have any questions?"

The captain's tone made it sound as thought he was asking a rhetorical question. Matt didn't need to ask anything, but he felt that he was learning more about the captain which was valuable. The man is a mystery wrapped in an enigma. Back on Earth, no one had heard of him before he was assigned the position. However, there were no complaints when people saw him. His influence must have been very powerful in the federation.

'All of that is useless now.' Matt thought.

"Alright, we'll be going then. Oh, one more thing." The captain stopped at the doorway as he was leaving. "I decided to open up the storage for some ingredients. I'll be making the hors d'oeuvres using my special recipes." The captain smiled in his strange way and left with the first officer.

Once the captain was gone, Matt activated Detect Life to make sure no one was spying on them. Then, he walked over to a wireless charge pad and placed the device on it. After a few minutes, he activated it and the devices in the room that required connection to the main system went into an error state. Alexis watched the whole time and realized what the captain was talking about.

"This thing is quite handy." Matt said with a chuckle. He wasn't completely sure that the universal charger would work on the jamming device, but there didn't seem to be any problems. Seeing this, Alexis did a sweep of their rooms and discovered five advanced bugging devices.

"Do you think they are affected by the jamming device?" Matt asked curiously. Alexis examined the bug and was impressed. Although she wasn't specialized in espionage or military technology, she had still seen the devices that were used quite frequently. The bugs they planted in their quarters are of the highest grade.

"I'm not sure. However, its very likely that whoever made the jamming device would leave an avenue for themselves in evading the same device. Otherwise, it would put the user in the dark as well." She surmised.

"Let's shove it in a safe I guess." Matt said while shrugging.

After washing up, Matt and Alexis sat in their bed and were both slightly dazed. They each had their own troubles due to what happened earlier that evening. Matt had lost control and only in retrospect did he realize how risky his behavior was. However, since feeding, his hunger and instinct were sated. But he felt that since the gates were opened, he couldn't close them anymore.

He had attempted to hypnotize himself, but ironically, he was too resistant. His mental strength increased considerably after what he did to Westley. There were likely many factors that were involved in his current growth, but he believed the Sundering Strike was the primary one. His headache had finally calmed down so he was able to fully inspect himself.

Meanwhile, Alexis was brooding over her encounter with human blood. Although she had willingly eaten a lot of the captains' 'special' dishes, those were all prepared and she could be in denial about what they actually contained. However, she ingested blood right from the source. There was no question about what it was. She was too afraid to tell Matt, not because she thought he would be upset, but because voicing the fact would make it real.

Matt broke out of his deep thoughts before Alexis and noticed how distracted and dazed she had been since they left the medical room. Although he wanted to give her the chance to tell him on her own, since he was the closest thing to an expert on the situation, he decided it was best if he initiated the conversation. Matt laid down and went to sleep. It had been a while since they enjoyed a dream together, so he decided to take her on a dream date before broaching the topic.

After falling asleep, Matt's astral body floated out and he looked around. He saw hundreds of projections around him. Each of them was someone's dream. Matt also realized that he could travel much faster in the dark world. Now that he had several landmarks due to the dream projections, it was extremely easy to use the dark world to investigate things on the ship. Matt floated back to his body when he noticed Alexis had begun to sleep.

The projected dream over her body was very dark and frightening. He recognized right away that she was having a nightmare. He infiltrated the dream and immediately began to transform the contents. The original dream was something like a witch hunt. Alexis was captured by men in hoods and taken to a tribunal where they sentenced her to death. He manipulated the dream and had himself become the hero that broke into the prison and rescued her.

One of his favorite movies back in his previous life had a very similar story line. He appeared with a shaved face and clean features. He wore trousers and a mariniere with a captain's hat. After cutting down the prison guards with his cutlass, he saved Alexis, who was now wearing an 18th century white dress. She was shocked to see Matt with his clean appearance contrasted with his torn shirt, leather boots and trousers while brandishing a sword.

"Matthew, you've come to rescue me?" Alexis was shocked since her voice came out in an English accent.

"That's right my dear. Stand back for a second." Matt whistled and the sound of a cannon struck the nearby prison wall. The open ocean was revealed and a large black ship was in the distance. Next, a large harpoon was shot above the hole they just made and Matt took Alexis by the waist and threw her manacles over the rope. They ziplined down for several hundred meters, dodging musket fire until they landed on the deck of the ship.

"Welcome aboard Cap'n, Miss Alexis. What is our heading?" A short chubby fella with a bald head and several missing teeth came over. Alexis was mostly confused but had become aware of the dream and Matt's presence. Since he was putting on the show she decided to play along. She tore the hem of her dress since it was large and bulky and grabbed Matt's hat.

"I'm in charge now. Head into the open seas! And someone get me some tools to remove these damned things." Her charisma was off the charts, but most of the pirates here were hesitant for a female captain. However, when they looked over to Matt, Alexis shot a pistol into the air.

"You heard the captain, get sailing you bastards!" The chubby guy said nervously. Everyone began to work the riggings and the ship started sailing away. The navy didn't have enough time to react so the black pirate ship already left toward the horizon. While Alexis stood on the deck watching the ocean, a green tabby cat jumped into her arms.

"Martha! Good girl." She stroked the cats fur and looked over at Matt who was standing close, admiring Alexis's new look.

"Captain! A Dutch merchant vessel was spotted ahead. What are your orders?" The chubby man shouted down from the wheel.

"Haul wind and overtake them!" She shouted in a commanding voice. "Fly our colors and no quarter!"

Hearing this, the whole crew shouted in unison. They were pirates and they were excited to take down a merchant vessel. Piracy was the fastest way to get rich! They could already imagine all the booze, women, and gambling they would partake in from this haul.

"Piracy fits you." Matt said in an endearing voice. Alexis just rolled her eyes at him and went to the captain's room to change into something more battle appropriate.