Nightsea Outlaw

Erin tapped the red button on her console and opened the line back to her headquarters after entering a few choice numbers on her keypad. She waited in silence for the transmission to cross the nightsea and return. Outside, she could hear Alex and Sayed sparring.

Thump. Thwack.

"A good blow, brother!" Sayed yelled. "But you are far too slow! Demon's Thrust!"

Slam. Crunch.

"Alright, that wasn't fair," Alex said.

"Fair is irrelevant." Sayed laughed.

The sound of their fight was muted through the door, but she could still hear them well enough to make out what they said. They had been fighting in sparring matches for the last few days, and she was happy they hadn't destroyed the ship in the process.

Click. Beep. Beep.

The red button on her console glowed, and Erin pressed it. From a speaker on her console, a scratchy voice leaked out. There was a lot of static, as there always was, but she could still hear the voice. The technology to communicate across vast distances using fluctuations in aetheric waves was still new.

"Report. Over."

"I've recovered the logbook and joined up with 'Tin Man' Ortega," Erin said. "The logbook gave us coordinates that I've been able to decipher, and I know the location it is pointing to. Over."

Static hissed across the speaker, and Erin waited. She could only communicate so much at a time and needed confirmation that the other side received it. After a few moments of silence, the voice returned to the line.

"Where is the location? Over.

"That's the crazy part," Erin said, tapping her finger on the console. "Boss, it is right in the middle of Death's Yard. Over."

Again, another pause gave Erin time to gather her thoughts. Death's Yard was a ruined portion of the nightsea where accidents were common. Storms raged across that part of the nightsea, and it was right in the middle of a massive debris field. Rumors had it that several islands in that region were destroyed suddenly and without warning. All that was left were their remains.

Ships didn't come back out from Death's Yard. That was where they went to die.

"What secrets might lie there?" The voice crackled over the speakers. "Such a horrible place to try and go, but what better place to hide a secret? Is it your intent to follow the coordinates? Over."

Erin licked her lips. It was a promising possibility, but there was so much risk attached. She didn't think her ship would survive the trip to begin with. It was so small that it might be ripped to shreds just by the debris field. According to the stories, that wasn't accounting for the storms or the various other monsters that supposedly roamed there.

Granted, how did the stories come back to be stories if no one ever returned?

"Ortega wants to try it, and 'Sword Saint' Sayed is backing him up," Erin said. "If my mission is to keep an eye on them and the logbook, I will have to go in. Over."

Part of her wished that her boss would recall that mission, but she knew the chance of that. After she had reported that Ortega was an artificially created curse user, her boss had made clear in no uncertain terms that she had to keep track of him. Anyone in the People's Revolution had orders to send information on 'Tin Man' Ortega back to their superiors. She had just been unlucky enough to actually run into him.

"That is your mission priority. We don't have the resources to force Ortega to come in, and if we did, he might do to us what he did to August. He is safer being watched. If he accomplishes tasks that align with our own goals, even better. Over."

Erin sighed. There went that hope. She looked over to where the logbook lay on the console beside her. How easy it would have been to just run away with the logbook and give the job to someone else. She preferred to work on infiltration and stealth missions, not getting directly involved.

"How is my garden doing? Over," Erin asked.

"Being watered daily by the initiates." She could hear the smile in her boss's voice. "You'll have more seeds at your disposal when you come back, and if you need any more, we can get them shipped to you. Over."

That was good. If there was one thing that Erin was proud of after she came to Erth, it was her garden. She had plants from all the places she visited there, vines and flowers, and everything else that caught her eye. In part, it was from her training as a healer. Plants of all kinds have always had a use in medicine. However, in a more selfish part of her, she wanted them because they were nice to have. That was something she kept strictly to herself.

"Anything else you need from me, boss? Over." Erin asked.

"Just be safe. Over." Her boss chuckled softly over the line before the sound cut out.

Click.

Erin smiled as she hit the red button one final time and ended the communication. She knew better than anyone that the revolution had good people in it. They may have to make hard choices sometimes, and the mission always came first, but they were good people.

She leaned back in her chair and took a deep breath. She was going to be stuck with the two insane men who were currently actively damaging her ship with their antics for a while. If she were lucky, their brashness would sort itself out, and she could escape. If she wasn't, they might take her down with their decisions someday.

"It is for the mission," she told herself as she stood and went to the door.

"You did good, brother," Sayed said, reaching a hand down, and Alex took it.

"That kick wasn't fair." Alex shook his head as he brushed off the remnants of a crate from his body and took a deep breath.

That was one other crate that wouldn't be a problem for their living space on the ship, but in Alex's mind, the entire place was just too small. He couldn't fault Erin for that, but they needed a bigger ship if they would go forward together. For Sayed's sake, if no one else.

How does a person tell a friend they need to get a better apartment so they can all be roommates? That was the closest analogy Alex could think of, but then it raised the question of whether Erin was his friend yet. He brushed that off.

"Again?" Sayed asked, taking a stance.

Click.

The door to the inside of the ship answered that question, and Erin walked out from the deck through the now open door. For a moment, the three of them stood on the deck, the ambient quiet of the nightsea wrapping around them.

"How did you mysterious bosses take the news?" Alex asked with a smile.

"They told me I'm stuck with both of you." Erin's mouth drew a thin line. "Unfortunately, we don't have the resources to send anyone else out here."

"So, we're going together?" Alex asked.

"Three brothers on a grand adventure." Sayed laughed, drawing himself up to his full towering height and spreading his arms wide. What sights will we see? What stories shall we forge? There is no limit to what we can do together!"

"Yes," Erin answered Alex's question, ignoring Sayed.

"Alright," Alex said. "Now, you said something about a 'yard of death'?'"

"Death's Yard is where the coordinates point to," Erin said, walking over to the deck railing and looking out over the darkness of the nightsea. "That's the first problem we have. We need a way to get in there. This ship isn't going to be good enough to survive entry."

Alex nodded as she spoke. That would be a problem, which would also solve their space problem. Who was he to not go along with a solution that fixed multiple things at once? The question was, what could solve the problem?

"You're implying that there exist ships that can survive in it," Alex said, going over to the railing, leaning with his back against it, and propping himself up on his elbow.

"The Military Police's ships are built for the toughest places," Erin said. "If we could get our hands on a cruiser class ship, that might be able to get into Death's Yard and survive the debris field. They also have some shielding technology that would push back against the debris. They are large but not as big as a destroyer or a battleship, so we could pilot one together. I just don't know how we can get our hands on one. They destroy ships when they decommission them."

"I mean," Alex said, looking over to Sayed. "When you can't get it the legal way, there's always a second option. We could just hijack one."

Erin turned to him with wide eyes. He didn't think she hadn't thought of that option, but it was more like the option itself was too dangerous to consider. Alex smiled back, doing his best to feign that he wasn't worried about it.

"That's insane," Erin said, shaking her head.

"All we need is one, right? We find one that isn't being watched properly and steal it. If we pull off the job right, we get the ship and can use it while no one is the wiser. It'll increase our bounties if they find out, but it isn't like we're not outlaws already."

"And we have already played the role of sneak thieves." Sayed nodded, crossing his arms. "While I do not wish to be one at all times if it is necessary to help, I will become one again."

"See, Sayed gets it," Alex said, giving a thumbs up to Sayed.

"Every ship has at least a captain and a lieutenant on it," Erin said, raising two fingers. "They won't be easy to beat."

Alex grimaced. That was true. The only reason they had been able to beat Captain Hawkins and Lieutenant Tanis on Cragg Hollow was because they were being controlled. He still wasn't sure he could take either of them in a one-on-one fight and walk away. Captain Hawkins alone had been too strong. However, they didn't necessarily need to beat whoever was in charge of the ship. They just needed an opportune moment.

"That's where a plan comes in," Alex said, raising one finger. "I don't know if you remember, but I am the master of making plans. All we need to do is make sure we strike at the right time, and we won't have to worry about those things. We can take it and be away before anyone knows better."

"I don't like it." Erin shook her head.

"Come on." Alex sighed. "I know I don't always get it right, but haven't we been through enough together for you to put a little trust in me?"

Erin gave him a look that told him she had no trust in him and that she thought he was insane. Alex could have been reading her wrong, though.

"I'll put out a call for more information on any cruisers in our area." Erin deflated with a sigh, pushing herself up from the railing. "We might be able to find something, but if we don't, we'll need to figure out something else."

"That's all I can really ask for," Alex said, looking over the nightsea around them.

In the darkness of the nightsea, islands glowed bright white, forming tiny islands of light in the sea of darkness. Each was a new possibility, a new land with new people to meet and things to see. Alex smiled. If his plan didn't work, there could be an endless number of possibilities to use to get into Death's Yard. All he needed was time.

With those thoughts in mind, they sailed off into the nightsea.

"You're fired."

The words stung Antonio Fettucine as he sat on the docks at Lastport. He had his suitcase beside him, full of the implements of his trade, and the clothes on his back. He had nothing else to his name besides his skills as a chef.

"It is all their fault," he whispered, tears flowing freely from his eyes as he looked out over the sea before him. "They are the reason that I no longer have a home. They are why I am stuck here, bereft of my work."

He reached up and rubbed at his eyes. What life did a chef have if he wasn't allowed to cook? How would he live without the patronage of Lord Landry? Those questions ate at him the same way the swordsman's blade had eaten through his noodle wall.

"Was I not loyal enough? Had I not sacrificed enough for you, my lord? What more would you have me do?"

The questions came out in blubbers, like a too-wet dough as he tried to work it. It didn't stick together. Antonio reached into his pocket and pulled out his silver watch, a gift from Lord Landry from the good times.

"Where should I go? What should I do?"

Crack. Thump.

"Eh, get a move on, or we'll run you through!"

Antonio looked up only to see a crowd of people around two men. Both of them held up swords to the crowd, and they carried another man in chains between them. They seemed to be a boisterous group, but Antonio didn't know why they were so angry.

"This here's 'Mad Dog' Butch. If you get too close, he'll bite your hand off before we hand him off to the authorities!"

Bounty hunters. Antonio knew about the trade. They would take the bounties issued by the various authorities in the world and cash them in. A lot of money was caught up in the business, and almost anyone willing to risk their life could take up the trade.

Antonio stood up, wiping away his tears from his drying eyes.

He wondered if the ruffians who had attacked the manor had bounties. If they did, could he track them down himself? He had his knife skills honed from his time as a chef. He had his curse, which allowed him to produce noodles of various degrees of hardness and malleability. He could find out if they had bounties and use his abilities to bring them in.

Maybe then, Lord Landry might forgive him.

With a smile, Antonio Fettucine made off after the two outlaws. He had questions aplenty and was sure they might have the answers. Joy lit up in his heart for the first time after he had been fired.

"I will find you, ruffians," he told himself as he walked. "And when I do, you will rue the day you crossed ex-head chef of the manor, Antonio Fettucine!"