“Your soul left its vessel to escape the trauma. Etyne’s soul brought it back. The flashbacks are your spirit’s post traumatic stress from everything it has encountered in the past few weeks. Etyne, no doubt, has suffered a bout of depression from his own spirit’s experience of retrieving yours,” she explained. “His soul now knows everything yours went through.”
Brisethi remained silent upon the dire news.
“Both his spirit and yours are mourning, Captain, just as a spirit mourns when it’s bonded mate returns to the Sea of Renewal. I wouldn’t fret too much if he is distancing himself from you. Time will heal you both.” The corpsman handed Brisethi her orders that were to be given to Lieutenant Vazeley upon return to her division and sent her on her way.
Chapter VIII
“How was your examination? They’re letting you stay in, right?” Etyne asked, genuinely concerned for his companion.
They were seated alone in the captain’s ready room once more for an afternoon brief of the plan of the week.
“I have to have a baby-sitter for two years but yeah, they’re letting me keep my job,” she grinned. “I guess I should have asked you not to mention my flashbacks in your logs,” she mumbled.
“You didn’t report them?” He was taken aback by her lack of integrity.
“Etyne, I’m trying to not get sent home, of course I didn’t log it – but thank you, for somehow convincing the corpsman that I have them under control.” She wasn’t upset at him, but annoyed that she didn’t think to talk to him first to compare their reports.
He leaned in after confirmation that no one was around. “If it’s any consolation,” he quietly told her, “I didn’t report your paintings on the wall.”
“I appreciate it,” she quietly replied. “I’ll never quite remember what drove me to use my own blood as paint.” She absently rubbed her arm where the scabs had been.
“I can imagine why anyone would lose their sanity in a place like that. You needed a distraction and painting is your pastime. I would have been more concerned if you had painted with feces,” he chuckled.
Brisethi laughed. “You’re fucking gross,” she lightly smacked his arm. “Did I ever tell you how two days after you gave me that Bearsethi name, Antuni asked me, ‘does a Bearsethi shit in the woods?’”
Etyne laughed. “I actually told him to ask you that, I figured it was more his style of humor.”
“I just figured you two shared a brain,” she commented then changed the topic. “Are you looking forward to five more days of sea life on a warship just to go back to sea for another year with your division on the small Reliant?”
“I am just incredibly happy that I finally have my own space again, away from the three of you women,” he said, half joking.
“Ah, come on, we’re not that bad,” she playfully kicked at his feet under the table to contradict her own words.
He withdrew his legs to cross them at the ankles beneath his chair. “Not that bad?” he repeated. He pitched his voice an octave higher, “‘Hey, Etyne, let’s stop at that stream so I can bathe for a third time today’; ‘Hey Captain, did you happen to bring any spices or did you lose those, too?’ ‘Sir, respectfully request for you to take control of Captain Sen Asel’s craziness’.”
Brisethi laughed hysterically at his terrible impersonations of her, Korteni, and Livian.
“I hope to never have daughters,” he concluded.
“I hope you have ten daughters, a set of twins every five years!” She teased in a hiss.
“Well it’s a good thing I’m attracted to Resarians so that the most I’ll have is two - ever,” he smirked, knowing it was physically impossible for Resarian women to bear more than two children in a lifetime, but quite the opposite for Kiarans and the rest of the world.
A sudden realization at his words struck Brisethi when she recalled that her people embodied the spirits of dragons, a mythical faith recently revealed as fact to her. No wonder we struggle to have multiple offspring, there aren’t enough dragon spirits for all of us, she thought to herself. If I bring Kiarans back and their children are born with their returned spirits, will there be less of my people once more?
Captain Maerc Nessel and Chief Kayula entered the ready room, taking their usual seats on either side of the table. The captain placed a small, smooth box and two devices in front of them. “The future of communications is nigh,” the captain joyfully expressed.
Brisethi was inclined to touch it but the naval captain swatted her hand away. He then handed one of the small, oval devices to Etyne and ordered him to find a quiet area in the aft of the ship.
“Sir, may I go with him or do you need me?” Brisethi was curious of the event about to transpire.
Captain Nessel stared at her momentarily. “Yes, go do whatever it is you army type do just don’t get in the way of my sailors.”
“Aye, Sir,” she replied and followed after Etyne.
Etyne leaned against the bulkhead on the lowest deck of the ship where supplies and ammunition securely scattered the cargo hold. Brisethi was sitting upon a large crate across from him, staring at the device he held in his hand. Neither spoke a word, waiting for whatever was supposed to happen.
Their silence was interrupted by the sound of Captain Nessel’s voice transmitting through the oval apparatus which began radiating turquoise light. Both were startled by the sounds and lights, causing Brisethi to jump from the crate to listen more intently to the device.
“Captain Vorsen, if you can hear me, press the button on the front of the device and voice your response,” the voice in the device said.
Both army captains were instantly impressed. Etyne pressed the button with his thumb and awkwardly replied into the inanimate object. “Captain, this is Vorsen, I hear you loud and clear.” He kept his eyes on Brisethi if only to assure himself he was talking to a person and not an object.
She was grinning like a child and wanting to hold the device to have her turn at it. He handed it to her and she instantly pressed the button to speak. “Captain Nessel! This is Captain Sen Asel. I heard you, too, are you hearing us?” She handed the device back to Etyne.
A moment later, Captain Nessel’s voice transmitted again. “Yes, I heard both of you; keep chattering over the device while I tune the frequencies. State your names, rank, identification and chain of command if you can’t think of a story to tell me.”
Etyne cleared his throat and pressed the button again. “This is Captain Etyne Vorsen, Dominion Army, identification number six-two-five-five-four-zero. Next to me is Captain Brisethi Sen Asel, Dominion Army, identification number,” he held the device to her.
“Identification number six-two-five-five-nine-nine,” she stated.
“Fifty-nine recruits after me, were you the last person added to the division?” Etyne asked, still holding the button.
“Yes, actually, I was, according to the recruiter. The division was waiting on one more person to start the expedition, and I was just waiting for my twentieth birthday to enlist,” she grinned.
“Oh, I suppose that makes sense, considering you were born four months after me,” he replied. When neither of them had anything else to say he continued with their chain of command. “Major Paush is our direct commander who reports directly to Colonel Pelinara. After him is Lieutenant General Zadden followed by commander of the Dominion, General Satnir.”
“You forgot,” she started to speak but Etyne had released the button. She grabbed his hand and forcefully squeezed his thumb to press it again, “And lest we never forget, the glorious Emperor Arquistas, ruler of all of Sariadne,” she dramatically stated then released her grasp on Etyne’s hand. She grinned at him when he rolled his eyes.
“Outstanding, you two,” the naval captain replied. “You may return to the ready room with the communication device.”
“On our way,” Etyne replied into the device one last time.
Etyne entered the ready room alone, having walked Brisethi back to the main d
eck to go about her own business. He placed the device on the table, complementing Nessel on his spectacular work. “This is incredible, Sir, how did you invent this? Just a few years ago we were told in officer training that you were implementing the idea of ranged communication. What’s the range of these?” Etyne could hardly contain his excitement.
Captain Nessel grinned with pride and handed the army captain a stack of papers with various schematics and equations scribbled upon them. “The glassy stone,” he said, pointing to the box made of the material, “was harvested from the southern volcano which, when fused by our mystics, works as a sort of transmitter. It has to be powered by our mystics but can hold a charge for years before needing the Resarian touch again. I’ve engineered the stones and mystics to form wavelengths for our voices to carry over on a bandwidth across short distances. When our voices are impressed upon a signal it is demodulated and sent back out to any one device set on the correct frequency. The length of the Sovereign is the farthest I’ve been able to communicate thus far.”
Etyne was enthralled by his lecture and casually studied the first few pages of the Captain’s work before speaking, “Sir, would you mind briefly summarizing the physics of this? I’m completely intrigued by your invention and may have a theory on how to increase the strength of these ‘signals’ of yours.”
Captain Nessel grinned widely. “I thought you’d never ask, Mr. Vorsen,” he excitedly gestured for him to have a seat and began his first lesson of basic modulation.
-:- -:- -:-
“Mystic transmission captures our voice as a signal and instantly sends it to a transmitter. Our mystics supply energy to facilitate voice transmission across a communication channel. I’ll be spending the next few days assisting the captain with formulating a solution to modulating our signals for longer distances,” Etyne explained to the three women at the table in the galley that afternoon when they reconvened to share a meal and a game of Fates of the Enchanted.
Brisethi, Korteni, and Livian each stared at him, completely mystified by the words coming out of his mouth. Korteni had made the mistake of asking Etyne why he was so tired. The reply had been a drawn-out lecture to them about engineered communication mystics, and he even drew diagrams on the back of a piece of paper from his pocket.
Brisethi could tell he was passionate about this new system and tried her best to pay attention to him. “Etyne, this is very fascinating, it really is. But every time you say the words, ‘mod-u-lation’ or ‘trans-mission’, I’m that much closer to grabbing your pistol and shooting you in the throat,” she blatantly stated before placing a card down for her turn and initializing an attack on his cards.
“That’s the violent response I expected from you, Bear, are you sure you wouldn’t want to just maul me?” he smirked, roughly patting her on the back. Since he had spent most of their game talking about the Captain’s new development, he found himself losing the round. Meanwhile, Korteni had retained much of what he’d said and even asked questions about their scientific processes to further her knowledge. Livian was as lost as Brisethi but wasn’t as ready to silence Etyne by way of threatening to end his life.
The following days at sea found the four friends tending to their own tasks. Korteni had befriended Chief Kayula and both introduced Livian to various shipboard procedures, readying her for the next year she would spend on board the Reliant. Most of their time was spent on the top deck tying knots and intricate lanyards out of twine while swapping sea stories. Livian found an unexpected calm when focusing on making ropes and lanyards with the two chiefs.
“Are you planning on staying in the Dominion or lifelong reserves?” Chief Kayula asked Livian. He shielded his eyes from the evening sun piercing the clear skies to better see the young girl when she replied.
Livian reluctantly diverted her concentration from her rope. “I’m definitely going officer. I don’t like how weak our people have become lately. We need to fortify our defenses, build more ships, and recruit more soldiers and sailors. The Lantheuns are so advanced, how could we think to ever stand against such a powerful people?”
“Have you seen the new dreadnought-class, Retribution?” Korteni asked. She was leaning against the railing, staring down at the Sovereign’s edged bow piercing through the ocean waves.
Livian shook her head then stood up to stretch her legs, slightly annoyed that she couldn’t be left alone. She joined Korteni at the railing, “I’ve never heard of it.”
“That’s because it hasn’t been commissioned as a Dominion Service Vessel yet. It’s the first engine ship made of steel to have been developed for the Dominion. It’s three times bigger than this ship, made to withstand entire fleets and obliterate whole commands,” Korteni explained. “They’re almost done building it. Captain Nessel had a lot of input on it and will most certainly have his communication device installed upon it.”
“I hate the thought of sea life but I would love to see this new destructive ship. Why don’t we have airships like the Lantheuns?” Livian asked.
“Bah, airships are impractical,” Kayuela scoffed. “They’re easily taken out and are only as fast as our sailing ships. With the right mystic-powered Resarian sailors, the Retribution will be faster than any other ship in existence,”
“Don’t the Kiarans already have steel ships powered by steam or coal?” Livian pressed.
“They’re still new to them, working out the kinks and flaws and amount of steam power needed to propel one of them. If we hope to defend against their firepower, however, we need to keep up with their advances and do away with wooden ships for good,” Kayula replied.
Korteni pouted her lips. “I’m going to miss wooden ships and their sails – they’re so majestic. Steel ships are just – bland.”
“It’ll take at least five more years until the Retribuion’s commissioned and then another twenty years to mass produce them,” Kayula told her with a smile. “You’ll get a little more time out of your toy ships yet.”
-:- -:- -:-
Brisethi had been given permission to borrow a few books from Captain Nessel’s cabin. She took advantage of the wardroom where she requisitioned a desk for herself to study up on Aspion Empire history, politics and economy.
One of the other navy officers, Lieutenant Sieter, offered to help her study. She had learned more about him in six days than she knew about her own closest friends due to his overwhelming ability to talk incessantly. She could recount how old his wife was, how they met, the names of their two daughters, his past five commands and the ships he served on. They shared stories of each continent and port he visited compared to her one instance on Trycinea. Never before had she met another man who could ramble on about uninteresting things as much as he could. Her politeness had prevented her from turning him away, and, every time he brought up a story, she would counter it with one from her admiral father’s past.
Brisethi quickly realized that the life of a sailor was a lonely one when out to sea with the same hundred people for months at a time. No wonder they were easy to talk to when a stranger was among their crew. If all navy officers and senior enlisted shared the ability to talk others to death, she nearly feared her next two years with Lieutenant Vazeley.
When she wasn’t struggling to retain the knowledge of the Aspion Empire and their main capital, Beccilia, she was in the cargo hold with Korteni and Livian for strength training. They didn’t risk using weapons in the small amount of space and focused only on hand-to-hand techniques. Korteni would spar with Brisethi to wear her down to allow Livian to train with her. Livian was apprehensive to strike the officer at first, but when Brisethi finally taunted her by way of a light smack to the cheek, she held nothing back. Livian longed to fight the way she had seen Brisethi and Etyne before. Unfortunately, Brisethi managed to block every throw at her.
“You’ll learn most of those moves in officer training,” Brisethi told her, reassuring the girl after a particularly rough bout. “Here, I’ll teach you the first moves they sh
owed us.” She held her hands out to Livian. “First, you need to take me down.”
Livian scrunched her forehead in confusion and grabbed Brisethi’s hands. She pulled on them but Brisethi didn’t move. She held them tighter and pulled harder, only slightly nudging her.
Brisethi scoffed. “Korteni, go find Etyne, she probably doesn’t remember the move. Just tell him it will only be ten minutes,” she ordered.
“On it,” Korteni replied and scurried off.
Brisethi grabbed Livian’s hands this time and pulled her forward off-balance, quickly knocking her down, with her back to the deck.
“How did you do that?” Livian stood suddenly, wanting to try again.
“I’ll come at you and you need to focus on grabbing my hands and shoving me to the deck, using your body as a counterbalance to mine,” Brisethi instructed. She took a few steps back and ran toward Livian.
Livian dismissed her basic expedition training of blocking and did as she was told. She stepped back and took hold of Brisethi’s hands, pulling her to the ground with her instead of remaining standing. Brisethi fell on her and rolled to alleviate the impact.
“It’s a start,” she chuckled and helped Livian to her feet.
“What’s so important that you needed me down here? I swear if it’s a question about that damn card game,” Etyne said as he arrived.
“Livian doesn’t remember how to fight,” Brisethi teased.
“I know how to fight!” Livian shouted back, breathing heavily.
“Ladies, I’m exhausted and won’t be going to sleep until hour four at the earliest-“
“Good - defend yourself!” Brisethi interrupted and shoved him forcefully into a stack of crates.
Korteni and Livian cheered when he immediately retaliated with a backhand aimed at her face but she was quick to dodge.
“No mystics!” She shouted in a grunt when he kicked her. She wanted to establish the one rule before he could disappear into spirit form.
She held onto his foot and pulled him forward to meet her elbow but he deflected it and pulled free. Every move they had taught each other suddenly felt fresh in her memory. She moved as agile as a cat and pounced upon her prey. Etyne dodged her incoming fists and grabbed her hands, pulling her forward this time in an attempt to knock her to the deck. She rolled instead, followed by her swinging her legs to trip him. He fell hard to the deck and quickly blocked more of her punches and kicks. He leapt up and tackled Brisethi, but she used her feet to throw him behind her. When they both got to their feet, he waited for her to attack. As she leapt toward him, he grabbed her by the waist and flung her into the same crates he had met earlier. The crates broke on impact and she had to flare her fire mystic to burn any splinters attempting to pierce her flesh.
Spirits of Falajen Page 41
