by R. J. Batla
Celeste reached down and pulled water up from the ocean, intending to pull one of the pirates down into the depths, but he Pushed against the wave she’d called up and then rocketed upward, landing next to Celeste. Surprised, she ducked as he swung for her head. She reacted instinctively, stepping forward and stabbing the man in the chest with her sword when she saw an opening.
Her heart thudded so hard in her chest, she felt it in her ears. The man hit the deck, blood spilling out in an expanding pool.
She’d killed him. In one smooth motion, she’d killed the man. Jamison’s sword plus her skill had been too much for the pirate; he hadn’t stood a chance.
Celeste had known it was highly likely she would have to take a life when she joined the navy, but that didn’t mean the first time was easy. Her first kill. On her first mission. Her mind and body both froze, despite her best efforts to get them going. She knew she shouldn’t be standing still, she should be moving, but she couldn’t bring herself to budge. This wasn’t the same as practice – this was too real. Too vivid.
Blood continued to pool on the deck as she watched, transfixed. Slowly it built up, then followed a groove, flowing right toward her foot.
Stark red against the brown of the deck.
Caused by her.
“CAPTAIN!” Mate screamed in her ear. “We need you here, Captain!”
With a shake of her head, she regained her senses and her training kicked in: process later, grieve later, fight now.
“Welcome back,” he said, eyes searching for any injury. “Those jet boats are causing damage – they have Fire Senturians. You’re the only level-twelve water Senturian on board; we need your help!”
She nodded, reaching inside herself to pull on her power, readying for action. She and Mate raced to the starboard side, where two Senturians on a jet boat were blasting at them with fire. Three other jet boats were in process of sinking, their rider’s bodies floating in the water.
Celeste calmed her mind and slipped into a neutral stance, relying on her crew to protect her while she worked. Arrows and flashes of elemental powers flew everywhere, but she paid no attention. With the water under her command, she raised her arms. Beside the jet boat, hands of ocean water, mirroring her own, erupted out the water, grabbing the combatants right off their boat. Preparing to squeeze, suddenly the two pirates were jerked away, two tendrils of water pulling them to waiting jet boats.
It seems they want to test me. Let’s see their Water Senturians deal with this…
She twirled around and thrust her arms forward. Ten jets of water shot from near the base of the ship, each the size of a fist with a blunt, frozen tip, targeting the pirates. The pirates struggled to deflect the powerful blasts; only four of them managed to block the attacks. Six others were knocked from their rides. Celeste followed that up with ten more water jets, and another ten, then another ten, all slamming into bodies and boats with the force of a battering ram, splintering wood and smashing body parts.
That quickly, the threat was nullified, with thirty-odd dead pirates floating in the water. Celeste breathed heavily, a little tired from her exertion, but other than that, she was unscathed. A small ache stirred in her heart, but it wasn’t as strong as before. Was she already getting used to killing people? Celeste looked around – all the jet boats had been destroyed, and –
“On the bow! Boarding party!” a Tempus sailor shouted. Celeste turned and saw a gang of sixty pirates crest over the stern of their own ship and rushed down the bow hooks onto the Ajax.
The jet boats had been a distraction – and it had worked. Instead of being the aggressors, now the Ajax had been boarded.
“Push them back, Tempus!” Celeste called, hurrying to the front of the Ajax and engaging a pirate. Their blades met only two times before Celeste flicked his sword away and pierced his heart with a thrust. As he fell, she saw a whole lot more pirates coming over the edge of their ship – a lot more than there should have been on a ship that size. They were greatly outnumbered – had she led her men and women into a trap? At this point it was too late; she had to fight on.
Water, fire, and air powers streaked and exploded around her as the Tempus met the pirates in battle, stalling their advance and keeping them to the front of the ship. Each Tempus was the equal of ten pirates, their skill with the blade and their powers giving them the advantage over the rogues who pressed on them. It showed as the deck of the ship quickly began filling with dead pirates.
Reaching down her leg, Celeste threw three knives in quick succession, taking down three more pirates before they were able to get on board her ship, then brought up a shield of ice to block an attack from another to her left. She saw none of her crew down, and the pirates were steadily giving ground.
“Tempus, form a phalanx! Ready ice shields!” Celeste yelled, rallying her troops. Quickly the Tempus drew water from the ocean, forming round shields and spears with ice. “Forward!” Celeste yelled, Mate calling out a tempo for the sailors to move to in unison. The Tempus advanced systematically, pushing back the pirates who died around them thanks to steel or powers, the Tempus sailors cutting them down like wheat. They were going to win; they had this in the bag. Once the vessel was secure, Celeste could figure out what was going on with the whales and why these pirates were grouping together.
Glancing over the water, Celeste saw a slight ripple on the surface, completely unrelated to the wind. A roar reverberated underwater, so powerful that it vibrated the Ajax where she sat. The pirates pulled back and the Tempus all froze in place. The water around the ship began to bubble and froth.
Suddenly hundreds of tentacles as thick as tree trunks erupted from the water, many attempting to wrap around members of the crew of the Ajax, others wrapping themselves around the masts, the stern, the bow.
Oddly enough, none came for Celeste – the tentacles avoided her like they were allergic to her. Like she had an invisible ball around her, the tentacles never got within two feet, which meant she couldn’t hit them with her sword. Switching tactics, she directed tight streams of water under high pressure, slicing and puncturing the squirming appendages as they weaved around her until she was entirely surrounded by the cephalopod, almost blocking her view of the battle.
The Tempus sailors slashed at the incoming appendages with swords and water powers, severing squirming flesh and trying to avoid getting caught. They dodged, blocked, and attacked while fighting the pirates at the same time, but the squid was persistent and, within thirty seconds, all hands were captured and held in place by tentacles.
The only Tempus left standing was Celeste. She frantically looked around, surrounded by captured crew members held aloft, and fully armed pirates all staring at her, yet not attacking.
A conch shell trumpet sounded in the distance, breaking the silence. The pirates retreated, slowly moving back to their ship, while the tentacles held the crew still.
Celeste pulled water into her fist, freezing it into a spear, about to hurl it at the tentacle holding Mate, but a voice behind her said, “I wouldn’t do that. My associate here might squeeze ever so slightly and kill him. It would be like crushing a grape.”
The same man who was in my cabin! She turned around, finding him a mere three yards away, sword drawn and staring right at her. This time he wasn’t in a dark cabin, but in the full sun, yet the shadows clung to him, falling from his dark hat, mostly obscuring his features. Here and there, the darkness receded momentarily to reveal blue skin. Tempus skin. And that meant he was a traitor.
Anger burned inside Celeste, despite her situation. “Whoever you are, you are Tempus. You know our laws. By Tempus decree, and by the authority as a captain in the navy, I declare you guilty of treason. You’ve attacked a Tempus Navy vessel. Your punishment is death, to be carried out immediately.”
Celeste stepped toward him, pulling more power and water, ready to strike him down for being the scum he was. He made a simple hand motion, and one of the crew members wrapped in a tentacle squawked,
then gagged as he was squeezed. Celeste froze, unable to look away as the man was crushed until he burst like a balloon, his blood oozing out of the gaps in the tentacles. Gore splattered onto the deck.
She saw red. “Murderer!” Celeste started to advance again, but the stranger spoke, halting her in her tracks.
“Do you really want to lose another crew member?” Her nostrils flared, but she just managed to calm down enough to stop and shake her head. The man cocked his head like he was grinning. “Didn’t think so. I told you once, now I’m telling you again: leave this business alone. Consider this your final warning. Next time I will not call off my dogs. I will let them tear every nail from this ship and kill every person on board. You will be the last. You will have to watch them die, watch them squirm, watch them bleed until finally it’s your turn. Do you understand?”
Not dignifying him with an answer enraged the man and he screamed, “DO YOU UNDERSTAND?”
She simply nodded, gripping her sword tighter.
“Good. Leave this ocean and do not return. Limp back home and do not let me catch you again. Good day, Captain.”
The man snapped his fingers and made a motion with his left hand, then dove over the side of the Ajax. With a groan, the tentacles unceremoniously dropped the crew of the Ajax and then broke the bow hooks and removed the bolt from the rudder, releasing the pirate ship. The tentacles squirmed and flopped, then in quick succession, snapped both the foremast and the mainmast, sending them crashing toward the deck and her crew.
Celeste and several uninjured Tempus jerked their hands upward. “Brace!” they screamed in unison, seawater surging upwards to catch both masts before they smashed into the deck. There were a few seconds of uncertainty, but the Tempus finally secured their grip on the massive wooden beams, then they slowly maneuvered them down to the deck.
Celeste looked up in time to see the pirate ship sailing away, much too fast and too far away for them to chase even if they had a full contingent of sails.
Chapter 9
After tending to the multiple wounded and giving the five casualties a proper burial at sea, Celeste and Mate met at the wheel to assess the Ajax. The ship was in bad shape. Both forward masts broken, rails damaged, guns scattered but mostly intact. Thankfully the hull was mostly undamaged, only a couple of small holes in the side and some scorch marks where fires had been extinguished. Other than the masts, most of the damage could be repaired within a day. Wylie checked her maps, and found that the Ajax had traveled a significant distance out to sea during their chase and battle.
But by far the worst part was the loss of five crew members. Though hardened sailors all, the men and women all seemed downtrodden. No Tempus had ever encountered such dangerous creatures and lived to tell the tale, such power, such enormous strength. Whispered worries circulated, buzzing in Celeste’s ears while her mind frantically tried to sort through the situation.
They never taught us how to handle this at the Bastion. It was never this hard. They never told me it would be this hard.
“You know it’s bad luck if the mainmast breaks. What do they call it when you lose two masts?” John said.
It was odd that the Tempus traitor had left them any masts at all. It was a deliberate action, breaking two of the three masts. With only one mast left, the Ajax could make it home, but that was about it. Almost like he wanted the Tempus to live but not be a threat to him in the near future - the Tempus could Push the Ajax for short bursts, but on long voyages they needed wind power. But why leave them alive? Wouldn’t it be smarter to just kill them and capsize the ship?
“We should turn back while we can,” a sailor said from below her.
“Let someone else deal with these pirates,” someone else said.
This wasn’t good. Celeste had to do something or they were going to mutiny. She would lose their respect. Getting ahold of herself, she stepped forward. “I want all the crew on deck in five minutes, Mate.”
“Aye, Captain.” Mate gave the orders, and quickly the entire crew was assembled before her as she stood on the rail overlooking the main deck.
Celeste paused. The traitor’s warning hung over her head, that he’d kill her entire crew if they followed him. Was it fair to risk the lives of her crew when they had already been beaten so easily? But at the same time, who else would stop him? Who else was in a position to do anything about this threat?
“Ladies and gentlemen, let’s remain calm and think this through. Clearly, we are up against a more prepared and more powerful enemy than we had previously thought. But, now we know what we are fighting, and next time, we’ll have the advantage.”
Some sailors grumbled, but they were few and at a lower volume, so she pressed on. “Did you join the mighty Tempus Navy to turn back when it got a little tough? To give up and call for someone else to do your duty for you?” A few heads turned. “I’d wager you didn’t. I’d wager you’d fight for another chance to even the odds, to even the score. Because the enemy thinks they’ve got us on the ropes, it means we’ve got the advantage of a surprise attack. We can catch them while they’re sleeping.”
Her crew was starting to nod, and she could see the steel and confidence returning to their stance. “That being said, let’s not be hasty or stupid. We’re in bad shape. We need help if we can get it, and even more than that, we need a place to heal and to repair our ship. But that doesn’t mean we’re out of this fight yet. Wylie?”
The navigator stuck her head out of the crowd. “Ma’am?”
“What’s the closest land to our current location?”
“Saginaw Island, ma’am. One hundred fifty miles south of here.”
“Does it have the resources we need to fix the Ajax?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Perfect. Thank you, Wylie. The first thing we need to do is get somewhere that we can repair our ship. Here is the plan. As soon as I’m done here, I’ll call in to Watuaga to make sure reinforcements are on their way. We’ll travel to Saginaw, make repairs, and by the time our forces get here, we’ll join them in the fight. Are you with me?”
Half the crew yelled, the other half gave a halfhearted cheer.
“I said are you with me?” Celeste yelled, pumping her fist and sending a spray of water skyward from the stern of the ship.
This time they all yelled back, and Celeste grinned. “Much better! Now let’s get this ship moving again! Poteet, take the wheel and direct us to Saginaw Island. Wylie, come with me and we’ll call it in to HQ.”
Celeste turned on her heel to another cheer from her crew, as behind her boots ran across the deck, and sails and rigging were hoisted from the one remaining mast.
Wylie ran up beside her. “Inspiring speech, ma’am.”
Celeste laughed. “Glad you thought so.” Wylie opened the door for her, and both stepped into the navigation room. “Is the telestone ready?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Celeste walked over and grabbed the handheld stone speaker with the coiled cord running to the main unit and keyed the mic to speak.
Nothing. Nothing happened. No response from the unit, not even static. Not good. The navigator looked aghast. “Captain, I maintain my equipment meticulously. I sent a message this morning and it worked perfectly.”
Celeste checked it again. Still nothing. Damnit. “Any idea what could be wrong?”
She was taken aback. “Ma’am, I…I…I don’t know.” Wylie ran over to the main unit, lifting the top of the box for the device. “It’s been stolen, Captain! The telestone’s gone! But, ah, here we go: the backup telestone.” She opened a flap on the side of the main unit that once housed the telestone and sent a pulse of blue energy into the device, entered a numerical code into a keypad, and the unit beeped.
Along the left wall, a panel popped open, and the navigator ran over to it, pulling out an identical box. Wylie plugged in the handheld speaker and keyed it. Again, there was no response, not even static. Wylie gasped, opening up this unit and finding nothing once a
gain. The telestone in the backup unit was gone too.
Now Celeste gulped. Every Tempus vessel was equipped with this feature: the keypad on the back of the unit and the additional, hidden emergency telestone. Every Tempus officer and navigator knew about this feature – and they were the only ones who knew any of the codes. It had been one of the first things Mate had shown her on the tour. They didn’t teach them this at the Bastion – only Tempus officers and navigators knew of this particular backup plan, so anyone disabling the original unit would completely miss the failsafe hidden for just such an occasion. Part of Mate’s tour of the ship included informing Celeste of this information as the new captain.
Only someone well informed and familiar with Tempus naval design would know how to fully disable all the telestones on a Tempus ship.
Which means the traitor was not only a Tempus, but more than likely a high ranking one.
Letting Mate take care of sailing the crippled Ajax, Celeste almost wore a path in the wood in her cabin from pacing back and forth deep in thought. Wylie was her constant companion, helping the captain to pore over maps, history books, old captain’s logs – anything to help figure out what was going on. Why were these whales being killed? Why were the pirates so organized and behaving so oddly? And where in the bloody hell was the Spirit?
But, most of all, her thoughts raced around the traitor. She’d been warned twice by the same man, though she’d never gotten a good look at him. One of her own. Her people. It was unthinkable – the Tempus all had their differences, but they were like one big family. The last Tempus to turn on their kind was her own father – one of the few Tempus to ever turn pirate. Celeste wondered if he was alive, and if so, where he was and what he was doing. If she were to actually catch any pirates, would he be among them? Neither her or her mother had seen the man in twenty years - would she even recognize him?
Every now and then, she’d think of Bogata – where he was, what assignment he’d gotten, what he might be doing – if he’d gotten over the rejection of his advances. Where they stood as friends. She wished the telestone was operational so she could try to contact him, though making personal calls was strictly against regulations.
