Setting Sail

The party took care of their last affairs before leaving. Sakiran sold Last Rites, reasoning that she no longer wanted to have such a deformed and bestial weapon tied to her. She also learned that Zairan had indeed been to Bastion to talk to "the human big boss". She bid farewell to Big Jane, thanking her. Draut stockpiled food. Jaxon visited a contact of his, and he admitted his doubts over whether he could carry out the mission to the southern tower.

There was a knock on the bar's door. Leoric answered the door. There was a massive orc. He looked down at him. His arm is as thick as Leoric's body and he pushed into the bar. Sakiran asked if they will be coming back. A slender male elf stepped out, cursing the orc and telling them that they were leaving now. Sakiran picked up her sword and gauntlet and got in the back with Leoric. Sakiran asked if Troff, the Orc, speaks Orcish. He was suddenly much more articulate. Sakiran said her Orcish isn't very good, but her associate Jaxon speaks it. She turned her head away from him in disgust and stayed in the corner.

They reached the port of the docks, with massive naval transport ships being loaded up. There were legions of orcs with neural implants. They pulled in towards the heavily guarded command area next to a tent. The party got out. Pryce was talking to someone on a screen in a very heated argument. He turned the screen off and greeted the party warmly. They all took a seat. Sakiran gave him Finisher and the gauntlet. He lingered, looking at the blade. He handed it to an aide.

Pryce said he had a bit of a briefing. He handed Jaxon and Leoric pieces of paper. On them was all of the information they had about Solor, the continent that they were heading to. They had lost all contact with any scouts they sent. They would be provided with one troop transport and one of his aides. Troff, Ranius and Amalius. Amalius is skilled with Gratus and Altarnie computers. Troff is an orc. Ranius has a full face mask with Gratus medium armour. She was mute. Draut pointed at Amalius. Sakiran agreed with him. Leoric and Jaxon also agree. Amalius cursed his luck.

Pryce informed them that they have placed the tracking device back into the vehicle, and they were now conscripts. They had a new vessel, a boat that would take them to Solor. They had a captain, named Peters. Pryce told them to keep an eye on him.

They saw Retrieval Squads being put together. Leoric saw a familiar looking woman, one who he had turned in for a bounty. He excused himself. Leoric told the guard he needed to speak to someone. Leoric paid him 5 rands to speak to her. She noticed him, anger flaring in her face. He told her he was buying her freedom. She looked around and said she doesn't want to die, even though she hated him, and asks what his plan is. She was staring daggers at him. Leoric went to a commander adn pointed towards Helvia and said he needed her for an assignment. He flashed his badge and said he could get Pryce to come over himself. The officer was persuaded and had one of his officers bring her over. Helvia thanked him, but tells him that she still hated him as she was taken back to the lower levels. He went back to the group and Sakiran leans towards him, asking if it was the woman they spoke about. He confirmed that it was. She told him that it was kind of him to do that. Leoric says it was just the guilt keeping him up at night. Sakiran replied that she thought it was more than just guilt, and he was kinder than he thought. Leoric said he always had time to prove her wrong.

Their APC was being wheeled onto the carrier. Pryce walked up to them all, saying he had prepared a gift. He held out armbands with a Gratus symbol on them. Draut rejected the armbands and questions Sakiran. She told him if he has something to say then say it. He asked her why she is going along with it. She told him they are the last chance she had to get her son back. Draut called her a traitor and threw the band down, walking off. He told Leoric to watch himself around Sakiran since she was a traitor. Pryce told Jaxon that he was ready to rejoin his people. Jaxon dropped the band and asked if he really thought he would go through with it. Pryce told two men to take him away. As he was taken away, Jaxon tells Sakiran that he hoped to see her again. Sakiran said she doesn't. Pryce turned to the remaining two and says he was glad they have no moral hangups. He handed Sakiran a bottle of Altarnie Ale and she thanked him. They then set sail on the ship.

The ship consisted of three decks, with a few crewmen on it. It was a very wide ship. The first twenty minutes of the journey were fairly peaceful. Having never travelled by sea before, Sakiran and Leoric were both overcome with seasickness though managed to keep the worst of it at bay.

They were now out of Gratus lands and sailing towards the ocean. The mist was starting to crawl in. Sakiran was getting very bad vibes, feeling on edge with a scratching sensation. She decided to stay out on deck, keeping an eye out in the darkness. Leoric tried to disassemble some ammunition and see how it works. It slipped out of his hand and the tip hit the metal bench. It detonated with a big bang, which Sakiran heard from the outer deck. She cast a glance over, but returned to staring out to sea. Her mind started to wander as it was featureless, hearing the waves in a calm sea. The mist seemed to close in and get thicker as it was harder to breathe. Something brushed against her face, though when she swiped there was nothing there. She felt touches on her exposed skin and whipped around. She saw a face with two eyes that is swiped away.

Leoric heard slight scratching against the hull as the crewman were panicking. They heard knocks on the walls, even though the sea was calm. He went to the command centre and met the captain. He was a scraggly man with white hair and bad teeth. He asked what he can do for him. Leoric told him there was something scraping against the hull. There were swarms of things around on the radar system. He saw Sakiran whirl and swipe at something that isn't there out of the window. The captain said that girl is having trouble. Leoric said he'll see if he can snap her out of it.

Sakiran heard footsteps and readies herself into a fighting stance, ready to attack. Leoric tried to flick her forehead but she dodged out of the way. Sakiran recognises him at the last moment. She apologised and Leoric says it is fine. He told her to get some rest after telling her that there were things being picked up all over the radar. As she was heading back to her bunk, she was woozy and the faces of crewmen seem like they are melting. She tried to ignore it and trances in the bunk.

The air became difficult to breathe down even inside of the cabin as they get closer and closer to Solor. The engine was struggling to move the ship, stuttering more and more. The boat latched on and dragged as they were thrown against the wall with a crushing of metal. Alarms go off throughout the ship. Sakiran was awakened from her trance. She bursts out of her bunk and saw injured crewmen receiving medical aid. She heard gunfire hitting the water. Down the corridor, she saw things coming down the steps, creatures with no defined form. She saw one latch onto the crewman with their tentacles, shredding him completely. She saw things taking fire but not dying.

It started to speak, a very familiar feeling of her nanophage powers starting to activate. She tried to resist, but the words penetrated her mind as the claw manifested and the spines and tail lengthened. A crewman to her right was firing. In her lost control, her consciousness was pushed backwards so she could still see everything. She saw herself grab the crewman and tear into him with her claws, then pierced another with her tail right through the sternum and ripped out his ribcage. She was horrified as she can do nothing to control it.

Leoric came just as this was happening. He saw dead crewman everywhere, then Sakiran hunched on all fours, covered in blood with bone spines. She was feasting on a corpse. Next to her was a humanoid creature, whose top half was tentacles. It helped her up, grabbed her by the hand and pointed towards Leoric.

Leoric was mortified. He held his rifle up and shot the tentacle being twice. It hunched over but didn't appear to have done that much damage. Sakiran tried to resist, but cannot break out of the mind control. The tentacle being turned into an old man, that told her to go play. Leoric saw the creature gently tap her on the shoulder as the red pipes in her body glowed fiercely. She was on all fours, using her tail to spring her along.

Leoric shot down into her leg. He injected the stim into himself though it didn't take. He ran past her, getting in close with the monster. She saw the surrounding of the cold ship fade into the desert of her home. She saw a childish figure run past her. She realised that the creature has the face of Leoric, and saw that she is in the hallway. She managed to take back control. Sakiran was still shaken, trying to punch into the being but it did not seem to damage it at all. She turns to Leoric and said it was her again. Leoric said the fight isn't over yet. She smiled and turned to the monster again.

He unloaded all of his rounds into the monster, coolly saying that it messed with the wrong person. In its death throes, it tried to grab him but failed. For a moment, Sakiran saw the fatherly face, then it disappeared again.

Sakiran noticed that, even though combat is over, she had not reverted back yet. She asked that Leoric not look at her. He told her that they were not yet done. They made their way towards the stairs, hearing their own voices echo in their mind. Leoric tried his comm device, speaking into it. Something comes back as a static voice underneath. It was a guttural language they didn't understand.

The pair walked up the stairs, blood thick and sticky. It comes off their boots in stringy strands. They were now on the main deck. There was a thick mist, and they were barely able to see a metre in front of them. Leoric activateds his heat vision and saw there were flesh tendrils all over the ship. Sakiran looked down and the tendrils started to look like beautiful white flowers. Leoric told her to get a hold of herself and that they should press on.