Safe Port

i

Ana Dakkar
Captain Of Nautilus

     "Captain we've lost Navigation." Halimah reports.
     "What in the.." I stare at the LOCUS display screens, all of them a mess of pixels and static, "try and reestablish a connection and find out where we are." I instruct, leaning back in my chair and looking out the Nautilus' windows.
   "Depth, 38 Feet."
   "Engine room? Nelinha?" I ask, there was static over the loud speaker but I could still make out her voice.
    "Cav-drive is down," more static, "engines damaged. Switching to Auxiliary Power. It'll keep us floating but we can't risk another attack."
    "Any injuries?" I ask, praying for some good news.
    "Mild whiplash but nothing of major concern." And the loud speaker was overrun by static again. That was good news at least, I send Franklin down to deal with the injuries in Engine Room. Mild or not, the entire crew had to be full functioning incase of another attack.
     "Tactical?" I ask.
     "I'm not getting any reading, just pixels." Gem admits, palming his SIG Sauers uncertainly. I turn my attention to the front of the ship and I'm about to address her when I see something. The familiar form of Socrates playing in the water just ahead, but he wasn't alone. I shake my head, believing my eyes are playing tricks on me.
    It shouldn't be possible.. there was a man in the water, no diving gear, wearing an orange t-shirt and blue swim trunks. At this depth, the water pressure should've crushed him.
    Socrates was swimming and dancing around him, chittering and squeaking urgently by the looks of it, although no sound was breaking through the thick hull of the Nautilus.
    The entire crew currently residing on the bridge watched in suspended disbelief as the strange man levelled off in front of the Nautilus, his hands rising either side of him. The vessel lurches; she creaks and groans, "Nautilus what's going on?" I ask in Bundeli, a few dissonant notes play out of the pipe organ, the lights in the bridge flash a few colours and flicker out.
   "Captain what's going on?" Nelinha's voice crackles over the loudspeaker. I had no answer for her. Nautilus lurches again.
    "Depth 33 feet." Halimah reports. "Whatever that man's doing its rising us out of the water."
     "Auxiliary power down."
     I lock eyes with the man as he swims upwards, the Nautilus following steadily in his wake, Socrates playing and twisting in the water around him. He offers me a smile, but it does nothing to calm my nerves, I could feel my blood pressure rising and my eyes were dancing with blinding white spots.
    The Nautilus breaches, and bobs listlessly in the water for a few prolonged moments. The man surfaces, looking dry as a bone. He then turns and spins in the water paddling and kicking away. The Nautilus follows.
   A headache split behind my eyes and I fell back against the captains chair with a groan, attempting to look around at the rest of my crew. Gem slumped forward his head in his hands, Halimah was slouched back against her chair and Jack Wu had fallen against a wall with a groan.
   "All stations." I manage to grit out, my first concern was the rest of the crew. I would worry about the strange man, and how he had managed to surface the Nautilus once I knew they were okay. "Report." Was the only word I could manage out before the headache became unbearable.
   I could feel myself drifting, and the words over the loudspeaker were becoming a cacophony. I blink, and with my last ounce of strength I whisper in Bundeli; "Keep us safe Nautilus."

***

I couldn't have been passed out for longer than a few moments. The headache had subsided and the taste of aspirin was coating my mouth. Someone was shaking my shoulder and speaking with a dialect I recognised as New Yorker. "Hey, can you hear me? Wake up. You're safe."
     I groan loudly, finding it difficult to open my eyes and keel over, only to realise I was being braced against someone's body. "Ana Dakkar?" The voice asks.
    "How do you know my name?" Was all I could muster.
    "Socrates told me. Come on. Open your eyes." He sounded friendly enough, masculine, with a hint of mischief hidden under his accent. I blink once, and wince at the light piercing my eyes. "Come on." He coaxes.
   I manage to open my eyes, and for a moment I become disoriented, before realising I was still on the Bridge of the Nautilus.
   I level my gaze with the man, he had messy, slightly long jet black hair, tanned skin stretched over a well chiselled face with bright sea green eyes. He offers a lopsided smile, "I'm Percy Jackson."
    There were questions unanswered here, and my headache, although diminishing was still pounding behind my eyes. So I ask the one thing I could think of. "My crew.."
   "Disoriented, but alive. They're in the infirmary. Quite a few of you." He informs, "in any case our medics are on the task. You're the last one aboard. Leo said that the submarine wouldn't let us move you." There a a creak somewhere in the hull.
   "She prefers to be called Nautilus." I mutter.
   "So it's true then.. what Socrates said? This- she is Captain Nemo's Nautilus?"
   Another creak, "just Nautilus will be fine.." I say again. "You don't seem too surprised."
   "It's not the weirdest thing I've ever dealt with." He laughs then sighs. "Nautilus." He breathed the word then looked around. "Sorry. I didn't mean to offend you." The pipe organ plays a light note and Percy glances over at it in gentle intrigue before smiling again.
   I blink, then realise something. "What do you mean Socrates told you?"
   He glances at me, smiling a little more. "I can understand marine life, and horses." He stands up and holds a hand out to me. "One of the perks of being the Son of Poseidon."
   I blink, placing my hand in his, "Poseidon.."
   "Ana Dakkar." He begins, "Captain of The Nautilus, descendant of Captain Nemo, let me be the first to welcome you to Camp Halfblood."