Deepwoken: Penumbra

War: Desperation

As Cyrus walked back and forth on his ship, trying to find a way to lose the Etrean ships tailing him, he saw a massive Authority warship in the distance. "Change of plans - Towards that ship!" He yelled out.
"But Cyrus, that's an Authority warship! If it attacks, we're fucked!" The soldier behind the wheel responded.
Cyrus walked up to him. "Do you trust me?"
"....y-yeah...?"
"Then go towards that ship. The Authority is at war with Etrea." Cyrus replied.

The Etrean soldiers looked at each other. "That's..."
"...The Authority. What do we do?"
"We could try and attack..."
"And escalate even further?! The last thing we need is the entire Legion on us!"
Tensions grew higher and higher as the three ships approached the Authority's ship.
Cyrus was of course the first to be closest, sailing right next to it - and glaring right at the captain of the ship, who glared right back at Cyrus.
"Cyrus...? It's... You...?" The captain asked.
Cyrus looked at the woman steering the ship, breathing a sigh of relief. "Jane... You've gotta help me out here!"
The crew of the Authoritian ship started to speak up. "Hey, that's Legion scum!"
"Let's blast them to pieces!"
The woman narrowed her eyes. "Did you come for me?"
Cyrus shook his head. "For Etrea. After the Rumbling, the Legions were convinced Etrea had something to do with it."
Jane looked away. "Why should I help you? You weren't there for me..."
Cyrus kept looking at her. "I'm sorry... I know I should've been..."
It was like the two of them didn't even hear their crews arguing and getting ready to fight, just as the Etrean ships got closer and closer.
Jane looked back at Cyrus. "You know you can't fix this!"
Cyrus stepped closer to her. "But that doesn't mean I can't try! I know I have no right to ask you to do anything for me..." Cyrus sighed. "But please. Do it for little Seth. Not for me."
Jane teared up a little. "...How's he doing?..."
Cyrus wiped off a few of his own tears. ".... You'd be so proud...."

Jane took a deep breath, turning away from Cyrus. "Fire at the Etrean ships!"
The crew looked at Jane, baffled. "The Etreans? Why?!"
"Aren't we trying to make peace with them?!"
"Didn't Colt talk to your father about a truce?!"
Jane suddenly closed her eyes. "Just do as I say, god damn it!"
Cyrus' ship kept going on, while Jane's ship attacked his pursuers.
Cyrus looked back at her as he disappeared from her view.
The Etrean ships were soon forced to retreat or be sunk from the Authority's warship.

James and David arrived on Minityrsa, looking at the three kids all knocked out, along with Osric, also out cold.
"What the hell happened here?...." David asked, quickly checking if they were alive.
"They must've fought... Whoever this guy is..." James replied.
"Well they're alive... That guy is, too, but just barely..." David said, clearly disturbed by the situation.
James crossed his arms. "Why does the guy matter? If the kids are alive, grab them and let's go!"
David narrowed his eyes, reaching towards Seth - only to be interrupted by a bright shot hitting the ground in front of him.
Matthew slowly descended from the sky. "Don't touch them."
Pat jumped off of his and Matthew's ship, taking out his spear.
David took out his rapier. "Who are you...?!"
James narrowed his eyes, pointing his Stormseye at the Starkindred. "Etrean bounty hunters."

David glared at them, clearly thinking about whether he could take them on or not.
His thought process was broken by James. "Look at them. They're wounded. And there's holes in their ships. They're clearly fresh out of a naval battle."
Matthew started approaching the kids. "If it wasn't for that damn assassin... Either way, I'm taking them back to Etrea."
David jumped at him, repeatedly stabbing at him with his rapier. "We'll see about that!"
James fired a shot at Matthew as well.
Pat sliced into the ground, sending a wave of ice forward that blocked the projectile, and David's way out.
Matthew parried the hit, sending a fiery circle towards David, who just about jumped to the side.

James held his hand out to the side, forming a lightning javelin. "It's not gonna be THAT easy!"
He threw the javelin through the ice wall, breaking it and knocking Pat back.
Matthew was distracted for a moment, getting stabbed by David, who immediately jailed him, placing a metal rod inside the wound.
"Hah, gotcha!--" David said before he was stabbed in the side by Matthew's spear.
"Don't think I'm going down that easy..." Matthew said as he ripped the spear from him, pushing him back.
David stumbled back before summoning a line of guns, all firing into Matthew, creating even more metal rods inside him.
Blood spurted out of Matthew's wounds as he flew up into the sky, his spear starting to glow.
David held his hand up towards the air. "Just one... Big... Pull...!"
Matthew sent a downward slash towards David, sending a massive stream of fire onto him, just as David yanked the metal rods out of him - both falling to the ground, unconscious the moment the attacks were finished.

Meanwhile, Pat was trying to dodge a constant onslaught of bullets from James.
"Back down, kid... I can do this all day!" James yelled out.
Pat tried to rush towards him, only to be met with a bullet, temporarily staggering him.
James saw his chance, continuing with several other bullets, trying to not let him move.
Pat could have moved if he wanted - but he was at just the right distance he wanted, and they were both still. He pulled his spear back, just as another bullet approached him, carefully aiming before throwing it straight through the bullet, the spear scraping the top of James' Stormseye before going straight into his aiming eye.

Pat looked at Matthew, quickly determining that he would live, before approaching the kids.
As he stumbled toward them, though, a shadowy figure appeared behind him.
Pat spun around, just as the figure brought down a Greatsword on him.
Pat fell to the ground, knowing he could've parried it, had he still had his weapon.
The figure raised the greatsword up. "Finally... I can get rid of nearly all the problems, here and now." He said menacingly, swinging the greatsword towards Faust.

Suddenly, the slash was stopped by a simirarly long, but much thinner blade. "Not if I have anything to say about it..." Kevin said, before pushing the Greatsword user back.
The assassin stumbled back, pulling his Crypt Blade to the side. "Of course you were missing..."
Kevin pointed his Railblade toward him. "You're not running away like last time. ...Perfect."