Aboard the Black Swan | P.JM |

The War Council

Report

24 September, 1677

Destination: Outpost 7 - Haven Port

Security is reinforced in Outpost 7. Harold Swenson was identified as a fraud, selling materials for personal gain. He was arrested and brought to The Singularity. He is charged with treason due to an attempt to reveal the identity of the Leader of the War Council to The Blue Canary. Heather retrieved the criminal and he was brought to Mainland.

Rumoured Captain Argent of The Blue Canary was spotted in Haven Port.

The crew has safely returned. Waiting on the criminal's punishment.

Casualties: 0
Injuries: Minor dizziness caused due to drug inhalation.

Authority in charge: Leader of the War Council, Captain of The Singularity, Kim Taehyung.
Assistant authority: First Mate Choi Yeonjun, Heather

Head Authority: Leader of the Bangtan Organisation, Captain of the Black Swan, RM.

Y/N POV

The report from the mission to Outpost 7 drew out a sigh from Captain RM. He placed the parchment on his table and turned his eyes to us.

"I congratulate you on yet another successful mission. I also thank you for working hard and preventing any hiccups in our plans caused by our enemies. However, I'm afraid a meeting is to be called," he said.

"And who shall I assemble, Sir?" Asked Chan, standing behind me and Taehyung with his arm folded behind him.

"The War Council."

My heart skipped a beat. Of course, a meeting is to be called. An important member of our organization has almost been exposed after all. But why the War Council? We aren't waging an all-out attack on The Blue Canary. Taehyung nodded beside me.

"Heather, your presence is mandatory in this meeting. Please assemble in the Main House in 30 minutes." Captain RM concluded. Taehyung and I left the office and parted ways as I needed to go prepare my report and he needed to announce the meeting. He is the leader of the Council after all. I went to the granaries and to Taehyung's office to pick up some things I needed for the meeting. Parchment, some ink for my quill...oh and I should probably pick up Taehyung's handbook for records.

I was just about to leave when I noticed a figure blocking the entrance. It was Captain Park. He was leaning on the door frame with his arms crossed and eyebrows knitted.

"Back already?" He asked and eyed the materials in my arms. I greeted him with a slight bow.

"Yes, Captain. Our circumstances required us to make haste and return to Mainland. A meeting with the War Council is due in a while so I am bringing these to the Main House for use." I replied. The Captain's sleek eyes slightly widened, indicating surprise.

"War Council? Did something serious happen on your mission?" he inquired, suddenly fixing his relaxed posture and standing straight. I nodded.

"I will fill in the details in the meeting. If you'll excuse me, I need to head to the Main House now and join Captain Kim." I said and left the storage area. Captain Park stayed behind in deep thought. Once everyone had assembled, the door was locked and the meeting commenced. Taehyung and I recited a detailed report of the incidents at Outpost 7 while all the captains and members of the council fixed their eyes on us.

"This is ridiculous! There is no way that the Silver Saber was in Haven Port. She is known to be a very exclusive woman and never traverses outside their base unless it's for a battle." said one of the members.

"Are you doubting the leader's eyes? The leader who had seen the woman before you had even joined the council?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at the member. He gulped and meekly shook his head.

"I do not doubt the leader. But I do not find it easy to believe that you had overheard a conversation between the Silver Saber and her bodyguard without being caught, much less figured out her name. How can we be sure that you didn't make it all up?" he spoke.

"Why in the world would she make up such a thing? The criminal had indeed tried to expose the identity of a Captain. The evidence is in the form of a clean sketch of the Captain's face. And he had gone through a secret concealed pathway to rendezvous with Captain Argent. And overhearing the conversation taught us that there are moles in our organization planted by our archnemesis." Captain Jeon said.

"And to eavesdrop on what she was told was a leader of our archnemesis, she had to risk her own life. Collecting information isn't easy. I don't see why you think that she would cook up false information, William." Captain Jin followed, his eyes showing gratitude as he looked at me. I gave a small smile. Seeing two of the Captains speak against him, the member, William, sneered at me and kept his mouth shut.

"This trip has shone a light on an important issue: there are an increased number of spies among us. We need to weed them out before some other crucial information gets leaked to our enemies. But first comes the question of how in the hell Harold, a new manager, got ahold of a sketch of the leader when we never allowed any pictures except for the ones in the Mastermind's office?" Captain Suga highlighted.

I gasped. I quickly reached for the sketch and examined it. Everyone at the table turned their eyes to me as I carefully took in the details of the sketch. Captain Kim looked a bit younger in the sketch than he was now. I have seen this somewhere!

"Heather, what's wrong?" Captain RM enquired.

"Captain, I think someone sketched this from a photo. Specifically, the one hung on the third floor of your residency." I confessed. Then there was chaos. Everyone started talking at the same time and pondering over how a mole could have gotten inside the Mastermind's office floor and taken their time to sketch something so clearly. There were chatters about the mole being from a high authority.

Taehyung snatched the paper from me and I could see his face go pale as he scanned the drawing.

"Blasphemy! Lies! No one can just waltz into the office floor and sketch a portrait. Maybe you need to get your eyes checked lady!" William immediately exclaimed.

"No...there's no doubt. This is me from the picture we took when we got The Mikrokosmos." Taehyung announced.

"How can this lady immediately recognize the Captain's face from the photo before even he could? This is suspicious! I think you're the one who sketched it and ratted us out!" William accused.

"I think you're getting too defensive and keep placing the blame on me. You're the extremely suspicious one!" I spat.

"ENOUGH!" Captain RM yelled while banging the table with his hands, and everyone immediately went silent. The dragon-eyed man glared at everyone at the table.

"There will be no baseless accusations! We are meeting today to plan a course of action to weed out the spies planted in our organization, not to point fingers at each other or blame each other for our misfortunes. This is not how we do things!" He said sternly and everyone flinched as he raised his voice.
The Captain sat back down with a huff and crossed his legs. "We are Bangtan. We are to stand united and face our enemies together. Fighting amongst ourselves will take us nowhere. So unless any of you wants us to end up like we did 2 years ago, I suggest you all quiet down and listen to what I would like to say." He continued.

Everyone in the room muttered in agreement and the meeting continued quietly as Captain RM went through our next plans.

TIME SKIP

"Are you alright? No injuries?" Captain Park asked, catching up to me after the meeting. I smiled and nodded.

"I'm completely fine. You know I'm much stronger than before and I can protect myself better." I said. It's become a habit of Captain Park's to ask me the same question every time I return from a mission. Whenever I did get injured, even if it was a small scratch, he'd stay with me and tend to my injuries. I was eternally grateful for it.

It's usually just us sitting in silence while he treated me. It was his way of showing care. I'm sure both he and Taehyung regretted the kidnapping incident. Especially since I showed a really vulnerable side of myself to Jimin. Since then, he'd been there for me even if it was just watching me from afar. I liked that we no longer had any awkward struggles with each other.

"Good. So now that the meeting's over, how about we grab some lunch?" Jimin asked with a small smile. I eagerly nodded.

"Should we go sit by the courtyard? Or would you prefer the marketplace?" I asked. Jimin shook his head.

"Let's go to the beach." He said. I looked at him with a little surprise. Like...does he mean just the two of us? He has never really asked to eat lunch together before so I really didn't know.

"Won't the seagulls steal our food?" I blurted. Jimin burst into laughter. His eyes automatically closed up and his beautiful voice echoed in my ears. Then I joined in with a couple of giggles.

"Oh my, I never would've thought of that! But don't worry. If any sneaky seagulls aim for our food, I'll make sure to protect our plates. Now let's go see what they're making today!" He said and walked in front of me towards the courtyard. 

We sat peacefully at the beach and took in the salty air as we munched on grilled fish and rice. Small talk passed in between bites and the atmosphere felt very serene, contrasting to the chaos that went on in the Main House a few minutes ago.

"Do you think that William guy has something against me?" I asked the Captain beside me. He slightly shook his head.

"No, Will's always been a very paranoid person so it's not surprising that he doesn't trust you. Don't take it to heart okay?" He replied. I sighed. I've been here for months already but have yet to gain the trust of important members of the organization. Jimin looked at me and then leaned towards me. I immediately froze, feeling his face much closer than usual.

"I'll let you in on a secret. Don't tell this to anybody but I saw Yeonjun near the dock earlier this week. He was eagerly reading a letter and might I add, blushing while reading it?" He whispered. I gasped under my breath and leaned back to look at Jimin with my palm covering my mouth.

"Are you serious?" I whispered. Jimin cracked up and nodded. 

"I've noticed him getting an abundance of letters as of late. Which leads me to think he's found a special someone~" he said in a sing-song voice.

"That is so cute! I wonder who it is!" I squealed. Then we heard someone clearing their throat behind us. The both of us flew in opposite directions and I'm sure my face was red as I looked behind us to find the Maknae standing with his arms folded.

"I've been looking for you two. Have you two gotten so close that you're sitting with practically no distance in between to talk?" Jungkook teased us with a devilish smile. My face burst into flames and my mouth wouldn't move. But Jimin seemed calm.

"Jungkook-ah...a killer never plans his murders out loud you know?" He said. The two of us stared at him, speechless, as he casually stood up with his empty plate and walked back to the courtyard.

"Jimin hyung can be scary sometimes..." Jungkook muttered as I nodded.

A/N:

I finally published after monthsssssss!!!