Part 6: Odessa Ashmore, First Mate

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I stood behind all the other crew members as the Captain addressed us. Our mission was to raid the factory for important supplies. The captain neglected to tell me of the raid. Eldon informed me before leaving the ship. He is the only one that will talk to me on the crew these days.

I saw Ethel a couple feet in front of me, looking ready for anything. She has made it perfectly clear that I am not to talk to her until I fix what I have done. Which feels like an impossible task when everyone ignores me.

I heard laughing and snapped out of my reverie. Apparently, there was a wanted sign that looked nothing like the Captain making everyone laugh. I saw she was not amused, so I kept a stony expression. Eventually, everyone quieted down.

"Witherford and Ethel with me. We're after gunpowder." She announced. "The rest of you split up. We need cannons, grenades, guns, and ammunition."

I started to get angry. The Captain knows everyone has to be assigned where to go, otherwise groups will be unbalanced and probably make a huge mistake. I have been studying everyone for years; I know who works well together. Which is why I always assign everyone to specific groups to get specific items. This is chaos letting everyone choose their own groups and what they have to steal.

Then my stomach dropped, I am not going to be picked. I looked around for Eldon, but he was already off with Connor. My stomach was in knots, as I looked around at everyone matching up. Even Otto had his men to go grab cannons. That would be a useless job for me since I am so small. When I realized there was no point in staying, I sighed and began heading back to the ship.

"Oh no," came a deep voice from behind me. A hand touched my shoulder and spun me around easily. I looked up at Seymour completely confused, "You have been sulking on that ship for too long already. You, me, and Roy are getting ammo and grenades." There was a glint in his eyes from excitement.

I looked behind Seymour at Roy and saw a half smile on his face, "It'll be fun."

I was not sure whether to be terrified of a mission with these two or grateful they asked me. I went with grateful and hoped we would not get each other killed.

We wandered through the factory. It was dark and silent, two combinations I hate. Roy was in front of me, and Seymour taking the rear. I scanned the shelves. Everything around us seemed to be mostly for survival purposes. Rations, tents, regular supplies.

"Where is the ammo?" I asked quietly. There could be soldiers protecting the place, better to whisper.

"They will have hidden the more important stuff in the back." Roy responded without turning around.

"Harder to run away if pirates want to steal it." Seymour added. I could hear the glee in his voice.

"For our sakes, I hope we find it quickly." I held onto the empty ruck sack I had brought along, as if it could shield me from whatever was to come. My right hand on my gun, ready to pull it out at the slightest hint of danger.

Roy kept moving forward and suddenly said without turning around "She'll forgive you if you give her time. She's never been one to trust others easily, but regardless of how she's been acting I can see she trusts you more than anyone. She just...doesn't handle secrets well. We all know where your loyalties lie."

I take a deep shuddering breath. It is a testament to how well Roy knows people. He knew I needed to hear these words, even if they were hard to believe. I tried to let them sink in and keep my doubt of the Captain ever forgiving me out of my mind. "Thanks." I said to his back quietly.

We walked a couple more paces, then Roy stopped in front of me. "We hit the motherload." I looked around him and could not believe my eyes. Rows upon rows of guns of every shape and size lay before us. I went up to one, took it in my hands, checked the canister and realized it was loaded. All of the guns were locked and loaded, ready for battle.

"This is too easy." I said, looking around. Roy and Seymour had already started loading their bags with guns, ammo, and what looked like grenades. I decided not to question it and began stuffing my bag with as many guns as I possibly could.

I went down the line of guns until I got to the end then noticed a door on the side. I opened it hesitantly and was relieved to realize it was an exit. I walked outside and began tying my bag because it was filled to the capacity. Suddenly, an alarm went off. I whipped around but could not figure out what had set it off. Was it me? Did the door have a trick alarm?

I tied my bag tighter but my hands started shaking. I knelt to the ground to give myself stability as I successfully secured the bag.

I heard a WOOSH above me. I jerked my head upward and my eyes followed a small black ball. I squinted and realized exactly what it was. "WHAT DID THEY..." Suddenly, I felt myself being hoisted by each arm. My entire being was dangling in the air with two people on either side of me, arms linked with mine running as fast as they could.

Of course, my immediate reaction was to struggle but then I heard Roy's voice coming from my right say, "Easy Little 'Dessa, take it out on the Armada, not us."

"Yeah," agreed Seymour, "We surrender."

"Which one of you threw it." I demanded.

"We both threw one." Roy chuckled still running at full speed.

While Roy and Seymour were sprinting toward the ship, I was facing the opposite direction. I finally zeroed in on the reason they had done it. About 10 men were rushing in the distance toward us.

Anger could not even overcome me because just as I opened my mouth to tell them they were idiots, one of the grenades exploded blasting half the men off their feet or up entirely. Almost a second later, the other grenade went off blowing the other men up and the factory where we had just been stealing ammo.

The explosions created a domino effect and I watched as blast after blast occurred throwing debris everywhere. My face must have been shocked because I heard Seymour say, "Never knew our First Mate could be speechless. Glad I could witness it."

"You two are so..." I could not finish my sentence. The truth, I was so impressed.

When we made it to the ship they put me down and slung off their bags. We had gotten an enormous amount of supplies even by our standards. I almost felt some of my worry about what was to come begin to slip away. Well...almost.


Odessa Ashmore 

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