Princess of the Sky

TATIANA

Tatiana, looking out the bridge's view port, witnessed an unidentifiable war frigate emerge from behind a small cumulus. Bearing neither Candia's raven, nor Civetia's intricate ship design, it sailed into clear view like a haphazardly put together bucket of bolts, making a direct course with the Ardent. She got up, clenched a fist, keyed the ship's communications pipeline—an intricate network of aether able to replicate and carry sound—and made the call for battle stations.

The bridge crew set themselves to work, bustling, and Tatiana's first officer, Solek, came to her almost immediately from his post on one of the opposite sides of the bridge.

Approaching her, the dark-skinned man took off his Yamra, a Sarkanese leather cap common amongst its sailors. He shoved it into one of his pockets. "What do we do?" he said curtly, getting to the point. His bald head glistened against the natural light from the viewport.

She sighed. "I don't know. This has never..."

He crossed his arms, tapping his foot against the floor.

"I have no experience in this," she said grimly.

He cracked his knuckles. "A first time for everything, no?" was his reply. "It's likely other ships are in hiding. Smaller, more mobile ones."

"I need advice."

He shrugged. "Wait for them to come to us. They will not gun us down if they want to inspect our cargo."

"Alright... but would they let us go after?"

"Depends on the captain, but most of the time no," he said in the end. "They will sink us once they've gotten what they want, or commandeer the ship for their own fleet, drafting our crew into their service."

She felt her chest, and moving back over to her chair, she collapsed into it, unable to cope.

"We have..." She tried to find her words. "We have a single row of broadside cannons."

"To the frigate's two decks of them," he informed. "And theirs are more robust. By the looks of it, it's an Aida Hijuna class."

"So she's a fighty one then."

He nodded, letting his gaze travel toward the bridge's viewport as the bridge crew, still busy, whirred with commotion.

"Solek?"

He glanced back at her. "Captain?"

"How are you dealing with this?"

He smiled. "Been through a good few of these."

"A good few, huh? Swapped crews a lot?" she asked.

"Many. Until I disembarked in Civetia and marketed my bridge skills."

She grinned. "You haven't disappointed me yet."

"But your brother?"

"You heard all that? The week back?"

The first officer chuckled. "How could anyone not?"

The captain's face sunk. "He's been doing better after that brow-beating, and the cargo crew tells me he remains at his post for the most part."

"That is a good, then. Your brother is growing into himself."

"Yes, but I remember the times when he wouldn't show up to his post at all, when he first started sailing with me after father's death. He thought cargo was the most mundane position I could give him, and I'm pretty sure he hated me for it." She threw up her hands in defeat. "But what was I supposed to do? Put him in the engine room and make him shovel coal all day?"

"Pretty much slave work."

"I pay them well for it, but I wouldn't put my own brother in that kind of place," she said sympathetically. "At least he has Janice. The two get along nicely."

He lowered his voice. "You told me you picked her up at a brothel sometime back." He winced. "She seemed... young for that type of thing. She was sixteen going on seven when we found her."

"Don't go repeating that, and that's an order; I don't even think Ulion knows." She shook her head. "She had to do what she had to in order to survive, and her bookkeeping skills were something that I needed, so I gave her a chance at a better life."

"Has she looked back?" He asked.

"Not once, apparently," she said. "She tells me the challenge here gets to her sometimes, but that she's happy to endure it. Gives her something to do; she's good with numbers."

"Captain!"

Tatiana glanced back, and one of the crew members, a communications officer, rushed to her, panting. "Spit it out," she said simply.

"More ships," the officer said. "The spotters we sent to the top deck report there's a fleet of two Civetian Man-o-Wars right behind us!"

Tatiana's expression brightened. She clenched a fist, thrusting it up into the air and laughing victoriously. "Yes!"

The crew member laughed along with her. "Glad to see you in high spirits, captain!" He gave her a quick nod and trotted off back to his post.

"We're gonna get out of this, Solek."

He smiled; his usual warm one, the one Tatiana needed right at that moment.

"We're gonna—"

But then before she could say it again, something hit them.

The ship careened to the left, and she fell off her chair as gravity pulled the other way. Solek collapsed onto the floor, grabbing hold of the captain's nearby communication's pipe, which was bound to the floor. The Ardent, veering, was in a complete state of disarray as she climbed over to its controls, trying to make a correction to its orientation. The ship moaned, creaked, the helmsman having fallen unconscious, failing to move from the bottoms-up position he was in, his head against the floor. He must have tumbled a good way before stopping.

"We've been hit something, captain! From behind! It nicked us on our side; no casualties reported on any decks! Top's safety gear is in check! No damage report!" yelled a crew member from across the way.

Tatiana blinked. "Shoot the white flare!" A signal for surrender and disinvolvement in naval affairs.

After a moment, the ship regained its balance as she finished her job at the helm. All was well.

"What was that?" she shouted.

"Top deck says it was a warning," the communication's officer informed. "A dummy shot from the Civetian navy's long range cannons. We need to get out of the way. This is a point of engagement!"

She blinked again. "Solek, take the helm, and have someone get that man to the infirmary." Solek rose up immediately. "Turn us ninety degrees left, and take us away from the war frigate and out of the line of fire."

He nodded. "Yes, captain." And he manned the helm.

She returned to her chair, her heart beating.

Ulion, you'd better be alright...

Ulion...

She clenched a fist, and leaning over to the side, she keyed the communication's device for a ship-wide call. Finally, she yelled down the pipe.

"Tatiana to Ulion, to the bridge!" she called out.

She only hoped he would come.