Aquaria: The Lost Fleet

IX: I'm With You

"Well", Bruce said, holding up the metal slab. "That concludes it, if Wake wasn't already dead, he sure is now". The slab, coupled with some other debris had Elation printed on it. "Something blew the ship apart. Best we get back to the Glory and let Connolly know."

Crue stood over the debris that they had collected into their recon boat. "This just doesn't make any sense", he said. "Paul's home ship gets blown apart shortly after he returns to it? This had to have been the first time he ever set foot on it and now it's gone?"

Gerry looked at the slabs of metal and frowned. "So Paul's really gone?", he sighed.

"Dead as dead can be", Bruce said. "Let's turn this boat around and get to the Glory Crue."

"Not yet", Crue said. "The Elation was sunk just a few days ago by the looks of it. That trading clan we came across yesterday said that the Percival was sunk in the area recently as well. And there's only one other ship within a thousand miles. This one", Crue said pointing to the monitor which picked up a ping from a ship in the east. Connolly's retrofitted vessel had the best pinpointing range of any sort that Crue had ever seen. It was some sophisticated technology that Connolly had invested into this vessel. It was apparent he'd only allow it to be used under dire circumstances. The radar was able to ping even the most subtle boat clans that most equipment wouldn't be able to. The infrastructure on the Glory herself wasn't this sensitive.

"That thing is heading towards the East Atlantic, over the African waters. It's too far." Bruce said. We'll tell Connolly we gave it our best shot, because we did. We tracked down where Paul was but there's no way of telling he's on that ship. He's dead".

"No. There's more to this than comes across", Crue said. "We are going after that ship, we can probably catch it within a week".

"Boat chase!", Gerry squeaked.

"There's no point Crue", Bruce argued. "Wake is dead. Dead as dead can be. Just think for a second before making this call. Use your damn head."

Crue contemplated for a second. This could just be a wild chase and waste of time. The waters of the East Atlantic were notorious for their rough waters. There was a very good chance they could get caught in a difficult situation. There was also the very real possibility Paul was dead by now. But the two ships in Paul's area being sunk in such a short amount of time? This was odd. It was very rare to see ships like that sunken by another ship. Usually they would just be looted by pirates at worse, but even that was a rarity.

"He'd do it for me", Crue said, starting the motor. "If Paul wanted the reward from the Elation, he isn't getting it any more. Something isn't as it meets the eye. I'm going to find him. If you don't want to come along that's too damn bad. You volunteered."

"You're making a big mistake that's going to get us killed", Bruce growled.

"Let's go get Paul!", Gerry cheered, with his head over the side of the recon boat.

"Gerry, buddy", Crue said. "Buddy you gotta stop drinking the salt water". Bruce yanked Gerry back into the boat.

"I've narrowed it down to this region", Paul said, pointing on the map. The area he was indicating towards was in the mid Atlantic. The area he circled onto the map was roughly a diameter of about 300 miles.

"Hmm", Graham muffed. "We were basing our last expedition in this region here". Graham pointed towards the waters which covered South Africa. "You're sure that this is where you've come to think the fleet is? What makes you so sure?"

"Looking through all my father's notes and from what I've come to understand about the currents of the area, that's where it has to be. No other way." Paul spoke with slight hesitation.