Reina reluctantly sat in the chair across from the Lieutenant, an expression of disdain mixed with boredom on her face. The heavy, solid handcuffs she was wearing discouraged her from making a break for it before she entered the room, as if the Lieutenant and two guards accompanying her weren’t enough.
“Alright, kid-“
“I’m not a kid,” Reina interrupted, scrunching her nose.
The Lieutenant paused for a second, “You’re in here to listen. You talk when I ask you a question. That is the deal, unless you’d like to go back to your cell.”
Reina simply glared at her, and stayed quiet. For once, she knew better.
“For the last four and a half years, a number of unique weapons and equipment have been showing up around the War Seas. All of them are almost entirely made of metal, and use mechanisms and design features that are near-impossible to manufacture with our current tools. Things like pointed bullets and grooved barrels, sometimes even used on the scale of cannons. Sturdy chain swords, folding dual-bladed weapons, telescoping polearms, some… spike thing that can puncture almost any solid surface. And the list goes on.”
She retrieved a folder from under the table, opened it, and retrieved a paper, with some sort of symbol sketched on it.
“They all have this symbol marked somewhere on them.”
It was a capital A, with a diamond-shaped hole instead of a triangle, and a volumed vertical line spaced below the bottom vertex of the diamond.
“Like the chain sword of that Grand Navy Captain I beat?” Reina smirked. Even though she’d eaten dirt because of the officer in front of her, she couldn’t help but rub it in, “Didn’t think y’all would be buying from this shady company. Seems you should know a little more about them.”
“Watch it. You’re lucky to be in here right now,” she shot back, “The equipment is obtained in a way that makes it extremely difficult to track its origin.”
Reina raised an eyebrow.
“By… some means, a note reaches one of our bases, saying that there’s a deal to be made in some remote location in the sea we’re in. For us here at Silverhold, it’s the eastern shore of Harvest Island. It tells us to leave a sum of Drachma there, and leave the vicinity. After about six to twenty-four hours, a small sailboat sails far from the east and stops there to pick up the Drachma, and leaves a crate full of a random assortment of high-quality equipment. Then it sails back the way it came. All we’ve been able to make out from a distance is that the boat’s operated by a lone captain that wears a standard suit of iron armor, even covering the face. The boat itself is completely generic, having no identifying features or symbols.”
“East of Harvest Island? That would make it… have to sail out of the Dark Sea,” Reina reasoned. The mystery had caught her interest more than she’d like to admit.
“That’s what has us stumped. A sailboat like that shouldn’t be able to survive more than an hour in the Dark Sea. And we haven’t been able to follow it.”
Reina’s face turned completely dumbfounded at this. “…You can’t follow it?”
“Well, it’s possible, but Dark Sea expeditions take resources. A brig, namely. And a Captain, plus a specialized crew. This exchange we have with them is convenient enough to make all the higher-ups look the other way, or ‘not question our good fortune,’ as they say. But I think it’s worth finding out.”
“Lemme guess, that’s where I come in. I’ve shown potential, and you want me to use it for a good cause, blah blah blah.”
“Enough,” the Lieutenant said, authority ringing in her voice, “I can’t say it’s necessarily for a good cause. This strictly benefits the Grand Navy.”
She sorted another paper from the folder, before continuing, “You’ll be joining a Dark Sea expedition. You’ll sail on a brig with a specialized crew as I mentioned earlier, along with some of the equipment from the supplier you’ll be tracking down. You’ll follow the sailboat from a distance as it goes into the Dark Sea, and investigate the location it arrives at.”
“I assume I’ll be doing something other than navigation? I’m not much of a sailor.”
“Yes. You’ll apply your skills when you arrive and sneak into their base, or wherever they manufacture everything. But an officer will accompany you to be the ship’s captain and watch over you.”
“What, so they’ll be my babysitter?”
“This expedition needs you as much as it needs them. You’re both integral.”
“I assume I’m getting something out of this.”
“I’ve just told you what you’re getting. A chance to get out of your cell, stretch your legs, actually do something. I can tell how boring prison life is for you.”
Reina considered the offer for a moment.
“If we find nothing, you reduce my sentence.”
“You’re in no place to demand that.”
“It’s the fucking Dark Sea,” Reina exclaimed, throwing up her hands, “Coming back empty-handed is one of the worst-case scenarios if you come back at all.”
The Lieutenant paused. She was extremely reluctant to give in to the demands of a prisoner, but Reina’s reasoning was valid.
“Alright. Deal,” She finally replied, before leaning closer to Reina, “But know your place. Your captain has permission to use any means necessary to keep you in line.”
“Great. When do I leave?”
“Less than an hour.”
“Fuck.”
