With Em’ah’s directions, Khikall was quickly able to get us to the location where the Courier was last spotted. It wasn’t where they were attacked but that was fine as we knew where they had been heading.

Khikall had been right though, my runes or the hull blocked Em’ah’s skill so she was forced to remain on the top deck as we searched for our target, using a radio to communicate. I wanted to just build the functionality into the viewer but I didn’t understand the skill well enough to guess at how it worked. I certainly hadn’t come across any items that allowed you to see traces of disturbed mana. I would have to think on it some more or grab the passive skill myself to learn more. For the time being, this would have to do.

The radio crackled as Em’ah reported in. Despite our rocky start, she quickly took to her role without a complaint. “I spotted the trail to the port side, turn twenty and we should have a straight shot.”

I didn’t understand half of what she just said but Khikall must have as the ship swung slightly to the left of its previous heading.

Khikall followed her directions for an entire day until we finally spotted a small dot on the horizon. Our speed was a major advantage, otherwise trying to catch this ship would have been useless.

Khikall was the first to notice it. “Ship spotted, Captain,” pointing almost directly ahead of our current heading.

I zoomed in and sure enough, it was a ship, moving away from us. “Em’ah time to get below, we have our target.”

She radioed back that she was coming inside and I engaged our stealth. That was the major disadvantage to requiring her to be outside the ship, stealth couldn’t be engaged. There was a chance an enemy ship would spot us but we had to risk it. I also learned another sobering fact from Em’ah. Apparently, the Retribution left a large, easy-to-follow trail in our wake.

She said it resembled a ship four times its size and was confused as to why that would be. I had a good idea why that was happening but I kept the information to myself. She didn’t need to know that my ship could recharge itself by absorbing ambient mana, for all she knew I charged it while I sat in my chair. Which was easy to believe since that’s what I told everyone and it was technically true since I kept an open charging path in each console for emergency use.

“How long until we catch up?” I asked Khikall.

“Couple hours if we maintain this speed. May want to go wake Barcos up.”

I sighed at that. Barcos had indulged himself to excess again after having been restricted from alcohol for so long. He was currently sleeping it off and the longer I gave him the less of a headache he would get when I Cleansed it from his system. “I’ll wait until we’re closer,” I replied as Em’ah entered the command room.

Her exposure to the eighty-mile-per-hour winds for almost a full day hadn’t seemed to affect her at all. Then again she could just reform her current form to make any signs of fatigue vanish. She could even manipulate her clothing and I suddenly get the uneasy feeling that she was always naked.

Not that I thought of her that way, it just brought up bad memories of another woman that always went around naked near me. I shook off the memories and focused on our quarry.

“Any idea who we’re chasing?” I asked the two.

“I don’t recognize the ship configuration, Captain. It looks like a bastardized hybrid of a Jerboa steamship and a dirigible vessel. But I can also see feathered oars, so it could be one of the few Dormian pirates.”

From what I understood, Dormians – the bird-like species around the Isles – didn’t much like conflict. But there was always an exception to the rule and some had gone full sociopath and embraced the bloodshed that life as a pirate offered. And apparently, they were quite feared for several reasons.

The first was their ability to fly. An entire crew of Dormians could assault another ship without them having to get within weapons range. They were essentially aircraft carriers. They also tended to go the mage route, making them dangerous at a distance, even if you did surprise them. So they could shoot at you from range, land an overwhelming number of fighters aboard your vessel and almost always outrun a ship thanks to their faster vessels.

Going by Khikall’s description, I had to assume that the target we were approaching was modified to be as fast as possible.

“You sure you wanna take on this ship if it turns out to be Dormian pirates?” Em’ah inquired.

“It won’t be easy but I think we can handle it. I’ll go wake Barcos and tell him what’s coming.”

I returned to the command room a few minutes later, having woken Barcos. The man was in the galley sucking down water for his headache.

I knew the best way to deal with pirates was to surprise them but as soon as I sat down, Khikall spoke up.

“Incoming flyers.”

Sure enough, when I looked up, I saw what appeared to be tiny specks separate from the ship. They must have spotted us trailing them. I cursed and dropped the cloak, engaging the shield.

“Khikall, get us within attack range of that ship, I'll try to keep the flyers off of us. Em’ah, it's up to you and Barcos to keep our deck clear until we close into attack range.”

“Wait, what!” she shouted. “This isn’t what I agreed to.”

“Don’t worry, I doubt you will have to do much with Barcos there.”

Speaking of, Barcos entered the command room just in time to hear my orders. He laughed and grabbed the angry woman, dragging her behind him. “Come on, you’ll be fine, it’ll be like old times,” I heard him say as they walked out.

I would have gone as well, but someone needed to man the weapons. Our targets were small and normal mana cannons would be useless in this situation due to their drop-off. But my mana lasers were a straight beam of energy that traveled faster than a bullet. I would like to see them dodge the incoming fire from those.

It didn’t take long for the dots to close and resolve into twenty individuals.

“Hmm,” I heard Khikall say, “that’s a significant number and they don’t look like slaves.”

I had to agree, it made this more likely to be a veteran pirate. I also spotted the enemy ship turning to engage us. Their ship was quick. The large feathered paddles were propelling it along as guns started to stick out from the side facing us.

They weren’t coming right at us though, but more an oblique angle, forcing us to turn to keep approaching, which would slow us down, or allow them to remain at the outer edge of their combat envelope. Which was smart if they assumed we had normal cannons. Once they realized we only had the mana cannons, they would close in, just outside our effective range, and pummel the Retribution from a distance. Or at least, that’s what I would do given the situation.

With that in mind, I waited to use the lasers, drawing the flying pirates in closer. This was easy to do since most personal spells or abilities had limited range. Still, energized arrows and bolts of magic soon began to appear from the enemy.

Most miscalculated and missed us as we were faster than normal ships. They adjusted quickly though. I decided to wait no longer, returning fire. Unfortunately, all of the enemies were above the firing angle of my bottom guns. That left me with only one laser turret. I switched it to single fire mode, allowing me to fire each laser in the cluster separately.

The first target was a mage and he was caught completely unaware as the beam tore through his shoulder, separating his arm from his torso. He corkscrewed out of the air while flailing about. I didn’t spare any time for him though as I rotated the turret and fired again. But the enemy hadn’t been idle, as some dove below the ship, others started moving erratically to keep me from targeting them.

I deployed the underside lasers and started firing those as well. Without time to switch them to single-shot mode, a hit would likely vaporize anyone struck by a beam and two lucky pirates got to experience just that. I even spared another shot to the first target I hit as he must have recovered with a health potion. Too bad he lost all his speed and momentum as the beam tore through his head.

The ship started to rock as more and more attacks started to land. But the shield was up to the task of holding off a few attacks. It wasn't until the enemy ship got in range that I started to worry.

A full broadside from four full decks of cannons struck our shield, making the Retribution jolt wildly about and throwing off my aim. One of my beams crossed over a target but it only caused severe burns as the beam didn’t have time to remain on target long enough to inflict deadly damage.

“Fuck, get us closer to that ship, we need to disable it or it’s going to tear us apart!” I shouted.

I knew Khikall was doing his best to evade fire but the enemy gunners must be highly trained or have some sort of skill because not a single shot missed on that first salvo. The shield had dropped to seventy percent and was recovering but we would be lucky to take five more volleys before the shield collapsed.

I felt the tiny thuds as the pirates passed through the shield and landed on the deck. I saw the glitter of tossed bags similar to the ones the Legion used to try and board. It effectively rendered a small section of shield permeable while they flew through. I had thought about weaponizing the powder but the cost would be astronomical considering it was made from crushed mana hearts and the effect was short-lived, the shield snapping back into place as soon as the dust passed through.

I wasn’t too worried about the boarders, already two of them were lying on the deck with daggers sticking out of their neck as Barcos carved a bloody path through them. Em’ah was holding her own as well, tricking pirates by taking the form of other pirates to get in close. I could see it wasn’t always effective but she had two kills herself. She had no weapons but she was able to turn her appendages into deadly spikes of bone that she expertly aimed at vulnerable areas.

I returned my attention to the weapons as Khikall shouted we were within range.

I fired just as the enemy fired. Both of our ships jerked from the impacts but unlike the retributions shield, the enemy shield did not hold up to the massed fire. Three of my beams cut through the enemy ship and out the other side. Nothing exploded though, so the attacks weren’t very effective, except for maybe killing a few enemy crew.

The pummeling went back and forth as the enemy realized they were on the losing end of this exchange. They tried to pull out of our range but the Retribution was able to keep pace without using the afterburners. Barcos and Em’ah had taken out the boarders, ten in all had landed on the deck. The rest either tried to flee back to their ship, died in the initial assault, or fled toward the horizon.

I ignored those as we pursued the enemy vessel. Wanting to try a different tack, I blew apart their magical oars, dropping their speed considerably. Then I unbuckled and headed to join Barcos and Em’ah. “Keep the ship in their blind spot, we’re gonna pay them a personal visit. Shoot down anything that comes our way.”

Khikall nodded as I exited the room.