"Captain!"

Seko rolled aside and buried his head further into the bundle of straw he called a pillow. His mind didn't want to function yet, he didn't want to wake from the bliss of nonexistence. In this hungover state of exhaustion, Seko could almost pretend he was back in his youth, avoiding the watchful eye of his mother's servants and trying to sleep off his sluggishness before morning training. Simpler times.

The door to the cabin swung open and cast the room in the blinding light of mid-morning. The panting of the crewman forced Seko to turn, giving him the full view of the scrambling deck, partially succumbing to flame. He almost dismissed the sight as a figment of his dreaming eyes, but the blood-red flag of a Royal Imperial Vessel caused the reality to sink in. Seko shot out of bed and grasped for the tricorner hat placed on the post.

"How?" Seko’s voice was calm, but his mind began its furious race.

"By light, sir, caught 's off guard."

"That they bloody well did!" Seko shouted, "All hands! To your stations!" He pushed past the startled crewman and stepped out into the madness.

Seko grimaced at the thunderous crack of a nearby cannon as it returned fire on the approaching vessel, and coughed as the plume of smoke encompassed his ascent up the side stair to the helm. Nakyan stood beside a haggard Helmsman, body in a relaxed parade rest. Seko gave a chuckle and stepped beside the duo.

"What seems to be the best course of action for us, Nakyan?" Seko asked, he nodded to the helmsman, who gave as curt a reply as he could.

"Not dying," Nakyan laughed, "or did you have a wish to go out in a blaze of glory so early in the morning?"

"Is it working yet?" he motioned to the call pipe affixed to the helm

"Unlikely." Nakyan said, "Aithur, see if Reeves has that running."

"Aye sir," Aithur pulled the transmitter pipe and shouted the question.

"Not yet sir," Reeves’ voice sounded distant through the pipe, pitches reaching unexpected heights with the metal, "Unless you have a few Arc-Batteries up there suddenly."

"Guess not then" Seko sighed, "Ready all hands! Brace for a fight, the empire sure aims to bring one!" He placed a hand on the railing and called to the crew below. They gave a cheer of excitement, bursts of a war chant started throughout the ship.

"Good morning brother." Nakyan said.

"Morning," Seko smiled, "At least we die together."

"Sad as that may be," Nakyan joked, "I doubt this'll be the one that gets us."

The whoosh of a cannonball sailing past drew the pairs' attention to a second ship with the same Royal Imperial Flag. Seko gave a silent curse and started down the stairs for the lower decks.

"Seko!"

"Full sail! We need to get them behind us!" He shouted. Nakyan nodded and mirrored the order to the crew. The faded white sails of the ship falling into place and catching wind moments later.

Seko leapt down the stairs to the second deck and circled to the third. He pressed aside crewman shuffling with powder barrels, cannonballs, and small Arcanarms, making his way through the enclosed hall and into a small room with thin gray lines of metal spreading from its door. Inside he found three figures, two tan skinned Marda and a tall Broxceon with a single short horn affixed to her head.

"Captain!" the Broxceon shouted, catching the attention of the other two.

"Reeves, Paz, Sunte, we need to disappear."

"What about this?" Reeves called. He slammed a hand into a large pillar of metal in the center of the room, avoiding the conduit crystal at its center. "You were just asking-"

"Forget that. They sent the Raz after us."

"Here? They sent the Raz here?" Sunte drew her lip back and showed her teeth in a macabre smile, "They really want us to sink their pride that bad."

Seko shook his head, "We can't sink the damned thing right now, specially not if we don't have a safe way out of here."

"Captain," the frantic tin voice of Aithur came through the pipe, "Third ship captain! Got the pair behind us."

"Cristilla!" Seko shouted, "Fine, Aithur make for Trelapaze."

"Aye sir!"

"Sunte, Vel-" Seko gave the room a quick once over and groaned, "Where's Vel?"

"On the fourth Gewel," Paz said. "Went over when you called to check up."

"Sunte, you and Vel create smoke and help us get out of here. Paz, Reeves, get the Arc-Cannons ready."

"I thought you said-" Seko cut Sunte off with a hand

"I said we weren't going to try and sink them, that doesn't mean we can't maime them."

Suntes’ smile returned as she ran off into the activity of the lower decks. Paz and Reeves gave a quick nod and made for the next room over, shouting about tools and calling for aid from passing crew. Seko pushed his way back through the bustle and climbed the ladders up to the top deck once more. Wood splintered against Sekos’ face as a cannonball ripped through the side railing, sending him crashing down to the floor in a pile and forcing another curse from his lips.

A firm grip fixed onto his shoulder and yanked Seko to his feet. Eado, Seko and Nakyans oldest friend and the largest man either had ever met, crested the stairs with a long purple cannon strapped to his back. Eado deposited Seko to the side and made for the prow of the ship, followed by Paz and Reeves.

He took the chance and left the trio to their task, making his way back to the helm of the ship again. Nakyan gave a wave to top deck cannoneers, who released a volley of thunderous blasts out into the crashing waves. Two of the Imperial Ships were in a staggered line, but the largest, the Raz, remained in the foreboding position ahead of their path. Seko crested the stairs and gripped the railing in frustration.

Thick clouds the color of a storm began to trickle from spots along the side rear of the ship, covering the area behind in an impassable fog cloud. Seko grinned as he heard the numerous cannon shots land wildly off target, now being fired without a target in sight. Only the Raz remained a threat now, Its fore guns releasing small volley after small volley of piercing shots. Each impact sending a rippling crash through the ship and creating a screech from the cannonballs smashing against the metal prow.

"All the crew in the Seas, and they send a Nirukian frigate to sink us!" Seko shouted

"Aye, but what would be the fun in the fighting them on uneven footing?" Nakyan gave another laugh, but stopped when a crewman ran to his side to whisper something.

"Captain, it seems your project is ready. Should they fire?"

Seko, finally feeling a sense of control over the situation, laughed and looked around. He spotted the trio of Eado, Paz, and Reeves working to align a massive purple Arcannon, and gave them a short wave and a motion to aim at the Raz.

"You realize that if this kills them,"

"Then we're the ship that sank the Raz,"

"And if it fails"

"Then we're the ship that nearly sank the Raz."

"Ah Seko," Nakyan moved to stand beside his brother and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Where would we be without your ever present optimism?"

"Likely at the bottom of the Expanse, if I had to guess." Seko said "Ah but where would we be without your dedication to routine and strict regimenting."

"Similarly sunk, I'd wager." Nakyan grinned, "Are you sure this one will work?"

"If it doesn't, then we go back to Niruk and are hung as traitors."

"Would be a rather sad end to it all." Nakyan said

"Mother would be happy." Seko chuckled.

"Yours perhaps,"

"Ah, nevertheless." Seko saw Eado wave to indicate their completion and made the response to fire. "Perhaps we'll get lucky this time."

"One can only hope."

A clank of metal, like someone dropping a pin onto a plate of sheet steel, filled the area and seemed to absorb all sounds around them. The air began to vibrate and a feeling of growing weight filled every breathe Seko took. He gripped the railing tighter and prepared for the worst of the Arcannons effects. He tapped Nakyans chest as a reminder and watched his brother grip the rail similarly. A ball of light started to build at the tip of the purple Arcannon, its hazy purple glow growing with each second. As its size built, so to did the difficulty Seko felt in breathing, until finally it felt impossible to draw a breath.

In the overwhelming silence caused by the Arcannons firing, Seko almost felt at peace. The absence of all natural noise was almost cathartic, until the panic bubbled up from his lack of breath. Suddenly his mind was racing, and he fixed his eyes to the glob of nearly bursting purple light. It looked like a drop of water ready to fall at any moment yet gaining size still.

All at once a crack split the air and the vibration reached a peak, the string had finally snapped and all the energy that was building was instantly released. The massive beam of purple-white energy burst from the Arcannon and ripped through the side of the Raz, shredding away whole pieces. The light became so bright that Seko had to turn away, lest he succumb to a temporary blindness.

After a minute, the weapon's firing dissipated and the Arcannons only sign of use was a single line of smoke spilling from its barrel. Seconds later and the scream of storm clouds, the ship was summoning engulfed them. Seko made the silent motions for the crew to move about in quiet, then whispered to Aithur.

"Steady as she goes, Helmsman. Hopefully we can use the shock and awe to escape."

Seko leafed through a collection of trading charters and spread them out onto the dark wood table chained in place. He lifted a small metal model of a ship and placed it as a weight on top of the newly created pile, then leaned back to inspect it from afar. The map of the strait separating the kingdoms of the Empire was lined with red strings crossing and bouncing from a number of pins along the coasts of each land mass. Each string marked an Imperial supply ship and its estimated path, he'd placed them exactly as the documents had described.

"Quite a lovely bit of sewing." Nakyan said. He spilled himself into a nearby chair and uncorked a bottle of Tleasa.

"I'll assume we're in sight of Anriuku, and this isn't a half-hearted attempt to mutiny." Seko extended his hand for the bottle, to which Nakyan obliged by filling with another.

"Hardly," Nakyan said, "If I were to kill you it'd be with at least a minor audience."

Seko gave a weak smile and took a pull from his own bottle. He lifted a paper and handed it to Nakyan, "This is what I'm considering currently."

"Another supply charter?" Nakyan took the page with disdain and gave it an uninterested once over. "Seko we talked about this! We can't make a fortune off the dregs of the Empire, we either need a big pull or-"

"What would you have me do, Yan? Hmm? Follow the trail of legends and chase treasures?"

"It'd do us a damn well better than taking table scraps!" Nakyan tossed the page aside and stood, "Which of these... lines, is the most dangerous?"

"We needn't chase the largest fish simply for the fame either, Yan. We need real goods, we're showing up this time with barely anything."

"Then let's forget trading in the cargo and let's go after something with more of a reward!" Nakyan shuffled through the papers and shifted them about, eventually placing a specific page before Seko with a confident smile. "Why don't we go after this one."

"Treasure fleet?" Seko asked. He gave the page a glance and spotted a note of concern over the contents. "That just so happens to possess the journal of-"

"Dotan Depairyo, a lesser noble from Niruk some 600 years back."

"And this journal has a way of getting us a lesser noble's wealth...how?"

Nakyan smiled and took the paper back. "Look, a long time ago I heard a story about Depairyo having amassed a fortune through his days as a pirate and rebel. Now, I doubt there's much treasure in his family anymore, but the possibility of a legend's treasure hoard should pique your interest, right?"

Seko sighed, pinched his brow, and did his best to fight back the growing frustration building in his chest. "We aren't boys, Yan, we can't chase pipe dreams hoping they're real."

"The gods are real, pipe dreams they were before we knew they were real. The creatures of the dark and danger are real, Damned Seko we've fought off more than our share so far!"

"Gods and Monsters don't make the drunken rantings of a beggar real!" Seko slammed a hand on the desk and accidentally sent the ship-figure topping over.

"So we try this treasure fleet." Nakyan said. "If the journal has anything we can use, THEN we follow it. Should it be nothing, we still captured a ship of wealth, right?"

Seko gave a frustrated smile, trying to find the best counter to his brother's argument. It wasn't a smart decision, and unless they made some serious investment in rearming their crew, it was likely doomed to fail. Yet he could see the logic in Yans idea, their ship and crew could take the ship and could make a tidy fortune from it. All they'd need to do is survive assaulting a handful of well armed and armored ships. Likely ones without any of the Empire's little heroes.

He sighed, Nakyan always seemed to find a way to worm his idea into the logic Seko used. Even as a child he'd found ways to get them into trouble, always finding just the right idea to pique Sekos interest and stoke his flame. If he was honest with himself, he probably didn't mind Nakyans plans or impossible ideas. Those ideas were how Seko often got inspired for new plans or inventions for the ship, and that wasn't something he wanted to end. If humoring Nakyan this once could put him at ease, shouldn't he?

"Fine." Seko said, relenting. "You win. We go for the treasure fleet, make sure the crew isn't told until after we leave. That being said, we will need to make a number of additions to the old girl before we depart."

"Not to worry brother," Nakyan said, "I think I can handle those. Though you should likely see about your 'special project crew', see if you can't speed some of those up."

"Aye," Seko nodded, "Good to see the Arcannon worked as intended. I was half assuming it would take us with it."

"Have some faith in your work, it hasn't killed us yet, Sek."

Nakyan sat back into his chair again and nursed the bottle, now considerably emptier than Seko had expected. His eyes didn't gleam with determination, but with excited anticipation of a coming fight. Nakyan claimed he would be a warrior to his dying day, and though Seko wasn't of the same mind, he wasn't going to stand in his brother's way.

"Do you know what we need?" Seko asked after a few silent minutes had passed. The distant ringing of bells and squawking of gulls were an instant comfort to him, and he felt himself release the tension he’d held.

"I'd assumed Yedia was more than capable of informing me." Nakyan said. "Though, if you feel it so important-"

"I do." Seko snapped, then caught himself, "Sorry, but if we're going to do this, then we need to do this right."

"I couldn't agree more."

"Yedia will know the basic outlines of the work, but we need to make sure that we mount the Arcannon and readjust the flight Gewels."

"Readjust?" Nakyan stuck his nose up in disgust, neither he nor most of the crew were happy at Sekos insistence that they remove nearly twenty of the ship's limited cannons in exchange for another of his "pet projects". "What do you need to readjust? They don't even work yet."

"That's why they need to be readjusted." Seko said.

"Fine, anything else?"

Seko looked over the sprawling pages once more and spotted a requisition order placed a week before, by Yedia. He handed the paper to Nakyan and shook his head. "That should be it. Make sure that Yedia is taken care of and remind them about the readjustment, other than that just choose what you think will be best. Make sure that Yedia approves though."

"Aye Captain." Nakyan gave a vicious grin and stood to make for the door. With a foot out the door he turned to ask "What should we tell the crew for now?"

"Just tell them it's a job, nothing more. It is just another job, Yan, ancient pirate treasure or intrigue aside, this is still an Imperial ship, and we know how to handle those."

Nakyan nodded and stepped out the door, leaving Seko once more in the silent creaking of the cabin.