The Coalition of the Damned

Silence.

Deafening silence.

“Just breathe normally everyone,” I chuckled. “Don’t die now.”

Everyone exhaled.

“Let’s never do that,” Stephen said. “Ever. Again.”

“You should go check on the engineers below,” Vladimir replied. “See if they’re still alive. We’ve probably given them quite the fright.”

“Are we rendezvousing with Ulysses?” Emiko asked the question everyone was thinking. Her eyes were stretched with exhaustion. “Or did you mean what you said?”

“We’re free,” I said. “We’re going our own way from now on. Unless the rest of you want to organize a mutiny?”

Emiko closed her eyes.

“Too tired,” she said. “I’ll weigh the options after a few days of sleep.”

“Still, what does ‘going our own way’ mean?” Vladimir asked.

“Well,” I said. “I think you all can decide after you’ve heard the truth.”

“The truth?”

“The Sunless Fleet’s goal is to find the Chalice of Time,” I explained, “and return everyone to their timelines. You are crewmembers of the original Nightwing, yes? Lost with all hands during the Siege of Caerleon.”

“Sounds a bit excessively morbid,” Stephen shuddered. “I’m still here, you know.”

“Well,” I continued, “using the Chalice returns everyone to the moment when they were whisked away by the relic.”

“Which means returning to the moment when we were lost,” Emiko finished. “With all hands.”

“I knew that the white light was strange,” Stephen murmured.

“Diane told me she had no intention of sending you to your deaths,” I said. “Now that I’ve come to know you. I feel the same way. It’s cruel and unnecessary.”

“So what?” Vladimir folded his arms. “We just abandon our search for the Chalice? Hide among the stars for the rest of our days?”

I shook my head.

“No, Vlad,” I said. “I say we find the Chalice before anyone else. That way, no matter what, you have a choice. Anyone who lays their hand on the Chalice has the potential to send you to your deaths. I refuse to let that happen.”

“Even if I agreed with you,” Emiko sighed, “we’re out of resources. Nightwing is likely low on fuel and is in need of repairs. We likely don’t have the deuterium for even a modest journey. Even if we fix the ship up like new, where would we know where to start searching?”

Emiko’s argument was sound, but for some reason, it didn’t give me much pause. My instincts instead moved my fingers to Diane’s tarot card strapped to my neck. Something felt odd about the card, like an old piece of furniture suddenly moved out of its usual spot.

“All will be revealed in time,” I murmured. “Is now the right time?”

I set the Death tarot on Nightwing’s terminal. The terminal activated with an unusual pitched whine. Unlike the usual sapphire glow, sparks of gold and silver scrolled across the screen. Unfamiliar symbols, followed by a sketch of a skeleton rider, followed by more unfamiliar symbols flooded the terminal.

“Special activation sequence initiated,” the terminal spoke.

Everyone jumped at the sound of Diane’s voice.

“Necessary conditions satisfied,” the voice recited. “Classified coordinates entered.”

“Classified coordinates?” Emiko raised an eyebrow.

“Diane said this card was like a key,” I explained. “It would open new doors for us. Looks like a door was just opened. The first of many, I assume.”

“Shit. Where’s the hag sending us to now?” Stephen groaned. “Just watch. It’s gonna be her favorite underground bar in Caerleon.”

“We might run out of deuterium before we reach it,” Vladimir observed. “Let’s just hope wherever this takes us, there’s a refueling station.”

“And food!” Stephen grumbled. “Our stock is all freeze dried consumables. I call dibs on the reheatable dumplings.”

“More importantly, Elaine,” Emiko said. “We’ll need allies. Even bruised and battered, the Sunless Fleet has more than enough at its command to renew its search for the Chalice. But based on what we’ve seen, both Caerleon and the Federation of H will be after it. Nightwing can’t go about it alone.”

“Allies are nice in theory,” Vladimir frowned. “But how do we find them?”

“You know,” Stephen quipped. “I remember those recruitment videos before I signed up for the military. The Caerleon Imperial Navy. And then when we joined Ulysses and his pirates. The Sunless Fleet. Good names, all of them. You want to recruit a bunch of badasses to your cause? Give them a badass name.”

“That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard,” Vladimir said.

“Well I for one,” Stephen pouted, “refuse to fight for you Elaine if you call us something moronic like The Knights of Good or The Chivalric Order or The Morally Ambiguous Empire With Admirable Intentions.”

Emiko snorted at the last line. Vladimir shook his head and smiled. Stephen cackled at his own stupid joke. In spite of all the unknowns before us, a soothing calm brewed inside me, like the feeling of a warm home.

“Sounds like we need to convince Stephen to join,” Emiko gazed at me. “Elaine. You’re the leader. Got any ideas?”

“Well how about this,” I laughed. “By all accounts, we’re royally fucked aren’t we? Fine. Let’s call ourselves The Coalition of the Damned.”