Differences

Differences

Under the cover of the setting sun, Autumn rode on top of the Black Marlin getting a good look at the haul of the capital ship. searching for a good point of entry that wouldn’t expose her. Suddenly the sound of the ship’s giant chain caught the attention of Autumn. With a giant splash the anchor of the ship pierced the surface of the water sinking to the depths below. Radiating ripples throughout the surrounding waters.

Rising and then slowly sinking again as the ripples passed by, Autumn leaned forward. Like magic the black marlin pushed onward toward the ship. Ascending the chain, she released her connection with the Black marlin, watching it swim away. The higher she climbed the closer she got to the anchor’s opening. Pulling herself up and crawling into the tight space. Autumn struggled for some time before finding and opening a maintenance hatch. Peering out ever so slightly the tamer scanned her surroundings

“Alright you greasers!”

Autumn jolted down closing the hatch, her heart pumping, thinking that she had been spotted already. As time when on though, she regained her composure and opened the hatch again to eavesdrop on the conversation.

“We have landed in Coastal Garden we are shutting down the ship for one hour, so y’all can go on and enjoy a little R&R. Got word they have one of the local hot spots open for the soldiers to have a drink. Go if you please but remember you’re still on duty and this ship leaves with, or without you in one hour, do I make myself clear?”

“Yessir!”

The group of engineers shouted in unison, saluting their captain and head engineer. With the group dismissed, the men were off to enjoy the little time they had for themselves. Leaving the head engineer alone to watch over the engine room for one hour. Perfect was all that Autumn could think of to describe her insane luck. But luck was a luxury she could not afford to lean on, no, not in a situation like this one. Where one wrong move could have repercussions not only for her but Atif as well. So, she still had to play the situation smart. Waiting for the section of the engine room to be cleared, she continued in her search for Atif. Moving amongst the symphony of mechanical parts moving and the exhaustion of steam. Sticking to the shadows, Autumn advanced onward through the maze-like engine room following the signage posted on the walls.

Reaching a set of stairs that took her upward toward the crew quarters, she approached with caution. Slowly she made her way up the stairs toward the door at the top of the landing. She watched it open automatically once within range of its sensors. She hesitated for a moment, stunned by the mechanical marvel.

Peering through the doorway she looked to her left and then right. Seeing that the coast was clear she quickly darted her way down the hall following the signs toward the crew quarters. Assuming that it was the best place to hide out, allowing the traffic on this level of the ship to die down. In her travels she came across a ship directory. She looked around quickly before interacting with the wall mounted monitor. Autumn was caught off guard by the device as it responded to her touch. With some fumbling around in the various menus of the directory Autumn finally found the menu that fully mapped out the various parts of the ship. Examining the map further she discovered what she was looking for. She made a mental note of the direction she needed to go. Thankfully, it wasn’t too far off from her current location, sharing the same level as the crew quarters.

Autumn’s concentration broke as she heard the sudden chatter of soldiers making their approach in her direction. Thinking quickly, she went in the opposite direction of the voices. Walking inside she took shelter in one of the stalls and waited for the group of soldiers to pass by.

***

The sounds of mechanical parts moving filled the confines of the holding cells. At the end of its long corridor a lone soldier remained posted, guarding the exit to the holding cells. He casually scrolled through his PCD, looking at messages, he just received. A giant smile spread across his face, and his fingers tapped furiously at the screen on his PCD.

“Haiden, I’m Atif how did you end up here?”

turning around completely to facing a young girl a couple of years younger than her. She took note of her features as Haiden came out from the shadows of the corner to reveal herself to her fellow captive. Her eyes were brown, her hair, the same, was short in length. Covering the upper part of her torso was a patchwork cloak that reached just below the young lady’s mid-rift. Baggy cargo shorts were held in place by a simple sash that was tied around her waist. On her feet worn down and beaten straw sandals, something the two girls had in common.

“What are any of us doing here, but I was captured when New Aurora Ambushed my caravan.”

Haiden lowered her head, her facial features drooped, as she clenched her fists tight. She didn’t want to think about it. The moments leading up to now, and the current situation she found herself in now, none of it.

“How about you? How did you end up on this ship?”

“Pretty much the same, I was attacked and captured by some kind of machine I’ve never seen before and my sister...”

Atif trailed off thinking of Autumn’s assumed fate. Looking at Haiden, she explained her situation further.

“She, she didn’t make it and when I woke up, I was here on this ship.”

“ yeah, you were asleep a long time when the guards first brought you in. I’m sorry about your sister as well, I’ve lost people too, my whole village was wiped out. A few women and children were able to escape only to be captured anyways. The others like me were captured while on a mission to the distant village to provide aid.”

Atif didn’t want to think about it, she felt guilty as if Autumn’s fate was her fault, but what could she have done to change the outcome of that situation. Her eyes started to water as she looked at the ground.

“It’s unfortunate but you must continue on and not lose hope if you plan to get out of this place. Me, I must get my people out of here somehow before we reach our destination and by the looks of it you seem to have an idea on how to do that, allow me to help.”

Atif looked up from the ground toward Haiden and couldn’t help being taken aback by her maturity and resilience at a young age. There was something to be learned from that. Atif wiping away her tears nodding her head.

“ Yeah let’s do it, let save the people that we can and escape this place.”

“So… what’s the plan, Atif?”

“Once the ship starts moving again, we can escape the cell. Then I plan to set all the beasts free, creating chaos on the ship. That will buy us time to escape the ship somehow, maybe swim?”
Atif said in a faint voice to Haiden so that the guard posted nearby wouldn’t hear.

“Sounds good, one thing.”

Haiden paused for a moment gathering up the courage to overcome her sudden embarrassment.

“I can’t swim.”

Haiden’s face grew a light shade of red as she admitted her short coming. This threw a wrench in Atif’s plan, and she had to think of something else if she wanted Haiden’s help. She could easily tame two sea creatures for herself and Haiden but a whole group of people was something out of her capabilities, she wasn’t Autumn.

“A ship this size should have some type of smaller vessels on it that could provide us with what we need to evacuate your people. We will probably have to make our way up toward the deck to find out though. Doing so could expose us, but with the beasts on a rampage we might be able to take advantage of that.”

“wouldn’t the wild beasts running around become a danger to us as well?”

Haiden questioned, listening to the plan as Atif whispered it to her.

“Not at all, I can keep us safe from them with my taming abilities.”

Haiden was surprised and a little confused by Atif’s statement. Running the concept through her mind a couple of times, she couldn’t help but be curious and asked.

“What do you mean you can tame them?”

“I can use my essence to tame and command wild beasts. Several at a time even, but not too many. How do you use essence?”

“I’m what you call an enchantress; I use essence to invoke blessings using tomes. Honestly, I’ve never considered using essence in the type of manner I’ve seen you use it.”

“Same goes for you, I don’t get it in the slightest. Like what is a Tome?”

She curiously wondered, the two engaging in conversation over the plan of escape and their shared ability to harness essence.

***

Elsewhere on the ship unknown to Atif, her sister, listened in on the female soldiers chatting as they pass by the bathroom. Finally emerging from the restroom, Autumn made her way to the opposite end of the ship and the detention area. Using whatever means at her disposal to avoid detection. Even at resorting to hiding inside a cardboard box as soldiers passed by. Many sounded happy while others sounded disgruntled over the fact they had to pull double shift with the occupation of Coastal Garden. Ditching the cover of the cardboard box, she pushed on in search of her detained sister.

“What’s a Brig?”

Autumn asked herself, but not too loud as the alert any possible soldiers in the area. Gazing at the sign that was posted on the wall at the intersection of the corridors. She couldn’t stand around there for too long pondering about it and had to move fast. The area was too open and didn’t have many places for her to hide. Following her instincts, she pushed forward in the direction of the Brig. Crossing the threshold, she found herself in the cargo hold and was left Stunned. Her heart dropped, witnessing the devastating sight before her. Cages stacked on top of cages of exotic beasts from not only Artemis Island but the surrounding areas. Some she was even familiar with, while others were new. Ones she had never seen before, ones she didn’t know the name of.

“That explains why the beasts on the Island were hyper aggressive.”

She said to herself as she wandered the rows upon rows of beasts. Some were rampaging in their confinement, occasionally getting shocked by the electrical currents running through the bars and walls. Other more dangerous beasts remained sedated and asleep unaware of everything going on around them. But what hurt her the most was when she finally came across the cages holding women and young children. Most of them, by this time had fallen asleep with a few adults awake to catch sight of Autumn. As she stood outside their confinement paralyzed in disbelief at what she was seeing.

***

In an alleyway near Deathwatch’s old safehouse. Crouched over an unconscious soldier a man with jet black hair was sorting through parts of a military uniform. Adorning a neatly braided ponytail he was dressed in a sash that covered portions of his upper body exposing a well-toned muscle structure. His pants crafted from a lightweight fabric hung loosely over his legs. A look of displeasure came over the warrior’s face.

“Still haven’t found your size yet Ki. You must have knocked out at least four dudes already. Anymore and we won’t have nowhere to hide them all in this alley.”

The man laughed teasing the other, all the while he kept watch at the mouth of the alley. So, the other man, Ki could get his costume in order. His brown eyes taking in the sights of the south side of Coastal Garden, a gentle sea breeze blowing through his black hair. Giving him a cooling sensation along the sides of his head that was shaved down. Unlike Ki, Locke had his uniform on and ready to go.

“Easy for you to say, first guy you run into, matching boots, pants perfect size, and the shirt let’s not talk about the freshly pressed shirt with no stains.”

“Don’t blame me, maybe you should lay off that hearty soup you love so much, you could lose that gut you’re starting to develop. But hurry up will you, or we will miss our only ticket to Busaya.”

Locke maintained his gaze on the giant capital ship that was docked several blocks down.

“Shame we couldn’t get here faster despite Shima leaving a trail for us to follow.”

Ki gave up on trying to find something his exact size and just threw an outfit together the best he could.

“She did her best getting us this far I thank her for that. Going as far as leaving us a message to tell us what their next destination was clutch in my opinion.”

“those two sure did make a mess of things here didn’t they?”

“That’s putting it lightly my brother, but this whole mess doesn’t fall on them alone. The other two are just as at fault.”

Locke knew better, Keyon was ruthless, especially now, but he had his limits. A bomb that had the potential to harm others, that just wasn’t his style.

“We know we got some time to infiltrate the ship during the shift change thanks to the loudmouth soldiers, all we have to do is get aboard and lay low and make our exit once inside the dome of Busaya.”

“Sounds good to me, we can shack up at The Den and get some good cooking finally.”

“Yes, the extra time off our feet will be important to Locating our brother and Shima once they arrive in the city.”

“We should be arriving a couple of day before them if I’m not mistaken, correct?”

Ki wanted to get his facts straight so that he and Locke were on the same page. The two men, now disguised as New Aurora soldiers walked out of the alley blending in seamlessly into the crowd of other soldiers.

“That is what Shima said in her message, they are traveling by land and if we go by sea, we will no doubt get there before them.”

“Then what are we waiting for?”