Complicated Rescue

Jenere returned to his ship where he retired to his quarters. He left First Mate Elydark, his new Quartermaster, and Boatswain all in charge of the ship. One dealt with new recruits, another ensured the ship was tended to, and the other made that deal with Captain Caniir. Inside his quarters Jenere stood on the rug while Sophine sat on her knees. She undid his pants and pulled them down then proceeded to please him. She wrapped her lips around him orally pleasuring her Captain and Lover. Every now and then they would do this after a period of kissing followed by fondling each other.

Her tongue and lips felt wet, warm, and arousing. For almost an hour she did this to him. When she finished, he ejaculated inside her mouth as she gulped and swallowed. She lapped up for a little longer before he put a hand on her head. Sophine stopped and looked up at him. That was all she needed to do. He pulled up his pants making his self-appearance more appropriate.

“Admiral Winorsenn wants us to go out to the Unknown Lands.” He said to her. She stood back up to straighten up and clean herself after love making. She held the expression that she did not want talk about this subject.

“How close to our numerous offspring will we be? Remember the moved to Borvados with that primeval, sooth saying, witchcraft covenant, zealot of a crone's spawn!” Sophine yelled at him. Her anger, frustration building up inside and burst out at him. He could see it on her face.

“My love calm yourself down. Mira Blackblood is good for Narius, Evun, and Vira. She takes care of them like any mother would.” Jenere said trying to soothe her to prevent more outbursts from his lover.

Sophine hugged herself taking a deep breath. All four children were most likely old enough to live alone by now. Mira Blackblood became somewhat of a guardian, nanny, and a caretaker to their offspring. She was more of the traveling type of witch figure who moved every twelve years despite her age. He would manage to find her location thanks to letters, messages, and maps. It seemed strange for a witch such as herself to travel from place to place. Mira had numerous enemies or used to have enemies and rivals. That was apparently before the age of the modernized guns and around the age of re-exploration before the invaders came down. Half the world's kingdom's and nations discovered each other while leaving most of the Unknown Lands untouched. Some traded, others waged war, exploited, enslaved, conquered, made alliances, or just kept to themselves. On the other of the world those nations kept more to themselves. During that revived era a few large kingdoms such as Khet, Virkmoth, Vossa, and one he can't recall pledged fealty, loyalty, and service to an ancient cult led by some ancient dark lord.

“What does the Vestrisian Admiral want us to do?” Sophine asked pulling the conversation away from their offspring. Her question tore him away from his own train of thought.

“Admiral Winorsenn has given us orders to search of a crew of pirates, and hired mercenaries in the Unknown Lands.” Jenere said hoping they wouldn't have to venture very far inside those hellish lands.

“Tracking down buccaneers and their bandit-raider friends, how lovely.” Sophine scoffed throwing her hands down.

“If we are lucky we will find their ship and they should not be too far from the shores. Besides who would be crazy enough to venture those swamps and jungles other than explorers, Vestrisians, and of course the Gantronese.” Jenere said raising his own voice a little. He looked at her wondering if she would be willing or not willing to go near the infamous Unknown Lands. A land full of savage tribes, beasts, predators, dangerous creatures, poisonous plants, bugs, and other nightmarish horrors. Just a handful of cities with a slight hint of civilization rested in the southern parts of those lands.

“Will you go with me?” He asked her hoping she would go with him and conquer her fears.

She dipped her head down in response to his question. Saying nothing Sophine nodded her head yes. No words came out of her mouth. This was unusual for Sophine. Was the idea of going to the Unknown Lands getting to her? Such a reputation for a vast land mass between continents would cause fear in some. No one could be shamed for fearing those lands unless they managed to live there. Although he was a pirate, fearless, a good leader, a skilled fighter, and quite adventurous such a place instilled fear in him as well.

“I need to speak to the men. They need to know where we are going.” Jenere said heading out of his quarters. He made his way to the command bridge where he found First Mate Elydark, Helmsman Koren the Maelstrom, and the several crew members stationed at the bridge. None of them noticed him for a few seconds. He stepped forward with one foot and tapped it once. The noise drew their attention over to him. His presence caused a few to lighten, straighten up, stand at attention as the Captain entered the room.

“Tomorrow we set course for the coasts of the Unknown Lands. Radio to the crew and summon them to the bow of the ship. I wish to speak with them about our destination.” Jenere ordered feeling a slight knot in his stomach. He stood at the doorway watching his orders go through. The ship echoed with his orders for the crew to gather at the bow of the ship.

He stepped out of the bridge onto the small balcony that wrapped around the bridge's exterior. Outside the command bridge the captain had a perfect view of the bow. More than one hundred twenty-five of his crew and the officers marshaled to the bow. It was a larger crew than he realized after new recruits came aboard. Some were even stowaways and others from Brucs' crew.  They covered all the bow and sat on the turrets, guns, tied down crates, barrels, and some stools. Most of them stood on the hard surface of the deck looking up at the Captain. All the faces of his crew made a pain grow in his gut. Even though many of these pirates proved themselves fierce fighters, brave men, and dare devils the Unknown Lands would still scare them.

“Many of you have served under my command for years, even decades. You are no doubt good sailors, fierce pirates, fighters, snakes and the best raiders I've known!” Jenere received a roar of approval from his entire crew. Once they settled down Jenere continued. “This ship has been ordered to go to the Unknown Lands. There we are to search a rescue fellow privateer pirates.”

Nothing came from the crew, not a word or a sound. Silence was the only reply for a few moments before they uttered the word yes, captain. A wave of grim fear swept over them yet none of them stirred. It was that type of fear which grabbed hold of a person. When that type of fear grips you and has hold, you are scared stiff as a board. He wanted to say sorry to the crew however that would not be fitting. He was no longer a child anymore, nor were they. As the Captain he hoped to make it up to them.

“Prepare the ship for tomorrow. You are dismissed.” Jenere commanded his crew sending them off to their assigned tasks. Every crew member saluted him before getting back to work. He heard his officers' voices bark out commands to the crew who obeyed the commands.

He returned to the command bridge. Here he watched their vessel begin to sail away from the island. Nahem had probably had enough of pirates. In his head Jenere took note never to return to the shores of Nahem. Now they served the Vestrisians and their allies. The Abomination sailed past the Admiral's fleet with the Ego not too far behind them.

For the rest of the day Jenere remained in the bridge observing their progress. Some repairs were being done to the spots that received damage. New recruits scrubbed the decks as they were instructed to do so by the other mates. The ship moved under his feet as it traversed across the ocean. Jenere urged the helmsman to sail well into the night even though he promised to begin the journey the next day. Sophine brought food for him and those at the bridge. She brought them grilled Turquoise Billie a larger fish that was not too different than a striped fin Tuna only larger. He scarfed it down realizing he hardly ate all day. Whatever he did not eat and untouched was given to any crew members who had the least amount of food. A policy that was pushed upon their ship's crew while trapped in the Demon's Islet sea. That sea was charted to the farthest eastern parts past Castaria's Eastern Peninsula. At those Islets they almost starved for a week until creatures of the sea came swimming around them. It was as if the sea gods or sky gods answered some prayers.

“Captain I can take watch from here. You go rest for the night.” Elydark's voice came from his right flank. He turned to see his First Mate and Second Helmsman had come to relieve him and the first helmsman.

“Very well First Mate just make sure the Abomination reaches past Nahem's boundaries by tomorrow.” Jenere ordered Elydark as he left the command bridge to allow them to relieve him. Stepping out of the command bridge Jenere looked up at the sky. Some of the stars were out this night. Most of the sky appeared dark with signs of clouds floating above. He took a moment to enjoy the view of the stars shining brightly and the moons of Calorn. For an hour he stood watching the sky on the starboard. A suitable place to gaze up at the night sky when it was full of stars. Hearing no sound but the waters Jenere went straight for the captain's cabin.

Following several hours of sleep Jenere was woken up by the ringing of a bell from another ship. His eyes opened wide in surprise than the usual slow process of waking up. The elf captain jolted out of bed and rushed out of his quarters. Jenere went through the short hall with haste passing the quarters of his officers. When Jenere exited the cabins he looked around their surrounds. Several convoys of cargo ships, slow rigs, and escort crafts of various sizes passed the Abomination and the Ego of Queens. Jenere kept his eye on the escorting crafts. Not one of these escort ships were larger than a destroyer class. Among these ships he saw the flags of nations such as Lybesan, Ruhonthra, Evusia, Rovantia, Malvieth Republics, Alagen, Redrin, Nahem, and Meze.

They had come to the crossroads that acted as the main route for merchant ships called Rovantia's Way. Both the Abomination and the Ego of Queens had convoys on their flanks, one to the starboard side, and the others broadside. Each vessel slowly progressed past the lines of ships. Their vessels saw many ships passing markers of ship lanes. In the center of the crossroads was a floating port the size of a large city named Devire's Palm. This massive floating port held the shape of a sand critter mixed with a starfish. Devire's Palm was constructed just twenty years ago making it a recently new achievement compared to the platforms built well before the invaders arrived. Jenere hardly went here himself since “Pirates” were considered scum in these parts of the world.

As casually as possible his ship sailed through the path that was clear, but marked according to the traffic. He watched them come to a stop a few times with the Vestrisian Flag flying over them. Jenere made his way to the command bridge where he found his Second Mate in his station and Inaleth at the wheel. She had to maneuver through the outer barrier of the port with Zana's vessel behind them. Nearly two hours of sailing through this island port went by. An impatient feeling grew upon him that last for some time as the waiting felt tense. It remained even after they exited the port island. Relief swept over him once they sailed beyond the reach of Devire's Palm. Through the window he could tell they were headed straight for the Gap of Borvados. This so-called Gap of Borvados was a large channel between Borvados and the Tante Republics a group of Island states in the southern seas near Lybesan and Alagen.

“Helmsman go forward! Those states will not bother us with the VUVR flag above our ship.” Jenere ordered the helmsman feeling confident in sailing through here again. Past the Gap of Borvados were waters now patrolled by both powers, the Vestrisian Republics, and the Imperial Gantronese.

“Captain, what about the Gantronese?” He heard a crew member ask him.

“Our Gantronese foes had to sail through the platform seas and around the southern islands. If the Gantronese and their pirate hunters came through here each of their ships would be at the bottom.” Jenere replied to the crew member's question concerning the invaders. A long silence followed as they headed for the Borvados Channel passing Vestrisian ships, and merchant vessels.

“In three days we should be inside the waters of the Unknown Lands. I am only assuming we will be behind Gantronese lines.” The helmsman said aloud to those on the bridge.

“What of the Vestrisians?” another crew member asked the helmsman.

“We are in Vestrisian territory, and neutral territory. The neutral portions could allow Gantronese ships to come through and link up a route to that Zekmar region in the main continents. Fortunately those lands are cut off from most of their lands by mountains and the Vestrisian territory of Borvados.” The helmsman explained to the crew member

“What about the large territory called the Unknown Lands?” a third crew member asked sounding a little fearful of the lands they just mentioned. Right as the helmsman was about to speak Jenere butted in the conversation.

“Those Unknown Lands are still wild, savage, and uncharted in most places. Even if the invaders were able to conquer a large swath of land they can't hold it for long.” Jenere snapped at the crew talking among each other in the bridge. All eyes were on him now. He ignored the eyes of the crew members. Fed up with their words and conversation Jenere exited the command bridge. He passed crew members who saluted and nodded their heads in respect. With the Unknown Lands on his mind Jenere went straight for the map room of the ship. There he searched for a map of these savage lands that was a world of their own. He spread out the map on a table before him. Using a glass Jenere searched along the coastline of the Unknown Lands that had a few cities marked down on the map.

Closer to the southwestern center of the vast plot of land he found Kilscar Orvain. This particular city was a city-state located on the coast behind some island that could hide it. Kilscar Orvain's southwest flank was exposed to the ocean. With the use of the islands and land mass a defense or ambush could be placed here. He was unsure if this could be trusted since he did not know where the current front lines were. Despite having no knowledge of the front lines Jenere placed the glass over the area of Kilscar Orvain. It was in that region they would have to search for the missing privateer crew.

He left the map room for his own quarters and remained there for two days. During those two days Jenere kept to himself from others except for Sophine and a few others. He tried to cope with the idea of going into those lands. If he were younger he would blindly go in sentencing his parties and crew to death. On the third day the Abomination and the Ego of Queens arrived at the island blocking Kilscar Orvain from view. Many of his crew members were surprised to see him again after two days of his absence. Others appeared more puzzled by the fact that he stayed in his quarters for this long. As a Captain Jenere was out and about on the ship hardly getting any sleep. His hands rested on the bow feeling the warmth of the sun. To their right flank were two other islands trailing off the mainland. Ahead of them stood the island that blocked Kilscar Orvain.

On this island rested two fortifications that flanked a medium sized fort. It appeared to be constructed from older methods of stone craftsmanship and new modern concrete. This island itself was large compared to the one they investigated near Nahem. Along its shores were docks made from stones and wood with various steel ships of different sizes and class encircling the island. Just a couple of small battle ships that were given to them. The rest were stolen or commandeered vessels, some appeared to be scavenged from wreckage from other parts of the world. Each ship had been fitted with new weapons, older guns, more modernized weapons like machine guns from Grussia, Lesdonia, and Vestrisia. All these vessels were painted different designs with the same colors and had decorative modifications that changed appearances, but did not make any of them glamorous or pretty. A small gunship approached them with a large green flag waving around. It confused him at first until a voice coming from a loudspeaker told them they had clearance. He heard Elydark's voice reply to them. Although he heard the voices it was in a different language that he nearly forgot to translate in his head. Jenere raced from the bow to the command bridge passing crew members on his way. He found Elydark on the balcony with the loudspeaker in his hand.

“What did they say?” He demanded as a Captain would.

“They have just given us clearance Captain.” his First Mate answered handing over the loud speaker to him. Jenere took it from him and spoke to the gunboat crew.

“Hello there this is Captain Omavern. We were sent to find some Vestrisian Privateers that came by here.” he announced to the gunboat trying his best not to make it sound like a request or command of some sort. The voice from the gunboat said they would find that lost crew past one of the islands. Jenere replied “thank you” and commanded his ship to push forward to these other islands well past Kilscar Orvain.

At full speed the Abomination sailed towards three islands nearly a hundred miles or more away. Zana's Ego of Queens sailed alongside them at a good distance away to avoid collision. Just before the sunset they snaked around two of the islands closest to the mainland. Along the coasts of the islands and mainland were wreckage of ships and rocks that went as far back as three to four centuries. That did not exclude modern ships caught between other ships and rocks. Other ships had been slammed or rammed into the rocks and the islands. Among this wreckage they found the ship they were looking for. The pirates they were sent to find sailed a frigate that had run aground a quarter of a mile from the shore.

“Stop the ship, stop the ship, get Zana on the radio!” Jenere ordered feeling very eager to avoid running aground themselves.

“Aye, aye Captain!” the radio operator responded. Jenere paid more attention to the grounded ship in search of any signs of life. His focus rested entirely on the frigate that sat like a sitting duck. The radio operator's voice ripped his attention from the frigate.

“Captain I have her on the other line!” the radio operator cried out to him. She held the phone piece up offering it to the Captain. Jenere snatched it from her hands shoving the piece into his face.

“Captain Caniir stop your ship now or you will run aground!” he nearly shouted in the phone piece warning the fellow privateer.

“Alright, alright calm down Jenere. I'll send a party to check out the ship you and your crew go a shore.” Caniir said over the radio communications. She hung up on him forcing him to stand there for a moment listening to nothing on the other line. In silence Jenere hung up the phone piece. The Abomination came to a slow halt. He motioned for the First Mate to gather Sophine's landing parties as well as another party of boats to be prepared.

“Captain sir look over there on top of the rocks, and the wreckage!” another crew member cried out alerting everyone. Crew member Coren held the binoculars against his eyes looking out the window.

Jenere rushed up to Coren's side who handed him the binoculars. He looked through them to see what drew Coren's attention to the wreckage and the rocks. On what appeared to be a cliff made from rocks and stones with ships added two groups of engaged each other. A smaller group made up of pirates, gunslingers, and renegades raced towards the east. The other group was much larger than the pirate group. It consisted of Uxane warriors and renegade tribesmen. Three more small groups of pirates and gunslingers burst out of the jungle chased by even more Uxane warriors along with Gantronese.

From the way things looked these pirates and gunslingers were locked in a skirmish that could have turned into a massacre. He counted roughly one hundred figures that could be formerly two hundred engaging a larger force of six hundred enemies. These pirates must have entered an ambush in the jungle which explained their attempt to escape. As the groups of pirates rushed out of the jungle they saw an opportunity to hold off the pursuers. They banded together as one group and found some cover to make a last stand. Both sides suffered casualties as their skirmish continued. Jenere watched the band of pirates start to climb down to some boats waiting for them. He read their minds just from looking at their faces. They intended to reduce the enemy force, make their escape to the ship. Zana's ship opened fire on the cliff hitting the area of the pursuers.

“What is she doing?” Jenere blurted out in disbelief. He scanned the area around the skirmish. The cliff stretched out a few miles past the island that trailed off with a few hundred feet of water between the island and the mainland. Closer to the island he spotted a group of tribesmen watching the skirmish. There were at least twenty tribesmen spying on the skirmish as if they were observing parts of the pursuing forces. Returning his attention to the pirates and gunslinger group who were now climbing down to their boats. Their force was reduced to more than fifty or more men.

“Tell the parties to meet me at the boats on the port side. I'll be saving those men!” Jenere ordered before heading out of the bridge.

When he reached the port side more than twelve of crew stood ready to load up the boats. Jenere joined the parties not seeing sophine anywhere. Scratching his head Jenere wondered what was still getting to Sophine. He returned to where he was and climbed onto the boat. Each of the boats they chose dropped down on the water. Several boats set out to rescue what remained of the lost crew. Each boat was equipped with a mounted machine gun, grappling hooks, and detachable motors. These boats were large and long enough to hold a ton of weight and nearly twenty men each.

Jenere kept his gaze fixed on the remaining crew that struggled to climb down. There was a little more than fifty pirates and gunslingers trying to reach their boats. He urged the boats to speed up a little more. The motorists sped up making the trip a little quicker. They came close enough to the see the pursuers starting to fire on the pirates. Climbing down while under fire proved far more difficult for these pirates. Just a handful of the pursuers fired on forty-six pirates and six renegade gunslingers. A dozen of them returned fire while the rest clambered down to the boats. Some tumbled down, fell breaking a limb, others ducked for cover. Many of them could not get down further than they were until Jenere's party came within firing range letting loose machine gun fire. His boats arrived at the pirates' boats finding only a few of them could still be used. Each of his machine gunners forced the pursuers away from their prey. Once everything seemed to calm down Jenere looked at the fifty-two pirates and gunslingers who held awestruck faces.

“Are you...you...he-here to s-save us?” One of them asked in a trembling voice. The rest of them looked horrified to even utter a word or noise. It appeared they had seen or experienced something far more horrifying than just the pursuing Uxane and Gantronese.

“Yes, I am Captain Omavern of the Abomination. Admiral Winorsenn of the Vestrisian Navy sent me. No time to chat we need to get you out of here!” Jenere said to the found crew of pirates who sprang into action. They began by lifting up the wounded. Thirteen of their men were injured leaving thirty-three to row back to their own ship. Out of the number of boats the stuck crew had only three of them could be used. This would still be enough for them to get back to the ship. Whoever was not aboard these boats were loaded onto some of Jenere's boats. His crew helped the wounded get on their boats leaving enough room on the other boats. When the test of the found crew started loading up their own boats the Gantronese returned with a larger force. He estimated up to eighty or more when something else caught his attention.

Several aircraft of the Imperial Gantronese came around the corner of one of the islets. Each of these aircraft had the shape of a winged scarab. These Gantronese air fighters came roaring towards them. To his horror these craft were going straight for the sitting ship where Zana's party were on. Jenere skipped a heartbeat with the world starting to slow down, their own boats starting to set off, the newly arrived enemy shooting at them. A few men were hit badly and fell into the water. Their blood flowed into the water like a cloud of red. Something in the waters stirred and the cliffs started to shake like an earthquake.

This caused the boats to rock and the shooting to cease. However, the stirring waters never deterred them as they pressed forward to the Abomination. Jenere returned his attention to the ship that was now coming under attack. Zana's parties manned whatever machine guns or AA guns were on board. As any crew would they took on the Gantronese aircraft. Seven of these aircraft circled and dove for a attack runs on the sitting duck. Two aircraft were shot down before a trio of bombers came into the scene. Jenere felt the boat moving under him as he watched the battle hoping, and praying to the Tortoise God that Zana was not aboard that ship.

“Captain look the dead are waking!” a crew member shouted with fear. The words were far too ludicrous yet scary to believe. Using his elf eyes Jenere turned around catching a glimpse of Kilscar Orvain troops coming towards the area. On the wrecked ships, stones and shallow waters thousands of skeletons crawled out of the ground, sands and emerged from the water and wreckage. Approximately four thousand and more of these dead attacked the Gantronese while armed with various weapons. That kind of threat was something he wanted to avoid. He hoped those Kilscar Orvain troops would leave soon.

“Speed up, speed up or those dead things will be upon us!” he heard himself yelling. He tossed a rope to the crew on one of the rowing crafts who tied to their bow. The others did the same thing, hooking up a few boats to the motorboats. With the boats in tow Jenere's boats made it back to the Abomination. In a rush to get out Jenere climbed aboard first whereas the ones with the wounded were lifted up with a mechanized pulley system. He helped the rest of his crew get back on board. In a crazed voice he yelled for their own AA guns to be operating immediately. Moments later every AA gun and machine gun fired on the Gantronese aircraft.

One by one the aircraft fell from the sky in smoke and flames. The three bombers dropped their bombs on the sitting frigate, which sustained a few hits. Parts of this frigate caught fire roasting those on board alive. He watched the bombers circle around for another attack while under fire. One of these bombers was shot down forcing the others to break formation. Jenere gripped the edge of the ship watching a few boats escape the flaming ship. Another Gantronese bomber fell crashing into the waters close to the frigate. The lost one flew straight into the air before nose diving down into the flaming ship. Jenere turned his attention back to the cliffs where over a hundred figures raced towards the scene of the action. Jenere observed it was a force of a hundred soldiers of Kilscar Orvain coming to investigate the region. He stood at the starboard looking at the carnage and Zana's boats returning to their own ship. The elf privateer leaned forward resting his arms over the edge.

“We should leave now our job here is finished.” Jenere said aloud more to himself and those who were not there.