“Captain? Captain, please.”
She looked up. Standing on the other side of the table was a young man in his early twenties, looking at her with mild exasperation. He had striking sea-green hair and eyes, and running down the right side of his face and neck were cyan patterns in the shape of waves. He was dressed in the elite officer uniform of the navy, blue and black, and held a clipboard in his arms. His ears were semi-translucent at the tips.
“What is it, Vice Captain Wharifin? I’m busy," she replied coolly, returning back to her work at the table.
“Yes, I can see you are dissecting monsters," he stated blandly, eyeing the large carcass with distaste. “Could you step away from the table for one moment and direct your full attention to me, please?”
She sighed and looked up again, placed her hands on the table, and leaned against it. She was currently dressed in a long-sleeved white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows, her hands covered by white gloves, and wore dark blue pants with heavy black boots. On the table in front of her was the large carcass of a sea monster, appearing like a shark in the texture of the skin. It was cut open. Scalpels and other tools were lying next to it, evidence of her research.
“Have we not discussed everything we need to already?” she asked, gazing at the young man.
“Well, yes, but there’s been a new development,” he said sourly, frowning as he glanced at the door to the cabin room.
She straightened up and pinched her nose bridge. “Again?” she replied, slight frustration leaking into her normally toneless voice.
She didn’t need to see his nod for any confirmation and just marched off to another side of the room. She peeled off the gloves she was wearing and deposited them into a basin, then yanked off the long navy blue and gold-trimmed coat hanging on the wall. She eyed the feathered hat beside it for a moment, but shook her head wordlessly, already knowing it would be raining outside. Pulling it down, she stormed off towards the door and threw it open, roughly pulling on the coat and placing the hat on her head as she walked onto the ship deck, Vice Captain Wharifin close behind.
“Don’t need your staff?” the young man asked, frowning as he looked up at the stormy sky, drizzling rain.
“Anything that needs my staff is more than just a ‘new development’,” she muttered, furrowing her brows as she placed a hand above her eyes, trying to see through the perpetual sea fog that covered the warship. She turned to look at her second-in-command.
“Who was it, anyway?” she asked. “It wasn’t Officer Deirvetch, was it? His mouth always gets him into trouble.” She frowned imperceptibly and crossed her arms. “Or was it him again…”
“No, this time was actually someone else,” Vice Captain Wharifin answered, looking around. “It was-”
“-AND THIS IS WHY THE CAPTAIN NEVER SHOULD’VE LET YOU ON THIS SHIP!”
The Vice Captain snuck a look at her face and winced as her expression grew steadily colder, even more so than it already was. She marched over to where she heard the sound of a young woman yelling at the top of her lungs, climbing up the stairs to reach the forecastle deck, the raised part of the main deck at the front of the ship that the forecastle, the crew’s living quarters, could be found below. Her second-in-command followed her with a complicated look on his face.
Standing on the forecastle deck were five people, two women and three men, all in navy blue and black uniforms. One of the women, who she knew had been responsible for the yelling, had wavy, deep blue, shoulder-length hair, and was gazing crossly at the man in front of her with her hands on her hips. The second woman had dirty-blonde hair that was kept in a thick braid that fell down to her waist and stood behind the blue-haired woman in a show of support.
Standing to the side of the women, watching the events, were two men. One was short, and had mousy-brown hair, while the other was taller with very short red hair, and black tattoos in the shape of chains around his arms and neck. The man with mousy-brown hair was snickering and seemed to be eating a sandwich as he gazed at the fight like he was watching an interesting show.
The third man was the one facing the blue-haired girl. He was tall and had dark-brown hair. His eyes were a rare brilliant gold. A large longsword was strapped to his waist as he frowned at the woman in front of him.
“Every one of our problems can be attributed to you!” the blue-haired woman yelled, pointing at him. “Every single one! The Captain has given you a chance time and time again, and yet you still continue to stir up trouble and conflict on this ship! We all have our problems, but one of the Captain’s biggest faults must be that she didn’t kick you off the moment you tried to fight that greater monster! What, did she think you’d ever be useful?” she continued mockingly, tilting her head.
The gold-eyed man scowled, but the other three people heard the sounds of footsteps and glanced behind them. They all paled, and the short man with a sandwich began coughing as he choked on his lunch.
Neither the man with dark-brown hair nor the blue-haired woman noticed, and the man went to open his mouth to argue, but the woman cut him off.
“Captain Riftmire may be a genius leader, but she doesn’t understand that keeping you on this ship is the worst decision she could ever make,” the woman said with fury, crossing her arms. “She might be strong enough to survive, but if you stay here, your arrogance and egotistical nature will be the death of the rest of us. I don’t know why she ever let you on here! She should’ve thrown you into the ocean the moment she set eyes on you, and let the sea monsters-”
“I never knew you had so much to say about my actions," she interrupted, her voice icy as she gazed at the shorter woman. “Officer Winrich, at a better time, you should come to my cabin to have a more private discussion with me if you believe I am doing something wrong. It may be a meaningful lesson for both of us.”
Maeva Winrich froze, and nervously looked to the side to see her and her Vice-Captain watching the events. Maeva blanched and hastily did an Empire salute, one fist pressed against her chest. “Captain.”
She looked emotionlessly at the Officer, but let her gaze wander to look at each of the other members. She frowned slightly as she spoke in a cold voice. “This is not a game,” she stated harshly. “The work of a Captain is not to resolve the petty fights and squabbling of their subordinates.”
She threw out an arm to point at the horizon. “In just a few hours’ time, we will enter the central zone of the Distorted Depths where we will be at risk of being detected by King-ranked monsters for the first time. And yet you’ve riled your emotions up high, possibly allowing yourselves to be blindsided when we ultimately fight. Have you all lost your damn minds?” she growled, her voice chilly.
They glanced away, avoiding eye contact, and not saying anything. She could see that the golden-eyed man was pretending to look sorry, but his expression brightened when he saw her look at him. His smile dimmed when her gaze moved to the next person without pause.
“I don’t care what you were fighting about,” she stated shortly, crossing her arms. “That’s not my job. My job is to ensure we can enter and exit the central zone successfully, and allow us to prove ourselves to Commander Arkenast that we can make this work. This is the longest that this type of group has stayed together.”
The short man frowned. “But that’s only because you’re sca- ow!” The mousy-haired man rubbed his side where the red-haired man to his left had elbowed him.
She ignored the two idiots to gaze at them all again. “Let me remind you that this is what you wanted. Not me. I’m not the one who wishes to prove themselves to the Commander.”
They all looked away with complicated expressions, aware of her thoughts on this matter. The short man with a half-eaten sandwich opened his mouth and scoffed. “Captain, you might not care because you’re already his precious little favourite, but us mere mortals need to-”
“Elite Naval Officer Ruel Deirvetch," she said, directing her icy stare to him. “Shut. Up.”
“Oh, she’s mad…..” the red-haired man to his left muttered quietly. Ruel Deirvetch scowled but didn’t retort.
“Now, everybody back to their positions before I turn this ship around right now and tell Commander Arkenast my crew was too busy fighting amongst themselves to fight the actual monsters,” she demanded, whirling around, and walking down the stairs with a flick of her coat. She didn’t look as she pointed to Officer Winrich.
“You. Follow,” she ordered, Vice Captain Wharifin walking beside her with a sigh.
Maeva Winrich slumped, and the braided woman next to her gave her a comforting pat on the shoulder, but she followed, walking down the stairs. The other four awkwardly separated to go back to what they were doing.
“Whose idea was it to place so many tightly wound young nobles and commoners on this melting pot of a ship,” Vice Captain Wharifin muttered beside her.
She didn’t look at him. “You’re complaining to the wrong person. Go talk to Commander Arkenast if you think it will make a difference.”
The green-haired man stared at her. “You know I’m including you in that count too, right?”
She ignored him to open her cabin door and held it open for the slightly shorter man. After he had entered, she gestured to the blue-haired woman behind with a tilt of her head. “In,” she stated curtly.
Maeva Winrich sighed but nodded, and ducked under her arm to enter the cabin.
She walked in, shut the door behind them, and then crossed her arms, leaning against the door.
“How many times have we had this conversation, Winrich?” she asked, watching the woman in front of her sternly.
The young woman looked down with her hands held together awkwardly in front of her but didn’t answer.
She put a hand to her head in mild frustration. “As a healer, it is vital you don’t lose control of yourself, lest you end up making a mistake when we fight. You can’t let your personal opinions overrule your ability to react in the thick of battle. You need to heal people, regardless of whether you like them or not.”
“And I can do that!” Maeva abruptly exclaimed, looking up. “I haven’t made a mistake yet!”
“But you might,” she responded, frowning slightly. “While I usually only spend time in my cabin, I can see that the conflict on the ship has been increasing. Tensions are running high this past month, and the already unstable atmosphere has gotten worse as we approach the central zone. And now we’re only a few hours away.”
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
“….I won’t cause trouble again, Captain,” Maeva replied quietly, looking at the floor. “But it wasn’t my fault.”
She gazed silently at the blue-haired woman for a moment, and then walked over to a chair and sat down. She sighed as she looked up at the roof. “I’m not blind, Maeva.”
The woman looked up, stunned. Her eyes widened. “Wait, are you saying- I mean, you already know that Conlan-”
“Is responsible for half the mess on this ship? Yes,” she replied blandly, leaning forward to tighten the laces on her boots.
“But… you’ve never actively said anything to rebuke him, and it’s obvious he feels more than just admiration for you, so I thought-”
She looked up, and Maeva hastily shook her hands as she saw the frigid expression on her face. “Not that you would ever think of him like that, but it always looked to me that you favoured him a little….”
Vice Captain Wharifin, who was leaning against the cabin wall with his arms crossed, gazed at the Officer with incredulity.
“I don’t favour anyone,” she replied flatly, sitting up to grab the long staff leaning against the wall next to her. “I dislike everyone on this blighted ship,” she muttered, inspecting the gem on the end of the silver rod.
The green-haired man rolled his eyes, and Maeva Winrich gave her a dubious look. “Except Liliana,” she responded, putting her hands on her hips. “We all know you have a soft spot for her.”
She frowned as she placed the staff on her lap. “Feeling responsible is not the same thing as having a soft spot,” she said, slightly uncomfortable.
The blue-haired woman threw up her hands. “Oh, come off it! She’s the only one you let call you by your first name!”
“To be fair,” Vice Captain Wharifin interjected, a slight smile on his lips. “Everyone lets Liliana call us by our first names. By that definition, we all have a soft spot for her.”
“Well, yes, but…” The woman frowned and looked at her. “Captain, you need to get rid of Conlan.”
She sighed and rubbed her temples. “I’m not having this conversation,” she stated wearily, getting up from her seat and moving over to her table. She started to shrug off her coat.
The Officer’s face darkened, and she angrily marched up to slam her hands on the table, glaring at her. “No, you need to! His overzealousness to gain any smidgen of your attention will kill us all!” she hissed, distress beginning to enter her expression.
Vice Captain Wharifin frowned and walked up to the table. “Wait, Maeva-”
“Please, stop,” she said, rubbing her forehead, and not wanting to be reminded of the man with gold eyes. She felt a headache beginning to emerge.
“Maeva don’t-”
The woman shrugged off the Vice Captain’s hand from her shoulder and vigorously shook her head. “No, this needs to be said. If not for our sake, then think about Liliana’s! You’ll hurt her. We all know the only reason he keeps her around is because she looks like-”
The woman paused when they heard a loud knocking noise coming from her cabin door. Maeva frowned and crossed her arms, looking away, while she spoke up. “Who is it?” she asked.
“It’s me, Adrianna- I mean, Captain,” a brown-haired woman said, correcting herself after she saw the others in there once she had opened the door. The woman blinked. “Did I hear someone say my name?”
She shot Officer Maeva a meaningful glance. “…no, you didn’t,” she replied, turning back to the woman. “What’s wrong?”
Liliana Mason gazed at the three of them with an unsure look but answered. “Um… Noirel has a message for you. She said she’s spotted something,” she told them uneasily.
Vice Captain Wharifin and Maeva both groaned while she scowled at the table. She angrily pulled back on her coat. “Dammit,” she said.
Grabbing her staff, she stormed out the door with her three subordinates following behind. The wind howled and a constant hail of rain had begun to fall from the grey skies, the deck beginning to become slick with water. She marched up to the bottom of the main mast, looked up, and whistled, sticking two fingers in her mouth.
At the top of the main mast in the lookout, someone with short wispy hair looked down. They seemed to slouch slightly when they saw her, and then, trailing white ribbons, they used one arm to jump over the lookout edge. They fell straight down, but instead of crashing, a gust of wind blew and halted the figure from touching the deck, causing her coat to waver in the wind. The form of what looked to be a 16-year-old girl was floating near her, her boots raised only a few centimetres off the ship deck.
“…..Captain,” the girl said after a moment, looking very uncomfortable and anxious as she glanced at her. A spyglass was attached to her waist.
She ignored the girl’s strange reaction to hold out her hand and turn her head, trying to see what the girl had spotted. “Where is it?” she said, her tone sharp.
The half-fae awkwardly passed her the spyglass and gestured to the horizon directly in front of them. “It appears to beest a land-type monstrous turtle. No stronger than greater-ranked, but its size is worrisome.”
“Give me an estimate,” she responded, heading back up the steps to the forecastle deck. She put the spyglass up to her eye when she made it to the front of the ship. She frowned as she spotted the island look-alike, complete with a tree-covered mountain and sandy shores. She turned back to the ashy-haired girl when she didn’t respond. “Well?”
“Giga,” the half-fae replied, hugging herself with apprehension.
She stared at the girl for a beat, while the Vice Captain and two other girls paled. She scowled and clicked her tongue, before snapping her fingers, making the air ripple around her. She turned back to look at the distant monster, that was slowly approaching them.
“ALL HANDS ON DECK!” she shouted, the soul magic she had cast sending her voice out to the entire ship through a spiritual transmission. The ones closest to her winced at the loud noise, but soon enough the sound of footsteps could be heard coming from the forecastle below them and from the opposite end of the ship. After passing the spyglass back to Arventiel, she ran back down the stairs with her staff in hand as her subordinates dashed to their positions.
Pointing her staff at the deck above her cabin, the quarterdeck, a thick tendril of mana extended outwards and attached itself to the handrail up there. She allowed the mana rope to pull her over to the quarterdeck, and a man with grey hair at the steering wheel saluted to her as she landed. She pointed to the monster.
“Quartermaster Vima, fire both mana engines. We have a giga-sized monstrous turtle who’s sighted us. Prepare for collision.”
As soon as the man nodded, she jumped over the railing to land in front of her cabin, and then she walked to the centre of the ship below the main mast. The warship below her began to rumble and thrum with power as the Quartermaster pulled levers, firing up engines and mechanisms below.
As more of her subordinates began emerging from below deck, she grasped her staff tighter at the centre of the deck. She closed her eyes in concentration.
“Clarity Seal. Mental Awareness Amplification. Perception Multiplier,” she stated loudly, the skills activating in accordance with her will. She raised her staff and drew on the billowing indigo and dark-blue illusion mana emerging from within her, and then slammed the staff down with a pulse of mana, thick purple glowing veins emerging from the base of the staff to sink into the ship.
“Activate Illusory Territory: Manifestation. Synchronise with Core Skill Unit. Activate Core Skill Unit: Scan.”
A thin bubble of indigo film seemed to emerge from her, and then swell to an enormous size, containing the entire ship within the strange shield. The illusion mana grasped onto her Origin Skill within her.
“Identify and Mark Users. Isolate Marked Users.”
The crew members barely even glanced at themselves when a white circle appeared on their fronts and backs, then faded.
“Activate Domain: Demi-Omnipresent Anatomization Zone.”
A disorientating second film in a white glowing grid-like pattern emerged again, everything contained within the Illusory Domain briefly lighting up as it was registered and documented within her skill.
“Activate Core Skill Unit: Deployment.”
Another rush of illusion essence billowed out of her, filling the entire spherical shield. The air shimmered like the psychedelic film of a bubble.
“Prepare Illusory Construct: Foundation.”
The silver-white puzzle cube in her mental space shifted and reassembled itself, restructuring into the registered pattern of her construct. The air on the ship glowed for a second and then dimmed.
“Deploy Illusory Construct: Sky-Eagle, White Wind. Lightning Model, Version 6.2.”
With the glow of silver-white light, a horrific screeching sound emerged to her right as a giant eagle the size of a house appeared alongside the ship. Lightning crackled along its length, wailing winds tearing at the air as it beat its wings. She pointed her staff at the eagle.
“Deploy Localised Illusory Sub-Territory. Target: Sky-Eagle, White Wind.”
The eagle gained another indigo shield, large enough to cover its whole length. She pointed her staff at the deck.
“Deploy Illusory Construct: Saw-tooth Shark School. Unmodified, Version 2.13.”
The sea foam below and around the ship bubbled and frothed as nearly a hundred giant grey sharks snapped and roared under the waves. She raised her staff high again.
“Deploy Core Illusory Construct: Morphic Kraken.”
All the crew looked up as they felt a horrendous presence and terrifying scream, like the harsh scratching of metal talons against stone, descend upon the ship. They shuddered as thick, slimy grey-blue tentacles began to emerge from the waters below and wrap themselves around the ship’s three masts, pulling the body half up onto the main deck. Beneath the ghastly skin of the phantasmal creature, the muscles squirmed and bunched together in foul ways only a monster could do. But while the mammoth creature hauled itself out of the water, the crew were able to pass right through it, unbarred from their work.
Once she had finished, she dashed up the forecastle deck stairs to announce her orders to the officers on the main deck. “Attention!” They looked up at her as she gestured to the monster on the horizon.
“Incoming battle!” she shouted over the wind, the indigo air distorting with her words. “We’ve got a giga-sized greater-ranked Monstrous Turtle heading our way, only a few hours away from the central zone’s border! We’re potentially looking at a scion of a King-ranked monster, our most dangerous enemy yet!”
She stopped to point at a few individuals and direct them to their posts. “Baervad, prepare the main cannon. We need maximum firepower before we reach the conflict zone!”
The half-demon smirked and saluted. “You got it, boss!”
She pointed at the red-haired man from earlier. “Baxtimer, haul down those sails! We’re going full mana-power, no wind!”
He nodded and ran off to the nearest mast.
“Twyla, check the engines below deck and support Quartermaster Vima!”
The woman with the long braid saluted and headed to a door.
“Leutia, get those damn summons out already!”
The necromancer flinched at the tone of her voice but began drawing on his death mana.
“Zoc’uraghets, Griffin, Mason, Deirvetch, man the forecastle deck, and get ready for first impact. Estimated Level of the monster is 370, with an error margin of twenty-plus levels. You’re on primary cycle for the next two hours!”
The golden-eyed man smirked and headed for the stairs, along with the girl and the two other men. Liliana Mason pulled out the massive longbow held in its quiver on her back in preparation.
“Winrich, you’re main healer for the next three hours. High-priority measures are active. If you get below 70% mana, swap with Junem!”
The blue-haired woman nodded firmly, and swirling blue light began coalescing on her palms as she activated her preliminary skills for the battle.
With her commands issued, she ran back down the stairs and headed to the left side of the ship. She jumped off the side, landed on one of the big wings of her eagle construct, and walked onto the centre of its back. She crouched low with staff in hand as the eagle opened its mouth in a loud screech, thick tendrils of golden lightning crackling as they jumped from feather to feather. The eagle flapped its wings once and almost began to rise just before Vice Captain Wharifin dashed to the side of the ship to lean over the railing.
“Captain, you’re going alone?” he yelled to her, the howling wind of the eagle’s mana even stronger than that of the skies.
She didn’t look at him as she checked her Origin Skill to ensure all her constructs were in working order. “I need to buy time for the warship’s main weapons. We’re set to reach the conflict zone in ten minutes, not the half an hour we need,” she replied, her domain allowing him to hear her normally at their proximity.
He looked at her worriedly. “Can’t you take somebody with you?” he pleaded.
She turned to look at him coldly. “Vice Captain Caspian Wharifin, I will not be responsible for somebody else’s life while I am up there fighting the scion’s head. I have already calculated the probability of defeating the monster if it was somebody else, and I can say our chances are abysmal if I don’t do this. Stop panicking.”
The lightning of her eagle crackled again as it jumped and sparked, preparing itself for the high-intensity speeds required to get to the island-sized turtle in a short enough time.
“Then take me,” he argued, looking even more anxious.
She firmly shook her head, her wild hair scattering in the wind behind her. “Your Atlantean bloodline is too valuable for you to be taking an active part in the battle with the turtle. I need you here to keep track of all the presences on or around the ship so you can direct the crew into defeating all the lesser monsters.”
The eagle beat its wings again as she looked toward the monstrous turtle. “Caspian Wharifin, as your superior, I order you to go back and take up your position as Vice Captain. I’m going.”
And without another look back, her eagle rose into the sky and let out another ear-piercingly loud screech. It flew down and soared over the waves, the lightning mana leaving a taste of acrid metallic tang on her tongue as she headed towards the 5-kilometre-long monster on the horizon. As she got closer, a massive dark-green head rose out of the waves and saw the golden eagle coming towards it. It let out a roar that sent the mana around it into disarray, buzzing and thrumming with power.
With a twist of her Origin Skill, the Morphic Kraken back on the warship raised its mouth full of rotating layers of shard-like teeth, and simultaneously let out a dizzying screech like the sound of glass shattering fused with screaming metal.
The two pulses of energy met and clashed between the warship and the turtle, and let out a supersonic shockwave that sent towering waves high into the sky. She sighed as she directed the eagle to avoid the ice-cold, dark grey waters heading their way. It was going to be another very long day.
…
It was pitch black outside the windows of her study. She was up late at night, reading some reports, and had her heavy boots kicked up on the desk as she leaned back in her tilted chair, a lit cigar in one hand flooding the room with dark smoke while she went through the formal documents. She was wearing a long thick coat in the colour of navy blue, gold, and white, different from her old one. She didn’t look up as the door of her room opened and shut with a click.
“Why are you always up so late?” a green-haired man grumbled as he entered the room.
“So I can be alone,” she replied, not raising her eyes.
He yawned, then rubbed his neck, sighing. “Yes, yes, hello to you too. I shouldn’t have expected any better.” He crossed his arms as he looked at her. “Anyway, congratulations on your promotion. I’m sorry I couldn’t make it to the ceremony.”
She scoffed and put the report down on her lap. “You shouldn’t be. It was just meaningless formalities done by a Duke who doesn’t even care. You didn’t miss anything.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Is that an attitude a Commander is supposed to have?”
“There’s only my Vice Commander in here to hear this, so who cares.”
He stared at her for a while. “…what?”
She took another draught of the magically-infused drug in her hand and breathed out. “Congratulations on your promotion.”
Vice Commander Wharifin shot her an incredulous look, and then groaned, rubbing his face. “How can you be so nonchalant about these things? Vice Captain to Vice Commander isn’t just some normal jump in rank. And I was only your Vice Captain because Commander Arkenast ordered it!”
“Then do you not want it?” she asked blandly, gazing at the trail of smoke coming from the end of her cigar.
He gave her an exasperated look but sighed. “Thank you for your trust, Commander Riftmire. I will endeavour to meet your expectations as your new Vice Commander,” he replied wearily.
“Good,” she stated, crossing her arms. “I can’t trust half of what I need doing to the lot under me.” She turned her head to look outside. “If the monsters don’t get me first, it will be their failures that do,” she muttered.
He gave her a suspicious look. “Don’t tell me the reason why you just promoted me is so I have to suffer along with you?”
She stuck the end of the cigar in her mouth and gazed wordlessly at him.
He facepalmed. “Of course it is. Figures. No, who cares if Caspian Wharifin is the highest valued talent of the Navy after Adrianna Riftmire, I’m just getting promoted for my paperwork ability.” He sighed again, and put his hands on his hips, then glanced at her. “I have to say though, when we first met, I never would’ve taken you for a smoker.”
She removed the cigar to breathe out the smoke. “I can assure you it only started after the first central zone trip.”
“Good enough reason as any, I suppose,” he replied. Then he frowned when he looked at the cigar in her hand, and the dark-grey smoke near her. “Although isn’t that the type Commander Arkenast usually smokes? The really heavy kind.” He shot her a worried look. “Is it okay for you to be smoking that?”
“It’s fine,” she responded, tilting her chair slightly forward, but not removing her feet from the desk. “With my superior illusion affinity, any other internal mana disperses after a short period of time. And it’s impossible for me to get addicted anyway.” She went to take another puff of her cigar.
“Is this another one of those ‘I’m a genius so things are different’ spiels?” he groaned, rubbing his head.
She paused, the cigar a few centimetres from her lips, and gazed silently at him for a moment. “Vice Commander. Tell me, do you and all the crew really see me as a genius?”
He shot her a dubious look and frowned when he saw she was being serious. “The only time someone under 30 ever became a Commander in the Distorted Depths, they were 24 and had joined the navy at 18. You were 21, and became a Commander at 23.”
She didn’t comment on the fact she was technically only 20 currently. He crossed his arms and gazed at her with a complicated expression. “What do you see yourself as, if not a genius?”
“Me?” She gave him a humourless smile. “I just see myself as too good of an actor.”
He was silent for a while before he replied. “Captain. You seem off somehow. More emotional. You would never say things like that.”
She glanced at him when he called her captain, but didn’t mention it. She looked away. “I only discovered the right formula,” she muttered.
“Formula?” he repeated. He frowned when she didn’t explain.
“Well, Vice Commander Wharifin, I’m pretty much done with this,” she said, raising her cigar, “So if you want to stay here and go over these reports of the new crews under my command with me, you can. Or leave and get some more shut-eye. The choice is up to you.”
He looked out the window, seeing that the sky on the horizon was beginning to brighten, and sighed. “It feels lazy of me to do that when you’re in here, doing this only a day after your promotion. And with our ranks, we technically don’t even need to sleep for a week.”
He walked up to her desk and dragged a second chair closer. Then he roughly shoved her boots in an attempt to get them off. “Alright, Miss Commander lady, get your boots off your desk and budge over to make room so I can acquaint myself with my new duties as your Vice Commander.”
She rolled her eyes and removed her feet, then shifted over as she placed her used cigar on the tray next to her. The green-haired man watched her do so with a strange expression as he sat down on the chair beside her, and grabbed a report off her desk.
“Again, you’re really off today,” he said.
She propped her chin up on her hand and gazed at him for a moment. “Wharifin.” She whacked him over the back of the head with the report she had. “Shut up and read.”
“And the Captain I know is back…” he muttered, looking down at the sheet in his hands as he rubbed his head.
But he didn’t see the slight smile she had on her lips as she watched him.