The anchor chamber was cold, colder than Kagami had expected or prepared for. That however was the least of their current problems, as it was also much smaller than expected. Kagami could barely move in the cramped hole and having only the starlight from the hawsehole behind them, they had to feel their way through the hold.

In the end they found, to their relief, the telltale sign of a hatch. A small crack in the cold metal that ran around the door.

They tried to put their fingers into the modicum of leeway, but gained no purchase. Sighing, Kagami decided on the violent approach.

Twisting on their back, Kagami placed their feet against the hatch. One kick was enough to learn that the metal wanted to be free, but also that it would take a lot more noise than she’d hoped.

The impact of their feet resounded through the ship, or so Kagami thought. Quietly they listened to the sounds of the ship. Low humming drones, chatter, hurried footsteps and loud sounds of metal against metal that Kagami could not make sense of.

Kagami simply kicked the hatch again, four times until it gave way under their barrage.

With a creak, it swung open and Kagami could look into the room beyond. Unfortunately, they could see nothing but darkness.

Sighing, Kagami took a small vial from the folds of their clothes, uncorked it with their teeth, then groaned as they downed the vicious tasting liquid.

They blinked their eyes a few times and if anyone had been watching them, they would have seen the brown pupils dilate, then turn a bright yellow.

Now that they were able to see in the dark, Kagami looked in the room beyond the anchor chamber.

It was filled with large gray, metal tubes.

Had Kagami known what they were, they would never have climbed them, but now found their way across them. Rapidly darting over the thick mortar shells, still making sure nobody was aware of their presence.

They landed on the other side of the room next to a door where they pressed themselves against the wall...and listened.

For a moment she heard boots against metal, then a door open and then the odd not-quite-silence.

They opened the door and peeked out, finding nothing more than a long hallway, filled with unmarked doors.

Having some inkling of how the ship would be laid out and with the knowledge of where they had boarded, they headed towards where she assumed the bridge to be, hoping that that would be where the navigation charts were kept.

After what felt like an eternity of hallway filled with identical doors, Kagami found their way onto the ship’s deck…

… At the most unfortunate time to find themselves there.

Kaba nodded briefly to one of her lower officers taken attendance, checking the sailors’ uniforms and generally being a nuisance to the crew who’d rather get on with the actual of preparing their ship to sail in the morning. Kaba however, stood on ceremony.

She was eyeing one of the junior sailors, whose top knot was being tied properly by her senior, then frowned when she saw a door, that definitely should have been locked, open.

“Mister Eurades,” she said, not letting her eyes off the door, surprised to see nothing appear through it.

“Is the door to the loading bay locked?”

“Should be,” Eurades, a short, balding lieutenant, nodded to himself, “Definitely should be.”

“Then explain to me why it’s open,” she drawled.

Eurades followed Kaba’s eyes, squinted at the open door, then at the parchment he was taking muster on.

“I’ll go close it right now,” he offered, “Then have whoever left it unlocked flogged.”

“On your own time, mister Eurades,” Kaba smirked, “Please finish muster. I will deal with this matter personally.”

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Eurades saluted and watched Kaba pace towards the stairs to the bride.

“Weird,” he muttered, then, in between yelling names, reiterated, “Definitely weird.”

Kagami made their way around the ship’s superstructure, where they found an unadorned wall they attempted to climb. They found no grip on the heavy metal, sighed, and prepared the hook shot to assist them in scaling the wall.

With the rope coiled around a part of the safety rail, it was simple enough to plant their feet on the wall and make their way up.

A few moments later she was up and through the open door into the bridge, where they marveled at something they had only seen in small amounts, glass.

The foreigners sometimes drank from them, but that was nowhere near as impressive as the panorama window that circled around the bridge, giving a full view of every part of the ship and in the distance, the lights of Choukishi.

Kagami smiled at the sight of a million fireflies illuminating the headland, then quickly remembered their mission.

One that they found harder than foreseen, as they had no idea what a nautical map looked like.

In the center of the bridge was a large table, filled with papers, markers and other equipment needed to successfully navigate the nautical colossus they found themselves on.

They pulled a few of the maps towards themselves, trying to make sense of things that probably showed mostly water.

Then, after six or seven duds, they spotted something that interested them. Even with their lack of cartography knowledge, they could recognize the iconic coastline of the Dekamu domain. The remains of what had supposed to been a large trading port, before the Gunari had given the order to close the country. The waterworks that had been moved for it had been left in an odd stairway like shape. It had been circled and next to it were, what Kagami assumed were numbers.

“Oh,” they said to themselves, “A conflict of interests here.”

“Lost?” a woman asked behind Kagami. They knew the word in the foreign language, but had barely enough of it to have a conversation in. Nevertheless, Kagami had no choice.

“I think,” they said, “We… need talk.”

The mustered crew looked up as one when they heard the shattering of the bridge window. Kagami came flying through the air, somehow found their balance and landed on all fours on the deck without a scratch on them.

The sailors were slow to rouse, just confused at what was happening, muttering in concern and reaching for weapons at their side.

Kaba appeared in the broken window, the night wind tugging at her dreadlocks and jacket.

“They’re mine!” she called down, “Just keep them here.”

She rushed down the stairway towards the main deck after speaking, leaving Kagami to look for a way around. They clutched a piece of parchment in their hands, which they hurriedly tucked in their clothes. When they realized that the sailors would definitely not let them through, they drew a short blade from their sleeve, preparing to defend themselves.

Kaba arrived on deck, striding calmly towards their opponent, making sure to greet Kagami properly.

She brought the saber before her eyes, flicked the tip grandiosely to her foot and inclined her head. When she was done, she fell in a lazy combat stance, clearly unconcerned with her opponent

Unsure why she did, Kagami returned the salute, held her blade ready and waited for the assault to come.

Kaba came in hard, swinging at her opponent with wild, but controlled movements.

Kagami, used to opponents that generally never realized they were there until the fatal stroke, fell into a rehearsed pattern of defense, but the black chitin blade she carried quickly lost ground to the forged steel against her.

The saber came at their face, and Kagami barely had time to avoid it. It cut across their cheek and they felt the warm blood drip down.

“Tantuo…” they cursed to themselves.

The desperate defensive pattern continued, pushing Kagami towards the stern of the ship.

“Captain, you should probably capt…”

“Quiet, Eurades,” Kaba shouted, delight in her voice. She jabbed at Kagami again, then laughed when her blade was clumsily deflected.

Kagami looked over their shoulder as they fought, made their decision and pulled three small throwing daggers from their belt.

The master would be annoyed that they three weapons would not be able to be retrieved, but not as annoyed as they’d be with a failed mission.

The first dagger went into Kaba’s leg, right above the knee-highs.

Kaba’s laughter echoed around the bay.

“Nice try, dog,” she called, put a foot back and prepared to charge her opponent.

Kagami had given up on the fight, they were running towards the stern, throwing the other daggers with surgical precision into the throats of the last two sailors in their way.

They heard Kaba stomp after them, though the sound quickly turned to limping when the venom in the dagger spread.

Kagami ducked under another swing, brought her blade up again and felt it being smacked from their hand.

Cursing, Kagami continued running and without making sure there was nothing under them, cleared the deck to jump into the icy water below them.

Kaba chased after, founding herself just too late to catch her prey.

“Should I start the engines, captain?” Eurades wanted to know.

Annoyed, Kaba pulled the dagger from her thigh, inspected the workmanship and tucked it into her pocket, already wondering how much she’d get for the rare weapon back home.

“No need,” she said, shaking her head, “Nobody can swim that distance.”

Eurades cast a dubious look at the water, sure he saw the ripples of the infiltrator in the darkness.

“Deal with the wounded,” Kaba continued, “That includes me. I’ll be in my bunk.”

Eurades frowned, then simply saluted, “Understood, captain.”