Narazenna Roth sat at her small desk in her private quarters, once again looking through her logs. One thing every Captain knew, and her especially, was that inaccurate logs would inevitably lead to disaster.

Accidentally marking down an extra bag of food that doesn’t exist meant the crew starved until you docked or you spent extra time fishing or hunting to make up for it. Incorrectly marking a single degree of difference in heading, an hour difference in sailing time, or a few knots difference in speed could mean you end up dozens or hundreds of miles off course.

Either of these simple mistakes or any number of other record keeping issues would lead to extra hours, days, or weeks at sea. And any time you were at sea, you were bait for any passing Abyssals. Sure, they could be fended off, but each attack built up damage to the ship and exhaustion for her crew. Eventually, something terrible would happen.

Narazenna balled her hands into fists to fight off the tremors that started, sending away the memories that train of thought led to.

Yes, keeping good track of everything about your ship was the only way to ensure smooth sailing and the safety of your crew on the death trap known as the Oversea.

She also had to be careful rationing the Energy provided by Arbor Vitae, especially now that she had a full crew for her ship. Adrian would need a good amount to practice with over the next few years to get proficient in magic, so they would need to drop anchor more often so she could pray to the starry sky and build up her supply. That meant less time out adventuring and getting stronger if they came to a halt every night, but it was necessary.

Closing the heavy book bound in rough, water resistant cruck leather, Narazenna let out a tired sigh. Just then, a knock sounded on the hatch leading to the deck above. After calling out her permission to enter, Sloane peeked inside.

“Captain Roth, I have gathered the crew on deck for our meeting. Is there anything else you would like me to prepare?”

His light voice made goosebumps grow along her arms and put her on edge. Of course, she knew her half-abyssal Quartermaster better than anyone else in the crew, and was certain he would never even dream of harming her. It was just unfortunate that he sounded so similar to the dark whispers of the true Abyssals thanks to his unique facial features. Those needle-like teeth still showed up in some of her nightmares even after knowing him for fifteen years.

Fighting off the eerie feeling, she lifted her lips into a proud smile. The man had stuttered every single word when they had first met all those years ago, so the fact that he could speak so easily to her now could be considered nothing less than a miracle. Unfortunately, that fell apart when anyone else was around, but she was sure it would come with time. He was the hardest working member of the crew by far, and she would pay that back by never letting her discomfort around him show.

“That will be all, Sloane. I just finished my work here so I’ll just be a moment,” she said, tossing her jacket over her shoulders.

She climbed the short ladder through the hatch up onto deck at the stern of The Galaya. She had to squint her eyes to fight off the sunlight, but was glad to see the good weather had kept up. Bright blue skies, a few puffy clouds, a gentle breeze straining the mast and pushing the ship along. It was marred only by the screaming of a young boy and his bird.

“Zephyr! Stop diving at me! I’m not supposed to feed you any more!” Adrian shouted, running in circles with his hands flailing above him.

The skyback straika he’d bonded with was repeatedly circling above him, almost invisible when its white scales camouflaged it in the clouds above, before letting loose a piercing screech and throwing its body at the boy. It did at least have its claws sheathed so at most Adrian would only be left with a few bruises.

Each dive ended in a mess of blue feathers and golden blonde hair which inevitably led to the laughter of his nearby crewmates.

“Aww, come on sailor boy, what pirate can’t even provide for his own pet? He just wants a few chunks of hair, is all,” Murphy teased from where she leaned against the gunwale. She held a silver spyglass in her hands that she polished with a clean white handkerchief. The two items marked an odd contrast to her self-made clothes made of spare rags and her grimy blonde hair.

“Ahahahaha! That’s what she said, longear. Who are ye to deny a descendant of the legendary dragons? Get ‘im Zephyr!” Tragan, her half-dwarf Gunner, sat mounted on the barrel of a cannon, doing his best to stay balanced while letting loose his boisterous laughter. His long brown hair was tied up into a top bun as usual while his braided beard swung back and forth over the barrel of the gun like a pendulum. She noted that the little glutton had hidden away his own stash of snacks that he usually kept on his person, and also that he had an extra few scratches on his hands and forehead that she didn’t remember seeing earlier.

Meanwhile, Sunny stood near Sloane by the mast, stony faced as ever next to the always uncomfortable Quartermaster. When they noticed her appearance on deck, the pair both nodded respectfully, which she returned.

“All hands to me!” She shouted.

In only a breath, Murphy and Tragan were up and moving. The speed with which those two could become serious always put a smile on her face. They knew exactly when they could have fun as friends and when it was time to be a crew.

Adrian was slower to react, but that was to be expected. When he saw the others jogging over, he carefully dipped out of the way of Zephyr’s latest attack and ran to catch up. The straika gave chase, and while she thought it best for Adrian to tame him on his own, the crew meeting came first.

Narazenna connected to the Constellation Energy supply in her chest and sent a pulse down into the deck of the ship. When Zephyr came down for another dive, a vine grew up out of the boards below, striking out like a whip and wrapping around his wings while he flailed fruitlessly. One more pulse led to a smaller branch growing around his beak, silencing a furious screech.

She left the bird trapped in its woody prison and walked up to join the crew, now gathered in a circle by the mast, sitting on barrels or standing dutifully.

“Thanks, Captain,” Adrian got out through his panting. “I really don’t know what to do about him. Dia just bonded him to me without any explanation, but I never even had a pet rat in the cove. I didn’t realize how hard taking care of him would be,” he finished in defeat.

She placed a hand on his head, mussing up his already disheveled locks.

“For now, just be patient, lad. You’re both still young, and you will have to work hard to grow your bond over time,” she comforted him.

“If you want solid advice… Be more confident. Remember that Zephyr has the blood of the prideful dragons. Right now he sees you as the servant that provides his food, not someone to be respected. If you want to work together in the future, you need to establish your role as a partner, master, parent figure—anything you like. The only way to do that is to act that way starting now, even if you don’t feel ready yet. You will find that in most situations, blind confidence is superior to predetermined weakness.”

The boy was looking at her with wide eyes and twitching ears, clearly absorbing her words as best he could. She just had to hope he would find a way to use them effectively given time. It was a simple lesson, but a very difficult one to put into practice if you weren’t made for it.

A Quartermaster like Sloane was the beating heart of the crew. His general meekness helped endear him to the others and know them better to dole out tasks and get their feedback on how the ship runs, even if none of them fully trusted him in return.

But a Boatswain had to be prepared to become an iron fist at any time. In case of a bad storm or an attack, he would have to be the one shouting orders and making sure they followed them without reservation so she could communicate with the ship and Vitae effectively and without distraction.

Narazenna could already imagine the looks every other sailor would give them when they learned an eleven year old was their Boatswain. Stars, she doubted her own instincts when she offered him the position as well. Fortunately, her crew didn’t say a word about it. She was glad to see she had earned that much trust from them in the short time they had been together. Adrian would have a hard enough time already, and having his subordinates questioning his position at every turn would no doubt hinder his growth.

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She clapped him on the shoulder before turning back to the group. “Now, this meeting will be short. I just want us all to be caught up on what the plan for the future is.”

Looking around, they all gave affirmative nods or thumbs up. The rest of the crew had known the general plan for years, so this was mostly for Adrian’s sake, but it was still important to make it a group discussion. She did not intend to run The Good Ship Galaya as a dictatorship. They were her partners to brave the Oversea together with, not bodies to order around for her own will.

“I promised you all that once we had a full crew for The Galaya, we would set out on a true adventure into uncharted waters. Of course, as you know, Adrian here joined us much sooner than we expected to find a Boatswain. We are still unprepared for the journey, so the trip will have to be delayed for now. That said, I will not make you sit around through another year of scavenging to build up our coffers.”

Digging down, she called up the strange, translucent blue box that the Captain System displayed itself on, using a thought to make it visible to the rest of the crew as well. She got rid of the currently useless information about things like the level and durability of The Galaya, what was in storage, and a map of their surroundings to leave only the basic crew manifest.

Captain Narazenna Roth

Rank: 2 - Lieutenant

Quartermaster Sloane

Level: 52

Boatswain Adrian

Level: 1

Navigator Estella Murphy

Level: 19

Surgeon Sunny

Level: 31

Gunner Tragan

Level: 28

“Come the start of the next year, there will be an auction in Festivall—the last major port on the Eastern edge of the Dorokoko Archipelago,” she added for Adrian’s benefit. “That will be a great opportunity to restock our provisions and possibly pick up a useful item or two before we set out. That gives us 10 months to teach Adrian the basics of sailing, gather loot to sell, and get all of you leveled up. If we’re lucky, I may even increase my rank by then. A bigger ship would make a huge difference in what we could do out there.”

She looked at each of her sailors in turn. “Sloane, Sunny, neither of you have anything specific to work on. If you need advice or anything in particular from me, feel free to ask.”

“Y-yes, Captain Roth. Th-Thank you as always, for the tr-trust you place in me.” Sloane bowed his head. Narazenna fought off the urge to stand him up straight then and there, allowing him to do as he pleased for now even if it didn’t fit the image of a Quartermaster.

“Aye, Captain,” was the only response from her Surgeon, but she’d long grown used to his aversion to speaking.

“Tragan, you are in a similar boat, but I’d prefer you focus more on new abilities than increasing your level. I know you have been prioritizing bigger bangs, but out in uncharted waters we are going to need more adaptability, especially in our weaponry. What exactly that entails I will leave to you.”

The young half-dwarf slapped a heavy palm to his rotund belly and she would swear she felt a shockwave pass by her. “Aye, aye Cap’n. Be it swimmers or ships, I’ll make sure The Galaya’s ready for anythin’,” he replied with a wide smile.

“Murph, your level is already ahead of what would usually be expected of a Navigator for a crew this size. What you lack is experience acting without my input.”

When she said that, Murphy’s eyes lit up. “Captain, are you saying…”

Narazenna nodded. “I intend to modify the ship we recovered Adrian from into a small one-man skiff with Vitae’s assistance. You will take it out scouting the area around us to prepare for a similar role on our main journey.”

“Woohoo!” Murphy leapt three feet off the deck, throwing her fist to the sky. When she landed, she slapped Tragan’s shoulder happily. “I told you she’d let me be a scout, Trigger! You can’t keep a high quality Navigator like Murph locked away in the crow’s nest forever.”

Smirking at the 17 year old’s prideful posing, she addressed the newest recruit.

“Adrian, you will be learning the basics of what it means to be a sailor. I am unsure exactly how much you know already, so we will start at the beginning. I will teach you how to access and use the Captain System to level your bonds with the Abyssal Princess and Zephyr, how to use Energy to perform magic, and how to gain new abilities.”

Adrian was humming with energy at the mention of magic, swaying back and forth to avoid hopping around in excitement.

“Each of the others will take an opportunity to explain their own roles, but I expect you to spend the majority of your time with Murph when she isn’t out scouting. As the best sailor on the ship, she will guide you through how to work the rigging, adjust the sails, drop the anchor, and so on. These will be part of your main duties in the future, so be sure to pay very close attention to her teachings.”

“Aye aye Captain! I won’t let you down! I’ll be the best Boatswain you could ever dream of!” He shouted unnecessarily loudly, then scratched his cheek and chuckled sheepishly when everyone but Sunny gave him amused looks. It could be hard to tell with Sloane’s collar up to his eyes, but she could tell he was warming up to the boy quickly.

“Well I'm happy to see you taking my advice about confidence to heart. Alright, that will be all, everyone. Back to whatever you were doing for now,” she announced with a hearty clap that made them all scatter. Before Adrian could go, she grabbed him by the shoulder.

“Adrian, come with me and we’ll see about teaching that skyback of yours to hunt for its own food.” He almost looked disappointed that they wouldn’t be getting to magic immediately, but the idea of his pet no longer dive bombing him for dinner drove it away.

With a wave of her hand, she brought the still imprisoned Zephyr down and released the restraints. Before he could start screaming bloody murder, she pulled out a chunk of smoked fish from a pocket and tossed it into the air. The straika shot off like a cannonball and plucked the snack from the sky, shrieking once in delight, then once again started circling the mast, hidden in the clouds.

“Um, Captain?” Adrian suddenly had a confused look on his face. “I think… Zephyr sees something strange out there. I don’t really understand what he’s saying, though.”

Narazenna furrowed her eyebrows at the vague warning when she suddenly heard Murph’s shout.

“Captain!” The girl’s voice rang down from where she had just climbed into the crow’s nest above. “Wisps on the horizon! There’s a ship from the Spirit Fleet out there!”

The blood drained from Narazenna’s face but she didn’t let it affect her composure.

“All hands to combat stations!”

She grabbed Adrian by the hand a bit too roughly. “Down to the cargo deck lad, you’re not ready for a fight,” she barked, but Adrian held firm.

“No, Captain! Let me help! I can at least load the balls into the cannons, right?” He begged. She considered arguing but there were better things she could be doing.

“Fine, follow Tragan and do whatever he asks,” she ordered, leaving the boy.

The Spirit Fleet were the restless protectors of the Oversea. Souls of sailors lost at sea who pledged their lives for eternity in return for the power of the Captain System. Their duty was to wander the Oversea endlessly, defeating any and all Abyssal intruders they came across. She and every one of her crew mates would join them one day as well.

Unfortunately, the process of death and rebirth sometimes ended in madness, leading to them dragging any ship they found down to the Undersea from whence they came, gathering more Spirits for their cause.

You could never know whether a ship from the Spirit Fleet would sail by harmlessly with the Spirits happily waving to you from the deck, or if they would turn their cannons in your direction, aiming to make you their next crew member.

Narazenna ran to the helm, wrapping her hands around the well worn wheel of her ship. Once there, she pulled on her connection to The Good Ship Galaya as well as to Arbor Vitae. Now wasn’t the time to be stingy with his Energy. She felt her blood burn as streams of green light flowed from her heart, though her body, and into the ship.

The hull creaked as the exterior wood started reinforcing itself. In her mind’s eye, she watched as vines snaked out of the boards, weaving over and through each other until the ship was three times as thick and nearly as hard as iron.

“Hold steady for my order!”

For now, all they could do was pray.