Chapter 19: Interdiction
Stealthy brandished the fine dagger in his hand. “I think I’ll take this one, mine’s getting a bit rusty…” he said, shuffling through the assorted chest of weapons.
“I’m glad you like it.” Mikhail commented as he dropped another heavy box down on the floor. “How about you peek through these fine hats Ivan?”
Ivan was quietly sitting at the darkest corner of the room. He was searching through piles of old shipping records, searching for anything that led to his father’s journal. “No, I’m fine with what I have now.”
Mikhail held up a paper Ivan hadn’t seen before. He had a twinkle in his eye, as if he were planning something strange. “Well hats are fun, but if we’re ever going to catch Reynard, we’ll need a method of transportation.” He drew the paper back behind him. “But I’m sure the dock schedules for every ship coming and going is completely irrelevant.” Mikhail smiled when Ivan leaped to his feet and swept the paper out of his hand.
Ivan immediately sat down and began examining the document. Scanning through, he found a few ships leaving at exactly this time today. One of them was an EITC frigate bound for Port Royal. That certainly wasn’t an option. The other one was a navy-EITC hybrid vessel preparing for a common patrol. The third one was a merchant ship that was headed to an unspecified location.
“Reynard…”
Ivan gripped the paper tightly. “He’s escaping right under their noses.”
Stealthy took a look at the paper for himself. “I guess our only option is to climb aboard that patrol ship and somehow convince them to go after Reynard…” He grinned as he faced Ivan. “Of course, you’ll be able to convince them since you’re actually supposed to find him, and I’m sure the navy would be happy to oblige taking down a high profile pirate such as Reynard.”
“So it’s a win-win.” Said Mikhail, grabbing his chin as he thought of catching Reynard. “But that still doesn’t narrow down where he’s going.”
“True, and with this weather, who knows how hard finding him will be.” Stealthy noted amid the silence.
“He has to deal with the same weather as everyone else.” Ivan added. “Reynard should be making his way over… to wherever he’s headed. But how could we find out?”
Stealthy emitted a smile that carried throughout the entire room.
“When I was with Reynard, he’d pick the one of us with the least amount of luck to stay behind and cover his tracks. If I’m correct, he’s probably left behind the least favorable of his bunch to clean up his mess.” Stealthy got up from the chair and headed over towards the small shack’s foggy window. “If we’re going to catch up to him.” He said in a dark, musty voice. “We need to head off and find him… immediately.”
“So do you have a plan?” Ivan asked.
“A plan?” Stealthy perked up at the opportunity to present his ingenious idea. “Oh yes, I have a plan all right.” He turned to face his comrades, this time with a face of excitement. “It involves stealth and deception, two traits which I can easily provide.”
“You know what? I kind of like this plan.” Mikhail said, closing the last open weapons chest. “Would you be so kind as to elaborate further?”
Stealthy grinned.
“Gladly.”
~~~~~~~~~~
“Lieutenant Cabe! Lieutenant Cabe!”
A loosely positioned inkwell spilled at the shifting hand of the surprised Lieutenant. Upon positioning it back up, he proceeded to slam the table in frustration, only to knock it down once more. “What is it this time Corporal Lowe?”
“Sir, it’s the EITC, they’ve commandeered our ships and made sure that nobody exits the docks without an escort!”
Lieutenant Cabe looked solemnly back at the lowly Corporal, wondering if he should trust him this time. Even though the Corporal wasn’t famous for lying, he was famous for over-exaggerating. Every time he was ordered to file in a letter he would fall on his hands and knees in hopes that a superior officer would write their own recommendation of promotion.
“So? Isn’t that what they always do?” The Lieutenant asked, chuckling.
“This is different. They’ve been disrupting our operations completely, and they’re answering to no one.”
“Have you informed Commodore Bishop about this?”
“Uh… sir…” A fearful look made its way onto the Corporal’s face. “Bishop, Rutherford, Mays… they’re all gone…”
“GONE!” Lieutenant Cabe yelled as he jumped out of his desk. Immediately, he trudged up the nearby stairs leading to the door of the dockside financial office. “I’m getting to the bottom of this!”
The two wooden doors flew open. Lieutenant Cabe felt the warm Port Royal sun softly bathe his face, and the smooth Caribbean winds brush across his body. The sight in front of him was not favorable one however, as he saw dozens of EITC men in the area, and that was never a good sight for him. He always had a strange distrust towards EITC, but he didn’t exactly know why. Perhaps it was because of the continuous aura of secrecy that shrouded their every act.
Naturally, the Lieutenant headed for the nearest EITC affiliate he could find, with Corporal Lowe following directly behind him.
“What is the meaning of this!?!” Lieutenant Cabe caught the attention of the nearby man.
The EITC man, however miffed at the arrival of the Lieutenant, stayed calm as he replied with a courteous tone. “Sir, I’m told to advise you to stay out of this.”
“Stay out of this?” Lieutenant Cabe threw his hands up. “What do you mean stay out of this? I have every right to-”
A nearby EITC officer inserted himself into the conversation. The other EITC backed away at the sight of his superior. “You have nothing to add to this operation.” The tall, formidable, and somewhat experienced officer stepped up and into Cabe’s face. “Our orders are to make sure the entire area is sealed off for the time being.”
“Well my orders are to make sure nobody disrupts normal port activity, and all I’ve seen you EITC dogs do is-” Lieutenant Cabe’s words were interrupted when he saw a strange sight leaving one of the ships.
Without hesitation, the Lieutenant launched himself at the officer he previously conversed with. The EITC officer retaliated with a long swing with his right hand, but The Leiutenant was prepared for the move.
Dashing over to the side, Lieutenant Cabe caught the man’s arm just as he was pulling back. Using his own momentum, the Lieutenant pushed forward and the man flew to the ground.
Corporal Lowe stood in shock. “How did you-”
“No time, just fight!”
“Who?” The Corporal looked around him to see nearly a dozen EITC soldiers who were beginning to take notice of the situation.
“Everybody!”
What came next was practically a blur. The main blow of the assault group targeted Cabe, whereas Lowe received the shorter end of the damage. They came hard and fast, surprisingly hostile for a group who would normally try cracking jokes with them on sight.
Lieutenant Cabe grabbed one of the men and threw him aside into another oncoming soldier. One of the saw his friend go down and bent himself on not making the same mistake. He waited until Cabe was busy fighting another soldier and charged at his backside.
Cabe felt a heavy blow to his spine. Even though he was busy fighting one of them hand to hand, he still managed to retrieve a long lost technique he learned at a riled up tavern. He pushed himself back and threw himself to the wall, knocking the soldier into place. An elbow to the jaw and a fist to the chest made sure he wasn’t ready to fight more anytime soon.
He turned just in time to see a swordsman approaching fast. Cabe grabbed a nearby wooden board and threw it at the swordsman, temporarily disabling him so he had enough time to rush him and knock the sword out of his hand. The former swordsman was surprised at this move, and retaliated with a few punches of his own.
Corporal Lowe stood in awe of Cabe’s work. He’d never expected such incredible fighting from him; instead, Lowe thought the best thing Cabe could fight was paperwork. The static awe lived shortly though, as another EITC man chose not to fight the man who’d already taken out a few of his buddies.
Lowe almost fell back at the sight, but regained his balance once he saw a weakening in his defenses. He ran to go grab a musket that happened to be lying around next to one of the shipping crates. Oddly enough, it was loaded, and it even had a bayonet, which was more often than not the true weapon.
He thrusted at the EITC soldier, hoping to catch something solid, but instead he caught nothing but an off balance center of gravity. A kick in the back was an immediate reminder for him to do better, and he fell to the ground with the musket pointing straight down. The musket’s bayonet got stuck into the ground on the way down, preventing Lowe from easily picking it back up.
Still on the ground, Lowe turned around to face up. There he was, an EITC soldier ready to wreak havoc on the lowly navy Corporal. The man approached closer and closer until he was only a few feet away from Lowe. Lowe grabbed the musket and threw it so that the back end hit the EITC soldier, knocking him back and giving Lowe the tactical advantage.
He didn’t feel as if it was right, but he knew the EITC soldiers attacked them willingly. He’d done this countless times in basic training, and he figured eventually he was going to have to use it. He held the musket in both hands and looked towards the injured soldier.
Cabe finished off the last of the EITC men with impressive speed, and after a quick scan of the area, regrouped with the Corporal.
“What… what was that all about?” Corporal Lowe asked, catching his breath.
“What? The reason they attacked us, or my fighting?”
“Both! First of all, where did you learn to fight like that?”
Lieutenant Cabe accepted a proud smile to come onto his face. “When marines get bored, they box.”
Corporal Lowe nodded. “So what do you think the EITC are trying to do with all this?”
Lieutenant Cabe gazed toward the nearby ship indefinitely docked under EITC control. “I… don’t know… but what I do know is that we have to find someone who does know what we don’t know.”
“Doesn’t anyone that knows what’s going on want to kill us? I guess this doesn’t get us anywhere.”
“No I guess it doesn’t.” Lieutenant Cabe lifted his hand and motioned to approach the EITC controlled ship. “But we’re not going to figure out standing here.” He signaled to move forward. “Let’s go.”
~~~~~~~~~~
A fast moving shadow slipped through the corner of the room, catching the eye of the desk sitting guard.
“Who’s there?” The guard stood up and reached for his pistol. He knew there was a strange spark of familiarity mixed in with danger near him. Still, the unsure thought hit him straight in the chest, throwing him to the wall in the process.
“Do you usually keep your pistol empty?” The dark figure pushed harder against the surprised guard, making him let go of the weapon.
“I… Ugh! Who are…” The man finally realized who was in front of him. “S- Stealthy? But I thought you were…”
“Gone? In a way. I thought Reynard would leave you behind to cover his tracks, so I hid from your sight as long as I could. Even then, I don’t know if it was for the better.”
“You… want to find Reynard?” The man’s face drew a sick smile. “I doubt that’s even possible, not even the navy’s top navigators could find him now, he’s on a one way trip.”
Stealthy pushed the man aside. “Listen Dahl, I’m giving you the chance to be free of Reynard forever, don’t you want that?”
“Maybe, maybe not.”
“If you don’t tell me where he’s going I’ll.”
The door to the room swung open, and a man with a bunch of papers walked in.
“Hey Dahl I found those charts you were looking for…” He looked up to see Stealthy at the throat of his comrade.
“Great…”
~~~~~~~~~~
It’s been a long time, and I’m afraid the story’s nearing its end. It’s been fun writing this, but it’s also starting to feel difficult to place myself in front of the keyboard to continue writing this.
But puppies are still adorable, kittens are still cute, and aardvarks are… well aardvarks…
And yes, I’m going to finish this eventually.