The Ark Queen had been kept busy, with swarms of pirates trying to take over the warship. Most of the weapon technicians were working overtime- scaring off the pirate boats or even sinking them if required. Adrian was in a serious conversation with one of his officers, “sir”, the man explained, “our men need rest, they’ve been working overtime. I suggest we move back into the open waters”.
“If we move back we will never be able to make it in time if those kids need help”.
“Sir in this condition our men won’t be able to fight anyways- just a fifty miles or so. Plus the games begin tomorrow, so a night's rest can do our men good, it’s not as if something will happen tonight”.
“Captain”, Zepherine barged into the bridge, “our prisoner is awake”.
Finally some news Adrian had been hoping for, “is it Christmas or is it just my lucky day”.
“Sorry what?”, Zepherine spoke perplexed.
“Don’t be”, Adrian spoke with a wave, “let’s go talk to him- we will continue this conversation”, he pointed at his officer
During the extraction mission from purgatory, a light combat team had successfully captured one of the pirates, shot twice, both bullets barely missing the heart. Adrian knew how useful such a person could be.
Adrian entered the medical wing, “Doc Hoff”, he spoke nodding his head, “it’s a pity you can’t be promoted anymore”.
“Happy to be of service captain”, the doctor bowed respectfully.
“Well where is my- well capisce”.
Hoff opened one of the cabins of the medical wing, “you might want to be fast, he could sink again”.
“Back in a jiffy”, Adrian spoke, closing the door behind him.
There he was, scrawled up against the wall. A thin bony person with barely any flesh on him, he joints poked out as he stared at Adrian like a terrified animal. His face had thin scars across his cheek and an unkempt moustache which grew like weed above his lips.
Adrian almost felt bad for the person, “listen”, he began, “You can make this very difficult for both of us, or you can answer my questions and I let you be”. The man choked in on air and continued staring at Adrian. “I will get you to talk but how that happens depends entirely on you”.
“Oplio Ta Munosi”, the man snapped.
“Uh- what?”
“Ita ni maroose”
“Do you know the universal code by any chance?”
The man stared at him with wide eyes and then moved towards him slightly, “Oplio Ta Munosi”.
“DAMMIT”, Adrian opened the door of the cabin, “Zepherine!”, he hollered.
“Captain”, Zepherie spoke, appearing in front of him.
“Find me somebody who speaks…….what is it called?”, he turned to look at the man who mumbled something like “Monkuse”.
“What?”Adrian frowned, “you know what nevermind”, he turned to Zepherine, “find me somebody who speaks Monkey fuse”.
“Monkey Fuse?”
“That’s right, and hurry up will you”.
It took a while but finally they found one of the ship's structural engineers spoke the same language, he was brought down to the Medical bay.
“Captain”, he nodded. A young man with a slightly dark complexion and curly black hair spoke.
“You must be my translator”, Adrian said, shaking hands, “Joan, right?”
“Aye sir”.
“There’s your objective”, Adrian pointed to the man still curled up and sticking to the cabin walls. Joan walked up to the man and called out a greeting to which the man responded.
“What’s his name?”
Joan repeated the same, “Wu-Ming”
“Alright ask this Wu-Ming what those slugs in the floating black bucket are up to”.
Adrian rolled his eyes as Joan and Wu-Ming had a nice chat. Wu-ming seemed happy giving out the information as long as he was left to live. Obviously according to the rules Adrian could not torture to man so it was pure luck that they got themselves a nice catch.
“Captain”, Joan said with round eyes, “according to Wu-Ming we have got everything wrong, and it is nothing like we expect”.
“What?”
“He says that their boss has over fifty men already on the island and Purgatory will be heading to Gradingier with reinforcements of over four hundred men and are expected to reach tonight, they aren’t just stealing anything- instead they are invading Gradingier”.
This was so much worse than Adrian had been expecting, he opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. So instead he just turned around to open the door and marched away furiously.
Just a few minutes later the speakers in the ship boomed to life, “ALL HANDS THIS IS YOUR CAPTAIN, OFFICERS ON BOARD TO REPORT TO CIC FOR SHORT NOTICE EMERGENCY MEETING IN FIVE- OVER”
A few minutes later all officers were assembled in the CIC around a round table. The dim blue lighting did well to add to the serious mood as Adrian explained their recent finding.
“We need to put down that ship before it reaches Gradingier”.
The officers broke into a murmur, “but captain”, one of them spoke, “without our submerging ability it is going to be an uphill task for us- considering we are going up against a warship capable of firing T-50’s”
“Captain”, Zepherine spoke quickly, “a word please”.
Adrian followed Zepherine away to one end of the room, Zepherine flitted her eyes from the officers and looked into Adrian’s eyes, “I don’t doubt you, and you know it”.
“-But”, Adrian interrupted.
“Wait- listen to me”.
“Okay”, Adrian sighed, “go ahead”.
“Like I said, I don’t doubt you. But the officers are right, the battle is tipped towards their side and it isn’t worth risking four hundred men for five kids and a man”.
“Do you know what the prize Zepherine?”, Adrian demanded.
“Yes”, she nodded, “it was me who picked up the signal from the kids. But who even knows if it is true, maybe it is just fake”.
“Maybe it is true”, Adrian argued, “and if it is, we might end up losing millions of innocent lives later just to protect five hundred warriors who gave their soul to serve Atlantis”.
“I agree, but-”
“Good”, Adrian interrupted, “you agree and that’s it”.
“You have a plan?”, Zepherine questioned.
“As a matter of fact”, he nodded, “I do”.
He walked away and picked up the microphone, all eyes in the room were glued to him, “ALL HANDS, THIS IS ADRIAN BURK. AS YOUR CAPTAIN I AM ISSUING AN ORDER TO BE FOLLOWED EFFECTIVELY AND IMMEDIATELY. ALL MEN- I REPEAT ALL MEN- OTHER THAN WEAPON TECHNICIANS AND STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS WILL BE TAKEN OFF BOARD TO A SAFER LOCATION ON LAND UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. YOU ARE NOT BEING REMOVED FROM THE POST, JUST YOUR MISSION OBJECTIVES HAVE CHANGED. YOU ALL WILL NOW BE PROVIDING GROUND SUPPORT TO THE CAMPERS”.
Adrian set his microphone down for a moment, “that’s a good idea”, Zepherine agreed, “I’ll begin preparations for their departare”, she spoke- hastily trying to move out of the cabin.
Adrian lifted the microphone again, “I’M NOT DONE YET- COMMANDER ZEPHERINE WILL BE LEADING YOU- GOOD LUCK SOLDIERS- ADRIAN OUT”, he spoke and firmly set the microphone down.
Zepherine took a moment to realize what he just spoke, “No, I’m not bailing”, she spoke pacing back towards Adrian, “I’m not going to leave when the ship needs me, it is my duty and if I end up dead while serving, I'm ready for it!”, she stomped her feet as if to show her defiance.
Adrian looked at her, “It’s a direct order”, he spoke firmly, “you will leave”, he noticed how uneasy he had made his second in command, “your services will be more useful on ground, I’m giving you three hundred of my men, and it’s no small job. You’re the only one I can trust with so many lives”.
Zepherine stood speechless for a moment, she then raised her hand to salute her commanding officer, “it's an honour”, she spoke firmly, “I will not let you down”.
“I know you won’t”, Adrian nodded, “get the lifeboats down we will begin offloading you in two hours from now”. Adrian turned around to face the RADAR technician, “set spy RADAR to full powers, find me that floating black bucket”.