Fantasy Vampire Corps of Eldergaard

[Reynarda]

Alyx looked like the type of person who had never used the word "cute" in her entire life, which made what Nina said all the more hilarious, in Astrid's opinion. She hid a smile behind her cup lest Alyx shoot her another accusatory scowl.

When Nina asked to be allowed to go "play" with another in her squadron, Astrid nodded to Alyx. "Ask your commander."

Alyx let out a small sigh. Astrid had said that in the exact tone someone would tell their child to ask the other parent. Treating her like a child was only making her worse, in Alyx's opinion. Were she an actual child and were there no "guests" on board, Alyx might have dragged Nina back to her quarters by her ear. As it was, she scraped the last remaining bit of her patience together and said, "Leo is working. I won't have you bothering him." And anyway, just because she was one of them, that did not mean the others wanted her pestering them. "No, stay here with me," she said with a note of finality. "If I can't trust you not to bite anyone regardless of reward, then I can't trust you."

Astrid winced in minor sympathy, but she supposed this was why the commanders managed their vampires and the captains did not. Astrid turned her attention back to the princess. Well, she was smart enough to do that, she supposed. And how did they send messages? By bird? Or did they have some sort of scrying abilities? Like scrying with science?

Alyx hummed. "And what will they do about that? Mount a rescue mission?"

There was a quick knock at the door, and then it opened. Both senior officers frowned towards the man standing there. He knew he wasn't supposed to interrupt an interrogation.

"I'm sorry, Captain, Commander." The man--who was dressed as a midshipman--twisted his hat in his hands. "But there's been a sighting. It's Admiral Jorgenson's ship, marm."

Leaping to her feet, Astrid said something that she realized only afterwards was probably not what one said in front of a princess. "Have they spotted us?"

The man was doing his best to strangle his hat. "They've turned about, Captain."

"Dammit," Astrid said. "He'll want to board and ask about our prize."

"Then he'll want to take it," Alyx murmured.

"Sh," Astrid said, leaning on her desk. "Let me think." She glanced up at the midshipman. "Ready the bridge to receive him."

With a nod, the man dashed off.

Alyx dropped her eyes to Nina. "Go, gather the rest of the squadron. Quickly, go." She gave the young vampire a little push towards the door. Once Nina was gone, she flicked her eyes to Astrid.

"No prisoners," Astrid said. "Your squadron ate all of them."

"If he brings Maksim, that won't fly," Alyx said. "He'll be able to tell."

"Flaming--" Astrid cut herself off. "Can we gamble on him leaving his squadron?"

"Only if you want to lose. Maksim won't pass up this chance to be a prick."

Astrid snickered. "And how do you really feel?"

"We could run," Alyx offered. "We're faster, and you are more powerful then any of his magi."

"He'll hound us all they way to the capital--we'll never refuel their ship. But if he orders us to turn over our prisoners..."

"Disobey him." Alyx rolled her neck. "I could defeat Maksim's squadron."

Astrid snorted. She should have known that was coming next. "I'm sure you could, but let's not get ourselves court-martial, shall we?"

Slightly disappointed--though she had never expected her captain to agree to it--Alyx shrugged. "Then we make it not worth the extra weight."

Astrid turned to her commander. "That's it. Their ship could be a scouting ship with nothing but scientists. He would have no glory from that."

Alyx inclined her head. "But for that to work..." Trailing off, she slid her eyes to Georgiana.

Astrid turned to the princess. "I'm sure you've heard of Admiral Jorgenson and Maksim, Commander of the Griffon Squadron? If the admiral figures out who you are, he'll torture you for information and feed your crew to his vampires. We can make sure you and your people stay safe, but you have to go along with us and claim to be a minor science scouting mission. If you say 'science', his eyes will glaze right over."

"Believe it or not," Alyx added, "we are the lesser of two evils in this case."

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Leo raised his eyebrows, whistling.

"You talk about your leader like that? Your military must be pretty lax. If I said something like that about the commander she'd skin me," he said lightly. Well, it wasn't entirely true, perhaps; he disagreed with the commander plenty, and he was far from overly formal and polite in their off time, but still. Wasn't the princess like, a princess? That was usually a pretty big deal.

He eyed Crane critically for a moment, as though examining him, before he seemed to come to some kind of conclusion and grabbed a nearby chair to sit down.

"You two must be pretty close," he said conversationally, rolling his shoulders. He had his own suspicions about why they were actually here, but sharing them with the lieutenant would be showing a bit too much of his own hand. Maybe he'd share them with the commander later, if she asked. If not, he wouldn't bother; he had no evidence to support his theories, anyways.


Cyn huffed a little.

"Yeah, it definitely burns a bit," he said dryly, through he shook his head as it was offered back to him again. "I really shoul'nt be drinkin', though. Gotta be able to actually articulate this shit to the princess an' all," he said as he held up his notebook.

He couldn't say that he particularly liked the idea of his head being crushed, but he supposed it was enough that he had been recognized, at least on some level.

"S'at so?" He asked, trying to crack a smile, but it came out a bit lopsided. "Well, t'be fair, I thought I was gonna die back there. Didn't wanna be one o' those guys who gets all cowardly in the face o' death. When I go, I wanna look down the barrel unafraid an' all that. That's all I was thinkin' back then. Ain't meant no disrespect or nothin, promise."

 

[Scarlett-Wulf]

Nina jumped up running past Gigi towards the brig/cells to find Leo first. "Leo! Brother Leo!" Nina yelled as she barreled through the doors to the prison block, breathing heavily as she slid across the floor, tripping and flying into Leo head first. Sliding onto the floor and rubbing her head "Leo, captain and Commander said that we have a problem and to get all of my brothers and sisters and to hurry.....I think she said the name Markskin" getting the name wrong "it seemed like a big problem, have you seen big Brother Artorius?"

----------

"I'm glad that I didnt have to crush your head, well is there anything else you need to check or should we head over to the other ship?" Standing up and putting his hammer onto his back and stretching, taking one last sip from the flask before putting it back on his belt as well. "I must say though, it doesnt seem too smart to just explore into enemy territory with an exploratory vessel.....if it were any group or crew other than ours you all would have been drained, tortured or worse....become slaves for all kinds of desires....your princess especially " his tone serious in this matter.

 

[jones573]

“I’ll believe you,” Gigi said after a moment’s consideration of the various evils involved. “If you promise not to feed my crew to your vampires,” she prompted.

“I won’t need to pretend to be a scientist- I am one. In my cabin I’ve actually got several papers on a bioluminiscent fungi that grows exclusively in your lands that I think could be a great-” she stopped herself from going too far into the details. It was the Admiral that she was meant to bore with details. “But I shall have to inform my crew- It might be more believable if Crane is in charge of the ship and I am just the head researcher,” she suggested.





“Eh, if I was someone else or she was someone else, there’d prolly be consequences,” Crane admitted with a shrug. “But I’ve known Gigi since before she came up to here,” he said, gesturing with a flat hand halfway up his ribcage.

“Close enough that I give her honest advice, and she at least pretends to consider it before doing what she originally wanted anyways,” he confirmed. “But that’s higher-ups for you. Even when you want to like ‘em, they got to make it hard.”

Crane looked startled at the sudden appearance of Nina, and he frowned in concern when she tripped.

“Ah, careful there, lass, quite a stumble you took! How’s the head?”

He didn’t know what the messenger girl was going on about, but it presumably did not involve him.

"You want a lemon drop for that bump? They always make me feel better," he said jovially, digging around in his pockets for a sweet to offer the girl. Poor thing, drafted into this war as an errand runner, no doubt.

 

[Reynarda]

Astrid relaxed as the princess agreed with them. Good. This would be fine. This would work. They had nothing to worry about. Admiral Jorgenson would have nothing to do with a bunch of civilians.

Astrid drew herself up at Georgiana's caveat. "I gave my word that they would be safe, your highness. Perhaps that means something different Allaria, but we keep our word in Eldergaard."

Alyx arched an eyebrow. That was hardly true--few were more aware of that than Alyx and her people. But Astrid would keep her word.

The commander smiled slightly when Georgiana began talking about glowing mushrooms. "What my captain means is a civilian," Alyx explained. "Perhaps the lines are blurred in Allaria, but there is a firm line between those in the military and those not in Eldergaard. There are things the admiral would have no qualms doing to military personnel that he would never dream of doing to civilians."

"Of course that doesn't mean he'll treat you with any sort of respect," Astrid said, gathering her weapons. "But we're running out of time. I'll inform the crew. Alyx, take her highness to her crew so that she may inform them." Astrid bustled out of her quarters. After a second, she reappeared in the doorway. "Oh, and release the lieutenant. Tell him to slouch or something--his bearing screams military."

"Aye, aye, Captain," Alyx said, her tone letting Astrid know she was not pleased to be on princess-babysitting duty.

Astrid flashed her a grin before disappearing. "Thank you, Commander."

Alyx let out a small sigh before nodding to Georgiana. "Come, Princess. We have maybe ten minutes before docking is complete and they board. We should bring your lieutenant up to speed and then you can both divide and conquer."

She lead the way to the brig, head dipped slightly as she listened to the creaking of the ship as the larger airship drew closer. Of course the admiral and his ilk would appear just as they accomplished something noteworthy. Like he had done when they had taken the large Allarian Man-o'-War a month previous. The generals received two separate reports, and they would naturally believe the senior officer. Alyx was irritated on behalf of her captain. Besides, her plan never would have worked if Astrid didn't trust her implicitly. They would not have taken the larger ship under any other captain.

Alyx opened the door to the brig and gestured Georgiana through. She followed and frowned slightly at Nina. The girl hadn't made it far. She flicked her eyes to Leo. "Admiral Jorgenson has appeared as if summoned by our success--again. He'll be boarding. We're not giving him the prisoners." She gestured to Nina. "The others on still aboard the Allarian ship or in their quarters. Go, quickly."

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Leo groaned as Nina practically tackled him.

"I'm not your brother," he said in the tone that suggested that this was a very long running point of conversation between them. He had no idea what she was talking about, either. Marksin? He didn't know anyone by that-- Oh, Maksim. His nose wrinkled in distaste at the thought.

"Ah, Lieutenant Crane, I'd keep your hands and fingers inside your cell if I were you. She bites," he added quickly when Crane offered Nina a sweet. Ah, the apparent innocence of a child vampire. Leo hated it. He much preferred when enemies actually looked like enemies.

He looked up as the commander came in, and from her posture and Nina's message he at least knew not to pester her.

"Understood. Would you like me to help her gather the crew? I can go get Artorius and C- the engineer," he suggested, because he did not trust Nina at all with a human prisoner who didn't have iron bars to protect him. He was pretty sure that if the captain was going to such trouble to keep her prisoners, she wanted them alive.


Cyn gave a quick look at his notebook before glancing around the engine room. Everything looked fine, and he'd checked the engines out right before they were boarded, so it should be ok to leave them alone.

"Nah, ain't nothin' else. We can head back to your commander," he said as he tucked his notebook under his arm.

The other comments made him frown, mostly because he knew them to, at least, be partially true.

"I 'on't know about whatever the princess is plannin', my job is just to make the ship run," he said with a little scowl. "Took this job as a favour for a friend. Figures we'd get captured and all, but them's the risks you take. Guess we did get lucky in some regard, but... I ain't know the princess personally or nothin', but I'm pretty sure she's prepared for whatever comes her way."

 

[Scarlett-Wulf]

Nina eyes his hand and the candy for a moment, looking as if she were going to bite Crane's hand at first up until she literally ate the candy out of his hand. Blushing at the taste of the hard candy. "Thank you mister prisoner, I'll eat you last...or maybe not at all....Commander gets scary when shes mad" giggling as she turned her attention back to Leo.

"But big brother.....you know I'm only twenty years old....I cant help that my body hasn't aged and developed like the ones you hit on!" Pouting as she threw a jab at Leo's stomach "why are you always so mean big brother!" She exclaimed, stopping her punch mid way when the Commander and Georgiana had walked in.

"Y-Yes mam" grabbing Leo's hand as she glanced up to him "help me please big brother?" Giving a cute little pout "or I'll start pranking you again" which as of her last prank involved putting a goat head on his pillow while he slept.

-------------

Artorius headed back onto the deck of the ship with Cyn "Just doing as you are told I see, it does make for a more simple life" laughing heartily as he looked at the clouds and up into the sky "not a bad if I do say so myself, that reminds me" pausing as he looked back at Cyn "under the current orders and rules of engagement that Allaria has in place, if any of the crew were turned or compromised what are the standing orders? I know even non soldiers can fight" a serious look on his face, his posture and attitude had changed ever since they went onto the deck. Artorius had noticed a friendly ship but had no clue as to who was on it at the moment. "I ask because I may need to hit you, can you act?"

 

[jones573]

Crane frowned at the little girl, obviously confused, glancing between her and Leo for some sort of clarification that didn’t come. What a morbid sense of humor for a little girl. He was distracted shortly though, by the arrival of Alyx and the princess.


“Your Highness,” Crane said, standing up quickly and nodding his head in deference. Regardless of what he had said to Leo, he obviously did respect her.


“That’s Professor to you,” she corrected him. “The Dragon is being visited by an Admiral Jorgenson,” she told him, and Crane’s eyes narrowed.


“While he is in our company, it is apparently in our best interest not to be a military scouting patrol,” Gigi explained. “So: I am in charge of a research expedition, and I have hired you and your ship the Louisa to ferry me about. Understood?”


Crane did not look like he understood, or had much interest in doing so, but he nodded after a moment.


“Any particular reason we’re trustin’ Leon over this Jorgenson? They’re both Eldergaardians,” he pointed out, and Gigi winced in sympathy.


“We’re not trusting either of them,” she reassured the old man. “But Leon asked first and- Well, we are her prisoners at the moment, so I thought it best to be cooperative.”


“All right, then. Professor,” Crane agreed.

 

[Reynarda]

Alyx arched an eyebrow as Leo corrected himself, but merely nodded. "Yes, that would be wise." She paused for a brief second, shifting her weight ever so slightly. She was sure Leo and Artorius would know what was at stake, but she still felt the need to say something. "Look alert," she said as Leo and Nina passed her. "Return to me quickly."

Alyx snorted at Crane's question and Georgiana's reply. "You're trusting us because my captain has sworn to protect you. Jorgenson will do no such thing." She rested her hand against the cell door, and it clicked open. As she stepped back, she nodded to the lieutenant. "And my captain suggests you look a little less military. Appearing like a civilian will get you ignored, appearing military will get you dead."

Turning to the princess, Alyx clasped her hands behind her back. "You will want to inform your crew. You have..." she glanced at her watch, "...about five minutes. We will need to return to the bridge." She turned and began walking out, doing her best not to walk briskly. "I would suggest you say nothing more than necessary. The admiral is many things, but stupid is not one of them. He'll already be trying to figure out why we took a bunch of civilians prisoner, don't help him out."


On the bridge, Astrid was cursing under her breath. She exhausted the more interesting Eldergaardian swears and turned to the few vampiric curses she knew. Vampires tended not to curse in front of captains, so she did not have that many to work with. The Dragon shuddered as the larger ship bumped up against it, and Astrid ran a hand through her hair. The two crews would be tossing lines and setting up the boarding apparatus.

This plan was risky, and if the admiral caught them in their lie, he might drag them before the generals. Astrid doubted they would be charged--they were a pretty successful ship--but it would be long, drawn out, and a pain. Honestly, he'd be looking for any reason to toss mud on her name. He had first opposed her appointment as captain, and then he had opposed assigning her a vampire squadron. That failing, he had tried to thwart her by suggesting she take the most insubordinate commander of the lot, but that had backfired on him. Astrid tried not to take it personally--the admiral was really manuevering against the supreme general--but that didn't make it any less frustrating.

Blast it, where were Alyx and the princess? They had a maximum of five minutes until the admiral and his entourage sauntered onto her bridge. He would definitely know something was up if her commander was missing.

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Leo rolled his eyes, clearly unimpressed by Nina's antics.

"I'll have you know that the only thing I look at when I hit on somebody is personality," he defended. Although a nice pair of legs and a good butt didn't hurt, certainly. But it wasn't like he made /too/ much of a habit of coming onto the people their squadron interacted with, so it was likely she was just talking nonsense again. "Besides, you're older than me."

He didn't care much about her pranking him (although he had given the commander a very long and drawn out speech about how they should abandon her in enemy territory after the goat head incident) but he did have a job to do, so.

"Come on, then," he grumbled after he saluted Alyx and headed towards their bridge with the other ship.


Cyn glanced at Artorius and hummed, shrugging his shoulders.

"I dunno, honestly. I ain't military. Like I said, took this job for a friend. I mean, technically I'm enlisted and all, but I usually work on civilian ships in the country proper," he explained. "But I have my suspicions they woul'nt take it too well."

He frowned a little bit, not liking the idea of being slugged by such a big and powerful guy, but if it was necessary...

"Do what you gotta do. I can pretend as well as anyone, long as I ain't gotta do a lotta talkin'," he said finally, just as they were approached by Leo and Nina. He raised his eyebrows at them, surprised to see such a young girl. He turned to Artorius curiously. "Is she a...?"

Leo snorted through his nose. Well, they seemed to be chummy. He should have expected that, he supposed.

"Artorius, Engineer," he said with a tiny bow of his head.

"We have five minutes until we're boarded by the oh so honorable and lovely Admiral Jorgenson. The prisoner is requested with the princess for a briefing, we should..." he paused for a second, a frown coming to his face as he took two steps forward and leaned in closer to a rather bewildered Cyn, their faces only a few inches apart. "Why does your breath smell like alcohol? Artorius, why does he smell like alcohol?"

He asked politely, though the smile on his face was anything but friendly as he glanced at his fellow squadmate. Cyn's eyebrows drew together and he frowned again.

"I only had one sip," he said, because he didn't actually want Artorius to get in trouble with his superior officers or anything. Leo turned back to him with another smile on his face, and Cyn took a hesitant step back.

"You just accept drinks from your enemy when you're being held prisoner? Man, Allarians are kind of dumb, aren't they?" he mused. Cyn growled low in his throat, but Leo just rolled his eyes and turned around. "Whatever. Hopefully the other squadron won't notice. Hurry up, we're wasting time."

It wasn't far to the bridge, where he assumed that they would all be meeting up, but still, he didn't want to cause even more problems by being late.

 

[Scarlett-Wulf]

"That's good to know, in the instance you are asked a compromising question I will be hiring you, it wont be at full force but it wont feel great either" Artorius saluted Leo as a greeting. "I see, so it was who I had assumed on that ship, we should hurry then" Artorius picked up Nina placing her on his shoulder, carrying her back to their ship to meet up.

"Dont worry about the man having had a drink, the strength of it will make it easy to explain any odd actions that may be seen by the Admiral" Artorius was no fool when it came to battle, whether it be physical or a battle of the minds. The vampire was even quite the chess player. "I did have a drink with the man, his current situation was stressful and in order to keep a relaxed atmosphere a peace offering was given in exchange followed by light conversation. No sensitive information was shared, so his position was protected as a valuable asset and source of information, now if questioned neither of us will have to lie" Artorius lowered Nina, holding her like the small child she appeared to be, letting her doze off in his arms.

 

[jones573]

Crane nodded, and ran a hand through his pinstraight part, mussing it up slightly, and unclasped one button to let his sleeve drag a bit more comfortably. He could hardly deny being a military man, but he might at least look like a man who was not currently on the military payroll. He eyed the princess skeptically.

The nice, formal coat she was wearing was in the Allarian colors, but blue and gold were popular colors, and it wasn't out of fashion with something a rich researcher who thought well of herself might wear. The Louisa herself was a smaller sloop, the kind that could be drafted into military service but wasn't built only for that use. In fact, there was very little on the ship that would pin them as an exclusively military escapade.... They could be a civilian vessel, equipped for airforce use. Or they could be an older military vessel, stripped down and being rented by scientists. Even himself and the other crew members were the sort that could be read differently when given a different interpretation....

"Professor," Crane hissed, tugging at Gigi's elbow as he caught up with her. "This isn't some sort of twisted-up plan you've concocted, is it?," he whispered, trying not to be heard.

"I've told you about all of the twisted-up plans, Crane," the princess reassured him, just as quietly but without so much effort. "This isn't one of them, I promise."

They stopped at the Louisa and Gigi addressed the gathered crew briefly.

"Until further notice- I am Georgiana Leomorand, research professor, and you are the crew I have hired in my quest to introduce a source of energy based on bioluminescent mushrooms," she announced, as if this were to be expected. "There are some empty specimen containers you can bring to the front of our storage if you would like to make yourself useful," she said cheerfully, before turning back to the Commander. "Lead on," she instructed.

"Really changing up your name," Crane observed dryly, and Gigi snorted.

"It's a common enough last name," she said which was true- Many people's surnames were derived from their home region. "And a young woman my age, working out of Morland- It's more likely I would be named Georgiana than anything else," she pointed out with a shrug. "It dominated the area for years." Being so far removed from the throne meant little actual power, but there was always the cultural influence of being royalty.

 

[Reynarda]

"Ma'am, the boarding apparatus is secured."

Astrid nodded tightly to the petty officer, every line of her back tensing. Blast it, where were they?

No sooner had she wondered that than Alyx appeared as if summoned, leading the prisoners and several of her vampires.

"There you are!" Astrid said with an exhale of breath. "They're boarding."

"Lovely," Alyx sighed. She took her position just slightly behind her captain's left elbow. She let out a small hum of displeasure. "He's brought Maksim."

"All is prepared?" Astrid whispered.

Alyx dipped her head. "Yes, as long as our guests go along with our ruse." She glanced back to make sure her vampires were positioned behind her and gave a small nod to Leo and Artorius. Nina looked to be asleep. Hopefully she would stay that way. Alyx would have prefered to lock her in her quarters, but there was not time.

The Eldergaardians straightened to attention as one as a man stepped into the bridge. He was tall, with greying brown hair and sharp grey eyes. His heavily-decorated uniform was also grey. Several people followed in his wake--the first of whom was dressed in the commanders' blacks, though with a stylized griffin across his back instead of dragons' wings. He was darker than his admiral, not unlike Alyx, and had amber eyes. His eyes found Alyx's and he winked. Behind him were four red-clad vampires that bore the same symbol on their backs. They were far more subdued than the vampires behind the Dragon's commander, with almost entirely blank faces.

"Captain Leon," Admiral Jorgenson greeted with a facsimile of a smile--it didn't reach his eyes. "A pleasure, as always."

Astrid drew herself up straighter. "Likewise, Admiral." She spoke with rigid words that almost made her sound like a different person. "You came across us at an opportune time, sir."

Alyx's lip twitched.

"So it would appear," the admiral said, sweeping his gaze over the assorted prisoners in the bridge. "We saw the ship you are towing. You didn't bind them?"

"No need, sir," Astrid responded. "They won't get past Draya's vampires."

The other commander snorted. "High praise for the one who let that general slip through her fingers at the border battle last year."

Coolly, Alyx arched an eyebrow. "At least I and mine were fighting rather than drinking--"

"Commanders," Jorgenson snapped. "I do not remember asking for your input."

Both commanders quickly closed their mouths, but Astrid would not be surprised if they continued their conversation with nasty looks from behind their superiors' elbows.

"Besides," Astrid started again, figuring now was as good a time as any, "they are not military."

"That is all well and good, Captain--" Jorgenson cut himself off. He eyed Astrid. "They're what?"

"Scientists, sir. Researching... uh..."

"Glowing mushrooms," Alyx supplied, her tone almost eager.

Oh hell, Astrid hopped that had been previously discussed because that sounded hella fake. "Glowing mushrooms," she agreed, because why not? Hadn't the princess--er, professor--been excited about glowing mushrooms? Allarians were so weird.

"'Glowing mushrooms'?" the admiral repeated, eying the two officers.

"Aye, Admiral. Bioluminescent fungi, to use the technical term, sir," Alyx added, smirking slightly.

The admiral shook his head slightly as if he thought Commander Draya might be a bit mad. But he turned to the prisoners. Several of them were obviously engineers, and he wasn't sure they would know anything. Still he could question them later. Several he assumed were scientists were avoiding his eyes. One of the prisoners looked to be military--retired, perhaps as he looked a bit unkempt. He was probably the captain. One of the few not flinching from his gaze was a young woman. There, that would be the head scientist, or whatever.

"You, are you in charge of this operation?" Jorgenson asked Georgiana. "State your rank and purpose of your presence here. And if you are truly scientists, what are you doing across the border?"

 

[jones573]

Gigi shrunk back a bit from the Admiral. She was allowed to be afraid, she reminded herself, and in this instance, she was actually supposed to be showing it.

"Uh- Professor Georgiana Leomorand," she said. "From Morland Laboratories? Third Researcher. Like they said," she nodded towards Leon and Alyx. "I've been studying unique fungal properties, and hired this crew so I could collect rare samples in the region. Except we weren't supposed to get captured," she added in a dark mutter, and Crane glared at her.

"You ain't getting a refund, lady," he shot back. "I was very clear on the risks."

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Well, that was a brief explanation if he had ever heard one. Cyn barely had time to process what it was that they were supposed to be doing before they were being boarded and yet more vampires were on the ship. These ones, at least, looked and acted more like he would expect from an elite trained military squadron. He glanced back at Draya's vampires, where Nina was sleeping in Artorius' arms and Leo looked like he was trying not to yawn in boredom. He had thought so before, but they really were a rag tag group, weren't they...

He frowned as he turned his attention back to the admiral and the opposing commander, unable to help the scowl coming to his face. Big name enemies, those ones were. He wasn't really knowledgeable about the enemy or their higher ups, but he'd at least heard of this guy. Mostly from Finn complaining about how poorly Allaria's military had been doing recently, thanks to a few choice members of the Eldergaardian army. He was pretty sure this guy was one of them.

Well, his uniform certainly looked impressive, at least. Cyn didn't know what half the medals meant, but this was probably not somebody that he wanted to piss off. He should probably stop glaring at him, then, he thought as he quickly turned his eyes to the commander instead. It wasn't like he was particularly trying to look annoyed or angry or anything. Finn said that he had a chronic case of resting bitch face, and constantly looking like he was trying to start a fight even when he had no intentions of doing so had gotten him into trouble many times in the past. Heck, Artorius had just said he wanted to crush his head earlier.

The commander... Maksim, was it? He didn't look quite as intimidating as the admiral. Still, though, there was something about him... He seemed like a jerk. Cyn scrunched up his nose a little bit. He couldn't say that he was always the best at reading people or anything, but he definitely didn't want anything to do with that guy.

He turned his attention back to the princess and the lieutenant for a moment. Should he... go get what she had suggested earlier? To make their ruse look more convincing and all... But surely it wasn't ok for him to actually just leave. Not that he was important or anything, but... Being unimportant was kind of the point here, wasn't it? Ugh, this was too much thinking. He found his scowl getting more prominent the more he dwelled on it, and decided to just shove his hands into his pockets and stay quiet.

He had been telling the truth earlier when he said that he shouldn't speak. He wasn't good at ad-libbing or anything, and his acting skills left much to be desired.

 

[Scarlett-Wulf]

Artorius stayed still, his muscles still relaxed, staying lose made it easier to react than to be tense. He was still acting on the last orders given, keeping an eye on Cyn. Waiting to see what unfolded and what he was told to do next.
He wasn't exactly the nervous type, but still wouldnt allow any of them to touch his Commander other than in a respectable greeting. "Everything is as they have said, after interrogating the human known as Cyn they are indeed a research vessel, no crew member is military" now holding nina with one arm before giving a brief salute before giving his report.
-------

Nina on the other hand was talking in her sleep. "Snacks.....big brother.....its my birthday..." she mumbled, curling up into Artorius and snuggling against his chest. She had started sucking her thumb.

 

[Reynarda]

Admiral Jorgenson stared at Georgiana for a moment, a look of mingled confusion and boredom on his face. "So you mean to tell me that you crossed our borders for science?" he asked. He honestly wouldn't put it past Allarians.

Astrid could feel herself easing. The admiral sounded incredulous, but more like in the manner that suggested he did believe it. There, it would be fine. He would wave them off and send them on their way. This would be fine.

The admiral eyed Artorious for a second after he gave his report and then dropped his gaze to Alyx. "I don't think I asked for your vampires' opinions, Commander. You need to tighten their leash."

Alyx did not so much as nod or otherwise indicate that she would do anything of the sort.

Jorgenson didn't seem to notice. He gazed over the other Allarians in the room before flicking his attention back to Astrid. "You took civilians... alive?"

"Aye, sir," Astrid confirmed. "We couldn't very well kill them, sir, and we thought they may have information we could use."

Jorgenson tapped his sword as if in deep thought. "You thought that civilians may have information? About what? Troop movements?"

Alyx rolled her eyes.

Astrid did not roll her eyes, though she wanted to. "No, sir. About their scientific capabilities, sir. Their ship seems to be a nice model."

Jorgenson nodded as if that made a great deal more sense. "I see." He swept his eyes over the group, letting the silence drag until it became uncomfortable.

Behind him, Maksim was smiling at Alyx. She had done her best to ignore it, but now it was getting so annoying she wanted to slap the smile right off his face. He knew something, and she didn't like it. In fact, it was starting to put her on edge.

Finally, Admiral Jorgenson broke the silence with a mirthless chuckle. "This is an amusing turn of events. For a moment, I thought you may have one of the Allarian princesses, but it turns out you just have a science crew." He smiled like a snake.

Alyx shifted ever-so-slightly. This would not end well. They needed a way out.

"Princess, sir?" Astrid asked, her voice surprisingly confused. Alyx would have believed her if she couldn't hear her heartbeat.

Jorgenson nodded. "Yes, Captain. We received some intel about it just a little while ago. Funny that you should catch a group of researchers in the just the area we thought the princess might be."

"We didn't see anything else," Astrid said, her voice the perfect semblance of a junior officer that should have noticed something and did not.

"Hm," the admiral said. He turned on the group, picking out Cyn. The other two had already told him their story, but this man looked like he was an engineer--probably lower on the pecking order and less aware of what was going on. "And you, engineer? Do you know anything about this princess?" He smiled. "Keep in mind, I decide your fate, not Captain Leon."

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Cyn startled a bit when the admiral addressed him. He had expected that his role was just going to be to stay quiet and out of the way until they were home free. But now that the enemy was confronting him, he found his mouth going dry. He was not a very good actor. He was, in fact, the last person who wanted to be put on the spot like this. He had to remind himself not to look to the others for guidance. If he was unconvincing or looked like he was being coached, then everything would fall apart. But really, his heart was pounding as he licked his lips and met the admiral's eyes.

He was glaring at him again, though that was more a result of nerves than anything. He tended to get more scowly when he was nervous. He was meeting his eyes head on, though, and didn't flinch as he gave his answer.

"I ain't know nothin' 'bout no princess or nothin'. Uh... sir," he added at the end, almost as an afterthought. It was worth it to try and be polite, wasn't it? "My job's just to make sure the ship flies. You got questions about mechanics or how an airship works, an' I'll answer 'em, but I'm kind of stupid, so anythin' else, you're better off askin' someone else."

Which was mostly the truth. He didn't really know a lot about what their mission was or anything, and he was kind of dumb when it came to things other than his job. But he did know that he did not trust this guy, whatever he said. Big military men were all the same, and he could tell by the fact that Alyx's vampires at least had personalities that captain Leon and her crew were a far better bet in the long run.

Plus the other commander kept smiling. It was starting to get annoying. Cyn frowned, his hands still in his pockets as he ran his fingers over the wedding ring that he never wore while working. It helped calm him down to have something to play with in his hands, and the metal was cool and grounding.

 

[Scarlett-Wulf]

Nina, not truly being asleep gripped Artorius's arm, not particularly pleased with how her master had been spoken to at that time by a creature she saw as an insignificant worm. Far beneath her own or his existance. "Useless....fat..." she mumbled sleepily, turning her body and face more into Artorius's chest seeming to snuggle into him for comfort. It was something Alyx had been privy to see on multiple occasions, this little act of hers.
Nina more than anything want to kill the pompous ass where he stood, knowing full well that Alyx was the only one in the room fast enough to stop her, but would causing such a thing truly benefit her master in the slightest. It isnt as if it couldn't be written up that the admiral and vampires had fallen in combat while the ship they were on had merely happened onto the scene subduing the members of the other ship.
-------------
"Forgive me, I was merely giving my report as is normal protocol" bowing as best he could while holding Nina still, trying be respectful towards the Admiral and hopefully to keep things from escalating. Standing back up Artorius looked to Alyx to get a sense of what should be done at the moment, Artorius knew the man known as Cyn was a terrible liar and couldn't even contain his facial expressions, had he made an error by speaking up at all?
It wasn't as if the mindless vampire soldiers that were lead by the old fool would be terribly hard to deal with. Submissive mindless servants had uses but the ability to adapt in a fight surely couldn't be one of them.

 

[jones573]

“One of the princesses? Here,” Georgiana said in obvious excitement, looking out into the clouds as if a royal airship would drop from the cover of the thick white puffs and come to her aide in a show of gallant heroics. “Do you think they’ve come to rescue us,” she asked Crane in a whisper that probably should have been a bit more quiet if it was going to go unnoticed.


“Oh for all that is rusted,” he hissed back, “Use your head and Shut. Your. Mouth.”


“But if it’s the Princess Millicent with her new ship, then she could-”


But Crane talked over her instead, addressing Jorgenson, and ignoring the mention of Millicent- Second in inheritance order behind the older Crown Prince Theodore, popular among the common folk, and known for her military prowess and mechanical aptitude. She had been seen swooping about the capitol in the testing phase of her own personal flying apparatus, and it was said that the airship she captained was being outfitted as the pinnacle of the military’s technological advances.


“My engineer is only an engineer, Admiral,” Crane said with the even but somewhat defeated tone of a man who knows he is facing something much higher up the food chain, but with enough honor to try and defend those even lower than himself. “I pay him to keep my boat in the air, not to track nobility. For my own part,” he admitted, “I can tell you that we hadn’t seen anything in the sky with us for several hours before the Dragon here came upon us, though we’d been keeping to the cover of the clouds, so,” he said, allowing the possibility that another ship might have passed unnoticed. “When we left the capitol at least, there was no listed flight information that indicated to me I’d need to keep an eye out for any Allarian cross-traffic in this area.”


Of course, the flight information that was available to academic and commercial ships did not always include details of military operations, and anyways, traffic logs usually became out of date information the minute one looked away.

 

[Reynarda]

The admiral eyed Cyn. He highly doubted the man was "stupid". More likely willfully ignorant. Or too wrapped up in his engineering to notice anything else. And perhaps their culture was a bit different and they did not eavesdrop to gain as much information as possible. Information was power, after all, but perhaps only the Eldergaardians saw it.

Jorgenson turned back to Crane and arched an imperious eyebrow. How the blazes did they keep from avoiding each other if those were truly their methods? "You don't have sensors on your ships? How... primitive."

Astrid highly doubted the Allarians had no sensing equipment--she just figured they had no intentions of explaining them.

Admiral Jorgenson frowned when Artorius spoke again. "Commander Grivvin, explain protocol to Draya's vampire."

Alyx stiffened at this metaphorical slap in the face.

Maksim smiled, his eyes glinting. "Aye, sir. The vampire reports to the commander who reports to the captain--"

"Who reports to me," the admiral finished. He flicked his gaze to Alyx. "Your vampires' repeated insubordination reflects poorly on your captain, Draya. I am beginning to think you are not fit to command."

Alyx held a hand out to steady Artorius behind her. "Then I will submit to your command if you wish to reassign me or send me home, sir."

Her tone was respectful, but Astrid heard the underlying smugness. He didn't have the power to do that, and Alyx was tempting fate by reminding him of it. Before the realization that her commander was mocking him could set in, Astrid cleared her throat. "Sir, should we look out for the princess, then?"

Jorgenson turned back to Astrid. "No, Captain. I am not entirely convinced we haven't found her already, even though you were all quite convincing. Commander Grivvin?"

Maksim's smirk split his face as it widened. "Aye, sir. All the Allarians are lying, as is Draya's vampire and--" he paused for the briefest second as Alyx's glare bore through him, "--Draya, sir."

Truth be told, he couldn't really tell if Alyx were lying. Each of her statements had enough truth to them that he couldn't tell what in them was the lie. The only reason he knew she was lying was because her captain was lying.

Admiral Jorgenson glanced at his commander. "Not Leon?"

The two commanders' eyes met for a brief second. "No, Admiral," Maksim answered.

Jorgenson humphed. "And why wouldn't the captain be in on this?"

Astrid was not pleased with this. She wasn't pleased their ruse hadn't worked, but she was even more displeased that somehow she was being absolved of blame. "Sir--"

"Because I hid it from my captain, admiral," Alyx said before Astrid could. She gestured to her vampires behind her back to remain as they were.

"Alyx--"

The Dragon's commander met her confused gaze. Astrid did not like this. Not one bit. But Alyx was right. The battle was not done, but this was not the place to fight it. Astrid turned back to the admiral. "What? What's she hidden from me?"

Jorgenson rolled his eyes. "That 'researcher' is the princess we're looking for. But my question is why she wouldn't tell you."

"Alyx?" Astrid asked, not bothering to hide her confusion and frustration. "Is this true? Why?"

Lifting her chin, Alyx pressed her lips together.

The admiral actually chuckled at this display of defiance. He glanced back at Maksim. "I'm sure my commander will enjoy dragging that information from her."

Maksim grinned, showing off very pointed teeth.

"Wait? What?!" Astrid demanded as if she had not known the admiral would use this opportunity to arrest her commander. "If that's the princess, then take her, but Alyx is my commander. I'll bring her in."

"No, she's been demoted," the Admiral said cheerfully. "I intend to take the princess and your commander." He nodded to the vampires behind her. "And even if you were not in on this, you now have a very hungry squadron who's little bit of control will be nonexistent."

Astrid balled her hands into fists. Alyx's reasoning was slowly becoming clear, but that didn't mean she had to like it. And Astrid prayed Alyx's faith in her hungry vampires was not unfounded. If they were going to get away with Alyx's gambit, she needed all of them.

"Sir! Alyx?" Astrid said, looking between her commander and the admiral and sounding very hurt and confused--not all of which was a ruse.

Alyx closed her eyes. "Nothing personal, Captain. You are better than your peers--and your plan to capture the Man-o'-War was brilliant."

Astrid hadn't come up with that plan, Alyx had--oh hell. Dammit, Alyx. That was a crazy-ass plan, even if the admiral would never see it coming. Damn, damn, damn.

Admiral Jorgenson nodded in satisfaction in the worry and confusion on Captain Leon's face, and the grim defiance on Draya's. He returned his gaze to his true quarry--the princess. "Take the princess and..." he flicked his eyes over the Allarians, "...the engineer."

Maksim shrugged, not really caring why Jorgenson wanted the engineer--maybe he suspected a rescue attempt and wanted to decrease the likelihood of its success. Maksim certainly did. He had known Alyx since they were young, and she never went down without a fight. He waved to his vampires who stepped forward to grab the princess and engineer.

 

[Scarlett-Wulf]

Artorius eyed the vampires, his murderous intent seeping off him like a thick sludge. He was still under his previous orders to watch the man known as Cyn, anyone under his care wouldnt even have a single hair touched on their head. He didn't speak, only giving that one warning to the lot, essentially meaning stay away or be led quickly to deaths door.
Artorius was already more than angry, mostly at himself for causing his dear commander so much trouble, however he hadn't moved from that spot yet, yet....Nina was no longer there, she had seemingly dissapeared from sight the moment all eyes were off her. Artorius's arms were at his side, waiting for the single moment he was ordered to kill, but he wasn't sure that would ever come.

------------

Nina had moved into the dark recess of the room, using a telepathic link she spoke to Alyx, so as to not be heard. "What would you have my master do? Shall he strike down the poor excuse for vampires or hold his hand? What is your intent lady Alyx?" Nina's voice for now was still the same innocent little girls. While Watching everything unfold from the shadows, a toothy grin on her face as the idea of watching her master pummel those things wet her appetite.

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Cyn startled; how had they known they were lying? I mean, sure, he wasn't exactly very convincing, but still. He swallowed thickly and his fingers twitched. He didn't know why he was being singled out to go with the princess, either. His connection to Finn, maybe? But there was no way they could know about that, and Finn may have been an advisor to the royal family but he wasn't royalty himself. Cyn swallowed, but he allowed himself to be grabbed.

Leo, on the other hand, was not willing to go along with this decision.

"This is preposterous!" He snapped, his hands clenching into fists. He took one step forward, reaching out as though to interfere, before he clearly thought better of it and stepped back again. He was absolutely livid, though. He hoped that the captain had some sort of idea of what was going on here, because he sure didn't.

 

[jones573]

Of course their ships had sensors, but Crane had been careful to stick to statements that were actually true- That he hadn’t seen any other ships in the sky but the Dragon, and had no knowledge of other Allarians in the area.

Not that his efforts for truth amounted to much, it seemed.

The ruse was exposed quickly, but not quite in its entirety. Gigi was annoyed, but she didn’t let it show on her face. She’d have to make use of what little leverage she had, she supposed, and count herself lucky.

“I insist on accompanying-,” Crane began to bluster when it was suggested he was to be separated from his princess and his crewman, but Gigi raised her hand barely an inch from her side and he stopped short.

“Stand down, Crane,” she told him evenly. Whatever was going on here, she had no interest in escalating. Even if a fight broke out between the two crews, it seemed unlikely the three Allarians would be able to escape without notice.

“I will cooperate with Admiral Jorgenson as best I am able,” she said, having since discarded the persona of the timid, stressed professor and returned to her normal collected demeanor. “For the sake of my crew.”

She didn’t look at Captain Leon when she said it, but she hoped the Captain understood her message. Gigi knew that Maskim was wrong- That Leon very much had been in on the ruse. Hell, it had practically been her idea.

But so long as Leon kept the rest of the Allarians who hadn’t yet been thoroughly dragged into this mess out of vampiric jaws, Gigi was willing to keep that to herself.

 

[Reynarda]

Alyx put up with a good many things--Astrid's incessant chatter had become endearing at this point. But she had not and would never enjoy a voice that was not her own appearing in her head. She did her best to hide it, but she still stiffened ever-so-slightly when Nina spoke into her mind.

Artorious should not need telepathy to know his orders, she hissed testily. Taking a mental deep breath, she considered the question, careful to keep her thoughts in their typical nebulous form so they would not surface for the succubus to hear. It would be useful to be able to communicate with the others. They'd flown blindfolded before, but being able to actually tell the others what she was planning would be easier. Astrid trusted her, and the others were loyal, but yes, she supposed she should use her assets. Nina, you join me on the admiral's ship--but stay out of sight! I'll need you to communicate between myself and the rest.

Their mental conversation was interrupted by Leo's little outburst. Alyx kept her face neutral, squashing the small smile that threatened to flick across her face. How sweet of him. He cared about one of the three being taken, and to be honest, she wasn't sure who that was. She glanced back as if to give him a frown but gave him a little wink instead.

Turning back around, her eyes snagged on Maksim's. The other commander was giving her a look that said he knew she was up to something and was wary of it.

Astrid's hands twitched. She felt so powerless and she hated it. At least she could act as frustrated as she felt. "Sir, you can't take my commander and leave her vampires."

Jorgenson snorted. "Your commander committed treason, captain. She forced my hand."

Astrid was not about to classify lying to a commander officer as treason. Heck, she did that fairly frequently. And had just done it. But she also couldn't argue with a commanding officer.

"Continue with your patrol, captain," Jorgenson said as he turned to leave. "Good work on accidentally catching the princess."

Maksim quickly twisted a thin silver chain around Alyx's wrists, pulling his hands back and frowning in pain once it was finished. He gave her a small push after Jorgenson.

Turning, Jorgenson smiled at Georgiana as Maksim's vampires pulled her and Cyn down the gangway after their commander. "Oh, this sacrifice may be for naught, then. Those vampires won't be controlled by Leon. Only their commander can do that. Leon will feed your people to them to save hers."

Alyx rolled her eyes. Maybe that was true for Maksim's vampires--he had made sure to make himself indispensable--but not her vampires. They had their own wills. And they were loyal--besides, Leo and Artorious would knock around the ones who thought of mutinying.

As they crossed the boarding apparatus, Jorgenson delivered orders without turning. "Grivven, put Draya and the engineer in the brig and then join me in my office. Once we're done with the princess, Draya is all yours."

"Aye, sir."

Alyx rolled her eyes as Maksim prodded her between her shoulder blades. The other commander was a prick through and through, but he wasn't a sadist as Jorgenson's tone suggested. Who had he set himself up to be since being assigned to an admiral? She figured Maksim just planned on being overly prickish while attempting to wheedle information out of her. Unless... she was wrong and he had changed.

On the admiral's flag ship, the two groups split. Maksim waved at the vampire holding onto Cyn to hand him over, and the vampire pushed Cyn to his commander. Maksim rested a hand on the engineer's shoulder and steered him after Alyx. Once deep in the ship, Maksim pushed Cyn into a cell and closed the door. Then he opened a cell door and gestured dramatically inside. Once Alyx was inside, he leaned against the door's bars.

"You sure you wanted to waste your favor on Leon, Alyxi?"

Alyx sunk into a crouch. "Not much I can do about it now. Better run along--I think I heard your master calling."

Maksim chuckled. "She's not really your friend, you know. She'll turn on you. They always do."

"Ah, yes, because your grovelling is much preferable," Alyx shot back.

Huffing, Maksim pushed off the bars. "Do us both a favor and don't try anything. I don't want to have to stop you."

Alyx leaned her head back and closed her eyes. "You can try. Better hurry up so you can come back."

He closed the door. "Oh, I'm looking forward to it."

Alyx listened as his footsteps faded down the hall and back topside. As soon as she was sure they were alone, she opened her eyes and turned to Cyn in the cell next to hers. "All right, Allarian. If we're going to get out of this, you've got to trust me and we've got to work together."



The other group lead Georgiana to Admiral Jorgenson's office. Being an admiral, he had far larger living quarters than a humble captain had. He had a study that was separate from his sleeping chambers, and was stately. The crown molding was even painted.

Jorgenson sat down behind his large mahogony desk as the vampires pushed Georgiana into a chair across from him. He waved away the vampires. "That will be all."

Once they were gone, he looked across his desk at Georgiana. "So tell me, girl. Which princess are you?"




Back on the Dragon, Astrid stood perfectly still, counting in her head. There. They were across the boarding apparatus. She turned to her officers, the vampires, and Crane.

"Aw, hell," she said. "We need to get moving if Alyx's gambit is to work. Start pulling away from the other ship. We need to get away as fast as possible without looking like we're getting away."

As her officers did just that, Astrid ran a hand through her hair, pushing it back from her face but pulling quite a few long strands from her braid. "Leo, Artorius, you two are in charge of the squad. I need just a few of you to come with me to pick up Alyx, the princess, and that engineer. We'll take one of the life boats--dammit we need clouds."

She thought for a brief second. "Ok, getting to the ship won't be a problem. Any of you have any ideas of how to get inside the ship once we get to it? Last time we just drilled a hole into the hull, but I don't think that'll work well this time. We need to get away, too. Alyx will doubtless be rounding up the other two and coming towards us, but we still need to get on the ship without anyone noticing--especially not Griffin Squadron. I'm not sure why Maksim covered for us, but I'll bet this ship he won't do it again. It needs to look like Alyx, the princess, and the engineer just escaped."