Chapter 2: Into the sea

Josephine is relieved when the fog lifts and the sailors seem to relax again a bit. She managed to slip back into her cabin before Mayers ever noticed that she was missing.
Curiously enough, when she decides to leave her cabin again for another round, Mayers is still not back there to look out for her. She wonders if anything happened to keep him busy but for now, decides to use the freedom to make her rounds unobserved.
Josephine finds Liuti, still stationed to guard the stern castle. She walks up to him and begins a friendly conversation, pretending to keep it casual until he lets slip that something was off about the ship they almost ran into. Her curiosity piqued, she inquires further about it, trying to find out what exactly was wrong without him realizing that she is doing more than just conversing with him. At some point, she lets him know about her conversation with one of the sailors during the fog and how she is trying to get them to like her and get along with her, insinuating that knowing what is going on might be good for her to continue building up her place on the ship and to keep her safe.

Alexander Comes in as Harold is working on the medical room. He stays by the entrance for a few moments, checking what the doctor is doing. "What is happening here? Have you checked these men already?"

CeeBee is resuming his duties. Keeping track of the goings on, social dynamics, and interactions is getting exasperating, and he's decided to ignore it all as much as possible when a shout rings across the deck. "Uriah! Turk! To port!"

Moving to the side rail, CeeBee and Turk join Veryard, who indicates one of the ships is veering off course, likely due to the fog.

After Conrad finished riling the men up, he wanted to talk to Josephine about her misuse of his name and trust. As he started his approach, Captain DuVaile stops him: "Captain Verne," he hails, "I have a task for you". Conrad stops and turns to the Captain, displeased, "Yes, Captain, what is it?" Captain DuVaile motions to Conrad to come closer and leans on the rail, looking at the ship that they almost had a crash with. "We need to find out what is going on on that ship, as you are well aware they do not respond, so you need to send a boarding party," he leans towards Conrad and says quitely, "Send the men you can trust and can keep their mouths shut until we figure out what is going on." Conrad looks at the ship, deep in thought, "Hm, well, then perhaps I should go there myself, I don't trust anyone more than myself and I expect that everyone would want to have some time
without me being here. Might be good for morale. I will leave Lieutenant Meyers in my place while I will be gone." "Good," DuVail replies and walks away.

Conrad stays, leaning on the rail and watching the ship, for a few moments. Then he suddenly turns and calls: "Lieutenant Meyers!" angrily. Lieutenant Meyers rushes towards Conrad almost loosing his hat and adjusting it as he goes, "Yes, Captain!"
"I will be going to investigate the ship, you are in charge in my absence," he pauses for a moment, "And don't let yourself be used again, I am disapointed and this is your chance to redeem yourself. Dismissed."
Verne forms a team to take with him on his excursion, puts on his armor and locates Martin Cominero before heading to the boats.
Before getting on the boats and go on the ship, Conrad salutes the Captain and looks at Martin, like a wolf looks at the sheep.

Captain DuVaile finishes his talk with the helmsman Lopez Sanchez, he looks into the horizon before calling on the first mate Francisco Veryard, after which is hurries to catch up with Conrad Verne to task him with arranging a boarding party. They have failed to get any reply from the ship that almost crashed with them and need to investigate what is going on. As this operation must be conducted in secrecy, Conrad decides to go himself and leave Lieutenant Meyers behind to oversee the ship's security. Before making the final arrangements, he has a little chat with Martin.

As Josephine leaves her room, she notices that Lieutenant Meyers is not around. This is an unexpected and welcomed surprise though she wonders what may have happened to keep him busy. Josephine finds the Captain's Guard Matteo Liuti stationed at the stern castle and walks up to him and begins a friendly conversation, casually mentioning the near crash and how she hopes that she can get the sailors trust. However, Luitti seems to be thinking about something else, and her advances are not as successful as she would hope. "You're right my lady, it was a really bad accident waiting to happen. Sailing in this fog is terribly dangerous. But the Captain is on it and there is nothing to worry about now". Even though he doesn't go into much detail, Luitti's expression suggest that whatever is happening is not completely solved yet and that the Captain will be very busy being "on it"

Even though Luitti tries to reassure her, she can hear the shouting of the First Mate Francisco Veryard, getting Ceebee Uriah and the experience Turk to do some pressing work as the ship changes course...

You set the sails to catch the wind and change course as fast as possible. You're finally lucky and the winds help you manoeuvre quickly. You all notice that you're moving away from the fleet or, at least, the fleet is moving slower than you. However, you can see that you are making steady progress approaching another ship.

[bTurk, help me get this ship ready for boarding!"[/b] CeeBee starts getting hooks and planks assembled, arranging various lines and ropes ready to heave as the two vessles come together. He's so focused on his task he fails to notice that Turk has gotten a number of lines tangled up on his end, rendering them useless when the time comes to throw them across the other ship's deck.

As Josephine is walking around the ship again, Ruiz comes up to her and gives her a cryptic warning about keeping her head down, although she's doing the right thing.
She thanks the man, even if he refuses to provide the context to make sense of it.

When she gets into her cabin, Martin is there.
"We need to talk," he says in a serious tone.
Josephine raises an eyebrow but sits down on the bed next to him. "What is it?"
"People have been complaining about you. You're walking the decks too frequently and involving yourself in matters that do not concern you. The master scribe has complained about your behavior. And guard captain Verne also mentioned something to me about you."
"I am helping this ship," Joesphine insists. "I know, sailors don't like women getting involved in matters of running the ship but I want this mission to succeed just as much as anyone else here - maybe more than some even. Martin looks surprised at that last sentence but doesn't ask to whom she is referring. "I won't be confined to quarters but I can limit the help I give to others if you think that is necessary," she offers with a warm smile that she knows he can't resist.
"Captain Verne is leaving the ship to have a look at the other vessel," Martin says. "When he gets back, the three of us should sit together and talk about this, to come up with some ground rules for you."
Josephine nods, not showing her husband how insulted she feels at being treated like a child. "Of course, dear."

Later that day, when Martin is back at work again, Josephine leaves her quarters. She notices that Mayers isn't there in front of her cabin. He must have other responsibilities in Verne's absence.
Liuti mentioned that the captain will be busy. She could make use of that but after the talk with her husband, she can't bring herself to focus on that. She feels unreasonably frustrated and annoyed, so she decides to head to the ship's infirmary and asks there if they have anything they can give this poor, weak woman against headache and nervosity.

After that, she just wanders the ship aimlessly until she hears something that catches her attention.
It's both the word, Verne, and the way it is said, almost with contempt, that raise her curiosity so she follows the sound of the voice to a group of guards. One of them, a teenage boy is talking to the others, who listen mostly with disinterest. "So anyway, this guy told me that Verne..." When the boy notices Josephine, he stops talking. The other guards look up at her and Josephine notices a strange expression in their faces. Maybe Verne warned them of her? Did she give him reason to be suspicious?
"Do you mind if I join you men?", she asks, locking eyes with the teenage boy, a sweet smile on her lips. He nods eagerly and points to a seat next to him, offering her to sit. The other guards don't really seem to care. With Verne gone and Mayers in charge, their discipline is lacking.
Josephine moves to the indicated seat, sitting close to the boy and looking at him while playing with a lock of her hair. "You were telling a story. Someone talked to you about Conrad Verne? Who was it, what did they say?" She makes sure that her voice sounds casual and chatty - just a gossipping woman, not a spy sent by the guard captain to keep an eye on his men.

Conrad's boarding team consisted of Father Mulligan, one of the priests; Diego Martinez and Timothy "Timmy" Brunwich, two former fishermen; Private LaCroix, one of the Pikemen; and Peter Grieves, foreign mercenary. It isn't enough to sail a ship but there must be someone on board and whatever the reason the ship isn't responding there will be someone who will be held responsible for it. So, it is possible that a more military presence will resolve the issue they might be having.

On board the supply ship...
Before the ship launched full speed chasing after the one that broke ranks and is now lost from the fleet, Conrad Verne decided to board the other strange ship that almost crashed with them. All attempts to contact the crew were in vain and, with that being a supply ship, if something happened there, loosing those supplies could be cut short the expedition... Conrad's boarding team consisted of Father Mulligan, one of the priests; Diego Martinez and Timothy "Timmy" Brunwich, two former fishermen; Private LaCroix, one of the Pikemen; and Peter Grieves, foreign mercenary. He would need 3 more sea experience men to sail a ship, but he is expecting to meet someone onboard and Conrad's bet was that more military presence would be more efficient resolving whatever the issue might be. However, it is immediately apparent why there was no response... the deck was empty, no one was at the helm, the ship was just drifting on its own.

Conrad immediately ordered the ship secured and searched. Though there was no signs of combat and the supply boxes were all accounted for, no crew member was in sight. Conrad gathered the maps and notes from the captain's quarters looking for clues but, those maps weren't right... There were unknown lands described in a strange language... And the logs? He has seen that strange script before, during the war. It was foreigner and it was something that shouldn't be in the middle of the fleet! It is at this moment that he is interrupted. They found someone in a brig. However, the strange accent and language of the man makes it difficult to get any information out of him even for Father Mulligan, a religious man educated in letters and languages. It sounds similar to the language of the peoples Conrad fought before, but not exactly the same... The structure and the words don't make sense and Father Mulligan is unable to understand it completely. Between what he could only describe as the ravings of a lunatic, Father Mulligan made up the following story: "The man was abducted and kept there. There may have been others, but somehow they were... lost? The ghost people or some sort of hidden spirit jumped out of the ship when the sun was white. He hide and they forgot him.". If he was indeed forgotten, that may have been for a very long time, judging by his clear undernourishment. At this point, Diego Martinez and Timmy show up with a very worried face. The supply boxes were empty!

On board Boaty Macboatface...
Meanwhile, Conrad is left behind as the hard work from the sailors changes the ship's direction away from the fleet, quickly approaching the wayward ship. Unlike the supply ship Conrad boarded, the crew from the lost ship is responding to the signals and is prepared to be boarded in order to receive help. Ceebee gets Turk to set the hooks and assemble the planks, arranging various lines and ropes ready to heave as the two vessels come together. However, in the stress of the situation, a number of lines get tangled up, rendering them useless which delays the effort. Though boarding will not possible from their side as quickly as he wished, Ceebee notices some men from the other ship quickly correcting that. However, his experience tells him that the way they are doing it is... unconventional and maybe a bit sneaky. It is then that he catches a glimpse of light reflection on something they are hiding under their clothes.

Josephine, not being required to work as a woman, finds herself walking around the ship again when Dominic Ruiz warns her to stay away even if she is on the right side of things. She finds the man's behaviour strange, but thanks him as he leave to help with the boarding. Wondering about what that was all about, she returns to her cabin where her husband is waiting to warn her that he has received complains about her getting involved with what wasn't her task. Though he understand that she has really no task and a smart educated woman like her would probably be bored with nothing to do. Having been more than reassured that she wants, above all, the mission to succeed, he decides to leave the matter for when Conrad returns... though she decides to get ahead of the game, just in case, when she hears some of the guards talking about Verne. With her friendly smile and female innocence, she managed to put the men at ease as a teenage soldier named Tim tells some war story about Verne. Apparently, the man has no mercy and no value for human life he was told by Pablo Garcia Mendez, who served under Captain DuValle during the last war. "You remember how quick he was to punish the sailors when we left the docks? Well, that smile on his face? I tell you, that's the smile of the devil"