Deliveries (C 2.1)

Location: Downtown Archipelago
Time: afternoon

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Canary,

Turns out, saving those two sailors wasn't the worst idea. Foster is a skilled Boater, even if his luck is dren. While you recover from swallowing so much sea water and being battered around the sea, he shows Dinero some of the finer skills of tying knots and maintaining the Refuge. The older man is quiet, but he tends to you as you rest in the pilothouse. He steers the ship when you let him, or he helps you out if you don't. It feels like a full crew on board. It's not as good as when it was you and your mother, but it's close enough time to time to remind you of those better days.

There's a storm coming soon - you feel it in your bones.

The Vault is up ahead. You radioed for Jay Pee to send someone out to pick up the cargo. You see it now - a piddly little rowboat with skinny Barska sitting with her rifle over her bony knees as she watches you. Some broad-backed fellow is rowing the boat ever closer and Barska is watching for trouble. She has a keen eye.

What does she see on the Refuge that might draw her attention, Canary?

What do you do as they approach?

I let the old-timer help, and appreciate the lessons for Dinero. Probably do him good to hear advice from someone other than me, though I keep an ear open to account for what he's learning.

I do let him steer, but I can't help but lurk at his elbow, like I might need to take over at any moment. I stay close, but he can have hand-on. I'll probably have to do this for Dinero soon. Can't have him aboard like this and not know. He may need to.

There's more than a few little boats around. I like that I kind of tower over them, actually... but I wouldn't poke fun. Like is as it is here.

The keen-eyed lookout from the Vault might notice that I've had the gun loaded and uncovered. I'm ready to defend myself if necessary at a moment's notice. After the rough day I'm not taking any chances. The guns aren't aimed at the boat or anything, they're sitting facing nearly straight upwards at the moment, but it would take only seconds to get someone behind them and ruin someone's day.

"Oy," I call out to the boat. It's clear that they've been sent by Jay Pee, of course. But doesn't hurt to be clear about it, "here to shuttle cargo? Who's your boss, then?"

Oh yes. And a storm? Maybe we pass the night at the Vault. We'll see.

I puzzle a little. How many bosses? Got to remember every port works different.

"Come aboard then," I say, the cargo is in the hold beneath the deck in the rear, "aft."

I return to where Foster and the old-timer wait (did I ever get his name?) and watch the unloading. "Feels like a storm..." I pause a moment, I wonder of the castaway boaters feel it too, "we may spend the night here. And if anyone doesn't want to debark here, you're welcome to stay aboard to another port."

"Not forever, D," I confide to Dinero. Yeah, I've started calling him by his initial. Familiarity, yes, but also three syllables is a mouthful to keeps saying all the time, "but the Vault ain't the kind of port you wanna be abandoned to. We'll find them a friendlier place."

I watch the crew unload, "easy on the rail, fellas." They should carry the cargo over, not slide across.

I walk over to Foster as he helps out, "that works for me, Foster. You stay on 'till we find a better place for you."

I stand back and watch, unaccustomed to having a crew... if even temporary... handle stuff for me. Normally I'd be on the pulley there myself. I think a moment, then nod, "I suppose I do, Argyle... who is it you're lookin' for?"

Canary,

You've never heard of a Corvine. Where do you normally go to find folks?

Shake my head at Barska, "naaw, just what ya already know. This here's the goods from Jay Pee, couriered over clean and fast by Canary."

I think for a moment but can't come up with a Corvine, "afraid not, Argyle. Another old timer huh? What's the need to find 'em about if you don't mind me asking?"

Barska's finishing up with the cargo when her walkie-talkie beeps and you hear a few different people yelling on there. Suddenly, you hear a big explosion like a grenade going off. Looking around for the trouble, you see smoke billowing out of a set of windows in the Vault - looks like the fourth floor. Glass is showing down from the hole to fall into the water below. You hear more yelling on the walkie-talkies and see people run out to the dock to try and get an angle on the building.

What do you do?

"Stations!" I call out before anything else. With this randomly assembled would-be crew, though, it's not like we've practiced this.

I point Argyle towards the shelter of the pilot house and get on the gun personally, "Dinero, load for me!"

I wheel the fifty-cal around to face roughly the right direction, without yet taking actual aim at anything, while doing so I call out to Barska, "what's the deal, Barska? We takin' sides in this here?"

Your erstwhile crew hops to and heads to stations. Dinero loads up the big gun quickly in hopes that you'll actually use it. He seems excited to see it in action. As you move to the turret, you see someone appear in the room with the broken-out window - a tall, athletic woman. She has someone slung over her shoulder. The carried person has long black hair. As you line up the sight, you see the larger woman toss a line and climb up on top of the Vault. She moves as fast as someone could fall from the same height.

Around the perimeter of the Vault, you see several gun placements moving their turrets around, but nobody seems eager to actually fire on the Vault.

What do you do?

What is this, a kidnapping?

"I'll see what I can do, Barska!"

I keep the gun down, I'm not going to be seen firing on the vault, but if this is some kind of abduction, then there must be a way to escape. A boat?

"Take us 'round, Argyle! Everyone lookin' out for boats at the ready... crews outta place!"

Your crew brings the Refuge around and you watch the athletic woman move across the roof. You recognize her - it's the Rafter called Amazon. She's carrying Helix over her shoulder. You watch as she strides from one side of the roof to the other. There are three different turrets training on her and you hear voices screaming at each other on the walkie in Barska's rowboat.

They don't want to fire on the Tower.

Which puts Amazon in control here. Until she moves off that roof, the most they will do is send some troops up there to try and shoot her. But the big guns will stay silent.The biggest threat would be for you to be seen by Vaulters helping Amazon. That would ruin your contract with Jay Pee and get some serious jingle thrown at mercs to hurt you and yours. Also, if you get in Amazon's way, it will be dangerous for you, for the crew, and for Helix.It's a mess. But, you've got the fastest ship here, so you could wait for Amazon to get away from the Vault and try to catch her then. That would mean no turrets, likely no crossfire, and you'd have some advantages in the open sea. Amazon is no sailor.

Helix? How in the seas is she mixed up in this?

There's too many sides at odds here and no good way to jump in... After circling a while, then, disengage becomes the plan.

I lower the gun, "out to open sea, pilot" I call. "I want to pick up on Amazon's tail, got it? Once we're in open water. We got that? Then I lock down the gun and head to the pilothouse myself.

Foster repeats the order as he pulls the Refuge away from Barska and her rowboat. He keeps the engines low to keep from creating too much wake for Barska as you keep an eye on the roof of the Tower. You head into the pilothouse and take over from the older sailor and he stands nearby as you guide your ship away from The Tower towards the open sea.

Suddenly, you see a pair of giant wings on the roof, bobbing up and down with the cadence of a jog. Amazon guides her hang-glider to the edge and over. You spot what is probably Helix tied into some part of the harness. Amazon glides away from The Tower and two of the turrets take aim and light up the sky. But the hang-glider twists and dips away, making the turrets look like hunters with rifles trying to shoot a butterfly. After the hang-glider continues for a quarter mile before it disappears behind a building. By the time you reach the building, you see Amazon speed away in a sleek bass boat, making her escape from the Tower.

What do you do?

What in the world? A flyer?

"Hold on!" I call to the assembled crew... I'll have to return for my pay some other time. For anyone but Helix there's no way I pass up my payday. But... yeah I gotta.

I throw the throttle forward and spin to follow the flyer. I don't know if I can keep up with that boat but I'm fast and I'm persistent. Gonna try.

That storm's still in the back of my mind, though...

Your crew hops to as you steer the Refuge in the wake of Amazon's bass boat. You follow as the rest of the Vaulters buzz around trying to secure valuables and question the flaws in their security and lay blame back and forth.

Eventually, you track Amazon's bass boat all the way to The Roost, the home of Litch and his Talons. You see her arrive and have some trouble with Helix when she tries to escape, but like a shark, Litch swims up to help her back up onto Amazon's boat. There's a brief conversation between them, and Helix stays at the Roost while Amazon pilots her boat away.

Canary,

A few minutes later, you spot Edmund with one of the Talons. You haven't seen him since The Tower and he looks different. Clean-shaven, wearing, well, rougher clothing.

Hanging around the docks, I considered, for a long moment, giving chase to Amazon... but the destination is here isn't it? If we ended up here at the roost then Litch is involved and i don't want to go running in there with guns drawn... that wouldn't end well. And I have to believe Litch doesn't have bad intentions. Especially where Helix is involved.

I can hope.

But then I catch sight of Edmund... what is he doing here of all places?

I whistle, loud, and raise a hand to get his attention from the deck of the Refuge. I don't call his name, because... well. I have a feeling I shouldn't.

Edmund waves back and one of the Talons motions for you to come closer. It seems you have a passenger.

End Scene