Cataclysm Conquest | Prologue: Tides of Terror (First Draft)

Monday, November 25, 4 S.E.

The Aetheric Destroyer Ulysses crested another storm-tossed wave as it powered through the North Atlantic toward the Gulf of St. Lawrence, its [Aetherium]-purchased body cutting through the water while its crew sheltered from the storm and relied on the reinforced material to keep them safe from the manabeasts surging below. At seventy meters in length from prow to stern, thirty wide at the central deck, and twenty high from keel to bridge-top, the Ulysses was hardly the largest vessel in the Empire’s budding Navy, but it was certainly one of the fastest.

Captain James Cook, Imperial Lion Navy, peered out from the bridge cabin, entirely aware of the irony of his name as the pseudo-metallic hull crashed through another surge of seawater and continued its journey, glancing down at his wayfinder compass. They’d been on the water for a week already, having departed the [Empire of the Lion] under orders from the Emperor to bring an official Emissary to the [Kingdom of Avalon].

The nation had been discovered by some of the more daring Adventurers that had returned to the former United Kingdom following an initial exploration of the North American Continent, and the Monarchy had determined that proper relations needed to be established between the two Nations, especially after learning that a King named Pendragon ruled in the Capital City of Dawnhaven.

The objective for the Ulysses was to transport the emissary in their care, the Ambassador Plenipotentiary, Her Highness Elizabeth Juliet Britannia. The Princess had been selected as much to get her out of the Capital as to establish relations with the nascent American nation, the Captain knew. The Emperor was less-than-pleased with his rebellious daughter and her insistence on experimentation with Aetherotech, which had caused no shortage of small incidents within the Imperial Palace in New Londinium.

James grimaced as another titanic wave shook the Ulysses and glanced at his Executive Officer, Tanya Harding, where she stood at the helm, steadily gripping the oddly archaic wooden wheel that controlled the immense Ulysses’ rudder. The various knobs and levers that controlled the vessel's Aetherotech engines and various systems were known to James, but Tanya had a knack for the magitech that he’d never quite picked up.

He was a former Captain in the Royal British Navy, not an engineer.

He knew that the Aetherotech Engines acted in the water, harnessing System Mana to propel the vessel through the tides, and he knew that the hull was forged from Aethersteel, but how the buoyancy, stability, and flotation were achieved was more vague to him.

All he knew was that the Ulysses was durable and fast, and that was what mattered.

“How are we looking, XO?” he asked as he adjusted his Captain’s hat, gripping the armrests of the Captain’s chair and glaring out at the relatively mild storm whipping the sea into fury.

“We should be sailing into the area of the Strait of Belle Isle soon, skipper, just north of old Newfoundland,” Tanya said confidently, while her muscular arms wrestled with the helm wheel. “From there, it’s a quick dip down toward the St. Lawrence Seaway, as long as the old maps haven’t changed as they have elsewhere.”

James grunted at that. The topographic alterations of Earth had taken them all by surprise more times than he cared to remember.

“We’ll just need to improvise if they have. Hopefully luck is on our side, or we’ll have quite the trek through unknown territory.”

Tanya laughed at his words and checked her maps and compass before subtly adjusting the wheel.

“That’s one way of putting it, Jim. The States are bloody anarchic by all reports. We’ll be lucky to make it to the Kingdom in one bloody piece.”

James snorted quietly at that, and then grunted when another wave crashed into the Ulysses, swaying him in his seat as he cursed.

“The water’s less welcoming than I remember, that’s for sure,” James said as he pushed himself to stand and gripped one of the guardrails along the main console at the front of the bridge. “Mother Nature’s been a real tart since the Integration.”

“The Sea is the Sea, Jim,” Tanya said with a sailor’s acceptance, her voice lightened by a faint grin. “You can fight her or ride her, but you can’t beat her.”

James grunted in acknowledgement and peered out of the reinforced glass as another wave washed over the spear-tip prow of the vessel, crashing through the sheltering crew as they continued to check the various magitech weapons mounted on the vessel’s body and ensured they were in working order.

Large manabeasts, the sailors of the Integration had learned, were quite well-defeated by the powerful Aetherotech weapons, but they were far less useful against small targets. For those, the Imperial Marines would be needed. James had been given a squad of ten Contenders and two Elites for that purpose, but he hardly felt safe.

He was only an Adept himself, and his [Wavestrider Core] was useful in the water, but hardly anything to write home about, so to speak.

“Any news about our guest?” he asked as he stared out of the bridge’s glass and once again adjusted his hat.

“Her Royal Highness has been remarkably quiet,” Tanya reported jovially, shifting the wheel again as she made a one-handed notation on her map and checked the compass. “Surprising, really. She went from yammering on for the first two weeks to locking herself in the cabin and refusing to come out.”

“Small bloody mercies,” James grunted as the Ulysses lurched and his eyes drifted toward the rudimentary radar screen on the vessel, powered by sonic waves emitted by the baffling Aetherotech built into the ship. “What about the Marines?”

“Bored,” Tanya reported dutifully, her voice amused again as she made another adjustment. “Not bad in the sack, Skipper, but bloody dull overall.”

James shook his head at the unwanted elaboration and habitually pulled his cap down slightly as he continued to watch the radar.

“Your indulgences will cause us some strife one day, XO.”

“They’re temporary crew, Jim,” Tanya said with a grin. “Gotta enjoy the waves somehow.”

James just shook his head again and peered at the radar, frowning at a dark mass of blue that seemed to be edging toward the Ulysses at a steady pace. The radar functioned by giving back aetheric readings in blue and topographic readings in green. What he saw was, in essence, a colossal mass of aether moving on its own power toward them.

“What the bloody hell is this now? A whale?”

His eyes narrowed on the radar, and he glanced across the bridge to the silent Weapons Officer.

“Lieutenant McCairn! Get those Cannons ready. We might have a visitor.”

The swarthy, bearded man looked up from his card game and saluted dutifully, keeping his silence as was the Scotsman’s way, before moving his muscular bulk toward the weapons console and fiddling with the knobs and dials with expert familiarity, sending a hum through the Ulysses as mana was directed toward her defensive weaponry.

“Spy something, Captain?” Tanya asked as she calmly made another adjustment, nodding in satisfaction.

“Yeah, maybe,” James replied, already missing the stricter discipline of His Majesty’s British Navy, and suppressing his reticence for the more casual manner that things were conducted among the Empire’s fledgling Navy. Time would correct it, he knew, but that didn’t make it rankle any less.

“Cannae see a bloody thing in this cocked up weather, Cap’n,” McCairn reported dutifully, scowling out of the bridge window as his jaw locked in Scottish irritation. “Wee storm blockin’ the way.”

“I hear your complaints, Lieutenant, but given that I cannot control the weather, I’m afraid you’ll have to work with what you have,” James replied with a faint smirk. The Scotsman, at least, the Captain couldn’t help but enjoy. There was something in the accent and ready attitude that made the grizzled man’s belligerence somewhat endearing.

Plus, he was nice to look at, in fairness.

“Have ye got a bearing on this wee beastie, at least?”

“Due West, McCairn, off our starboard. It’s—”

James swore and reached out to snatch the handle above him, pumping it down to sound the manual alarm across the vessel.

“It’s accelerating, McCairn! Speed just jumped, it’ll be on us in ten!”

“Aye aye,” the Scotsman confirmed, settling his hands on the controls for the main guns and shifting them with a bulge of his muscles, using the analogue controls to dial the immense mana cannons around toward the starboard side of the vessel as Tanya adjusted in kind, turning the Ulysses to give him a better shot.

“Five seconds!” James called, growling as he marched back to his chair and slammed into it, snatching up the small golden rod connected to the remote projectors in the vessel.

“All hands! All hands! Unknown manabeast threat approaching from Starboard! All hands to battle stations!”

James adjusted his cap again as the Ulysses twisted in the water and buckled himself into the harness. Tanya planted her feet, meanwhile, and quickly buckled herself into the standing supports near the helm, while McCairn did the same near the weapons console.

A second later, James’ eyes widened as something immense exploded out of the water beside them with an ear-splitting roar, and a massive tentacle lifted itself above the ship.

“McCairn!” he shouted.

“Aye, Skip, I see the beastie!” the Scotsman roared, depressing his controls to volley the mana cannons in a blinding eruption of azure energy, and punching pure beams of energy into the rising tentacle, searing it as something screeched in rage and the tentacle receded.

“Good hit!” James shouted, drawing a grunt from the Lieutenant.

“We’re close to the Strait, Captain,” Tanya reported gruffly, turning the wheel as she pumped more power into the engines with a whine that echoed through the ship. “Three minutes and we’ll be in the safer water!”

“Punch it, XO. We can worry about regenerating the Cores when we’re safe!”

“Aye aye,” Tanya declared, flooding power into the engines beyond their self-replenishment values and rapidly accelerating the Ulysses forward.

Another roar split the air, and James turned to his right in alarm, spying an immense shadow passing over the bridge.

“McCairn!”

“I see the bastard!” the Lieutenant responded, unleashing another volley, this time from the perimeter cannons, and drawing another satisfying screech of fury as the Ulysses shook from a sudden impact, and something in the vessel screamed.

“Damage report!” James roared.

“We’ve lost an engine,” Tanya said calmly, her expression tight with focus. "This is going to get bumpy, Captain, hold on!”

James gritted his teeth as the Ulysses powered forward, McCairn unleashed another salvo, and the Captain finally glanced upward.

God, if you’re listening, now would be a bloody good time to make yourself known!