[Ghost, it's time for you to wake up. The ship has been completed. I recommend setting sail as soon as the sun rises]

I actually fell asleep without noticing. I found myself slumped against the wall at the front of the house. As I slowly opened my eyes, I saw Diplomat and Yeti pushing the Cog out of the beach and into the sea.

I felt refreshed though I did not feel that tired. I remembered that I felt this fatigue that crawled up my spine and made me feel weak but when I stood, it simply vanished.

Maybe I was just overthinking.

I walked to the beach and as Diplomat and Yeti unfurled the stitched mast, they gave me a salute from the deck of the ship.

"Aye aye, captain," Diplomat said. I didn't know if that was a tease or something serious. Yeti just gave me a smile.

I climbed the rope and got onto the deck of the Cog. It was a tad tight but was worth something. I walked around the deck before walking down the basement of the ship. The entire interior was packed with supplies they found amongst the rubble and the dead. As I further surveyed what was inside, I found that they made a small compartment in which the child would stay. A small bed and a primitive ventilation system to ensure she did not choke.

I wondered if this was part of Eva's design or was the product of Yeti and Diplomat's own design. As expected, Eva read my thoughts and answered.

[The compartment is part of my design, Ghost. The little girl was added to the equation as ordered. According to Snake's evaluation data concerning the girl, she will be unconscious for another 4 to 8 hours and thus, do not require that she be forcefully awaken to do any jobs whilst sailing. Of course, you may tell her to clean the ship if you so wish]

Eva told me as if I was some sort of slave trader.

Many hours had passed since we burned down the village, the sun was going to rise soon and lay its shine on the desolate settlement. Diplomat went and fetched the other two from the house and Snake carried the girl onto the ship.

When the sun peaked over the eastern horizon, our voyage across the strait began.

The silence that dominated us during the construction of this Cog faded as soon as we sailed. Their conversations never bored me and I was more than pleased to hear them once again.

But the tune in their voices was slightly different, hiding behind those stoic expressions and cold smiles was the feeling that we were further going down the path of the unknown. They were anxious of what was to come. This unknown and vast world that contained many things we did not understand was surely going to throw us even more of it.

"I wonder if we'll encounter something like a kraken?" Yeti said.

"Don't jinx it. If that happens, I'll sacrifice you," Snake answered.

"Sacrifice only half of him, who knows, maybe we would encounter more than just the kraken," Diplomat added.

"I hate you both,"

We were all on the deck of the ship. Yeti was manning the steering since he was the only one who knew how to operate in the seas and oceans. Why? He was the former captain of his own vessel back then.

There was this cloud of thought that poked my mind, however. The ship, though a cog, a smaller design of which, should still not have took just a day to built. It also felt sturdy, as if it took the actual required length of time to build.

[The ship was constructed with such speed thanks to the effectiveness of the suits and the available tools. Yeti also managed to salvage a part of one of the galleons and retrofitted it, totalling half of the ship]

Even though Eva gave me an answer, I still could not bring myself to believe it but I guessed whatever worked, worked.

The seas were relatively calm with the wind actually taking us down south. The current, however, though weak, was pushing us westward. The stitched mast was slightly getting undone due to the wind fluctuating in strength. It would be calm most of the time but there would come a breeze that would jolt it and the ship forward.

Diplomat took it upon himself to repair whatever damage any of the ship's parts would sustain. Snake would periodically come down and check the child in her compartment.

I was interested in what she would do when she woke up, and then she did wake up a few hours into the journey.

It was around the onset of noon when we heard someone knock down below. Everyone was on the deck, it only meant that the little girl was finally awake.

Snake hurriedly walked down and didn't come back up until ten minutes later. Her communicator was turned off, she must've done that so she could focus on comforting the girl. She was sure to be confused that she was on a ship and would mistake what had happened a few hours back to be just a dream.

"Oh! Here they come," Yeti said as Snake walked up the deck with the little girl holding her hand. She was definitely afraid, she hid behind Snake as soon as she saw me. I was the first person she saw too which did not add much good for a first impression.

"It looks like you're still as scary as ever, Ghost," I was sure that was a tease by Yeti. Diplomat walked towards the girl and knelt before her. Diplomat then spoke in the region's language, surprising the little girl.

"Hey there, little fella. Don't be afraid.." I thought that was what Diplomat said as he extended his hand. The little girl looked at Snake who in turn smiled at her.

The little girl then slowly extended her arm to meet Diplomat's and they both held hands.

"See? You have nothing else to fear anymore. you're safe," Diplomat continued, I began to slowly understand what Diplomat was saying thanks to Eva.

[I have begun translation of their language. I will translate what I know for the time-being]

Yeti and Snake smiled at the two as Diplomat gave her a tour. The ship was very small, there wasn't really much to show.

"Strange. She is receiving her situation quite well. Better than expected," Yeti said.

"It surprised me as well. I think it was foolish of me that I was the one who greeted her," Snake said.

"So what did you do? You took about ten minutes," Yeti asked.

"Well, she was still lying on her bed and looking around when I opened the door. I frightened her and she took cover under the sheets," Snake explained.

"You really are rash," Yeti said.

"Shut it, anyways. She didn't even speak to me but that was great because I wouldn't have understood shit," Snake said, "But I did try my best to let her know through body language that I meant her no harm. It took me 10 minutes before she accepted my hand,"

"It's nice to see the children here are no different from the child over at Earth. At least, when it came to situations like this," Yeti said.

"What kind of child are you referring to? If she was any other child, I bet she'd be balling her eyes out and crying for her mama or papa," Snake retorted.

"Diplomat is handling her well. I wish I could understand what they were saying though," Yeti said.

[Do you want me to translate their conversations?]

"What! You can do that!? Why the hell haven't you done so?" Yeti was annoyed.

[I did not realize you could not understand the language and thus concluded that only Ghost required my help]

"You bitch," Yeti said. I couldn't blame him for becoming impatient. Eva was too focused on me and not to the rest. We couldn't coordinate well if she only prioritized me over the rest.

Snake was also pissed.

I took it upon myself to tell Eva that she needed to prioritize the entire team instead of just me.

[But I was given spec-]

No.

Eva was becoming too stubborn. Even for me, her attitude towards the rest of the team was not welcome or could be tolerated further. I felt my anger rage across my body, my eyes twitched without me noticing and I clenched both my fists.

Yeti and Snake took a few steps back, their cautious gazes pierced my armor but I did not care.

[Order received]

That was it? I said in my head.

I warned her one last time. I did not know how I could disable her from our suits but I knew that if we removed our suits, she wouldn't be able to reach us.

This is stupid, I said in my mind.

I needed to calm myself down. I gestured for Yeti to take temporary command and I went down the ship and into the basement. Eva then told me to stop calling the cabin a basement. Well, that was true.

There was a small empty space inside the food stores and so I sat down there.

I looked around, observed my surroundings and my body. I was indeed larger and taller than in the past.

There was only one viable explanation, they did something to me when I was sleeping. I then brought up the images of my team using the holographic projection with assistance from Eva and looked at their features.

[Your hypothesis is correct. Your bodies had been modified during your stasis]

I sighed through my nose, if that made sense.

My anger was not going away as fast as I had hoped but there was progress. I couldn't have imagined that Eva would piss me off too much.

The ship began to sway. Of course it was normal for a ship to sway since we were in the middle of the ocean but this time, the swaying was far greater.

[Ghost! Something is over the horizon, we need you up here!] Yeti said through the communicator. I hurriedly stood and ran up the deck.

The wind had picked up but this was no ordinary wind. The clear blue skies that were there just a few minutes ago had disappeared and a dark expanse covered the sky.

Snake took the little girl down go her compartment while Diplomat went to the bow of the ship and readied a weapon.

[Activating Armor] Eva activated our suits and they reverted back into our power armor. Something was coming in the horizon, coming towards us. We could see clearly, we used our magnification but there was a tornado of water surrounding whatever the hell was in front of us.

"Yeti! What's the distance?" Diplomat said through the communicator.

"10 kilometers and closing! Shit. I didn't even detect it until now," Yeti replied.

The wind was going towards the tornado of water. I turned on my thermal scanning and I found something odd, there was indeed something inside the tornado that was alive and causing the anomalous phenomena.

"At this rate, the ship will be torn apart!" Yeti shouted.

"Ghost! Permission to fire SSM missile at target!" Diplomat shouted through the communicator.

I then took a closer look at the weapon Diplomat set up using his nanites at the bow of the ship. It was a missile pod that could fire a single missile.

We had no choice, I gave him the signal to fire.

"Firing in 3!"

I then pulled out my rifle. Snake had just come back up and she pulled out her sniper rifle and took up position behind Diplomat.

"Fire!"

The missile launched from the pod, leaving behind a cloud of smoke as it trailed just above the ocean's surface.

"What kind of SSM missile did you fire?" Yeti asked.

"A high-explosive type!" Diplomat replied.