As the Sullen Striker cut through the Chaos Sea, Riley glanced fitfully at the stern, then towards the port side where the other two assault cruisers sailed. He could barely make out the nearest one’s name, printed on the side of the bow.

“The Shattering Spear?” he muttered as he squinted his eyes.

Enhanced Sight or Sense would have given him a clearer view, but that technique only worked best within the planes. Using it in the Chaos Sea gave differing results. Ah, not that it did anything to him, since he was protected not just by his nature as an Imperial Knight, but also by the Sullen Striker’s Protective Sphere.

It was simply a matter of distance and what was in the middle. Enhanced Sight sharpened his visual acuity and also allowed him to see distant things more clearly. Magnified, too, but therein lay the problem. The Chaos Sea covered the entirety of this space, and it certainly wasn’t air between the two Chaos Ships. If he didn’t have the precise distance of where he wanted to focus on, his enhanced eyesight would likely zero in on a speck of Chaos which would then morph into what he wanted to see. Unenhanced vision wasn’t as easily affected, but that was more a matter of Intent than anything else. Simply put, using any sense-enhancing technique turned the process of sensing things active instead of passive, hence, applying Intent, which would then cause the volatile ambient Chaos to react.

That little bit of common sense had been drilled into him enough times in the Academy, and during his Knighthood ceremony and training. That, and the past few years of being a marine.

Anyway, the Shattering Spear looked practically identical to the Sullen Striker, except for the fact that it didn’t look as beat up.

“Fresh from the shipyards, you think?” he asked his elder brother, who was similarly keeping a wary eye out.

“Huh, what?” Aidan mumbled as he started out of his haze. He shook his head and stared at the other ship. With a frown, he said, “It looks like this is its maiden voyage. And battle. I’m not sure if the crew and captain are lucky or not.” He laughed.

Riley chuckled after a moment, his mind flashing back to the mission briefing back at Witton Hold.

“Breaking through the fortified Waypoints in succession is not working. Several Seasons had already been spent ascertaining this, but the good news is that reinforcements from the Core Planes are finally en route,” the Legate in command of the Hold said. Riley thought the man’s name was Miles Garderia, though he wasn’t sure. The man wasn’t a Legion’s Legate, so he wasn’t a Knight Dominus. Probably a Knight Commander, he concluded.

“As such,” Legate Garderia continued, “bypassing the fortifications is key. Several strike groups have been designated to slip past the breakpoints and head towards the Rumiga plane. Once you’ve gained access, make your way to the Rumiga City Chaos Channel and coordinate with the local forces to blast open the blockade…”

That was the gist of the briefing, though several issues were also tackled. As Riley and Aidan weren’t in the chain of command, he didn’t pay much attention to it, opting to receive an information packet into his crystal tablet to review as needed.

After that briefing, the Sullen Striker’s captain, A Knight named Jeremiah Brogin, called the officers and other Knights to the bridge just before they deployed. The man was like Captain Lauretta Mitchell of the Ebon Horizon, where Riley and his aunt and brother had previously served. Both were merchant ship captains, though unlike Captain Mitchell, who was on long-term vacation to enjoy the bounty paid by the Mishala Clan, Captain Brogin had volunteered. He didn’t mention his previous ship, but Riley assumed that its owners repossessed it and installed a new captain.

The man wasn’t much of a leader, but he had the grace to defer to active combatants such as himself and his brother. There were no other Knights on board other than the four of them, but there were forty eight Journeyman marines as well as a crew of ten to manage the assault cruiser. The Sullen Striker, as far as Riley could tell, had been recovered from one of the fallen Waypoint fortresses and repaired then relaunched.

“We drew the lottery to be part of the incursion team,” Brogin prefaced, “and the mission will begin shortly…” He continued by mentioning details, the chain of command, and he repeated the mission objectives for the benefit of the remaining officers. Then he ended the meeting with, “...Empress grant us luck and success, and may the Threads of Fate guide our hands.”

Riley jolted out of his recollection when he spotted several dots in the distance behind them. He hurried towards the stern, avoiding the masts, the rigging, and the sailors rushing about until he came up to the rear deck. The dots in the distance slowly grew larger, and he estimated that they would catch up to the incursion fleet in an hour or so. He grimly focused on recharging his backpack and examining his Plasma Caster. The Sullen Striker did not have an aft-facing carronade so it would be up to him to attack. Well, the Striker could swing around, but they would lose forward momentum instead.

“Aidan, come up here!” he yelled once he was ready. An hour to catch up, but only forty minutes or so before they were within reach of his weapon. Ah, he wasn’t sure they were hostiles, but it never hurt to be prepared.

“What is it?” Aidan groused when he climbed up next to Riley. He squinted at the dots, then muttered a soft curse.

They waited in silence for half an hour before they found out what the dots were. The dots turned out to be some sort of Chaos dweller, though they were nearly as large as the assault cruisers. He could see tendrils of something, tentacles probably, swirling behind the cylindrical bodies as they propelled themselves in pursuit. He also saw figures on the surface, human-sized, walking about. Chaos Lords?

By the time they were five hundred paces away, Riley charged up his Plasma Caster and shot a scintillating bolt of superheated, and Facet-enhanced, plasma. A Protective Field materialised around the lead squid ship, but the bolt penetrated it and slammed into the lead point. A puff of destabilised plasma covered the head, and washed over some of the figures, incinerating some though it left a single warrior unscathed. The figure pointed a hand towards the Striker, and the squid ship flipped over backwards until its tentacled rear was pointed directly at Riley. The inky tentacles spread open and revealed a beaked maw, which opened and spat out a glob of dusky red. Before the projectile could hit, Aidan’s plasma ball intercepted it.

Both orbs burst into a superheated cloud, and the surrounding Chaos reacted by changing its nature to match. The resulting inferno blast washed over the squid ship, which managed to dodge the backblast. In the process, their pursuer lost speed and fell back. As for the other squid ships, they were repelled by similar attacks from the assault cruisers’ crew.

“Well, we just need to keep this up till we reach Rumiga.” Aidan laughed and Riley snorted. It would be a long three days.

____________

“His Highness sent a letter, young mistress,” Saki said as she bowed with a flourish and ended up with the letter held in both hands extended towards Yuriko. It was sealed with green wax, and embossed with the Imperial Seal, an eight-pointed silver burst above an oak tree, with the numerals 29th on the roots.

Yuriko accepted the envelope gingerly and put it into her backpack. She’d read it later in private. “Welcome back,” she said brightly. “How was your journey?”

“Thank you, young mistress. It was fast, I suppose. Nothing could catch sight of me, so I just went straight to Faron’s Crossing.” She coughed into her hand. “His Highness sent gifts, and instructed me to ask you to read his letter first before you open them.”

“Oh…alright,” Yuriko muttered. The evening light was fading but her own light was enough to read by. She popped the seal and drew out the letter, catching a hint of sandalwood as she did so. “He had scented paper?” she muttered as she shook her head ruefully.

The letter began:

“My Dearest Yuriko,

I am glad to hear from you after so long. The intervening weeks feel much like Seasons, and after finding my way to this plane, I always long to be near you. Ah, those words must feel cloying, I apologise, but I would rather be forthright now after being so deceptive for so long. Watching you leave on your mission and being forbidden by my own Praetorian guards to follow is agonising beyond compare, and much as I would love to go to you with your attendant, duty forces me to stay. Alas, the Tidelands have regurgitated more Chaos dwellers and the sanctity of the Watchtower is threatened.

Your warnings have been heard and I’ve sent word to Rumiga City about what you’ve learned. I must admit that hearing about Synkrasia and a possible portal to a secret realm is exciting, and, though I wish to come with you, Centurion Abrigo told me he would chain me in my quarters in the Implacable Jade and return at once to Realmheart if I so much as tried. I’m afraid I don’t hold enough personal power to override his mandate. I apologize for being unable to aid you directly.

I’ve also taken the liberty of calling for a personal healer to help your honourable brother recover from his crippling wounds. There is no need for you to worry about him, and hopefully, by the time you return home, it will be done.

I applaud your initiative to form an army to fight the Federation from within. I am aghast at their disgusting practices and would like nothing more than to bring the fires of Imperial fury down on them, but with the current blockade, bringing in more troops will be difficult. Worry not about Faron’s Crossing as the Implacable Jade and her crew will keep your family safe.

To aid in your efforts, I’ve sent Miss Saki a miniature ration bar fabricator. All you need for it to produce ration bars is raw biomass (vegetation and meat, even bone and chitin would do) as well as Animus and distilled Chaos. The fabricator will be able to process a dozen bars an hour should it have the necessary raw materials. I’m afraid this is a loan, as fabricators are strictly monitored and tracked. Even lending it to you dances close to the boundary of the law, with only our engagement allowing it to pass the letter. I understand you may not wish to be tied down, but I assure you I do not wish to force anything you are unwilling to endure. But let that temporary status give you benefits for now, and aid in growing your forces there. Return them to me at your leisure and if you wish to break the engagement, well, I can only bow to your whims.

Lastly, I’ve heard that Uaran City is one of the few cities in the Myriad Planes able to cultivate chocolate. I’ve included another set of truffles for your taste, just in case you manage to find some in that city. I’d like your opinion on how they match up to the Empire’s finest.

With all my love, I hope to be in your presence soon,

Finan Conail Agalmar.”

Yuriko put down the letter with her face feeling more than a bit hot. Saki giggled quietly, keeping her hand over her mouth demurely, but her eyes had a teasing light behind them. Yuriko couldn’t help but roll her eyes at Finan’s forwardness.

He was insinuating a lot of things, but for what help he gave, she could only be thankful. Anyway, there was only one thing more important right now. She held out her hand to Saki.

“Gimme chocolate.”