[Flow stations. All hands. Flow Stations.]
The cargo hold was dark and quiet. Phantom stood near the entrance, waiting, watching. Since the Wanderer wasn't shipping any goods at the time, there were only a few wooden crates in the hold. All the lanterns had been extinguished; since they had found the samurai, Hall ordered the Wanderer back on course to Omnispace.
Hall and the others arrived just in time to see Father Armas kneeling over something...in the darkness, it was hard to tell what he was doing. Other than Armas and Phantom, no one else was in the hold. Hall entered first, followed by Crystal and Normakon. Belieth entered last, stopping near the chief of security to speak to him.
"What happened?" Belieth whispered.
"I found him here, stuffed inside that crate." Phantom paused, thinking. "What was that thing, ma'am? What did this to the captain?"
"I don't know, Phantom. All I know..."
Her sentence was cut short by Crystal's scream. The elven maiden was sobbing uncontrollably over Onestar's body, prone on the deck. The samurai was covered with horrible bruises and welts. His eyes were closed, and there was almost a peaceful look on his face.
Armas rested one hand on Crystal's shoulder. No words any could say could ease the loss of their friend. Hall looked around, seeing the armor Sir Fairland wore. Motioning for Phantom to join him, Hall pointed at the empty plate mail.
"Phantom, please have that taken to my library. I want to study it, cast a few spells on it."
"Yes...captain." Phantom nodded as he left. Suddenly it hit Hall, and he too began to cry softly. His friend for so many years had left him. Belieth stood next to him, took his hand, and held him as the bard could no longer hold back the tears.
A short while later, Hall, Belieth, Crystal, Blaise, Meridian and Phantom were gathered in Hall's Library. Outside the portal, the Phlogiston moved past them at an exceedingly fast rate: The river they were in was mighty indeed. None gathered noticed however. Each was thinking about the body of Onestar now resting in his old quarters.
"I've cast a few spells on the armor," Hall said after painfully long moments of silence. "The way it looks is that Sir Fairland...excuse me...the Steel Shadow's true name was something else I can't begin to pronounce...attacked Onestar in the hall outside this library. It knocked Onestar unconscious, then tried to merge with his armor."
"When it found that the armor was bond to Onestar, the Shadow realized it had to kill him to take its prize. It dragged the body down to the hold and beat him to death."
"Are you saying," Phantom questioned, "that it was just after his armor?"
"Steel Shadows live in armor," Hall replied, "they mold it to whatever form it chose. Their home and protection. When it heard Onestar was coming, it must have thought it inherited a mansion. There's no other explanation."
"It wasn't sent by Colicor, or the GATH?" Crystal asked. "I can't believe that they died so...senselessly."
No one could answer the elven maiden's statement...none knew what to say. Everyone was tired, but the ship still had to get to Omnispace. They decided that, to honor their friend, they would still try to learn what was going on. Belieth looked over at Crystal and Hall, both exhausted.
"Hall, why don't you get some rest?" she said lovingly.
"I can't," Hall replied, rubbing his eyes. "I've got to take the helm."
"Hall," Blaise began, "neither you nor Crystal are in any shape to Spelljam at the moment."
"Yeah, but Damian's been on the helm nearly twelve hours..." Hall's voice faded off. "You're right," he finally admitted. "Have Delvin and Zebart take the Bardic Helm off line, and have them attach the backup major helm. Schedule of six short shifts. Tell Illeria that she'll be taking first watch, then Grimmore, Shauna, Armas, you and finally Belieth."
"I'll get them right on it," Blaise said, standing to leave.
"How is this going to affect some of the systems," Phantom began before Pascal could leave the room. "You know, like the Crystal and intership communication?"
"Won't help," Meridian replied. "Helm'll be flying blind."
"That's right, but we're down to only three bards," Hall replied, noting Meridian's sudden verbosity. "But none of us are in any shape to..."
Hall never got a chance to finish his sentence. The crew of the Wanderer were suddenly violently thrown from where they were sitting. On the bridge, Damian was literally tossed from the helm while Ville was tossed from the captain's chair. All over the ship, crew members were thrown around like dolls in a tornado. Just as suddenly as it started, the ship calmed down again, and began moving faster than before. Meridian helped Crystal to her feet, while Hall checked on Belieth.
"You all right?" Hall asked.
"Fine. What in the seven hells was that?"
"I don't know," Hall answered. "Damian. Damian!"
"We'd better get up there," Blaise replied, rubbing an arm. The party made their way to the bridge. Along the way, they saw the Shauna Fleetfoot helping Slyissia Brightscales, who was apparently hurt in the shakeup. Estress and Normakon ran toward them as they approached the steps to the bridge.
*Is everyone alright?*
"What happened?"
"I don't know Normakon," Hall replied. "I don't know about you, but I'm getting a little tired of all this."
They made the steps to the bridge, where they saw Ville just standing, looking out the muster deck. Damian was standing next to the helm, while Father Armas looked over a slight cut on his head. Taraq (whose burns were almost completely healed, although he refused any medical aid) stood next to Illeria. Everyone was fascinated by something outside the muster deck. Hall and Meridian bolted up the steps, and stood next to Tabatha.
"By the good gods..." Meridian whispered, followed by a long, soft whistle.
Hall could do nothing but stare out into the phlogiston, but it was all distorted. The entrance to the ship was covered with an orange-colored thick film. Hall reached out to touch it, but his hand could's reach it. Something about it repelled his hand. The bard turned back to the rest of the crew.
"What the devil is this thing?"
"Cap'n," Damian began. Hall still wasn't used to being referred to as 'captain'. "It came on us faster than we could maneuver out of it's way. I only got a brief glimpse before it grabbed us..."
"'Grabbed us'?" Hall replied.
"Yes, sir. It appears to be a hand!"
Hall turned back to the outside. Indeed, he seemed to see where one finger met the hand. The Wanderer was being pulled by a hand from somewhere out in the void.
"Do we know where it's taking us?" Blaise asked.
Meridian leapt into the air from the muster deck, and flew over to his starcharts. Looking over them for a few moments, the Kenku whistled again.
"Hard to say," Meridian replied.
"Give me a best guess," Hall replied, looking up.
"Best Guess? Radiant Triangle. Center."
Hall turned back to the crew. He thought for a second, then finally sat down on the helm. The helm didn't alter its shape to fit his body, nor was there the tell-tale hum that it was in operation. The rose crystal remained dark, and Hall's senses remained confined to the limits of his body.
"The helm is down," he finally admitted. "Something tells me whoever is pulling us, isn't gonna give us a chance to get away." The Bard leaned forward, thinking. "All right, since we seem to be stuck on this course, let's make the best of it." He stood and addressed all there.
"All spellcasters and bards, I want you to get a full shifts rest. Memorize all the spells you can, and be ready to use them when we get there. Phantom, I want your security staff to be on full alert. Have all weapons ready for when we get there. Ville, Blaise. You two and I will be on command duty in revolving shifts. Use operations staff to run messages throughout the ship in case of emergency."
"Whoever is pulling us picked the wrong day to do so. I am not in a good mood."
