I was really learning to love this. We were heading west-northwest, a straight line channel cutting through several of the isles, the current was with us, and the wind was hitting us from the south-southwest. I had stored my hat from fear of it blowing off, and was enjoying the feel of the wind through my hair, with the occasional spray of water being just enough to cool me from the warming sun above. The ship was leaning over enough that if I sat on the other side, I could have run my fingers through the foam.

  I felt a shiver. A particularly cool gust of wind just after a spray.

  Sam appears from the upper cabin, his eyes scanning the horizon. They go wide and he turns to the mainsail’s winch and hits the release, letting it unspool, and dropping the mainsail down. I turned to look in the direction his eyes had gone wide in, all I could see was a dark smear in the far distance. I turn back to him pulling in the sails boom into the middle of the ship as the ship slows, and comes back to a flatter level.

  “Squall!” he calls out. “Help me get this secured before it comes.”

  “Comes?” I asked, moving to join him in wrapping the straps around the sail and the boom.

  “Short storm, rapid, harsh…fun. Too much sail though and we’d go over.”

  “Should we drop that one as well?” I asked, pointing towards the front.

  “The staysail? No, I’m just going to reef it, we don’t have time to swap it out for the storm sail. Can you get the hatches sealed?” He headed up to the bow of the ship while I closed the hatches to the cabin below. The ship had two cabins, the one below decks had the sleeping quarters, a small galley and the eating area. The upper one had a large table we were using for the navigation charts, with benches around it. The captain’s quarters maybe, but it seemed like it was more used as a day room. I closed the door to the lower cabin and made sure the bolts were in place to keep it from swinging open.

  “It’s going to be on us any minute now. I’m not sure how bad it will be. I suggest getting into the captain's hammock and riding it out in that…I’m sorry I didn’t prepare you for this, I wasn’t expecting..” The ship rocked, as a huge gust suddenly hit the ship. Sam pushed me into the upper cabin and pushed the bolts into place. I could have opened them, but he was the expert sailor and this was my first time at sea.

  Looking for it, I now saw the captain's hammock. I’d assumed it was part of the decoration, there were wide flat hooks along the ceiling which the hammock had been neatly slid into. Between the dips and slides, as Sam turned the ship into the growing waves, I made my way across the cabin, and pulled out the hammock. It was a wide length of pristine white canvas. I lifted myself up using one of the hooks, and with the timing of the ship's movement, lowered myself into it.

  Through the windows I could see the waves as we turned into them. The loud booms from the collisions, the cascade of rain upon the glass, followed by the crushing thud of waves sloshing over the hull and across the windows.

  I rode out the storm, in the crazily moving hammock, sure I would have been thrown around the cabin if I had tried to stay on my feet.

  Then there was calm. It was gone. I was about to get out of the hammock when a soaked Sam stuck his head through the door. “You Ok?” he asked, nodding when he saw me in the hammock. “Good, stay there, we are in the eye, we’re about to go into the other side. Gah!” he exclaimed. “Storms are so much fun!” The door closed and bolted and I saw him running around checking on the lines.

  I opened up my map on the HUD, we had spun around slightly during the chaos and were now heading more south than west, but we were still pretty far from any land mass.

  “Here it comes!” I hear Sam call out, clear joy in his voice, just before a wall of rain washes over the glass and we pass once more into the rollercoaster ride.

  When it calmed down and the boat turned back onto the course I had charted, I hopped out of the hammock and headed back onto deck. Sam had the biggest grin on his face. I may have only known him for a few hours, but he’s been quite a joyful person, reveling in combat and in our successes, but here, now, I realised this is where he was truly alive.

  And he looked like a drowned rat.

  “Sorry about pushing you into the cabin there.” I pointed at the mainsail, he nodded, so I started pulling off the straps we had bound it to the boom with. He tied off the tiller and came to join me. “I should have gone through what to do in a squall like that one, or a bigger storm. I honestly wasn’t expecting this level of realism. I should have been after everything else we have seen.”

  “That’s OK…To be honest, I can’t imagine I would have been much use.”

  “Maybe, maybe not. But if you are interested, we’ve still got about an hour to kill. I could start teaching you more, you might need it if you intend to explore more of the islands.”

  “Sure. I’d like that.” I replied. Then turned to the winch and started using it to raise the mainsail as Sam un-reefed the sail at the front of the ship.

  I was manning the tiller, bringing us around some of the islands, on the final stretch before we hit the southerly winds and northwards currents which should take us to Landing, when Sam came up on deck with a couple of large cups of what turned out to be fish soup. I raised a questioning eyebrow.

  “A wave delivered us dinner.” he grinned. “Gotta love a good [Well Fed] bonus.”

  Sam talked about the different sails, when to use them, how to use them. We talked about what to do in different weather. Had me practicing lowering and raising different sails, and manipulating the rigging. Enough so that when we hit the currents and turned north, I had gained a rank in Sailor.

  With the extra confidence we felt, we set the sails to catch the wind, hoisted the spinnaker, a huge balloon-like sail at the front of the ship, and really started to ride the waves north.

  The currents and wind we rode took us past several beautiful looking islands. Some with nothing but woodlands, some with towers, white pristine, with a variety of buildings all the way to crumbling ruins. The last island’s coastline, before we hit the northern continent, was dominated by a large lighthouse, built seemingly in the sea, stood guard over the stretch of jagged rocks. They were displayed clearly by the crash of waves and white foam, which would likely damage any vessel crossing them, trying to cut the corner of the island at night or at a higher tide. The evidence of which was several wrecks, already being smashed apart by the waves.

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  We came upon a fishing trawler, its nets out in the water, Sam and its captain shared a salute as we gave it a wide berth.

  We passed a fishing village built in a small cove, with several wooden docks. I saw the evidence of brightly coloured laundry hung out to dry and several homes, before our speed took us out of sight.

  As we approached the bend in the mainland which would take us into Landing, we moved to drop the Spinnaker. We had got it down and I was in the process of packing it up when the land gave way to the inlet. I got my first look at the city of Landing.

  They hadn’t lied to me, the words I’d been told on the Indefatigable, really didn’t do it justice. On the northern side of the inlet, there was a cliff face, it proceeded towards the city, which had decided it would grow up to meet it. My sight was dominated by a huge wall which had been built across the inlet, a good five miles across. In the middle of the wall, two huge statues stood guard against the sea. Each a hundred meters tall. Helmed like spartans, but kitted out in a more modern looking armour. Behind them, I could see the ends of piers sticking out into the sea, the start of a dense set of docks. Beyond those were the signs of squat houses, built upon the waterfront, growing taller and taller until the skyline was dominated entirely by skyscrapers.

  The furthest buildings I could see were covered in green, some showed clear signs of decay and collapse, evidence that nature was trying to retake the land. Furthered by the appearance of impossibly large tree tops intermingling those most distant buildings.

  Festooned along the cliff edge, multiple lift systems traverse up its side. Giving access to structures which had been built into it and atop it. A huge ornate building stood out upon the top of the cliff, but it was dwarfed by another stature. As tall as the two guarding the sea. She appeared to be floating half way up the cliff in a yoga pose, legs crossed, her hands in line with her shoulders and the cliff top itself. Palms facing up to the sky. Her face seemingly lost in serene meditation.

  Sam turned us in towards the gap in the wall and I started to reef in the mainsail. After the last forty minutes under full canvas it felt like we had slowed to a crawl in our approach.

  “Let’s bring in the main.” Sam said. “Try and look like professionals if anyone is watching us.” He grinned as we lowered the sail. I took to packing it away, while Sam reefed the staysail some to slow us down further as we passed through the gap.

  The docks were spread out on both sides of the passage and the water continued on to become a river leading up into the city itself. To our right, it looked like where the city's fishing vessels docked and unloaded. To our left, there were several large vessels flying the same flag as the Indefatigable and the Wayfarer had flown. Just past them was a passage through the piers which led into a large cavern in the cliff face. On the end of the pier before that passage was a man dressed similarly to Sam, who was waving at us until he got our attention, and then indicated we should go towards the cavern.

  We weren’t carrying much canvas, but it was enough for us to turn into the passage and move alongside the pier.

  “Greetings!” he called out as soon as we were in audible range. “Commander Daniels is on her way. She sent me ahead when we spotted the Curiosity coming around the headland under full sail!” Sam threw him a line as soon as we were close enough and the man used it to help manoeuvre us into dock. As soon as we were close enough, Sam jumped off and helped to secure the stern lines as well. I finished lowering the staysail and started getting it secure.

  We had just finished, when I heard the crack crack sound of a stick hitting wood, and a small old woman came walking down the pier, leaning heavily upon a walking stick. She looked at me as she went past, and then stopped before Sam. Looked him up and down.

  “You the one who brought my ship home?”

  “Yes, Ma’am.” Sam replied.

  “You handled her well.” She acknowledged.“But I don’t know either of you, and neither of you are marked as part of our Faction. Care to explain why you are in our uniforms?”

  “Err that would be on me. The McCoy’s…”

  “McCoys? You found our wayward seniors?” She turned on me abruptly.

  “I’m sorry. I buried Mr McCoy with his wife, as he requested…”

  “On that damned island?” she pinched the bridge of her nose. “Get down here, my eyes and ears aren’t what they used to be.” I hopped down from the ship and stood next to Sam.

  “So they are both gone then? Damn. When I saw her come into view, I was hoping it was them coming for a long overdue visit. Wendy’s Echo?” she asked me, I nodded. “I’m guessing these are the sets she ordered for that granddaughter of hers. Special order, so not from stores, so it would be rude of me to demand them back. Explain.” she commanded. So I did, from the moment I woke up on the beach, to the point we set sail in the Curiosity.

  “May I make a suggestion, Ma’am?” the man who had helped us dock said. “Provision 14c, does give you the authority to recruit any outstanding Voyagers with an interest in joining the Explorators, and both of these have shown Explorator spirit. If we then grant them the rep for delivering the Curiosity here, they would have sufficient that no one would question the gear.”

  “Are either of you interested in exploring the unknown, delving deep into dungeons and poking your noses where they probably shouldn’t be?”

  Sam and I shared a look, then turned and nodded our heads in unison.

  “Good. As the boy said, I am authorised to recruit people who seem promising. Though too many questions would be asked if I recruit and promote both of you for bringing me my ship.”

  “If it helps, I have these reports that Wendy’s Echo asked me to deliver.”

  “Paperwork! Perfect! Jenkins,” she turned to him with a huge grin. “I’ll leave you to handle getting Aenara here the rep she needs and the suitable reward for the reports! First though. System! I invite Aenara Ravenscroft and Samuel Storm to the Explorators.” A pop up appeared before me:

  ‘You have been invited to join the non exclusive human faction Explorators, do you wish to accept? [Yes/No]’

  I chose yes.

  “Excellent. That should get Dominick off my back for a few days at least. Sam, you can help me move my baby into her berth. You handled her well, I have questions about your sailing experience. Jenkins, take the Mage” there was a little heat in her voice, “to head office and process those reports, you can use my desk, I’ll be checking the Curiosity out and doing necessary maintenance… While you are at it, please clear my desk.” Despite the cane, she moved pretty quickly to untie the mooring lines and climb aboard.

  “Go.” Jenkins told Sam. “You are in her good books right now, you want to stay there.” A little shell shocked, Sam moved towards the ship that was starting to float towards the cavern.

  “Sam!” I called out. Chucking him a friend invite. “Be in touch if either of us find some group content?”

  “Will do!” he accepted. “Thanks ‘Nara. It’s been a blast!” With a smile he hopped onto the back of the ship and climbed up into her.

  “Don’t take it personally,” Jenkins said to me once they were out of earshot. “There is just some rivalry between the Mages and us scraper types. She’ll probably take your friend under her wing if he proves to be as competent a dragoon as he seems to be captain.” I chuckled.

  “Has to be good.” I joked. “He survived with me as his only crew member.”

  “Hah.” he barked, holding back his laughter. “Let me be the first to welcome you to Landing.”

  A pop-up appeared on my HUD.

  My main quest had updated and damn, it felt good.