“Aenara right?” she said, indicating a chair. “My husband didn’t introduce us. I’m Julianne Jenkins. Please take a seat and we will quickly complete these forms.”
I took the seat she indicated. She took the other and sorted briskly through a thick stack of forms, clearly knowing exactly what she needed, then looked up at me with a brisk but not unkind smile.
“Let’s see, Aenara?” she asked, filling in part of the form.
“Ravenscroft” I responded.
“Ship?”
“Indefatigable.” She stopped and looked at me.
“Oh. I’m really sorry, I heard you were sunk in the storm?”
“Kraken. Broke the ship apart and dragged it down.” I replied, my voice surprisingly steady considering just the thought of it caused a burst of adrenaline. “The storm itself was kind of thrilling.”
“Thrilling?” she snorted. “Yeah, I can see why you are already an Explorator. Crazy, the lot of you.” Her smirk carried no malice. “Would you be so kind as to place your hand on the crystal?”
I reached out and put my hand on it, when nothing happened,
“Without the glove.” she said with a smile.
I pulled it off my hand and placed it on the glass orb, which started glowing. A second later a screen appeared with my details on it. Magical database? Connecting to my interface?
“Ahh, good, full integration, this will save us some time.” She quickly filled in the form with my name on it and then two others, pulling the information from the floating screen.
“Do you have your tokens or were they lost?”
“Oh, yeah, I still have them.” I went into my inventory and pulled out all sixteen tokens and the wax sealed envelope as well. Her eyes widened and her hand paused at the sight of the letter.
“The night of the storm, the Captain said he was going to transfer me… and gave me this.”
“One second.” She got up and headed to the door. “Patty!” she called out. Then waited until a young girl in a simple uniform ran up. “Send word to the Admiralty, one of the fast tracked from the Indefatigable has arrived.”
“Yes. Miss” she replied and ran off.
“Kitty, would you fetch us tea for two?” She then came and sat back down. “Christoph is just going to have to carry on without us coming by to distract him. This will take a little longer than I originally expected.”
“I’m sorry, what’s happening?” I asked, confusion and worry creeping in.
“Resource priorities. You arrived by boat?”
“A friend and I came in on the Curiosity.”
“Ahh, that explains why Christoph brought you in. Daniels wanted to see her pride and joy.” she nodded. “You saw how packed the city is? We’ve gotten the fields planted and between the hunters and the fishers, there is enough of what the sages call calories to feed us all if we ration heavily.”
She turned when the door was opened and a short lady came in carrying a tea tray, soon a tea pot, two cups and a small pot of milk were between us.
“So our food is tight, weapons and armour are tight, and skilled personnel are limited. It was decided the priority for training and resources would go to the people to show the most promise on the journey over.” She continued as she poured the tea. “People like yourself.” I lifted my cup and took a sip to hide my embarrassment.
“Is that why you sent for the Admiralty?” I finally asked, putting the cup down.
“Indeed. We can complete these forms while we wait, but between that gold token indicating you impressed one of the Captains with a skill, and if that letter proves legitimate.” She raised her hand, pre-empting a response from me. “not that I think for a moment it’s not. I’d stake my reputation on it. But these things must be confirmed. You’ll be granted a priority pass into the training halls and a set of gear appropriate to your talents…though it looks like the Explorators have already claimed you.”
The door slammed open, and a man in heavy armour charged in. He wore an open faced helm, chainmail over a leather cuirass, a huge sword slung over his back. I jumped in my seat, almost spilling my tea.
“You…” he said between deep panting breaths. “Have… a… new… priority…” he saw Julianne pointing at me. Turned to look at me. Looked up just above my head, I assume to look at my title, his eyes swept down over the armour I was wearing. “Fuck!” he swore and turned on his heel to leave, the door closed with a thud behind him.
“Wardens.” she said with a chuckle as if that explained anything. “Did Daniels invite you?” Julianne asked, taking another sip of her tea. I nodded “There are benefits to the faction that gets you first. He would have given you the hard sell on why you should pledge to fight in the front lines.”
“Not a big fan of those. It wouldn’t have worked, just wasted both of our time.” I said, I could get quite stubborn when people tried to strong arm me into doing anything I didn’t like.
Julianne and I finished filling in the forms, mostly using the data from the crystal, while we talked about my experience on the island and sailing here, when a man, tall enough he had to stoop to get through the doorway, entered carrying another chair.
“Commodore Thorn.” Julianne greeted the man warmly. “This is Aenara Ravenscroft and her letter of recommendation.”
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“Mrs Jenkins.” He nodded at her, placing the chair down on Julianne’s side of the table. “Ms Ravenscroft.” He nodded at me, and then took his seat. He picked up the letter, checked the seal. He nodded. Then he broke it. A moment later he finished reviewing the letter.
“Seems you impressed both the Indefatigable’s Vale and the Wayfarer’s Harrigan. It’s unfortunate your transfer didn’t occur, it would have been advantageous to have had you on the flagship. Would I be correct in assuming you were still aboard the Indefatigable when she went down?”
“Yes, I was just telling Julianne, a Kraken ripped us apart.” Thorn took a quick breath.
“A Kraken? Are you sure?” His words intense.
“I was on the bridge at the time. I saw Lieutenant Jais charge its tentacles. I had joined the officers for dinner, when word from the watch informed the Captain of the approaching storm, he allowed me to stay and watch, as long as I was below decks before it hit… I didn’t make it. Saw the creature rip the ship in two…somehow survived and washed up on an island.”
“How did you make it here? The ships we sent to find survivors have only just departed.” he asked.
“Another survivor and I found the parts to repair a ship and we sailed her here.”
“The one which sailed in less than an hour ago! Handled well. Captain?”
I shook my head. He looked a little disappointed. “Navigator.” I said. He shot a look at the gold merit token.
“Ahh, how you impressed Harrigan. Right, I’ve heard enough.” He put his hand into a pocket and pulled out a small golden badge, about the size of my pinky nail.
“It’s getting late, and my wife is already annoyed with the number of late nights recently. Sadly most of the benefits of the Fast Track program were from the specialised training and connection making aboard the flagship. This will enable you to attend additional training sessions with the various guilds and colleges, free of charge.” he pushed the small golden badge across the table.
“It’s too late now, but you will also be expected to present yourself to the Royal Court. Wear it on the left lapel. Feel free to also come by the Admiralty offices down by the docks, if you are ever interested in serving as a navigator. I’m sure we can find a place for you. If you will excuse me, I’m going to try and find the Captain who commanded your ship.”
I shook the offered hand.
“The captain was Samuel Storm.” I supplied helpfully as he stood. “Last I saw him, he was with Commander Daniels.”
The man stiffened. “Ahh.” he sighed. “Still duties must.” he pocketed the letter and dropped another gold token with the ones on the table.
He retrieved his chair and stooped out the door. He turned, put his head back through the door. “It was a pleasure to meet you Ms Ravenscroft.” He nodded at me and then looked at my table companion. “Julianne, has Tilly spoken to you yet? We are hosting a small dinner party, Saturday night, if you and Christoph are free.”
“Sounds fun.” Julianne smiled. “I’ll confirm we are free and let her know. I believe it is our turn to bring the wine.” he smiled at her with a nod, and closed the door behind him.
I reached over and picked up the small golden shield. It was a lot lighter than I had expected it to be. I reached up and secured it to the left lapel of my jacket.
“Right, I think I have everything I need for these forms. Let’s get you to my husband and then I can drag him away.” Julianne bundled up the forms and we headed back into the now much quieter hall.
She dropped off the bundle into a desk drawer and took me out the way Christoph and I entered. We crossed over the court yard to a door which had the compass symbol of the Explorators above it.
The main room of the Explorators office was filled with a large model of the local region. It looked like someone had carefulled measured and built scale models for all the buildings, and there were little flags on them. The ones closest to the docks had symbols like a fish, near the river were there were some with a sword or a bottle. Further away the flags started off with a few blue ones, into green, amber, then red and then a large amount were just empty black outlines. Something made me think those indicated the unexplored buildings. A hand tapped my shoulder and brought my attention back to Julianne. “This way” she said with a smile and led me towards one of the back offices.
Christoph looked up when we walked in the open door.
“All done?” he asked.
“Close enough. I can finish off the other pages, it's mostly copying to make sure the record is complete, and a lot of the boxes can simply be ticked as part of her Fast track status.”
“Sorry what?” his eyes snapped to my collar. “Ha, that's excellent news! Congratulations! I’m sure the Commander will make a big deal out of it, if not I will get a reward to you as soon as I can.”
“Should have seen Melvin’s face when he saw her there in an Explorator uniform.” Julianne said with a smirk. “Now finish quickly, you need your rest or you will be no use tomorrow.”
“Yes, Ma’am.” He turned back to me. “You said you had some reports to deliver?”
“I do.” I stepped up to the desk and pulled out the pile of reports I had picked up from the McCoy’s office. It was quite a thick stack. At least a hundred. Christoph sighed and then looked up at his unamused wife.
Christoph quickly went through the reports, not exactly reading them, but more assessing their contents and categorising them into different piles. I resisted the urge to yawn.
“Ok, I confirm these reports received and have calculated the appropriate rep reward.” I saw something pop up indicating a notification in the hub. I ignored it for now.
“It’s getting late, if you see the Sergeant in the main room, he will direct you to a cot for the night. Or don’t. The choice is yours.”
“Thank you.” I accessed the HUB and checked the time. It was late and I had achieved a lot today.
“There will be an orientation during the day, which will detail how to go about getting missions. If there are any additional rewards once the reports have been processed, you will get them then.”
“Is that likely?” I asked.
“Most of the reports are more than two years old, so unlikely, but if you have delivered previously unknown information, there are bonuses for that. All will be explained at the orientation.”
I nodded and started moving for the door.
“Thank you as well.” I said to Julianne. “Have a good night.”
“You too. It was a pleasure meeting you.”
The Sergeant was easy to find, and he directed me into one of the back rooms which was laid out as a female dorm room. Bunk beds circling the walls. A dim light was hanging from the ceiling, just enough to navigate the rather warm room by. I took one of the empty bottom bunks and laid down.
Accessing the HUB, I check out the notification.
‘Awarded 1000 Explorator Rep - delivery of reports from South Harmony’
‘ First completion bonus.’
‘ Rapid completion bonus’
‘ FastTrack bonus’
‘ Total 2000’
‘You have met the requirements for Explorator Faction rank 2’
Satisfied, I closed my eyes and logged out of the game for the night.