Shroud of Doom

by William Manchee

  Chapter 15

  Rescue Duty

   

  Captain Grenz Lozich looked out over the light cruiser Revenge’s bow as the ship glided through the calm waters of the Dark Sea. They were hugging Rigimol’s shoreline hoping to spot any slavers who had gone ashore hunting for Seafolken to kidnap and fill up their holds for the slave markets of Oct Mezan and Lower Azallo.

  It was a clear moonlit night and Grenz could see ahead for many kylods. Suddenly a strange sight to his port caught his attention. It looked like a wall of foaming water. He squinted trying to make the image focus. Finally, he rushed to the bridge and grabbed some binoculars.

  “Holy Sandee! Look at that wave. It must be thirty feet,” he screamed to his engineer. “Turn to port. We must hit it face on!”

  Captain Lozich reached out with his mind to his crew. “All hands! Secure your persons—tidal wave in twenty tiks. Repeat! Secure your persons immediately—tidal wave in fifteen tiks.”

  The ship turned slowly to meet the huge wave but before it could get in an optimal position the wave lifted Revenge straight up into the air until it fell back on itself. A tik before the ship began to fall Grenz ran to the bow of the ship and dove into the water hoping to avoid a crushing blow from the ships hulk. Water suddenly engulfed the craft and filled its interior. The moment Grenz hit the water he dove downward and away from Revenge praying he wouldn’t be struck. Finally he stopped realizing he was in the clear. Looking back he saw the ship’s hull gradually sinking. He swam sideways until he was clear of the craft and far enough away not to be sucked down with it.

  As he watched the ship sinking he saw many of his crew escaping. Fortunately, being a seafolken he didn’t have to worry about breathing. His gills, positioned just below his rib cage, immediately began working when he was submerge in water. His hands and feet also swelled to provide natural fins to give him greater propulsion underwater.

  Grenz reached out to his crew trying to establish a link. He felt a presence in his mind. “Lt. Yels. Are you alright?”

  “Yes, I think so. Just a few bruises here and there. I was strapped in at the helm so I didn’t get thrown around too much.”

  “What about the rest of the crew?” Captain Lozich asked.

  “All but one are accounted for, sir. “Grinnel was asleep in his bunk and may not have gotten your warning. I was hoping he’d make his way out of the ship but he might have been struck by debris on the way down.”

  Grinnel was the ships cook and liked by everyone.

  “Send down a rescue squad to find him. Perhaps he’s still alive.”

  “Yes, sir,” Lt. Yels replied.

  Captain Lozich swam to the surface and scanned the horizon. He looked toward shore and saw where the tidal wave had struck. In his mind’s eye he imagined the devastation in Dona Uza, a city of some two hundred and fifty thousand people directly in the tidal wave’s path. As he was thinking crew members began popping up around him. He reached out to them.

  “Swim to shore. We should help the people of Dona Uza. I’m sure there will be many who will need rescuing. Wait for me on the beach for further orders.”

  “Where did that wave come from?” a crewman asked.

  “A tremor under the sea would be my guess. There have been reports of many tremors and volcanic activity all over Tarizon. We are not too far from Mt. Alabash that began erupting a few days ago. Perhaps there is a fault line that goes out to sea.”

  As the crewmen began swimming toward shore, Lt. Yels popped up. “They’re bringing Grinnel’s body up. He was dead—must have hit his head when he was thrown from his bunk.”

  Captain Lozich grimaced. “Okay. Bring him to shore and we will give him a proper burial.”

  About a kylod later Captain Lozich and his crewman arrived on the beach just south of where the tidal wave had hit. Ash from Mt. Alabash was already a foot thick and still falling from the sky at an alarming rate. After burying the cook’s body they left to see what help they could render to the victims of the massive wave. The devastation in the city was sobering. Homes and business that had once stood proudly were gone, lifted off their foundations and carried half a kylod inland.

  The crew of Revenge immediately began searching demolished structures and vehicles for victims. For many kyloons they pulled people trapped in their PTVs, businesses, and homes to safety. They even helped a rhutz, stranded on the top of a floating house, get to safety. Unfortunately, they also stacked many dead bodies on dry land for the authorities to find. At day’s end they returned to the beach where they had buried their fallen comrade and conducted a memorial ceremony. As they concluded the ceremony Captain Lozich discussed their current situation.

  “Without a ship there’s not much we can do to interrupt the slave trade. I’m going to make contact with officials of the Dark Sea Alliance and see if they can find us a new ship. In the meantime we can continue helping the victims of the title wave.”

  As everyone was nodding their agreement a human stepped out from behind a rock and pressed a gun against Captain Lozich’s ear. One of the crew members took a step toward the gunman only to see three more appear behind them.

  “One more step and your beloved captain will die,” the man warned.

  “Who are you and what do you want?” Lt. Yels asked.

  “I’m Captain Shameus. We lost our cargo of seafolken in the tidal wave, so we were delighted to see all of you being so helpful today. But, now you will be coming with us.”

  “If you lost your cargo,” Lt. Yels asked, “you must have lost your ship as well.

  “True enough, but ships are easy to steal, particularly when the owners have fled and left them to the tidal wave. In fact, we’ve already found a nice replacement for the one we lost.”

  Fear and hatred welled in Captain Lozich. He couldn’t believe he and his men had been captured by slavers. As they tied his hands he racked his brain trying to come up with a way out, but without weapons, the situation seemed hopeless. Still, he kept alert for an opportunity to escape.

  “This way,” Captain Shameus ordered.

  Captain Lozich and his crewmen were led down the beach to a small fishing boat anchored off shore. Several flat boats had been pulled up on the beach for transport out to the ship. Once the Seafolken were in the flat boats they were blindfolded so they couldn’t use their telekinetic abilities to untie their hands and escape into the sea. But before Captain Lozich had been blindfolded he saw the rhutz they’d saved earlier watching them from a distance. He had heard recently that the rhutz communicated telepathically and had learned to speak Tari, so he tried to establish a link.

  “I am Captain Lozich, General of the Deep Sea Alliance. We are being kidnaped. Please contact the local authorities or any Seafolken you may run across of our plight. Ask them to find this fishing boat and rescue us.”

  “I am Dusk. I will forward your message, but perhaps I can help you escape.”

  “No, my friend. It would be too dangerous and too many lives have been lost today already. If you pass on my message, that will be enough.”

  “It is done,” Dusk replied as he opened his mind and spread the message to all the rhutz in the area and told them to pass it on.”

  Once on board the fishing boat Captain Lozich and his crew were stashed in the hold for the long journey to the slave markets.

   

   

  A rhutz named Windy living on the streets of Fasoon perked up when she got the message from Dusk. She knew a Seafolken dancer named Seductress who worked at the Mighty Jolly, so she went to her immediately and gave her the message. Seductress immediately got on the GC and called Threebeard.

  “You said Captain Lozich?” Threebeard asked.

  “Yes. He and his crew have been taken aboard a fishing boat called the Seabreeze off the coast of Rigimol. The rhutz who saw them kidnaped reported the boat was headed south.”

  “It must be slavers looking to take them to Ock Mezan.”

  “What ca
n you do?”

  “I don’t know. Ordinarily I could link to the TGA satellite network and find them quite easily, but with the skies full of ash that won’t be possible. They must be intercepted while they are close to land and before they get to Pogo Island. Once they get into the Coral Sea it will be nearly impossible to find them.”

  “Can I do anything?” Seductress asked.

  “Do you know if there was anyone with the Dark Sea Defense alliance that wasn’t with Captain Lozich?”

  “Yes,” Seductress said. “There are several other ships patrolling the eastern coast of Azallo, but they are too far away to be of much help.”

  “Is there a base somewhere?”

  “No, but there are Seafolken settlements along the coast of Also and on Pogo Island that might be able to help.”

  “Can you communicate with them?”

  “I don’t know. I’ll try.”

  “Do that. Notify them of the kidnaping and, if nothing else, have them keep a lookout for the Seabreeze so if we find the ship in the area we’ll have a position for them.”

  “Will do,” Seductress said and hung up.

  Threebeard drew in a long breath. Between the daily tremors, volcanic ash polluting the air and water, Artis being trapped in Rigimol, and Eyeball’s murder Threebeard didn’t need another crisis. But Captain Lozich was his friend and he knew he had to find a way to rescue him. He got on his GC and called the TGA naval base at Gallion. After being given the run around he finally was connected to a Colonel Zitor.

  “Hello.”

  “Colonel Zitor. My name is Tribius Nocteris, but most people know me as Threebeard.”

  “Okay. I understand you have a kidnaping to report?”

  “Yes, Captain Lozich and the crew of the light cruiser, Revenge. They lost their ship in the tidal wave at Dona Uza and were forced to swim ashore.”

  “They must have been good swimmers to make it to shore after their ship was sunk by a tidal wave,” Colonel Zitor observed.

  “Well, actually they are Seafolken so it wasn’t difficult for them. Although, they did lose their cook.”

  “I see.”

  “After they’d buried their cook they spent the rest of day helping victims of the tidal wave.”

  “Oh. I heard about them. They saved hundreds of people’s lives. Everyone was wondering where they came from.”

  “Yes. They are good people and we can’t let them be taken to the slave markets.”

  “No. We can’t,” Colonel Zitor agreed. “Where are these slave markets?”

  “Oct Mezan is the closest. They’re probably half way to Pogo Island by now.”

  “That’s a lot of ocean to cover,” Colonel Zitor observed, “and with visibility so low trying to find them would be nearly impossible.”

  “True, but they will probably stay close to shore, so we’ve got Seafolken all along the coast of Quori watching for them.”

  “Good. Well, if you can give me a location I can see if we have any ships in the area. If not, I may be able to send out a team by air.”

  “Thank you, colonel. I’ll get working on that right away and call you when I have a location.”

  “Do that and after we’ve rescued your friends I’d like to meet with you and Captain Lozich. I have actually heard about both of you and wanted to meet you.”

  “That would be an honor, Colonel. Let’s hope that meeting will be soon.”

  “Yes, indeed.”

  Threebeard hung up elated that he’d gotten such a positive response from Colonel Zitor. He actually hadn’t expected to get much help from the TGA given the environmental crisis that was quickly spreading throughout Tarizon. The fact that Colonel Zitor wanted to talk to him and Captain Lozich was even more surprising. Threebeard couldn’t imagine what the topic of that conversation would be.