The story unfolds

The group assembled in the captain's private quarters. Tir was joined by Jean, Captain Roland Carlin, Joseph, and three other people. One was thin man with small round glasses and shoulder length brown hair. A cloak fell around his shoulders and didn't conceal the two short swords at his waist. The other two were from Joseph's ship and were clearly twins, a man and a woman. Both were from Yulk Island, known for producing "Giants." The twins were both at least seven feet tall. The man had worked his body until it was all muscle. The woman had bright blue eyes and blonde hair. She had a dancer's toned and muscled body, but not so much that it took away from her natural beauty. At her side was a coiled whip and a dagger.

The group took seats around a large round table and with a nod from Carlin, Joseph began.

"Jean, Tir, as I'm sure you both know, Captain Carlin has three ships in his fleet. The flag ship is this one, the Peregrine. I captain the Vertigo, and then the third ship is captained by Lady Kressna Varaunt. What you don't know is that we have been working along side a group called the Chevalier. They are a group of holy knights that split from the Church. Originally, the Chevalier were charged with defending the Holy Capital of Telnon, but a disagreement broke out and they were **** to flee, taking with them two valuable treasures. They split the treasures onto two different ships, but one was lost during the escape. It is believed though that the treasure survived."

Jean held up a hand and shook his head.

"What do you mean by "Survived?" Treasure is gold and silver. It doesn't breathe and eat like us."

Carlin gave a bark of laughter but allowed Joseph to continue.

"This one does. Two biocomputers, living beings that contained records of Old Earth. There were hundreds of them and they were meant to lead the descends of the survivors of the Planet Fall in a way that would keep them from repeating the sins of their ancestors. But they were sealed in a Vault that was discovered under Telnon. The Vault malfunctioned and only two of the beings stored there survived. These were Valkyrie and Orion. Valkyrie was believed dead, but Orion could still sense her presence, but she had been pulled a great distance away by the ocean currents. The information was leaked back to Telnon and they have been searching for her ever since. The Seekers have been looking for her for almost a hundred years. Right Rufus?"

The man with glasses nodded.

"We Seekers were hired by the Church to find her, but I learned the truth behind this. They want Valkyrie because she and Orion can sense the location of Vaults. They want to use this to gather old world weapons and take over Pandora. I had learned that Carlin was working with the Chevalier to stop the Church's plans and decided to go to him with my information almost one year back. We found a slim lead about Valkyrie about four months ago by raiding a Templar base."

Joseph continued from here.

"I took Rufus with me to Fostler's Nesting. We tried to sneak in and search their archives, but we were found out. The fortess became a battle field. If it wasn't for Vane and Luca here, I wouldn't be alive."

Vane, the brother chuckled.

"We were just doing our job boss. If you had brought me in with you like I suggested I could have made things much easier on your end."

Luca patted her brother's big arm and smiled at Tir. "Your brother is quite skilled with that little sword of his. Ten Templar were dead before we even arrived. And for a scholar, Rufus was holding his own quite well too."

Rufus gave a dry sniff but didn't respond, so Jean continued.

"Lady Kessna is currently chasing our only lead about Valkyrie, but Carlin decided he would go after one of the Vaults that the Templar had information on and try to beat them to it."

Tir nodded

"Winlow Island. But what were you going to do then?"

"I was going to go to Telnon. I was supposed to meet up with a Chevalier spy that had infiltrated the Templar ranks. Adam and his partner Mika were supposed to **** the High Priest, Beldan, and try to learn the truth behind the disappearance of the Oracle. That fat bastard claims that the Oracle is in Cryn, but that is where the Chevalier are operating out of and know for certain he isn't there. They know because the Oracle was one of their men as well. He was trying to change the Church without bloodshed but he was unsuccessful because of Beldan's corruption. The horny prick is one ugly sonuvva bitch, but he has charisma."

Captain Carlin gave a sigh and leaned back in his chair.

"But with your ship in that condition there is no way you can make it to Telnon. Even if you did, you couldn't escape if things went bad. I'll go. You return to Freeport and get your ship repaired. The Veer have been active there, but you should be able to handle it."

Joseph shook his head.

"Actually I would prefer to send the ship back with my first mate in charge. I want to see this through if you don't mind."

Carlin closed his eyes and thought for a moment before nodding in agreement.

"Ok. You can come. Bring Vane and Luca with you. Once the Vertigo is repaired they can sail to Eilman Port in Cryn and wait for word from us or Kessna."

After that was decided, the group broke up so that preparations could be made. Once Tir's work was done on deck, he went below to the storage deck and sat alone, taking in everything he had learned. he had joined the pirates because his father had once sailed under Carlin. Had Craig, his father, known all along what was really going on?

Tir was still lost in thought when he heard footsteps behind him.