Secret of the Abyss - New epic by Rakoua

[Rakoua]

Secret of the Abyss

21st of June, 1808

A cannonball flew trough the air, deflecting rain as it traveled. When it reached its destination, the result was rather... explosive, shall I say? It reduced a piece of wooden hull to shreds... It was followed by another, and then another...
Slowly, the hull disintegrated... But the final blow wasn't from the attacking vessel, but from a large wave. It capsized the ship, while the other barely escaped. It escaped to calm seas, the crew looking back as their prey vanished inside the vortex of clouds. They were disappointed... Never was prey so easy to catch, and never was it so easy to lose. A pirate's job is to steal, not kill... Well, usually, at least. And now they achieved nothing, only wasted ammo and got their vessel damaged. It wouldn't be so hard if they were so isolated in their home, surrounded from all sides by storms that last forever, only stopping with their violent attack on the sea twice a year, letting those brave, or foolish, enough to venture into the unknown in search for profit, knowledge or whatever they might see when they look at the clouds and lightning ceasing.

1st of June, 2008, Vis.

Rakoua walked alone, clouds and wind unleashing their best to scare him back indoors. But Rakoua hardly heard the sound. He just couldn’t get something out of his mind. He has planned everything… The journey, the stay, and even the danger. Six months, from equinox to equinox…
It was dangerous, however, as it was based on many unproven facts. If he didn’t have an escape, all of his hi tech instruments wouldn’t help him.
But he didn’t know who would be foolish enough to go with him, into either death, or whatever their destination was. But it was most likely death.
He walked into a hangar like building, actually a large tunnel that was used for housing warships a while back, and turned on the lights. A wave of illumination passed trough the tunnel as the lights turned on, one by one.
After all of them were on, Rakoua looked into the tunnel. In it was a long, large, and hi tech looking yacht. She was called the Marianne, and she was ready to go into the outside world.

Rakoua smiled, and pulled a lever. The large doors made out of rusty metal opened, and sunlight raced into the tunnel. The artificial lights turned themselves of, and the Marianne exited the tunnel. Rakoua, in the control room, looked ahead carefully, and approached the city of Vis.

Yeah, I know what you're all thinking, "That stupid Rakoua is leaving another shell of a topic in the writing forum".
Well I have a few chappies ready... I think four... And I'll write more soon...
Anyway, review topic.

[Rakoua]

Two hours later…

Rakoua walked a small stone house in the middle of the town. The green doors opened with a loud and annoying noise. He entered the house, hiding the key beneath the green carpet with the words “Keep Out� instead of “Welcome�. The owner of the house liked privacy, and trespassers were quite unwelcome. Rakoua knew this place well. He met Karneo, the owner, several times, in all of which one of them had a shot gun and the other hoped to have fast legs.
Rakoua smiled. Karneo wasn’t home. The cameras weren’t either, as they were probably on repair, but it wasn’t like Rakoua cared about being caught too much. Chances were that he would never be seen again…

He silently walked into Karneo’s office. It wasn’t a large room, however it had quite a few modern things in it. For example, a lot of computer disks. Rakoua searched trough them, until he found one that had a something written on it in some kind of a code. Rakoua took it and jumped trough the window, and into his car, driving toward the dock. When he came there, the sun was setting. It was almost nighttime, and the lights slowly turned on. The streets filled with curious tourists, attempting to experience the night life of this city. It was a sight Rakoua had seen a thousand times before, so he simply ran into the Marriane and placed the disk he found. The central screen turned on, and an image appeared. It was the picture of the yacht, followed by the appearance of the icons.
“I hate Windows…� Rakoua said to himself, smiling, and then clicked a new icon on the screen. Suddenly, the lights turned off.

A gunshot flew past Rakoua’s left ear, blowing up the computer behind. A few more shots damaged the instruments, mostly the navigational systems. Rakoua was just barely able to press a red button, closing the door of the control room. The yacht started to move, crippled by the shots but operational. Rakoua knew well who the attacker was. It was Karneo, his well known arch enemy.
The door opened. Karneo wasn’t alone, it seemed, as two ships were following the Marriane. One of them moved in for the kill, a machinegun aiming straight into Rakoua’s head. But the ship’s driver didn’t have a chance to scream, as a torpedo fired from the Marriane destroyed it in seconds. The second moved away. But the danger wasn’t over yet... Actually, it was just beginning. He knew that he couldn’t return to his home anymore, and that he was on his own. The journey into the unknown had begun…

Next chappie will hopefully be this Sunday.

[Rakoua]

Some three minutes and 34 seconds later, according to Rakoua’s broken watch, Rakoua got the computer back online, just in time to escape a few… close calls with the sea floor. The activation of the main computer also revealed that Rakoua was chased by two other boats that seemed extremely similar to his own, just some five meters shorter then the Marriane’s massive size of thirty meters. They too had nasty machineguns, but their design didn’t even look like it was from Karneo’s little gang. Worse, they were catching up, and with those guns, they didn’t look to friendly…

Rakoua heard a sound, and a holographic display appeared. Holographic technology was Rakoua’s design, so he was surprised that the person on the other side of the screen had it too. It was a female, and she introduced herself to be called Amy. Rakoua knew her, and he knew who she worked for. They had visited him a few times in the last few weeks, mostly to ask him why he bought an old WWII ship hangar.

“Hey, look, it’s only a few minutes into my trip and I already have signal from New York! Wonders of satellite technology…� Rakoua smiled.
“You idiot, this is coming in live.� Said Amy, angry.
“Okay, okay… So what do you want? Last time I checked, there was nothing illegal in joyriding in public waters.� Rakoua smiled even more.
“I know, but perhaps the fact that you have bullets all over your vessel and the fact that you’ve been buying weapons for the last two months might…� Amy said, calming herself down, looking at the fire button, wanting to bring the Marriane to a quick and explosive end as soon as she had enough evidence. Was Rakoua doing anything illegal or not, she wanted to close the case that she couldn’t solve for months.

“You know, I’m not as stupid as you think. Those plans you stole from me the other day… They included web cameras. And as far as I can see, you installed them. Not to mention the fact that the button you are looking at is the…� Rakoua stopped rapidly, as another hail appeared on his display.
“Ah can’t you just stop? I don’t get paid enough for this job…� The person said. Rakoua recognized him as Kenji. He visited him once, mostly because of that big freighter that entered seas near Rakoua’s hangar.
“Just make sure you don’t shoot torpedos at me. I can’t stand loud noises.� Rakoua said, still smiling. The three vessels stopped. Kenji and Amy boarded the Marriane, and were welcomed by Rakoua. The problem was that there was only one so nobody drank it.

“First is the little matter of me explaining the large amount of… holes, shall I say? On my ship. You see, I got in a gunfight with the guy I stole this CD from.� Rakoua said, taking out the CD.
“Looks like a normal navigational system CD. You could have just bought one from a normal computer store. Why would someone try to kill for it?� Kenji said, hiding his gun that was pointed at Rakoua from underneath the table.
“Kenji, Kenji, Kenji... What is on that CD isn’t just a normal system. It holds the answer to the secret that was held… secret for a hundred thushand years.� Rakoua said, putting the CD back in.
“And that secret is…� Kenji asked.
“If I knew, then it wouldn’t be so secret, now would it?� Rakoua said, and smiles.
“Well what DO you know?� Kenji was slowly getting angry.
“Two hundred years ago, a ship called the Pioneer was dispatched here to investigate a unique climate of this area, which was only stable two days in a year, which were some 180 days apart. However, the climate destabilized in a bad moment and it never exited. The waters are so harsh that they could sink an Aircraft Carrier with only one wave. I want to find out what the secret of this place was.� Rakoua said.
“So, you aren’t a criminal, you are a cross between a wacko, nerd and treasure hunter. Interesting.� Amy said, signaling Kenji to drop his gun. Kenji didn’t, however… He never liked authority.
“And you AREN’T coming with me.� Rakoua made that quite clear with that sentence.

I'm laaaaaaaaaate... But I have a longer chappie.
Anyway, this should have about fifty chappies and one should come out every Sunday...

[Rakoua]

Amy didn’t want to go anyway, so she and Kenji moved away... Not convinced. But Kenji, as adventurous as always, managed to make her go on their way back to their vessels. How did he do it, nobody knows… He’s just good at making people do crazy things at crazy times. It was his talent, similar to Rakoua’s talent of getting into trouble. In any case, when the Marriane’s water jet based engines turned on, so did the ones of the other two.

Later that night, the Marriane stopped. In an attempt to stop faster, the large ship turned hard to starboard, creating a wave of water that dissipated after five feet. The lights on the ship turned off, making it almost invisible in the pale moonlight.
A few loud crashes, like a glass shattering, could be heard while the ship stabilized. Soon after, a faint blue light was activated inside the yacht.

Kenji was woken up by the autopilot. Apparently, all of its circuits were blown and the alarm sounded. While trying to pass a message to Amy, he saw that nothing was working. He went out onto the deck and saw that the Marriane and Amy’s ship were in no better shape, all dead in the water. Only Rakoua’s vessel showed signs of life, in the form of a faint blue light. Kenji soon saw a small rowboat heading toward him, in it Rakoua with a candle.
“You too?� Rakoua said, annoyed. He then invited Kenji to join him and tie his yacht to the rowboat. They then did the same with Amy’s yacht.

“You really expect us to row those two things to your ship?� Amy yelled.
“Not at all, but maybe if you don’t be quiet. You see, we have company.� Rakoua replied. He then pointed to another rope, this one connecting to the Marriane.
“That was an EMP pulse, and whoever generated it, doesn’t like us. You see, someone is looking for us. If you look at the sonar a few times a day, you’ll see a submarine. Anyway, take one of the ropes and pull. We need to fix one of the ships before they find us…� Rakoua continued, taking a rope and pulling. And before you know it, the yachts are within reach. Rakoua kindly invited the two into the Marriane, if they bring pillows.

Rakoua came to them, as a loud noise broke the perfect silence. It was a helicopter flying over, searching for something… A search light suddenly illuminated the three.
“Daytime already?� Rakoua smiled, as he saw the helicopter leave. He couldn’t deny the feeling that something was wrong, very wrong. A helicopter this far from shore? Still, he didn’t know what could be so wrong that his thoughts couldn’t move from it.

The rest of the night was uneventful, with only a wave breaking the perfect silence every few seconds.