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After a lengthy dressing down from Erik, Luna found herself at the helm with him, Rufus, Galen, and Aquila, discussing their next moves. She still felt weird about leading their crew, but she stowed that discomfort away. These people, even if only because it was Marcus’ will, had faith that she would be able to step up and she had decided she wasn’t going to disappoint them.

“We’re running low on provisions,” Erik was saying. He leaned against the railing in front of the wheel, which was currently being manned by Rufus. The man’s short hair, held back by the white headband wrapped around his forehead, was almost completely white, aside from a few streaks of sandy blonde, as was his small goatee, and he seemingly had spent his entire life on some ship or another, if his tanned, leathery skin was anything to go by. He was easily the oldest person on the ship, but if his temper was anything to go by, he still had more life in him than a person a fraction of his age.

That was something Luna had noticed after waking up. A few of the crew were middle-aged, a couple, like Erik, even older, having been veterans from the Legion before the Empire fell, though most of the crew were still in their upper twenties, lower thirties. The younger men and women had joined up relatively recently, she figured. A few of them had the same look in their eyes she was sure she had, one that told her that they had lost something all those years ago.

The rest probably joined thinking they might be able to earn some cash or something along those lines. As far as Luna was concerned, so long as they didn’t up and disappear in the middle of the night with all their supplies, she didn’t care why they were on the ship.

“We can get by with whatever we can snag by fishing,” Erik continued, “but we’ll need to swing by an island at some point to stock up on essentials. Preferably sooner rather than later.”

[color=lightblue]“We also need to ask around about Sol,”[/color] Luna added. [color=lightblue]”Last I knew, he was heading west, but that was a week ago.”[/color]

Rufus slowly nodded and looked over his shoulder at Galen. “Sounds like we should pay a visit to Bacchus,” he suggested.

The doctor sighed and said, “As much as I hate to admit it, I think you’re right. With any luck, they’ll be able to spare something for us. As for our wayward prince, it won’t hurt to ask around, but I won’t hold my breath.”

Her brow furrowed, curious by Galen’s hesitation, Luna piped up, [color=lightblue]”I remember my dad talking to me about Bacchus Island. It used to be our main supplier of wine, right? Did something happen to it?”[/color]

Rufus and Galen shared a look while Erik averted Luna’s gaze with a quiet curse, obviously irritated. It was Aquila who spoke up after a moment of silence, her voice soft, “It was about a year after the empire fell. The Marines were hunting down survivors of the Legion and there was a large number of soldiers garrisoned at Bacchus Island. The man who led them was the prefect of the Fourth Cohort, but when the Marines arrived, he and a number of his men had fled. The remaining Legionnaires, leaderless, were disorganized and fell easily to the Navy.”

“That gods-damned bastard,” Erik growled. “He was always a piece of work, but I never thought he was a coward on top of that. I hope Lunara left his soul to rot.”

Aquila glanced at Erik, then turned back to Luna. “The fighting ended up destroying most of the vineyards on the island. It was in such a state that the government must have decided there was no coming back, so they didn’t station any Marines there. The remaining residents didn’t give up, though, and even though they aren’t anywhere near what they used to be, they’re well on their way.”

“Least until the pirates showed up,” Rufus interjected. “The people on Bacchus Island set up their own local government and things were going well for a while. Then, a few years ago, some pirates showed up, kicked out the governor, and now they’re hoarding whatever wine and money was left over while working the people to the bone to keep their buzz going.”

Luna was quiet for a moment as she worked to get her anger under control. Not only did one of her own people leave those he was supposed to protect to the wolves, but now a piece of her parent’s empire was infested with something worse: parasites. She let out a long, calming breath, then asked, [color=lightblue]”Wait, if you guys haven’t been there in a while, then how do you know what’s going on?”[/color]

“One of our old crewmates lived there before the Empire fell,” Rufus explained. “There was a short story in a newspaper a little while back, no more than a paragraph on the back page, really, talking about the pirates invading. Marcus let him go back home and he’s been sending us letters ever since. Though…come to think of it, we haven’t heard from him in a while…”

[color=lightblue]”That’s that, then,”[/color] Luna said. She crossed her arms and, with a grin, declared, [color=lightblue]”Set a course for Bacchus Island! Let’s show those pirates we’re sick and tired of being pushed around.”[/color]

[center][h2]Arc 2: Bacchus Island will start next week[/h2][/center]