The Failure of the Saeire Insu: Melody and the Pier to Forever, #6

By Shawn Michel de Montaigne

As a Rogue, the Saeire Insu warship Failure is free to chart course wherever its crew pleases. Their mission, as it stands for all Rogues, is to do as much damage as possible to the Imperial Navy in order to clear the way for the rest of the Armada.

Ske T'Chel--"Sketch," as he is known to his friends--is a member of this crew, and is also a member of the XVI Angeli Magna Coronados, the ultra-elite troop of warriors trained in the mystical martial art known as the Daen-Cer-Tain. As such he is trained to kill thousand-pound demons in a split-second, his blades moving so swiftly that they cannot be seen by the untrained eye. He was Melody Singleton's personal guard before the Armada crossed the Tangent to launch the Revolution, a great honor bestowed by the king himself.

As Failure sails deeper and deeper into ever more dangerous Imperial waters, they become aware of a dire threat that could squash the Revolution before it gains any consequential momentum. To Failure comes the message from Command: hunt down the fast Imperial warship carrying secrets that could doom the Saeire Insu to total destruction.

The chase exacts a dear price on Failure and her crew--but particularly Sketch himself, who finds himself, by virtue of his close relationship to the Apprentice, burdened with a new honorific, conferred by none other than the mysterious Sankyanness herself. She calls him Faithbearer. And to him she entrusts the ultimate fate of the Saeire Insu.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Shawn Michel de Montaigne
• Release date: May 18, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201272722

Shawn Michel de Montaigne

I'm a writer, illustrator, and fractalist. A wonderer, wanderer, and an unapologetic introvert. I'm a romantic; I'm inspired by the epic, the authentic, the numinous, and the luminous. Most of all, I'm blessed.

Book preview

The Failure of the Saeire Insu

Shawn Michel de Montaigne

Copyright 2020, 2021, 2022 by Shawn Michel de Montaigne

D2D + Storefront Edition

~~*~~

The manuscript to

The Failure of the Saeire Insu

has been time-stamped.

All Rights Reserved.

All characters in this novel are entirely fictional.

Any resemblance to real-life individuals is purely coincidental.

Cover designed by Shawn Michel de Montaigne.

This novel is the sixth in the

Melody and the Pier to Forever story arc.

It is strongly recommended that you

read the novels preceding it before reading this one.

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Additionally, Melody’s Musicscape can be found

at Tidal. Listen today!

This Novel is Rated PG-13 by the author

for adult situations, mild language, and graphic imagery.

Parents: Please be advised!

Dedicated to the Rogues of Earth.

May we act, and succeed, to smash

the teeth of corporatism, fascism, and nationalism

before it’s too late.

The Failure of the Saeire Insu

CONTENTS

Dramatis Personæ

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

Epilogue

The Sankyan Wilderness

Map of Aquanus

Dramatis Personæ

~~*~~

Introduction

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Seven hundred twenty-nine Saeire Insu serve aboard Failure. Only twenty-three sailors are highlighted here. But please know: all of them deserve to be mentioned.

The Saeire Insu is a kingdom that takes care of its citizens—unlike virtually any nation on Earth today. It’s a family, but in the sense that most people who banter that word around cannot or will not fathom.

Failure is a family within that family. As the author of this book, and the larger story arc, Melody and the Pier to Forever, I am bothered that I had to limit the characters in this novel to the paltry very few, some of whom only getting mentioned once, and then barely in passing.

Most authors wouldn’t blink at this. The characters aren’t real, they complain, staring at me like I’m a delusional lunatic. Besides, the only goal in writing is to become rich and famous. Else it’s a waste of time.

(I’ve heard many authors say this.)

Regardless of how talented they may or may not be, I have no interest in reading their work. Their attitude is all, and at that point I’ve, pardon the pun, written them off.

With that in mind, following are the sailors mentioned in this novel, their age, service record, country of origin, and an interesting tidbit or two about them that their comrades know (or maybe not know) and which makes them peculiar to who they are.

Let’s start, however, with the character that makes the entire story possible in the first place: the mighty Failure.

~~*~~

S.I. Failure

Commissioned: April 24, 1994

Total length: 576 feet

Total displacement: 2,401 tons

Tactical classification: Rogue

Battle classification: Heavy destroyer

Country classification: Zephyr

Type: Equerrí

Weaponry: Four 4.06m cardum Peacemakers

Ordnance: Tangentially stressed, partially aecxal cannonballs

Crew complement: 729

Featherinns: 1

Featherinn capacity: 67%

Captain: Josias Bodley Tiderider

Mission: Advanced incursion, reconnaissance, refugee support, battle group support

~~*~~

Crew are listed alphabetically

~~*~~

Creertang Ashnal

Age: (approx.) 47

Country of Origin: Arrowsquall

Transform: None

Rank: First Watch

Duty: Chief Navigator

Service Record: A young Arrow lieutenant when the fleet first crossed the Eastern Tangent, Creertang joined the Saeire Insu Navigators, where he quickly rose through the ranks as a quiet but headstrong sailor, having earned the reputation for being somewhat of a genius at trigonometry, being able to calculate complex course corrections mentally.

Tidbit: Standing just over six feet and weighing two hundred fifty-four pounds, all of it muscle, Creertang is considered one of the strongest citizens in the entire kingdom.

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Delelm Atiarr

Age: 18

Country of Origin: Saeire Insu (Earth)

Transform: Pelican

Rank: Midsilo Second Class

Duty: Navigation team (bridge)

Service Record: Delelm, born on Earth, has just less than a full year’s training as midsilo, having petitioned her way to join the Armada. Initially, she was selected to remain behind to stand guard at the Kathlin Rory Carrick Castle.

Tidbit: She graduated with honors at the local high school, and was offered scholarships to study computer science around the United States.

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Tom Barris

Age: 19

Country of Origin: Saeire Insu (Earth)

Transform: Albatross

Rank: Sailor Second Class

Duty: Scout

Service Record: Also born on Earth, Tom spent his youth wanting to become an Academic, but upon learning he was an albatross at puberty, quickly became enamored with the Scouts, becoming one of the top fliers in his class, earning promotions quickly.

Tidbit: He was a year ahead of Miss Atiarr at the local high school. He also earned top marks as a middle-school lad in Mr. Conor’s advanced algebra class.

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Seragh Cheh

Age: (approx.) 25

Country of Origin: Arrowsquall

Transform: None

Rank: Junior Second Watch

Duty: Student Healer

Service Record: Ms. Cheh was on track for First Watch Healer status when the mobilization back to Aquanus began. Her talents, enhanced by Gaian science and medicine, make her a great asset aboard Failure.

Tidbit: Seragh was one of the four hundred children abandoned aboard Hope’s Far Shore, a Vanerrincourtian passenger vessel, when the Invasion was underway. The equivalent of just three Gaian years old, she was taken care of by the eldest of the children. She has what she calls a special relationship to Commander Luis Arroyo, who took a particular interest in her well-being as she grew up.

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Osi (Ozzie) Cuschkny

Age: 20

Country of Origin: Saeire Insu (Earth)

Transform: Albatross

Rank: Junior Third Watch

Duty: Scout

Service Record: Osi’s talents as a Scout quickly earned her promotions. Currently Third Watch (Junior grade), her abilities are highly valued by the crew of Failure, as she twice has been the first to locate Imperial mines. She is also fearless in storms, being able to navigate through them to a highly effective degree.

Tidbit: Both her parents survived the Day of Fire and Ice only to lose their lives while scouting across the Tangent not long after. She was raised communally, and counts as one of her fathers Supreme Commander Guptaamaq Jelignite.

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Okuzo Darbbeli

Age: (approx.) 27

Country of Origin: Juñon

Transform: Dreamcatcher

Rank: Senior Second Watch

Duty: Sentinel Phantasme

Service Record: Called scary good by her Sentinel comrades, Okuzo’s intuitive gifts were honed early on by Commander Arroyo, where she quickly established herself not only as a leader, but a teacher as well, serving as apprentice instructor in the program by the age of 20.

Tidbit: Also a child survivor aboard Hope’s Far Shore, Okuzo made a name for herself by being able, with no training, to detect the malicious intent of Tracluse commanders in lead Invasion boats as far away as a hundred misons.

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Peerd Engshon

Age: (approx.) 43

Country of Origin: Neptonius

Transform: Orca

Rank: First Watch

Duty: Chief of the Fins

Service Record: A young man during the Day of Fire and Ice, Peerd’s rise through the Saeire Insu Fin ranks was halted only at his request. He had been tapped as a potential Commander for the Armada, but wanted to be assigned to a Rogue, and wanted to lead that boat’s Fins. His ability to see the big picture and make quick command decisions won him high praise by his COs.

Tidbit: Peerd is fluent in all ten Saeire Insu languages, Spanish and English (Gaian languages) as well. He is a repository of filthy jokes from every Saeire Insu nation, and is a master roihcarorist (ROY-ar-ist) who plays with the Saeire Insu Orchestra.

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Cays Veremo Garasi

Age: 13 (approx. 41 Gaian-years)

Country of Origin: Hieron-Tamus

Transform: None

Rank: Volus First Watch

Duty: (per Capt. JB Tiderider): Tactical, historical, and navigational support

Service Record: Cays is one of many slaves Failure has rescued during her tour. He served as Palace Guard to Hieron-Tamus’ last king before being captured by the Imperium. He asked for, and was granted, duty aboard Failure, where he has served with distinction.

Tidbit: Cays’ talents with a cutlass are first-class, as are his intelligence and perseverance. Those enslaved with him looked to him for hope and resolve, though many times he had little or none to give. They intuited his steadfastness and faith and so, without saying so, made him their de facto leader. Imperial sailors feared him; it was a miracle he wasn’t fed to Mephastophians from the off.

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Samise Ghaeng

Age: (approx.) 30

Country of Origin: Vanerrincourt

Transform: Seagull

Rank: Bosun

Duty: Supervisor of the top deck, active crew, and equipment

Service Record: Yet another standout from Hope’s Far Shore, Samise applied for and entered the Bosun Training Program at the age of 19, making her the youngest ever to be accepted. The program is extremely rigorous and demanding, not just physically, but mentally as well. Bosuns are required to think on the fly, know what repairs and equipment are needed, often with no time to consider, and be right the first time. As such, she has been invaluable to the Failure.

Tidbit: Samise’s mother, father, and two older brothers were killed by Tracluse just days before the Invasion. No more than four Earth-years old, she roamed Quadris Empiricus’ streets alone for days before being led to the Hope’s Far Shore by whom she describes as a dark angel who many have speculated was Eleysius himself.

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Nals Kiml

Age: (approx.) 42

Country of Origin: August

Transform: Pelican

Rank: Senior Second Watch

Duty: Navigator’s Watcharm

Service Record: After training on August as a historian, Nals left the Saeire Insu once on Earth, shattered, as he put it, by the bloodbath that was the Day of Fire and Ice, and by the endless cruelty he witnessed as Necrolius’ armada conquered Aquanus. He returned eleven years later, having lived and worked among Gaians in at least six of their major cities. Welcomed back, he entered the Navigator’s School, where, just before the fleet returned to Aquanus, he was promoted to Watcharm to Creertang Ashnal.

Tidbit: Kiml has never spoken of his time working with—and even living with for five years—Malesherbes Quartermane.

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Toren Yshyo Kohan

Age: (approx.) 26

Country of Origin: Hieron-Tamus

Transform: Dreamcatcher

Rank: Senior Second Watch

Duty: Sentinel Phantasme

Service Record: Toren’s intuitive insights began by the age of ten, where, at that point, Commander Arroyo took him under his arm and began training him. His struggles in the Sentinel Phantasme were a mystery, which Commander Arroyo solved when he discovered that Mr. Kohan was manifesting conflicting Storyteller skills that occasionally interfered. Once made aware of his extra skills, Toren finished the program not only in the top three of his class, but with four invitations to other training schools, as his talents had burgeoned widely. The fleet’s return to Aquanus put his plans to attend the Navigator School on hold.

Tidbit: Toren’s parents, both liquor traders, were two of a small group of parents frantically working to free Hope’s Far Shore’s mooring lines when Tracluse cut them down. Toren witnessed their deaths.

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Llidandan Merit

Age: (approx.) 44

Country of Origin: Galarrage

Transform: None

Rank: Second Watch (per Capt. JB Tiderider)

Duty: Cavalryman

Service Record: Mr. Merit was a true Saeire Insu rogue—even to his own kingdom, having a reputation for being a troublemaker and a roustabout. Ready to abandon the kingdom, he was promised by Supreme Commander Jelignite that if he began to fly right, he would get an extra shove into the Tactical School by Jelignite himself, which eventually occurred. Merit’s Galarragian penchant for picking fights first, mending fences second, was infectious; he soon became the leader of his class. When three of his mates didn’t return from Tangent duty, most expected Llidandan to abandon his studies and leave the kingdom, this time for real. Instead Mr. Merit seemed to find his way. An expert with sea horses since he was a boy, Mr. Merit’s promotion to the Cavalry was a no-brainer, in Captain Tiderider’s words.

Tidbit: Wherever you go, never lose sight of that Galarragian troublemaker inside you, Commander Jelignite had once told him privately. Jelignite, seven years younger than Merit, admitted that Merit inspired him, and that he would always have his back. While serving aboard Failure, the Supreme Commander has sent many Arrowsparrows to him, establishing a dialogue that has permanently cemented their friendship.

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Pytasskel Saydra

Age: 21

Country of Origin: Saeire Insu (Earth)

Transform: Tern

Rank: Midsilo First Class

Duty: Healer’s Assistant

Service Record: Mr. Saydra was just getting ready to begin the Lead Practitioner Program (LPP) when the fleet began mobilizing for its return to Aquanus. Having volunteered for several years in local Gaian hospitals, he was becoming well-versed in the ways of normal medicine, which gave him an edge going into the program. He graduated with honors two years early from a local university, where he took a Bachelor of Arts in Biology. He managed that degree as well as the rigors of training with the Failure, as well as the studying required to becoming a Healer’s Assistant.

Tidbit: A bit of a loner, Mister Saydra has created a series of comic books about the Saeire Insu and its mysterious and often humorous interactions living with and occasionally aiding Gaians.

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Orilo Seng

Age: (approx.) 39

Country of Origin: Galen

Transform: Shyshy spearhawk (rare; Aquanus)

Rank: First Watch

Duty: Chief Helmsman

Service Record: Working in concert with Creertang Ashnal, First Watch Seng has helped to create a fluid bridge crew extraordinarily in tune with one another. His talents as the chief handler of Failure’s sea paper scrolls, his mathematical smarts, rivaling even Creertang’s, his intuitive grasp of currents and weather, have made him invaluable aboard that Rogue. Once intent on becoming a Scout, Supreme Commander Jelignite recognized his gifts and sold him on becoming a Helmsman instead.

Tidbit: Orilo was a member of twelve aboard a Galeni feint who mutinied. The captain of that ship, a Tracluse, attempted to hang all of them. But at the last moment, the crew, as though by some miracle, decided to mutiny as well. They were one of the last ships to catch up to the infant Saeire Insu fleet fleeing east.

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Shybanit Shal

Age: (approx.) 41

Country of Origin: August

Transform: None

Rank: Senior Healer

Duty: Chief Medical Officer

Service Record: One of the youngest initial recruits into the Lead Practitioner Program, Shybanit outpaced his fellow students, finishing first in his class. Instead of stopping there and devoting his time to sailor training aboard Failure, he split time as a teacher, where there, too, he rose to become one of its principal leaders. Popular with his students despite the rigors of his teaching methodology, Shybanit went on to receive three of the four highest decorations a Healer can earn in the Saeire Insu.

Tidbit: Shybanit’s family line has direct lineage to the Juñite Prefecture. His mother, an avowed egalitarian, renounced her family name before she married. Shybanit has never shared this secret with anyone.

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Jomuvo Syttan

Age: 18

Country of Origin: Saeire Insu (Earth)

Transform: Cormorant

Rank: Sailor Third Class (per Capt. JB Tiderider)

Duty: Cavalryman

Service Record: Ongoing, and incomplete. Jomuvo’s promotion has been during duty aboard Failure. Prior to being promoted by Captain Tiderider, Mr. Syttan was a Midsilo Second Class, working as a sailor and weapons technician, as the Failure had no sea horses when it crossed the Tangent.

Tidbit: Jomuvo was an experienced equestrian on Earth, both with regular horses and sea horses. His parents, both retired sailors (Galen), successfully mated sea horses on Earth, and taught Cavalrymen and –women how to properly handle them.

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Inelt Tasard

Age: (approx.) 41

Country of Origin: Zephyr

Transform: Seagull

Rank: First Watch

Duty: Chief Tactician and Firing Officer

Service Record: Widely considered the finest tactician and firing officer in the entire Armada, First Watch Tasard wanted, most of all, duty aboard a Rogue warship. His skills are only slightly humorously considered occult. So strong are they that he split time training aboard the Failure and out among the fleet, training other tacticians and firing officers. His technical knowledge of Peacemakers is unsurpassed in the Saeire Insu.

Tidbit: Inelt, when off duty, was an active member of Greenpeace (Gaian environmental and animal rights group), often taking time to help them organize and carry out protests and other acts of civil disobedience. Aboard Failure, he and Creertang Ashnal regularly challenge each other to a round of arm wrestling. To date, Creertang is one victory up on him. The contests are usually very heavily bet on by Failure’s crew.

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Ske T’Chel

Age: (approx.) 34

Country of Origin: Vanerrincourt

Transform: Seagull

Rank: (per Capt. JB Tiderider): First Mate

Duty: Second in command of Failure

Service Record: Ske, or Sketch as he is known to his friends, was the Apprentice’s personal guard along with Carcaryn Gellantara. He is a member of the XVI Angeli Magna Coronados (the Kumiyaay), top of his class in the RCS (Rogue Command School), top of his class in the Scout Training Program, and at one time did duty ferrying Antarctic Cottonwood. His talents are so well known and respected that he has since become known as Ard’tan Emil T’asama—the Blade of the King’s Sword, an honor he shares with a select few including the Supreme Commander, Commander Arroyo, and High Captain Kaza Lucanson.

Tidbit: An avid reader, Sketch is a big fan of the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings franchises (both Gaian).

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Josias Bodley Tiderider

Age: 49

Country of Origin: Ireland (Earth)

Transform: Seagull

Rank: Captain

Duty: Commanding officer of the Rogue warship Failure

Service Record: A washout from the British Royal Navy Command School, Captain Tiderider has proven, time and again, just how wrong their judgment of him was. Coming to the Saeire Insu by means of a near-fatal surfing incident, Captain Tiderider quickly learned the ropes, utilizing his already formidable military knowledge to the benefit of the entire Saeire Insu. His heroism in leading the survivors of a collision between two Saeire Insu vessels in stormy south Pacific seas earned him command of Failure, as well as the honor in naming it.

Tidbit: It was the king himself who taught him how to Transform, something that, if not typically learned very early, usually in adolescence when it first becomes possible, is never learned at all. With the help of Commander Arroyo and several Sentinels assisting, the king’s (utterly flippin’ terrifying) lessons eventually paid off.

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Yavoki (Kals) Urselem

Age: (approx.) 45

Country of Origin: Neptonius

Transform: Albatross

Rank: Second Watch

Duty: Scout Watcharm

Service Record: A bona fide hero during the Day of Fire and Ice, when she and her Neptonian scouts repelled six Mephastophians from gaining entry to the cannondeck of a critical Saeire Insu frigate, and the only of them to survive the day, Kals, as she is known to her friends, rose through the Saeire Insu Scout ranks to become Failure’s Scout Watcharm, which is second in command of that group. Due to Ske T’Chel’s many other duties, and by his personal recommendation, she is the de facto chief of that brave group.

Tidbit: Kals’ wife, a Gaian, and she were the first to honeymoon in the great caves that house Antarctic Cottonwood.

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Aineo Venysa

Age: 45

Country of Origin: Pyrrho

Transform: Fierson’s Gondarm (very rare; Aquanus)

Rank: Second Watch

Duty: Bosun’s Mate

Service Record: Second Watch Venysa, critically injured during the Day of Fire and Ice, spent the following decade Healing. With extraordinary patience and resolve, he recovered from his injuries to the point that he actually applied for the Kumiyaay, but was unable to make the cut due to a lingering shoulder injury. The Bosun Training Program gladly took him in where, with extraordinary dedication and hard work, he rose to Bosun’s Mate and a coveted assignment aboard a Rogue warship.

Tidbit: An avid cat lover, Aineo, during his off hours, often volunteered at the local Humane Society. (Fierson’s Gondarms, parenthetically, are often adopted by a wild feline species on Pyrrho, serving as food-getters and defenders of the pride.)

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Raull Yers

Age: (approx.) 70

Country of Origin: Vanerrincourt

Transform: None

Rank: Sailor First Class

Duty: Sheet-crew Chief

Service Record: Sailor Yers wanted nothing more in his life than to sail Aquanus’ oceans. Rank meant nothing to him; status and power were held in equal disdain. As Sheet-crew Chief aboard the V-Nicomacus, the king’s flagship, he and his crew were responsible for keeping the Nico fast and fleet, so much so that though chased and harassed continually by attacking Gyssians and demons, the enemy could not board the ship. Yers and his leadership, it was determined, were instrumental in keeping the Nico afloat and elusive. Offered many promotions in the decades that followed, Raull declined them all. He wanted only to work the sheets aboard a lunatic Rogue.

Tidbit: Yers’ grandfather, an immigrant from Arrow, was the brother of the teacher of Malesherbes Quartermane.

The Failure of the Saeire Insu

Rooted within the pitch-black heart

Entrenched behind the weary eyes

In the faraway song the cold sea sung

In the calm whisper of winds afar

It lies, calls and awaits

Deep in the primeval dark

Embodiment of despair

That never leaves or severs the ties

~Insomnium, The Primeval Dark

The following was dutifully recorded by

Carcaryn T’Chel, XVI Angeli Magna Coronados,

and verified by

Luis R. Arroyo, Commander, Sentinel Phantasme

Let this mediàlmic diary be his testament. Let it serve as his witness.

To those ends, I, his wife, shall endeavor to make it worthy of you, the reader, whoever you are, and wherever you are, be it Earth or Aquanus. Let this serve as a reminder of the sacrifices the Saeire Insu, especially those serving aboard the S.I. Failure, made in freeing Aquanus from the Black Coffin. Of his sacrifice.

I pray it may be read one day in a world worth living in, or even one that’s still living, Earth or Aquanus.

~Carcaryn T’Chel, XVI Angeli Magna Coronados, Saeire Insu

~~*~~

~Begin mediàlmic diary~

~~*~~

Saeire Insu Warship Failure

Current Position: 3.339E by 0.221N

South Verisimilius Ocean

729 souls

Captain Josias Bodley Tiderider

Day 86 of the Revolution

1

~~*~~

MY NAME is Ske T’Chel. My friends and comrades call me Sketch. I am a warrior of the XVI Angeli Magna Coronados, known as the Kumiyaay. I am a crewmember of the Saeire Insu warship Failure.

I am (at best guess) thirty-four years Earth-years old. I was born on Vanerrincourt and crossed the Eastern Tangent when I was just a boy in early adolescence. I was one of the Hope’s Far Shore: the group of four hundred sixteen abandoned children found hiding in the belly of the passenger ship of the same name as the Invasion was underway. Another Kumiyaay, Carcaryn Gellantara, was with us. She wasn’t Vanerrincourtian, but Pyrrhonian. Her parents, Pyrrhonian ambassadors, left her to die as Gyssian warships rose on every horizon, just as my parents left me and my sister, and just as hundreds more parents left their children behind on that vessel.

The Hope wasn’t a warship. She didn’t have a single cannon on her. Still, when the king heard about our plight, he insisted we join the fleet fleeing along Ae Infinitus.

Some of us fought during the Day of Fire and Ice. Some of us died.

Someday a story will be written about Hope’s Far Shore and its children. Perhaps the translator of this diary will be the one to do it.

~~*~~

Before beginning my tale, allow me to explain Failure’s role in the Revolution.

Very simplistically put, the Saeire Insu fleet is divided three ways: Large Battle Groups (LBGs), Small Battle Groups (SBGs), and Rogues. Large Battle Groups have up to twenty-five warships in them. In an LBG there is everything from King’s-class warships, enormous and magnificent, down to Feint-class attack craft, some with fewer than a dozen aboard.  SBGs, by contrast, have anywhere from two to ten ships in them.

Saeire Insu classifications are further broken down into country origins: August, for example, or Galarrage. The Saeire Insu chose not to swallow our ten nations into one giant, homogeneous whole, but to honor each nation and allow them the fullest autonomy possible while still being part of a single kingdom.

It reflects in our ships. We utilize the strengths of each member country in their construction. For example, Galarrage has three destroyer classes: Jellico, Hunter, and Battle Angel. A Saeire Insu warship that emphasizes the strengths of a Jellico-class destroyer has a slightly wider girth, lower lines, and increased maneuverability compared to similarly sized destroyers. The goal is to present to the Imperium a confounding front of tactics, designs, and strengths.

Clear as mud?

Failure is a Zephri Equerrí-class heavy destroyer (a baby dreadnought) with a complement of 729. Since our ship is Zephri-designed, it is made to withstand brutally stormy conditions, and can maneuver and fight in seas that would capsize other vessels.

Most relevantly, though, we are not part of an LBG or SBG. We are a Saeire Insu Rogue.

~~*~~

We had been called to general quarters. We came across three Imperial transports sailing just south of Hieron-Tamus. All Imperial vessels are armed, but these were very heavily so, and the crews were not your regular grunts. We determined one was slaveless and sank it right off, and then swung around and attacked the second. The Tracluse went insane. They swiped sightlessly with their swords, and sent clouds of arrows into the air, and shouted nonsensical curses. We got into the ship’s bowels and found gold and silver coins from at least six different nations in huge, heavily secured chests.

The Tracluse captain killed himself trying to get to me. We’d decloaked and ordered their surrender, and the fool hacked madly at me with his cutlass. One of his swipes went through a forward shroudline, and a heavy crank swung down and nearly decapitated him. The third ship, seeing us, fired. We fired back (more on our impressive armaments later), and it exploded like it had been carrying extra tons of gunpowder. The shock of the blast injured seventeen of our crew, two seriously.

All three transports were sailing without Mephastophians, which was odd as well. We reported all of this, of course, to King’s Perch.

~~*~~

Back to my original discussion. As I mentioned above, Failure is a Saeire Insu Rogue (SIR).

We don’t belong to a battle group. Captain Tiderider doesn’t answer to a High Captain; he answers directly to the king’s advisors at King’s Perch.

Being