Task Name:Scene of a Crime
Tier: 1
NPC or PC: NPC
Location: Baterilla
Crew, Team, or Personal: Personal
Description: Edwin commits murder before Frost's very eyes. Can she catch him? Will she be allowed to pursue?
Enemy Details: 2 Tier 1; Revolutionaries
Boss: not this time


The laughter was infectious to anyone hearing it. A great resounding sound that would erupt from time to time across the street. The cause of such uproarious laughter was the newly christened Lt Newfeld, and the two people that he held in his wake. On the right, his girlfriend and fellow marine Ensign Marie Summers and to his left his long time friend Ensign Nina Frost.

The trio had been wandering down the main street of the city, and the girls had been taking every chance to needle the newly promoted Lieutenant.

"Hey, doesn't this mean he gets payed more?"

Frost asked with mischief in her eyes. A look that Marie was all too quick to pick up on.

"Ohh, I think I know who's buying dinner then!"

"Hey, hey guys!?"

The man attempted to dig his way out only to step on loose ground.

"Indeed, the guys are paying, which really just leaves you."

Trap sprung! She thought to herself as the man's exasperated look grew considerably.

"Alright, alright, I'll pay. Though, didn't you say you wanted to stop at the blacksmiths on the way there?"

She nodded, sharing a smile with Marie at the man's surrender.

"Yep. I'll meet you both at the Bloatfish for 6?"

"We'll be waiting."

Marie replied smoothly, gripping the big man's arm and steering him further down the street as he rubbed the back of his head with his eyes closed.

Frost only got a few feet away from them with her hand on the doorknob to the local blacksmith shop when a familiar sound made it's way to her ear. It sounded all so familiar, like a large piece of metal... pushing it's way into a body. A scream filled the air as she turned around, witnessing a black clad figure stabbing the Lieutenant with zeal before sprinting down the street.

She closed the distance to her friends in mere seconds her blade drawn at the ready. She was conflicted, she wanted to help her friend, but Marie was already doing all she could for him, trying to flag down help and trying to staunch the blood. She took a moment to look up and conveyed her feelings.

"Get Him!"

Her words carried more force than any admiral could hope for, a raw and simple desire for the person who hurt her beloved to be hurt far worse. Frost spun on her heel and began to sprint down the road as fast as her legs could possibly carry her. As her legs devoured the distance
her mind had turned to what she knew.

The man had been wearing all black, which is probably why no-one had seen him coming. He seemed quite lean if what she could make out of his clothes had been any indication, and he had taken a Lieutenant by surprise. This was going to be tough. As she ran she noticed a sort've deepening of the shadows that was just ahead of her and moving. A deepening of the shadows, this was black clothes and greasy black hair in the middle of the night.

He seemed to have picked up his speed, no doubt the sound of her heavy boots hammering the cobbles had alerted him to his close pursuer. Unfortunately this had the effect of keeping the distance between them entirely even as they crossed the last bits of the city and into the docks.

The man was dedicated to his objective, running towards a boat and up the plank. She would have followed him had two additional black clothed enemies stepped in front of her.

"Take sail Edwin, we'll hold them."

She drew her sword, and they followed suit. Two large scimitars stared her down gleaming like stars in the dark. She tried to force her way by pressuring one of them hard but they deflected and focused solely on holding position. Her frustrations rose even more as she noted the boat had already begun to leave the dock, heading to open waters. She wanted to scream as her anger rose, but her mind knew that would fix nothing and focused on the problem at hand.

If they weren't going to move... She thought, backing away from the men and grabbing anything at all she could and throwing it at them. A crab cage, chunks of wood, a steel spike. The spike proved to be the last straw as the man deflected it and then closed on her. He brought his scimitar down in a big overhand arc but proved his ineptitude for anything other than defending. Together on a tiny platform they had been invincible, separated, she could attack without hindrance.

She dodged away from the swing and slashed the man's hand, moving into a spin she snapped the man's forehead with her pommel knocking him down and out. Seeing this his comrade had become quite irate, jumping over the fallen comrade and attacking from another side. Either his rage or his skill kept him in the match against her for some time, the sound of steel ringing out into the night. A far voice called out in a military shout and the man looked away at the wrong time.

"Is everything alright over there?"

Two marine guards approached swiftly, their weapons unsheathed and ready as the last accomplice of the assassin fell off her blade. She looked at them and then at the vast and mostly empty harbor.

"I need to pursue a criminal that attempted to assassinate my friend, Lieutenant Newfeld. Are there any ships available?"

Now that they were close enough to see her visibly, and the two dark figures at her feet; they could also see her rank.

"I'm sorry Ensign, you know we can't just hand over a ship without orders, if you can get the orders to us, we'll get a ship on the move and quick like. But not before."

She swore, there was really nothing she could do. With a deep breath she started to run back towards the marine base. Perhaps Captain Windsor could help her out. Behind her, the two guards began to interrogate the prisoner, believing that something like this would get orders soon enough.

It took her an hour to cross the town again and end up in the training fields to look for Captain Windsor. The man looked upon her with mild displeasure as she gasped and wheezed out her request.

"Please.*huff* need *huff* orders.... *wheeze* to get.. *huff* boat."

"You're not really making a lot of sense here, and I'm not going to give you orders just so you can get a boat, how do you think this works? Go get some rest and then explain in the morning."

She was swiftly shot down and too tired to correct the man. She had just gone too far and done too much and her body was having none of it. She turned and began to walk back through the town, more akin to a zombie than a human as her breathing slowly caught up.

She couldn't just go to sleep, each and every second wasted was letting the man get further and further away. A fact that she couldn't stand, and even as her body was exhausted it continued to light a fire under her. So caught up in this train of thought she was that she failed to hear the man trying to get her attention until he had shouted her name twice.

She looked upon him, noting the tired look in his face, the inferno in his eyes, and the way his hands kept clenching tight.

"Frost. There you are. Did you get him? Did you kill the man who killed my son?"

John Newfeld senior looked at her with a hunger in his eyes that would cook a creature entirely before devouring it in a flash. It was not for her that this look was reserved but rather the information she held.

"I chased him to the docks, when I got there his comrades stopped me and then I couldn't get a boat without orders and now I can't get the orders....." Her voice trailed off as she noticed the old man's wording. "Killed?" She asked weakly.

It spoke volumes to the man's self control that he didn't unleash that hatred on her right there and then but he kept the beast back.

"Yes. That blackheart killed my son tonight. Marie and my wife are at the house consoling each other but I..." His face twisted and for a moment she viewed the full depths of his wrath. "I HATE HIM!! The idea that my son is going to the ground and this wretch gets to see another sunrise fills me with such hate. I want to see him BURN for what he's done. You said you needed a boat, I've got one. I'll get some people together to crew it, you get some provisions and meet me at the docks in an hour."

He didn't wait for her response, and swiftly turned into an alleyway, his thin shoes hammering far louder than her boots ever could.

She stood there for a moment before heading to the only place she knew she could get some food and water at this time of night.

Everything seemed to pass in a haze, moving from one place to another, talking to people, securing what they would need. It was as if she was dead and still walking among living people. They seemed bright and lively, but she was dead inside, her fire snuffed out.

Making friends had been difficult for her, and even after spending years trying to be a proper marine she still hadn't grown any closer to anyone Marie Summers and John Newfeld were the only people that had managed to bully past her professionalism and coax a laugh out of her. And now one would be unable to speak without crying and the other was in the grave.

Her legs refused to carry her any further as she slid down against the wall. Tears unbidden came to her eyes and blurred her vision as her logical mind could no longer hold back the tsunami of raw emotion. The shock that had been keeping her numb had left her very vulnerable to the emotional storm that was making it's presence felt. Why, why did he have to die, he had everything going for him, it was just the start of his life.

She had no idea how long she had been sitting there, stewing in her own misery before she could finally get up. Her eyes were still very red, but it didn't matter anymore, this wasn't about her. Her mind kept going back to the old man, and to Marie's expression. Something inside her knew that they wouldn't be able to rest until this man was brought to Justice. And after all, how could John rest if his killer was still out in the darkness? He would want him brought to Justice, no matter the cost. That was the role of the marine, and a duty she had to complete.

Her overburdened legs finally carried her to the docks, both hands trembling at the weight of the provisions she had secured from the Bloatfish. The place had become a nest of activity along a cutter with the name The Griffon edged in silver on it. She was about to board noticing Newfeld senior waving her onward when a voice stopped her.

"Ensign, did you secure the orders?"

Between the guards was a man dressed all in black with bruises of every color from blue to purple on his face. His lips had swelled so much that he most likely couldn't even speak. She regarded the curiosity for a moment before realizing it was the assassin's comrade she left alive.  

"No, I wasn't able to get orders."

The guards looked a bit sad at hearing that.

"We can't help you then. However this fellow was very talkative about an island off the coast that your mark was heading to with all due haste. Good luck Frost, and tell the old man we're sorry for his loss."

She nodded at them, thinking one of the other sailors must have filled the two guards in. Provisions in hand, she boarded the Griffon and made towards Newfeld Senior. He looked back at her with the fire in his eyes still blazing like an inferno.

"Your eyes are red. So are mine, don't worry about it. Just focus on getting this whore-son. Now, are you ready to go?"

She nodded and spoke with determination.

"Let's go get him."


[Beginning; End]