Wears-Only-Ropes was seething. After a short orientation with some other new argonian crew members, the Dominion had completed it’s trip from the mainland back to it’s island cove that functioned as it’s home base. It had surfaced with the morning sun and she stepped out of the top hatch with the others, then walked along the back of the ship to where long plank had been lowered from a dock.  From there she was given another orientation and assigned to Food Prep, which wasn’t even a shipboard duty.

She’d watched from an open mess hut as altmer and argonians came and went from between the ship to a stone building that served as the ship’s headquarters. All the while she was skinning vegetables and cutting meat.  She knew that what she really should do was to bide her time and learn more about the ship before she struck.

But she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t wait while the souls of her dead friends were screaming in her mind. Instead, she waited for the earliest opportunity when she planned to sneak aboard and do all the damage she could. If she could sink the thing, that would be best.

During her orientation she’d learned of the color-coded tags the argonians wore around their necks, indicating their duties. She tore her brown tag off.

“Recruit? What are you doing? Put that tag back on!” shouted her superior in the hut, a female certainly younger than herself.

Reluctantly she tied it back around her neck. It felt like a stone. “Dammit, I should be on the ship!”

“Relax. You’ll get your chance. But there’s a lot to learn before you can do much good aboard the ship. In the meantime the mess hut’s as good a job as any you’re likely to get while they teach you.”

“But I already proved I know as much about ships as any argonian!”

“Not this ship I bet! Now get back to work. Lunch will be soon and we’ve got a lot of cooking to do before then.”

She went back to work, but she would keep a close eye out for any chance.

It came in the early afternoon. An odd alarm began to sound, and the altmer gathered most of the argonians and led them out of the cove. Apparently some sort of security ward had been breached.  She watched as the majority of the workers ran out to find the menace, and she noticed there was no one standing guard at the ship.

She took some sauce that was at least approximately the color of the red engineering tags and smeared it over her own tag when her superior had left for a few minutes. Then she walked purposefully down the dock as if she had every right to be there. She climbed down into the ship without a clue what she was going to do. She then took off her tag – at close range it wouldn’t stand up to scrutiny anyway.

She passed some argonians, proceeding towards the back of the ship where she knew the propulsion system must be. If there were anything explosive or truly damaging on the ship, that would be the most likely place.

“Stop!” said an altmer voice in Common. “You, female! Where’s your tag?”

She turned around with a confused look on her face and mimicked feeling for it.  “Sorry, it must have fell off somewhere.”

“Who’s your boss?”

“I’m in engineering,” she said. She knew the altmer were termed the bosses here, but she didn’t know them by name yet.

The altmer’s eyes narrowed. “Who is your BOSS?” he asked again, hands raising and a blue glow beginning to issue from them.

She was out of time. If she was going to do any good down here at all, it had to be now. She turned and raced through the twin hallways that ran the length of the ship, switching from one to the other, and dropped down the first hatchway to the lower level she came to, not looking back.

Red lights began to flash and a klaxon sounded. She began turning every dial and every valve she could find randomly, but then running on as the altmer and some other argonians came after her. She knew she was approaching a dead end, but maybe she could find something important she could break before she got there.

She saw another argonian ahead, apparently mending a pipe and she grabbed for a large wrench in his back pocket.

For a moment he looked as confused as most of the other crew she’d passed had been, but this one was sharper than most. As she grabbed for the wrench, he spun around and wrapped his tail around her legs, sending her to the floor. She scrambled to get back to her feet, but he was on top of her before she could get leverage. But Wears-Only-Ropes was sea-hardened and desperate. She bit the tail, hard, and heard the argonian scream. She was up in a second, continuing her headlong race to the back of the ship when the spell hit.

As her feet left the ground in the ball of force that now held her, another altmer came up behind he first and she felt the ball disappear as she crashed back to the floor. Another spell hit her instantly, then all went black.

********************************

Ra’Jirra awoke at first light, and left Dar’Amon sleeping while she completed her morning ritual, though the salt water was a rude awakening as she scrubbed her teeth. The Alfiq was still sleeping so she changed back into her bikini. She was adjusting the straps when she noticed he was watching her.

“Good morning, you perv.”

The cat smiled guiltily then yawned,“Good morning to you too.”

“Think of any plan overnight?” she asked as she began to drag the CATv3 back towards the water, which was blessedly closer with the tide.

“Afraid not. You?”

“Nope. But we haven’t much time. The Hammerfell ship will be leaving tomorrow and could well be here tomorrow night. We’ve got to try something!”

Dar’Amon jumped atop the CATv3 as a wave came up, avoiding getting wet.

She pulled the craft deeper into the water before she got aboard and turned the switch. It came to life and began sputtering as she let it idle.

“I’m going to try circling the island from a long way out. Hopefully we can find where it’s at.”

“Sounds like a good plan.”

“Okay, hold on!”

Dar’Amon tucked himself firmly between her legs and she started off quickly, heading for the island they’d spotted earlier.

She opened it up and they crossed the distance quickly, but remained far enough out to sea that they should be little more than a speck in the ocean to any spying eyes. She backed the speed down and turned to circle counter-clockwise.

“See anything?”

“Nothing yet,” Dar’Amon answered.

They continued around the island at roughly the same distance when they rounded a reef. Inside was a cove that was unmistakable even if not for the low form of the ship they saw near a pier. Figures were moving back and forth. Ra’Jirra turned the craft around and retreated back the way they’d come.

“We need to hide the CAT,” she said, and Dar’Amon spotted a low shelf of rock jutting out over the water.

“What about underneath that shelf? Should be completely out of sight from the island.”

She nodded and steered the craft towards it, finally stepping off into thigh-high water where she moored it to some other rocks.

“Tide?” she asked Dar’Amon.

“It’s pretty well high tide now. It will have nowhere to go but down to the level you’re standing on, if you’re worried about it getting crushed. Just leave enough slack that it can go up and down and it should be fine.”

She nodded and tied it off, before taking Dar’Amon and wading out from under the shelf. She came out into the sun carefully, but she could see no one around.

“I think we should split up, Raj,” he said as she set him back onto the beach.

The jungle here was dense, but lacked the sulphurous smell of Argonia and she felt it was probably less lethal than the mainland.

“Yeah. You’re my secret weapon, Dar. They’re altmer so they’re bound to have wards up.”

“Probably not for my size though. I could go in and scout first.”

Ra’Jirra shook her head. “No need. We know where our target is. I’ll climb up around the cove and come at it from the other side. Give me an hour to get around, and then come in from the other side.”

“Not sure what I can do really, but I’ll do what I can,” he said and she headed towards the jungle.”

The tangle of plants and vines she had to work her way through told her she had been wise to stay in her close-fitting bikini rather than the loose khaki outfit she had kept in her backpack, though a run-in with a bramble bush had left it somewhat tattered by the time she made it to the far side of the cove. She approached carefully, trying to stay near brush or trees where perhaps a ward spell wouldn’t notice her.

She was in sight of the ship and the out-buildings when she felt a tingle and a klaxon began to blare.

“Damn. Well, it was bound to happen,” she thought. She considered her options, and put the gun back into the backpack which she stuffed under some brush. She certainly did not blend in here, with her yellow fur and white tattered bikini. She would be caught, undoubtedly. But as Geeus had said, the argonians were merely working for the altmer. Killing them would simply be wrong if she didn’t have to.

She saw a large contingent of argonians led by a few altmer coming her way from her right. In front was the dock and the ship. She began to run, her knife out. Those searching for her apparently didn’t see her as she left the jungle and ran towards the dock, but a large argonian blocked her path.

She slashed at it with her knife, hoping to scare it out of her way, but it didn’t budge. Instead it ran right at her and she dodged to the left, feeling a talon snag her top. Her inertia left no alternative. The bikini top snapped and she felt her right breast freed from the constraint.

“Well, modesty be damned, I’ve got a job to do,” she said to herself as she piled headlong into another argonian standing on the ramp to the ship. The argonian fell to the side into the water but Ra’Jirra continued on, fairly leaping down into the doorway.  

The interior of the ship was unfamiliar to her, but there was a clamor coming from the stern of the ship, so she headed towards the bow.  She saw only one argonian, a female who looked stunned to see a khajiit.

“Sorry snakeskin,” she said as she brought the hilt of the knife down hard just behind the base of the Argonian’s head.

She hoped she had applied the right amount of force and hadn’t killed her, but there was a fine line between the two. Plus, if she accomplished what she hoped to, it would make no difference.

She entered a room that narrowed from front to back and she knew she was near the nose of the ship. Many oddly shaped canisters lined the walls with two tubes projecting out towards her. The canisters had a profile that reminded her of the bullets for her gun, and the flat end of them bore the unmistakable glow of a soul gem.

There was magic here, but it didn’t take her long to realize what she was looking at. This was the weapon that had destroyed the ships. These things were some sort of projectile bomb.  The logical way to destroy the ship was here. If she could get one of these things to explode, they would doubtless destroy the others as well. The combined explosion would be catastrophic. Of course, she’d be in the middle of it.

She considered her death for a moment. She heard voices approaching, and stopped thinking about it. She unstrapped one of the canisters from the wall and picked it up. It was surprisingly light.

Two argonians approached her, one baring a wicked knife that dwarfed her own. She noticed the other one was rubbing the back of her neck. She felt a little good about that, though if what she planned would work, she would be gone in a moment along with everyone else on this ship.

“Back,” she said, lifting the canister over her head. “Or I’ll throw this thing with enough force to blow us all to the afterlife.” She had just a little hope that she could get the argonians off the ship before she tried it.

The argonian hesitated. Then an altmer came up and she knew she was out of time.

“IDIOT!” the altmer said, trying to get past the two argonians. “She can’t…”

And then Ra’Jirra threw the canister as hard as she could at another against the far wall.

It made quite a loud noise, but no explosion came.

“Ha!” the altmer said, though she had seen an instant of panic on his face. Then another argonian came up behind him as the first two backed away.

“Get her Pak-sha, before she does any real damage.”

The new argonian was large. Very large. She dropped her knife and held her hands up, but it didn’t stop him from coming. He grabbed her roughly and dragged her back out of the ship backwards, with an arm like iron wrapped around her middle. She felt like a sack of potatoes with a tail.

When they were close to the beach, Ra’Jirra hopped off the CATv3 and helped Geeus haul the craft out of sight into some high dune cattails. Then they let Geeus rest for some time before they walked over the dune behind it. The camp was visible just as they topped the dune and they ducked low into the tall grass there, watching the movement of the people in the camp.

“Do you think you would recognize her?” Ra’Jirra asked Geeus.

“Unless we see a female argonian dressed in nothing but ropes, Ra’Jirra, I wouldn’t,” Geeus said, trying not to embarrass her by pointing out the ridiculousness of the question.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry,” she said, then spotted something. “There. An altmer. See him?”

“I do. But I don’t know what good watching from here will do.”

“If we wait long enough, possibly their ship will come. But you’re right. I think you should circle back and go into the jungle, then come out from there.”

“Do you want me to enlist with them?”

Dar’Amon spoke up then. “I’ve got an idea. Tell them you’ll consider it, but not till after you’ve talked with her. That’ll give you an excuse for that long walk on the beach.”

“Good plan. Sound good Geeus?”

“As good as anything I had in mind. You wait here. It will take me awhile to get through the jungle.”

“We’ll be watching. Should anything happen, just signal with a wave. I’ve got a pretty fair equalizer at my hip. Don’t take any chances. You’re not paid for dangerous work.”

“You’re telling me!”

Geeus backed down from the dune and left in the direction of the jungle. A few minutes later they saw him emerge near the camp and begin talking with some other argonians. He was taken farther into the camp and entered a tent where the altmer had entered previously.

“I don’t like it, Dar,” Ra’Jirra said after he’d been inside for quite some time. “He couldn’t signal from in there.”

“Relax, Raj. He’s not a rookie. I don’t see any weapons on anyone down there. It doesn’t look dangerous to me.”

“I hope you’re right.”

An hour had passed and Ra’Jirra was getting restless when two argonians left the tent and she was relieved to see that Geeus was one of them. The two talked briefly and then Geeus left the way he had come. She watched closely, but no one had followed him.

He came up behind them as the sun began to set and they backed down to talk quietly, sitting in the sand.

“She’s not there, but she had been. She’s gone to the island.”

“Any problems?”

“No, not at all. They had quite a few questions to ask me to see if I was qualified. I don’t think they’re interested in me though. Sorry, I guess I’m not cut out to be a sailor. They would not send for her to come back and talk to me. But I think I convinced them that I’m just an old boyfriend who wanted to talk to her.”

“Good. But I guess we’ll have to remain here overnight. The CAT isn’t going to have enough power to reach the island till the morning I expect. Any wildlife we need to be worried about?”

“Not on the beach. Mosquitoes don’t bother me, and I assume they’re not a problem for khajiits.”

“Only if I’m naked. Well, no fires or anything that would call attention to us either. I suggest we just hang out near here, but let’s take turns watching the camp. Maybe something interesting will happen.”

The other two agreed and Dar’Amon took the first shift, while Ra’Jirra and Geeus made a very rough camp deep in the dune weeds.

An hour later, they heard Dar’s voice whisper. “Two of them left the camp and are walking up the beach towards us!”

“You think they know we’re here?”

“I don’t think so. Looks like they’re just out for a nighttime stroll.”

“Okay. Let’s just be quiet. Hopefully they won’t notice us.”

They heard the two talking in Jel in hushed tones, but Ra’Jirra couldn’t make out what they were saying. She looked at Geeus in the moonlight, but he shrugged. Dar’Amon had gone back to watching the camp.

The two passed by while they watched, crouched low and then she saw them take their clothes off and enter the ocean – one male, one female – and then she knew what they were up to. Ra’Jirra estimated the moonlit skinny-dip in the ocean must have taken an hour before they had gone silent. Then the unmistakable rhythmic slapping left no doubt what they were up to. Ra’Jirra looked at Geeus who covered his ears and she stifled a giggle.

Then finally silence returned, followed by a few splashes in the ocean and some wind-borne whispers and they came running back.

After they were well past, Geeus whispered, “she says they’re going to be late. Apparently something is happening at the camp shortly.”

“Let’s go see,” she said, and quietly crept back to where Dar’Amon waited.

“What happened?” he asked.

“Nothing. A couple of lovers,” Ra’Jirra explained. “But they said something about being late. Sounds like something’s going to happen at the camp.”

They turned back to look at the camp. Indeed, a line of argonians had formed loosely near the beach.

“Look!” Dar’Amon whispered.

“What? I don’t see anything,” Geeus asked.

“No,” Dar’Amon said, pointing towards the ocean beyond with his head. “Out to sea. Do you see it? A light!”

“I see it now. Hard to make out with the campfire. A ship?”

“Damn weird ship if it is. Notice how it flickers with the waves. It’s underwater!”

“What the hell?” Ra’Jirra said, squinting to try and make out what was causing the light.

“They’re taking off their clothes,” Geeus said.

Sure enough, every one of the argonians in the line were disrobing and stuffing their clothes into some sort of bag that the strapped around themselves. Then they began filing into the ocean one by one. When they were done, a few argonians stepped out of the water and into the camp where the ones that had stayed behind handed them towels.

“Different argonians. None of those that went in had the head-feathers that one does,” Geeus noted.

“Some sort of underwater shuttle to the island?”

“Maybe,” Dar’Amon said. “I want to see what that light does…”

Some 10 minutes later the light began to fade, then disappeared.

“Not just a shuttle,” Dar’Amon said. “Did you notice the light veered off to the left before it faded? Whatever caused the light turned. No one would bother with that if it was just a shuttle. They’d just leave the orientation the same and go backwards. Whatever it was, it is navigable.”

Ra’Jirra’s eyes grew wide. “An underwater ship!”

“That’s what I think,” Dar’Amon agreed.

“And it’s destroying the Hammerfell and Imperial ships when they pass near,” she went on to conjecture.

Dar’Amon nodded in the moonlight and Ra’Jirra looked up at Geeus.

“Geeus, I don’t think you can help us here any more. Can you work your way back to the city on your own?”

“I can. But I doubt you can do much good on your own. They must have a hundred argonians working for them, and who knows how many altmer with their magic.”

“We can do what we can do. But you don’t want to be involved in this. We’ve got to destroy that ship,” she said resolutely.

“You will kill argonians,” he said. It wasn’t a question, just a fact.

“Undoubtedly,” she said.

“Kill as few as possible. Remember, this is just a job to them. I have an idea. No promises, but I think I can raise a little army of my own. If I can, I’ll be back with help as soon as possible. Two days.”

“If you really think so, we could sure use the help,” Dar’Amon suggested.

“I think so. We don’t much like foreigners on our soil, as you know. That the altmer have taken the island is one thing, but when I explain what they’re using it for, the argonians will be ready to fight back. They do not want to become embroiled in an international incident. So far we’ve remained ‘out of sight – out of mind’ to the politics of other races. This would bring focus on Argonia that we do not want. Yes, we will fight for this. But Ra’Jirra, we will not look kindly on murdered argonians either. Please limit the bloodshed if you can. ”

“I can’t promise, Geeus. My orders are clear. But I’ll do the best I can.”

At that, Geeus stood up and the other two followed him back to the CATv3. He pulled on his backpack.

“Good luck Geeus,” Ra’Jirra said before he left, and he shook her hand.

“Sorry Geeus,” she said. “We khajiits are much more tactile than that,” and she hugged him strongly, which he returned after a moment.

“No hugs here, big guy,” said Dar’Amon. “But you have my best wishes.”

“And you mine, little cat,” Geeus said, bending down to pet Dar’Amon’s head, which the cat accepted with good grace. Then the argonian turned and started to jog down the beach towards the jungle.

“Going into the Black Marsh jungles at night,” Ra’Jirra thought aloud. “Probably pretty good odds he just dies by snake bite.”

“Well, this is their native land,” Dar’Amon said, watching the dark figure recede into the darker blackness of the jungle. I assume he knows what he’s doing.”

“I hope so too. Well, I guess there’s not much need to watch the camp anymore. As long as we stay out of sight of the beach, we should be good. But it’s getting cooler and that sea breeze isn’t helping.”

“Aw, are you going to put your regular clothes back on? I really like that bikini!”

“It’s wet. Now turn around,” Ra’Jirra commanded.

“Damn. I really screwed up when I told you that during your bath, didn’t I?” he said, obediently doing as she said while she changed.

“You could say you let the cat out of the bag.”

“Oooooo. Really?” Dar’Amon complained. “Did you have to go there?”

“All done,” she said as she closed the last button and set her bikini on the CATv3 to dry overnight.

She lay down beside the machine in the tall grass, and Dar’Amon snuggled up to her belly.

“Got any ideas how we’re going to destroy an underwater ship guarded by a hundred argonians, and who knows how many altmer wielding magic?” he asked.

She stroked the cat. “Not a clue. But you’re the smart one. I’m sure you’ll think of something overnight.”

“I’m already thinking of something,” he complained. “Though it’s not a plan for fighting. Damn Alfiq body anyway.”

“Now now, that won’t help you get to sleep,” she said and wrapped her other arm around him.

She felt his paws start to kneed her fur, and she began to sing a lullaby, quiet and low over the sound of the wind blowing over the tops of the tall grass above their heads. She looked at the stars overhead and Dar’Amon followed her lead.

“Every day could be your last,” she said. “Appreciate life while you have it because one day it will be your last.”

“Well that’s a comforting thought,” Dar’Amon said, craning his neck up to look at her. “What great philosopher said that?”

She looked back down at him. “My mother,” she said, and began the quiet tune again.

“I’m not a baby,” he said, though she noticed his voice had a bit of a sleepy quality to it.

“Hush,” she said with a smile. “Sleep now. We’ve got a long day ahead of us tomorrow.”