Waterstone

[Delaney Wilder]

[member="Delilah Keyes"]

Walk kept the chuckle in, because something told him the exaggerated reaction was born from something more.

Why?

Because she refused to take a single shot at the things moving around them. Instead he nuzzled her neck softly while giving soft kisses as the ship took them where they needed to go. Maybe Del wasn't in need of the distraction, but it was one of the few things he could do for her right now. Besides try to talk to her about it. Yeah, good one. If there was one thing that Walker had noticed from all their time together, it was that Del didn't enjoy being vulnerable.

In any way.

"Aye." Walker finally responded after giving a soft bite and then letting go of her, wandering over to one of the crates secured to the hull. "Ship's been powered down, so we will need to manually power up the hangar section." From the crates Walker revealed a diving suit- heavily padded and secured to withstand extreme forms of pressure. It even had a portable toilet.... but Walk wasn't gonna bring that up here and now. "I managed to salvage together a little power generator that should be compatible with the ship's wiring. So, I am gonna dive, manually power the outer hangar bay, hopefully the shields in that area are still operational."

That was the other reason that Walk had given her a crash-course in how to navigate the skiff. "Once I manage to jury-rig the shields, I will get the doors open and you can navigate the skiff inside." It would be her job to ensure they had a ride out.

 

[Delilah Keyes]

She'd been tense, not seriously so, but just enough for someone who was used to kissing her neck to definitely notice. Anyone looking at her would see the usual, relaxed and almost indolent Delilah, but Walk knew better.

"That sounds...... alarming."

Seriously Del?

Then she slumped her shoulders and rolled her eyes.

"That's why you wanted me to know the controls," she muttered.

Sighing, she turned around, hands on his upper arms and holding him there for a moment. She frowned at him, then shook her head. Pushing up slightly, she kissed him hard but quick before turning back around to the controls.

It was odd how differently the two of them viewed certain types of risk. Neither could really claim to be completely calculating or completely impulsive. Each was different about that in different ways. This? This seemed like an insane risk to Del, without having any idea of what the potential rewards could be. When Del took risks, she made sure there was a guaranteed pay out at the end. Didn't have to be money, but safety or information, something she could put a value on in the end.

This?

This was insane and she was trying, very hard, to not make a big deal out of it.

Because if she did? Well. She gritted her teeth and focused on the read outs.

Making a big deal out of it meant she cared. The fact that she did and Walk already kinda knew that was irrelevant.

[member="Walker Ducarte"]

 

[Delaney Wilder]

[member="Delilah Keyes"]

Instead of immediately slipping to check the gear he stayed there and held her before she could turn again.

"I wanted you to know the controls, because I thought you'd like it." Another hard kiss. "The fact that it makes everything easier at the same time? Just added benefit." One more and then he went for the gear. The skiff was an advanced piece of tech and he loved every single part of it. Made it more difficult to tinker on it, but the additional challenge was honestly welcome. It kept his experience up, kept him from getting rusty and his brain enjoyed the difficulty.

"Get us as close as possible, yeah?"

Already Walk was taking off his pants again, the rest was already on the floor after their play. Instead he started gearing up with the skin-suit and the diving equipment.

"Pretty sure I am rocking this skin-suit, whatcha think?" In retort he turned for her and bend over just a little bit for her to enjoy the show. He knew she was tense about all of this, knew that this wasn't exactly the way Del enjoyed doing things. But that was part of why they worked together well - both of them could let their personal hang-ups go, if it meant working together and being together.

 

[Delilah Keyes]

She chuckled, smirking and shaking her head.

"You'd fit right in with the Red Lily crowd," she teased. "I bet they'd loooooove to get a look at those particular assets."

Except, of course, that the Red Lily crowd was scary crazy. Del wouldn't kark any of them with a ten foot pole, let alone anything more intimate. Even Walk wasn't that crazy.

But it was good to joke and tease. It was a weapon and a shield, depending on what she needed in a particular moment. With Walk though, she rarely wielded it as a weapon. It was almost always a protection, a defense mechanism. Her words did not cut when she talked to him, not usually. But right now they certainly allowed her to retreat again.

"Careful with the ship, wouldn't want to have the whole thing collapse when you let the water rush in."

She paused, looking down to poke at something on the screen.

She was worried- that something would happen to him. And she'd regret it if something did and she'd left it with a joke.

"You be careful too. Okay?"

[member="Walker Ducarte"]

 

[Delaney Wilder]

[member="Delilah Keyes"]

Once the ship reached a safe distance and stopped in its tracks Walk hit a button.

In the middle of the ship a little hatch disengaged and slid into the hull. This revealed the ocean water underneath and would be the perfect access point for Walker to get out and swim. He was just about ready to put on the helmet when she got real. It was always concerning when Del did that and it always made Walk...

Anxious.

Whatever he liked to say or pretend their relationship had grown over the past few months into something. Something. Something else, something new, he couldn't put it into words.

"Gonna." Walk stepped on over to her, pulling her in tight against him and gave a kiss. A soft one, one that they didn't often share, but for the very quiet moments in the dark. Right before Del would retreat back into her shell, anyway. "It will be fine, I promise." A quick nuzzle against her nose, before she could say something witty, and he latched on the helmet, sealing it shut.

With his chin he engaged the comms that would connect him to the skiff.

"Testing... one, two. Awesome."

He winked at her and then slowly dropped down in the water. After a moment he was gone, some bubbling and then bright light of his suit fading slowly away, before leaving the surface in black ink.

 

[Delilah Keyes]

She managed to keep up the smirk she'd plastered on her face when he drew back from that soft kiss- at least until he was under water and then she frowned and muttered 'ugh'.

Del swept the ship's lights to where he needed them, one set following his movement so he could see where he was going and the other illuminating his target. She watched with no small amount of trepidation as he moved through the underwater landscape. She kept half of her attention on the sensors, making sure nothing large with too many arms came out from somewhere- fortunately, everything seemed quiet so far.

But the sound of the ship opening would be audible for kilometers under the water. She just hoped it didn't attract anything particularly nasty.

"How's it going out there," she hit the comm button a little bit after he reached the side of the ship. She couldn't see well enough to get an idea of how difficult he was doing actually was.

[member="Walker Ducarte"]

 

[Delaney Wilder]

[member="Delilah Keyes"]

He was focused on the journey, focused on the path ahead and making sure he didn't kark up. No matter how relaxed Walker had seemed back there, some of it had simply been for Del's benefit - she was already stressing the nether out and if she saw his anxiety? That probably wouldn't have helped her a lot to deal with this. The tension of the water pressed against his suit, the sheer darkness around him (his lights and even the lights of the skiff only carried so far, before the ink depth took over again), the steady sound of his own breathing dominating his ears.

Until her voice broke that breathing and Walk smiled.

Not that she could see. "Perfect." She would detect just a hint of tension this time. There was nothing besides a whole strata of h20 pressing down on you to make a man lose his acting skills.

"Little bit scared, if I am honest."

She wouldn't have received that admission, if Walk hadn't slipped just a moment ago, heart pounding hard in his chest and making him stress the feth out.

Calming down took a few minutes, just in time to reach the hull of the ship. They had arrived just at the right angle to hit the hangar bays. Finding the emergency maintenance shaft took some doing - what with the centuries of coral and other crap pressed tightly against the hull - but eventually he found the section of the hull.

"Found the maintenance shaft." Walk commented softly, while hands slowly cleaned the controls from the algae and other crap. "Might not be able to get a signal through once I am inside, this hull is thick, thicker than they made them these days. Might explain the integrity of the ship in the first place."

 

[Delilah Keyes]

She almost said 'well you never struck me as stupid,' but the tone in his voice stopped her. She couldn't hear the same echo of his breathing he could, but she didn't have to. Del bit her lower lip and nodded, even though he couldn't see it.

"You're doing great Walk. Not that much farther to the hull."

Instead she offered that. She didn't know what else to do.

She kept her attention on the sensors, but nothing there changed. What they were doing wasn't attracting any uncomfortable attention, which was a small comfort. Unless, of course, whatever it was was just wait and then-

Del closed her eyes, breathing in deeply and letting it out in a whoosh. This was ridiculous.

She was perfectly safe. Of course, that's not why she was nervous.

"Just be careful. I'll be ready with the skiff once you get the doors open, but if you can't com out to be, I won't be able to help you."

[member="Walker Ducarte"]

 

[Delaney Wilder]

[member="Delilah Keyes"]

It helped more than she knew.

"It will be fine." For some reason this time it sounded less as an assurance to her and more of an assurance to himself. The latch unfolded and the door gave way and allowed him entry. Water immediately rushed into the open space, but that was expected. He entered the airlock and was trying to see something recognizable, a panel, a latch, some kind of passage, until he saw another access panel above him. Lucky enough there was water everywhere now and he didn't need a ladder to get to it.

Instead he tried to shut the door again.

Difficult because of the pressure, but at least the differential was minimal with his side almost full as well. "See you on the other side... partner." The door latched close and would cut off any further transmissions for now. Instead Walker swam up, towards the hatch. Hopefully there would be a panel or something else that he could manipulate.

Otherwise this was going to be a very short and uninteresting trip.

 

[Delilah Keyes]

She was silent for a moment after he cut out and then-

"GODSDAMNITWALK!"

She blinked down at the controls, the marker for an active comm link dark.

Del didn't remember when she'd called him that at the Baron's apartment. She had been distracted, answering without thought, and it had left her mind again almost immediately. So this just seemed to come out of no where- and it wasn't the word, itself, perse, but the way he'd said it that mattered. And how. Gorram it, right before his comm cut off and he disappeared into a maybe pirate ship that had been sunk beneath the waves since before the Gulag karking plague. They were both nervous, on edge, and Del was genuinely concerned that he wouldn't come back out and she'd have no way to go in after him.

And then he drops that.

The dark haired woman paced back and forth, attention never far from the controls. A minute passed, then another.

"Come on Walk, don't do this to me."

Eight minutes later, the motion sensor pinged and she hurried over, expecting something welling up from the deep-

But it was the hangar doors opening. She let out a long, low sigh of relief.

"Walk, you read?"

She waited until the water had equalized, the pull no longer hard on the smaller skiff before carefully maneuvering it through the doors.

[member="Walker Ducarte"]

 

[Delaney Wilder]

[member="Delilah Keyes"]

The maintenance shaft was tight, but at least there was no water here.

If it had reached the wiring they would have been in a world of hurt once he turned everything on. From the looks of it most of it was intact and functional for the moment, that didn't mean everything was, he didn't have a scanner available to him here. Didn't matter right now, all that mattered was getting the systems functional.

Functional enough to actually give them a chance to get inside.

* * *​

​

Ten minutes later the hangar doors groaned open.

Water flooded in, but Walker had made sure that no essential systems were actually online in that area. Once the skiff was inside, he engaged the hangar doors again and they slowly but surely started to close again. "Am here, Del, told you everything would be fine." The edge was gone now that he was in control again.

Sort of in control.

"Guide the skiff to the bottom of the hangar, gonna initiate venting procedures in a second. That will make sure there ain't no water there once you step out."

Once she did the water started to be pulled away by the vents.

This was probably not a thing they could do over and over again, they weren't made for this after all, but maybe two or three times before the filters were shredded to hell and back. Walk left the control panel and finally stepped foot in the hangar. Everything was still dripping, wet, icky, but at least they could breathe now that he had engaged the life-support systems.

"Hey."

 

[Delilah Keyes]

Stepping down out of the skiff, she headed toward him. Her face was masked off, unreable as she approached.

The 'hey' was barely out of his mouth before she was grabbing him and kissing him hard. The emotions behind it were mixed and confusing, but somewhere there was the fear and anger she'd been stewing with the whole time he'd been comm silent.

"Don't you ever do that again," she whispered tight against his mouth, her hands gripping the suit he was still wearing. She didn't give a chit that everything in here was wet and gross, didn't care that, frankly, he was too.

"Don't say something you think is important then walk off into something I don't know if you're coming back from."

She was actually shaking. Too many emotions, too many she didn't even want to put a name to, let alone admit they existed at all.

[member="Walker Ducarte"]

 

[Delaney Wilder]

[member="Delilah Keyes"]

His expression was unreadable for a moment.

Then he pulled her back in, sticky wet arms wrapping around her and hugging her tight. They didn't do this often, but right now Walker didn't really give a damn about that. Lips on her hair, kissing softly, before brushing down and nuzzling her cheek. "I am sorry, I chickened out when you called me that and..." Walk frowned, before kissing her gently on her lips, the line of her jaw up, her neck and ending by her ear. "Wasn't sure what would happen there and wanted you to know."

Walk was expecting her to pull back.

Make some kind of joke, a diversion away from the tender moment of weakness. This wasn't her scene, wasn't the way she enjoyed operating with... anyone, really.

But at least there was this little moment for them... for him.

 

[Delilah Keyes]

And she did pull back, a flicker of surprise masked almost immediately again.

When had she-

The Baron's apartment.

Internally she groaned. She hadn't been paying attention. It had slipped out and she hadn't even noticed it. The fact that she meant it? Irrelevant. Because now here they were and it had been enough to make her admit that she'd been scared, damn it, even if she hadn't used those words.

"Well, don't chicken out if we find your pirate queen, or whatever she is," she said with a laugh that was just a touch too forced to fool him. She still didn't think this was the ship, but the joke came easily.

"Any idea what the ship is called yet? Or do we need to find the bridge? I don't know how anything on a ship this old actually works."

She stepped back, focusing her attention on the hangar instead of on him for a minute. Get back her equilibrium.

[member="Walker Ducarte"]

 

[Delaney Wilder]

[member="Delilah Keyes"]

Lips curled up in amusement at the display but he let it go.

"Difficult to say." He responded after a shrug and turning around to study the hangar bay. There were half a dozen other small fighters here. Most of them wrecked, all of them on their sides, because they didn't have a pilot guiding them like the skiff when the water levels started to fall. "The panel was glitched, couldn't get a good name out of it." But that was probably also because this was a pirate ship and they employed fake names on the daily.

Wouldn't be surprised if the faker had just been karked to hell after centuries of disuse. "Started with a S, C and ended with a T." He would turn around and there would be a smug smile now. What were the chances that a different ship starting and ending with those letters would just be resting here out of all places, just where the stories said it would be.

He brushed past her, slapping her ass on the way out and climbed back into the skiff. There he started to pull off the wet suit and climb back into something more... appropriate.

"Take a flashlight with you, also got a blaster... never know what security system might still be active."

 

[Delilah Keyes]

S. C. T.

It was one of the few things the legends agreed on. All of the ships in the pirate queen's fleet had started with some iteration of the word 'red'. Crimson. Blood. Cardinal. Ruby. Vermillion.

Scarlet.

She blinked at him.

What were the chances that he'd actually found the karking thing? It seemed astronomical, and yet....

She pointed at her own blaster, strapped to her thigh, and the two headed into the ship. She didn't answer him because, honestly, she didn't have an answer for him.

Once they headed up a deck, the morass left over from the influx of water was left behind and they didn't have to move as carefully as they had been. No use slipping and ending up arse over tea kettle on the durasteel deck. The ship was dark, low, red emergency lights the only thing indicating that some power was still trickling through the ship. Just enough to keep the air stale and thin, but breathable.

Why?

Why would they do something like that?

She frowned, taking point as they came up to an intersection. Reaching over, she rubbed a hand over a wall panel, slick with condensation. Time and humidity had made it unreadable.

"I am honestly surprised we haven't come across any... well... surprises yet," she muttered, ill at ease.

Purely because of the fact that they were on a ghost ship, hundreds of meters beneath the ocean. Nothing to do with earlier. Nothing at all.

Nope.

[member="Walker Ducarte"]

 

[Delaney Wilder]

[member="Delilah Keyes"]

Walk was less concerned about the why, because it seemed... obvious to him. This, all of this, was a large mausoleum dedicated towards the memory of one of the fiercest and most fearsome pirates the Galaxy had ever known. It was a grave, a memorial and hopefully it was also the spot where her treasure was buried with her.

"You just gottaaaa jinx it, dontcha." Walk mumbled as he raised his own blaster, while covering her six and looking out past the corridor.

The intersection was lit up by the light coming from the flashlight under the gun.

Two corridors snaking away into the dark, turning into corners and obscuring their end point, the one in front of them ending in a set of doors. Took a good moment before Walk realized they were a pair of lifts that went through the entirety of the ship.

"Wonder if I can get those to work." He mumbled before walking on over. "Keep an eye out, gonna see if there is any damage"

If he wasn't able to fix it, Walk could probably at least get the doors open. Then they could climb up.

Yay.

 

[Delilah Keyes]

"If something shows up, guns blazing or beeping out an electronic version of 'arrrr' that's not a jinx, Walk," Del muttered, looking uncomfortably over her shoulder. "Can't jinx something that would have been here for five hundred years already."

While it was convenient that the ship had power, it also meant that anything else left behind on the ship to deter grave robbers (let's be real here, that's exactly what they were if the legends about this ship were true) would as well.

If it has been her, she definitely would have left behind some 'surprises' for anyone too nosy not to know better.

She took up a position in the middle of the hallway, checking over her shoulder at him occasionally, but mostly focused on the empty corridors. Frankly alarmingly empty corridors. The fact that nothing was showing up yet made her even more nervous. Like watching a horror holo, she knew in her gut that there was something waiting behind that corner, or this one. Waiting to jump out of that door way. So when nothing of the sort happened, it didn't put her more at ease.

Just the opposite.

[member="Walker Ducarte"]

 

[Delaney Wilder]

[member="Delilah Keyes"]

"Gotta have more faith, Dells." He mumbled softly as practiced fingers pulled open the cover of the wiring and started studying the inside with some assistance of his light. For the most part it seemed completely fine- nothing broken, no water damage or anything else that suggested the internal electronics were shot or fried.

Might mean they were in luck.

Again.

"Looks like the wiring is fine, I can re-route the power and get us access to the elevator." Which meant they wouldn't need to descend or ascend the entire height of the destroyer while they were exploring. Which... he hadn't been looking forward to. That were a whole feth ton of stairs or ladders anyway.

"Should go on in.... now."

He was still busy sorting out the wiring though, make sure that he hadn't missed anything and that if there were any internal defenses like turrets or something, that they hadn't just been turned on accidentally.

"You see any green lights or anything?"