Yellow slitted eyes opened groggily. What had she been doing again? Right… The radio station, the rescue, the fire...So much fire and smoke, and then red eyes in the darkness that sent shivers down the mare’s spine. Hold on, no, the red eyes belonged to one of the good guys. All that stuff was still hazy and her having just woken up wasn’t helping.

Her sensitive ears twitched and the fog on her mind dropped enough that she stopped to look around herself. Someone had removed her headphones, and they now lay next to her aviators on a nightstand by the single person bed she was in. It looked like the sailors had put her in a cabin on their ship. There were noises all around she could pick up easily: whirring from the A/C, rumbling from the generators and all other kinds of machinery that made out a ship like Amandine; she could even pick out movement and voices just beyond the door of her cabin.

The place was decently sized, if bare. The cabin was a narrow rectangular room with a single person bed placed just under a porthole which had its blinds pulled down. Light streaming from behind them told her the sun had already risen. The walls were left white and undecorated except for emergency instructions and an evacuation plan hanging on the wall by the entrance. Sandra took note that the cabin had many cabinets and closets recessed in the wall on one side, and a door labeled ‘bathroom’ on the other. She also had a desk to go with the nightstand, next to which she could see a couple power outlets and an Ethernet connector.

Next to the entrance, a couple hooks had been put on the wall with a shoe rack just below. An inflatable life jacket was hanging from one such hook, and her bag from another. On the opposite wall, an interphone had been installed at mid height… for a human. To her, it was a bit tall, but not unreachable if she propped herself on the wall with her forehooves and used her wings to pick up the handset.

The dark purple batpony slowly shook her head and got up from the bed. The sailors had fitted it with a set of white sheets and a wool blanket before leaving her here. Not uncomfortable, but there was room for improvement.

Sandra hopped off the bed, landing softly on the carpet that covered the cabin’s floor. A short sniff told her that her fur reeked of smoke from the fire at the radio station… but a rumbling in her belly told her a shower could wait. Surviving for a couple days on only a few cans of food had left her quite famished. She flexed her wings and used them to grab her headphones which immediately went to cover her ears, the loud noises of the ship’s activity dulling down to a more tolerable level. It kept surprising her how flexible the appendages actually were. She remembered once reading about bats having flexible bones in their wings, but this was a whole new level of agility. Granted, the webbed wings didn’t hold up to actual hands, but they could act like large hands in a pinch. The aviators stayed on the nightstand; the mare’s focus having turned to a note left on the desk instead.

‘Miss Jensen,

Welcome to M/V Amandine

For your comfort, we left some soap and towels in the wardrobe. We assume you didn’t get much chance for hygiene while stuck in your radio station.

You are free to take your time to rest, but be aware that the Captain wishes to have a word with you once you are settled. Ask any nearby sailor to be led to his office when you feel ready. Please try to visit him before 14.00 or you will have to wait until he gets back from the Rhine Forest.

Food is available in the cafeteria. The Chief Cook has been warned that you may not wake up on time for breakfast (07.30 to 08.30) so that he would leave something in the pantry for you. You only need to ask in the kitchen for that.

We have noticed you didn’t have any clothing on when you were rescued. For safety and decency reasons it is compulsory to wear something on board. Sri (the hippogriff you should have already met) can help you with refitting one of our extra sets of coveralls. In your case, hoofed creatures don’t need to wear safety shoes but please do make use of a band to keep your mane hair from snagging on machinery.

Yours truly,

Georgio ‘Nala’ Farkas,

Chief Steward’

Simple enough then, Sandra thought, her eyes drifting towards the wardrobe in question. Go get some food, find Sri to get clothed and then she would go back to the cabin to get ready for her talk with the Captain. Simple enough.

While the Danish radio operator was waking up in her cabin, a group of three sailors was slowly exploring the direct area around the two ships in one of their Land Rovers. The Captain had been quick to send them out in the morning in order to secure a perimeter around the quays. With the sheer amount of wood hounds they had found around the station, further precautions needed to be taken as soon as possible.

Inside the Land Rover, Nikola was behind the wheel, the Bulgarian gargoyle having recovered enough to finally get back to work more or less normally. His ribs still ached a bit and he would have to wait a few days more before the stitches on his muzzle could be finally removed, but he felt good enough to do a bit of recon. By his side in the passenger seat was Aleksei, his superior busy looking at a map of the area.

“So what was the idea again?” Thanasis asked from the rear. They had taken a Defender 90 for that little mission, the fact that it didn’t have seats in the back not bothering the sphinx in the slightest. His new body was a poor fit for car seats, and they were driving slowly anyway.

“ISPS regulations from before the incident stipulate the terminal should be fenced off from the rest of the city.” Aleksei explained as the little 4x4 swerved around a container crane and drove past the Rhine Forest which still had her gangway raised at that hour. “It would be much simpler if we could just use the terminal’s checkpoints instead of making a barricade ourselves…”

“… Except we don’t know in which state the fence is.” Nikola continued. “Or if there is only one checkpoint for that matter.”

“But why would there be more? Isn’t that unnecessary?” The sphinx asked, one ear twitching in confusion.

“Most of the time yes, but some terminals use multiple: one for inbound vehicles, another for outbound. Something about streamlining the process or whatever.” Aleksei said. “What actually matters is that if there is more than one we will need to deploy more surveillance teams and figure out where they put the CCTV controls.”

“For the Captain’s research?” Nikola asked, downshifting one gear to keep the vehicle at a slow pace. Rhine Forest and Amandine were now behind them, with the rest of the terminal ahead.

“That too, but it comes second to knowing if we have something to keep an eye on the perimeter without sending out patrols or having a tall lookout. Cameras would make all that work easier.”

“A tall lookout?”

The light green hippogriff pointed a talon towards one of the container cranes. The structures towered above both ships in the harbor. They all had a platform with a railing just above their cabins, next to the counterweights.

“Sniper on overwatch basically.” She explained.

“Because we have a sniper?” Thanasis asked.

“Micha would be one… sorta. But the shooting part isn’t necessary, just someone with binos to point out breaches.” She shrugged.

Their 4x4 eventually reached the edge of the fence… which in all honesty wasn’t that tall. A mere two meters of chain link fence topped with razor wire kept unwanted folks from accessing the terminal. There was an extension against the edge of the quay that kept people from climbing around it as the only further protection, but on the bright side tall posts had been planted at regular intervals, each capped with a camera on a swivel.

Aleksei took note of it all, tracing the path of the fence on her map with a pencil. Nikola steered them to follow the fence around the terminal, driving his Defender at a reduced pace.

“By the way Aleksei, I’m curious about what you guys saw on Rhine Forest.” Thanasis said to break the silence.

“Well… she’s an interesting ship for sure. Not a common type at all, that much I can tell you and that includes her propulsion systems.”

“True as it may be, that’s not what I meant.” Thanasis said with a shake of his head, making his dark red mane rustle. “The crew’s what we all want to know. In fact we’ve barely seen any of them come out since their line handlers went back inside.”

“They do have a few interesting species on board.” Aleksei conceded. “And gender change is as much of a problem to them as it is to us.”

“Interesting species?” Nikola said. “That’s just teasing now. Can’t you just tell us outright what those species are?”

“Some are like us. One of their bosuns is a gargoyle.” She said. “Then there are the more original species like the centaurs.”

“For real? As in, half-horse half-men?” Thanasis asked.

“Yeah, but they got red skin for some reason.” Aleksei said with a click of her beak. The Defender rounded a corner of the fence, revealing a parking space for the terminal’s straddle carriers, the tall vehicles the stevedores used to drive to move containers around. “Then there was some sort of black anthropomorphic hedgehog that their nurse turned into.”

“Wait, nurse? As in, an actual nurse?” Nikola asked, almost stopping the Defender.

“Yeah, a trained nurse to go with their doctor. A real one, not an Officer with a medical certification like Vadim. Turns out helping those guys might have been an even better idea than we first thought. But that’s not the last of it…” Aleksei said with a smirk on her beak. She let tension build up for a second or two before finally spitting it out. “Female minotaur.” She told in a low voice.

“Shit you’re serious?” Thanasis said, only for the hippogriff to shake her head. “What did she look like?”

“Well, he would be more polite. It was one of their barge pilots, a Greek guy. But the result…” She whistled. “A motherfucking Amazon that’s what. Muscles like you’ve never seen, and tits to make a Russian bride look like a surfboard. Lemme tell you, the guy looked pissed.” She chuckled.

“I can imagine.” Thanasis said with raised eyebrows.

“But that’s not the best part. Hold on to your seats, you guys know how most of us seem to have uh… what’s the word? De-aged a bit if you catch my drift?”

“Well duh.” Thanasis said. “I’m supposed to be forty-seven and you Niko that was… forty-eight?”

“Six actually, but yeah, I feel pretty fucking far from that.” The gargoyle said, one hand brushing through his black mane. The Bulgarian had had it styled in a short cut on the sides, but still kept it rather long otherwise. “Even got some hair on my head again for that matter. Govno, I haven’t had any in ten years.”

“Their Captain, he got the whole nine yards with the change. Gender? Guy’s now a gal. Age? Bam, teenaged anew because of the fur-pocalypse. Species? Tiny pink unicorn. The best part? Imagine a creature like that talking with a German accent and a tangible hint of suppressed anger.” Aleksei told with a mirthful gleam in her eyes.

That had Thanasis choking down a laugh.

“The poor guy.” Nikola said in fake concern. It was pretty clear by the small smile on his muzzle and the tone of his voice he was trying not to break his façade.

Their discussion was cut short by their discovery of the first checkpoint of the terminal. A set of gates next to a glass building marked the first access point. The trio was quick to dismount their vehicles and go explore the building.

The inside revealed nothing particular: the place might have been modern and clean before the Event struck, but now it was clearly starting to suffer from disuse with dust building up in places, and humidity in others. Damage to the electrical installation was minimal, allowing them to easily access the camera grid and remotely close the gates. Aleksei added the location on his map and they left once they were sure the gates were locked.

Someone would have to come back later to set up the defenses and extract the CCTV footage from the Event so that their research could progress, but this wasn’t their role at the moment (and they didn’t have anything to store the data anyway). The group piled back inside their Land Rover and continued on their way through the terminal. Their earlier hunch of a secondary access eventually turned out to be right, with an outbound checkpoint installed on a bridge within the facilities. The access being situated on a bridge and on a less exposed flank meant they wouldn’t have to put as many sailors on watch there, but Aleksei didn’t dare think how bad things could have turned out had they not located it.

The trio eventually got back to the ship, their quick recon done. Just before they reached the ramp, Aleksei and Thanasis both got off to leave parking the Defender to Nikola. The sphinx and hippogriff started walking up the side of the wide ramp at the exact same moment a Unimog from another recon team chose to exit the ship. Its driver, not having seen Nikola’s 4x4 in time, swerved to avoid the smaller vehicle, almost crushing the two sailors that were on the side of the ramp. Thanasis managed to jump back and neatly dodge the truck, but Aleksei got clipped in the head by the truck’s mirror, sending the Latvian tumbling off the ramp and down in the water.

Every activity by the ramp stopped abruptly as echoing cries of ‘Man overboard!’ resonated around the car deck. A blue flash of light went off as Aleksei’s body hit the water before disappearing under the surface. Once the truck was out of the way, Thanasis rushed over to the side of the ramp in hopes of catching his superior with his telekinesis, only to stare in dismay at the disturbed surface of the water. Someone immediately reached for a radio to warn the bridge of the incident and more sailors streamed out of the ramp to look for their fallen shipmate.

Down in the water, Aleksei was having a… unique experience to say the least. The moment she had hit the water she felt a buzzing of sorts build up in her chest suddenly, accompanied by a freezing sensation in the back of her mind and down her spine. She instinctively willed the sensation to go away and then, to her utter surprise, a blue flash of light appeared, a popping sound resounding inside her mind as she sank deeper. The oppressive feeling of not being able to breathe in the water went away all of a sudden, along with the feeling of the water pressing down on her and the murkiness that came with looking through the water.

Weirder even, was how she suddenly lost all sensation in her talons and how… odd her rear hooves were feeling. The sinking hippogriff passed the ship’s propellers and rudders on the way down, the enormous steel structure still spotless from its last coat of red antifouling paint. She knew she should have felt pressure build up in her ears as she went deeper like that, but that wasn’t the case. She could see clearly, she could breathe, she felt… fine.

Aleksei was finally shaken from her confusion when she hit the seabed below the ship, her landing kicking up a small cloud of sand. Looking around, she could see the tall dark wall of the quay by her side, covered in mussels and algae. The seabed around her was made of rippling sand, with bits of oysters-covered rocks and sea grass breaking up its continuity. Above her, Amandine and her extended ramp cast a huge shadow over the seabed, the sound of her generators creating a constant droning noise. A school of fish swam across her field of vision, the silver skinned creatures completely ignoring the sailor that was laying on the seabed an arm’s length away from them.

Amandine’s Third Engineer stopped all that staring and finally wondered why in Hell she wasn’t drowning at the moment. She looked down at her unresponsive talons; and then did a double-take. Instead of the usual avian appendages she had slowly gotten accustomed to during the last few weeks; she was met with a translucent membrane where her talons used to be. The membrane was a shade darker than the light green feathers that covered her ‘arms’. She still had a ‘wrist’ to speak of, which connected to the membrane, but the usual feathers of her avian half had been replaced with some kind of streamlined, waterproof fur that wouldn’t look out of place on a sea lion.

Bringing the fin closer to her face for inspection made her realize something else: she couldn’t see her beak anymore. The hard mandibles that had appeared overnight in the middle of her face had now been replaced with an equine muzzle that reminded her of Bart’s. But the muzzle wasn’t even the most bizarre: her orange coveralls had completely disappeared after that sudden transformation, leaving her in her birthday suit and able to gape wide-eyed at the most significant of all changes: her hooves were gone! In their stead was a large muscular tail that ended in a white set of fins not unlike those on her arms. Coupled with those were the nearly-transparent fins that seemed to have replaced her wings; the sight of which left the Latvian gaping at the changes in shock.

Echoes of voices coming from above the surface brought her staring to a halt. Right, she had just fallen overboard and had been underwater for a couple minutes now. That ought to leave any of her shipmates alarmed. The hippogriff (or whatever she now was anyway) shook her head forcefully, getting a glance at the fin-like membrane that had replaced the mane-crest of feathers on her head in passing. Now to get to the surface…

Having no idea on how to properly use her tail and wing fins yet, Aleksei settled for just using her arms to swim upwards. The motion felt natural and she quickly gained speed through the water, her smooth fur providing little resistance against the water. She had sunk quite deep beneath the docks, but the simple motion of a breaststroke using only her arms was enough to propel her quite fast despite her tail and wings trailing limply behind her. In a matter of seconds, she broke the surface of the water and discovered that despite her seeming ability to breathe underwater she could still breathe regular air just fine.

Surprised gasps and cries were heard the moment she surfaced, a couple sailors turning to point towards her. She saw Thanasis peer over the railing of the ramp and stare down at her with a surprised look on the sphinx’s features.

“Aleksei?!” The Greek sphinx called out. “Is that you?” What he saw was a creature with a color palette identical to that of his hippogriff superior, but its physical features didn’t match at all. That and the mermaid-esque creature was naked.

“Jā, it’s me.” Aleksei answered with a hint of hesitation in her voice.

“Man we thought you were dead!” Thanasis commented. “You were down there for like three minutes! What happened?”

More sailors were coming. She could see Vadim come closer to the railing, a first-aid kit and thermal blanket ready to help any potential victim, and next to him was Alejandro. The Chief Officer wasn’t looking too pleased at the moment, in no small part thanks to the fact that had she not transformed into… some kind of equine little mermaid, she would likely have drowned.

“I turned into a freakin’ mermaid that’s what happened.” She said, pulling her tail out of the water to show it. “Can breathe underwater too it seems, but no idea how or why.”

“That flash of light?” Thanasis asked.

“Was me… probably.” Aleksei said looking up at the sailors gathered on the side of the ramp. “The moment I hit the water there was this… sajūta.” She scrunched her muzzle. “Hard to describe really, but when I wished for relief I just changed into that shape.” She hefted up a finned arm for the others to see. “Lost my claws in the process. Shame, I was barely starting to get used to them.”

It was a testament to how quickly the crew had gotten used to that kind of weird event occurring that they weren’t even that surprised at the sight of their Third Engineer turning into an equine mermaid. Alejandro quickly ordered someone to fetch a line and a sling to get Aleksei out of the water before storming off towards the bridge, fuming. That reaction time to what should be considered an emergency had been way too long and there was no way that could have flown before the Event.

No reason to let it fly now either then, the parrot thought on his way up the stairs. It was high time to plan some extra training for the crew before their own complacency got someone killed.

Back next to the ramp, a couple sailors threw the sling down in the water which Aleksei tucked under her armpits. The fins on her arms made for a much worse alternative to talons so it took her a minute to properly grab the rope before they finally hoisted her out of the water. Vadim’s feathery brows rose as the rest of her aquatic body came in full view. Her overall size put her slightly above the harbor seals they frequently saw around the North Sea, though her light green fur and numerous white translucent fins made it impossible to mistake the two.

The odd part was: where were her coveralls? And all the gear she was carrying with that? The flak jacket, rifle, walkie-talkie, all that she had left with to go on recon earlier had mysteriously disappeared without a trace. Thanasis helped her up the side of the railing using a nudge of telekinesis, Aleksei flopping down on her side next to the edge of the ramp.

“Do you require medical assistance?” Vadim asked, quietly coming up next to the hippogriff with his medical gear on his back. “Just asking eh, I know it’s almost summer but the water isn’t that warm yet.”

“It’s fine, thanks.” Aleksei declined the help before staring down at her long tail. “That, however, definitely isn’t.”

“Can’t you just… you know, turn back?” Thanasis said, garnering nods from the surrounding sailors that had gathered onto the ramp.

Aleksei was about to answer that she had no clue how before closing her mouth (and having a mouth instead of a beak again felt weird). Maybe she could at least give it a try. She closed her eyes and concentrated on replicating the feeling that had preceded the change. The buzzing in her chest, the freezing in her spine, and there was this one thing on the edge of her mind she could swear had not been there earlier. She tried to ‘grasp’ that… energy of sorts with all of her focus. The moment she reached for it with her mind, she knew she had hit her goal as gasps were heard around her. Through her closed eyelids she spied another flash of light, and then she was a hippogriff again.

A thoroughly drenched hippogriff clad in a wet set of coveralls.

“How’d you do that?” Vadim and Thanasis asked her at the same time, both the sphinx and the griffon’s wings rising up in surprise.

“There was this thing… a sort of feeling in my spine, I think…” Aleksei started. “… I just willed to grasp it and then ‘bam’.” She said with a wave of her talons. “Hippogriff again.”

Thanasis seemed to have a bit of an understanding of the occurrence that Vadim obviously lacked, the griffon leveling a dubious stare at his colleague. He shook his head before ordering everyone around to just get on with it. Most of the sailors working in the area had stopped to gape at Aleksei’s transformation and mysterious reappearance of her gear. Enough delays had been built up already, the terminal needed to be secured ASAP otherwise they wouldn’t be able to carry out their work safely. As for Thanasis and Aleksei, both headed for the ship’s office to communicate the result of their earlier recon.

A dark purple thestral mare slowly made her way up the stairs with a hippogriff following close behind. Sandra had taken the time to get ready for her meeting with the Captain, she was fed, clean, and now clothed thanks to Farkas already having prepared a new set of coveralls just for her. Sri had even helped her by making holes in the back of the coveralls for her wings which she very much needed as makeshift hands. The hippogriff had been rather helpful despite supposedly being on light duty thanks to an injury received during her rescue. What surprised her even more was when the hippogriff corrected her and told her that ‘she’ was actually a ‘he’. Gender changes were actually even more widespread that she had first thought, though the hippogriff didn’t seem that offended by the mistake.

“Captain’s office is just behind that door.” Sri said pointing a talon towards Sandra’s destination. “You ready for that?” He asked her.

“Yeah… I am.” Sandra nodded, pulling the headphones off her ears and slowly trotting over to the door. They were pretty much a necessity for someone with sensitive ears like hers unless she wanted to hear every single bit of radio chatter (the sole fact she could hear it still puzzling her), engine noise and footsteps around the ship. “Mister Sri?” She asked tentatively to the hippogriff before he could go back down the stairs. “Could you come with me for the meeting, please?”

The hippogriff quirked his head at the request but didn’t otherwise object. The Danish mare… well, while she wasn’t exactly clingy she seemed particularly intent on sticking close to her rescuer. Not that odd, but he would have to get her to meet someone else eventually. He nodded.

Inside the Office, Dilip was standing facing the window with Alejandro behind him, the Spaniard busy giving some explanation about a ‘mermare’ incident and lackluster emergency training, with the Captain nodding in acknowledgment from time to time.

“Three bloody minutes Dilip!” Alejandro cried out. “If that’s how long it takes us to react to a man overboard situation how bad are our prospects in case of fire then?” The parrot said.

“Pretty poor I agree.” Dilip admitted, his eyes drifting towards a small warehouse within the boundaries of the terminal. “Here’s my suggestion: Artyom was already planning to set up a kill house for combat training. We got plenty of smoke grenades in storage, so go ask him to set up the house so you can do firefighting training as well. Once you’re satisfied with the performances, then we can move on to a full-blown exercise on board.”

“Will do. And that ‘mermare’ thing?”

Dilip turned around, spotting Sandra and Sri waiting in the back of the office.

“I suppose we will have to figure out if that’s something that concerns all hippogriffs at some point. But…” The pariah dog smiled, his gaze focusing on Sri. “…We might just have gained a couple divers on our crew.”

Alejandro almost protested to his superior’s seemingly casual dismissal of the matter before clicking his beak in annoyance. Whatever, he had some training to plan. The hyacinth macaw gave the Captain a sharp nod before walking away, giving Sandra a curious glance as he went past her. The Captain went back to his desk, motioning with one cream-furred paw toward the seats in front of it.

“Take a seat please. I’m happy to finally get to see you Miss Jensen, I heard you were injured?”

“Nothing actually serious sir. Just a minor cut I got on some glass shards.” Sandra said, lifting up a bandaged hoof for emphasis before hopping on the offered seat and sitting down on her haunches. “If anything, Sri here got much worse off rescuing me.” She said, motioning to the hippogriff next to her with her webbed wing.

“Ah yes. Back injury?” Dilip asked, earning a nod from Sri. “Do keep to light duty Sri, folks like you are very much needed on board.” He turned back towards Sandra. “I trust you were treated well up until now?”

“Of course Captain, my thanks to all your crew for helping me out.” She paused. “But I can’t help but wonder…”

“What’s gonna happen to you?” Dilip guessed.

“Yes…” She said; her cheerfulness almost immediately disappearing as her thoughts drifted to how everyone had disappeared.

“Miss, you are a certified radio operator, correct?” Dilip asked.

“Uh yes, of course. Certifications, and I even have a bachelor’s degree to go with that tech. But…”

“You’re young, new to the job?”

“Only a couple months of experience.” She admitted. “This was my first job you see…” She added with a small shrug of her wings.

“Nevertheless this does give me a justification to… hire you, so to speak. We wouldn’t abandon anyone out alone in a city where monsters have been found now, would we Sri?”

“Of course not, sir.” The ivory-colored hippogriff answered automatically.

“That being said, I like people I accept on board to be of use to the workings of this vessel. My willingness to lend assistance only goes so far you see. Amandine isn’t exactly running a charity.” Dilip explained. “But if you can be of some use? Then consider yourself welcome.” The Captain said, raising his arms in a welcoming gesture. “So what do you say?”

“I uh… of course I’d rather stay with a group than be alone.” Sandra said. “Now… I don’t have much with me.” She said, scratching the back of her head with a wing, ears low.

“Do you live far from here?”

“Downtown Copenhagen.” The mare said. “My houseboat was in Christianshavn.”

“Then it’s highly likely we can send a team to retrieve anything you wish from there.” The Captain reassured her. “Probably not today since we’re still busy securing the terminal, but we should be able to do it this week.” He then extended a paw towards her. “So, Miss Jensen, shall you join my crew?”

Sandra looked at the offered paw for only a second before reaching for it with a hoof. The Captain gave the hoof a firm shake before leaning back in his seat.

“Welcome to M/V Amandine then! I should have a proper contract for you by tomorrow.”

Soon after his meeting with Sandra, Dilip was seen leaving Amandine and heading for the Rhine Forest with Boris and Rahul in tow. Now that security teams had been dispatched to secure the checkpoints around the terminal, the trio could afford going unarmed, which would help not threatening their potential new allies. As he walked on, the Captain brushed a speck of dust off of his epaulettes, making sure his uniform was spotless. The Indian was still clad in his usual pilot shirt and cargo shorts. He had a hastily modified pair of slacks in his possession, but the article of clothing just didn’t fall the right way on his digitigrade legs. He was also carrying a briefcase containing some of his own research files he wished to show Rhine Forest’s Captain (a unicorn by the name of Gerig if he recalled correctly).

Behind him, Boris and Rahul had roles of their own to achieve on the Rhine. The two of them should be particularly familiar with some of the practical aspects of the changes. A show of goodwill by sharing clothing templates and cooking tips for the different species was probably a good way to get in the new returnees’ good graces. Dilip had made damn sure both of his ‘aides’ knew how important that little bit of diplomacy was. The two may not have actual dress blues of their own, but at least they made a show of putting on fresh sets of coveralls and properly waxed shoes. Boris’ set even had that zipper system for his wings on the back of his coveralls he had seen several winged sailors begin using as of recently.

The three of them came to a halt at the bottom of the Rhine’s gangway. Her ramp had been raised, with a single yellow hippogriff with a blue mane guarding the top. By the appearance of his coveralls, Rhine Forest really would need their templates to refit their clothes. Dilip gave the sailor a wave of his paw to garner his attention.

“Good afternoon.” The Captain called out across the distance that separated Rhine Forest’s deck from the quay; her deck wasn’t much higher than the quay but it was quite a jump to get across, probably four or five meters. “I’m Captain Prateek from Amandine, is Captain Gerig available for a meeting?”

The hippogriff gestured for them to wait a second before he dipped behind a steel beam to grab a walkie-talkie, allowing the trio to spot the ranks on his white coveralls that labeled him as an engine cadet. They heard a bit of chatter on the radio before the cadet came back towards the railing.

“Kapitän’s free. Hold on a minute, the boatswain’s coming.” He said with a heavy German accent before reaching for the gangway’s controls and pressing on a button. The ramp slowly came down with an electric whirr.

A minute later, the familiar figure of black furred gargoyle with a grey mane emerged from Rhine Forest’s superstructure, Pavlos. Boris remembered briefly meeting the Greek during his visit onboard of Rhine Forest a couple days earlier. The gargoyle was followed by a small griffon, one that was half-buzzard half-caracal.

Actually no, that wasn’t a small griffon; rather it was a kid griffon, and a female at that from the blue spot she had on her forehead above her beak. Or he most likely: the griffon bore the ranks of a boatswain on his shoulders, and Boris could have sworn Pavlos had mentioned the other bosun as a male last time. The Russian griffon stopped his staring when the young griffon noticed and threw him a harsh glare.

Now, Amandine’s sailors had been rejuvenated a bit by the change but that was something else entirely. Talk about lucking out with the change.

“Good afternoon Captain.” Pavlos greeted Dilip with a nod. “Captain Gerig awaits you in his office.” He motioned with his hand towards the superstructure. “Shall we?”

The three sailors were led to the Captain’s quarters just below Rhine Forest’s bridge. They noted the apparent lack of activity aboard the vessel, which contrasted sharply with Amandine’s bustling car decks. Sure, there were sailors walking around inside the accommodation, but nowhere near what should be expected from a vessel with a crew of fifty souls.

Captain Gerig’s office was not unlike Dilip’s, albeit with different decorations. Pictures and trophies from Rhine Forest’s long career were hung on the walls and inside of glass showcases. A painting of Rhine Forest in Rotterdam (Dilip recognized the harbor) was displayed on the wall just behind the Captain’s desk, the painting partly illuminated by rays of sunshine that streamed through closed curtains.

Gerig was sitting behind an imposing executive desk, the pink unicorn mare looking glumly at files on his desk before he noticed the sailors coming in his office and put on a sterner mask. From the way he was sitting, only the fore half of his body was visible, clad in a hastily resized pilot shirt not unlike Dilip’s. His poofy white mane was held back behind his large mobile ears by an elastic band. Visibly, the German was having a hard time coping with the changes. His blue eyes quickly flicked towards Dilip’s epaulettes and he greeted the other Captain with a sharp nod.

“Captain Prateek I presume?” He asked rhetorically, his best attempt at making his voice deeper utterly failing to hide his new, much softer tone of voice. “I’m happy to finally get to meet you in person. Please do take a seat.” He said, waving a hoof towards a set of three chairs in front of his desk.

“I see you managed to get your ship to berth without too much trouble.” Dilip started after sitting down, Boris and Rahul on either side of him. “How goes your crew?”

“Not too great I’m afraid.” The unicorn shook his head. “I myself have the greatest of difficulties achieving anything without hands. That telekinesis your Third Officer mentioned just doesn’t seem to come to me so I’m stuck using my mouth.” He grumbled. “The centaurs are slowly starting to figure out how to walk around but overall, morale is abysmally low.”

“Would us offering assistance help the matter in any significant way?” Dilip calmly proposed. “I can arrange for a sphinx to come give a lesson on the use of telekinesis later if need be. As for Boris and Rahul here…” He said, nodding towards his subordinates with his muzzle. “… I have brought them to aid your vessel with simple ‘ergonomic’ matters such as food and clothing. What sailors we saw on deck seem to manage but we can offer tips…”

“You’re expecting something in return aren’t you?” Gerig said flatly.

“No need to lie about it. We sent a team on a rescue mission yesterday, it was successful, but one of my deck sailors got injured in the process, possibly a fracture. Boris here told me your infirmary had radiology equipment.”

“Then consider it allowed. Feel free to send your injured crewmember anytime. As for the food and clothing…” Gerig closed his eyes. “The stairs to the bridge are just down the hallway, ask anyone there for directions to the cafeteria. The Chief Steward usually hangs around there.”

With a glance and a gesture of his paw, Dilip mutely told his subordinates to leave the room. Boris and Rahul stood up silently and departed without a word, both Captains waiting until the two sailors had closed the door before facing each other again.

“You helping us is backed by more than a mere need for radiology.” Gerig said.

“As you were probably told earlier, the planet is pretty much deserted from the catastrophe that occurred. It’s within my interest to keep ties with large groups such as your vessel. Before your reappearance the number of known survivors stood at a whopping two for the entirety of Western Europe, Amandine not included.”

“That bad uh?”

“The part about the ‘reappearance’ leaves us some hope… but I’m afraid the rate of return is dreadfully low.” Dilip admitted. “But that’s not all.” He lifted his briefcase up on his lap. “In here I have a copy of most of the research and data my crew has managed to retrieve and process as of yet. Including files on the monsters we have faced. These monsters have already caused many injuries to my crew and are the main reason we have had to go out of our way to get weapons.” He said, taking out a picture of a wood hound taken during Sandra’s rescue by the Unimog’s dashcam.

“Monsters uh…” Gerig muttered, staring at the picture with a frown. “How many weapons does your crew have?”

“Only enough to arm ourselves.” Dilip said. They may have a lot of machineguns but they really had only taken what they needed from the armory in Zeebrugge. Future survivors should be able to arm themselves there as well… just with a lot less ammo to spare and no fancy SCAR’s or P90’s. “But there is a chance… I have my secretary combing through any intel we have on military bases around here…”

“Don’t you have the local you rescued yesterday anyway?” Gerig cut the dog off.

“You know what; she actually didn’t cross my mind. Maybe she does know where to find guns. Intel aside, surely there are other things you wish to know?”

The conversation went on for a least an hour, with Dilip sharing most of what they knew on what happened (with a marked exception when it came to the HPI, he would have to try and contact Eko to know if the secret could be shared) following the Event. Amandine had gathered a lot of valuable data and items in the last few weeks, including her chart portfolio and the printer that came with it. The admiralty files and ground charts from Zeebrugge were useful intel as well. They virtually allowed them to sail to any port around the Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea provided there was enough water depth not to ground their ship.

Gerig and Dilip were quick to pledge a deal of mutual assistance for the near future. It was in the interest of each and every sailor to stick with as many survivors as possible, and having a larger manpower base would facilitate a lot of their work. There were many crewmembers on Rhine Forest that had skills Amandine lacked, just as some on Amandine had expertise that the Rhine’s complement lacked. Two quick agreements they concluded during that meeting was that Dilip would send Vadim and maybe Boris for further medical training with Rhine Forest’s own doctor; and that they would attempt to arm Rhine Forest as soon as possible. Before even leaving the office, Dilip had already contacted Roberto by phone to instruct the secretary to recoup his intelligence with Sandra’s own local knowledge to find the nearest military base. They also agreed to make use of the barge carrier’s fleet of tugs and lighters to go retrieve fuel from the port facilities as soon as enough crewmembers and weapons were available.

The two Captains had just formed a fleet.

“You sure about that?” Micha asked hesitantly in Polish from the top of one container.

“There comes a point where you have to take the leap pal, and that one isn’t even that big.” Vadim answered after taking a sip of his beer.

The two griffons were finally enjoying some free time in the evening now that things had stabilized around the harbor. Security teams had been assembled to secure the accesses to the terminal and ensure no monster would manage to get the drop on them as long as they were berthed in Copenhagen. The incident with Aleksei had been the discovery of the day, which quickly lead to other hippogriffs on the crew randomly jumping in the dock’s waters to try out if they were able to transform as well. Both Deck Officers had thus repeatedly had to step off the bridge to fish sheepish transformed sailors out of the water.

Now finally able to catch some relief with someone else keeping watch, both griffons had snuck off behind some container stacks to get some time for themselves. Vadim had made a promise to help the Second Officer with training his flight abilities. The duo didn’t leave the ship with much beside a couple beer bottles. Not even a flak jacket or a pistol, the terminal had been secured after all.

And now, by sunset, they had found an isolated corner hidden from view by the container stacks in the shadow of a container crane. The stacks ranged from one to six containers in height, which made for some great incremental starting points for the two griffons who wished to figure out how to glide properly. They had chosen that specific spot because an earlier recon team had reported some containers loaded with cotton bales and mattresses, which the two had pulled out to make a landing patch for Micha’s sake.

“I mean…” Micha said, glancing between her extended wings and the soft pile of cotton a single container below her. “Is that how you got the gliding down?”

“In my case the landing pad was sand. You got it easy.” Vadim reassured her.

The Ukrainian griffon was resting on his back in the quite comfy pile of mattresses and cotton, merrily sipping from his beer. Hesitant as his friend was, he knew how quick on the uptake she tended to be. Give her a jump or two at one container height and she would be outflying him easily he’d bet.

“Are you positively certain that’s gonna work out?” She asked again.

The grey falcon griffon stared up at his friend with a twinkle in his eyes.

“Hold on a second, weren’t you the one giving me shit ‘bout being afraid of spiders?” Vadim said.

“And what are you getting at exactly?”

“That I’m seeing a griffon that’s scared of heights up here.” He stated before taking a sip of his beer.

“No I’m not! It’s just… there is some justified caution with hurling yourself off of a container.” She protested.

“Exactly, a container.” Vadim said, glancing pointedly towards the much higher stacks around them. “Now I wonder…” He mused. “If we’re griffons; that makes us half-half… so should I call you a scaredy-cat or just a chicken?”

“Neither! Just shut up and let’s forget about this flying nonsense.” Micha cried out.

“Shutting up? By all means, make me.” Vadim said, spreading his wings out tauntingly.

Before he had time to glance up from his beer and notice, Micha sprung up from the edge of the container, wings extended wide. In a second, she glided across the distance that separated her from the other griffon, tackling him and throwing him in a headlock.

“You were saying?” She said before Vadim started laughing.

“Gotcha gliding.” He said, raising a talon. “Didn’t even take a second for you to take the bait.”

Micha released the still laughing griffon with an annoyed growl. She grabbed herself a beer from a pack next to the pile of cotton and downed it in one go.

“You’re an ass.” She ground out.

“A clever ass then ‘cause that right there got you jumping.” Vadim smiled. “So did you feel it?”

“Feel what?”

“The air in your wings… well, I don’t know if that’s air exactly, but at least a hint of an energizing feeling?” Vadim asked. “I found, the stronger it gets the further I can glide.”

Micha stared off in the distance and ruffled her wings, a small frown on the bald eagle griffon’s features. She did feel something in her wings over the short distance she had managed to stay aloft. Her eyes drifted to the large dark brown wings on the edge of her vision. Was that what she was supposed to get the hang of to control her flight?

“I think I did…” She said in a whisper before heading for the ladder, immediately pulling it away from the single container to a stack of two.

“So now you’re going at it again? What happened to the ‘flying nonsense’?” Vadim smirked.

“Turns out some grey feathered moron knocked some sense into me.” The other griffon said, spreading her wings wide from her position on top of two containers.

The two of them took turns in jumping into the pile of mattresses and cotton, the height from which they jumped increasing as their training progressed. Vadim was still ahead of Micha, though not by much. Between the two of them, they started to get a feel of how to handle their wings in a glide and how it should feel to have lift. The higher they jumped from, the longer they could try to get a feel of the air brushing against their primaries. In Micha’s case the landing technique left a lot to be desired, making the impact rather jarring despite the soft material awaiting her at the bottom. They would not be soaring across the sky anytime soon, but given several other training sessions of that kind maybe they could look forward to some actual air mobility.

But all of that might be looking too far into the future considering that they didn’t even know how to turn right then, only glide down and crash in style.

Vadim flew down from the top of the highest container stack around, landing roughly in the pile of cotton and kicking up a cloud of white material. The impact only got a chuckle out of the grey griffon, as it collapsed the tower of mattresses Micha was lounging on after a quick series of jumps. The exercise itself wasn’t too strenuous, but climbing that ladder three dozen times was starting to get to her unlike Vadim who had kept exercising even after the Event. She glowered at the other griffon before pouncing at him with a smirk on her beak.

She caught him just as he was standing up on his hind legs in a provocative manner, the other griffon letting out a surprised squawk before getting into the game and retaliating with a push of his hind legs which threw Micha off of him. The two went at each other for a while in a bout of friendly roughhousing amidst the pile of soft cotton, both enjoying the opportunity of blowing off some steam by wrestling with their best friend.

Soon after, Micha and Vadim collapsed in the pile next to each other, both winded but laughing from the activity.

“Damn, haven’t had fun like that in a while.” Vadim commented after he opened a new beer and passed another to Micha.

“I know right? It just feels so good to let go of everything for a while and just kick back.” She said after effortlessly popping the cap off her own beer with one of her talons. “No duty or ship just for a few hours can’t hurt.”

They lapsed into silence for a few minutes, both of them staring up at the now dark star-filled sky above them, catching their breath. The temperature was still pretty warm despite it not being summer quite yet, though that didn’t matter much to both griffons’ plumage. Micha cracked her wings before resting back down against the mass of cotton, her wingtip accidentally brushing against Vadim’s.

The small nudge made the Ukrainian turn towards his friend, only to find himself staring at her right in the eyes. They both held the look for a couple seconds before Vadim shook his head and stood up awkwardly, folding his wings.

“I uh… gotta catch up on some reading.” He said before scampering away quickly.

Vadim quickly made his way back to the ship, muttering things along the lines of ‘she-no, he’s a dude’ and ‘best friend, not for dating’. All in all, the poor guy was having mixed feelings about the Second Officer, which wasn’t made any better by the lingering memory of the girlfriend he used to have before the Event.

As for Micha, the griffon involuntarily caught herself staring at Vadim’s hindquarters before the Ukrainian disappeared around a corner, her eyes reacting naturally while the rest of her mind was reeling in confusion.

Author's Notes:

In which I start getting into the racial abilities of lesser-known species, and there are more to come.

It was also high time the griffons started doing some actual flight training I believe.

Bit of trivia:
The ISPS code Aleksei mentionned was created as a consequence of the WTC attacks of 2001. It's an amendment of the SOLAS convention.