Abandon Ship

**Abandon Ship** is a Substream event featuring the Front Bay Sharks.

## Appearances

* Dracasia
* Tallie
* Sonya Bill
* Bellamy
* Jack

## Plot

### Act 1

A girl approaches the Front Bay Sharks to apply for membership. The Sharks interview her, asking her about the pot she's carrying, if she's aware of the Administration's seafaring laws in Front Bay, and why she wants to become a pirate in the first place. The girl answers she wishes to regularly eat freshly-caught seafood and is willing to become a criminal to do so, while the pot is her only remaining property after she was evicted from her last place of residence. Dracasia takes a liking to the girl and recruits, and the girl gives herself the name "Sonya Bill".

One year later at the King's Crab, Hunting Life News reports that the bounty on the Corrupted Objects running amok in the Front Bay's northeast coast has increased while Minos Corporation is offering a special bounty on "Sawshark Jackie", a Corrupted Object infamous for its intelligence and strike-and-run tactics. At King's Crab bar, hunters and pirates speculate that the "Black Flood" is approaching and Front Bay will close its bulwark in response. When Sonya asks what the Black Flood is, one hunter tells her it is a phenomenon where the ocean tides drastically change and deep sea C.O.s emerge due to the appearance of the a Category 4 C.O. known as the Kraken. The last Black Flood happened two years prior, and the cycle of its occurrence has gradually been getting shorter since. When the hunters realize Sonya is a pirate, they start to harass her until other pirates come to Sonya's side. Tallie also comes in and instigates a full-blown bar fight between hunters and pirates after she impulsively fires her cannon at one of the hunters in what she thought was self-defense. Sonya and Tallie are later arrested offscreen and sent to work at the Front Bay Bulwark Sentenced Laborer Area.

Elsewhere, another group of pirates attack a mining crew when the latter's excavator is swept away by tidal forces caused by the Black Flood. Front Bay's City Management detects an acute Corruption response from the deep sea area, and AI Bellamy notes that the Black Flood's is occurring three months earlier than expected. An Admin. analyst asks if the city should issue a level 3 evacuation notice, but Bellamy states they can't do that because of the Senior Administrator's absence. Bellamy advises her to instead observe the secondary damage range of the the Black Flood while she looks for the Senior Admin.

At the Sentenced Laborer Area, deep sea C.O.s brought in by the Black Flood climb over the walls and attack the inhabitants. Sonya and Tallie arrive and kill them all, though they are nearly reprimanded for being out of their assigned sectors. Afterwards, they have a friendly conversation with their supervisor, who asks them why chose to be pirates— Sonya says she wants to eat large, fresh fish that swim in the wild while Tallie says being a pirate gives her an excuse to indiscriminately blow things up with her cannon. Despite this, neither of them have been in the deep sea area before due to its lack of tasty fish and extreme danger.

While slacking off and checking out Dracasia's Wing-stargram page, a guardsman sees Dracasia's latest post and finds out that she is planning to break her crew out momentarily. An observation tower soon detects a ship rapidly approaching the Sector ZB's shipping bay, and members of the Coast Guard are hastily sent in to intercept it. The ship turns out to be a decoy, however, and Dracasia actually appears in Sector ZA's work area. She succeeds in getting Sonya and Tallie out of detention and even takes several photos showing their escape. After the break out, Dracasia reveals that they are now completely broke and without a ship, and she never came up with a follow-up plan beforehand. Luckily, Tallie says she knows a place full of gold bars that they can rob.

The Front Bay Sharks rent an old boat, and Tallie leads them to a Coast Guard commander's sailboat off the East Coast of Front Bay. They plunder around 10% of the gold bars they found in the sailboat's safe and escape before the Coast Guard catches onto them. Afterwards, Tallie reveals that she already knew the combination to the safe was her birthday because the commander of the Eastern Coast Guard is her father; but she tells everyone not to worry about being chased because the treasure they stole is in fact contraband that her father hid from the Administration to avoid paying taxes. A baffled Sonya questions why Tallie would run away to become a pirate if she comes from an affluent background, and Tallie answers she disliked her family for being too old-fashioned and nagging.

The crew returns to the city to trade in the gold bars. While at the trading post, Tallie finds a data pad on the trader's counter, and the trader claims it's some sort of treasure map that used to be owned by the Great Pirate Avery. He says it is not for sale but goes back on his word when Tallie offers to give him most of the credits she just made from their transaction.

Sonya is chagrined to learn that Tallie used a large portion of their money to a buy a suspicious data pad. She gets even more exasperated after Dracasia spends the rest to buy a weaponized fishing boat, but Dracasia assures her that they will be able to make a living soon thanks to her purchase. To prove this, she takes the crew out to sea to to hunt down Sawshark Jackie, disrupting a hunter team in the process. Sonya and Tallie kill the C.O. as Dracasia films a video of their fight, and the hunters try to seize the video so they can get the full bounty for themselves. The Front Bay Sharks flee but are quickly approached by the Black Flood, forcing them to turn back. Dracasia spots another aquatic C.O. known as "Jeimer the Cowardly Flying Fish" and hooks the ship onto it, allowing them to surf along the Black Flood's tidal waves. She then makes Jeimer fly up and throw their ship right over the bulwark.

The crew survive virtually unscathed but are encountered Administration soldiers that are preparing to rearrest them for escaping sentenced labor. Fortunately, Dracasia is able to balance out the bounties on her and her crew's heads by proving to the soldiers that they fulfilled two high-tier bounties—Sawshark Jackie and Jeimer—thus canceling their arrest warrants and freeing them from prosecution. Before they all part ways, one of the soldiers asks Dracasia why a high-grade Counter like herself became a pirate. Dracasia answers that she wants to get to Macha Island because "the view of the sunset from that island is a dream".

### Act 2

Bellamy is still looking for the Senior Admin. when the Admin. Analyst reports back to her with new results: the current Corruption ray energy detected in the depths of the ocean are the same as twenty years ago, so it's predicted that the secondary flood will cause Front Bay to lose half its territory. Bellamy wonders if the Kraken has fully healed, but the analyst refutes this as it is a creature that repeats division and regeneration through its injuries. The standard protocol would be to drop a massive quantities of Eternium deep into the sea in order to clam the flood, but Front Bay has not been able to procure the required amount in time due to the Flood's shortened cycle and premature appearance. A backup plan exists, but it is top secret knowledge that only the Senior Admin. knows of. As Bellamy vents her frustration, the analyst receives an anonymous message from the City Management's emergency line requesting for the bulwark to opened. Though they are skeptical, they decide to approve it since the message was attached with the authorization code of a Class 2 Admin.

Fourteen days after the bulwark was sealed, and the Front Bay Sharks have split for the time being. Sonya resigns from her job at the Mermaid's Treasure Chest restaurant after she notices that the fish they serve is inauthentic and overpriced; Dracasia tried being a regular mercenary but quits because she hates taking orders; and Tallie runs a fairly successful entertainment venue where she makes things explode while selling snacks (though she can't enjoy it as she's trying to pay off an expensive pop rice machine she irresponsibly bought). The three of them reunite and decide to go back to pirating early.

The Front Bay Sharks head to King's Crab where they hear on Hunting Life News that the Administration will be reopening the bulwark soon despite the ongoing Black Flood. It also announces that a new 10,000-token bounty has been put up: the target is the Invincible, a legendary pirate ship once manned by Avery and his crew that went missing twenty years ago while hunting down the Kraken.

   Immediately upon the bulwark's opening, scores of hunters and pirates embark to find the Invincible and fight each other in order to claim the bounty for themselves. Yet, Sonya notices there hasn't been a single C.O. in the midst of the chaos even though there should hordes of them due to the Black Flood. Dracasia isn't concerned until their boat gets stuck on something, and large, black tentacles appear and violently grab onto her. Sonya breaks her captain free, and the Sharks realize they're up against the Kraken as more tentacles emerge from the sea. They manage to flee from the monster, but the boat's engine breaks down soon afterwards. As a result, Dracasia is forced to physically drag the boat along with her crew until they find an island to land on.

Upon landing, Sonya and Tallie find another pirate defending himself from a group of C.O.s on his own. They initially come to his aid and instantly turn on him once the C.O.s are killed, but the pirate proves to be no match for them. He decides to let them go, however, as he was able to escape the Sentenced Laborer Area thanks to them, and Sonya recognizes him as the one working next to the Laborer Area's supervisor. The pirate then introduces himself as Jack, a treasure hunter.

Jack tells the Sharks he's been looking for something between the peaks of the island, and Tallie realizes they're on the same island as the one seen in the map she bought at the trading post. The three of them head to the map's marked coordinates and find one of Avery's hidden treasures: a single knife that looks exactly like the Sonya has. Intrigued, Jack asks Sonya where she got her knife, and Sonya answers it was passed down to her by her father (who hid it inside the flower pot she's been carrying since her days at the orphanage), revealing that she is in fact Avery's lost daughter.

The Sharks take Jack and his crew to their ship and find Dracasia still sleeping nearby. Tallie asks how Jack became a pirate, and Jack replies it's because "the view of the sunrise from the cliff of Macha Island is the dream", which Sonya recognizes as a quote by Avery. Meanwhile, Jack's crew members examine the Sharks' ship and conclude it would be better to salvage its parts and repair their own instead.

Jack's crew and the Sharks eventually return to Front Bay docks. As gratitude for helping him and his crew, Jack gives Sonya his an artifact gun before parting ways. Dracasia wakes up and becomes determined to embark again to find more spoils after being told of what happened while she was out. To gain access to another ship, she coaxes a fellow pirate named Tucker to join them.

### Act 3

   Bellamy finally gets into contact with the Senior Admin. through his comms line and gets aggravated to hear that he hasn't come up with any proper countermeasures for the Black Flood. The Senior Admin. states the Kraken is undefeatable at this time and proposes they try to lure out and wound its head to buy them some time. To do this, he plans to use himself as bait like last time while Front Bay's mercenaries attack the Kraken. Pessimistic, Bellamy not only reminds him he won't have the Invincible or any reliable outside help (like Fenrir Squad) like the previous Flood events but also expresses doubt that the mercenaries stationed in the city are courageous enough to take on the Kraken. The Senior Admin. is undeterred and delegates his Class 2 Admin. authorization code to her as a precaution before leaving to embark.

Sonya fends off the treasure aboard Jack's ship from a group of thieving hunters and pirates while Jack himself silently watches. Afterwards, Jack asks her how she ended up becoming a pirate. Sonya reiterates she originally wanted to find and eat rare fish that can't be found in commercial fish farms but then states she found new purpose after joining the Front Bay Sharks.

The next day, Jack sets sail with a massive fleet of over five hundred mercenary ships, preventing Bellamy and the Administration from closing off the bulwark. They are near immediately attacked by countless C.O.s but successfully get through them and enter the Kraken's danger zone, signified by its foggy atmosphere. Unfortunately, many of the ships are then forcibly grounded onto an island due to tidal waves created by the Kraken, and Dracasia gets split from the rest of her crew. After they get back up, the survivors quickly find tons of gold coins littered across the entire coastline and quickly begin quarreling each other over it all.

The Sharks are able to evade the fighting while a rookie hunter follows behind them. They come across an abandoned pirate fortress and find even more gold coins inside. Tallie's treasure map suddenly starts reacting to something and leads the crew to the island's highest point. They find Dracasia already there and learn that they are on Macha Island, where Avery and his crew set up their base. Tucker shovels around the area and eventually finds another one of Avery's treasure chest. The crew open it and find a key, and the rookie hunter recognizes it as an electric key made by the Administration that will authorize the user to operate its corresponding machine.

As the crew speculates on what the key will open, an earthquake erupts and the coastline rapidly rises due to the Black Flood. Realizing that they're at the center of the Kraken's lair, they round up the remaining mercenaries and return to their ships. They try to sail away, but some of the ships are attacked and capsized by the Kraken and the C.O.s. Sonya notices a pattern in which the suckers on the Kraken's tentacles glow red when it is about to attack. Believing this to be a indicative of a weak spot, Dracasia has everyone on the ship to fire their guns at the suckers the next time they glow, and the Kraken seemingly recedes back into the ocean upon being hit. The fog clears, making the crew think they've won, but Dracasia notices the Black Flood hasn't diminished and Macha Island is still submerged. Soon enough, not only does the Kraken's tentacles reappear, bringing back the fog, but also a vortex forms in the ocean and starts pulling in the ship. A dimensional ship rises from the center of the vortex, and Tallie believes it may be their bounty, the Invincible. She is then caught by one of the tentacles and disappears into the waters. Sonya desperately fires the gun Jack gave her at the tentacle's location, but it turns out to be a flare gun and doesn't affect the Kraken at all. Thankfully, the flare catches the attention of Jack and his ship, who are able to rescue Tallie as they make their way through the fog to the Sharks' ship.

Jack states they can partially operate the Invincible using the key from earlier and use its cannon to defeat the Kraken. Thus, the crew steer the ship towards the vortex while fending off C.O.s and tentacles. Once they're close enough, the Sonya and Tallie enter and reactivate the Invincible. They make it to the flight deck and start charging the ship's cannon, but the Kraken appears in its entirety and destroys the cannon mid-charge. With no other options left, Jack orders the Sharks to overload and self-destruct the Invincible. The Sharks overload the Eternium drive and fix the engine lever to ensure its destruction. However, the Kraken attacks the ship and causes the lever to permanently loosen up, so Sonya decides she'll stay behind and hold onto the lever. Tallie hesitantly leaves her behind but comes back when she finds out the escape hatch will no longer open due to water pressure.

   As the Kraken maintains its focus on the Invincible, Jack and the mercenaries ensnare the C.O. by firing all their harpoons at it. The Invincible explodes and takes out the Kraken, putting an end to the Black Flood. As Jack is about to mourn for the Sharks, Dracasia appears out of the subsequent dust explosions with Sonya and Tallie in her arms.

In the aftermath, Jack meets with Bellamy and provides her with a debrief, revealing that he is Front Bay's Senior Admin. Bellamy reports the Invincible is beyond repair, but they will able to create a superior replica using the backup data they recovered from the ship's core. Jack goes to extract the core from the debris but is surprised to find Dracasia inside, who sneaked in earlier. Dracasia blackmails him into taking an unmasked selfie with her lest she publicly exposes his identity as Front Bay's Senior Admin. Jack complies, and the two later go to King's Crab, where Tallie and Sonya are there making pop rice for the mercenaries.

## Stages

* Act 1
* Act 2
* Act 3
* Hard