After an unknown length of time, Lorne's eyelids fluttered as he lay on the floor, and he slowly opened his eyes.
Feeling the ship rocking beneath him, he shook his groggy head and staggered upright, bracing himself against the wall.
"Cough... cough, cough..."
He had taken a Blazing Sun charm head-on at close range. He had survived, but it certainly hadn't been pleasant.
He turned to look at Seniors's thoroughly cold corpse on the floor and let out a long sigh of relief.
Then he noticed Lucky, Danitz, and Cattleya lying on the floor as well.
He hurried over and checked them one by one. Thankfully, they were merely unconscious. Their breathing was steady, and none of them seemed to be in serious danger.
Only after that did he drag his exhausted body to the window he had blasted apart and peer warily outside.
The storm at sea had passed, and dawn had broken, but an unfamiliar expanse of ocean stretched endlessly around them.
Looks like we went through a major storm, and the ship was blown completely off course, Lorne guessed. Damn it! Why does something like this happen every time I go to sea?
He sighed.
After calming himself, Lorne returned inside and approached Seniors's corpse to examine it carefully.
First, he activated Spirit Vision and swept his gaze over it. All traces of spirituality in the corpse had dissipated.
What a shame...
Seniors had been dead for too long. His spirit body had completely dispersed, leaving Lorne unable to perform spirit channeling.
"If I could channel his spirit, I might learn his real objective and how he found us. But now... there's nothing I can do."
A Pirate Admiral had a bounty of at least several tens of thousands of pounds. The trouble would be claiming it.