It had been roughly 32 hours since the Leviathan had departed from Ballard. It was a relief to have that place behind them. Dexter hoped they wouldn't have to dock there again, because the whole place made him twitch. He liked things neat, clean, orderly... and Ballard was the exact opposite of all those things. Although that kind of place was common, he was very careful to stay on the ship when they visited those types of places.
Now he sat around the mapping table with his crew. It was a little before noon, after the crew had cleaned up from breakfast and everyone gathered in the navigation room, where most of their plans were discussed. The sat around the circular table, everyone facing inwards to make it easier to converse. Dexter spread his charts in front of his crew, letting them examine them on their own.
The crew looked well-fed, and some of them had even taken the time to bathe. With the exception of Aubrey, who Dexter noticed was wearing a bandage on his neck, everyone appeared to be in good health. When everyone had taken their seat, Dexter spoke.
“In about three hours, we will be arriving at the location of our next raid.” He said, “It's a remote island, and I only heard of it through a special connection. Gathering info on it has proven difficult, so there is a lot we might not have on the place.” He gestured to the papers on the table. “This is everything I have. Although the name of the place isn't officially documented, it had been referred to as The Crumbling Keep.”
Aubrey opened his mouth like he was about to speak, but Dexter cut him off by raising a hand. “No, Aubrey, I don't know why they call it that.” The boy pouted and sat back, and Dexter continued. “We can expect high security. This place is meant to hold some very advanced... inventions. Large, robotic weapons are housed there, though it's hard to say if they are just being stored or if they are active and being put to use. Either way, this is going to be a tough one. We will not only be worrying about the possibility of these machines coming after us, but there is also a large amount of human guards. Ideally, we would get in without being noticed, take a few things, and then get out. However, you have all proven over and over that you are not good at keeping things low-key. That, and the added problem of that we have a huge ass mothafuckin' ship trying to sneak up on a small island, there is about a 90% chance of a confrontation.”
He paused to scan the faces of his comrades, judging their reactions thus far.