I, Ernest Stenham, a captain of the TRNB Howe stood at the dock of Sevastopol and looked out at the ships being prepared for another expedition heading out towards up North into the cold seas. Sevastopol being held by Russlavica division who are extremely skilled in dealing with cold weather and they have been assigned to prepare our ships for the cold weather, making sure everything is right as cold is more dangerous than heat for us. Britanica division is known for their ships, but we aren't so well in dealing with the cold as Russlavica are. Our convoy is made out of TRNG battlecruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, my ships battleship Howe, TRNA heavy cruiser Northampton, TRNB heavy light cruiser Fiji and TRNN destroyers Kitakaze and Asashio followed up by a couple transports and cargo ships. As for why this amount is needed, the green goblin Broolk said that the northern seas can be dangerous, more so than the ones Klaus Reger went down in. I have to say, I was fascinated reading through Klaus's voyage, it looked interesting and fascinating. I congratulated him in becoming an Admiral and I can only hope that one day I too can become one. Also, the things Broolk had mentioned about the outside world seemed fascinating, dragons, massive beasts, many races, large and magical places, many kingdoms, there is so much out there worth exploring. Also, the Siren friend they brought over had been all over the papers, a "Love story between a Siren and a sailor" had been funny to read through. It was a risk but I guess it paid off to bring her with them and it had been reported that she became pregnant with that whatever his name was child. I am intrigued how that process went but those newcomers have been going to classes on how to act, learn the language and other things so they can become officially citizens of our glorious republic. 

The horn from the Scharnhorst signals it is time to go and I make my way onto the ship. I can see the last of the supplies being loaded onto the ship and one by one, our engines hum into life. People wave at us as we part from the port, our long voyage starts now and thanks to Reger we have made more effort to introduce more things for the crews to do to make life at least a little more fun when there is nothing going on. The whether is already cold enough, I can't imagine what we will deal with out there. That Siren gal did inform her 'sisters' about all of this and besides us there is another passenger, a Siren named Fontala who is going to be our translator as it was found that Sirens are quite capable of learning languages so they didn't need much time to learn ours so that we could communicate to some degree. She had a room especially made for her in the Howe, a large water tank in which she could swim and live, our sailors will need to replace her water from time to time which shouldn't be too much of a trouble. As the continent slowly disappears from the view and a thick fog descends we all open our radio communications to call out things and give each other heads up if they decide to make a turn or similar things. It is primarily used for the occasional chit chat and speculations on what we will see, what awaits us on the cold Apoa continent, we were told about snow trolls, Dwarves and Satyrs, but maybe there are new ones, who knows.

I then hear the unmistakable sound of the doors opening and chuckling behind me. As I turn around I see a poor sailor carrying Fontala with him, I can see that he is struggling but I am a little angered.

Ernest: What in the world is going on here? 

Fontala: Oh hello captain, Ernest was it? I got bored sitting in that room and doing nothing and I wanted to look around. And you know what you were told.

I let out a sigh and rub my forehead as I know exactly what she is talking about. The Admirals have said that whatever she requests she is to be granted if it is up to an acceptable degree of course. If she wishes to explore the ship I can't stop her. 

Fontala: Oh come on, cheer up. I won't bother you, I just want to see what you guys do and be a part of the team as they say. 

Ernest: I can't stop you as I was told that you can request what you are doing but if you do want to spend time here, on the bridge, please don't be a nuisance. 

Fontala: Don't worry, I don't want to be a nuisance. I just want to, you know, experience something new.

I nod, while I am deeply conflicted by her presence here I can't do much about it. And with that, almost a week passes by and she became quite a common sight on the bridge, chatting away with me and the crew. We even moved a bathtub to the bridge and filled it with water so she can stay in it, but lined a lot of sponge around it to soak up the water if there was spillage. She can stay out of the water for a somewhat long time but she still needs to go back in to moisturize her skin. As for what she is to have around, it can be worse. While a little rough around the tongue she is a pleasant addition, giving more life into our lives, plus, a boost to the moral of the crew as there is nothing more a man loves to do than to chat with a beautiful woman. And while she may be, 'unusual' in beauty standard she is still a gift for the eyes and her voice soothing as she sings her songs. It had been said that Sirens can change the effect of the song with their mind and intention behind that song. It can lure her prey in, calm them or simply be a beautiful thing to listen to. Of course, she sang into the radio so that everyone else can hear it. Occasionally as we went more north our ships started to get covered in a lot of ice and the crews had to often head out and clear out the ice where it already started to cause problems.  

Our formation has both the battlecruisers up front carving their way through the ice with our ship behind them, then the Northampton, Fiji, Kitakaze and Asashio followed by the rest of the convoy behind. Even the cargo ships are armed as much as they can and well prepared for the cold conditions. Then we get a transmission that the Northampton that they spotted something on their radar, a large mass on the ice moving towards us. And we look at ours and confirm, there is something large moving towards us, but the visibility is too low to make out what. It is slow and big, but that is all we can get. Nevertheless all the ships order their crews to man the stations and turn the main and secondary battery in that direction. There is a tension in the air, none of us know what to expect. Fontala struggles to look out of the window so I pick her up into my arms and help her look out and from the gloom figures come walking out.

Fontala: Captain, I would suggest you get rid of them.

Ernest: Why? What are they?

Fontala: They are the Frostwalkers or the Northern Dread. Basically what you need to know is that they are corpses revived by a dark force and they attack whatever they see. You can't exterminate them completely but you can kill them. 

Ernest: So, the living dead. Evil?

Fontala: Very.

Ernest: Andrew, issue an order, fire at will. Ms. Fontala, I don't know if you want to see and hear all of this, you might get scared.

Fontala: I want to see your weapons at work. I want to see what damage they will do.

Andrew nods and issues the message through the radio to all the ships. And soon, the darkness around us glows as a rain of tracers, explosions both big and small erupt. Loud bangs and explosions as each ships fires it's main cannons, large clouds of smoke rise up. The rain of bullets of many calibers is thick, like a canvas covering the air, ice chunks flying up into the air. I can tell Fontala was scared at first, when the gunfire started, as she covered her ears but once she figured she is safe she looked out at the destruction unfolding before her. The sheer power at displayed before her eyes puts her in a sort of trance. Her eyes like a mirror, reflection on what is going on in front of her can be seen in them clear as glass. She relaxes and a wide grin crawls up her face, but that does not disturb as much as the fact that she is getting aroused by this. The large group grows smaller by the second, the dead getting sent down to the depths of the cold dark sea and soon, all of them had been to put it lightly, destroyed. Once it had been determined that there is no longer a danger, all of the soldiers head back inside into the warm and safe space inside their ships. However, we, or more I, were not out of the woods. I had been warned that Sirens are still individuals and in so, differ from each other in the way they are as a person. Some can be nice, some evil, much like humans, they differ and much like humans, they can extremely 'active' and it seems that, to my demise, she is one of those. Her eyes both predatory and needy, yearning for what I already know that she wants. Her grip on me firm but soft, her breathing labored and shallow. 

Ernest: I better return you to your room until you calm down.

I carry her personally down towards her room, she doesn't say a word, instead just stares at me. I ignore it but by the minute it grows more difficult until I eventually reach her room and as I begin to put her into the large tank she grabs me firmly, not wanting to let go of me.

Ernest: I understand what you want Ms., but I do that as it will be highly inappropriate. We are here to explore, not indulge in our desires.

 She does not let go and then she does the unthinkable. She starts to sing, her lullaby so soft, so intoxicating. I can feel myself loosing control of my own body, I cannot believe she used such a cheap tactic, her power to take control. And from there on, everything is blurry. Next morning I wake up at the side of the tank with her by my side and memories slowly start to flood back in. The experience becoming more clear, everything coming back, slowly, giving me time to process what had happened. All I can make out and say, it was, interesting to say the least. It would be hypocritical of me to say I didn't enjoy it, the feeling of her, it was new and unique in many ways. She was in control as Sirens tend to be, but she was careful, to her I wasn't prey, I was something else. She definitely felt, better, than most women I had slept with, felt exotic. I can't believe what I am doing, comparing the two. I feel ashamed that it had happened and am left contemplating and conflicted by all of it. I did enjoy it, I can't deny it, but it was highly inappropriate, but at the same time, it wasn't my fault, she was the one that seduced me with her song and power. I probably shouldn't mention this in my documentation of the voyage. However, as I lay there, I take a look at her, she looks so peaceful right now. I quickly dress up and quietly leave the room and head back on the bridge where the crew all have grins on their eyes and approving nods. I clear my throat and ignore them, I have a duty right now and will have to deal with all of this later. I don't know how exactly, but I will find a way.