Lamai Liang looked over her scared crew, and took a deep breath. "I can do this," she thought, "I am the daughter of Liag Liang and I can do this."

Closing her eyes, she thought back to her earliest experiences on the sea. Technically, those would have been before she was born. Her mother, the Pirate Queen of Sulawesi, had many times set sail for plunder and glory while pregnant, imbuing her daughter with a love for the sea before she even had the eyes to see it. Lamai felt to her own distended belly and smiled - she really was taking after her mother.

After she was born, her mother waited very little time before bringing her newborn daughter out on the seas with her. Before she was even a year old, Lamai had seen numerous pirate raids on cities, merchant ships, and Kulawanti military vessels. By age four she was captaining a vessel alongside her mother, and helped oversee significant military victories (and defeats) at the height of the South Sulawesi - Kulawanti conflict. They couldn't win direct and regular battles, so they turned to irregular warfare - raiding supply convoys and sinking transport ships, attacking cities that soldiers had just left to force them to turn around and halt their advance, having limited land engagements with smaller, less connected Kulawanti regiments, and more.

By age 9 Lamai had control over her own ship, and her sailors respected her as they would any captain of high esteem. On her own, before the age of 14, she was said to have taken nearly five dozen ships, looted countless others, sent hundreds of Kulawanti soldiers to the bottom of the ocean, and rallied men and women across Sulawesi to fight back against the Kulawanti invaders. By age 19, she was seen across Southeast Asia in the same esteem (positive and negative) as her mother, the Pirate Queen herself.

But now, at age 24, she was about to take on a completely new mantle - leader of the fleet of South Sulawesian refugees currently making their way towards the Aru islands, and the Earthborn supporters they had there. She looked down next to her at her mother - her labored breathing and constant shaking made Lamai all the more determined to get there as quickly as possible, so that they might be able to save her life.

Liag Liang had woken up that morning feeling like it was just any other.

The war had taken a turn for the worse recently - Emperor Sampan had died, leaving his son Tirto at the head of the Empire, and Tirto was looking to make a much more forceful push against the South Sulawesians than his father had dared to. This overwhelming push had brought Imperial troops nearly to the doorstep of Ratu Pelabuhan, with its dangerous harbor being the only thing slowing the advance of the renewed Imperial navy.

She sat up in bed and looked out her window. It was a gorgeous morning, the sun was just rising above the water, and a red glow appeared in the harbor, looking like a red bird rising from the sea.

A red bird...

Liag looked around in panic. She had always wondered about the last thing that Priestess of Mykara had said to her all those years ago, when you see the red bird at dawn, grab your sword and run, but had always assumed it just to be some sort of mysterious phrasing that she would not understand. But as she looked upon the vision of a red bird on the water early in the morning, fear came flooding in. She was over 60 years of age at this point, and was no longer great with extreme physical exertion, but she found a new burst of adrenaline that carried her out of bed, over to her sword, and out the door. She looked around, and saw in horror that the red glow on the water was not just from the rising sun - it was the reflection of flames. Ratu Pelabuhan was on fire.

In the darkness of early morning, and thanks to the instructions of a captured pirate looking to save his own skin, three dozen Kulawanti ships had made their way into the harbor, soldiers flowing off of them like ants out of an anthill, setting fire to everything they could find, and putting every man, woman, and child they saw to the point of a spear or sword. Blood flowed in the streets, and the men and women tasked with defending the city could barely get to their own weapons before being cut down.

Liag's thoughts immediately went to her own daughter, who could not move well herself due to her pregnancy, and she rushed over to her room. Lamai was already awake, and despite her condition was working to organize a defense and load as many survivors onto ships as she could. Liag allowed herself a brief moment of pride, looking upon the amazing woman her daughter had become, before turning her mind back to the issues at hand. She jumped in to help survivors make their way past the Kulawanti monsters and onto ships waiting in the harbor. Dodging arrows flying from every direction and cutting down nearly a dozen Imperial soldiers, she fought her way though the city, freeing people trapped in burning buildings and protecting those that could not protect themselves.

She hand nearly cleared the areas of the city that could be saved, and was about to head back to a ship herself, when she saw a young boy, no older than nine or ten, crying next to a burning building. Liag rushed over to him to ask what was wrong, but he would not stop crying. She bent down to give him a hug, ready to carry him onto a ship if need be, but as she did the crying stopped. He looked into her eyes, smiled, and drove a small dagger into her side. Liag collapsed to the ground, confused and in pain, as the boy got up and ran back towards the Imperial troops in the city.

"MOM!!!!!!" she heard as her daughter rushed over to her. Lamai looked down at her mother, bleeding on the ground, and called over a few men to help her. Together, they carried the Pirate Queen onto a waiting ship, and quickly sailed out of the harbor to lead the remaining fleet far away from this place.

Liag lay on the deck of the ship and looked at her burning city as the ship sailed further and further away, and could not help but begin to cry. All she had worked for, all the years of pain and suffering this island had endured, just to try and ensure their freedom, had failed. She had failed, and now Sulawesi would be lost to her forever. She only hoped that the Priestess had been right all those years ago, and that the girl growing within her daughter would someday lead her people to victory, and truly take a sword to the Kulawanti who had wronged them. She closed her eyes, and fell unconscious.

Lamai looked down at her mother, and tears came to her eyes as well. But she knew it was her turn to lead now, and the leader could not be seen crying. She looked over her scared crew, and took a deep breath. "I can do this," she thought, "I am the daughter of Liag Liang and I can do this." She closed her eyes for a moment, before opening them again, and began to get her crew into shape.

"What are you useless sacks of shit doing standing around like this? Get to your stations, and get us to Aru, or I'll throw you over the side of the ship myself and replace you with another, more useful animal - at least monkeys are nice to look at!"

The crew smiled at the familiar barking of orders and insults, and immediately calmed down. They rushed to their stations, and The Kraken's Scourge set out into the sea to lead a fleet once more.

The refugee fleet arrived at the Aru Islands, and Lamai made sure that her mother was the first person off the boat. They rushed her over to the Earthborn who came to meet them, and they immediately got to work trying to save her. But as Lamai went to be with her mother, she fell to the ground in pain. "The Gods must truly be looking to fuck me over," she muttered to no one in particular, before calling out for help. The baby was coming.

Three hours, and a painful labor later, and Lamai was looking at the most beautiful child she had ever laid eyes on - her own. She smiled as she cried alongside her newborn, and looked up at the attendants around her. They, however, were not smiling, and it took just one look to convey what they had to say - Liag Liang, the Pirate Queen of Sulawesi, her mother, was dead. Lamai looked up the heavens in confusion, anger, and complete sorrow, and continued to cry. But as she did, she felt her baby stop crying, and squeeze her hand. She looked down at her newborn daughter, and though the tears kept coming, she smiled. Her mother was not gone, for her spirit would live on through her daughter, Lestari. And if the prophecies her mother had believed were true, it would be Lestari that brought a sword to the family that had wronged them for so long, and bring true freedom to Sulawesi.

She held her daughter close, and after a time her own tears stopped flowing. Despite the insistence of her new attendants she stood, carrying her baby, and made her way over to her people. She knew that they would be just as scared, confused, and in sorrow as she was, and they needed a calming presence. They did not need a captain, they needed a Queen. And so Lamai Liang, the new Pirate Queen of Sulawesi, walked into the sunlight, ready to bring her people into a new tomorrow.

Sulawesi is now a full part of Kulawanti