Parlay: Part 1

The 'Black Phoenix' pulled up alongside the 'Fog Seeker'. The mahogany ship was larger than the slightly quicker dark wood pursuant. The sails were rolled up on both ships and ropes tossed across to the opposite decks. There was an eerie silence as the calm waters lapped the sides of each ship, gently rocking them. Neither crew made a move, holding their positions. Yelar had his saber ready to cut the ropes if a fast break was needed. Captain Jesiah stared towards Lord Cragxan who with a click of his cane on each step brought him to the edge of his ship.

"Lord Cragxan, what an honor it is to meet you," Jesiah broke the silence. He bowed, trying his best to be respectful.

"I don't believe I've had the pleasure." He was intimidating, even with the gap between them Jesiah could sense his authority.

"Captain Jesiah Felder, at your service." If he had been wearing a hat he would have tipped it. There was no sense in lying; the Lord most likely knew who captained this ship already. "What can I do for you?" He caught the Lord's eyes scanning his crew, obviously searching for his passengers. They were hidden along with his more obvious smuggling contraband in a secret storage room below deck.

"Captain, it would appear that you have some passengers of interest to me. Yet I do not see them on board."

"I don't have any passengers, just my crew and my cargo."

The Lord held up a ledger, it was the dockmasters. "This says you took on four passengers, is it wrong?"

"Shit," He swore under his breath. "Oh, right, I forgot they were passengers, as they have become part of my crew already. You know how it is with such close quarters and nowhere to go, they become like family." Captain Jesiah hoped he would buy that.

"I see…I would still very much like to meet them."

"Would you like to meet my entire crew then?"

"That won't be necessary, just the four will suffice."

"Are they important to you?" Jesiah was stalling.

I wouldn't have come all this way if it wasn't important, Captain."

Captain Jesiah turned to Yelar, this banter couldn't go on forever, "Fetch the passengers," he winked. Yelar nodded and went below deck returning with four of their newest crew members. The four men looked confused. "Here they are."

Lord Cragxan shook his head, "Captain Jesiah do you take me as a fool."

"No sir of course not."

"These men are not the people I seek." He waved his hand and the silent metal humanoid stepped forward with a crunch. "I will ask again...where are the four passengers?"

"If you want, you can search the ship, there are no passengers but these men." Captain Jesiah stood sidewise offering his ship with an open arm gesture.

"Very generous." The lord snapped his finger and his crew brought a plank over and laid it across the gap. He confidently strode across his cane tapping the wood with each step. He came by himself and no other crew members joined him. For his age, he still stood as tall as Jesiah and almost as thick as him too. He was imposing. Lord Cragxan went straight for the cabins, starting with the captains. Captain Jesiah unlocked his personal quarters leading the lord through.

His search of the ship wasn't intrusive, he knew where he wanted to look. They headed to the lower decks. The clicking of his cane could be heard by the Sect from their hiding place below the captain's quarters and in between the walls of the quartermaster's room and the stern of the ship. They hid in a narrow slot that was built with access from the back of the ship and the quartermaster's quarters, designed for smuggling. Other smugglers and pirate ships had secret holds in their cargo but they were always in the same place. Jesiah wanted his ship to have a unique compartment. So far no authority had come across it.

The door to the quartermaster's room wasn't locked, by design. He ventured inside seeing the simple room with the one bed and desk. The Sect held their breath as he heard someone come into the room, they were just on the other side of the wall, the secret hatch accessible through this room, behind the bed which slides forwards. A hidden latch inside the bed frame pulls the fake nails up out of the wood allowing the bed to slide forward.

Captain Jesiah waited as he examined the room, for what felt like minutes. After a few seconds, Lord Cragxan seemed to be satisfied and left to explore more of the ship.

"Well, Captain it seems I was wrong, my apologies for delaying your journey." Lord Cragxan shook his hand and walked across the plank back to his ship. Captain Jesiah watched him whisper something to his quartermaster when he returned. The Captain had a bad feeling.

"Captain, everything alright?" Yelar could sense his worry.

"I'm not sure, Yelar, I don't trust this."

"Shall I tell the men to ready the cannons?"

"That might be a good idea." Captain Jesiah talked through his teeth, keeping his smile up for the always-watching lord. Yelar briskly but not obviously walked away to the gun deck. He also let the Sect out from their hiding place.

"We may have a fight on our hands. If it comes to that, better you can help. Just stay down here until you hear the sign," Yelar said.

"Why, what happened, he didn't see us," Erigos said as Yelar ignored him and vanished to the gun deck. "I want to know what's going on up there."

"Sit tight, we will know soon enough," Harim said.

Captain Jesiah watched as the other ship's crew removed the plank. He ordered his crew to untie the ropes on their ship. The crew of the 'Black Phoenix' did the same. He eyed the cannon ports, noticing two rows of guns, more than double his ship. Even though the 'Fog Seeker' was larger it wasn't designed to destroy other ships. It had the means to protect itself as there are lots of things on and in the ocean that can take down a ship. This other ship on the other hand was meant to hunt down ships. It looked relatively new designed and built with the most advanced technology. He looked over the deck, there were two large tarps covering something on the bow and the stern. He hadn't noticed them before as he had been focused just on Lord Cragxan. He instantly got worried as Yelar returned.

"Captain, the men are at the ready."

He turned to face him. "We can't beat this ship in a gunfight. See those tarps...those are ballistas, ship killers. They are designed to immobilize you and set fire to a ship until the decks of cannons obliterate us. If we run they'll use those and we will be dead in the water in seconds.."

"Captain," Yelar normally a very happy man lost his smile.

"Let's hope it comes to nothing but if it does our best bet will be to fire once and run, hopefully slowing the ship down." The gap between each ship was widening, still no action from the other side. He made eye contact with his helmsman, on his signal he would turn hard to port. That would put the wind at their back. The northerly wind would push them further out to sea but if they were to outrun this ship that would be their best chance.

The tarps came off revealing the ship killer ballistas, that's when he knew they had to act first. "Fire!" he yelled while also signaling the helmsman. The gun ports opened revealing their plan and a few seconds after the already loaded and ready to fire cannons boomed, aimed at vital parts of the 'Black Phoenix.' From this range, it would be hard to miss the ship, but they were designed to take a few straight-on shots. All but two of the dozen cannons made an impact. None of the masts were damaged but a few definitely took out some of their cannons out and one hit close enough to a ballista that using it would be hard from that side. One ball may have hit the rudder as the stern splintered with an impact. Captain Jesiah hoped it had.

"Full speed!" He yelled, the sails unfurled as the 'Fog Seeker' began to turn away, the 'Black Phoenix' stayed its course following the shoreline, its sails unfurling. It wasn't turning, maybe they had damaged the rudder. All the gun ports on the enemy ship opened, revealing twenty cannons. "Hard over!" He knows the stern is the weakest part of the ship but a smaller target was more favorable for them to flee.

"It is captain!" The helmsman yelled back. He was leaning on the wheel. At this rate half, of those guns would still have a good target.

"Fuck," he remembered where the Sect was hiding, the stern of the ship, which was mostly pointed directly at twenty guns. He spun to warn them but the enemy's cannons fired.