Pirates For The Mainland

After a few more agonizing days of ship repair and outfitting, the Red Jewel was ready for departure. There had been a couple setbacks and arguments over the work done, but thankfully everything had been completed without any casualties. The last thing left to do was to apply fresh red paint, but the pirates told the workers not to bother.

"This would have gone a lot faster if you hadn't thrown that guy overboard," Dart told Neko. "Those five hours you cost us waiting for new workers was awful."

"They were making a mess of the engine," Neko replied. "It took me a long time, getting that old thing running perfectly."

"Modifications were necessary for all the new items that needed steam," Nog explained. "You know that. You didn't have to launch that guy into the sea. The crew thought it was funny but Redstone's men went on strike. Not okay."

The three pirates were standing on the main deck of their ship, watching their new crew finish cleaning up what mess was left by the workers. Reinforced plating, mounted rifles along railings, and a couple new cannons on platforms for the bow and stern made their ship more ready for war than it had ever been. The smaller cannons they had always had below deck were repaired and made more efficient. It would have been ideal to increase the capacity of the water reservoir and the desalination system, but the ship simply wasn't large enough.

"Well, how do you like it?" Redstone asked, climbing up the boarding plank with plenty of effort. "Will it do the trick?"

"It will," Nog answered. "Although this many armaments firing all at once is going to make it hard to propel the ship at full speed."

"We'll just have to eyeball the gauges more closely," Dart said. "Make sure we can make a run for it if we have to. Make shots count instead of peppering the enemy."

"Good then," Redstone said. "I won't keep you. I'll expect a message that you've captured your first island in the next couple of weeks. Good luck."

Without another word Redstone made his way off the ship and down to his waiting car. He looked plenty happy to be sitting down again. Nog took off her hat to roll some stress out of her neck.

"Let's get going," she ordered.

With all the time spent at the dock, the Red Jewel had a small crowd ready to watch them leave. It was an odd sight to be seen off by so many people. The pirates were sure that somebody had ran their mouth about what they were up to.

"Look at those people," Dart said. "Do you think they really know what we're setting off to do?"

"If they know where we're going, they probably think they're waving to dead people," Neko replied.

"Well, they'd be wrong," Nog said. "Take us out."

With one hand on the EOT and another at the wheel, Dart set the Red Jewel out to sea slowly, trying to feel for the engine modifications and engineer performance. The ship hummed along and the crowd waved it goodbye. Nog looked out the bridge window at the people with a bit of irritation, but something odd caught her attention.

Standing completely still among the animated people, a familiar woman in a black coat stood. She had light brown skin and dark piercing eyes partially hidden behind a black lace face veil. Her black hair fell in lively waves to her shoulders and she smiled big as she watched the ship. The woman seemed to make direct eye contact with Nog and it sent a chill down the captain's spine.

The woman raised her arm to wave at the pirates, revealing a blood-covered hand and forearm. In an angry panic, Nog rushed out the door of the bridge to stand on the outside for a better look, but the woman was gone. Nog breathed deep at the scare and gritted her teeth in rage.

"What's wrong?" Dart asked, calling out the open door. "What did you see?"

Nog stepped back inside and closed the door slowly, trying to rationalize what just happened.

"I just saw a f.u.c.k.i.n.g ghost," she told her mates.