Burns

Captain Bella 'Seadog' Hampton.

22nd of Ianua, 1492.

Off the coastal borders of Knighilia and Shujen.

***

"Captain Burns." There was a certain pitch of joy to my voice as I said the words. A miracle in itself, for every other time the words had been uttered from my lips it was fueled by malice or arrogance or both.

Now, things have changed. And so, my mind was somewhere far in the future while my body remained in the present, floating a skiff and looking over the icy waters for leagues until they gave way to the simmering seas.

"Also known as the Smoldering Pirate. His abilities are… volatile." I shrugged to no one in particular. I don't have much use for 'em. But that ship runs tighter than most in these waters."

It was still strange, hearing the Commander's voice echoing through my soul. But it was nifty all the same. "With a name like that, they should be near the Steam Line. Or in it." Hogaz chuckled, and I in return, for the irony wasn't lost on me. "What's your call?"

"Burns is smart," I said a moment later. "Knows his way around a ship and has the trust of his crew. Not to mention, he shares our ideals. I'd like to recruit."

"Very well." He said after a pause. "This operation is yours."

***

Jackie Storm.

Eldest Cabin Boy of the 'Teakettle.'

***

"Jack-Jackie! Whatcha think?"

I responded more on instinct than anything else, focusing as much mana into my eyes as I could muster in order to see through the steam. "I'm lookin' Cap, I- no fuckin' shit!" I nearly leaned over the rails, trying to get a closer look at what I thought I saw. And, sure as shit, blonde hair, bright blue eyes. "It's the Seadog! And she's on a skiff! Let's burn 'er, an burn 'er good, Cap!"

"Now, now, Jack." Captain Burns growled, flicking his wrist to send his bird out. And in that small moment, I turned to the hundreds scattered on the deck below, eager and growling and simmering with hunger.

"Well, I'll be fucked sideways! It's Captain Seadog in the flesh! And in a mighty fine skiff at that!" The Captain's booming voice silenced the seas themselves, giving a long pause filled with his trademark rolling chortle while he waved a silent order to the lot of us.

"Heard about your streak o' luck!" he called, masking the sounds of loading charges and rolling cannons. "Ran from the Tall Shores with your tails 'tween your legs, y'all did! Then someone came an' finished ya off dead, I heard!"

It wasn't but a second later when Seadog's voice came rolling across the waters like a harpy's song. Crisp and clear as the morning sun. Too bad it was sour on the inside.

"Do I look dead to you, Captain Burns?" She almost laughed. And so did Cap.

"Not yet." He growled something dangerously. "But you coming to these waters means one of only a few things, Seadog! Now, you ain't got no merit with which to parlay. And you ain't got no cannons on that there skiff either. So you either come to bend the knee, to bend over, or to be sunk."

Again, the retort came not a second later. "I'm afraid it's neither! We've come to parlay!"

"Bahaha!" Cap and the whole of the Teakettle roared. "Ain't no 'we' concerning you, Seadog! Or, shall I say in past tense?"

"FIRE!"

The bright sky lit up so bright it turned dark from the salvos of a dozen cannons arcing smoldering slag into the skies towards the Seadog, egged on by our ravenous cheers. However, a plume of water shot up too early, and the little sliver of white metal skated and skirted around our quarrels. All while she shouted tauntingly.

"Times are changing, Burns! You either change like us or you get left behind! I'm offering you that chance! A ticket to ride the coming wave!"

"Hold yer fire!" Cap shouted, silencing our frenzy as much as the cannons to hear Cap's growl. "I'm wantin' to hear what she's to say. But don't let 'er outta yer sight. She's a crafty one, she is."

True to his own word, Cap never let his eyes wander from the fast little boat. But his bird was looking to the eye in the sky. The one with a color not unlike that little boat, I realized.

"Alright, Seadog! You got my attention!"

I then took Cap's advice and looked at her closely. That unyielding confident smile had never worn off, it seemed. She had not a shred of fear, despite the cannons still trained on her.

"I'm assuming this 'we' or yours has somethin' to do with that?" Cap pointed to the flying boulders in the far distance. "I'm assumin' it's got something to do with this talk of sea trade dying down cause of some doer well artificer in Bakewia, Pascal?"

"Yes and no!" She shouted, grinning wider than possible as a dark shadow grew beneath her little boat.

There were murmurs but we said nothing. Not to Seadog and not to Cap. But when she surely couldn't ignore the surging seas beneath her, we fell into an all-out manic laughter. She was to meet her doom and she didn't even seem to care.

Or, so we thought.

Her ship rose and rose until the silver-white fin of some colossal beast breached the surface a ways behind Bella's skiff and rose meters higher. Higher than our ship and twice that more before the rounded body of a whale rose above the water, glistening in a thousand colors I couldn't begin to name.

It took what seemed like everyone a moment to realize the fin was not a fin, but a huge fuckin' mast without sails. And a moment later, the head of the metal beast appeared, boasting a massive barnacle on its head that pointed three massive cannons our way.

"That's a big fuckin' ship." I heard someone murmur behind me.

"How in the Seventeen Hells did they make that?"

"A nice ship. Ripe for the takin', that is."

"Not with those big ass guns it ain't."

That forced a laugh out of me. A dry one. Indeed the guns seemed large enough for a dwarf to crawl inside with room to spare. That, and the ship itself was about twice as long as ours and immensely taller. Tall enough to make the cannons point down just to put us in their sights. And on top of them, posed proudly in her beached skiff, stood Captain Bella 'Seadog' Hampton.

"Don't let 'er fool ya," Cap growled low. "Ain't no way they'd fire them guns with her so close."

As if the ship itself heard him, the middle barrel began vibrating ominously as a silver light within rose in strength. And Cap nearly screamed.

"I accept the parley!"

Within the span of only a few minutes, several of our crew and several of theirs met on a block of floating ice out in the middle of the sea. Me included. Among them were several familiar faces, all dressed and armed as well as their ship. Including the one unfamiliar face.

"So y'all weren't dead after all," Cap said after a few silent nods, allowing the burning embers of his eyes to fall over the eight of them and remain on the silver-tusked half-orc. "And who might you be, greenie?"

"Commander Hogaz of the Noctis Grand Fleet," he said, uncaring of the potential insult he'd just been given. But, having tact, Cap corrected his words in his own way.

"A greenhorn like you, commandin' a fleet of these ones?" Cap threw his arm around Seadog and Vexx and even Stronghull, all nodding subtly. "Color me impressed! But that don't pardon you sailin' and prancin' about in my waters, talkin' of change and all this bullshit. Not without offerin' up a good explanation. So pray tell, Commander, what you wanna parley for?"

"I have business around the shores." He said with a subtle pat to his fine mail. "I only hope that you'll pay me no mind. It is Captain Seadog's hope that you'll join us." He motioned to her with a sense of finality, and in that moment I saw a wince strike Cap's eye.

"There's nothing at the shores but warmongering barbarians, drow monks, an' ancient ruins. Already pillaged, two outta three of 'em. An' not by us."

"That's why I intend to go."

"I doubt you're to roam around town, so what's it you hope to find in some old ruins, Commander?"

"Vestiges of the past. And a gift for the future."

The energy seemed to drain from Cap's face with those words, leaving enough for a nod that made him turn away, muttering. "Ah. One of those types.

"So be it." He grunted a moment later, waving again to place a mass of black feathers and pink flesh atop my shoulder. "But you'll you're to drop anchor, time now. And you're to be holdin' one of mine in exchange for one of yers until you're leavin'. Call it an act of faith."

"Very well." The half-orc nodded without delay.

Then Seadog stepped over to Cap's side. "I volunteer to stay."

"Jack-Jackie! You're up."