in which they capture a ship

The weather the next day was not much better - oppressively hot and still - although the high heat of midday was somewhat mitigated by a slight breeze. The morning and afternoon continued much the same, bickering crew and Severein's inability to place them on his charts included, until someone up on the main top, the lookout's platform partway up the main mast, yelled down that she could see a ship to starboard and it looked to be flying the Usurper's flag.

(The one rule that Maggie imposed on her crew without discussion and without vote was that Penelle's name was not to be spoken on board her ship or in her presence. The woman was the Usurper and would only ever be known as such.)

It was a standing order, already voted on, that the Black Lightning would give chase to any ship flying the Usurper's flag, except in such cases where the ship in question was part of the navy and larger and better armed than Maggie's refitted pirate ship. Now they were too far away for the lookout to be able to accurately identify the size and type of ship that she'd seen, so Maggie gave orders to chase it until they were close enough to tell.

( Orders ran up and down the rigging )

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total words: 7441