in which the navy is formed
Nov. 28th, 2013 12:27 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
smackenzie"That is my offer. Follow me or no, but understand that if you do not sail with me, it will be as if you were sailing against me."
This was predictably followed by chaos as the pirate captains broke forth with their own opinions on what should be done and why, the risks and rewards of joining any navy at all, never mind one led by a woman, the value of having someone else in front to attract military attention, the distances they might have to travel, the seaworthiness of each others' ships, the bloodthirstiness and greed of each others' crews, and who had the drive and skill to get something out of this, and who did not.
Maggie let them talk. She had said her piece, and she knew that sooner or later someone would address her directly about her plan. And if no one did, she had another pistol with another ball, and she would stand on her chair and fire it to get their attention a second time.
Each pirate captain had been allowed a second, either a first mate or a quartermaster or a sailing master or whoever the captain might trust the most. There were only seats for the captains, but all of their associates had opinions too, and as Maggie waited and planned her next speech, the volume in the room rose exponentially as each pirate sought to make himself (or herself - Bernade had come as well, of course, and there were surprisingly a few women seconds among the captains) heard.
"This is accomplishing nothing," Doren said in Maggie's ear. She had been chosen to sit in because Maggie trusted her opinion the most, but these were the first words she had said yet. "They will wear themselves out with arguing and then you will get nothing from them. Or they will form their own alliances and throw you over."
"I am surprised at you, Doren," Maggie said. "You should know as well as I that pirates will argue and fight themselves into solitude without a strong voice to lead them. I had thought this would happen. Let them talk. They will have questions and complains and agendas, and if they announce these to their neighbors, they are not announcing them to me. You will see - they cannot lead themselves. No one is going to step forward to take this from me."
She was in fact mostly correct, and it turned out that one of the main things the captains brought up among themselves was the hierarchy in Maggie's navy. Who would sail the flagships? Who would bring up the rear? Who would command which ships and which crews? When would they vote on these things? There were very few loud dissenters - these men believed in the might of their own ships and the power of their own commands, and while none of them were interested in engaging a ship of the line, they realized that a collective of pirate ships - sixty vessels flying pirate flags - might strike fear into the hearts of an organized military where a bare few would not.
They were some of them very perceptive men, for all their greed and selfishness, and they knew that if they could band together and attack as a single force, they could acquire great treasure for themselves, much more than they would be able to steal alone.
And because Maggie had spoken with them and because she had heard the stories told about many of them and because she had heard what they had to say about each other, she knew this about them. She knew the loudest voices, the most charismatic captains, would prevail. She knew she would have a navy composed of ships commanded by the pirates in this room. It was simply a question of how big a navy, and who would sail in it.
The captains around the table were gesturing with tankards and fists, and soon the pistols and swords came out and Maggie decided she needed to regain control. She tried yelling, to see if it would work, and when it did not quiet anyone, she fired her second pistol at the ceiling. The nearest pirates to her closed their mouths in surprise, but as the noise level was so high, and so many of the captains and their seconds were so worked up, the effect was less than she had hoped for.
"Hand me your pistol," she said to Doren, who did so, and this time Maggie took aim down the center of the table and fired at a large jug. It was close enough for her to hit and not quite as sturdy as it looked, and it shattered. And this time the noise and the breaking pottery was enough to distract enough people so that she could take control again.
"You have questions, no?" she asked the crowd. "Concerns, complaints. I should not have to defend myself on the basis of my sex, and I will not. I know you realize that even with our numbers we cannot take a frontal assault by ships of the line, but I also know that you realize that together we may accomplish much, much more than we ever could alone. And you know as well as I the fear that our flags will strike in the hearts of otherwise stout sailors" - and this was a lie, as she had sailed with a royal navy and knew for fact that naval captains, trained in the Naval Academy and most of them born to the aristocracy and raised to be superior, looked on pirates as uncouth rabble, easily vanquished, and their common sailors were no less confident - "imagine if you will sixty ships answering to no country, no ruler, flying flags that announce their desire to murder and to pillage - imagine that you are a common sailor aboard a navy frigate, and you look to port and see an organized pirate navy bearing down on you. Would you not piss your pants in fear?"
This brought on scattered laughter. Maggie felt a brief moment of guilt for so maligning the men and women she had led in earlier years, but none of these captains today had to know that once she had had great faith in the Royal Navy and in the men and women who sailed with her.
"Tell me you are not straining to take down a military vessel, to strip it of every valuable thing. Tell me you are not straining to display your might to colonial towns and islands, and even across the ocean to the great seafaring countries themselves. Tell me you would not like to see rulers on their knees, begging for your mercy as you loot the royal treasuries."
There was a growing hubbub as the captains began to discuss this as well, all the things they would do with their riches and all the power they would display. Maggie pounded on the table with the butt of Doren's pistol to quiet them down.
"Listen to me! This is much simpler than you think. There are but two ranks - myself, and you. Listen to me and follow me, and you may do what you will with your ships and your crews. We will divide our plunder equitably among those who will fight. If you wish to vote for positions among yourselves, you may, so long as the final word is mine. There is no questioning this. This is my navy and if anyone swings for it, it will be me. The flagship is my ship - "
"No! That will not stand!" cried a voice almost halfway down the table, accompanied by the scrape of a chair as Diono stood up. "The Sophra Gale carries sixty-seven guns and near two hundred and fifty men! She is a more worthy flagship than your frigate!"
The Sophra Gale, Maggie knew, had been a fourth-rate ship of the line when Diono captured her, a much larger prize than pirates would normally chase. She was larger and heavier than the Black Lightning - indeed, likely larger and heavier than any other ship in the pirate navy - but that made her slower and harder to maneuver. She would be impressive leading Maggie's navy, but she was not Maggie's ship and Maggie was not about to give this command over to someone else.
"This is not open for debate," she said. "I command this navy, and I sail its flagship at its head. If you do not like my terms, you are welcome to take your ships and leave."
"I will not be ordered about by a woman!"
"Will you accept orders from a fellow pirate? As I have said, my history speaks for itself. I will not demand things of you that I will not do myself. I will take only my fair share of the plunder, no less and no more. Not a one of you began as a captain. Any one of you could lose the captain's seat. But with me you will be able to keep what you now hold without question. With your ships and your crew and your drive we will be a great navy. Listen to me and follow my lead and you will be rich beyond your dreams, I swear it."
This time the following conversation was more subdued as (no doubt) the assembled captains and their associates gave her words more thought in silence. Maggie handed Doren back her pistol.
"What do you think?" she asked under her breath.
"I think you may have them," Doren answered.
So Maggie waited a few more minutes before banging on the table for quiet.
"What say you?" she asked the captains. "Shall we test our mettle with one of the Usurper's islands? Perhaps a colonial town? Shall we form a blockade, or simply sail into the harbor and take the place for our own? This woman is my target - you may plunder any ships you wish, but my goal is to unseat her from the throne and send her naked and humiliated into exile. And so I wish to begin with one of her possessions to show her our strength. This is open for debate," she added, looking pointedly at Diono.
And so they debated what to do next - rather, what to do first - and settled on wreaking havoc on one of the Usurper's colonial ports. The town had a couple of small military ships in its harbor, presumably to discourage any piracy and to encourage the townspeople and merchants to behave - but they all but threw up their hands in surrender when the pirate navy appeared. The town fell without a fuss. Maggie's pirates looted it of every valuable thing, emptying warehouses merchant's houses and taverns and small farms and the armory and treasury. Maggie took the Usurper's representative hostage and sent him to Port Doras under guard.
And from there the pirate navy traveled up the coast, seeking towns to plunder and ships to capture. Pirates squabbled over treasure and travel routes and where to go and who to follow, and most of the time Maggie let them. She did not care about their petty internal disagreements. She only cared that they were building the reputation of her navy, and that they were behind her when she needed them. And what they argued among themselves did not matter to her at all.
So it went for months, and word traveled around the islands and the southern seas and even perhaps to the Usurper's own ears that a pirate navy was abroad on the water Maggie was proud of what she'd begun, and if she sometimes felt that she had become more bloodthirsty and more merciless, well, it was the price she would have to pay to achieve her goal. (And she would ignore the priest when he tried to discuss it.) She did not think she would be a pirate forever, and once the king-in-exile was restored to his throne and Maggie's title and estates were restored to her, she would hang up her pistols.
But first, she had to bring her navy to him. She had to bring herself to him. It was hard to get word to all the pirate captains, but Maggie made it known that in six months' time she would challenge the Usurper at her own front door, and she believed her pirate navy was strong enough to prevail.
That message delivered, she had Adriata turn the Black Lightning north, so that she might meet with the king-in-exile and tell him her plan in person and perhaps inspire him to gather his army - for she was certain that he must have an army to lead to future glory - and they would take back their country and banish the Usurper together.
It was a long voyage and her crew grumbled and complained and once came near mutiny, but Maggie's promise of gold and jewels and the treasure of an entire country helped spur them on.
words: 2157
total words: 44,272
This was predictably followed by chaos as the pirate captains broke forth with their own opinions on what should be done and why, the risks and rewards of joining any navy at all, never mind one led by a woman, the value of having someone else in front to attract military attention, the distances they might have to travel, the seaworthiness of each others' ships, the bloodthirstiness and greed of each others' crews, and who had the drive and skill to get something out of this, and who did not.
Maggie let them talk. She had said her piece, and she knew that sooner or later someone would address her directly about her plan. And if no one did, she had another pistol with another ball, and she would stand on her chair and fire it to get their attention a second time.
Each pirate captain had been allowed a second, either a first mate or a quartermaster or a sailing master or whoever the captain might trust the most. There were only seats for the captains, but all of their associates had opinions too, and as Maggie waited and planned her next speech, the volume in the room rose exponentially as each pirate sought to make himself (or herself - Bernade had come as well, of course, and there were surprisingly a few women seconds among the captains) heard.
"This is accomplishing nothing," Doren said in Maggie's ear. She had been chosen to sit in because Maggie trusted her opinion the most, but these were the first words she had said yet. "They will wear themselves out with arguing and then you will get nothing from them. Or they will form their own alliances and throw you over."
"I am surprised at you, Doren," Maggie said. "You should know as well as I that pirates will argue and fight themselves into solitude without a strong voice to lead them. I had thought this would happen. Let them talk. They will have questions and complains and agendas, and if they announce these to their neighbors, they are not announcing them to me. You will see - they cannot lead themselves. No one is going to step forward to take this from me."
She was in fact mostly correct, and it turned out that one of the main things the captains brought up among themselves was the hierarchy in Maggie's navy. Who would sail the flagships? Who would bring up the rear? Who would command which ships and which crews? When would they vote on these things? There were very few loud dissenters - these men believed in the might of their own ships and the power of their own commands, and while none of them were interested in engaging a ship of the line, they realized that a collective of pirate ships - sixty vessels flying pirate flags - might strike fear into the hearts of an organized military where a bare few would not.
They were some of them very perceptive men, for all their greed and selfishness, and they knew that if they could band together and attack as a single force, they could acquire great treasure for themselves, much more than they would be able to steal alone.
And because Maggie had spoken with them and because she had heard the stories told about many of them and because she had heard what they had to say about each other, she knew this about them. She knew the loudest voices, the most charismatic captains, would prevail. She knew she would have a navy composed of ships commanded by the pirates in this room. It was simply a question of how big a navy, and who would sail in it.
The captains around the table were gesturing with tankards and fists, and soon the pistols and swords came out and Maggie decided she needed to regain control. She tried yelling, to see if it would work, and when it did not quiet anyone, she fired her second pistol at the ceiling. The nearest pirates to her closed their mouths in surprise, but as the noise level was so high, and so many of the captains and their seconds were so worked up, the effect was less than she had hoped for.
"Hand me your pistol," she said to Doren, who did so, and this time Maggie took aim down the center of the table and fired at a large jug. It was close enough for her to hit and not quite as sturdy as it looked, and it shattered. And this time the noise and the breaking pottery was enough to distract enough people so that she could take control again.
"You have questions, no?" she asked the crowd. "Concerns, complaints. I should not have to defend myself on the basis of my sex, and I will not. I know you realize that even with our numbers we cannot take a frontal assault by ships of the line, but I also know that you realize that together we may accomplish much, much more than we ever could alone. And you know as well as I the fear that our flags will strike in the hearts of otherwise stout sailors" - and this was a lie, as she had sailed with a royal navy and knew for fact that naval captains, trained in the Naval Academy and most of them born to the aristocracy and raised to be superior, looked on pirates as uncouth rabble, easily vanquished, and their common sailors were no less confident - "imagine if you will sixty ships answering to no country, no ruler, flying flags that announce their desire to murder and to pillage - imagine that you are a common sailor aboard a navy frigate, and you look to port and see an organized pirate navy bearing down on you. Would you not piss your pants in fear?"
This brought on scattered laughter. Maggie felt a brief moment of guilt for so maligning the men and women she had led in earlier years, but none of these captains today had to know that once she had had great faith in the Royal Navy and in the men and women who sailed with her.
"Tell me you are not straining to take down a military vessel, to strip it of every valuable thing. Tell me you are not straining to display your might to colonial towns and islands, and even across the ocean to the great seafaring countries themselves. Tell me you would not like to see rulers on their knees, begging for your mercy as you loot the royal treasuries."
There was a growing hubbub as the captains began to discuss this as well, all the things they would do with their riches and all the power they would display. Maggie pounded on the table with the butt of Doren's pistol to quiet them down.
"Listen to me! This is much simpler than you think. There are but two ranks - myself, and you. Listen to me and follow me, and you may do what you will with your ships and your crews. We will divide our plunder equitably among those who will fight. If you wish to vote for positions among yourselves, you may, so long as the final word is mine. There is no questioning this. This is my navy and if anyone swings for it, it will be me. The flagship is my ship - "
"No! That will not stand!" cried a voice almost halfway down the table, accompanied by the scrape of a chair as Diono stood up. "The Sophra Gale carries sixty-seven guns and near two hundred and fifty men! She is a more worthy flagship than your frigate!"
The Sophra Gale, Maggie knew, had been a fourth-rate ship of the line when Diono captured her, a much larger prize than pirates would normally chase. She was larger and heavier than the Black Lightning - indeed, likely larger and heavier than any other ship in the pirate navy - but that made her slower and harder to maneuver. She would be impressive leading Maggie's navy, but she was not Maggie's ship and Maggie was not about to give this command over to someone else.
"This is not open for debate," she said. "I command this navy, and I sail its flagship at its head. If you do not like my terms, you are welcome to take your ships and leave."
"I will not be ordered about by a woman!"
"Will you accept orders from a fellow pirate? As I have said, my history speaks for itself. I will not demand things of you that I will not do myself. I will take only my fair share of the plunder, no less and no more. Not a one of you began as a captain. Any one of you could lose the captain's seat. But with me you will be able to keep what you now hold without question. With your ships and your crew and your drive we will be a great navy. Listen to me and follow my lead and you will be rich beyond your dreams, I swear it."
This time the following conversation was more subdued as (no doubt) the assembled captains and their associates gave her words more thought in silence. Maggie handed Doren back her pistol.
"What do you think?" she asked under her breath.
"I think you may have them," Doren answered.
So Maggie waited a few more minutes before banging on the table for quiet.
"What say you?" she asked the captains. "Shall we test our mettle with one of the Usurper's islands? Perhaps a colonial town? Shall we form a blockade, or simply sail into the harbor and take the place for our own? This woman is my target - you may plunder any ships you wish, but my goal is to unseat her from the throne and send her naked and humiliated into exile. And so I wish to begin with one of her possessions to show her our strength. This is open for debate," she added, looking pointedly at Diono.
And so they debated what to do next - rather, what to do first - and settled on wreaking havoc on one of the Usurper's colonial ports. The town had a couple of small military ships in its harbor, presumably to discourage any piracy and to encourage the townspeople and merchants to behave - but they all but threw up their hands in surrender when the pirate navy appeared. The town fell without a fuss. Maggie's pirates looted it of every valuable thing, emptying warehouses merchant's houses and taverns and small farms and the armory and treasury. Maggie took the Usurper's representative hostage and sent him to Port Doras under guard.
And from there the pirate navy traveled up the coast, seeking towns to plunder and ships to capture. Pirates squabbled over treasure and travel routes and where to go and who to follow, and most of the time Maggie let them. She did not care about their petty internal disagreements. She only cared that they were building the reputation of her navy, and that they were behind her when she needed them. And what they argued among themselves did not matter to her at all.
So it went for months, and word traveled around the islands and the southern seas and even perhaps to the Usurper's own ears that a pirate navy was abroad on the water Maggie was proud of what she'd begun, and if she sometimes felt that she had become more bloodthirsty and more merciless, well, it was the price she would have to pay to achieve her goal. (And she would ignore the priest when he tried to discuss it.) She did not think she would be a pirate forever, and once the king-in-exile was restored to his throne and Maggie's title and estates were restored to her, she would hang up her pistols.
But first, she had to bring her navy to him. She had to bring herself to him. It was hard to get word to all the pirate captains, but Maggie made it known that in six months' time she would challenge the Usurper at her own front door, and she believed her pirate navy was strong enough to prevail.
That message delivered, she had Adriata turn the Black Lightning north, so that she might meet with the king-in-exile and tell him her plan in person and perhaps inspire him to gather his army - for she was certain that he must have an army to lead to future glory - and they would take back their country and banish the Usurper together.
It was a long voyage and her crew grumbled and complained and once came near mutiny, but Maggie's promise of gold and jewels and the treasure of an entire country helped spur them on.
words: 2157
total words: 44,272
