For this one, the words were Piracy, Swagger and Daring. I was clearly being led down a certain path by those, but I decided to set it in the world of Theah, as featured in the 7th Sea roleplaying game. “Sails ahoy, captain! Black ones!” The voice came from aloft. Young Francois couldn’t sail for all the guilders in Théah, but he had the best eyes that Emilia Caligari, captain of the Lady’s Favour, had ever come across, and so she’d found a place for him in the crow’s nest. She took up her glass and raised it to her eye as she returned the call. “Where about?” “Coming in from the port side, captain!” She turned to port and searched the horizon. Yes – there she was. Black sails, just as Francois had said. She passed the glass to her brother, Timeo, who took it and looked out in the same direction. She turned to both him and the other man at her shoulder – Heinrich Sauer, the Ship’s Master. “Well, gentlemen?” Sauer was already looking at the approaching ship with his own glass. “She’s a three master,” said Sauer after a moment. “Barque. Looking at the size of her, I’d guess 16 guns. She’ll approach fast and try to board us. It would be quite daring of her to try – if we can keep our distance, we can fairly easily destroy her. She’ll have a big crew though – can we see her off if she closes, Mr Caligari?” Timeo nodded as he looked. “I doubt it will come to it – especially with Albert’s new toy – but if it does, we can keep the Favour safe. Do you think she’ll try?” Sauer nodded. “Aye. They’re pirates – if they were going to turn away, they’d have done so by now.” The pilot, Dalia, spoke up. “Pirates? So close to Fort Freedom?” She then quietened, looking embarrassed at her question. Emilia smiled at her. “Indeed – piracy in these waters. This is my shocked face. You don’t know the Company well yet, Miss Synal, but you’ll get to. They hire pirates to do most of their dirtiest work, but some of the pirates want that bit more, not content with what they’re already getting.” Dalia nodded. “Aye, Captain. Your orders?” “Maintain course, Miss Synal. When they get close, I want our broadside ready for them. Beat to quarters, Mr Sauer, but quietly – let’s see if we can surprise them when they reach range. Ready the marines, Mr Caligari – just in case Albert’s new toy isn’t as effective as he thinks it will be. It seems these pirates need a lesson in picking their targets, and we can be the ones to teach them.” The wind was, as always for the Favour, perfect and the captain surreptitiously watched as the pirate ship approached. All was in readiness – the gun teams all prepared with Albert Rostum, the master gunner, ready for the order to fire. The marines had their weapons but stood seemingly idly on deck. It was almost time.
Francois was keeping a careful watch of the distance when his eagle eyes picked out something unusual. “Captain!” he called down more urgency in his voice than earlier. “You’d best take a look.” Emilia did as suggested, raising her glass to her eye and looking at the pirate ship. The enemy ship looked deserted, other than a pilot, stood carefully at the wheel. Where was the rest of the crew? There was no way that one person could have gotten this ship out to sea. She scanned the horizon, finally seeing the jolly boats being rowed away. “Mr Sauer,” she said, her usual swagger gone. “Hypothetically, why might a pirate crew abandon their ship prior to engaging?” The Eisen man looked out to sea, seeing the same thing she had. “Fire ship, but they’re too far out. The pilot could still light it, but that would be suicide for him. Pirates aren’t generally given to such actions.” “My thoughts exactly, Mr Sauer. And that would be an expensive ship to give up voluntarily, I think.” “Aye, captain. It would.” “Captain!” came the call from aloft. “They’re closing fast.” She looked out – Francois was right. “Something isn’t right here,” said Sauer, completely unnecessarily. “I concur,” replied Emilia. “Miss Synal – turn to starboard. Mr Sauer – lay on every ounce of sail. I don’t like this.” “Aye captain,” they both said at the same time. Unfortunately, the wind was in the pirate ship’s favour as much as their own, and the other ship proved to be the faster. No matter how much the Favour’s crew tried, they couldn’t make distance and the pirate continued to get closer and closer. “We can’t keep running,” said Timeo, climbing up to where Emilia was watching the other ship’s approach. “They’ll catch us eventually, and we’re better off getting as many shots off as we can whilst they approach.” She nodded. “You’re right, but I still don’t like this. They’re planning something, and I don’t know what it is.” She made the orders and the Favour turned about, placing their port side back towards the approaching ship. It continued to approach rapidly, and she continued to watch at the rail. There was no point trying for subterfuge now – they were clearly aware of the predator and prepared to defend themselves. “She’s riding low in the prow,” said Sauer, eyes narrow in confusion. “Like she’s front heavy.” “He’s wearing gloves!” called down Francois. “Sorcier!” Emilia turned swiftly to look down her ship. So that was their plan – the pilot would escape at the last second, probably after setting the ship on fire, via porté! “Port broadside – fire!” she screamed and heard her call echoing down the ship as officers ordered their divisions to fire. Their only chance now was to force him to make his escape before he could fire the ship. The cannons roared and the other ship was hit by almost all of them. The pilot did as expected and ripped open a hole in the world before making his escape by stepping through. She knew from experience that the world would be screaming in pain, but the sound of her own guns hid it from her ears. The pirate ship continued to move towards them, clearly tied into a straight course. It was too late to move out of the way, but they could brace for the collision. With the ship not on fire, that should be enough to see them safe and they could repair any damage with materials from the pirate ship. The ship would, no doubt, be empty of any plunder, but just the timber would be valuable. “Brace!” shouted Sauer, and the whole crew grabbed hold of something, or ducked down to better take the incoming impact. The ships struck and everything and everybody shook. Then came the explosion. The pirate ship’s prow simply vanished in a mass of fire, sending broken wood and shattered metal into the Lady’s Favour and her crew. Many of those were aflame and it was purest good fortune that saved them. The wave that had been created by the collision rose up and fell upon the Favour, smothering the fires instantly. Timeo moved with the marines to push what was left of the pirate ship away, fearing further explosions and Emilia breathed a sigh of relief. Sauer stood up next to her. “They rigged it to explode. Must have filled the prow with all of their powder.” Emilia nodded. “Make sure anybody that is hurt is taken below and have people check the ship for more damage.” Sauer nodded. “Once again, captain – luck has saved us. Fate loves you.” Emilia nodded back. “Indeed it does, Mr Sauer. Which is fortunate, because we’ve clearly done something to very seriously upset somebody else.”
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The words here were Obsidian, Cauterise and Archiepiscopal. Once I'd looked up what the last one meant, I was given the idea to write about the colonisation of South America, and this is what I ended up with. Dear friend, I write to detail our attempts to complete our archiepiscopal duty in bringing the love of God to the peoples of the Americas, specially those that call themselves Aztec. It would bring great relief to my heart if you could bring this information to his Excellency, the Archbishop. All in all, our efforts go well. We have been welcomed to the village and have begun work on the mission. Some small number are attending our services regularly, and that number grows slowly but steadily. There is resentment from some quarters – a large part of this seems to be from those who fought in the war, but there seem to be a few who do not appreciate what we are trying to do for them. There is one man amongst the villagers who seems to have some authority and I am confident that if we can convert him the rest will follow. He is an older man but seems to be well respected by the other locals. His ability to speak Spanish is far greater than our ability to speak his language, though that can be said of most of the people here. He tells old tales, this man, of their own religion and gods, if you can call them that. Demons more like! He speaks of ancient rites, of sacrifices and other primitive practices. He assures us that these things do not happen anymore, and I am glad to hear it! They still partake of some of their old ways though – there is one of their temples only an hour or so away in the jungle and many of the village visit it often. I know that we should be more forceful with them, that we should not allow such flagrant blasphemy when we know it is occurring, but I do not believe that that way works. I have seen villagers turn from their would-be saviours due to such, and I wish to try another way. I believe that they will be readier to listen to me if I show respect for their ways. I will, of course, keep you and the Archbishop informed as swiftly as the ships can deliver my letters. In Faith, Father Miguel Dear friend, I pray that all is well at home and that the Archbishop’s health is good. I am pleased to report that more and more of the villagers now attend mass, in our recently completed mission. It is still a minority, but the number grows week by week. Soon we may have as many as a quarter of the people here. I hope the Archbishop is happy with my methods here – I know it isn’t the way that many others would try to engage with the heathens. I have not received any reply to my previous missive, so I can but pray for guidance and hope I am right. If his Excellency wishes me to stop, I shall of course do so. The villagers have given me a gift – it is a dagger made of obsidian. Of course, I have no use for such an object, and it is a little savage in nature, but I believe it is a sign that they are accepting me and more may start to listen to me. The leader of whom I wrote previously presented it to me before the whole village! I am saddened to report that one of the missionaries that was assigned to us has been lost. Father Rodriguez is lost to us – the dangers of the jungle where wild beasts do roam. We found him mauled and savaged, only a few hundred yards from the village edge. In truth, it was a local that discovered him and tried to save his life by cauterising his wounds – their medicine is primitive. Sadly, he did not survive, and so I conducted last rights for him. I have visited their temple but, naturally, do not partake of their practises. It is impressive to see what they have been able to build out here – a remarkable people, if ignorant in many ways. I await word from yourself and the Archbishop and will, of course, keep you informed as to progress. In Faith, Father Miguel Dear friend, Firstly, I am sorry to say that I did not receive any reply from you yet. There was a storm recently, and a Spanish ship was lost with all hands in it – I suspect it may have been carrying any letter that you had intended to reach me . Progress is good with the mission – we now have nearly a third of the village as part of our congregation. I do not think that all of them believe yet, but we have our first baptisms scheduled to take place in a few days. I know that I should have started by baptising them to keep safe their souls, but I sincerely believe that would have hindered our progress. I have found myself unsure in this difficult times – baptism would, of course, cleanse them of their sins and allow them to walk a new life in Christ, but if they still continue with their old practices, they will simply accumulate more sin. I think I begin to understand why others have begun with baptism and outlawing old practices – one without the other achieves nothing. However, I am firm on my course and it appears to be working. Better, I believe, a willing convert than one forced to it. Regrettably, we have lost two other members of the mission. Fathers Gallegi and Ramonis have fallen in a similar way to Father Rodriguez. This time the beasts had eaten their hearts! It was, truly, a horrifying image to behold and it is only the strength of Christ that kept me to my path and able to conduct the funerals. It is strange that it is only members of the mission that seem to be in danger in the jungle – the locals all appear to be well. As do I – the elder here says that my dagger keeps me safe, but that is clearly superstitious nonsense. However, it does mean that I am now alone here. If his Excellency could send more missionaries, it would make our task significantly easier. I have witnessed their ceremonies. It seems that they worship the sun, as far as I can tell – my grasp of their language is still not complete. Similar to ourselves, they seem to drink of a deep red wine, though I have seen no grapes or other ways in which it might be made. They have not been able to explain it to me, though clearly it must come from some other jungle fruit. I pray that this missive finds you well, and that you can respond soon. In Faith, Father Miguel Dear friend,
There is no need to send further missionaries. The work is complete, and I am pleased to say that all souls here now follow the same god. Your friend, Miguel The words this time were Vermouth, Elevate and Archetypal. For some reason, after some thought, the word archetypal brought to mind superheroes, at which point the drink reference suggested the following scene. Glass shattered as Captain Twilight came through the window of the tall tower and people started to flee the room. They weren’t relevant and the Captain ignored them – members of a criminal enterprise that the police around the base of the building could handle. He was here for the CEO himself – the man that hadn’t moved at all at the sound of his arrival.
Here sat Maximilian Carnage, one of the richest men in the world who kept an entire firm of lawyers on retainer so that he wouldn’t need to worry about the consequences of his actions. Watching calmly from his seat at the head of the conference table he sighed quietly, closed his papers and put his pen in his suit pocket. Captain Twilight approached the table and Carnage stood, moving to a drink cabinet. “Can I get you one?” he said as he picked up the bottle of vermouth. “No, thank you,” said Twilight. “You don’t mind if I have one?” “I don’t think you’ll have the time to finish, but sure – go ahead.” Carnage poured, speaking as he did so. “Captain – what can I do for you? I generally prefer guests to make an appointment but given you’re here and my previous engagement has finished early, I suppose I can squeeze you into my schedule.” “Give it up, Carnage,” Twilight replied. “We’ve got you this time – you can come quietly, or I can take you in the rougher way. I’m kind of hoping you choose the latter.” Carnage raised his glass towards the hero in a mock toast. “I’m sorry, Captain, but I’m confused. Have I done something wrong?” “You know you have, Carnage. You and your empire of toadies.” He pulled a document from somewhere in his costume and presented it to the CEO. “I have a warrant for your arrest.” “And so, like the archetypal paragon you are, you decided to bust through my window – I’ll have an invoice made out for that, by the way – and present it here, rather than coming through the front door?” Twilight smiled. “We both know that if I’d used the front door, you would have been halfway to China by the time we got to the top. I expect the elevators – all of them – would have been weirdly broken.” Carnage smiled as he sipped his drink. “We have been having some technical problems. I have to say though that this is fairly unexpected. I really did think that the District Attorney enjoyed my generous donations to her re-election campaign. Obviously, I wouldn’t suggest that they were payments to keep her out of my way, but she can hardly expect me to continue them after something like this.” Now it was the Captain’s turn to smile. “Haven’t you heard? The DA had to stand down – turned out she was corrupt. Her deputy has taken on her duties. Turns out that some of your lawyers have thought better of their previous actions, have confessed to their crimes and implicated the whole firm too, which has exposed you.” Carnage squeezed the glass. “When did this all happen?” “Oh, about twenty minutes ago.” The glass broke in Carnage’s hand, spilling the remains of the vermouth over the floor. “This isn’t true. You’re trying to trap me into incriminating myself. The DA wasn’t corrupt! And my lawyers hadn’t committed any crimes.” “It turns out they had – they just had to think a great deal about it. I was happy to sit with them whilst they considered their pasts.” Twilight took a step towards the CEO and, unconsciously, Carnage stepped back. “You intimidated them?” “Oh no – I’m a fine, upstanding member of the hero community. I was, of course, a perfect gentleman towards them all – we just had a frank conversation. I don’t think any of them would ever suggest that I did anything like intimidating them.” He grinned. “I’m the good guy here, remember.” Carnage held out his hands. “It seems you have me in check, Captain. Well done – you have elevated yourself in my expectations. We’ll see how the next round plays out.” “You’re coming quietly?” “Of course – you have a warrant. My best course of action at this point is to perform my civic duty and come in to be interviewed. You’ve made something clear today that I must remember for the future.” “And what’s that?” “You’re no Paragon.” Today's challenge - the words Effect, Light and Flying. For some reason, the idea for this one came almost straight away, and now I'm left wanting to watch Hornblower again. The whistle blew with a shrill blast and the entire crew immediately stopped what they were doing to turn to the captain and listen.
“I’m afraid shore leave may have to be cancelled,” she said, pointing towards the town where a large crowd were gathering. They were armed with knives, belaying pins and some pistols – clearly here for action rather than to simply see the Zephyr when she came into dock. “To arms, all! Prepare to repel boarders!” Her crew, all well trained, immediately moved to it. Those that had reached the dock climbed back aboard, and all grabbed weapons and moved to cover to begin taking shots at the crowd as and when they could. The captain moved to her ship’s master as her people prepared to defend their home. “Can we see them off, Mr Beckett? There appear to be a lot of them.” He shook his head slightly, not wanting the crew to see him. “No, Maam, I suspect not. Cloudbank is a poor port, with poorer folk. That makes them desperate – when a ship laden with valuable cargo comes in, well – it has a mighty powerful effect on them.” She nodded. “Perhaps you could have mentioned this risk before we docked, Mr Beckett?” “With respect, Maam,” he replied, “I did. The situation hasn’t changed though – we’re still desperate ourselves. We need power.” She drew her own sword and pistol. “Aye, Mr Beckett. As you say. Get some people that aren’t fighting to take in the sails. We don’t want anything blocking the light.” “Aye, Maam,” he said as she headed down to join the battle. “Miss Blasier! Take in the sails!” Her division had been tasked with staying aboard ship, so they’d be the nearest. “Yes, Sir!” came the answer immediately from the midshipman he’d addressed. “Higgins, Demeter, take the main mast! Balust, Damian, take the fore! Javro, Williams, take the aft!” “Aye, Maam!” came six answering voices as her division moved to complete their work, climbing the masts swiftly and working to bring in the sails, wrapping the voluminous fabric so that the lenses that were so crucial to the Zephyr were bathed in what was left of the day’s light. Beckett moved to the wheel. They’d have to be ready to leave as soon as they had enough power. He was sure what he had told the captain was correct – they couldn’t win this fight. The only thing that mattered was if they could hold out long enough. He watched the needle move as the light provided the last of its power. Shots fired and he spared a moment to look at the fight. The captain was now in the thick of it, as was her way. She wouldn’t have her crew fighting and not go to risk herself beside them. It was why they were so loyal to her – they knew that she’d been a simple sailor just as they were at one point, that she wouldn’t put them to a risk that she would take herself. They had enormous respect for her and would die for her if it came to it. He heard a thud and saw one of Blasier’s division fall from the yard. An unlucky shot had knocked him off balance and, even if it hadn’t killed him, the fall would have finished the job. Already he could see Blasier climbing to take the man’s place and ensure the job was done. “Mr Portabo – stand your division ready to help with the sails!” “Aye, Sir!” and soon after six other answering shouts. He looked again at the needle. It was climbing. They could leave now, but they wouldn’t have the power to get anywhere. “Mr Beckett, Sir?” He looked down to see a young powder girl at his side. He nodded at her. “The Captain sends her respects, and requests that you set sail as soon as you can.” He nodded. “Very well. My respects to the Captain. We’ll set sail immediately.” The powder girl nodded and headed back into the battle to inform the captain. He blew on his whistle. “All hands aboard! I repeat, all hands aboard!” He called orders and sailors moved to release ropes keeping them docked whilst the crew withdrew back onto the Zephyr. They were well practised and moved swiftly, though he could see some bodies were being left behind. As the last rope was cut, he flipped the switches and channelled power from the batteries beneath the lenses and into the engines, feeling them fire up. This was madness – with the power they had, they would only be flying for a few minutes. The captain appeared at his side as they moved away from the dock, into the clouds. “Beat to quarters, Mr Beckett,” she said when he looked over. “Let’s teach this mob a lesson in courtesy.” He repeated the order, hearing the lieutenants and midshipmen repeat it after him. All crew moved to the guns. “On my order, Mr Beckett,” said the captain. “Give them a broadside.” “Aye, Maam. On your order.” A moment passed. A blessed, still, quiet moment. The only sound came from the engines humming. The mob on the dock had been silenced by their failure to capture the Zephyr. They didn’t know what was coming. “Fire, Mr Beckett,” she said. “All hands, port side, fire!” Guns roared, and the people on the dock were left dead, wounded or running. They didn’t need the starboard broadside. “Take us back in, Mr Beckett,” the captain said, once she was satisfied that they could safely return. “We still need more power.” “Aye, Captain.” |
Flash FictionSome shorter fiction, usually based on some kind of challenge. Archives
October 2021
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