Snippet #1305690

Willow listened in as Captain William responded to Elric's demands. The Captain kept such a level headed demeanor, it was difficult to tell that Elric had irritated him in the first place. He obviously had no care that Elric was of noble blood, and his deft handling of the situation impressed her. She waited until he finished, directing Elric over to the first officer to enlist. He then turned back to Willow, and for a moment she feared he'd deal her the same speech that he had with Elric, but these fears disappeared when a warm smile crept onto his face again.

"Again Miss Witmoore, welcome aboard. For the duration of your time with us you will be treated as, and receive the same privileges of, one of the ships officers and I am sure will be more than welcome to dine with them. Unfortunately I do not feel I can give you the use of my cabin for this voyage and I apologize for that. However I am more than certain Mr. Thomas would be willing to let you use his."
Mr. Thomas nodded in agreement. "It would be my pleasure, Miss."
Willow nodded and smiled at Elric, half sympathetic, and half mocking.

"With that settled, if you would please follow me I would like to discuss with you the nature of your assignment and if you have any suggestions of what course to pursue." the captain finished, holding the door to his cabin for her, the ship's navigator was inside, going over various maps and charts. She entered the room with William in tow. Before either of the two officers could say a word, Willow began her speech, though it was rather improvised, and she hoped she wouldn't mess up.

"Let's not waste any time shall we?" she began, "The criminals, as much as we'd like to think they are brainless thugs, are obviously pretty smart. They've captured the princess, with what appeared to be minimal losses, and most likely have her aboard their ship. We can assume the haven't killed her, because they would have done it in her room, and whatever else they plan to do with her doesn't really matter. We know they'll essentially be forced to go one way. Nobody would be stupid enough to sail for mainland Europe, the royal navy probably has blockaded every port, and south isn't an option, the navy would have blockaded the whole channel. That leaves North. They'll also most likely want to sail for low population areas, where royal authority is low, which points to the Americas. Given the increasing amount of soldiers the king is stationing in the colonies, I place their final destination in the Spanish and Portuguese ports in South America. Now, as your navigator knows, we have both the wind and the distance on our side in getting to South America, so I suggest that is where we go. Havana is the key to all of South America, all ships make port there if they wish to continue on to the rest of the continent. If we can anchor off the coast, we can catch every ship heading in and out. Not to mention, if I'm wrong, they walk right into the royal army in the colonies, and your job is done for you. I'd stake my entire career on this plan, captain. In fact, I am."