Snippet #1953323

James remained standing where he was, his mouth open in surprise. If I was still an officer, let alone number one, I'd order the men to stand by while I tried to talk you out of this crazy shit, he thought. Was Captain Val insane? We just left port, so of course the Duchess will be following us. James scrambled up to the bridge and examined the oncoming ship with his spyglass. From he could see, she looked harmless. Her cannon ports were closed, there were just enough sailors on deck to man the sails, and aside from a few men shaking thier fists and making obscene guestures, he could see no signs of malicious intent. Besides, James knew of the Duchess. She was a schooner, designed to operate in shallow coastal waters, where her captain preyed on smugglers. She was no match for an ocean-going raider like The Deadly Dame. Surely her crew, if not her captain, knew that as well. One broadside of chainshot would be enough to shatter the Duchess' slender masts like toothpicks, while her own weapons would scarcely damage the Dame's, much less her hull.

However, it seemed Val was eager to pick a fight. Already, she was ordering her men to prepare a boarding party, and herself was preparing what appeared to be her own personal boarding line. She was going to attack wiether the Duchess wanted a fight or not.

"Captain," he finally said, forgetting his place as one of the crew. Captain Val had remembered he was an officer. "Niether the Duchess nor her captain is threatening us. I think she just wants to put to sea. Don't you think we ought to at least wait until the Duchess opens her own cannon ports? Then we'd at least know our attack was justified."

In the back of his mind, James knew his arguments were probably futile. There is no honor among thieves.