Hooligan’s Revival: The Front

[Rajani Aishwara]

Piracy – Robbery committed at sea, or sometimes on the shore, by an agent without a commission from a sovereign nation, or so one may think. The methods of piracy contain relevance beyond the sea, one such field being capitalism, my area of expertise. Trick maneuvers, clever negotiations, and sneak attacks are always considered especially against an intimidating force. Although I may be submitting to my sinister half, there is little more gratifying than taking down an underhanded foe using his own underhanded tactics.


– Bala Aishwara
“Chief Mate, homeward bound!”

”Chief Mate, homeward bound!”


”Chief Mate, homeward bound!”

The chant came from all around the deck at first sight of the island kingdom of Scara Brae. Their words referred to the Chief Mate of the ship, Aton Mira. He was the sole native of Scara Brae on The Peregrine, Captain Rajani Aishwara’s luxurious clipper class ship. Ever since they left Aishwara’s legendary island home of Avalon they had been touring the world. With every stop at least four members from this eclectic crew would be native, and they would enthusiastically take shore leave. Everyone had made their greatest effort to coax a smile out of Aton ever since Rajani made Scara Brae their next destination, but it seemed he wasn’t excited about returning home.

“I assume the Chief Mate has reason to lack enthusiasm?” Rajani Aishwara addressed Aton without looking straight at him. As usual the Captain stood beside his significantly older Chief Mate as they looked over the deck. An outsider would have likely presumed Aton to be the Captain, for he was quite possibly the oldest member of the ship. Instead it was the opposite. Aton answered Rajani’s inquiry with silence. “If it’s any consolation I would hate to return home myself. I have yet to grow terribly homesick perhaps due to a certain young maiden who had my heart in a headlock for so long. Petty I know, but I digress. What of your objections to returning home?”

“I don’t have any objections, Captain. If I did I would have voiced them long ago. I just don’t consider myself a native of Scara Brae. I like to consider myself a child of the sea, not a landlover like the rest of you. It just doesn’t excite be to step back onto Scara Brae soil, though I guarantee I’ll be happy to step back on deck.”

The young captain found that plain explanation difficult to swallow. One’s homeland had to be quite unpleasant to deserve such a complete lack of pride. Then again Aton’s overall demeanor was tepid at best. At that very moment a thunderous chorus of explosions sounded from the distance.

[Rajani Aishwara]

“What in the hell was…” Before Rajani could finish his sentence another clap of thunder ensued. The azure sky was clear. This was no weather phenomenon.

“Cannons firing near starboard aft.” A crewman chanted out as the group shifted towards the rear corner of the ship. In the distance a vessel armed with Alerarian gunpowder weapons took fire against a helpless merchant ship. The aggressor floated tall draped in tan sails peaked by a skeleton flag. The pirate ship was many times larger than its current prey, and the prey was many times larger than The Peregrine. The merchant ship’s wooden haul snapped and exploded at the contact of the bullet speed cannon balls.

“Impeccable timing that we should cross into Scara Brae waters during a pirate attack.” Said Rajani with a sarcastic smile on his face. “We should consider ourselves fortunate that we aren’t the targets of the sea fearing predators.”

“You spoke too soon captain!” Tiberia, the Helmswoman, pointed forward past the white sails of their own ship. Another towering ship leaned heavily on its side to face The Peregrine. In a matter of minutes that pirate ship would be parallel to Rajani’s and they would be at the mercy of the cannons. The pirate ship’s size was fully realized at this close vicinity. The top of Peregrine’s sails ended where the pirate ship’s sails began. Tiberia commanded the move to counter. They were unarmed and at the mercy of the pirates so there was no choice but to retreat. “Crew, back to your stations! Total one-eighty degree retreat! We’re going back out to sea, where we can outrun them.”

“No!” Rajani interjected. “Stay forward! Yew larboard side approximately thirty degrees at full speed.”

“You’re mad!”

“On the contrary, Tiberia! What we’re facing is a full figured frigate. That ship’s captain is banking on us attempting to turn away and giving them time to fire with their cannons which are only on their sides, and only on their top decks. Follow my orders, and we’ll be moving forward on their right side. We’ll be exposed to this ship’s starboard cannons for a maximum of thirty seconds, while its men have been preparing to fire on its larboard side. We’ll still be at top speed while they must take time to turn!”

By this time it mattered not if Tiberia complied with Rajani’s course of action. The Captain’s orders automatically trumped the Helmswoman’s, and the crew had instinctively changed their procedures accordingly. Commands and cues echoed across the deck as the sails and masts were adjusted to make the ship to move to Rajani’s will. They would soon find out if his gamble would prove to be sufficient.

The giant pirate ship began to close in at bow, and that was when Aton was able to make out the details of the pirate flag on top. This flag had gone beyond the cliché Human scull with the crossbones, and replaced them with an ominous dragon scull. It was the flag of the one and only… “Danager”

“Who?” Rajani turned to his Chief Mate to make sure he heard right.

“Gurtz Danager, a native of Scara Brae. He had been the Boatswain of several pirate ships all over the world for several years waiting for his chance to take his rightful place as captain. He promised that he would make his flag a dragon skull once he became captain. It seems as though he has achieved his dream.”

[Taskmienster]

This thread has been sitting for a full year. Since no response has been made to create activity I am going to be moving this. If you would like it to be reopened please feel free to PM myself or another admin and they will be able to move it for you back to Scara Brae.