2) The Meeting

Penny surveys the ship deck from her spot against the rail. She's taken to lounging on the main deck in order to keep her men in line. Being a Pirate Queen really isn't what it's cracked up to be. There's far too much down time in between finding ships to prey upon. Penny finds she misses the company of women. Not in the same way her crew does, to be sure, but there is something to be said for the company of the fairer sex. None of her crew seem to understand the value of the shoes Penny hoards in her cabin like the treasures they are.

Women usually avoid piracy. Not that it's unheard of, exactly. Just rare enough that most people dismiss the rumors as just that; rumors. Penny had been one of those people once upon a time, but now that the rumors are mostly about her, she likes to think she knows better.

Not that Penny had set out to be a Pirate, let alone a Pirate Queen. It was just very difficult to to be a female Pirate, and it turned out Penny excelled at both Naval Battles and violence, so the chips had fallen a certain way. Besides, Penny has no one to blame her current title on but herself. No one had forced her to set out to see with a pig of a Pirate king, after all.

Her pride hadn't let that scoundrel mistreat her, and it meant she sure as hell wasn't about to go back to being a consort. Her career options had been thin on the ground as a woman to begin with.

Now, well-there was something really depressing about the thought of going back to being a waitress at shore once she's commanded an entire ship, not to mention her current fleet of repurposed ships.

So she settles for lounging sensually on deck. While acting seductive usually attracted men, Penny realized early on that the same behavior coming from her scared the shit out of her crew. It's pretty funny, actually.

She shoot's one of the deckhands on board a flirty smile and the speed with which he swabs the deck triples.

No matter how she complains about it, Penny's enjoying the power.

"Captain!" Her first lieutenant cries, saddling up beside her. His name is Zack. He's a big guy, kind of slow, but rather handsome. Plus he's the only one in the entire crew who wasn't scared of her. Penny was pretty sure he just wasn't smart enough to be. But it did mean that he occasionally doubled as her consort.

"Yes, Zack," Penny purrs the words. Watching in amusement as the crew on deck shot Zack worried looks.

Zack doesn't even notice, "The spotter said he saw some ships coming up ahead. There's a really big one in the middle. It's pretty rich looking. We think they're traveling nobles."

Penny cocks her head coquettishly, fingering the handle of her sword, "Noble's?"

"Yes my Queen!" Zack affirms eagerly. The rest of the people on deck lean forward, interest piqued. Nobles were rich, Noble ships meant riches. And every pirate out at sea knew what that meant. The only thing that might have been better were Merchants. And even then, only if they specialized in trading rum.

Penny casts her voice out, "Everyone hear that? Treasure!"

"Treasure!" Her crew roars back. Within seconds the entire ship is a frenzy of activity.

While the freedom is very nice, and life at sea can be genuinely pleasant. Most pirates chose the profession for the loot. You didn't have to be born into money to have wealth if you were a pirate. Whatever riches you could take were yours.

It's Penny's favorite part of being a Pirate Queen. As the captain, she gets the biggest cut. The utter fear her crew feels for her ensures that they don't try to cheat her. But Penny always double checks anyway. Pirates cheat everyone, after all. Penny isn't an idiot.

"Man the cannons!" Penny shouts when the ship comes into view. She likes calling the shots. Kurt had refused to listen when she had pointed out that shooting cannons at point blank range often damaged things they could take as treasure.

The only reason Penny has a fleet as large as she does is that she doesn't damage the vessels she raids bad enough to have them sink. It's a nice side effect of her preoccupation with treasure, and a general desire not to see half of her hard earned loot at the bottom of the ocean. Larger crews did mean something of a drop in what she got per ship, but considering that more ships means it's much easier to subdue others with minimal damage and therefore, even more treasure, Penny isn't about to complain.

Of course damaging another ship badly was still a possibility from further away, that was just how the dice rolled sometimes. But starting early had the nice side benefit of throwing the other ships crew into a full blown panic. They had once boarded a ship only to find that over half the crew had hid, and quite a few had even launched themselves overboard. It had been the easiest raid ever. They'd even looted the captain's quarters linen. The man had Egyptian cotton silk sheets. Penny hadn't even known sheets could be that soft, and now she slept in them every night.

The sharp crack of the cannons firing jolted her from her musings. She grabbed the rope Zack handed her, tying it around her middle with the ease of long practice.

"Board!" Penny roared at the top of her lungs the moment they were within range of the other ship.

Her crew launched their ropes, beginning to swing down and board the other ship. After screaming another order for the defense to guard from their posts, and only from their posts, if they liked their necks attached to their bodies, Penny followed.

The Noble ship was putting up a remarkable fight. Admittedly, this was only Penny's third time actually raiding a Noble vessel, but usually, once the first wave of attackers subdued the guards, the rest of the crew cowered.

Not this time apparently, Penny noted, as what was clearly the ship cook attempted to put up a valiant fight. He failed, but mostly because he was attempting to use a pot. Penny shook her head in disapproval, idiot should have used a frying pan. They were much more maneuverable.

Penny drew her own sword. Jumping into the melee and enjoying the advantage of being a woman when more than one man paused in shock. It was all Penny needed, just that split second of hesitance. And then it was off with their heads. The scimitar she wields is impressive by anyone's standards. The foreign cut of the blade draws the eye, and the way it gleams with her opponents blood tells tale of her skill.

She had to give her crew reason to fear her after all. Many fell before this sword.

"Captain!" One of her crew shouted excitedly."Come quick!"

Penny frowned, she didn't like being ordered around. On the other hand, it was probably really important, if the guy had forgotten who he was talking to. She strode over. It was the captain's quarters. Or at least what were suppose to be the captain quarters. The pink and cream sheets, along with the portraits arranged artfully suggested it was something else.

xXx

Being at sea for the majority of his life means that this is hardly his first battle with Pirates, but one hardly needs his experience to see how unprepared this particular ship is for it.

Sheldon has heard rumors about the pirate queen however, and she has a reputation for violence that far exceeds that of her male counterparts. He is suddenly very glad that his mother never lets him leave port without sharpening his sword. He's going to need his skill with a blade to survive this. Sheldon is facing his door with his blade drawn, ready to defend himself en route to the lifeboats, they are only a few days off shore and he has kept an emergency bag stocked the entire trip. No nobles goals are worth his life as far as he is concerned.

That's when the captain bursts in, dragging the lovely noble woman he's in love with and her attendant.

"Sheldon!" Howard hisses, face pale, "you have to help us defend the ladies!"

"No." Sheldon replies, not even bothering to consider the good captains proposition and lunges past them, if they successfully fought their way to his quarters, then the path must be clearer than he anticipated.

"What do you mean no!" Howard howls, "You're a navy man! You're supposed to protect the blood of the king!"

"I've sworn no such oaths." Sheldon assures the captain as he casually fells a pirate the too narrow hallway places directly in his way. Most pirates have no form and Sheldon had observed a number of naval men with much better technique he later taught himself.

Regardless he is no navy man. While he had never officially joined the navy he had payed a quarter master well for a uniform. Half of his reputation as a navigator stemmed from working for the navy and the nobles liked to see those they payed in uniform. It's not a lie as they never ask him to confirm that he has served, he only wears the overcoat really. The sword he'd taken from the first pirate he killed.

"Surely you jest." Amy, as she has insisted repeatedly Sheldon call her, says desperately."Regardless of your oaths, surely you are a good christian man and will protect us?"

Sheldon is privately impressed that they are keeping up with his long purposeful stride. A feeling that only increases once he passes the dead body of his client, Leonard Hofstader.

"I don't believe in God." Sheldon admits to his heretic beliefs easily, he rather doubts he will be seeing any of them again. If they survive, they will no doubt spend the rest of their lives in noble homes and finery, the captain will be rewarded handsomely by the noble woman's family no doubt. It is always just another ship for Sheldon.

The gasps they emit are lost to him as they get closer to the deck and Sheldon realizes the pirates blade he's staring down belongs to a woman.

The Pirate Queen stands before him, as beautiful as she is deadly, "Aren't you Navy boys supposed to bow to royalty?"

Sheldon glares at her, he is nowhere near foolish enough to underestimate such a woman. No matter what manners he's picked up, he's fairly certain a Pirate Queen is no lady.

"Unless you can trace your lineage back to our King, you are not, in fact, royalty."

She laughs, Sheldon has a strange moment of realizing that the very sound is attractive, but he shoves the distracting thought away as he prepares to engage her. Though he must at least try to avoid it, "We won't try to stop your looting of this ship if you let us through. We just want to make it to the sailboats."

Her grin only grows as she takes in his entourage, and he silently curses himself for verbally tying them together, however he hopes the number of swords in her face would intimidate her.

The Pirate Queen attacks, clearly not worried by the swords in his and the captains hands. He understands her lack of fear once her strange sword cuts through the captains blade like a knife through butter. His own at least manages to keep its shape as he parries for his life.

She makes up for her lack of form with rabid enthusiasm, Sheldon has lived most of his life at sea and no one else has ever tried to behead him with such zest before. Fighting had come easily to him, he has long arms, which mean good reach and a thorough understanding of how his blade will interact with an opponents. All it takes to fell a man in a decisive blow, and Sheldon has killed many in defense of his life before. He doesn't think he's going to be able to kill the Pirate Queen.

She moves like water around his blows, her speed makes him hesitant to strike out offensively, he has to be ready to defend his life at any moment. He's at least sure he can do that. Keeping up his guard has always been where he truly excels when it comes to sword fighting. Quite simply, he wants to live. His brother had been the one to teach him, and Gig was almost as enthusiastic about swinging his sword as the woman before him. Almost, but not quite.

The Pirate queen laughs as she steps back wiping sweat from her brow. Something about the sight of her flushed and making that throaty sound is distracting in a way he can't quite understand. Sheldon scowls, chiding himself for even entertaining the thought of being distracted by the woman who was so eager to kill him.

Amy whimpers, "Please spare us! Take whatever you want, we just want to live.

"Oh don't worry, I plan on doing just that." The Pirate Queen promises with unholy glee in her eyes, "Still on the fence about letting you live, though this is the most fun I've ever had in a sword fight."

"Please stop!" The noble woman pipes up stepping forward despite the captains best efforts to shield her with his body."My name is Bernadette Rostenkowski. My family will pay you well if you ransom me, just please let my friends go."

Surprise steals across the Pirate Queens face for a moment, "Hostages...I've never tried that before."

"Hostages?" Sheldon inquires, narrowing his eyes. Something in the way she says it alarms him. The consideration in her gaze doesn't seem to stop at the Noble woman.

The Pirate Queen nods decisively, "My crew will have taken the whole ship by now, usually we round up survivors and make them walk the plank. However this noble woman assures me she's worth some treasure, and I had enough fun in our little battle to want a repeat performance Navy boy...Hmm you know what? If he survived, I think I'll keep the cook too."

Xxx

Just peeped my howard speaks only in exclamation points, lol. One of my new year's resolutions was to get back into writing after being consumed by college. Still got a year left but hopefully my breaks are long enough to get back to most of my stories. Lets see how far I get!