1013 Hours, 6/12/15, Puerto Amare southern port.
Gura and Sammy were climbing the ramp onto the ship, both of them carrying an armful of cheese.
“Satisfied now?” I asked, it might have sounded like a question, but it was more along the lines of an order.
“Yes Captain” the two said as they continued past me and into the subdeck.
I looked down the dock as two short individuals approached, a man and a woman. The man was wearing a crimson colored scarf around his neck and face, despite the tropical weather. The woman had a head of long straight black hair. They made their way onto the ramp.
Telly walked up beside me, holding on of the M14s from the armory, it looked freshly cleaned.
“Now, who would you happen to be, lad and missy”? Telly asked in an affirmative tone.
The woman answered, “Uhh, is this,....uhh, the….err,...uhh Written Whisper?”
“Aye, what’s your business with it?”
The man responded to Telly’s question this time, his voice muffled under the scarf.
“We want to join the crew!” he stated with excitement and jerked a hand up towards me and Telly, causing her to aim and chamber a round out of some long forgotten and trained practice. This caused the woman to stammer and the man to back up a few paces.
Telly set the rifle down slowly, “uh, sorry, but the Captain will decide whether or not to let you aboard”. She looked toward me.
“Ahem, what are your, err, qualifications?” I asked.
The woman jerked up and answered in an excited tone, “I’m good at fixing things! I’ve worked in cars, and boats, and even a few airplanes here and there!”
“Alright then, we could always use a second engineer, welcome aboard Ms….err… what’s your name? I’m Captain Gale.”
“It’s Laettie or Anon, either one, uh, Captain Sir!”
“Alright then, Telly, why don’t you show our newest crew member around?”
“Sure thing, Captain. Follow me Laettie.” Telly said, as she turned and walked towards the subdeck, with Laettie in tow.
I turned towards the red scarfed man, “Now, what about you?” I asked.
“I’ve been with a couple of crews! I have quite a reputation y’know! You probably only heard of my pseudonym” scarfy said.
“Fill me in then I’m eager to hear about it”.
“They call me, the Red Scarf”. I recognized the name, which is probably why I began to laugh so much. In his defense, I had heard of him. The name made its way through the gossip line every so often, the “Red Scarf” had quite a track record of being fired from a multitude of pirate crews. Which was impressive in and of itself seeing how the pirate version of a pink slip is usually a bullet.
I straightened up and told Red Scarf. “Sure, you can join in our endeavor, you can hop in one of the crow’s nests and spot for us.”
He seemed taken aback at first, but then happily strolled onto the ship. What can I say? We need more crew, and while he might not be the best, he does have experience.