Trading Up

"Mr. Steelcastle please report to the bridge" The words had no sooner left my mouth into the speaking tube it seemed till standing before me was my First Mate and 2nd in command Miryiam Steelcastle. "Captain?" his island accent thick and deep, "If tis be aboot ta men making ta wagers on the last capture....." "No, no " I cut him off with a wave of my hand , in truth such wagers were frowned upon as potential trouble starters but since I myself had been on a winning streak lately I have been looking the other way."It is come to my attention that there is a certain anniversary coming up." "Sir?" he asked, genuinely seeming perplexed "What anniversary might tat be Sir?"

"Why yours Mr. Steelcastle. It will be four years tomorrow since we met in Port Gold and you agreed to work for me for Four years after such time you would be given your own ship and a captaincy of your own." "I remember Sir," he exclaimed calmly , "But speaking honest Sir I never thought we live tis long, you has a habit of finding trouble." I knew he meant no offense and in truth he was right, in these last four years we have been attacked by almost every major air power at one time or another, chartered to take a mad man to his doom in an ancient forgotten temple deep in the Amazon jungle...oh yes, and he paid us in stolen gold from some crazy Russian wizard in the royal court no less! So, when he said this I had to agree "True enough, we have been in many a scrap and lost many a mate." But I digressed " Mr. Steelcastle it is with both sadness and gladness I now officially as much as I can anyway , bestow on you the title of "Captain" I placed both my hands on his shoulders and preformed a mocking version of a kiss on both cheeks with a round of laughter and "Wooo's " from the bridge crew. I have learned over the years sometimes humor makes for a better crew morale so having officially promoted Mr. Steelcastle I proceeded to quickly before he could react pour the entire contents of a mug of ale over his head. "You now having officially being baptized into the ranks of Captaincy are going to be able to assume command of the Dixie Witch."

I announced to the bridge crew "I shall be taking command of a new vessel soon between myself and our new captain here I am giving the crew freedom to choose which captain to follow." Mr Steelcastle still sputtering ale looked to me "Sir, I appreciate the offer but..." I cut him off Throwing my arm around him and leading him off to one side "I need you here in the Americas having fun while myself and a new ship make a renewed presence in the skies over Europe.Besides this is what we agreed upon. You fly your own flag and in return I get a 15 percent cut of your vessels profits for another two years more than fair I thought."

"Captain!" the helmsman shouted both Mr Steelcastle and myself turned "Yes" we both replied in unison. The poor helmsman not knowing who to speak to first simply shouted " Unknown vessel spotted off the starboard bow maybe two miles out and closing"

"Well, that will be my new vessel now" I replied calmly. " I have been in contact with a representative of the Austro Hungarian Empire and they are delivering me this new vessel under a contract as a privateer of the Empire." They all looked at me as if I had a squid on my head "Oh, come now, Like we never worked for a government before, besides this ship is all modern Tesla Co. tech, Rollie is going to wet herself." There was an expected burst of laughter from the crew, my master mechanic Rollie loves new technology and has been dying to get aboard a Tesla tech ship that was actually built for it.The Dixie Witch has some Tesla Co tech but it was scavenged and not always reliable.

"Mr.Morgan!" The helmsman jumped to attention" Bring us up alongside my new ship and have the signalman flash a greeting and docking instructions."

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