"Have you forgotten how much profit we gained in the middle east?" Nate chimed in as the crew stood gathered around their captain in the galley. Charlotte had been sitting there for the last fifteen minutes, letting the crew ask their questions.  "Are you saying that your hidden agenda-"

        "Listen, I'm-" 

        " Maybe you should stop talking about yourself and begin thinking about your crew." Ara said with a quiet calm that made Charlotte inwardly…

       There's something to be said for fear. It's one of the most powerful forces in the world if you tilt your head a bit to think about it. For example, when a pirate aims a weapon in your direction, it's not the gun itself that forces your hands to slowly move above your head. It's that feeling that you could lose everything, and not just what you have at present, if you don't do as they ask. People who are afraid are also obedient to those who shoot the fear into them before…

       "So what do you need?" Ara sat with her feet up on the captain's desk, once a counter of shifting papers, tonight it was clear and wooden. 

       "We're making changes to the way we run things." Charlotte's face remained down with her blue tricorn hat bowing over it. 

        "Changes?" Ara leaned forward with a grabbed attention and anxious brow. That's when Charlotte's eyes dipped up from under the blue hat to stare Ara down in the dim light. 

       …

    Back across the Atlantic, on a big island, in a big city, in a big house, in a big chair, an anxious little girl sat across from her well reputed parents, not daring to pick up her cup for fear they would see the tea shaking inside. 

    "Chrysanthemum, I don't very much care that you were deported from the states. It only matters that you're back, safe and sound." Her father said. 

    "Darling, we were so worried," Her mother said. "Now what is it, you wanted to…

    "I can't imagine how Thomas would react if he knew that the only girl in his social class even remotely interested in marrying him was a lesbian." 

    "You've been laughing for thirty minutes, don't you ever stop?" 

    "I mean, I'm not laughing at you for being a lesbian. I'm mainly laughing at-" She had to stop because her laughter began to dominate the remaining air in her lungs. "At him…"

She burst out again, hysterically keeling over. 

   "What'd…

            Chrysanthemum and Ara glared face to face, a drop of sweat, making its way slowly down the sky pirate's forehead. Chrys wanted a ticket but Ara stood in the way between her and the ticket booth, sitting on the counter with a gun cocked back at the shivering woman behind it. It had been difficult, finding out which platform Chrys was on and Arabella was certainly out of breath. 

             "Out of the way, I must find Thomas!" Chrys snapped, frustrated. 

 …