by Kelne » Sat Feb 05, 2011 7:06 pm
The arrangements were made in due course and a boarding party dispatched to secure the raider, whose hull proclaimed her to be the Enduring Glory. Walking the passages of the ship with their escort and one of the ship's officers, Dauphin and Vipsanius could sense a great deal of nervousness from the crew, exemplified by a general unwillingness to meet their eyes. They lived beneath the guns of a larger and potentially very angry enemy, and at any moment, their world might end in fire. Fearful or not, there was also a degree of sullenness. In other circumstances, these men might have been marching through Satisfaction as conquerors, however unlikely that might seem in hindsight.
In all, Glory came across as an older, more run-down ship than Satisfaction, though there was no way of knowing which was the older ship in truth. Where Satisfaction was a treasured relic and the jewel in the Haakon dynasty's crown, Glory was a workhorse maintained only so far as necessary to keep her livable and in fighting trim. Nevertheless, Vipsanius' expert eye could tell she was built on solid bones, and given a few dedicated servants of the Omnissiah directing the crew properly, she could be made to shine. So far as the crew went, they were a ragged, ill-disciplined lot, with little differentiation between men and officers save for perhaps the occasional item of choice plunder. Such items were not plentiful, indicating either a lack of rich prey or less than equitable distribution of loot. For all the crew's ragged appearance, shrines and aquilas were not uncommon, indicating that they had kept their faith, unlike many other renegades. There might be hope for Glory and her crew yet.
The bridge was a reflection of the rest of the ship, in many ways. On the whole, the bridge crew were less ragged, but with no discernable uniform to be seen. A pair of banners hung from the rear bulkhead, trophies from some battle perhaps. At the centre of the bridge, battered, bruised and on his knees, was the captain, secured by a set of manacles and watched over by a grim-faced man with a lasgun. The rest of the bridge crew were conspicuously unarmed, some with empty holsters indicating they'd been carrying weapons until fairly recently.
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Rajender, for his part, was on the receiving end of an outpouring of thanks from the Traveler's captain. Or rather, her promoted first officer. There had apparently been a struggle for control of the bridge following Satisfaction's arrival on the scene.
"There are still a few holdouts scattered across the ship. Boarding parties that were left behind. The crew's dealing with them though. It's the engines that concern me, Lord Trader. Those pirates crippled us quite deliberately. It would take several weeks in port to see them repaired. As it is, I fear I must ask for passage for my crew and passengers."