Captain Christopher Totter stood proudly at the helm of the best of his merchanters, the Wave Queen. All around him, sailors were hard at work hauling rigging and doing... well, whatever they did. Christopher really knew very little about it. He was a captain, not a seaman, and he felt it was quite below him to be hauling on ropes or such. That was why he sat in a cool deck chair beneath a shade, while the helmsman heaved at the wheel.
There was a heavy fog all around, but the helmsman was undeterred. His lookouts were calling to him every depth and direction, so he had little to worry about... and then, the shooting started.
Out of the mists, two huge ships materialized. One was a wild, pirate schooner, the deck teeming with the horde of corsairs and cutthroats which accompanies any such vessel. The other was a huge warship, it's deck filled with stern, silent uniformed troopers and Swadian marines. The seamen on board the merchanter gave shouts of alarm, and went scrambling for weapons while the anchormen threw out the weights, forcing the clipper ship to a halt.
Christopher leaped to his feet, ornate sword in hand. "What is this?" he cried, but was ignored as the sailors rushed to put up a defense.
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