Believing in duty above self-interest, Ms. Masters begins climbing back down towards the deck. In the time it takes to climb down, Elizabeth takes to opportunity to consider how she came to be here. Elizabeth’s home country, Vaeland, was a small, resource rich island monarchy. Since time immemorial, it had been at war with Ordell, the mainland nation nearest Vaeland. The war had been at a relatively quiet stalemate for two centuries. Vaeland’s navy was so much more powerful than Ordell’s that Ordell dare not assault Vaeland over sea. At the same time, Vaeland’s standing army was far too small to launch an effective ground assault on Ordell.
Recently, however, one of Vaeland’s rare female councilors to King Reginald, had successfully convinced the King of a plan that would allow Vaeland to swell the size of its army to a size sufficient to launch a ground assault. The plan was to try to use women to crew the majority of Vaeland’s navy. Elizabeth Masters volunteered and was chosen as part of a prototype all female crew that would see if women were capable of running a ship effectively. After a year of training, Ms. Masters and a crew of one hundred boarded the HMS Pulchritudinous with a two year mission to patrol the tropical extent of Vaeland’s naval influence.
Now nearing the deck Elizabeth frantically looks from one end of the deck to the other looking for First Mate Carver, to give her report. The point quickly become moot, as Elizabeth is a mere 5 feet from the deck she sees the first wave of pirate crew swing aboard from their larger ship. Immediately the crew on deck is overwhelmed. Elizabeth stays on the net, hoping to possibly to avoid notice until you can do something useful.
The boarding party is efficient and brutal, but not lethal. If they show any surprise at boarding a Royal Navy ship crewed by women, they don’t show it. Across the deck from Elizabeth, a brave cadet, teeth bared, rushes at one of the pirates with knife in hand. You knew the girl, Leanne Somerset, at nineteen the youngest daughter of a noble family. Something of a runt, Leanne had fairly boyish features, figure, and hair. Moreover, you were certain she was technically too small to have been accepted on to the crew, but her family had used every possible connection to get her aboard, hoping the assignment would bring prestige to their dwindling numbers.
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