[OOC: I think we can do better with your Ship … more GAME opportunities. Try this out …]Bluetongue wrote: ↑Mon Jul 12, 2021 2:43 pmThe last two years had seen a change in his life. After more than a decade serving dutifully in various scout ship projects, he had become freelance to pursue a desire to Captain his own vessel and sail under his own flag. He has a part share in 'Shrangri-La', a scout sloop that he hoped to one day redeem and buy-out in full from active service. Until then he had traded his boat building and carpentry skills to make ends meet while also rustling up more lucrative but 'under the counter' endeavours.
Cycle 1063 (Winter): Day 13: [Hamlet of Gwynedd: 45N,25W]
Jacques Bonnet, Remy Hernandez, Mercutio Routledge, Samuel Linkletter, Josephine Baxter-Smith, Nathaniel
You were still in total darkness. The temperature had risen to a ‘balmy’ 41 F (5 C), so at least the risk of ocean spray coating surfaces in ice was past. (Nothing compared to the joy of a great wave breaking over a raised wooden boardwalk to completely soak you to the bone in ice cold water, followed by trying to avoid being washed into the water because the surface you were attempting to stand on and cling to was covered in a sheet of ice … oh the joys of mid-winter on the planet Byddor.)
Fortunately, it was Day 13 and any child over the age of 45 Cycles, old enough to count, knew that the sun would rise in 4 more days … Day 17, Shift 2, 4 Bells to be exact. A Fresh Breeze (18 knots/34 kph) blew West by Southwest to speed you along on your walk in one direction, fight against you traveling in the opposite direction, and offer a random 5 kg shove if you traveled crosswise to it. Yet all the townsfolk had made some excuse to wander by the Dry-dock to see the ship 'Shrangri-La' and get an update on the commotion. Rumors were more common than facts … but the rumors were so very interesting:
- Pirate ships.
- Smugglers.
- Officials of the French Republic.
- Agents of the Crown.
Nathaniel cursed silently beneath his breath. He knew the truth was not as exciting as the rumors, but unfortunately it was HIS truth to try to deal with and clean up this mess. It had been a calculated risk to bring the 'Shrangri-La' … at least that was her name at the present … among the islands before sunrise. The rocks were a risk, but the tide was high, so it was as safe as it was going to get without light or a local Pilot. Waiting for the light meant arriving when a warship was in port and THAT was an impossible situation for a ship of “delicate pedigree” like yours. As a smuggler, drawing the attention of officials at a Class B Port to request a pilot would have raised too many questions that you preferred not to have asked. Besides, you barely grazed those rocks.
Those rocks are what started this whole chain of events. The rocks opened the seams, which required repairs at the Drydock. The damage barely came to CR 800, so the Ship’s Master was glad to pay it. If this had only been a Class C port … Of course they checked your ship’s Log and Papers. Of course they had gotten notification about the charges lodged against the ship for “Piracy” by that French prat of an Admiral. He was just pissed. So now your beautiful ship was seized by the Government of Britannia until the courts resolved the outstanding charges filed against the ship by the French Republic. Adding insult to injury, the Dry-dock was claiming “salvage rights” for recovering the “abandoned” ship … so ‘someone’ owed them Cr 8000 for recovering the ship and returning it to its legal owner.
The notification that your former partner was suing you for ownership of the ship came as a complete surprise. After the last time he tried to steal the ship, you thought the partnership ended amicably. (You allowed him to live and gave him the lifeboat you abandoned him in.) That left the 3 man partnership, just a 2 man partnership. According to the copy of the legal papers you were just handed, he saw the matter differently.
If you were still with the Society, you would send a message and they would make all of this go away. Unfortunately, that bridge is … well, not burned, but not in the best of shape at the moment. Your Barrister assures you that you will prevail and the matter will be resolved. Unfortunately, that might take 10 to 20 Cycles (400 to 800 days) to work through the Magistrates. He will need a Cr 1000 retainer to begin and Cr 350 at the start of every Cycle to cover expenses as the cases progress. Until the case is resolved, your ship will remain a guest of the Crown.
What Nathaniel really needed was either a score big enough to just buy another ship, or some contact of value in the French or Britannia Governments that could buy a favor even without the Society backing him. Part of the fuss that led to Nathaniel’s departure from the Society concerned rumors of a “book” which the French and British Governments were doing things they shouldn’t to get their hands on. “Wars and rumors of wars” was the phrase that your friend at the Society had used once to describe it. It was chasing rumors about the book that led you to France and the incident with that Admiral. You can’t exactly say “I am just visiting to talk with rebels about a plot to overthrow the government that the TAS heard a rumor about”. So once the cannons start firing, feelings can get hurt.
That steamship that was sunk near Gwynedd was one of the ships that the book was rumored to be traveling on … so you might have been done with France, but France may not yet be done with you.