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Post by bookity101 on Jan 3, 2010 21:35:06 GMT -5
The blue sky was filled with fluffy white clouds, and the masts of the many ships filled the sky. Many seagulls calling was becoming familiar once again to him. In Thorpe, there weren’t so many of the seagulls, there were just a lot of less noisy birds, well, around where he lived any way. Noel Telious, Capt. Of R.R.N ship the Bold, and he was coming home at last.
Noel strode along the docks of the shipping yard in Bray. Breathing in deep the sea air, it certainly was invigorating to be near his ship again. There was just something about it made him feel better than he had since… well since he had left The Brick. He shook his head, no need to think about that, or her…
Soon enough he was at the end of the dock, waiting for the row boat from the Bold to appear. Watching the swells, he waited for it to appear.
((Cal if you want fir Gavin to come to the dock ok, if not just send me a message and I’ll have Noel brought to the ship.))
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Post by Ladorak on Jan 5, 2010 20:38:46 GMT -5
As Noel waited for his skiff to arrive, he would have heard the booming of cannon, highly unusual for the harbor port unless it was under attack of some sort. His ears might have been able to pick out that the distant rumble was coming from the fortresses placed at each end of the entrance to Bray Harbor. Bray, being the Rosferian Navy's main base for the Ceres Fleet, was strongly fortified as a consequence of this fact.
The far off firing was definitely coming from the harbor mouth, though just what was being shot at was hard to say. Through the forest of masts and rigging Noel could possibly pick out a very small, two masted vessel, a brig, caught in a crossfire of Bray's forts outside the harbor entrance.
The diminutive vessel was flying the flag of the Kingdom of Welkin, and was being subjected to a fire from both of the Rosferian forts. The vessel was not firing back, for her guns lacked the range, not being a powerful ship of the line but more like a coastal defense vessel. She was trying to beat a hasty retreat and make her way back out to sea, and with a little help from a sudden breeze that blew up, was proceeding to do so, her incensed captain intending to take her back to Welkin at once.
Her name Noel could not possibly see from this distance, but whatever this incident was it was significant in that Bray's forts had not fired on a ship in years. The meerkat's skiff was approaching however, and as it neared the dock, the cannons still intermittently firing in the background, Noel could see a rather fit striped polecat or zorilla haul himself out of the boat and plant his hind paws firmly on the dock, his skunk like tail swaying a bit in the breeze.
Sniffing the air to get a whiff of the powder from the firing guns, Gavin Stryker fixed his cold eyes upon the meerkat, his new superior officer. "It seems our garrisons have decided to start the day off by swatting flies, eh?" Gavin said, motioning with a thumb over in the direction of the retreating Welkin ship. "I was a bit surprised at the haste of things though. Lieutenant Gavin Stryker at your service sir. And you must be Captain Telious." Putting his best leg forward, Gavin gave a bit of a bow and doffed his cap at his skipper, offering his paw as he came back up straight. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance."
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Post by bookity101 on Jan 6, 2010 9:30:21 GMT -5
Noel had noticed the booming of the cannons. They had stirred memories of the last time he had been at sea. Involved in a dogfight at sea, he had almost been killed. That was also the time he was promoted to Captain.
Noel watched the small ship flee though his glass, then glanced down at the small skiff , and watched, bemused as striped polecat made his way up to him, thinking it must have been a chore to grow up with his coloring, schoolbeasts were known to be of sharp tongues.
Noel turned towards Gavin, offering a slight smile at his comment, shaking the proffered paw. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance Mr. Stryker. I've heard good things about you." He looked the Jr. officer in the eye. "I expect that you will live up to all I've heard Mr. Stryker." Then turned his face into the wind, catching another glimpse of the fleeing ship.He nodded to Gavin, then walked past him and climbed into the skiff,
“Come Mr. Stryker, I think a cruise around the bay would be a good way to break in the new crew.” He looked at the polecat and offered a small smile, then looked at the oarsbeasts. "Let's get a move on, I've been away from the Bold for far to long.”
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Post by Ladorak on Jan 6, 2010 17:28:38 GMT -5
Through his glass Noel could glimpse the name of the fleeing ship, HMS Childers. One of the forts managed to score a hit, a ball striking one of the cannons on the deck of the ship, splitting into three pieces and flying about but appearing to cause no damage. What that small vessel was doing out here was anyone's guess, but in reality the truth wasn't so complicated. The Childers was under the command of a Robert Barlow, and as tensions were on the rise with with Rosferia, he had received orders from the Welkin Admiralty to conduct a reconnaissance of Bray Harbor, to get a feel for how many warships there were and what their disposition was. As his ship was preparing to enter the harbor he had received a shot across his bow from the batteries in the fort. Thinking this a mistake and that the nationality of his vessel was in doubt, Barlow had promptly hoisted the Welkin flag, to which the forts had responded by raising the Rosferian flag and resuming their fire. Whether the garrisons had gotten gun happy or what was a mystery, but Barlow considered the firing on his vessel as an insult to the Welkin flag, and being caught in a crossfire decided that discretion was the better part of valor for his small vessel and beat a hasty retreat. Having safely moved beyond the range of the guns, Barlow intended to sail immediately for Welkin and report back to his superiors, who would probably be none too happy with the Rosferians for this one. Barlow considered it lucky that he was in a small boat and not a large warship, or else those forts might have scored a few more hits than they had. As it was the Childers had been struck only once, and not seriously at that. But the Rosferians had kept the Welkin ship out of their harbor, and had prevented Barlow from gathering any usable information. But that was a diplomatic incident entirely on it's own. Back on the dock, Gavin sniffed the air again, noting that the cannon fire was dying. Noel's observation of him would have been correct. Growing up with a black furred disposition coupled with white stripes was never an easy thing. He had stuck out from the rest of the plain furred students his age, and was most certainly the unusually colored one of the group. Because of that though, Gavin had grown up firm and resolved, and his perseverance was unmatched coming into the adult world. He had something to prove, and was not afraid to apply himself in doing it. "I intend to Captain Telious sir." the striped polecat said with seriousness after he had shook the paw of his superior. "A cruise around the harbor you say? Might do the ship good. The crew has been down and out as of late, and I have been working on maintaining things in your absence. Admiral Bonaventure is aboard is well. Said he wished to hold a brief meeting with you before getting back to his flagship. Seems the Welkinites have been checking us out as well. Situation's been taken care of as far as I can tell though." the mustelid snorted. As much as he disliked Welkinites he could see that this might be a serious incident. To fire on one of their ships when they weren't yet at war well....that might soon give them reason to be. But oh well, Gavin felt no fear at a potential naval contest between Rosferia and Welkin. It's why beasts like him worked after all. To ensure that their shores were protected and their commerce got through. Welkin sticking it's nose into Rosferia's business was Welkin's problem as far as Gavin was concerned. "I'll have you rowed out to the Bold and we'll go from there sir." the skunk like mustelid stood aside to allow his Captain to enter the launch first. Some ordinary seajacks were at the oars, and no other officer aside from Gavin was present. ((Feel free to take us to the ship Book, or if you want to converse on the way that's fine too. )
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Post by bookity101 on Jan 6, 2010 21:27:07 GMT -5
Noel nodded and stepped down into the skiff, waiting until Gavin joined them to motion the oarsbeast to move off. He watched where the Childers had disappeared, figuring they could check on what they were up to in first place, make sure they don't try to come back into the harbor.
He meant to ask about the problems the ship had been having with the crew, though they were about half the way to the ship by the time he got his thoughts ordered.
"Mr Stryker, you mentioned the admiral? and maintaining what things?" He turned towards his first Lt.* "Is there a problem that you know of in the crew?" Noel subtly stretched his shoulder for some reason it had stiffened since he had gotten on the skiff, "I was unaware there was any problem at all."
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Post by Ladorak on Jan 8, 2010 23:26:41 GMT -5
Gavin watched pensively as the small brig disappeared over the horizon. Ah well....good riddance. She was a Welkin ship. No use for them around here anyways. Furrowing his brow, he chewed on his bottom lip a bit in silence for half the ride to the Bold. So just what was his new commander like? Grim? Just? Severe? He seemed at least of firm resolve so far. But however he was Gavin was loyal to the extreme. He followed his orders in order to maintain a tight ship.
"Ah yes." his ears stood up a bit when he heard the mention of Admiral Bonaventure. "He's aboard right now waiting for you. Said he was going to be giving out general directions for the coming year now that it's upon us. We might in fact be putting to sea when the weather starts improving. Too blasted stormy to do anything right now." It wasn't stormy here, just out in the Ceres Ocean this time of year. Winter was a bad time to be sailing, as gales frequented the vast expanse and made sailing generally unpleasant all around.
He hesitated now. Despite very dutiful, even the striped polecat wasn't sure if his Captain wanted to hear this next bit, but he knew eventually that the meerkat would need to. "Well Captain sir....it seems there's been a real shortage of supplies. Not....shot or food or anything like that...but in uniforms. Cloth has run out and even though we're expecting convoys from Mossflower this year, they won't be sailing till fairer weather comes. Consequently because of this, the crews everywhere are short of shirts and shoes...they do have pants thankfully, but that's about all they got."
The skunk like mustelid moved his eyes from the horizon up to his Captain now, knowing that the deliverance of this news would most likely prove what sort of officer Noel Telious was now and Gavin intended to judge the meerkat's reactions to this news, though not for any malicious purpose. It was merely because, despite his outward appearance, Gavin was actually a curious fellow, and always liked to know who he was serving under.
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Post by bookity101 on Jan 9, 2010 22:39:36 GMT -5
Noel nodded at the information about the Admiral, made sense for him to want to make sure that orders were being followed properly. And the information about when they would start sailing out would be helpful to finish the preparations at home and with his staff when he returned after this small excursion. The information about the cloth caused him to fall silent. That would be a bother on the sea if they shipped out before they supply convoy's arrived come spring.
Before Noel was able to think of an answer, the skiff arrived at the ship. He turned to Gavin, “We will continue this discussion in my cabin once we are aboard.” Noel motioned for Gavin to board first. He glanced over his shoulder to the dock. Mic stood waiting for the skiff to be sent back for him. Noel followed Gavin up the ladder, wondering what the crew would look when he laid eyes on them
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Post by Ladorak on Jan 10, 2010 10:22:48 GMT -5
Some of the crew up on deck were normally clothed in their regulation attire, but it became painfully obvious that others were not. Some just walked around bare chested, lacking the shirts necessary to protect them from the cold weather of January. Others were wearing non-regulation shirts or tops that they had brought from home, but they did look a bit out of place among the crew.
Many too were walking about bare pawed, and this in itself wasn't such a huge problem as having no shirts, but in times of action when beasts would be scurrying hither and thither in a mad dash to follow orders it would begin to tell as shoes would be needed for the inevitable collision of paw and wood in the event that one stumbled or tripped. Those without shirts were trying to scrounge together whatever they could find in order to get a bit warmer in the cold air. Some had improvised sailcloth and were wearing that, and others were donning overcoats that they'd picked up from the purser or in town. All in all it wasn't a good time to be at sea in the winter without proper clothing.
None understood this better than Admiral Justin Bonaventure, the commander of the Bray Squadron who was currently sitting in Noel's cabin. Gavin clambered up the ladder behind his Captain, and vaulted over the gunwale to land firmly on the deck. "There we go. Well here she is Captain Telious sir. Everything almost in order save for the lack of clothing. I did check the supply manifest and I found that every beast does have pants for himself, so we're good on that end thankfully. About a third have shirts, the rest we weren't able to supply properly thanks to the Army needing this year's supply of cloth thanks to their large number of volunteers pouring in. As for shoes well...we're working on that. Once again the Army got first dibs as our Navy hasn't been deployed yet and our fellow landsbeasts are fighting hard to maintain Rosferia's integrity against foreign enemies as you know." the striped polecat dutifully reported.
"I'll let the Admiral fill you in on the rest though." he said, brushing a section of his uniform self-consciously as he knew he was going to see the highest ranked beast in the harbor. "He's waiting in your cabin. I'll escort you over." A few marines trotted over as well, their muskets slung over their shoulders as they moved to guard their Captain now that he was aboard. Gavin led the way to the stern, and down a flight of stairs or a "ladder" as it was called in the Navy. They were now on the upper gun deck, and cannons lined both sides of them, safely stowed away behind closed gun ports for the time being. A good portion of the crew were down here, away from the cold air for want of shirts.
A few recognized the Captain was aboard and gave him salutes as he entered, others following suit once they saw their comrades doing it. The Captain's cabin was way in the back, past the other officers' cabins and protected by a group of marines just visible from here.
"Well do you have any questions for me Captain before we go see the Admiral sir?" here the mustelid paused at the bottom of the stairs, wanting to ensure that his chief would be fine before they spoke to Bonaventure.
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Post by bookity101 on Jan 10, 2010 21:05:37 GMT -5
Noel returned the salutes of the crew beasts, noting the amount of them with out shirts. Something would have to be done about that, yes most defiantly something would have to be done…. And the sooner the better. He turned when Gavin mentioned that the Admiral was waiting for him. “No, no other questions for now Mr. Stryker.” He turned forward looked about. “Lead on my good beast.” (( ACK! sorry about the shortness, i can only think of one other thing to do this half second and I don't want to do that yet.. ))
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Post by Ladorak on Jan 11, 2010 0:48:15 GMT -5
"Yes sir!" the striped polecat snapped to attention, saluting and turning to lead the way as his Captain asked. Moving to the rear, he passed by the Lieutenants' cabins, his being the one closest to Noel's cabin. The other ones were relatively small, barely big enough for a bed and a small writing desk.
The Captain's cabin however was quite spacious. Situated in the stern, it had a grand view looking behind the ship with many windows, and could have a desk in the center, a bed and several closets. The marines moved aside and Gavin entered the cabin first, throwing off an immediate salute to the sable Admiral who stood looking out the windows, his back to them.
Turning around upon hearing their entry, Justin Bonaventure smiled, the 52 year old Admiral greeted Noel and his 1st Lieutenant. Bonaventure suffered from old wounds from the previous war, and could feel their biting pain from time to time. His entire backside was scarred, as well as portions of his legs, but all of those injuries were covered by his uniform. "Captain Telious! It's good to see you again! It's been awhile since we last met." Back then Bonaventure was just getting his command here, having requested it as he was unable to serve abroad any longer thanks to his poor health at the time and his wounds.
"How have things been with you? Enjoying your shore leave? Ready to put to sea this year? I do have assignments just in from headquarters, and I'm eager to discuss them with you." the sable said, watching as Gavin shut the door behind them to ensure privacy. "I was just watching that...pesky Welkin ship retreating before you arrived." he added, referring to the Childers incident from earlier.
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