"So."

The door creaked shut behind Dusk who leaned against it and looked toward his captain. They had relocated into the captain's quarters, one of the only rooms with a table big enough to hold a meeting. It was a table that could hold up to eight people! Granted three of those chairs were broken from Ava's roughhousing with her father and two of the chairs creaked and wobbled when sat on, but it was still five working chairs and that was a good start. The room itself was the most spacious of the entire ship, second only to the cargo hold and everyone knew that wasn't a place to live. He had a large bed nailed to the floor in the corner with reinforced glass windows opening out to the sea below. A pair of thick curtains were pulled shut across those windows, blocking the lights from the magicked orbs from peering out to the darkness beyond. It was a well-kept room, thanks only to Gerald's studious wife.

Gerald had taken the seat at the head of the table, arms crossed over his chest with a frown on his face. "This is a problem." His eyes scanned the room, locking eyes with everyone. Aside from his Navigator and Gunman Julius and his First Mate Dusk and Ava, no one else had shown up to the meeting. Granted, it would be difficult to hold any sort of meeting with the crew when they had the tasks of maintaining the ship, even if they had finally dropped anchor. Gerald let out a sigh.

Ava leaned forward in her seat, making an audible creaking sound. "What's the problem, papa?"

Julius put his hands on the table, fixing his eyes on his captain. "Is what Rico said true? Did we get the wrong girl?"

"Whaaaaat?!"

Dusk cleared his throat from his place at the cabin door. "Unfortunately, it is. We got some broad named Brindle."

"No way!"

"Now hold on, people!" Gerald leaned forward. "We can't believe everythin' she says, alright?" He studied his crew's faces. "There's still that possibility that she's lying to us. Tryin' to fool us or get us to drop our guard."

Ava turned sharply to her father. "Yeah, that's gotta be it, pa."

Julius shook his head. "No... I think Dusk is right." He rubbed his chin. "When I was down in the cabins of that ship, I saw a girl all dressed up in fancy clothes. She was screaming all hell and back at me, sayin' how her parents would get me back or something." Julius looked up at Gerald. "I was gonna get her, but then you called us all back."

Dusk raised an eyebrow. "You think that was Victoria?"

Julius shrugged. "It might've been."

"Noooo!" Ava slapped her hands on the table. "Can't be. That girl was dressed up fancy like too. I bet she got her servant to switch clothes with her to disguise herself." She looked to her father. "Like in that story with the princesses. How they like to make themselves look like normal folk to blend in."

"You think she's that smart?"

Dusk rubbed his chin. "Well, I was thinkin' that her clothes were really nice. And that glove on her hand can't belong to some servant."

Ava nodded vigorously. "Yeah! She slipped up an' got herself caught. That fake noble wasn't good enough to fool ya, Julius." She grinned.

Julius didn't seem to share in Ava's relief. "I don't know... Victoria don't seem like that kinda girl." He turned to Gerald. "I mean, she's a hot-head, ain't she? Don't that mean that she wouldn't be the kind to jus' sit down and think of a plan like this? She seems like the kind to make everyone do everything for her."

Dusk scratched his head. "But she was acting just like that during the interrogation."

"I think..." All heads turned to Gerald who had, until then, remained completely silent during the debate. He clasped his hands together on the table. "I think we gotta consider that she's not the one."

"But pa..."

Gerald leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms. "What do we plan to do next? If she's not our target, what do we do with her?"

There was silence in the room. It was a good question. If they caught the wrong target, then the entire plan was all screwed up. And sitting there discussing whether they had the right target or not wasn't going to work to their advantage. If they had caught some servant instead, then the noble girl would notice and someone was bound to determine what their plan was. And then it would be a simple matter of alerting the Coast Patrol about it and that would be the last time the DPD could sail those waters. It wasn't like the life of some servant was worth a penny to those greedy nobles.

"What if we go through with the plan? Pretend that we got the girl?"

"Yeah! We already sent the letter out to Winfield, didn't we?" Dusk waved his hand. "The girl's supposed to be headin' out to Pelta Lunata. She won't be able to make it back to her father's place before our ransom reaches Winfield."

Gerald just shook his head. "The Patrol'll most likely send her back home soon as they rescue her. She'll be back there before Winfield's even started panicking. Before he's even started writing a return letter. And even if she goes to Pelta Lunata whose sayin' she won't send a message to her dear father then? And when we get to the exchange date and we don't have Victoria, then he's gonna notice. It won't work."

"...Maybe we should dump her and make an escape before they realize."

Dusk turned to Julius, a disapproving frown on his face, but it was Gerald who spoke. "Not a chance." He turned to Ava who had a bewildered expression on her face. "That's not how the Dark Pirates do things, okay Ava?" He ignored the pained expressions on both Julius' and Dusk's face. "We don't kill people." He leaned back, looking at Julius and Dusk.

"Then what are we going to do?"

"We wait. If we're lucky, then things'll go just as Ava and Dusk said. People aren't always careful. We'll set a route around the Jorenthul Sea, keep Patrol from catching on to us, and if we don't get a response within three days, we make for Hsarus."

Everyone in the room straightened, giving Gerald a quick salute. "Yessir!"

Before anyone could turn and make an exit, there came a shout from outside the cabin. "Captain!!"

Dusk reached for the handle of the door, but it swung open. "W-Whoa!" Dusk stumbled back, the door missing him by a hair. "What's going on?"

Kormic was at the door, his unshaven face red and his eyes wide. "Captain!! Bad news!"

Gerald rose from his seat, alarmed. "What is it?"

"Patrol! Patrol's found us! Their ship's barely two leagues away!"

It was everyone else's turn to be alarmed know. Dusk stepped forward, towering well over Kormic. "How did they get that close?!"

Kormic shook his head, panic clear in his eyes. "They just appeared outta nowhere! Musta been using the cliff to stay outta our line of sight."

"Dammit!" Gerald stormed around the table, knocking over the chair he was sitting in. "Didn't think they'd give us chase. That captain of theirs must got a good head on his shoulders." He stepped out of the quarters. "Send Shin and Delmar to hoist anchor."

"Felicia already sent them on it."

"Where is she?"

"At the bridge, sir."

Gerald grabbed Ava by the arm. "Sweetie, go to your mother and help her keep a look out. Get your daggers ready too." The girl took off without another second's hesitation, sprinting down the hallway. "Julius, you go prep the cannons."

"Sir!"

"Kormic, put us a full sail and tell Felicia to get us out of here."

"Sir!"

Dusk gripped Gerald's arm. "What do you want me to do?"

"I got a special job for you Dusk."

Dusk cocked an eyebrow, but Gerald continued, a half-smile on his face. "You're gonna get Victoria onto the lifeboat."

"You mean Brindle?"

Gerald shook his head. "No. The only reason Patrol would give chase is if we got the noble's girl. But we're not gonna let them have her. You're gonna escape with our hostage in their blind spot to the island while we distract the Patrol. If we can get moving before they board us, then we can lead them away."

Dusk frowned. "And leave you to the sharks? I can't do that Gerald!"

Gerald grinned. "C'mon, Dusk. You know me. Once I get the Thief moving, ain't no one gonna catch us." He slapped Dusk on the back. "Once the coast is clear, wait for us at Gunner's Point."

Dusk looked reluctant, but nodded. "You better not make me wait too long, Gerald."

Gerald laughed. "Then get moving!"