[X] Wait and hope for the best.
You wait. It is not easy to wait, but you do. You watch as other cutters leave the harbor on their missions, packet boats and scouts. Frigates go off to hunt the enemy shipping and you are waiting. The massive battleships captured in the engagement of a week ago are well on their way to being repaired as the men and women of the yards swarm over them, repairing the rigging, patching up the hull and swinging up new masts. And you wait. You are at least partially diverted by Miss Eusoneus, who has come to you full of nervous agitation. There is to be an examining board in the next week and she plans to stand for lieutenant, hopefully making your 'acting' rank a permanent one. You do your best to help, remembering well your own feverish nervousness in the lead up, and spend long hours throwing problems of seamanship, tactics, and spur-of-the-moment decision making as well as quizzing her on her mathematics and navigation.
In between, you also see more of Calixta. The Army is essentially in Winter quarters by now as the cold northern wind brings torrential rain (and soon enough, you expect, snow). It's a fun way to pass the time in her company, drinking and telling each other of your lives, practicing swordplay, discussing the differences between your professions or once even spending a whole lazy day in bed listening to the rain beat on the windows in between fierce bouts of passion. Even with these pleasant diversions, though, waiting kills you.
Your poor little
Lydia is still weak in the seams and her knees, the carpenter says, may never be the same again. He is doing his best to do what work he can as a week turns into two, then into three and still he says he daren't risk putting her back in the water. Every time one seam is repaired another seems to be in need of work. Until at last he confides in you that despite his best efforts, he thinks that the
Lydia is destined to be broken up. A fine little sailor, yes, but he would not trust her again in heavy weather. The news leaves you feeling stricken and you are forced to report it to the admiral in a short letter which you hurriedly dash off before sinking into a deep melancholy.
Lady Admiral,
It is with great regret that I report to you that the cutter LYDIA cannot be made ready for sea again. She is, Carpenter Alcites assures me, a danger to anyone who would try to sail her except in the calmest seas. Therefore I must submit to you that the crew of the LYDIA must be paid off and used as the service sees fit.
I have the honor to be, madam, your most obedient servant,
Marran Marinos, Commander.
You hate writing it and you hate thinking of it. Though you have only been in her a few months,
Lydia had already seemed like a second home and you had grown used to the steady presence of Mister PIteras and the youthful energy of Miss Eusoneus. Of course, Auxentius is still with you but... the rest of them were good sailors and you damned the chance that had removed them from where they could do best.
The next day, Miss Eusoneus goes to her examination board. It is also the proper start of winter as the first snow begins to fall, covering Delphinos in a blanket of white that hides some of the grime and makes the white-washed houses look even brighter. You spend that day paying off the crew as the last six months of arrears are settled and tearfully bid goodbye to the little ship that had done everything you had asked of her. Mister Piteras seems particularly struck by the whole affair, having sailed her for years before you arrived and he is barely able to contain his emotion as you shake his hand a last time to bid him a fond farewell and good luck.
Who knows where the wind will take you all now? You lay despondently in bed for three days, barely stirring yourself to eat and read the newspapers that are brought to you. They are a week or so out of date, but they talk of continued bread shortages in the capital. It must be serious.
Even Calixta and Auxentius have a hard time stirring you from your bed and you can hear the pair of them muttering together in the corridor outside your room once or twice, probably worried about your melancholy. You are a sailor! What use is a sailor without a ship? You lay in your bed feeling sorry for yourself when another insistent knock comes at the door.
"Myx? It's Auxentius."
"Go away."
"Of course, myx. It's just, there's a letter here for you from the admiral..." That, somehow, gets you out of bed. You hurriedly clamber to your feet and throw open the door still in your night clothes.
"Give it here!" You seize the letter from Auxentius' hands and you catch a brief glimpse of him smirking before you rip open the seal.
Commander Marinos,
You are desired to report aboard the flagship LIONESS and present yourself before the Admiral Lady Barda for orders with all possible speed.
God save the King!
It is signed with a flourish by who you must presume is the admiral's secretary. You hurry around your lodging in a rush, bathing, dressing, and primping as best you can with the help of Auxentius before you hurry off to the harbor. You find a boat and scramble up the precipitous sides of the Lioness to the clatter of presented muskets and the keening of the bos'un's whistle, return the salute, and then hurry aft to the admiral's great cabin.
After an agonizing wait of twenty minutes, you are finally shown inside after brushing snow from your boat cloak. You sweep your hat from your head and bow and the admiral turns towards you and away from her view of the harbor through the great glass windows of her cabin.
"Commander! I see you get my letter."
"Yes, my lady. I came as soon as I could." You try your best to disguise the eagerness in your voice.
"You don't need to hide anything. I know how you must feel being ashore without a ship. I have a couple of pieces of news for you, actually. First, a few days ago I had the pleasure of heading the board which examined your young Miss Eusoneus. She is a capable young officer."
"I cannot take much credit, my lady. She has only sailed with me for a few months."
"Of course, but she also received a commendation from you during the rescue of the crew of a stricken ship and you have written here... ah. You think very highly of her conduct."
"That's correct, my lady."
"Well, you shall be the first besides her to know then that she has passed for lieutenant. The letter was sent today." You feel a bright smile come onto your face. Wonderful news for her, all things considered. She'll be a full and proper lieutenant now.
"Thank you, my lady. That's wonderful." Privately, you can't help but think that there must be another reason you've been called here.
"Indeed it is, though she needs a ship now, doesn't she?"
"...Yes, my lady." You think glumly of poor
Lydia, waiting to be broken up.
"It's a good thing that we happen to have a few laying about, then." She picks up another packet of papers on her desk and holds them out to you.
"We have a delightful little ship-rigged sloop-of-war that the rebels no longer have a use for just finishing a refitting. The
Dolphin, I believe. She is in much in need of a commander and of a crew." You blink, then hurriedly tear open the packet to read that Commander Marinos is requested and required to go aboard HM Sloop
Dolphin at the port of Delphinos with all possible speed. There to crew, outfit, and prepare her for sea. Your heart leaps in your chest. Good Gods. A ship! A ship!
"Well, Marinos?"
"Of course, my lady! Thank you, my lady!"
"You're a good officer. Don't thank me, I need officers like you. Now you have your orders. Get to it." You salute at that dismissal and then have to restrain your urge to sprint out of the cabin and down the deck. You have work to do! When you're finally ashore you hurry back to your lodgings and with a whoop, embrace Auxentius.
"We have a ship! A ship!" Despite the fact that he is at least a head taller than you, you manage to force him into a dance about the room for a moment.
"There's not a moment to lose! Pack my things and have them sent aboard the
Dolphin, I'm off to see about getting her crewed!" You hurry back out into the gently falling snow, practically giddy with the joy of having a ship again. What to do first?
This is a vote by plan. Order these from highest to lowest priority.
[ ] Let it be known you need a crew: You'll need to get the books filled properly with good sailors, which might be hard with the fleet here in need of them as well. Maybe you can snap up most of your old Lydias before they vanish with their prize money or get hauled aboard some man-of-war.
[ ] Officers, of course: You need officers. A first lieutenant, naturally, perhaps even a second lieutenant. Midshipmen. Your warrant officers. You need all of them! You'll have to find them, first, of course.
-[ ] Get Sofia Eusoneus back aboard: You know her, you trust her, and she is a newly minted lieutenant, of course she's your first choice!
-[ ] Someone new: Sofia is probably looking to make her career unattached to someone, so perhaps you had better find a different officer to bring aboard.
[ ] Stores! What good is a ship without supplies. Maybe you should try and wrangle with the yard for spare canvas, spars, and salt beef so that you have everything you need to set for sea.
[ ] Inspect the ship: You should get a look at her so you know what you have to work with, right?
