[X] Dig into your purse: You are rather wealthy. You could probably simply bypass the yard and get fresh supplies directly from one of the suppliers without too much trouble, though it is likely to be much more expensive then just taking what you're given or offering a bit of, ahem, financial incentive.
Trying to deal with the damned bureaucracy of the yard gives you a headache. So instead you turn to the local merchants and shell out a significant amount money to purchase fresh salt pork and salt beef directly from the manufacturer instead of going through the quartermaster. In the end, it costs you a pretty penny but you think it worth it to make sure that you have rations which will not make the crew revolt. Not only does it cost you money, but it costs you time as well. A few days waiting for the order to be finished (it's a rush job, even then) and to get the supplies loaded. You are impatient--you want to be able to report that your ship is ready for sea to the admiral so that you can get your feet off of the shore and return to the one place that makes you feel intensely alive.
Finally, after almost a week of frenzied work and shifting of supplies from shore to ship, the
Dolphin is ready for sea. Mostly ready for sea. You have recruited Mister Rhangabe again, but your replacement Midshipman, Mister Angelus has vanished onto one of the huge captured battleships, along with your former sergeant of marines (now lieutenant of marines). Not like you had a spot for her in any case. You have berths for three more midshipmen and while you don't necessarily need them, they do help. You'll need to pick a couple new ones, though. Hm. Maybe you can put off though. But you shouldn't. You look through the stack of letters asking to be brought aboard your ship (being a hero will do that) and decide on the two you think look the most promising. None of the others seem right and you can fill the third berth when you feel ready to do so.
Jocasta Diogene, Midshipwoman: A short, fiesty young woman, aged 16. She has been at sea for three years already and seems determined to make a go of it, despite barely being of a height that she would be accepted into the service if she were trying to enlist instead. From what you've been told by her letter of recommendation and her own words, she is extremely focused on her career and making sure she does her job well. Determined, tougher than she looks. Her hat is unfortunately a size too big despite being smaller than anyone else's constantly seems to slip down her forehead. You'll have to get her to fix that.
Candides Kerluria, Midshipperson: Fresh (well not entirely fresh) off the farm, age 15. Only been at sea a year or two, but very eager from what their previous captain says. Still learning but is eager and seems constantly awed by your presence. You are doing your best to dispel that, but you're not sure it's helping. Still, they can be turned into a promising officer, you're sure. They just need to grow a little.
Ship's complement, HM Sloop Dolphin
Captain: Commander Marran Marinos
1st Officer: Lieutenant Sofia Eusoneus
Sailing Master: Mister Iusiph Piteras
Purser: Myx Lenthe Sphrantze
Surgeon: Mister Marcian Acominatus
Gunner: Eryka Vatatze
Carpenter: Ioannis Maniakes
Bos'un: John Glycas
Sergeant of Marines: Francio Kurkuras
Midshipmen: Mister Lucas Rhangabe, Miss Jocasta Diogene, Myx Candides Kerluria
Captain's Steward: Auxentius Thabo
91 Sailors and petty officers
1 Corporal of Marines
18 Marine privates
Total Complement: 123 Officers and men
With your ship crewed and provisioned all that's left is to get orders. Orders, unfortunately, are slow in coming. With winter closing in, the weather out on Tyrabean Sea is getting worse and worse with regular northern squalls rolling across it which make it a bad place to be. Unfortunately, some people do still need to be out in it. Your orders finally arrive though. You are directed, they say, to place yourself on blockade picket outside of the port of Selymbria and there keep watch on the enemy's fleet and interdict enemy shipping as the opportunity prevents itself. You will be relieved of your patrol in one month's time. Unless the situation changes somehow. It's... something. And you are at sea again.
You weigh anchor and sail out of the harbor the next day and immediately hope that the situation changes very quickly. With an almost constant northern wind, the sea is a choppy mess of swells and whitecaps that crash over the deck of the ship every time you start to climb out of the trough of the waves. It is constantly grey and cloudy, with the sun rarely showing its face. Sometimes it rains. Others it snows. Being on deck is an exercise in misery as no matter how many layers of wool and oilskin you wear you are soaked through practically to the skin when you spend any amount of time longer than five or ten minutes. Fortunately, everyone has been at sea before and so there is a minimum amount of seasickness.
When you arrive on station off Selymbria, your excitement at being back at sea again has turned to mind-numbing boredom. The weather is hard on battleships which cost a lot of money to keep at sea and so with the bad winter weather, you are fortunate enough as the captain of a small ship to be out here. Being miserable. The first few days turn to a week. Turn to two weeks. Nothing of interest has happened and no ships seem to dare poke their noses out of the harbor. Or try to sneak in. Instead it is long hours of watch, beating back and forth to keep a watch and simply... doing the dull work of watching the enemy and waiting.
You entertain yourself by having officers to dinner at least once a week. The men have to find other diversions. The surgeon, Mister Acominatus, is apparently a musically inclined fellow and by the third week of the patrol he has put together a pretty fine choir of marines and sailors with plans for a concert on Midwinter's Day in two weeks. You appreciate the thought.
The monotony of patrol is finally broken one cold, grey, morning. You are taking breakfast when a report is sent down that a sail has been spotted. By the time you're on deck, the sail has solidified. It's a small cutter speeding southwards. She reminds you of the
Lydia and she is not one you recognize from Delphinos. You train your glass on the oncoming vessel and gauge her course--she must mean to run the blockade into Selymbria. She is a quick little thing, though you have confidence in your crew. The danger is that if she gets under the guns of the harbor forts and you aren't careful, you may well be in for a battering.
You must decide a course of action quickly before rain or a flurry of hail and sleet hides her from your view and you lose your chance.
[ ] Tally ho!: Give chase! The break in the patrol and the chance of a prize will fire up the crew. And yourself, if you're honest.
[ ] Shadow them but do not engage: You're supposed to watch the harbor. Trying to chase a small ship into the guns of the forts is asking for trouble that you don't want. Better to simply watch and wait and see what comes of this.
[ ] Keep station: Better to simply keep station and make sure that you're in position in chase a bigger catch than that boney little cutter comes along.
