The Profane, A Warship

John smiled a little and walked up to Joseph. "So I see you finally got to use a fancy name for something." he said jokingly. Joseph was slowly growing on him, but just as he thought that the spot where he got shot started to hurt again. His smile disappeared. "So what is the next plan Joseph?" He rubbed his back a little.

"I already told you. We are pursuing the pirates now." Joseph stood behind the helmsman of the ship. The large french gilded sails blew ferociously as the wind blew in their favor.

"I meant the exact plan?" John followed Joseph. Fredrick needed this mission to go perfectly. If they did not get the medicine O'Riley told John that Fredrick would almost certainly die. If Fredrick died, it would be like losing other brother to John.

"We find the ships... we show them that we aren't afraid of their pathetic black flag once they fly it, and we go from there. If they decide to try and board us for our cargo, we double team them with The Scarbourer. If they turn to attack us with cannons, we attack with cannons. It's simple really." Joseph tabbed his spyglass and extended it. He looked onto the horizon. "Nothing yet."

"Can i make one suggestion quick," John said very determined to speak his mind.

John had not like the idea of opening fire with canons. There was a chance that the specific medicine they need would get destroyed. If that happened there would be no chance for Fredrick.

"What is it?" Joseph retracted his spyglass and looked over the ship.

John let a small smile show "Let me take a few knights and a small row boat to get close to the lead ship. After a few minutes you and the remaining men open fire on the other two ships. From the looks of this ship it should have the fire power to hold off two ships at once. As you open fire we would be boarding the lead ship. The crew will be distracted by the canons opening on their commands. We should be able to find the medicine before they realize we are on board and with a little lucky we could take the ship as while." John gestured with his hands the whole time. At the end raised his eyebrow and gestured to Joseph. "What do you think?"

"Not a bad idea. Except for the fact that it will be morning by then. And it will take you a long time to close the distance with a rowboat. And they will see you approaching. No no no. My idea is much more effective. Besides, I plan on getting more than the medicine. If I'm sinking a pirate fleet, I plan on taking them for all they have. Recruits, cargo, rum, gold, all of it. Perhaps even a second ship. Or a third."Joseph smiled. "I know pirates my friend. They thrive because we see them as monsters. They are only men. The Knights know that now. The pirates wouldn't dare attack a man'o'war."

"If you say so." John walked away. He still did not trust Joseph's experiences. He may lead a small army, but he did not have the experience in John's mind.

John then went down to the sickbay. Fredrick was laying there almost passed out. He walked up next to him and kneed, "Hey you still there Fredrick?"

Fredrick nodded and mumbled.

"We will get you what you need soon," John patted his shoulder and walked up to the deck.

"Sails!" One of the watchmen in the crows nest shouted a couple of hours later. The sun began to rise as Joseph pulled out his spyglass and saw the three pirate vessels approaching.

"Aye! Two brigs and a frigate by the looks of it. Not flying any flag as of yet." Joseph put his spyglass away. He turned toward the crew and announced, "They intend to raise the flag when they get close, and scare us. Little do they know it won't work, and by the time they get that close, we can board them. They won't dare fire upon us at close range. Not against a man'o'war. We will take out the frigate and Th Scarbourer can guard us from the brigs in case they try anything."

The crew cheered and all grabbed their weaponry. The fleet of pirates slowly approached, still miles away.

John heard Joseph's speech and the cheer of the men as he rose to the deck. He could see the fleet slowly approach them. As when they were close enough probably for a mortar shot, the ships started to raise their flags, but they were not black flags they were British flags. The crew that could see the flags had confused faces. Them and John looked up at Joseph to see his reaction.

"Probably trying to confuse us. We will continue to close the distance between our ships. English vessels must always have their royal flag flying,so they are most likely pirates. If they are wearing english uniforms and they are actually... well... british, then we will hail them and speak to the captain. If not, we will be close enough to attack. We can't lose in this situation." Joseph confidently walked down to the middle of the deck to join the crew.

At this point John could not do anything, but follow Joseph's order. They slowly approached the ships. They had closed the distance greatly by they heard a shot. Three long line came spinning the air. One landed short of the  Secular. Another one barely to the left. The final one clipped the mass of  The Scarbourer. It went crashing down. Most of it went into the water. A few shouts of pained were hear.

"How the hell are they shooting link shots?" John mumbled in shock.

(What is a link shot?)

(They are just chin shots that are connected)

Joseph watched as The Scarbourer was demasted. It used what was left of its movement to turn it's broadside on the pirates.

"Battle stations!" Joseph shouted. He turned to John. "To be quite honest I'd rather sink the pirates than lose The Scarbourer and The Profane. So if it comes down to it, we either board that ship, or the medicine goes down. So you had better make yourself useful."

Joseph turned back to the crew. "Load the cannons with chain shot! We will demasted them and leave them like sitting ducks. The brigs too!"

The crew loaded the guns and readied themselves to fire when anything came into range.

As John could hear Joseph yelling at him, but he wasn't listening. He was focusing on getting aboard that ship and getting that medicine.

He spotted out a group of five knights, "You five," John pointed at them, "As soon as we board that ship you are coming with me. We have a special job to do." he sounded as he was giving an official order. All the knights shook their head. Then the the cannons went off.

Joseph saw John ignore him and grab a few Knights. "Bastard..." He turned to the crew. "Board when the ship gets close enough!"

The cannons had it two of the three ships, crippling them. The third ship still could sail and move, but John did not care. The lead ship had been crippled. The two cripple ships were close enough for them to drag them closer. John took a grappling-hook and was the first to through it. It land on the middle ship and he started to pull. The knights had done the same.

John then shouted to Joseph, "Try to leave the middle one left standing the others do as you please,"

"Leave the furthest one for the Scarbourer. Take the frigate and the other brig by force!" Joseph announced. Grapples fired on both sides of The Profane. They dragged a brig and a frigate closer to each side.

John waited for the first wave of knights to go over to the frigate. He wanted to make sure that most of the enemy would be distracted when he went in to find the medicine. John looked at the knights he had picked four of the five were still there.

Joseph grabbed a rifle from a dead pirate on The Profane. He shot the sniper perched on the crows nest of the pirate frigate and then dropped the rifle. He ran and jumped onto the pirate frigate. He rolled once he hit the ground, and pulled his pistol and sword out.

He shot the first pirate he saw, then got cut on the back by an opponent he overlooked. He quickly turned around and hit the man in his unguarded leg. He yelled and kneeled down. Joseph finished him with a decapitation.

John and the remaining four knights followed over to the frigate. They all rolled and quickly got to there feet. One was engaged in combat before John could order them to follow. They made their way to the storage. They teared through the pirate crew. The knights worked well together. Each watching the others back.

When they got to the storage door, John barked, "One come with me the other guard the door, so we can exit without being slaughtered." Then he ran into the storage room. They actually listened. One did follow well the others stayed behind.

"Look for a crate of with a green upside down triangle on it that is the one we need to find." They both started to search with haste.

Joseph threw a smoke bomb at the captain, and quickly slashed and cut apart his guards. The Knights performed just as well. The captain coughed and hacked before throwing his hands up in defeat. His dropped his weapon. The crew quickly followed.

"Smart man." Joseph said as he sheathed his weapons. The captain was an older gentleman. Early 60s or late 50s. He wore a few rings, had lots of tattoos, and looked to be a well decorated pirate. Joseph tied his hands together and led him to the middle of the ship with the rest of the surrendered crew.

A few moments later the knight that followed him shouted, "I found it!"

John quickly ran to him. As he approached he saw that the hull of the ship had been it. "Where is it?" The knight pointed. What he pointed at was a crush crate. "No, no NO!"

John quickly dug in the crack. Almost all the bottles were smashed, but one. He pulled the one bottle out that wasn't shattered. When he pulled it up he saw a decent size crack in it. It was leaking a lot. John flung his jacket off, wrapped the bottle in it and bottled to the deck.