Precious Cargo

Writers: Chelle, Jelena, Leigh M-F., Paula, Suzee
Date Posted: 18th February 2014

Characters: Herlis, Mawul, Zumre, Freido, Geriot, Unnamed Stowaway
Description: Herlis' crewmembers present him with an unexpected precious cargo.
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 5, day 26 of Turn 7

Herlis came up on deck with a vague smile around his lips and in his
eyes as he breathed in the smell of the sea. They were well on their
way now and the further they sailed away from the shoreline, the more
his mind came at rest. Nothing beat the quiet of the sea.

Mawul, the first mate, already stood on the deck. He nodded his head
respectably at the Captain.

Down below, one of the midshipmen was busily swabbing the deck. Freido
used the rhythm of the ship to send the soap where it needed to go. He
hummed as he worked. If the weather held, they would make good time.
Sailors had an intimate relationship with the weather and he was no
exception. "Hey Zumre, you think we'll have a decent meal tonight?"

Zumre didn't answer at first. He was always a little slow to respond
to a question; not because he was mentally impaired, but because he
preferred thinking the answer over first. He turned his face to the
wind, mentally riffling through of the supplies he was in charge of,
and then tried to think where a good school of fish could be found.
"The odds about that look good," he finally said in his deep,
thoughtful tone.

Below decks in a small space made from some cargo pushed apart to make
a cozy hiding spot, a young woman lay curled into a ball trembling
with apprehension. She felt the tiny changes that told her her trip
had begun.

Meanwhile, the captain joined his first mate. "Everything looking good,
Mawul?" Herlis asked as he surveyed the deck. "Chalwey still putting on
a brave face?" he nodded to the shipmen who had gone aboard with a
serious hangover that morning. His crew knew how he felt about alcohol.
They were free to however much they pleased, as long as they didn't complain
and do all their work the next day. Herlis had little sympathy for those
that
didn't know their own limits.

"Aye, Captain, all's shipshape. Chalwey is keeping his complains to himself
but he did look bit green around edges," Mawul replied with a slightly
malicious
grin. He had a wife and children to keep him in line, besides he was
now too old to drink that way.

Happy with that answer, Freido went back to work, then began to hum.
"Where do you go to my lovely.....oh where do I see you then? When I come
home and find you there with the man down the road named Shen." He snorted
and mentally congratulated himself on his cleverness.

Zumre would have started humming along, but he was distracted by the
fact his mug was empty already. "Huh," he grunted, and trundled off
the deck to the storage areas below to find one of the many water
casks the crew was lucky to have. One more mugful, and then he would
be good to go.

"Well, good for him," Herlis grinned. "He will learn.. in time."

"Cap'n! Cap'n sir!" A deckhand came yelling and running across the
foredeck. He was single-mindedly
trying to find Herlis. Something was wrong. He didn't like being the
bearer of bad news, but maybe they'd
get an extra ration of drink for their discovery.

"Here!" Herlis called back, turning on the spot to face the man that
was running towards him like a madman. This didn't bode well.

Mawul also turned to look, frown on his face.

"There's a gal belowdecks! A real one!" He didn't believe it quite
himself, but there it was. At this point he was beyond his ken
and assumed the Captain would sort it out.

" A girl?" Herlis tone rose only slightly, but his raised eyebrows
showed his surprise. And his concern. "Take me to her at once," he
commanded, gesturing Mawul to follow him.

Taking the men down, Geriot made short work of bringing them to where
she'd been hiding in the cargo hold. Another deckhand had cornered her
and stood smiling despite the interesting situation.

He pointed then stood aside, curious.

"A stowaway?" Mawul asked when he followed the captain below deck.
Such things weren't unheard of.

She'd been dozing in her little hidey hole when the box and been
lifted off. She scrabbled backward until she came up against the
bulkhead and could go no further. Panic took her voice and she could
only make incoherent sounds, her eyes darting back and forth between
the men staring down at her.

"Sshh, it's okay," Herlis tone of voice changed instantly as he saw
the panic in the girl's eyes. No use in having her try to run and
injure or drown herself. "We're not going to hurt you. I am the
Captain of this ship. Do you know where you are?"

Her eyes went from face to face and then focused on the Captain as
he'd named himself. Her eyes were still wide with fear but she nodded
slowly. "A sh-ship."

"Good. Do you remember how you got here?" he asked, before looking
away at one of his men briefly. "Go get her a blanket, she might be in
shock." Yes, she probably was a stowaway, but it also wouldn't be the
first time someone had been dumped on a ship because someone didn't
want them around anymore.

"Get her blanket and stop gawking her like your never seen a child
before. You got work to do," Mawul told the crew members around them
and gave them stern glance. He put a weight on the child. He
preferred the crew to see her as a child, someone to protect and not
as potential bed-partner. Things could turn nasty that way.

The scream that had threatened to rise up into her throat at the looks
she'd been getting froze in her throat and she wrapped her arms around
herself almost holding her breath to get hold of her terror. "I'm...
I'm s-sorry," she said barely above a whisper. Her eyes shifted from
the Captain to the man who'd just spoken and back again as some of the
others drifted away. She began to shiver in reaction to the terror of
being discovered.

Last updated on the February 22nd 2014

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Precious Cargo