A Game Of Swans

Chpt 4 - Archipelagos

He stood, maybe slightly awkwardly, in the middle of my Quarters, while I made my way around to my desk, sitting in my chair. I gestured for him to take a seat.

He moved closer, standing in front of the desk (and so, in front of me), but Captain Kirkland made no move to sit down. Instead, he pulled a small notebook out of the inside of his coat and tossed it onto the desk.

I raised my eyebrows, but picked it up and started to flick through it.

"I assume that you have heard of the Russian pirate Captain Ivan Braginsky?" he asked.

"Yes, although I can't say that I know much about him. He captains The Prizrak, right?"

The Englishman in front of me nodded. "Yes, he does. In order to sum Captain Braginsky up for you, he's a right wanker who's hell-bent on world domination."

"Okay," I drew the word out, shifting my gaze from the scrawled words in the notebook that I could barely read to the Captain in front of me, "And what, pray tell, does this have to do with me?"

He seemed to huff slightly, his sharp gaze moving from our surroundings (my Quarters) to me. I realised two things in that moment. One, that Captain Kirkland obviously didn't do this sort of thing very often, if at all. Two, the look of mild disdain on his face told me that he was likely not impressed with the state of my room.

I had quite a few books strewn about the place, mostly because I didn't have enough bookshelves for them all, and they were accompanied by empty bottles, maps of all kinds, sheets of notes, quills and inkwells.

I hadn't really had the opportunity to clean up properly.

That, and I hadn't been expecting guests. Or a guest.

"It doesn't necessarily concern you personally," he began, "but it concerns everyone in the ocean, so in the grand scheme of things, it concerns you."

Leaning back in my chair, I shrugged slightly. "So what if the guy is looking for world domination? I'm still here, pillaging merchant ships and sending people to an early grave, so I really don't see the problem."

He huffed again, and folded his arms. Captain Kirkland looked a bit frustrated again. "Of course it doesn't, as long as you can go about your everyday business, I don't suppose anything else matters to you, you self-centered wanker," he muttered.

I don't think I was suppose to hear that, but I did anyway. I cracked a smile and couldn't help but laugh. "Well, I do apologise, but if it's not something that's going to affect me and my crew, then I don't see why you came to me in search of an alliance."

One of his eyebrows twitched in anger.

"That's just the thing. It does. I just said that it affects everyone on the ocean. And do you want to know why?"

Before I could say anything in response to the Englishman, he slammed a map down onto my desk. I jumped slightly, but leaned over in order to see it.

"It's not just that Captain Braginsky wants world domination, it's that he has a plan for world domination. All the details I have on it are in that notebook, and I've managed to piece together whatever happens to be missing. This is serious."

As he spoke, my smile began to fade, a stern and serious look over-taking my features as I looked back up at him. Captain Kirkland seemed a bit surprised by my sudden change of character, but quickly brushed it off when I said, "Go on."

"Captain Braginsky is a skilled captain, but even that won't get him world domination, or domination of the ocean. But if he could control the ocean, then he would be free to do whatever he wants to do. He could sink ships without even using artillery, or flood towns and even countries located on the coast in order to get what he wants."