Marco swung the wheel, sending The Foolish Endeavor in a tight hook toward the pirate ship. He pumped raw power into his craft, channeling every bit of energy he could into movement. The craft lurched forward in the water like it was being pushed by an invisible hand. The other ship was a step too slow to react, which let The Foolish Endeavor line up perfectly perpendicular to the broadside of the enemy's boat.

"We boarding?" Riv rushed past Marco to the front of the ship, dropping to a knee in preparation for the inevitable crash. “Finally”

“That’s the plan,” Marco yelled as he turned his attention to the rest of his crew. “Aethe, keep thinning them out. Elisa, keep feeding the magic. I'm going to try to punch a hole right through their hull."

“You what?” Elisa asked.

“We're stronger than we look, remember? They’re a two. They have most of their value in guns. If this works, it'll end the fight in one shot.”

The two ships drew closer. The pirates fired again, hitting the hull and the deck of Marco’s craft with two lucky hip-shot fires.

“Now!” Marco shouted.

The prow of The Foolish Endeavor struck the enemy ship slightly low and to the side, driving in just above the waterline. The impact was so sudden and so sharp that it almost threw Riv overboard as The Foolish Endeavor came out on top of the encounter, digging a good ten feet into the side of the other ship. Marco’s prediction didn’t exactly come true, but the pirate ship was as good as sunk with such a big hole in its side.

Marco was the first across as Riv recovered, leaping with sword drawn and gun ready. Aether laid down cover for him, downing a would-be blocker before they could rise from behind a barrel. Riv was next, roaring as he landed and clearing a path through the nearest bunch of pirates with his club.

Elisa stayed back. Later, she’d tell Marco it was a calculated thing. If the ship ran, she wanted to be with the cannons. Otherwise, it was already a clear victory for their people before Marco crossed swords with the captain at all.

On the enemy deck, chaos ruled. The crew had been broken apart by cannons, sniper fire, and a whole enemy ship ramming into them. If there ever was anyone in the crew who could really fight, they were gone. Marco spun through a pair of opponents, stabbing the first and shooting the second just above his stomach. Both went down permanently. Riv bulldozed his way through anyone who stood in front of him, using sheer strength and club momentum to make sure nobody truly had a chance of resistance.

Aethe joined them seconds later, having found a clean angle from which to jump across. Her next arrow was fired midair, taking out a pirate who was trying to light a powder barrel ablaze. He went out gurgling instead of with a blaze of glory, which suited Marco just fine.

"We're clear!" she called. “Check below the decks.”

Marco left Riv to defend their archer as he rushed to the forequarters where the pirate’s crew stayed. He found no one and turned back toward the mast. He found the captain just getting out of bed.

When the dust settled a few moments later, Marco found himself standing in front of a slumped, bleeding man in a captain’s coat that barely fit. His saber lay broken at his feet. He hadn't put up much of a fight, and his wounds were already too much to survive.

“Good show,” he said, laboring to breathe. "Warner won't like it."

“Who?" Marco asked as the pirate breathed his last. He had just barely missed the pirate breathing the name thanks to the after-effects of being in so much combat. He turned to Elisa in confusion and shouted. "Who?”

“Marco.” Elisa stood up, dusted herself off, and jumped from the prow to the enemy deck. “You had a full two-hour watch and didn't read that note yet? What in the actual hell is wrong with you?”

Kelda’s note was still in Marco's pocket, suddenly feeling much heavier than it ever had before. He had forgotten about it after Elisa scanned and handed it back, but he wasn't about to admit that.

“There wasn't a good time. Who?” Marco pressed.

"Warner. The leader of the pirates." Elisa shook her head. "You know what? No sleep for Marco tonight, unless he reads that note."

The captain's gear dissolved into Marco’s own, enhancing it a bit in a non-game-changing way. Unfortunately, this latest win didn’t trigger to any ship-Conquest notifications. Marco supposed that was fair since The Foolish Encounter

was so much better than the enemy ship. Still, it had been a while since a new Conquest-upgrade happened to their ship. Marco was itching to see just a bit more strength in his ship.

They stripped what they could from the enemy ship. The overboard pirates were nowhere to be seen. Most of what the ship had on hand wasn’t worth taking. The cannons were worse than Marco’s own, though they were more numerous, and Marco was loathe to add anything to The Foolish Endeavor that could slow her down. They ended up topping up their food supplies to replace what they had eaten that day and not much else.

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Besides that, the experience from the battle seemed to split up pretty evenly between them. The biggest difference for Marco was his skill. When Fencer crossed level seven, it felt like something had changed in the rapier. Marco just felt more confident holding it, like the weapon was a part of his arm and would strike at a moment’s thought.

Then it was onto salvage.

“I'm mad they broke the bark.” Marco almost cried when he saw the non-smooth, shattered portions of what was once a perfectly flat hull. "We can't get any out here."

“Marco, that's not how repairing works in the first place." Elisa smiled. "Whatever the ship was, that’s what it repairs back into. It just takes more materials sometimes. We’re currently standing on a giant pile of materials which should be more than enough. Look through your ship management menu. You'll find it."

He did, and he used it, pushing the button for repair the moment the last of his crew members was back on deck. The enemy ship split apart, a good portion of it settling into the damaged bits of his own craft.

“Okay, then. That will take a bit of time to finish up, but we should be okay now. Everyone back to bed. I have a note to read,” Marco commanded.

Marco waited until everyone was below decks and that no one was sneaking glances at his red face before he cracked open Kelda's letter. Most of it was talking about ship sightings, most of which had been long enough ago that even she admitted it wasn't valuable intel. One part of it, however, had a longer shelf life. The leader of the pirates was described in some detail, every aspect of him that was known written down in an even, thorough hand.

There were a good twenty more lines, many more than Marco could have even thought of. Most were marked as unknowns, but one section stood out prominently as actually important and was filled with information.

Marco read the final lines of Kelda’s note twice, then folded it and tucked it away. He thought he understood it, though he’d have to have Elisa explain the finer points of the implications to him. He looked up, found the deck empty, and breathed out a sigh of relief through his nose.

The Foolish Endeavor rocked gently underfoot, still healing from its repairs. Marco let himself drift toward the prow, where the sky was beginning to stain pink with dawn.

By the time the others rose, breakfast was ready. They were eating up all the fresh stuff first, before what promised to be a long time on salty preserved foods and dry tack alone. Riv grunted in sleepy approval when Marco handed him his plate. Aethe claimed hers with a smile and a peck on Marco’s cheek, then took a seat near the railing. Elisa emerged last, rolling her eyes at the kiss and then looking at Marco with a glimmer of narrowed suspicion.

"Read it?" she asked.

“Read it.”

"Learn anything useful?"

“A couple things. Mostly that we’re underleveled, under-crewed, and outgunned. But we already knew that part when we saw The Calamity the last time.”

Elisa sat, accepting a plate of warmed-over food from Marco before she settled in on the deck.

“And that he’s looking for something,” she added.

"Which we probably have," Marco said. "Or at least we know where it is. We can't let him catch us. There are a lot of reasons why."

—

They sailed under light wind until mid-morning without any further interruptions.

"Should we mark it on the map?" Aethe asked.

“What?”

“The ship we sunk. It just seems notable.”

"Yes," Marco said. "Let's do that with all of them. We might learn something."

No sails rose on the horizon that day, though a few strange shapes moved under the water. None breached and none followed, apparently preferring the underwater life to anything wood that floated on the surface. Still, everyone was tense. Ships could come at any time at all, just as they had learned the night before.

When he truly ran out of things to do, Marco tried to sit. He got maybe a minute in before standing again and pacing.

"You know you can rest, right?" Elisa said.

"I can. It’s just..."

"You’re afraid if you stop moving, someone’ll shoot you again."

"Exactly."

She closed her ledger with a soft snap.

"I get it. If you really want, we could set course for a trade point. Offload junk if we have any by then, maybe get news."

"I’d like that."

“I know of three.” She tapped the side of her temple. "I read about them in the other scholar's notes. None of them are safe, but all of them are potentially neutral."

"Good enough for us, I guess. Pick the closest."

"Sounds good."

In no time flat, Elisa figured out their position and the direction they needed to go. She pointed it out for Marco, and they shifted course.