Chapter 44 – I Love It When A Plan Comes Together
July 15, 1660

"Evelyn," I said the next morning as the anchor was weighed and lifted aboard. "I need to talk to all the girls on the poop deck as soon as possible."

"I'll bring them up," the one legged woman said as she went to round up her charges. Catching Jasmine as she exited the officer's area, I snagged her as well and had her round up the female sailors and officers so I could have one big conference.

"What ye mean bringin' us all together?" Merida asked as the last of the working girls joined us. The male crew crowded close in together as well, if only because a meeting seemed to be taking place.

"I finally had an idea on how to take a ship with such limited resources," I told them all.

"Surrender?" someone joked and was quickly silenced by a look from Nala.

"The question is, 'How do we get them close enough without them shooting us to pieces with their cannons?'" I pitched to the crew.

"White flag?" someone prompted but I shook my head.

"Against the rules of war," Merida pointed out to him. "Our captain is nothing if not honorable."

"My idea is simple," I said as everyone waited on bated breath. "We let the women do it."

"We're lovers, not fighters," Consuela yelled quickly before a massive argument broke out that was only silenced when Ella let out a loud whistle that made everyone flinch.

"Thank you," I said as I took control of the meeting once again. "Now, unless we run into the blackest, most evil group on the face of the earth, they will not fire on women unless there is a reason to, if for different reasons. Captain's with an evil bent will want to take them hostage as Hook has done previously to sell or a good captain will want to rescue them."

"They'd kill 'em first," someone shouted but it was Jasmine who shouted him down.

"He's right!" the Arabic beauty told them. "I've killed over ten men who would rather hug me into submission than run me through. It's a weakness I've used time and again to their own doom."

"I intend to use it our betterment," I added to her argument.

"But how?" Consuela argued. "Except for less than a handful, we aren't fighters."

"We use the cannons," I told them and they all looked shocked.

"If we run out the cannon, they will fire," Mulan pointed out to me.

"That's why we don't run them out," I told the group. "We'll modify the cork stoppers so they don't hold at all and slip right out then fire the cannons as if they had never been loaded. All the girls have to do is light the touch hole, which we have three trained women cannoneers to handle it. The others can use rifle and blunderbuss as best they know how, but mostly I need you women to be...visually available and appealing."

"Nude," Jasmine said as she caught the requirement.

"They think us a ship load of harlots and come in to plunder us, one way or another," Evelyn said as she let out a chuckle.

"Not exactly nude, but...well...definitely looking feminine," I corrected Jasmine. "Every woman in a dress, their long hair blowing in the wind."

"Oh," Jasmine said as she looked down at her vest and pants combo then shrugged.

"Right after the cannons are fired, the rest of us men will storm the deck and the ship and cause so much confusion they won't know whom to shoot," I told my crew who seemed to be catching on to the deviltry of my plan. "Any women not wanting to be involved in the fight need only to stay flat on the deck and out of mind once the cannons roar, preferably near the railings."

"But the rules of war," Merida started then stopped as she looked up. "We donna change the flag? They approach us with our flag raised as is, its on them, isn't it?"

"Right," I confirmed for her. "We are what we say we are. A Dutch privateer. If they see nothing but women and think the flag false and approach, we show the ones still alive the error of their thinking at the pointy end of a cutlass."

More back and forth happened as the girls got on board with the plan and we set down and hatched it out fully before Jasmine went and changed into her red dress. Mulan and Ariel both borrowed chemises from the other girls so they'd look more lady like and unbraided and untied their hair to let it blow in the wind. As my lady sailors returned to the deck in dresses, we arranged where they'd be and any other weapons they wanted to use and set them up as the men refitted the stoppers.

"Sail ho!"Melody called out the next day. The crew and I rushed to hide while Jasmine, as the officer in charge, took care of the sailing and getting the other ship in close, the sails left unmanned except for Melody and Merida who were on the mast.

"It's big," she told me as the time passed and she swished around the deck looking properly pensive. "Three masts, lots of cannons, bearing a French flag."

"Remember the plan," I told her as the girls did their parts, some with lots of zeal. Evelyn and Ella were laying on the deck with their injured legs hidden under their bodies, while those girls who were missing eyes had taken my advice and hidden their bad eye sockets with hair pulled over the face. A few girls like Jocelyn and Consuela had doused themselves with water so their bodies shown through their white linen chemises as if it were clear plastic but careful to not douse their hair and let it fly with the wind to enhance their feminine wiles at a distance.

Like I figured, not one shot was fired as the French ship neared and came alongside. The girls kept up a constant state of catcalls and flirting that seemed to be relished among the French crew, Jasmine's orders to tie off the ship letting me know it was almost time. My pistols drawn and cocked, I waited for the order.

"Now!" Jasmine yelled. Four booms in quick succession soon rang out and I surged out as the door was yanked open and fired my pistols into the men in the sheets as the melee fight was on. The shock and awe worked in our favor, the crew quickly demoralized as they realized they had just been dumped feet first into a meat grinder and I was cranking the wheel. What I didn't realize was how many people had been crowding the rails to get a good look at the ship full of almost nude women.

"I think that was all of them," Timon said as he took in the carnage of men laying at the rails behind us and the few around us that hadn't been fortunate to get a good look and thus been saved from the shotgun-like effect of grapeshot. The men above us were surrendering as Merida and her brothers stood ready to shoot any down that got brazen and our losses seamed trivial.

"I'd say it worked splendidly," I told him as I sheathed my rapier.

"Good," Jasmine said as she tapped her sword on the deck as she looked around and the able sailors in the sheets dropped down to the deck where they looked positively green at the sight of their comrades laying dead in a heap.

"That was a cruel trick," the man groused as the men were lined up on the railing. "We thought the ladies needed rescue."

"Ladies, your response?" I said as Jasmine raised her cutlass to the man's chest.

"Toss a lifeboat," Jasmine said as I turned my back to inspect the new ship. I had the thought that if the woman were the ones to toss the lifeboat it would prove their independence and ferocity, but it would likely be the men to do it since lifeboats were heavy. Timon already had a burial detail going, pulling bodies from the stack and placing them in their hammocks to toss overboard, the work getting grislier the deeper it went.

Still, I had netted a frigate, a little larger and longer than the brig I had taken from Hook but not as tall as the Empress which was fine by me. It's poop deck wasn't overly large, about twenty feet long, which as it was the roof to the officer's area also reflected the size of my private quarters. Going in through the door, I found it well apportioned, if private which left me wondering about the crew area as I stepped port and found the captain's table. It was long, and would seat ten with ease while allowing room to get around.

The other side of the captain's cabin was the wardroom and featured a desk as well as a chaise lounge. The lounge was pointed back to two chairs next to the aft windows, likely a place designed to read and hang out as well as be comfortable for the long haul. It also had some bookcases containing a small personal library and a selection of maps, the map of the Caribbean already laid out on the desk along with a collection of tiny models used to show position of various ships and troop positions.

The middle room was the bedroom, spacious in its setting and contained a double bed. That it also contained a second wardrobe spoke of a captain used to bringing his mistress with him, though at the time it was empty and likely belonged or arranged for a former captain. That added a new dynamic to the lounge, likely meant for a woman to be comfortable on a long voyage.

Their wasn't much going on below-decks either, though there was a proper hold under the berthing deck as well as a set of stairs down from the captain's table which I figured was used by the cook and stewards to serve the table even in during a storm. The berthing deck had its own officer's table and seven different officer's cabins as well as a pair of steerage compartments. The galley was at the bow, along with the ship's food supplies and the center was filled with tables designed to feed the crew en masse.

"At least the bed's bigger," Aladdin said as he came out of one of the aft officer's cabin.

"I can live with it," Timon said as he inspected the other.

"Did either of you find the bathtub yet?" Jasmine groused from inside the cabin Aladdin had just left.

"Through the aft door," I said and Aladdin went to check it out and likely get it ready.

"Good," she said as Aladdin came out with a bucket to start filling it. "If I never have to smell fish again..."

I chuckled, Merida and Colette already filling the stove with water to heat for baths and seemingly delighted as Aladdin pointed towards the tub. It seemed many wanted to wash the smell of the pinnace off them as quickly as possible which I couldn't blame them for and even I took a turn in the tubs, a pair having been setup, before redressing. All clothes were to be washed the next day courtesy of the girl's who were thankful of being free of the stench though I kept my own noseblindness to myself because I had smelled worse. Much, much worse. The kind of worse that you spray the deoderant up your nose.

And don't ask…New York City is hell.