Chapter One: Tavern
Captain Picard took a deep breath as he entered the tavern. Ah, the smell of the local ale. It had been thirty years since he had been in the Lonely Dragon. The town of Alripor was literally light_years off ship's usual station.
It was nice to see that some things stayed the same. True, the barkeeper's hair was no longer sandy brown, and the signs of wear were more evident along the edge of the bar. Most of the patrons were unfamiliar to Picard, but it had been quite sometime. There was an old sea captain, a young man with a young woman on his lap, a man in an old ducal tunic, and a couple men who were quite drunk.
"Ah Captain, it's been some time since this establishment has seen your like," the barkeep said.
"Twenty_two years, I believe," Picard said. "I decided to return to sail the seas of my youth for the last year before I retire."
"Old Captains never retire, they go down with their ship!" a old seaman in the corner shouted.
"It's a harsh life on the sea, and only a couple men survive on the Stargazer since the last time I set foot in Alripor," the Captain acknowledged. "Times change. I figure I'll retire while I still have my health. Then I'll settle down in my family's village up in the high valley below the Double Peaks."
"You won't last away from the sea," the old seaman said. "I've plied the coves and seas around this isle for half a century, and I've yet to see a old seaman who could stay away from the sea."
"'It is a wild call, a clear call, which can not be denied,'" Picard quoted.
"True, so true, it's a story that we never want to end," the old seaman remarked.
"Speaking of tales, I hear there is an interesting one regarding how this land received it's current king," the Captain said. "Perhaps you know the tale."
"Old Giles knows it, he was there," the barkeeper said.
"Aye," the sea captain said. "I know the tale."
"Barkeep, a round on me, while Giles tells his tale," Picard said.
"It was twenty years ago last Spring. I was working as First Mate on the fishing vessel Herold's Hawk out of the village of Bluepor," Giles began his tale.
"Hey, last time you said you were Second Mate," a young man with a day's growth of beard said from his seat beside a blonde lass.
"And the time before that, Third," the blonde said.
"Okay, I was just a Midshipman," Giles said. "Any way ..."
It wasn't a big ship, just a single mast and only 50 yards long, but the late Captain Mallard, God rest his kind soul, paid well. We were just about to enter Sapphire Bay, when we first heard it.
It came from the sky. A white marble stone, shaped like two dinner plates placed so their bottoms faced out wards, was descending from the sky. It made a ear splitting roar as it skipped like a stone on thrown across a pond. I spun the wheel, to avoid the object as it impacted the water, making another hop into the bay. The Herold's Hawk was pushed back, on to the rocks on the east side of the entrance to the bay. Only the extraordinary swell created by the saucer's bounce saved us from being hulled by the rocks.
After a brief check to make sure that we weren't leaking, Captain Mallard ordered us to sail for the town of Sappor, at the back of the bay. The Captain feared, rightly it turns out, that the object we had just avoided was headed towards the town.
Now Sappor at the time was one of the largest of our towns, just short of becoming a city. It was known as resort, its baths being renown for their healing purposes. For years, Kings have maintained a castle on the harbor there, as sort of a retreat from the business of court, which use to be set in the city of Vestra. It had been the custom of King Ferral, the ninth of that name, to spend the winter and early part of spring in Sappor, and he was residing in the Castle, along with all the royal family at the time.
When the town of Sappor appeared, we were shocked. The harbor was gone. The Castle was gone. The only buildings left standing were the old Grey Eagle Inn, which was on the east end of town, and the Church of Our Lady of the Sea on the west end of town. Between the two was the large saucer which had embedded itself where the harbor use to be, extending back to the old edge of town. Around it's edges were the crushed remains of the town of Sappor.
At that, the man in the tattered ducal tunic interrupted. "It wasn't damaged that bad. I visited the town a month after the disaster, and there were plenty of houses standing."
"Whose telling this story?" Giles said, gesturing with his glass of ale. After a moment's silence, he took up the tale again.
After staring at the remains for what seamed like an eternity, Captain Mallard decided to send a boat to look for survivors and lend any aid. We went armed with our swords, as we had no idea where this saucer had come from.
I was on the first boat, and it was when we came ashore on the west side of the saucer that I met the lady who would become our Queen. She was dressed in a strange blue and black outfit and was leading a group of five people in freeing a young girl from the wreckage of a house.
Queen Claire was a Doctor, apparently from the vessel which had crashed into Sappor. As we worked to free the young girl, and others, I learnt many things from watching her and her fellow crewmates. The ship was called the Odyssey, after a famous voyage in their homeland, which lies far beyond the stars. They claimed that their ship was damaged and they had no choice but to make a crash landing.
All that day we spent freeing people. At nightfall, the crew of the Odyssey retired their vessel, which was nearly completely intact save for some damage from the rear and some forward windows which had been knocked out. I and my crew mates returned to the ship.
The next morning, a rider was spotted, heading towards town on the old road from Vestra. He was proceeding at a rather fast pace, and I was surprised that he got as far as he did before he stopped his horse to gape at the ruins. The rider was wearing the insignia of the household of the King, apparently returning with some urgent message. After a moments pause, he resumed his journey. It was around noon when the rider reached the Grey Eagle Inn.
The rider demanded to speak to who was in charge, it was then that the man in red and black made his presence known. He was a tall strong man. Strapped to his side was a saber, which glimmered as if it had never been used. "I guess that's me," the man said. "I'm Captain Richard York of the Odyssey. That's my ship that crashed into this town, and I guess it's my job to clean up the mess.
It was then that Captain York learnt the extent of the problem. King Ferrel was dead. His whole family was dead.
To make matters worse, the four Dukes of the Kingdom were all one step from warring with each other. In fact, the rider had just come from Laville where the Duke of Castrome had forbidden any of the Duke of Astra's retainers from entering his Dukedom under pain of death. Now it looked like there would be civil war, because King Ferrel had always solved these problems and now he was gone, so it would be even worse than before.
Captain York had an unreadable expression during the rider's explanations. He then began asking questions. He asked about the Dukes. He asked about other nobles. He asked about alliances. Within an hour, he had picked our brains clean of any knowledge we had about the situation.
Finally, asked for someone who could write for him, and dictated a message. He asked all four dukes to come to Sappor in four days. He signed it, the King, just that, nothing else. Then having four copies made, he had the rider pick three new riders and sent them off.
The next four days where spent with the Crew of the Odyssey clearing up the remains of the town of Sappor. By the time the Dukes arrived, all the wooden rubble had been cleared and some of the stone. They also had staked out the layout for what was to come the new city of Odyssey.
The four Dukes arrived with their usual large companies of soldiers. Each came in the company of a dozen knights and three dozen men. They each had a squire and page for each knight, a couple personal ministers, and a priest. The Duke of Fasstime brought his pet cat. The Duke of Castrome was accompanied by his daughter. The Duke of Avtra had his speaking bird which spoke more than the Duke. The Duke of Armedge played his flute as his men marched to the cadence of his drummer.
They each were met by a man dressed in the King's livery, who lead them to camps situated away from the town, where tents bearing their arms were pitched. The next day, they were summoned into the Odyssey. I don't know what was said in that meeting, only the Dukes do, but I do know that they left the Odyssey changed. Since then not a single incident has occurred between the dukes. Upon the Dukes' return to their castles, they proclaimed Captain York, King Richard I of Ellosia..
Since then he has built up our navy, defended our shores from attack, and ruled us well.
"Surely there is more to the story than that,"Captain Picard said. "You just don't lock yourself into a room and hope that an agreement will come, although I have heard of that technic working a time or two."
The man in the ducal tunic raised his cup. "I was there when the Dukes met our current King," he said. "I was once known as Lord Byron, the late Duke Carlisle of Castrome's Chamberlain. For another round, I'll tell you the sad tale of that meeting."
"Barkeep, another round for Byron and my friends," Captain Picard said, raising his cup to clink with Byron's, sealing the deal.
Duke Carlisle was a gaunt man in his mid fifties at the time of our King's ascension to the throne. He was engaged in an ongoing feud with Murdock, who is still Duke of Avtra over Janna Bay and the town of Janna. The Duke was tending to his estate at Castrome Cross when the royal messenger reached him, requesting his immediate appearance at Sappor. The Duke was rather worried when he received the message. You see, he'd just finished a little raiding on Fort Janna, which overlooked Janna Bay and was manned by Murdock's men. But the late King Ferrel was not one who you disobeyed so blatantly. A little raiding on a fellow Duke was easily ignored, but when the King summoned you, you came.
The Duke left the next morning with myself and his daughter, Desiree, in the company of about forty men. His advisers had argued against bringing Desiree, but the Duke loved his daughter and could not deny her request to come with him to Sappor's famous baths. I had remained silent, so I was the only advisor to go. The Duke had a low tolerance for disagreement when it came to requests from his daughter.
It was early on the second day when Sappor came into view. We were all shocked. The town was smashed beneath a large upside down ivory colored saucer. As we stood there and took in the view in the early morning, the Captain of the Duke's guard pulled out his scope. He handed the scope to the Duke, pointing to the center of the saucer. The Ellosian Royal Standard was flying from a pole on the highest point of the saucer.
Duke Carlisle took it all in stride. "I see the King has changed his castle," he said. "Some deal with some magician I'd imagine. Well, we haven't all day. Onward!"
When we arrived at the edge of the town, we were taken to newly prepared camps in the fields. It wasn't until all of the Dukes had arrived that we were finally summoned in to the Odyssey. Duke Carlisle did ask several times why, but the only reply was that "that's what the Captain said." This worried the Duke greatly.
When we were called, the Duke was only allowed two advisors and two guards. For Castrome our party consisted of the Duke, myself, little Desiree, and two knights, Sir Percy and Sir Oswald. We were taken into the Odyssey by what appeared to have been large windows. We were taken into a small room which then opened up onto an entirely different set of corridors. Our destination was a large room with five tables. Each of them had the arms of one of the Dukedoms, save for the fifth, which was on a platform and bore no marking. But a sturdy chair, much more impressive looking than the simple ones at the other tables was at the middle.
One by one, the other dukes joined us in the chamber, taking their seats at their adorned tables, with an advisor at each side, and their guards standing behind them. The Dukes all engaged in hostile staring contests. The Duke of Fasstime petted his cat. Duke Murdock's pet bird began repeating various hostile comments about his rivals.
Desiree began bugging her father for a bird and a cat.
It was into this hostile atmosphere that Captain Richard York walked into the room. He was accompanied by his wife, who would become the lovely Queen Claire, and a burly man named Harlan. They took the seats at the head table, as men in yellow and black uniforms took up posts at the doors and beside the head table.
"It appears that this is going to be tougher than I thought," Richard mumbled before raising his voice to address the Dukes. "Good Afternoon, your graces. I know who you are, and I believe you know everyone but, me, so I better introduce myself and tell you why I'm here. I'm Captain Richard York of the Starship Odyssey. The structure you are now in is what remains of my ship. I was on patrol of this sector of space, guarding it from Cardassians when a Cardassian Warship attacked my ship. The Odyssey and her crew managed to destroy the warship, but the ship was damaged beyond repair, and we were forced to make a barely controlled landing on this planet. In the process, we crushed the town of Sappor and killed many people, including, according to what I've been told, the entire royal family. As my ship caused the problem, I feel it is my responsibility to see that nothing suffers because of it. I've spent the last five days speaking to various surviving members of the late King Ferrel's court, and have come to the conclusion that none of you would support another one of your fellow dukes as King, and that there is no clear candidate to become King. Is that a good assessment, your graces?"
It took a while for the Dukes to digest this new information. Each of them began looking at their counterparts with suspicious glares.
As that confirmed his opinion, the Captain continued. "In addition, no one can become king without your support. I'd like to have it."
That caused the room to break up in sputtering "What? No way! Who do you thing you are?" The Captain let that go on for a minute or so before calling the room back to order.
"Your Graces!" he ordered. "Sit down, and shut up!" Somehow that settled them down. "That's better. Now I realize that this is not what you expected when you were called here. I'm sure every one of you, down to the last guard and with the possible exception of the young girl chasing the cat, want to be King."
During the uproar, the cat had left the Duke of Fasstime's table and was now being chased by the young girl on the far end of the room. Her father called her back, and she returned to the seat, with the cat, who had been captured just short of pouncing on the bird.
"I think you'll find that my administration would be a lot easier than you taking the job. I'm sure that there are days when you wish you never had become a Duke. Well, I've been told by several Kings that a King's job is much, much worse."
"Duke Murdock of Avtra, I understand you are unwed. If you took the throne you would be pressured into a marriage for political purposes. Duke Carlisle, your daughter would suffer the same, never being able to marry for love. Duke Lionel of Fasstime, I understand you had some trouble maintaining the Fasstime_Arm Road through Hammer Pass. If you were King, that wouldn't be the only road you had to worry about. Duke Nolan of Armedge, I understand that shortly after you became duke, you had to clear out the corrupt administration of the port of Arm. As King you would have to oversee over eight major ports. My Lord Dukes, I haven't even got to taxes, mediation, and ceremony. I find it hard to believe that any of you want this job. I am willing to take it on because I feel it's my duty because I caused the mess. Now, what say you?"
Duke Murdock was first to speak. "After listening to your words, I do not want the job. I would not support any of my fellow dukes, so I believe I must pledge my loyalty to you, my King."
At the end of his statement, the colorful bird on his shoulder announced, "Long Live the King!"
Duke Nolan was next, standing at his table. "I do not want the job. I spent three years rebuilding the port of Arm after corruption and raids from pirates nearly destroyed it. I do not even want to think about what it would take to restore Sappor."
Duke Lionel stood next. "I've been duke for ten years. During that time I've seen much infighting among my fellow dukes and attempted to end it among my vassals. I do not wish to see this fighting increase unto civil war. I do not know you, Captain York, but I know my fellow noblemen too well. I will consent to your Kingship, because I do not believe anyone I know can do it."
Duke Carlisle was last to rise. "You have shown us that you are a take charge fellow, filled with duty. That is good. You've commanded this ship in space battles, you tell us. Your technology appears much greater than ours, yet you still ask us for your support when you could no doubt take us against our will. That is good. You are in short, just what we need. I will not stand in your way."
It was with the tentative support of the Four Dukes that King Richard began his reign.
"Now, Captain, we've told our tale, perhaps you can regale us with a tale or two about your adventures on your ship," Byron said, emptying his glass again. "Barkeep, another ale!"
"I believe I have a tale," Captain Picard said. "It is about my third mate, truly an unusual officer."
"There is no such thing as an unusual seaman," Giles replied.
"I disagree," Captain Picard replied. "But I ask that you reserve judgement until after I tell you how I acquired my second mate."
It was three years ago when I was sailing the Northern Seas, when my Third Mate at the time, came to me with a request. It seemed that he had a wife in the port we were at that had just died, leaving a twelve year old child behind. He wondered if I might allow that child to serve as my cabin boy. I had no objections, having lacked one for some time.
The next morning, he brought the child aboard. The child appeared quite scruffy, with blond hair that appeared to have been cut off with a knife. However the outfit was clean, brand new looking in fact. So I put the child to work.
We had been out to sea for three weeks on a two month trip, when the pirates attacked. We had been too predicable with our regular spice trip. We fought them off and sunk their ship with a broadside of four of our ten cannons, but their attack had been with a heavy price. Seven men were dead, including my third mate.
The child took it hard, but I gave the child no chance to drown in grief. We needed every hand. I put the child to work, mending sails, repairing damage, and so forth. There wasn't a job on the ship that the child hadn't learnt by the time we hit port. Unfortunately, I lost another five men who deserted in that port, so we were even more shorthanded on the return journey.
During the return, the child became a fixture at my side. Anything I needed, the child provided. I, in turn, provided the child with knowledge. I taught the child how to sail, how to sword fight, and how to read and write.
But the child harbored a secret, one that I did not learn until a year later. By then the child was acting as the junior most of my officers, taking the second dog watch, and I had a new cabin boy.
We were traveling though the same sea on nearly the same voyage as the one in which I had lost my Third Mate, the child's father. I had set a watch, but thick fog was impeding our progress. It was the fog that allowed the pirates to get close enough to board us. But my sword fighting practice served us well, and we fought off the pirates, the child making several impressive kills. However, the pirates did not leave the child unharmed, for they made several glancing cuts on the child.
At the end of the battle, the pirates had lost, but the child's clothes were barely hanging on her body. It was apparent that I hadn't had a cabin boy, but a cabin girl.
The girl was worried that I would throw her off the ship, now that I knew, for it is well known that ship captains prefer not to have women among their crews. I admit that the thought crossed my mind, but the girl had proved her merit. I certainly wasn't going to let her go in the middle of the sea, and I had promised her father that I would take care of her, although if I ever meet her father, somewhere beyond the grave, we're going to have a long talk. It was then that the death of my Fourth Mate at the time was discovered. I told the girl to go get dressed and began asking the rest of the officers who they thought could best fill the position. It was to my great surprise that the girl was their choice.
The door of the bar opened, and banged shut behind the person who entered. The person was dressed in the same style of ship's uniform that Captain Picard wore, though less adorned. Her hair was shoulder length, and blond. She, taking her beret like hat off, approached Picard's table and said, "Excuse me, Captain, but Commander Riker's compliments. He wishes to inform you that we've obtained passengers for Odyssey, and are ready to embark on the evening tide."
"Very well, Marrissa," Captain Picard said. "I will be along as soon as I settle up my tab. Please wait for me outside."
"Aye sir." The young girl left as Picard moved over to the bar to pay the barkeeper.
"That's a nice young girl, you've got there," the barkeep commented. "That will be 5 silver."
"She's a fine officer," Captain Picard said, handing over the silver pieces before departing the bar.
Captain Picard took a deep breath as he entered the tavern. Ah, the smell of the local ale. It had been thirty years since he had been in the Lonely Dragon. The town of Alripor was literally light_years off ship's usual station.
It was nice to see that some things stayed the same. True, the barkeeper's hair was no longer sandy brown, and the signs of wear were more evident along the edge of the bar. Most of the patrons were unfamiliar to Picard, but it had been quite sometime. There was an old sea captain, a young man with a young woman on his lap, a man in an old ducal tunic, and a couple men who were quite drunk.
"Ah Captain, it's been some time since this establishment has seen your like," the barkeep said.
"Twenty_two years, I believe," Picard said. "I decided to return to sail the seas of my youth for the last year before I retire."
"Old Captains never retire, they go down with their ship!" a old seaman in the corner shouted.
"It's a harsh life on the sea, and only a couple men survive on the Stargazer since the last time I set foot in Alripor," the Captain acknowledged. "Times change. I figure I'll retire while I still have my health. Then I'll settle down in my family's village up in the high valley below the Double Peaks."
"You won't last away from the sea," the old seaman said. "I've plied the coves and seas around this isle for half a century, and I've yet to see a old seaman who could stay away from the sea."
"'It is a wild call, a clear call, which can not be denied,'" Picard quoted.
"True, so true, it's a story that we never want to end," the old seaman remarked.
"Speaking of tales, I hear there is an interesting one regarding how this land received it's current king," the Captain said. "Perhaps you know the tale."
"Old Giles knows it, he was there," the barkeeper said.
"Aye," the sea captain said. "I know the tale."
"Barkeep, a round on me, while Giles tells his tale," Picard said.
"It was twenty years ago last Spring. I was working as First Mate on the fishing vessel Herold's Hawk out of the village of Bluepor," Giles began his tale.
"Hey, last time you said you were Second Mate," a young man with a day's growth of beard said from his seat beside a blonde lass.
"And the time before that, Third," the blonde said.
"Okay, I was just a Midshipman," Giles said. "Any way ..."
It wasn't a big ship, just a single mast and only 50 yards long, but the late Captain Mallard, God rest his kind soul, paid well. We were just about to enter Sapphire Bay, when we first heard it.
It came from the sky. A white marble stone, shaped like two dinner plates placed so their bottoms faced out wards, was descending from the sky. It made a ear splitting roar as it skipped like a stone on thrown across a pond. I spun the wheel, to avoid the object as it impacted the water, making another hop into the bay. The Herold's Hawk was pushed back, on to the rocks on the east side of the entrance to the bay. Only the extraordinary swell created by the saucer's bounce saved us from being hulled by the rocks.
After a brief check to make sure that we weren't leaking, Captain Mallard ordered us to sail for the town of Sappor, at the back of the bay. The Captain feared, rightly it turns out, that the object we had just avoided was headed towards the town.
Now Sappor at the time was one of the largest of our towns, just short of becoming a city. It was known as resort, its baths being renown for their healing purposes. For years, Kings have maintained a castle on the harbor there, as sort of a retreat from the business of court, which use to be set in the city of Vestra. It had been the custom of King Ferral, the ninth of that name, to spend the winter and early part of spring in Sappor, and he was residing in the Castle, along with all the royal family at the time.
When the town of Sappor appeared, we were shocked. The harbor was gone. The Castle was gone. The only buildings left standing were the old Grey Eagle Inn, which was on the east end of town, and the Church of Our Lady of the Sea on the west end of town. Between the two was the large saucer which had embedded itself where the harbor use to be, extending back to the old edge of town. Around it's edges were the crushed remains of the town of Sappor.
At that, the man in the tattered ducal tunic interrupted. "It wasn't damaged that bad. I visited the town a month after the disaster, and there were plenty of houses standing."
"Whose telling this story?" Giles said, gesturing with his glass of ale. After a moment's silence, he took up the tale again.
After staring at the remains for what seamed like an eternity, Captain Mallard decided to send a boat to look for survivors and lend any aid. We went armed with our swords, as we had no idea where this saucer had come from.
I was on the first boat, and it was when we came ashore on the west side of the saucer that I met the lady who would become our Queen. She was dressed in a strange blue and black outfit and was leading a group of five people in freeing a young girl from the wreckage of a house.
Queen Claire was a Doctor, apparently from the vessel which had crashed into Sappor. As we worked to free the young girl, and others, I learnt many things from watching her and her fellow crewmates. The ship was called the Odyssey, after a famous voyage in their homeland, which lies far beyond the stars. They claimed that their ship was damaged and they had no choice but to make a crash landing.
All that day we spent freeing people. At nightfall, the crew of the Odyssey retired their vessel, which was nearly completely intact save for some damage from the rear and some forward windows which had been knocked out. I and my crew mates returned to the ship.
The next morning, a rider was spotted, heading towards town on the old road from Vestra. He was proceeding at a rather fast pace, and I was surprised that he got as far as he did before he stopped his horse to gape at the ruins. The rider was wearing the insignia of the household of the King, apparently returning with some urgent message. After a moments pause, he resumed his journey. It was around noon when the rider reached the Grey Eagle Inn.
The rider demanded to speak to who was in charge, it was then that the man in red and black made his presence known. He was a tall strong man. Strapped to his side was a saber, which glimmered as if it had never been used. "I guess that's me," the man said. "I'm Captain Richard York of the Odyssey. That's my ship that crashed into this town, and I guess it's my job to clean up the mess.
It was then that Captain York learnt the extent of the problem. King Ferrel was dead. His whole family was dead.
To make matters worse, the four Dukes of the Kingdom were all one step from warring with each other. In fact, the rider had just come from Laville where the Duke of Castrome had forbidden any of the Duke of Astra's retainers from entering his Dukedom under pain of death. Now it looked like there would be civil war, because King Ferrel had always solved these problems and now he was gone, so it would be even worse than before.
Captain York had an unreadable expression during the rider's explanations. He then began asking questions. He asked about the Dukes. He asked about other nobles. He asked about alliances. Within an hour, he had picked our brains clean of any knowledge we had about the situation.
Finally, asked for someone who could write for him, and dictated a message. He asked all four dukes to come to Sappor in four days. He signed it, the King, just that, nothing else. Then having four copies made, he had the rider pick three new riders and sent them off.
The next four days where spent with the Crew of the Odyssey clearing up the remains of the town of Sappor. By the time the Dukes arrived, all the wooden rubble had been cleared and some of the stone. They also had staked out the layout for what was to come the new city of Odyssey.
The four Dukes arrived with their usual large companies of soldiers. Each came in the company of a dozen knights and three dozen men. They each had a squire and page for each knight, a couple personal ministers, and a priest. The Duke of Fasstime brought his pet cat. The Duke of Castrome was accompanied by his daughter. The Duke of Avtra had his speaking bird which spoke more than the Duke. The Duke of Armedge played his flute as his men marched to the cadence of his drummer.
They each were met by a man dressed in the King's livery, who lead them to camps situated away from the town, where tents bearing their arms were pitched. The next day, they were summoned into the Odyssey. I don't know what was said in that meeting, only the Dukes do, but I do know that they left the Odyssey changed. Since then not a single incident has occurred between the dukes. Upon the Dukes' return to their castles, they proclaimed Captain York, King Richard I of Ellosia..
Since then he has built up our navy, defended our shores from attack, and ruled us well.
"Surely there is more to the story than that,"Captain Picard said. "You just don't lock yourself into a room and hope that an agreement will come, although I have heard of that technic working a time or two."
The man in the ducal tunic raised his cup. "I was there when the Dukes met our current King," he said. "I was once known as Lord Byron, the late Duke Carlisle of Castrome's Chamberlain. For another round, I'll tell you the sad tale of that meeting."
"Barkeep, another round for Byron and my friends," Captain Picard said, raising his cup to clink with Byron's, sealing the deal.
Duke Carlisle was a gaunt man in his mid fifties at the time of our King's ascension to the throne. He was engaged in an ongoing feud with Murdock, who is still Duke of Avtra over Janna Bay and the town of Janna. The Duke was tending to his estate at Castrome Cross when the royal messenger reached him, requesting his immediate appearance at Sappor. The Duke was rather worried when he received the message. You see, he'd just finished a little raiding on Fort Janna, which overlooked Janna Bay and was manned by Murdock's men. But the late King Ferrel was not one who you disobeyed so blatantly. A little raiding on a fellow Duke was easily ignored, but when the King summoned you, you came.
The Duke left the next morning with myself and his daughter, Desiree, in the company of about forty men. His advisers had argued against bringing Desiree, but the Duke loved his daughter and could not deny her request to come with him to Sappor's famous baths. I had remained silent, so I was the only advisor to go. The Duke had a low tolerance for disagreement when it came to requests from his daughter.
It was early on the second day when Sappor came into view. We were all shocked. The town was smashed beneath a large upside down ivory colored saucer. As we stood there and took in the view in the early morning, the Captain of the Duke's guard pulled out his scope. He handed the scope to the Duke, pointing to the center of the saucer. The Ellosian Royal Standard was flying from a pole on the highest point of the saucer.
Duke Carlisle took it all in stride. "I see the King has changed his castle," he said. "Some deal with some magician I'd imagine. Well, we haven't all day. Onward!"
When we arrived at the edge of the town, we were taken to newly prepared camps in the fields. It wasn't until all of the Dukes had arrived that we were finally summoned in to the Odyssey. Duke Carlisle did ask several times why, but the only reply was that "that's what the Captain said." This worried the Duke greatly.
When we were called, the Duke was only allowed two advisors and two guards. For Castrome our party consisted of the Duke, myself, little Desiree, and two knights, Sir Percy and Sir Oswald. We were taken into the Odyssey by what appeared to have been large windows. We were taken into a small room which then opened up onto an entirely different set of corridors. Our destination was a large room with five tables. Each of them had the arms of one of the Dukedoms, save for the fifth, which was on a platform and bore no marking. But a sturdy chair, much more impressive looking than the simple ones at the other tables was at the middle.
One by one, the other dukes joined us in the chamber, taking their seats at their adorned tables, with an advisor at each side, and their guards standing behind them. The Dukes all engaged in hostile staring contests. The Duke of Fasstime petted his cat. Duke Murdock's pet bird began repeating various hostile comments about his rivals.
Desiree began bugging her father for a bird and a cat.
It was into this hostile atmosphere that Captain Richard York walked into the room. He was accompanied by his wife, who would become the lovely Queen Claire, and a burly man named Harlan. They took the seats at the head table, as men in yellow and black uniforms took up posts at the doors and beside the head table.
"It appears that this is going to be tougher than I thought," Richard mumbled before raising his voice to address the Dukes. "Good Afternoon, your graces. I know who you are, and I believe you know everyone but, me, so I better introduce myself and tell you why I'm here. I'm Captain Richard York of the Starship Odyssey. The structure you are now in is what remains of my ship. I was on patrol of this sector of space, guarding it from Cardassians when a Cardassian Warship attacked my ship. The Odyssey and her crew managed to destroy the warship, but the ship was damaged beyond repair, and we were forced to make a barely controlled landing on this planet. In the process, we crushed the town of Sappor and killed many people, including, according to what I've been told, the entire royal family. As my ship caused the problem, I feel it is my responsibility to see that nothing suffers because of it. I've spent the last five days speaking to various surviving members of the late King Ferrel's court, and have come to the conclusion that none of you would support another one of your fellow dukes as King, and that there is no clear candidate to become King. Is that a good assessment, your graces?"
It took a while for the Dukes to digest this new information. Each of them began looking at their counterparts with suspicious glares.
As that confirmed his opinion, the Captain continued. "In addition, no one can become king without your support. I'd like to have it."
That caused the room to break up in sputtering "What? No way! Who do you thing you are?" The Captain let that go on for a minute or so before calling the room back to order.
"Your Graces!" he ordered. "Sit down, and shut up!" Somehow that settled them down. "That's better. Now I realize that this is not what you expected when you were called here. I'm sure every one of you, down to the last guard and with the possible exception of the young girl chasing the cat, want to be King."
During the uproar, the cat had left the Duke of Fasstime's table and was now being chased by the young girl on the far end of the room. Her father called her back, and she returned to the seat, with the cat, who had been captured just short of pouncing on the bird.
"I think you'll find that my administration would be a lot easier than you taking the job. I'm sure that there are days when you wish you never had become a Duke. Well, I've been told by several Kings that a King's job is much, much worse."
"Duke Murdock of Avtra, I understand you are unwed. If you took the throne you would be pressured into a marriage for political purposes. Duke Carlisle, your daughter would suffer the same, never being able to marry for love. Duke Lionel of Fasstime, I understand you had some trouble maintaining the Fasstime_Arm Road through Hammer Pass. If you were King, that wouldn't be the only road you had to worry about. Duke Nolan of Armedge, I understand that shortly after you became duke, you had to clear out the corrupt administration of the port of Arm. As King you would have to oversee over eight major ports. My Lord Dukes, I haven't even got to taxes, mediation, and ceremony. I find it hard to believe that any of you want this job. I am willing to take it on because I feel it's my duty because I caused the mess. Now, what say you?"
Duke Murdock was first to speak. "After listening to your words, I do not want the job. I would not support any of my fellow dukes, so I believe I must pledge my loyalty to you, my King."
At the end of his statement, the colorful bird on his shoulder announced, "Long Live the King!"
Duke Nolan was next, standing at his table. "I do not want the job. I spent three years rebuilding the port of Arm after corruption and raids from pirates nearly destroyed it. I do not even want to think about what it would take to restore Sappor."
Duke Lionel stood next. "I've been duke for ten years. During that time I've seen much infighting among my fellow dukes and attempted to end it among my vassals. I do not wish to see this fighting increase unto civil war. I do not know you, Captain York, but I know my fellow noblemen too well. I will consent to your Kingship, because I do not believe anyone I know can do it."
Duke Carlisle was last to rise. "You have shown us that you are a take charge fellow, filled with duty. That is good. You've commanded this ship in space battles, you tell us. Your technology appears much greater than ours, yet you still ask us for your support when you could no doubt take us against our will. That is good. You are in short, just what we need. I will not stand in your way."
It was with the tentative support of the Four Dukes that King Richard began his reign.
"Now, Captain, we've told our tale, perhaps you can regale us with a tale or two about your adventures on your ship," Byron said, emptying his glass again. "Barkeep, another ale!"
"I believe I have a tale," Captain Picard said. "It is about my third mate, truly an unusual officer."
"There is no such thing as an unusual seaman," Giles replied.
"I disagree," Captain Picard replied. "But I ask that you reserve judgement until after I tell you how I acquired my second mate."
It was three years ago when I was sailing the Northern Seas, when my Third Mate at the time, came to me with a request. It seemed that he had a wife in the port we were at that had just died, leaving a twelve year old child behind. He wondered if I might allow that child to serve as my cabin boy. I had no objections, having lacked one for some time.
The next morning, he brought the child aboard. The child appeared quite scruffy, with blond hair that appeared to have been cut off with a knife. However the outfit was clean, brand new looking in fact. So I put the child to work.
We had been out to sea for three weeks on a two month trip, when the pirates attacked. We had been too predicable with our regular spice trip. We fought them off and sunk their ship with a broadside of four of our ten cannons, but their attack had been with a heavy price. Seven men were dead, including my third mate.
The child took it hard, but I gave the child no chance to drown in grief. We needed every hand. I put the child to work, mending sails, repairing damage, and so forth. There wasn't a job on the ship that the child hadn't learnt by the time we hit port. Unfortunately, I lost another five men who deserted in that port, so we were even more shorthanded on the return journey.
During the return, the child became a fixture at my side. Anything I needed, the child provided. I, in turn, provided the child with knowledge. I taught the child how to sail, how to sword fight, and how to read and write.
But the child harbored a secret, one that I did not learn until a year later. By then the child was acting as the junior most of my officers, taking the second dog watch, and I had a new cabin boy.
We were traveling though the same sea on nearly the same voyage as the one in which I had lost my Third Mate, the child's father. I had set a watch, but thick fog was impeding our progress. It was the fog that allowed the pirates to get close enough to board us. But my sword fighting practice served us well, and we fought off the pirates, the child making several impressive kills. However, the pirates did not leave the child unharmed, for they made several glancing cuts on the child.
At the end of the battle, the pirates had lost, but the child's clothes were barely hanging on her body. It was apparent that I hadn't had a cabin boy, but a cabin girl.
The girl was worried that I would throw her off the ship, now that I knew, for it is well known that ship captains prefer not to have women among their crews. I admit that the thought crossed my mind, but the girl had proved her merit. I certainly wasn't going to let her go in the middle of the sea, and I had promised her father that I would take care of her, although if I ever meet her father, somewhere beyond the grave, we're going to have a long talk. It was then that the death of my Fourth Mate at the time was discovered. I told the girl to go get dressed and began asking the rest of the officers who they thought could best fill the position. It was to my great surprise that the girl was their choice.
The door of the bar opened, and banged shut behind the person who entered. The person was dressed in the same style of ship's uniform that Captain Picard wore, though less adorned. Her hair was shoulder length, and blond. She, taking her beret like hat off, approached Picard's table and said, "Excuse me, Captain, but Commander Riker's compliments. He wishes to inform you that we've obtained passengers for Odyssey, and are ready to embark on the evening tide."
"Very well, Marrissa," Captain Picard said. "I will be along as soon as I settle up my tab. Please wait for me outside."
"Aye sir." The young girl left as Picard moved over to the bar to pay the barkeeper.
"That's a nice young girl, you've got there," the barkeep commented. "That will be 5 silver."
"She's a fine officer," Captain Picard said, handing over the silver pieces before departing the bar.