Repost due to the last upload being bugged.
Captain Percy Jackson
He ended up taking Thalia's advice to take a room in the Royal Eastern and found himself lodged on the top floor, overlooking the roofs all the way down to the port. From his room's windows, he could see Argonout's masts in the distance, a constant reminder that duty was never far. He did not hear much from Thalia, and when looking for her, he only learned that she was back in the Islands interior.
After freshening himself up Percy pulled on his uniform, and his arming belt with his pistols and saber. Then he pulled on a freshly tailored officer's jacket and left the room. After a brief breakfast, Percy made his way down to the ship in port. He was in for a long day, that much was for sure, and despite the relatively early hour the air was heavy and humid. When he stepped onto the ship, two of the port's carpenters were already at work, while a few of his sailors were scrubbing the deck and keeping the ship in order.
Their first week in Port Moray had been an exhausting mix of repairs, resupply, and navigating the complexities of local politics. Percy had barely had a moment to himself. Now, as he walked the length of the deck, he could see the fruit of their labors beginning to take shape. The Argonaut was looking more shipshape with each passing day.
"Morning, Captain," Travis Stoll called out as he approached. The second mate had a clipboard in hand, his expression serious but not unfriendly.
"Morning, Stoll. How's the progress?" Percy asked, nodding toward the carpenters.
"Steady. We should have the hull repairs completed by tomorrow, assuming the weather holds," Travis replied, glancing up at the sky, which was mercifully clear for the moment though that could change very in a short amount of time. Argonaut wasn't that big of a ship, a mere nutshell compared to for instance the Royal Judgment, but there was still a never ending list of things that needed to be done.
"Captain," a deckhand yelled down into the hold where he had been inspecting the carpenters. "A courier from the Fort waiting for you on the deck with a dispatch!"
"Coming!" Percy replied and climbed onto the main deck. Sure enough, a young Ensign stood at attention at the end of the gangway, a courier's bag strapped around his shoulder, and rapier hanging from his belt. "Requesting permission to come on board, Captain," he asked smartly.
"Granted, Ensign," Percy replied as the man saluted infront of him.
Percy replied and the man opened his pouch and pulled out a letter with a wachs seal on it, bearing the emblem of the Royal Fleet.
Percy opened it somewhat bemused and read.
Captain Percy Jackson,
By the authority vested in me as Commander of the Scatter Squadron and Fort Ashton, and under the auspices of His Majesty King Zeus, you are hereby ordered to report to Fort Ashton at your earliest convenience. Upon your arrival, you will assume the duties of Officer of the Watch and Acting Military Commander of both Fort Ashton and Mort Moray.
This order is issued due to my immediate requirement to address an incident further in the island interior. You are expected to manage all military and administrative duties associated with these commands, ensuring that all protocols and defense measures are upheld.
May you execute this command with the honor and diligence befitting your rank and experience.
Yours in service,
Commodore Luke Castellan
Percy sighed and handed over to Travis Stoll. "Well Ensign. Thank you very much," he said, smiling.
The young man saluted one more time and hurried off. This had come far earlier than he had expected and hoped. "Mr Stoll, can you manage here?"
He scanned over the letter and shrugged. "Don't see why not. You'll be leaving now?"
"I'm afraid I am," Percy confirmed.
After grabbing his jacket from his quarters he took a horse he headed up to the fort. Whatever had gotten the Commodore's knicker so twisted up was probably bad news, he knew that. So knowing that he was still stuck in port for at least a few more days, if not a weeks, it irked him. It irked him deeply, knowing that they might be sliding into a war he knew that despite all bravado they weren't ready for.
By now the poor bastards standing guard in this weather recognized him and snapped to attention as he passed. The parade ground was buzzing with activity as what looked like a full Battalions worth of marines were making ready to move up. Men were shouldering their marching packs, officers were barking orders, and calvary men were mountain their chargers. He spotted two mounted officers, close to the citadel. The Commodore was sitting on a white stallion, while Mr Rodriguez was mounted on a gray charger.
Percy made his way over to the two men and saluted after coming to a stop.
"Ah, Captain. How good of you to join us so soon," Castellan greeted him brightly.
"Of course, what's going on?" he asked.
"Militia got hit against last night. A messenger arrived two hours ago. This needs some brass present so I will be gone for two or three days. Seeing as Argonaut isn't going anywhere until the end of the month I need you to take temporary command of our post. Colonel Yew should be arriving in the next two hours to get us up to speed," he announced as they shook hands. "Now, as of this moment on I am transferring Command too you over Fort Ashton, Port Moray, and the squadron. Make sure to write down the time in the logbook. You can take my office for the time being."
"Yes, sir," he assured them.
Within the next ten minutes the companies had formed up and he watched the Commodore and a Marine major lead slightly more than five hundred men through the gatehouse to the sound of the marching drums. In their wake rode the thirty or so mounted Calvary men out to the tone of rhythmic hoofbeats against the cobblestone. Percy felt a strange mixture of pride and apprehension as he watched them go, knowing that the weight of command now rested on his shoulders, albeit temporarily.
He made his way to the Commodore's office, feeling the eyes of the remaining personnel on him as he passed. The weight of his new responsibilities pressed heavily on his mind. He had been entrusted with command over the fort, the port, and the squadron—no small task for someone newly promoted.
Settling into the Commodore's chair, he opened the logbook and meticulously noted the transfer of command, recording the time and date with careful precision. With the formalities out of the way, he turned his attention to the immediate tasks at hand. The Commodore's office was well-organized, with maps and charts of the island and surrounding waters laid out on the large desk. Percy scanned them, familiarizing himself with the strategic layout and the surrounding waters.
His thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. "Enter," he called out, looking up as a young officer stepped inside.
"Captain Jackson, Lieutenant Grover Underwood reporting for duty, sir. The Colonel has arrived and is requesting your presence in the briefing room."
Percy nodded, rising from the desk. "Thank you, Lieutenant. Lead the way."
Following Underwood through the corridors of the fort, Percy took in the bustling activity around him. The soldiers and officers moved with purpose, preparing for the inevitable challenges that lay ahead. The briefing room was filled with senior officers and key personnel when they arrived, the atmosphere charged and calm set in.
Colonel Michael Yew, a seasoned Marine officer with a stern expression, stood at the head of the table. He acknowledged Percy with a curt nod as he entered. "Captain Jackson, I persume?"
"Yes, Colonel. And you must be the infamous Colonel I have heard about," Percy returned the pleasentary.
"We will get properly aquainted later. Let's get down to business."
"To get you down to speed, two days ago a garrisoned town in the interior came under attack. We are talking over a hundered dead and wounded, and somewhere from twenty to thirty townsmen were dragged off as hostages. The Commodore has taken personal charge of the response to calm the populous and the Governor. He is livid. The Commodore intends to break through the native patroles, and then circle behind them cut off the supply lines providing said weapons to the natives. Though not officicial, we can assume that if the Commodore is in a position too, he intends to deliver bloody retalitaiton. Perhaps he can find out out exactly where they came from. Recent Intelligence suggests that stocks from the Legionair armories have fallen into their hands, make of that what you will," Colonel Yew explained, pointing to various locations on the map. "Now, of our regiment we have two full Batallions available for quick action. The Commodore has taken one into the interior, and one is tied up on duties at sea, and the surrounding fortifications."
"What about the town, we have no walls,..." Percy asked, not liking the idea of savages marauding through the bloody streets right under his nose."If you want I can dispatch a Company the set up guardposts on the outskirts of the town, and push out our periminter," he offered.
"Yes, let's do that," Percy replied, relieved to have some protection for the town.
"Very well, I'll see to it," the Colonel said. "Anything else?"
"Not at the moment, Colonel," Percy said, shaking his head. "I appreciate the support."
The Colonel nodded, then turned to his officers and began issuing orders. Percy watched for a moment, then took his leave. He walked around the fort for a while, getting a feeling for the defences and surrounding area. Like he would on his ship, he inspected the armory. A citadel within the fortress in its own right, with storage room filled with everything from barrels of gunpowder, filling the basement all the way to under the roof, too hundereds upon hundereds of muskets, swords, and other weapons filling storage rooms. The baracks themselves were in quite good order, and it was fairly obvious that Yew and Castellan ran a tight ship. Before long though, he had run out of things to do, and as the afternoon ran its course, Percy had found himself sitting behind a desk. Truth be told, he wasn't sure what a Commodore was supposed to do. Meet with his captains, head out to sea... But no, and now that he thought of it it shouldn't be a surpirse.
The Captains had their ships and crews to look after, as he usually would have. Before he knew it he was enterign the barracks buildings offering a temporary home to parts of his crew, espeically the ones with women or children. He spotted Katie Gardener, the soon to be bride, trying very hard to help one of the other mothers capture her children. Clearly, the strictly regimented life in a Fort was not a condusive enviroment to raise children because they had been getting in trouble since day one. They really needed to find some accomodations within the city.
He continued talking to a few of his fellow officers until Lt. Groover suddenly appeared in the barracks.
"Yes, Lt?" Percy asked.
"You have representatives from the constabulary bringing three prisoners for the. Ms Chase from the Foreign Office is with them. She asked to speak with the Commodore."
Percy sighed deeply. "I am sadly short on those at the moment, but I can offer a Captain. Lead the way, Mr Underwood."
He followed the young man across the courtyard. A platoon of marines were marching in a line, for men abrest as he past.
"Commanding Officer!" the Platoon's Leitenant yelled, and the entire formation slauted him mid march. They only dropped their arms when he stopped, turned to face them, and returned the favor.
He was met by a surpirsingly large deligation at the gatehouse, and a surprisingly female one. There was Ms Chase, as expected. The young woman was as strikingly beautful as ever, and met him with the hard eyes of a women that spent far to little time considerin things like ethics or honor. Accomping her was Thalia, in the robes of her order, and a dozen or so of the grim looking members of her sisterhood. The only men present infact, where the ones sitting inside the handful of horse drawn prison carriage. He could see nervous eyes, pearing at him through barred windows as he approched.
From seemingly nowhere, Colonel Yew, and a dozen or so of his marines fell into formation around him, their muskets slung across their shoulders. "Colonel," he greeted the officer.
"Captain," the reply came.
"As if the day couldn't get any worse..." the marine trailed off as they came into earshot.
"Where is Luke," Annabeth demanded, blasting pace any sense of formalities or good manners with the grace of a siege morter.
"Kelp Head," Thalia greeted, sounding far warmer and affectionate.
"Taking care of a matter further in the interior," Percy explained evenly. " For better or worse, I am currently acting Commander of Port Moray. What can His Majesty's Navy do for the Foreign Office."
Ms Chase did not look happy with the idea of dealing with him, though they were both spared an embaressing impass my Thalia stepping forhead. "Come on, Owl Head. You said you thought, the Captain had a straight head on his head."
Ms Chase gave him a scathing look.
Despite the annoyance on Annabeth Chase's face, Thalia took a deep breath and addressed Percy directly. "Lord Captain, we have reason to believe these prisoners with possoble knowlage concerning the supply of Vulcan-pattern muskets to the natives. Unfortionatly, the Constibulary is no longer suitable to hold or interrogate them."
Percy nodded, taking in the gravity of the situation. "Very well, Ms. Chase. You may use out jail. Colonel Yew, please ensure the prisoners are secured and that we have guards stationed outside the cell. Ms Chase, Ms Grace, will you follow me?"
"When did the Commodore leave," Ms Chase hissed the moment they were out of earshot. "And more importantly, when will he be returning."
"A few days at least," Percy replied conservativly, not wishing to get tied down on a firm date. The blond woman cursed under her breath.
"I fear for better or worse, you will have to make do with me Ms Chase," he said. He had been on the fence about Ms Chase, for his first impression of her had been a very different one. But if everything that had come afterwards was to go by, Ms Chase was a person he would have to tead cautiously around. On the bright side, his paranoia around her during his first meeting, felt somewhat vindicated.
Still, Percy was an officer, and as such, he represneted his uniform. So he opened the door to Luke's office for the two women, and offered them the seats facing the desk, before sitting down behind it.
"So Ladies, care to bring me up to speed?"
When Ms Chase did not answer, Thalia broke the silence. "Well, remeber when I told you about the priso-"
"You told him?" Ms Chase cut in, her voice hard and sharp.
"I trust in his integrity, becides, he is a high ranking naval officer," Thalia defended herself shortly.
"Very well, then I hope you are familiar with the genral situation. To keep it brief, while we were interrogating prisoners, representatives of the Colonial Judikative Society has turned up at the Constibulary to make sure our group of savages and runaway slaves get the best legal representation money could afford them. This made turning them over to military jurisdiction expideint."
Percy now paused, considering his options carefully. Now, perosnally, he considered the actions of the natives and runaway percectly understandable. In their shoes, he would likely not have acted any differently. He was yet to meet a single plantage owner that he actually liked or respected, in fact they tended to be on the nastier side of people. That being said, he was an Officer. He had sworn an oath to king and country. Ms Chase clearly had come here with the expectations of his insitution playing ball, and if what he had gleened about the Foreign Office's and Fleet's around these parts, he had the to guess that the Commdore would have been only all to happy to help their more clandestine colligues out.
"Well," Percy said after a long moment of silence. "The military formally accepts the transfer of prisoners. Of course, the Foriegn Office will maintian full acess. That being said, what is your plan for them."
Thalia looked a bit uncomfotable at this, but clearly Ms Chase lacked her scruples. "Most of them frankly are usless to us and can be executed once due process has been afforded, however there are three among their number that have the potential of being of interst to us."