Pyxis Wierwind was in charge of this Great Galley. It carried a couple of hundred soldiers, most of them young, scared and ill with sea sickness. He was human in his mid 50's with warm blue eyes and a comforting smile. Handsome by most standards, he had a youthful vigor about him that made him appear to be half his age. Pyxis plotted the course with care and did all he could to keep the Arkanian soldiers feeling confident and in high spirits.

His first officer was Morin, a seasoned human mariner who had spent years at sea without setting a foot on dry land. He had a pained look about him. Many speculated it was from being the sole survivor of a former ship wreck in which he lost 25 sailors to the great ocean. Morin's efforts to keep the ship sailing were invaluable to everyone on board.

"I estimate we'll arrive by land in 40 minutes, Mayor" Morin said matter of factly to Mayor Rhyanna. Rhyanna nodded silently with an obvious look of concern of events to come. Pyxis leaned towards her.

"Rhyanna, act like I said something mildly funny. Your look is worrying the troops. And they look up to you," Pyxis said with a warm smile.

Rhyanna brushed back her curly red hair and smiled brightly at Pyxis. An act that seemed to instantly relieve everyone.

Pyxis returned the smile before a commotion began.

A sailor perched high in the Great Galley's crows nest began to shout. "There's a ship ahead, due east! A Ship.."

Morin yelled back, suddenly angered. "Quiet down! That could be a Marauder vessel!" Morin leapt to the ladder leading up to the crows nest for a look of his own. "By the Gods, NO!!!" Morin said and he slid back down towards Pyxis and Rhyanna. "That's a Marauder Light Cruiser ahead! We need to steer clear before it spots us."

"GO!" Pyxis said and rushed over to the troops. Morin steered the ship in an attempt to avoid detection from the Marauder ship.

"Arm the cannons, be silent and await my command!" shouted Pyxis at the cast of sailors.

The Great Galley slowly turned northward passing out of sight and range of the Marauder ship. Their seemingly good luck turned bad as they ran into the thick fog that accompanied the colder waters of the north.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I expect the loot to be loaded in half of this amount of time! Let's quit messing around!" ordered a brown Yinn wearing the rank of Lieutenant. Siemowit was part of the Blade battalion and was on board this Marauder light cruiser getting his latest loot shipped back to headquarters. A strong and proud Yinn, Siemowit was a good leader, his only flaw being that he was sometimes quick to cut someone's throat, a skill mastered by this assassin. Siemowit's crew suddenly stood at attention. Siemowit seemed irritated and turned around to see what "royalty" had ruined his loading drills.

Douji Darksun, Admiral of the Marauder Fleet stood before him with a calm and calculating smirk. Siemowit gave a quick salute which Douji returned and went back about his business.

Douji Darksun was inspecting almost every sailor and every item on board this ship as per his monthly inspections. Douji took a lot of pride is molding the Marauder fleet into one of the world finest. Douji was known as cold and calculating, normally saying very little. Like many great officers, he understands that you could learn more by saying little and instead listening. A human who crusaded for Turpa, he loved the sea and all of the different issues associated to commanding a ship and a fleet.

A young out of breath sailor approached the Admiral.

"Sir! We have a ship headed due east right in our direction. I can't be sure, but I think there are soldiers on board with what looks like Arkane uniforms!"

Douji nodded showing almost no emotion.

"Make your way calmly and slowly below, and instruct all personnel to arm the cannons and prepare for combat."

The sailor saluted and ran below deck.

Douji made his way to the mahogany wheel. Pulling out his spy glass he stared a moment and then smiled as though pleased.

"It's turning north. Allow it to pass us."

The navigator replied "But sir that could be Arkane tr...."

A subtle look from Douji silenced the navigator and the Great Galley turned north and headed out of site.

Douji prepared his next orders.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I think we got lucky. They didn't appear to have seen us." Ryhanna stated.

Pyxis sighed in relief. "I am going to post double the lookouts."

A loud shattering ((CRASH)) disrupted his order. A blast had hit the star side of the boat, shattering a small part of the galley's side.

Through the fog the Marauder Light Cruiser visualized from the Arkanian ships eastern cannons.

((BOOM))

((BOOM))

((BOOM))

Cannons erupted from all of the Marauders ships 10 cannons. Splashes of water from cannon fire rose above the ship like great waves. From below, Pyxis could hear Morin shouting. "Pyxis, we are hit bad and taking in water!"

(To Be Continued Tomorrow, NO RP past this point SHOULD occur until then)