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A private rp between myself and Terrestris Veritas.

Captain Cross gazed thoughtfully out of his spy-glass, watching the Golden Spear slink away with it's prize. Normally his dreadnought, the H.R.M.S. Peacebringer, would be too slow to catch up to the faster, smaller ship. But now the Spear was laden down, and the wind was with him. Cross ran a hand through his purposefully dyed hair. He wanted his enemies to know him on sight. Pirate, turned Privateer, turned Naval Captain, Cross was a known, and duely feared, pirate hunter.

Cross issued orders, and men, all dressed in the casual rags of pirates, jumped into action. They looked, and when not in action acted, the part of pirates, like Cross himself, but when things became serious, military dicipline showed. The Peace came around, using it's massive sails to gain on the Spear mercilessly. On the bow, Captain Cross stood, fighting the waves for steady aim, using a flintlock rifle he'd modified with a spy-glass for shooting accurately from ship to ship. His purple-hued hair snapped in the wind, and he waited, rifle at the ready, for his chance to shoot.

Cross smirked and lowered his rifle. "Smarter than she looks." He tossed the rifle to a cabin boy and drew his cutlass, enjoying the sound of metal withdrawing from leather. He had a feeling she come in close, try to get too close for the bulk of his ships guns. Smart, but risky. A lucky shot could hit the powder stock in her ship, and then it'd be over. And he didn't want that. This girl was going after Navy ships, and Cross took that personally. It was a blatant challenge, whether she realized it or not, and he wanted nothing more than to get face to face, and blade to blade, with her. His crew knew it, and had orders to bring her in alive if possible at any rate. So the fired carefully, aiming at the rigging, to cripple the Spear. Cross, still standing on the bow, his eyes fixed on where he knew the dear girl was hiding, bowed slowly, and gestured with his sword, taunting her to come across and face him.

Cross sighed and grabbed a rope, swinging across to the other ship. His men ceased fire and came out onto the deck to join him, but he signaled them to stay. "How about it, a fair duel? The winning captain takes the losing prisoner? These are fair terms to me." He waited calmly, as if he wasn't standing amidst a bunch of foul-smelling pirates. Not that he smelled like a rose, but at least he took some pride in his hygene. He half expected her to use her men to kill him, at which point his men had orders to fire, point blank, and drop barrels of black power onto her ship. Cross might die, but what a death it'd be.

Cross lifted his blade lightly, not even feeling the weight. More men had fallen to his blade than to any other weapon in his hands, but he'd never killed a woman, nor did he plan to. Without a word of warning, he attacked, acting as if he wasn't holding back, in spite of the fact that he was.

Cross sighed. "If you insist. I was only trying to be sporting." He flicked his blade lightly, and then darted forward, skimming the deck with his blade. He locked blades with Ann, and, his mass of hair blocking the pirate crews' view, stole a kiss. Then he spun away, planting a light slap on her bottom as he did. He planted his feet, and grinned, winking at Ann as he did.

Cross blocked for just an instant, making sure his jewels were out of harms way, before allowing himself to be disarmed. He sighed calmly, and put up his hands. "Alas, it seems my swordsmanship is lacking today. Lads, toss me my book, if you would?" They did, and the blue-covered tome landed firmly in his hand. "As we agreed, my ship will go, and I am your captive. Shall I be locked up now and beaten later, or beaten first, and then caged? I merely ask out of curiosity."

Cross was pleasantly suprised when the men didn't chain him up or anything. It made the matter of reading his book much easier, and clearly they had caught on that he was in no hurry to leave. He settled himself in calmly, and set to reading his book, wait for the inevitable moment when the good captains curiosity got the better of her, and forced her to interrogate him about that kiss. He grinned to himself. Under better circumstances he would have done a lot more than just kiss her. But as it was a kiss was all he could manage, at least until other events occured. He wondered if the queen would be foolish enough to send men after him. Unlikely, he'd taken down ships from within before. No, his only concern was if some of the crew got it into their heads to kill him with their captain's say so.