Boarders away!

The Lady Luck hove in on the crippled schooner. Lana noted as they closed that broken spars, ropes and sheets of ripped sailcloth had covered the few guns the ship mounted along her side. The crew had abandoned attempts to clear the guns now boarding was imminent and had gathered in a huddle towards the centre of the ship. Though they had armed themselves the Lady's crew outnumbered them three to one. At this point a merchant vessel would usually already have struck it's colours, Lana was puzzled as to why the were still prepared to fight it out.

The unidentified group still stood defiantly on the ship's deck. As they closed Lana studied them curiously. Each held two weapons, which struck Lana as an ominous sign. Fighting with two blades was a highly skilled discipline and that the whole group seemed confident in it implied that these were professional warriors of some description. Now they had discarded their cloaks she saw that each was shrouded in tight black clothing, with even their faces obscured by black masks.

"That group on the ship Wavepup, I reckon We've all heard tell of them afore." Alistair muttered, coming to stand beside Lana. "Reckon this fight ain't as finished as we'd like."

Lana nodded, from their garb and apparent efficiency with weapons she'd drawn the same conclusion as her first mate.

"Cryn assassins." She confirmed. "Half a dozen of the best swords on the planet."

"Should we heel away Captain?" Alistair asked. "We've got her adrift, we could back off and sink her with shot."

"No, we're going in." Lana stated firmly. "Assassins or not we can take them and I want some live ones to find out what they know about this vault and who else might be out here hunting for it."

"Taking them will be a bloody business." Alistair muttered. "This will be a fight to tell back in the bars for years to come."

"Aye, that it will." Lana agreed, then added with a laugh. "But' I'd be guessing that by the time you tell it there'll have been two score assassins and you fought it almost single handed."

Alistair joined in her laughter, not offended in the least. The old pirate's stories had a habit of becoming more outrageous in direct proportion to the amount of **** he consumed. When the buccuneer reached the point of holding whole companies at bay, those that knew him well stepped back quickly predicting that he was on the point of passing out.

The assembled pirates had begun to whirl the grappling hooks as the gap between the two ships narrowed. Boisterous threats were hurled across the intervening space at the schooner. The opposing crew remained quiet, likely scared to **** and wishing they could surrender. The Cryn assassins simply stood and waited, the blank black masks unreadable.

The grapples began to fly across, catching on rails and rigging. Although the opposing side made an attempt to cut them loose, soon too many had snagged the schooner and the pirates were hauling away on the ropes. The ships were drawn together side to side, the splintering crash as the two wooden hulls met was greeted by a raucous cheer from the Lady's crew.

"Boarders away." Lana roared, pulling free a rope that was fastened to the yardarm above. "Do them the dirty lads."

Lana kicked up her feet and swung across the gap between the ships, landing nimbly on the debris strewn deck of the schooner. The crew followed her, swinging on ropes or rushing across planks dropped in to bridge the gap. The opposing crew gave a battle cry and rushed at the pirates, though close up Lana could see the fear in their eyes and reckoned the fight against those ordinary sailors would be short and decisive. Across the deck the pirates real threat fanned out and silently moved in to meet the pirates.