Surprisingly, yes.

To Brenan’s surprise Mr. Michaels rose to his feet and gave an odd bow. “It would be an honor Captain Kilgore.” Brenan was pleased by Mr. Michael's willingness to sign on with him, but considering he had just been thrown out of his room without any money maybe it wasn't so odd after all.

After paying for their drinks, Brenan and his new gunner made their way back to Davy’s shipyard, almost as an afterthought Brenan asked Mr. Michaels if he had any experience with Lantians.

“They’re no good to work with, sir.” Mr. Michaels shook his head. “Poor buggers can’t spend more than ten minutes out of water before they start gasping.”

“My two men are only half-Lantian, they breathe air just fine.” Brenan assured the man and as he guided the gunner through the streets heard the man’s ideas for an underwater diving suit that had fresh air pumped down tubes from the surface. If he had any prejudice against working with half-breeds, it was extremely well hidden.

It was later in the day; Brenan was sitting and chatting with his new crewmen while Mr. Michaels was puttering below decks when a commotion on the docks caught his eye. Two men who he spotted earlier in the week talking to a Veertor merchant were dragging a pretty redheaded woman along the docks. For just a second he thought that Red had somehow followed him to Freeport, but quickly realized that except for the color of their hair the two women looked quite different.

The two thugs on the other hand Brenan remembered clearly. As a defector and at least in theory, still subject to the emperor’s ‘justice’ Brenan made it a point to identify the Veer agents in every port. These two men had the slow drawl, long hair and loose clothing of an islander, but as they approached the Veertor ship's Captain he had seen both stiffen and pull back their shoulders momentarily before falling back into their roles as longshoremen. Nine years in the Veertor army instantly recognized the look of a low rank soldier addressing a superior.

“See that woman in the blue dress?” Brenan interrupted Tyler “If I knock her into the water can you get her back to the boat without being seen?”

“P-p-probably." Tyler answered as he followed Brenan’s gaze, clearly confused by the sudden change of topic.

It wasn’t so much about helping damsels in distress that made Brenan react like he did. A working girl’s life was a rough one, and he had seen similar scenes in the past without intervening. Brenan knew he was no fairy book hero, but these men had been looking for a particular woman all week, and judging by the amount of money they were spreading around it must be someone important to the Veer Empire. As much as anything else he could think of, Brenan loved screwing over Veertor. He figured he had to serve the empire for nine years, he should have at least that long to be a thorn in their sides.

It was simple, if the Veertor Empire wanted this woman, then he wanted her to get away. In general he didn’t care much for anyone being **** against their will, and the two men each outweighed their prisoner by thirty kilos apiece. Of course it didn’t hurt at all that the struggling woman’s tanned legs, clearly visible as she kicked at her assailants, reminded Brenan of Cindy's long legs and her hair was nearly the same color as Red's.

The men were approaching the end of the berth by the time he got there himself, and occupied as they were with the hellion in the blue dress they had yet to notice his presence. In fact, it seemed no one was watching. Although there were close to forty men and women working on the dock in the busy afternoon all of them had pointedly managed not to notice the fracas at their feet. Adapting the whine of a Cryn merchant who feels cheated in a deal, Brenan stepped into the group grabbing the woman by her arm.

“Hah! They caught you whore!” All three paused in their struggles at Brenan’s unexpected interruption. “Thief! Where are the officers of the law.” He called knowing that unlike Cryn ports which were well patrolled, the chance of there being any officials on a free island port was minimal. The longshoremen both carried nasty looking knives at their belts, but for the moment made no attempt to reach for them – so far so good.

“Sir” began one of the men placing his arm on his broad shoulder “there must be some mis..”

“No mistake!" Brenan contradicted still trying hard to sound like a Cryn merchant. "I contracted…” everyone knew how Cryn loved their contracts “…with this woman to entertain me last night and when I woke this morning she was gone, and had taken my purse as well.” Grabbing the startled woman fiercely on her arms Brenan picked her up and shook her free of the confused Veer agents. “Where is my money whore?”

“I… I… don’t know what you mean.” Stammered the confused woman. She was pretty, Brenan noticed, probably too pretty to be a common street whore. “Twenty two – five, all in true Cryn silver” Cryn merchants always knew what they had in their purses down to the last copper bit. “Give me my money back, and I’ll see you are only branded for this!” Once again the longshoreman grabbed Brenan's shoulder, this time with more ****.

“Sir, there has been a mistake! Give us this woman.” His voice became much more threatening as he added “Please, you don’t want trouble.” Shaking himself free of the man's grip Brenan took one more step towards the murky waters of the harbor.

“Oh!” Brenan exclaimed feigning sudden awareness “You must be her handler!” Using his back to shield the other Veer agent from the woman Brenan turned to the first. “Your girl stole my purse, and I want twenty-two..., no I want TWENTY-FIVE silver for my trouble!” Looking around Brenan could now see that most of the people who had been ignoring the earlier commotion were watching the free entertainment with open interest.

“Please, somebody help me!” Cried out the pretty young woman in the blue dress. Brenan hoped that Kyle and Tyler were in position as he turned once again to the woman.

“Shut up you filthy strumpet. Maybe this will clean you up!” Brenan threw the unfortunate woman as far as he could into the harbor and turned back to face the two stunned men. “Which one of you is going to pay me my silver?” Both men backed away, suddenly aware of all the attention and desperately trying to see where the woman would surface. With a grunt of disgust Brenan turned his back on them and headed into the busy city streets of Freeport away from his new ship. He hoped that none of the many peddlers on the dock would connect the buyer of Davy’s schooner with the whining Cryn merchant who got taken by a street whore.

Soon business resumed as normal on the busy wharf with only the two Veer agents and a few young boys trying to figure out what happened to the woman who was at the center of all the commotion.