# **TRUE PIECE**
## **Chapter 8: The Red Dog Pirates VS the Peace Crew**
"The honest answer is that we are not safe."
Tallen Vey lowered the glass lens from his right eye.
Three dark ships advanced across the southern horizon.
Twenty-four cannon ports faced the **Civic Mercy**.
No flags flew above them.
No crew members crowded their rails.
Their sails were dark red, but the color had been dulled with ash so they appeared nearly black from a distance.
Mira Cale held the wheel.
"How long until they enter firing range?"
"Seven minutes."
"Can we outrun them?"
"No."
"Can we reach Pendulum Point again?"
"No."
"Can we avoid them?"
Tallen measured the enemy formation once more.
"No."
Eullian Hound stood beside him at the bow.
A blunt practice round remained closed inside his fist.
Tallen had called it his first protective lie.
**The Civic Mercy will reach the next island safely.**
Now three ships intended to prove him wrong before noon.
Eullian looked at the approaching vessels.
"Then why did you say we were safe?"
"Because I intend to strengthen the statement."
Tallen lifted his long weapon.
Eullian smiled.
"Good answer."
"It remains an unsupported answer."
"Then we support it."
Mira turned the damaged ship slightly north.
The repaired steering linkage groaned beneath the deck.
Hijo Albino emerged from the lower cabin carrying his white book.
"Who are they?"
"No visible identification," Mira said.
"They removed it deliberately," Tallen added.
"That means they want to surprise us," Eullian said.
Hijo looked toward the twenty-four open cannon ports.
"They have abandoned surprise."
"They might be bad at it."
"They are not."
The lead enemy ship moved ahead of the other two.
Its bow had been reinforced with iron plates shaped like interlocking teeth. Red rope wrapped the rails. Hooks hung from chains along both sides.
A figure stood at the front.
He wore a long red coat.
Even at a distance, Tallen could see that the coat had been made from many different Marine uniforms sewn together and dyed the same dark color.
Captain Cube began laughing beneath the kitchen.
The sound traveled through the ventilation grate.
"Dogs."
Eullian looked down.
"You know them?"
Captain Cube pressed one blue eye beneath the grate.
"Everyone knows the Red Dog Pirates."
Tallen glanced toward him.
"I did not."
Captain Cube smiled.
"That is because everyone who meets them stops reporting."
Vask's voice came from the opposite cell.
"They hunt damaged ships."
Mira looked toward the stairs.
"Why did you wait until now to mention that?"
"You did not ask."
Tallen's eyes narrowed.
Vask had used one of his own habits against him.
Eullian crouched beside the grate.
"What do they want?"
Vask answered quickly.
"Cargo. Weapons. prisoners. information. Anyone with a bounty."
"Which do we have?" Eullian asked.
Everyone became silent.
Mira looked toward the iron chest containing the Base Eighteen records.
Hijo looked toward Captain Cube.
Tallen looked toward Vask.
Eullian counted on his fingers.
"We have all of them."
"Yes," Mira said.
"That seems inconvenient."
The lead ship raised a flag.
A red dog's head appeared against a black field.
Its mouth held a broken Marine saber between its teeth.
The other two vessels raised matching flags.
Renn Coyle and the five Brinehook fishermen came onto the deck.
They had chosen to remain aboard until the evidence reached a secure court. None were trained fighters.
All six now held whatever the ship could spare.
Boat hooks.
Repair hammers.
A kitchen knife.
Renn carried the blackened pan Eullian had used with lamp fuel.
Mira stared at it.
"I threw that overboard."
"It floated back during the repairs," Renn said.
Eullian became emotional.
"The pan returned."
"It is not loyal," Mira said.
"It crossed an ocean."
"It crossed part of a harbor."
"Still more loyal than the fish."
A cannon fired.
The sound reached them after the smoke.
"Down!" Tallen shouted.
Everyone dropped.
The ball struck the sea twenty feet ahead of the bow.
Water exploded across the deck.
The shot had not been intended to hit.
A red-painted metal container floated where the cannonball entered.
Gas began hissing from it.
Hijo's threads flashed.
They wrapped around the container and threw it away from the ship.
It burst above the water.
Red powder spread across the surface.
Several fishermen covered their mouths.
"What is that?" Mira asked.
Tallen watched the powder.
"Marking dust."
Hijo looked toward the enemy cannons.
"They are measuring wind."
A second cannon fired.
This ball struck behind them.
Another cloud of red powder burst above the water.
The particles drifted toward the **Civic Mercy**.
"Now they know the crosswind," Mira said.
Tallen nodded.
"And our speed."
Eullian looked toward the enemy captain.
"He used the first shots to learn."
"Yes."
"Can I hit him now?"
"No," Mira and Hijo said together.
Tallen raised his weapon.
"Not at this distance."
Eullian looked disappointed.
A brass speaking horn rose from the lead ship.
The captain's voice crossed the water.
"Vessel ahead!"
He sounded calm.
Not loud.
A man who expected people to become quiet for him.
"You carry property belonging to several interested parties."
Mira shouted back.
"We carry civilian evidence under lawful authorization."
"That is one kind of property."
"The prisoners are under our custody."
"That is another."
"Captain Cube belongs to himself," Eullian added.
Captain Cube looked up through the grate.
"Temporarily."
The enemy captain continued.
"You will surrender the Base Eighteen ledgers, the Devil Liquid subject, former Captain Vask, all weapons, half your food, and one crew member."
Eullian frowned.
"Which crew member?"
"Your choice."
The answer spread silence across the deck.
The enemy captain stepped onto the iron-plated bow.
He was broad without being enormous, perhaps thirty-five years old, with dark red hair tied behind his neck.
The left side of his face carried four claw-shaped scars.
A metal whistle hung beneath his chin.
He wore no visible sword.
Instead, heavy hooked gauntlets covered both hands.
"My name is Captain Garven Redd," he announced.
Vask whispered from below.
"The Red Dog."
Garven continued.
"One person comes aboard my ship willingly. Everyone else keeps breathing."
"What happens to the one person?" Mira asked.
"That depends upon their value."
"That is not an answer."
"It is the complete answer."
Hijo stepped beside the railing.
"You divide crews."
Garven looked toward him.
"The Absolute Killer."
"You force people to choose who is worth least."
"I allow them to decide who matters most."
"That is the same cruelty from the opposite direction."
Garven smiled.
"Cruelty is sinking the whole ship because one passenger refuses to be reasonable."
Eullian leaned over the railing.
"What if we refuse?"
"Then my crews board. We take everything. The survivors row home."
"What about the person you demanded?"
"No longer necessary."
"Why?"
"Once a crew refuses to sacrifice one member, I learn they require all of them broken."
Eullian's smile faded.
Garven raised one hooked hand.
"You have three minutes."
The speaking horn lowered.
The three Red Dog ships separated.
One moved toward the Civic Mercy's port side.
One moved toward starboard.
Garven's vessel remained behind them.
Mira watched the formation.
"They're surrounding us."
"Not completely," Tallen said.
"Not yet."
Hijo studied the approaching ships.
"The side vessels carry fewer cannons."
"Boarding ships," Mira said.
"Garven remains outside our reach while they pin us."
Eullian looked toward the fishermen.
Renn stared back.
No one spoke about choosing a person to surrender.
That was exactly what Garven wanted.
Not only a prisoner.
A wound that remained after the battle.
Tallen loaded a steel bolt.
"We need roles."
Mira looked at him.
"You've been aboard one day."
"Yes."
"You're assigning roles?"
"No. I am identifying deficiencies."
"That is usually my job," Hijo said.
Tallen pointed toward the port ship.
"Six forward cannons. Grappling hooks prepared. Thirty visible crew."
Then toward starboard.
"Six cannons. Twenty-eight visible crew. Two concealed ballistae."
Garven's ship remained farther back.
"Twelve cannons. Unknown crew total. Reinforced bow. Captain aboard."
Mira looked toward the damaged mast.
"We cannot trade cannon fire."
"We have four," Eullian said.
"One was damaged by Captain Cube," Mira replied. "One has a cracked carriage. We have ammunition for nine shots."
"So two useful cannons and nine arguments."
"That is surprisingly accurate."
Hijo looked toward the lower deck.
"The prisoners will attempt escape during the battle."
Captain Cube laughed beneath them.
"I would never."
Vask shouted, "He will!"
Captain Cube turned toward the opposite cell.
"You told the truth."
"Stay away from me!"
Hijo handed one end of a white thread to Renn.
"If either cell door moves, pull this."
"What happens?"
"I feel it."
"What do I do after?"
"Leave."
Renn glanced toward Captain Cube's cell.
"That was already my plan."
Mira spoke quickly.
"Hijo protects the ship from boarders and watches the prisoners."
Hijo nodded.
"Tallen disables their cannons and rigging."
"Yes."
"Renn and the others remain below unless the hull breaches."
The fishermen looked unhappy.
"You are witnesses," Mira said. "Protecting the records is part of the battle."
Renn tightened his grip around the burned pan.
"We can carry water and ammunition."
Mira considered.
"Only below the main deck."
She looked toward Eullian.
"You stay here."
He stared.
"Here?"
"Near the center of the ship."
"But Garven is there."
"He wants you to leave our deck."
"I can jump to his ship."
"That is why he is staying behind the others."
"I can jump farther."
"And if his boarding crews reach us while you are gone?"
Eullian looked toward the two closing vessels.
Mira continued.
"Your job is not defeating the most important-looking person."
"What is my job?"
"Keep everyone aboard this ship alive."
Eullian's expression changed.
The order matched his dream too closely to resist.
"All right."
Hijo looked at him.
"You agreed quickly."
"I disliked it quickly too."
The three-minute deadline ended.
Garven Redd raised his hand.
Twenty-four cannons fired.
Not together.
In sequence.
The first six shots struck the water ahead of the Civic Mercy.
The next six hit behind it.
Tall eruptions surrounded the ship.
Mira turned the wheel.
"Hold!"
Eullian seized the steering linkage.
The next volley came from both sides.
Not cannonballs.
Chains.
Pairs of iron weights connected by long red chains spun across the water.
Tallen fired.
His first bolt struck one weight and altered its rotation.
The chain passed above the deck.
His second shot broke the link between another pair.
One weight disappeared into the sea.
The other smashed through the railing.
A third chain wrapped around the forward mast.
The port ship pulled.
The damaged mast groaned.
Hijo's threads flashed upward.
They severed the chain at three points.
Red links struck the deck.
"More!" Tallen warned.
Six grappling hooks crossed the gap.
Eullian caught the first two.
He pulled.
Four pirates on the port vessel were torn from their feet.
Mira shouted, "Do not pull their ship into us!"
Eullian released the hooks.
The four pirates crashed into their own railing.
A third hook caught the Civic Mercy's side.
Hijo cut the rope.
The fourth caught the rear deck.
Tallen shot through its knot.
The fifth missed.
The sixth wrapped around Eullian's waist.
He looked down.
A dozen Red Dog Pirates pulled together.
Eullian flew sideways.
His feet left the deck.
Hijo caught his ankle with a white thread.
Eullian stopped above the water.
The pirates pulled one way.
Hijo pulled the other.
"This is uncomfortable!" Eullian shouted.
Mira held the wheel.
"Cut the rope!"
"I can't reach it!"
Tallen fired.
The blunt round struck the knot at Eullian's waist.
The rope released.
Hijo's thread snapped Eullian backward.
He flew across the deck and crashed through the kitchen door.
Captain Cube looked up from beneath the floor.
"Welcome home."
Eullian stood among broken dishes.
"I was pulled."
"I heard."
"Did you enjoy it?"
"Immensely."
Eullian returned to the deck.
The port boarding ship had moved within thirty feet.
Pirates crowded the rail.
Their clothing was mismatched.
Former sailors.
Former Marines.
Dockworkers.
Prisoners.
People gathered from many places and forced beneath one red flag.
Several wore metal collars.
Not all of them were willing pirates.
Eullian saw it immediately.
Some shouted eagerly.
Others kept their weapons low.
Garven's voice crossed from the rear ship.
"Board!"
The willing pirates jumped first.
The unwilling followed because hooks waited behind them.
Hijo moved.
White threads crossed the space above the deck.
A saber split in half.
Three pistol belts fell open.
Two attackers became tied together by their own coats.
Hijo stepped between them without expression.
He struck one throat with two fingers.
Caught another elbow.
Turned a third pirate's knife into the wooden deck.
He did not kill.
He did not waste movement proving that he could.
A large pirate swung an iron club toward his head.
Hijo ducked.
The club passed over him.
His thread wrapped around the attacker's wrist and connected it to a cannon rope.
The cannon recoiled after firing.
The pirate flew backward into his own boarding group.
Tallen remained near the bow.
His weapon fired repeatedly.
A rope bolt tangled one enemy cannon.
A steel spike entered the wheel mechanism of another.
A blunt shot struck the mouth of a third cannon just as its crew prepared to fire.
The cannonball remained inside.
The pirates abandoned it.
Tallen changed ammunition.
Smoke capsule.
He fired toward the port ship's upper deck.
Gray smoke covered its marksmen.
A bullet emerged from the cloud.
Tallen tilted his head.
It passed beside his ear.
A second bullet struck the deck near his foot.
A third shattered the lens over his right eye.
Glass cut his cheek.
He dropped behind the railing.
Eullian looked toward him.
"Are you hurt?"
"Yes."
Tallen removed the broken lens.
"Can you still shoot?"
"Yes."
Another bullet struck the railing.
Tallen examined its angle.
"Their marksman is moving between shots."
"Can you hit them?"
"Not yet."
Tallen reached for another bolt.
His hand shook once.
Not from fear of being shot.
From the knowledge that he had promised safety.
The ship already carried wounds.
People were already bleeding.
His lie had begun failing.
Eullian saw his face.
"We're safe."
Tallen looked toward him.
A cannonball passed over both their heads.
It struck the sea beyond the ship.
"That is false," Tallen said.
"You said it first."
"I said it as a promise."
"So did I."
"You lack the information required."
"So do you."
Tallen stared.
Eullian smiled.
"Strengthen it."
Tallen loaded a flare.
He fired straight upward.
The red light climbed through the smoke.
For one second, the enemy marksman's outline appeared against the sail of the port ship.
Not one person.
Three.
They had been passing a single rifle between positions, creating the appearance of one impossible shooter.
Tallen fired three times.
The first bolt pinned a sleeve.
The second broke the rifle stock.
The third severed the rope ladder beneath the final shooter.
All three disappeared behind the rail.
Tallen looked at Eullian.
"Safer."
"Good lie."
"It remains incomplete."
"Keep working."
The starboard ship fired its concealed ballistae.
Two enormous bolts crossed the distance.
One struck the Civic Mercy above the waterline.
The hull split.
The second flew toward Mira.
Eullian moved.
He caught the bolt inches from her chest.
The force drove him backward.
His heels tore trenches through the deck.
The wooden shaft cracked between his hands.
Mira did not release the wheel.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
"You damaged the deck."
"The giant arrow helped."
Water began entering through the hull breach.
Renn's voice rose from below.
"Leak!"
Mira shouted, "Patch team!"
The fishermen moved.
Renn and two others carried canvas, boards, rope, and sealing tar toward the damage.
The ship rolled.
Water struck their knees.
They kept working.
The Red Dog boarding ship reached the starboard rail.
Pirates jumped aboard.
Eullian met them near the center deck.
He remembered his order.
Not defeat Garven.
Not chase the strongest person.
Keep everyone aboard alive.
A pirate swung an ax.
Eullian caught the handle and pushed the attacker backward without breaking his arms.
Two others approached from behind.
Eullian lowered his body.
Their swords crossed above him.
He rose between them and knocked their heads together.
Both collapsed.
A fourth attacker fired a pistol.
Eullian turned.
The bullet entered his upper arm.
Pain struck.
Blood followed.
He grabbed the pistol before the pirate fired again.
The metal folded inside his hand.
Eullian looked at the attacker.
The pirate was sixteen.
Perhaps younger.
A red metal collar surrounded his neck.
Fear covered his face.
Eullian released him.
"You don't want to be here."
The boy looked toward Garven's ship.
A woman stood on its bow beside the captain.
A matching collar surrounded her neck.
"My sister," the boy whispered.
Eullian understood.
Garven had not only demanded that crews sacrifice one member.
He built his own crew from those sacrifices.
People given away by ships that had chosen to survive.
Some became pirates.
Others became hostages used to control them.
Eullian's rage returned.
Quiet.
Focused.
The boy raised the broken pistol because Garven was watching.
Eullian leaned closer.
"Hit me."
"What?"
"Make it look real."
The boy struck Eullian's face with the pistol grip.
The blow barely moved him.
Eullian flew backward anyway.
He crossed the deck dramatically, rolled twice, and struck the mast.
Everyone stopped briefly.
Hijo looked toward him.
"That was excessive."
"I'm acting!"
"You are bad at it."
The young pirate stared.
Eullian whispered from the deck, "Go below. Tell the fishermen you surrendered."
The boy ran toward the lower stairs.
A Red Dog officer saw him.
"Coward!"
The officer raised a rifle.
Hijo's thread cut the weapon into three pieces.
The officer turned.
Hijo stood behind him.
"The boy found another answer."
The officer drew a knife.
Hijo caught his wrist.
"What happens to deserters?" Hijo asked.
The man smiled.
"Their family loses a piece."
Hijo's eyes became colder.
"Where are the families kept?"
"Ask the captain."
Hijo tightened his grip.
The man screamed.
Eullian stood.
"No killing."
"I am not killing him."
"That sounded close."
"I am gathering information."
The officer's wrist began bending in a direction wrists disliked.
"Rear ship!" he shouted. "Lower cells!"
Hijo released him.
The man collapsed.
"Information gathered."
Mira heard.
"Garven's ship carries hostages."
"And remains behind the other two," Tallen said.
Eullian looked toward the rear vessel.
Now he had a reason to jump.
Mira saw the thought enter his face.
"No."
"But the prisoners—"
"We are still boarded."
"Hijo can handle them."
Hijo had seven attackers trapped against the mast using threads and pieces of their own clothing.
"Possibly," he said.
Mira looked toward the hull breach.
"Renn needs time."
Tallen watched Garven's ship.
"The rear vessel has begun turning."
Mira narrowed her eyes.
"Why?"
Tallen measured the formation.
The two boarding ships had attached multiple ropes to the Civic Mercy.
Garven's ship remained connected to both through thicker towing chains.
"They're not only pinning us," Tallen said.
"They're forming a net."
Mira understood.
"Garven will pull backward."
The towing chains tightened.
The two side ships turned outward.
The Civic Mercy became trapped between them.
Its damaged hull groaned from pressure on both sides.
Garven raised his hooked gauntlet.
"Break their ship."
The Red Dog vessels pulled.
The Civic Mercy's mast bent.
The patched hull opened farther.
Renn shouted from below.
"We're losing the seal!"
Mira turned the wheel.
The rudder had no room to change their direction.
"We need one side released."
Tallen aimed toward the port towing chain.
"Too thick."
Hijo's white threads struck it.
Several links gained thin cuts.
The chain remained intact.
"I can break it," Eullian said.
Mira looked at the boarding pirates still fighting across the deck.
"Which side?"
"Both."
"You cannot be in two places."
Eullian looked toward Tallen.
The Great Truth Teller understood.
"I can break one," Tallen said.
"You just said it was too thick."
"I cannot break the chain."
He looked toward the port ship's mast.
"But I can strengthen a lie."
Tallen loaded a red flare.
He aimed toward the enemy deck and fired.
The flare struck beside an open powder barrel.
The Red Dog pirates panicked.
"Fire!"
There was no fire.
Only red smoke.
But the cannon crew believed what they saw.
They abandoned their positions.
Several pirates cut nearby ropes to prevent an imagined flame from reaching the sails.
One of those ropes supported the towing chain's guide pulley.
The pulley dropped.
The chain lost its angle.
Hijo's threads struck the already weakened links.
The chain broke.
The port ship swung away.
The Civic Mercy rolled violently toward starboard.
Mira turned the wheel.
"Now, Eullian!"
Eullian seized the starboard towing chain.
He wrapped it twice around his forearm.
Then pulled.
The enemy ship continued moving outward.
Its full weight fought him.
The chain cut into his skin.
His wounded arm trembled.
His feet broke through the deck.
He did not become stronger through rage.
He simply refused to spend strength anywhere else.
The starboard ship's rail cracked.
Its guide post tore free.
The chain whipped across the water.
The Civic Mercy was released.
Mira forced the ship forward through the opening between the boarding vessels.
Several Red Dog Pirates remained on deck.
Their own ships began falling behind.
Some looked terrified.
Others threw down their weapons.
Hijo watched them.
"Anyone who continues fighting becomes restrained."
One pirate lunged.
Hijo tied him to the mast.
The others surrendered.
Eullian looked toward Garven's ship.
The rear vessel turned to pursue.
Its twelve cannons moved into firing position.
Garven stood at the bow.
He did not appear angry.
He looked interested.
"You kept your whole crew," he called.
Eullian leaned against the broken railing.
"Yes."
"That will make the next choice more expensive."
"You keep saying choice when you mean threat."
"A threat still creates choices."
"Not good ones."
Garven smiled.
"Good choices are a luxury provided by people with power."
He lifted the metal whistle beneath his chin.
Then blew.
The sound was sharp enough to hurt.
Every captured Red Dog Pirate reacted.
The collars around their necks clicked.
Hijo heard the internal mechanisms.
"Down!"
The collars began tightening.
The young pirate boy emerged from the lower stairs.
He grabbed his throat.
Across the enemy ship, his sister screamed as her own collar tightened with his.
Paired mechanisms.
Punishment shared between two people.
Garven lowered the whistle.
"Return my crew."
Eullian's rage sharpened.
"Release the collars."
"No."
"They surrendered."
"They belonged to the pack before they surrendered."
"They don't belong to you."
"They were given to me."
"By scared people."
"Still given."
The young pirate collapsed.
His face darkened as the collar compressed his airway.
Hijo's fingers moved toward the metal.
Tallen shouted, "Do not cut it!"
Hijo stopped.
"Pressure trigger?"
"I see a glass chamber inside the lock."
Captain Cube laughed below deck.
"Acid."
Tallen looked through the broken remains of his lens.
"Two chambers. If the collar opens incorrectly, they combine."
Hijo placed his fingers against the boy's neck without touching the mechanism.
"I cannot cut it safely before he loses consciousness."
Mira looked toward Garven.
"The whistle transmits a command?"
"Sound or vibration," Tallen said.
"Can you block it?"
"Not after activation."
Eullian looked across the water.
Garven's sister-hostage stood beside him.
No.
Not Garven's.
The boy's sister.
Garven had placed her where everyone could see.
A shield made from relationship.
Garven raised the whistle again.
"Return every surrendered pirate. Transfer the evidence. Give me Captain Cube."
Eullian stepped onto the rail.
Mira caught his arm.
"We still have enemy crew aboard."
"They're dying."
"And Garven expects you to jump."
"Yes."
"He will use the hostages."
"Yes."
"You cannot punch the whistle without crossing his deck."
"Yes."
Mira stared at him.
"You are not listening."
"I am."
"Then do not act alone."
Eullian looked toward Hijo.
The killer knelt beside the choking boy.
Toward Tallen.
The liar measured distance with a broken lens.
Toward Mira.
The navigator held a ship that was taking water and still found enough attention to stop him.
He climbed down from the railing.
"What is the plan?"
Garven raised an eyebrow across the distance.
He had expected Eullian to jump.
Tallen spoke quickly.
"The whistle produces a specific frequency. The collars react to it."
"Can you copy it?" Hijo asked.
"Possibly."
"Can you reverse the mechanism?"
"I do not know."
"Then do not pretend."
"I wasn't."
Mira looked toward the ship's signaling horns.
"We have three brass fog horns."
Tallen followed her gaze.
"The largest may reproduce the lower part of the whistle's frequency."
"What does that do?" Eullian asked.
"It may confuse the collar."
"May?"
"Yes."
The boy stopped breathing.
Hijo lifted one hand.
"I have less than one minute."
Tallen ran toward the signal cabinet.
He removed the largest brass horn.
Mira pulled a measuring pendulum from the navigation shelf.
"What are you doing?" Eullian asked.
"Pendulum Point gave us tide instruments."
"That does not answer me."
"I'm measuring the horn's vibration."
Tallen struck the side lightly.
The metal hummed.
Mira watched the hanging weight.
"Too low."
Tallen adjusted the horn's sliding collar.
He struck it again.
"Closer."
Garven blew his whistle a second time.
The prisoners' collars tightened farther.
Hijo pressed two fingers against the boy's chest.
His heartbeat weakened.
Eullian's hands closed.
"Hurry."
"Do not add pressure," Mira said.
"I'm not."
"You are shaking the deck."
Eullian looked down.
Cracks had formed beneath his feet.
He stepped onto an undamaged section.
"Sorry."
Tallen adjusted the horn again.
He blew.
A deep, ugly note crossed the deck.
Nothing happened.
Garven laughed.
"You cannot persuade a collar."
Tallen changed the length by half an inch.
Blew again.
The collar around the boy's neck clicked.
Not open.
Looser.
Hijo immediately pulled air into the boy's lungs by pressing and releasing his chest.
The other surrendered pirates gasped.
Across Garven's deck, the sister's collar loosened too.
Garven's smile disappeared.
Tallen looked toward Eullian.
"The lie is stronger."
Garven raised the whistle.
Tallen fired.
The distance was extreme.
The wind moved northeast.
The Civic Mercy rolled beneath him.
His lens was broken.
His cheek bled.
The honest answer was that the shot might miss.
Tallen fired anyway.
The steel bolt crossed the water.
Garven moved his head.
The bolt missed his face.
It struck the metal whistle's chain.
The whistle flew from his neck.
Eullian jumped.
Mira did not stop him.
This time, the ship was ready.
Hijo's threads wrapped around Eullian's waist—not to prevent him from leaving, but to pull him back if Garven dropped him into the sea.
Tallen fired a rope bolt toward the enemy mast.
It buried itself beside the hostages.
Mira turned the Civic Mercy slightly, shortening the distance between ships.
The combined support carried Eullian farther than his jump alone.
He landed on Garven's iron-plated bow.
The entire structure cracked.
Garven remained standing.
The Red Dog captain smiled.
"You finally left your crew."
"No."
Eullian looked back.
Hijo's white threads connected him to the Civic Mercy.
Tallen's rope crossed above the water.
Mira held their ship in position.
"They came with me."
Garven swung his right gauntlet.
The hooked metal struck Eullian's forearm.
Four blades opened his skin.
Eullian punched.
Garven crossed both gauntlets.
The impact drove him backward through the forward rail.
He remained on his feet.
Eullian stared.
Garven was not as strong as him.
He was far stronger than Vask, Nella, or Brask.
Garven shook feeling back into his arms.
"You expected one hit."
"Usually works."
"That is why you remain careless."
Garven pulled both hands apart.
Thin red chains extended from the hooked gauntlets.
The hooks embedded in the deck around Eullian.
Garven crossed the chains.
They wrapped Eullian's arms and torso.
Metal teeth bit into his wounds.
Garven pulled.
Eullian was forced to one knee.
"The strongest person on a crew is usually the easiest to control," Garven said.
"Why?"
"Because everyone tells them they must carry the others."
He tightened the chains.
"You fear failing them."
Eullian's muscles tensed.
"Yes."
"You fear arriving too late."
"Yes."
"You fear choosing incorrectly."
"Yes."
Garven leaned closer.
"Then I place lives on every side and wait for your strength to tear you apart."
Eullian looked toward the lower deck.
Dozens of prisoners stood behind barred openings.
Men.
Women.
Children.
Relatives of Red Dog crew members.
Some had remained there for years.
Garven noticed where he looked.
"Hit me," he said.
"The chains attached to my gauntlets run through the lower cells."
Eullian became still.
"If you pull too hard, the cell supports collapse."
Garven smiled.
"If you throw me overboard, half the prisoners follow."
"You built your ship around hostages."
"I built a crew that cannot abandon itself."
"That isn't a crew."
"It is permanent."
Eullian's rage moved through him.
Garven expected anger to become force.
Force to become collapse.
Collapse to kill the prisoners.
Game over.
Eullian opened his hands.
He stopped pulling.
Garven's smile widened.
"Peace made you weak."
"No."
Hijo's voice crossed from the Civic Mercy.
"It made him wait."
White threads traveled along Tallen's rope line.
They reached Garven's mast.
Then spread across the enemy ship.
Hijo closed his eyes.
Every vibration returned through the threads.
Chains beneath the deck.
Cell doors.
Support beams.
Prisoners breathing.
Crew members moving.
"The hostage chains do not connect directly to Garven," Hijo said.
Garven's eyes shifted.
"They pass through three locking drums beneath the bow."
Tallen aimed toward the deck.
"I cannot see them."
"You do not need to."
Hijo moved one finger.
His thread vibrated against the exact points.
"Three targets."
Tallen fired the first armor-piercing needle.
It entered the deck near Eullian's left foot.
Garven laughed.
"He missed."
Hijo said, "Again."
The second needle entered beside the right chain.
Tallen had only carried one armor-piercing round when boarding.
He had constructed the second during the night using a hardened compass pin and a steel signal bolt.
He fired it now.
Below deck, the first locking drum shattered.
One hostage chain went slack.
Mira shouted from the Civic Mercy.
"Starboard ship returning!"
The damaged boarding vessel had repaired enough rigging to approach again.
Mira turned their bow.
Two working cannons faced it.
Renn and the fishermen loaded the first.
Mira measured distance.
"Fire low!"
The cannon fired.
The ball struck the water ahead of the boarding ship.
The splash obscured its view.
The second Civic Mercy cannon fired through the spray.
Its ball struck the enemy rudder.
Wood exploded.
The ship turned uncontrollably away.
Mira looked toward Renn.
"That was your idea?"
He held Eullian's blackened pan over one ear.
"I used to fish."
"That does not explain cannon accuracy."
"Fish move."
Mira accepted this.
On Garven's ship, Hijo marked the second hidden drum.
Tallen had no more armor-piercing ammunition.
Eullian remained chained.
Garven leaned over him.
"Your shooter is empty."
Tallen loaded a blunt round.
Hijo adjusted the thread marker.
"The deck above the second drum is weakened."
Tallen fired.
The blunt bolt struck an iron support instead of piercing it.
The force traveled downward.
The weakened deck split.
The second locking drum tore loose.
Another hostage chain fell slack.
Garven pulled the remaining chain.
The third drum held.
The cells beneath them groaned.
A child screamed.
Eullian's rage sharpened farther.
Not into greater power.
Into understanding.
Garven was watching Hijo.
Watching Tallen.
He had stopped watching Eullian's hands.
Eullian grabbed the red chain close to his chest.
He did not pull against Garven.
He pushed toward him.
The chain lost tension.
Garven's arms moved forward unexpectedly.
Eullian rose.
He stepped inside the hooked gauntlets.
Then placed one hand against Garven's chest.
"You use people like ropes."
Garven tried to retreat.
Eullian moved with him, keeping the chain loose.
"You think relationships are strongest when they can't escape."
Garven drove one gauntlet into Eullian's ribs.
The hooks reopened Hijo's stitches.
Eullian did not strike.
He wrapped both arms around Garven.
A hug.
Garven froze from pure confusion.
"What are you doing?"
"Keeping you close."
"This is not combat."
"It hurts."
Eullian tightened his arms.
Garven's ribs creaked.
The chains remained slack.
The third hostage drum did not move.
Hijo understood.
"Eullian, three steps port."
Eullian moved left while holding Garven.
The captain struggled.
He drove his forehead into Eullian's face.
Blood ran from Eullian's nose.
"Two steps forward," Hijo said.
Eullian obeyed.
Tallen adjusted his aim.
Garven realized.
"No."
The final locking drum now rested directly beneath them.
Hijo's marker thread vibrated beside Eullian's foot.
Eullian lifted Garven.
Not to throw him.
He slammed him straight downward.
The deck broke beneath both men.
They fell into the mechanism room.
Garven's back struck the third locking drum.
Iron shattered.
Every hostage chain went slack.
Cell doors opened throughout the lower ship.
The Red Dog captain lay inside the wrecked mechanism.
Eullian landed above him.
Garven coughed blood.
"You used me."
"Yes."
"You endangered the prisoners."
"Yes."
"You could have crushed them."
"Yes."
Garven stared.
Eullian's voice remained honest.
"I was scared."
"That is your defense?"
"No."
Eullian raised one fist.
"It's why I listened."
Garven reached for his whistle.
It no longer hung around his neck.
The boy's sister stood at the edge of the broken deck.
She held it.
Garven looked at her.
"You belong to the pack."
She dropped the whistle.
"No."
Garven's crew began removing their collars.
Some helped open cells.
Others kept weapons raised.
Years of fear did not become trust in one moment.
Several pirates still chose Garven.
One charged Eullian from behind.
Hijo's thread caught the attacker's blade.
Tallen's blunt shot struck his knee.
Mira brought the Civic Mercy alongside the enemy ship.
"Anyone who wants off Garven's vessel boards now!" she shouted.
Garven laughed from the floor.
"You cannot carry them all."
Mira looked toward the packed lower cells.
He was right.
The Civic Mercy was damaged.
Already overloaded.
Taking every prisoner aboard could sink it.
Garven's smile returned.
"A ship is a measurement," he said. "Mercy has weight."
Mira's expression tightened.
This was Aldren's argument wearing pirate clothing.
Resources ended.
Space ended.
Food ended.
Good intentions did not change displacement.
Eullian looked toward the two boarding ships.
One drifted without a rudder.
The other remained caught in damaged rigging.
"They have ships."
Mira followed his gaze.
Hijo understood next.
"Take Garven's fleet."
Several Red Dog Pirates raised weapons.
The sister holding the whistle looked around.
"These ships belong to him."
Eullian climbed from the broken mechanism.
"No."
He pointed toward the crew members wearing scars from collars.
"They belong to everyone who was forced to keep them moving."
Garven attempted to stand.
Eullian pushed him back down with one foot.
"Stay."
"You are stealing my fleet."
"I'm redistributing transportation."
Mira looked at him.
"That is still stealing."
"From him."
"That makes it emotionally satisfying, not legally different."
"Can we discuss paper later?"
"Yes."
The freed prisoners divided between the three Red Dog ships.
Not perfectly.
Families searched for one another.
Some captives discovered that relatives had died years earlier.
Some crew members refused freedom because Garven's rules had become the only structure they understood.
Others attacked the remaining officers.
Hijo moved between them.
"Stop!"
Few listened.
He opened the white book.
Then tore out a blank page.
The sound caught more attention than shouting.
"I have killed people because I believed one violent answer would prevent another."
The deck quieted gradually.
"It did not."
A former Red Dog officer pointed toward Garven.
"He'll come back."
"Possibly."
"Then kill him."
"No."
Several people shouted.
Hijo did not raise his voice.
"Garven built power by forcing people to decide who deserved sacrifice."
He looked toward the prisoners.
"If we kill everyone who served him, we continue his method."
"He murdered our families!"
"Then record every name."
Mira stepped aboard carrying the Open Ledger.
"Every kidnapping. Every ship. Every island. Every officer who enforced the collars."
A woman raised a broken chain.
"Paper will not punish him."
"No," Mira said. "People will."
"How?"
"Courts where possible. Testimony where courts fail. Copies sent to ports that purchased prisoners. Names sent to families. Rewards offered for missing captives. His ships used to return people home."
Garven laughed weakly.
"You think truth will turn pirates into witnesses?"
Tallen stepped onto the broken bow.
"No."
He looked at the frightened former crew.
"I think many of you will lie."
Several faces hardened.
"You will hide what you did to survive. Some will blame Garven for choices that were partly yours. Some will pretend you resisted sooner than you did."
Tallen's honesty cut through them.
Mira watched him carefully.
Tallen continued.
"And some lies may be necessary while we move children away from people who still want control."
That surprised everyone.
Including him.
He lifted his weapon.
"So here is mine."
Tallen looked across all three ships.
"The Red Dog Pirates are finished."
Garven smiled.
"You cannot know that."
"No."
"Half my officers remain."
"For now."
"My buyers will replace these ships."
"Then we sink those too."
"You are not strong enough."
Tallen's hand tightened around the weapon.
"I intend to become strong enough to support the statement."
Eullian climbed onto the damaged rail.
"Red Dog Pirates!"
The name made the freed prisoners flinch.
Eullian pointed toward Garven.
"Anyone who keeps serving him fights us."
Then toward the open sea.
"Anyone who wants to leave gets a ship, food divided fairly, and a route home."
Mira looked sharply at him.
"We have not calculated the food."
"Calculate quickly."
"That is not how calculation works."
"It is now."
Renn climbed aboard carrying the burned pan.
"Peace Crew!"
Eullian turned.
"What?"
Renn lifted the pan.
"That is what they called you."
Several former pirates looked toward Eullian.
"Peace Crew," someone repeated.
Another laughed bitterly.
"You don't even have a real flag."
Eullian looked toward Mira.
"Do we need one?"
"Eventually."
Hijo closed his white book.
"We still have not agreed that this is a crew."
Tallen reloaded.
"I agreed to temporary travel."
Mira pointed toward the damaged ships.
"This is currently an evacuation operation."
Renn banged the pan against the railing.
The sound carried across the fleet.
"THE PEACE CREW BEAT THE RED DOG PIRATES!"
Eullian smiled.
"That sounds official."
"It is not," Mira said.
The freed prisoners began repeating it.
Not because the name was perfect.
Because they needed a name for the people who had refused to choose one life to discard.
**Peace Crew.**
The words moved from one ship to the next.
Garven heard them.
His face twisted.
"You did not defeat my rule," he said.
Eullian looked down at him.
"What rule?"
"Every crew sacrifices someone eventually."
Eullian's smile faded.
Garven continued.
"Food becomes scarce. Ships become crowded. Enemies become stronger. One person becomes too injured to carry. One prisoner becomes too dangerous to keep."
His eyes moved toward Captain Cube aboard the Civic Mercy.
"You will choose."
Eullian did not deny it quickly.
That would have been easy.
Dishonest.
Maybe one day, there would be no good answer.
Maybe keeping everyone alive would become impossible.
Hijo watched him.
Mira waited.
Tallen listened for the lie Eullian might choose.
Eullian finally spoke.
"Maybe."
Garven smiled.
Then Eullian crouched.
"But you decided that possibility gave you permission to practice."
Garven's smile disappeared.
"You made sacrifice your first answer because you were afraid it might become the last."
Eullian looked toward the families leaving the lower cells.
"We might fail someday."
His voice remained steady.
"We might make the wrong choice."
He pointed toward Garven.
"But we won't become you early just to feel prepared."
Garven reached for a fallen hook.
Eullian struck him once.
Not with full strength.
Enough.
Garven's head hit the broken locking drum.
He became unconscious.
Silence followed.
Then Captain Cube's voice drifted from the Civic Mercy.
"That was disappointing."
Eullian looked toward the neighboring ship.
"You were listening?"
"The floor is thin."
Vask shouted, "Do not bring Garven near us!"
Captain Cube laughed.
"He is afraid of a man without a whistle."
"I'm afraid of all of you!"
Tallen looked toward Mira.
"What now?"
Mira surveyed the damage.
The Civic Mercy had a cracked hull, broken railing, wounded mast, and too many people aboard.
The port Red Dog ship had lost part of its rigging.
The starboard vessel had no functioning rudder.
Garven's flagship remained seaworthy but contained damaged lower supports.
"We repair enough to remain afloat," she said. "Then divide the passengers by weight, family group, medical need, and destination."
Eullian raised his hand.
"Food?"
"Counted before divided."
"Beds?"
"Children and injured first."
"Prisoners?"
"Garven stays aboard his own flagship under guard. His loyal officers remain separated."
"Captain Cube?"
"Still beneath our kitchen."
Eullian sighed.
"That kitchen has too many problems."
Hijo looked toward the captured Red Dog crew.
"Some will attempt to free Garven."
Tallen nodded.
"Some will attempt to kill him."
Mira opened the Ledger.
"Then we record guards in rotating groups so no single faction controls access."
Eullian looked around.
Everyone had an answer.
Not a perfect one.
Enough to begin.
The battle had ended before noon.
Its consequences lasted through the night.
Hijo treated wounds belonging to allies and enemies without asking which side caused them.
Mira recorded the names of one hundred and thirty-seven prisoners recovered from the Red Dog ships.
Thirty-nine were children.
Fifty-two had family members forced into Garven's crew.
Fourteen had served willingly and later attempted to leave.
Eight had become officers and participated directly in kidnapping others.
Twenty-four refused to speak.
Tallen wrote every number twice.
Then he wrote his protective lie across the top of the page:
# **THE RED DOG PIRATES ARE FINISHED.**
Below it, he listed everything that still had to become true.
Garven's buyers needed identification.
The collar workshops needed to be found.
Missing prisoners needed to be traced.
The three ships needed new command.
Former crew members needed trials, protection, or both.
The families needed food.
The Red Dog flag needed to disappear from every harbor where fear still answered to it.
The lie was enormous.
That meant Tallen would need enormous strength.
Near midnight, Eullian sat on the Civic Mercy's bow while Hijo repaired the cuts left by Garven's hooks.
Eullian clenched his teeth.
"You could be gentler."
"I am using a smaller needle."
"It feels larger."
"That is fear."
"I recently fought three pirate ships."
"Yes."
"This is worse."
"Yes."
Mira approached carrying a rolled piece of red cloth.
She dropped it beside him.
The Red Dog flag.
The dog's mouth still held the broken Marine saber.
"What do we do with it?" she asked.
"Burn it," Eullian said.
Tallen shook his head.
"Record it first."
Hijo tied the final stitch.
"Keep part as evidence."
Renn lifted the blackened pan.
"We could use the rest as a cooking cloth."
Mira stared at him.
"No."
Eullian picked up the flag.
He tore away the dog's head.
Then looked at the remaining red fabric.
"We need a flag."
Mira became suspicious.
"No refrigerators."
"I wasn't going to use one."
"You were thinking about it."
"Only briefly."
Tallen sat beside him.
"What represents peace?"
"A sleeping person," Eullian said.
"That would resemble surrender."
"Food?"
"That would resemble a restaurant."
"A fist?"
Hijo looked at him.
"That would misrepresent the stated goal."
Eullian examined the torn flag.
Then placed his bloody palm against the blank red cloth.
A handprint remained.
Mira looked at it.
"What does that mean?"
Eullian spread his fingers.
"A hand can hit."
"Yes," Hijo said.
"It can also pull someone up."
Mira studied the print.
"It can write."
Tallen looked at his trigger hand.
"It can aim."
Renn raised the pan.
"It can cook."
Everyone stared at him.
"Poorly," Mira said.
Eullian smiled.
"Then a hand."
Mira removed a piece of white sailcloth.
She placed it beneath the red handprint.
Hijo used thread to stitch the edges.
Tallen measured the center so the symbol would hang evenly.
None of them called it a crew flag.
Not officially.
At sunrise, the repaired Civic Mercy raised it above the mast.
A red hand against white cloth.
The three captured ships followed.
From a distance, it could have looked like blood.
Or a warning.
Or someone reaching outward.
The interpretation depended upon who saw it.
Garven Redd woke beneath guard and looked through the cell bars toward the flag.
"You replaced my dog with a hand."
Eullian stood outside.
"Yes."
"Hands also close into fists."
"Yes."
"So your peace remains violence."
"Sometimes."
Garven smiled.
"You admit it."
Eullian looked toward the freed prisoners eating breakfast across the deck.
"Peace isn't pretending fists don't exist."
His hand opened against the railing.
"It is making sure people have another choice before one closes."
Garven leaned back inside the cell.
"You will become tired."
"Yes."
"Your crew will betray you."
"Maybe."
"Your liar will fail."
"Yes."
"Your killer will kill."
"Yes."
"Your navigator will choose who gets space on a crowded ship."
"Yes."
Garven waited for Eullian to sound frightened.
Eullian was frightened.
He did not hide it.
"But today," Eullian said, "we kept everyone."
Garven looked away.
That was the truth he could not answer.
The four ships sailed east together.
The Red Dog Pirates no longer commanded them.
The Peace Crew did not truly command them either.
Not yet.
Each vessel carried a temporary council formed from former prisoners, unwilling crew members, fishermen, and people who did not trust one another.
It was slow.
Noisy.
Uncertain.
Arguments began before breakfast.
One former officer demanded authority because he knew the sails.
A freed prisoner tried to stab him.
Hijo stopped the knife.
Mira created duty lists.
Tallen announced that three people were stealing food.
Eullian made them return it, then doubled their portions after learning they had hidden children below deck.
The solution satisfied no one completely.
That was how they knew it might be fair.
At the front of the small fleet, the Civic Mercy carried a damaged crew beneath a newly stitched flag.
Eullian wanted to keep peace until death.
Hijo searched for answers before killing.
Mira began recording a fleet no government or pirate captain owned.
Tallen loaded another bolt behind his promise.
The Red Dog Pirates had challenged them to choose one person who mattered least.
The Peace Crew had answered incorrectly.
They had chosen everyone.
It was inefficient.
Dangerous.
Expensive.
Nearly impossible.
It was also the first decision they had made together that none of them tried to call temporary.