[Stalliongrad] The Freedom Wing Pirates [Closed]

[Xiee]

[[ OOC: We still have positions available for crew members. If you're interested please visit this thread: http://www.canterlot...project-revamp/ ]]

Another swish of the mop on the deck cleared out the last specks of dirt and grime. The crew had been busy loading supplies and spare parts for the ship in the past hour. Grandya had just finished taking note of their stock and was about to report to the Captain until she found the top deck in bad shape. With the rest of the crew busy there was no one to mop the deck. She took it upon herself as she hauled a bucket from down below and started mopping.

The ship had just docked at the famous Ostrov air docks a few hours ago for maintenance and to gather fresh supplies. The bustling city was a testament not only to Pony kind but to other races as well. Griffons, Buffaloes, Zebras and even Diamond Dogs called the city home. It was the perfect place for the Freedom Wing to stop and pick up more hopeful crew members who were willing to join.

It was just about time for lunch and Grandya couldn't help think what their crazy Diamond Dog chef was cooking up this time. Last time she almost swallowed a small Ruby that was in her Tomato soup. Gravy said it would bring out the flavor but Grandya couldn't just see the logic behind putting gems in food to improve their taste. She'd complain to the Captain but she would just shrug it off and laugh.

Done with the mopping she put it aside and made her way to the Captain's cabin.

"Everything's in order Capt'n." She said as she entered the cabin. "Our supply hold is almost filled but we're still going to need a new engineer. I've got to go down to the city later and ask around the taverns to see if anypony is willing to join our crew."

[QuickLime]

GangPlank glanced up from his reading, the book hovering in front of the unicorn captain's sunglass wearing eyes. "Oh yeah? That's wonderful I knew I could count on you" He smiled closing the book and having it levatate back into place before adjusting one of his arm bands heading back up on deck and rested his hooves gingerly over the edge of their beloved ship, rubbing the polished wood affectionately "Only the best engineer will do for my baby girl...I just can't keep up with tending to her and deal with Captain-ly Duties..." He muttered pushing his sunglasses up and closed his eyes, a gentle breeze ruffling his short brown mane "Mhm it's a good day to sail the skies Grandie..."

There was a sneeze from below deck as the pail pegasus emerged from the medical wing of the ship, black mane slicked back and eyes narrowed with a serious expression "Captain..ze medical bay eis fully stocked...ACHOO" He shot The Gryphon first mate a slightly dirty look..why did she have to be a gryphon? Why couldn't she have been a Dog like the Chef!? He liked their Chef Gravy he was NOT covered in FEATHERS!

[RarityDash]

Starless Shroud gave a sharp grunt as she pushed a crate of supplies into place in line with several others. She had been doing her part to load the Freedom Wing for a little over an hour now, and it was beginning to get to her, if only just a little. Not that she'd complain or let it show. She was too tough for that. She wasn't going to give these soft, second rate pirates a chance to see even a shred of weakness from her. Besides, this sort of annoying manual labor was exactly what she had been hired for. She didn't have a specialized job like cook, engineer or navigator; she was just extra muscle. It wasn't fun, but it was at least something.

It hadn't been long since she had joined the Freedom Wing. In fact, she had yet to even sail with the crew since they welcomed her onboard. She wasn't exactly looking forward to it, but it was better than staying on the ground where she might get caught and thrown behind bars like her father. No, Freedom Wing was going to be for her, just what it said on the label: a set of wings that would take her to freedom. She just had to suck up to and endure these fools so that she didn't end up blowing this chance.

As she finished with her crate, she looked back to see it was the last one she had to move. She sighed. What a relief. She moved toward the captain's cabin and stopped to listened in to a conversation nearby between the captain and first mate. Apparently they would be hiring a new engineer. Interesting. Starless supposed she'd at least have seniority over somepony on the crew. That could be nice. She could hear the medic call up from below shortly after that.

She took a moment to consider these three for a moment. Captain GangPlank still kind of baffled her; he seemed soft and inexperienced, not really cut out for the job. The first mate, Grandya Silentalon, seemed more suited to the pirate's life, but Starless didn't really care for her much either. She was too quiet, too terse, too hard to read. As for the Medic, Medical Medley, she didn't really have anything against him, but she hadn't really notice him much yet either.

Starless approached the cabin, and made her presence known. "The parts and supplies have all been moved onboard, Captain, Sir," she announced as straight forwardly as possibly. "Any other orders?"

[Snowshoe]

Kaskazini loved Equestria.

He hated Stalliongrad.

It was cold. Way too cold. He was used to the fact Equestria was colder than his native Unyasi by now, but by Celestia (as the ponies would say) it was freezing here! He emerged from the cabin, a striped yellow and red wool cap on his head (a gift from his mother) and a red scarf tied tight around the zebra's neck. "S'colder den when ya accidentally drop de ice cube on ya tryin' ta take a drink." Kaskazini said, shaking his head. He had no real good metaphor for how cold it really was to him. He loved the ship, loved to sail, loved his job, and the Captain was a great old friend, but...the cold!

"An' why ya pick'n dis spot again, Cap'n? Ya got somet'in' 'gaisn't feelin' warm?" he asked. Thankfully his teeth weren't chattering, or Kas' fast, heavily-accented speech would be practically incomprehensible.

"Goin' ta freeze to da deck, an' den ya gunna have ta run out ta me ta find out were we be! But aye, ya be right. Be a nice day ta be sailin' the skies." he said, trotting up to the edge of the railing and looking over with a smile. Kas loved flying, much as he complained about the weather. And he knew that wherever the Freewing flew, adventure was either ahead, or on their tail...often, both.

Kaskazini stopped to take in a breath, smiling. If there's one thing he liked about Stalliongrad was the air...the cooler air felt cleaner some how, and he always felt invigorated after spending some time in the area. After a moment he tapped a hoof idly against the railing.

"Should I get ta startin' on gettin' us a route? Ya even got a plan for where we we be goin'?" he asked GangPlank with a smile. It didn't matter where in Equestria it was, from Stalliongrad to Fillydelphia, Hoofington to Appleloosa, Kas could get them there in record time...or nice, quiet, and unseen, depending on the circumstances. He reached a hoof up and adjusted the cap a little, not caring that it was a bit ridiculous, especially with the little pom-pom on the top (to make it easier to take off, his mother had said).

[Corsair]

Gravy paced impatiently on the airship dock. He, too, hated Stalliongrad, but for completely different reasons than their zebra navigator. It wasn't really the city itself that was the problem; Stalliongrad was rather welcoming of non-ponies, and it was one of the best pony cities to get the supplies he needed. It was the fact that the city was only a few miles away from where his old pack was denned, and he could still do nothing. Too many bad memories came from being this close.

The diamond dog looked into the sky, waiting for his delivery. Due to the large griffin population, Stalliongrad was one of the few pony cities where you could get actual meat. He and the first officer had been eating nothing but, ugh, pony food for the last week. While griffins and dogs needed fruits and vegetables too, eating only those wasn't healthy. Not to mention that neither species could eat hay like equines could.

Gravy finally spotted an awkward golden shape winging its way toward the docks. The griffin butcher was pulling a cart though the air, filled with Gravy's order. The avian came to a landing, and began unstrapping himself from the cart. The griffin on all fours was eye-to-eye with the short dog. "You're Gravy? That'll be 150 bits for the order and 15 for the delivery," the griffin said, brusquely.

Gravy approached the cart, eying the packages wrapped in white paper. He inhaled deeply through his nose, and his face became angry. "You think Gravy stupid?" he growled.

The griffin looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Gravy rounded on the butcher. "Gravy order fresh, this is two days old. Gravy order only half of meat salted, at least 2/3 of this meat salted."

The griffin butcher's eyes widened at that. "You can tell that from the smell?" he said, unwittingly giving himself away.

Gravy allowed himself a bit of a grin. "Bird take 40 bits off and make delivery free, Gravy forget you try to rip him off."

The griffin grumbled to himself, but agreed to the lower price. Gravy loaded all of the wrapped meats into a large sack and hoisted it over his shoulder. He'd have gotten one of the deck crew to take it below deck, but many of them were reluctant to even handle wrapped meats.

After a few moments, Gravy re-emerged onto the deck. He noted several of the crew clustered around the captain. Hopefully they were making plans for departure, but the diamond dog knew they still needed a few new crew members before they could take off. He sighed, and in doing so took in a deep breath of the air. Even here in a pony city, the air in the north smelled like home... He turned toward where he knew the pack's den was, and unconsciously thumbed the diamond in his ear. Someday...

Shaking himself out of his memories, he decided he'd better start planning menu for the next couple of days on the ground. But since he'd just gotten his delivery, he decided to have a bit of fun with the rest of the crew. "Grandya!" he called out to the first officer. "Gravy has fresh meat! You want make ponies run out of the galley tonight?"

[Xiee]

It seems that the crew was eager to cast off so soon. But first things first, a new engineer was needed and the Captain needed to decide where they were going next. Perhaps the Captain was considering searching for that rumored abandoned Dragon hoard near the mountains of Aquelia or chase some rumor of buried Pegasi Treasure near Cloudsdayle. Whatever the Captain decided, Grandya followed to the letter.

Out of nowhere the familiar rusty voice of Gravy, the ship's cook, calls her name. Now what did the mut want?

"Gravy has fresh meat! You want make ponies run out of the galley tonight?"

The last time she had meat was when she was with her mother about 2 months ago when she helped work at their meat shop in Kuznitza. She helped hunt and brought in game from around Stalliongrad. It was hard to hunt in all the snow especially when everything was white. White Rabbits, White Rats, White everything.

"You should have told me you were buying some meat." She sighed. "My mother runs a Meat shop at Kuznitza, and I bet she would give you some of the meat for free since she knows its for our crew."

Grandya's mother knew that she was now working with Gang Plank's crew and offered to send free meat. Grandya only declined because at the time, she wasn't sure if she was the only carnivore in the crew. And besides, she had grown accustomed to eating Pony food like Apples, Carrots, Cabbage, Tomatoes, and other fruits and vegetables. The only thing she couldn't stand was hay. She wondered how Ponies could bear such a disgusting thing.

"Make sure you roast mine. Medium rare." She said as she threw back a serious look at Gravy.

[QuickLime]

GangPlank blinked feeling mildly mobbed for the moment by the crew that he was growing very fond of "Eye eye eye one at a time my lovies" He teased sighing "Okay now first come first served..." He muttered looking at Shroud, giving her his best smile "Nay Shroud you've done yer part, why don't you go relax while we get everything else sorted hn?" She was new and interesting, he could tell she didn't know what to make of them quite yet though...

"Not yet Kas" He said and chuckled, shaking his head, the Zebra had never changed not a day from their first meeting"And I have NOTHING against being warm! This is just one of the best places to get supplies, we'll start a course once we've got an Engineer under our belt, I can't afford the time to take care of my baby the way I used to..."

He groaned then hearing Gravy "Gravy now now" he huffed smirking moving to take some bits out of his vest pocket and tossed it to the Diamond Dog " Here to reemburst you for it.. now don't go taunting ponies " He smirked, he had no issue with them eating meat just hoping they'd respect his desire to not eat it which Gravy did! Gravy did a wonderful job at keeping the crew fed and his food was amazing..when you didn't accidentally bite a ruby.

Medic glanced at the Zebra and scoffed "You think ZIS is Cold? Germaney was cold zis is like a day on ze beac CHOOO!" He grimaced sneezing again rubbing his nose "Grandya..do you have to be coovered in so many feazers?" he muttered, though to be fair since he could set off his own allergies..."I am going below deck" He added heading down the stairs to go to his medical wing and to once again double check their supplies, heaven forbid they run out.

[RarityDash]

Starless nodded to the captain and gave a small shrug. "Aye, Captain," she said in a low voice before shifting off.

As she did, her eyes met with the rest of the crew. The zebra navigator--what was his name again? Zebra always had such unusual names; they were all but impossible to learn, and Starless didn't care enough to exhaust much energy on it--he was easily the most respectable of the crew in Starless' eyes. He seemed like he actually fit on a pirate ship and he was easier to talk to than the griffon, even with the goofy accent. Gravy, the diamond dog cook, was pretty hard to bear. Just the way he spoke made him sound dim; it got grating in larger doses. Often Starless found herself questioning if she should really eat the foods prepared by such a character.

All together, her opinion of the lot of them wasn't very high. But why should it be? She was Starless Shroud, Beakbreak's untouchable ace thief. This ramshackle crew hardly knew what they had gotten their grimy little hooves on when they had taken her onboard. She was quite eager to prove just how much these fools needed her. For now, the shifty mare just adjusted her hat and strode over to a corner of the deck to sit for a while until next she was needed.

[Snowshoe]

Kas nodded at what GangPlank said, the pom-pom on top of his knitted hat bouncing a little as he did. "Fair 'nough, Cap'n. It's a nice place here, not complainin' about dat, but it's goin' ta take some time for me ta get used to it." he admitted. Especially if they were going to continue to come up to Stalliongrad for supplies every time. Oh well, at least the countryside was nice to look at, and the ponies in town were even easier to con into buying his stuff...this far North, few had ever seen a Zebra, let alone know a single thing about them. It did get him a few odd looks in town, but if he kept up the act, he could usually walk away with a few pieces sold and a good number of bits in his name.

"Well if Germaney be colder den dis I don't want ta be anywhere near it. An' speakin' a colds, ya should probably be gettin' on de restin'. Can't have de ship's doctor needin' one!" Kas pointed out with a laugh. He looked over as Starless leaned against the railing not too far away. He didn't know too much about her, but perhaps that was because he didn't talk to her much.

Kas then looked at the griffon and the diamond dog, discussing meat. He laughed, shaking his head. "Ya just be keepin' dat stuff away, an' we be good. Don't get how ya can eat dat kinda stuff." he mused, shrugging. It was a pony thing, he figured, not understanding how one could eat meat.

[Xiee]

Grandya let out a small grin as Kas complained about the meat. It always amused her how Equines cringed at the sight of meat. It can't be helped as they were purely herbivores. Nevertheless, she was always polite enough to eat on her own when it involved meat. She would only join them if there were only pony foodstuffs in the mess. Much as she missed eating meat, pony food wasn't that bad either. Living in Stalliongrad somehow made her open-minded as she sampled some of the foods these Ponies had. One particular dish that had become a personal favorite of her's was Borscht. A vegetable stew mixed with cabbage, carrorts, potatoes and other spices slowly cooked into a thick tomato paste-like soup. It tasted great while dipping bread onto it and topping it off with fresh whip cream. She had hoped that Gravy had learned to cook this during their stay in Stalliongrad, otherwise she would have to cook it herself.

Looking at poor Medic, who's sneezing didn't stop, she just smiled at the pony and left the company of the others.

"Excuse me Captain..." she stood in attention. "I take my leave. If there is anything else you need please call for me."

She hovered to the bow of the ship and began to look her around the Ostrov air dock. Busy ponies, zebras, griffons, buffaloes and the occasional young dragon all went their own way. She could probably pick up a suitable engineer from the bunch if she'd ask around. But before she could leave, she needed the Captain's approval and she was busy talking with the crew for the moment.

[Bannhammer]

A loud slam could be heard as the door to the lower decks was flung open by a rather large stallion. Martel Von Starkhuf looked around, sizing up each of the ponies as he made his way down towards the bow. It seemed a merry band of misfits he'd been hired to join, but if his job was to keep them all from getting their tails handed to them, then he'd do it. Normally he stayed as far away as possible from air ships, mostly because he found the prospect of flying high above the air with nothing but metal to keep you from plummeting back down a bit unnerving. Alas, the last thing Martel could afford was fear, lest it be shown to the rest of the crew.

His metal hoof clanked behind him as he trotted, the large hunk of steel secured only by a few errant springs and equally strained pieces of wood. The thick boards of the deck did their job, and not a one broke under the Von Starkhufs stomping. Finally, after a long, silent, trot, the mercenary arrived with the rest of the group. His stoic demeanor might have been a little off putting, especially when combined with his more than imposing figure and chain maille covering. Martel knew that these ponies had to at least respect him before they could even start to like him, and far before they would listen to him.

Some of the ponies were familiar, the captain was the one who hired him, and Martel distinctly remembered Grandya, seeing as how she was the one in charge of actually paying him. The others, however; were completely unknown to him, and he wanted to start off on the right hoof.

"Allo... he boomed, " I am sergeant at arms, pleased to be meeting all of you." He awkwardly offered a hoof to the group, more used to military-esque greetings, not these attempted pleasantries that left feeling more like an outcast than anything else. Hopefully they wouldn't be too off put by his appearances and style.

[QuickLime]

(MEDIC! YOUR HEAVY IS HERE)

[Corsair]

"You should have told me you were buying some meat. My mother runs a Meat shop at Kuznitza, and I bet she would give you some of the meat for free since she knows its for our crew."

"Bah, Kuznitza too far away," Gravy answered the griffin, but he did catch the coin purse tossed by the Captain. "Was better to get supplies while we on ground here." He smiled an overly-toothy grin at the Captain. "Aye Captain, Gravy leave ponies alone. But ponies should stay out of kitchen tonight anyway. Might smell bad." Gravy himself was nearly drooling thinking of those smells, but cooking meat tended to turn the stomachs of vegetarian ponies.

After hearing the zebra navigator complain about the cold, Gravy snorted. "Stripey pony think this cold?" he said with a laugh, "This is nice summer day in Stalliongrad! Gravy should go for a swim!" However, when Medical Medley trotted past, having another allergy attack, Gravy asked him in a low voice, "Doctor pony need hot soup? Make feel better?" Medic had probably saved Gravy's life when he and the Captain had found him, and he felt he owed the pegasus.

At that moment, the new sergeant-at-arms stomped up onto the deck. Prior to his exile, Gravy had always been told that ponies were weak, pathetic things. This pony was anything but. Even with one leg in a brace, the armored pony was obviously a fighter, and Gravy couldn't help but feel a bit intimidated. But no, Gravy wasn't the pack Omega anymore, he didn't have to feel intimidated by a new crew member, no matter how big the hammer he carried.

Turning to Martel, Gravy spoke up. "Name Gravy, Gravy is ship's cook. Making vegetable goulash for ponies tonight. New pony want some?"

[RarityDash]

Starless remained idle, not really paying much mind to the others for a while. None of them were paying her much mind, and she honestly favored it that way. She didn't really care to know these ponies. She was just using them because it was convenient to her. Who knows, there might also be some fair profits in this pirate game as well. She supposed she'd soon see how it fit her. If things went well, she was confident she'd be a feared pirate in no time at all. If it didn't suit her, she'd just disappear and move onto the next thing and no pony here would think to miss her.

Her attention was suddenly arrested by some loudness behind her. She turned to see a new pony arrive. This guy... he was something different. He was a large purple earth stallion with a long burgundy mane, walking on a braced leg. A powerful looking hammer was tied to him by a chain. He spoke loudly in a distinctly Germane accent. Starless had to smirk. Now this was the kind of guy she'd expect to see among a group of fearsome pirates. He was tough and intimidating, demanding a certain respect. The violet mare stepped toward her fellow earth pony.

"Heh. Good to have ya on board," she commented dryly. "Name's Starless Shroud. Another recent addition to this little crew of theirs. Don't have an official capacity onboard this ship, but I know a little about it all."

[Bannhammer]

The crew responded to his presence, and Martel simply nodded in response. Each of the ponies (and other creatures) present had their own air about them. A diamond dog, presumably the ship's cook, spoke of the fare for tonight. The mercenary hadn't seen too many of his kind, and when he did, their encounter normally ended in a violent manner. It was refreshing to see one who wouldn't try to claw his eyes out. Nodding slowly, the Germane spoke in his deep, rumbling voice.

"Sounds good, Kameraden. Maybe you will be adding some extra 'protein' in for ponies, ja? I am vegetarian as much as next pony, but what we don't know won't be hurting us..." The Germane winked and gave the canine companion a hearty slap on the back. Martel was used to eating 'loaded' slop, a mix of beans, wheat, and mashed up meats. Ponies didn't have the teeth to chew meat, so mushing it up and sticking into slop made it easy to eat and completely undetectable. The special diet, while abominable to others, served his purposes well.

He turned to face the other ponies present, and found himself being addressed by a small earth pony. She called herself Starless Shroud, and Martel found himself slightly impressed by her demeanor. He was far larger than her, yet she seemed neither intimidated or hesitant in any way. The Mercenary snorted loudly and extended a hoof towards her.

"Celestia segne euch heute und immer Frau Shroud. I am new here, but I am not new to my job. If I am not tracking ponies down, I am training them to defend themselves. By the time we set sail, you will strike fear into anypony against you."

Martel chuckled loudly and gave her a hard slap on the back. He opened his tunic a bit and revealed his chain maille. "Perhaps puny ponies could get armor as well, Ja? Would be making my job easier!" He gave another loud laugh before pulling back. The smile quickly faded from his face and a stern look took its place.

"Being blunt, the first lessons start tomorrow at Dawn. Everypony who is wiling to risk their lives, show up, everypony willing to lose their lives, do not attend." The mercenary paused, letting his message sink in before speaking plainly.

"Why are puny ponies so quiet?"

[QuickLime]

(-Squeeeee- Yep that's A Heavy alright )

[Snowshoe]

Kaskazini went to look over the railing for a moment, then heard a thunking that took him by surprise. The zebra looked over to see a pony that was absolutely the most intimidating creature he'd ever seen. He mumbled a few words in his native tongue, marvelling at the metal leg the pony had. Suddenly, everything felt more secure, like this one huge Earth pony was all the security they would ever need.

The wording of his training regimen really got to him a little. Risk their lives by showing up or lose them by not. Was there an option involving keeping his life? Like guaranteed? Oh well. Kas grinned a little.

"Maybe because ya be towerin' over us like de mountains. But good ta havin' ya on wit us. I'm Kaskazini, call me Kas, it be easier for de both of us." he added. The pony's thick accent would probably butcher the pronunciation, and heck, most ponies he knew couldn't pronounce his name even if they didn't have an accent. Kas was so much simpler, just a hissing sound after a hard "K", something anypony, who spoke any language, could make.

"But I got ta ask ya, what kinda trainin' we be doin'?" he asked. He wasn't much of a fighter, and didn't really think he had any ability to fight beyond a simple brawl with his hooves. He had a feeling though that what he learned from this massive pony would go a long way.

[Xiee]

It was about time Grandya needed to fly down into the city to search for that engineer that they needed badly. She figured that maybe a few visits to some taverns and asking around some merchant stalls would do the trick. There would be probably a lot of hopefuls since the Ostrov docks were always filled with ponies wanting to board an airship or two. Most of them just wanted the thrill of the ride so it was going to be difficult to actually find somepony with the particular skill set of airship engines.

"Captain," She spread her wings and began to flap a few times. "I'll head down to the docks and probably the districts to find a few more supplies. And hopefully try to recruit our engineer. If you have a list of anything else that you may need please do write them down."

She noticed the other members giving her different looks. It didn't take long for her to figure out that they wanted something too.

"Alright..." She sighed. "The crew can write down what they want. Within reason of course."

This wasn't going to bode well. She knew she was going to blow a few bits but she had to make her crew at ease. She promised herself that this would be the first and only time she would grant such a favor to the crew. She sat on her haunches as she waited for the crew to decide what they wanted before she left.

[QuickLime]

The Heavy THUD from the Merc Pony got GangPlank’s attention and smiled listening to him talk to Shroud, before walking over…snickering as he asked why they all seemed so quiet “Greetings” He said extending a hoof “I’m GangPlank, Captain of the ship it’s a pleasure to have you on board Martel I am sure you will be a invaluable asset to our group…” He said before glancing around” I can only speak for myself but I think you might have been making enough noise to make up for the quiet” GangPlank used his unoffered hoof to adjust his glasses before glancing at his first mate, easily pulling out a list of supplies he had written down and tossed it to her “Here you are Greys” He liked to call her that sometimes.

He glanced over at Gravy and smirked lightly shaking his head “Ugh what AM I going to do with you hn? Yes We’ll keep out of the kitchen while you are cooking the meat but when you are done please open the windows?”

Medic glanced at Gravy and shook his head smiling "Non Herr Gravy! Do not vorry about eit" he said and moved a hoof and pat him on the shoulder firmly, though jerked at the loud THUMP of the other Germane pony that came on board, turning his head to see his eyes widened lightly and he grinned"Ah! I vould know zat Accent anyvere" He chuckled moving to turn around and head over, standing near the Captain as he introduced himself to the new Muscle .

Once the Captain was finished Medic pushed his glasses up with a cuffed hoof "Jah Hello Zer, I am Medical Medley, but dey just call Me "Medic" Even zough I am NOT ... I am ze doktor" He added and gave GangPlank a slight look since GangPlank was the one that started calling him that.... The Captain just offered a goofy grin....

"Gradya Here"Medic called up, also tossing her the List that he had written of medical supplies they were a little low on.

[RarityDash]

"Celestia segne euch heute und immer Frau Shroud. I am new here, but I am not new to my job. If I am not tracking ponies down, I am training them to defend themselves. By the time we set sail, you will strike fear into anypony against you."

Starless narrowed her eyes slightly. Oh? Tracking ponies down and training them do defend themselves, eh? A soldier or a guard than? Well, he was here on this ship now, so if anything he was ex-mil. Funny how things worked like that. As a career thief and mischief maker, she wasn't often on the same side as guys like this.

She certainly wasn't used to being suddenly forcefully slapped on the back by a powerful hoof. As Martel did so, she jumped ahead a little, then gave a bit of a disgruntled growl before trying to shrug it off as nothing. She looked back toward the large stallion as he continued to speak.

"Perhaps puny ponies could get armor as well, Ja? Would be making my job easier! Being blunt, the first lessons start tomorrow at Dawn. Everypony who is wiling to risk their lives, show up, everypony willing to lose their lives, do not attend. Why are puny ponies so quiet?"

The big pony showed off his chain mail, which only caused Starless to roll her eyes. Her coat was all she needed; armor would slow her down. She was interested in this guy's lessons though. He intrigued her with his boisterous, colorful talk of risk and death. She'd been risking her life practically since she got it. Taking risks was in her blood; it had landed her father in a Stalliongrad prison, but she was confident that, in her case, it would keep her out.

"Interesting," she remarked cautiously, looking back toward the other earth pony. "I'll be there at the least. You can count of it."

The griffon Grandya announced then that she was leaving to get some supplies and recruit their new engineer. Starless didn't have anything to input as far as supplies were concerned. She wasn't in charge of a station onboard the ship, and she also disliked requesting anything special of others. She was however curious about the new engineer. Maybe they'd actually prove interesting like this Martel guy? She supposed she'd have to wait and see.

[Bannhammer]

Martel remained unimpressed. The crew he had been hired to join had been touted as 'fearsome' and maybe even one of the best crews ever formed, but all the Germane could see was a bunch of misfits who would do more damage to themselves than anypony else if a fight actually did break out. He was barely able to hold back a sigh when the medic showed up. The purple stallion knew from past experience that he would definitely be needed the doc's services quite often, you didn't spend your career as a scrapper without picking up a few scratches and bruises. This pony's accent was a lot thicker than Martel's.

[colour=#800000]"Herr Doktor, what part of Germaney are you from? I hail from Saxoneigh, you sound like you are from Bamareia...."[/colour] He gave the medical pony a customary greeting via a hard slap on the back. [colour=#800000]"We will be getting to know eachother very soon, Doktor."[/colour]

The large stallion remembered the zebra's comment from earlier, and he knew that he had to address it. [colour=#800000]"Herr Zebra, training will be on a few things. First, I will teach you to defend, how to stand your ground, especially on a airship, where ground is not always steady. Then, once you know how to hold your own, I will teach you how to attack, how to defeat your opponents. Finally, I will teach you how to fight together. Is that sounding good to you all?"[/colour]

[Snowshoe]

Kas stood by with a bemused grin on his face while the large newcomer spoke. What a hilariously awesome accent. He knew he wasn't allowed to really speak, given his own rather thick accent, but it was still funny, especially considering there were now two crewmembers with that kind of accent.

"Yeah, sounds like a plan ta me. Get ta be like dem ninja-ponies..." he reared back and lifted one of his hind hooves, holding his forehooves out for balance like he was about to kick forward. He grinned and got back down on all fours before gravity took over and pulled Kas over onto his side.

"Naw, jus' teasin', seen? I get we gotta learn real brawlin', yeah." He was ready to learn, especially so they could be the awesome pirate crew they were supposed to be.

"Oh, an' ya be crazy tall, jus'sayin'," he commented idly as the zebra went to look over the railing again, anxious to get airborne.