The New World

[Augustus Longeye]

Julius and Luke came casually strolling across the deck, looking for all the world as though they were merely enjoying the night air. Meanwhile a lot of crewmen were rapidly running in the opposite direction and paying them no heed. Once they reached the tug it was a simple hop down and a duck out of sight before everyone was on board and ready to go.

[The Corsair]

"Hold on, the boat just rocked. Was that a wave? The water seems calm..."

He looked around suspiciously. Unfortunately the darkness hid any clues as to what made the boat move. Naturally, he began to believe it was a crewman planning to take them by surprise.

"Search the boat. Behind crates, above the cabin, everywhere. If someone is on this thing we need to know now."

[Man of Steam]

Alex flicked out a small knife as he began to search.
"I had thought I was being followed earlier, but I couldn't see who it was." Alex said as he began to search a group of crates near the cabin.
"Aha, what do we have here." he said, spotting something...

[The Corsair]

He dashed around to where Alex was
"Ah! A pickpocket. What business do you have here young lady?"

[Augustus Longeye]

Julius suddenly loomed out of the darkness, a gun levelled at the newest addition to the boat.
"Hello gentlemen, sorry we took so long. It seems you've had fun whilst we were away. Who's this?"

[MWBailey]

Fergus got the tug ready and cast off; somebody had to do it. He didn't notice the urchin slipping aboard, but he did feel the boat rock, and his soldier's senses were piqued by...something.... Call it a sort of 'mental smell,' or a sense of pressure between the shoulder blades that had nothing to do with irritation of the skin, or what you will; he suddenly had the distinct impression that somebody was hiding very close at hand.

At the sound of the others finding the stowaway, he turned around, his axe still in his hand. "Steady on, now, Lads, There be four of us, an' only one o' the lass. Be ye friend or foe, young'un?"

He was distracted by something else, a sort of scent, like someone had been wearing perfume and then tried to wash it off... and it was not one of their party, he was sure of it. "I think we might have more than one newcomer..." he said, his voice trailing off meaningfully, looking up in the direction of the bow....

[Lyca]

Hearing this, Lyca smiled, swinging down from the roof lightly. She saw the small group start; the tall man who had spoken of her presence moments before, however, seemed unsurprised. She strode towards them.

"Whilst I realise it may be inordinately rude not to introduce oneself upon first meeting, I fear that under these particular circumstances, perhaps haste would be the most advisable course of action?"

She took of her cap, shaking her hair free.

"Let the girl be; I'd wager she wants nothing more than her next meal, although do keep an eye on your valuables. London's pickpockets are the finest. Perhaps I could assist you with the engine, gentlemen? The rope must be severed midway into harbour, true, but use a dull knife and scrape at the fibers gradually, if you would; even the most oblivious policeman is capable of observing such a difference".

Halfway through coiling a hank of rope, she turned to glance at them; mixed reactions, many seemingly puzzled.

"I'm sorry. Whilst I realise that most urchins do not speak with a cut glass Oxford accent and wear Parisian perfume, we really don't have the time to discuss the matter further at the moment: perhaps onshore. You need not worry: I am a friend. My name is Lyca".

[The Corsair]

He whirled round but kept an eye and his gun on the urchin that had climbed aboard.

The other lady was one he had seen a couple of times around the ship.
She introduced herself as Lyca.

"Well miss Lyca if you would be so kind as to begin moving this thing toward the harbour, seeing as you claim you an, I would be quite grateful as I am somewhat preoccupied with this theif."

The lady did seem trustworthy and, with his creeping suspicion that the kitchen crew were in fact part of something much larger, he figured they needed everyone they could just to stay safe.

"Now then," he began with his gun still trained on the urchin to whom he spoke, "Who the hell are you?"

[Rosalia]

Rosie looked at the pickpocket wearily, fingering her revolver. Her eyes fliting from Lyca to Falko to the pickpocket to the ship. Mostly she was worried about the growing danger coming from aboard.

[The Corsair]

He heard the sound of other tugboats forcing their way through the water. It was the first moment of silence he'd really noticed.

"If we don't start moving it's going to look suspicious." He mentioned to the others over his shoulder. He was stating the obvious really... He probably didn't need to say anything.

[Man of Steam]

Alex looked at the two new arrivals, not trusting either of them. He put his knife away and moved towards the bow.
"Falko is right, we need to be ready so that this looks right. If the other tugboats think we're not who they think we are we'll have a lot of explaining to do."

[MWBailey]

"They're roight, lads n lasses," Fergus said, holstering his weapon and resuming pulling and coiling ropes and stacking the coils, nodding at Miss Lyca and adding a few strokes of his belt knife to the fraying rope, "Put 'em away an' lets make like a crew, ah? Ot-therwise they'll 'ave th' 'arbor constabularry down on 's in a trice."

[The Corsair]

The boat began to move off and was quickly up to a decent speed.

"When the line is almost taught, bring the speed down a fair way or we'll get a nasty jolt."

[Mickey Malone]

Unable to speak, Anna shrunk into the shadows even further.
I've never been caught before...
She didn't dare run - she had gathered from the snippets of overheard conversation that this was the best place to be at the current time.

[The Corsair]

"Dammit who are you?! Don't stand there like a lemon looking sorry for yourself! Tell us who in God's name you are and I might not pull this trigger!"

His own aggression surprised him but he wasn't going to stop and apologise in this situation.

[Augustus Longeye]

Julius stepped forward at this, gently pushing the gun down.
"Listen, if you fire that we'll have everyone within half a mile on our backs in seconds." instead he drew his sword and levelled it at the thief's neck, the tip not wavering and glinting gently from the meagre light of the cabin.
"You heard the good man, whilst we can't shoot you we can damn well kill you. Who are you, talk quickly and make no sudden movements and everyone will be happy."

[The Corsair]

Julius had a good point. It was typical that in his moment of rage he didn't think about such a thing.
Julius instead leved his sword at the urchin's throat.

Falko stepped back and held Rosie to comfort her. It was a comfort to himself just as much, he loved having her close.

[Vancouver Air Privateer]

Cenek watched the larger ship, unmoving, though there were a few far off cries, holding his own weapon, looking over the new arrivals.

"They may seem harmless..." he said. "But our enemy has shown itself to be good at infiltration and secrecy. They may be spies. Though I don't think they would have been able to assign spies to us if they did not know who we are. And yet they know of our escape intimately now."

[MWBailey]

As the tug made it to the main current in mid-harbor, the rope pulled taut, and then frayed, frayed some more, and then snapped, the ends flying wildly. the tug's end whipped back through the air like a severed gutta percha mailing band,whipping across the deck and swiping Fergus' cap off of his head. He leapt back, cursing sulphrously, and tripped over a small board that had somehow come loose in the deck. "AHHH BUGGER it!" he yelled, as he went down heavily to the deck and lay there for a second, little twinkly painful lights dancing in his eyes.

He rolled and  jumped up almost immediately, however, and turned to the three figures forming the tableau of interrogation. "Lass, there's no time, tell us who ye are an' what ye want, or you'll be goin tae the tanty with the rest've us!" Then, getting an idea, he shoved gruffly past Falko and Alex, calling out in a loud voice, "Oh, bloody 'ell, git yer posh arses out o' the way!" He turned as he scooped the girl up in his arms, and winked as hard as he could at the two men, adding, "Lil' lady's got 'a mind all 'er own, she does. 'Minds me o' me younger sister when she was younger, rest 'er soul."

He carried his unwilling cargo to the side, then added in a low voice to Alex, and Falko, "look sharp, an' put tha' sticker away, that," he flicked his eyes off to port,  "looks loike a fireboat comin' yonder. Firemen's th' same 's coppers when they think they has ter be." he carried the girl farther up toward the bow and into the deckhouse, where she might be safe for a few moments. "Sorry ter be s' sudden, lass, but ye're makin' 's look suspicious. Cooperate an' maybe those fine gen'nleman won't feel like cloutin' me, and chuckin' you over th' side! Now, please, tell us yer name an' all, please, miss."

[Mickey Malone]

She squealed in fright as the Scotsman carried her to the edge of the tug.
"No, no, no, no, please don't throw me over! Look, I'll tell you anything you want, ok!?"
She began in a hurry;
"My name is Anna. I don't have a home, I don't have a family, I don't have a penny to my name, and I snuck onto that ship.
I steal for a living. I don't mean to, I just...I don't have any other way. I thought maybe there'd be something better for me in America."
She struggled to hold back tears. "Sorry about that..." she added to the gent in the velvet coat. "Alex, was it?"

[The Corsair]

Fergus' action finally got the girl to talk. As distrustful of the theif he was, the rest of the group were only questionably better.

"well, if you're with us you better be damn well prepared for whatever happens once we're on shore."

[MWBailey]

Weeell now, that weren't so 'ard, was it?" He was not dishonest enough to try and grin his way into the girl's heart, but he did his best to be civil and try to rdress any offense he might have caused. 'S all right, lass. I can't make any guarantees, but if ye can find a way to be useful to us, or provide some information aboot this place, ye mightg be able to fit in abit better."

[The Corsair]

"And it'd be in your best interests not to rob us" he added to Fergus' negotiations with the theif.

The shore was very near now. They'd have to avoid the tug shed. Perhaps they would need to 'accidentally' crash the tug and swim in.

[Man of Steam]

Alex saw surprised the girl had heard his name,
"that's right, and if you're planning on sticking with us, none of that stalking us in the dark, got it?" He hated the tone he had to take with her, but he valued his own life far too much. Alex turned and saw Falko looking at the shore.
"What is it, do you see something?"

[The Corsair]

"We can't take this tug into it's normal berth, they'll realise we aren't the proper crew. We might need to crash it and swim in..." he responded slightly quietly without looking away from the shore.