A Siren’s Wake - The Tale of Captain Redmane

The marked passage tightens between pale shoals. Ahead, a low tender emerges under Spanish colors, its hull riding deep with silver, while an escort patrol signals recognition of Redmane’s captured banner.

The escort’s signal flags snap across the bright air. Its sailors hold their course, mistaking the captured banner for an allied patrol and offering the tender no warning.

The broad-shouldered shipwright drops to the forward deck beside the carriage guns. He checks the lashings, while four yard hands haul back the covers and ready the slow matches.

The sloop slips deeper into the narrow passage, tide whispering along her hull. The tender’s stern grows broad ahead, the escort still signaling friendly recognition as the guns settle on target.

Captain Redmane raises the captured banner and calls across the narrowing water. The signal book supplies the proper flags, while her Silver Tongue gives the hail the crisp authority of routine command.

Reads Naval Tactics guides Redmane into the tender’s blind quarter, preserving the tide’s advantage and keeping the escort screened behind the deeper hull. The wanted poster flaps once at her belt, but her command never falters.

The tender’s crew lower their ready hands and ease the sheets. Redmane’s sloop draws alongside within pistol range, close enough for inspection or sudden seizure, while the escort remains confidently deceived.

Captain Redmane raises the signal book and sends the urgent pattern toward the escort, reporting pirates sighted on the opposite side of the channel. Her practiced tongue gives the flags convincing haste, while the wanted poster tugs at her belt and threatens to foul the display.

Reads Naval Tactics places the false sighting beyond the escort's best turning angle. She angles the signal precisely, then pins the poster beneath the rail before its likeness can distract her hand.

The escort patrol swings away at once, sails filling as its crew races toward the reported threat. Its guns turn from the tender, leaving the narrow channel open and the silver vessel isolated.

The tender's sailors, including a middle-aged woman of sturdy build with brown skin, a round face, and a russet headscarf over her cream sailor's blouse, lower their weapons and expose the quarterdeck. Beyond the immediate prize, the escort's altered course reveals a clear withdrawal lane toward open water.

The sloop now rests beside the silver tender without the escort between them. Both carriage guns bear on the exposed stern, and the prize's crew await Redmane's next order.

Captain Redmane displays the inspection writ beneath the command ledger, while the signal book confirms the authority of her flags. Her Silver Tongue makes the demand sound like routine harbor law, though the wanted poster tugs dangerously at her belt.

The tender's crew obey together. Weapons go down, hatches open, and the silver vessel's officers gather where Redmane can see them, leaving the cargo and deck wholly under inspection authority.

Vargas takes the writ and ledger ready for presentation while Redmane keeps the signal book raised. Even with the poster threatening to expose her, the layered proof and commanding delivery leave the tender's crew no credible refusal.

The silver tender lies captured beside the sloop. Its crew stand disarmed on the quarterdeck, its hatches remain open, and the escort is still chasing the false sighting beyond the channel.

Captain Redmane plants the inspection writ atop the command ledger and gives the order with Silver Tongue, her Inspiring Presence making haste sound like lawful procedure. The wanted poster snaps across the writ, briefly exposing her likeness and forcing her to pin it beneath the ledger before repeating the command.

Vargas gathers the surrendered crew beneath the quarterdeck watch without violence. The ledger fixes their custody in precise entries, while the writ and Redmane’s commanding delivery leave them no credible ground to resist.

The cost settles at once: Vargas accepts personal responsibility for the crew's treatment and the seizure's record. Lines pass between vessels, sails fill, and the silver tender moves with the sloop toward open water while the escort remains deceived behind them.