A Piratocracy

[candothat]

After Blackbeard's miraculously successful fuckery and the mess that followed, Chekov kept more-or-less to himself.

Some of it is lingering embarrassment over his outburst on the bridge. The rest is a result of his talk with Frenchie; that made it very clear to Chekov that he is in a place that he doesn't truly understand with no escape plan. The Enterprise isn't coming to his rescue because it is no longer under Captain Kirk's control. He can't contact Starfleet because he fled the scene of a murder and is now a criminal. Talking to his friends, currently scattered across the quadrant, is unsafe until he can set up a means of communication that Starfleet won't be able to track back to the Revenge. And, on top of that, the longer he stays with a pirate crew (are they officially pirates now that the infamous Blackbeard is in residence?), the more difficult it will be to go back to his former life.

It's a lot to think about.

Chekov occupies himself with projects that don't really need to be done. He still sees his crewmates often enough -- with common sleeping quarters and the galley, isolation is virtually impossible -- but he isn't seeking out socialization. Some of the things he said to Frenchie were quite stupid and he's afraid of tripping up around someone less forgiving.

Perhaps if he had been talking to his peers more regularly, he would have known about the elections sooner. As it is, Chekov is unaware until he sees the hand-drawn posters on the walls of the Revenge:

CAPTAIN ELECTION
TODAY!
Do your duty!
VOTE!

The penmanship is immaculate with many lovely flourishes.

And is that... a ballot box?

Chekov puzzles over the poster and the box, wondering if this is a pirate thing or a uniquely Stede Bonnet thing.

Comments

[massiveaggressions]

And that just worked for you, then.

[Ed shakes his head, smiling. That's the last way he'd hire a crew -- the last way any pirate would -- but it seems to have worked out alright for Stede. Not that he was a pirate when he was going through the hiring process.]

That says something about a captain, when all of his people stick around. You don't need this whole election thing.

[eccentricpirate]

The election isn’t for me; it’s for the crew! But I appreciate the thought.

[They reach the galley.]

Ah, smells wonderful, Roach! What is it?

Gumbo, captain. Also, we need to stop for supplies soon. I am COMPLETELY out of oranges!

[massiveaggressions]

[Ed hopes the crew appreciate their captain. Maybe he's not the best Starfleet officer or pirate, but he's a good man.

The food, of course, smells heavenly. Lovely of Roach to serve it with a side of errands, unironically.]

You know what that means, mate? We should raid a ship. Get you some proper pirate experience.

[eccentricpirate]

Oooooh, I love that idea!!!

[Roach: Shouldn’t we be raiding for something more expensive? Like yubari melon or something?]

What’s the first step?

[massiveaggressions]

First step's always finding a target. Figure out what you want, hack a few ship manifests to see who's got what, determine an intercept course, and there you go.

[To Roach:] Make a list, man. We'll get your fancy shit too.

[eccentricpirate]

[Roach: Really?! Thank you, Captain Blackbeard, sir!]

How do you go about finding the ship manifests to even hack?

[massiveaggressions]

[Geez, the people on this ship are easy to please. Want more, Roach.] Hey, no 'sir' necessary, right? Just Blackbeard is fine.

[And back to Stede, not that Ed's attention ever fully leaves Stede.] Ships have to declare what they're carrying at every port, then all those manifests go online. It's not too hard to get to them and see what's going where.

[eccentricpirate]

That’s right. I forgot about that. It’s been so long since we’ve properly carried any cargo.

[massiveaggressions]

[Oh, Stede. Ed hopes he's not looking at the other man too fondly.]

See? You already know about this stuff, your mind just needs a jog.

[eccentricpirate]

So. We hack the manifests, pick a target, and then we do a Fuckery? [So exciting!]

[massiveaggressions]

Well, the fuckery's usually optional. Sometimes it's fun to do a regular ol' blast-and-board, really get the blood pumping.

[eccentricpirate]

I see, I see. How do you decide when to do a Fuckery and when to do the blast-and-board?

[massiveaggressions]

Fuckeries are for ships that'd be riskier to board: warships, ones with big crews, ships that have a bunch of kids on them. Those're the ships you don't want to do much hand-to-hand fighting with. For regular cargo ships, it's easier to take out the shields, beam over, and get to looting. Less planning. Less fun, too, but there's a lot of work that goes into a good fuckery.

[eccentricpirate]

There is SO MUCH for me to learn about being a pirate! I wish I had Lucius around to take notes.

Computer! Tell Lucius to come to the galley and take notes for me.

Yes, captain. Recording in progress.

Hrmph. I suppose that will do. [turning his attention back to Ed] What else do I need to know?

[massiveaggressions]

Uh... [Wow, the pressure's really on, isn't it?] D'you want me to start over at the beginning, or do I just keep going? Or I could, like... go put a presentation together or something.