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“Is this safe?” Calista asked pointedly, feeling nervous.
“Yes. The captain takes munitions, firearms, and weapons safety to heart. The cannon was inspected two months ago by a specialist when we pulled into port.”
Nodding, she swallowed back her fear and realized that none of them looked alarmed at the idea of firing such a massive cannon. The barrel was nearly the size of her thigh and almost as long as her leg from the hip down. It was on two large wooden wheels with rope tied to either side.
“Gun port is open, Jared…” Shepherd called out.
Looking at the hull, sure enough, there was an opening above the waterline that looked like a privacy fence gate on its side. It was propped open with two beams of wood and about three feet wide by three feet long. A part of her should have been alarmed at seeing the waves in the distance so closely, but she was utterly fascinated at what was happening around them… and so was everyone else.
“Sponger – hold this,” Jared said bluntly, handing her a massive pole that had a soft side to one end and a hard, firm, flattened side at the other. The soft end looked almost like a boxing glove. Material was spread over the top and coiledtightly with twine, obviously padded by some sort of batting.
“Gun crew! Grab the breech ropes that run through the carriage and pull the cannon towards the gunport. Once the cannon is loaded, we’re going to pull it a little closer and secure it to the ringbolts.”
Marveling at the idea of this being done during a time of battle, she was flabbergasted to think that anyone made it off a ship alive. How did vessels even get the jump on another one if it took so long to move one cannon into place?
“Now, I’ve already removed the tampion that closes off the muzzle and measured out the gunpowder. Purple, you’ll help with the loading…”
“SWEET!” the girl practically screamed in delight, running over to Jared’s side with unfettered enthusiasm. Fascinated, Calista watched her pour the gunpowder down into the muzzle, and then she was being waved over by Jared.
“Rammer… sponger,” Jared said bluntly, pointing at each end of the pole he’d given her. “I want you to send the rammer down the muzzle and push the gunpowder as far down as it will go.”
Calista awkwardly moved the large pole, bumping into the side of the ship paneling at one point, and managed to feed the hardened end into the muzzle. Pushing it down, she felt the debris in the muzzle and glanced at Jared – who nodded.
“Keep going and shove it down repeatedly.”
She slung the pole several times down the muzzle, making her arms ache at the foreign exercise that she was currently doing.
“Give it one more good sling and throw your body into it, Orange…”
And she did.
Calista gave it a massive swing, using inertia to slam the rammer down into the cannon hard enough to jar her teeth – only to feel a hand on her shoulder.
“Good job,” Jared said, calling to the other girl. “Purple – where’s my cannonball?”
“Got it,” the goth girl volunteered, and carried over a small softball-sized leaded-looking ball, causing her thin arms to bulge in the too-tight t-shirt. She hefted up the cannonball and Jared immediately helped so it wasn’t dropped onto the wooden decking of the ship, letting it roll audibly down the barrel of the muzzle.
“Fetch a wad…” Jared ordered Calista, pointing at a nearby basket containing several different spherical-shaped packets that looked like leaves, straw, twine, and other materials.
… Only to hear one of the men make a very lewd comment.
“Bet she fetched the captain’s wad to get out of that jail cell…”
Her mouth dropped open in shock at the crudeness, but before Calista could comment, both Shepherd and Jared were wrestling with Blue/Ric and yanking the arrogant surfer who didn’t know when to keep his mouth shut, pulling him upwards towards the deck. She could hear yelling in the distance, but couldn’t make out his words. Their disappearance left her there, among the others, with only Bo to watch her.
“Is he wrong?” Yellow said openly, watching her as Green lifted an eyebrow curiously. Purple grinned at her annoyingly, while Red grimaced openly. “Did you sleep with the captain to get freed?”
“That’s enough,” Bo said in almost an obligatory manner, with zero force behind it.
Greaaat, she thought silently to herself. Her biggest fan on this ship was now barely a protector - all because she wasn’t interested in him romantically.
“She can answer the question,” Purple taunted. “Inquiring minds want to know, and when the lights are off…”
“ENOUGH!” Red Marie said from the steps leading down into the hold. “Swashbuckled, Inc. will not condone the harassment of any of our guests, and measures will be taken – just like before. I will tell you, just like I told Blue, if this doesn’t stop and we have to pull into a port? You will be assessed with all the fees regarding the unexpected stop along the way. Act like adults, people – am I clear?”
No one said a word… including Calista. The woman before them was fiercely terrifying when she was upset, and this wasn’t part of her act. This was the HR tyrant that some of the others had alluded to, and it was a little intimidating.
“Now, you are down here with a loaded weapon, so this isn’t the time for fun or games...” Marie’s voice trailed off as Jared and Shepherd reappeared behind her, before jumping down loudly onto the planks with a practiced maneuver.
