Welcome to Gaia! ::

"That will be fine, thank you." The good Doctor said to her as he found her upon the wardroom threshold.

*Relieved that it was not she of whom his anger stemmed from, she nodded politely to him and proceeded to sit outside of the doorway to the wardroom as was instructed.

The sudden opening of the door once more caused her to hop up like a nervous rabbit. There stood the Doctor excusing himself from the wardroom once more, only this time he was carrying a small black mass of fur that was spitting and hissing like oil in a frying pan. A pair of gleaming eyes rolled around furiously in it's head and silver slivers of what looked to be claws flew around wildly about the Doctor's hand which held it about the scruff. Jaden watched him carry it above deck, wide-eyed and slightly confused, for Aeoess was not above deck and that was surely her pet cat she had seen him 'escort' up and out of the hatchway.

~*~

Now, sound is easily muffled on a boat this size by the crashing of waves upon the bow, wind flapping in the sails and rigging, merely being below deck as opposed to being above deck, as well as the everyday chores needed to be accomplished to keep the ship in top shape. So the fact that while Jaden returned to sitting outside the door of the wardroom, the Doctor's bellowing rant that he hated cats could just be heard outside of the wardroom was, indeed, a rare accomplishment.

~*~

The Doctor quickly returned to the wardroom and simply nodded to her as he went back into the room. He seemed much more relieved, although his hand looked like it went through a mass of briar brambles. The Doctor went to a seat and sat down once more, but left the door ajar as he entered. Before sitting back down outside the room, she closed the door tightly and sat across from it so that she could see when the meeting was done and then escort John to a bunk to rest.*

*she walks in and sits around with the others*
Anythin' goin' on, eh?

Well Miss Melaria seems to be ready for this meeting blaugh

Now where is the Captain?

*Looks over to Melaria who's looking at a picture on the wall, then looks blankly around the room thinking of what about that picture has Melaria so intrigued*

What could be so interesting as a boat hardly withstanding the sea.. hmm...

"Good Evening Gentlemen... Ladies."

*Taking off his hat and with a stern expression on his face, Kurisutofa closed the door behind him and paced over to his place at the head of the table. Placing his hat firmly on the table, he took off his weather cloak and set it over the back of his chair.

Jack was no longer Jack: Having redressed in his uniform, he retook his place as the stern sea-captain. Pouring himself a tankard of coffee, he quickly drank it and cleared his throat.*

"Ah, Miss Destiny... thank you for your swift stewarding.
Your undoubted loyalty & servitude shall be noted."

*Looking about the table, he took call of all his officers. THey all seemed to be there aside from the one he had hoped for most: Jack's First Lieutenant, Mr. Ilor. The meeting had to start without him.*

"Thank you all for coming...

As you are all aware, we are currently floating not but two cable lengths away from the might of the British Fleets Mediteranean Station. Now, as most of you should know: a heavily armed, spit & polished frigate or man-of-war is not so much our friend, but an enemy.

Gentlemen, they Royal Navy is not stupid. I'm sure that over the past few hours that this little wooden tub has been floundering off the straits, they have likely smoked our little ruse de campe. Sure, we may be flying their colours, but the 'Lady' is not of British make... she is of French lines. They shall shortly be upon us.

Therefore, without further adieu, I should like to set before you our battle-plans. Yet alas we have one more dilema: We haven't any battle-tactics. Now, I could always do what I've always done and pull a trickout of my hat, or we can build ourselves, mainly you, my officers into a true band of brothers that would rival that of Lord Cochrane himself.

So, I set before you the question at hand: What shall our plan of action be? Our resources are few, our men are in low morale, our Master Gunner here is short on gunners... Aren't you Miss Ares? Oh, and above all that we haven't run our guns since they are scuttled and replaced with our new lovely 22 eighteen-pound guns. We've not drilled in ages...

So, I ask you... All of you: What ideas have you?"

*Looking about the silent room, Kurisutofa stared into the brilliantly lit eyes of his officers: young and old alike. They had all been quite green before the Toulon raid, but now... now they were getting a taste for command. This was the first time Jack had allowed a committee's opinions to be heard. It was time to let them blossom into fine bright minds: to let their seamanship show.*

"We'll go about the table: Dr. Baxter, have you any suggestions?"

Baxter lowered his head and thought a moment.

"While I was above, I took special notice to observe the station. It would seem that most of the fleet that is stationed there is away. They are likely to be on a training exercise. What is more likely is the fact that they were dispatched to find this vessel."

Reginald paused for a moment before going off on a brief tangent, "The Lady is known as a hostile vessel now regardless of her country of origin. The raid on Toulon has marked her to the British, and made us all wanted men."

Taking a deep breath, the Doctor continued to describe the situation as he saw it. "Back to matters at hand, though. I noticed one ship of the line docked there, as well as three tactical frigates. The Man of War has the strongest fire power, but is easiest to evade due to it's slow speed. The frigates have lighter guns, but they are quicker on the water. Let us not forget about the battery they have implanted on the cliff edges. They know we are here, so surprise is out.

I suggest that since darkness is soon upon us, we wait for it to envelop the area. We then send a small group of people in to effectively disable the Man of War. If they are still made the same as when I was last in London, disabling the rudder chain will be enough to render it useless.

Then we might have a chance to slip past the station into open ocean where we can outrun them. If a frigate happens upon us, our best bet would be to force them to fight in close quarters rather than get into a shooting match. A green crew with new guns will be no matched for their seasoned gunnery team."

Putting his right elbow on the table, Baxter closed his eyes and placed the thumb and middle finger of his right hand about the bridge of his nose and squeezed. "All in all, I hate to say it, but I don't think were getting out of this unscathed. We lingered in Toulon for far too long, and they are probably at a heightened state of awareness complete with reinforcements already there, and more inbound."

Baxter gave a frown, "I'm sorry to bring more bad news on an already grave situation."

"Actually, John, there is at least one Ship of the Line docked at the station. I've said that already. For all we know, there may be more, but there is only one that is visible."

Baxter was quick to state this. He feared that a few of the officers did not grasp the full reality of the situation. The Royal Navy was not known for sloppy tactics. They were highly trained, and they were without a doubt the undeniable power on the sea.