Unreal Talk

Mirrax rarely called a meeting. In the years that Captain Elysium Fi had ever known her, she'd only done in perhaps a half dozen times. Normally Mirrax preferred to deal with her captains one on one, and meetings were only reserved for dire times. The last meeting had to been to witness the execution of Captian Harrod, who had been found accepting bribes. Fi shuddered, Harrod did not die well nor cleanly. 
The night glowed red, and the air tasted like ash. If there ever was a dire time, this was it.
"Captain" was a rank in the Mirrax Marines. Plenty of people "captained" one of MM's dozens of ships, but only three at any time were fully-fledged Captains. Mirrax selected the captains, and the captains and Mirrax together select the first mates. This wasn't as confusing as it sounded, marines were expected to know who was what. In Mirrax's own words, if a crew memeber can't remember 6 names, they probably shouldn't be allowed to operate heavy equipment. 
For the meeting, everyone was here. Captain Auran Malice was the most visible, as the man was some kind of human peacock. He seemed to strut and flare rather than simply move around. He was a sure hit with people of any race or gender. Fi suspected he wasn't pansexual, but rather was simply happy to receive adoration from any source. In spite of this he was a highly competent captain, duelist and scholar. Fi was unsure where found the time; waxing his mustache and fancy beard must take up a good deal of his time. 
Auran was currently in command of the Dogslicer, one of the Marines largest and oldest vessels. It had recently been refurbished, and he'd been assigned Helga Halfstorm as his first mate. Helga was probably the best sailor the marines had, with a supernatural ability to predict everything from winds to hidden reefs to approaching vessels. She never shared her secrets, but Fi had caught her giving orders to dolphins in their native tongue more than once. Physically she was a gnome, although Fi strongly suspected there was something planar in her blood.
Mark Killingsworth stood in the pposite corner, with his old-timey Marine jacket that a ghost had given him after he'd drawn a cursed card that required him to punch a kraken to death. Fi was uncertain if every detail of the story was true, but the Great Downward had attested to it, so Fi was forced to assume that just this once, Killy was actually telling the truth.
His first mate was Dirty Elizabeth, a half orc who moved like a ghost; a ghost that carried two cleavers and hit like a runaway elephant. While Helga was a sailor, Lizzy was great at managing a crew, and could morale up and a grey market under control better than anyone else. She also made an excellent spy, and had more than once got herself recruited onto a pirate's crew, only to murder them all one they were at sea. Fi liked her a lot, Lizzy meant you never had to worry about anything happening on your boat.
Fi's first mate at the moment was Billy, He Who Kills People. Fi normally was partnered with Helga, but she had to admit that Billy had grown on her. Billy was unsurprisingly a madman, an intellectual who suffered bouts of rage and mania. He was a good all rounder, able to manage crew, logistics and the actual sailing. He looked human but was apparently a half-elf, stories put his age in excess of a century, although he barely looked middle aged. Billy also doubled as Mirrax's sheriff whenever anyone needed to be beaten, kidnapped or straight-up killed. For all his wild mood swings, if Billy was given a task, he'd do it with no questions asked.
For herself, Fi always felt like the dd one out. She wasn't crazy or self obsessed or terribly weird, just a human girl born into a wealthy family with parents who unwisely let her pursue her dreams. She was very well educated and knew some magic and a few little tricks, but wasn't sure why she had been picked as captain, nor why Mirrax seemed to favor her over the others. On the one occasion she'd asked, Mirrax had laughed. 
"I like you, because you're a marine. You do your job and run a clean ship. You're the best at training crews, and your men are as loyal to you as you are to me. If you're asking why I like to keep you at hand, you're the only one of these assholes who'd take take a bolt for me, without buggering it up"
Fi looked up at the red glow that was illuminating the Lobstrocity on its mooring high above Tsar. The bell had rung, calling them all to the meeting. It was time.