Buccaneer

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## Tactical Overview

* **Dread Pirate al-Robert...*a*?**: Proving to the rest of the world that the female of the species can be deadlier than the male, Buccaneers act as the clean-up crew for a pirate ship (other than swabbers) with their dual machine pistols that can quickly flush out anyone who comes on board and on land. Expert looters, the fleet commander gains a fixed amount of gold based on how many soldiers they kill.

* **Look like everybody else:** Masters of disguise and mimicry, they can even take the appearance of an enemy infantry down to their mannerisms and their personality, the enemy being non the wiser unless they have detectors that can see through the illusion. But by the time they have done so, the Buccaneer has already silently slit the throats of an entire infantry column.

* **Fool-proof:** Dressing up as enemy crew can only get them so far, not when their foes have tried-and-tested ways to suss out the fakes from the real ABS's. Also, their blades have no way to penetrate through vehicle armor, much less than aircraft far above.

* **Come up swinging:** Popularized by none other than the Red Lady herself, buccaneers that had their mettle tested eventually learn to fashion grappling hooks from rope and metal in their vessels, causing them to swing towards unfortunate scallywags before going for their jugulars.

## Background

**Recovered private journal from the wreck of the *Telemachus*:**

*"The melancholic, undulating waves of the Aegean Sea filled my ears as the starless night looked over the horizon. The rest of the crew in the* Telemachus *are deep in their reposes in their personal cabins, but this particular mate who knocked on my door seemed that the anodyne caress of sleep was evading her that day. And to think I just took the first sip of my evening coffee when she asked me to open for her. Dorothea Oikonomopoulos, or 'The Massacrer of Menemeni' as her preferred moniker, is definitely not the kind of a graceful and reserved woman, but given the number of seconds it takes to plant a blade into one's spine in this ship, it is not entirely unjustified. But what gave me second thoughts is that why a mate like Dorothea is willing to arouse me from my slumber in the middle of midnight, if not to strike me with her kopis to usurp control of the* Telemachus *just as I have done to the previous captain. And if she is indeed plotting do the same with me, then she must had been expertly masking her intentions in the dusk."*

*"Even today, I can vividly remember the face Dorothea had when she entered my private quarters. Far from the murderous determination I am no stranger with, having saw it when she clashed with the corsairs of the Pagonis Brotherhood aboard the* Kyltaimnestra*, the face she had inside my cabin was that of an eager student; eager to be acquire knowledge from her instructor. While what she wanted to know was ambiguous to me at the time, what she said afterwards coincided with the* raison d'être *for her entry."*

'Captain, I request that you relate to me the tale of a legendary corsair.'

*"That particular question sparked my curiosity. Of what pirate tale did Dorothea want to hear of? The account of Ching Shih, the fearless female corsair whose 'Red Flag Fleet' once claimed dominion over Chinese waters? Or was it the history of William Dampier, English naturalist, navigator and privateer the same? Or maybe she wanted to hear about yours truly, Danae Christodolou, the 'Aegean Autokrator' which even the boldest of Greek pirates sail away from? I had far too much knowledge of the many figures in corsairdom who have made the annals of history, and yet whose pirate she really wanted to learn about was yet unknown to me. So, capitalizing on this fact, I already had a subsequent question for her request."*

'Perhaps a simple plea for enlightenment does not ask too much from me.'

*"And truthfully, it did not. For the last four months of my service as the captain of* Telemachus*, I have personally entertained, accepted, and even rejected far more ridiculous ideas than Dorothea's from the rest of the crew. Kudret once requested a part of my entire* raki *stash for liquid courage for raids, then another the next day, ad infinitum until I realized the only raids he started are against his own fellow mates. I also recall Periklis demanding me to give him... sensual pleasure, as I say it, before I carefully reminded him that the area the ship was in a jellyfish zone, and the* Telemachus *needs some cargo to be stowed away if were are to sail faster. He backed off."*

 *"Oh, yes, I feel that I am straying away from the event at hand. But it was near at candle-lit bed that Dorothea pleaded with me to tell her a story. Juvenile it may sound; perhaps she desired to take notes about how historical corsairs attained their success in pillaging and looting.*  'Now, take a seat, and listen to me keenly. Take heed that the teacher cannot be responsible the failure of the student, whether by their fellow sailors' hands or their enemies as the result of their inattentiveness. I intend you to ask the right questions.'  *Displaying my authority right there, she did all that I said without a shred of hesitation."*

'So, whose life history are you intent to know more about?'

*"Her manner of speaking came out as if she was already prepared for this very moment.* 'How the Red Lady pillaged her way to fortune.'

*"To be honest with myself, the Red Lady was, in fact, the least I expected to come out of that mouth of hers. Her account can only be heard from the mouths of a select few, and fewer manage to remember it accurately, without skipping a word. But driven by my willingness to impart the knowledge of the corsair to Dorothea, coupled by my drive to return to my good night's sleep, I had already thought to fulfill her request for only this particular affair."*

'Very well, I shall, then, impart you with the tale of the Red Lady.' *"I would have opted to stray from hyperbole, but her exploits are simply indistinguishable from exaggeration. Dorothea must have thought the same."*

'I know that you know this by now, that the Red Lady has so many renditions when it comes to her origins.'

'Oh, you mean the one were she was Forca Detare's prodigy? Or was it where she was born to affluence before sallying forth to the seven seas?'

*Nodding my head in disagreement, I was quick to correct Dorothea. Curious as she is, these kinds of questions bring more disarray into the conundrum that is our subject. We all know less about the Red Lady, her backstory lesser, and to spout nonsense would muddle it further.* "Wrong on both accounts. And those two previous questions are exactly the wrong ones I warned you about."

*"Perhaps confused by my gesture, Dorothea was quick to backtrack."* 'I understand, Captain. But how exactly did she gain much renown in the Corsairs?'

'The best that I know of her,' *"I began piecing the little facts about the Red Lady I had."* 'Brigands don't normally spring from the well-off. But here is a piece of information many are ignorant about. According to a previous issue of an Albanian newspaper, a family of dockworkers were pursued by the Italian Coast Guard back in the day.'

'What does that have to do with the Red Lady? In that period, they'd pursue anyone.'

"But the family was one of a kind. From what I've gathered, the article in question was *NOTORIOUS SAPUNXIU FAMILY SPOTTED BOARDING RN GORIZIA*. Oh, would you believe that that they were the Strait of Otranto's bane during the Second World War?" *Now came the part that I recall best.* "Mussolini's vessels vanish when they set sail to the Adriatic Sea. Not all of them, of course, but they were found either sunk or in that family's hands."

*Right after, I sensed disbelief coming out of Dorothea.* "Captain, Soviet agents are far more capable of such tasks, and they did not even have to do so. They would have rolled over Rome faster than the time it would take the Sapunxius to board a small cruiser!"

'Then clearly you are ignorant of the Corsairs' own cability,' *"I retorted."* 'The most overlooked mates in ships are always deckswabbers. And even you can smell impostors posing as sailors of high rank.' *"Dorothea noticed her mistake, and let me speak a bit more."* 'However, if there is one thing the Sapunxius are excellent at besides hijacking vessels, it's hijacking sailors.'

*"She stood there dumbfounded at what I said."*

'Any queries you want me to address?'

*"Silence from Dorothea."*

'Thought so. Surrounded by water all their lives, I think that they're more knowledgeable of how seafarers act than even seafarers themselves. All they needed is sailor uniforms and the slit throats of their previous owners.'

'Wait... Captain, how do you know this much? Are you hiding something from me? Don't those know who know too much about the Corsairs end up as shark snacks? Wait... are you trying to trap me this very instant?'

*"I always preferred the taciturn Dorothea over Dorothea's false Eureka moments. Nodding in disagreement, I spoke,"* 'Ten minutes into this conversation and you'd be done for if I was indeed planning on baiting you. Judging by your intuition, I believe you need to work on it if you aim to conquer the high seas someday.'

*"Dorothea taking the hint, I continued,"* 'You might have actually deciphered who I am if you were paying closer attention to the words I uttered. But as I can tolerate failure for now, you are welcome to get back to your quarters. We have a big, *big* day tomorrow, as you might say.'

*"Before I finished my sentence, she quickly came back to where she came from for the night. I might have hopes for Dorothea, but I fear that her days might be cut short unless her deductive skills are improved. Or unless she learns to take momentary glimpses at the belts of those she talks to, more so."*