Captain Nal and the Lucky Smile - Chapter 3
The Captain's cabin was packed full of people. Scattered about, sitting on his bed, eating the food that Grott had left scattered around. Worst of all, they had somehow managed to find a few bottles that weren't empty, and were working to fix that little problem.
Nal regretted ever suggesting this meeting in the first place, and could feel the beginnings of a headache starting, a dull annoying pain in the back of his head. But he swallowed and tried to concentrate. It had been a good idea, a much smaller meeting for just the important people on the ship, he'd mostly done it just to get rid of the damn otters snickering at everything that happened like it was their own private source of entertainment.
At least there were a lot less people here, and no need to grandstand to get the crew's support. Sledge was there, of course. The huge bear just loomed in a corner and proceeded to drain bottle after bottle of wine, rum, whatever he could find, and Nal could do little to stop him. As the Quartermaster, Sledge was in charge of the entire ship, a fact which had surprised the ferret. The Captain was technically the boss of everyone, yes. The quartermaster was in charge of divvying up all the loot though, so the crew tended to denote more importance his way, and if Sledge said something, everyone listened. Ree was also there, alternately glaring at both Nal and Sledge. As the Boatswain, Ree was in charge of the ship's upkeep. Ensuring that it was kept in tiptop sailing condition, overseeing the sails and making sure the ship stayed floating. That he had managed to do so under Grott's captaincy was nothing short of a miracle by what everyone told the ferret.
There were also some new faces that Nal didn't recognize too well. The rat from the earlier meeting was there. Scrawny and a head shorter than the rest of the crew, but with an self confidence that spoke wonders. He wore a tattered looking white shirt and slacks, and his black fur was checkered with white spots. A set of well used spectacles were balanced on the end of his muzzle while he peered over at the ferret. "You I know, you were at the meeting, though I don't think I caught your name?"
The rat bristled before answering. "Name's Whiskers. Or at least thats what you can call me. I'm the navigator. I steer the ship, just in case you didn't understand that." He smirked knowingly. "And no, the technocracy isn't looking for me, so don't worry about it. It was by choice, and I don't know anything that they'd want to kill to keep secret, they made sure of that."
Nal nodded pleasantly enough, turning to the other figure. An annoyed looking raccoon hunched near the table, looking uncomfortable with the presence of so many people. He wore pouches and belts, every single one of them filled with nails, tools, and whatever else he could hold. The ringed tail twitched uncomfortably. "I didn't see you at the meeting though, who might you be?" Nal asked, only to receive a grunt in reply..before he elaborated. "Maloc. I'm the ships carpenter. I was busy making sure the ship didn't sink while you were making your little pep talk. And I'm too busy to be pulled away from my work. The only reason I'm here now is to complain about the lack of spare lumber! We need to get more, and I'll be damned if I hear any delays about it." He answered.
The ferret spread his arms invitingly. "Well then, that's why we're here. To get down to the nuts and bolts of everything, firstly we need to get our hands on either an awful lot of money or enough goods to either sell or use ourselves. Ree, Whiskers; just what state is the ship in right now? Can we actually manage to chase down any ships? We're in prime pirating waters here, the Sardon/Empire shipping lanes, should be easy enough to find something, right?
Ree glanced over at the rat with a scowl, and muttered with him under his breath for a moment. "Not really much of a fucking chance of that, Captain. We left port in too much of a hurry to get anything more but the most basic of supplies, and even those won't last us for more than a couple of days. The state of the sails...well, lets just say that swiss cheese might be a pretty good description. Our rudder isn't in too good of a shape either from what I've been told. And the less said about our supply of tar the better. If we found a horribly overloaded merchant ship we might be able to catch them, but I wouldn't bet on it."
Nal shrugged his shoulders. At least the wolf was being professional about it, so far. "So, chasing is out. That just means we have to get creative. Hows our supply of false flags, signals and all?" He asked, turning over to Sledge, who responded with an emotionless stare back at him, clearly not seeing how useful that would be. "We've got a couple of false flags, but they're not exactly the most convincing. We're not a merchant ship, and we're not a warship and anyone looking would be able to tell that just from a glance. We'd be either pirates or privateers, and not much of a difference in most peoples minds."
Ree sneered just then, as if taking pleasure from Nal's failures. Just the sort of thing he expected from the wolf. Whiskers seemed happy enough, or hopeful. Maloc just looked annoyed at the world. Sledge looked about as carefree as ever, the big bear happy to push off the duties of running a ship onto someone else. Nal pondered this, he supposed you might be able to tell a merchant ship from their ship, not that he could tell how. All ships looked pretty much the same to him, but whatever!
"Lets say, for the sake of argument that we raise a Sardonese flag. I assume that technically we are a part of one Sardon fleet or another, are we not?" Sardon was...unique in the way that it's navy was organized. With gold being all that you needed to claim a position in it. It was an easy way to claim semi legitimate business and find a safe port.
Sledge nodded and grinned, showing off those white dangerous teeth. "Of course, Fourteenth Volunteers, but that doesn't do us a whole lot of good." Nal tapped the side of his muzzle, as if deep in thought. "And if a Sardonese privateer were to put up it's flags, signaling for assistance? Send out an S.O.S, to any ship in the area?" Ree didn't bother trying to hide his disgust with the plan. "Are you serious? What idiot would be stupid enough to try to give us assistance? Besides, we might be in sad shape but even the dumbest Captain would know we're not that bad off to call for help. They'd see through the instant they got too close." Nal grinned himself at this, "Of course they would, if we didn't go about making ourselves helpless in the water. Tear up our sails, knock some holes in the hull...or just bigger holes."
Maloc quickly flashed Nal a look, like he'd just admitted to murdering the Raccoon's own family and then raping their corpses. "WHAT? Are you fucking serious? What kind of idiot would wreck their own ship just for a chance at getting some loot? You're not going to ruin my ship! Do you have any idea how hard I've been working.. " "Yeah!" Ree joined in, "The sails are barely holding together in the first place! You'd have to be completely suicidal to even come up with such an idiotic plan in the first place!"
Nal was pleased to have gotten their attention at least. "First off, if we can't get supplies, the ship is going to end up that way anyway. Secondly, if it works, even if the ship doesn't have what we need, we can cannibalize their supplies. Take their lumber, their sails, whatever we need. Even if they're running low themselves we'll end up better than we started. Thirdly, are there any better ideas? I'd be glad to hear them."
After a long pause, there didn't seem to be any. The raccoon still bristled, his tailfur standing on end. "No! I still refuse! Theres no way you're going to get me to do this, I'll fight you off from my ship if I have to." Glancing over to Sledge, Nal made a slight little shrug, as if asking if he was really serious about this. The bear gave him a single nod in return, which only made him groan. Luckily, he seemed to have some idea about what to do.
"Don't worry, Cap'n. I'll take care of this." One massively powerful arm just wrapped around the 'coon from behind, yanking him into...for lack of a better term, a "Bear Hug."
Grabbing him and starting to yank him back out of the cabin. "I'll keep him locked up until it's all over and done with. Then we'll see how it works, huh?"
Ree didn't appear convinced himself, but with Sledge's approval there was little he could do about it. Besides, he hadn't been able to come up with a better idea himself. So with a frown he simply turned and left the cabin without another word, slamming the door behind him. That left the ferret alone, aside from the rat of course.
Whiskers showed no signs of wanting to leave himself, giving the ferret a playful little grin once the two of them were alone. "You know, Captain. I just wanted to say thanks. Grott was the worst thing to ever happen to us aboard this piece of shit. People put up with a lot of crap from him because he scared the hell out of us.
"Even me. Grott used to fuck me every night up in that bed of his. I got used to it, but I never enjoyed it. I guess he just liked the fact that I hated him. Would have killed him if I ever got the chance, but I'm a rat. We're not fighters! But now he's gone, and I've got you the thank for it."
He could guess where this was going, so Nal just sprawled himself back on the bed. It was a really nice bed, after all. After a few more glances at Whiskers, he decided that he liked what he saw. The rat was small, maybe not quite five feet tall, but almost. The black and white mottled fur gave him a cute look, and he seemed pleasant enough company. Not that the ferret's standards for bed partners were generally very high!
Stripping out of his clothes, Whiskers tugged his shirt and slacks off to better expose himself. A little scrawny, but that was to be expected from most rodents anyway. He crawled up onto the bed, straddling the ferret to nuzzle against him, Nal wrapping his arms around the other males waist and tugging him closer, nuzzling into him with a few movements. "I'm surprised you could manage to take Grott. You're..um, pretty small." Tactfully pointing that fact out.
Snickering back at him, Whiskers gave a little wink in return. "Grott had a tiny dick, no big surprises there, right? He threatened to kill me if I ever told anyone, but it's not like he's ever coming back, huh? Besides, I'm pretty experienced. No real problems taking anyone there." He murmured just before pressing his lips aggressively up against the ferret's own to give him a forceful kiss. That slippery little rodent tongue working it's way between Nal's lips to taste the ferret, already starting to grow excited. Letting out a muffled groan into the kiss, he began to grind himself suggestively into the ferret's stomachfur. his sheath tightening, the surprisingly large balls nestled up against Nal's belly.
After a moment, the kiss broke, the rodent just panting hotly, nuzzling himself more into the ferret's shoulder. Taking in his scent, the feel of his body against his own. Eager little paws began to work along his shirt, unbuttoning it one by one only to forcefully tear it off when only half done; exposing the light brown fur of his chest, with that single white stripe going up it. Not satisfied with that, the rat soon slipped both of his paws down to work on his slacks as well. Unbuttoning them with the skill of someone who with a great deal of experience.
It didn't take too long before his pants were off, the thick sheath coming into view, only to be welcomed by the horny rat. He bumped his muzzle up against it, pressing his nose into the furry flesh before sinking down lower to teasingly bump into his furry balls as well. He was single minded, though, refusing to be distracted by that and instead just crawling right back into Nal's lap. His hips suggestively pushing downwards, grinding his furry and eager rear back against the sheath. Teasing the pink flesh inside to come out, which it was happy to. Inch after inch of his ferrethood slipping out into the furry tunnel of the rat's rear. Teased up to it's full hardness with seemingly little effort at all.
Whisker's own shaft was currently pressing right up against the ferret's stomach. Fully hard himself, though the rat wasn't exactly a massive male, it was a pretty good length for someone the rodent's size. Not that he seemed in a hurry to use it, movements growing increasingly strained with his arousal, lifting himself up higher, obviously trying to get at the right angle for penetration. Something that Nal was definitely looking forward to. The ferret decided to help out, grabbing the rat tightly and tugging him upwards, the very tip of his shaft finally glancing right up against the waiting ring of flesh that he was looking for...and that's when the ferret just shoved that body down on top of him, forcing his cock inside him to a loud groan of approval. Piercing deep inside the warmth of his entrance, impaling himself into the obediently moaning rat while he cried out for more.
Bodies writhing together, Whiskers fought to keep the shaft inside of him as long as possible, pressing his body down firmly against the ferret's crotch, his muscles tensing up. Gripping the shaft inside of him, squeezing it, trying to pull it ever deeper into his body. The pleasant feeling of being filled was something that he had deeply missed, Grott had been annoying and unpleasant, it was so much nicer to be giving it freely again.
Small furry body rocking back, rising his hips up just enough to slip a couple inches of the shaft out, but not enough that he risked the entire shaft doing so, he gave soft little squeaks, burying his face into the ferret's chestfur once more and breathing in the pleasant musk of his scent. Hips rolling back, hungrily pounding himself down onto the pulsing ferrethood, while it pulsed weakly. Oozing a slow but steady supply of sticky preseed into the passage to help lubricate it, making the thrusts faster as well as making a slick, wet sound come from deep inside the rat each time he plunged himself down onto the ferret's lap.
This soon drove the ferret beyond the point where he could just lie there and take it like that. Letting out a hungry growl, he suddenly grabbed the rat's hips and rolled both of them over in the bed, pinning him down underneath his weight, legs spread and tugged up above his head. The cock staying inside the tight rear the entire way. With this new position, he was free to pound away at the depths as much as he wanted, which he did with great pleasure. Hissing, Nal took out a great deal of pressure and frustration out on the moaning rat underneath him. Biting his neck firmly, sinking his teeth into the nape of his neck hard enough to leave marks under the fur. And all the while the steady slap of his balls against the rat's rump grew faster, and faster. Working his way towards a quick peaking.
Whiskers broke first. With his own paw to help him out, pawing himself off with one shaky set of fingers while he was taken like this. The constant pleasure of the forceful pounding along with a few good strokes was more than enough to drive the rodent over the edge. And with a soft, almost embarrassing squeak, he came all over the two of them. Sticky seed drenching both of the male's stomachs and chests in the copious amounts of seed that rodents could produce. Pulse after pulse that made him moan helplessly, insides tensing up around the cock inside of him even moreso. Just what the ferret needed to drive himself over the edge.
Keeping his grip on the rat's neck, he changed his rhythm to short, stabbing little thrusts. Barely moving his shaft at all inside Whiskers, just enough to drive him to the peak. And then over it, with a muffled hiss through his full jaws, he came deep inside the other male. Hot ropes of his cum painting the inner walls of his body. Filling him up with shot after shot, spreading the warmth of his need through and making the rat quite happy.. Soon both of them were collapsed on the bed, lazily nuzzling each other and having quite forgotten about whatever plan they needed to put together.
Ree was overseeing the work. Such as it was, it was enough to make a grown man cry though. Destroying the ship that he'd put so much of his life into keeping one step ahead of sinking. From what he'd heard, Maloc was taking it even worse than he was, and had to be kept tied up at all times or else he'd take a sword to anyone daring to hurt his ship.
The otters loved it, though. They were hopping around with daggers, swords, hammers. Whatever they could find, cutting giant gaping holes in the sail, knocking holes in the deck..though thankfully only in the places most visible to anyone looking, they were in no danger of sinking just yet. They were treating it like a game, and competition and betting over who could do the most damage. Fucking otters.
The rest of the crew was a little more restrained, mostly letting the otters do most of the work, or loudly wondering just how smart a plan this was. It seemed to be working so far though, the ship barely looked seaworthy, and he wouldn't have trusted sailing it at all. It definitely looked like a ship that should be flying an SOS. Hopefully they could manage to make it to a port after the plan failed though, as he was certain that it would.
One of the dolphins hurriedly ran up the colors of Sardon, their volunteer insignia, and of course the all important SOS flag. Hopefully before too long this idiotic plan would succeed...
Some time later...
Things had been boring. Extremely so, several ships had obviously seen their need only to ignore them. Either seeing through the flimsy attempt at subtlety or being too single mindedly set on their sailing to care much about helping anyone in need. The crew alternately prayed for deliverance and cursed them for their lack of charity.
Nal tapped the side of the wheel. Not that it was good for much with their rudder half torn off. Something that one particularly stupid shark had decided to damage, cheerfully using his teeth to bite off large chunks of it. He hadn't even been smart enough to do it above the water where it could be seen! The otters had loved it, and praised him for his originality, but he was beginning to think the otters had it in for the whole crew as well as the poor ship itself. The Lucky Smile had seen better days. It most definitely had not seen worse!
Most of the crew was off sleeping in their bunks, hammocks, or finding...other ways to amuse themselves. Nal wisely did not ask questions about this, but Ree seemed to always be disappearing into one place or another with various crewmen. At least they were below decks!
"SAIL SPOTTED, CAPT'N."
This immediately got the entire crew pouring out from belowdecks, the dog in the crows nest pointing off into the distance, letting Nal just take out the spyglass and lazily adjust it. Focusing carefully. The rapidfire sound of footfalls signaled Ree's approach, and the heavy stomping meant that Sledge was soon behind him. "What is it? Is it coming closer?"
"Well.." The ferret considered. "It definitely seems to be coming our way. But, uh. Mister Sledge, correct me if I'm wrong. But, what is the meaning of a skull and crossbones flag?" This was not pleasant news, the entire crew freezing up. Oh shit. "Well, captain. It generally means that it's a pirate ship, and that we're fucked."
Nal nodded again. "Of course, now. Humor me a little further.. But what would you say is the number of pirate ships that happen to have very large angry looking reptiles on them? I'd say that he's probably a crocodile or a gator, impossible to tell from this distance." Sledge looked like he was in a much worse mood now, frowning before replying. "In these waters? Theres only one, he killed off all the rest for being imitators. That would be Captain Grott."
Nodding smartly, the ferret snapped shut the spyglass with an audible click. "I see.. Well, in that case.." "We're fucked!" The wolf shouted, his ears flattening. "He must have called in a bunch of favors with another captain!" Shaking his head, Nal just gave a feral grin. "Prepare for battle!"