"Aw, you sure Captain? Those vents look mighty comfortable," still grinning, Willow left the bridge and headed back to the engine room. She looked proudly at her handiwork, and quickly got to work pouring more coal into the steam engine.

"I'm quite sure," Swollow replied firmly. "Now, I would give you our old mechanic's quarters as they're close to the engine room but I'll need to have some crew members disinfect those before I'll let anyone stay there." Her nose wrinkled at the thought of the previous mechanic and she pushed it from her mind. "The other quarters are all too far away from th engine room in case of an emergency though so...the only logical choice would be to have you stay in the room next to mine. It's still quite close to the engine room so it shouldn't cause any problems."
Swollopw nodded to herself and waited for Willow to finish her work.

*Should we do a small timeskip until comething interesting happens? I say the ship gets attacked by rival sky pirates*

(Sounds good to me. That'll be fun!)

Willow was maintaining the engine when she was sure she heard something strange. It wasn't coming from the engine, but rather from outside. She stopped and listened, tuning out the sounds of the steam engine. There, she heard it again. It sounded like... another skyship. And it was getting closer.
There were no windows in the engine room, so Willow left quickly and made her way to the bridge. The others would have noticed another ship by now and would be able to tell if it was friend or foe.

"Do you see it?" Swollow asked Lucario, pointing to the distance where a dark shape was getting nearer and nearer. The sound of the approaching engine reached her ears as it got closer.
"I do now," Lucario replied.
"Pass me the benoculers," Swollow ordered and Lucario quickly handed a pair to her. She raised them and began to look over the ship's design, looking for any identifying marks that could be used. Were they pirates or merchants? She doubted it was a merchant ship, it was a little too small but still quite a large vessel.

"If't please you, Cap'n, that's a pirate ship," said Willow. "See the shape? It's build for speed, not capacity. I can also tell from the way they're flying it."

Swollow turned to Raina, surprised that she hadn't actually heard the other enter. She'd need to pay more attention next time.
"Hmm..." she murmured, turning back to the ship. "Can you see anything else about the ship that's useful? Any signs or symbols that could be useful?" she handed the benoculers.

Willow looked through the binoculars at the ship. "There's a flag they're waving, Captain," she said. "But I don't know what it means. It's black with a white circle in the centre, and three red lines inside the circle. Do you know it?"

The image rung a couple bells in Swollow's mind but she wasn't completely sure.
"Give me a look," she said, taking the binoculers back and looking through them. The flag was just as Willow had said. She frowned, staring at the flag then moving the binoculers downwards, studying the pole to which the flat was attatched. It was shaped like a spear with the head pointing upwards and along the shaft of the spear there were nothces carved. It was then that she remembered where she'd seen the flag before, and the description of the pole.
"This isn't good..." she muttered. "That's Mori, the ship of one of the more well known northern sky pirates. The captain and crew are not to be messed with if a Captain can help it. Each notch in the pole stands for a ship they've captured."

"Cap'n... looks like they're headed right towards us," said Willow. "And that ship is designed to be faster than others. Maybe with the new ajdustments to the engine we'd be able to escape them, but I can't be sure and I don't think it's worth the risk."

"No," Swollow answered "It isn't. We can't risk losing the engines, we're miles from any port where it could be repaired and the last thing we need is for the engines to give out and us to plummit to the ground. If we can parlay with the Captain then we might have a chance, a slim one, and if not then there's only one other option, we fight them."
"You sure that's a good idea?" Lucario asked, glancing between Willow, Swollow and the ship.
"No," Swollow replied. "But if ou've got a better one I'd love to hear it."

"Good thinking, Cap'n," said Willow enthusiastically. "If you'll excuse me."
She ran from the bridge and headed to the engine room where she kept most of her stuff. She'd known that the skies were dangerous, so she had taken a few things with her just in case. Because she wasn't just a mechanic. She was an inventor.
A small trigger-automated crossbow was strapped to her forearm, and on her other arm she attached a tiny bronze mechanism. When activated, it emitted a colourless but smelly gas which could knock an elephant out cold. So she also grabbed a load of gas masks and headed up to the bridge again.

As Willow dashed out of the room Swollow turned her head back to look at the approaching ship. She estimated that they had roughly fifteen minutes before contact could be established.
"Send a message to the crew," she ordered the navigator. "Tell them all to be on guard and to ready their weapons."
As Willow reentered the bridge from wherever she'd been Swollow looked at the devices that were attached to her mechanic and raised her eyebrow. The other one soon followed as she took note of the gas masks that Willow was holding.
"What're they for?" she asked, curiously.

"Self defense, Cap'n," said Willow. "These are just prototypes though, thinking of mass producing them if they work all right." She explained briefly the purpose of each one.

"Good," Swollow said after hearing the explanations. "Now's as good a time to test them as any. If they work then I'll help you mass produce them. I have a feeling they'll be needed."
"Five minutes until comunication's available!" Lucario called.
"Come on," Swollow said. "If we can make first comunication we might be able to stall for a bit longer until everything's ready. We can't take on the crew of the Mori without being prepared."

"I realise you're busy, Captain," said Willow. "But where do you want me to be? I could join the main assault team at the right wing..."

Swollow thought for a moment, considering all the possible battle strrategies.
"No," she said after a moment. "If anything happens we'll need you near me since I'll most likely be near the cCaptain and the senior members or the ship. If we can disable them first then it will be easier to deal with the others."
"Better move it!" Lucario commented "They're within range in two minutes."
"Right." Swollow said. "Alright Lucario, set up a communications channel with the Mori"
"Yes Ma'am!"

((And I have no idea how to be the bad guy-pirate captain...you can play the oposing captain if you want))

*we can both do it... what's the name of our ship again??*

((The silver sparrow if I remember right))

*ohhh yes. Sorry, couldn't remember*

"Ah, the Silver Swallow," said a mild, almost bored voice through the bronze speaker. "Pleased to make your acquaintance, this is Captain Drevin of the Mori speaking."
Willow clenched her fist and glanced at the Captain. How would she handle this?

"This is Captain Swollow, Captain of the Silver Sparrow," she replied, emphasizing the name. She was unsure whether he nad merely confused her name with that of the ship or if he had done it on purpose. Either way it did not matter in the long run. "Before our ships came any closer I wish to extend an invitation of Parlay between our two vessels. Is this agreeable with you, Captain?" she asked, being as civil as possible. Angering the other captain would not be the best thing to do in this situation.

"I'm afraid not, Captain," said the voice. "I'm on a rather tight schedule and that's a rather pretty ship you have... I'd quite like to have it for myself. Nothing personal, of course."

"Of course." Swollow replied smoothly, carefully disguising the anger in her voice. There was no way this guy was going to take her ship. "Would it be possible to speak with you for a few moments though when your ship pulls up beside ours?" If she could just get close enough to him for Willow to use her gadgets then they might avoid a huge full scale battle. "It would just be a talk between the two of us and one member of our crew each."

"That sounds... agreeable," said Captain Drevin. "I'll await your arrival over here."
"Communications shut down," said Lucario.
"He's most likely luring you into a trap," said Willow.