Ray was slightly surprised to see that their stowaway was a girl, and a young one at that. [i]I wonder what she's doing out here of all places.[/i] He smirked to himself, [i]I wonder what I'm doing out here of all places.[/i] Ray kept his rapier aimed at her as Luro hoisted her towards the deck and tied her to the mast. No sooner had they dome so, a ship appeared on the horizon, barrels blazing. Fortunately for the StarDusk Pirates, their aim was off, and they had surrendered their advantage of surprise. Luro released her and Ray commanded her, "Help me load the cannons. No one's turning you over to these slavers." 

Ray had nothing against slavery, though it was Lendrian slavery he was accustomed to. On Lendria, slaves had laws protecting them, even a bill of rights, though it was much shorter than the citizen's version, and not always followed. Some elements of politics had taken to calling it indentured servitude, even though few slaves truly were bound by debt. It was customary for loyal slaves to be freed after several decades of service. It was also well known that slavery was much worse elsewhere. Ray had no qualms with the slaver's profession, he instead took issue with their next prospective acquisition. 

"Luro, get to the swivel gun until you're in rifle range. Aim for their officers and do what you can to disrupt them." Ray saw Nolan firing off the cannon with some difficulty. "Nolan, load the cannon with chainshot and aim high. It'll screw up their rigging and sails and hopefully slow them down enough to escape." He remembered his lessons from his uncle, a merchant captain. When he was 16, Ray took a trip with his uncle on his ship and learned the basics of cannon handling and strategy. 

[i]Use the roundshot to punch holes in the hull. You'll want to aim low, but not low enough to hit a passing wave. Chainshot is aimed at their sails and rigging. Use it to slow their ship. Don't use the grapeshot until you're within throwing distance of the ship; treat it like a giant blunderbuss shot and aim it at the deck. [/i]

Ray and the stowaway loaded and fired another few rounds of chainshot, but their efforts at slowing the enemy ship were in vain. Someone on the slaver ship had loaded a harpoon into a cannon and launched it at the Coral Pearl, lodging it into the side and slowly pulling the ships closer. Ray spied the crew onboard the enemy ship preparing grappling hooks. "Captain, we'd better prepare for boarders." He turned to his impromptu cannon crew. "Load up the guns with grapeshot. We'll give these bastards a nasty surprise they'll never forget."