[b]Charleston, South Carolina[/b]


Commander Jerry Hunley stood on the bridge of the HMS [i]Palmetto Rose[/i] and looked out across Charleston harbor at the old wreck of Fort Sumter. He'd read about the conflict in the history books, back before the Kingdom was the Confederate States and they fought for something  much more terrible than simply king and country. Maybe it was an ominous spot to launch the [i]Rose[/i]. The ship was a light cruiser and part of the Royal Navy's 2nd Fleet, responsible for protecting the Kingdom's shores from the tip of Florida all the way up to the Virginia Coast.

Jerry had worked as a junior officer and XO before, but never as a skipper. All told three hunded and forty men crewed the [i]Rose[/i] and got her out to sea. He was responsible for the lives of those men and keeping them safe. Their mission wasn't the most dangerous, but it wasn't certainly a cruise down the coast. 

"Skipper," Lieutenant Sturgeon, Jerry's XO, said with a salute. "It seems all men are accounted for. Orders?"

"I'll do that," Jerry said as he started towards the helm and the PA system there. "I'll give them a talk."

"Now hear this!" The CO announced into the microphone, broadcasting speakers across the ship.

"Men," Jerry said with an easy smile to himself. "Welcome to the HMS [i]Palmetto Rose[/i], your new home. I'm Commander Hunley and I am your skipper. Our mission involves pirates. Reports have them harassing ships around the Outer Banks. The Navy wants us out there to flex a little Royal muscle. We're to patrol, find, and take out any pirate vessels we encounter. Let's show them what this ship can do. Make ready to shove off."

Lieutenant Sturgeon disappeared beneath deck barking orders while Jerry found the skipper's seat on the bridge. Ten minutes later the [i]Rose[/i] was under way across Charleston Harbor headed out to see. The ship fired a one-gun salute as it passed old Fort Sumter. 

"What's our heading, sir," Helmsman Price asked once they cleared the harbor. 

"Set a course north," Jerry said with a grin. "Keep the coastline in sight, but steady on towards North Carolina. Let's see what kind of trouble we can cause."