Commodore Kipling stood on the docks, her hands held behind her back as she watched the men from various ships doing what they did everyday. It had been at least three weeks since she herself had been on the sea, and if she were being completely honest, she missed it. Something about the roll of the dock beneath her feet, the open ocean, the adventure.<br/><br/>As of late much of the navy had been sitting around with little to do in the various ports and towns they occupied. Piracy had gone down as far as they could tell with fewer reported cases, and even fewer sightings. It was a cause for celebration and many of the men had done just that. But when a week turned into two, and two into three, the celebrations had died down and people had begun to wonder what now?<br/><br/>Her entire career had been built around getting rid of pirates, and now that they were dwindling in number, Natalie found herself wondering what she was to do now. She couldn’t return to simply being Natalie Kippering, not after all this time acting as a man, climbing the ranks to commodore, and having her own ship and crew. But what else was she to do?<br/><br/>She had witnessed many man who had spent their lives on the sea retire, going off to find jobs elsewhere, or signing on with smaller ships that carried cargo. There was still some need of patrol, but more often than not, even those patrols were dull and one found themselves waiting for them to be over, wanting to just drown the night in a bottle of cheap ale and wake up in the straw pile behind the stable.<br/><br/>Sitting at the inn with some of her men, a pint in her hands, Natalie couldn’t help but remember the stories she had been told as a kid about pirates, about the adventures they had, but also about the curses. Sometimes when she had had maybe one too many she wondered if that was why the pirates were disappearing, some curse, but than her rational mind chased these fanciful thoughts away. No, it was simply the end of the pirates, that was it.