It'd been nearly three years since the war had started and eighteen months since Roschni Naik had taken to the seas. It was still dark in the early morning when Roschni poked her nose outside of her cabin. The smell of salt water had replaced that of the bakery at the corner of where her parents house had once stood. The entire district had been leveled, and the scenery on the deck was just as empty as that in town.<br/><br/>Reminiscing of the past was not something Roschni had time for, however, when she sneaked onto the deck, careful not to wake her brothers with whom she shared the cabin. She had a secret not even her brothers were allowed to know. Roschni hurried to the small fishing net she'd drawn behind the boat, silently wishing nothing she caught had broken the net. She squirmed her scrawny body through the railing of the boat, wrapping her legs around the metal bars in order to get to ropes that held the net. She could feel how red stripes etched into her hands as she pulled the wet rope; using all the strength in her body to let her catch surface the sea. Her burning palms and muscles were good signs, they meant the contents of her net were heavy.<br/><br/>Although boiling fish at four in the morning was barely an ideal breakfast, it was hard for Roschni to have any kind of breakfast if she didn't. Food was scarce aboard and with twenty hungry pillagers and scavengers, meal-time invoked the law of the jungle. Although her brothers would try to share some of the food they managed to snatch before the strong-arms of the crew claimed their share, even her own family could rarely spare a bite. Competition over everything was fierce on the ship. There were few women aboard the ships, and for good reason. Why Roschni had lasted for so long was part because a fifth of the crew consisted of family, but more importantly because she had a combat knife strapped to her thigh at all times and slept cradling a rifle.<br/><br/>Being in the kitchen was always nerve wrecking, as there was no way to quickly hide her secret if any crew-members felt for a morning stroll. Roschni made sure to keep one eye on the pan and one eye on the on the window. When her meal was ready, Roschni chowed down the fish as quickly as she could. Luck smiled upon her today, Roschni thought to herself, a large breakfast and a chance to become rich. She wiped her mouth, put the fish-bones and leftovers in a bucket and took it outside to throw it back into the sea.<br/><br/>“Ros! What are you doing wandering around? Get to the radio!” Roschni heard behind her when the dumped the last bits overboard. She startled and instinctively turned around with a hand on the rifle that was strapped to her back. It was her brother Diphin. Even though he was a year younger than her, he often wound up scolding Roschni. Keeping her out of trouble, but also using his wits and charm to snatch some extra food from the plates. Roschni let her hand slide off of her weapon.<br/><br/>“If you don't pull your weight-” Diphin began to lecture,<br/><br/>“I'm fish food. I know, I know.” Roschni cut off Dhipin's sentence sharply. She walked past her brother, not daring to look him in the eye after he'd almost caught her. Hoping to keep her brother from wondering what she had been doing, Roschni scoffed at him; “Must be nice, being on watch duty.”<br/><br/>Diphin had made nice with the captain, and despite being scrawny and small, everyone respected the boy. Even if only because he was the captain's lapdog. Diphin was the youngest supervisor the crew had ever seen. “I can't help it I've got the charm to pull it off. And here I was thinking you wanted to eat this morning.” Her brother shrugged. “I'll tell cap I must have been wrong.”<br/><br/>“Don't you dare!” Roschni hissed back at him, “What kind of brother-”<br/><br/>“Would it kill you to be at least nicer about it?” Diphin interrupted her. “Sheesh, you're my sister, I don't need to see your fangs.” The boy sighed, and burrowed his hands deep in his pockets. He took a deep breath to calm down before he continued. “Listen, I'll try to get you something, but you'd better man the radio. We've got an important task coming up. If this works out we won't have to worry about food. The military pays a hell lot better than these guys do, so you better not screw it up.”<br/><br/>“Fine.” Roschni accepted, knowing her brother was right. If the others caught her doing nothing, that would be just another excuse to scold her. Or worse. That realisation caused her hostility ebb away. A short silence fell. Strong as Dhipin kept himself, Roschni could see his vulnerability slipping through during silences. Her brother dodged her eyes. Roschni walked up to him and placed a kiss on his head. “You grow up too fast, Didi.” She said softly.<br/><br/>“Just go.” Dhipin pushed her away, “They said they could call in any minute.” He walked away with glowing cheeks. Roschni couldn't help but giggle at her embarrassed little brother. At the same time she was relieved he hadn't discovered anything. If anyone knew about her secret, she'd eat even less. She could only shudder at that thought when she headed for the radio hut.<br/><br/>As she entered the hut, she pulled the old chair back, noticed the radio was still on and let herself fall into her seat. The waiting game began. Radio duty was an easy, but mostly boring job. All you did was turn the button for hours, attempting to intercept calls and routes. If anything came on, you pricked your ears for a few seconds and optimised the signal, but nine out of ten times you'd call false alarm and start the whole thing over again. Today, was different. Today, Roschni would only listen in to a single frequency for hours on end.<br/><br/>Diphin made a quick visit to smuggle his sister some food, whereas other crew-members stepped in at irregular intervals to check if really nothing had been heard yet. Everyone on the ship was on the edge, eager to finally make a good sum of money. The mission they'd been entrusted with was to board an enemy ship, one holding a commander named Elizabeth Nixon, and transporting her back to the military. Why the military had entrusted a ragtag of nameless pirates with their dirty work, Roschni didn't know herself. All she knew was that Elizabeth Nixon was the gateway to a better, richer future for all of them. Her ears were glued to the radio for that very reason.<br/><br/>When a voice finally came out of the radio, Roschni was shaking. “Otter to tortoise, over.” A noisy male voice said on the other side of the radio. “The pelican has left it's nest. I repeat, the pelican has left it's nest. Do you copy? Over.”<br/><br/>With trembling fingers Roschni pushed the button to talk. “T-this is tortoise.” She responded hastily, nearly biting her own tongue “The pelican has left it's nest. Over.” She said, knowing enough. Nixon's ship had left the bay, their prey was about to sail into their trap. Roschni got onto her feet, swung open the hut's door and yelled the news across the deck;<br/><br/>“The pelican has left it's nest!” It echoed all across the ship. Those words pumped life in the ship like the blood in a body. Eager the men readied their weapons and the anchors were reeled in. Greed glinted in their eyes. The ship had been drifting behind the reefs, but came out of hiding. Not a moment to soon. A smaller boat was in sight and the ship made course straight for it. “Pelican ahead!”<br/><br/>“Prepare to ram!” Roschni heard the captain's voice bellow across the deck, as the men held on to the railing for the coming impact. Roschni ran outside to grab her space, with a rifle swinging from her shoulder and her eyes et on their prey, she and the twenty other pirates were ready to jump. The two ships collided, sending tremors through the both of them. “Board!” The captain yelled, and to that command the pirates jumped deck, searching for their target, ready to kill anything or anyone that would stand in their way.