Captain Rotter traced the Crow's line of sight in order to find out which direction was port side and/or west. Even then he had difficulty spotting the tiny dot on the horizon, and promptly formed a monocular with his hands, which he held up until the Rotsman closed in enough for him to identify it.<br/><br/>"How far away would you say that is, Crow? A mile? Two miles?"<br/>"More like ten miles, captain," Ganelon lied.<br/>"Ten miles, oh my. That is very good, Crow, good eyesight, indeed. Go decide on a reward and claim it. If this is the ship of Captain Tom Leumas and his Crew of Dead Men, then there will be no plundering, and I suspect it is. I mean, why else would we see a ship after I've established we are only looking for one in particular."<br/><br/>"Phoenician trade ship, captain," Ganeleon once more informed before Rotter could even make out the general shape well enough to conclude that it was, in fact, a ship.<br/><br/>"Odd, and wonderful," Rotter mussed, "Phoenicians and Venetians carry more cargo of more value than any other traders, so I would suspect it to sail with a guard ship at its side to scare off non-flying pirates. It does not, which is odd, but still, that wouldn't have applied to us anyway, so I say we ought to rob it, wouldn't you agree, men? No, there is no need cheer, you do not have a say in the matter. Yaaarrgos, fetch me the Andalusian starling."<br/><br/>Among bird lovers the Australian lyrebird is commonly thought to be the world's most adept in the art of mimicry, with at least one confirmed report of a Catholic adulterer having a full confession without knowing it was a lyrebird in the priest's seat of the confessional. The budgerigar is also considered an apt talker, and in recent years the budgerigar trade was booming as every industrialist or old-fashioned nobleman's son wanted a talking bird. However, none of them held a candle to the capabilities of the near-extinct Andalusian starling, a pair of which captain Rotter had been breeding for the past 82 years in his private quarters, and the vigorous inbreeding, surprisingly, had only made the birds more useful to their intended purpose.<br/>The blue and purple bird with black eye markings was brought before the captain, who cleared his throat and gave the bird a light slap across the beak, which made the bird tilt its head backwards and open its beak as wide as it could.<br/><br/>Minutes later it was flying towards the Phoenicians and landed gracefully near the ship's wheel, where it immediately started talking in Captain Rotter's gruff voice with only trace hints of a squawk.<br/>"Good morning, gentlemen, this is pirate captain Rotter of the Flying Rotsman, closing in from some direction. Your ship was spotted at ten miles distance by Ganelon the Crow, and you will shortly be boarded by first mate Yaaaarrrrgos, Scurvy Eyes Brock, Legless Mathilda and - hey, Crow, do you want to join the boarding party? No thanks," the bird said in a different voice, "Alright, but feel free to change your mind - if any of you do survive this encounter with the Flying Rotsman, which is entirely up to you, then, please, remember these names and tell them to everyone as soon as you arrive back in port. I promised these boys a reputation, you see. Alright, if you have any questions then just talk to the bird once I finish."<br/><br/>The starling closed its beak and sat motionlessly for a few seconds before the Phoenician captain said in a quavering voice, almost as frightened as it was confused. The Flying Rotsman was not quite what he had imagined it would be like. "Aaahh," he said.<br/><br/>"I wasn't finished!" the bird cut him off, sounding angry. "Don't interrupt me again. Right, here's what you do now: you go below deck and gather everything of value on the main deck, including all your food and water. Do not worry, we will leave you with enough rations to make it back to nearest port, but you will lose your salted hams and your caramelized oranges. If you do not resist then everything will go smoothly and no one will be hurt. If you attempt to fight back in any way, then most of you will die, needlessly, I might add. You cannot stop the Flying Rotsman, no one can etc. etc. Also, be aware that if you hurt this bird, then you will have made me, Captain Rotter, angry and I will force-feed you to each other and bar you from the gates of Heaven, thank you."<br/><br/>The starling tilted its head back again, opened its beak and awaited the response.<br/><br/>The response was cannon fire. "Boom! Boom!" The starling said to Rotter, perfectly imitating the gunpowder roar. Rotter just looked over the side of his ship with a disappointed expression. The cannon balls hurled towards him, then gravity took hold and the metal spheres slowed down before arching back towards the sea and landed harmlessly somewhere beyond and below the Rotsman. Rather obviously, when you have a flying ship you keep it out of the enemyâ€™s range.<br/><br/>Unfortunately, cannons were not designed for shooting straight down. The cannonball would just roll merrily out of the cannon if you tried. Rotter's strategy was less impressive, but fairly effective.<br/>"Throw cannonballs over the side. In fact, throw whatever over the side."<br/><br/>The Rotsman was circling straight above the Phoenicians, and it made the fight very one-sided when only the pirates could land an attack.<br/>"Right, men, like last time. We hurt them from above, and then whenever you want to you swing down, and because they resisted you can do whatever you want to them, I don't care. Leave a few alive, at least, to tell other sailors that it was their own damn fault for trying to defend what, at the time of them telling this to others, is our treasure and salted ham. Ropes at the ready, men, you can swing down whenever you feel comfortable and they feel crushed-by-falling-stuff. Unfortunately, I have to stay up here and do whatever else I feel like. Yaaaarrrrgos is in charge without me, then. Swing away, men, swing away."