<strong>Captain Edward Hawkes</strong><br/><br/>Hawkes was at his best behavior, considering he let the girls protest, whimper, reason and even threaten him one by one. But he was having fun as well. He liked how some of them believed they had power down here, on his turf. The next few hours and days would rid them of their misgivings, and this was the best way for him to kill time till the pen pushers saw it fit to let the submarine do its job. He stayed motionless even as the oriental girl stepped forward, and later the blonde too.<br/><br/>He looked into each pair of eyes, and finally, addressing the two ladies who'd stepped forward, he nodded and said,<strong>"Thank you, ladies. I appreciate your understanding of this extraordinary situation. I realize it wouldn't have been easy for you to accept my terms. But"</strong>, he drew a breath, and added,<strong>"before I search you, I need to make some things clear to your friends. Especially, your skipper Miss Ophelia here."</strong>He rang a bell, and to the ensign who entered, he said,<strong>"Officer Harden. Commander Macheath. Now."</strong><br/><br/>Turning to Eloise, he resumed,<strong>"Miss.... Eloise, is it? Yes, you see Miss, please don't mention the word 'port' during the rest of your stay here. You're way too deep below the ocean surface to be talking like that. As to your wondering about why your personal items need to be searched, I could tell you, if you were even a bit more polite, about how we've lost men to bombs hidden in handbags and lipstick pistols and sundry such items. But your attitude repels me. It doesn't make me want to explain things to you. Miss Jaime",</strong>he continued in the same tone, as he moved closer to Jaime,<strong>"is much more polite, and I'm grateful for that."</strong>He'd noticed her blushing earlier, and had wondered what it was about.<br/><br/>He then turned to Ophelia, and said,<strong>"Miss Ophelia, how do I begin answering you? The captain of the Queen of the Caribbean herself. You presume to be an equal in stature to the commanding officer of a bloody nuclear submarine? It is your father's wealth speaking, I assume. I can feel its stench coming out of every pore of your body. Pity I thought you were the most skilled of this bunch when I saw you all greased up, presumably during your attempts to repair your father's boat. You're just another spoilt little rich girl." </strong>He sneered in contempt, and shook his head, before continuing,<strong>"Well, in your case, I'll have to set an example. You see Miss, you're right now outside the domestic territory of the US and in a military zone, under the legal jurisdiction of the commanding officer. That is, me. And unless you want to be thrown out of the sub where the water pressure would choke you to painful death, this is how things stand. As the commanding officer, I deem your behavior too dangerous to let you stay with your friends. To even let you roam around freely in my sub. Until the time you've toned down your rhetoric and learnt some manners, I'm going to have you put under lock and key. My men should be here soon."</strong><br/><br/>