The ship moved across the waves in the darkness, a silent, somber figure that wore the fog like a cloak. The sails had been furled. The anchor had been dropped. The ship no longer danced upon the waves as it was wont to do. Instead it waited, drifting in the shadows, enduring the waves with the steadfast patience of a snow topped mountain. Even the bright flag depicting the ship's namesake, twin crescent moons, had been lowered so that nothing remained to act as a beacon to call eyes to the ship's dark hiding place.

The crew aboard the ship were quiet and somber, far from their usual jovial selves. They moved about their chores and tasks slowly, as if in a waking sleep, as if some spell had come over the ship and turned it's crew into mindless automatons. The reason for this was not hard to tell. Their captain was not himself, grim faced and agitated he paced the main deck back and forth, back and forth, almost as if he were attempting to ware a groove into the deck's sturdy planking.

Silkfoot Lightvolt had not been himself for some days now, but he had managed to maintain his usual clever bantering, his usual grin, his usual witty retorts, until this particular night had settled it's embrace around the world. Now he was dark and brooding, allowing the mood he had only shown brief flashes of before to show, allowing his crew to see his agitation. He did not scold them for their sluggish behavior. He knew it was a reaction to his own odd behavior.

In truth, the crew was worried for their Captain, many casting glances in his direction, eyes following him as he paced up and down the deck. Most of the pirate crew were highly fond of their leader. They reveled in his joys and despaired to see him so far from his usual self. There was very little speculation on what had caused his agitation, however. Most everyone knew without having to speak it. It was the absence of his first mate that left him in such a terrible mood. Everyone knew that their Captain and First Mate were one pair together. Separately they were each only half a pirate. They complimented and completed each other. Silkfoot could not master his schemes without the calm, confident brooding of his first mate to balance him.

The crew had felt their first mate's absence as well. They missed his firm guidance, his confident, insistent direction. The crew could function without him, of course, they were unwaveringly loyal to their Captain, but they wondered how long their Captain could survive without him. There would be no victory and no loot until the two were reunited, of that the crew was certain.

That was why no one had questioned when the orders came down to anchor the ship, to hide in the silence, to watch from the shadows. All of them knew without having to speak it; their Captain would wait no longer. They were going to reclaim their ship's first officer. No one yet knew how, no one but their Captain, and he had not spoken a word of his plan to anyone else, yet they all knew that was this night's purpose.

A sense of anticipation lay buried beneath the sluggish movements of the crew's movements. Silkfoot knew that the Saint's Shield would be passing in this direction. Not only did it need to return to port to make repairs after it's last encounter with the Twin Moons, but they needed to return there to unload their cargo; one prisoner destined for the gallows.

Silkfoot could not allow that delivery to come to pass. He would strike now while they had the advantage, but only he knew how he intended to reclaim his first officer without risking his ship. That was why he was waiting, perpetually pacing the deck, waiting for some sign of the navy ship to appear in the darkness. The pirate captain had pulled the fog in close around his vessel, once more crafting the illusion that it was not there at all. When the naval ship did finally appear, it would not be able to tell that the pirate ship was already there waiting it.

The Twin Moons drifted in the buffeting waves of the sea, a wraith in the darkness, wearing the fog like a shroud, waiting for it's prey to appear.