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As the pirates draw closer, you decide the best course of action is to <span class="mu-i">form a line</span> to maximize your firepower. After all, you bought a crate full of muskets, powerful weapons, though perhaps not as suited to a full frontal assault...
"Are you crazy?! Nobody here is trained on how to do that."
<span class="mu-r">"You can load a gun, can't you? Just do it on my command. Then, we can win."</span>
"I'm not standing out in the open to get shot at."
"Me neither!"
The voices coming from the crew are giving you doubt. You realize your inexperienced crew may not have the ability to do this, at least not under your command alone. But suddenly, Bones speaks up.
<span class="mu-b">"Come on! Listen to our captain. He hasn't failed us yet. This is our chance to counter on these bastards who dare attack us."</span>
"He hasn't failed us because it's the first voyage- the first DAY I might add!"
<span class="mu-b">"And do you really want to be a part of a voyage that failed on its first day? You want to get captured by pirates or slavers or worse on the very first time you get in on the ground floor of a promising new ship?"</span>
That seems to still them. Bones quickly explains what to do- it isn't complicated. Most men here have loaded a flintlock before, one was in the navy, another an ex-pirate, the whalers had a few for self defense but you scarcely remember using them. Perhaps the whaling tracks were off the beaten path for pirates, or perhaps you were just lucky...
As the enemy pirates throw grapple line onto your ship and pull it close, you finalize your plan and stand in a line, slightly hidden from the enemy. As they jump the deck, cutlass and pistol in hand, you give the command.
<span class="mu-r">"FIRE!"</span>
With a roar, all of your rifles fire off at once, a hail of bullets whizzing at the invading pirates. They are shunted back by the ferocity of the volley, several falling dead in a moment, the sound of whizzing ball causing more to jump aside and flee. You order half cock, flashpan, load cartirdge; tearing the heads off the worm-skin bags that contain pre-measured powder and ball; ram, and full cock, and fire again. By the second volley, the enemy pirates are soundly unable to remount for an attack. Still, it wasn't very clean. Everett had to use the 10th unmanned rifle because he didn't know how to load one. One man forgot to prime his flashpan for the next attack, another's ball fell out from insufficient ramming, causing him to shoot a blank. The wall of smoke deterred them enough.
<span class="mu-b">"Quick, Captain! Now is our chance to counter and board their ship!"</span>
>Counter with a Charge
>Counter with Skirmish
>Counter with Line-March
>Detach ships and escape
