Pirate Wars: Prelude

His Loyal Operatives

This chapter takes place on January 25, 2036.

Chapter 2: His Loyal Operatives

Planet Wisp; Galactic Kid Council

The Supreme Leaders of the Intergalactic Kids Next Door had gathered in the audience chamber. This included the Minish, who shared seats with the Kateenians, and even the trolls and Gems from New Galaxia were in attendance. There were a few absent, however: the Hyrule KND, Mobian KND, and even Nebula's personal favorite, whose vacant seat was closest to the central platform.

"Good respective time of day, fellow Kids Next Door." Nebula began. "I've called this meeting to bring attention to an ever-growing force that has threatened numerous KND sectors within the past month: the Four Pirate Emperors. Almost sequentially, the Four Emperors have captured sectors from Earth, Superbia, and other worlds, and worse is the fact that Planet Hyrule and Mobius have been completely taken over by two of them. Furthermore, I've been informed that Earth's very own Sector V has joined forces with them."

This stirred a cluster of conversation from the leaders, before Karkat Vantas shouted, "PIPE DOWN, you idiots! They're obviously just pretending to work for them!"

"NO!" Sheila Frantic shouted from Nebula's platform. "They're bloody traitors, the lot of them! I won't ever forgive them until I kick all their arses!"

"Ahem." Nebula coughed. "You can view that scenario however you like, but the bottom line is, for the sake of our fellow operatives, we must go to war with the Four Emperors. Just another day in the life, right? Except, given these special circumstances, Sheila here has proposed a plan. Miss Frantic, the floor is yours."

Sheila withdrew a large book and plopped it on a desk, a camera magnifying it for all to see. "Me mum had this since she was a tyke: a full copy of the Pirata Codex. These are all the rules that all pirates live by."

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Lenari (Minish leader) shouted. "Since when do pirates have rules, it looks like a silly movie prop!"

"Well, technically they're guidelines, but the Code has been treasured by pirates for generations! And here's the part I wanna show ya." Sheila opened to the desired page. "This part talks about how to become the Pirate King. 'The Pirate King is the one respected by all pirates. Higher than even the title of Emperor, whoever becomes the King will have supreme position and authority over all in the Pirate World. There is only one way to achieve this title: when all Pirate Lords and Emperors have acknowledged only one pirate as their true leader, whether by force or will.'

"I think it's that rule," Sheila explained, "that caused all the pirates to go to war the first time. They were tryin' to oust each other and have all the force of all their crews. But it also says that there needs to be Four current Emperors before a King can be decided. It was decided that a war was an acceptable way to decide the King."

Holy crap. Mason thought to himself. I've never seen Sheila sound so knowledgeable about anything. Heheh! Most of the time, she's all fists and feet, but she sounds like she's read this whole book 10 times over!

"So, if there was already a Pirate War, why did none of them become the King?" Griffin Firecrystal (Avalar leader) asked.

"I'm not exactly sure, but I think it was because a winner was never decided. According to the Code, if an Emperor dies during a war they fought in, it's decreed they have submitted to the eventual victor. However, if an outside party kills or 'defeats' an Emperor, it doesn't count as a submission, and I think it's because of that the war could never really finish. After all, Davy Jones got killed by Melody's mum, and Blackbeard was whooped by Yours Truly."