Quadratus read from his report, "Mercenary forces: 132 archers killed, 198 wounded; Roman forces: 55 killed in action, 96 wounded.  One ballista destroyed."

"Change of plan.", Agrippa grumbled as he walked over to a fallen mercenary and knelt down. "Give me that."

Quadratus handed Agrippa the scroll.  Agrippa unfurled the scroll and turned it over and dipped the fingers of his right hand into the pool of blood surrounding the body.  He began to draw and write.  "Send word to the fleet that I will join them as soon as we have control of the ground battle.  Tell them to divide into two sub-fleets as planned and allow the pirates to leave the harbor.  Once a pirate ship has just cleared the end of the harbor, I want it sunk or damaged heavily.  They are to approach the pirates from the stern, port, or starboard sides, no head-to-head combat.  No boarding.  The main objective is to disable or sink pirate ships just outside the harbor and trap as many pirate ships in the harbor as possible.  Now get this out to the fleet."  Agrippa rolled up the scroll and handed it back to Quadratus.

"Aye, Commander.", Quadratus took the scroll and moved quickly toward a messenger.  Quadratus leaned forward and whispered to the messenger, "Take this back to the liburnae, tell them to get word to the fleet immediately.  Guard this scroll with you life!"  Quadratus handed the scroll to the messenger who nodded and then took off running toward the liburnae,  awaiting word from Agrippa.

Quadratus returned to Agrippa's side.  "One more barrage of missiles and then we advance the infantry.  I want Cohort IV to flank the enemy and drive them toward the center.  Are the towers and battering ram ready?"

"Aye, sir."

"Good.  Have them on the ready.  Once we have an opening, we attack the fortress wall.  Slow down the pirates' escape."

"Aye, sir."

"And find me a few men who speak Greek.  Have them yell to the enemy and let them know that their pirate masters abandon them.  Ask them who will pay them now.  Keep taunting them.  Maybe a few will defect to our side."

"Aye, Commander."  Quadratus hurried away to set the plans in action.

Agrippa could not contain himself and began to yell at the mercenaries in Latin, "You fools, now what will you do?  Your pirate masters have abandoned you!  You would be smart to join us, and you would be richer, too!"  Agrippa could see even from his distance that either the enemy could not hear him above the noise, or did not understand Latin or both.

Once Quadratus returned, Agrippa moved into position and raised his arm and centurions from the cohorts watched him and readied their archers and ballistae.  Agrippa forcefully brought down his arm and simultaneously yelled, "Fire!" 

When the missiles were safely ahead of the legionaries, Agrippa yelled, "Advance!"

TBC

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OOC:  Battle Orders:

1.   Agrippa will stay with the ground forces until he is assured of a victory.

2.  Advance the infantry: Agrippa will advance the infantry and attempt to gain access to the fortress wall to commence battering operations.

3.  Engage the enemy fleet as planned: Word was sent to the fleet to proceed as planned and to destroy the pirate ships as they exit the harbor.  The fleet will assume the following formation:  Divide into two sub-fleets (as shown above).  One of the fleets will remain on the western edge of the harbor, while the other will assume a position on the eastern edge.  As the pirate ships leave the harbor, sister ships will attack each ship from the side,  and either sink it or disable it.  Once disabled, the team will move to the next ship.  There will be no boarding and no head-to-head combat.  If a pirate ship gets past the fleet, it will be pursued later.  The objective is to prevent as many pirate ships from escaping as possible and to minimize the loss of Roman ships and lives.

4. Break the moral of the mercenary forces by making it known that the pirates are leaving and they are on their own.

Awaiting next roll from the arbiters.