Seeking Character Advice; 3.5 - Eberron

[TheMerchandise]

I'm going to be joining a RL game pretty soon that takes place in Eberron on an alternate timeline pre-Last War. Right now they're level 8 and in Lhazaar with a ship, finding a crew, and going after a band of pirates who've been attacking too many people for far too long. The four members right now are: a blind seer (N or NG), a beguiler/swiftblade (NG), a dread necromancer (LN), and a warforged artificer, whose alignment eludes me at the moment.
Needless to say, the gang is pretty neutral, and are mostly going after these pirates because they messed with us first. They're not terribly optimized, but everyone's a veteran player, so nobody's made an inept character by any means. The logical point of entry will be joining up with them as they're recruiting help to go after the scoundrels.
But i'm having trouble deciding on what to play. They're apparently doing just fine with all arcane/psionic casting right now, but I was thinking of throwing something melee like into the mix. Originally I was considering playing a Ruby Knight Vindicator (crusader 1, cleric 4, RKV 3), but I'm not entirely sure how to go about doing it story-wise. My main concern is that due to party conflict, my best choice would be part of The Blood of Vol, but i don't wanna be channeling negative energy and rebuking rather than healing my living party members.
My second option is a daring outlaw, skill monkey type, who's all neutral and all business. He'd be willing to offer his services so long as the getting's good (and to teach the scumbags who messed with his business a lesson). But i'm not sure that's the kind of tank they may need down the road, since people are pretty fragile.

So I beseech you, forum-goers: if you were in this position, what sort of character would you bring to the table? If you think RKV would be a great addition, I'd love any advice on how to make it work, i.e. what organization/religion to follow. Just know that the church of the silver flame would get me killed outright.

[Urpriest]

Channeling negative energy isn't too much of a problem. You'll be doing most of your healing with wands of vigor anyway. I think Blood of Vol is a pretty good adaptation of RKV. The Undying ones of Aerenal would also be a nice refluffing, though.

[Greenish]

Blood of Vol fits RKV pretty well, but might also work with the Wanderer.

[true_shinken]

You could mix both ideas. Divine-powered finesse warriors are quite rare in D&D, so they tend to be memorable.

[avr]

With a beguiler & an artificer in the group they probably have the skillmonkey angle covered, unless you do something different like an archivist with all the knowledge skills in the world.

I second the Aerenal idea. I think the Undying fluff might actually match Wee Jas better than the Blood of Vol does, and the alignment is definitely a match for your group. The only problem I see is if your group is using favoured classes as you've got cleric and crusader unbalanced in this character, and the Undying are definitely elves-only. Maybe you'd have to adjust the build slightly.

[Endarire]

I was thinking Warforged Psion (Shaper, especially).

RKV-wise, Cleric4/Crusader1/RKV3 seems simple enough. Get healing maneuvers and your party will more love you.