A/N: Sometimes I write about at least two or three chapters before I do my edits and upload to FFnet, just to give a head’s up.
Apologies if some of these chapters seem long. I visualize a lot of scenes that I want to get written and have a bit of a hard time finding a stopping point. There is also the fact that I usually write out novella and novelette length fics (Mostly for the Gargoyles fandom) that are at least 12,000 words long and a single chapter.
I know, not a very imaginative name for a ship. Everybody has a ship called the Intrepid in their fics. It’s just a name that fits with the Royal Navy.
Chapter 2: Where are we?
-
1760, Atlantic South West of African coast
Elizabeth dipped the cloth into the basin of lukewarm water and brought it to her arms, scrubbing off the stench of the previous day and night. She had wished she had more clothes to wear for their journey, but did not bring it up to Barbossa or the others. She was thankful they provided her with the means to bathe at a regular basis. She and Will were the only ones who used the basin and to her disappointment not at the same time. She had to admit she did admire his being a gentleman.
She had to wonder if Will or any of the others had a dream like hers. She was sure several of the others had nightmares about the Kraken. She had seen both Gibbs and Pintel shake violently in their sleep and heard Ragetti sobbing between his snores, even Mr. Cotton’s parrot cried out for Jack once while his head was tucked under his wing. She knew they had nightmares but did they have dreams where Jack gave them a cryptic message?
As she slipped on her clothes she thought about what Jack had told her. Brown coat. He was trying to tell her something from beyond the grave, or where ever he is. She did not like to think of him as dead. She did not want to think that. Even if he was they were going to get him back. Sometimes dead people don’t stay dead. Barbossa had died and now he was back.
-
It was the monkey that noticed Elizabeth first when she walked into the captain’s cabin. The blasted undead monkey was seated in his perch over Barbossa’s head while Will and Gibbs were pouring over maps and discussing their next choice of action, but not the monkey. Elizabeth glared at the filthy creature when it smiled at her and screeched. The others glanced up at her
“Elizabeth,” Will was the first to greet her and stood up.
“Will,” she smiled at him and ran to his side. After such a night as before she needed to be in the embrace of Will, feel his warm body against hers while her cheek nuzzle against his chin.
“Yer a bit late Miss Swann,” Barbossa said. He had removed his feathered hat. His dark, greasy hair hung down over his head as he studied the map on the table before him.
“I was not given a specific time,” Elizabeth told him. She did not trust him and still couldn’t believe those who were loyal to Jack were accepting him as captain. She hadn’t told any body about her doubts of Barbossa, not even to Will. “I came when I was ready.”
“Ye missed breakfast, ye should have woken yer pretty little head when the light of done seeped through the cracks of the floorboards above.”
“We woke up together,” Will grabbed her hand and glared at the man. “At the same time.”
“Best not to be arguing over such a insignificant matter,” Gibbs said. He had a compass in one hand and a book of maps and charts in the other.
“Aye,” Barbossa nodded and reached down. His hand came up with a bright green apple, which he tossed towards Elizabeth. “Eat this and do not speak.”
Do not speak? Elizabeth felt herself turning red and was ready to throw the apple back at him, straight at his bulbous nose.
Will must have sensed her anger because his hands were clenched. “She can speak if she wants.”
“Jack relied on her,” Gibbs added. “To help locate the chest. She is not much of bad luck as I had once thought.”
“I dreamed of Jack,” might as well get it out in the open. “And the Kraken.”
“We all dream of that,” Gibbs said with a heavy sigh. “The beast will haunt our dreams for the rest of our lives.”
“It wasn’t just the Kraken killing him. After the Kraken dragged the Pearl down I saw Jack underwater,” Elizabeth continued. Her gaze met with Will’s first, then Gibbs, then Barbossa and Will again. “The surface had turned to glass and Jack said brown coat.”
“Brown coat?” Barbossa blinked and furrowed his brow.
“And then what happened?” Gibbs asked.
She shrugged and studied the apple in her hand. “Then I woke up.”
“Why would Jack say that?” Will asked.
“He’s been tryin to communicate with us,” Gibbs made the gesture of the cross over his chest. “Speaking from beyond. He is trying to warn us about a man in a brown coat.”
“Or a man in a brown coat might help us.” Will suggested.
Barbossa nodded. “We will keep an eye out for a man in a brown coat when we reach our destination.”
“Or a woman in a brown coat,” Elizabeth pointed out. Why do people always assume it would be a man?
“Or it might be several people,” Barbossa struck the map with his finger. “This be where we are headed” his finger rested on the end of a slender peninsula near the China Sea. “We will seek this area first, but this is the general area.” He took a quill, dipped it in ink and drew a large circle.
Elizabeth stared at it before she took a bite from her apple.
-
James Norrington stood in front of a tall mirror as he tied his cravat, tilting his head to make sure he has it right. He had to look presentable before he joined up with Cutler Beckett on the Intrepid. He managed to get his life back. He was made into a privateer under the Dutch East India Company and was able to work with the Royal Navy once again. If he had just brought back Sparrow’s compass he would have been a captain, but because of the heart he had his commission as commodore returned to him.
He had finished tying back his hair when he heard a knock on the door. “May I inquire who you are?”
“It is me,” the voice on the other side belonged to Weatherbe Swann. “May I come in and speak with you?”
“You may,” James opened the door for the older man and was slightly taken back. The governor’s usual jovial expression was removed from his face. His red-rimmed eyes were no longer sparkling and his mouth was set in a deep frown. “Are you well?”
“I have been better,” Swann admitted. “I haven’t been sleeping well since he arrived.”
James did not have to ask whom Swann was talking about. “He did seem to sail in here and take over our lives.” He studied his cuffs. “We have to walk in a straight line to stay where were are. If we stray we could find ourselves in shackles and marched towards St Charles.”
“It is not because I am just governor in name only” Swann wrung his hands. “It’s Elizabeth. I allowed myself to be controlled by him for her.”
“I believe she is safe.” He hoped to God she was. He may no longer love her in the same way when he proposed to her, but she was still a friend. He prayed Davy Jones had looked into the chest and believed Jack had the heart long enough for Jack to take Elizabeth and the others to safety.
“For how long?” Swann asked. “Beckett has everything he could want now. He can control the sea and the ports. My daughter and Will Turner no longer have anything to bargain with. He could have them sent to the gallows.”
“I have a feeling he only had the warrants for the three of us so he could get what he wanted.”
“Are you certain?”
James nodded. “Even if I am wrong I will make sure they are both safe, even Mr. Turner.” Part of him still felt guilty for taking out his aggression on the Turner on Isle Cruces. Sparrow was right that Turner helped free him, but the blacksmith did not steal Elizabeth. She chose to be with him. James blamed his aggression on the rum and his state, it was bad enough he looked like a pirate, but he was starting to think like one. He will never be a pirate, never again.
“Thank you,” Swann grabbed onto his hand. “Beckett gave me his word, Elizabeth will be safe but I trust you more.”
“Why?” James asked as he carefully grabbed onto his new wig. It was soft and freshly powdered.
“I trust my friends.”
James smiled as he set his wig down on top of his head.
-
The first thing Malcolm Reynolds felt when he regained consciousness was sunlight pouring down on him. The second thing he felt was the soft ground. It was too soft to be soil and his fingers could feel it was grainy like sand, probably was sand. Several thoughts ran through his mind. He could feel and he was outside. He was alive. They managed to land somewhere and the locals took them out of Serenity to examine them.
Malcolm opened his eyes and sat up and was greeted with the image of turquoise waves lapping against the sand of the beach. He was on a beach. He turned when he heard someone next to him was shifting in the sand, River.
“River?” Mal examined her. She too was knocked out and was just waking up. “You okay little one?”
River’s eyelids flung open and she sat up abruptly.
“Easy,” Mal held out his hands, ready to steady her incase she had another episode or felt the need to throw up.
The girl leaned over and spat. “I had sand in my mouth.”
“Healthy, not hurt or anything?” He waited for her to nod her head. “The others.” He stood up and looked around. Simon, Kaylee, Zoë and Jayne were together in a small group a few feet away; also waking up, away from them was Inara. “Inara.”
“Simon,” River ran straight to her brother. “Kaylee.” She crouched down next to the two of them. Both Simon and Kaylee were holding each other’s hands. Simon was dressed in the same clean suit as before and Kaylee still had on an old shirt and her overalls.
Mal glanced over at most of his crew to see how they were faring. They were just like himself and River. He can focus on Inara. “Inara?” He kneeled down next to her. She was still sleeping. Like the others she was still dressed in the outfit she was before Serenity found itself in trouble. A small silk bag was right next to her. “Inara wake up and tell me you are fine.”
Inara’s fingers moved slightly as her eyelashes fluttered. “Malcolm?” She opened her eyes. “Is it over?”
“The crash?” Malcolm nodded. “Pretty much.”
“I was in my shuttle. I couldn’t make it to where the others were to get strapped in.” She explained as she sat up. “I just stayed on my bed and held on.” She stared up at the sky above her and looked around. “How did we end up on a beach?”
“That’s a good question,” Malcolm stood back up. The others were getting to their feet. “Where is my ship?”
“Where the hell are we?” Jayne asked. He had brushed the sand off the shirt that hugged his strong form and from his pants.
“We are on a beach,” Zoë answered. “I’m not sure which planet though.” She stood up and noticed the gun that was next to her body. “I don’t remember having this with me when we were strapped in.”
“I didn’t have my medical bag with me,” Simon said. His trusty medicine bag was next to his feet. “And I don’t think Kaylee brought her tool box either.”
“Whoever saved us brought them out of Serenity?” Kaylee asked.
“Vera,” Jayne mentioned the name of his favorite gun in a relived tone when he found several weapons near his feet. “Lux, you are all with me.”
“What happened back there?” Inara asked. She had retrieved the silk bag from the ground. “Did we die?”
“This is Heaven?” Kaylee asked. “At least we are here.” She smiled and grabbed onto Simon’ hand again.
“How do you know this aint hell?” Jayne asked.
“You are here, making it more difficult to find out for certain,” Simon answered.
“Funny,” Jayne pointed at him. “We are dead and you are making jokes.”
“We are not dead,” River said. “My lungs are filling with air, my heart is pumping blood. I feel the sun and the breezes caused by the sun heating the air and making it rise, causing the cool air over the sea to rush in”
“We can’t be dead,” Zoë said softly. Her voice was almost too soft for everyone to hear. “If we were Wash would be here and I would be with him.”
“None of us our dead,” Malcolm said loudly. “I don’t reckon any of us is dreaming either.” He felt a few of the sand grains in his mouth and paused to spit. “I think I also got some sand in my mouth.”
“I can feel sand in my underwear,” Jayne said as he strapped on his weapons.
“How did you?” Malcolm blinked and realized what he was about to ask. “Never mind I don’t want to know.”
“None of us want to know, sir.” Zoë said.
“Where’s my girl?” Kaylee glanced around, seeing nothing but the edge of palm tree forest and the ocean. “Where is Serenity?”
“That is my main concern now.” Malcolm said. He didn’t know how, but by some miracle they hadn’t crashed. The inhabitants of the world they landed on brought them out of the ship along with some of their possessions and then stole Serenity. “I think someone stole my ship. I can’t be to sure until we have searched this island.”
“We are just going to walk around aimlessly?” Simon asked. “We don’t even know where we are.”
“Beats just sitting on the sand,” Jayne told him.
“Even if we don’t find the ship we will be able to find some form of civilization,” Zoë said. “We could get food and supplies.”
“And a lead on who took my ship,” Malcolm added. “Now grab your stuff and lets get moving.”
“We could ask him,” River said. She was pointing to a young man around her age. His dark brown skin contrasted with the gray ragged clothing he wore. His feet appeared bare at first, but a second glance showed Mal he was wearing sandals. His hair was an untamed birds nest of thick dark locks.
Finally some answers. Mal smiled at the boy. “ Son, you wouldn’t
by any chance know what happened to a 03 Firefly-class transport ship. She goes by the name of Serenity.”
“There is a ship over,” the youth pointed further down the beach. “My boat
is next to it.”
“Is it a firefly ship?” Jayne asked. “Because that’s what we are lookin
for.”
“The ship is over there.” The boy pointed again and turned to head in the
way he was pointing.
“Hey,” Mal called after him. “Wait for us.”
“Sir is it wise to follow him?” Zoe was the first one to follow behind him.
“He is the only lead we have,” Mal jogged a few feet until he was right
behind the boy. “You do know what a 03 Firefly-class transport ship
looks like?”
The youth turned around. “I know it is a ship.”
“So is it ours
or aint it?” Jayne asked.
“Worse comes to worse and it isn’t we can ask the crew to help us look.”
Malcolm said as the boy lead them through a copes of short trees and bushes.
“What if there isn’t any crew?” Inara asked.
“We’ll just borrow this ship until we find ours.”
“You mean stealing?” Kaylee asked.
“Borrowing,” Mal paused to look at his crew. “Totally different.”
“We still don’t know where we are,”
Simon brought up.
“Hey kid,” Jayne cupped his hands to his face. “Boat boy. Where are we?”
“The little island,” the teen paused in his steps.
That didn’t exactly answer their questions. “He means what planet are we
all on?” Malcolm asked.
The youth paused again. “We are on Earth.” He turned and continued his way.
“What?”
“He can’t be serious,” Zoe said. “Earth that was is exactly that, was.”
“We haven’t been back in a while,” Kaylee said. “Maybe she healed herself
with out us to hurt her.”
“I doubt it,” Zoe said.
Malcolm had enough. He wanted answers, real answers. “Get back here.” He
ran after him, shoving branches aside. “I want answers, real ones. Like how
about a name?” He finally came to the end of the copse and ran out onto another
beach.
What he saw caused him to pause in his tracks. The boy did lead him back to
his boat, a small dingy with a single mast and a sail. What was behind that
boat caused Malcolm’s jaw to drop. It was large a three mast ship, bronze in color with beige sailes folded up.
Mal wasn’t sure but it looked like a clipper ship from the books he had read.
Each mast had at least three large sails. The ship was tied down to the beach
by several lines and had several rocks placed in front of it, to keep it from
being pulled into sea by the tides
“A clipper ship,” Inara said in an impressed tone. “An actual replica of an
ancient clipper ship.”
“It looks like its either form the seventeenth or eighteenth century,”
Simon said as he studied it.
“This is the ship.” The boy pointed at it.
“Gorram boat is an actual boat,” Jayne folded his arms across his chest.
“What are we going to do with this thing?”
“This isn’t what I’m looking for,” Mal told the boy. “I’m looking for my
ship.”
“You can use this to find your ship.” The boy said.
“How?” Mal’s eyes widened. “I sail like a rock.” He pointed to the sky. “You
see that? That is my sea. My ship sails through that.”
The boy blinked. “You are not right here.” He pointed to his head.
Jayne grunted a chuckle. “He thinks we are the ones who are not right.”
“Shouldn’t be too harsh on him,” Kaylee said. “He is trying to help and
maybe there is not a lot of space ports on this planet and they named it Earth
and they do a lot of sailing.”
“That’s a lot of maybes,” Jayne said.
“That was just one.”
Malcolm grabbed onto his head. “How the hell am I going to sail that thing?”
“With our help sir,” Zoe answered in voice that told him she was determined
to help even if she didn’t have a clue herself.
“There are a few holes,” the teen said. “We can use the wood from my boat
to fix it. I brought an ax and I brought a food. I can also teach you how to
sail.”
“That does help,” Malcolm said. “Don’t know where we are going.”
“Tia Dalma. She sent me to find you.”
“And you will show us the way?” Mal stared at the kid. The boy nodded.
“Good.” He breathed deeply and raised his voice. “Okay we got a plan, don’t
know how it’s going to work, but I have a plan. We are going break this boy’s
boat.” He noticed the way Inara, Kaylee and Simon stared at him. “Don’t worry
his suggestion. Use the wood to patch her up, make her healthy. Then we are
going to this tea llama lady-“
“Tia Dalma.” The boy corrected.
“What he said and she is going to tell us where to find Serenity.
Shiny?”
“Shiny Cap’n” Kaylee said. “I think I have something in my tool box that will
help. Well it will shoot bolts into the wood.”
Mal brought
his hands together. “Lets get to work.”
There was no way this could possibly get any worse.
-
Three bells struck the afternoon watch. James left the comfort of of his own cabin minutes
before to meet with Cutler Becket. He had checked his appearance one last time
before he left his room. Everything on his navy coat was secure, the buttons
held in place, the brockade shining as if he had just polished. Not a single
lock of brown hair had fallen loose, all of it was tied back and covered in his
white wig and hat.
“Mr. Norrington,” Mercer greeted through a grin that was more of a sneer.
When he was lietuenant and sailing from England to Port Royal he had seen a
great white shark jump out of the water. Mercer’s smile was like the shark’s
mouth.
“Commodore,” James corrected.
“Commodore,” Mercer said and opened the door. “Allow me to announce you.”
He slipped inside the room. “Commodore Norrington is here to se you, sir.”
“He may enter,” Cutler Beckett said
from inside.
James nodded at Mercer before he entered the room.
Beckett was seated at his desk, pouring over some form of document with a
quill in hand. “You are on time,” he stared up at him.
“I try to be,” Jame said as he loomed over the shorter man. Even if Beckett
were standing he would still tower over him.
“I have sent messages out, told sailors to spread word that I have what
this Davy Jones is looking for. Many of my sailors have returned with people
found in long boats, people who have escaped the great squid. Jones is looking
for his heart and he will find us.”
“And you will have instructions for him?” James asked. It seemed the lord
had everything well thought out.
“We will have instructions for him,” Beckett corrected.
“You are willing to meet with Jones?” James raised an eyebrow. He had figured the man to stay behind closed doors and allowed people like Mercer to perform his actions for him. Was he willing to meet with Davy Jones? Norrington had yet to encounter such a figure and only had met with his crew and he had heard their captain was far more frightening.
“I am the one who holds the heart.”
“And don’t forget who gave it to you,” Norrington said.
“As you can tell by your present appearance I am most grateful for the gift,” Beckett rose from his seat. “You forget your place, Norrington?”
“No sir, nor will I forget how I earned nor will I forget what Governor Swann has given up for the deal you promised him.”
“You both do not have to worry,” Beckett walked from behind his desk. “Miss Swann and Mr. Turner have nothing to worry about, that is unless they break more laws, slip into acts of piracy.” He studied James’s expression. “When you arrived with the heart I had wondered if you had slipped back into your old ways.” He grabbed James’s hand and pulled the sleeve of his uniform back, exposing his wrist. There were a few jagged scars across the flesh, distorting the P shaped burn mark.
“I was only a boy.” James pulled his arm back and stared at the scars in disgust. “I joined when I was 14 and received this mark when I was no older than Turner.”
“And given the choice to serve under the king or the gallows,” the corner of Beckett’s mouth pulled into a smirk. “I believe you chose well. We all have to make choices. I hope you remember to choose well in the future.”
“I will only choose to sail under the king first and your command second.” He pulled his sleeve back down.
“Lord Beckett?” Mercer called out from behind the door.
“I am in the middle of a meeting,” Beckett said.
“I am sorry sir, but there is reports that a strange ship is approaching.”
“The Dutchman,” James said. “I believe it is time for our meeting with Captain Jones.”
Beckett opened one of the drawers and pulled out a familiar bag. It was the same bag, James had handed him, the bag that had bought his life back. “After you, Commodore.”
“Yes sir, Lord Beckett.” James left the room first, followed after Mercer as they raced up the stairs to join several men on the deck. James stared in the direction his men were pointing at. Through the fog he could make out the image of a large ship.
“Is that it?” Beckett asked.
“I’m not certain,” James answered. He did not remove his gaze as the ship came closer. He could see that it was old and not well taken care of. He blinked. What he had thought was mud were barnacles. The entire ship was covered in barnacles. “It’s the Dutchman.”