"Ah, Sparrow, I was wondering when you were going to arrive. Come, sit down, and let us discuss your latest assignment," Lord Cutler Beckett drawled while casting a lazy glance at a kohl-eyed, sexually confused man who was hastily pocketing a silver goblet.

"Erm, yes, by all means!" Sparrow brightly replied. "Now, about that 'shipment' mate – "

"Mr. Mercer had quite a bit of bad news for me concerning the cargo that was sent to the Americas, or lack thereof. Apparently, according to Mr. Mercer, you ordered that the ship be turned around back to Dakar. I wonder, Mr. Sparrow, if you fully considered the repercussions that would follow in the wake of this . . . poor decision." Although Beckett stated this reprimand with no emotion in his voice, a gleam in his eyes betrayed his immense frustration and dissatisfaction with Sparrow's sympathies.

Sparrow, who had remained silent and unmoving throughout the entire scolding, looked long and hard at Lord Cutler Beckett, as though he was trying to decipher Beckett's thoughts. At long last, Sparrow quipped, "Human beings ain't cargo, mate; the poor blighters din't deserve to live like that, being moved all over the bloody place, like they were crates, and – "

"While I comprehend your fixation with 'freedom,' Mr. Sparrow, your ridiculous commiseration for the cargo has led you to choose a path apart from the interests of the East India Trading Company. Thus, it is my duty to terminate your employment from this agency and to further punish you by branding this-" -At this point, Beckett had raised a branding iron from the hearth, and on the tip of the iron was a white-hot letter "P"- "-into your forearm, and sending you to the nearest jail to await your sentence." As soon as Beckett had finished informing Captain Sparrow of his imminent doom, two guards and Mercer came into the room; while the two guards were holding Sparrow captive, Mercer had held Sparrow's arm out, and in one quick movement, Beckett had placed the blindingly-hot iron on Sparrow's arm.

One of the guards had a rather weak stomach, and as soon as he held one hand to his mouth to deter himself from retching, Sparrow had twisted his arm free, and knocked out the two guards with the butt of his gun. Mercer made a move towards Sparrow's head with his gun, but Sparrow ducked and knocked Mercer unconscious. During the confusion, Beckett had gone to his drawer, and was rummaging around frantically for his Queen Anne non-turn off pistol he had placed in the one of the drawers earlier. Finally, he had almost reached it when a "click" sounded by his head.

"Mate, step away sharpish from that desk, and hands up if ye' please," came Sparrow's husky voice from Beckett's side.

Beckett slowly moved from the desk, and raised his hands above his head. He moved towards Sparrow, and stated with great deliberation and thought, "You do realize you have no where to go from here, and that you will be caught and you will be sent straight to the gallows. That grand, magnanimous, and pointless gesture of yours has sent you down a course of hell, where you will be hunted, and you will eventually die at the hands of justice. Setting those slaves free has bought you a passage to the gallows, and nothing more. You must understand that!"

"I'll have me' freedom, and so will they; I may 'ave condemned myself in your eyes, but I think I've freed myself from the shackles of slavery, as it were. I'm free, mate; no more dirty work, and no more orders from the likes of you," stated Sparrow with great relish. "And now, o' course, there is the question of you; how shall I repay you for all that you have done? I think I have a plan, on how to make you remember the great Captain Jack Sparrow!" With that, Sparrow unsheathed his cutlass, and lowered Beckett's cravat with the tip of his blade. While still aiming his pistol at Beckett, Sparrow carved a rough "P" on the left side of Beckett's throat.

Beckett, not wanting to display any weakness or pain for Sparrow's pleasure, merely gritted his teeth, and hissed once during the macabre whittling of his neck. Finally, when the deed was done, Sparrow removed his sword from Beckett's throat, and shoved him down on his rump. Sparrow ran towards the glass window of the mansion, and with one, last glance at Beckett, sloppily saluted him, and leapt out the window. Beckett quickly recovered from his fall, and while applying pressure to the ghastly wound, yelled for soldiers to give chase to Sparrow's disappearing form.

A FEW NOTES!
Right, now, I understand some of you may be wondering about Dakar. Well, Dakar is the capital of Senegal (a West African country), and it has been a central West African seaport for many years. As slavery really began in West Africa, I imagined that this would be an ideal location for a slave port. As to the reference to the Queen Anne turn off pistol, that particular pistol was the cheapest pistol that was availiable in the early 18th century. Therfore, I imagined that Beckett would want a little cheap piece of security should Mercer and his personal guards fail.

I do not own any of the characters from the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series, nor am I receiving any form of compensation.