A Minor Annoyance

Summary: To the Captain and crew of the Flying Dutchman, things were calm … until they had a run in with some particularly stupid pirates. Post AWE, and spoilers.

Things were fairly calm in the area of the Pacific the Flying Dutchman found herself.

Her crewmen weren't sure why they are drifting here, unanchored but no course set, where there were no souls to guide. To be honest, her Captain wasn't sure either.

Captain William Turner was eight years to the duty, but he found that it still had some surprises for him. He was down in his quarters with his first mate, his helmsman, and the boson, leaving his second mate on watch. "Why are we here, Captain?"

Will shrugged in answer to the helmsman's question. "I'm not sure, to be honest, Father. But it is nice to just take a bit of a break." The young captain sighed. "I… We're going to drift for a while, give the crew a rest."

"SAIL HO!" The lookout's cry resounded through the ship.

Will cursed. "Or not." He said. "To stations." They exited, Captain Turner already looking up. "Details, Mister Stevens!" He ordered.

"Off the starboard bow, bearing… she's turning toward us, Captain! Looks like a fair sized brig." The look out paused. "Sir, they're readying… They've run up a Jolly Roger!"

Will looked to starboard, where he could just see a ship. "They're going to attack us." He heard a member of the crew say. He could sympathize with the man's disbelief. What captain would attack the Flying Dutchman… well, aside from Jack Sparrow?

"Aye." Will responded. "Well, let's not disappoint them. Man the guns. Mr. Turner, to your station. Jimmylegs- run up our colors- that might give them pause."

Will nodded to his father, at the helm. Bootstrap Bill Turner nodded back, and held the ship steady. Will turned back to watch the approaching ship.

"Pirates." He said in amusement. "Apparently, piracy does not guarantee brains."

Several members of his crew snickered. "You've met Pintel and Ragetti, right, Captain?"

"I've sailed with them, Mr. Turner." He paused. "But even they wouldn't be stupid enough to attack the Dutchman without good reason."

"Or infiltrate her crew, right Captain?"

Will laughed. "Blame Jack Sparrow for that one, Clanker."

He shook his head. "Captain? Are we firing first?"

"No. Let them make the first move. If we're lucky, they'll realize that attacking us would be suicide."

"We're not going below?" Bill asked.

"Not yet." Will narrowed his eyes. "Only if we need to."

"She's run out her guns, Captain."

"I'm thinking going below might be needed, Captain."

"Don't you think the Dutchman can handle a brig? That's assuming they don't realize who we are." Will ignored the byplay, watching the movement on the approaching ship.

The opposing ship slewed to the side, and presented her broadside. Will groaned. Apparently, they were inept as well as stupid.

A second later, Will saw a puff of white… then several more. Most of the cannon shots missed, hitting the water before the Dutchman, but two hit the ship, taking out part of the rail and punching a hole in the mainsail.

Will shook his head. "Fire." He ordered. Unlike their attackers, the Dutchman's crew aimed true. Holes appeared as if by magic in the other ship. "Bring her around, Mr. Turner." Will ordered. "Close to boarding distance. Maccus, get a boarding crew ready. I'll be going with you. We'll try to keep it nonfatal. If I can avoid it, I don't want to ask the Question. Not to this group."

Within moments, the Dutchman was alongside the other ship. Will ducked as he felt something fly just past his head- reflex, really, since a bullet wouldn't kill him. He sighed as he straightened back up. "Let's just head over there." Will said wearily. This was not what he'd had in mind for his day. He smiled suddenly. "No, Maccus, you and your group swing over. I'll join you in a minute."

His first mate grinned at him, following his line of thinking.

What better way to get these… pirates… to stop shooting at them then to shock them into stillness? His crew was grinning as they prepared to board the other ship. Maybe some fun would come out of this, quite frankly, embarrassing encounter with pirates.

Will glanced down at the gun crews. They had everything well in hand, and he nodded. He looked around the rest of the ship, and then nodded to Maccus. "Go." He said. Maccus and his group swung over.

The pirates- other pirates, because the Dutchman was technically a pirate vessel- turned their attentions to the boarders.

The fight was going well, though the other pirates proved to be better at hand to hand then against another ship. Will judged it was time for him to go over. "I'm going over." He told his second mate. He didn't wait for a response. With a thought, he was on board the other ship, right in front of the captain.

He didn't give the other captain time to react- not that the man was reacting anyway. "P…Parley?" The captain asked timidly after Will brought his sword up and under the other man's chin.

Will sighed and glanced around the rest of the ship. His crew had the other crew well in hand, and both sides had only a few injuries. Good. He wouldn't have to ask the Question.

"Alright men. Hold them back- no one needs to do anything stupid." Will sheathed his sword, trusting his men to keep the other pirates in check. He turned to fully face the other captain. "What were you thinking, attacking the Flying Dutchman?" He asked.

"The Flying Dutchman?" The other captain squeaked. "That's not possible. I've seen that ship… it's… not like yours."

Will smiled. "Things change." He said. "Didn't you know?" His smile faded and the other captain pushed himself as far back as he dared. Will turned away from the man, fairly certain that he wouldn't attack, and even if the man did, it wouldn't harm him.

"Alright men. Search the ship; any supplies we need, take them. We'll leave this group of sorry pirates with enough to limp back to the nearest port."

"Aye, Captain." Maccus responded. "So we're letting them go?"

"Aye, we are." Will said. "They're too pathetic to bother with, and I won't have any of them on my ship." He suppressed another grin as he noticed several of the pirates sigh in relief. He was trying to frighten these pirates, not reassure them. It was times like this (rare though they were) when the reputation of the Captain of the Flying Dutchman came in useful.

Will watched his crew search the ship- which he abruptly realized that he didn't know which ship this was- for supplies. He kept an eye on the captives, though they didn't seem to be inclined to do anything.

"Captain Jones?"

"My name is Captain Turner, boy." He said as he turned to the crew member who had spoken.

"But I thought Davy Jones was captain of the Flying Dutchman."

Will snorted. "You're brave, lad. I'll give you that." He smiled coldly. "And Jones was Captain. Until I killed him." The young lad recoiled.

"Ye killed Jones?"

Will turned to face the speaker. "I did." He neglected to explain the circumstances- he was trying to scare the pirates.

He noticed Hadras was trying not to laugh as he approached. "We've got everythin', Captain."

"Thank you Mr. Hadras. Back to the Dutchman!" Will ordered. "Don't bother with the ropes this time, men."

His crew chuckled and melted into the wood of the ship around them. Will waited a moment to make sure they were all gone and turned to the other captain. "Be grateful we're letting you go, Captain." He said ominously before he returned to the Dutchman.

He reappeared right next to the helm. "I'll take her, Mr. Turner." He said. "Get ready to go below."

"Aye Captain." Bootstrap replied. He spread the word that they were diving, and with a spin of the wheel, Will sent them down.

The Dutchman tilted gracefully, and water rushed up around them. As soon as they were below the surface and out of sight of the other ship, Will brought them to a stop and started to laugh.

Hadras sat down hard and was laughing himself sick.

Will started laughing harder, folding against the wheel as he did so.

Most of the other members of the boarding crew were laughing. The rest of the crew were staring at them.

Finally, Hadras managed to control himself and looked Bootstrap. "They thought he… they thought the Captain was as bad as Jones."

Bootstrap snorted. Around the ship, crewmen were laughing.

Will finally managed to regain control. "That wasn't what I had planned for the day, but it was different." He said. He glanced around. "We'll stay underwater for now." He ordered. "Let the crew… get it out." He glanced around at the very merry crew.

Bootstrap smiled. 'Twas nice to have a bit of a break, even if it hadn't been what was expected.

I hope you enjoyed that, and please let me know what you think!