The sinking of the Midnight Avenger
(Somewhere near the coast of England, 1830.)
"Good God."
"What do you see, Madeleine?"
"This isn't going to end well..."
"Well, what is it?"
Gibbs was losing his patience.
"It's the English navy...we were blown off course much farther than we all thought."
"Or...we could have been sailing back to the Caribbean, unknowingly..." Jack exclaimed.
"No, Jack. We've sailed across the Atlantic Ocean and we're likely to be killed."
"Our best chance is to prepare for battle, captain."
Jack grinned.
"Right, then. Formations!"
"Not you, Jack! The captain of THIS ship." Gibbs scolded.
Madeleine thought for a bit.
"Does everyone on board have a weapon?"
Everyone showed their swords and firearms.
"We'll fire at the ship when it gets closer. We have no choice but to sink her. If they see us and return to wherever they came from they will warn the navy and police. We will be found and executed."
Moments later, the ship began to sail toward the Midnight Avenger. The crew took their positions at the cannons.
"Fire!"
Two cannons struck the ship. When she got closer, they saw the people on board. There were only five navy officers but they were heavily armed. Three cannons were fired at Madeleine's ship.
"No!" she exclaimed.
"You pirates lost?" One of the navy officers asked.
Not a word was spoken.
The captain whispered to the others.
"We're sinking. Board their ship immediately, kill those filthy creatures and retrieve their stolen loot."
Madeleine stormed to a cannon and fired once more at the English ship. It was visibly sinking, and suddenly, the navy officers boarded her ship. The crew drew their weapons and began the fight.
Madeleine hurried to the cabin to save all the loot she could. She managed to retrieve two bags of gold and a medallion. She was then greeted on deck by two officers.
"Thought you could get away with piracy, boy?"
She couldn't believe it; They had mistaken her for a young boy. She was rather filthy, but she didn't realize she could easily be mistaken for a boy.
She dropped the treasure and drew her sword.
In the midst of their battle, he used his sword to swiftly remove her hat. Her filthy hair fell onto her shoulders.
"Good God, you're a woman!"
"Yes, I am. And I cannot believe you didn't notice sooner."
Gibbs, Jack, and the surviving crew were using the Midnight Avenger's only dinghy to escape the gradually sinking vessel. Madeleine felt her obligation was to retrieve all the treasure she could. As she tried to get the bags of gold she was stabbed in the abdomen by a bayonet. She turned around and quickly slashed the officer across the chest. The edge of her sword was then coated in blood. She left a trail of blood as she dared only to take the gold medallion and staggered to the deck of the ship. She turned around and waved at the two surviving officers before diving off board. She swam as fast as she could to the dinghy, but she had difficulty not swallowing seawater. And the salt was greatly increasing the pain of her wound.
"You think she's dead?" Gibbs asked, looking into the water around the boat.
Madeleine gasped heavily as she surfaced from the water and held onto the edge of the small boat.
"Quick, help me on!"
Gibbs and Jack lifted her into the dinghy. Gibbs immediately saw her bleeding wound.
"Ouch...that's going to leave a rather large scar."
"Wow, I completely hadn't figured that out, you idiot!"
"Watch your mouth."
They all watched as the Midnight Avenger sank.
"Well. There goes my life savings."
They all suddenly looked at Jack.
"What are you all staring at me for?"
"Jack, most of this is your fault. If you and Barbossa would just get along a bit, we never would have gotten into this mess."
"I'm not the one who sunk your ship, mate."
Madeleine searched the boat for her rum supply. She opened a bottle.
"I need to get me a dinghy like this one." Jack said.
"You don't have a ship. No dinghy for you."
"Well...what now?" Gibbs asked.
"Now? We should sail toward England. It is our best chance of survival. In case you haven't noticed, I'm slowly dying at the moment and we all need hospitality."
With the help of Jack's compass, they began to row east.
After two hours, there was still no sign of land.
"If we get hungry I suggest eating Jack first." Madeleine joked, out of mere exhaustion.
"Madeleine, I see something."
She quickly took out her telescope.
"Good God, it's the Black Pearl!"