Out on deck, the crew were tending to their usual evening duties. The cook and some of he crewmen brought the food up to the cabin as Jason had set up a table for him and his two closest officers to eat at. Up in the crow's nest, the lookout sat against the mast as he was eating a piece of a French baguette, looking around to see if he could spot the lights of any passing ships. He saw nothing except the light of the full moon shining down upon the dark sea below. As he was about to look away down to the deck below, he spotted something crossing the bridge of moonlight that reflected off the water. It was the sails of a spritsail topmast rigged ship. He kept watching as he soon saw that it was a ship, rigged similarly to the Revenge, but smaller. He then put the chunk of baguette in his mouth, holding it as he reached his spyglass, unfolding it and looking to the other distant ship. On the deck, he saw numerous crewmen, looking as if they were scrambling to do something. When he saw movement along the side of the hull, it didn't take him long to realize what they were doing. Dropping the spyglass, he leaned over and shouted down below.
"Get the captain! Men to arms! A ship's 'bout to bear down on us!" he shouted frantically.
In the cabin, Jason, Jacques, and Kathleen sat down as they prepared to start eating. The dish the cook had served was chicken roasted on a spit, in a stone made oven in the galley, along with a side of bread and fruit, which was of course apples and grapes.
"I know we're not dining like the King of England, but it's better than hardtack and salted beef." Jason said as he recalled having to eat the miserable diet mot pirates face with.
"Well, the hardtack and salted beef would be better than nothing." Kathleen said as she picked an apple and vine of grapes from the bowl.
Jacques used a carving knife to carve a few slices from the bird, serving Jason first.
"I remember when I ate flamingo one time in Florida. Strange enough that the meat was black, but it was lean and vary good cooked over an open fire." he said as he poured a glass full of rum into a cup, handing the bottle to Jacques.
"So what was it that you wished to discuss with us, Capitaine?" Jacques asked.
"Oh! Yes." Jason said. "Well-" he was interrupted as there was loud shouting on the deck. The doors burst open as there was a crewmember, panting as he was broken in sweat.
"Captain! Captain! Ship!" he said, knowing barely English as he spoke mainly Spanish.
"What is it?" Jason asked, getting up and going to him.
"Barco! Ataque!" he suddenly shouted.
Jason quickly turned to his helmsman and bo'sun. "There's a ship preparing to attack us." he said as he walked to a nearby coat pole, snatching a black bandolier and black leather belt. On the bandolier, much like the style of Blackbeard's, there were several large and small pistols. As he was putting on the leather accessories, he looked to the two.
"Go on deck, and get the men below. Raise anchor and get the topsails flying." he said, wanting to get underway quickly as he knew it was probably the ship from before.
They both nodded and ran out to the deck, organizing the crew as they shouted their captain's commands. The crew quickly got onto the ratlines, making their way up past the mainsail yards and up the length of the mast to the topsail yards, quickly scrambling to unfurl the sails. The crew on deck pulled back the cannons so they could be loaded and run out in defense of the ship preparing to attack them, the main deck crew loading chain and grape shot, the lower gun deck loaded solid shot.
Out several hundred yards away, On the deck of the other vessel, the men climbed the rigging to unfurl more sail as a figure, clad in blue, black, and white, looked through a spyglass to the distant Queen Anne's Revenge, slowly lowering it and folding the silver instrument, handing it to a man who then took it and stood by the long haired captain.
"What do you make of it, sir?" the man beside him asked.
the figure smirked a flashy white grin. "It's the same one we encountered in the fog." the voice that spoke was too feminine to be a man. "Trying to make a get away I see." she said as she saw the topsails be unfurled, the shrouds between the main and foremast and the spritsails being raised.
"Shall we commence gunfire?" the sailor asked.
The captain looked to him out of the corners of her eyes, her ice blue orbs could stare into a person's soul.
"Fire." she said.
He nodded and turned to the crew on deck. "Fire one!" he shouted. The crew on the top deck got into position as they ran out the guns. Their target being the larger vessel. The Queen Anne.
Back on the deck of the Revenge, Kathleen went down below, to resound the orders made by their captain.
"Get the guns run out!" she shouted as she walked through the deck. "Get 'em out, or we'll all be dancing in Fiddler's Green!"
All of a sudden, there was a familiar booming. She looked through an open gunport and saw flashes of light in the dark. "COVER!" she shouted. The crew quickly got in between the timbers and behind anything they could as there was then the loud crashing of cannonballs ripping into the lower decks and splintering apart the wood. After the crashing ceased, the crew immediately ran out the guns, the cannons bristling like the quills of a porcupine.
It wasn't long that the ship began to moved after the crew raised anchor, the sails catching the wind as she sailed ahead. The Revenge was underway, ready to face off with her unseen rival.
At the helm, Jacques took the wheel while Jason kept his eyes on the ship, looking through with a spyglass out into the night. He could see the faint shape of a ship as he saw figures in the ratlines and on the top deck. Soon enough, he spotted what seemed to be a figure looking back at the ship, standing at the helm. He then caught the faint reflection of glass where the eyes would be.
"Bastard's looking back at us." he said to himself, knowing the reflection was a spyglass. "Take us to the battlefield, Jacques." he said.
"Oui, mon Capitaine." Jacques said as he turned the vessel to port, steering her closer to the opposing vessel. The bow of the Queen Anne turned towards the path of the other ship, her beak slicing through the dark blue sea as the moon shone down upon her white sails, making them seem to gain a spectral glow.
Jason looked through, trying to see more of the other ship. He scanned along the side, barely seeing how well armed she was, only able to spot a few cannon and two swivels along the side nearest to the helm.. As soon as he reached the prow, which proved that she was Dutch inspired style, he saw the figurehead of a deer with antlers. He lowered it as he knew which ship it was.
"Well well, looks like we're facing off with the Golden Deer herself." he said as he folded the glass and tucked it into his coat. "Jacques, take us a few clicks starboard. Let's show them what we're packing."
The ship the turned starboard, straightening as she wasn't far from the other vessel. the gun port lids were soon opened as the twenty-four pounders were run out on the main gun deck, the twelve pounders were run out on the upper deck. Jason watched as the other ship caught up with the Revenge, the deck lanterns and the stern lanterns revealed the much darker ship. Her hull was brown with blue up on the forecastle and quarter decks. Jason saw that she was armed just as well as his own ship, the white gun port lids were lifted as twelve pounders were run out.
"Oh well...this ought to be interesting." he said as he saw the armaments. He then looked to the helm, only for a crescendo of cannons from the Golden Deer to cause the ship to jolt, knocking him down to his feet. He quickly got back up, staggering a bit.
"FIRE!" he shouted.
The guns aboard the Revenge then unleashed a hellish barrage of fiery cannon blasts, splintering holes into the side of the opposing ship, causing much more damage than what the smaller craft inflicted. In the dark of night, as the ships sailed parallel, from land, the sea was illuminated by flashes of light, thundering echoes of cannon fire filled the night air breaking the silence.
The crews of each ship were hanging from the ratlines as they were intimidating each other, waving cutlasses in the air and firing guns at each other over the loud deafening sounds of the cannons firing as the ships faced off. Jason jumped out of the way as he saw a swivel gun be aimed for him, the small cannon firing a shot that took a chunk out of the railing he stood at moments before. He got onto his back as he dusted off the splinters of wood that landed on him, looking to the crow's nest. "Sharpshooters! Take out their swivels!" he shouted to two men up on the main mast crow's nest just as a blast of wood erupted from his left side, sending him to the deck once again. "Agh! Damn it all!" he cursed as he got on his feet. "To hell with them!" he then pushed Jacques out of the way and turned the vessel hard to port, the large frigate turning into the path and eventually colliding with the other ship as the crew threw grappling hooks, pulling the ships together. It was only a matter of time before the onslaught would begin.
Jason felt his forehead after feeling a warmth run down from his hairline, finding blood on his fingertips. "Well, bugger me." he said, ignoring the injury and quickly going down the steps to the deck as the crew were readying to board, bringing up boarding planks from below. He panted as the intense combat was ready to begin, the overwhelming numbers of men and women from the Queen Anne ready to pour over onto the other ship for the conflict.
The planks were lowered and the crew immediately boarded the other ship, only to be met with musket and pistol fire, several crewmen fell to the deck wounded or dead. The ones swinging from the rigging landed on the deck and began their attack, only to be met with gunfire from above, snipers shooting down to the enemy below. Jason looked up and saw the sharpshooters, taking a musket from one of the crew passing out weapons, taking aim as he pulled back the hammer. He waited until he could see the faint outline of a man with a rifle, holding still as the ship rocked. He then pulled the trigger, the hammer sparked and the rifle fired with a belch of smoke and fire as the shot struck the man, causing him to fall from the crow's nest and down to the deck. Throwing down the rifle, he went to the side and proceeded boarding the ship, running across the gangplanks and unsheathing his cutlass. He was met with a crewman immediately, deflecting a thrust from his blade, kicking his jaw with his boot heel and pulling out a pistol, shooting down another that came for him. He looked to the helm, seeing a figure dressed in black, white, and blue. A blue tricorn with black trim topped the head of the captain, long silvery hair trailed from the underside of the hat, down the shoulders and to the chest. Jason then heard yelling from his right, turning in time to stop a downward cut from a crewman's sword, using his cutlass to shoo it aside and cutting the man down.
"You're mine." he said in a thought as he looked to the captain again, only to find that there was no one there. "What? The bloody hell? Where'd you g-" he spotted a gleam of steel in the corner of his eye, turning ahead to find a pair of curved blades emerging from the thick smoke. He stepped back as he saw the same figure from the helm step before him, wielding a pair of shell guard cutlasses.
"Well, aren't you a cheeky lad?" he said, not expecting a surprise entrance. "You're like a ghost."
"I may be called the "Ghost of the Gulf", but I'm as real as this ship you're standing on." he heard a feminine voice speak.
He was a bit stunned but he narrowed his eyes at the same time. "Oh, well pardon me, I meant lass." he said, not expecting that he'd be fighting a woman. "Alright then, I'll go easy on you then."
She narrowed her gleaming blue eyes, lashing out with lightning speed, landing a cut on his cheek, which made him stagger back a bit with a yelp. "Whoa..."he wiped his cheek with his thumb, finding a smear of red. "Alright then...maybe I won't be so easy."
She smirked. "Good. I love a good challenge." she said, taking a stance as the chaos ensued around them, the sounds of pistol shots and clashing swords filling the air.
Jason knew his odds of winning were probably half an half, the reason being that he never fought against a dual wielder before. Despite his uncertainty, he stood his ground as he watched her make the first move, thrusting forward blade, which was easily deflected, followed by a slash. He quickly leaned back as far as he could, a bang of his hair was cut by the razor sharp blade. He got back up and kicked her away before she could make another move, giving him time to stand back up straight.
"Oh bloody hell, this isn't gonna work!" he thought frantically in his head. But before he could try looking for another weapon, she made another slash at him, cutting across his shirt and scoring a hit, but not fatal. He blocked another thrust from her and backed away as she kept coming at him.
"Having some trouble?" she taunted him as she made another slash, cutting his right arm. He groaned loudly in pain as he kept blocking her as best to his ability.
"If I die tonight, I'm dying with a god damn fi-" he panted, only to be interrupted by a sudden cannon blast from the Revenge. Then came a shower of splinters, which they both shielded themselves from. Jason could see that she was distracted with the splintered fragments, giving him a limited amount of time to find a second weapon. Within a second, he saw a glint from his eye, which happened to be a basket hilt sword laying beside a corpse. He quickly picked it up and just in time before she was back to attacking. He used both his weapons to deflect her blades upwards.
"Wised up now, huh?" she asked cockily.
"Trust me, this isn't my first tangle with another pirate." he said back.
She scoffed. "Well let's see who ends up earning the bragging rights, shall we?"
"Well that I can agree to." he said as he pushed her away, sending her staggering back a few paces.
He made the first move by thrusting forward the blade of the basket hilt sword, which she deflected with ease as she reposted with a diagonal upwards slash using her right handed weapon, only to be blocked of that. In the midst of the deafening chaos on the deck of the smaller frigate, as crew fought against each other, the two captains clashed swords with expertise techniques and fluent movements, the sounds of the blades clanging together ringing in the air as they were hell bent on destroying each other.
The woman pirate seemed to have more experience in battle seeing as she dodged and blocked all of Jason's moves, simply leaning backward as he made a slash sideways, only managing to cut a lock of her silvery blonde hair. She leaned back up made her defense as she made a downwards hack with one sword and spun to make a hard sideways slash, only to be denied of scoring a hit again by her opponent. She began to grow more frustrated, not being able to cut down her rival with the ease that she usually possessed in fighting with blades.
Jason automatically noticed that she was becoming more enraged as she struck harder against him, but her rage was beginning to cloud her vision, not being able to think thoroughly of her next moves. Taking this opportunity as an advantage, he turned as she made a thrust to him, using his cutlass to land a cut on her hand, causing her to yelp and drop the sword in her left hand. She withdrew and saw the back of her hand with a bloody gash, the sight making her a bit nervous as she was now armed with only one sword against an opponent wielding two. She narrowed her eyes despite the odds, taking a stance.
"Now you know, we can try resolving this through means of-HEY!" he suddenly shouted as he dodged a surprise attack from her, using his cutlass to deflect the only curved weapon she had. However, he saw a gleam in her right hand and by quickly dodging, he realized she had pulled out a dagger from behind on her belt. She then made an upwards slash using the dagger, the tip grazing his chin as he leaned back a bit as he then made a thrust with the straight blade of the basket hilt broadsword, landing a cut on her coat but not on her. She then made a front kick, kicking him square in the jaw. He backed off enough, spitting out a golden tooth that had been knocked loose in a wad of bloody phlegm.
"Alright, you're starting to piss me off." he said as he wiped his lip of blood.
"How do you think I feel?" she asked as she tore off her coat and threw it aside, showing a pure white shirt with flecks and spots of red at different places. She drew an angered sigh, her eyes focused on him.
"Getting tired aren't you?" he asked.
"Not enough to skin you." she hissed.
"Well then... Let's finish this. And maybe if you surrender, I'll spare your life."
"The hell I will. I'll carve you like a hen."
She then lunged for him, only to deflect her blade, but not wanting to strike her down seeing as he didn't want to hurt the poor girl. She turned around again and made a slash, only to miss him as he backed up quickly. All of a sudden, he bumped into another crewman, the both of them turning to face each other as the crewman hesitated and then made a slash, only for Jason to block it and ole the girl, who made a thrust with her sword, into the other man. The result was her killing him, but to Jason's shock and bit of horror, she only yanked out the sword and kicked him away, turning around to face him again as her eyes seemed to burn like blue flames. He could tell she was about as mad as a hornet, anger was the expression on her face as she quickly made a strike, cutting him across the chest again, quickly spinning and kicking him square in the stomach with her heel, sending him to the deck as he hit his head against the mainmast. He groaned as he blinked and tried to keep from blacking out, only to find the point of her sword at his throat.
"You're quite the fighter, and lucky I won't kill you." she said as she looked to her crew, who successfully overwhelmed the crew of the Revenge, cheering like victorious naval men.
"But you weren't good enough." she said as she nodded for some men to shackle him, sheathing her sword and walking off.
He watched her walk off in a proud stride as the crewmen hauled him to his feet, placing him in shackles as he didn't resist, knowing he'd wind up getting kill if he did. He could only watch as his own crew were put in chains and taken below decks. He couldn't believe the crew of a smaller frigate were the victors against his notorious ship. But due to his own code of honor, he accepted defeat and walked with his crew down into the brig. The crew of the smaller ship rigged towing lines to the bow of the Queen Anne to their stern, turning around and away from the plotted course Jason was heading, heading southeast. The powerful Queen Anne's Revenge had suffered a huge defeat as she was towed behind the ship, being led like a cow to the slaughter as the two vessels disappeared into the night.