Chapter 6

On the helm, Gibbs pushed his way through to reach the captain. Unlike most of the crew Gibbs could do almost any job asked of him aboard a ship, but Barbossa was yet to assign him a job and so Gibbs hope he would be able to put his famed banter to good use and bargain for a job close to the first mate and –more importantly- the helm.

"'ere Captain, you haven't given me a task yet!" Gibbs began, pausing for a moment so Barbossa could see who exactly was talking to him and then he continued.

"You see, I'm good at navigating and I noticed you lost your navigator during the fight so I was thinking if you were still in need of a navigator…" Gibbs felt he had done enough hinting and waited for an answer.

"Gibbs you'd be a welcome hand, it's all too busy here. GIBBS IS OUR NAVIGATOR!" Barbossa called to the small collection of crew that seemed to be surrounding him. The men all huffed and then let Gibbs through to the maps.

"Ok now, i've been appointed navigator, so if you all don't mind!" Gibbs kindly hinted the men to shove off, they did so, grudgingly. Only one young lad remained.

"Um sir I'm meant to be messenger…" the young lad said, explaining his reason for not leaving with the others.

"Sure, stay I might need you." Gibbs replied. The young lad, Tommy, had been part of Jack's crew. He had middle length blonde hair, clothes that were two sizes too big for him and no shoes to claim for his own, (most of the crew didn't, it was easier to get up and down the rigging without any shoes, so most discarded them the first day out at sea, knowing they could be called upon to climb the rigging at any point during battle or normal procedures). But he was a quiet bay and so Gibbs didn't mind him being around. If Gibbs was caught doing anything out of the rules, he knew it wouldn't have been Tommy who handed him.

Gibbs rolled out the first map. It was one of the old maps and although it was good for finding any main land, it was not good for locating small islands that have no inhabitants. He unrolled another map. This one was a more modern map; the islands were all clearly marked. Being that this was the pearl and the last person who had used these maps had been Magdalena, the location of the legendary Isla de Muerta was marked on in reasonably fresh ink so Gibbs could easily work out the ship's exact location.

Taking a pencil, Gibbs marked the spot where the ship was now and then calculated the nearest island to that and then gave the orders to go the complete opposite direction to that. Tommy didn't take any notice to the small pencil lines on the map, (the boy was illiterate and so couldn't make head or tail of the words which would've told him where everything was) to him the pencil marks could've meant anything and he didn't feel the need to ask what they really meant.

Gibbs watched as Tommy ran off to tell the captain and then listened as the Captain bellowed the new orders to the helmsman. There was no turning back now. Gibbs was in with the plot to rescue Jack and Magdalena he had made his first move. Either way he had still committed mutiny to his now captain and would punished whether he meant to do it or not.

Jack took a sip out of his bottle of rum. Magdalena was by the little slit that served them as a window, she was trying to see out and pinpoint their whereabouts, it wasn't working very well. Sighing she took her face away from the wood and turned to her brother. She wondered why she was the only one bothering to even try and work out something to get them out.

"What's with you, so calm and relaxed? You're captive in your own ship!" Magdalena exclaimed. Jack turned his body ever so slight so he could just about see Magdalena.

"What's with you, so upset and definitely not relaxed? You mate don't take the time to indulge in life." Jack told her. Magdalena shook her head, rolling her eyes.

"Alright, give us the bottle." She said reaching out her hand.

"You're too young, you can't have it." Jack teased, pulling the bottle away from her grasp.

"Too young! Jack I've been drinking that stuff since I was a toddler, come on hand it over." Magdalena replied. Jack couldn't rightly argue with that comment so he handed her the bottle and she took a big gulp.

The sound of a key being turned in a lock, made both siblings glance up. They were slightly unsure as to expect; on one hand it could be someone coming to get them for their final fate to be realised but on the other hand it could be Bill again. Neither suspicions were correct.

Out from the doorway came the cook, carrying what they hoped was their dinner. He ascended the small three steps and headed to the cell. Taking the tray in the other hand he reached in his pocket and pulled out a key. Jack and Magdalena exchanged looks, the guy had a key, their only hope of getting out of here. He placed it in the lock and turned it, it clinked and got a little stuck (due to rust and the disuse of the mechanism, as Jack had hardly ever needed to use the cell.) then finally it clicked open.

"I'm sorry it's not much but here is you dinner." The cook said placing the tray in Jack's outstretched hand. The one piece of bread that lay on the tray was already cut in half, the cook knowing how most of the sibling's arguments were caused because something was not evenly divided between the two of them.

"I don't suppose you're ever outa a job." Magdalena commented taking one half of the bread. The cook stared at her. Jack subtly moved towards the door.

"I mean you are always the one that serves food, and everyone needs food so you're always well valued." Magdalena defined out of the corner of her eye she caught Jack reaching his hand through the bars.

"Well yes, I suppose I am." The cook pondered.

"I suppose you were sent here with just bread then." Magdalena said desperate to keep the conversation going.

"Well actually no, Captain Barbossa hasn't said anything about it, but I thought I oughta so I did, but if it's all the same with you, I don't think I want him to find me here." The cook said turning around. Jack quickly re-seated himself on the floor.

"Nice of you to think about us, flattered." Jack said grinning.

The cook closed the cell door and went to lock it up and found that the keys were gone. He quickly scanned the floor, just checking if they had fallen out of the lock while he wasn't noticing but he knew were they must have gone when he found the floor clear. Opening the door once again he addressed Jack.

"Look, I don't mean to be funny but if you two escape with the keys then it's going to be my head for the chopping board. I don't want that. So…" The cook held his hand out.

Jack sighed, he couldn't argue with the cook and he didn't really want him to be killed over his escape act, not after he was one of the best ship's cook's he had seen. Grudgingly he took the keys out of his pocket and handed them over. The cook thanked him and then hurriedly locked the cell and placed the keys safely inside his own pocket. He headed up the steps, just before he reached the top he turned back, looking Jack in the eye.

"I'm sorry cap'n I really am. It's not what we wanted for either of yer." He said. Jack nodded his approval and the cook left the room.

"You've done a lot since I've been gone." Magdalena stated, looking at her brother with admiration. He in turn looked at her with confusion.

"You've earned the respect of your crew, that's more then our father ever managed." She told him. Jack frowned at her.

"He called you captain, even though you're no longer his captain, that's loyalty. You crew still regard you as their captain. If we're going to try and get out of here all you've got to do is get the loyalty of your crew back on your side." Magdalena told her brother.

Jack had never considered it that way and certainly would never had considered it as an escape plan, but now he thought about it, it was starting to become a brilliant plan.

Bill tied up the rope securely; his mind had been roving while his body continued with its work. It still hadn't come up with a practically spectacular plan but it was getting there, slowly.

"OI hurry up, Bill!" someone shouted bring Bill back into the real world and back to his job. He was supposed to be helping out with the broken rope that had snapped while one of the crew was still up in the rigging.

Moving a little quicker he joined Jim and together they held the rope in place while the other team caught the other end. When the two ends were joined together and securely tied up to prevent any more broken ropes, Bill and Jim wiped their brows, sighing in relief.

"Jim, would you still stick up for Jack?" Bill asked out of the blue. He had an idea and was just trying it out on someone he could trust first.

"Yeah, I suppose if I could, but don't go round telling anybody or I'll kill yer." Jim replied. Bill promised he wouldn't. At least now he knew whether the idea was going to work.

"Alright everyone little breather, take some air but be alert." The leader of the small rigging crew granted them. Bill knew what he wanted to do with his little breather; he dashed away from Jim and headed for the helm.

"What'd yer want?" an arm halted Bill.

"I need to see Gibbs." Bill answered a little intimidated by the whole interrogation type feel. It had never been like that when Jack was captain, when he had been captain there had been no restrictions for any of the crew if they needed to go on the helm they could.

"Alright I'll let yer through but don't hinder him he's very busy." The man said removing his arm and letting Bill walk through, indicating with gesture of the hand where Gibbs was.

Bill didn't thank him but followed his gesture and found Gibbs hunched over a map.

"Gibbs?" Bill ventured, he wanted Gibbs to know that it was him before he started to bombard him with questions.

Gibbs looked up, covering the map discreetly by leaning causally but on purpose over it.

"Bill, thank god. Ok look at this." Gibbs said uncovering the map and telling Bill what it was showing and then explaining what he had done.

"I've had an idea, I'm sure that there will be enough men on board this ship who would still be on Jack's side, if we could find enough then…" Gibbs halted Bill.

"Are you suggesting another mutiny?" Gibbs asked.

"I suppose." Bill hadn't really thought of it that way but he was basically saying that.

"Well I suggest that you think of another plan, just in case, I don't think many are going to go for another mutiny." Gibbs told Bill, he had noticed someone coming towards them and was pretending to be musing over the maps. Bill saw what he was doing and slowly walked away and left Gibbs to it.

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