Chapter 10: Damage Assessments

"Damage report, Mr. Pike," Captain Faux-Jeton growled. She was sure that she had at least one broken rib from that stinking Clevari. Well, they had settled his hash and no loss to the mission. Nearly being shot by that stupid girl and then being banged about when the gravity fluxed did nothing to improve her mood. Damn Amelia!

"The wrights are still checking things out, Captain," Pike said breathing hard. He was bleeding from a half dozen small cuts on the right side of his face, the result of a minor explosion below. "We have the fires contained or out. The main drive cable has burst along its full length. The whole thing will need to be pulled and replaced. Gravity generator is off line and its master cylinder is breached. The slave cylinder looks as though it is sound. Secondary gravity capacitor is functioning properly. The main mast is unseated. We'll need to land to make full repairs. Navigational array shorted out but Mr. Wells thinks that it is a matter of fuses."

"Casualties?" the Captain asked coldly.

"Four dead, ma'am. Seven wounded. Lieutenant Iharaira is among the dead. I'm sorry, ma'am." Pike said the last softly.

"Iharaira knew the risks," Faux-Jeton replied without emotion. "He fell obeying my orders. I can ask no more and expect no less. You will see to his duties until we rejoin the remainder of the company. Organize shore parties. I want two. We will track down Captain Amelia, Doctor Doppler, Jack Sparrow and that girl. The others are of no real interest to us. Carry on, Mr. Pike."

Pike saluted and moved quickly off to see to his new duties. In spite of the apparent outward confidence of the captain, Pike was uneasy. The plan had seemed to go so well until this morning. He and the rest of the crew had been so very careful to give nothing away and yet their captives had caught wind of it somehow. Pike was sure that they had known of the trap for some time. He could find no other explanation for the thoroughness of their escape. Had the Captain not been there when the captives made their move, it was very likely that the escape would have been complete. Even now the crew would have to hunt through jungle terrain infested with who knew what creatures lurking in the shadows. There was nothing for it though. A bounty was a bounty.

The sun beat on Jack's face. He felt the thrum of the canvas in the rigging and the flow of the water under the keel. Gulls flew over head and clouds made witch shadows across the deck. The Pearl was his and she was free before the wind. Not a woman, not rum nor any drug from the Orient could match the potent, heady thrill of the Black Pearl at sea under taught canvas.

"It's been too long, girl," Jack sighed as he caressed the spokes of her great wheel. He drew in a breath with a smile of purest joy and felt a hard stinging slap across his face. "I don't think I deserved that."

"Captain Sparrow?" a soft, feminine voice asked. "Can you hear me?"

"Bloody hell," Jack grumbled as the dream faded and the pain in his head came back in all of its shocking proportions. He wasn't sure but he felt that perhaps, in this one case, it would have been much better if the blow had killed him. He blinked his eyes and found the not unpleasant face of Alamimo looking down on him. There were strange trees above her and a gentle, warm wind drifted through them bringing scents of alien flowers to his nostrils. He tried a smile but flinched in pain as the muscles in his scalp rebelled against such a drastic and unwarranted action.

"Can you hear me?" Alamimo asked again.

"Yes. 'Course I can, darling." Jack lifted his head experimentally. Horrible pain threatened to overwhelm him but he fought it and soon was able to actually see again. "Where the devil are we?"

"The moon. It's called Azha," Alamimo moved carefully next to him so that she could get a hand under his head. "Are you much hurt?"

"Feels like I've got a hangover that would down an elephant," Jack said reaching up to touch the back of his head. "Knot back there like a chicken's egg. What happened?"

Alamimo told him in brief about the escape and what she had seen of the fight. She examined the back of his head but found that the skin had not split. Certainly he would be very sore for days but she did not fear an infection from this wound. Absently, she wondered what an elephant was.

"The others escaped too then." Jack fought himself into a sitting position and felt the longboat shift alarmingly.

"Please, Captain!" Alamimo hissed. "Keep still. We're some sixty feet above the ground. The boat was without power for more than half the trip and I was unable to land it where we had intended. We're in the middle of a forest."

"Where are the children?" Jack wondered.

"I took them to a branch a little way above the forest floor. I thought they would be safer there than on the ground. At least until I can get you down there. We'll need provisions as well. I took the water down already."

"Well, let's get going then." Jack held out his hand to her and she took it. With Alamimo's help, Jack was able to stand though his head spun mightily for a moment. "Now what?"

Alamimo reached a hand behind her to the strange satchel he had notice at their first meeting. From a small hole at its bottom she drew a slender white cord that nearly glowed in the dim shadows beneath the canopy of the trees. With a seemingly careless flick of her wrist she cast it into the branches above and gave it a quick tug. The cord held firm. Alamimo reached down and took up a heavy looking sack, then wrapped an arm around Jack's waist. She nodded and Jack gave her a lascivious smile with that cat-like look in his eyes. The look made her pause. That was a mistake.

The boat shifted wildly beneath their feet as a branch finally gave way. It pitched sideways and dragged the two fugitives with it, snapping the cord as they fell. Their downward progress was just as quickly arrested as the boat came in contact with another branch. Both lay sprawled on the lower gunwale of the boat. Jack looked up and then at Alamimo.

"Um... Run!" he barked. They scrambled over the side and into the branches as quickly as they could. They had descended only a few yards when the boat tore loose from its resting place and fell towards them again. Again it snagged on a branch and they fled downward. Once more the boat broke free but this time it did not stop. It began smashing through the branches as fast as the two fugitives could descend. A rain of sticks and leaves as well as some strange nuts and fruit pelted them as they went. The boat kept coming and seemed to track their movements, for when Jack edged to one side of the tree the boat followed him. He felt that was manifestly unfair. Alamimo and Jack hit the ground prepared to run but before they could so much as gather their legs under them the boat crashed down nose first and toppled over on top of them. The forest went silent.

"Well," Jack panted. "We're back in the boat."

Alamimo chuckled as they crawled from under the inverted wreck. Once they were standing, an unexpected cheer rang out from a nearby branch. The children were clapping and laughing at the two adults in relief and joy. It was a very strange sound in so remote a spot.

"Can nothing be done?" Amelia asked.

Ensign Lh'aer'ri looked up from the engine he'd just been inspecting. "I'm sorry, Captain. The engine is more or less functional with a few small repairs needed. The sail and mast are another matter entirely. We might be able to cobble something together for a mast using a stout tree limb but there is nothing to make a sail with. It's been so long since this boat was used last that the charge in the reserve capacitor is nearly depleted. We might be able to get into the air but we'd not stay there for long. This little boat isn't going anywhere."

"What do we do now, Amelia?" asked Anamaria. She didn't appear to be afraid but she was out of her depth.

"The other longboat went down on the far side of that ridge." Amelia pointed to the north west at an outcropping of pale grey stone. It stood well clear of the surrounding forest like a gigantic tooth emerging from a vast green gum. "Faux-Jeton and her crew will have seen where we landed. I doubt they observed the other boat but we need to find them at any rate."

Everyone nodded. They all knew that Amelia was thinking of her children. Like as not, they could find a way over the mountain. Whether they could beat the enemy to the other longboat or not was another matter. No one mentioned Brraadtt.