I stared at the wooden rafters above me, unable to sleep. My mind had been racing about all I had talked about with Gibbs. I was relieved that I had just managed to avoid Gibbs working out my true identity. Of course I would see the mermaids actual form, I wasn't a man and that's why it didn't try and pull me under and drown me. Gibbs clearly said, "…they drown men out of spite." Men.

This was all very petty in comparison to learning that Jack Sparrow was alive. He should be long dead, rotted away on that island years ago. I had questioned Gibbs to make sure it was actually him, but how many Jack Sparrows do you come across with an arrogant air and overconfident swagger that convinces a rather intoxicated Gibbs it's a good idea to try and commander a ship and sail to Singapore single handedly where riches and women awaited them, only to be caught by the captain of said ship, locked in the brig and bribe your way off three days later.

"If I see him again, he's dead." Gibbs growled, but there was a smile plastered across his face the whole time he was telling the story.

I couldn't understand it. I hadn't seen the man for years, and had only spent a few days in his company, yet I could still remember him clear as a bell. I had met many people and spent much longer time with all of them but I could barely remember their faces. What made him so bloody special? It was possible that was because he was the one that introduced me to the whole pirating business. I grinned as I wandered what he was up to right at this minute, before rolling over, with great difficulty and falling asleep.

Callow had been acting strangely all day. Yelling at the crew, snapping at Shandrel and twitching if anyone made a sudden movement. He was usually rather laid back and relaxed and often stayed in his cabin plotting our route. It was two months and three weeks later and we were still no closer to the Caribbean, faffing around the North Atlantic. It was taking longer than usual as the sea was hiving with Naval ships guarding East India Trading Company vessels. This is why I thought he was so nervous, but it was when he threatened to lock Glickmann in the brig for starting a card game with a fellow German named Lowe, everyone became really suspicious. It was only Gibbs and Shandrel and Glickmann that seemed to really know why. Shandrel refused to say anything apart from that Callow was a good friend and he wasn't going to "…let us go gossiping about him like a bunch of old women" Glickmann muttered something in German before telling me and two others to go and make use of ourselves by scrubbing the deck.

Gibb on the other hand was rather keen to tell and we all listened eagerly, even if he thought we were all idiots for not working it out for ourselves. We gathered around him after our evening meal like a father about to tell his children and exciting story.

"I thought it would be pretty obvious to the lot of ye'. Have you never wandered why we have such an easy time of it here compared to life on other ships? Why we're allowed to fight and gamble and stay up late?"

We all stared at him blankly.

He let out a puff of frustration, "Captain Callow's been breaking the rules of the Code!"

Everyone let out a gasp of realisation, excepting me, "Code?" I said out loud.

"Christ, you're thick!" someone said.

The other men stared at me like I was mad and Gibb's looked exasperated, "Jesus! The Pirates Code! As set forth by Morgan and Bartholomew."

"We have a code?"

"Of course we do! Or we'd be causing all sorts of trouble if we didn't. Well, more trouble than we already cause. The Brethren Court passes the laws and we follow 'em. "

I frowned, finding it hard to take in that pirates had a set of laws and a form of government, "Right, and what does this code involve exactly."

"Well I can't tell you everything, or we'd be here all night. I don't know it all anyway. But I do know that a Captain should not allow the smoking of tobacco in the hold, any form of gambling, lights should be turned out after eight, and all fights should be settled on land with a sword or pistol. All of this the good Captain has failed to obey. Other rules include compensation for loss of body parts and injuries, if a man falls behind, he is left behind and to take what ye can and give nothin' back!"

The last one caused the rest of the men to give a loud cheer.

"Why haven't you said to him if you knew he was breaking the code?" I asked

Shandrel stepped forward, "I did. Months ago, but he said that what other Captains didn't know, won't hurt them and they were more guidelines than actual rules"

"Aye well," Gibbs continued, "No one follows 'em to the letter, but we think Callow may have gone too far."

I worked out the reason he was so nervous for myself, "And other ships have got wind of this and are none too pleased?"

"Exactly!"

Not a second later we were all flung forwards by something so immensely strong that could have only been cannon fire. Most of us let out a yell and quickly scrambled to our feet and looked to Glickmann for orders.

"On deck, now!" he pointed at a group of men and shouted in heavily accented English, "Find out what it is! Find the bloody look out too! What has he been doing?"

The men disappeared and turned to the rest of us, "Gibbs! Go and inspect damage. The rest of you to your positioning's and prepare the cannons"

I was about to head up on deck to see what was happening, when he caught my shoulder, "Go find the Captain, now. He needs to take control."

"Aye" I nodded and ran in the direction of the captain's cabin as quickly as I could, whilst making sure all of my weapons are present and correct. I burst through the mahogany doors, my footsteps thundering on the wooden floor as the ship rocked back and forth for the force of the cannons being fired at whatever it was.

"Captain!" I scanned the room, unable to see him, books and maps were flung everywhere, and the maroon satin bed hangings were pulled from their rails. The place was a mess, "Captain, we're under attack!"

"You think I don't know that!", came a squeak from the corner. I looked and cowering behind the legs of a chair like a frightened child was the grand and fearless Captain Jonathan Callow.

"What are you doing? We need your help!" I approached him carefully, trying not to trip.

As I got closer I could see he was sweating profoundly and he had a mad and panicky look in his eye, "It's them! They've come for me! I knew I shouldn't have let you do all those things. I'm captain! I should be able to control you. But I can't and now I'm a dead man."

I sounded as though he was blaming the crew, "Here, this isn't our fault."

"Oh it's not. It's mine. And now they're coming for me" He stood up and began to pace, deaf to the chaos outside.

"Who? Who's coming?" I frowned, unable to believe he could lose his marbles at a time like this.

He stopped and stared at me in a manner that was slightly frightening and drew his pistol, I stuck my hands in air, "You're a good crew member Crugg. I wish you all the best."

"What?" I was becoming increasingly confused.

He looked away, slipping a ring of his finger that had a stags head engraved on it and pressed it into my hand whilst staring at a spot on the floor, "Tell Glickmann to take command. Tell him that it was too late, they came for me."

He stuck the pistol in his mouth as I shouted, "You've gone mad! Who's coming for you?"

He said one word before blowing his own brains out, right there in front of me. The blood and brains splattered all over the windows of the cabin and his body collapsed in a heap at my feet. I stood there, stunned, unable to believe what just happened, that word ringing in my ears.

The ship lurched, bringing me back to my senses and I ran upstairs to find Glickmann. It was chaos, several men were down and there was cannon fire in all directions. The bow of the ship had dropped noticeably and we were slowly sinking. I saw the attacker, a two ships crawling their way towards us, to avoid too heavy a blow from the cannons. I ran up to Glickmann who was yelling orders in a mixture of English and German.

"Glickmann! He's dead, Callow's dead." I handed him the ring and he stared at me before slipping it onto his finger and nodding.

"Ready yourself for a battle boy." He looked up at the attacking ships again.

"Who is it?"

He glanced at me like I was foolish, "Who does it look like? It's the navy! She's found us at last!"

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