The Battle of the Virgin Islands had come to an end. Victory, at the fight's conclusion, belonged to the pirates. But their success had not come without cost. The brig named Renegade had been destroyed, lost with all hands. Only debris and floating corpses remained of the once fearsome pirate ship. The mighty Champion, largest of the pirate vessels, had lost her mainmast, along with a full third of her crew. Her hull had taken significant damage from cannon fire as well. Fortunately, Captain Pendleton was among the survivors. Under his leadership the Champion and her crew would certainly make a swift and full recovery from their ordeal. The little Mary, who's crew had boldly challenged a ship much larger than their own, was in rough shape, but her crew was largely intact. Captain Gaiani had stayed alive along with his ship. Thomas' own ship, the Forsaken, fared better than her fellow pirate ships. Under John Cromwell's direction, the Forsaken went on to survive the battle with limited damage to her hull and rigging, despite having taken at least two broadsides from the hostile ships. The vast majority of her crew had also survived. Unfortunately, the premature boarding party attacking the Resolute had been wiped out to the last man.

The British squadron, for all their skill and firepower, was utterly obliterated. Of the nine warships that took part in the battle, only two - the Resolute and one frigate - were still serviceable. Both brigs were sunk, destroyed by the Forsaken's mortar crew. The schooner had been neutralized by the Renegade and her reckless Captain. Even now the British schooner was joining the pirate brig on the ocean floor. The tiny sloop, which had threatened the Forsaken late in the engagement, was also a wreck. Three of the four frigates in the squadron were defeated, with one burned, and the remaining two damaged beyond repair. The second man of war, which had come frighteningly close to defeating the Forsaken, had been destroyed by the Jackdaw. It was the Jackdaw's timely arrival that rescued the pirates from a near-certain defeat. For that, Thomas knew, he owed Captain Kenway a great debt.

The Irish pirate Captain walked through the Resolute's upper gun deck, whose after section had been converted into a makeshift hospital for the wounded. Dozens of men lay in hammocks or deck, bleeding and whimpering from various wounds. One sailor, a pirate by his clothing, had lost his left hand. A bloody, bandaged stump now stood in its place. Nearby, one of his shipmates was fashioning a hook for the injured pirate. Thomas heard a man howl with pain as the ship's doctor fought to retrieve a musket ball from his midriff.

Leaving behind the despair of the sick bay, Thomas entered Admiral Bancroft's personal office, and found Edward Kenway already occupying the space. The Welshman sat behind the Admiral's desk, rummaging through the drawers.

"What are you looking for, Edward?" Thomas asked.

"Letters," was his answer. "A map. Anything to help us locate that Piece of Eden."

A groan sounded from the Admiral's bed. Thomas looked and saw the wound Admiral lying face-up on the bed. His shirt was off, exposing the bandaged wound on his right side. Bancroft's good left arm was bound tightly to a bedpost. His sword belt and jacket hung from pegs on a nearby bulkhead.

"The good Admiral is reluctant to cooperate," said Kenway.

"He hasn't said anything?"

"Aside from the usual groans and whimpers that an injured man makes... no. The stubborn bastard refuses to talk."

Kenway got up from the desk, drew one of his cutlasses, and placed the blade's edge against Bancroft's neck. "Perhaps a steel tongue will be more persuasive."

"Go on, kill me," Bancroft spat. "Slit my throat and you'll never find your precious relic of the Precursors."

Kenway withdrew his blade. "You're correct," he remarked, and slapped Bancroft's wounded shoulder with the flat of his cutlass. The Admiral moaned in pain at the sudden, sharp impact. The Welsh pirate captain sheathed his cutlass and turned back to his Irish shipmate.

"Thomas, go to the navigation room. Find out where this ship has sailed within the last year. If Admiral Bancrot, or your late friend Captain Winston had anything to do with the artifact's concealment, this vessel was likely involved as well."

"Aye aye," said Thomas as he departed the cabin. The door latched shut behind him.

After making his way through the ship, Thomas found the navigation office empty. Neither pirate nor navy man occupied the space. A wide table stood in the room's center. A chart was spread out across the table, secured in place by brass weights. Navigation tools, including a pair of dividers, still occupied the chart's paper surface, as if patiently awaiting the navigator's return. A logbook rested on a nearby desk, open to the most recent entry.

Thomas bent over the chart, intently studying its depiction of the islands. His eyes noticed a course line running east from Kingston, then northeast to the Virgin Islands, before finally stopping near Norman Island, at the fleet's present location. How long ago had the Resolute arrived off the islands? Thomas consulted the logbook. According to the recent entries, the ship had arrived one month ago. Meanwhile the rest of the squadron all mustered at the same location. Thomas found this. In his experience, a squadron would muster at a designated anchorage, usually one close to a British-held port. The waters off Norman Island were not such an anchorage. Why had the ships mustered here?

It was then that Thomas noticed a faint 'x' marked on the chart, close to Norman Island's eastern shore. At first, Thomas thought it was simply another position marker, but he threw that guess away almost immediately. The marker was too near the shore to indicate the Resolute's past position. Taking a second look, Thomas realized that the mark wasn't merely close to the shore, but on the shore. Furthermore, the mark was faded and smudged. Clearly someone had tried to erase it. Why? Thomas doubted that he would find the answer in the chart room. Fortunately, he did know where else to look...

Thomas departed the navigation office and entered the Captain's cabin. Finding it deserted, he proceeded to rummage through the Captain's desk drawers until he found what he was looking for: the logbook of HMS Resolute. The Irishman placed the logbook on the desk, opened it to the most recent entries, and took seat in the Captain's desk chair.

The last entry made mentioned the sighting of the pirate ships to the west. A flare was ordered launched, and the Captain ordered general quarters, according to the entry, which had no signature next to it. Thomas, seeing a chance for petty revenge, added 'defeated by pirates,' and signed off on the entry himself.

Thomas then flipped back the logbook's pages until he reached entries dated before the attack on HMS Prince by the Jackdaw. One entry mentioned Admiral Bancroft coming aboard, another detailed a skirmish with a pirate schooner, but a particular entry caught Thomas' attention.

Hove-to off Norman Island. Went ashore with Admiral Bancroft and Captain Winston.

Entered cave on Eastern shore and deposited a package. Neither Winston

nor Bancroft divulged the package's contents, claiming "Admiralty business."

Signed Marcus Adams, Captain.

Now Thomas understood the significance of the erased 'x' back in the chart room. Captain Adams, not trusting Bancroft's story, had marked the cave's location, then decided against it. If he had survived the battle, Thomas owed Captain Adams his thanks, possibly even a drink. Armed with this knowledge, Thomas returned to the Admiral's quarters.

Thomas entered the quarters to find Captain Kenway still seated at the Admiral's desk. Bancroft, as expected, was still secured to his bed.

"Edward," said Thomas with a noticeable grin, "I have the artifact's location."

"Good work, lad," said Kenway as he stood up from the desk. "Now let's get it."

"Damn," grunted Bancroft.