The Tardis glided through the waters of the Constellation, with the sun on her deck and the wind at her back. Jack stood on the quarterdeck with his hand on the wheel and squinted through a mild headache.
The crew had spent the night unloading their loot on Powell Isle, Mickey's home and one of the poorer islands in the region. And when they were done, they'd all enjoyed several glasses of excellent rum at the tavern where Lady Tyler and Lady Rose had been working when Lord Tyler found them again.
The results of the night were threefold: he was feeling a little worse for the wear today, the unburdened Tardis was flying over the water, and he had a greater understanding and respect for the woman James had chosen to marry.
"Captain!"
Jack's head swung up so he could see the lookout. "Tell me you've got good news for me, Nancy!" he called back to the young woman in the crow's nest.
Even with the distance in between them, he could tell she was shaking her head—her dark braid swung heavily from side to side before dropping over her right shoulder. "I just spotted the Master, sir." Jack swore, but she shook her head again. "He's not changing course to intercept. He's going north by northwest."
Jack quickly visualised a map of the Constellation, and he swore again. "He's going to Arcadia."
"Yes, sir."
"Keep an eye out," Jack ordered. "Let me know if you spot him again."
He turned the wheel, pointing the ship towards Arcadia. He could think of only one reason the Master would be sailing for the Governor's island. He just hoped they could get there in time to save Rose.
oOoOo
Rose hummed a soft tune as she walked home from the Wolf and the Storm. Her afternoon with Wilf and Dona had been merrier than usual, as they celebrated the first real victory over the Daleks in years. The fact that it had been won by pirates, not the Navy, didn't make it any less important in the ongoing war.
Rose's secret hopes had already turned to thoughts of James coming home with a letter of marque and a wedding with her dashing pirate captain. After a six-month separation, she had no desire to put the ceremony off any longer than they had to.
As she walked past an alley, a hand shot out and grabbed her. Another hand clamped down over her mouth, stifling her scream. Her attacker wrapped an arm around her torso, pinning her arms to her sides and forcing her to stand uncomfortably close to him.
"Shhh, let me explain," he whispered in her ear when she struggled and kicked at him, trying to get free.
Rose twisted her neck so she could look at him, letting him see exactly what she thought of his orders. To her annoyance, the man whistled, then a slow smile spread across his face.
"I can see why the Doc fell in love with you," he murmured. "Definitely nothing like the other ladies he's met."
Rose's struggles slowed as the man's words sank in. She could only think of two pirates who might know she was courting the Doctor, and this man didn't seem to possess the cruelty that characterised the Master. She raised her eyebrows at him, hoping it would convey her question.
The man frowned, but only for a second. "Oh! I'm Captain Jack Harkness. Jamie told you about me, remember? The one he wasn't sure he wanted to introduce you to?"
Relief swept over Rose, and she nodded furiously. Jack grinned at her, and in his smile, she could see what James meant about the other man being a flirt. She rolled her eyes at him, and he released her with a chuckle.
"Don't worry, Lady Rose. I have no designs on my best friend's love."
"Good," Rose retorted, though not without a smile. "Now, where exactly is James? What kind of plan did you come up with? And why are you here?"
Jack reached for her hand and pulled her through the alleyway. "The plan has been shot to hell," he said bluntly. "And we need to get away from Arcadia before it's too late."
For the first time, Rose spotted the lines around his mouth and realised how low he was keeping his voice. This part of Arcadia was not unfriendly to pirates, so why was he being so secretive?
Jack stopped at the other end of the alley and looked around the corner, his gaze sweeping in both directions before he quickly pulled Rose across the street.
"What exactly is going on, Jack?" Rose demanded when they reached the other side.
He sighed and ran his free hand through his hair. "All right, taking your questions one at a time," he said as they strode through the abandoned alley. "The Doctor is on Cadon, but I think you knew that already. As to our plan and why all the secrecy… The Master threatened you a few months ago. Well, the Doc has never been willing to take him down, but a threat to your life was enough to push him over the edge."
Jack looked up at her, and the serious expression in his blue eyes hit Rose hard. "The Doctor loves you, Lady Rose. He would do anything to keep you safe."
Rose swallowed back the sudden lump in her throat. "And I love him. So you can imagine how it felt when I thought he might have been taken by the Daleks. Even though I realised almost immediately that it was some sort of ruse… that first hour hurt. And not knowing where he is or what he's doing still hurts."
She looked away from him to regain control of her emotions, and as she did, she took in her surroundings. Jack was slowly leading her towards the abandoned harbour on the opposite end of town from the newer port.
When she looked at Jack again, his blue eyes were soft with sympathy. "I'm sorry for that, especially since the plan was my idea. But if it works, you'll have him back permanently. The end goal is to capture the Master and turn him in in exchange for a letter of marque. That's why he liberated Cadon first—to lure the Master over the blockade and into a trap."
"Yes, I'd worked out most of that. And I think my father is ready to give him that letter, even just with the liberation of Cadon. Capturing the Master will be the icing on the cake."
They stopped on the edge of the road that ran along the old harbour, and Jack shook his head. "No, capturing the Master is the most important part," he countered. He scanned their surroundings before looking back at her. "Because it's the only way to keep you safe."
Rose tilted her head and thought for a second, then sucked in a breath. "The Master was on his way to Arcadia to abduct me, wasn't he?" she whispered.
Jack nodded once, then jerked his head toward the pier where Rose could see a small dinghy waiting. They ran across the street and down the aged dock, then jumped into the boat.
Rose got another surprise when she saw the sailor with his hand on the rudder. "Mickey!"
Her childhood friend grinned and waved at her. "Fancy meeting you here," he quipped.
"You two know each other?" Jack asked, then answered his own question. "Right, you're both from Powell Isle."
He pointed at Mickey. "Get us need to get back to the Tardis now."
Mickey unfurled the sail and Jack looked back at Rose. "Jamie said you were clever, but I didn't expect you to figure it all out on your own," he told her, finally answering her earlier question. "Yes, the watch spotted the Master heading this way about three hours ago. Once I realised his heading, I knew there was only one reason he would sail for Arcadia, and we took a shortcut to get here first."
Rose moved automatically to help Mickey get the boat moving. She was a lady now, but she'd been an island girl for most of her life, and she knew her way around the water.
"You took a shortcut?" she asked Jack.
Jack nodded. "We went through the Curse of Pythia. The Master is insane, but he's also big on self-preservation, so I knew he'd go around."
Rose's eyes widened. The narrow strait between Raxacoricofallapatorius and Clom was definitely the fastest way to get from the Outer Constellation into the main island group, but it was notoriously dangerous.
"That was brave." Knowing they'd put themselves at so much risk for her sake settled uncomfortably in his stomach.
The sail caught the wind and moved them away from the dock, and Mickey snorted as he moved back to the rudder. "Took less courage to brave the Curse than it would to tell the Doctor we'd let the Master capture you," he said bluntly.
Rose's eyes narrowed, and Jack could easily follow her train of thought. "What Mickey means," he said hurriedly, "is that the Tardis is loyal to her captain, and when we realised how much you meant to him, that loyalty was passed on to you."
She raised her eyebrows and looked back and forth between Jack and Mickey, and Jack chafed under the inconvenience of being in the presence of someone so clever.
Thankfully, an excellent distraction presented itself just in time. The dinghy rounded a curve in the coastline and came in sight of the Tardis.
"Ten more minutes and we'll be safely on the Tardis," he told Rose. She nodded absently, then shuffled to the bow of the small boat so she could watch their progress.
oOoOo
Rose worked hard to stay out of the way while Mickey and Jack brought the dinghy up to the sleek pirate ship and had them hauled aboard. As soon as Jack's feet touched the deck, he shouted the order to weigh anchor and get the ship underway.
Then he led her to the captain's cabin on the quarterdeck. "I'll come talk to you and give you a tour of the ship as soon as we're underway," he promised before backing out of the cabin and closing the door behind him.
Normally Rose would hate being hidden away like a helpless lady, but she didn't mind being left alone in James' personal space. She studied the room, taking in the books on the shelves, the heavy desk bolted to the deck, and the slight disorganisation that belied the apparent neatness.
She ran her fingers along the wall, feeling the texture of the wood and letting her imagination wander. The room felt so much like James; it was easy to picture him sitting at the desk or scanning the books on the shelves until he found the right one.
A shout caught her attention, and Rose cocked her head, straining to hear the words that accompanied the sudden buzz of activity on the other side of the door.
"The Master…"
"Keep us out of range!"
Rose sat down heavily on the end of James' narrow bed. Jack had just barely managed to save her from being taken by the Master. Her stomach clenched in knots at the thought, and her hands twisted together.
"Bring us around…"
She braced herself from a sharp turn and managed to stay upright. However, a wooden box slid off the desk as the ship tilted into the curve, and the lid popped off, scattering its contents over the floor.
As soon as they were going straight again, Rose stooped down to pick up the papers that were strewn all over the floor. She stopped when she recognised her own writing.
My letters.
The paper in her hand shook as all the emotions of the last few months caught up with Rose at once. Seeing the letters she'd written to him, knowing he'd been the last one to hold them… Her loneliness and fear and desperate desire to be with James again swept over her. She sank down onto the floor and gathered all the letters to her.
That was how Jack found her twenty minutes later, huddled on the floor of James' cabin, clutching the letters she'd written him to her chest. "Oh, Rosie," he whispered, his heart aching as he took in the situation and understood what must have happened. "Come on, let's get up off that hard floor." He pulled Rose to her feet, then led her to the window seat at the back of the room, where warm sunlight streamed in through the large window.
"Am I ever going to see him again, Jack?" she whispered.
Jack wrapped an arm around her shoulders, feeling a surge of brotherly protection towards this woman even though they'd just met. James was his brother, though, and Rose was the woman he loved.
"Well, as it happens," he said, his voice cheerful, "we're on our way to meet him right now."
Rose's head swung around, and her brown eyes were open wide. "We're going through the blockade?" A moment later, she shook her head. "Of course. That was the plan the whole time, wasn't it? That's why he liberated Cadon first—so the Master would be curious enough about what was happening that he would go into Dalek territory. And you were meant to follow him, trapping him between James' ship and the Tardis."
Jack nodded. "We've reversed order a bit," he admitted. "The Master is chasing us instead of the other way around. But between the fact that we have you on board, and his preexisting interest in James, I'm confident he'll follow us through the blockade."
oOoOo
James smiled and waved at another refugee as he walked through Cadon's port. The first refugees had arrived within twenty-four hours of their victory, Sarah Jane's communication network spreading the word quickly.
The cry of seagulls caught his ear, and his gaze drifted out to sea. It was a clear day with a straight wind—the perfect day to be on the water.
He sighed and raked his hand through his hair. But I am stuck here until Jack sends word that they are on their way.
That was perhaps his second least favourite part of Jack's plan. (The first, of course, being letting Rose think he was captured and cutting off all contact with her.) He had been stuck on land before, but on Arcadia he had the life of Lord McCrimmon to keep him busy.
And lately, I've been with Rose.
"I'm surprised you're still here."
James glanced over at Jake, who had come alongside him without him realising. "That was the plan," he reminded him. "I have to be here when Jack sends word, or we might miss our chance to trap the Master."
"Yeah, I know what the plan is," Jake said, his island accent thick with exasperation. "But there's no reason you can't patrol the area around Cadon until Jack signals."
"You've been on patrol in the White Point Star," James protested.
"And now you'll be on patrol in the Arkytior."
James opened his mouth, then blinked in surprise when Jake slapped his hand over it.
"Not to mention you're a bloody nightmare, staring out at the ocean like a bleedin' sorrowful lover," he added.
He pulled his hand away and rocked back on his heels, a cheeky grin on his face. "Your crew have been getting the Arkytior ready for the last two days. She'll be ready to sail in the morning."
James narrowed his eyes and considered the surreptitious smiles he'd seen on his crew's faces over the last few days. He'd assumed they were planning for their new lives, post-war, but it seemed their plans were much more of a more imminent nature.
Jake winked, then spun on his heel and swaggered down the street like a proper pirate.
The seagulls cried again, and this time excitement pulsed through James' veins as followed their call. Tomorrow he would be back at sea.
oOoOo
The sky was still faintly tinted pink when James placed his hands on the Arkytior's wheel the next morning. He could hear the sound of the mainsail unfurling above him, and he could feel the rhythm of the waves below him.
They were almost to the edge of the harbour when he heard a cry from the watch. "A pigeon! There's a pigeon coming our way."
James' heart was in his throat as he waited for the watch to swing down from the crow's nest with the message in hand. "For you, Captain," the young man said, handing over the wooden canister.
James opened it and pulled out the tightly rolled up piece of paper. A grin crept over his face when he recognised the handwriting.
Ready whenever you are, Doc.
-Jack
James tucked the note in his pocket, then raised a shout to his crew. "We make for the blockade! Open all the sails and let her fly."
Anticipation thrummed through James as he took the wheel again, this time with a course in mind. It was finally time to meet the Master and earn his future with Rose.