Captain Kate in the Caribbean
By
UCSBdad
Disclaimer: We all know by now who owns Castle, right? Rating: K Time: An AU 18th Century.
Brigid immediately began explaining how she had met Priscilla, and then Priscilla explained how she had met Captain Kate, and told the story of their adventures from the Caribbean, Africa, France, Asia, the Americas and now back to the Caribbean.
Kate was a bit embarrassed to be praised so highly by Priscilla. She also noticed that the women, whose hues ran from a paler white than even Alexis to the darkest black were dressed as fashionably and as expensively as in the finest salons of Paris.
As Priscilla ended her story, they were joined by a tall and handsome man, dressed in uniform with the red coat of the French King's Swiss Guard Regiment.
"Priscilla, and my new friends, may I introduce my husband, Colonel Josef von Bachmann."
Von Bachmann lightly kissed Priscilla's hand.
"My wife has been terribly worried about you, Miss Bracken. She feared that you had been killed by your father or that oaf, Desmond."
"I'm fine thanks to the woman I now consider to be my mother, the gentleman I consider to be my father and my dear sister, Alexis. And the remainder of my friends."
Priscilla then proceeded to tell Colonel von Bachmann of her adventures with Kate and her family.
"And your escort is from the Irish Brigade of the French Army?" The Colonel asked.
Kevin Ryan, now wearing the red coat of the Regiment Clare, replied.
"We were selected from among the members of the Irish Brigade to serve Captain Beckett on a mission to India. Somehow, we've not yet managed to get home."
"When I saw your red coats, I thought that some of my old comrades had come to visit me, as we Swiss in French service also wear red coats. Therefore, I changed into my uniform."
"Josef is still a colonel in the French army, but no longer on active duty." Brigid said with a note of bitterness in her voice.
Von Bachmann nodded sadly.
"I fear I was a bit impolitic at court. There are too many French regiments whose colonels are men of aristocratic breeding with lineages going back to the Middle Ages, but who have no military talent at all. We Swiss are recruited directly from the various Cantons of Switzerland by contract with the Canton and serve under our own, Swiss, officers. I spoke too loudly about incompetent aristocratic officers and was punished by being put on half pay and sent away from France." He then laughed. "But now I have the most wonderful wife imaginable, my own regiment and, for all practical purposes, my own very small country."
Von Bachmann turned serious.
"But you are not here to learn of my life, but to hear of that devil Bracken. Might I suggest your escort have a bit of lunch with my friends while we talk?"
Kate agreed and she and her family and her officers followed the colonel to a small veranda where a light lunch was served.
"I regret that I can probably be of little service to you, Captain Beckett. The pirates know to avoid Mole St. Nicolas as I'll hang any I catch, but I have no warships to hunt them down. I have sent for my chief of scouts, who keeps me abreast of doings outside of my little domain."
They ate and chatted for a while until the were interrupted by a young man.
"You wished to see me, sir?"
"Ah, yes. We need your expertise."
Kate and indeed, all of her friends and family, looked over the young man. He was tall and strongly built, with long blond hair and startlingly blue eyes, but he was dressed as Kate had seen American Indians dress when she had been in the French colony of Louisiana some years ago. He was dressed from head to toe in buckskins that were covered in embroidery and beadwork.
He saw their interest and laughed.
"Allow me to introduce myself. Among the English, and other Europeans, I'm James MacNeill. But among the Cherokee people, I'm Galagina, which means Buck, as in a male deer. When he was a young man, my father crossed the Appalachians to trade with the Cherokee. Eventually, he married an Irish lass who'd been sentenced to death for the theft of a loaf of bread, but had her sentence commuted to transportation to America. I'm the result."
"When I was seventeen, I took a cargo for my dad down the Big Muddy, the Mississippi River, to New Orleans. Seeing the ocean for the first time, I got a hankering to see what was on the other side. After a few scrapes, I ended up here, keeping an eye on the troublemakers for Colonel von Bachmann."
Brigid and her husband explained to MacNeill who Kate was and what she needed.
MacNeill shook his head slowly.
"Now, I thought I'd had a few scrapes, Ma'am, but mine aren't even a patch on yours. I wish I could help you, but I can't. Pirates, smugglers, slavers, and other riff raff know to stay away from Mole St. Nicolas and Colonel von Bachmann. Oh, there's pirates aplenty on the north shore of Haiti, but I've never heard of this Bracken fellow, or of his ships. Sorry."
Brigid insisted that they stay for dinner and then for the night, but next morning they rowed back to their ships and headed for the Windward Passage between Cuba and Haiti. If it was a good place for pirates to look for defenseless merchantmen, it was a good place for Kate to look for pirates.
They found something almost at once.
"Deck ahoy." Shouted the lookout, high above them. "Two ships laying alongside each other. One's a merchantman for sure, a Bermuda schooner, and the other is a pirate for sure."
"We'll hoist French colors. Signal Captain Ryan to have the Witch take the pirate from the north and we'll go after it from the south. Have the drummer boys beat "To Quarters"."
Both ships were at the ready and bore down on the two ships, but the effort was hardly necessary. The cargo of the schooner was rum, and the lure of alcohol had proved to much for the pirates. Only one of the pirates was able to try to fight off the boarding party and he was quickly killed.
The schooner was sent on its way and the pirate craft, a small vessel of eight four-pound cannon, was burned once everything of value was taken off. The pirates themselves were manacled and then had buckets of sea water poured on them until they were more or less sober.
"I'm Captain Kate Beckett and this is my ship, the Revenge. I want information about a man named William Bracken. Any man who helps me will get a gold Louis d'or coin and be set free on the ship's boat we took from your ship."
A particularly evil looking pirate yelled to his mates. "Don't listen to the wench, lads. We're the Brethren of the Coast and we'll live and die like true men."
Kate smiled coldly at him.
"In that case, I think you'll be the first. Esposito, have L'Tee take him to my cabin."
The manacled pirate was pushed into a seat by L'Tee, who stood by menacingly.
"So, you won't talk to me?"
The pirate smiled, showing a row of rotten teeth.
"Dear me, no, Captain. I just didn't want the others to speak before I had me own chance. Now what would you like to know about Bracken?"
Kate laughed. "Well said."
"The name's Charlie Bowen, and talking does give me the thirst. Could I perhaps have a bit of rum to lubricate me voice?"
Kate poured him a tot of rum in orange juice,
"Now, what do you know about Bracken?"
"Oh, William Bracken is a smart lad, but not that smart as he'd still be sitting in London counting his gold, were he really smart. He never goes the same place ashore twice, as there's hundreds of places he can go, and no one will care. But he does have two people he has to keep in touch with. Now what were their names…? I'm having trouble remembering."
Kate smiled, pulled a razor-sharp dirk from her belt, but also took a second gold coin from her pocket.
"Ah, yes. I recall. There's a Frenchman who works out of Santo Domingo, the other side of Haiti, you'll be knowing. Mr. Baudet is his name, and he's a very respectable merchant in Santo Domingo. But when Bracken has enough really valuable loot to sell, he slips a likely lad ashore and they arrange a meeting. Baudet doesn't really trust Bracken, so they have their ships meet not more than a few miles off of Santo Domingo."
"You said there were two men?" This time Kate used her dirk to slice an apple. The dirk was very sharp.
"Ah, yes, Don Antonio Feliz y Paredon of Vera Cruz. Of course, no aristocratic Spanish Don would lower himself to engage in mere trade, but he has access to powder and shot from the Royal Arsenal and he can also find a useful go between betwixt him and Bracken."
The pirate had little else to tell and he soon was sent below so that the other pirates would wonder what had happened to him. As it happened, every single pirate happily told Kate all they knew about Bracken and the pirates in general. When they were all done, the boat was full of pirates. Kate was sure they'd be back in the sweet trade, as it was known, in no time, but she had given her word.
The Revenge and the Witch of Endor sailed well of the city of Santo Domingo for over a week, before seeing a merchant ship sail out of the harbor and head for a sloop.
Old Grumble, as he was known, for obvious reasons, came up to Kate and knuckled his forehead.
"Beggin' yer pardon, Cap'n, but I recognize yon sloop. T'is the Saucy Sal, what the young lad in Jamaica said were one o' Bracken's ships. I'd know her anywheres"
"Thank you, Grumble."
"Ah, we'll probably all die." He grumbled and went off.
"Mr. Esposito, I think we'll hoist the Spanish flag and head for Santo Domingo. With luck, they'll take us for a Spaniard heading for a friendly port. Have the guns manned and loaded, but don't have the gunports opened. I don't want us to look dangerous. Signal Captain Ryan to conform."
The two ships sailed towards the merchant ship and the pirate and for long minutes it looked like Kate's ships might surprise their foes. But something went wrong. The merchant ship crowded on all possible sail and headed for the harbor while the pirate took off downwind.
Kate cursed and ordered her ships to follow the Saucy Sal.
After an hour, she was sure she was gaining on the pirate.
"I thought we were worried that Bracken's ships could sail faster than ours?" Rick asked.
"They should be able to, but he's probably loaded to the gunnels with plunder and he's afraid to dump it overboard for fear of what Bracken'll do to him. And he may have marine growths on the bottom of his hull, slowing the ship down. Our own ships' bottoms are sheathed in copper and give no purchase for marine growth. I think we'll catch him in another two hours."
"Will they fight?" Rick asked. He always hated for Kate to be in combat. The thought of losing her made him physically ill.
"He may. We're flying a Spanish flag and the Dons aren't known for aggressiveness these days. We shall see."
The Witch was the first of the two vessels to close on the pirate sloop. Ryan fired a broadside at long range, using canister and chain shot to damage the other ship's sails and rigging to slow her down. The first broadside did little damage, as did the second. The third and fourth broadsides were fired from close enough range to do significant damage aloft.
The pirate turned towards the Witch in hopes of managing to do enough damage to cause the faster Revenge to have to stop and aid the Witch.
TBC