And a Bottle of Rum

1

A/N: Look! I did another thing! And you guys, I've never written anything like this before so I hope you don't hate it! LOL.

Just one thing, throughout this story there are mentions of rape as part of a character's backstory but there are no actual occurrences of it in the story.

It was the year of Our Lord seventeen hundred and eighty, just approaching Michaelmas. The weather in the Caribbean Sea had mostly calmed from hurricane season and ships were sailing safely from island to island, carrying their wares as well as carrying passengers to new lives in the Colonies. Safely that is, save the scourge of pirates roaming the area, pillaging indiscriminately. It had become so bad that His Majesty's Royal Navy had been dispatched to the region to hunt down some of the fiercest and feared pirate captains in the world.

It was just after dawn. Kara Zorel, captain of the the Devil's Cutlass quickly scaled its rigging and hopped into the crow's nest atop the main mast to join her lookout. The man snapped to attention. "Mornin' Captain."

"Good morning, William," she replied as she extended her telescope, put it to her eye and turned slowly in a circle to see what she could see. "Fair winds today."

"Aye," he replied. "And all quiet ahead and behind."

Kara chuckled as she closed her telescope and stuck it into the inside pocket of her leather coat. "Ahead and behind is not what's bothering me. It's the sneaky side attacks that could be our downfall." She patted his shoulder and then jumped out of the crow's nest, catching herself in the rigging and then sliding down quickly to land with a little hop on the upper deck of the galleon.

"Mr. Schott," she yelled. "All clear. Set full sail!"

"Full sail, aye!" her first mate yelled back.

Kara took a moment to appreciate the wind and the mist of sea spray on her face before striding down the steps to her cabin to get washed. She slipped out of her coat, pushed up the frilled cuffs of her loose, white shirt and ducked her head to look into her mirror as she leaned on her sink. Blue eyes set into a beautiful face framed by long blonde hair looked back. Her hair was decorated with a few beaded braids and they gave her a somewhat roguish look. Kara chuckled as she shook her head and murmured to herself. "An urchin, I am. Mother would roll in her grave." She used a bar of rough soap to wash her face, neck and under her shirt, and dried off on a bit of towel that had seen better days.

They were only a day out of Tortuga and Kara was already making plans for how to sneak onto the island without drawing attention to herself, and her crew, from the Royal Navy that was hunting pirates in the area. They badly needed supplies. The captain's stomach rumbled, starkly reminding her that they were on rations of both food and water, but she still had some of her personal supply of rum remaining, so she poured two fingers and knocked it back. It warmed her all the way down into her stomach and she smacked her lips as she pulled her hair back at the base of her neck and tied it with a leather thong.

As she reached up though, the waistband of her leather breeches slipped down her muscular stomach and she sighed as she tucked her shirt in and cinched her belt a little tighter. Her enforced diet had made her leaner than usual and she was, quite frankly, looking forward to a few good meals to stick to her ribs, more than a couple of mugs of ale, a bath... and some intimate company. She smiled at that thought. It had been a long time.

Just then, there was a tap on her door, and she folded her arms over her chest. "Enter!" she called.

Mr. Schott stuck his head in the door. "Captain," he said. "We have a problem."

"A problem with what, Winn, pray tell?" the captain replied with raised eyebrows.

"We have a thief onboard. He has made his existence known more than once but now I believe I know who he is."

"Oh?" Kara's face eased into a frown. "Take me to this thief, damn his blood. I will address this."

"Are you sure? I can deal with it if…"

"My ship, my crew, my responsibility," Kara interrupted as she grabbed her leather tricorn from its hook, set it firmly on her head and pulled her sleeves down. They left the cabin and climbed the steps to the main deck where Winn indicated one of the men with his eyes. Kara nodded and approached him "Mr. Anderson. A word."

The man straightened from his task and snapped to attention. "Yes, Captain."

"You are hereby charged with the crime of thievery." She turned to look at Winn. "Evidence please, Mr. Schott."

"We have two witnesses, Captain, who saw this man steal an extra portion of food and water. There have been reports of coin and jewelry missing and they were found in a drawstring pouch hidden in this man's hammock."

Anderson swallowed as he looked back and forth between his first mate and captain. Kara frowned. "Damning evidence indeed. Mr. Anderson, every possession of your crewmates was hard won, and it is an especially hard crime against them. The food and water you stole belong to me, as does everything else on this ship. What say you, Mr. Anderson? How do you plead?"

"Not guilty," the man replied defiantly, pinning the captain with fierce grey eyes.

Captain Zorel nodded slowly, and her face eased into a scowl as she clasped her hands behind her back. "Lying is by far a worse crime to me than thievery," she growled. "If I cannot trust a crewmate, I cannot have him aboard. Time to take your leave, Mr. Anderson."

"Take my leave to where?" the man demanded, perching his hands on his hips and towering over Kara, despite her taller than average height for a woman.

She smiled coldly then and in a flicker of movement, her hand lashed out and she slit his throat. "Davy Jones' locker," she replied, wiping her dagger off and watching as blood spilled down the front of his shirt. His hands went to his throat as he coughed and gagged, eyes wide and terrified. Then the captain lifted her booted leg and kicked him in the chest, knocking him overboard, and he fell for a few seconds from the galleon's tall deck and then splashed into the water below. She shook her head as she slipped her dagger back into its sheath at the small of her back. "Bastard. Let that be a lesson to you all."

Kara turned then and strode back to her cabin but, when she entered and closed the door, she leaned back against it for a moment and just breathed deeply, pushing down the roiling nausea in her stomach. After another moment, she hung her hat back up with a trembling hand but the anger simmering just under the surface of her emotions suddenly boiled over and she slammed her fist into the wooden planking next to her porthole. "Bastard!"

Then another knock at her door made her straighten and wrestle an impassive expression onto her face, even as she shook her hand out. "Enter!"

"Captain, are you quite well?" Winn asked gently. Kara deflated under her best friend's caring gaze and she shook her head. "I hate that I had to do that."

"Kara…" Winn replied as he crossed the room to take her gently by the shoulders. "You should have let me."

"I could not," the woman replied softly. "I need to show strength, you know that."

Her friend nodded and then patted her cheek gently. "'Tis progress, I suppose," he chuckled. "There was once a time when Lady Kara Zorel would not have even killed a fly."

"I am no longer a child, nor a lady," the pirate replied. "My ship and crew were won honestly." She looked down at her boots then. "Even if it was at the expense of your father."

"My father," Winn replied with a frown. "Was a terrible man. He deserved every lick of what he got. You are three times the captain he was. Besides, you owed him nothing, Kara. He murdered your parents."

The captain nodded as she scratched at her stomach. Then she lifted her head and smiled, needing a change of subject. "So… do you intend to have some fun on Tortuga?"

"Oh, I do indeed," the man chuckled. "First mug of ale is on me." He clapped her on the back then and winked. "The rest are on you."

Kara laughed softly and gave him a little salute as he left and closed the door behind him. Then she sat at her desk and pulled out her journal to make her morning log entry. The captain journaled religiously. It was a way for her to not only capture her thoughts and the happenings of the day, but also to capture her emotions. Kara felt everything deeply, always had, and sometimes she needed to get it all out on paper. Today, she was thinking about her parents.

Twenty years have now passed since the murder of my parents. I sometimes wonder if they look down on me and still see the ten-year-old girl I was then, or the thirty-year-old woman I am today. Part of me hopes for the former. The pragmatic part of me knows it's the latter and I wonder just how disappointed they are.

Captain Schott, bastard that he was, taught me everything I know about pirating, and I've been blessed to have Winn as my best friend and biggest supporter, even though I killed his father and took The Cutlass as my own command. Despite the hardships of life on the sea, I love it. I love having purpose and living each day to reach for it. I will continue to do it as long as I can draw breath.

Kara stopped writing then as a shout caught her attention. She sprung up from her chair, grabbed her telescope and bolted out of her cabin, bounding up the steps as Winn shouted orders at the far end of the deck. She climbed the short ladder to the bridge and pointed at the helmsman. "Report!"

"Navy, Captain," the man replied succinctly. "Port side."

Kara expanded her telescope and brought it to her eye, then scanned to her left. She could see a ship in the distance, and she sighed as she focused in on it and shook her head. "Damn," she cursed. Then she turned and waved to Winn. "Mr. Schott!"

The man ran to her and she moved close to talk to him in a low voice. "It's the Valiant. We're in trouble."

"The Shark never gives up," Winn chuckled. "What are your orders, Captain?"

Kara considered that for a moment before a little grin rose to her lips. "We don't have anything on board," she said. "Nothing illegal, correct?"

"Correct," the first mate replied. "We're running light so we could probably outrun them. She's a Dublin class seventy-four gunner."

"Aye," Kara replied. "But I don't want to outrun them because The Shark will just keep pursuing us. Instead, let them come and board us. They'll find nothing and will have no choice but to let us go. The Shark will lose interest if there's no evidence that we're pirates."

Winn grinned and nodded. "Aye, you're right, Captain. I'll conceal the Jolly Roger until after they search the ship."

Kara turned then and addressed the helmsman. "Angle us toward her, not too much, just a touch to let them know we're not running. Then she called out to the rest of the crew. "Full stop!"

The crew scrambled to get the sails down and Kara chuckled as she raised her telescope and saw that the Valiant had altered course and was headed straight for them. "Here, Sharky Sharky," she muttered to herself with a little grin. Then she headed to her cabin to get ready.

Xx

Kara was standing on the bridge of her ship with her hands clasped behind her back when the Valiant slowly came alongside and tied on. A crew member slid a plank across the rails of both ships and Kara's crew lined up along the far rail as they waited to be boarded.

"Attention, crew of the Devil's Cutlass, prepare to be boarded by His Majesty's Navy!" he yelled and then stepped back.

Kara moved to the edge of the bridge deck and somersaulted onto the deck below just as the Captain of the Valiant crossed the plank and hopped down. They walked toward each other and to Kara's utmost surprise, she was met with brown eyes that held a certain warmth, despite their obvious acuity. The Captain was dressed in an impeccably neat and clean uniform and a tricorn sat atop brown hair tied with a leather thong. Kara swallowed, shock making its way through her. In all the months the Valiant had been sailing the Caribbean Sea, Kara had not heard mention of The Shark being a woman.

"Permission to come aboard, Captain Zorel?" the woman began, holding out her hand as Kara nodded with a smile. "Alexandra Danvers, captain of HMS Valiant."

"Welcome aboard. I must admit that I'm surprised that you know who I am, Captain Danvers," Kara replied with raised eyebrows as she shook firmly.

"I know the names of all the captains of the pirate ships in this region," Danvers replied.

"Apologies," Kara replied. "But I think you are mistaken. This is not a pirate ship, Captain. We are but merchants on our way to Tortuga for some much-needed shore leave and supplies. We're down to the dregs of rations and need to make sail as soon as possible."

Danvers' eyes slowly moved over the taller woman as she gave that some thought. "This ship," she said slowly. "Has been involved in fourteen attacks and those are just the ones I'm aware of." The woman had an interesting accent. She was no doubt from a British Colony, but her accent contained enough British sounding words for her to be classed as a blow in. Kara had been born in the Carolina Colony and spoke with a purely American accent.

"Yes, Captain Danvers," Kara replied with a respectful nod. "But that was before. My predecessor was a pirate, and a vicious one at that. He murdered my parents and held me captive on board from age ten. But I killed him in self-defense and took over command."

By no means lies, Kara told herself. Just simply massaging the truth to suit the moment. It was true that, after the nth time Schott had raped her, she'd snapped and slit his throat with his own dagger as he slept, but that had been twelve years past. Captain Danvers regarded her suspiciously, hands clasped behind her back as she took in the cut of her adversary. There was no doubting that Captain Zorel was an attractive woman to anyone's eyes. Some might even say she was beautiful.

Clearing her throat, Danvers beckoned to her first officer. "Mr. Jones," she said. "Comb this ship for contraband please."

"Aye, Captain," the man replied with a salute.

Kara chuckled as she turned her back to the brunette and leaned on the deck rail as she gazed out over the blue sea. The ship was rocking with the waves beneath and she closed her eyes for a moment as she savored the scent of brine, wood and brass.

"You love this ship," Danvers said as she came to lean on the rail next to her. "She's a fine vessel."

"She's my pride and joy," Kara replied with a smile. "I won her fair and square and I've captained her since."

"There is no doubt," Danvers said with a matching smile. "That you take good care of her. I have seldom seen a cleaner ship or crew…" She wrinkled her nose then. "I wish I could say the same for my men."

"My predecessor lost a number of crewmen to disease," Kara replied. "I know better."

Danvers nodded. "What are you intending to do when I prove you're a pirate, Captain Zorel? You know you'll go to the gallows."

But Kara just grinned. "The proof is in the pudding," she replied. She leaned in close to Danvers then to whisper in her ear. "Find. The. Pudding."

Captain Danvers nodded as her hand moved to rest on the hilts of her sword. "Believe that it is the truth, Captain, when I say… I intend to."

Jones returned then, frowning darkly, but before he could make his report, Captain Danvers knew what it would be, so she just lifted her voice. "Back to the Valiant!"

She paused to let her brown eyes lock with Kara's blue and a small smile lifted her lips. "I look forward to the hunt for the… pudding, Captain Zorel." She turned then and vaulted up onto the plank to cross back to her own ship. "See you on Tortuga!"

Xx

"Well, that did not go to plan," Kara said with a sigh as she and Winn shared a mug of rum in her cabin. The ship was back at full sail and their bodies were inherently rolling with the motion of the waves as they sat companionably together. "I expected her to go on her way. Now we have to deal with her on Tortuga."

"Did you know that The Shark was a woman?" Winn asked as he opened his shirt and pulled out the folded Jolly Roger, setting it gently and carefully on the table.

"I did not," the Captain chuckled. "I was as shocked as you were. She'll be an interesting opponent though. She's intelligent."

"As are you," Winn pointed out. "I can see this becoming an epic battle of wits."

"Don't exaggerate, My Friend. We just have to stay ahead of and away from her."

"Let's start with trying to keep her eyes off you," Winn teased, causing Kara to roll her eyes. "I swear she was flirting with you."

"No," she replied. "She wants to see me hanging from a noose, caught by any means necessary, is the rub of it." She slouched in her chair and lifted her feet onto the one next to her, crossing her ankles. "At least we don't have to sneak our way onto Tortuga now. She's already expecting us. Spread the word, Winn. No crewman is to be caught with contraband. If he is, he's on his own."

"Yes, Captain," her first mate replied. He got up and give her a little salute as he headed out the door.

Kara got up and slowly picked up the Jolly Roger to return it to its home in her desk. She smoothed her hands over it and then shut the drawer, taking a deep breath as she thought about their next stop after Tortuga. Lamanta, a small island of very poor people, barely scraping enough food together to survive. People who were loving and caring and welcoming but who could barely afford to clothe their children.

These people had saved Kara's life after the last Naval captain she'd crossed cutlasses with had tossed her overboard with her belly ripped open and left her to die. The captain's hand moved absently to her stomach and rubbed. She had barely survived, and she owed the people of Lamanta everything. Ever since, she'd spent her time taking only from the rich and giving most of it to her saviors.

Captain Kara Zorel was quite probably the poorest pirate to sail the Caribbean Sea, but she was a good businesswoman, and she knew exactly what she needed to keep her crew fed and to keep them loyal enough with spoils from their efforts. But she also knew that they could turn on her if she didn't maintain her air of strength. But strong, Captain Zorel would continue to be.

She had to.