A/N Sorry but it's quite a short chapter. After this there is only one more chapter and then the epilogue. So regretfully, Dora Sanchez is nearly at an end. I'd just like to thank every single reader (whether you have reviewed or not!). Please continue to read the last few chapters. Thanks. JessieRose

Chapter Thirty Five

I can still see it now, when I close my eyes, when I sleep. Not because it was scary, or anything unusual, unnatural, as Gibbs would say. No, simply, because my whole heart had believed and lived for the fact that it was Jack that approached us. I was so certain he had come to save me, that no other thought entered my mind. But it wasn't Jack that came up by our portside, it wasn't the majestic Black Pearl that advanced from the fog. It wasn't my saviour, it was my death sentence.

I felt the horror wash over the crew as realisation fled through their minds. A navy ship loomed up by our side, the long nine cannons pointed directly at that small Fantasma. I felt a shudder run through her very timber as this much superior vessel arrived.

"Even Jack can't save yer now!" Mubbs yelled in horror. He pulled his cutlass into his hand, and threw a pistol into the other.

"Wait! Wait! We don't have to fight!" I cried.

"Believe me Dora, they don't just want to talk." Robin told me, pulling out two guns from his over jacket. "Get below if you can't fight."

The rest of the crew were arming themselves. But there was no order, no organisation, and it was clear we were going to lose before we began. There was a total of seven cannons below, one had rusted over, and the other was unusable Jack had told me, but the other five were in perfect working order. If we didn't use them, we were going to be sitting ducks. Bullets were no shield against cannon balls.

"Robin! We have to load the cannons! We have to strike back." But Robin wasn't listening. James grabbed my arm.

"Come on!" He dragged me below, and a few other men followed. I watched rather helplessly as they carried the balls to the massive cannons.

"They are nothing compared to the navy's." I muttered softly to myself.

James turned to me after he had loaded the cannon. "Should we fire?"

I shook my head. "We should wait for them to strike first, we are not attacking remember, we are defending our vessel."

"Could be your husband." James said, in jest. "Or your son you hit."

"Shut up! Roberto never was my…" But I didn't get a chance to finish. The navy cannons struck and I found myself thrown to the floor. One of the cannons was ripped from his station, knocking Campbell off his feet.

"Fire back!" I spluttered.

James didn't waste a second. And then followed a battle of speed. The navy's men were trained, their cannons were better, and seemed to do more damage in a shorter space of time.

"This isn't working!" James yelled over the running water, which was now smashing through the deck. "We're running out of ammunition!"

I ran back up on deck, the main mast had splintered in two. Mubbs lay bleeding on the deck, and the other crewmembers were either dead or held a gunpoint by the navy. I put my hands up in the air as soon as I saw them coming towards me. He held a pistol to my head.

"Now there's a good girl." He said, in a very arrogant voice.

Before he knew what had hit him, he fell dead to the deck, bleeding from a deadly knife wound. I held a bloody knife in my right hand, and was struggling to get my breath back. But it was already too late. We had lost without even really starting. I watched as James and the others were brought up from below. But for some reason it was me the naval men were most interested in. I thought it was because of my gender, most men fancy anything in a skirt. But their interest in me came from a very different source.

I disarmed as many as I could before they finally caught me, and tore the knife from my hand. I closed my eyes expecting them to shoot me, surely that was their custom. I had killed one of their men, and injured about three others, they had no reason to grant me clemency, or leave me alive. I would only be hung when they returned to shore.

"Stop playing now, Dora." The commanding officer sniggered.

I stopped myself voicing my surprise. But how had they known my name? I was soon to find out. I didn't say a word, let them do the explaining, I thought.

I washed in dismay as Mubbs's limp body was thrown into the waters. I couldn't see Robin in the small group of survivors; he too must have died.

My captors dragged me across to the navy ship, and instead of being taken to a cell, I was escorted to a cabin and locked inside.

It was not luxury, but far more comfortable then a dripping, cold prison with water pouring in through the hold, doubtlessly where the others had been taken. There was a rather stiff bed, an old desk, and a rough looking chair. But I chose the floor to sit on and wait. I didn't know what I was waiting for. My death, Jack's rescue, or simply someone to come into the cabin. But I was waiting.

As I sat there in the dark, I thought only of Jack, and my last words to him before I had left on that fateful journey across the seas with an ignorant, mutinous crew.

"I did what I did because I love you, and I hope one day you can find it in you to forgive me."

I wondered if he had forgiven me yet.

At last the door opened, and a large, rather old man entered. He had a beard growing from his chin, and little tufts of hair crept from his ears, though little hair grew on his head. He dragged me up from the floor, and threw me onto the chair.

"You are the captain, sorry, were the captain of the Fantasma?"

"I am sorry, sir, but who are you? And what right have you to attack me?" I demanded. Jack had always told me to act affronted when faced with piracy charges, or any charges really.

"Yer don't ave to prove your innocence Dora, leave it to 'em to prove your guilt." He use to say. And that's what I did. I let him do the talking.

"I am Commander Bridges of the British Navy."

"And I Captain Sanchez of the once glorious Fantasma." I replied, in a cynical tone. "Now you are in my debt, sir, over half of my men are dead."

"And I lost precisely twelve men, one at your fair hands."

"Defensively, of course."

"Why did you wait? Why did you not run when you saw us approach?" He asked, my silence followed. "Waiting for an attack is hardly a good method of defence."

"You had no reason to attack us, so we had no reason to run."

He smiled softly, and his beard twitched. "It is my job to rid the seas of pirate scum."

"I honour that, it is a fine goal to be sure, but I do not see what it has to do with the Fantasma."

"Jack Sparrow." Was his hollow reply.

I flinched at the name, and he picked up the reaction instantly with a smile. "Heard of him?"

I smiled. "Who has not?"

"And what is your connection with him?"

"I have no connection with him."

"The Fantasma was once in his possession, it is now in yours. That must be some sort of connection."

They knew about the Fantasma, surely I could no longer deny my relationship with Jack. But how did they know?

"We have been following you."

Ah, so it was their ship I saw that day, the one that had just peeked over the horizon before disappearing. "You need more practise on that account. I noticed you almost instantly. But like I said before, I have no reason to run from a navy ship."

"Indeed." Was his infuriating response. "And where is ol' Jack these days?"

"I wouldn't know."

"You'll like hanging, it's such a spectator sport, and draws a great crowd."

"The navy has gone really down hill, you're hanging me for just sailing the seas?"

"I'm hanging you for the murder of a navy officer."

I sighed. "I wouldn't have killed him, if he hadn't been invading my ship."

"We were looking for Jack Sparrow. We found you. We know exactly who you are."

"Who is this 'we'? You and your ego?" I retorted.

"You are Jack Sparrow's whore, it was sweet of him to give you a ship, stupid, but sweet." He smiled, and gut up from where he sat on the bed. "Now we're going to cut a deal with you Miss Sanchez…"

"It's Captain Sanchez, if you please."

"You take us to Sparrow, and you can walk free."