Chapter 11

Santo Domingo

Captain Harth lounged out on the bowsprit, waiting for The Aaralyn to approach. He laid his head down on the headstay and sighed. All was not going well for him. The reason he had sailed into the company of The Aaralyn was because due a night ago he spotted a ship, and he knew who it was.

"Captim Harth." Harth lifted his head up and looked to see who spoke to him. He nodded a hello to his first mate. "Captim, The Aaralyn's let down anchor, she's all ready ta' join." Harth nodded again to dismiss him, and pulled himself to his feet by the ropes of the foresail. He leisurely waltzed across the bowsprit back on The Piercin' Pirate and strolled to the portside of his ship.

"We have some serious business, Captain Twigg." He called over the water as a board was place in front of him. Twigg sighed and nodded as Harth came aboard. "A ship, Captain, Ship."

"Who do you think it is?" Twigg asked, leaning his back on the rail. Harth did the same, leaning back on the heels of his boots.

"Navy ship. Big un', no doubt The Dauntless. Sailed in from who knows where, I don't think it saw us, cause we had our sail in for some high waves after the storm." Harth rubbed his arms to keep it warm from the chilling sea spray the winds blew to them.

"The Dauntless, huh? Well we're close enough to some 'ere that we could stop by, 'hapes fix anything that needs fixin' on the ships and hideaway from em." Twigg juggled a bottle of rum he had still in his hands. It slipped and dropped into the water. They gave it a moment of recognizing then continued.

"Which way, mate?" Harth asked.

"We're reasonably southeast. No doubt in my mind we'll outrun The Dauntless to Santo Domingo." Twigg answered looking even out further northward.

"They might come at us from the north, y'can figure out what we're up to." Harth said, pushing himself off the rail.

"That's why we'll hit it straight." Twigg sighed. "No stopping till we get there. It'll take one or two days, we'll just have to hope for good weather."

"Right about now, we'd best be prayin' for it..." Harth leaned back against the rail. "I hearsay God help us now." Twigg chuckled a bit and nodded, then paused.

"Well why are we standin' here while The Dauntless pursues us? Hop back to yer ship, Captain. We have some sailing to do." Twigg said. Harth smiled and shook Twigg's hand heartily then headed back to his ship. Twigg helped push back the plank, then turned to his crew. "Git ta work, men! We have two days o' weather to head to Santo Domingo, and it ain't gonna be easy. Let all o' 'er down and dump whate'er ye can. Just don't waist our ammo, it's all we got."

Twigg began to head for the helm, where he had officially taken the job of handling. Pintel strolled beside him all the way to the stern.

"Captain we can't make it to Santo Domingo, It's too far east." He complained as Twigg took the wheel.

"It's all we've got, as of now. It's the closest place, and we're not safe heading back to the Caribbean." Twigg took a few deep breaths as the last of the sails were furled, and the anchor was hauled up.

"But cap'n, where will we go after that?"

"Far east of here. Anywhere, as long as those coats don't know we're there." Twigg growled. By coats he was referring to the navy men. Pintel wasn't pleased, he punched the rail repeatedly.

"What 'bout the maid? After yer display I pretty sure she wants off... not that I want her to, but we can't leave her in some place to far from the Caribbean." Twigg rolled his eyes.

"We'll leave her in Kingston, she'll be able to get back from there."

"Kingston, naw, she'll probly be in touch with the governor and tell what happened to us an' then-" Twigg put up his hand to stop Pintel and sighed deeply as the ship began to move forward. Pintel huffed and slung his arms over the rail muttering under his breath.

"It's not the maid that's our main priority at this moment in time. It's getting away from The Dauntless so we and the maid can be safe and alive. 'Cause as far as I know, they don't know she's here..." Twigg thought for a moment. "Brilliant..." He mumbled.

"What is?" Pintel asked curiously and confused.

"Go get the maid, I need a favor."

Pintel sighed, wondering when his question would be answered, and tromped off amidships. Twigg smiled to himself, Perfect, He thought.

.....

Governor Markeson

In the area we have been experiencing some problems with pirates, Jack Sparrow, to name one. As you may recall, we had a jail break not but a week ago. These pirates commandeered our nearest ship, The Aaralyn, and sailed east. I had set The Dauntless to pursue it, and also do me a favor along the way. We hired the help of Jack Sparrow, thinking we could possibly trust him now, to go and find fellow pirate who had been causing trouble. Unfortunately the governor's daughter was pledged to marry a man who went aboard that ship to help, and we believe Miss Swann was taken aboard. Now we are left with no ships to find her. We hope you'll lend a kind hand, as you have plenty of ships. I may send one of my lieutenants to you, perhaps to help in the pursuit.

Admiral Vincent Derrae

Gillette coughed lightly as Governor Markeson read over the letter. His eyes strayed around the man's office, which was quite nice.

"Very well." Markeson said blankly. He motioned over one of the soldiers in the room. "Good sir, bring Lieutenant Gillette to Admiral Jamais." The soldier nodded and went and stood by the door. Gillette got up from his chair, shook Governor Markeson's hand, and followed the soldier out the door.

.....

"Santo Domingo!" The crew of The Aaralyn cheered heartily for the news. Pintel, evidently, seemed to be the only one with doubts. He tromped away from the quarter deck and pushed past the crowd, but he stopped when he saw Raggeti in the back with Estrella.

"Santo Domingo." Pintel muttered bluntly. "Yeah right."

"Where do you suppose we go then?" Estrella asked smartly. Pintel didn't answer, because there really wasn't anywhere else to go. He made up an answer blankly.

"We could go to Great Abaco for all I care..." Estrella smirked at his irrelevant answer, knowing how far that was. Raggeti shuddered uneasily though.

"What's wrong?" Estrella asked. His behavior was scaring her a bit, of course, it always did anyway. Raggeti didn't say a word, because, once again, it would be a speech. Pintel held his breath, hoping though knowing Raggeti wouldn't say a word. "You two... are hiding something." Estrella discovered. She raised a finger to Pintel's face.

"Hidin'.. hidin' wot?" Pintel shrugged innocently, avoiding eye contact. Estrella put one hand on her hip.

"How should I know?" The hand she had brought to his face formed into a fist. "What's going on?" She finished. Pintel gulped, not wanting to be humiliated with being hit by a woman. He also knew she'd be powered with her, uh, dislike for him. It'd be even worse if it hurt.

"Well heh heh 'ell, um, it's naught to concern you, me lovely poppit." He placed his hand carefully over hers, defending himself. Estrella wrenched it away and glared at him.

"Uh." Raggeti couldn't think of anything else to say, due to his I.Q. of zero. Estrella placed her free hand over his mouth to silence him, keeping it there as she spoke.

"This isn't fun and games, sir. Something's going on." She took Pintel by the collar. "Tell me."

Pintel gave a wimpy grin and pulled away slightly. "Well," he cleared his throat. "Y'know how I kinda persuaded, um, Edward to quit his fancy life a while back?" Estrella nodded, not releasing him. "Well we was on a ship wot sailed ta Santo Domingo and, er."

"Imf con' bref." Raggeti muttered against Estrella's hand. She removed her hand, frustrated.

"What?" She asked sharply.

"I was gonna say I con't breath, but it's fine now." Estrella's grip tightened around Pintel's collar, causing him to stumble forward a bit. "Don't hurt him." Raggeti protested. Pintel smirked slightly.

"Thank ye, mate. Though I don't think she'll be-" Estrella pushed Pintel back, and he bumped into someone. She smiled triumphantly when the man turned around.

"Uh, hi." Pintel said weakly, smiling sheepishly up at the Bo 'sun. Raggeti stood perfectly still, waiting for darts to shoot out of the Bo 'sun's eyes. "It was her fault." Pintel tried to excuse himself, motioning towards Estrella. She glared and placed her hands on her hips.

"Does any un notice yer actin' like-" Once again people began cutting Raggeti off mid sentence.

"Sir, excuse us please." Estrella asked the Bo 'sun, curtsying sweetly. The Bo 'sun shrunk under her sweetness and nodded, heading off the other direction. She grinned. "That wasn't so hard, I don't see why you two are so afraid of him." Pintel did everything he could not to laugh, since Estrella was now on the Bo 'sun's good side...if he had a good side....

"You don't know enough to be on yer own 'round here, missy." Pintel said. Estrella ignored his comment and continued.

"Now what were you saying?" Pintel slapped his thigh, thinking he had gotten her off the subject by then.

"When we was in Santo Domingo." he continued. "We 'ad some trouble with a few wenches, was all." Raggeti smiled.

"We had trouble?" His attention ran out and wandered off, chuckling.

Estrella raised her eyebrows at Pintel. "What kind of trouble?" Pintel began to answer, but Captain Twigg's voice rang out over the ship.

"Git back to work, yew lot! We've got to hit 'er hard if we're going to make it to Santo Domingo on time!" He paused. "An', Pintel, run up the sweeps." Pintel grinned.

"Well, what-do-you know? I have to go now." At that he turned and headed aft, leaving Estrella frowning over him.

"Welllll, I suppose we'll be sailin ta Pintel's doom now." Raggeti clapped his hands together softly, waiting for someone to yell at him.

"Oh belay that malarkey, Edward!" Estrella growled. Raggeti cringed, then thought for a moment.

"Hmmm, malarkey. Ye'll have ta help me out on that un."

"It's the proper equivalent to the piratical phrase 'bilge water'." Estrella answered him. She looked up as the jolly roger drifted up the ensign staff. "Bloody pirates." She muttered, stomping off to the quarter deck, as Twigg had called her to.

.....

Norrington stood animatedly at the front of The Dauntless, one foot on the jib. He cut a dashing figure, indeed, yet one dissatisfying to Lessont. Lessont stood glaring from amidships. To him it seemed whatever he did wouldn't capture the eye of any above him. If they all thought the commodore was as good, or better, then him, then let it be that Norrington could be the vice admiral. There was no doubt in his mind the honor between the two was askew, because Norrington practically fielded the whole journey so far.

"Commodore." Lessont called Norrington, finally. Norrington glanced back at the vice admiral and nodded. He walked over. "What is it out there, that captures you?"

"Ship." Norrington gazed out towards the tiniest speck of sails he saw on the horizon. Lessont squinted and began to walk to the bow. "Looks pirate, though French." Norrington said, followed him.

"Tis." Lessont said curtly. "I can see the Jolly Roger. It's a large one."

"Shall we, or do we leave it?" Norrington questioned, not realizing how tense Lessont was with him.

"There's not much choice, sah, it's directly in the wake of The Aaralyn." He pulled out his spyglass. "Where that is I'm not quite sure." He scanned the horizon carefully.

"Undoubtedly. Perhaps they have a treaty?"

"They are sailing mighty close to each other, though only time will tell." Lessont barely refrained himself from growling his words at the commodore. Norrington noticed his heated words though.

"Is there a problem?" Norrington asked. Lessont twitched a bit, the monocle in his left eye the same. Norrington sighed and turned to leave, knowing that wasn't a question Lessont particularly wanted to answer. He headed for the helm, to check the bearings that the captain had ordered. Lessont followed out of the corner of his impaired left eye.

Above him on the foremast a young marine listened intently to his muttered speech to himself, taking in every word.

"I'll make sure to balance the power, any way possible. Commodore Norrington will know who leads the ship this time around, as will the rest." Lessont muttered darkly. The marine gasped, nearly losing his footing on the footropes. He steadily began to climb down the rigging, which he shouldn't have been in in the first place, and took off across the deck to tell his friends.

.....