************************************ KAREN'S DREAM ****************************
On the deck of the Pearl, is a circle of crew watching something in the middle of their midst. A younger looking Jack and Will with their swords drawn and waiting as two girls pick themselves up off the deck. Each pick up a sword and look up at their fathers.
"Karen, Nichole. It's all about your footing. If you master that, you'll be just fine." Will says.
"Daddy," a younger girl, with brown hair highlighted by the sun whines, "I'm tired and so is Nika. We've been at this for hours."
"Yeah, Uncle Will. Really we're only eight. I don't really believe I'm saying this, but we are ready for our naps." A younger Nika says with her hair tied up in her father's fashion.
"Will, Jack, really. They're _asking_ for naps. I do think they've had enough for one day." a younger Elizabeth says.
"Yes father, really, they are only eight." A boy, who looks strikingly like Will says.
"You know as well as I do William, that there are no time outs or nap times in battles. You are thirteen years old and have experienced what it's like out here. Your sister and cousin need to know how to fight." Will says.
"Will, Jack that is enough! My niece and my daughter are not fighting anymore. You've tired them to exhaustion. They've nearly mastered the techniques that you've taught them, just give them time to recuperate!" Elisa yells. She and Elizabeth take their daughters into their arms and carry them down to their room.
"William. You are a man, what were you doing siding with the women?" Jack asked.
"You and father have told me more times then I can remember. Side with the side who is going to win." With that the boy walks off in the direction that his mother and aunt went.
******************************** NIKA'S DREAM *********************************
Sitting at her and Karen's table during breakfast, Nika watches as mail is handed out. Not expecting anything, Nika turns to her eggs, bacon and toast. "Nika Sparrow? Nika Sparrow?" The mail lady calls out. Nika holds her hand up and the lady comes and gives her the note. On the envelope says 'to Nika Sparrow and Karen Turner'. But on the back it says 'Do not open unless both of you are there.'
So Nika waits until Karen comes from the line. As she sits Nika turns to her best friend and says, "We have a letter." She slides it towards Karen and waits until she recognizes the script. It was from Nika's father.
"What could this mean. They only write on holidays, birthdays, or..." Karen starts.
"Or if someone we're close to disappears or..." Nika lowers her voice, "they die." They open the letter and Karen reads quietly outloud:
'Dear Nika and Kar,
Hello there my luvs. How are you? We're all fine, on the ship. Best to get right to business your Mum says Karen. Your brother, girls, has gone... Missing. Not to worry though dears, we are searching, and have found traces of the people we think might have took him. You two just keep to yourselves though, and keep yourselves going. We received your report cards and are quite proud of you. While your mother's are gone, I can finally wright without them hastling me bout me spelling and grammer. Just keep ter our secret and don't let no one near ya, as best as ya can. Well off I am now. Your father (Nika's of Course) and caring Uncle (To Karen), Jack Sparrow.'
When Nika looked at her friend, she had tears in her eyes. "Will, will be fine, Kar. Dad promised."
Karen just shook her head and turned to her food and stayed silent for the rest of the meal. In fact for the rest of the day.
***************************** REAL LIFE **************************************
Nika and Karen sit up quickly in bed, to the shouts of crew and the sound of feet running above and a faint bell chiming. Each grab their new swords, and run up to the main deck. Nearly 7 meters away a ship with a pirate's flag flying on it's main mast, sailing on the Pearl's port side. The crew all have their swords out and at the ready. As the ship sails closer, grappling hooks attach themselves to the side of the boat. Quickly, the ten closest people to the hooks cut the ropes leading to the enemy boat. As the ship comes close a plank comes across the space between the two boats and enemy pirates come across it by the dozen. Killing without mercy, until however a man comes across the plank, with another younger man being held near him with a knife at his throat.
" 'Ello Jack. Ah, and Will Turner, and Families. How good it is to see you all. Now would you kindly have your crew put their swords down before I slit this fine young man's throat." The older man says.
"Barbossa!" Jack and Will exclaim, along with some of their crew.
"William!" Karen cries out. "You bloody bastard! Let my brother go!!!" and she makes her way towards the older man, but Nika stops her.
"Such language from a lady, tsk tsk. Now Jack, your crew and weapons." Barbossa says.
"Let the boy go first Barbossa."
"No, no. You see Jack the boy here is leverage. I want something different. Now the crew's weapons and the boy goes free."
The crew all look at their captain, including Nika and Karen. He gestures to them and they put their swords down. Barbossa and William make their way onto the ship, and in passing them Nika holds back Karen. Barbossa pushes William down to the ground, in front of the stairs leading up to where Jack and Will stand. Karen runs to William, who gets up himself and says something just to Karen, whose eyes go wide.
"What do you want now Barbossa?" Will asks, coldly.
"Not much, just one of your lovely daughters." Barbossa replies.
"NEVER!!!!!" scream both Nika and Karen.
"You heard the ladies, Barbossa. Now get lost before my daughter kills you. For the second time in your 'life'." Will replies.
"Now you see gentlemen, this in not optional, savvy? One or the other, otherwise, I'll take both and drown them." He says.
"Oi, you bloody bastard, let me go!" Karen screams, as one of Barbossa's crew grab her. "Nika, run! Look out!" She yells as Nika too is grabbed.
"My that one has a mouth, hasn't she." Barbossa says, smirking.
Nika and Karen decide to use the skills their father's taught them in hand- to- hand combat. Karen steps on her captor's in-step and elbows him in the stomach. Then she brings her knee up to his face, and follows through with a kick to the groin. Nika however struggles out of her captors grasp and round house kicks him in the face, then kicks him overboard. They both grab their swords and point them at any enemy crew member near them until they reach the place where their crew was the most.
"As you can see, you'll have to fight not only them, but us and me entire crew as well, to even take one of them." Jack says. Just then a ship flying the Queen's flag sails into sight. Jack smirks, he realizes that it is none other than Commodore Norrington's ship.
"I'll be back, you can bet on me word." Barbossa says as he and his crew disembark the Pearl, to their own ship.
"Ick. That man gives me the creeps." Nika says.
"Yes, to me too. But Daddy, I noticed that about a third of the crew were missing. Where were they?" she asks, smirking slyly.
"They were off, looting Barbossa's ship. They stole a merchant ships loot, and of course we have to steal it back to give to Commodore Norrington." He says. The Pearl was a pirate ship that stole back from other pirate's for a great deal more than they made just pirating off of other ships.
"I figured that. But really, we should have been able to kill Barbossa, and his mutinous arse crew." Nika says.
"You girls did well, with your hand- to- hand." Jack comments.
"Thanks Uncle Jack."
"Yeah, thanks Dad."
"Now hugs are in order!" both girls yell and attack the young man newly returned to them.
The ship that was just in sight, Commodore Norrington's, sailed next to the Pearl's starboard side and dropped a plank connecting the two ships. Commodore Norrington and his son Jonathan walk aboard the ship, flanked by 3 guards.
" 'Ello, Commodore." Jack says happily. " 'Ere ter get yer loot, I 'spect. Gibbs, Anna Maria, will you please show the gentlemen where to send their men to retrieve it?"
"Yes sir, Cap'n." Gibbs and Anna Maria say together. They lead two of the Norrington's guards to the where the men put the 'treasure'.
"Yes, Mr. Sparrow," Commodore Norrington starts.
"CAPTAIN." Nika and Karen say loudly.
"Pardon me?" Jonathan asks, having never seen a lady speak when not spoken to, especially in night dresses and robes.
"Your father calls my Uncle 'Mr. Sparrow' every chance he gets to, just because he knows it irks him. I think it only fair, since my Uncle calls your father 'Commodore', that he respect my uncle and call him Captain Sparrow at least." Karen says, glaring at both Norrington men.
"Karen-" Will starts. She was never good at keeping her mouth quiet when she was angry.
"Really now? And why _Ms. Turner_ would my father show your uncle any respect, when all of Port Royal knows that he is a pirate?" Jonathan asks.
"Because _Jonathan_ my uncle works for the Queen, and unlike you is not a sniveling coward and a horses arse!" Karen replies, now yelling.
"Oh really. And what of you? You say that you are a lady, but you fight like a man, talk like a man, even act like a man. Are you sure you are not hiding something?"
Karen slaps the boy and then yells, "You Jonathan Norrington are the most cowardly, bastardous, man- whore in the seven seas." and with that, she pushes him overboard and runs to she and Nika's room. Nika, Elisa, and Elizabeth run after her, and the crew all move out of the women's way.
"Can't say he didn't deserve that one, Commodore. You and he should know by now, not to irk any of the ladies of this ship. But especially her, Nika, and Anna Maria. Now what were you going to say?" Will says as some of the crew pull the now sopping wet Jonathan out of the ocean's waters.
"Oh, that Captain Sparrow here, will have to sign this paper to tell the Queen that this job has been done and payment is required, as well as send it off on the next messenger boat you come across." Commodore Norrington says handing Jack a piece of paper.
"Right then, best get on with our voyage. Send a message the way you 'ave been for a while now, if you need us for another job. We're off to port, back at Port Royal for a bit of off time, until we are needed again. G'day Commodore," Jack says, walking towards the helm with Will, and William in tow.
*************************** IN NIKA AND KAREN'S ROOM *************************
"Honestly! The nerve of that man!" Karen yells, sitting down in one of the chairs placed by the rather large desk.
"Kar-bear! What was that? Jonathan only does that to irk us... Haven't you realized that by now?" Nika says taking the chair next to her best friend.
"Yes Karen. I know he acts like a stuck up pig, but really did you have to push him overboard?" Elizabeth asks.
"Yes mother. I did have to push him overboard. Serves him right for not respecting the ships Captain. Do you think that for a second if Uncle Jack, or Daddy, called his father Mr. Norrington that Jonathan wouldn't jump all over them?"
"I know that you dislike him with a vengeful passion, dear. But maybe you should just leave when he comes onboard. I don't like you getting into fights like that." Elise says.
"Fine I'll try it your way, but if he irks me too badly, don't expect me not to retaliate." Karen replies.
"Good, now that that's done, why don't we all get dressed and go up for breakfast."
"Okay Mum. See you as soon as we get dressed." With a hug to each girl, the ladies of the ship go to their rooms to get dressed. Nika and Karen both dress in their black trousers, but Nika wears her white shirt with a black vest, with her hair tied back with a cloth like her fathers. While Karen wears her light blue shirt and black vest and plaits her hair quickly and then covers her hair with a blue cloth like Nika did. They each strap on belts with their swords sheaths attached on them, and put their swords in their respective sheaths.
They go out, Nika goes up the stairs, while Karen stays below and knocks on her brother's door. "William? Are you in there?" she asks.
"Yes. Hold on a moment Kar-bear." she hears from the other side of the door. It opens to reveal her brother dressed almost exactly like her father.
"We need to stop with the creepy. You and Daddy look _way_ too much alike, to be wearing nearly the exact same outfit."
"Come on sis. Let's head up to breakfast, aye?"
"Aye Aye." she says to her brother as they both go up the stairs together.
They sit in the same way as they did during the girls' birthday party although this time it's loud, rowdy, and the food is just on the main table. One of the watchmen come running down the stairs. "Cap'n! There be a ship on the port side of the ship! No one can tell if she be friend or foe!"
The crew all stop eating and start to run up the stairs, Jack and Will leading the way. Nika and Karen start to try to identify the ship, as they can usually tell.
"Uncle! There's no way to identify her! She hasn't got any flags, or markings on her! I think she's a merchant ship, but we can't tell!" Nika yells.
"Alright then mates, some of you lot go down below, if you hear a battle come up fighting! Nika, Karen come up here with us. The rest of you go about your business, but be on alert." Jack yells to the crew and immediently they disperse. The ship gets closer with each second and all of the crew are weary. The ship passes with no attempt to attack and the Captain and First Mate give audible sighs. "Glad we din't have to fight. The crew're gettin' tired."
"Girls, you go below and get to work on fixing more of our sails. We need as much speed as we can get to get to Port Royal as soon as possible." The girls both sigh and go downstairs as told to mend the 6 sails that were torn during battle. A boring day was ahead for the girls. The only contact they got were from Anna Maria and Gibbs to come every 3 hours and get any sails that had been fixed.
"Kar, this is too boring. I want to be outside, in the sunlight." Nika whines to her best friend.
Karen gets up and opens any and all of the port holes on the ship. "This is all the sunlight we'll be getting, my dear friend. Until that is, we finish fixing these damned sails that got so damn torn that it takes 5 hours to mend, or we make new ones for the ones that can't be fixed. We always get these jobs. The most boring and safe ones."
"Yes, and all because we are the daughters of the Captain and First Mate. Let's get back to work. Maybe when we get done there will still be some daylight left for us to enjoy."
"Yes. Let's do that." and with that they get back to sewing the sails back together. They each get two more done by the time that they are visited by their fathers.
"Girls, have you been working this entire time?" Will asks.
The girls grunt in response, as they keep concentrating on finishing the sail they were working on. "I'd take that as a yes, Will. Girls, do you realize you've been workin' 15 hours straight. It's sunset now." Jack says.
"Really, didn't know that... Missed lunch then did we?" Karen says, sewing as quickly as her tired fingers would allow.
"Yes and it's nearly time for dinner. Stop for now, and come and eat. You can sew again tomorrow." Will says.
"Sorry can't... I think my legs have forgotten how to move. That and my bums asleep." Nika replies.
"C'mon now you two! Up you get!" Jack says as he and Will grab a girls arm and put it around their shoulder. When Will put his daughters arm back at her side she nearly collapsed.
"You two worked hard today. We'll help you get to dinner and then to bed." Will says.
"No, no... we can do it. Just give us a second to get our muscles working again." Karen says. She and Nika start doing what appears to be leg stretches and then can stand on their own. "See. We got used to doing that last summer. We've had the same problem as this, and we came up with a way to get them to work again."
The four walk to dinner and eat their fill. Going to their room the girls change and then collapse onto our bed. "We work longer than anyone else on the ship. They go eight hour shifts, but we work continuously from sun up to nearly sundown. They call our job easy. I'd love physical labor, but no. We are women and so have to sew and mend and wash the crew's clothes." Nika says.
"I know Nika. Our job is the most boring of them all. Well G'night." Karen replies.
"G'night Kar."
On the deck of the Pearl, is a circle of crew watching something in the middle of their midst. A younger looking Jack and Will with their swords drawn and waiting as two girls pick themselves up off the deck. Each pick up a sword and look up at their fathers.
"Karen, Nichole. It's all about your footing. If you master that, you'll be just fine." Will says.
"Daddy," a younger girl, with brown hair highlighted by the sun whines, "I'm tired and so is Nika. We've been at this for hours."
"Yeah, Uncle Will. Really we're only eight. I don't really believe I'm saying this, but we are ready for our naps." A younger Nika says with her hair tied up in her father's fashion.
"Will, Jack, really. They're _asking_ for naps. I do think they've had enough for one day." a younger Elizabeth says.
"Yes father, really, they are only eight." A boy, who looks strikingly like Will says.
"You know as well as I do William, that there are no time outs or nap times in battles. You are thirteen years old and have experienced what it's like out here. Your sister and cousin need to know how to fight." Will says.
"Will, Jack that is enough! My niece and my daughter are not fighting anymore. You've tired them to exhaustion. They've nearly mastered the techniques that you've taught them, just give them time to recuperate!" Elisa yells. She and Elizabeth take their daughters into their arms and carry them down to their room.
"William. You are a man, what were you doing siding with the women?" Jack asked.
"You and father have told me more times then I can remember. Side with the side who is going to win." With that the boy walks off in the direction that his mother and aunt went.
******************************** NIKA'S DREAM *********************************
Sitting at her and Karen's table during breakfast, Nika watches as mail is handed out. Not expecting anything, Nika turns to her eggs, bacon and toast. "Nika Sparrow? Nika Sparrow?" The mail lady calls out. Nika holds her hand up and the lady comes and gives her the note. On the envelope says 'to Nika Sparrow and Karen Turner'. But on the back it says 'Do not open unless both of you are there.'
So Nika waits until Karen comes from the line. As she sits Nika turns to her best friend and says, "We have a letter." She slides it towards Karen and waits until she recognizes the script. It was from Nika's father.
"What could this mean. They only write on holidays, birthdays, or..." Karen starts.
"Or if someone we're close to disappears or..." Nika lowers her voice, "they die." They open the letter and Karen reads quietly outloud:
'Dear Nika and Kar,
Hello there my luvs. How are you? We're all fine, on the ship. Best to get right to business your Mum says Karen. Your brother, girls, has gone... Missing. Not to worry though dears, we are searching, and have found traces of the people we think might have took him. You two just keep to yourselves though, and keep yourselves going. We received your report cards and are quite proud of you. While your mother's are gone, I can finally wright without them hastling me bout me spelling and grammer. Just keep ter our secret and don't let no one near ya, as best as ya can. Well off I am now. Your father (Nika's of Course) and caring Uncle (To Karen), Jack Sparrow.'
When Nika looked at her friend, she had tears in her eyes. "Will, will be fine, Kar. Dad promised."
Karen just shook her head and turned to her food and stayed silent for the rest of the meal. In fact for the rest of the day.
***************************** REAL LIFE **************************************
Nika and Karen sit up quickly in bed, to the shouts of crew and the sound of feet running above and a faint bell chiming. Each grab their new swords, and run up to the main deck. Nearly 7 meters away a ship with a pirate's flag flying on it's main mast, sailing on the Pearl's port side. The crew all have their swords out and at the ready. As the ship sails closer, grappling hooks attach themselves to the side of the boat. Quickly, the ten closest people to the hooks cut the ropes leading to the enemy boat. As the ship comes close a plank comes across the space between the two boats and enemy pirates come across it by the dozen. Killing without mercy, until however a man comes across the plank, with another younger man being held near him with a knife at his throat.
" 'Ello Jack. Ah, and Will Turner, and Families. How good it is to see you all. Now would you kindly have your crew put their swords down before I slit this fine young man's throat." The older man says.
"Barbossa!" Jack and Will exclaim, along with some of their crew.
"William!" Karen cries out. "You bloody bastard! Let my brother go!!!" and she makes her way towards the older man, but Nika stops her.
"Such language from a lady, tsk tsk. Now Jack, your crew and weapons." Barbossa says.
"Let the boy go first Barbossa."
"No, no. You see Jack the boy here is leverage. I want something different. Now the crew's weapons and the boy goes free."
The crew all look at their captain, including Nika and Karen. He gestures to them and they put their swords down. Barbossa and William make their way onto the ship, and in passing them Nika holds back Karen. Barbossa pushes William down to the ground, in front of the stairs leading up to where Jack and Will stand. Karen runs to William, who gets up himself and says something just to Karen, whose eyes go wide.
"What do you want now Barbossa?" Will asks, coldly.
"Not much, just one of your lovely daughters." Barbossa replies.
"NEVER!!!!!" scream both Nika and Karen.
"You heard the ladies, Barbossa. Now get lost before my daughter kills you. For the second time in your 'life'." Will replies.
"Now you see gentlemen, this in not optional, savvy? One or the other, otherwise, I'll take both and drown them." He says.
"Oi, you bloody bastard, let me go!" Karen screams, as one of Barbossa's crew grab her. "Nika, run! Look out!" She yells as Nika too is grabbed.
"My that one has a mouth, hasn't she." Barbossa says, smirking.
Nika and Karen decide to use the skills their father's taught them in hand- to- hand combat. Karen steps on her captor's in-step and elbows him in the stomach. Then she brings her knee up to his face, and follows through with a kick to the groin. Nika however struggles out of her captors grasp and round house kicks him in the face, then kicks him overboard. They both grab their swords and point them at any enemy crew member near them until they reach the place where their crew was the most.
"As you can see, you'll have to fight not only them, but us and me entire crew as well, to even take one of them." Jack says. Just then a ship flying the Queen's flag sails into sight. Jack smirks, he realizes that it is none other than Commodore Norrington's ship.
"I'll be back, you can bet on me word." Barbossa says as he and his crew disembark the Pearl, to their own ship.
"Ick. That man gives me the creeps." Nika says.
"Yes, to me too. But Daddy, I noticed that about a third of the crew were missing. Where were they?" she asks, smirking slyly.
"They were off, looting Barbossa's ship. They stole a merchant ships loot, and of course we have to steal it back to give to Commodore Norrington." He says. The Pearl was a pirate ship that stole back from other pirate's for a great deal more than they made just pirating off of other ships.
"I figured that. But really, we should have been able to kill Barbossa, and his mutinous arse crew." Nika says.
"You girls did well, with your hand- to- hand." Jack comments.
"Thanks Uncle Jack."
"Yeah, thanks Dad."
"Now hugs are in order!" both girls yell and attack the young man newly returned to them.
The ship that was just in sight, Commodore Norrington's, sailed next to the Pearl's starboard side and dropped a plank connecting the two ships. Commodore Norrington and his son Jonathan walk aboard the ship, flanked by 3 guards.
" 'Ello, Commodore." Jack says happily. " 'Ere ter get yer loot, I 'spect. Gibbs, Anna Maria, will you please show the gentlemen where to send their men to retrieve it?"
"Yes sir, Cap'n." Gibbs and Anna Maria say together. They lead two of the Norrington's guards to the where the men put the 'treasure'.
"Yes, Mr. Sparrow," Commodore Norrington starts.
"CAPTAIN." Nika and Karen say loudly.
"Pardon me?" Jonathan asks, having never seen a lady speak when not spoken to, especially in night dresses and robes.
"Your father calls my Uncle 'Mr. Sparrow' every chance he gets to, just because he knows it irks him. I think it only fair, since my Uncle calls your father 'Commodore', that he respect my uncle and call him Captain Sparrow at least." Karen says, glaring at both Norrington men.
"Karen-" Will starts. She was never good at keeping her mouth quiet when she was angry.
"Really now? And why _Ms. Turner_ would my father show your uncle any respect, when all of Port Royal knows that he is a pirate?" Jonathan asks.
"Because _Jonathan_ my uncle works for the Queen, and unlike you is not a sniveling coward and a horses arse!" Karen replies, now yelling.
"Oh really. And what of you? You say that you are a lady, but you fight like a man, talk like a man, even act like a man. Are you sure you are not hiding something?"
Karen slaps the boy and then yells, "You Jonathan Norrington are the most cowardly, bastardous, man- whore in the seven seas." and with that, she pushes him overboard and runs to she and Nika's room. Nika, Elisa, and Elizabeth run after her, and the crew all move out of the women's way.
"Can't say he didn't deserve that one, Commodore. You and he should know by now, not to irk any of the ladies of this ship. But especially her, Nika, and Anna Maria. Now what were you going to say?" Will says as some of the crew pull the now sopping wet Jonathan out of the ocean's waters.
"Oh, that Captain Sparrow here, will have to sign this paper to tell the Queen that this job has been done and payment is required, as well as send it off on the next messenger boat you come across." Commodore Norrington says handing Jack a piece of paper.
"Right then, best get on with our voyage. Send a message the way you 'ave been for a while now, if you need us for another job. We're off to port, back at Port Royal for a bit of off time, until we are needed again. G'day Commodore," Jack says, walking towards the helm with Will, and William in tow.
*************************** IN NIKA AND KAREN'S ROOM *************************
"Honestly! The nerve of that man!" Karen yells, sitting down in one of the chairs placed by the rather large desk.
"Kar-bear! What was that? Jonathan only does that to irk us... Haven't you realized that by now?" Nika says taking the chair next to her best friend.
"Yes Karen. I know he acts like a stuck up pig, but really did you have to push him overboard?" Elizabeth asks.
"Yes mother. I did have to push him overboard. Serves him right for not respecting the ships Captain. Do you think that for a second if Uncle Jack, or Daddy, called his father Mr. Norrington that Jonathan wouldn't jump all over them?"
"I know that you dislike him with a vengeful passion, dear. But maybe you should just leave when he comes onboard. I don't like you getting into fights like that." Elise says.
"Fine I'll try it your way, but if he irks me too badly, don't expect me not to retaliate." Karen replies.
"Good, now that that's done, why don't we all get dressed and go up for breakfast."
"Okay Mum. See you as soon as we get dressed." With a hug to each girl, the ladies of the ship go to their rooms to get dressed. Nika and Karen both dress in their black trousers, but Nika wears her white shirt with a black vest, with her hair tied back with a cloth like her fathers. While Karen wears her light blue shirt and black vest and plaits her hair quickly and then covers her hair with a blue cloth like Nika did. They each strap on belts with their swords sheaths attached on them, and put their swords in their respective sheaths.
They go out, Nika goes up the stairs, while Karen stays below and knocks on her brother's door. "William? Are you in there?" she asks.
"Yes. Hold on a moment Kar-bear." she hears from the other side of the door. It opens to reveal her brother dressed almost exactly like her father.
"We need to stop with the creepy. You and Daddy look _way_ too much alike, to be wearing nearly the exact same outfit."
"Come on sis. Let's head up to breakfast, aye?"
"Aye Aye." she says to her brother as they both go up the stairs together.
They sit in the same way as they did during the girls' birthday party although this time it's loud, rowdy, and the food is just on the main table. One of the watchmen come running down the stairs. "Cap'n! There be a ship on the port side of the ship! No one can tell if she be friend or foe!"
The crew all stop eating and start to run up the stairs, Jack and Will leading the way. Nika and Karen start to try to identify the ship, as they can usually tell.
"Uncle! There's no way to identify her! She hasn't got any flags, or markings on her! I think she's a merchant ship, but we can't tell!" Nika yells.
"Alright then mates, some of you lot go down below, if you hear a battle come up fighting! Nika, Karen come up here with us. The rest of you go about your business, but be on alert." Jack yells to the crew and immediently they disperse. The ship gets closer with each second and all of the crew are weary. The ship passes with no attempt to attack and the Captain and First Mate give audible sighs. "Glad we din't have to fight. The crew're gettin' tired."
"Girls, you go below and get to work on fixing more of our sails. We need as much speed as we can get to get to Port Royal as soon as possible." The girls both sigh and go downstairs as told to mend the 6 sails that were torn during battle. A boring day was ahead for the girls. The only contact they got were from Anna Maria and Gibbs to come every 3 hours and get any sails that had been fixed.
"Kar, this is too boring. I want to be outside, in the sunlight." Nika whines to her best friend.
Karen gets up and opens any and all of the port holes on the ship. "This is all the sunlight we'll be getting, my dear friend. Until that is, we finish fixing these damned sails that got so damn torn that it takes 5 hours to mend, or we make new ones for the ones that can't be fixed. We always get these jobs. The most boring and safe ones."
"Yes, and all because we are the daughters of the Captain and First Mate. Let's get back to work. Maybe when we get done there will still be some daylight left for us to enjoy."
"Yes. Let's do that." and with that they get back to sewing the sails back together. They each get two more done by the time that they are visited by their fathers.
"Girls, have you been working this entire time?" Will asks.
The girls grunt in response, as they keep concentrating on finishing the sail they were working on. "I'd take that as a yes, Will. Girls, do you realize you've been workin' 15 hours straight. It's sunset now." Jack says.
"Really, didn't know that... Missed lunch then did we?" Karen says, sewing as quickly as her tired fingers would allow.
"Yes and it's nearly time for dinner. Stop for now, and come and eat. You can sew again tomorrow." Will says.
"Sorry can't... I think my legs have forgotten how to move. That and my bums asleep." Nika replies.
"C'mon now you two! Up you get!" Jack says as he and Will grab a girls arm and put it around their shoulder. When Will put his daughters arm back at her side she nearly collapsed.
"You two worked hard today. We'll help you get to dinner and then to bed." Will says.
"No, no... we can do it. Just give us a second to get our muscles working again." Karen says. She and Nika start doing what appears to be leg stretches and then can stand on their own. "See. We got used to doing that last summer. We've had the same problem as this, and we came up with a way to get them to work again."
The four walk to dinner and eat their fill. Going to their room the girls change and then collapse onto our bed. "We work longer than anyone else on the ship. They go eight hour shifts, but we work continuously from sun up to nearly sundown. They call our job easy. I'd love physical labor, but no. We are women and so have to sew and mend and wash the crew's clothes." Nika says.
"I know Nika. Our job is the most boring of them all. Well G'night." Karen replies.
"G'night Kar."