Captain vs. Captain

Disclaimer: Not mine. Duh.

Notes: This takes place after 'At World's End'

"Yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life…." Captain Eli the Gent bit her lip as she gazed out into the horizon. The clouds were building, and they were too close to the reef. "Seamus, are we going to get bashed against the reef?"

"The wind ain't with us," the crewman called back from his perch on the single mast of the Governor's Heart. "We're doing our best." The sails were in near-tatters, the topsail completely broken off in the last storm.

The captain leaned on the deck rail. Under-crewed, almost out of supplies, and blown off-course in a series of storms that refused to give them enough time to properly configure where they were. Things were not looking good for the little sloop, the last gift from her father before he said goodbye to her for the last time.

Eli marched across the deck in heavy boots that didn't thud, her lithe body barely touching the boards as she moved. She had to hold her hat down on her head, the winds picking up speed, blowing her jacket around her. "Bloody storms," she muttered, going into her cabin and searching for the bottle she knew was there. Finding the half-empty bottle she uncorked it and took a long swig.

The rum washed over her tongue, numbing it. Numb was a good state to be in some days. She didn't like to admit it, but she wasn't a very good pirate. It had been months since they had pillaged anything successfully. Just a fortnight before they had been laughed off a merchant ship when the it was discovered that the pirates had no bullets in their pistols.

She finished off the bottle as she sat in the cabin, staring at her compass sitting on the table, it's needle wavering northeast. She made a point of sailing in the opposite direction to which it was pointing, no matter where it lead them. Even though this time it had lead them to this Godforsaken reef.

"Captain," Kim said from the doorway. Kim was the first mate, the closest thing to a friend she had.

"What?" she turned.

"It might be wise to stay sober through the storm. We wouldn't want you knocked overboard again."

"We never did find my hat," the Gent said somewhat wistfully. The new hat just didn't feel the same. "Kim, how long have you been on my crew?"

"Since the beginning, Ma'am."

"And how often have I fallen overboard?"

"Just the once."

"And why was that?"

"Well, you were trying to save the ship's cat but…"

"And as we no longer have a cat, there is no danger of me falling overboard." Kim couldn't fault the logic in that. "So if I want to drink, I will." Kim frowned. The captain was a lightweight. "Put Smiley at the wheel, and keep an eye on those clouds. If it starts raining, call me."

"It is raining, Sir."

The captain put the bottle down with a sigh. "I'm coming." She pocketed the compass and followed him out.

Back on the deck her men were scrambling with ropes as the wind picked up speed and the rain, formerly nonexistent, came down in sheets. "We're going to hit the reef captain, there's no avoiding it," Smiley shouted over the wind.

"All right, all right! Drop the anchor, as if it'll do any good, and brace yourselves men." Kim was at her side, his hand tight in hers. "I'm fine, Kim," she insisted, even as she stumbled when the waves crashed up over the side of the ship.

"None the less, Captain," he said with a smile.

There had been storms before. Dozens of them, while she was sailing the Heart, and before with…well. Eli had seen her share of storms. This storm would have been like all the others, if it hadn't been for the coral reef a mere hundred yards away. The anchor chain snapped quickly, and the small ship was tossed against the reef in due time. "Dammit!" The captain swore as the entire vessel quaked against it.

"Don't swear, Sir," Kim said, even as a wave tossed them both of their feet. "It isn't lady-like."

"Blast you, Kim." Water spilled over the sides of the deck, threatening to sweep them both into the ocean. Eli the Gent freed her sword, driving it deep into the deck, leverage against the waves, while clutching to Kim with her other hand. "You're supposed to be saving me you fool," she yelled, her voice blown away into the air.

Most of the crew had braced themselves against the rail, looking like half-drowned rats. "Captain," Smiley managed to make himself heard. "I quit."

She was about to threaten to maroon him on whatever reef they had crashed into when a bolt of lightening hit the mast, bringing it down on top of them. All she could hear were the screams of her crew as she lost her grip on Kim's hand.

The storm blew out in the early morning, and as the sun began to rise over the diminishing clouds, the captain coughed the water out of her lungs and took note. "If you live," she told the crew, "say 'aye'!"

Five voices came back to her as she fought her sword free. "Kim, you okay?" Her eyes scanned the deck, seeing Smiley, Gorgeous George, Jim One-Eye, Seamus, and Mad Mary pulling themselves to their feet. "Check the others," she said quickly, moving to the nearest body. "Find Kim." Jones was dead under the mast, Lee Ying found unconscious but breathing under the sail. Kim was one of the five men unaccounted for.

"No, no," Eli muttered as she flew to the side of the ship. She could immediately see that they were caught up on an outcropping of rocks, a gaping hole in the hull--probably not repairable. And among the debris, several bodies. The blond-haired form of Kim was floating face down. "No!"

"Captain," Mad Mary shouted, but before he could stop her, she had jumped overboard. Emerging, she swam over to Kim, turning him over with difficulty. "Don't be dead, you bastard," she hissed, even as she saw his blank eyes staring up at her.

Moments later there was another splash, and Mad Mary, a formidable looking man with three earrings and a shaved head, appeared at their side. "You trying to get yerself killed, ma'am? C'mon now. Let him go. Ain't nothing you can do fer him."

"Captain!" Jim's voice called down from the deck. "There's a ship!"

"It isn't possible!" She lost her grip on Kim's body and swam to the side of the ship, entering through the hole and climbing up from the depths. The four men (Lee Ying still knocked out in the corner) were all staring at the dark from, the spy glass limp in Jim's hand when Eli reappeared on deck, dripping wet, her clothes clinging to her body, feminine curves not quite hidden any longer. "What are you doing, staring with your jaws hanging open?"

"It's the Pearl."

"What?" Her heart plummeted into her stomach. But the black sails were plain against the pink sky. Her hand shook as she pulled the compass out of her pocket--and the needle pointed straight at it.