Chapter 6: By Our Mommies and Dads...

Here's a fun one-let's give the Guv a past!

"Really, Father. You needn't do this for me," Elizabeth said.

"Nonsense. It's every father's purpose in this world to dote upon his daughter and her loved one," Swann smiled. "Besides, I remember how much you loved the sea when we first came across. You should experience it once more—without pirates involved...save dear William," he added. "go on, now—you best start packing." He smiled as he watched Elizabeth retreat to her room. He remembered the last time he'd sailed—and what joy it had brought him...in more ways than one.

FLASHBACK

"Lieutenant?"

The man turned. "Yes, seaman, what is it?"

The seaman pointed. "Sir, do you see what I'm seeing?"

"I think I do. Let's be sure, though." The lieutenant turned, and began to climb the ropes to the Crow's Nest. Below, the seaman said to himself, that's why they admire him—not afraid to do the job himself.

He grabbed the rope, and pulled himself up to the Nest. He pulled the scope from the pocket inside, and opened it. He stared at the mass out in the distance. It was indeed what they thought it was.

He grabbed a rope and swung and slid to the deck, shouting orders as he went. "Rouse the captain! Take a new course to the northeast, towards that mass! We've got a downed ship, men; let's not let them die here!"

"Heave to! Send boats out, we need to find survivors!" The lieutenant took a boat himself, rowing with three other crewmen towards the blaze. As they rowed into the fiery inferno, they passed a bit of wreckage proclaiming that this ship had been the Allegiance.

Then, ahead, the lieutenant saw a bit of wreckage with a figure onboard. As they rowed closer, two things happened.

First, the lieutenant recognized the shape as a woman.

Second, the woman slid off the wreckage into the deep.

Wasting no time, the lieutenant doffed his coat and dived into the icy waters. He looked through the depths for the woman, finding her to be just a little ways below him, descending. He knew the cold would kill her if the drowning didn't. He swam with all his strength, grabbing the woman, and pushing off a piece of wreckage that was going past them, he broke through the surface.

His boat pulled first the woman in, then the lieutenant. He observed the woman. She was breathing, yet unconscious. "Back to the ship with her," another boat called. "No other survivors." The lieutenant nodded sadly. They'd done what they could.

Once aboard, the woman was taken to the infirmary. The doctor said merely to wait and see, so the lieutenant took a round of watching to see if she reacted to anything.

After a time, she began coughing up cold seawater, and opened her eyes. "Where am I?" She asked.

"You're on the Harbinger, madam. Your ship, the Allegiance, is gone—powder magazine explosion?"

She nodded. "It was just so fast. The fire shot out, and the ship just tore apart. I was lucky to grab onto a piece of wreckage. I tired to help some of the others, but I wasn't fast enough. Those that didn't die from the explosion died from drowning."

She looked at the lieutenant. "You...you're the one who rescued me, aren't you?"

He nodded. "I am that, madam."

"Please, I am not a 'madam'; I am Sarah." Sarah...she looks like one. A very charming, beautiful woman, now that the lieutenant got around to noticing it. "And what is your name, lieutenant?"

He smiled. "Swann. Lieutenant Weatherby Swann."

END FLASHBACK

Governor Swann smiled. Sarah...God, how I miss her. Well, I met my love on the sea...stands to reason that Elizabeth would, too. Smiling to himself, he walked away, to ponder his thoughts, and find a ship bound for London.

Well? Ay? Ay? Review, ay?