Meanwhile Ruby Rose was settled at her desk in the Captain's cabin of the grounded Oracle, the ship's crew were enjoying the last few days of shore leave. Relaxing in their own homesteads which were darted around the outskirts of Havana, Ruby Rose was staring down at a map of the Americas as she traced the invisible route of the ship she planned to swindle from. She rolled it up and set it aside, wrapping a warm blanket over her shoulders she walked over to her bed – A narrow place of slumber that was carved into the ship like a bunk, a mattress and two small feathered pillows was all that cradled her from the sharp edges. She could not complain for it was how her father slept for the nineteen years he had be The Oracle's previous captain. She was about to slip her boots off when she heard a gentle creaking outside on the lower deck, she whipped out her pistol from it's sheath and tip-toed towards the door. Clutching the handle quietly she waited, another creak was sounded and she flung the doors open. Apprehension turned to shame when she saw that the trespasser was a young boy.

"Miguel Federico what I have I told you about sneaking around after dark?" She growled as she placed the gun quickly out of sight.

"Senorita Rosa I saw you go aboard your ship and I am still keen for work as a cabin boy, if the post is open?"

The boy was a picture of innocence with his big wondrous eyes and head full of outrageous ideas of becoming a pirate. With a seamstress mother and a fisherman father he was determined to see more of the world and was forever taunted by the ships than came in and out of the bay. He was quite taken with the cream sails and partially striped black and white decking of a hull, The Oracle's hull.

"Miguel the answer is still no, I do not have the need for a cabin boy and even if I was in need of another pair of working hands they wouldn't belong to a child now get"

Miguel shoulders slumped as the objective of becoming Senora Sparrow's cabin boy failed yet again. He reluctantly headed back to the wooden gangway that bridged the gap between ship and jetty. Ruby Rose shook her head, taking the boy's arm she knelt down to face him.

Ah Miguel, theirs is so much more than the world of pirates. Go and see what can find from it: Artistry, poetry, athletics, farming something anything that's good and honest. Please will you do that for me?"

Miguel who was too young to understand the nature of the adult's pleas could only shrug. Ruby Rose ruffled the boy's jet black hair and ushered him back to his home that stood on the edge of the harbour. Talking her telescope she followed him as he ran along the pier and closed the fence of his front garden and went inside the house.

Ruby Rose smiled as she pushed the extended peephole lens into it's catch and smiled

"Good boy, Miguel" -

Ruby Rose grunted as her sleep was disturbed by a knock at the door, the blanket was over her head as the glare of the morning sun beaming brightly into the window.

"Come in" She groaned, not wanting for her sleepy eyes to be stabbed by the harsh rays of light she stayed put. Ana Maria walked in with a jug and a plate of meat on the bone and some bread.

"Your father said you would be here, I took the liberty of bring you some food from the local inn. Barely a day and already Jack's presence makes you uncomfortable Hmm?"

"Ana Maria ah it's good to see a friendly face" Ruby Rose leapt up and hugged her former first mate and gratefully took her meal and started devouring it.

"The answer to your question is: Yes I may have found it a little uncomfortable but it's not the sole reason I am in my cabin" Ruby Rose added as she chomped down on the bread and took a swig of water.

"You really believe you can hold ransom to the solstice don't you?"

"…and why not Ana Maria, we pirates are always chasing that one great prize which all the bounties taken previously are measly in comparison" -

"A flagship of Spain's royal court, it's sheer madness – Ruby Rose half of this gulf will be after us" Ana Maria's Jamaican accent coming strong and serious.

Ruby Rose was fighting the image of finally being marked and shamed by the government she was the only one in the family not to have her skin tainted by the hot P-shaped poke – A substantial gift presented to all pirates by the West India Trade Company. Instead she allowed a moment of greed to slip into the conversation:

"They say that her sails are laced at the corners with gold thread, that there are pieces of gold on it's figurehead. That the supplies they take from Florida are the richest of any ship's rationing…fine wines, exotic fruit, generous chops of meat…"

The young captain paused and sat on the edge of her desk and heaved her knee-high boots on. She looked at her friend with triumph she could see the curiosity growing within her but would give Ana Maria time to acknowledge it herself.

"Imagine a feast fit for a king laid out in the mess hall of The Oracle, it would be a meal like no other I promise you that" She chuckled gleefully at the mere thought of it.

"I hope a foolproof plan is in the works for such a hare-brained scheme?" Said Ana Maria, interest soon crushed her scepticism just as her friend had hoped for.

"It's being finalised this very afternoon after the careening of the ship is completed. What do you say Ana, feel like returning to your old post one last time?" Ruby Rose grinned and her confidence levels went stratospheric.

"Aye, if the adventure is a golden and wild as you favour it to be then how can I refuse" Ana Maria smiled back and offered a handshake to seal the deal.

Ruby Rose almost screamed with delight, she would never have done such a thing in front of the crew but the ship was empty and she could parade around her joy as much as she liked. Most importantly she felt great pride in herself with the way she did business – She was now a true contender for Jack and her father's legacy, hell she was on her way of making her own!