Chapter 27 – Wait, What?
March 25, 1660

The next morning I was served a breakfast of oatmeal and fresh-made biscuits at the captain's table by Ella, the six girls joining me though Esmeralda and Hilda seemed ready to go back to sleep even as the crew woke up and the ship came alive. I also got to see Jasmine and Aladdin file out of their borrowed room.

"Get a good night's sleep?" I prodded to make Jasmine blush and hurry out the door. I also figured that my peek into their borrowed room had gone unnoticed and sure as hell wasn't going to mention it to them. I liked my head where it was.

"They do somethin' wrong?" Monica asked as she turned to me after watching the pair leave.

"Just a married couple looking for a place to be married," I said in a roundabout way. Monica picked up on it and chuckled herself, letting that one go as she ate her oatmeal.

"I have an idea for an easy job aboard that you might be able to handle," I told her after I finished my breakfast, more like inhaling it as I never had time to savor anything except on a rare day.

"Really?" she asked as she looked at me.

"Jasmine, the lady who just left here, is a lookout in the crow's nest," I explained to her. "It's her job to climb the shrouds to her post where she keeps an eye out for ships and anything in our path and call it out."

"Climb?" she asked and I nodded. "I've never climbed anything in me life. Except the ladder to me room."

"The shrouds are similar," I told her as she continued to eat. "If you don't mind, I'll take you up after breakfast."

"Alright," she agreed and I let her eat her breakfast in silence. When she was done, she followed me up to the main deck where I led her to the shrouds connected to the main mast.

"We start here," I told her as I climbed up on the rail. Monica joined me easily enough, following with ease up to the maintop, a platform just above the mainsail.

"I donnae think I like this," she said with a hint of terror in her voice. She glanced over the side then married her back to the mast with her eyes closed.

"Deep breaths," I told her, giving her a pat on the shoulder. "This is what I was afraid of."

"Bein' so high up?" she squeaked out.

"Not everyone likes it," I agreed with her.

"Can we go down?" she asked me though I was sure I was going to need a prybar to separate her from the mast.

"If you can find the shrouds down, you can go," I told her and she let me guide her to the shrouds and back down. She didn't relax until she was on the main deck which ruined all the chances I had of integrating her into the crew

I went back down to my cabin and donned my full uniform and new rapier sword, not knowing if I'd need the shiny yet deadly accessory but loving it all the same as it had a great balance and was light and easily corrected. My crew was mostly content to lounge around as I left my cabin and I was content to let them enjoy the day off as there wasn't anything going on until tomorrow morning. Even on the main deck little was going on except Shang and Ping sitting between two cannons talking in low tones.

It wasn't until I was down on the docks that I noticed Eugene had arrived and was talking with Admiral Bodinson. Eugene waved me over, but the grim look on his face told me something was wrong.

"Problem governor?" I said as I approached.

"Hook and his men stole a barque and have left in the middle of the night," Eugene told me as he handed me a roll of paper. I took it and unrolled it to find it was a crude map tracing out the Caribbean with several points of interest marked out like Curacao, Puerto Cabello, and Caracas with a spot west of Curacao marked with an 'X' and the name Noord on what looked like an island. A sense of familiarity hit me and I realized that it was every movie criminal's favorite vacation island, Aruba.

"Any chance of finding him?" I asked but Eugene shook his head as I rolled the paper back up.

"He has at least a ten hour lead," Eugene told me. "The one survivor's last words were to let us know who and he was fished out of the water ten minutes ago. How they escaped their cell is anyone's guess."

"Damn," I cursed as I looked to my ship. He and his men could have taken it back with little problem while I slept and some crew like Jasmine and her husband got their rocks off. "I guess this is the location of Mayor Arendelle?"

"It is," Eugene told me. "I guess there's nothing left for you but to sail on the morrow."

"If I see Hook again shall I bring him back in chains or hang him on the spot?"

"Hang and gibbet the louse," Bodinson interjected. "Less likely to have problems returning him that way."

"If you do it is sanctioned," Eugene told me. "Remember, he has been found guilty of his crimes of piracy."

"Good," I said as we all looked around us as if needing something to do. "I guess I should probably make some provisions for having Mayor Arendelle aboard."

"Oh yes," Eugene said as he latched onto that idea. "Don't forget he has two daughters as well as a wife who will be traveling with him.

"Great," I groused as I realized I was going to have to worry with providing decent dining to the women. My thoughts went to the limitation on the culinary options and decided that I needed to talk with Colette to expand them. "If you gentlemen will excuse me, I need to talk to my chef about some chickens."

"You have a chef?" Bodinson asked me incredulously.

"And maids who swab my deck," I told him with a smile. He scoffed at that, turning and leaving me alone with a laughing Eugene.

"And soon a whole harem of women," he said as he remembered our last conversation. "Life has been kind to you."

"I used to think a nice ship and the open sea were all I ever wanted," I admitted to him with a chuckle. "Sometimes I think if I want to keep things that simple I'd have to be more evil than I am now."

"Evil," Eugene said in a low challenging tone. "Like sleeping with a man's wife?"

"Yeah," I drawled but Eugene held up his hand.

"Just don't let it happen again," he said darkly, not even looking me in the eye. "I'd have it out with you but..." then Eugene let out a sigh before looking me in the eye, "...but she came back herself and I can finally be me."

"She tell you everything that happened that night?" I asked him and he nodded.

"Enough of it anyway," he finally said as he hung his head. "Not that it changes how I feel for her."

"I'll likely be moving my operation to Saint Martin once the new governor is installed anyway," I told him to help pacify him. "If I can get access to land there, I won't even bring those women here at all and cut all ties to this port."

"My wife won't be happy but...thanks," he said as a bell began to peel. Eugene and I looked into the distance to see a ship coming in, but a look to Eugene told me he expected it with his smirk.

"The mail is in," he said as the ship came closer. "Likely bringing missives from the king along with luxury goods to make the trip worthwhile."

"I was worried it might be Hook," I told him as we watched the ship near and dock near the Wench. A man in captain's uniform came to Eugene and offered him several sealed letters, searching the waxed seals until he came across one that made his brow furl.

"This one is from the king," he told me as he set the letters down in the carriage and opened the king's letter. Eugene read it silently, a smile forming on his lips.

"Good news?" I asked him and Eugene nodded.

"War with France has been settled," he told me as he folded the paper back to its original shape. "So if you encounter any more vessels from them you do so without the protection of the king."

"We're still at war with Britain and Spain, right?" I asked him and he nodded.

"Then when I get back I shall harry them as much as I can," I told him as Eugene finally entered his carriage and left. With nothing left to do, I went back to the Wench and hunted up Colette, finding her and Linguini conversing in French.

"Excusez-moi," I told the pair as I tucked my tricorn under my arm. "I just learned we'll be having four very important guests on our next voyage, two who might be quite young and not used to the rigors of a long voyage, I'd like to know if there's anything we can do to..."

"Make our ship feel more like home?" Colette added to which I nodded. "Some chickens would be nice. Their eggs can be useful."

"A better binder with flour," I said, remembering that from the last time I made pancakes which made Colette nod and chuckle.

"Oui," she said as she turned thoughtful. "We don't really have the space for a goat."

"And the smell," I said shaking my head to which Colette agreed.

"Maybe if we had a hold?" she said but then shrugged her shoulders. "But a selection of chickens would do well since we make port often enough to acquire feed."

"I'll see what I can do," I told her as I bowed and left.

Since the chickens, and hopefully a goat, would be entirely ship property I decided to use ship coffers to pay for them as well. I then visited Poe, Glomgold's secretary and arranged the purchase of eight chickens and had them delivered and secured on the forecastle, while the grain they would eat was purchased and placed in the hold.

With nothing else to do I retired to my cabin with the maps to plot the course to Aruba. The course itself was simple enough, but I knew if I strayed too far left or right it would be a simple case of following the coast until we figured out where we were and could correct our course then. As Captain Ron would say, "If you get lost, just pull into port and ask directions."

Getting back was harder as there was no dedicated shoreline to follow but I was fairly certain I could at least find my way back to the Puerto Rico by splitting the difference between due north and northeast, then head due east to Saint Martin which would be easy if the wind was favorable.

After settling the courses required to make the trip, I then spent the rest of the day playing guitar on the quarterdeck and generally relaxing. I saw my crew come and go over the day, most offering a salute to me in passing which I nodded and accepted without stopping my playing.

After taking a nap in the afternoon and waking sometime after dark, I headed out to the head to take a leak and heard a guy grunting in rhythm from the same room I had caught Jasmine and Aladdin doing it in earlier. I smiled a wan smile as I passed, figuring the pair were likely taking any chance they could for personal time. The brief image I had of Jasmine on her back with her bouncing rack came to mind as I returned from the head and again heard the faint grunting and feminine moans coming from the same room. I stopped and listened for a minute, and deciding I wanted a second peek at Jasmine's hot nude body, moved to the door and twisted the handle.

In opening the door slightly, a sword that had been propped against it near the hinges began to slide across the width of the door as I got a shot of the action inside. Instead of seeing Aladdin and Jasmine, it was Ping on his knees with Shang behind him that I saw instead. In one of those moments that was sure to be burned into my retinas forever, I watched transfixed as Shang gave it to his little friend for several long moments before Ping turned and saw me staring from the doorway. He gave a high pitched shriek as Shang turned but it was in that moment I realized I had everything wrong as Ping pressed herself against the far wall and covered her small mounds with her arms while my eyes took in her full naked body and lack of male genitalia before I shut the door.

I ended up waiting at the table for a good while before the pair filed out, fully dressed and armed. Both looked scared, but I held up a hand to stop any words before they let fly.

"First off, I don't care that you were in an officer's cabin," I told them before pressing on. "It doesn't even register to me that two men should fall in love andwant to express themselves."

The two relaxed at that, but I wasn't through yet.

"What I do care about is honesty," I told the pair and the tensed again, realizing I had them on at least one thing with crystal clarity. "Why lie to me about your gender, Ping, when you know full well I employ women as well as men? Haven't you seen I care more about ability and having a person work to their fullest?"

"I..." she began to say and I let her find her words as I waited for an explanation.

"She has revealed herself in the past to not great results," Shang informed me. "The first time was just after she saved the lives of me and my men when she caused an avalanche that killed the attacking army. She was wounded and needed medical attention, but her true identity was revealed to my superiors."

"So you disobeyed orders?" I said, remembering him saying he would never do so willingly again.

"How could I be honorable and kill the one who saved me and my men when we nearly fell in battle?" he countered. "My choice cost me everything in China, and I, and those that still follow me all agree we owe her our lives."

"The last time I was revealed to be a woman, the captain of the ship was as you," Ping said as she stepped forward. "He had women aboard and...and I thought I would be safe. Instead he tried to take me to his bed."

"I bet that went over well," I said sarcastically, and Shang grimaced.

"She killed him and we fled in a longboat," Shang informed me. "We travel, ship to ship until we come here. Maybe one day we will find peace, but so far we found nothing but misery."

"I don't believe in forcing yourself on a woman," I told the pair, though really my own track record with Ella was in contrast to that in a way. Still, I knew I had to proceed with the lie as I really wanted to keep them aboard as they were really good at their job. "It's why I checked the door to make sure the woman wanted what was happening and wasn't saying no and trying to get free. If that was the case, I'd have you keelhauled if we were at sea or thrown off my ship if we were at port."

"I understand," Shang told me as he looked to Ping.

"I guess I need to give my proper name," Ping finally stated as she stood tall. "I am Fa Mulan."

"I'll make the note in the Articles," I told her as I rose from the table. "Now, I'm heading for bed. You two, well the cabin is available for the night."

I left them to hash that one out on their own, going back into my cabin to give the two love birds some privacy. In a way, I know I should feel bad for being a peeping Tom but part of me didn't care since I had uncovered a lie in my midst. It wasn't a major lie, but I knew now if I had a woman I needed searched that I had a good female soldier on hand to handle it and not having to rely on Jasmine for so much.

I also reflected on my own hypocrisy, never liking to lie to people and worse that I had to do it to keep some valued crew members around. As I thought it over, I had to admit a small portion of me had liked what I did to Ella, even if I would have stopped the moment she said no. And like I had told the governor, I wasn't really an evil person even if I had slept with his wife. I was sailing for what would likely have been my last mission, one I could have easily floundered and almost did if not for Simba catching the railing with the hook to stop Hook from raking my masts to leave me defenseless and at his mercy.

Those questions in my head, Monica sprung to mind and added to my mental confusion. The poor girl had no truly marketable talents and only herself to offer anyone. Even my own attempts at intergrating her into the crew were failing due to her beliefs and limitations though right now she was under my good graces as I tried to see her safely to a place in her life where she could be happy. But, what came after if she had nothing?

I pondered those questions the rest of the night.