Once again, I'm so sorry it took me so long to update. I'll skip the regular excuses and just apologize and get right into the chapter. I have to admit, I was pretty rough on poor Gillette, but it's difficult not to be! Well, enjoy, and see if you can spot a line from another Johnny Depp movie in Jack's dialogue!

Jack straightened up slightly and ever so slowly turned the handle leading into the bedroom. Absolute silence was crucial right now. Jack didn't claim to be an expert on ghosts, though we did have rather a lot of experience with the undead, and had heard enough ghost stories told by old sailors at night on long voyages to know what proper ghost etiquette was. A memorable entrance was absolutely imperative. Simply strolling right into a room didn't quite provide the desired effect. You had to appear as if you came out of thin air, and if the person you were trying to frighten was asleep, then so much was your advantage.

Jack inched the door open to reveal a large opulent room, with a large opulent bed right in the center of it. Curled up in the fetal position within its luxurious sheets was none other then Gillette. Jack inched ever closer until he was right at the foot of the bed, and was able to hear the soft snoring of it's occupant. He suddenly noticed something light blue peeking out from under the sheets.

"Oh Good Lord." Jack whispered. "Please tell me that's not a blankie."

This may be easier then he thought.

Jack took a deep breath and in his most assertive and commanding voice shouted, "GILLETTE!"

The man in the bed sat bolt upright and stared at Jack a moment before blinking rapidly and rubbing his eyes vigorously.

Jack leaned over the bed ever so slightly and grinned at the stunned man, who was still trying to convince himself he was dreaming. "Rise and shine, Commodore."

Jack winced at the inevitable scream that followed immediately after his little greeting. It was a surprising octave, and lasted much longer then Jack would have ever thought possible. He would have been impressed, if the scream wasn't probably waking up the entire neighborhood. He had better get this over with as quickly as possible.

"That's enough!" he yelled in a gruff voice that was usually only used for barking out orders while aboard the Pearl...or any other ship he happened to be in charge of at the time. Gillette immediately stopped his screaming, but couldn't seem to help letting out a small whimper, as if embarrassed by that, he gathered up all his courage and finally addressed the apparition in front of him.

" J-Jack Sparrow?" he whispered feebly.

"None other." Jack said, spreading his arms wide and bowing slightly.

"But you're supposed to be-they said you were-."

"Dead?" Jack finished "Well Commodore, you should know as well as anyone that just because a person is dead, doesn't mean they're gone. Especially when they have unfinished business to take care of." Jack smiled slightly when his words had the desired effect on the stunned officer as he saw him grow a few shades paler and break into a sweat before being able to stutter out his next sentence.

"W-hat do you want?"

"Commodore, I thought you would never ask!" Jack grinned once again and began strutting around the room, casually examining objects on the various tables and shelves. He stopped himself short of picking them up and examining them as he usually did however, as he realized it may have an effect on Gillette's belief that he was an intangible specter. He knew that it was only a matter of time before Gillette, as slow on the uptake as he was, would figure it out anyway. He suddenly tuned from his examination of the room and stared directly at Gillette, his eyes looking deathly serious.

"I want to know how you killed me."

Gillette sat up further in bed, still clutching the covers right up under his chin. "What do you mean k-kill you! You escaped! You made it off your ship before we captured it!"

Jack's eyes narrowed as Gillette spoke. "I'm fully aware that you didn't capture me." He snapped. "But you, more then anyone else, are responsible for my death." Jack's voice lost his harsh edge and instead took on a dangerously silky tone that made Gillette's stomach churn more that any harsh shout or threatening growl ever could. "You see Commodore, you took away from me the thing that I valued more then anything else in the entire world, and because of that I blame you for my downfall and eventual demise."Gillette's eyes grew ever wider as Jack suddenly looked thoughtful for a moment. "You do know what happened to the last person who took the Pearl away from me, don't you?

That was it. Gillette broke down into tears and began sobbing, "P-p-please Sparrow please don't kill me! I-I'll do anything! Just please don't hurt me!"

Jack crossed his arms and sneered, clearly not moved by Gillette's emotional display. "Enough! There is one thing you could give me. The reason I've come back to pay you a little visit, in fact."

"Whatever you want!" Gillette blubbered. "Anything!"

Jack smiled and leaned close to the military man. "Information."

Gillette looked confused. He was clearly thinking of far worse things for Jack to have requested. His soul, for one. "Information?"

"How did you know that I would come to Port Royal on the exact day I did and be in the exact place I was in?" Gillette seemed completely dumbfounded by the question, and Jack's patience was wearing ever thinner. "How did you do it? Spies? Tip off? Out with it!"

Gillette shook his head vigorously. "No no nothing like that. It was-" he hesitated mid-sentence. The poor man looked as if he was tying to remember something that he wasn't even sure was real. As if trying to discern a real event from a dream. After a glance at Jack, he finally blurted the rest of the sentence out quickly." -a ship."

It was Jack's turn to look shocked. He spoke very slowly. "What kind of ship?"

"I-I had never seen anything like it before. I was on my way back from a routine patrol of the area on the Dauntless when we came across it. It looked completely abandoned, and no one on the crew could seem to identify what kind of ship it was, or what country it may have come from. When we inspected it, we found that it was indeed abandoned, and as there seemed to be nothing wrong with it, we decided to sail it back to Port Royal. Before we could even begin to hoist the sails, a storm began to brew and the very first flash of lightning struck the ship. There was a blinding flash of light and-" Gillette began to hesitate again.

Jack could hardly believe what he was hearing. "And..." he breathed.

"And all of a sudden we were in the exact same spot, but it was perfectly clear. The Dauntless was nowhere to be found. We had no idea the of the enormity of what had happened until we got back to Port Royal. Commodore Norrington raced down to the docks to meet us and asked me what had happened. I asked him what he was talking about, and he had explained to me that we had left not two hours ago, but...but we had been gone for six days !"

"Did you tell Norrington?"

"No! I was afraid he would think I had gone mad! He would have thought the crew and I had contracted some sort of disease on the ship and had us all quarantined! I told him we had found the ship just out of Port Royal, and I had decided to bring it back and ordered Groves to continue on with the Dauntless. I ordered the crew who was with me to speak nothing about it, and when the Dauntless turned up six days later, I managed to get Groves to keep his mouth shut too, telling him if he dared explain anything to Norrington, I would deny everything and call him mad. By this time, I was already realizing the implications of such a ship. Since you and Turner had destroyed the Interceptor, we were in serious need of another ship, and Norrington noticed her speed and maneuverability, and put me in charge of her, to see what she could do and if she could be an asset to us. I was able to get the same crew under me, and we quickly realized that the readings of the compass determined the destination in time the ship was to travel, and by the turn of the wheel, you could jump days, months, even years. We also realized that it was the lightning that powered the ship, and it seemed to have the ability to attract it to itself."

Gillette looked up from his bed sheets he had been staring down at while he recounted the story and stared directly at the now completely riveted Jack. "It was then that I came up with a plan to capture you and your ship"

I really, REALLY didn't want to cut this chapter off in the middle of Gillette's little speech, but I wanted to get a chapter out before...dun dun DUN--finals! I haven't updated in forever, and I wanted to before all those nasty tests and I before I head home for Christmas break. Anyway, enjoy, and I assure you that I'll work hard on this during that nice long break! Oh, and as always and please review! Thanks and Merry Christmas!

Next Chapter: The Plan