DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN PIRATES OR ITS CHARACTERS.

Hoist the Colors 6: The Trial and Revelations

The night that Patty Murphy died is a night I'll never forget

Some o' the boys got loaded drunk, an' they ain't been sober yet

As long as the bottle was passed around every man was feelin' gay

O' Leary came with the bagpipes some music for to play

Oh, that's how they showed their respect for Patty Murphy

That's how she showed their honor and their pride

They said it was a sinner's shame and they winked at one another

And every drink in the place was full the night Pat Murphy died.

Colleen barely registered the bawdy singing coming from a group of tavern goers, for Colleen's heart had stopped.

"Did you read it? What does it say?" She said her breathing erratic. 'Mother surely wouldn't try to marry me off would she?' Colleen thought frantically.

"No I haven't read it. But I've been expecting its arrival for some time now." Elizabeth Killigrew replied.

"You mean you knew about this!?" Colleen cried, offended that the Captain had kept this from her.

"Yes." The captain nodded solemnly.

"An' what about the rest of you?" Colleen wheeled on the rest of the crew. "Did you know?"

"Not till this mornin' when the letter came and Cousin Lizzie told us." Bea replied. The faces of the crew were all sad.

"No. No. I won't do it! I won't go! Captain you won't let her do this to me will you? You have to help me!" Colleen said desperately. Wheeling around and around, appealing to everyone. "Please! We're family! We're crewmates! We-we're Pirates! I'm not someone's wife unless I choose to be! Please help me!"

"Colleen we're not in the position to defy your mother. Didn't you read your contract? You're mother only signed it because she put in the line 'to serve on the Pendennis faithfully until the day she dies, is given leave, or is summoned home by family.'"

"You can't be serious?" Colleen yelled, drawing attention to the group. "You're actually going to sell me out? What are we? Family or… or…" She couldn't finish the statement.

"Pirates? Yes, we are that." Captain replied. "But we are also family, so I promise you now Colleen I will do everything in my power to get you out of this… but we can't deal with that just yet. The East India Trading Company is on our tails, and we're trapped here, the Court meets later today when the Pearl makes berth, and the trial is in an hour."

Colleen's eyes shot open. "Trial?"

"Yes, Colleen, the trial. You know for the men who torched our ship?" Enid said.

Colleen swore and stalked off. "Where are you going Col?" Enid called after her. "You're gonna miss the trial!"

"I'll be there!" she snapped, and continued walking.

Her feet took her to the edge of the docks. The Fortune was moored nearby and on her deck stood Thomas. He hadn't seen Colleen for a while now and his excitement at finally having found the girl quickly evaporated when he saw that she looked distressed.

He stepped up to her cautiously, having seen her lash out at people before when she was in a mood.

"Hey Colleen?" He greeted gently, resting a hand on her shoulder.

Colleen spun around quickly, not really startled by his appearance but merely annoyed that it could be one of her family members come to check on her when all she really wanted was to be alone, and think.

"Oh, hello Thomas." She mumbled.

"Now what are you down for?" he asked.

Colleen snorted, but replied. "My mother wants me to get married." She said. "She sent a letter telling me to get home as quickly as possible; it arrived this morning with one of the other ships."

Thomas rubbed his neck. "Well… there's not much chance by way of getting back to Wales. We're pretty much stuck here."

"I know that Thomas, but still, if we do make it through this, I'm going to have to go back… or never go home again."

Thomas sighed and took a seat on the dock. "I never had a home." He said. "Well, I did once, mother, couple o' sisters. It's all well and good Colleen, but the homes on land are overrated I found. What's more of a home to you? Out there wandering the ocean on a ship or bein' stuck to one spot on dry land?"

Colleen smiled a little, catching his drift. "The sea." She replied. "Always the sea."

Thomas smiled brightly. "I'm sure if'n you choose to leave your family there'll be plenty o' crews waitin' to take you one board. Everyone needs a good quartermaster."

He was rewarded with a bemused laugh as Colleen sat down next to him. "Yeah, I'm sure they would."

They sat in silence for a little while watching the gulls dive and climb among the rocks protecting the cove.

"Trial's in a little while." Colleen finally said.

"Aye that it is. You gonna go?"

Colleen sighed. "Yes, but I don't want to."

"But I thought all you wanted was to see those men hang?"

"Yeah, I did, but now things got confused. I don't know what I want anymore, or who to believe."

Thomas reached for her hand and squeezed. Colleen's head snapped around to look at Thomas at his bold move, her eyes widened.

"You can believe me." He smiled tenderly.

Colleen smiled back. "Would you come with me? To the trial that is? I don't think I can face it alone." she asked tilting her head to the side.

"Course!" he said standing and helping Colleen to her feet.

Together they walked to the room in which the trial was to be held and found a place to stand along the wall. The court room was the meeting room of the Brethren Court. Thus, cluttered with random brick-a-brack and most surfaces were coated with a good layer of spilled liquor. Colleen's family was clustered behind Maud who sat in a chair to the right of Cheng I Sao, one of the judges for the trial.

'Something tells me this is going to be a biased jury…' Colleen thought to herself.

"Colleen, I have a question." Thomas said when they settled into the room.

"Go on." Colleen encouraged.

"Well, your family is a family of pirates right? It's like the 'family business,' for the women at least?"

"Yes."

"Well, you're mother's a woman Killigrew right?"

"Naturally…" she wasn't quite seeing where he was going with this.

"So then why is she so eager to see you leave this life? Shouldn't she be proud that you're doing so well in something that your family is known for?"

Colleen smiled ruefully. "Killigrew is her married name." she explained. "My father is the real Killigrew, so my mother was never expected to serve as a pirate, and the life was never a part of her expectations. Nor did she learn that her daughters would be expected to serve until after she married my father. She never approved of the Killigrew's practices but, it got hammered into me at a young age so I was excited when I signed onto the Pendennis. I thought by living up to my family's expectations of me that I could outrun my mother's… it seems I was wrong…"

"So she never wanted you to be a pirate?"

Colleen grinned and crinkled her nose. "Not in the least."

A few moments later the trial began. The accused were roughly shoved into the room and forced to sit on a long bench with their hands and feet shackled in handcuffs most commonly used for slaves. Colleen bristled at the sight; they should be allowed a scrap of dignity!

Captain Kidd stood and walked, head held high, to the defendant's podium.

"How do you plead?" a bored sounding buccaneer drawled.

Captain Kidd's chin tilted even higher, "Guilty." He said evenly.

All eyes shot to him with murmurs of surprise.

"But my crew is not." He explained. "It were my orders and mine alone that drove us to burn the Pendennis… I will accept the punishment for all of them…"

"We shall see." Captain Teague said who had control over the whole of this trial. "First Mate Robert Lamley, how do you plead?"

The younger man stood beside his captain. "Guilty, sir." Another murmur passed through the room, and Kidd gawked in surprise.

"Robert! We had this planned out!" Kidd hissed.

"I know that Captain, and I am sorry, but I am as guilty as you are. I could have led a mutiny, but I didn't, and I wished to save Miss Lorring, even if it means I can't wed her."

"Mr. Barleycorn, how do you plead?"

"Just as them sir, guilty… Makes no sense to not pay for me own sin… even if it were to help another." He added the last part under his breath.

This pattern continued with the rest of the crewmates until Gabriel was called to stand.

"Mr. Gabriel Loffe, how do you plead?"

Gabriel stood next to his shipmates with the air of a martyr he had adopted the previous night.

"Not guilty, sir."

This earned a barrage of protests from his shipmates and caused the courtroom to erupt into dozens of different conversations at once.

"Order, order!" Teague commanded.

"My boy, you do realize you have the crews of four upstanding and respectable pirate ships to provide evidence against you?" It was Cheng I Sao who spoke.

"I do." Gabriel said defiantly.

"Do you have any evidence to prove your innocence?" Teague asked.

"On my person in fact." Gabriel replied.

"Then by all means, present it to the court."

Gabriel was freed from his shackles and allowed to pull a stack of letters from his jacket pocket. For a horrifying moment Colleen thought it was their love-letters, but then she spied the seal and knew it wasn't hers; she never used scarlet colored wax.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the court I have here in my hand letters of correspondence between Captain William Kidd of the former Adventure Galleon. A ship, need I remind you, brutally sunk off the coast of Brazil. These letters are to the Captain from one Mssr. Cutler Becket of the East India Trading Company." Gabriel held the letters high, and Kidd whispered to Lamley, "Where the hell'd he get those?"

"This is the proof of my crew's innocence!"

"You're crew!?" Moore shouted, but was quickly silenced by a musket butt to his shoulder.

"As my fellow shipmates have admitted, we did burn and sink the Pendennis in an attempt to murder Mistress Cheng I Sao… but we had no other choice, these letters prove that."

"Give me the letters." Teague said, holding out his hand. Gabriel offered up the precious pieces of paper to the living legend.

After reading the first letter, Teague glanced up at the nervous Gabriel, and then handed it off to Cheng I Sao, and proceeded to read the second. The six Captains of the Brethren Court assembled began to discuss in hushed tones over the letters. After a while Teague turned back to the defendants.

"Captain Kidd, these letters seem to say that members of all of your families were kidnapped and are now being held hostage by the East India Trading Company under threat of death, should you not comply to their wishes… do I have that correct?"

"That is correct, Captain Teague." Kidd answered.

"Now, have any of you actually seen these kidnapped family members of yours?"

The crew glanced at each other. "Yes, Captain-sir, Captain Kidd, Mr. Lamley, and several others all witnessed the people kidnapped. Not to mention that two of those people were kidnapped from right under our noses…" Barleycorn replied.

"Right from under your noses?" Teague repeated, cocking an eyebrow.

"Yes, sir. We were overtaken and overpowered when we were careening the ship to clean her of barnacles. The Captain's wife and her maid-servant were aboard and were captured after a scrap."

"Honestly I was half expecting you to say you gave them up without a fight… Guards if you would bring these gentlemen back to their cells to await out decision, the Captains of the Brethren of the Court and I will deliberate over a bottle of rum."

The men were chained up again and were being ushered out when Teague called back their attention.

"Oh and be sure to thank your young comrade there… these letters may just save your souls from the noose… well our noose at least…"

With that the courtroom was dismissed for lunch and adjourned two and a half hours later when the five bottles of rum provided had been consumed by the Pirate Lords.

By the time Colleen and Thomas had returned to the courtroom the prisoners were already there, sitting on the same bench with some looking nervous, others looking oddly optimistic.

As Colleen took her place on the wall Gabriel's eyes strayed to her, he gave her a warm smile and jerked his head in a "come here" fashion. Colleen excused herself from Thomas and walked over to Gabriel. His shipmates watched her walk over and rolled their eyes with moans of irritation, she shot them looks with daggers laced in them.

"So have you forgiven me?" Gabriel said with an excited puppy look on his face. Colleen couldn't have made it cuter if she'd plastered dog ears and a wagging tail on him.

Her eyebrow rose incredulously. "Really Gabriel, do you think it's that easy to forgive someone who tried to kill you? And really stop acting like you're not facing almost certain death!"

"Well I wasn't trying to kill you. And I'm not facing certain death; I'm facing death with the chance of escape, which allows me to be able to act however I desire. Not to mention I'm pretty sure our water jug with our loaf of bread this past lunch was laced with something that put me in a very fine mood."

Colleen groaned, but continued in their conversation. "Did you know I was on the ship?"

"Uh… yes…" He knew he'd been caught.

"You tried to kill me…" she stated definitively.

"Okay fine, but really Colleen... look at it this way… no one got hurt, everyone's alive right?"

"No! I will not look at it that way!"

"You know for someone who's adamant to not forgive me, you certainly haven't hit me yet…"

"Gabriel… you gave me twelve hours to try and forgive someone who tried to kill me! That's not likely to happen…"

"What if I gave you twelve months?"

"Excuse me?"

"Would you forgive me if I gave you twelve months to think about it?"

"Hell, I don't know!"

"Ha, ha!" Gabriel cried triumphantly, "That wasn't a 'no!'"

Colleen growled in frustration. "It wasn't a yes either!"

Gabriel grinned mischievously. "What?" Colleen groaned.

"You're so cute when you're angry."

Colleen gave him a solid punch in the jaw, and returned to where she was standing with Thomas on the wall.

"What was that about?" he said, tilting his head.

"He was just being difficult, and I think a little drunk… It's nothing."

By this time Teague and the rest of the Brethren Court had stumbled in, and taken their seats.

"Will the crew of the Adventure Galleon please rise." Teague said.

They did so.

"Given the circumstances, this convening of the Pirate Lords has decided that you are most certainly guilty of attempted murder of your brethren…"

There were murmurs of pleasure and smiles from the Killigrew's corner of the room, but Colleen's heart was in her throat. These men shouldn't die for protecting their family… and it felt wrong, no matter the severity of the betrayal against her.

"But we also believe you had no other choice… family and love is a strong bond… nothing can drive us to go further and nothing can put us in a more desperate state…"

The room was utterly silent.

"Therefore, we have decided on a sentence of marooning rather than hanging. Will the Killigrew clan find that acceptable as a punishment, given that they were the most severely affected by this impasse?"

There was a round of sturdy "aye's from the Killigrews, even Colleen accepted these terms. At least this way, there was a fair a chance of survival as they deserved.

With that, the trial was ended and as everyone began to file out Colleen made her way over to Gabriel once more, who was still under the effects of whatever drug had been slipped into his meal.

"Told you." He said grinning.

"Told me what?"

"I wasn't facing certain death; I'm facing mostly certain death."

"Is there really a difference?"

"I might not die?"

"Those chances are slim Gabriel."

"Aye, but give me twelve months… I'll come back to you Colleen, I promise… and hopefully you may have forgiven me by then. If not, I give you permission now, to kill me on sight then."

Colleen actually managed to smile. "Thanks, I think…"

There was a pause before Colleen spoke again.

"You know, I'm sorry it turned out this way with us."

"I am too, I really did love you, but they had my family, you understand that?"

"Of course I do, I would have done the same were I in your shoes… so I guess I can't really blame you for what you did… as much as I'd like to. And I can't say I truly love you anymore… too much has happened, and we've been apart for so long. I would want to say it and be lying to you about that."

Gabriel smiled at her affectionately.

"What?" she questioned, uncomfortable under his gaze.

"You've grown so much since I left haven't you? Physically, but mostly as a person… will you promise me something?"

"What?"

"That when your mother sends for you, you don't go back? The man she picked for you… I don't like him. They're going to clip your wings and make you something you're not. I called you 'my little bird' when we were younger, do you remember? Please, don't let them cage you… you're too lovely, too spirited… please don't let them take some of the sun shine out of the world. It's so dark already, please Colleen, don't let them break you! Promise me!"

"Gabriel…" Colleen was cut off by her family calling for her to come, she ignored it.

"Gabriel I received her letter yesterday… she's calling me home… I don't know what to do... I don't think I'll be able to escape it, Cousin Lizzie is bound by my contract to return me home when my mother calls me, so my family won't help… I'm lost… what should I do?"

Gabriel's face was stricken by this news. "Do anything you have to, you can't let them bind you to land Colleen… you're a pirate… it's what you were born to be and from those letters you sent me I know you love it… do whatever you have to." Gabriel was pulled away again, back to his cell.

With a horrid realization Colleen made a strangled cry in the back of her throat, she now trusted a man who had tried to kill her, over her own family, who loved her.

A/N: Well… I'm okay with this chapter, I don't like how I wrote Gabriel so I made him drunk rather than rewrite it… yes I'm lazy… Not much else to say…I feel this story is coming along nicely… we're about half-way through, and it's been two and a half years in the making… cool.

The near future for Colleen, Thomas, and Gabriel will include the arrival of Barbossa, Mr. Sparrow, and the Pearl, and conversation between Elizabeth, Thomas and Colleen, and then an escape attempt…