Chapter Nine

"Part of the ship, part of the crew, part of the ship, part of the crew."

Hawk and Annette looked at each other and their captain, puzzled by the odd chanting that had reached their ears. Joanna, however, ignored their looks and instead followed the sound through the labyrinth of ships that made up the fortress.

"Part of the ship, part of the crew. The Dutchman must always have a captain, that much is always made clear and oblivious…obvious. But who's idea was it that there always had to be a pirate king once there was one, ay? Hm? There hasn't been one in 'undreds of years but then, then Jackie goes and gives them one. And what does he do? She, right, Elizabeth was a she…unless Will…anyways, he gets them a king and then their king runs off and marries and starts living an honorable life and leaves Jackie in charge. Fine prediction…predicament you've got yourself into, Jack. Where is that monkey? I want to shoot something!"

Just then the three women came around a corner and spotted Jack Sparrow. He was seated in the brig of the Bastille de France and appeared to be talking to his shoulders. And listening to their answers. When he noticed Hawk, Annette, and Joanna standing and staring at him, he jumped to his feet.

"Joanna, love, don't tell me they got you too!" he cried, coming close to the bars and wrapping his hands around them. "They thought they'd have a queen, did they? Well you can tell them I won't have any of it, if I'm going to be king I'm going to be a dictionary…dictate…I'm going to be king by myself!"

Joanna rolled her eyes. "Honestly, Jack, I wouldn't be stupid enough to let them catch me." Then she lowered her voice. "There's someone you owe money to who was out for my hide, so I'm coming to get you out so she'll stop bothering me and I can live in peace."

"Peace, my dear girl? You're related to the great Captain Jack Sparrow, there ain't ever going to be peace in your life." Jack puffed his chest in pride.

"Yes, yes the great Captain Jack Sparrow who lost his own ship for nine years and landed himself in the brig of a ship that's been grounded for years as some great fop king of the pirates. Now I can be so proud of my heritage. Also, there's the matter of this Captain Savage fellow…"

Clearing his throat, Jack interrupted. "You know, lass, speaking of your heritage…" But then he was cut off by the soft and dangerous voice of Captain Teague, who had come up behind the girls.

"They're here to negotiate your release, Jackie boy," Teague said with no emotion whatever in his voice. "However, they have provided no legitimate reason for doing so, as called for in the Pirate Code."

"Well, actually –!" Annette began her explanation about the pirate code, but Joanna clapped a hand over mouth, hissing for her to shut up. The captain felt a chill down her spine just looking at Teague, all of her instincts told her to run far, far away from this cold man.

Teague noticed the disturbance, but chose not to comment on it as of yet, instead he remained focused on Jack. "If you try to escape with them again, you'll join your mother, boy. As soon as there's a suitable replacement found for your kingship, according to the code." Then, the code master deigned to look in the direction of the three girls. "Who do you call captain?" he demanded. Or asked. It was hard to tell since the man used no inflection in his vocal tones.

Joanna, trying not to show the icy cold lump of fear that had formed in her stomach, gulped and stood forward. She took her hat off her head and swept him a bow, replacing the hat upon her head and trying to look impressive. "I am the captain here, Captain Joanna," she said, "Our ship hovers in the cove, not tied."

"Aye, the one with the bird on the flag," Teague acknowledged. They knew better not to question how he had gotten this information. "While you stay here," the code master continued, eyeing Joanna with no fathomable expression, "You are free to tie your ship at our docks, for it will not be touched by other than your crew. While the tide is coming in and high, Jack will be free to roam the cove and go aboard your ship if you wish. However, with the outing of the tide he is to be locked up again. That is all."

He turned away from the women, clearly dismissing them. However, Joanna stayed, only nodding at Hawk to send word to the British Pride. She wanted to converse with her brother a bit more, and Annette stayed with her because she had no hope of keeping up with Hawk, nor did she have a chance at finding her way out of the labyrinthine stack of ships.

"You know, boy, I just realized," Teague said to Jack, "She looks a bit like a Scottish wench I knew once. Same flair for the dramatic. Ah well, bygones is bygones." And with that, he unlocked Jack's cell door and swept out of the brig.

Jack was all for dashing back to the ship as fast as his legs could carry him, but Joanna and Annette blocked his way. Joanna had gone pale, her eyes glazed over.

"Hello?" Jack called, waving a hand in front of her eyes.

She snapped to, and glared at him. "Jack, was that…was that…your father?"

Jack looked around to make sure no one was listening, although no one was near except Annette. "Yours too, by the looks of things," he said, catching Joanna as she fell.

The captain hadn't passed out, but her knees had suddenly gone as soft as cotton and refused to support her weight. "I need rum," she growled.

During the next few hours, even Hawk grew to be worried. Joanna had raided the rum supply of seemingly every ship in Shipwreck Cove. At the beginning she had chugged, trying desperately to get past whatever part of her held alcohol so well. Next she ran about the ship as she drank, doing whatever she could while she drank, as the others just held back. Then she had started singing and ranting, alternatively, the alcohol finally starting to affect her. Currently she was trembling from head to foot, more and more violently with each gulp. She was leaning against the deck rail for support. First Peter, then Hastings, and even Hawk, had tried to approach her and get her to stop, but being so drunk she had violently attacked each of them. So they joined her brother and drank themselves, although responsibly and keeping an eye on their captain. Even Bourbon kept a safe distance.

"Just let her get it out of her system," Jack Sparrow said, gulping at the best rum he'd had since his captivity.

So they waited.

Finally, Joanna fell to the deck with a thud, spilling the little rum she had left in her mug. Hastings leaped forward to help her up, but Jack shooed him off saying "My sister." So he picked up the moaning Joanna, propping her upright against his own body, though carefully positioning her so that she leaned over the deck rail. He managed this with fantastic timing, as right as he got her in position she groaned and threw up.

"Hmm," Theo mused. "It would seem you've had experience with this before."

"She just found out that awful Code Keeper is her father," Annette said by way of explanation. The innocent girl was still getting over the idea of not having known a father, and a father of that soulless type.

"I will admit, she's gotten tougher," Jack said, holding Joanna at a distance now as she puked over the edge of the ship again. "When she found out I was her brother, it didn't take as long for her to fall over."

"Out of curiosity, how did that happen?" Peter wanted to know.

Jack looked at Hawk, winking at her. She glared at him. "You all still doing the same thing, love?" Jack asked.

"Yes," she answered curtly.

"That's it then," Jack told Peter, "They tried it on me. Only I beat her. Not without it affecting me, mind you, which is what tipped me off that we must be related. I'd never seen a woman drink that much in my life, more than most men. So it had to be in the blood. Teague's blood. After he had mum shrunk he, ahem, knew this Scottish wench a bit. My dear sister was the result. And you aren't upholding my reputation one bit," he addressed his still-puking sister loudly.

Joanna snarled something that may or may not have been her opinion of his reputation. She was trying, unsuccessfully, to stand on her own and push back from the rail. Since Jack still had a hold on her, the most she managed to do was fall into him, face-planting into his chest.

Jack Sparrow patted his sister's back awkwardly.

"When I come to," Joanna mumbled, "If anyone speaks about this again, I'll kill them."

As she fell asleep, Jack hoisted her into his arms and carried her to the bed in the captain's cabin. He relayed the crew her message, then set about preparing the ship for a voyage. Since the tide was high and still coming in, there was no getting out of the cove. Around dawn, he knew, the tide would reverse, and he had to be ready to make his escape.