Chapter 11: The Captain of the Wind Scar

Jak woke a few hours later, finding Keira still snuggled next to him. He smiled as her bright green eyes opened and looked at him; she rubbed them sleepy, "Morning already?" She yawned.

"Yeah, it's morning."

"We should have reached Far Drop by now." They both got up and started to head for the helm. Keira looked at Jak, "You feeling, okay?" she asked.

Jak looked at her, "I'm fine; you don't have to worry about me."

Keira smiled, elbowing him a little, "Just because you say that, it doesn't mean I won't."

Jak smiled, "I know." he kissed the side of her head, "But I'm going to say it anyways." Keira chuckled a little.

They got to the helm and found Phoenix who looked over his shoulder at them, "Oh, I was just about to go wake you."

Keira just looked at him, "Phoenix, were you up all night?" she asked.

"I had to; someone has to drive, and I figured I'd get some sleep while Jak goes and gets the sphere." He stretched a little, "I've also sent Klout and some other members of the crew to get some supplies. We're running low on first-aid after that storm, also we lost some of our provisions and being that we're here we may as well resupply."

"We shouldn't be long." Jak said, then he looked at Keira, "You coming?"

She looked at him, "Yes." Then she started to walk away, "I just need to get the seeker, I'll meet you in the hanger."

"I'm going to bed." Phoenix said, walking past Jak who looked out the window. Before going to find Daxter and most likely wake him up.

He found Daxter sleeping on one of the tables; he woke him up and headed for the hanger. Once Keira had gotten there as well, they climbed into the plane and took off. They landed in the hanger and the seeker lead them to Barter's bar. They walked in and found it looking in better shape than the last time. "It's somewhere in here." Keira said.

Jak looked around, "Keira put that away, I don't want anyone to take it."

Keira nodded and closed the seeker as they walked to the bar; they found Barter who smiled at them, "Good to see you back Jak. What can Barter do for you?"

"We're looking for a Precursor artifact, any idea where we could find some?"

Barter pointed to a woman on the other side of the bar, she was just sitting at table drinking and examining something she had in her hand, "Barter know she got some, for the right price she might give it up."

The three walked over to her, Jak recognized her from when the lurkers had attacked the bar; now that they were closer, they could see that the thing in her hand was the sphere they were looking for.

"Ahoy mates," She said, and then looking at Jak asked, "care for a drink?"

"No, we're just here for that sphere." Jak said, really hoping this was going to be easy for once.

The woman laughed, "Well you can't just get something for nothing you know."

Jak sighed, "Okay, what do you want?"

Her gaze fell on Daxter, who was standing on Jak's shoulder, "That rat of yours would make an excellent scarf."

"No!" Keira exclaimed.

"Sorry lass, but I wasn't talking to you."

"I'm not really that interested in trading him." Jak said.

She took a sip of her drink before smiling at him again, "If you don't want to give up your rat, there are other things I would be willing to take." She said looking Jak up and down.

"How about a deal instead." Jak quickly said, seeing Keira's hand slightly turning towards her gun out of the corner of his eye.

The pirate smirked, "Fine, we'll have a brawl; if you win you can have the sphere but when you lose, I get your rat."

"Deal." Jak said smirking. Daxter and Keira looked at him with shocked looks.

"No!" Daxter yelled, slapping Jak on the back of the head, "Don't I get a say in this?!"

The pirate got up from her seat, "Why don't we take this outside then?"

"Works for me." Jak said as he started to fallow her out.

Keira was right behind him, "Jak, are you out of your mind?" she asked, "You just bet Daxter."

"Sadly, this isn't the first time he's done this to me." Daxter said, slumping over Jak's shoulder.

"How many times have you bet him?"

Jak actually had to think about that one, "Once… maybe twice." He said.

Keira just stared at him, "You're a horrible friend." She told him.

"I've never lost." He smirked.

"You're terrible."

Jak just shrugged. "When we're done," Daxter said, "We're going to have a chat about your negotiation skills. They suck. It's a good thing you're not king."

"Do me a favor," Jak said, "tell that to Sig."

The pirate stopped, "We're here." She pointed to a narrow rock bridge that went across a cavern, at the bottom was a river, "The rules are simple, first one to hit the water loses. Also, we're not using guns."

"Well then what are you going to be using to fight?" Daxter asked.

"I don't know what you'll use," she said, just looking at Jak, "but…" she pulled a sword out of its sheath at her side, pointing it at Jak, "I will be using this."

"That's not fair." Keira said, "Jak doesn't have a weapon and you do."

The pirate smirked at her, "I don't play fair, I play to win." She put the sphere on a nearby rock and started to walk on the bridge.

Jak looked at Keira, "Don't worry, I've won fights with worse odds." Daxter jumped off Jak's shoulder and stood next to Keira as Jak followed the pirate. "You ready?" he asked.

"Are you?" she asked, before jumping at him with her sword. Her intended attack was to cut through his head. But Jak quickly threw his arm up above his head creating a blue eco shield that countered her attack, she stumbled back, smirking, "There's more to you then there seemed." Jak smirked. She charged at him, once again Jak blocked her with his shield, pushing her back this time. She nearly fell but Jak was not that lucky. She again charged at him, Jak readied himself for anther head-on attack but to his astonishment, she leapt over him, landing behind him. She kicked him in the back, not giving him any time to react. He stumbled and fell off the bridge. He heard her laugh as he fell. But just before he hit the water yellow eco shot out of his hands, rocketing him back up. She looked at him, "Impressive." She said, "But you've lost."

"No, I haven't." Jak said, as he landed back on the bridge "You said 'the first to fall into the water loses', I didn't hit the water."

She smirked, "Fine. You want to be like that?" she blew a sharp whistle, "C'mon boys!" she yelled, hoisting her sword into the air. As if they had been waiting there, pirates started to appear. "Meet me crew." she said, smirking.

"Hold on!" Daxter yelled, "This is a one-on-one fight. You can't just call-in reinforcements."

The pirate captain just smirked at him, "Be quiet or I'll skin you alive." She said, before looking back at Jak, "Get him." she ordered her crew. The pirates jumped at Jak. He leaped back, but was grabbed by a pirate from behind. He couldn't get free fast enough so one of the pirates came up to him and hit him hard in the gut, knocking to wind right out of Jak. He fell to the ground, coughing; before he could even get a breath two sets of hands grabbed him, holding him to the ground as the pirate captain walked up to him, "You should have just fallen, you would have lived longer. She raised her sword ready to bring it down on Jak, when a loud bang split the air.

She dropped her sword and grabbed her arm which was now bleeding. Everyone looked to see who had fired. Keira was pointing her gun at the pirate. "Keira…" Jak said, "what are you doing?!"

Keira didn't answer him; Daxter was just staring at her, his lower jaw practically on the ground. Keira was shaking but she was still trying to seem like a threat, "Try that again, and the next one's going between your eyes!" She yelled. Jak had never seen her like this; she was threatening to kill.

The captain laughed as she looked at her all-male crew, "Who wants to have some fun?" she asked.

Jak saw the pirates all smirking as they started to walk to Keira. "NO!" He yelled, "Keep away from her!" He ordered.

The captain chuckled as she looked down at him, holding the tip of her sword to his throat. "Your girl shouldn't have gotten involved."

"JAK!" Keira yelled, backing away as the pirates got closer. Daxter jumped in front of her, not knowing what he could do to keep the pirates back, but he would try anything to protect her.

Jak had had enough of this his whole body flashed red as he got up, effortlessly getting out of the pirate's grip. He then rocketed himself up into the air once more. Then he went into free-fall, his arm now glowing with red eco. He slammed into the ground between his friends and the pirates. The rock floor cracked and started to break; the bridge fell apart, sending the pirates into the water below. Jak stood up, his left arm now hanging limply at his side. All three of them looked down the cavern to see the pirates all clinging to rocks as to not get swept away by the current. Jak looked at Keira, "Are you alright?" he asked.

Keira hugged him, "Are you?" Jak wrapped an arm around her.

"I'm fine."

"What about your arm?" She asked.

"It's just a little sore, I'll be fine."

Daxter, now realizing that he was not going to be turned into a scarf, laughed at the pirates, "That's what you get for messing with the best!" He yelled. Another loud bang rang out and Daxter quickly retreated.

Jak smiled at his friend as Keira went to get the sphere. "Let's get out of here." She said, smiling at Jak.

All three of them started to walk back to the plane. Jak looked at Keira, "So… were you really going to kill her?" He asked.

Keira looked at him, "Yes." Keira started in a mater of fact tone.

Jak stared at her and then chuckled, "I've never seen you like that."

Keira smiled, "Maybe I've been spending too much time with you."

"Is that a bad thing?" He asked. Keira just giggled.

"Oh geez." Daxter said, rolling his eyes, "And you say Tess and I are bad. Do you two even hear yourselves?" Jak and Keira snickered a little as they headed back for the plane.

They reached the plane and climbed in, Jak taking off. He smiled at Keira, "What?" she asked.

"Well, being that you've never really used a gun before, you're getting really good at it."

Keira sighed, "No, I'm not."

Jak chuckled a little, "What do you mean? You shot her arm and got her to drop that sword."

"Yeah," Daxter said, "If you hadn't, she would have killed Jak, and then she would have killed me."

"I know but, I wasn't among for her arm; I was aiming for her head. When I said I would shoot her in the face… it was kind of a bluff; I don't know if I actually could."

"Well…" Jak said, "I still thought it was kind of amazing." He sighed, "But, you know, that was still pretty stupid." She sighed, looking out her window, "Keira," Jak said so she would look back at him, "Please, don't ever put yourself in danger like that again. If I lost you… I don't know what would happen to me."

"You'd most likely go insane." Daxter said. Both Jak and Keira glared at him, "Just saying." The two sighed, Jak knowing that his best friend was most likely right, if he lost Keira, he would lose himself as well.