Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to Disney.


A/N: This installment is dedicated to the incredible Nytd, whose wonderful story "Memories of May" I have finally started reading (and enjoying immensely!). Her little discussion of Jolly Rogers in chapter 11 gave me the push I needed to finally crank something out for this crime. This event takes place a few weeks before the mutiny; the Pearl won't have her malevolent history yet, but she'll be infamous for being Jack's ship. Many thanks for all who reviewed last chapter. Enjoy!


Crimes Against The Crown
By Sinnamon Spider

Sailing Under False Colours


Captain Josiah Ames gaped as the inky black Jolly Roger, with its scarlet sparrow and bandanna-sporting skull, snapped taut in the stiff breeze from the mast of the other ship.

"Ah, right on time," his companion said easily, and the merchant captain of the Foresight, lost in his shock and dismay, missed the gesture the other man made with a negligent-appearing hand.

"But…what?" Josiah gasped weakly. He had seen the Union Jack flying on the mast of the ship, had seen her snowy sails that had somehow changed to black as pitch, had seen her perfect and complete ship's log and all required legal documents.

He turned a desperate look on his business partner and his already wide eyes widened further.

In the moment his back had been turned, Spencer had shed his stiff black coat and white wig and was now adjusting a faded red bandanna over a mass of dark brown dreadlocks. "Terribly sorry to mislead you, Josiah," Spencer said, his London accent melted into something intangible, some way of speaking that was indistinctive of a particular point of origin.

"Spencer," Josiah said plaintively, extending a helpless hand toward the man he was now suspecting had never been William Spencer, sugar trader and owner of the Sweet Lady.

Something akin to regret flashed across the other man's face. "It's Sparrow, actually," he corrected. "Ever heard of the Black Pearl, Josiah?"

Josiah Ames stared across the deck of his doomed ship at Jack Sparrow, captain of the infamous Black Pearl and the scourge of the Caribbean, and cursed himself for not realizing sooner.

The Jolly Roger cracked in the suddenly ominous wind.