I hope you enjoy this latest chapter of The Buccaneer.
The First Victims of Captain Clegg.
As luck would have it the first ships to stray across Captain Clegg's path were two brigs. The crew of the Seal (Clegg was wondering if he should decide on a new name for the ship, but decided it didn't matter) were too busy trying to refit their new ship on the sea. They had been working for days to install the Raven's old guns onto the ship to give it extra firepower, and they'd also been rebuilding the powder magazine to store extra supplies. Clegg had been inspecting the work and adding his own help here and there to show the crew he wasn't going to stand back and do little when everyone was working when the watch up in the crow's nest alerted the crew as to the presence of the other ships.
At first Clegg hadn't intended to attack them, but they needed to start their careers as true pirates soon enough, and it would definitely help boost morale after what had happened with Abercrombie. The morale on the ship was at an all time high with the death of the captain and officers who had helped the captain in his sadistic tendencies and also finish off the ones who would have done nothing to help and then the capture of the Seal, and a successful raid would certainly boost it even more. But as he squinted over the rail at the two ships Clegg had to wonder if his crew were ready for this.
Clegg peered at them through the telescope, noting their sizes and their gun complements before seeing how both brigs waterlines were submerged. Hmm, the Time Lord pondered, they must be carrying some heavy cargos. It looked like there would be a fair haul, and one look at their flags showed their nationalities as French. It didn't matter to Clegg or the rest of the pirates in the Caribbean sea whom the ships belonged to in the long run, all that mattered was their ships and their cargoes. But as he looked through the telescope at the ships as he judged them, Clegg considered for a second, knowing the French and the British were enemies, but would any British port allow pirates to bring them into harbour or would they simply not care? He needed to find a safe harbour that he could use to sell the proceeds of his piracy and his raids, but that would be something to consider for another time.
He spoke to Frost and May. "Run the French flag up," he ordered, "but keep the Roger ready. Load the guns with shot, but keep the gun crews out of sight. Pass pistols and muskets and cutlasses around the crew."
When both men rushed off to fulfil the orders, Clegg turned to the helm, "What are you waiting for? Steer a course for the brigs!"
The helmsman quickly spun the wheel. "Aye, aye, sir."
Clegg peered through the telescope again, once more cursing human technology for being so primitive in this century since he couldn't see exactly what the crews on the two brigs were doing. It was obvious the crews on both ships had noticed the presence of the brigantine closing in slowly towards them, but from where Clegg was standing he couldn't see the clear signs of a ship being cleared for action. When he went up to the crows nest to be sure, he was annoyed that even at the higher height he had reached there was no clear signs of either ship being suspicious of the Seal.
From the crow's nest he could also look down on the deck of his own ship. A few of the crew had used their common sense and were busy working on the deck to give the appearance of diligently working on their ship and not giveaway any suspicious warning signs to be picked up upon while their shipmates worked quickly to load the guns.
It took 10 minutes for the Seal to quickly catch the French ships up, and by that time the guns were fully loaded and ready for firing. Clegg came down from the mast. The crew of the Seal were close enough to the French brigs to hear them call out, and Clegg could understand them perfectly though he had no intention of letting his crew know that and he waited until his ship was close enough before he ordered the sailor standing by the Jolly Roger.
"Take that French flag down, and send ours up," he ordered before turning to Frost and May, "Fire a warning shot at both ships, but don't damage their hulls. Aim for their masts. Prepare to run up signal flags."
The French ships were completely taken by surprise by the sudden attack that suddenly smashed their masts into kindling. When the two brigs had spotted the approaching brigantine flying the flag of their nation, they had prepared for a meeting at sea where they would exchange news and any other goods. The French ships had a long voyage ahead, and they needed all the supplies they could get.
As soon as the black pirate flag was run up and the cannon balls were fired at their masts, smashing them to pieces, the French sailors were so taken by surprise they had no idea what to do, but by then it was too late. The pirate ship sent up a simple message - Surrender and you will not be harmed.
The captains of the French brigs were both experienced men and they were not stupid - they had both had too many encounters with pirates over the course of their careers, and while they knew many pirates were savage animals, but they also knew that many pirate crews preferred not to fight unless they had no other alternative. One of the French captains decided to try his luck and ordered his flag to be lowered in surrender, but the other captain was more reluctant. While the captain of the second French ship was an experienced seaman, he didn't want to let go of his ship to these pirates, but he knew he didn't have a choice. The pirate ship was more heavily armed than his own and a stand up fight between them would definitely see his men being killed.
Clegg had just issued an order for one of the boats to be lowered into the sea so he could personally travel to the ships and negotiate with their captains when a sudden boom from a cannon caught his attention, and he looked in the direction the sound came from and saw the ball hit the surface of the water.
"Target the rails on that ship, and open fire," he ordered coldly, "aim above the waterline. Their cargos are precious. Make the second ship doesn't try to escape."
Why did humans have to be so stubborn and irrational, he asked himself in irritation as he watched his own gun crews aim their cannons and fired at the remaining French ship. From the distance the Seal was everyone could see the damage the ship was taking. One of the rails had been blasted to pieces and it was dis-masted, and from what he'd gathered a brig wasn't exactly well armed next to a frigate, or a brigantine, surely they weren't suicidal?
"They're surrendering, sir," one of the crew shouted at him.
"What?" Clegg barked before he took a closer look, and realised the sailor was right. The French brig was lowering her flag. "Cease firing!" Clegg's voice rang out over the deck, and the other pirate officers he'd selected from the Raven's crew repeated his order so he didn't need to repeat himself.
Clegg was annoyed as the boat took him to the French ship that had surrendered first - he sent another boat to the second ship and told the party led by Frost and May to bring the captain with them. As he paced up and down the quarterdeck waiting for the boat to arrive, he ignored the French captain, who demanded to speak to Clegg's captain, completely unaware that he was speaking to THE captain. Clegg ignored him as he tried to work out what he should do with the captain of the second French ship - he understood desperation, the need to survive. It was programmed into the DNA of every being in the cosmos, and it was also a mental thing as well.
He didn't know if the captain of the second French brig had been the one to open fire or not, or if some of the crew were responsible. But he knew one thing - he would need to punish them. It went against the civilised veneer of a Time Lord, but he knew he would need to if he wished to remain in command of the Seal and the crew and regain access to the TARDIS. If he made one wrong move, the Seal crew could turn on him and he didn't need that, and he had his own ideas of how they should excel and without him to keep them under control they might just be caught by one of the naval ships in the Caribbean.
He spared the French crew some of his attention for the moment. The captain was easily identifiable in his blue jacket and tricorn hat - his clothes were not high quality like Abercrombie's had been, but they still picked him out of the crowd. The French captain spoke again, his language incomprehensible to the English pirates, but for the Time Lord it was easy for him to translate.
"Where is your captain, I must speak to him? Who are you anyway?"
Clegg massaged his temples. The French captain was beginning to get on his nerves, constantly making demands to speak to the pirate captain and it was giving him a headache. Finally, one of his crew approached. "Mr Frost's boat is comin' alongside, sir," he said.
"At last," Clegg said.
May climbed up the ladder first, followed closely by the second French captain who rightfully looked apprehensive at the sight of the pirates on the quarterdeck holding his fellow countrymen at gun and sword point. He walked over to his brother captain and they spoke in rapid French. Clegg was able to follow their conversation fluently, though it did make him roll his eyes.
"What happened, why did you open fire?"
"I didn't, one of my more greener officers did it."
Clegg believed him, he could read it in the other man's eyes telepathically.
"The fool had three other men fire one of the swivel guns at the pirate ship. Several of my crew are now dead because of them."
"Maybe if you kept a good eye on what your men are doing, captain, then perhaps those deaths could have been avoided," Clegg interrupted the conversation and stepped forwards, surprising everyone in his crew and in the French hands on the deck with his interruption and understanding of the French language. "I am Captain Clegg. Good day," he finished ironically.
"You're the captain?" The newly arrived second French Captain asked in disbelief, looking at Clegg's appearance with distaste. Knowing he needed to make a statement, Clegg punched him hard in the face. He might not like violence, but he understood he needed to make his point, and besides with this kind of warning the other Frenchmen should know better than to push his temper to the limits.
He looked at the man whom he'd just punched who was clutching his bleeding nose and mouth, but since the other man had his face covered Clegg couldn't tell how bad the damage was and just ignored him and turned his attention to the second man, who had his hands raised as if to block an impending punch.
"Do you speak English?" Clegg asked. He hoped the answer was a solid and direct yes, because it would reassure his crew. Clegg didn't really mind what language he spoke, but he didn't want to alienate his crew and make things worse for himself in the long run, and besides he knew how almost xenophobic some of the crew could be. He could bluff by saying he knew enough French to get by, but if he came across ships crewed by other nations and spoke their language as flawlessly as they did, it could lead to problems.
"Yes," the second captain choked out in English.
Clegg nodded, inwardly disgusted by the man's cowardice. "Very well, but I want you to take this on board," he replied and stepped closer to the man to invade his personal space, "if you lie to me, and I will know, I will make you watch as each and every one of your crew are put to death. Slowly. Do not try my patience. I want a nice career as a pirate. Do you understand? Look at your fellow captain, that's only the start. Now, what are you carrying, and where are you bound for?"
The fear wafting off the captain was thick. He opened and closed his mouth, but his fear made it virtually impossible for the Time Lord to decipher. Clegg sighed mentally as he realised he had terrified the man to the point where he could barely function rationally. "I don't want to hurt you," he said soothingly, using his psychic empathy field to subtly calm him down. "I just want answers, but I needed to make it clear to you that I am a pirate, and am willing to cause harm if pushed. Now, tell me, please, what are you carrying?"
It took a few moments before the psychic empathy field did its job, but Clegg needed to be subtle so then no one else answered his questions since it would look suspicious, but it worked. The French brigs were carrying a mixed cargo of spices, hides, and sugar loaves. They were bound for Marseilles in the Mediterranean. Clegg had gone over the charts he had removed from Abercrombie's cabin and found in the Seal's cabin, so he knew roughly where it was, and he knew if he wanted to it wouldn't be a problem for his Time Lord mind to plot an accurate course. The only problem he had was the primitive nature of the human's current navigation methods, but he could see the stars to make the course as accurate as possible.
Clegg listened as the second captain, not even hiding his contempt for his colleague's cowardly manner, reluctantly said his own cargo carried much the same as the other ship, but they had molasses and hardwoods instead of just sugar and spices. After enduring the captain's aggressive manner for ten minutes, Clegg finally had enough.
"You and your men will help remove the cargos of your ships and load them into my ship," he said, "you will do so quickly. I will have some of my men overseeing the operation to make sure none of you try to hide any of the goods and stop any of you from interfering. If you do four of you will be shot - the man or men who interfered, and two others at random. It will impede progress, but you will have to work faster."
"You cannot do this!"
Clegg ignored the more aggressive captain and turned to Frost, who instantly approached and looked to him for his next orders. "Take this idiot," Clegg gestured carelessly towards the more aggressive captain, "and a team back to his ship, get the ship ready for unloading but if his crew give you any trouble then shoot a couple. I'll be signalling the Seal and order crews to come to both ships, speed up the unloading process."
"Aye, sir," Frost replied confidently before he hesitated in asking the next question, "how long do you think you'll be?'
"I don't know, but I plan on getting crews to both ships soon," Clegg assured the young man.
In his cabin, Captain Clegg was looking out of the windows at the view of the sea. To his left, he could see both French ships with boats moving from them to the Seal and then back again, laden with precious cargoes worth a fortune. As he stood in the cabin, his mind churning with possibilities he wondered how he should best sell them. Just after the Raven had been captured and Abercrombie had been imprisoned before his unlamented death, Clegg had spoken to a few of the more experienced seamen who knew things the younger generation wouldn't until much later.
Pirates tended to sell the wares they captured from their victims and sold them to merchants who'd pass them on and sell them, but since the seamen didn't know any of these people who'd smuggle them out Clegg was caught because he knew there was only one sane solution. He would have to investigate personally, use his powers of hypnotism to sound them out and find out which ones he could rely upon, but the older seamen had told him and others like May and Frost that there were corrupt officials in various towns and settlements dotted around the Caribbean who could be relied upon to make things easier. Nassau was one such place where the Seal could go, but there were other places where Clegg could take the ship.
He would need to use his natural hypnotism powers to sound out who could be trusted, and that could take time. Clegg rubbed his head as he considered how strong his hypnotism was. Like all Time Lords, he was capable of hypnotism, and the basics were taught at the Academy back on Gallifrey, but he had only used his psychic field today and while it was quite strong in its own right he wasn't sure if it was the right tool for the job at hand in this new incarnation.
When he had regenerated, he hadn't really thought about the need to hypnotise anybody, so he had no idea how strong his abilities were. He could hypnotise one of the French sailors again to find out, but he didn't want to leave the ship again unless he had no choice. Thinking of the French made him scowl lightly; even after being punched in the face, forced to watch as his fellow captain and countrymen were threatened and forced to help unload his own ship's hold, the second captain who had been defiant had caused a few problems before Frost shot him after losing patience. The little bit of violence was unfortunate, but in Clegg's mind it was better for the man to accept the fact there was nothing he could do.
Anyway, back to his original problem in his mind, he reached under his shirt and pulled out a rough piece of string with a seashell attached to it. Inside the shell, attached to another piece of string, was the TARDIS key he had managed to save.
He knew the TARDIS was still on Earth, but he had no idea why, but he knew that if he didn't recover it soon it could soon be removed from the planet by the Time Lords. But no, the TARDIS was still here on Earth, and he knew he would need to recover it quickly. He was tempted to simply raid a few more ships, grab their cargos and force them into the hold of his ship, and travel all the way to London, find a few merchants there, hypnotise them to selling the produce, and getting the TARDIS from there, but the only problem with that was he didn't want to scare the crew into mutiny. They'd mutinied once before, and Clegg really did not want to see them do it again, with him on the other side and being unable to really trust anyone.
Clegg stared at the key for a while. He still found it so hard to believe that he had regenerated after Annar's brutal death, pressed into service because he was still suffering from post regeneration symptoms of grogginess, forced to live the life of a slave with other men before encouraging them into committing a mutiny against Abercrombie, stealing the Seal as their first act of piracy and end up committing to the life in full. Putting the key back under his shirt, Clegg left the cabin and leaned against one of the masts as he oversaw the operation that was taking place on deck. Bags and barrels were being unloaded down into the hold where it was all being arranged, someone had the sense of rigging up some tackles and bringing the cargo on board that way to save manpower and time. Clegg reached into the small leather pouch he'd gotten when he'd been at the last port where he'd stolen the Seal and pulled out his fob watch to check the time. The Gallifreyan fob watch had once been a present from Drax, and Clegg had kept it on him ever since.
The mini atomic clock built into the clock was accurate down to a nanosecond, and while Clegg didn't really need it, he liked seeing the hands tick their way across the face while he felt time itself. He pocketed the watch and looked up as Merry approached. "We're almost finished, Captain," he reported, "our crews on both ships signal the holds are nearly empty."
Clegg nodded absently as he watched. He could see even from this distance the boats returning to the Seal weren't as fully ladened as the previous trips he'd witnessed before retreating to the cabin. "How much space do we have in the hold? I was hoping to have a second raid," he asked.
Merry shrugged. "We've filled the hold enough as it is, sir. There could be some extra space, but we'd need to be sure."
"We'll have plenty of time to sort that out later. In the meantime, I want you to get the gun crews to get the starboard guns ready," Clegg said.
"Sir?"
"We're going to send a message to everyone in these waters, Mr Merry. I want our crew and this ship to be feared throughout the Caribbean. We're going to destroy one of the brigs before we leave, but we're going to give them enough time to get to the other ship before we leave. Get the gun crews to the starboard side, and make sure that their guns are aiming at the waterline of the brig."
"Aye, sir," Merry went off to carry out the order.
Clegg watched him go, noting that he was a little bit torn about the order and his sudden decision, but if he was reading piracy the right way, many of the victims expected they would be killed regardless of whether they surrendered or not, and besides sending out messages like this would go a long way to building a reputation for himself and his crew. The jolly roger was a symbol, but truthfully a symbol didn't reassure Clegg all that well. But by destroying one of the brigs, it would be a good beginner with his future plans.
It took another half an hour to load the cargos on both of the ships into the Seal. In the hold the loading crews were carefully stacking the cargos stolen from the French into the cramped space. Merry had passed on Clegg's wishes that there should be enough space in case of another raid on another ship, but the space was at a premium. It didn't take long for Clegg's other wish to attack one of the French ships to send out a message to the entire Caribbean to be passed through the rest of the crew. None of the crew knew what to think, but as the Seal moved through the sea, her bow lifting up and crashing back down into the water and sending up plumes of spray, he spoke to the crew.
"The French may have surrendered to us, but that doesn't mean we are completely free. We are pirates. Out there, other crews on other ships, under different captains, are known and feared. The reason they're feared is because they have made themselves feared by all. They are our true rivals. They are the competition. We have to survive if we want to become rich," Clegg said to the crew, "I don't particularly want to sink or damage any ship that's surrendered either, but if there is one thing I've learnt over the last few months is that if we don't appear strong we'll be pushed down. We mutinied against Abercrombie and his officers because they abused us, using their laws as an excuse. Out here, we have to fend off other pirates. Do you want us to be killed by those pirates because they believe we are fair game?"
Many of the crew glanced at each other, but he knew he had made his point. Clegg knew they were startled with his forceful decision and his insight, but some of them did look visibly disturbed by the prospect of attacking one of those brigs, but they didn't try to fight his decision. Clegg had hoped his time as captain of this bunch of pirates would be peaceful, but he wasn't sure if they would be peaceful to him in the long run.
The Seal sailed a fair distance away from the French brigs to give the battered and exhausted crews the belief they were leaving, but before the French had a chance to lick their wounds they became panicked when the lookouts shouted that the pirates were coming back. Panic turned to horror as the pirate's brigantine opened fire on one of their ships, completely destroying the masts and the bowsprit, and putting a hole in the lower hull before the pirate ship finally sailed away, leaving the second brig to pick up the survivors.
The problem with suddenly finding contacts in this century was that everything had to be done by word of mouth, Clegg mused to himself in disgust as he walked around Nassau, leaving behind someone who must've been the thirteenth person he'd met to try to find merchants willing to smuggle goods stolen by pirates to other ports where they could be sold legitimately. He had found a few already - that was beauty about this place. Nassau was a pirate haven, it was full of people who were willing to help for a profit, but using them had dozens of risks. The biggest concern Clegg had was that he and his crew would be cheated, which was one of the reasons he was in a bad mood because he had encountered more than six contacts who could have been good if they hadn't been greedy as well and would have gleefully given Clegg and his pirates a small amount of cash in return.
He needed to find good contacts, people whom he could trust. If there was one thing he was not in his current incarnation it was a cynic, something that had been enhanced by being pressed into service onboard the Raven, trained to be a seaman and forced to mutiny against a sadist before becoming a pirate full time.
For the next three hours of grilling other contacts, Clegg found three at least who would be perfect for his purposes. The Seal crew offloaded the cargos they'd taken from the French ships and would smuggle them into other ports, but even after the cargos were removed and even though he was assured these three contacts he'd encountered and hypnotised into telling him in a straight manner whether they were going to con him and his crew. It took some time before the Seal crew received their pay, but by that time Clegg was concerned and worried about the amount they all had.
It was just too little in amount.
That terrified the Time Lord, who wanted his crew to be successful, but he wondered at the same time whether or not he was expecting too much. He had studied the life of The Corsair, a Time Lord who was often a pirate, but while Clegg had met the man back home on Gallifrey when he was 12 years old, he hadn't really found out how the other Time Lord did his work. He didn't know if The Corsair had bothered to find contacts that he would know would be risky to trust in the long run, but he also didn't know if the other Time Lord had just worked on his own as a pirate himself and sold the merchandise by himself without trusting anyone.
But Clegg wasn't The Corsair. He was his own person, and everything in him was wondering if he was putting all his time into one direction of piracy. But he knew he needed contacts in order to succeed with his career. One good thing that did come out of the wait was giving his crew their pay since it proved to them piracy did pay and was worth it.
While the Seal was in Nassau and the crew was partaking in whatever was available on the island, Clegg realised something. He had been watching the shipping coming into the harbour and he realised that each of those ships followed a schedule of some sort. The ships may have been slow with them just relying on wind power for propulsion, their communications may have been non-existent, and their navigation methods were so crude a Gallifreyan child of 6 could do better than a fully trained human of 40, but like all worlds that had only just taken its first steps they were governed by bureaucracy, and that meant schedules.
Watching the ships from the dock, Clegg threw back his head and gulped a large amount of rum as the idea took root in his head….
For the next 6 months, the ship of Captain Clegg became known and feared by virtually every single merchantman operating in the Caribbean waters. Led by their captain, the pirates conducted raids and attacks on various ships in various towns and settlements throughout the Spanish Main, but because it took time - sometimes weeks, maybe even months for news to reach other settlements and towns, no-one really knew how Clegg was able to locate and attack so many ships so easily, and many superstitious sailors who had been at sea for decades began whispering to their friends or to gullible young idiots Clegg had dabbled in witchcraft, and had begun using magic to help him and his crew find ships.
The truth was more mundane than that.
Clegg had found it easy to attack the ships because he knew they were leaving the ports since he had broken into the offices of the various companies operating in the Caribbean. It was so simple - the Time Lord would arrive secretly always in a rowboat by himself and he would scout the town, taking a note of all the people and the ships in the harbour and then he would hypnotise clerks in the various offices to help him find the most ideal targets and when they were scheduled to depart. Clegg knew he could have done it all by himself easily, but he didn't have endless patience, especially with bureaucracy and besides the amount of paper he came across in each office would have taken hours and hours to pour through, so he had decided to let clerks who worked in those offices do it for him when they were under hypnosis.
On the quarterdeck of the Seal, Clegg stood watching as their latest victim brought down their flag very quickly in a clear desire to surrender. Giving the order to the man at the wheel to move the Seal gently within grappling range, he also ordered the rest of the crew to keep the guns ready in case of treachery - he'd already encountered more than his fair share of captains who were more cunning than they looked, and he was in no mood for that now.
"Ready the boarding party," Clegg was saying, "Mr May, you and Merry will find out what that ship is carrying."
When the ship was close, grappling hooks were thrown to drag the other ship closer to the Seal, and the pirates led by their captain boarded the ship. With his pistol drawn and at half cock, Clegg studied the other crew. The air of tension was so thick he didn't need to use his telepathy to see they were terrified of him and his crew, and rightfully so.
"Who is the captain on his ship?" He asked with his usual authority.
Parting from the crowd and stepping forwards, the captain of the brig walked towards the pirate captain. "You are Captain Clegg?" he asked.
Clegg narrowed his eyes, surprised by the question and curious about why the man would ask something like that. Didn't he have more important things to worry his little brain about? "Yes, I am."
The man's eyes flashed, and he pulled his shoulders back with a sigh of resignation. He pulled out his cutlass and held it out for Clegg to take. Clegg took it, carelessly holding it out for one of his crew standing behind him. He gestured lazily for his men to board the brig, but his attention was still focused on the captain in front of him, more than a bit warily. When he had seen the man reach for the sword, he had half imagined he was preparing a suicide charge that would have seen him quickly killed, but the man had quickly seen it was pointless.
"I am Captain Clegg," he said loudly as he addressed not only the captain, but his crew as well, "my crew and I want your cargo only. You have surrendered, so don't waste your time trying to fight us off. If you get in our way, you will be killed."
It took the pirates only 45 minutes and 67 seconds precisely for them to remove the cargo, which was just a large consignment of sugars and spices, so when the pirate ship left the brig, all were relieved it was over. Clegg went back to his cabin and poured over the charts, making a few speedy calculations in his head before he went back to the wheel and gave the man his new course.
When night had fallen and May's watch were on duty, no one was truly surprised to see Clegg on deck either. The captain barely noticed them though they knew he knew they were there. Clegg spoke a few quiet words with the new helmsman and with May before he went off to stand on the poop deck alone for a few minutes before he picked up the leather bound book and the roll of patterned paper the seamen recognised as a chart, and he went up into the rigging where he would climb to the highest peak he could and would remain there for a few hours.
May might have been the officer on deck on watch, but he watched his captain climb up the rigging into the masts where he could just be seen in this lighting, wondering not for the first time what Clegg was doing up there though he guessed the man could be using the stars to navigate much like the Vikings had long ago. More than once the other officers which included Frost had speculated about it, but they didn't know what Clegg was doing in the rigging. He had been going up there more and more nowadays.
As he sat in the rigging completely alone, Clegg crossed his legs and entered a meditative phase while he thought the necessary block transfer computations while he held onto the key to the TARDIS that had brought him to Earth. It took a few moments for the computations to work, but he confirmed what he already knew. It was stupid to constantly check to see if the TARDIS was still on Earth, but since that ship was the only lifeline he had to getting away from Earth and getting out there into the universe, he would keep on checking if he had to exhaust his current incarnation to do so.
Once he was sure the TARDIS was still on Earth, though he didn't know for sure if the Time Lords weren't interested in it returning to Gallifrey because they had more than enough time on their hands or if it was because they were bone idle, Clegg turned his attention to the navigation chart and he opened the leather bound book and took out the pencil he'd brought up with him.
After staring up into the night sky so he could see the position of the stars, Clegg made a few calculations in his mind and jotted them down into the book before he marked the position on the chart. In the morning he would have to make a few checks with the compass and sextant, but he preferred this one since it was so quiet, but because the crew were humans they'd expect him to use the primitive methods of navigation.
When he was finished, the Time Lord just sat in the rigging, his eyes closed as he concentrated.
The cannonball struck the side of the hull, smashing the hull like a wrecking ball and splinters went flying through the hull of the brigantine. Clegg winced as his eyes burned in the smoke that the wind hadn't had time to blow away, and he cursed as he tried to see through the smoke. He could just about manage it, and he spotted the other ship. As a Time Lord, Clegg didn't believe in ghosts, knowing there were instead places where psychic energy and certain points in time brought the mental energies of people who had once inhabited places and had passed on but their energy remained, but he couldn't help but think about how ghostly the image of the other ship was framed by the smoke from their guns.
He could see the lower hull, but the most prominent view of the ship were the masts and some details of the rigging and the sails, but he could see the firing of the other ships guns, and feel the impacts as the cannonballs smashed into the hull of the Seal.
"FIRE!" Clegg shouted, his voice becoming hoarse as he bellowed.
Clegg allowed himself a minute to think as the two ships rocked under the impacts of their new barrages. The Seal had been heading close to Port Royal in order to sell one half of the cargo to their contacts in that town before moving onto another. But they had spotted another ship, another brigantine like their own, and the other ship was heading straight for them. Clegg had assumed after checking through the telescope that the ship was just another cargo ship, and had ordered them to sail casually into the harbour. They had far too much cargo in their hold, way too much and they didn't have any more space in the hold for more.
And then the firing had started. The other ship had struck their colours, and sent up the Jolly Roger. Clegg, furious by the sudden attack, ordered the Seal's own Jolly Roger to be sent up. Clegg had been a pirate long enough to know that not all pirates considered other pirate brethren. In fact, he would have been surprised if the other ship stopped the attack once they realised they were fighting other pirates.
The attack had been so sudden Clegg couldn't even tell how many guns the other ship had, but he didn't care at that point. He grabbed Frost, the other man looked like he had just crawled up a chimney.
"What's the damage?" Clegg demanded.
Frost yelled over the din. "I'm not sure, I was going to find out-"
"Order the remaining guns to load with grape and canister shot," Clegg ordered, hoping the crew on the other brigantine had enough common sense to count as more and more of their crew were shot down. "Don't let them get within grappling range!" he added.
As the fight went on, both ships were sustaining a lot of damage. Much of the smoke was still present, but the Seal had managed to move a little out of the range of the other pirate brigantine so they could assess their injuries and regroup.
Clegg helped the gun crews as best he could, making sure they loaded their guns with ordinary shot to chain and canister shot, and grapeshot. The grapeshot and canister would break apart their containers and cause massive damage to the other pirate ship. Clegg dashed to the rear of the Seal when he felt he had done enough to study the other ship, but because he didn't have the telescope and even Time Lord eyes lacked the range certain animals did, he couldn't make out how many guns the other brigantine had. Clegg glowered angrily at the other ship, but he couldn't do more than that, cursing the primitive weapons the humans equipped their ships. If they survived, he would need to take the Seal somewhere where he could create better weapons.
When the two ships sailed closer to one another (Rassilon, the speed of these things!), Clegg wasn't surprised when the second ship opened fire.
"Fire as you bear!" Clegg called to his crew as he never took an eye off the other ship, and he counted the number of guns. They were 7 guns short compared to the Seal.
He picked up his telescope and watched as a canister split open. The musket balls and other pieces of shrapnel in the fragile iron case flew everywhere and killing quite a few men on the quarterdeck, but how many of them were actually killed he didn't know. Lowering the telescope, the Time Lord hurried over to the man by the wheel to give him orders before he ordered before getting the gun crews to reload. After the second brigantine fired their next broadside, the Seal sailed closer to the other ship and fired while the other ship's crew were occupied with reloading their guns before the Seal moved off again before firing from the other side and reloading again. After the second ship fired again, the Seal moved closer and fired, destroying the bowsprit and destroying much of the bow.
The two pirate ships had been locked in their battle for over an hour. The new pirate ship may not have had more guns, but their crew weren't the type of people keen on giving up, but the number of their crew who'd been killed had meant they had needed to divert much of their crew into loading and firing their guns. It wasn't a perfect solution, but it worked. The longer the fighting carried on the more bored Clegg became with it. He was pleased that the drills he'd pushed his crew in to load the guns and clear for action had resulted in a more efficient force than the pathetic and struggling bunch that had existed because of Abercrombie's unlamented regime, but he was getting bored with the fight.
Clegg had taken over one of the guns and had it loaded after he ordered Frost to steer the Seal around so the gun was aimed directly at the aft cabin, but the speed of the ship was so comparatively slow than Clegg would've wanted, and he wanted this fighting over and done with before it was too late.
When the gun was finally where he wanted it, Clegg didn't hesitate. He shoved the fuse into the hole where the powder charge was located, mentally preparing himself for the blast. The aft of the ship exploded, it was literally blown to pieces as the cannonball smashed through the thin glass and destroyed the magazine.
All around, he could hear the mutterings of his crew, but Clegg didn't even give them the chance to do anything more than gape. Head held high, he walked to the helm and gave the man at the wheel a new order, and within ten minutes without giving the other pirate ship which was now a crippled wreck adrift, but Clegg didn't care about them and he put them out of his mind when they were far away.
The Seal sailed beyond Port Royal, heading deeper into the Caribbean. Clegg had told the crew if they headed anywhere near a port where there were authorities there was the chance they'd find out about their piracy, and that was the last thing they needed on top of everything else. Many of the crew protested, but they had quickly shut their mouths after he'd pointed out to them they would have to answer questions. Who had attacked them? Why were they carrying so much cargo that was nearly beyond what a hold should carry in the first place? Too many questions, and while Clegg was sure he could lie and hypnotise his way out of trouble he didn't want to take the chance. Again, the crew weren't happy. Clegg was getting frustrated by them and was wondering how he could keep them all under control; during his time as captain and a pirate himself, Clegg had heard of pirate captains who ruled their crews by fear. He had no intention of running his ship in a similar manner.
Anyway, he was too busy trying to find somewhere remote along the coast, somewhere beyond ports and harbour towns where the Seal could be repaired without interference, but Clegg had other ideas. He was tired of the guns with their powder, their cannonballs….. But he was also fed up with the Seal's lack of speed, its dependence on wind for propulsion; a sailing ship may be beautiful to look at and work on for a time, but Clegg didn't want an exhausted crew who saw nothing but an endless expanse of water, and was battered by the winds and the storms they could barely work. He knew that with his superior technical and scientific knowledge, he could build a more powerful ship if he had the resources, but he knew he couldn't without causing problems to the Web of Time, and considering the fact the Time Lords had exiled him that was the last thing he needed.
Whenever he thought about his people, he couldn't help but scowl. He had good ideas what kind of trouble he had caused the Time Lords. Like the other members of the Deca, Clegg had wanted the Time Lords to change, to grow and become better than the ancient, dusty, stagnant senators and observers they were. Groups like the Deca were formed by Academy students who wanted their world to change, but they always seemed to become compliant with the traditions of the Time Lords, i.e they became the same dull-witted and unimaginative dusty senators as the older generations.
But the Deca was more ambitious. Personally Theta Sigma wanted his people to change, but he couldn't see it happen so quickly, but in any case he doubted Koschei or Magnus would stay on Gallifrey long to make any real difference.
Clegg knew those two. He may have had difference with them over the last hundred years, but he knew they weren't the type to give up on their ambitions, and he knew that kind of attitude could mean the High Council would probably move against them…. He only hoped they got away from Gallifrey quickly before the Time Lords acted, but he doubted they would be as complacent as he had been. They were at the forefront of the movement to make Gallifrey wake up, whereas he had been in the foreground, but he had done more than his fair share. Magnus and Koschei were at the front, so they knew the dangers better than he had, but if things grew out of control for them both then he couldn't imagine them wanting to stay on Gallifrey.
It took days for the Seal to locate the island they needed. It was fairly remote and while it was noted in the navigational reference books each ship was issued, Clegg studied its shoreline closely. He had chosen a number of small islands around America, and this was one with a natural bay which would provide shelter for the ship, but according to the entry in the book the island was also home to timbers and hopefully minerals where Clegg could perform experiments to improve the fighting capacity of the Seal.
He was realistic enough to know he couldn't do more than that; while he knew a submarine would be perfect and ideal for piracy, he knew he couldn't do it with the resources he had, and besides, if he went ahead with plans to build one regardless he would need to train the crew, and he didn't have time for that. He might be able to live for thousands of years in his current incarnation, but the humans were, well, humans.
It took a month to properly explore the island, but Clegg was pleased when he discovered minerals like iron, copper, zinc, aluminium, but there were other chemicals as well. Under his guidance the crew cut down the strongest trees and cut them into pieces appropriate for repairing the Seal. The ship itself was unloaded of cargo to make it simpler for the crew to rebuild and strengthen the hull; Clegg had already made plans to use metal struts to reinforce the hull, and form a kind of flexible net to catch cannonballs. It would take a lot of hard work, but the end result would be worth it in the long run.
On the island, he had organised workshops to cut up the wood brought close to the beach, using a system of pulleys to heave the logs to the workshop where the carpenter and a handful of volunteers who quickly became the jack of all trades worked to cut up the wood and stockpiled it for the repair work. Another workshop was where Clegg himself worked with the blacksmith; the Time Lord was a little bit out of his depth with the forge work, he might have a superior knowledge of metals, but he had never used that knowledge in this manner before, but he quickly got hold of himself and it wasn't long before he and the members of the crew who were experienced blacksmiths or had trained in the trade before being pressed into service were using the minerals found around the island to create the metal struts Clegg had in mind to prevent round shot from causing extreme damage.
But Clegg wanted to go further.
The Seal stayed at the island for nearly 8 months while the cargo they'd brought in was kept in caves near the beach to keep them safe and out of the sun. The island had once been volcanic so it had a large cave system that helped the crew locate minerals Clegg needed.
While the crew refitted the Seal to make it stronger, Clegg and a few others worked hard to create the new weapons their ship needed.
It didn't take long for Clegg and his small group to develop gunpowder and manufacture shells which would be fired from guns and lit with a fuse to detonate. After experimenting with the explosive cannonballs to develop their explosive potential, Clegg brought a consignment on board the Seal and stored them. The crew had seen the demonstrations of the explosives, and so they were quite nervous about seeing them brought onboard the Seal.
After 8 months of refitting and strengthening the hull of the Seal and adding new explosive shells to the ships arsenal, the Seal was ready for sea. The hold was full again and the provisions were restocked with fresh meats, vegetables and fruits enough to last for months. On the quarterdeck Clegg gave the order, "Set sail."
Next chapter will include The Buccaneer's revenge against others. When I first wrote this story I was concerned about the reasons the Time Lords could have used to exile Theta Sigma, and I found on a nifty website the history of the Doctor that the Doctor was a member of the Deca. At the Time Lord academy, many young Time Lords form groups to change the planet and make it grow again, but they ironically become what they're trying to prevent when they leave a few centuries down the line. I'm not sure if the Doctor was involved or not, but in this story he had links, and he had made enough of an impression on the High Council to exile him, and this will have consequences for when he wants to leave Earth.
In the meantime, he is constantly checking on the TARDIS that brought him to Earth and making sure it's there. When I planned this story I was tempted, really tempted, to make Clegg design other weapons, but I think explosive shells are simple don't you think?
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