"I'll go then, shall'a?" the man said, almost conversationally. There was a pause. "I said-,"

"Erwarevr..!" came the reply.

The man shrugged and pulled on his shirt.

"Bye then," he said.

"Eh,"

He pulled open the door and stepped into the mess room, then through to the gun deck. Immediately there was an explosion, then the loud rattle of wheels on wood, and a cheer. A group of men were gathered around gun no. 3 with the Captain, so it looked to be a noisy morning the man thought moodily as he pushed past while they were reloading, in search of something to eat.

"Gun ready Captain!" shouted the gun leader a few moments later.

"Stand clear!" the Captain barked. "On my mark, fire!" The flint sparked, and the fuse was lit; the cannon exploded its shot out in an arc over the water, to another rattle. The gun crew cheered quietly and Captain Jacqueline smiled at them.

"Good morning lads!" she told them, before turning around. "Mr Robinson, find some extra rum for these fine gentlemen!" The nine men cheered once more, with more enthusiasm this time, then all below decks heard the distinct sound of the watch bells. Jacqueline used this as an excuse to leave the men, who were now either smiling or scowling, depending what that bell indicated.

She stepped cheerfully into the mess room and paused at the third door on the left. There was no noise from inside, so she knocked loudly.

"Kay!" she shouted, far too brightly and noisily. She knew quite well that Quartermaster Kay had spent most of last night getting well and truly drunk, from her private and personal supply of alcohol, then looking for one of the less disgusting crew members to share her cot with, so in no circumstance was the Captain even going to think about being quiet.

"Shu'p and go away!" Kay moaned through the door.

"Can't do that, it's watch change!" Jacqueline trilled. "You're on deck, and if you're late I shall have to place you in watch on watch..," This threat was enough to rouse Kay into action, but Jacqueline had slept decidedly badly last night, and was, this morning, feeling particularly malicious.

Looking around, she spied a jug of water on the long table. She picked it up in her hand and yanked open the first luff's door, throwing the liquid contents over Kay, who was just sitting up, wrapped in various blankets. It took her a moment to realise that she was soaked.

"Good morning!" laughed Jacqueline, then disappeared before she could retaliate. Kay glowered after her.

"You'd nar' get away with that if you won't the bloody Captain!" she hollered after her, her laugh still echoing around the mess room. She instantly regretted her shouting as it made her head ache. She was used to hangovers, but that didn't meant that she liked them.

Grumpily she dressed, and appeared on the deck with her hair still dripping. She relieved an irritated looking Mr Howard, who had been on the previous watch and had to wait for her, meaning he had now lost fifteen minutes of his free time, then wandered over helm.

"Mornin'," said the helmsman.

"Uh," Kay grunted, not really in the mood for conversation, and hoping that Mr Lewis would take the hint and shut the hell up, but he continued unphased.

"Gonna be back in Tortuga soon," he said. "Be welcome ta the jack hands, I shouldn't wonder. All this money ta waste an' no were ta waste it at, eh?" Kay wished she could think of a reason to move away, and she looked around in the hope that someone would be messing about or that someone she knew well enough to talk to would have come on deck. She sighed irritably when no one presented either of these, but even as she did, Jacqueline's head bobbed up from the gun deck. Forgetting for the moment all previous annoyance at her, Kay left the ever-dull Lewis and went over to her.

"Be quiet and lemme walk with you," she hissed

"I'm nnnot walkin'!" protested Jacqueline, but Kay fell into step with her anyway. "Jus' come to check the course and all that, you know..," At this, the Captain stumbled to the left, and Kay habitually grabbed her elbow, pulling her upright. It was known to most aboard this particular ship, the Twilight Dancer, that Captain Jacqueline took more than a passing notice in their course at all times, but the reason for this was not known to very many.

"Don't bloody care!" Kay said firmly. "I'm not usin' me watch to talk, I'm usin' it to get rid of this bloody headache,"

"You're not still mad at me?" grinned Jacqueline, lowering her tone. "Get over it already Kay, it was, what, a whole twenty minutes ago..?"

"Gah," Kay snorted. "If I din't not believe in mutiny I'd have you hung off the yardarm for it,"

"And a lotta good it'd do you," chuckled Jacqueline, then raised her voice. "Mr Lewiss! How goes all?" She staggered up to the poop deck and clutched at the rail, everything in her manor telling of someone who was completely drunk. Kay knew better.

"Aye air!" replied Lewis, straightening up. "Alls well Cap'n," Jacqueline swayed, then lurched forward and glanced at the compass.

"Vaary well!" she declared, grinning inanely. "Carry on then!"

"Cap'n," Lewis smiled self importantly.

There was some speculation amongst the common hands about Captain Jacqueline and her fascination with rum. Of everyone, Kay was the only person who knew perfectly well that she couldn't stand to touch the stuff, so simply pretended. But to everyone else this was unknown and was a common source of speculation around the mess tables, particularly with the new hands. Some said that she simply liked her drink too much, while others thought maybe she was just avoiding a hangover; a significant few believed religiously that she was trying to forget some dark past, but none could imagine what this could be.

"How long 'til we get to Tortuga, did you say?" Kay asked as the pair fell into step again.

"Three days, if the wind keeps up like this," replied Jacqueline. "I'm hopeful for four,"

"Good," said Kay. "'Cause I'm bloody bored'a this crap - I wanna go home and drink meself stupid..,"

"Don't you do that here?" Jacqueline asked after a pause.

"Well, yeah," Kay shrugged. "But it ain't the same,"

"Oh," said Jacqueline.

"No need to be too enthusiastic," Kay told her. "Honestly Jacq', you're so fecking hysterical sometimes..,"

"Hysterical?" snorted Jacqueline. "Get lost,"

"Can't," Kay said happily. "I know me way around this bugger like a Frenchman knows his way around a brothel," Jacqueline shook her head, but laughed.

"Well in that case," she said. "Do you think you can manage to look after it on your own for a while, so I can have some breakfast?"

"No one asked you to come on deck," said Kay, folding her arms.

"Oooh, touchy," smiled Jacqueline. "Well, just remember, I'm not far away if things get out of hand and you need some help..,"

"Ah, you get bloody lost!" Kay grinned, and the Captain staggered off to her dining room. Baiting each other was one very easy way for the two highest ranking members of the 'Dancer's crew to stay sane while confined aboard it. They had become quite good at it.

*

As Jacqueline ate a surprisingly nice meat pie in a tavern one late afternoon in Tortuga, she thought about life. It, she thought, wasn't bad. Kay griped about it a lot but it was all idle chatter, like how people in England habitually complain about the weather. Kay loved the life really, as did Jacqueline.

The latter had been a pirate for near four years now and she never tired of it. Even their time at sea was enjoyed by her, and many others few fed up of it long before she did. Admittedly, it was dangerous - Jacqueline knew this well, she had had her fair share of injuries in her time; her left arm in particular had taken a pistol shot on two separate occasions, and now ached whenever the wind blew from the north, or when the ship was damp after a storm, before the sun could dry it off completely - but she supposed that it was the risk that you took. To Captain Jacqueline, this life was freedom, and there was little that could make her think any differently.

Though, this last year had been something of a mix for her; a lot had happened and changed in that time, some bad and some good. She'd met her idol, gained a captaincy, and found a much appreciated friendship in Kay, but in the course of this she had been captured and damn near hung, betrayed, and had lost both her brother and her lover. The last had been the hardest to bare, but with the responsibility of command she'd somehow managed it, and now here she was, Captain of her own ship, with a hard-enough working crew, and she wanted for little.

And, hey; the meat pie wasn't all that bad either...

Across the room, Captain Jacqueline was being watched over the top of a tankard. The owner of the eyes had met her only once before and, to say the least, had not got on too well with her, but he grinned in her direction anyway, not that she noticed, too intent as she was on devouring the pie. Well, it was unlikely that, even if she did see him, she would acknowledge him, so he just finished his drink and watched. Watched as she ate, in a rather undignified manor; while she, as Captain, could expect a slightly better spread than the rest of her crew, it still wasn't anything to write home about, and she appeared ravenous. To her watcher, it was faintly arousing.

The barmaid approached her as she finished. She was a blonde, a beauty in her time, he had been told, and still, despite the white hairs on her head and the lines around her eyes and mouth, that could be seen. Her son had been a good looking man as well, he recalled, until he had gone and got himself killed.

But, the watcher conceded, the old woman and her dead son held little interest for him. It was the young Captain he was concerned with.

She exchanged a few words with the barmaid, and they both smiled at each other, telling the observer that they were acquaintances. Then Jacqueline stood up, bade the woman a lengthy farewell, and walked to the door. On the way she passed near his table, though she didn't look at him, and his eyes followed her until she was gone. He paused only a moment before getting to his feet and making his way to the door, his steps calm and unhurried.

The door slammed shut behind him with a bang, and he lay his hat upon his head, adjusting it to keep the sun from his crystal brown eyes. He glanced down the street and saw Jacqueline skipping around the corner. With a slight grin, he went after her, but paused at the same corner she had rounded, leaning against the wall. She was mounting the gangway of the Twilight Dancer, and he smiled; Jacqueline had something that he very much wanted and, luckily, Captain James Reed knew exactly how to get it.