Time and Time Again

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Title: Time
and Time Again

Author: Hellborne (the_ferret_mom@yahoo.com)

Disclaimer: Characters, if you saw them in the movie
or if they're real people, not mine. See the Mouse and the Real People.
Story, mine, but I make no money. He does, but not on this.

Typing convention: / is used for thoughts. * - * - *
is used for scene changes and passages of time.

Summary: It's the year 2001. Will Turner, descendent
of a particular blacksmith, has been left a journal and a
scarf...leading him to a particular cave.

Betas: The two greatest BetaGoddesses in the world,
Pendragginink and Littlebird! You're both truly magnificent, and I
wouldn't be able to write half as well without you!

Admin Note:  As you know, Hellborne has
passed away, but the follow had been given to her Beta's and we wanted
to make sure we could share as much of her insight into the story with
you, her readers!

Chapter 15 - The Lucky Rust Bucket

Jack strode down the dock and up the gangplank of his salvage ship,

red scarf on his head and sea kit over his shoulder. He was met on

the deck by the captain of the ship. "May I help you?"

"Aye. You can tell me where my billet is so that I can stow my gear.

I'm Jack Sparrow." He extended his hand.

The Captain shook it. "Ah! Mr. Sparrow! Welcome aboard the 'Lucky

Rust Bucket'. I'd thought you were joking about joining us on the

trip. We've always had corporate owners before. I'm Captain Lovitz."

"Glad to meet you, Captain. My partner will be following in his

yacht, but I prefer the comforts of a working vessel."

"You've sailed before?"

"Aye. I've captained and crewed many a ship, but usually not so

distinctive. Still, by the looks of her, she's perfect for salvaging

the Luz. And now, Captain Lovitz, my billet?"

Lovitz called over one of the men. "Tiny, this is Mr. Sparrow, one of

the new owners. He'll be sailing with us. Assign him the cabin next

to mine and put Hicks in with Johnson and Choy."

The VERY large man named "Tiny" extended his meaty hand toward

Jack. "I'll take your bag for you, Sir. These decks can get mighty

slippery."

Jack chuckled and gave Tiny the bag. "Call me Jack. And I promise

I'll be careful." They went below and found the cabin. Tiny packed

Hicks' personal effects and stripped the small bunk of its

bedclothes. "I'll get you some clean sheets and blankets. We're no

hotel, but it's the least we can do. Once you have everything stowed

the way you want 'em, come on up and I'll show you around."

Jack thanked the man and unpacked what he'd need for the day, then

stowed the canvas bag under the tiny bunk and went topside for his

tour.

* - * - *

The ship hove to and dropped anchor exactly at the coordinates where

Jack remembered the Luz and her entourage sinking. The sonar said

that SOMETHING was down there, and Jack assured Captain Lovitz that

it was the treasure ship and her guards.

Two divers were sent down with metal detectors and rock hammers to

make sure, but when they surfaced wide-eyed, small sacks of doubloons

at their belts, the champagne ran free.

Jack was sitting on the rail drinking a bottle of German beer with

Will when Captain Lovitz walked up and sat down next to

him. "Amazing. We've never found our target so fast. How'd you know

EXACTLY where she was?"

Jack grinned at Will. "Family diary, you might say. This is just the

first, mate. We're going to make you and your men rich. There are a

total of five treasure ships, each of them full to splitting, and

we've got the territorial permits for all of the ships wot need them."

"Mr. Turner. Will you give me the honor of having dinner with us?

Will grinned. "Be glad to. All I have aboard the Angel are T.V.

dinners."

Jack wrinkled his nose. "Those things are vile. Why didn't you bring

real food? I'd have cooked it."

"I figured you'd be busy, and I like to eat when I'm hungry."

Captain Lovitz was confused. "You don't have your chef with you? From

what I've read about you two, I'd think you would have a chef, ship's

pilot, chauffeur-the works."

Will blushed. "I'm not used to having money yet, so I haven't hired

any help."

Jack grinned. "And I'm used to takin' care of m' self no matter how

much money I have."

The three men headed for the galley.

* - * - *

All went according to plan. Close to a quarter of ship's treasure was

on board by the fourth evening, and they would start on parts of the

ships they would collect for the Cartagena museum in the morning.

They'd bring up the rest of the gold after that.

* - * - *

"Sorry to wake you, Mr. Sparrow, but you'd said to notify you of

anything odd."

"Hmm?" Jack wiped the sleep out of his eyes. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing with the salvage. But we've picked up a ship at the edge

of the radar. It isn't going anywhere...it just seems to be circling

in and out of range."

"Testin' the waters, ye might say, Tiny?"

The giant nodded. "Just like that. I thought it 'odd' and figured

you'd want to hear about it."

Jack sat up and pulled on his deck shoes.

"You did well, Tiny. This is EXACTLY the type of thing I wanted to be

notified about. Do you have any weapons on board?"

"Well, not 'officially', but there ARE some guns on board."

"Number and poundage?"

"Huh? We've got four AK-47's, ten semi-autos of various models and

calibers, plus a Lyle gun in case of emergencies. And of course the

water-cannon."

"Forty-seven pounders I understand, but the ship is more than a mite

small for them, and you've lost me completely on the ten cars. And

who's this 'Lyle'?"

"Pounders? Cars? Sorry man, but I don't get you. We've got four AK-

47's; machine guns, and ten semi-automatic pistols, plus the harpoon

gun."

"All right, mate. No problem. Umm...may I see them? I want to know

what kind of weaponry we have to protect us against that ship."

"Oh, we've dealt with pirates before, Jack. You just stay down here

nice and safe and we'll take care of 'em. Sometimes those mothers can

get violent; I wouldn't want you puking over the bloodshed."

Jack was scrounging in his sea kit and looked up at Tiny, a big grin

on his face as he brought out his Turner Original. "Don't worry about

me, mate. I've had a bit of experience with pirates m'self, you might

say."

"A sword? If that ship really is a pirate ship, that steak knife

isn't going to be any use. But if you insist on coming up, maybe I

can get you one of the AK-47's."

"Just show me how to use it once and then see to yourself, Tiny.

Honest." He followed the giant to a locked closet in the control

room. Tiny unlocked it and handed a machine gun to Jack. "The safety

is here. Just click it like this and you're ready to go. Point,

squeeze, and move it around to spray as many people as possible." He

showed Jack another switch. "It's presently set for fully-auto. If

you want to shoot one round at a time, move that switch to the other

position. You've got 75 rounds in that drum, so make 'em count."

Jack's eyes grew wide. He looked at the machine gun with great

respect. "I'm used to a bit less power, but this'll do just fine." He

patted the gun, grinning. "Now let's see where that ship of yours has

managed to get to." He strode over to the radar screen. "Tiny, you'll

want to wake the crew and pass those weapons out. If I'm reading this

thing right, we'll have visitors in nigh on twenty minutes or so." He

pulled out his cell phone, pushed the intercom call button and held

it on for about thirty seconds.

"What's up, Jack?" Will yawned hugely, his jaw audibly cracking into

the phone. "It's three in the morning."

"Whelp, we've got company coming in from the northwest in about

fifteen minutes. I want you out of the area in five."

"What about you?"

"I'll be fine, lad. Now get out of here. Check back with us on the

ship's radio in a couple hours if I don't contact you first, savvy?"

"Got it. I'm outta here. Good luck, Jack." The yacht's engine came to

life on low throttle and with no lights on and powering up slowly,

the Angel of Desire slipped quickly away due east running dark.

* - * - *

TBC