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 16 - Pirates of the Caribbean

"Ahoy Lucky Rust Bucket! We don't want to harm you, but you have

something we want. Now make it easy on yourselves and hand it over."

One of the crewmembers shined the flood light at the pirate ship,

effectively hiding Jack from view with its glare. Jack

grinned. "Bugger off, mate. You've no rights to this find! I worked

hard for this, waited a long time, I have, and I'll send ye to the

bottom before giving it up, savvy?!" Jack aimed the machine gun at

the man he took to be captain as he was apparently the

spokesman. "It's leave off or I sink ye. Now, laddie, do ye really

want me to do that?" Something about the manner of the man looked

disturbingly familiar and Jack had the gut feeling that he knew him,

but he could not figure out where he might have seen him before.

Several armed crewmen appeared and flanked the other man who

persisted in his demands. "Stand down now or you'll be dead before

you can say 'I give up'!"

Jack gave the signal to Tiny and the projectile from the Lyle gun

blasted a hole in the other ship below the waterline. " Your ship

seems to be sinkin', mate! I'd suggest YOU stand down, drop your

weapons and scurry on over here before ye drown! " He needlessly

motioned for Tiny to prepare to fire a second shot; the giant had

already done so and was now aiming the Dragon rocket launcher at the

other ship's engine room.

Several more of the other ship's crewmen climbed quickly out of the

lower deck; their animated gestures indicating they were speaking

fast and furious with their captain.

Jack's black sea hawk's eyes flitted from one armed man to another on

the other ship's deck, waiting for one of them to make a move. When

one of them raised his weapon, aiming at Tiny, Jack fired, his gun

set on single rounds; the shot hit the man in the arm and blew it

off. Jack's amazed eyes widened at the carnage of the single,

explosive bullet. "You had better give up and bring that man over

before he dies, mate!"

Not wanting to take his chances against the Dragon's armor-piercing

rockets and with his howling crewman bleeding all over the deck, the

captain of the other ship reluctantly growled out orders to his men,

and they all laid down their weapons. Two men helped the wounded man

over to the Lucky Rust Bucket, where they were all hustled below by

four of the Rust Bucket's well-armed crewmembers as Jack continued to

ponder where he'd seen the pirate captain before. The last man to

come over from the now abandoned and foundering ex-coast guard

cutter; the man was the captain; they could see he was wearing what

had once been some type of maritime uniform: his old uniform, though

it was missing insignia of any kind and was clearly the worse for

wear. Jack pulled him aside, never once lowering the machine

gun. "You look familiar, mate. Have I met you before? What's your

name?"

"Jim."

"And your last name, mate?"

"Norrington."

Jack's eyebrows disappeared into his scarf. He KNEW he'd recognized

him from somewhere. The long, aristocratic nose...the proud, straight

jaw-line... /And come to think of it, now that I see him up close, he

has the Commodore's sea-green eyes!/ "Jim, be honest with me now. How

many successful raids have you sorry lot been on?"

Jim looked sheepish and seemed embarrassed. "This was the first and

ONLY one, actually. You didn't have to blow off spire's arm, you

know."

Jack shrugged. "Just protecting my crew, mate. Didn't know this

bloody gun was so powerful, for a fact. But Spire shouldn't have

tried to fire on my man Tiny here." He put an arm around Jim's

shoulder and led him to the forerail. "Have a seat, Jim."

Norrington hesitated, then sat down on the rail, obviously wary of

Jack, who continued to keep his gun at the ready. "You're not pushing

me overboard, are you? It's too far to swim."

Jack laughed. "Lad, I've never killed a man in cold blood in my

entire life, and I'm not about to start now. I just want to have a

little chat with ye." Jim didn't look any less worried.

"Look here, mate. If I'd have wanted you dead, we wouldn't be having

this talk right now. You'd be on the bottom with your ship. I would

have shot ye right off, and I don't tend to miss what I aim at,

savvy?"

Jack paused, watching Norrington closely, waiting for the reality of

the situation to sink in before he continued, unable to contain a

slight grin. "Ye best find another career, lad. Ye might say I'm an

expert on piracy and it's not your calling." Norrington looked

confused. Jack rolled his eyes, thinking he was getting nowhere fast

with this discussion. "Ye ain't no good at it. In fact, you are just

about the worst pirate I've ever heard of."

Stung, Norrington's chin went up. "So what pirates have you heard of?"

"Nothing recent, mate, true enough. But if I'm not mistaken, you had

an ancestor wot shared your name. Commodore James Norrington

stationed at Fort Charles in Port Royal, Jamaica. Now you might say I

HAVE heard of HIM.

NOW Jim was REALLY confused. "How's that? You a history buff of

Caribbean trivia or something?"

Jack grinned. "You might say that. Do you happen to have an old

family heirloom from the Commodore? A sword, perhaps?" Jack drew his

prized Turner blade and showed Norrington the maker's mark.

Jim's eyes grew huge. "Yes! That's the same mark that's on my sword

at home! Where'd you get that?"

"This sword was custom made for me by the same man wot made yours,

mere days before he was tapped as a master sword smith by the guild

and registered his own hallmark."

"Made for you? You're NUTS! That was almost three hundred years ago!"

Jack's grin widened. "Did you happen to inherit anything else from

the Commodore?"

"A ledger. It listed the names of all the men he'd captured or hanged

as pirates."

"So you decided to take your chances at ending the same way, eh? Tell

me, did he happen list a pirate by the name of Jack Sparrow?"

Jim thought a bit. "Yes, but the notes in the margin said he escaped.

I remembered that name especially because it was also mentioned a lot

in his private journal, occasionally underlined."

Jack nodded and preened a little. "Aye, that would be me." He rolled

up his sleeve, exposing the pirate brand and the tattoo. "I'm Jack

Sparrow."

"Bullshit."

Jack rolled his eyes at Jim's skeptical scoffing and tried another

tack. "Does the journal mention a place called 'Isla de la Muerta'

and what happened there?"

"Yes, but he must have been high on drugs at the time. It's so

fantastic I've always taken it to be a record of a hallucination or a

nightmare. And how the hell would you know about that anyway?"

"I told you. I'm Jack Sparrow. And whatever else I may have thought

of the Commodore, he was not one to eat or drink anything that would

give him delusions. No, Jim. The island is definitely real, and so is

the curse on the gold. I would know quite a bit about that...I was

only quit of the curse a mere three months ago."

"Right. Why'd it take you this long to get uncursed then?"

"Well, the plain truth is I was a bit preoccupied with getting my

bloody sword out the bloody side of my bloody head, actually. Two

other pirates wot should listed be in that Journal forced me to take

a bloody cursed coin, chained me to the bloody chest and drove my own

bloody sword through my bloody head into the bloody lid! The two

pirates' names were Bo'Sun and Twigg."

Norrington thought for a long minute. "Those WERE the names of two of

the pirates that also escaped. They were never listed as being caught

again." Jack smirked as he saw Norrington was beginning to believe

him.

"Now, as to your pirating skills...mate, you're pathetic."

Jim glared daggers at Jack, replying dryly, "I suppose you have some

tips for me, then, if you're REALLY Jack Sparrow, that is."

Unabashed, Jack gestured false modesty, ignoring the sarcasm. "Well,

I COULD give you some tips on eighteenth century piracy, but they

don't really apply in this time period; they're fairly useless." He

absently picked at a paint chip on the rail, then pointedly stared

Jim directly in the eye, his voice apologetic. "We saw you comin'

twenty minutes before you arrived."

"But, Rick said hardly anyone uses their radar when they're not under

way."

"Then 'hardly anyone' has shit for brains enough to deserve what they

get. Jim, any commercial ship...ESPECIALLY one like this one...will

have the radar manned twenty-four hours a day. So if you intend on

keepin' to piracy, I would suggest raiding only small, privately

owned vessels. Here, with this ship, you were in way over your head,

mate."

"What do you mean, 'if I'm staying with piracy'? You're turning us

in, aren't you?"

"And why would I do that? You're costing us nothing but a couple

shots of ammunition, and some food for a bit...and you'll be doin' me

a favor by eating the Swansons," Jack shuddered at the thought of

such punishment, "that Will brought...though we will be claiming your

fine vessel as salvage. So, mate, your choices are these: get another

boat and go back to piracy, I would suggest raiding small, private

vessels...not much profit there, plundering tourists; the days of the

treasure ships being long gone, or you could join my crew, EARN your

keep AND get away with a bit of the treasure yourselves in shares."

Norrington stared bug-eyed at the smaller man. He'd never heard of

ANYONE like him. "But..."

"How could I trust you? That's simple, mate, in a word...booty. I've

been a pirate almost all my long life. Pirates share and share alike.

The crew of this ship had never been promised more than a simple

salary, but now that it is MY ship, it's shares all around. Believe

me, Jim, on this and the other four hauls I have planned, we'll ALL

be able to retire rich, and that includes you and your men if you

wish. Now, since you've got a man wot needs a bit more doctoring than

we have available, I'll have Will bring 'im to the closest hospital

and get 'im taken care of. But don't worry about 'im. I've always

paid top guineas to my wounded men. He just has to make up a

believable story to tell the hospital about the 'accident' with the

winch cable wot left him with his arm gone."

Norrington looked hard at Jack, carefully considering the offer. It

seemed almost too good to be true. "You said FOUR MORE HAULS after

this?"

"Aye, Jim, and you and your men are invited to join my crew and have

a part of it."

"What will the captain say?"

"Anything I want 'im to say if he wants to keep his job, this is MY

ship, Jim. I'm a right fine ship's captain myself, if a little behind

the times in some ways. Now, excuse me while I make all the

arrangements. You find Tiny and have him take you to your men so that

you can offer them the deal." Jack strode toward the bridge, stopping

to talk to Tiny on his way.

By the time Will returned from dropping off Spire at the hospital

with a fat check, the rest of the pirates had settled in as part of

the crew, the pirate's boat had been patched, registered as salvage

with the Coast Guard and taken in tow by the Lucky Rust Bucket, and

close to half of the treasure ship's cargo had been brought up.

Will listened, interested, as Chang explained the finer points of the

scuba gear and breathing apparatus to Jack, who was outfitted in a

wetsuit and eager to make a dive to the sunken wreck. It seemed the

divers had uncovered what they thought was the captain's cabin, and

Jack wanted to go down and sort it out himself.

As soon as Chang was finished with his careful instructions, he and

Jack adjusted their masks and moved onto the diver's platform through

the gangway in the rail. Jack waved at Will, then the two picked up

diving weights and dropped over the side.

* - * - *

TBC