006

Tanya

I hate Panama. Yes, I would not have hated it if I were not, well, myself, and this was the year 2000 Plus. But as Tanya, my skin was too fair, and the territory of Panama, in this timeline, a future hub of trade, was nothing but a terrible, mosquito-infested wasteland of failed colonization projects and Spanish and Portuguese forts.

That's unfortunately what we were currently trying to take: Fort Alvogrande. Why were we trying to take the fort? Well, treasure, specifically. There was some sort of skull or something inside that was worth a pretty pound. Now, I'm not in favor of thievery in most cases, but from what I understand, this was an Aztec artifact taken from the Aztecs and held by the Portuguese. A particularly corrupt Portuguese government that was not exactly on the up and up. This should have been transferred to the homeland years ago, but it was being kept here for some reason.

So, taking this item and selling it to someone was not exactly morally good, but he wasn't exactly morally bad either, since stealing from thieves, murderers, and such was probably a great point.

And from what I understand, this land was technically owned by Spain in this particular time, so this fort was an illegal Portuguese fort. In essence, they were no better than pirates who probably stole the wealth from the Spanish.

Yes, it could be seen that I was justifying this, but I think my justifications were good.

Anyways, before us, it lay guarded. Jack and I, along with our new ally Captain Stubs, managed to make our way into the main presidio, only having to kill a few people who came at us too hard.

It was this last run that was going to be a problem, as the main building where the treasure would be kept was the most heavily guarded place in the fortress. Of course, that's where Captain Stubs and I came in. Stubs, having supplied us with information on this item, would have his crew launch an assault on the front gate. He was going to take the losses so that we could push in, get the item, and take the captain or general or whoever was in control of this fortress prisoner to end the fighting.

And, of course, I had brought a rifle that I had been saving for this moment.

Looking over the cover I had, I could see that several Portuguese were right behind the main door, peeking out with their muskets and blunderbusses, firing at us. The range was abysmal, and the shots were not exactly the most accurate, but they did force me to put my head down as I prepared my spell.

"You sure this lass is going to pull this off?" Stubs asked.

"Don't you worry about that, my friend. Tanya here is like a one-girl cannon. She'll pull this off."

"It feels good to be appreciated," I said, finishing the spell and nodding my head at Jack. He ducked down further, while Stubs, who was not paying attention, continued to fire off various weapons that he had gathered from our assault on the fortress.

Standing up, I brought my gun to aim at the front door and pulled the trigger. The blast was a bit too powerful, rendering the door into shrapnel. Most likely, it killed everything in the front entryway and looked like it blasted a hole through a cement wall just behind the door, turning that into rubble, not killing anyone who was waiting to take their turn if something were to happen.

Several debris even came flying at me, but I had a shield up, and it bounced off my equipment. Whistling, I put my rifle down and shook my head before saying, "That is a good hole."

Turning around, I saw Stubs, who was holding a bleeding facial wound on his cheek and giving me an evil eye.

"Okay, okay, you win. You can do it," he said.

I nodded my head as I followed Jack, who jumped over the debris and started moving towards the hole. I quickly fixed a bayonet to my rifle, as it would give me a bit of extra reach when fighting.

Thankfully, as we entered the main building, it became quite apparent that there was no one left to defend the place. If there was anyone, they were hiding somewhere, obviously too scared by the explosion to come out of wherever they holed up or were preparing to defend individual rooms.

"A little quiet, don't you think, Jackass?" Stubs shrugged his shoulders, simply moving onwards.

I nodded my head, saying, "Too quiet. Perhaps we should wait for Stubs' men to take the front gate. If the explosion had such a tremendous effect on the men here, I would imagine the people at the front gate are in an even worse situation, with enemies in front of them and an enemy behind them that they don't know about."

"We don't have time," Stubs said, pushing forward and kicking a door open into a stairway that went downwards.

"We don't?" I asked, confused, following behind him, with Jack pulling up the rear.

"The Black Pearl and your ship are providing covering fire if we need it. Your men can break in. We should have more than enough time," he answered.

"Unless, of course, there's something you're not telling us," I said matter-of-factly, which made him stop and shake his head.

"I've told you everything you need to know," Stubs said before moving onwards.

"That's never a good answer," Jack said with a shake of his head.

"How exactly are we going to fence this, anyway?" I asked, figuring I should approach this from another angle. After all, Stubs knew about the items, so there must be a particular person who wanted this item.

"I have a buyer already lined up. Don't worry about that. And any other gold we find here will be worth it, I assure you," Stubs replied.

This operation is starting to feel like a bad idea, but I simply kept my guns ready to defend myself. After all, gold was gold, and if we stole from Stubs, that would just be another point on our "actually doing good things" list.

Deeper we went until we came across the skull, or whatever it was, gold stubs rushed forward through a treasure room that was barely a treasure room. There were only one or two chests that looked like they were carrying Spanish gold, not bad but not great either. It wasn't worth the effort we put into this place.

The skull, of course, was a finely decorated Aztec-looking thing. As far as I could tell, it had no crystals, just pure gold. Stubs carefully lifted it off the pedestal it had been placed on, which was concerning, to say the least.

"Is it just me, or does one get a bad feeling when there's a pedestal involved?" I said. Jack nodded in agreement, "Yes, a very bad feeling. Not to mention, there are supposedly legends about this skull that allow it to raise the undead..."

I slowly tilted my head to look at him before saying, "Why didn't you mention this before?"

"I thought he was wrong about that. I mean, yes, magic is real, but it's not that common. It's probably just a gold skull," Jack replied.

"No, Jack, no. This, my friend, is real magic," Stubs said, lifting the skull into the air. "This has the power to shape nations, turn tides of war, and make one a lich king."

My hand was on my pistol, and I was already starting to raise it when I heard sounds behind me. Turning, I saw pirates, not from our crew, so they must be Stubs'. I started to lower the gun again, keeping it in my hand. I didn't want to start a fight with a larger number, and if they didn't start a fight, well, that would be fine. If Stubs wanted to become a lich king, that's not my problem, as long as we get the gold cases.

The pirates, about two dozen of them, carried three dead comrades into the room, laying them at the feet of Stubs. One of them said, "Well, Stubs, you got the skull. Now you're going to do the deal you promised us, the ability to come back from death. You promised us that our losses would be made right."

"And so they shall," Stubs said, holding the skull in one hand as he leaned over one of the corpses, placing his other hand on the fallen pirate's skull. He chanted some sort of Aztec incantation, and while the lighting in the room seemed to shake as if something dark was being released, I stumbled backward, feeling dark energy emanating from the skull. It moved across Stubs' body, through his chest, into his other arm, and into the dead pirates.

What happened next was slightly familiar. The three corpses immediately started shriveling up until they were nothing but bone, rotten flesh, and tattered clothing.

However, all three of them sat up, seeming to be in stunned shock. The one that Stubs had been holding the head of said, "I'm alive! Kind of... holy fuck."

Stubs held the skull above him and declared, "Immortality is ours, boys! Nothing on the sea is safe from our reign of terror."

At this point, I realized we were in a bit of a pickle because these pirates were definitely not just after the gold. Looking into Jack's eyes, I saw what he was up to, and I mirrored him, quickly moving over to one of the gold chests and picking it up silently, trying to make my way to the stairs.

I actually made it to the stairs just after Jack had taken a few steps up, before the pirates who had been celebrating their newfound immortality turned and noticed us.

"Hey, what are you guys doing?"

"Taking our cut," Jack said matter-of-factly. "Now that you guys have immortality, you could raid any place in the entire world. We deserve the gold, don't you think?"

"Jack, Jack, Jack. You don't deserve anything. Yes, taking this fortress was welcomed, but I only offered it to you here to get your ship. I want the Black Pearl, Jack. I want immortality. I want everything Barbossa had, and I'm actually going to use it to take over the Caribbean, unlike him," I replied firmly.

I nodded at Jack and said, "One chest is good, right?" As I started pouring power into the chest, enchanting it with an explosive spell.

He looked at me, seeing the chest already starting to glow, before nodding. "One chest is very good, don't you think, Stubs?" he said, taking a few steps back.

"I said you're getting none of it," Stubs snapped, but his attention turned to me when he saw a bit of glow from the chest I was holding. I smiled and tossed it to the pirate right in front of me, raising my shield. "Catch!"

There was an explosion, and I was forced up the stairway, my back smashing into Jack as the entire room turned into hell on Earth. The gold had become explosive ordnance, and shrapnel bounced around the room, causing screams and, hopefully, the death of Stubs and his crew.

I quickly got back up onto my feet, drew my pistol, armed it with a piercing explosive spell, and aimed at the stairway just above the entrance, firing a shot.

This seemed to have done the job I wanted, causing a collapse of the ceiling in the room they were in.

A rush of powdered pirate, dust, and debris came up the stairs, blocking my view. Turning, I moved further up, hoping Jack was doing the same because we had no idea if the collapse was right on our heels, and we would be joining the hopefully permanently dead pirates in their new grave.

Amidst the coughing and waving of hands, Jack and I emerged into the daylight of the presidio's main building.

"Well, that could have gone better," Jack said, eyeing the 15 minutes' worth of gold. I looked back at the hole, raising my gun and firing again, sealing off the top level as well for good measure.

"It could have gone much worse," I said, turning and then lowering my gun as I realized we weren't alone.

Apparently, the prisoners of the pirates had escaped, freed by what I would guess were Portuguese soldiers. And now, well, now there were about 20 Portuguese soldiers pointing various weapons at us from all around.

A general, Captain-ish figure stepped forward, saying, "Congratulations, pirates. You've come this far. Now you will be hanged by the neck until dead."

"That doesn't sound fun," Jack replied, raising his hands up while still holding the gold.

Looking at the individuals, I carefully lowered my hand to my side, still gripping my third and remaining pistol, and said, "Isn't there something we can come to an agreement on? I mean, I'd hate to have to fight you all. You see my handiwork." I indicated behind them, pointing at the hole in the wall. Several soldiers looked at it, and several more gulped audibly, but they kept their guns pointed at us.

"Whatever witchcraft or explosive you use doesn't matter. You will be hanged till dead. That is the decree of my office for pirate scum like you," the general declared.

"Cool," I said, raising my remaining hand and enlarging a shield in front of me and Jack. The Portuguese soldiers fired their guns, but the rounds caught in the shield. I raised the last remaining pistol and fired it into the air, causing it to explode into a dazzling light show.

In that moment, I grabbed onto Jack and used the flight spell to go directly up through the open roof, hoping that the shield would protect us from anyone who wasn't blinded.

Up we went, reaching a good distance above. I could see the Black Pearl and Stubs' ship waiting just off the beach. While Stubs' ship was waiting, the Black Pearl knew the signal. But I didn't just fire a flashbang; that spell was meant for more.

The Black Pearl immediately began firing its cannons on the fortress. The signal had indicated that everything had gone wrong, so they started relentlessly firing their explosive and non-explosive cannonballs, smashing into the structure and causing it to collapse around the Portuguese soldiers. I left them to their fate, flying with Jack to the dry Black Pearl, where we landed and brushed ourselves off.

Jack tossed the gold onto the deck and said, "All right, boys! We've got what we came for. Let's get going."

"What about Stubs?" Gibbs asked.

"He fell behind," I said matter-of-factly, receiving a simple nod from him. The ship was ready, and we sailed away from the chaos we had left behind at that fortress.

Jack

I looked out over the ship with some amusement as Tanya led a large section of the crew in physical exercise and combat training.

She always had such strange notions. Personally, I think we were just fine the way we are, but she was of the opinion that everyone needed to be in top shape in order to survive combat.

Guess she's right, and there was nothing wrong with letting her do a little training while we coasted down the Spanish Main. We had plenty of opportunities to gather resources, food supplies, and such from the coastal areas, so everyone was well-fed and happy to do a little extra training when they weren't working around the ship.

I didn't want to overexert the crew, especially if we encountered the Spanish. I'd probably tell her to curtail those efforts simply because we didn't want the crew to get exhausted for no good reason.

Checking the sun, I guessed the time of day before looking down at the nearby chart, trying to estimate how long the Black Pearl had been at sea. She was starting to feel a bit slower than normal, probably time to lay up somewhere and clean off the hull of the occasional things that grow on it.

Which meant we probably had to sail for Tortuga soon. Either that or find some island that was off the known map and use it for our needs.

It had been roughly two months since I had the Pearl back in my hands. Assuming that the Black Pearl had probably undergone a cleanup before its attack on Port Royal, then I could assume it had been at least 3 months, which was about the time frame for these cleanups to happen.

Now we needed to check the funds we had, make sure we had enough to get some of the best cleaners on Tortuga to do the job.

We also needed to make sure the crew was well-paid for their time so far. I still had a bit of gold left from the Island of the Dead and that small box of gold we grabbed from the fortress. Not a lot, but it should be enough to cover the ship's maintenance and ensure the crew was well-compensated for their work rendered so far.

Of course, there was the old worry of her. She was still out there, and who knows if she was hanging around Tortuga, waiting for me. Perhaps I should head for the Bahamas instead. There was a new pirate Republic being built out there. It might function as a good place to get my ship reset... though last I heard, Blackbeard had been hanging around that area. It might not be the best place to go wandering.

Shaking my head, I figured I'd leave it up to the compass. Pulling it out, it's been a bit before giving a general direction of Tortuga. I had to assume that at the very least, I wouldn't run into her there again.

Closing it and pocketing my compass, I was about to take a look out across the water when I saw Tanya walking back from the training area. The rest of the crew appeared to have been put through their paces and were enjoying a bit of extra mead.

"Captain," she said, "Tanya."

I responded with a nod as she climbed the steps to stand next to me.

I've been wondering if we have any objectives that could actually make us any money since the last one sort of went sideways.

I raised an eyebrow before saying, "Well, it wasn't that bad. We did make some money, but I understand your point. We should be looking for something that pays well. Too bad there are no big wars going on right now. Privateering could make us a bit of money, or at least it could, but we need to be careful about that. You may need to pose as the captain to get us some of those contracts."

Tanya raised an eyebrow before saying, "Is there a reason why I would need to pose as a captain? Not that I'm against it, but I would at least like to know why in case it gets me in trouble."

I shook my head before rolling up my sleeve, showing off the brand marked as a pirate. "Means I probably can't be a privateer anymore. Did it once or twice, even did a few clean sailing trips, but things went wrong."

"You're wrong, how?" Tanya asked.

When I shrugged, I said, "A disagreement between my employer and myself about what is cargo and what is people."

Tanya raised an eyebrow before nodding and saying, "Right, the transatlantic slave trade. I forgot that was a thing."

"Strange comment," I said out loud. "You know, you give a lot of strange comments now that I think about it. You hiding some sort of secrets besides your magecraft?"

Tanya looked at me before shaking her head and saying, "None that affect you."

"Hmm, you're being dishonest."

"Don't know what you're talking about," Tanya said as she leaned against the banister. "I'm just being careful, like you tend to be."

"Hmm, I do not know what you're talking about," I lied, knowing that she probably had figured me out a lot more than I had figured her out. "Mr. Gibbs, take the helm. Mr. Gibbs would be coming up the same stairs Tanya had been looking rather tired from the exercise," I said. "I, I, Captain, stop being up the steps," as I led the way. Tanya looked at me confused before following.

I opened the double doors so we could enter, kept them open until she was in, and then closed them, saying, "As you know, I like to play things close to my chest. But when it comes to magic, I'm not the biggest expert on everything, and I figure you might be interested in helping me with the situation I'm currently dealing with."

Tanya raised an eyebrow as I opened the door and walked into the main cabin and captain's quarters.

Looking out the back window, I smiled before reaching over to a map of the Caribbean, the Atlantic, Spain, and Morocco, unraveling it on the large table.

"Over the many years I have been away from this ship, I have been gathering information and equipment for a problem that I knew would probably catch up to me sooner or later. I hope to capture the Black Pearl back, for it would give me the power I need to do what I want. And well, now that I have it, it's time to start putting that information to good work."

Tanya raised her eyebrow, sitting down at the table as I sat across from her.

"What do you know about Davy Jones?" I asked.

She tilted her head before saying, "Not a lot, why?"

"What if I told you that this ship was raised from the bottom of the sea because I made a deal with him?"

Her eyes widened and she said, "Quite a bit, I'd say dealing with a supernatural entity was your first mistake. Did you at least get the contract in writing?"

"Not necessarily, to be frank. At the time, it was either make the deal or die. It wasn't exactly a situation where I was bargaining for power because I coveted it," I explained.

Tanya sighed before saying, "Okay, well, what exactly are the terms of this deal?"

I nodded, glad that she was at least listening to me, as I said, "Thirteen years aboard the Black Pearl, at the time called the Wicked Wench. In exchange, I would serve on his crew for a thousand years."

"And how long ago was this deal struck?" Tanya asked.

"About twelve years ago, give or take a few months."

"Oh, wonderful. So within the next year, you're going to have a supernatural entity coming to take your soul to work on his ship. Can I have your ship when you're taken then?" Tanya joked.

I laughed at that before saying, "If we can't find a way to stop that, sure, though I doubt my ship will be left on the surface by then."

"Okay, okay," Tanya said, trying to be serious. "So you have a contract that'll be up in ten to eight months or something like that, and it's of magical nature. Was it thirteen years on the Black Pearl or thirteen years of life?"

"I believe it was thirteen years on the Pearl, but it has been a long time," I replied.

"Oh, wonderful. Then you might be able to extend it. From my point of view, you have only had three years on the Pearl. By then, I don't know if it'll work, but it's something you could use."

"That's what I think too, but I'm working on backup plans," I said.

Tanya nodded. "Having backup plans is good. What are you thinking?"

"Well, I believe there are two weapons I may have at my disposal. St. Pierre's Blade, an object of supposedly magical nature that can kill anything that is undead. I don't know if it'll work against dear old Davy Jones, but it is an option worth considering. The only real problem with it is that supposedly it can only be wielded by one pure of heart. Anyone on my crew can do the job," I explained.

Tanya snickered before saying, "Doubt I could either. However, if it is a magical item, there are ways to force them to work for mages. You just have to find the right combination of spells. And if it is somehow tied to the appearance, goodness, or whatever of a person, that's a step in the right direction."

"See, this is why I'm bringing you in on this. You have ways of making that more possible to work," I replied.

"What's the other option?" Tanya asked.

I looked at her before saying, "We find the mythical Dead Men's Chest, a box containing Davy Jones's heart. Destroy the heart, destroy Davy Jones."

"You know, I just love dealing with paranormal entities, but the idea of killing one really tickles my fancy. Why aren't we looking at that option first?" Tanya suggested.

I sighed and then said, "The blade is somewhere here in the Caribbean. I have assets that will give me the location, and we can catch it easily enough. The Dead Man's Chest may also be here in the Caribbean, though it could be anywhere in the world. The main problem is, well, the only known clue to its location is in Morocco, Canary Islands to be exact."

"All the way across the Atlantic," Tanya said, nodding her head. "So, we knock out the blade first, then go for the Dead Man's Chest. But that's a long trip, and I'm not sure your crew is going to enjoy a side mission without some gold."

I nodded and said, "I have a few other options here to get the gold we need for this mission. There's another skull like the one we nearly got in Panama, further up the coast in Mexico. We could grab that and easily sell it in Tortuga. I also have a small cache of treasure stored somewhere."

"Stored somewhere?" Tanya asked, intrigued. I smiled and replied, "I know the chain of islands, but, well, I left another fellow in charge of actually keeping track of the exact location. Good man, Scurvy Joe by the name. He had a tattoo on his back, I think. Anyways, we need to locate him, which I can do. It just will take time."

Sonia looked at me and asked, "How do you have so many assets under your control that could help you with Intel operations?"

I tried to sidestep the question, saying, "Hmm, well, what do you mean? I'm a pirate. Of course, I have friends in low places."

"Yeah, you're a pirate, and you have friends in low places, but it seems strange to me that you have so many friends in low places, considering, well, you've been a trash pirate for the last ten years, ever since you lost your ship like that. Fine always," Tanya commented.

"Did she not tell you about our time together?" I asked.

"She told me way too much about what you and her former personality got into with each other, yes. But that doesn't exactly explain why you have these connections," Tanya replied.

"Huh, well, I figured she would have mentioned the fact that I was the Pirate Lord of the Caribbean," I said casually.

"The what?" Tanya exclaimed, standing up and looking at me with confusion and shock.

"It's an honorary title, you know. Pirates, we have our own little society away from the rest of society. Free and all that. Man, we can claim titles. Currently, the Caribbean title was open, so I grabbed it," I explained.

"How can you just grab it? Isn't there like a dozen pirates out there who would have a better claim since you've been, I don't know, a failure for 10 years?" Tanya questioned.

I smiled and held up a piece of eight that was tied to my hair. "They need this to be able to declare themselves the Pirate Lord of the Caribbean. As long as I have this, I have many friends in strange places."

"This is absurd, but fine, okay, okay. I just need to help the Pirate Lord of the Caribbean not get his soul strapped to a ship for a thousand years. Okay, that's not so hard," Tanya said, rubbing her forehead. "You know, maybe you should make nice with Fine. She is a powerful spellcaster, after all. I'm sure she could probably do something to Davy Jones."

"I'd probably end up turned into something unnatural if I did that, sorry. Not to mention, I'm pretty sure Fine doesn't want to deal with Davy Jones. She's kind of cheated him more than me, being that her soul never quite dies the proper way with that old reincarnation into the next generation thing she can pull," I explained.

"Kind of sounds like she's a natural ally," Tanya pointed out.

I shook my head and said, "She may have some leanings on taking out Davy Jones, but almost every pirate does. And you're not going to get the pirates to all work together unless something major is happening that puts the fear of God into all of them."

That finally got through to Tanya, and she said, "Alright, alright. I'll take time to come up with the proper spellcraft for this. So, do you have any idea where this sword is to start?"

I shook my head and replied, "No, but I can definitely find out when we're visiting Tortuga next, which should be soon. The ship needs a good cleaning before we make a voyage across the Atlantic, at any rate."

"Done then. Same. I guess we should go find that Aztec skull and hope it's not cursed before we sell it off," Tanya suggested.

"Sounds like a plan," I agreed.