#Also Tucker's tattoos definitely glow

[illusion-of-sea-axes]

What I imagine Tucker’s tattoos would look like in practice.

[illumynare]

Red vs Blue Fic: Lavernius Tucker and the Tattoo Conspiracy

Summary: The first rule of Blue Team is Be Cool and nobody is letting him be cool.

(Or: the AU where everyone except Tucker has glowing tattoos.)

Parings: None.

Warnings: Lots of swearing, mentions of torture, everyone gets naked except Tucker. (It’s surprisingly un-sexy.)

Notes: Also available on AO3!

RIP my dignity. We had a good run.

Huge, huge thanks to @a-taller-tale, best of wives and best of women beta readers. She really went above and beyond for this one.

Caboose starts it, or anyway, he's the first one Tucker finds out about. One day he gets peanut butter all over the inside of his armor, and Tucker doesn't call "not it" fast enough, so he has to hose him down. First Caboose throws a temper tantrum and doesn't want to take his armor off at all, and then he strips stark-ass naked—which is actually a good thing, considering how far the peanut butter had gotten.

And that's how Tucker sees the tattoo.

It's huge, covering the whole of Caboose's back, geometric designs interlocked with lines of a weird script that Tucker recognizes, after a moment, as Sangheili. The lines are a deep, cobalt blue with an opalescent sheen—crisper and more vivid than any tattoo Tucker's ever seen—and then Caboose shifts a little, turning his back out of the sunlight, and Tucker realizes the tattoo is actually glowing.

"Whoa, dude, what's that?"

"Oh, that is from my best friend," says Caboose.

"Church gave you a glowing tattoo written in Sangheili?" Tucker says. "Dude, I do not believe that. Also, if you call him your best friend again, I think he's gonna shoot you."

"No," says Caboose, "that is from my old best friend. When I was on a team that fought the aliens."

"Wait, you actually fought in the war?" asks Tucker, slightly envious. It's not like he wanted his head shot off by Covenant forces, but he'd thought that being in a few battles and getting some cool scars would help him pick up chicks. Instead he got pulled straight out of Basic and sent to the ass-end of nowhere without a single woman in sight.

"Yeah, we went to a planet that had some stuff, and we were supposed to do things with it, but then the ship crashed, which was definitely not my fault because I did not touch ANY of the buttons, and everybody died in the explosions."

"Wait," says Tucker, "then how—"

"Or they died in the lava. Or the quicksand. Or the psychokinetic carnivorous plants. Or the shooting from the aliens, who were also dying. Yeah, everyone was dead after that. But there was one alien left and we built a house together and went fishing and became best friends forever! So he gave me a tattoo instead of a bracelet. And then I went home."

Okay, clearly that story is 90% bullshit, but Tucker doesn't want to spend the next three hours asking Caboose increasingly simple questions to sort out what really happened.

'Whatever," he sighs, and hits Caboose with another shower from the hose. Caboose twists his head, happily trying to drink the water out of the air.

Tucker does tell Church about it later. Church is not interested.

"Oh my God, Tucker, I do not fucking care how Caboose got a dumbass tattoo on his back."

"I'm just saying, it's kind of—"

"Seriously, why do you care what Caboose has on his naked body?"

"Okay, don't make it weird."

(Much later, when Church is still an asshole but also Epsilon and made out of numbers, he’ll tell Tucker about hacking the extremely classified file that is Private Michael J. Caboose’s one and only real combat mission before getting shunted into the Simulation Trooper program, and Tucker will think, Well, damn.)

Everybody on Blue Team has a role: Caboose is the idiot. Church is the asshole. Tucker is the cool, good-looking one.

Which is why it's so unfair that Caboose gets the alien tattoo that glows in the dark and looks completely sick. Tucker's the one who could actually work it around the ladies . . . if there were any ladies in Blood Gulch besides Tex, who isn't a lady so much as a female velociraptor, and that's on one of her good days.

The point is, Tucker wants in on this game. When he agrees to go with Crunchbite on his stupid quest, half the reason is that he's hoping he'll get a glowing tattoo out of it.

Instead he gets knocked up, and that's—well, Doc does remember to give him anesthetic before starting the C-section, but there's no curtain or anything, and sometimes Tucker really wishes he could forget what it looked like.

Junior, though. He's weird and he smells, but the first time he leans against Tucker and lets out a quiet blargh, all Tucker can think is, My kid. Fucking worth it.

But he still doesn't have a badass glowing tattoo.

And then it turns out that everyone else in this fucking canyon does.

Okay, so Church never had any glowing tattoos on his actual body back when he was alive, which Tucker knows because he asked.

"I'm Jewish, you dumbass."

"Yeah, so?"

"Oh my God, you don't know anything, do you?"

"Hey, you didn't know I was black."

But now he’s a ghost and he can glow in the dark so it’s pretty much the same thing.

Then there's the time that the Reds attack, and when Church starts cursing because he still can't aim with the sniper rifle, Caboose shouts, "I can help you, Church!" and runs up onto the roof with a fucking grenade launcher.

That's loaded with paintballs, because of course it is.

"We are so screwed," Tucker sighs, gripping his rifle. He's the only member of Blue Team who's currently able to (a) hit anything (b) with actual ammo, and that means they're not 4v3, they're 4v1, and Tucker is still too pretty to die like this and disappoint all the ladies.

Except Caboose hits Simmons with a paintball.

And it's blue paint.

"Son of a Manchurian Candidate!" Sarge yells. "Those dirty Blues are trying to brainwash Simmons. The only way to save him is immediate amputation."

"WHAT? But I feel fine! Suck it, Blues! See?"

"The paint is on his torso," says Grif. "I don't think he can survive without his lungs. Wait, does he even have those anymore?"

"As much as I hate to admit that this moron has any reasonable point, it's clear that there's only one solution. We have to field-strip Simmons."

"But Sarge—" Simmons's voice is cut off as Sarge tackles him.

"Oh, boy," says Donut. "I have got the best theme song for this."

As Sarge rips off Simmons's armor, Donut starts singing "Take it Off" while performing a dance routine with a lot of hip-thrusts.

"Wait," says Church. "Did Caboose just . . . save our asses?"

"Shit, don't tell him that," Tucker mutters.

"Yes, well, I didn't want to mention it, but since you insist, I did save us all. Stupid Tucker."

"Heheh, yeah, Caboose is more useful than you today, Tucker."

"Seriously?" says Tucker. "I'm the fucking chosen one, dude. Caboose is just an idiot with blue paint."

"And the blue paint just saved our asses."

"He said it."

Below, Sarge has already gotten Simmons completely naked. It's the first time Tucker's even seen his face. He's a scrawny, ethnically ambiguous string bean with olive skin, black hair, and a lot of chrome.

And a tattoo.

A fucking bright red, glowing tattoo in the pattern of a circuitboard all over his back.

What the fuck.

Like, obviously the tattoo is part of whatever turned Simmons into a cyborg, and Tucker's never wanted to get any of his limbs or internal organs replaced, but it looks . . . cool, okay, it is fucking cool, and the Red Team nerd should not be allowed to look cooler than Tucker does. At all. In any way.

Shit, the tattoo's even pulsating, little glowing specks running down the lines of the circuit, and it's just. Not fucking fair.

"Saaaarge!" Simmons wails, hunching in on himself. "You know I'm shy!"

"Sorry, Simmons, but operational security comes first. Can't allow anyone to be compromised by the Blues."

Simmons responds with a wordless moan.

"I mean, I know it's weird to keep watching," says Church, "but he's suffering so much I can't look away."

Down below, Grif says, "Gosh, Sarge, I think I saw a little bit of paint on you too. Right . . . there." He points at a spot on Sarge's back, where Tucker can see there is definitely not a single drop of paint.

"Horseshoes and hand grenades! So that's their villainous plan!"

Even Tucker has never managed to get naked that fast. He'd be impressed, except he's too busy staring at the giant glowing Red Team snake tattooed on Sarge's back. How did the old fucker even get that tattoo? He probably did it himself with experimental ink that’s radioactive and making him impotent, but Tucker is still a bit jealous.

"Hey, Reds," Church yells. "Looks like half your team is naked!"

“Hah!” Sarge bellows. “And so your plot is foiled again, scumbags!"

Church hefts the sniper rifle, and the Reds retreat while Tucker contemplates how it is fucking bullshit that Sarge and Simmons have glowing tattoos while he doesn't.

Tucker finds out about Donut's tattoo when the Reds mount Operation Weaponized Birthday Cake, and just. The less said about that, the better.

(But sometimes Tucker wakes up in the middle of the night and wonders. You’d need some kind of mad science or alien technology just to make a glowing tattoo. How the hell do you make a tattoo that glows and throws out sparkles?)

Grif's tattoo is different.

Tucker still feels guilty, when he remembers seeing it.

What happens is this: Tucker finally has some free time, and sometimes, when a man has free time, he just really wants a chance to enjoy some nude sunbathing. Without his asshole CO screeching at him or his idiot teammate wanting to join in.

There's this one little nook of the canyon that Church and Caboose don't seem to know about. Sarge and Simmons don't seem to know about it either, because Tucker knows that Grif goes there sometimes too. There have even been a few times they even hung out together—not naked, okay, that would be weird—but sometimes, a man wants to spend time around an asshole who isn't one of the assholes he has to live with every day. And who thinks this war is about as much bullshit as he does.

So one day, Tucker goes to the spot. Caboose tried to cook at 2 AM the night before, which meant the base caught on fire, which meant no one got any sleep, which meant Tucker just really wants to stretch out in the sun and not think about anything for an hour.

Except apparently, Grif had exactly the same idea. He's flat on his stomach, face down, snoring loudly. And stark-ass naked.

What Tucker's staring at isn't Grif's ass, though, it's his back.

It's a work of art.

And it's a war zone.

Because Grif is tattooed the same way Caboose is—different symbols, but the same glowing blue lines, obviously Sangheili—but the skin around the tattoos is ridged and puckered with scars. Somebody ripped Grif's back apart before decorating it, and shit shit shit, Tucker’s suddenly remembering that Grif fought against the aliens before Blood Gulch—something about colony destroyed and only survivor—and he doesn’t know exactly how that left Grif's back scarred around glowing Sangheili symbols, but he does not want to ask.

He backs away silently, and never, ever tells Grif what he saw.

Nothing will ever make Tucker admit it, but he never actually gets lucky with Kai, and the whole reason is the fit he pitches when he sees that glowing golden tramp stamp.

(It’s not fragile masculinity, it’s this fucking CONSPIRACY of tattoos around him. The first rule of Blue Team is Be Cool and nobody is letting him be cool.)

There's one thing that Tucker likes about Wash right from the start:

He doesn't have any tattoos.

Okay, fine, Tucker's never checked. But even if Project Freelancer was dumb enough to let its super-secret operatives have glowing tattoos, there is absolutely no way that Agent "I love drills and protocol" Washington would have gotten one.

The loser probably doesn't even have any piercings.

Maybe that's why Tucker actually feels like he can complain to him, one evening at the crash site, after he's done ten fucking million squats and hates everything.

"Seriously. Literally everyone has a glowing tattoo except for me. It's not fair."

For once, Wash has not only his helmet but the entire top half of his armor off. Does that mean he's decided to relax and be less of an asshole? No, it just means he can pinch the bridge of his nose at Tucker.

"I don't think that's very important, Private Tucker."

"Fuck yeah it's important! Tattoos are cool, and the first rule of Blue Team is be cool."

"Well," says Wash, desert-dryly, "I'm Blue Team leader, and I say you can be on Blue Team even if you're not cool."

"Ugh, like I care what you think." Tucker slouches back in his chair, wishing for the hundredth time that Church was here. Even though Church would probably just say, Shut up, Tucker.

"You know," says Wash, "if you actually tried at all, you'd be a pretty cool soldier."

"Shut up, asshole," Tucker groans, but he can't help smiling a little because, y'know. Wash may be a complete loser but he's also a Freelancer. Who thinks that Tucker could be cool.

It's not a tattoo, but it's kind of nice.

Then there's Felix and then there's Locus, and then Wash calls, Freckles, shake.

In the days and weeks after, the New Republic soldiers stare at Tucker like he's some sort of badass rock star god, and all Tucker can think is that he never wanted to be this cool, not like this.

Not at this price.

When Tucker wakes up in the hospital after fighting Felix at the radio tower—well, the first thing he thinks is my feet are shiny, because holy fuck, Grey has him on a lot of drugs.

But once he stops having conversations with his IV, and once the good news sinks in—that they won, that his friends are all alive, that the Feds and the New Republic have an alliance—

One of the first things that Tucker thinks is, Well, I guess it's back to being Private Tucker.

Except. Wash calls him "Captain," and doesn't order him to run laps when they disagree. He doesn't boss Tucker's squad around, unless they've been sent to him for training.

Slowly, Tucker starts to realize that Wash believes in his rank, is trying to support him, and it's just. He has to go sit next to Grif and wordlessly drink a few beers, that's what it means to him.

He swears to himself that he's going to live up to this.

Tucker's going to die soon.

If he's lucky.

Because Felix grabbed him . . . Tucker isn't sure how long ago, but it's been far too long and now he hurts more than he ever thought possible.  And he tried not to scream, he tried to be brave, he really fucking tried—

But.

Well.

In the end, when Felix stuck the camera in his face and said, Ask them to come for you, Tucker choked on a sob and said, Wash, please.

He's been alone since that, lying in his own blood on the floor of this cell. Felix didn't bother restraining him again, because he knows that Tucker's too broken to fight anymore. He can't even bring himself to sit up; all he can do is lie here and think miserably of how fucking disappointed Wash is going to be in him.

Everyone will be disappointed—Carolina and Kimball and stupid Palomo—but Wash is the first one who believed in him, who said, You just need to try, and Tucker tried and tried and now here he is, broken and begging on command so Felix can use him as bait.

At least he knows that Wash will stop Caboose from watching the message. That's something.

There's also this: Wash is going to kill Felix. Tucker knows that, and even if he isn't going to be around to see it, he finds it pretty comforting. Wash is going to make Felix regret that he ever leaned close and said, Y'know, this is basic RTI training for a Freelancer. But I guess even that's too much for you.

Tucker remembers what happened right after Felix said that, and he shudders and wheezes and fuck, everything hurts.

He doesn't want to die, but he really, really wants this to stop.

The door of his cell opens.

"Oh, hey there, Tucker. Ready for some more fun?"

Just the sound of Felix's voice makes him start shaking now. It's Pavlovian and it's fucked and Tucker hates it.

He wonders if he could manage to barf on Felix's boots in revenge.

"Yeah, I've gotten pretty bored with our little chats too." Felix hauls him up—Tucker bites back a whimper—and drags him out the door. "But you see, somebody's melodramatic Freelancer boyfriend decided to turn up with a bomb and a deadman switch, so it's time for you to be useful."

"He's not my boyfriend," Tucker mutters. He can barely keep his feet under him; he’s pretty sure that if Felix wasn’t dragging him along the hallway, he’d fall over. Felix is a fucking artist with his knife, but Tucker’s still lost a lot of blood by now, and he hasn’t eaten or slept since they grabbed him.

Then Tucker’s brain catches up, and his spine turns to ice as he really understands what Felix said, and all he can think is Oh shit oh shit he actually came.

Wash wasn't supposed to come for him. Tucker had been so sure that he wouldn't obey Felix's "come alone and unarmed" message.

That's the only—well, Tucker would like to think that's the only reason he broke. Because Wash has lectured him about negotiations with hostages and terrorists, Tucker knows what the protocol is, why the fuck does this have to be the one time that Agent Washington doesn't want to follow protocol?

Felix drags him through the base—there are mercs everywhere, Wash is never getting out of this alive, and Tucker wonders dizzily if he can get Felix to shoot him somehow, but then Felix drags him into a room and there's—

Wash.

Helmet off, no gun, holding a crooked bundle of wires and flashing lights that has to be the bomb.

He looks like shit, the circles under his eyes worse than ever, stubble on his chin and his mouth set in that line of "I've just woken up from a nightmare about my whole team dying and I'm sure it will come true."

That expression used to mean that Tucker was going to do worse drills than usual, and now it means that Tucker is going to watch his best friend die.

And it will be all his fault.

Fuck.

"Don't—" he manages to rasp out, and then Felix has him forced to his knees, one hand gripping Tucker’s dreads, the other pressing a pistol to the base of his skull.

"Okay, Agent Washington, here's your little friend. He's alive and he's even going to stay that way, if you do what I tell you."

There's a glorious moment where Tucker imagines Wash saying, Fuck no, and backflipping across the room while he pulls out two rifles and then dual-wields his way through a slow-mo, totally awesome battle that ends with Felix and Locus both dead.

But Wash just says, "Okay," and he drops the bomb.

"Well, that's a good first step," says Felix. "Now take off that armor."

And Wash does. He pulls it off piece by piece—Tucker can count on one hand the number of times he's seen Wash totally unarmored, and now Felix is making it happen and it's like. The worst and most depressing stripper show ever.

If Tucker somehow survives this, he will never forgive himself.

When Wash is stripped down to his kevlar undersuit, Felix laughs and says, "Really? It’s that easy to make you give up? Locus is going to be disappointed, I gotta tell you."

"Let him go," says Wash, staring at Felix with the same unsettlingly direct stare as when he told Tucker, You just have to stick with what you think is best. "I did what you wanted."

But Felix laughs and shakes his head. “Oh, no, no. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice—see, I read your psych profile. I know you have far too much tragic backstory to bring a secret AI like Tucker did. So you’ve obviously got some other surprise hidden on you. You want me to believe you’ve surrendered? You’ll have to get naked."

Shit, he’s probably right. The plan’s gone wrong, and Wash needs to get out while there’s still time. Tucker finds his voice and says, "Wash—stop—"

But Wash is already peeling off his undersuit.

And Tucker sees Wash's skin. His shoulders and his arms and his chest.

There are glowing blue lines everywhere.

"What the fuck?" says Felix, and it takes Tucker a moment to realize it wasn't just him thinking it, because what the fuck.

Wash is covered in glowing blue tattoos, from wrist to throat to navel. They're not Sangheili symbols like Grif and Caboose, and they're not a circuitboard like Simmons, and they're not Blood Gulch symbols like Sarge. They're Greek letters and swirls and lines, and they say Epsilon and they say more, Alpha-Beta-Delta-Sigma-Omega-Gamma-Theta-Eta-Iota, and Tucker's regretting every time he made a crack about Wash staying in his armor. Because the whole painful history of the Freelancer AIs is written on Wash's skin and Tucker has no right to see this, he doesn't want to see this, but he's looking at it just the same.

And then Tucker realizes what that means: Wash had those tattoos all along.

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?" he howls.

He knows he's having hysterics. But this is it. This is how he dies. Not from Felix's torture, not from a bullet to the brain, but from Agent fucking Washington and his fucking glowing tattoos what the fuck.

"Wow, Tucker," says Church, appearing in front of him. "I had no idea you were so insecure." Then he flickers up into Felix's face. "Oh, yeah. I've been hacking your base. No biggie. Seriously, you didn't think I could be in Wash's armor instead of his implants?"

There's an explosion from outside, and the next moment, Wash is right there, kicking gun out of Felix’s hand, then dodging back when Felix lunges for him.

"And it wasn't a bomb," Wash calls out smugly, bouncing on his toes. "It was a homing device.”

“For the reinforcements,” Church adds. “Bitch.”

Felix lets out a scream of rage and charges Wash. Who is, wow, actually really good at fighting naked. Tucker wonders dizzily if that’s a thing they trained at in Project Freelancer, and if he can get Carolina to give him lessons, and then suddenly he just doesn’t have any strength left and he falls over. Everything is a blur of pain and what the fuck, and Tucker hears Church say, "Okay, seriously Tucker, this isn't funny," but he's lost the ability to speak.

Gradually, things stop hurting. There's this wonderful cool, floaty feeling. Tucker realizes it's the healing unit. He's lying on his back, the healing unit is running, he's not dead and therefore Wash kicked Felix's ass.

Sweet.

He opens his eyes. Wash is leaning over him.

"You fuck," says Tucker. "You have a tattoo."

Wash makes this weird noise that's almost like a laugh. "Yeah. Sorry about that."

"Dude. Not fair."

Wash is back in his undersuit, because nothing will make him less of a prude, and Tucker is—

—Tucker is alive, he can't believe it, he's alive and he's safe and Felix isn't there to smile and say, Well, actually, as he slides the knife in and. 

And then Tucker remembers that if Wash is here, then he watched the message. He knows how weak Tucker is.

"Sorry," he mutters. “Guess I really fucked up.”

He has a feeling he's going to be saying that a lot, when he gets back.

"It's fine," Wash says soothingly. "Everything's okay."

And that hurts, somehow, more than any stern reprimands to Private Tucker possibly could.

"It's not," says Tucker. "I—I broke, okay, I begged when he told me too, and—and—"

"Tucker," says Wash, and it's that voice, the extra-calm Freelancer voice, the one that Tucker can believe even when he's totally panicking, that he could follow into any sort of danger. "You survived. That's okay. That's, uh. Pretty cool."

"Yeah, it's more than most of the Freelancers managed," Church adds, appearing by Wash's shoulder.

"Epsilon," Wash growls.

"What? Comms are down, so is security, Carolina already took out Locus and Felix McFuckface here is not going to wake up for a while. Relax."

". . . I can't believe you have a tattoo," Tucker mumbles.

"Yeah, it's, uh." Wash stops.

"Wow, I just realized I should be literally anywhere else," says Church, and disappears.

“Side-effect of the implantation," Wash finishes with a sigh.

"So Carolina also has one?"

Wash cracks a grin. "Nope. She has two."

"Ugh. That's so unfair." Tucker tries to sit up, and the world swims around him. Wash sets a steadying hand on his back.

Tucker can hear crashes and screams and explosions in the distance—the cavalry, obviously. Lots of them. Shit, did everyone come on this mission?

"Tell you what," says Wash, his voice only a little bit condescending. "When you get out of the hospital, I'll help you get a cool tattoo.”

Tucker hurts everywhere. He's not okay. He doesn’t want to think about how long he’ll be in the hospital, or how many of his friends heard him beg in that recording, or how soon he’ll start dreaming about Felix.

But Wash's hand is warm and comforting against his spine. Tucker’s alive, and everyone came to save him, and Wash isn’t ashamed of him. And he thinks . . . maybe he’s going to be okay, eventually.

“Oh, like you know anything about what's cool," he says, and Wash laughs.

[tuesdaydnd]

Pirates Creed Part One

04-28-2015

Pirate’s Creed:

Part One

The Chosen Ones

           All over the world a group of people receive messages from a mysterious stranger asking them to come to London. The message includes whatever is necessary to provide transportation. Six people arrive at an isolated inn in the English countryside following the instructions. The group appears to have nothing in common.

           They are introduced to a man who is known only as mentor. It is very difficult to make out his face, but with some work General Korino is able to make it out. The man explains that he represents a secret society dedicated to helping mankind. He wants the group to work secretly for this society while acting as pirates in the Carribean.

           The group is known as the Eye of Thoth. It is an ancient order that stretches into prehistory. It has always worked behind the scenes to improve the lot of the human race using ancient secrets from a civilization that vanished long ago. If they agree to join secrets will be revealed that will allow them to gain powers unknown to the rest of the world.

           Each of them has been chosen because Mentor believes that they have the potential to benefit from the secret teachings found in the Liber Atlantica, a book believed to be from the fabled lost continent of Atlantis. The book has long ago been destroyed, but a few pages of it have been recovered.

           Of course nothing is ever simple. The Eye of Thoth is eternally opposed by another secret society known as the Ophidian Order. This order, whose symbol is a snake devouring its own tail also believes in recovering ancient secrets, but they use their power to rule over mankind and to enslave or kill any who oppose them. They believe that the strong should have dominion over the weak and that the lost secrets that they have found make them fit to be lords of the earth.

           As the group discuss joining the Eye of Thoth it occurs to them that each of them heard Mentor speak in their own language. Mentor explains that he actually spoke in glossanalia, a language that is understood by all.

           They agree to join the group. Mentor reveals a page of the Liber Atlantica which is written on an odd parchment which shows little wear even though it is thousands of years old. The page shows a series of physical and mental excercises which will unlock secret powers buried deep within. This will allow them to access the elan vitale the inner power which courses through all living things, but which very few have the ability to control. They will be able to channel this inner strength to gain amazing physical and mental abilities.

           There follows six weeks of training in which Mentor and a few other members of the Eye of Thoth instruct the new members with the skills that they will need to be effective agents. They also get a chance to practice using their power to unlock hidden abilities.

           The time draws near for their first mission. They are introduced to Archibald Gates, a pirate who supposedly was hung earlier that day. Gates is still in shock from watching his own hanging, but vows to help the heroes in any way he can. He is a master mariner with knowledge of the Carribean.

           They will need a ship and a crew to man her. A ship has recently been completed in the docks at Dover. Lord Baltimore had it built to be a privateer vessel, but with the war winding down there seems no use for it. It will be a perfect ship if they can steal it.

           Gates offers to visit some of the waterfront hangouts and recruit sailors. Zahara and Xi agree to join him.

           Barnaby Tucker steals the ship in the simplest way possible. He marches on oard and shows the signet ring indicating his royal blood and takes the ship in the name of the crown. They load supplies on board as rapidly as possible while the crew is being gathered.

           In a bar they are confronted by a man named Winder. Gates recognizes him as sailing with Jennings in the Caribbean and wonders why he is in London. Winder has a snake tattoo around his wrist. Xi sees the tattoo and mistakenly believes that winder is allied with them. When he gives the sign of the Eye of Thoth Winder pulls out a knife and attacks.

           Xi is injured, but they manage to put Winder down. While he is helpless they search him, finding a scrap of paper with what appears to be a map, but it isn’t marked in any way. Winder tries to tell the sailors that the heroes work for the king and are here to arrest them, but Zahara breaks his hand. They finally leave with about half the crew they need to fully man the ship.

           Mentor gives some healing salve to Xi which makes his wound stop bleeding and takes away the pain. He also gives them a crystal skull which will allow them to communicate across vast distances. They are warned to be very careful with the skull. There are very few of them and the secret of making them has been lost.

           The heroes arrive back at the ship with the new recruits just as Lord Baltimore arrives with a unit of soldiers. Under a hail of gunfire they manage to maneuver the nre ship into the water and out to sea.

           At sea Gates drills the men with their duties, specifically firing the cannons. He warns the heroes that with this few men they won’t be able to both sail the ship and fire the cannons at the same time. They definitely need more men before they engage in any sea battles.

           One night the crystal skull starts to glow. When the heroes place their hand upon it they hear the voice of Mentor speaking in their minds. He informs them of their mission.

           The War of Spanish succession is coming to a close. With a new king on the Spanish throne peace has been restored. In the Caribbean the European powers have been using privateers to attack foreign vessels. Most of the British privateers are holed up in Port Royal Jamaica where they have been stranded y a hurricane. They are waiting for a ship from England with their pay for the Spanish ships they’ve captured. Unknown to them Lord Baltimore is sailing to the Caribbean and he has no intention of paying them off. Apparently someone has decided that the privateers are too dangerous to be allowed to live, and Lord Baltimore plans on killing them. The Eye of Thoth needs to stop this plan at all costs.

           Realizing they still need more men they sail their ship, now called the Kraken to Tortuga. It is a notorious pirate haven currently in the hands of the Spanish. Upon arrival they are surprised to find a huge Spanish Man O’ War called the Conception in the harbor. All of the top rate Spanish ships have been fighting in Europe for years, which is why the privateers have been so successful.

           They contact Mentor to see if he knows, but he is as in the dark as they are. He does suggest that the presence of the ship implies the Spanish are abandoning the European war and are up to something.

           As they weigh anchor in the harbor they see soldiers marching on the deck of the Conception. The ship seems to have a compliment of soldiers as well as sailors. Gates goes ashore to recruit more sailors while the quartermaster resupplies the ship with food and water. The rest of the group spread out across the city to try and find out what they can.

           Zahara hears the mayor talking to the Spanish captain in a second story window. He slips inside and passes himself off as a serving girl, allowing him to bring wine to the mayor. Unfortunately he has to kill one of the other servants to do this. He does make the acquantaince of a slave working in the house and promises to free her.

           While serving the wine Zahara hears the mayor ask if the treasure fleet is sailing soon. The captain laughs and says he is sworn to secrecy.

           While this is happening Xi swims out to the Conception . Sneaking through a gun port he finds fifteen sailors sleeping on hammocks strung over the cannons. He begins to silently take them out one by one, but he is spotted and the alarm sounds.

           Trying to escape Xi is tackled and has to deal with the sailors in hand to hand combat. Meanwhile the soldiers are coming from the deck. Finally Xi manages to dive through the gun port. The soldiers on deck open fire, but are unable to hit him. When he makes it back to the docks an exhausted Xi sees that a boat from the Spanish ship is heading to the docks. Quickly he returns to the Kraken to get a set of dry clothes.

           As Captain Diaz leaves the mayor’s office Reynard Augustine approaches him and offers him information about an English ship that is on its way. Diaz says he is not interested, that he has his orders. When Augustine claims that the English ship is worth a lot of gold Diaz only laughs and tells him, “Gold is the least of my problems.”

           As they are talking frantic crewmen arrive with the news that a phantom assassin has been on board the ship killing men. They try to describe some kind of yellow skinned devil. Diaz orders all his man back to the ship and demands that the mayor to call out the soldiers.

           Augustine, accompanied by another man goes in search of more crew. They try to help Gates find men in a tavern. They are opposed by Captain Cazalla. The Spanish privateer declares that the arrival of the Conception marks the end of piracy in the Caribbean. Once the big war ships move in there will be no place for the likes of them. He suggests they all move to Africa, the Barbary Coast or perhaps Madagascar.

           Augustine manages to persuade several sailors to come with them anyway. On their way back to the Kraken they see Xi captured by soldiers. They take him to the mayor’s office where Captain Diaz and the mayor are waiting to question him.

           Augustine and Arthur leave Gates with the new men on the Kraken and head back to try and save Xi. The Japanese man has been confusing them, but Diaz is determined to find out what is going on. Arthur arrives and manages to capture the mayor. Xi grabs his weapons and confronts Diaz, who is a formidable opponent and a skilled swordsman. Xi falls back wounded, but he does manage to shoot Diaz in the arm.

           While Arthur keeps more soldiers from arriving Augustine comes in and takes charge of Xi, pretending to arrest him. Diaz is suspicious of his story, but as he is wounded and has a gun pointing at him, he has little choice but to let them go. As they leave Augustine makes sure that Ophidian Order will be blamed for the debacle.

           Heading back to the docks they see Cazalla lurking in the shadows. The Spanish captain has seen everything that has transpired.

           The Kraken leaves with the tide before authorities in Tortuga can make sense of what happened. On the way to Port Royal the crew elects Barnaby Tucker as captain.

           In Jamaica Zahara stays on the ship in case of trouble while Archibald recruits the rest of the men that they will need. The signs of the hurricane are everywhere, with many ships smashed to pieces.  Onshore Barnaby and Reynaud meet with the privateers.

           One of the leaders of the sailors is Benjamin Hornigold, captain of the Ranger. Unfortunately his ship has been badly damaged. He can’t get it out of the water since the only working drydock holds the Bathsheba, William Jennings ship.

           Hornigold plans on repairing the ship with the money he’s expecting from his priveteering. He’s just waiting on the ship from England to arrive with the money.

           “About that…” Barnaby explains the situation. The ship from England is coming to kill them, not pay them off.

           Hornigold is upset that the king would try to get rid of them, but Jennings doesn’t seem bothered. His ship is almost repaired and he’ll be able to escape.

           The adventurers remember that they’ve heard the name Jennings before. It was one of his men whom they found in London with a fragment of a map on him. That man had been an agent of the Ophidian Order.

           While talking to Hornigold and his men Sam Bellamy and Edward Thatch, the privateer explains that during the storm his cannons came loose and smashed the timbers providing support for his hull. Every carpenter in town is charging a fortune to work on the boats. Immediately Xi offers his services and Hornigold gratefully accepts.

           As the repair work continues on the Ranger Hornigold talks to the members of the Eye of Thoth. A second Spanish Man O’War has been spotted, which is too many not to be up to something. It’s possible that Spain is once again setting sail with a treasure fleet loaded with gold and silver, but it does them little good if they can’t figure out what route the ship will take. It could go either north along the Florida coast or south past the Antilles.

Hornigold says that no one has ever successfully attacked a treasure fleet. If they were to take even one ship it would be enough gold to give them a new start, and prove to the world that they are a force to be reckoned with

           Word has spread about the British ship, causing a panic amongst the privateers. At a meeting of all the captains they discuss their options. Hornigold believes that they should stay together and organize themselves. He suggests they relocate to New Providence Island in the Bahamas. Currently there is no government on the island and if they take over they will be protected by the old Fort Nassau.

           Only when Captain Jennings agrees to the plan do the rest of the captains agree. First they have to survive being attacked by the British ship which could arrive at any time. Reynard takes a crew and starts gutting the ships wrecked in the harbor, trying to set them up as floating gun platforms.

           While they prepare the harbor for battle Zahara talks to Adeaza the slave he rescued in Tortuga. It occurs to him that she may have overheard Captain Diaz talking about the treasure fleet. At first Adeaza thinks she knows nothing, but some prodding she recalls Diaz saying that they must go north to stay ahead of the storms in hurricane season. At last they know the route. The fleet will sail north to catch the westerly winds.

           That night Zahara and Korino see Thatch sneak out of town and they decide to follow him. At a crossroads he makes a fire and burns something. A figure appears in the cloud of smoke.

           The newcomer looks like a black man with white body paint that looks like a skeleton. He is wearing a top hat and ragged clothing. Thatch calls the figure Baron Saturday. The Baron promises to protect thatch in battle in return for certain sacrifices.

           The adventures return and report to their captain what they’ve seen. Barnaby makes sure Zahara is assigned to Hornigold’s ship so he can keep watch on Thatch in the coming battle.

           Meanwhile Reynard is leading a crew to get the damaged ships set up as floating gun platforms. On one of the ships he encounters a pirate who is stealing a pearl necklace from a hiding spot in the captain’s cabin.

           “Wouldn’t want this beauty to go to waste,” the man, Charles Vane sneers as he leaves the ship. Reynard lets him go, since after all, they’re all pirates.

           The harbor at Port Royal has been turned into a trap for the incoming ship. Reynard is manning the center ship, Korino on the west ship and the doctor on the east ship. In addition Barnaby prepares a small fireship in case it becomes necessary to sink the vessel entirely. Hornigold’s Ranger and Jenning’s Bathsheba are also in the water ready for action.

           They have seized the mayor and are holding most of the town’s soldiers prisoner, although a few soldiers decide to join them. Barnaby and Archibald are on the Kraken, Xi chooses to take charge of the fire raft.

           When the attack comes it is from an unexpected quarter. Gunfire erupts in the city. Barnaby rushes back and sees the pirates being slaughtered by soldiers. They have been taken by surprise with a land attack.

           As he enters the battle Barnaby is confronted by the Duke of Sunderland. The duke instantly recognizes Barnaby as being trained by the Eye of Thoth. “Didn’t your masters tell you that we already rule the world?” he sneers. Sunderland goes on to brag that his ability to see the future allowed him to plan this surprise attack.

           Barnaby uses his twin whips on Sunderland, but the duke is incredibly fast and agile, dodging several blows. When Barnaby whips off his hat the enraged Duke leaps to Barnaby’s side and brings him to the ground with a savage blow.

           Responding to the gunfire Reynard and Xi abandon their posts and head into town to join the fight. Meanwhile Barnaby is engaged in a savage hand to hand battle with the Duke. Sunderland is a more experienced fighter, but losing his temper has made him careless. Barnaby is able to grab him and snap his neck.

           As soon as the shock of seeing their leader kills wears off the soldiers open fire. Barnaby tries to search the body but is driven back by gunfire and is hit twice. Meanwhile Xi sneaks around behind the soldiers to perform an ambush attack. Reynard rallies the retreating pirates and gets them to fight back.

           Just as it seems the tide of battle has turned the sound of canons splits the air. The Serapis has arrived. As it sails into range Korino opens fire from his gun platform, but the British ship sails on. The returning fire hits Korino’s ship causing it to tilt wildly, making the cannons useless. Meanwhile the doctor manages to get off a volley that damages the Serapis . The other platform fires, but they do little damage and soon a fire breaks out that puts them out of commission.

           With two gun platforms down Jennings and Hornigold take their ships into the harbor. The Ranger slides neatly into position and lets loose with a broadside that shakes the British ship to its core. Snipers on the British ship lay down a withering fire.

           All this time Zahara has been staying close to Thatch. The burly pirate lit up a cigar before the battle. As the bullets fly around them Thatch calmly lights slow burning matches and fuses that dangle from his pockets, surrounding himself in a cloud of sulpherous smoke.

           Zahara is shocked to see a small creature looking like some kind of an imp form in the smoke. It whips through the air and swallows any bullet that comes close to Thatch.

           Barnaby manages to stop his bleeding with the healing salve. He makes it back on board the Kraken just in time to sail into action. They put out a rope to pick up Korino who his abandoned his rapidly sinking platform.

           The Ranger attaches grappeling hooks to draw next to the Serapis. Hornigold calls out to board the ship. His crew swarms forward, including Zahara and Thatch. In the bloody fighting Hornigold swings across on a rope and places himself in the center of the action, targeting the captain.

           When the Kraken is in range Barnaby, Korino and their crew join the battle. The British sailors are well trained, but the pirates overwhelm them.

           During the battle a cry goes out that there’s a fire on the gun deck. Knowing that this could kill all of them and send the ship to the bottom, Barnaby races below deck. He finds a fire deliberately set which threatens a store of gunpowder.

           While fighting the fire Barnaby spots a shadowy figure slipping away. The man is heading towards the captain’s quarters. Barnaby races after him and tackles him. After a brief fight the man surrenders. His name is Jeremy Ritt, and he isn’t dressed like a sailor. Barnaby takes him to the brig and orders that he be watched.  Once he is secured Barnaby searches the captain’s cabin. He finds gold and two interesting pieces of paper.

           Back on shore Xi and Reynard catch the British soldiers between them and finish them off. When the battle is done they rejoin their crew and captain. Barnaby studies what he has found. Sunderland has a page from an ancient book. It looks similar to the page from the Liber Atlantica that Mentor showed them. Although this one is equally old it is written in a very different language.

           When Barnaby touches the ancient parchment he gets a sudden vivid image of an ancient city surrounded by jungle on an island. The strange stone towers do not seem like any human architecture that he is familiar with.

           Barnaby shows the crew the orders Sunderland received to get rid of the pirates. Xi’s keen eye spots that there is more to the orders than meets the eye. Hidden by illusion on the page is a second set or orders warning Sunderland not to kill Jennings or his men. When Korino touches the ancient parchment he also receives a vision of the city on the jungle island.

As they prepare for their first major battle Xi makes weapons for the Doctor. Their new ship the Serapis is renamed the Basilisk. Before they leave it’s discovered that the prisoner Barnaby captured has vanished from his cell. There’s no sign of him, and a furious Barnaby has the men guarding the prisoner punished.

The Basilisk and the Kraken arrive in Tortuga, but they have missed the Conception which has already sailed. With the Doctor’s help translating Barnaby asks around to determine the ship’s location. The Conception has sailed south to pick up the treasure ships. It will meet up with the rest of the fleet at Havana, the most heavily guarded port in the Caribbean.

The group arrives in Havana and finds that the Conception isn’t there, but an identical man o’war named the Santa Maria is there along with two treasure ships riding low in the water with a fortune in gold and silver. They must be waiting for the Conception to arrive to form up the treasure fleet so they can sail for Spain.

All that gold is too tempting for the adventurers to ignore, but getting any of it will be difficult. In addition to the Man O’War there are also two other warships at the docks and to enter the harbor they must sail under the huge canons of the port. Deciding to employ stealth, they slip into harbor and take some Spanish uniforms.

Once suitably attired they split into two groups, Reyand, Xi and Max slip aboard one of the smaller warships while Barnaby the Doctor and Korino sneak aboard the other. Their goal is to get to the powder room and set it to explode at roughly the same time as they make their escape.

The confident Spanish are not expecting trouble, but getting to the poder room isn’t so easy. Barnaby’s team is immediately put to work on guard duty by an officer. Renaurd’s party makes it to the posder room thanks to a party that is going on below decks. Once there, they can’t find the keys and Xi has to use his carpentry skills to get the door open.

On the other ship Barnaby sneaks away by himself, but is unable to take out the two guards before one can sound an alarm. Nevertheless, he manages to lay a powder trail and head for the exit. Do to the hasty nature of their retreat the two ships do not quite explode together, and there isn’t quite enough time to make it off the ships. When the gangplanks shake under them Xi drops into the water and swims while the rest scramble to find their footing.

The port is in chaos as the two ships burn. The group is able to slip away as silently as they came and sail back as soon as possible, their numbers bolstered by another ship who agreed to join them at Port Royal. The three ships sail into the harbor. Reynard is on the Basilisk Barnaby is on the Kraken and the Doctor has joined the third ship.

The Santa Maria sees them coming and waves lanterns to get their attention, ordering them to stop. Barnaby tries a series of ruses which do not seem to convince the Spanish captain. Just as they pull up alongside, the Santa Maria the great ship opens fire. The Kraken had its cannons prepared and even as cannon balls rake the deck the brigantine fires back. Both ships are rocked by the impact.

There is a moment of screaming confusion. Nothing can be seen through the thick gunpowder smoke, but Barnaby hears the sickening sound of timber snapping as two of his masts come down, crushing his crew under the weight of the canvas and wood. From below decks he hears the sounds of injured men and knows that his gun deck took a hit, putting at least some of the cannons out of action. His own ship is crippled and he has no way of knowing how badly damaged the enemy is.

The other two ships, keeping to the plan, sail past the damaged Kraken and move towards the treasure ships. The crews of these ships are startled by the surprise attack. Although they have cannons, they do not get organized fast enough to defend themselves. The Basilisk sails between the two treasure ships and opens fire with all guns, blasting both ships. Meanwhile the third ship slides along one of the treasure ships and lays on a blast from their own cannons. Pirates pour onto the decks of the treasure ships, fighting their way past the crew and the rubble of the ship that stands in their way.

Barnaby and his crew cut through the canvas sails to free themselves. Two masts have been shot away, leaving them with only the foremast and the gaff rigged sails that will allow them to maneuver even if they can’t get much speed. He orders them to sail around to the sten of the ship. That way they will be out of range for the broadside and will have a chance to blow off the rudder of the Santa Maria. They get into position but fail to destroy the rudder. Finally they have no choice but to attack their ship with grappling hooks to avoid drifting away.

Attached to the enemy ship they are too close to use their cannons without damaging themselves. As Barnaby gets the crew organized into a boarding party they are struck with a rain of bullets from the soldiers on the deck. Ordering his men to safety Barnaby uses his whips to yank the rifles out of the Spanish hands.

Meanwhile Reynaud cuts a swathe through the chaos of combat on the deck of the treasure ship and makes his way to the captain’s quarters. He is attacked by the captain, but defeats him in a furious sword battle. He forces the captain to cooperate while he searches the cabin, taking wine, the navigation charts and a necklace that the captain had hidden.

On the other treasure ship the Coctor uses his hand axes to cut his way past the Spanish soldiers. He reaches below decks and hacks open the door. Inside are crate after crate of gold. There are stacks of silver bars and jewels spilling onto the floor. There is far too much tobe stolen by the few people they’ve got, particularly since they have very little time.

As the treasure ships are being looted Barnaby grabs one of the deck swivel guns and blasts the Spanish ship with grapeshot. That keeps the men either in hiding or badly wounded, allowing the pirates to swarm on board. The fighting is brutal, and Barnaby is struck in the side by a stray bullet. On top of that, Spanish soldiers have swung with ropes onto the deck of the Kraken and are now getting Barnaby’s crew in a crossfire.

Barnaby has no choice but to turn the swivel gun on his own ship to drive the Spanish away. His dream of taking the Santa Maria may be impossible, but he can still blow it up. Leaving the fighting to his men he goes below deck. The Spanish sailors are just getting organized, and it takes every ounce of his enhanced abilities to stay alive. Only the healing salve keeps him from dropping due to blood loss.

Finding a small cask of gunpowder, Barnaby sets a fuse to it and heads back to his ship. Before they can even cast off there is an explosion below decks, followed by another larger blast. The side of the Man O’War now has a large smoking hole.

“Cast off! Turn about!” Barnaby calls to his exhausted crew. The ropes are severed and the Kraken, slowly, almost painfully starts to move past the Spanish ship which is now covered in smoke. In the confusion there is a loud roar and a bit of the ocean explodes.

As the men race to empty the treasure ships they too hear the mighty sound and see the explosion. The guns of the fort have spoken. These cannons, larger than any that could be carried on a ship are capable of sinking a vessel with a single sell placed shot. The captain of the fort had been hesitant to fire lest they sink their own treasure ship, but the pirate’s success has made up his mind. It would be better for them to dredge the gold off the bottom of the harbor than lose it forever.

The mighty cannons roar again and again. The water around them boils with cannonballs. Reynaud shouts for his crew to cast off and make good their escape. No one understands French, but the crew fortunately needs no further orders to leave.

As the ships pull out they pass the badly damaged Kraken and throw tow lines to her. As the three ships sail to the mouth of the harbor a cannonball hits the deck of the Kraken and drops straight down, putting a hole in her bottom. The crippled ship is taking on water faster than the bilge pumps can get rid of it.

Seeing their distress Xi climbs over on the tow ropes with his carpentry kit. With a plank, a hammer and a handful of nails he dives under the rapidly rising water to put the repair in place.

Towing the damaged Kraken has slowed the other two ships. As the fort gets their range the cannons are getting closer and closer. The basilisk is hit. It is only a glancing blow, but it is strong enough to knock a hole in their side perilously near their water line.

Luck is with the pirates. They manage to make it out of Havana with their prize. The plan is to head for Fort Nassau on New Providence Island, but their ships are too badly damaged to make it that far.

Finding an uninhabited island they pull in for repairs. The crew has to make new masts for the Kraken and repair the side of the Basilisk. Everyone is in a jubilant mood, knowing the Spanish can never catch up with them. Reynaud takes the time to carefully bury one of the treasure chests.

At dawn the next day their mood changes as they see a ship has entered the cove, blocking the exit. The gunports of the Tiberon are open and they threaten to fire if the pirates start to ready their cannons. The ship isn’t as big as the Kraken or the Basilisk, but it has the drop on them.

While talking to the captain they discover it is Cazalla, the Spanish privateer who met some of the adventurers in Tortuga. Apparently, he witnessed some of what transpired between them and the mayor and was curious enough to keep an eye on them. After seeing their raid on Havana from afar, he is now moving in to take a share of the prize. Cazalla offers to let them go if they will give him a single chest of treasure.

Barnaby orders a chest filled with cannon balls and goes over in a longboat with Reynaud to meet Cazalla halfway. Once he talks to the resourceful pirate Barnaby winds up offering him a chance to join the gathering at New Providence. Cazalla can be part of the pirate republic that is being formed. Jennings and Hornigold will meet with them there in a fortnight.

To everyone’s surprise, including his own, Cazalla agrees. One chest of treasure is good, but the wily Spanish captain sees the possibility of much more.

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