Captain Jack Aubrey: Debut

[luckyjackaubrey]

Jack's transportation out of the cell and into one of the largest rooms he'd ever encountered was no less disconcerting than his arrival in that cell twenty-four hours earlier. At least Jack's ability to sleep through anything and at any time had no failed him, and most of his confinement he had spent snoring with no notion of the time on waking which was just as well.

In any case, having no explanation for either arrival, Jack dismissed the question from his mind and set about examining the area. His footfalls echoed off the great empty chamber as he paced about, first in one direction and then the other, finding no clue at all as to the manner of his capture, for captured he surely had been.

"Discourteous of the buggers not to present themselves and state their intentions," he said softly to himself.

Finally, Jack stopped, facing down one of the long corridors, and cupped his hands around his mouth. "Ahoy!" he called in his booming ship's voice. "Hello!"

Comments

[luckyjackaubrey]

"An adversary that uses the very air against you?" Jack said, shocked at the thought of it. The choke of gun smoke was all very well, part of any yardarm to yardarm engagement, but that went beyond all rules of war. Jack had used ever ruse on and off the books, but poison was a cowards weapon no matter which way you squared it.

"Have you any idea who the scoundrel is?" Jack asked, raising his voice so that she could hear him properly.

[withmyshield]

Sharon winces at the earnest old-timeyness of Captain Aubrey, and makes a mental note to text Bert to come collect him ASAP.

She ducks her head out of the vent to answer.

"Yeah, and you're looking at it." She bangs her palm on one of the adjacent ceiling panels. "The ship is basically out to get us."

[luckyjackaubrey]

Jack met her look with a puzzled expression and then his expression brightened thinking of the horrible old Leopard. "You mean that the ship is iron sick?" he asked, but when that earned him no recognition at all.

"Let me pose it another way. Your ship is foundering. It betrays you and will not obey because it is breaking down?"

[withmyshield]

Sharon sits on the top rung of the ladder, basically dumbstruck with the sheer antiquity of his suggestion.

"I have...no idea what all of that means. The ship -space station, really, but sometimes I can't get my brain around the fact something this complex isn't designed to move -it's not under our control."

[luckyjackaubrey]

Jack felt as if he was speaking a different language all together from her's despite the fact that they understood each other's words perfectly. It had not been the first time that day, but it was certainly the most frustrating.

Biting back the reply that her reply was exactly what he had meant, he tried another tact. "Precisely. Then our duty is to take control, however that may be done," he allowed and nodded toward the vents as an example and acknowledgement. Ship or not, even in a sea of stars, the principal was the same: take control of your ship, abandon it, or sink with it.