Draft Log #3: During v. 2.0

[lucetimods]

Who: Everyone on the draft
What: Day 3-5
When: August 27th-August 29th
Where: ONCE MORE INTO THE-- ...BEACH
Summary: Like it says above. The draftees reach the beach.
Rating: V FOR VIOLENT BEHAVIOUR!!


Once again, That Handy Useful Information Link. Also a link to the previous draft log!

Comments

[all7seas]

And he has spared YOU for this small duty?

[Jack was savvy enough to realize how much James Norrington had probably come to rely on Horatio.]

He's afraid, isn't he. Afraid I'm going to knock his mission out from under him.

[captainhornblower]

I volunteered to check on those here and bring back a report, Captain Sparrow.

[His tone quiets a slight bit, sympathetic for the higher-ranking officer.]

Any such thoughts, Captain, I am not privy to, nor is it my place to judge or question my admiral.

[all7seas]

[A snort, and Jack finally puts the pistol away.] You know your place, Captain Hornblower. I make mine.

Very well, then; you volunteered to leave your crew and your vessel to check on the injured for him. Tell him I've managed not to burn the place down in his absence, eh?

[He notices the food, then.]

What's this?

[captainhornblower]

I will, Captain.

[Ah, the food. Well.]

It was here when I arrived, Captain Sparrow.

SUPROSE!

[all7seas]

"It was, was it?" The pirate reached out for it, but his fingertips were well shy of the little table. "You mind, Hornblower?"

[captainhornblower]

"Of course." Hornblower pushed the plate closer, much more easily within reach. "There?"

[all7seas]

Jack did not have much of an appetite, but he did take an apple from the plate. "You want anything? You've been fighting mortal hard out there." That was not admitted as grudgingly as one might think; Jack owed Hornblower for ordering that lifeboat after the Elizabeth. He was not good at being grateful.

[captainhornblower]

Horatio seemed almost surprised by the offer, and it made him think. When had he last eaten? ...The first night, perhaps noon the second day. Not since then, to his recollection. Maybe a bite here or there, but the captain was used to forgetting about a need to eat or sleep.

"Thank you, Captain Sparrow." But he did not take anything.

[all7seas]

The pirate split the bread in half and offered him one chunk. "Eat it. I'm not going to finish it all."

[captainhornblower]

Hornblower took the piece but split it further in half, setting one down on the plate again. When he finally sat down, his thin shoulders seemed to slump for a moment. He was as exhausted as the rest but used to pushing through that. Thin fingers picked off pieces of bread before he finally started eat them.

And realized that he was, in fact, decently hungry.

"Thank you," he said again, with a little less distance in his tone. After a few moments more (and a few more bites of food) he spoke again. "I did not get to say it then, but... Very impressive, Captain Sparrow, with the air ship. I'm sorry she was lost."

[all7seas]

"Well I wasn't out to IMPRESS you, Hornblower," the pirate grumbled as he picked at his own portion. It was very good bread. He should have been more eager to eat it, but the medications were screwing with his appetite.

"Norrington was sorry to lose her as well. Seemed to think she'd come in handy now. Enemy fire's intense, is it?"

[captainhornblower]

"A man need not be out to impress to do so," Hornblower replied with a thin chuckle.

"No more intense than it was," he said, picking off another piece of the bread. Eating it was more of an after-thought. It was most useful for giving him something to do, something with his hands. "But we're at anchor, and they are not."

Morale is low. The gun crews cannot keep up. More than half still don't know what they're doing, the other half are exhausted. We have no off-watch to close out. But it was not his place to complain. He was responsible for the Endurance alone, and its job as protector. It was the admiral who bore the real weight. To complain about such things was to presume too much.

[all7seas]

"And you cannot move the ships." Jack chewed and thought and chewed some more. "A decoy, perhaps?"

[captainhornblower]

"Admiral Norrington is allowing me," Hornblower said, lowering his voice out of habit, "to take a cannon and a few men to the far side of the docks, under cover of night. I hope to make them think we have a second camp. Reinforcements."

It was a desperate bid, one that might not work, but damned if he couldn't help needing to try it.

"At the very least, it gives them another target. Forces them to divide their attention."

[all7seas]

"It'd work if they weren't so damned hot after our cargo. You might be better off bringing some empty crates, eh? Make 'em think there's a store of it there.

Load 'em up with something explode-y. Ooor train your guns on them if they come to investigate..."

[captainhornblower]

While Hornblower considered-- honestly considered-- this advice, another thought escaped him.

"What is it, I wonder, this cargo..."

[all7seas]

Jack shook his head. "Dunno. But there ARE some empty boxes in the bay of Beckett's Mum. The droids wouldn't let us peek into the full ones."

[captainhornblower]

"I don't want anything that could explode near that gun," he muttered, more to himself. "Not with the guncrew I'd have, too risky. If I had my division... Matthews, Styles..." But he shook his head very slightly to rid himself of the thought. Now was not the time.

"But on the opposite end of the docks. Warn our groups but rig it with a bit of a surprise if the Third Party gets too close..."

[all7seas]

"I'd lend more of my expertise on the ground, Captain, but I happen to be thoroughly bollocksed at present. Still. Not a HORRIBLE plan, as plans go."

[captainhornblower]

"Yes. Thank you, Captain Sparrow." The bread in his hands is forgotten. It's not hard to see how he might well forget to eat entirely if kept busy in battle.

"Of course, the question is... Can we spare the powder."

[all7seas]

"Spare the powder? Of COURSE you can't spare the powder! Find a bloody supercharged hero type with a brain that can blow things up and put them right to good use!"