Title: A Pirate’s Life For Me - part 3
Author: Athene
Fandom: Primeval
Pairing/characters: Stephen, Becker
Rating: 15
Warnings: Violence, possibly pre-slash if you squint a bit?
Spoilers: none
Disclaimer: Not mine. ITV and Impossible Pictures own them.
Word count: approx 1352 (6540 in total)
Summary: Stephen and Becker are captured by pirates. Genuine, 18th century pirates.
AN: Birthday fic for cordeliadelayne and bigtitch
Several hours later most of the damage to the ship had been fixed, patched, or at the very least jury-rigged so that it wasn’t going to start leaking water any time soon. The ship clearly needed to get to a port relatively soon for proper repairs, but the pirates, rather depleted in numbers after the creature attack, assured them that as long as there weren’t any more storms or sea monsters it ought to hold.
Stephen found Becker leaning against the side of the ship, looking out over the water. He had liberated a linen shirt from somewhere, and did indeed have a tricorne hat, although Stephen thought it looked quite ridiculous, especially in contrast to the modern military combats and boots he was wearing. The rapier still at his belt just made the entire mismatched ensemble complete. Stephen declined to comment on this, though, and came to stand next to him.
“I hate sailing,” Becker said, although he looked calmer than Stephen had seen him for a long time.
“Do you really think we can do this?” Stephen asked. “Live in the 18th century?”
“Doesn’t look like we’ve got much of a choice. We can’t just wait around in the middle of the ocean hoping the anomaly might come back.”
Stephen didn’t reply, but, much as he hated to admit it, he had to agree with that assessment of the situation.
He looked down into the water below, amazed again at how clear it seemed. If he really looked, he could see things swimming down there, although luckily nothing as big the creature had been.
“How do you think that creature got here?” Becker asked, as if he could read Stephen’s thoughts.
“I have no...” Stephen stopped. Something wasn’t right. In fact, something was very, very wrong indeed. He stared down at the small coiled shell of the creature that was bobbing past them in the water below.
“We’re in the Jurassic,” Stephen almost shouted.
Becker actually jumped at the outburst, and stared at him.
“This isn’t the 18th century! We’re in the bloody Jurassic. That’s how the creature got here: it lives here.”
“What? How can you know that?”
“Look at that,” Stephen pointed down at the small creature. “That’s an ammonite. They’ve been extinct for sixty five million years.” He paused and put his swirling thoughts together. “When we were first brought on board what did they ask you? They wanted to know where we’d come from, how we got here. They’re as lost as we are!”
There was a quiet cough behind them, and they both turned to see a small group of pirates standing there.
“You know where we are?” one of them asked.
Not in any way that will make sense to you, Stephen thought to himself.
“Was there a light?” Stephen asked carefully. “Did any of you see a sparkly light at any point?”
There was some shuffling, and Becker drew himself up to his full height and glared at the pirates.
“Answer him.”
One of the pirates nodded. “Last night. A light appeared out of nowhere right in front of us. The next thing we knew there was a storm like we’ve never known. By the time it calmed we didn’t recognise where we were. Even the stars are wrong.”
Stephen and Becker shared a look. Now it all made sense.
“Can you find the way back to where the light was?” Becker asked.
“That’s what we were trying to do when we found you.”
“Right, do it. I don’t care if we have to search every inch of the sea, we stay here until we find it. If we find that light, we can all go home.”
“Yes, sir.”
The pirates ran off and soon the crew were shouting instructions and preparing the ship to sail again.
The sun was low in the sky, and the air finally becoming cooler when a cry suddenly went up from the crow’s nest. Everyone crowded to see, and there, on the horizon, was a light that might have been an early star, or might just be their one way to safety.
The pirates seemed to have quickly caught onto the fact that neither Stephen nor Becker had any sailing expertise, and had taken over the actual running and navigation of the ship for themselves, although they were still acknowledging the two newcomers as being nominally in charge. That suited both of them perfectly, and they let the pirates get on with it as the ship altered course and headed straight for the distant light.
“Bloody hell,” Stephen breathed as they finally approached it.
The anomaly was huge, although he could tell it was faint.
“That explains how an entire ship got through it,” Becker commented, although his reaction was buried under a stoic front again now.
Stephen wondered why the man was suddenly so tense. Whether it was simply that he was worried about the possibility of another creature attack as long as they remained here, or whether it was the prospect of never getting home.
“It looks like we found it just in time, its fading,” Stephen said. He was refusing to think about getting home, it was too painful. Once they got out of the immediate danger he might allow himself to consider the implications, but right now he was doing his best to ignore it.
Another shout suddenly went up. This time the man on watch was pointing in the opposite direction, and for a moment Stephen feared another creature.
Then he saw what the pirate had seen.
“A flare! A modern flare! That might be our lot.”
Becker gave a tight nod.
“Might be. It’s also a bloody long way off. And this anomaly is closing. If it isn’t our lot...” he paused and looked at Stephen. “Do we risk it?”
Stephen looked back at the anomaly. It looked weaker already. If the ship went back, or even waited for them to investigate the flare, they would probably be stuck here. He looked back at the flare, now dying in the sky. If that was their friends, their anomaly...
“Let’s risk it,” Stephen said.
Becker nodded. “I was hoping you’d say that.” He turned to one of the pirates. “We need to borrow one of your launches, and as soon as we’re gone, you sail through that light and you’ll be home.”
There was a brief flurry of activity as the small rowing boat was launched and Stephen and Becker scrambled down into it. They had barely cast off when the ship put on a burst of speed, and moments later it disappeared into the anomaly.
Stephen paused. There was still time to follow them. Still time to guarantee a time period where they might survive.
Then they picked up the oars and started rowing like their lives depended on it.
Ten minutes later they heard the best sound in the world - an outboard motor. Stephen stood up and waved, ignoring how the little boat rocked precariously, and smirking slightly at the tiny squeak that Becker made as he grabbed Stephen’s leg to steady him. Apparently he really didn’t like sailing.
“Bloody hell,” Cutter yelled, waving back at them as the little motor boat powered up alongside. “We thought we’d lost you.”
“The anomaly re-opened, then?”
“What the hell have you two been doing?” Ryan asked, staring at the swords and Becker’s new clothes.
“We were kidnapped by pirates, and had a fight with a sea monster,” Stephen replied cheerfully, clambering across into the motor boat.
“Connor is going to love this,” Cutter commented with a grin.
“Can we just go home now?” Becker said, parking himself firmly in the middle of the boat and taking the hat off. He looked ever so slightly embarrassed, Stephen realised. A moment later he decided that was a good look on the captain, and wondered what he might be able to do to see it again.
They were almost back at the anomaly, still sparkling brightly, a beacon to guide them home, when Stephen suddenly remembered something.
“Oh, bloody hell! I forgot the damn cat.”