"Alright Groves. We can't catch him; we'll give him a broadside."

Groves frowned. "What the— you mean fire at him?"

"That's what a broadside usually means, Theo. How long have you been in the Navy?" replied James, sounding firm yet strangely cheerful.

"Well, yes, but—don't you think that's somewhat over the top?" He couldn't possibly...

Silence for a moment, then the distinct answer of "No."

...apparently he could. More silence followed, and Groves studied the face of his superior and friend. No smile, not a lift of an eyebrow, not even a blink. This was actually dead serious.

"Right, er." He cleared his throat and gave the orders, and one by one the gun ports of HMS Dauntless opened.

Across the stretch of sea, Captain Jack Sparrow swore. "What the bloody hell is he on about?"

"By the looks of it I'm a-guessin' he means to fire at us." Came the reply from Gibbs standing next to him. "And his ship's a lot bigger 'n our's, too."

"Yeah, every bloody thing the bloody man does is bigger and don't I just bloody know it." Jack slammed his telescope shut and turned to his crew. "Run out the guns!"

"Fire!"

The rippling broadside of Norrington's ship was followed by several highly satisfying crashes in the side of Jack's, then came the reply, and a particularly precise ball from one of Jack's aftermost guns smashed through the window of HMS Dauntless' Admiral's cabin.

When Charles Norrington focussed on it with his brother's telescope, he could see Jack himself with his gold teeth glinting in a devilish smile that showed all his pride at having hit his target.

"He's taken it personally, I'm afraid." Charles said to his brother, who stood next to him on the poop deck.

"Good." replied James. "So have I. Give him another one, Captain."

Charles and Groves exchanged looks, smiled, shook heads.

"All hands about ship!"

In the silence of the calm minutes that it took to turn both ships around, both crews watched each other intensely. Not much could be heard aboard either ship, as both their commanders stubbornly glared at each other across the distance. The tension was unbelievable.

Minutes later, HMS Dauntless' second broadside could be heard from the gun deck of the Black Pearl, more simultaneous even than the first one, and rushing towards them.

Pintel turned to Ragetti with a sly grin. "Y'know, I don' think the Captain wants to get married."

Ragetti shook his head. "This is one domestic tha's gone a lil' bit far."

They grinned and turned back to their gun just in time for Jack to roar: "Return fire!"