Her Beginning

[Nate Swordwalker]

Woot! Now... what type of ship is it that I be taking out? Sounds great Kat, can't wait till the next chapter.

[Juliana Maria]

Kat.. I know I've said this before, but this is truly an amazing story. Its captivating, exciting, and well written. I couldn't stop smiling at the scenes with Lawrence. I always love watching the beginnings of a relationship. The little details are what really leave an impression on the reader, and you've played on that perfectly. The story has a nice flow to it too. I can't wait to read your next chapter! All I can say is Bravo Kat! You have a talent for writing.. No doubt about it.

[Ropeburn]

OMG GREAT STORYS I JUST STARTED READING UR STORYS ABOUT 3 DAYS AGO i will have to say this is a wonderful story, wonderful plot, and wonderful charaters!

[Amelia Burnhawk]

Nice chapters recently, Crestshot.

[Crestshot]

Ok mates, I was contemplating holding out for a few more days, but I told Nate that I would get it up when the next next chapter was finished, so, I'm keeping my promise. Besides, the epiphany is still going. I'm kind of surprised it's lasted this long to be honest....

Anywho, presenting!......

Her Beginning's End



Kat jumped in a dingy with Nate and they took off for his ship anchored just off the shore. They approached the ship and Kat’s eyes went wide. It was a sloop, much like hers, but it was much larger, with one tall, main mast, and a smaller one on the back, along with four cannons on each side of the upper deck. The belly of the ship held even more cannons, poking out of the hull, making the ship look like some kind of urchin.

Nate noticed her look of awe. He grinned at her. “She’s a beauty, isn’t she?” he asked her. “My Lightning King. She's a war sloop.” Kat could merely nod in agreement. So this is what a real pirate was like.

The group of boats reached Nate’s ship, and one by one the group of men and a lone woman climbed up the ladder to the deck. Once they were up, the men scrambled, going to various stations and getting ready to set sail. Some went into the hold to grab cannons there, while others stayed on the top deck, waiting to release the sails and grabbed some cannons of their own. Kat just stood there, unsure of what to do. Nate followed behind her on the ladder. He noticed her hesitation and said, “Come on Kat! You faced this group, intending to set sail, without flinching. Now show them you actually know what you’re doing!” He made his way the wheel of his ship, getting ready to go.

“Hoist anchor!” Nate called out to the crew.

“Aye, aye Captain! Hoist anchor!” another man repeated. A group of men gathered to reel the anchor back from the depths.

“Release the sails!” Nate hollered.

“Aye! Release sails!”

“Let’s get pirating, crew!” Nate cried, and a cheer went up from the crew. Kat smiled and made her way to an open cannon on the deck. The ship made its way into open waters at the strong hand of Nate at the wheel.

It wasn’t too long before a man in the crow’s nest spotted the red and white sails of a Navy ship. It was a small sloop, about the size of Kat’s ship. She figured this was one of the Ferrets Gibbs had talked about.

“Hey, Nate!” she called out.

“Yah, Kat, what do you need?” he yelled back.

“Are we going for that Ferret?” she asked him.

“Aye, that we are,” he told her.

“Excellent,” Kat muttered under her breath. She readied her cannon with cannonballs and some gunpowder. It was time to show the Caribbean what she was made of.

They approached the ship on the port side, where Kat was. “Broadside port!” Nate ordered, and the men below decks fired their shots. Kat released a few shots of her own, attempting to aim for the hull. She overshot and her cannonballs went through the sails, tearing neat, round holes in them. Nate laughed at her. “Aim lower, Kat!” he called out to her.

She reloaded her cannon and took aim again, adjusting the heavy thing with a grunt of effort. When she was reasonably sure the cannon was pointed where she wanted it to, Nate ordered the port side to fire again. Kat let her cannonballs fly, landing them squarely in the center of the deck of the Ferret. Water started pouring into the holes that other crew members had made in the side of the hull. She noticed how some of the water came out of the gaps she had created in the deck.

Kat loaded up her cannon a final time and took closer aim, making her shots fly towards the outer shell of the ship. They connected head-on and more went into the newly created holes. The ship was steadily sinking. A gunner on deck made a desperate attempt to fire at the Lightning King, but it flew well past the bow of the ship.

“Nets!” Nate cried out, and a few men came from below decks with a large net. They threw it over the ship and caught some of the cargo left over from the ship. The boxes were pulled aboard and placed in the hold, left to be investigated later, after they were done plundering. Whatever could be sold when they ported back in Tortuga would be.

Kat reached over in the net and grabbed a scrap of the flag that had fallen into the net. She stuffed it into her pocket before anyone noticed it, not sure how the other crew members would take it. Nate would probably understand if she explained that she needed proof for Gibbs, but the other, more superstitious crew members would probably make up an ulterior motive.

The ship continued like this for a little longer, attacking some Navy and EITC ships that were hounding the area. Once the hold was as full as they could stuff it, they headed back to Tortuga in the setting sun. The ship docked near her poor little sloop and began unloading. One of the men pointed out her Wolf after they had started unloading. “God, look a’ tha’ ship mate! Now wha’ self respectin’ pirate has that?” he said loudly.

Kat felt her face flush and turned away from the men. Nate saw her and came up to her, whispering in her ear. “Don’t mind them. We were all there at some point. It’s a good start.” Kat smiled at him in thanks and kept unloading the ship, her arm twanging from time to time. Nate went off to make business with a man on the docks, arranging for the sale of the items they had plundered. The crew stayed where they were after delivery while a few people looked over their merchandise. Some of it was taken and paid for directly to Nate by way of gold or barter. Others were passed over for the crew to look at later to see if they wanted it.

Once the merchants were finished, Nate went around and handed each member a portion of the profit. Kat counted the gold Nate had placed in her palm- there were a few pieces of gold labeled with a 5 and some ones. All together they totaled up to 50 gold. Kat looked at Nate in astonishment. “This is how much I get?” she asked him, astounded.

“Aye, Kat,” he said, smiling. “You’ve earned it, that’s for sure. You’re quite the gunner. I’ve never seen someone who’s obviously green shoot so well.” He laughed. “Besides, I think you’ve taken some of these blokes down a notch or two. Some of them have heads a bit too big for their bodies, you know?” He laughed again and continued down the line to give the rest of their crew their share.

When he was done, he backed up in front of the line. “Alright mates!” he called out. “Now, some of this stuff wasn’t sold, so go ahead and go over it and take what you want!” The crew rushed forward to check out the goods, Kat right there with them. One crew member called out to her and threw a skirt at her, laughing while they did so. Kat caught it and rolled her eyes, taking note to put it in her closet later. You never knew when you would need a good skirt.

There was a bottle of rum that she grabbed as well, but other than that, none of it seemed appealing. Before she left, she went to Nate and thanked him for all the help.

“It’s not a problem, Kat,” he replied graciously. “I’m always willing to help a strong soul. Just don’t lose that quality, alright?” Kat agreed to those terms and parted with Nate, heading to her own ship to get herself together. She placed the clothes and the bottle of rum in her closet and lay down to rest for a little while, absorbing what had happened that day.

Later that night, Kat headed back to the Faithful Bride to present Joshamee Gibbs with the items she had recovered, proving her trustworthiness. He congratulated her on her good work and told her that they needed to recruit some of Jack’s old crew to get the Pearl back, starting with a man named Carver…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From that point on, Kat began wandering around to all points of the Caribbean, doing favors for various pirates and people across the sea. Once she got to about the third person to recruit, she began complaining about it a little, wondering why Sparrow needed her help so badly, and why he couldn’t just do it himself. Secretly, though, she loved it. Even if she was under the thumb of Jack Sparrow, she was still free to live her own life. Besides, it was a lot better than being controlled by one of the three self-proclaimed powers of the Caribbean.

Eventually, she finally got finished recruiting, still sailing around in her little Cutthroat Wolf. Nobody made fun of her light sloop after that first day of cannoning though. She was a pirate of caliber now, and nobody made fun of her as she walked through the streets of Tortuga or Port Royal. They knew she was a loner, and that’s why she still had her little Wolf. It was easy for her to handle by herself and didn’t require many people, other than the occasional gunner. She had a standing reservation at the docks in Tortuga because of it, but it was her rather… generous nature helped convince the dock workers to leave a spot open. Every once in awhile she would find Nate when he was docked in Tortuga and went sailing with him, leaving her ship for a few days to set sail with him and his crew. Sometimes, Nate tried to convince her to set sail with them full time, telling her he needed her as his head gunner,

At some point, she went back to Thayer’s weapons shop and got the biggest gun he had there with all the riches she had acquired. She also managed to grab a rather fine sword in Port Royal as well, but she never got to meet the blacksmith who welded it. She still kept her original weapons for sentimental reasons though. Her compass led her out of more than a few sticky situations as well, so she didn’t have to fight her way through everything.

Kat and Fabiola ended up becoming great friends, and Kat would sometimes stop by just to chat, although there were some instances where she had to come and get tonics as well after a rather grueling day of pirating. The friendship between the two women didn’t mean that Kat got off free with charges, but it did add an extra scolding to be careful sometimes.

The same went for Josie McReedy. Sometimes Kat had to flee Port Royal quickly whenever the Navy there got wind of her presence, but whenever she could get away with it, Kat saw her and spent some time with her and her fabulous coffee.

There were times when Kat felt guilt over the things she had to do, such as kill Navy and EITC in cold blood, but when it came time to do the deed, she closed herself off from it. Only when she was in the familiarity of her own ship that she let the feelings overtake her. Faces of men she had killed swam in her dreams, and occasionally, the face of her husband would be a part of those. When his face showed, however, all she felt was anger, and she remembered one of the reasons she was doing all of this in the first place.

At the end of recruiting, Kat made her way with Jack Sparrow and the rest of the crew to recover the Black Pearl. They escaped victorious, but not unscathed. The Pearl was damaged in the battle, but Darby Drydock fixed them up quickly and the rest of the crew headed back on their way. They offered for Kat to come with them, but she decided to stay in Tortuga and pirate locally. She was dropped off in Tortuga and watched the Black Pearl sail away into the sunset.

Is this the end? It does seem like it, doesn’t it? Don’t worry though, reader. Kat Crestshot continues. This was merely Her Beginning.



And so that ends Her Beginning. I'm sure that's NOT what you were expecting, huh? Actually, I didn't tell anyone about that. However, I felt it needed to end there. It's only supposed to be her beginning after all, and making her way down the initial road to pirating. The story is not over though, as it says. There's much more to come, don't you worry. I'll be posting a new thread soon enough with the continuation. Expect that next week. I'm still working through some of it (like a name).

Anyway, any final things to say on this thread? I'll be happy with anything you guys say to me (except for trolling). I'll be waiting, just like you all are for the continuation. Hit me up for cameos too mates! Thanks for reading!

Until next time,

-Kat Crestshot

PS: I totally forgot when posting this the first time to thank you all for reviewing! Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! Thank you for the reviews last chapter! They warmed my heart and made me go "Squee!" on the inside and out. That's how much I love you guys! Ok, thanks, bye! See you on the new thread!


Find the sequel to this story here: The Scathed

[Ropeburn]

Another amazing story.. hope this story would go on and on...

[Nate Swordwalker]

Bravo! Bravo! Can't get enough. Ye be one of the best author's I know ( the only author i know, in fact ). LOL Keep 'em coming!

[Pirate J]

I especially like the beginning bit their was a English person in it. If you didnt notice thats where im from! Always nice to be recognised by my fans God save The Queen

[Amelia Burnhawk]

What?! It's finished?! Surely you'll be making a sequel, it's too good a plot! :O

[Pirate J]

Still luvin' it as i said before, the English bit especially

[Crestshot]

Don't worry, there is a sequel coming up. I should be posting it sometime later this week. I'm building up a vault of chapters so that if I do fall behind on writing, I will still be able to post each week.

Oh, and PJ, when you think about it, most of the characters are English, haha.

[Crestshot]

Ok mates, the next part of the story of Kat Crestshot is being posted right after I post this! I'm just posting here so you guys know to look there. It is titled The Scathed (thanks to Nate Swordwalker for helping me with that) so go see it! You will be amazed, I promise. Well, what are you still reading this for? Go, go, go!

-Kat Crestshot

[Bubba Bunny x]

Woo! Hurry up then with that typing! >:O