Black Sails

I have committed men and resources

to aid you in retrieving the Urca gold

in exchange for which you assured me

expelling Captain Vane from that fort.

Back from a lengthy journey,

and not one of them has felt the need to have a go.

Maybe they was told to stay away from it.

To prevent them from divulging a secret.

Max's share ain't the only item the men took issue with.

You chose her.

They gave me a choice, but it was no choice.

Anne? Anne!

Until I know what you're going to say to the men,

I can't let you say anything to the men.

The girl's name is Abigail Ashe.

You need to obtain her from Captain Vane.

And when you return her to her father,

you're going to explain what it is you're trying to accomplish here...

a Nassau that can self-govern.

It's too great of a force to defeat.

We attempt to fight the body of it.

The only way to beat it is to cut off its head.

Had I two rounds left,

I would shoot both of you and be done with all of this.

Can't avoid it any longer. It's time you made a choice.

Enough.

You two will resolve this.

This isn't going to end the way you want it to.

This ends in this room right now.

He can't let it, and neither can I.

Sit down.

Why the fuck should I sit?

There is a girl in your possession.

Her name is Abigail.

Give her to me and I will stand down my men.

You can have the fort.

You'd give all this up for a little money?

She's worth more to me than money.

She's the future of this place.

Send word for your father.

He should hear this as well.

We're through the Twin Pass and well into the zone on schedule.

- Captain? - Listen.

Do you hear it?

No women.

Yes, well...

in any event, according to the whore,

the True North should be here.

According to the whore, the ship is insured

up, down, and sideways,

so they should surrender the moment they see the black,

netting the men a quick and painless score,

and you an auspicious debut.

Now it's just a matter of whether or not

the whore's information proves accurate.

And if there's anything you need assistance with today,

please don't hesitate to ask me.

- Such as? - Well, I've heard things.

Heard the role you played on the Ranger

was almost entirely a political one.

Heard Captain Vane was the sailor among you.

It's nothing to be ashamed of.

You certainly would not be the first man

to learn how to captain a ship

after being named captain of a ship.

- I see. - Look, Jack.

I vouched for you.

We are both invested in this...

experiment working out.

Sails!

Sails!

West, northwest!

It's the True North!

Right where she's supposed to be.

- All right, gents! Let's go get her! - Come to starboard.

Make a heading west, nor-west to intercept her.

Chop it off on the braces and strike the mainsail and foresail.

Today!

Bit of a surprise to them, that one, wasn't it?

Not to blame them,

seeing as that you just opened a pursuit

where speed will be of the essence

by releasing the sails and steering us in the wrong direction.

Though I suppose there's a chance

you struck the sails to make us nimbler.

Tack hard to starboard to alter our angle of approach.

Come up right behind her and steal her wind.

Sails!

Heard you the first time!

Second set!

West, south-west!

Two prizes.

Not likely.

It's pursuing ours.

Another hunter.

We have competition it would seem.

Fuck this.

Where are you going?

I'll be back in an hour.

Anyone asks, I'm taking a shit.

Who shits for an hour?

I do.

Captain says anyone walks away from this beach

with this fight looming don't need to ever come back.

Shut the fuck up.

And what's worse, you're going to go

to the one place on the island he said we're not allowed to go.

He said the whores there work too hard

taking secrets from men's heads.

Mate, I'm so close, I can smell her.

So either I'm going up there and fucking Charlotte,

or I'm fucking you down here

imagining I'm fucking Charlotte up there.

Tell her I said hello.

Right.

Fuck.

Men cannot be kept in this state.

Sooner or later, they must fight

or they must know there will be no fight.

And now he's nowhere to be found.

Much can be said about Captain,

but shying away from a fight isn't one of them.

Whatever he's doing up there in that tavern,

I'm certain it's towards the end of prevailing in this fight.

At a certain point I'll cease to care what his ends are

and lead these men up that hill myself.

I don't think that's going to be an option anytime soon.

What are you talking about?

It will likely start with three ships,

maybe four.

A tactical assault to retake the bay.

Once England decides she wants this place back,

the resources that she will commit towards that end

are inexhaustible.

Sooner or later, we'll be driven inland,

forced to fight as rebels from the interior

hoping to inflict enough damage

and expense to compel the new governor

to negotiate with what's left of us.

For years I prepared for that fight.

Now it would appear that there is another way,

a way in which we can control our futures without that fight.

And as fate would have it,

you are holding the key to make that possible.

The girl.

Her father is a very powerful,

very influential man.

If I return her to him unharmed,

I believe that I can win him as an ally,

an advocate in London

to argue for a reconciliation with England

where we keep our assets, maintain control,

and name a governor of our own choosing.

I believe that there is an opportunity at hand,

an opportunity where we control our own futures.

We just all need to agree to take it.

Peter Ashe.

Returning his daughter might gain his ear,

but there is no man in the Americas

with a more strident contempt for piracy than he.

No amount of appreciation is going to make him forget that.

A long time ago, he and I were friends.

Good friends.

We fought alongside each other towards this very end...

a stable and prosperous Nassau.

We're talking about a man

who took a struggling Carolina colony

and turned it into a commercial success.

And from what I'm told by friends in London,

is unparalleled in his ability

to maneuver the avenues of power in Parliament.

If that man could be persuaded, as you say,

if that man chose to be our advocate,

that would certainly argue well for our prospects.

What do I get?

If this, if that.

Yet it all relies on an asset you do not possess.

What do you get? You get what we all get... a future.

Show it to me.

Hand me my future here in this room.

What? It isn't just your words, is it?

The promise of a thing hard to define and impossible to deliver...

that is what you're suggesting I get

in exchange for surrendering an asset

worth what that girl is worth?

If you're looking for something more immediate,

then how about your own survival?

If we cannot agree to do this together, then I walk out of here

and I lead my men in cutting down

what remains of yours.

This girl is so valuable to you,

and you would risk her death just to punish me?

You want her? You have two choices.

Try and take her and hope she survives the fight

or pay me what she's worth.

And what exactly do you estimate that to be?

One Spanish Man of War.

He can't do that even if he wanted to.

That ship belongs to his men.

Says the woman who managed