Uncharted: From Small Beginnings

Chapter I: the Grave of Sir Francis Drake

"Uh, sh-shouldn't we call the authorities or something?" she asked, her voice showing an undertone of fear.

"That'd be a great idea but we don't exactly have a permit to be here." Nathan replied.

Elena almost couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"What?"

"Yeah, so unless you wanna end up in a Panamanian jail, we should probably handle this ourselves."

"Wh-what's worse?"

"You clearly haven't been in a Panamanian jail." Jack observed before holding one of the guns out to her.
"Do you know how to use one of these?"

Elena hesitantly took the gun.

"Yeah, it's like a camera... You just, point and shoot, right?"

"Eh, more or less." Jack confirmed.

Nathan and him shared a glance.

"Here we go." Nathan said as they all moved to grab cover.

"How the hell'd they find us out here?" Elena asked.

"These guys have been tailing us for weeks. We thought we'd lost them." Nathan explained.

"So what'd you do to piss 'em off?"

"Uh, it's kind of a long story."

"Yeah. It's probably best if you don't know." Jack added.

Just as he finished speaking, the pirates finally reached them and opened fire. Jack flinched as he heard the bullets burying themselves into the wooden crate he was using as cover.

"These guys don't like you much, do they?" Elena commented.

"Less talking, more shooting!" Nathan replied.

When the hail of gunfire briefly stopped, Jack peaked out from the side of the crate. He spotted one of the pirate boats. There was a driver and two shooters on board, but what really caught his attention was a pair of oil barrels they had on deck. Usually these meant the pirates had extra fuel so they could spend more time out on the water. But exposed like that in the middle of a gunfight, they made for excellent targets.

With a smirk, Jack held out his gun and caused the barrels to explode with one quick shot. The explosion managed to knock one of the shooters off the boat and disorient the other. Jack seized the opportunity, standing up and gunning the second shooter down.

His moment of triumph didn't last very long though, as a bullet whizzed past his head. He looked behind him to see another boat with a pirate aiming right at him. Reacting purely on instinct, he ducked, another bullet shooting past him, and quickly moved behind cover.

"That was too close." he muttered, trying his best to calm his breathing.

Unfortunately, the pirates were determined not to give them a single second to catch their breath. Jack's eyes  widened as yet another boat pulled up in front of him. This time one of the pirates was equipped with a rocket launcher.

"Son of a bitch." he had just about time to say, before he was forced to leap to the side in order to avoid the rocket.

There was a deafening boom that left his ears ringing as the heat from the explosion reached his back. He considered himself lucky that he didn't end up with any shrapnel in his back.

"Oh my god! That one's got some kind of rocket launcher!" Elena warned.

"Yeah, I noticed!" Jack groaned as he turned around to fire at his new opponent.

Suddenly, they heard another sound. It was definitely an engine, but it was louder than the boats and seemed to be coming from above. A wide grin stretched across Jack's face as he spotted a white and red hydroplane circling them, causing the few pirates that remained to back off.

"Cavalry's here." Nathan announced.

"Oh, thank God!" Elena exclaimed in relief.

However, just as she finished speaking their boat shuddered. Jack glanced around to see several spots on the boat that were on fire. It shook again, this time more violently.

"This tin can is about blow! We gotta jump now!" he warned as the three of them ran towards the edge.

"Wait!" Elena said, running back towards one of the crates.

"What are you doing?" Nathan asked incredulously.

She had apparently gone back for her camera. As soon as she returned with it, the three of them immediately jumped into the water. And not a moment too soon. Just as they started to swim away, their boat exploded.

Still, Jack wasn't too bothered by the loss of the boat and he made no attempt to hide his grin as the door of the hydroplane opened to reveal Victor Sullivan himself, greying hair and thick mustache displayed in all their glory and a cigar sticking out of the corner of his mouth.

"I can't leave you alone for a minute, can I?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Hey, we had everything under control until they blew up the boat." Jack replied.

Elena approached, holding her camera above the water, as Sully put down the ladder for them to climb on.

"You alright?" Nathan asked her.

"Nothing that years of therapy won't fix." she answered.

"Well, if it isn't the beautiful and talented Elena Fisher." Sully said as he helped her into the plane.

"Flattery will get you screen time." she informed him.

"Yeah, I'm more of a behind-the-scenes kind of guy. Victor Sullivan." Sully replied, politely kissing her hand.

Jack and Nathan shared a glance and simultaneously shook their heads. No matter what happened, for some reason Sully just couldn't help but flirt with the ladies. They decided to ignore it this time, silently stepping inside the plane as well.

"Hey, Sully, how about we get out of here before more of our buddies come back?" Jack suggested.

"Took the words right out of my mouth." Nathan agreed.

Sully was quick to comply. Within minutes, they were back in the air, Sully in the pilot's seat, Nathan in the copilot's and Jack standing right next to them.

"Well?" Sully inquired.

Nathan pulled out the diary they had recovered and held it up for Sully to see.

"A little present from Sir Francis."

Sully let out a chuckle.

"So you found the coffin? Wait a minute. Is this what I think it is?"

"Yup. Drake's lost diary." Jack confirmed.
"He faked his death, just as Nate suspected."

"He must've been onto something big." Nathan added.

"Yeah, well, let's just keep that between us." Sully suggested in a low voice.

"Thanks for the loan, Mr. Loxley." Elena spoke up, returning the gun to Jack before turning towards Nathan.
"I think I've earned a look at that diary, when we land."

Sully and Jack both glanced at Nathan. In response Nathan simply shrugged in amusement.