Disclaimer: I don't own Treasure Planet. Just so you all know.
John Silver cursed. Things were not going as planned.
He'd spent the last ten years since his adventures on Treasure Planet. Hopin' from planet to planet, findin' work, keppin' busy.
Huntin' treasure.
Granted, he knew he'd never be able to find a treasure like he had on the famous Treasure Planet, but old habits are hard to break. Dodging the law and hunting treasure being two of those habits.
Still wanted for piracy, Silver had to stay on his toes. It was hard for a man to hide, even harder for a cyborg. But Silver had had years of practice.
He was getting old though, he figured now. He was losin' his touch.
He had been sailing the Etherium, following a very promising lead. An Acturian solar crystal cargo ship was going to be passing through near his side of the galaxy. It was just too good a chance to pass up.
He'd managed to pull together a small team and board the cargo ship, but his team was made up of amateurs and one of his younger members had went and got them discovered right in the middle of their heist.
Silver managed to get one small crate of solar crystals into a longboat, but not before his mechanical leg mechanism was shot with a blaster. Silver had stumbled into the long boat, powered it up and would have been on his merry way, but the blasted cargo ship kept firing at him. He ended up losing half of his power supply, forcing him to crash land on a nearby moon.
The Procyon Armada had made a quick response to the distress signal sent out by the cargo ship and already they had sent out troops to pick up Silver from the moon.
Silver cursed as he saw the four Armada longboats enter the moon's atmosphere. Limping heavily, he hid the booty, hoping that if he escaped he could come back to find it.
Then, extending his robotic arm to serve as a crutch, Silver hobbled away from his hiding place as fast as he could. It wasn't long before the Armada was upon him. He could hear them gaining on him.
Silver backed up against a tree and his robotic arm changed to a blaster. He wasn't going out without a fight.
The troops were closing in on them now. He counted about ten men in all. He pulled out from behind his cover and commenced shooting.
"Get down," the commanding officer ordered his men. The men dropped to the ground, the blasts flying harmlessly above their heads.
Suddenly there was a click behind Silver's head and he turned to see that two other officers had snuck around and come up behind him. One of the officers was two headed with large green eyes, the other seemed to be a giant beetle.
Definitely getting too old for this, Silver thought.
"Drop your weapon," the officer ordered.
"Good mornin', gentelmen," Silver responded lightheartedly, "What can I do yer for?"
"Drop your weapon," they said again.
"I'd love to, matey. But being a poor old cyborg, it's kinda attached to me arm."
"Remove the blaster charges and stand down," they ordered again. Silver sighed and complied. The two young officers then pulled Silver over to their commander and forced him to his knees.
"The cyborg has been apprehended, Sir," they reported.
The commander was human as far as Silver could tell, with brown hair and a neatly trimmed beard. He eyed Silver curiously.
"John Silver I presume," the commander addressed the cyborg, his voice was deep but lighthearted. "I dare say, for such a famous pirate, I do believe you are losing your touch."
"Been meanin' to retire for some time now," Silver responded, matching the young commander's tone.
"Doubtful," the man replied, raising an eyebrow. The young man hieved a sigh and shook his head.
"I told you to stay out of trouble, you old scallywag," the commander said, his tone suddenly becoming a lot less formal.
"What in tarnation are yer talkin' about?" Silver demanded.
"You mean you don't know?" the commander asked again raising an eyebrow. "Or are you playing games with me, Silver?"
"Oh, I was never much good at games, Sir," Silver brooded, not sure what this man was playing at.
"Oh neither was I, I always hated to lose," the commander chuckled. He looked at Silver to see if he had gotten the joke. Silver raised a mechanical eyebrow at the man.
The man tried again, "You don't know how to pick your fights, do you Silver. There have been some who have said I'm destined for greatness, light comin' off me sails. Glowin' like a solar fire, by T'under!" The man had gotten progressively louder and by the end I practically shouted the last words in the cyborg's face.
Close up, Silver could catch a boyish sparkle in the man's big blue eyes.
"Jimbo?" Silver whispered, so softly he could barely hear it himself.
Just then one of the officers let out a cry as his musket suddenly changed shape in his hands. A pink chirping blob floated over to the commander's head and circled around his face.
"Thick headed blob of mischief," the commander chuckled.
"Morphy!" Silver cried and the little pink blob flew all around the pirate's head excitedly.
"Jimbo, lad," Silver said, forgetting himself and starting to get to his feet, "it really is you!"
"Hang on now," the two headed officer said, jamming his musket into Silver's back. "Stay down."
"For heaven's sake, let the man up," the commander ordered his man.
The two friends embraced, much to the confused expression of the other eleven men on that empty little moon.
"Lookit' ya!" Silver exclaimed, holding the young man at arm's length, "Certainly charted yer own course, lad, Commander in the Armada too! Heaven's above, if you ain't just sprout up like a sapling perp. Ya got to be at least two head's higher!"
"You haven't changed a bit, Silver," Jim grinned up at his old mentor.
"Commander Hawkins," one of the men interrupted, "Admiral Amelia is asking for a report, Sir."
The young commander looked to his cyborg friend and watched the cyborg's eyebrows rise at "Admiral Amelia."
"I see our lovely Capt'in has been mighty busy since our little adventures, eh?"
Jim smiled, "Married to a doctor and a mother of four little spacers."
"Heaven's above," Silver muttered again, once again feeling very old.
No one said anything for a bit then Jim spoke to one of his officers, "Tell Admiral Amelia that the cyborg John Silver has regrettably escaped." Jim said, with emphasis on the name. Then eyeing Silver's wounded leg and downed longboat he added, "And has unfortunately commandeered one of our longboats as well."
Silver couldn't help himself, he laughed heartily, relieved.
"But, Sir!" one of the officers objected.
"Silence," Jim barked, suddenly the commander of his crew again. "John Silver was my mentor and is an old friend. He's saved my life on several occasions and is a good man. Release him."
As the officers lowered their rifles and backed away, Jim chuckled. "Next they'll be saying Commander Jim has gone soft." He earned a hearty laugh from Silver at that.
After a quick good-bye to Jim and Morph, Silver was sailing off and Jim watched him, shaking his head. "Stay out of trouble, you old scallywag," he muttered to himself.
"Commander Hawkins, what of the stolen cargo?"
Jim laughed, "Don't you know anything about pirates and their treasure? You really ought to listen to those phony stories at the spaceports. There's a might more truth in them than you know."
Later, Silver circled around the moon, waiting for Jim and the Armada to sail away into the Etherium before returning to his hiding spot.
However, when he got there, instead of a crate filled with solar crystals there was a perp and a single silver drubloon.
Silver laughed, "Ah, Jimbo, lad. I taught yeh too well."
