A/N: I can't find any Captain Shiner fanfics in the ThunderCats sub-category, and he's one of my favorite lesser TC villains, the other one being Safari Joe, so I decided to write a short Shiner fanfic of my own.

Disclaimer: I do not own ThunderCats 1985.

People wonder why I do "bad" things for the money and have no apparent allegiance to anyone, as well as why I have a ship called the Vertus and a whole crew helping me do the job.

It's quite simple. So many folks are altruistic and idealistic in this galaxy, but where has their idealism gotten them? Wars, famine, and loss of homes still happen all over. They are a fact of life. But I don't get involved with them for their own sake. I have a world of my own to take care of, the planet Buldoge, home of the Bulldogmen, my species, and that's why I take any job I can, to feed my people.

Of course, I do keep some of the money for myself and my crew, but that's only natural, right? I don't do it out of greed. I want to help myself as well as my people, and my crew deserve a good reward for their hard work, too. I may be a mercenary, and I may work for evil folk like Mumm-Ra sometimes, but I have my principles, nevertheless. If I lose a man, I never leave him behind, even if he's dead. I also willingly help anyone who can help me get out of a precarious situation, and spare their lives afterward. And if the Vertus is compromised, I must go down with it, and if I survive, then I must arrange its reconstruction. My crew definitely deserve my respect, as well, because of their loyalty to me. Their devotion to their Captain is so unlike the squabbling of those miserable Mutants.

Of course, now, as my crew and I are tied up together and the Vertus is rocketing through deep space, I notice that we're light years away from Buldoge. It makes me uncomfortable to think that those self-righteous ThunderCats saw fit to send me to another sector of space, far away from Third Earth, but I still intend to remain faithful to my men and my ship, and I think I may be able to break free of these ropes soon.

I see now that the ship is speeding toward a star. My pilots and I struggle out of our ropes, and the main pilot tries to alter the Vertus' course, but that she-cat, Cheetara, must have rigged the computer so that even we can't change its course. We watch as we get closer to the star, looking certain death in the eyes. As we get closer, I command my men to stand their ground and not cower, and I am reminded of a quote I heard years ago from some distant backwater world like Third Earth. In a way, it symbolizes the kind of life I chose to live, and as the star became close enough to heat up my ship, I utter it out loud:

"A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse."

In this case, the "horse" was my payments from Mumm-Ra the Ever-Living evil one, regretfully. But my crew and I remain brave to the end, and I give a salute as the star closes in.

Signing off, Captain Shiner.

And then, we hit the star's solar flares...