A/N: okay, so I had to redo this chapter again. Whatever.

I don't own anything from the movie. But Nick © me

-CHAPTER 1: ABOARD THE SHIP-

- 3 days later-

Nick stared around the ship in wonder. Three days of lying, begging, pleading, and paperwork had led her to this; the grandest ship on the docks. It was huge: longer and wider than any ship nearby, and from what she had glanced of the inside, much more comfortably outfitted. She still had no idea how her luck had brought her this far, or even what mission she was to be a part of. But as long as she was able to stay on this gorgeous ship, she would do just about anything they could ask of her! Suddenly, a loud crash from behind her brought Nick back to her senses. An alien had run into her, and had spilled several crates worth of precious purps all over the deck. Suddenly, his face was inches from her own.

"What're ye doin', standin' 'ere gogglin' as though we've got all th' time innna world before launch? Get yer sorry arse down in the galley where it belongs!"

"Yessir," Nick mumbled and ducked aside. But not before the deckhand launched a swing at the side of her head, which she dodged with the ease of many years' practice. The deckhand's face reddened with embarrassment at the miss, and he redoubled his efforts to get a hit in. Unfortunately, Nick had sidestepped to evade the first swing, and stepped back to escape the second…

…and tripped over the dropped crate and landed on the spilled fruits. The seat of her pants was completely soaked in purp juice. Even more unfortunately, it was at this exact moment that a young man walked down from the fo'c'sle to check up on the whole mess. A very handsome young man…

"What's going on here? Who spilled all of the purps all over the deck?"

The deckhand who had been laughing at Nick's tumble straightened and pointed a crooked, knobbly finger at the cabin boy still sitting in the smashed purps. An expression of disapproval crossed the young man's lightly tanned face. "Is that so, Mr. Hobb? I believe it was you that I assigned to carry those crates up. Are you telling me that you made the cabin boy do your duties?" Mr. Hobb quickly shook his head no. "So you blamed the cabin boy for your mess? Is that it?" Again, Mr. Hobb shook his head. The young man turned to Nick and asked, "What really happened, then?"

Nick swallowed hard. "It was my fault, sir," she started out. "I ran into him, and he dropped the crate. I'll help clean up…" her sentence trailed into silence as she realized that she had spoken in her normal voice, which sounded so obviously feminine to her own ears that she wanted to bite her tongue in half. How could she have blown her cover so soon? But the young man didn't seem to notice.

"That won't be necessary. Mr. Hobbs can handle it. If you will follow me, we'll get you down to galley and settled in with the cook." He walked away, leaving Nick to trail behind, slightly confused.

"But sir," she called after him, once she had caught up. "Why am I not cleaning the deck? It was my fault—" she was cut off when the young man stopped abruptly and spun to face her. His expression was severe, and his light blue eyes flashed with annoyance.

"First of all, I am not the captain. I am the first mate. So no more of this 'sir' stuff. You can call me Mr. Hawkins if you must, but I prefer that my deckhands call me Jim. Second of all, you have to trust me. I am not stupid, nor am I blind or deaf, so if I make a judgment, don't argue with me. I saw him swing at you, and I saw you dodge it. Well done, by the way. But just because he didn't connect doesn't mean he wouldn't have. So think of it as his punishment for brawling." And the conversation ended as suddenly as it had begun, with the young man—Jim— turning and continuing down to the galley, and Nick trotting behind.

Down in the galley kitchens, Nick was introduced to the cook, Mr. Giff. He was a hulking creature, human in appearance except for a second set of arms. He was tall and bulky, muscular in the arms and shoulders but with a bit of a belly in the front. He had thick, gray hair and a well-oiled mustache that he twisted up at the ends, and as Nick watched him bustle around the kitchen, the glinting of light off of the rings on his twenty fingers could not be missed. Overall the impression he gave was one of pomposity and ego. Nick's stomach gave a little shiver as she realized that she had taken an immediate disliking to the man, and that he radiated an impression that the feeling was mutual. The first mate gave no indication that he sensed the animosity.

"This is Mr. Giff, our cook. Mr. Giff, this is… Sorry, what's your name?"

"Nick," she mumbled, without taking her eyes from the cook.

"This is Nick. He is to help you out in the kitchen as well as to tend the rest of the ship. You will be responsible for him during our voyage. Is that clear?"

Both nodded their heads. Jim shifted and turned to Nick. "Follow me." And he turned and left the galley, once again with Nick forced to trot along behind.

Once on deck, a shrill whistle sounded, and all hands rushed hither and thither to their assigned ranks. They formed ranks, and as Nick watched, the noisy deck fell silent and the Captain emerged from his quarters. When she caught sight of the fierce looking man, Nick took an instinctive step to hide herself behind Jim. He turned his head to look at her with a bemused expression clear on his face. She blushed slightly, and reemerged into visibility.

"As you all know," boomed the captain, "this voyage has been surrounded by a thin veil of discretion. Many of you do not know our purpose, or our destination and that has been intentional. This mission is important, and has to be dealt with delicately. But now I will reveal to all of you our passenger, who will be treated with the utmost respect and favor by all on board. Am I understood?"

The gathered crew murmured their assent. Then the captain turned and nodded to an unseen onlooker, stepped back and made room for the honored guest…

…who proceeded to make her way to the railing, and to look out over her subjects gathered below.

Nick held her breath with sheer shock as she looked at the Princess Alanna, granddaughter to the Empress of the Etherium, and heir to the throne.

Then she released her seized lungs in a huff of disgust as this revered person made doe eyes at the oblivious first mate, who was clapping distractedly along with the rest of them.

Suddenly the captain shouted, "Enough groveling you flea-bitten sacks of dirt! We've got a ship to launch!"

And just like that, the applause died. The princess was bustled off to her cabin, the deckhands raced to their positions and Nick's head spun as she tried to absorb everything. She realized in a flash that Jim had left her side, and she felt very lost. She had been trailing behind him all day, and now she didn't have a clue where she ought to be. She searched the crowd of spacers, but his face didn't appear, and so she drifted around the deck watching the crew prepare for launch. It was really quite amazing what these louts could accomplish when they worked together. In a matter of moments, the solar sails had unfurled like so many golden blossoms, and were glowing with their stores of solar energy. The captain's shouted orders seemed superfluous, because the men were allowing their expertise to show. Soon the ship lifted from the dock—straight up into the air, and losing gravity simultaneously. Nick's heavy boots left the hard wooden deck, and she rose into the air. It felt strange and wonderful, and for a moment, Nick's worries took a backseat to the sensation of weightlessness. Then she heard a distant shout, and a clunk, and she dropped back to the deck, landing like a cat.

She looked up to where the captain was standing near the wheel and saw Jim smile at her. It was a real smile, full of shared excitement and joy, and she gladly returned it.

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Jim Hawkins surveyed the R.L.S. Galaxy with no small amount of pride. He may have been only the first mate, but his success in preparing the ship for launch made him feel as though the ship were his own. Besides, he was first mate in name only. This was to be his last voyage before he was promoted to captain, provided all went well, and he would be handling most matters for the captain. It was an anxious business, with his trying to remember the figuring and rationing that he had learned at the Academy and promptly forgotten as soon as he had graduated. Possibly before. And then there was the old edginess around an unfamiliar crew. The only thing Silver had taught him that he wished he could unlearn. The old spacer had taught him many valuable things about being in space, but mutiny had not been his favorite lesson. As the ship lifted from the dock, Jim felt the now-familiar sense of weightlessness, and recalled his first experience with a grin. He looked down onto the deck and saw the new cabin boy floating with a look of sheer joy on his face. Jim smiled with similar sentiment, and was reluctantly impressed when the gravity kicked in and the boy landed in an expert crouch. Not bad for a first timer, thought Jim. He smiled in approval at the boy, who grinned back.

Out of nowhere, a tiny pink blob zoomed in a circle around Nick's head, chittering happily in a high pitched language. He ducked, startled, and turned his head rapidly to catch a glimpse of the pest. But when Morph stopped and nuzzled against his cheek, another smile came to his face. Then Morph backed up, and swiftly transformed into a miniature of the new cabin boy. Jim sighed and shook his head slightly, smiling in spite of himself. He looked up at the captain to make sure he wasn't needed, and set off to retrieve his pet.

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Nick stared at the tiny miniature of herself floating in the air in front of her. The little pink creature had imitated her exactly, and some inner part of her was relieved to see that she looked very much like a boy, while the rest of her marveled at the shapeshifter. A sudden shout from the direction of the fo'c'sle startled her, and the feeling passed. She turned to see Jim walking towards her. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Sorry, sir. I'll be heading down to the galley," Nick started to retreat, but Jim stopped her.

"Not you. Him," and he pointed his finger at the miniature Nick, which abandoned its new form and became a pink blob once again. It flew over the Jim, and nuzzled his cheek, making whistling noises of contentment. "Sorry about him. This is Morph. And he must really like you. That was his special trick."

"What is he? And where did he come from?" Nick asked, feeling her curiosity rise.

"He's a… well, a morph! I don't know where he's from. The man I got him from said he found him on Proteus One, but I don't know if that's where he's from. I got him on my first voyage." Morph chirruped happily, and morphed into Silver, and swept a bow, then into an angry looking Captain Amelia. Nick gasped.

"You knew Captain Amelia Smollett? The last female spacer?"

Jim couldn't help but smile with pride. "I know her still. She's a close friend of the family. Her name is Amelia Doppler now. And if you ever run into her, I'd advise you not to call her by that particular euphemism."

"Oh. Sorry."

"She still rages whenever anyone brings up that idiot council. Or that 'sorry gaggle of lowlife scoundrels' as she prefers to call them."

"I don't understand why they outlawed females," Nick began cautiously. "It was Captain Amelia who defeated the Procyon Armada at the Battle of Cygnus Cross. And she led that expedition to Treasure Planet—"

"Which subsequently blew up, destroying all evidence of Flint's trove, or the lost civilization of the Forefathers. Plus there was the little issue of the mutiny, and the escape of Long John Silver. It was not a successful mission by anyone's standards." Except his own, and Amelia's.

"So the council outlawed females because of one failed mission?" Nick asked.

The captain shouted from the fo'c'sle. "Well, yes and no. We'll finish this later." And he turned and rushed back to the captain. Morph lingered with Nick, looking at her intently. She looked back at him, wondering what he was thinking. He flew up and licked her cheek and whistled happily. She turned and headed down to the galley. Time to get to work.