A/N: Okie dokie! This is where the one and only! TheHallow! ME! Comes in! This is all me baby! ;P alright! I tried to match styles with Never as much as possible! :0 But I might just end up being in my style anyways :P

Enjoy!

Chapter 7: Captain's Orders

If Jim ever said that being in the crows nest was fun, then he would be lying. Don't get him wrong, the views were the best, and it was nice to be able to take his boots off. But Jim didn't want to sit around to call out for Orcus Galacticus migrations. Sure the Orcus' were cool and all, but Jim wanted to work, he wanted to prove his skills. If he were to spend the rest of the trip not working on deck, then he would rather be solar sailing.

Jim got out of the crows nest to pace on the yard on the main mast. The breeze from the Etherium whipped Jim's clothes and he just had to close his eyes and imagine being on a Solar Surfer.

He had promised Donna that he would teach her how to ride on a Solar Surfer, but he didn't have his surfer on board with him. His mother didn't let him bring it because she was afraid that it would only give him trouble and then before he knew it he would be shipped back home. Of course she was exaggerating, but Jim complied with his mother to calm her nerves.

"Hmm, I wonder if I could build one," Jim thought out loud as he stretched his arms out for balance. It was the early hours of the morning and the Entherium shined a light purple and blue.

"Build one of what?" Jim jumped a little almost losing his balance before spinning around at who was talking to him.

"Wren! By Thunder, don't sneak up on me like that," Jim yelled out. Wren only gave an apologetic smile and a shrug, "So what are you thinking of building?"

Jim walked back over to Wren, and hopped into the Crows nest, "uhh, well, just a solar surfer," he said awkwardly with a shrug.

Wren lifted a brow at Jim, "just a Solar Surfer?" he said sarcastically before snapping his head and giving Jim a shocked look, "You mean you can build a Solar Surfer?" he yelled out in astonishment, "with the sail, engine, and everything?"

Jim laughed at Wren's excitement, "Hey I wasn't joking when I tried to tell everyone that I wasn't only good at getting Spacesick," he joked.

"Woah," Wren complimented staring back out into the Etherium, "I could never be able to build a Solar Surfer," he mused sounding a little Jealous. Jim could only smile as they drifted through the Etherium.

"Ahoy! Mr. Hawkins," Jim heard from the deck, he looked down to see Captain Rorey was the one that called out to Jim, "Any grey skies?" the captain shouted. Jim looked around the Ethurium, turning a full three-sixty, before shouting back, "Not a dark cloud in sight, sir!"

"Good work, lad," the Captain complimented, "Now come down on deck, and bring Mr. Zumerston, we'll be doing some training today." Wren, who was also looking down at the Captain offhandedly commented, "It seems the Captain likes you, Jim. Hey! Maybe you could ask him if you can build a Solar Surfer!"

Jim gave Wren a look as he put his boots back on, "Ehh, I guess," he said stomping his foot into his boot, "But I don't see how he will permit me to build one." he added doubtfully. "Oh come on, Jim! This will give the Captain a chance to see some of your skills!" he added following Jim down the shrouds and onto the deck.

But before Jim could think of a reply to Wren's suggestion, Yono had come onto deck and blown the whistle for attention.

"Now then Lads, since today is such a nice day, The Capt'n has decided that today will be the day teh teach yeh how to control the Longboats," Yono said as he strolled down the line, his sailor accent slipping through every other word. When he got to Jim's end he stopped, "We'll start with Mr. Green," he called down to the other end of the line were that Butterfingers kid was. Jim supposed that this was Yono's strange way of getting back at Jim for not sharing a portion of his "loot".

Yono looked down at Jim before smirking, "Mr. Hawkins will be last today, so you can go back to that nest up there while you wait," causing a few snickers from the other students. Jim glowered at Yono saluted him with a "Yes, sir," and climbed back up the shrouds and into the crows nest.

For the rest of the day Jim sat, nearly bored to death, watching his peers each learn how to steer the longboats. He enjoyed a laugh or two as he watched Butterfingers mess up, but after that the lessons got boring. By the time it was Jim's turn the Etherium was now a dark purple, and the stars twinkled from far off galaxies.

"Alright, Mr. Hawkins," Yono called as Wren stepped out of the longboat and back on deck. "Good luck," he heard Wren whisper, his tone sounded a bit put out, but Jim didn't let that get to him. He was too excited that he was actually doing something other than sitting around. Stuffing his hand's in his pockets, he hopped into the Longboat casually and took his seat next to the controls.

Yono looked at Jim a little condescendingly before explaining the controls. Jim just smiled as he listened to Yono's explaining, "So in order to be able to use the steering you must disable the hydrolics-" Jim's grin grew wide when he heard Yono's mistake, "-Sir, I think you mean that you need to stabilize the hydrolics first, I'm pretty sure disabling them would make the longboat drift into Space," he corrected, albeit a little brazenly. Yono shot Jim a look before continuing his lesson, "Alright, Mr. Hawkins," he said after his explanation was over, "try steering the Longboat away from the ship and into the Etherium."

"Don't get Spacesick while you're at it, Greenie," Jim heard from on deck, but he ignored it. This was his element, and there was no way Jim could mess it up. Giving a small smirk, he instantly met the parameter, locked one of the steering extensions, stabilized the hydrolics, took the lock off of the steering extension, turned the engines at full blast, and smoothly flipped the longboat out into the Etherium. Without needing any instruction from Yono, having watched all his other peers do the training exercise, Jim sped the longboat out into the Etherium, zipped around a large and slow meteor, possibly squeezing in a spin or two, sped back towards the ship only to stop a few meters away from the port side. Jim looked over at Yono with an expectant look, "any other orders, sir?"

Yono huffed, giving Jim a very mean and pointed look, "take 'er down bellow, Mr. Hawkins," he said cryptically. Jim only smiled, "yes, sir, let's load her up," neutralizing the engine, he then slowly lowered her down and under the ship back to the loading docks in the hold. When Jim finished tying up the longboat, he turned around to face Yono for further instructions. "Mr. Hawkins, I suggest that you never disobey orders again, is that understood?" Jim knew he was going to get chewed out.

"Yes, sir."

"Good, you shall expect a call from the Captain sometime soon for your behavior today," Yono finished lamely, as he glared down at Jim. Jim felt very much cheated, but he knew not to talk back to a commanding officer. Even though he hadn't exactly disobeyed orders from Yono, and if this were the old Jim he would have protested and whined, but now he was a new Jim, so he kept his mouth shut, and saluted when he was dismissed.

When Jim finally climbed back up on deck, he was hailed on by Wren and Zack, "Mate, that was awesome," Zack complimented lightly punching him in the shoulder. Jim laughed as Wren went on a play-by-play on Jim's flying skills, Jim didn't bother telling him that he already knew how to fly a Longboat, he didn't want to seem too cocky. So he just smiled and followed along as they went down for dinner.

The next morning, Jim wasn't surprised when he was called out of line and into the Captain's quarters. The grin on Yono's face when he told Jim to go see the Captain was almost poisonous. As he walked up the stairs to the Captain's Quarters he bumped into someone rather tall, "Oof, s-sorry" he called out, only to be straightened out by hands that felt incredibly boney, "Watch out there Hawkins," said Mr. Wentworth, who then left with a creepy smile on his face. Jim shivered for a second before he ascended the rest of the steps and knocked on the Captain's quarters.

He entered after hearing a muffled, "come in," and stood at attention in front of the Captain's desk. Captain Rorey was looking over some maps with a divider, calculating certain distances to destinations. Jim expecting to be chewed out... again... waited silently for the Captain to say something, "Mr. Hawkins, there is a rumor that you have excellent skills in flying a longboat," Jim snapped his head up to the Captain, who was resting his chin on his arms and smiling at Jim. There was a certain twinkle of mischief in the Captain's eyes that Jim had never thought he could see on a Captain. Jim's face broke out in a lip breaking grin at the Captain's compliment, "yes, sir."

"I know what pretenses you were sent here under, James," the Captain began, standing up from his chair, "But I'm just letting you off the hook this one time," he winked, "I know what it is like to sit around all day and then be keen for some action, but next time try to control it, you are on a ship after all and you must learn to follow your superiors," he added with a lightly stern tone yet he still kept his jolly smile.

Jim just grinned at the Captain for his forgiveness, but then he remembered how Yono tried to get a bribe from him and his grin faltered, "Have something on your mind?" the Captain asked, noticing his grin falter. "Yes, sir," Jim answered, it wasn't fair for the superiors on this ship to all feel the need to give Jim special privileges just because he had some supposed treasure. "Sir, I know that some of the crew know of my voyage to Treasure Planet," Jim stated bluntly, "Oh?" the Captain replied, his jolly smile and twinkly eyes never faltering.

"Yes, sir, I just want you to know, that I don't have any treasure," Jim said in all seriousness, it was true, he spent the handful Silver gave him on rebuilding his mother's inn. There was none left. "And the planet no longer exists either..." at this the Captain seemed to peak his interest, "no longer exists?" he asked seeming to enjoy this news immensely. "Ah, yes sir, the planet was booby trapped by Flint, he didn't want anybody having his treasure," Jim explained.

"Ah, to be so protective over something to even guard it beyond death is almost absurd, It's not like he was going to use it after death anyways," The Captain commented, playing around with one of his tools, "No matter, I'm glad the blasted planet is gone, and the treasure along with it! Too many lives have been wasted dreaming about that treasure," the Captain added. This lightly perplexed Jim, was the Captain not after James' fortune after all?

"Excuse me sir, but are you saying that you have no interest in that treasure?" Jim asked, the captain only gave Jim a jolly chuckle, "Well I can't say that it's not a tempting prize," he admitted, "but no, I have no interest in such a loot, there would be so much that I wouldn't know what to do with it," he ended with a hearty laugh.

Jim let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding, he was thankful that the Captain wasn't trying to get a bribe from Jim. That would have led to too many complications while on this Voyage. Jim decided not to tell the Captain about Yono looking for a bribe, there wasn't much of a point when they would just have to keep him around until after the trip anyways, it would be better to tell the Captain when they got to the Academy.

"Will that be all, sir?" Jim asked, backing towards the door. "Ah, yes, James, thank you for being a good sport," the Captain said turning back to his maps. Just as Jim was about to open the door, he remembered the conversation he had with Wren just yesterday morning.

He sighed, chuckling as he stared at the door, he couldn't believe he was going to even ask. "Actually Sir, I have one more question." Jim said turning back around, the Captain fixed Jim with a look of curiosity, "yes, my boy? What is it?"

"Well, I was just wondering, sir," Jim began suddenly feeling rather bashful, "Seeing as you had first said that we are to prove our skills," Jim sort of mumbled, rubbing the side of his face, "I was wondering, if I could have permission to build a Solar Surfer," he finished with a shrug, looking over at the Captain timidly.

"Hmm, yes, well I don't see any crime in that," The Captain replied after a few minutes, "I'm sure we have some extra supplies in the bilge to build a Solar Surfer, since we're floating around in space and not on sea you wont need to worry a thing about getting anything wet," he smiled at Jim's shocked expression, "Surprised?" the Captain asked.

Jim shook his head, "Sorry, sir, I just-" he chuckled, "I just never thought you would actually agree to that," he laughed in relief. The Captain smiled at Jim, "Well, just make sure you don't make me regret that decision," the Captain replied jovially.

"Yes, sir, of course sir, I won't let you down," Jim stuttered smiling as he backed towards the door again. "Goodbye, James," the Captain said smiling. "Uh, Goodbye Captain," Jim said as he left the Captain's quarters with a large smile. At least now his time on the ship wouldn't be as boring as he originally thought it would be.

That evening, Jim found himself peeling Hora Potatoes down in the galley with Donna. "So, there's a rumor going around," Donna said as she peeled a potato perfectly. "Yeah?" Jim asked with a mischievous smile. Donna chuckled, Jim thought for a second that she was blushing, but he rationalized that it was probably a light sunburn from when they passed by that particularly hot sun, "yeah, there's a rumor that Spacesick Jim is the best Longboat flyer on this ship," she joked picking up a new Hora Potato. Jim laughed, "Well, what can I say?" he shrugged, "I told you that I'm not weak." he said, trying to make a gag.

But what Donna heard from him was insecurity, she turned to Jim with her most serious expression, "I never thought you were weak," she admitted, almost as though offended, "Everybody get's a little spacesick now and then," she said peeling her potato. It took a few minutes for Donna's words to sink in, "Am I dreaming, or did the notorious Donna Rorey just give me, James Hawkins, a compliment?" he exclaimed sarcastically, earning a good laugh from Donna, "Hey, don't get used to it!" she joked. They then continued peeling the potatoes in silence, when Jim scrunched up his brow, "Wait a minute, If you didn't think I was weak on the first day, then why did you force me to drink that nasty stuff?" he asked raising an eyebrow. The only thing he got from her was a smirk.

The rest of the evening passed by smoothly, until it was time to clean up the mess hall. Jim was sweeping when he heard a strange sound come from behind him. It sounded like a knife being unsheathed, or as though a metallic object was lightly scraping against another metallic object. Jim tensed, listening for any other sounds, when suddenly Jim was pinned face first into the wall of the mess hall, "What the-" Jim cried out. "Sorry mate," Jim recognized Zack's voice as he was pushed against the wall. "What in the world is going on here?" Jim yelled trying to struggle out of Zack's hold.

Suddenly he felt cold and delicate hands on the back of his neck, "I'm sorry Jim," Donna said, "it's just the Captain's orders," she said apologetically as Jim felt a cold object on his neck. "What the hell are you doing?" Jim shouted, when suddenly he heard the sound of a snip and felt a small weight lift from his neck. Jim was released and he instantly spun around feeling the back of his neck. At first, he didn't see what they had done back there, there wasn't any blood or anything, no cuts or bruises and nothing seemed to hurt.

It was when he looked up at Donna that he realized what they had done. Jim widened his eyes in horror because in her hand was a small braid of brown hair. "No! You didn't?!" Jim begged, hoping that what he was looking at was not in fact his braid. It took him years to grow that out! Jim looked over at Zack, only to see an apologetic grimace, "You cut it off?!" Jim yelled, reaching behind his neck to find the small tuft of hair that used to be the coolest part of his hairdo.

"I'm sorry, mate," Zack said, "Donna told me the Captain ordered her to do it! And she knew she would never have gotten you to cut it on purpose!" he tried to explain. Jim whipped his head to look back at Donna, who gave a semi apologetic shrug, still holding Jim's braid hostage in one hand, with the murder weapon in her other. Jim gave Donna a hard look before huffing in irritation, "That took forever to grow out," he whined slumping his shoulders, " You guys scared the crap outta me! I thought I was going to get murdered or something!" he cried out before rubbing his temple, "whatever," he conceded, "Captain's orders are captain's orders... even though I wish I had been the one to do it," he threw another hard look at Donna, who was now putting the scissors away and throwing the braid into the trash barrel by the door.

"Good riddance," Donna mumbled as she watched the braid float down to the bottom of the barrel, "that braid was so unattractive," Donna confessed. Jim narrowed his eyes at her, "My braid was awesome!" he cried out, defending his lost friend.

"Well, hey, mate!" Zack said leaning an arm on Jim's shoulder, "you do look rather sharp with your new hair cut." Jim glared his hardest most deep hated glare at Zack, "Hey just trying to lighten things up," he said lifting himself off of Jim. "My braid," Jim whimpered, leaving the mess hall for his bunker room.

The next day, Jim wouldn't stop rubbing the spot where his braid once was. By the time it was lunch, he had an angry red blotch on the back of his neck. When he had looked at himself in the mirror that morning, he did admit that with the braid gone he looked clean-cut. He looked less like a pirate and more like a Spacer. Besides, Jim knew that the Academy wasn't going to let him keep his braid, they would have made him cut it off anyways. Although he wished that he could have kept it around longer, he was sort of thankful that the Captain ordered to cut off the braid.

Some of his peers had noticed the loss of his braid and even tried making stupid cracks about it, but Jim just ignored them. For once felt thankful that he was isolated in the crows nest and wouldn't be forced to hear the other students lame jokes.

At around lunch, Jim had ducked into the back of the hold and into the bilge to search for some parts and instantly began working on the engine for his Solar Surfer. By the time the break was over, Jim was already moving onto the turbo booster, which was a small square made up of pipes and other whatchamacallits that Jim had an astute knowledge for. The booster was small enough to fit into Jim's pockets, which was perfect since he could sneak it up into the crows nest and keep himself from being bored. Jim was able to hide the engine behind some crates in the very back of the hold, Jim wouldn't need to worry about anybody finding it since the crates wouldn't be sought out for until the end of the voyage.

So far, it was a pretty calm day out in the Etherium, which is why Jim wasn't expecting anything the least bit ominous to happen. Yes the Etherium was clear and bright just as it had been for the past few days, that is until sometime around fourteen-hundred hours. Jim was fiddling around with the pressure sensor in his turbo boost, he had accidentally dropped his screw driver and bent down to get he straightened himself up again and looked back out into the Etherium, was when he saw it.

A massive, menacing, dark grey fog had materialized out of thin air, and the ship was heading straight for it.

A/N: Alright! Here is is! this entire chapter is all me! I tried as much as possible to match the writing style of NeverHeardOfFanFicUntilNow's but I am a different person so I expect that it does sound a little different. lol Anyways! I am super proud of this chapter! I slaved over it! I know it seems kind of pointless to work so hard over a fanfic that probably isn't going to get a lot of attention, but I decided to do it anyways because not only am I having fun, but because I'm doing it as an intense TP Fan!
TP FOREVER BABY! lol

Anyways, I'm sure I need some explaining on some ship terms that may confuse you.

As I'm sure you have figured out, the Hold of the ship is the very bottom, it's where the crates, and other stuff is kept. I assumed that in Treasure Planet, it is also where the Longboats are held.

Now you might be wondering, what the heck is a Bilge then? Well, in normal ships that sail the seas, the Bilge is in the back of the ship where the two sides of the hull meet, it is where water from leaks in the hull, rainwater, human waste (ew), and oil leaks from the engine and drive components collect, some ships have Bilge pumps that can pump the water back out of the ship. Not every ship has a bilge pump automatically installed (so if you're buying a boat make sure you have one or else you may find your self sinking lol). So as you can see I have used the Bilge for a different purpose in this Fanfic, seeing as they are out in space and not in sea there wont be random fluids in there.

Okay now, I must confess, I don't have a supreme knowledge of ships and the like. I tried to do my best with research and stuff, and that is what I found. Now in this fanfic I am using the bilge as a place where extra parts and tech are kept. I just felt that it made sense for this syfy ship as it is an extra space right behind the hold that is perfect for putting stuff there. Now, I'm sure you noticed the human waste part... I have intentionally skipped however in the world they are keeping themselves sanitary, just assume that they have bathrooms and showers and the like somewhere. lol

Sorry for this super long explanation XD I hope you have learned something awesome from it! hahaha

Please Review and tell me how I did! Thank you for reading!