Yugi fell to his knees in shock. There, staked to the ceiling of the storage room, were heaps of human bodies. Men, women, children—there they were, ripped open and mutilated. Their eyes were open, and they were staring down at Yugi with a dead gaze. They were rotting, and they stank.
Yugi had screamed. He had vomited. Now he wanted to run away, but he couldn't will his legs to move. He was stuck there, staring at the bodies that were staring back at him with lifeless eyes.
Atem burst into the room. "Yugi, what happened?" he demanded. Yugi did not reply. Yugi's brain couldn't form the words to express the horror of what he was seeing. Atem followed Yugi's eyes to the ceiling and recoiled. "Yugi, we have to go. Now," Atem said. Yugi stood up, but he was moving too slowly. Atem grabbed Yugi's arm and pulled him into the hallway.
Moments later, the three other members of the crew rushed up next to them. "What happened? Who screamed?" Tea asked.
"I don't have time to answer questions," Atem said. "We need to get back to the ship as soon as possible." They piled onto Skydragon in minutes. Atem grabbed Yugi by the shoulders and looked his pilot in the eyes. "Yugi, I know that you've just seen something that no one should ever have to see," he said, "but I need you to get us out of here. Otherwise, the same thing that happened to those passengers will happen to us."
Yugi nodded slowly and trudged off to the bridge. Atem shut the cargo bay doors. "Captain?" Tristan asked.
"Reavers," Atem replied. The three looked confused. "Reavers are not a myth; they are very much real, and they are as dangerous as you've heard. Reavers attacked that ship and killed everyone on it—crew, passengers, everyone."
"How d'ya know that, captain?" Joey asked. "Coulda been some other creep out in da black."
"I know a Reaver attack when I see one!" Atem exclaimed. "I bet that they made the children watched at those monsters raped their mothers and gutted their fathers! I bet that they killed the little ones one at a time, leaving the last to kill itself! No human being could do something like that, Joseph, no matter how evil they might be. Reavers are in a class of their own."
Joey became subdued. "What are we gonna do about this?" he asked softly.
"Run, for now," Atem answered. "Reavers leave ships like Poseidon as bait for salvagers, counting on the fact that no one believes they exist. Then they kill a ship's crew in the most horrible way they can think of, and they eat their organs and steal their vessel. If we leave now, we might be able to avoid that fate."
Tristan gulped. "Might?" he repeated, his voice trembling.
Skydragon suddenly lurched, and Tristan nearly dropped the bottles of expensive alcohol he was holding. Atem rushed up to the bridge. "What was that?" he asked Yugi.
"A-another ship," Yugi answered. "It just fired a weapon at us." Skydragon lurched again, and Yugi began to quiver. Atem glanced at the radar. The Reaver vessel was directly behind them.
"Pilot us to the nearest planet, Yugi," Atem instructed. They were hit again. "Quickly!"
Yugi managed to get a hold of himself and gripped the controls. He powered Skydragon up to full speed and took off. Atem had to hold a bar on the ceiling to keep from falling over. "Hold on," Yugi muttered. The Reavers continued to fire, but Yugi began a complicated series of evasive maneuvers.
Yugi slowed down. "What are you…?" Atem began. Yugi shook his head as the Reavers caught up with them. Suddenly Yugi turned Skydragon completely upside-down and flew full speed in the opposite direction. The Reaver vessel, loaded with weapons, couldn't turn as quickly, and Yugi was given a strong head start.
They flew into an asteroid belt. Yugi was taking advantage of all of Skydragon's merits. Skydragon was small, and Yugi could easily navigate her through the dense clots of asteroids without a scratch. The Reaver vessel was one of the old A-type Obelisk-class ships, as big as a small city. Asteroids bounced off it, damaging its hull.
Atem held his breath as Yugi weaved and bobbed his way through the belt. The Reaver vessel was slowing down, but asteroids were still bombarding it. As Yugi passed into the Uranian cluster, a large explosion propelled them forward. The Reaver vessel was destroyed, and Skydragon and its crew were safe.
"Excellent flying, Yugi," Atem breathed. Yugi removed his shaking hands from the controls, slouching down in his chair with relief. "Are you all right?"
"Fine," Yugi replied softly. "I'm fine." Atem put his hand on Yugi's shoulder, and Yugi sighed deeply.
Joey, Tristan, and Tea entered the bridge frantically. "Are we still alive? We stopped movin'," Joey declared.
"We're still alive," Atem answered. "Thanks to Yugi." Tea put her hand on her heart, and Tristan popped open one of the bottles of rum. Yugi grabbed it and took a long swig.
"I can't believe it," Tea said. "Reavers are real? All of the stories?"
"Reavers are just as bad as they've been made out to be," Atem said. "I first encountered them when I was five years old. They killed my family and raided my hometown."
"I'm so sorry, captain," Yugi said sympathetically.
Atem shook his head. "We did manage to escape with our skins on this time, but we should try to avoid salvage operations in the future," he said. "We'll have to find something else to do to pay the bills."
"But for now, we have plenty of things to sell," Tea said encouragingly. "We have jewelry and silver… We might even have some alcohol if Yugi and Tristan don't drink it all." She snatched the bottle of rum away from Yugi, who hiccupped. "We should try one of the inner planets to sell luxuries like these."
"The Jupiterian cluster would probably be our best bet," Atem said. "Yugi, set a course for Callisto."
"Yes, hic, sir," Yugi replied.
While in the market on Callisto, the crew of Skydragon had secured another job. They needed to transport a large load of ceramics to Ariel, and no jar or plate could be cracked. The crew packed all of the ceramics in bundles of clothes and blankets, but the job still required careful piloting. Atem trusted Yugi to take care of that.
Yugi powered down the ship and headed for bed. He wasn't going to trust auto-pilot with such a delicate flying mission. Atem bade Yugi goodnight and then headed down to cargo bay to check the pottery.
Atem pulled the cover off of a large crate and began carefully unloading bundle after bundle. Suddenly, something stirred in the background. Atem pulled his pistol out of its holster and pointed it at the corner.
"Whoever's there, come out now," Atem instructed sternly. A small, delicate foot poked out from under the shelf. The foot was followed by a long, slender leg, which was followed by a pair of blue shorts. Then a young girl emerged. She had long auburn hair and soft hazel eyes. "I don't take well to stowaways," Atem said.
"I'm very sorry, but I need to get to Ariel, and I don't have much money," the girl said. Her voice was very feminine, almost childish. "Please don't hurt me."
Atem sighed and put away his gun. "I'm not going to hurt you," he said. "But I will have to report you to the authorities on Ariel."
"Oh! Please don't do that!" she begged. "I swear, I'll never do it again, I swear!"
Atem looked at her with compassion. "You stow away on my ship and expect not to be held accountable?" he asked. The girl hung her head. "We'll talk to the rest of my crew." The girl smiled and began helping him repack the pottery into the crates.
Atem summoned everyone into the mess hall. "What's your name?" he asked the girl, who was shifting nervously in her chair.
"I'm Serenity," she said. Atem stopped. That was Joey's sister's name. It must have just been a coincidence, though—plenty of girls had the name of Serenity.
Yugi was the first to arrive. He was still in his pajamas, and he was rubbing his eyes. "What is it, captain?" he asked tiredly. Atem pointed to the girl, and Yugi stared at her. "Uh, I don't think I've met you before…"
"She stowed away on our ship," Atem said. Yugi looked between Atem and Serenity, unsure of what to say.
"Well, it's nice to meet you," Yugi replied finally. He took a seat and tapped his fingers on the table.
Joey strode into the mess hall. His hair was ruffled, and his clothes were wrinkly and disheveled. "What happened?" he mumbled. His eyes found Serenity and stopped. Serenity stood up with a soft smile on her face.
"Hi, big brother."