I don't own these characters or profit from them.
Starting Over
By, Clayton Overstreet
Previously on Outlaw Star
When we left the crew last they were on the run from the Kae pirates for
helping the security forces find the vault where they stored all of their
stolen items. After a brief scouting mission where everyone picked some
choice items including missing pieces to the Outlaw Star, Aisha had
managed to set off the pirate's traps, which they escaped by the skin of
their teeth. Unfortunately some of the ships that attacked them managed to
get away and Gene is certain that the pirates will be tracking him with
everything they have. So he and the others are breaking all ties and
heading off to the farthest corner of the galaxy. After trading some of
the blueprints of the Outlaw Star to the space forces for supplies (well
actually he caught them stealing the designs and made them supply him in
exchange) he's headed out to they Tai pirate's territory, which includes
Earth.
"Hey enough with the exposition already!" Gene yelled. "Let's just start
the story all right?"
You're the boss.
The actual story
Aisha's stomach was growling loud enough to almost block out her whining.
Gene sighed and looked at her. "I told you Aisha, we're going to ration
the food."
Aisha meowed pitifully. "But I'm not like you. I need a lot of food."
Gene rolled his eyes. "I know, that's why we're giving you three times
more than anybody else. Just try to keep still and sleep."
Aisha started to whine that she couldn't do that when Jim turned around.
"Aisha, why don't you join Suzuka in the cargo hold and meditate?"
Aisha growled. "But that's so boring. And after a while my legs start to
cramp up."
Jim bit his lip. then grinned. "You could consider it a personal
challenge. And if you want something to look at there is all that gold,
art, and dragonite down there. And I'll bet that if you do it Gene will give
you one of those monopoles he picked up at the pirate's vault. Right Gene?
Think how much food you could buy with that."
Gene frowned at him, then looked at Aisha, who was immortal and could
probably whine for a long, long time. "All right, I'll do it. But if she
whines one more time, I'm shooting her out the air lock and taking
possession of all her dragonite, got it?"
Aisha nodded and quickly hopped out of her seat and ran to the cargo hold.
Jim sighed and looked at Gene. "Do you have to be so mean to her Gene?"
Gene sighed. "No, but it's not like she's the only one who's hungry. And
it's still another day to the next space port."
Jim nodded, his own stomach growling slightly. "Yeah, I know. But
still..."
Down in the Cargo hold Aisha sat counting her dragonite and the other
treasures she'd collected. Suzuka watched her with interest. "How many
times can you do that? You've counted everything at least a dozen times."
Aisha grunted slightly. "Well it's not like I have much else to do. I
can't eat enough to keep busy. I can't sleep on an empty stomach. And if I
am so hungry that I am about ready to forget just how terrible humans
taste."
Suzuka nodded. "I know what you mean. But there is nothing we can do about
it... unless you'd like to play a little game?"
Aisha's ears perked up. "What kind of game?"
Suzuka reached into her robes and pulled out a deck of cards, then glanced
at the dragonite. Aisha grinned and sat across from her. Suzuka smiled
slightly. "Do you know how to play poker?"
Aisha nodded. "Yes, I do... a little."
Suzuka's eyes narrowed. "In my experience when someone knows a 'little'
about poker they know 'everything' about poker."
Aisha grinned and watched Suzuka's face. "I know enough to know when
someone is shuffling the cards in their favor. How about we let a Gilliam
drone deal?"
Suzuka smirked and blushed slightly. "Well all right."
She looked up at the Gillian drone perched above them. "Do you mind?"
The drone lowered down between them. "Not at all Suzuka." The tiny robot
dealt the cards and the game go under way.
About an hour later Melfina called everyone for dinner. Suzuka and Aisha
came up from the cargo hold while Jim and Gene came in from the bridge.
When Jim came in he said, "Smells good Melfina, I'm starving."
Melfina smiled and handed him a bowl of soup. "I'm sorry there isn't more,
but we're almost out of food. We only have enough for this and breakfast
tomorrow."
Gene nodded. "That should do fine Melfina. It's only twelve hours until
the space port."
Melfina smiled and passed him and Suzuka their bowls. Aisha got the rest
of what was in the pot. As she sat down next to Suzuka she elbowed the
assassin in the ribs. Suzuka sighed and poured half of her bowl back into
the pot. Aisha grinned. "Thank you." Then she began shoveling the food
into her mouth.
Melfina smiled at Suzuka. "Here Suzuka you can have some of mine." She
poured some of her soup in with Suzuka's.
Suzuka smiled. "Thank you Melfina." Then she looked down and mumbled. "I
still say she cheated."
Gilliam lowered down from his rail. "Neither of you cheated. I was
watching very closely and could show you the entire game from beginning to
end."
Suzuka knocked the robot onto the floor. Aisha grinned and looked at her.
"You should be thanking me Suzu. Instead of betting all the rest of your
dragonite I went for food instead."
Suzuka sighed and sipped her soup. Meanwhile Gene looked over at Jim. "Did
you finish installing the new equipment?"
Jim nodded. "Most of it. We just need to get the new shields on and we'll
be finishes. But we can't do that until we dock at the station."
Gene nodded. "How's that modem working?"
Jim got a wistful look on his face. "It's the best thing that ever
happened to me. It automatically opens any computer system, blocks out all
viruses, and can get me whatever I want." Gilliam made throat clearing
sounds. "With Gilliam's help of course."
Gene looked at the Gilliam robot. "Since when do you care if you get
credit for anything?"
"Since my last personality upgrade Gene." Gilliam responded.
Gene put his head in his hand, about to moan about that. Then he noticed a
furry hand edging it's way towards his soup. Gene slammed his fork down
right between Aisha's fingers causing her to pull her hand back.
"Fine, be that way. I'm going to bed anyway. Wake me for breakfast." Aisha
grumbled and turned to go to bed. After that they finished eating in
silence and all of them took off for bed. As he curled into bed with
Melfina, Gene looked at her and said, "Things have got to get better,
right?"
Melfina nodded and leaned her head against his chest. "I'm sure they will
Gene." She yawned and closed her eyes.
Gene smiled down at her. "Hmm, they're looking better already. Good night
Mel." He kisses her forehead and lay back on his pillow.
"Good night Gene." Melfina whispered. The lights went out and they fell
asleep.
The next day they arrived at the spaceport. Immediately they all streamed
off the ship like rats, heading straight for the nearest diner. Once there
they ordered a huge meal and ate for an hour.
When they were done Gene looked over at Jim. "How much money do we have
Jim?"
Jim pulled out his computer to do a check. "It looks like we have about
ten thousand wong to our name all together. Take away what it will cost to
get a new office and we have about enough to get fuel."
Aisha looked at him like he was crazy. "But what about all that dragonite
we have?"
Jim shook his head. "It may be worth money Aisha, but it isn't money.
Until we can sell it , the stuff might as well be gravel."
Aisha sighed and chewed on the end of a beef rib, sucking the marrow out
of the bone. "Well that stinks. Who can we sell it to?"
"And where can we get an office?" Gene asked.
Jim pushed a few more buttons. "It looks like we can sell it on this
station, and there is a not too expensive building we could buy on a
planet not too far from here."
Gene nodded. "Sounds all right. Do you know if the pirates are after us
yet?"
Jim shook his head. "I don't know Gene. Maybe they forgot about us and are
focusing on the space forces."
A shot rang out and the window next to them shattered. Gene felt a bullet
graze his ear and cursed. Diving under the table they all looked at
each other and simultaneously said, "Guess not."
Gene held up a small hand held mirror and peeked over the table. He saw a
man in a dark coat looking at him.
"Gene Starwind! Come out an face me!" The man called.
Gene aimed his gun through the table and pulled the trigger. He heard the
other man scream in pain and drop his gun. Jumping out from behind the
table he ran over to the man and grabbed him by the collar. "Who sent you
and for how much?"
The man glared up at him, but the effect was ruined when he coughed up
some blood. "Nobody sent me. I'm a bounty hunter. You're worth over three
million wong. I just got lucky to find you before anyone else did."
The guy took one last breath and then closed his eyes, his heart stopping.
Gene dropped him and backed up. "Yeah, lucky." He looked back at the
others. "It's time we get out of here."
They nodded and began to leave when the diner's owner came running up.
"Hey! What about my window and table?"
Gene reached into his pocket and tossed the owner a large piece of
dragonite. That shut the man up as they walked back towards the ship.
"Looks like we're going to have to keep going. Jim, do you think we can
sell enough dragonite to buy enough fuel to get us to Earth?"
Jim nodded. "Shouldn't be too hard. I'll go get some and take it to that
guy I told you about. Meet you back at the ship with the money."
Gene nodded and Aisha stepped forward. "I'll come with you. I need some
money too so I'll sell some of mine while we're at it."
Gene sighed. "All right, but no shopping on the way back. While your out
I'll get us fueled up and have some food delivered. You two be back here
in two hours."
Jim looked up at him. "What if more bounty hunters show up? Or pirates?"
Gene smiled and looked down. "Then I'll just have to take care of them."
As they flew though space towards Earth everyone was on guard. They had
searched for tracers as well. Finally they began to relax.
The only ships they saw were registered out of Earth and the finally had
full supplies. Gene smiled back at them. "Wow, I'd never think someone
would want me dead enough to offer that kind of money."
Aisha and Suzuka were looking at him and smiling slightly. "Yes... that is
an awful lot of money isn't it Gene?" Suzuka said.
Gene looked at them nervously. "You two wouldn't be planning to do
anything I'll regret are you?"
Suzuka and Aisha looked at each other then back at him. "Nah, we wouldn't
do that to you Gene. We're all family here." Aisha said. "Besides Melfina
and Jim would never forgive us."
"Plus we both know that the Kae pirates can't pay it even if someone does
collect. We stole all of their funds didn't we? I'll bet that they will be
out of business soon enough. They just want revenge." Suzuka said.
Aisha grinned at her. "I wouldn't make any bets if I were you Suzu."
Suzuka looked at her, "I told you to stop calling me that!"
Melfina laughed then looked at Gene. "Does that mean they won't be coming
after you for a while?"
Gene shook his head. "No, a lot of them probably have their own stashes.
That should last them a while. Especially if they can keep the fact that
their money is gone a secret. And even afterwards some of them will join
other pirate guilds and hold a grudge."
Jim turned and smiled. "But I just did something that should help
considerably." Everyone looked at him expectantly. "I just posted it on
the web that the Kae Pirates are broke and added a few security forces
files that I hacked to back it up. And I downplayed our part
considerably. It was easy since Valeria and Dooz seem to forget to mention
us in their report."
They all laughed and Aisha hugged him. "Jim you are a genius!"
Jim smiled and hugged her back. "Well I'd have to be to keep an equal
balance with Gene. Anyway it was really simple wasn't it Gilliam?"
"A piece of cake Jim." The computer responded.
Gene smiled. "In that case it shouldn't be any worse than it was when we
were still looking for the ley line. And we don't even have Hazanko and
his people to worry about. I doubt even most of the pirates know what
happened at the vault. Otherwise it would have been a very hard secret to
keep."
As the ship sped through space the crew of the Outlaw Star decided to
have a party, to celebrate a new beginning.
"To Starwind and Hawking enterprises!" Gene said.
Aisha looked at him. "I've been wondering Gene, if you might consider a
new name with Suzu and me in it? I mean we do a lot for you guys you
know."
Jim smiled at her. "Actually we did think to include you two and Melfina
in the name. But then we realized that Mel's last name is Starwind now and
we thought that you and Suzuka might not want to be named in the titles. I
mean you do your own jobs too right? Like when you went after that giant
bug in the sewer."
Gene looked at Suzuka. "Or when you beat us to the real Zomba. You two
don't want to get caught up in all our jobs do you?"
Aisha and Suzuka had to agree. "You're right of course Gene. I personally
do like working for myself on occasion, though since I've met you my taste
for assassination has left me. But as I told you before I do enjoy bounty
hunting."
Jim grinned. "And it's also nice to know we have someone who can bail us
out of jail."
Gene smiled. "Anyway we're starting over. Let's just see what happens."
Melfina smiled and looked around. "This is so much fun. I always enjoy it
when we're all together like this."
Gene put his arm around her shoulder and hugged her close. "You're right
Mel. This is the life. In fact I can't think of one thing that could make
it better."
Melfina grinned and looked up at him. "Oh I think I might be able to top
it."
Everyone looked at her surprised. "And how would you do that Melfina?"
Gene asked.
Melfina bit her lip and smiled. Leaning up she whispered something in
Gene's ear. He looked at her in shock while Aisha broke out laughing.
"Really? I mean you're sure?"
Melfina smiled and nodded. Gene hugged her. "That's great Melfina!"
Suddenly his eyes rolled back in his skull and he fell down onto his back.
Aisha just laughed harder while Jim, Suzuka, and the Gilliam robot looked
at her. "What did you say Melfina?" Jim asked.
Melfina smiled and said, "I'm going to have a baby!"
Jim and Suzuka's looked at her in shock, then they both fell back onto the
floor beside Gene. Melfina giggled and Aisha kept laughing.
The pink Gilliam drone descended from it's rail. "Congratulations
Melfina."
TO BE CONTINUED...
Suzuka's voice: What was I thinking when I joined up with these people? A
school girl crush on Gene (which I am glad to say I'm over... mostly) and
an itch for adventure and revenge against the Kae pirates. Now I've had my
revenge, I've got a family I never expected, and Melfina has declared
that Aisha and I are going to be her baby's aunts. Not that I mind really,
for some reason I don't feel like being an assassin any more.
As we all fuss over Melfina and the guys try to scrape their business back
together on and around Earth, we all begin wondering if this will all make
Gene straightens up and fly right, not taking as many risks. Yeah, I don't
believe it either. He's just as careless with his own life as he always
was, but at least he knows who his friends are. So how will Gene balance
raising his child, fighting off pirates, and running his business? To find
out I've been told you'll have to read the next Clayton Overstreet fan fic
'A family LIFE OF ADVENTURE'.
Author's note
So what do you think? Not bad so far right? I try to keep as much with the
story as possible and as a rule I don't usually do 'to be continued' fan
fics, but if you've ever watched Outlaw Star you know that even the last
episode ended that way. I generally like to pick an event and go with it
in my stories. In this case though I have to think up the event ahead of
time so that I can do the part where one of the characters tells you about
the next story. If you liked my story, please tell me what you thought at
clayton_n@hotmail.com
Starting Over
By, Clayton Overstreet
Previously on Outlaw Star
When we left the crew last they were on the run from the Kae pirates for
helping the security forces find the vault where they stored all of their
stolen items. After a brief scouting mission where everyone picked some
choice items including missing pieces to the Outlaw Star, Aisha had
managed to set off the pirate's traps, which they escaped by the skin of
their teeth. Unfortunately some of the ships that attacked them managed to
get away and Gene is certain that the pirates will be tracking him with
everything they have. So he and the others are breaking all ties and
heading off to the farthest corner of the galaxy. After trading some of
the blueprints of the Outlaw Star to the space forces for supplies (well
actually he caught them stealing the designs and made them supply him in
exchange) he's headed out to they Tai pirate's territory, which includes
Earth.
"Hey enough with the exposition already!" Gene yelled. "Let's just start
the story all right?"
You're the boss.
The actual story
Aisha's stomach was growling loud enough to almost block out her whining.
Gene sighed and looked at her. "I told you Aisha, we're going to ration
the food."
Aisha meowed pitifully. "But I'm not like you. I need a lot of food."
Gene rolled his eyes. "I know, that's why we're giving you three times
more than anybody else. Just try to keep still and sleep."
Aisha started to whine that she couldn't do that when Jim turned around.
"Aisha, why don't you join Suzuka in the cargo hold and meditate?"
Aisha growled. "But that's so boring. And after a while my legs start to
cramp up."
Jim bit his lip. then grinned. "You could consider it a personal
challenge. And if you want something to look at there is all that gold,
art, and dragonite down there. And I'll bet that if you do it Gene will give
you one of those monopoles he picked up at the pirate's vault. Right Gene?
Think how much food you could buy with that."
Gene frowned at him, then looked at Aisha, who was immortal and could
probably whine for a long, long time. "All right, I'll do it. But if she
whines one more time, I'm shooting her out the air lock and taking
possession of all her dragonite, got it?"
Aisha nodded and quickly hopped out of her seat and ran to the cargo hold.
Jim sighed and looked at Gene. "Do you have to be so mean to her Gene?"
Gene sighed. "No, but it's not like she's the only one who's hungry. And
it's still another day to the next space port."
Jim nodded, his own stomach growling slightly. "Yeah, I know. But
still..."
Down in the Cargo hold Aisha sat counting her dragonite and the other
treasures she'd collected. Suzuka watched her with interest. "How many
times can you do that? You've counted everything at least a dozen times."
Aisha grunted slightly. "Well it's not like I have much else to do. I
can't eat enough to keep busy. I can't sleep on an empty stomach. And if I
am so hungry that I am about ready to forget just how terrible humans
taste."
Suzuka nodded. "I know what you mean. But there is nothing we can do about
it... unless you'd like to play a little game?"
Aisha's ears perked up. "What kind of game?"
Suzuka reached into her robes and pulled out a deck of cards, then glanced
at the dragonite. Aisha grinned and sat across from her. Suzuka smiled
slightly. "Do you know how to play poker?"
Aisha nodded. "Yes, I do... a little."
Suzuka's eyes narrowed. "In my experience when someone knows a 'little'
about poker they know 'everything' about poker."
Aisha grinned and watched Suzuka's face. "I know enough to know when
someone is shuffling the cards in their favor. How about we let a Gilliam
drone deal?"
Suzuka smirked and blushed slightly. "Well all right."
She looked up at the Gillian drone perched above them. "Do you mind?"
The drone lowered down between them. "Not at all Suzuka." The tiny robot
dealt the cards and the game go under way.
About an hour later Melfina called everyone for dinner. Suzuka and Aisha
came up from the cargo hold while Jim and Gene came in from the bridge.
When Jim came in he said, "Smells good Melfina, I'm starving."
Melfina smiled and handed him a bowl of soup. "I'm sorry there isn't more,
but we're almost out of food. We only have enough for this and breakfast
tomorrow."
Gene nodded. "That should do fine Melfina. It's only twelve hours until
the space port."
Melfina smiled and passed him and Suzuka their bowls. Aisha got the rest
of what was in the pot. As she sat down next to Suzuka she elbowed the
assassin in the ribs. Suzuka sighed and poured half of her bowl back into
the pot. Aisha grinned. "Thank you." Then she began shoveling the food
into her mouth.
Melfina smiled at Suzuka. "Here Suzuka you can have some of mine." She
poured some of her soup in with Suzuka's.
Suzuka smiled. "Thank you Melfina." Then she looked down and mumbled. "I
still say she cheated."
Gilliam lowered down from his rail. "Neither of you cheated. I was
watching very closely and could show you the entire game from beginning to
end."
Suzuka knocked the robot onto the floor. Aisha grinned and looked at her.
"You should be thanking me Suzu. Instead of betting all the rest of your
dragonite I went for food instead."
Suzuka sighed and sipped her soup. Meanwhile Gene looked over at Jim. "Did
you finish installing the new equipment?"
Jim nodded. "Most of it. We just need to get the new shields on and we'll
be finishes. But we can't do that until we dock at the station."
Gene nodded. "How's that modem working?"
Jim got a wistful look on his face. "It's the best thing that ever
happened to me. It automatically opens any computer system, blocks out all
viruses, and can get me whatever I want." Gilliam made throat clearing
sounds. "With Gilliam's help of course."
Gene looked at the Gilliam robot. "Since when do you care if you get
credit for anything?"
"Since my last personality upgrade Gene." Gilliam responded.
Gene put his head in his hand, about to moan about that. Then he noticed a
furry hand edging it's way towards his soup. Gene slammed his fork down
right between Aisha's fingers causing her to pull her hand back.
"Fine, be that way. I'm going to bed anyway. Wake me for breakfast." Aisha
grumbled and turned to go to bed. After that they finished eating in
silence and all of them took off for bed. As he curled into bed with
Melfina, Gene looked at her and said, "Things have got to get better,
right?"
Melfina nodded and leaned her head against his chest. "I'm sure they will
Gene." She yawned and closed her eyes.
Gene smiled down at her. "Hmm, they're looking better already. Good night
Mel." He kisses her forehead and lay back on his pillow.
"Good night Gene." Melfina whispered. The lights went out and they fell
asleep.
The next day they arrived at the spaceport. Immediately they all streamed
off the ship like rats, heading straight for the nearest diner. Once there
they ordered a huge meal and ate for an hour.
When they were done Gene looked over at Jim. "How much money do we have
Jim?"
Jim pulled out his computer to do a check. "It looks like we have about
ten thousand wong to our name all together. Take away what it will cost to
get a new office and we have about enough to get fuel."
Aisha looked at him like he was crazy. "But what about all that dragonite
we have?"
Jim shook his head. "It may be worth money Aisha, but it isn't money.
Until we can sell it , the stuff might as well be gravel."
Aisha sighed and chewed on the end of a beef rib, sucking the marrow out
of the bone. "Well that stinks. Who can we sell it to?"
"And where can we get an office?" Gene asked.
Jim pushed a few more buttons. "It looks like we can sell it on this
station, and there is a not too expensive building we could buy on a
planet not too far from here."
Gene nodded. "Sounds all right. Do you know if the pirates are after us
yet?"
Jim shook his head. "I don't know Gene. Maybe they forgot about us and are
focusing on the space forces."
A shot rang out and the window next to them shattered. Gene felt a bullet
graze his ear and cursed. Diving under the table they all looked at
each other and simultaneously said, "Guess not."
Gene held up a small hand held mirror and peeked over the table. He saw a
man in a dark coat looking at him.
"Gene Starwind! Come out an face me!" The man called.
Gene aimed his gun through the table and pulled the trigger. He heard the
other man scream in pain and drop his gun. Jumping out from behind the
table he ran over to the man and grabbed him by the collar. "Who sent you
and for how much?"
The man glared up at him, but the effect was ruined when he coughed up
some blood. "Nobody sent me. I'm a bounty hunter. You're worth over three
million wong. I just got lucky to find you before anyone else did."
The guy took one last breath and then closed his eyes, his heart stopping.
Gene dropped him and backed up. "Yeah, lucky." He looked back at the
others. "It's time we get out of here."
They nodded and began to leave when the diner's owner came running up.
"Hey! What about my window and table?"
Gene reached into his pocket and tossed the owner a large piece of
dragonite. That shut the man up as they walked back towards the ship.
"Looks like we're going to have to keep going. Jim, do you think we can
sell enough dragonite to buy enough fuel to get us to Earth?"
Jim nodded. "Shouldn't be too hard. I'll go get some and take it to that
guy I told you about. Meet you back at the ship with the money."
Gene nodded and Aisha stepped forward. "I'll come with you. I need some
money too so I'll sell some of mine while we're at it."
Gene sighed. "All right, but no shopping on the way back. While your out
I'll get us fueled up and have some food delivered. You two be back here
in two hours."
Jim looked up at him. "What if more bounty hunters show up? Or pirates?"
Gene smiled and looked down. "Then I'll just have to take care of them."
As they flew though space towards Earth everyone was on guard. They had
searched for tracers as well. Finally they began to relax.
The only ships they saw were registered out of Earth and the finally had
full supplies. Gene smiled back at them. "Wow, I'd never think someone
would want me dead enough to offer that kind of money."
Aisha and Suzuka were looking at him and smiling slightly. "Yes... that is
an awful lot of money isn't it Gene?" Suzuka said.
Gene looked at them nervously. "You two wouldn't be planning to do
anything I'll regret are you?"
Suzuka and Aisha looked at each other then back at him. "Nah, we wouldn't
do that to you Gene. We're all family here." Aisha said. "Besides Melfina
and Jim would never forgive us."
"Plus we both know that the Kae pirates can't pay it even if someone does
collect. We stole all of their funds didn't we? I'll bet that they will be
out of business soon enough. They just want revenge." Suzuka said.
Aisha grinned at her. "I wouldn't make any bets if I were you Suzu."
Suzuka looked at her, "I told you to stop calling me that!"
Melfina laughed then looked at Gene. "Does that mean they won't be coming
after you for a while?"
Gene shook his head. "No, a lot of them probably have their own stashes.
That should last them a while. Especially if they can keep the fact that
their money is gone a secret. And even afterwards some of them will join
other pirate guilds and hold a grudge."
Jim turned and smiled. "But I just did something that should help
considerably." Everyone looked at him expectantly. "I just posted it on
the web that the Kae Pirates are broke and added a few security forces
files that I hacked to back it up. And I downplayed our part
considerably. It was easy since Valeria and Dooz seem to forget to mention
us in their report."
They all laughed and Aisha hugged him. "Jim you are a genius!"
Jim smiled and hugged her back. "Well I'd have to be to keep an equal
balance with Gene. Anyway it was really simple wasn't it Gilliam?"
"A piece of cake Jim." The computer responded.
Gene smiled. "In that case it shouldn't be any worse than it was when we
were still looking for the ley line. And we don't even have Hazanko and
his people to worry about. I doubt even most of the pirates know what
happened at the vault. Otherwise it would have been a very hard secret to
keep."
As the ship sped through space the crew of the Outlaw Star decided to
have a party, to celebrate a new beginning.
"To Starwind and Hawking enterprises!" Gene said.
Aisha looked at him. "I've been wondering Gene, if you might consider a
new name with Suzu and me in it? I mean we do a lot for you guys you
know."
Jim smiled at her. "Actually we did think to include you two and Melfina
in the name. But then we realized that Mel's last name is Starwind now and
we thought that you and Suzuka might not want to be named in the titles. I
mean you do your own jobs too right? Like when you went after that giant
bug in the sewer."
Gene looked at Suzuka. "Or when you beat us to the real Zomba. You two
don't want to get caught up in all our jobs do you?"
Aisha and Suzuka had to agree. "You're right of course Gene. I personally
do like working for myself on occasion, though since I've met you my taste
for assassination has left me. But as I told you before I do enjoy bounty
hunting."
Jim grinned. "And it's also nice to know we have someone who can bail us
out of jail."
Gene smiled. "Anyway we're starting over. Let's just see what happens."
Melfina smiled and looked around. "This is so much fun. I always enjoy it
when we're all together like this."
Gene put his arm around her shoulder and hugged her close. "You're right
Mel. This is the life. In fact I can't think of one thing that could make
it better."
Melfina grinned and looked up at him. "Oh I think I might be able to top
it."
Everyone looked at her surprised. "And how would you do that Melfina?"
Gene asked.
Melfina bit her lip and smiled. Leaning up she whispered something in
Gene's ear. He looked at her in shock while Aisha broke out laughing.
"Really? I mean you're sure?"
Melfina smiled and nodded. Gene hugged her. "That's great Melfina!"
Suddenly his eyes rolled back in his skull and he fell down onto his back.
Aisha just laughed harder while Jim, Suzuka, and the Gilliam robot looked
at her. "What did you say Melfina?" Jim asked.
Melfina smiled and said, "I'm going to have a baby!"
Jim and Suzuka's looked at her in shock, then they both fell back onto the
floor beside Gene. Melfina giggled and Aisha kept laughing.
The pink Gilliam drone descended from it's rail. "Congratulations
Melfina."
TO BE CONTINUED...
Suzuka's voice: What was I thinking when I joined up with these people? A
school girl crush on Gene (which I am glad to say I'm over... mostly) and
an itch for adventure and revenge against the Kae pirates. Now I've had my
revenge, I've got a family I never expected, and Melfina has declared
that Aisha and I are going to be her baby's aunts. Not that I mind really,
for some reason I don't feel like being an assassin any more.
As we all fuss over Melfina and the guys try to scrape their business back
together on and around Earth, we all begin wondering if this will all make
Gene straightens up and fly right, not taking as many risks. Yeah, I don't
believe it either. He's just as careless with his own life as he always
was, but at least he knows who his friends are. So how will Gene balance
raising his child, fighting off pirates, and running his business? To find
out I've been told you'll have to read the next Clayton Overstreet fan fic
'A family LIFE OF ADVENTURE'.
Author's note
So what do you think? Not bad so far right? I try to keep as much with the
story as possible and as a rule I don't usually do 'to be continued' fan
fics, but if you've ever watched Outlaw Star you know that even the last
episode ended that way. I generally like to pick an event and go with it
in my stories. In this case though I have to think up the event ahead of
time so that I can do the part where one of the characters tells you about
the next story. If you liked my story, please tell me what you thought at
clayton_n@hotmail.com