Chapter Two
Amelia was sent tumbling backwards by the blast, her head on a collision course with the sharp edge of her armoire. Dilbert didn't even realize he was acting until he had caught and braced her in his arms. "Amelia, are you all right?" he said. Thank god for his reflexes.
Amelia grabbed his kerchief and tugged it, jerking his head to her level. "Kindly," she snarled, "remove your hand from what I shall graciously refer to as my 'lower back.'"
Dilbert surprised himself with his agility yet again. "Sorry, sorry."
"Save that for tonight." She leapt to the pipe connected to the engine room as Dilbert tried to think of pure things. "What's going on out there?" she demanded.
"Pirates, ma'am!" was the reply.
Whatever Amelia was going to say was shunted aside by her order. "Full speed astern, then get to cannon range!" She dashed to the armoire and flung it open, throwing a fuselock blaster and a cutlass at Dilbert. She wanted to scream, wanted to swear, but no, she had to be cooler, or at the least, more inventive then that. "I will personally drop their captain into the event horizon of the nearest black hole."
Dilbert cocked his blaster and dropped a single fusion crystal in it. "I'll get to scanners. You might want to stay inside."
"What? And miss an opportunity to scream bloody murder at my crew? Never." She unlocked the door and loaded her own blaster, then threw the door outwards.
The deck was in chaos: the first impact had been harder than Amelia had anticipated. A huge hole had opened up when the cannon had hit it. The grease stain and circular gash suggested a conventional explosive instead of photon or fusion cannon. One topsman was visibly hurt, cyan blood seeping into a bandanna around his scaled arm. At least he knew enough to staunch the wound. Two ships, both small, nimble and with one triangular sail each, circled the Legacy in a classic attack formation.
Amelia knew the type. Commerce raiders. Too small to threaten a fleet, but just the thing for ambushing small traders. Well, she'd show them the Legacy was no mere merchantman, but a man-o'-war!
"Mr. Crisp! Load all cannon with grapeshot plasma crystal! Mr. Wright! East by northeast bearing six, zero, two! Cut them off!" The crew leapt to obey. Amelia drew her sword. Dilbert manipulated the sensors, his eyes wide in terror. He damn well should be terrified, Amelia knew. "Open fire when I give the word!"
Dilbert spun to her. "Captain! Wait!"
She dropped her sword. "FIRE!"
The cannon boomed. Handfuls of grape-sized crystals shot from them, then flared into life, using the friction of the Etherium to burst into flame. Crisp's aim was true. By all rights, the plasma crystal should have burnt their sail to ash. But it splashed against a barrier some feet away from the ship. Splashed like something dropped into water. Or ether. The pirate returned fire, a cannonball whizzing right behind Amelia and detonating as it struck the starboard side of the forecastle.
Amelia turned to survey it. No major damage. She swooped to Doppler. "What did you find, Doctor?"
"They have ethersheal sidereal" He took a deep breath. "I noticed that the Etherium is reacting to energy emissions coming from the pirates. Ethereal screens, Captain."
"WHAT?! How the devil..." Amelia caught herself and frowned. "... how in the Etherium did they steal that technology? From the Ailurian Royal Shipyards, no less!" A lucent cannon bolt seared through the air, missing the Legacy completely. "And more importantly, how do we defeat it, Doctor?"
"No idea on the first, but..."
His words drowned in the sound of cannon fire. Amelia gasped as the cannonball leveled a maneuver sail. "Mr. Wright!"
Dilbert actually snarled. "Don't go to evasive action yet, Captain! If I'm right, doing that will lose us our chance!"
"And if you're wrong, this ship goes down. Be quick about it, Doctor."
"An ethereal shockwave should breach their barrier. An ethereal shockwave like that caused..." Dilbert grinned, his four sharp teeth glinting in the light. "...by the wake of a solar galleon!"
"Brilliant. Mad, but bloody brilliant." Amelia whirled to the helmsman. "Mr. Wright! Intercept course for the nearest ship! Cross the T, or ram them failing that!"
To his credit, the pilot hesitated for only three seconds. "...Aye, Captain." Then he grabbed the ships wheel, twisting it. The sails of the Legacy flared with the solar wind, the Etherium parting and swirling as the Legacy accelerated. Mr. Wright brought the ship into a controlled skid, making the Etherium crest in a breaker...
And the screens were caught up in that breaker, crashing over the hull of the pirate ship.
"ALL CANNON OPEN FIRE!" Amelia didn't even need to give the order. Grapeshot fireballs pounded the pirate's fo'c'sle and mainsail.
The fo'c'sle was drilled through.
The sail was set afire!
"That ship is no threat to us!" Amelia shouted. Mr. Wright twisted the ships wheel.
Before being knocked flat by an explosion.
Lucent cannon from the other ship raked the Legacy's stern. Amelia leapt up to the wheel and forced the Legacy back under her control. "Doctor! Damage report!"
One glance at the readout was enough. "Our rudder is out, and they're holing our cargo bay."
Amelia almost froze. "But that's where we keep..."
"The ammunition. Yes. If they ignite the powder, then this whole ship could..."
Amelia roared, twisting the ship's wheel. The ship made the barest movement portside. "The other ship is too maneuverable! We can't get near the blasted thing without it turning to our stern!"
Dilbert opened a grille. "Then train the cannon behind you," he said, "and leave the rest to me!" He leapt into the ship.
"What are you doing!?" Amelia screamed.
Anyone but Dilbert would have thought she was angry. Dilbert knew that she was just worried. "Trust me, my Captain! Just get to cannon range!"
"'My Captain?!'" Amelia blinked. Then smiled. "See, you're getting more creative already, dear Doctor."
Amelia couldn't figure out what the Doctor was planning until the moment she saw the longboat. "You are either a lunatic or... Correction, you are most definitely a lunatic. Mr. Crisp, reload and train those cannon astern! Make sure one cannon is loaded with a secured harpoon!"
Mr. Crisp did not question his orders. Amelia saw Doctor Doppler cracking open the controls on the ship's engine coil, and counted down, doing her best to dodge the cannonballs and lucent cannon exploding on the cargo bay. Fifteen seconds now...
"Mr. Crisp, aim the harpoon two degrees above the Doctor's longboat if you please! FIRE!"
"Aye, Captain!"
Doppler leaped from the longboat, meeting the cable as it extended and wrapping it around his arm, below the jacket. He met the Captain's eyes and nodded. It was enough for her.
"Retract harpoon!"
"Aye sir!"
The cable creeped back to the ship. Five. Four. Three. Two. One...
The drive core of the longboat overloaded, blasting ethereal energy across everything in its path. A little Etherium couldn't hurt the Legacy, but for a ship with ethereal screens...
"Fire all cannon astern!"
Fire rained down from the Legacy. The ship was below them, and the first thing hit was the sails, which blossomed in flame. Next was the forecastle and the deck, ripped to shreds, exposing the drive core. The next shot hit the core. Amelia plugged her ears and waited for the inevitable.
CRACK-A-BOOM!
"Nothing quite as satisfying as a good explosion, is there?" Amelia said, then laughed, turning to see debris from the pirate ship collide with her ship harmlessly. "Steady with that cable, Mr. Crisp."
No sooner had she said it then the cable began to twist and flail.
"What in the devil...!?" Amelia looked over the edge and gasped. One of the pirates, in a tattered cloak, had attached himself to the cable. To kill the Doctor.
Authors Notes: Don't you just HATE these cliffhangers? MWAHAHA! The original Treasure Island was written as a serial, don't cha know! I'm definitely getting to the bit about the lost technology, don't fret. I just had to justify the "sci fi" and "adventure" tags, and I so enjoy writing this. Thank you all for your supportive reviews. Now all I need is some C&C.