"Engage artificial gravity!"

"Yes captain!"

There was a warped sound as the gravity came on, and Jim and Reynolds, along with their crew, were restored to the ship's deck. Jim tried unsuccessfully to land on his feet, and had to be steadied by a nearby crewmember.

"Um, thanks."

"Think nothing of it, sir."

The crewmember slithered off to take care of his duties. Jim winced when he notice the gooey marks the creature had left on his stark white uniform, and he casually brushed it off.

"Power to seventy percent, heading North by…20 degrees, Mister Kari!"

Reynolds leaned down and yelled the power request into a tube next to the mast. By the wheel, the many-armed Mr. Kari saluted Jim.

"Yes cap'n!" The creature said and slowly the ship turned in the desired direction.

"Power's up to seventy percent, captain." Said Reynolds.

"Thank you Mr. Reynolds." Jim said, winking at his friend.

Reynolds rolled his eyes. "Well captain, I've given the crew a briefing of our mission, and I've given Kari the exact coordinates of our destination."

"Everything has to be perfect with you, doesn't it?"

"Not perfect. Just organized." His eyes widened and he turned from Jim.

"Speaking of organized, I'd better make sure that the cook has rationed out all the provisions properly. The last thing we need is for the crew to mutiny against us for lack of food."

He marched off the deck, auburn braid swaying behind him. Jim shook his head and grinned.

"We're out of the planet's gravity range, cap'n! Should I aim her for the coordinates now?" Kari called from the wheel.

"Yeah! Thanks Mr. Kari!"

The engines gunned and in a swirl of gold and red fire the RLS Destiny shot off into space, headed toward the wrecked ship.

*****

The eternal dark of space was never so oppressive as it was in the Trocil asteroid belt. The nearest stars were light years away, and ever the brightest offered little more light than a candle perched on a mountaintop. The asteroids themselves were lost in the dark, lying in wait for any ships foolish enough to brave their treacherous course. And it seemed tonight their lusts would be satisfied, for gliding through the belt was none other than the RLS Destiny.

Even with headlights at full blast, the Destiny was half blind amidst the massive asteroids. In the crow's nest an Optoc was straining all six of its eyes into the night, aided only by the light of a lantern suspended above its head. The majority of the crew had gathered on the deck in stony silence, eyes darting and muscles tensing at the vessel's every creak and sway. Jim stood at the bow, staring intently into the cluster of asteroids. A spyglass was slung from his belt, rendered useless in the dark. From the crows nest came the sharp cry of the Optoc, and the helmsman quickly veered the boat left. The crew shuddered; the only sounds were the steady hums of the ship's engine.

"Captain, I see her, I see her! The ship, she is right over there!"

"Where? How far?"

"It's too hard to see! Kari, turn 'er right, we're about to hit the side of a big one!"

The helmsman obeyed, and the ship veered starboard.

The Optoc leaned forward and trained all its eyes on the wreck. "She doesn't look too far from here Captain. Kari, slight left!"

"Great eyes Mr. Anaro!" Jim turned his head. "Take directions from Anaro now, Kari."

"Ay, cap'n."

The Destiny slowly made its way to the wreck floating in the middle of space. As the rays of the Destiny's headlights hit its side the entire crew could make out the fractured and collapsed middle of the boat, along with the odd red blobs floating around the vessel.

"What are those?" Jim wondered aloud.

"Blood." A crewmember volunteered. "When an asteroid hits a ship, it's usually the gravity system that gets hit first. Dead people plus blood equals…well…" He waved a hand at the drops, then tilted his head thoughtfully. "Makes a pretty paint show though."

Jim scrunched his face and discreetly dodged a nearing blood drop. As he did so he bumped into something solid. He let out a yelp as he came face to face with his first mate.

"Reynolds, don't sneak up on me like that! And where were you, anyways?" In the dark, Reynolds' pallid skin looked positively ghastly, and for a brief moment Jim wondered if he wasn't looking at a ghost from the other ship's departed crew.

"I was down by the longboats, gettin' them ready to go. That ship looks bigger than Luni said it was. Might take a bit longer than we thought."

"I hope not. The sooner we get out of this place, the better."

"What's the matter Hawkins? Scared the big bad ghosties are gonna get ya?"

"Ha ha ha. I'm worried about these asteroids, not the ghosts. I'm nineteen, not two. And it's Captain Hawkins, thank you very much. "

"Yeah well, so am I, and for once I agree with you, captain. I'll go down with the crew to pick up the stuff and you stay aboard."

"Considering I'm the captain, I have to stay aboard anyway."

"Tck, don't remind me. I could've been a captain you know! I had the skills!"

"You were petrified of mutiny. And pirates. And solar storms. And supernovas. And-"

"Alright alright, I get the picture! So my dream death isn't to be sucked into space. Can you blame me?"

Jim smiled and ruffled his hair. "Relax man, I was kidding. Hey, don't you have a job to do?"

"Ay ay sir!"

Reynolds turned on his heel and made an exaggerated clicking motion with his shoes. He then turned his head and addressed the crew.

"Everybody ready?" A few people muttered and groaned.

"Alrighty then! Company, move out!"

He trooped off the deck, accompanied by a far less amused group of crewmembers. Moments later there was a faint whirring as the ship's bottom opened up and out slipped two longboats. Jim went to the railing to watch the crew work. Hours passed; eventually the contents of the other ship's cargo bay were loaded into the Destiny's hold and the crew returned to the ship.

"Nice job Reynolds." Jim said as his friend slumped up to him.

Reynolds stared at him. "Remind me again why you couldn't break your back doing hard labor?"

"Because you need to work on your leadership skills. C'mon, let's get out of here."

"Amen to that."

Jim turned and waved a hand at the helmsmen.

"Mr. Kari, ready to turn her around! Mr. Anaro, try and take us back the way we came!"

The Destiny began to spin around, putting the wrecked ship at their back. It had just gotten three quarters through its turn when a brilliant orange flare lit up the sky behind them. Instantly, everybody on the galleon gazed at the wreck, from behind which was slowly rising a sleek silver shape.

"What the hell is that?" Someone near Jim shouted.

But he knew. It was the same type of ship Silver had when he burned down the Benbow; such ships were built for speed and stealth, perfect for the type of people that used them.

"Pirates!" Jim shouted. "Battle stations everybody!"

But the crew needed no coaxing. While they hurried to their posts Jim ran to the weapons room and distributed guns to the crewmembers. Reynolds went into the stateroom and got guns for Jim and himself.

"Ready?" Jim released the safety on the revolver and glanced at his friend.

"As I'll ever be." Reynolds readied his weapon and tensed.

Like lightning the pirate ship appeared at their right and the Destiny's gunner leapt into action. There came sounds of screaming and the dull thud of metal shards hitting wood. Suddenly one, two, three people made a leap from the opposing ship and onto the Destiny's deck. They brandished their swords and leapt at the Destiny's crew. Others followed, though a few picked off by the Destiny's guns. Those that made it across engaged the crew in battle, and soon the air was filled with clashing swords and the short pops of bullets.

"Jim, behind you!"

Jim whirled and fired, but his aim was off. In a blur of spots something slammed into him and knocked him to the deck, pinning him. He wrestled with the figure for a few moments before recognition took hold. A gasp escaped his lips.

"Hello, Mister Hawkins." Luni flashed him a fang-filled smile.

"You?! What's going on? Why are you attacking the Destiny?"

"Because, Mister Hawkins, our current ship is old and badly in need of repair. We've long been in the market for a new one. When I saw your fliers I knew conning a couple of kids like you would be easy."

Jim swayed violently to the side, briefly upsetting her balance. He raised a knee to throw her off his torso, but she quickly regained her position.

"Nice try, kid." She tilted her head to the side and continued her speech. "I must thank you for retrieving those goods for us though. We were in the process of attacking that ship when the asteroid floated nearer and we had to flee. I didn't think there'd be enough room in our hold for all its goods, and we simply hate making round trips."

"Jim, are you okay?" Luni jerked her head in the direction of the voice. Jim turned as well, and for a brief moment caught sight of his first mate. But a second later Reynolds whirled around and fired a shot, then was lost in the fray.

"Reynolds? Reynolds!"

Luni leaned over Jim's face and tossed him a toothy smile. "Forget him. You've still got me to worry about."

She reared back a fist and punched Jim in the jaw. He grunted and spat blood, then used his free fist to grab a tuft of her hair. He yanked her head sideways and slammed it on the deck. She howled and Jim took the opportunity to knee her in the gut and throw her away. He released his grip on her hair, taking a few thin strands with him. She grabbed the top of her head and glared at him. He crouched into a stance. She leapt at him, claws brandished, eyes flaring. He dove to the side, avoiding the brunt of her charge but still catching a slash in his shoulder. She whirled, cracked her knuckles and went for another charge.

After a few seconds of grappling, Jim had the upper hand. He shoved her against the weapons room door, threw her to the deck and pinned her the same way she had him. She howled and spat curses at him, all of which he ignored.

"I'd been meaning to ask you." Jim said once she'd settled down a bit. "What happened to your accent?"

"Oh, that? Just a little something I cooked up to fool stupid kids like you." She smirked. "By the way, I never did thank you properly for the ship. I promise we'll take real good care of it."

"What-?"

When Jim saw the man it was too late. Luni's eyes reflected the creature, arms raised with plank in hand. Jim turned, seeing as he did so that the limp body of his first mate was being carried away. The plank came down with a loud clunk against the side of his head, and he knew nothing.

*********

A few notes on random items. First of all, thank you for all the reviews I've received so far. I must agree with Queenbean3 about my lack of description; I'd actually noticed it during my second revision but forgot to go back and add some in. Hopefully this chapter has remedied it. Also, a very special thank you goes out to my anonymous reviewer. I was actually planning to ignore Book-Master's review, but that someone actually went to the trouble of attacking it is very kind. ^_^ And as for whether or not Sivvy (A.K.A Silver) is going to be in my story- *grabs roll of duct tape and wraps it around her head* My lips have been quite painfully sealed. Excuse me while I go scream in absolute agony.

Last of all, a quick check of dictionary.com has revealed that a brig does not double as a cargo hold! Fancy that. ^^; I hope my silly little error can be forgiven.

This chapter was actually shorter than I'd intended it to be. But I've decided to split the story into smaller parts rather than huge chapters. Another first for me. ^_^ Ta ta!