"Jim!"

There was blood trickling from his temple, of that much he was aware. The world was awash in fuzzy pinks and greens, a magical rainbow of pain.

"Jim!"

His throat was raw and aching, made worse by the pounding of his head. He was blind, and it hurt to breathe. And god, what was that noise?

"JIM!"

"Guh?"

"Jim!"

"Hnyah?"

"Jim, wake up!"

Someone was shaking him. Jim tried to open his eyes, but a bolt of pain prevented the motion. He grunted and forced his lids into a squinting position and saw his reflection gazing back at him from two chocolaty pools. He blinked a few times, lolled his tongue out like a dog. The chocolate eyes moved, blinked; someone shook him again. Inarticulate noises escaped Jim's throat, and just as he prepared to return to unconscious, someone slapped him.

"Gah! Reynolds?"

"Yes, thank you! You've been out for at least an hour now. God Jim, don't scare me like that!"

"Hn? Oh, I'm sorry…where are we?"

"In a longboat. We're floating by the wreck. We've been marooned!"

It took a few moments for the information to process, but when it did Jim's head jerked.

"Marooned, what?! Where's the Destiny? What happened?"

"The pirates took it, along with the crew." Reynolds massaged his scalp. "The last thing I remember, I'd caught a fist in the eye. When I came to, we were both lying here."

"But…how did we get here?"

"Luni I'll bet. I can't believe she betrayed us! Well actually I can, especially after that incident on the boat- but damn it, I can't believe she stranded us!" He clenched his fists and let out a snarl, then dragged his fingers faster through his disheveled hair.

Jim reached up a hand to touch his temple and came in contact with blood-dampened cloth. He grimaced and turned to examine their surroundings. The only available light came from a lantern suspended from the boat's tiny mast. They were floating near the wrecked ship, and Jim could clearly make out some of the larger slivers of wood and shattered remains of furniture from where the hull had caved in. He shuddered, and then reached up to touch the bandage again. Suddenly something occurred to him, and turned to his friend.

"Hey Reno, did you do this?"

"What the bandages? Yeah." He patted a large white cloth next to his leg. "I cut of a few pieces of the tarp and used 'em to wrap your head. You were bleeding kind of badly earlier."

"God, how long was I out?"

"Long enough to miss the nice hunk of rock that was shooting our way. I had to use up what was left of the energy reserves to dodge the damn thing. I can't believe I'm going to die like this!"

"We're completely out of power?!" Jim scrambled to the control panel and desperately tapped the buttons. The longboat gave a few weak bursts of energy and finally sputtered into silence.

"I don't believe it." Jim looked to the left, then to the right. Aside from the wreck, there were no other ships in sight. And the crushed hull of their neighbor was looking more foreboding by the moment. He buried his face in his hands and groaned. God, what if they didn't find them there? Their carcasses would float forever in space, lost and forgotten.

"There's gotta be some way-"

"I've tried, Jim, every way! We're stuck! Don't you get it? Stuck! We're going to whither and die and it's all your fault!"

"My fault? What did I do?"

"I tried to warn you about the asteroid belt; I told you, Trocil was no place for a ship like the Destiny. I told you we should have waited for the safer jobs, but noooo. Mr. Fearless just had to go strike a deal with the first chick who saunters in waving around a wad of cash!"

"Oh yeah? Well, I didn't see you leaping up to stop me. You know, that's exactly why you never made captain; you don't have any backbone! The only thing you do is worry over all the details while everyone else goes out and does the hard stuff!"

"Excuse me? Who hired the crew for this mission? Me. Who made sure the crew was properly outfitted? Me. When we were in school, who helped you pass the midterms? Me. Who took the fall for your little incident with Mr. Exberry and the creamed spinach? ME. You're the one who doesn't do any work; all you care about is skipping merrily around your galleon while everyone else does all the crap you don't feel like doing!"

"I'M THE CAPTAIN! THE CREW IS SUPPOSED TO DO ALL THE CRAP I DON'T FEEL LIKE DOING!"

The two glared at each other for what seemed like hours. Finally, Reynolds leaned back and combed his fingers through his hair.

"Alright, alright. This is stupid. We're getting riled up over nothing. Hey Jim…I'm sorry."

Jim crossed his arms, scowled and said nothing.

"Hey man, don't be like that! I'm just a little nervous, that's all." He scanned the skies around them. "I mean…this situation…it looks kind of hopeless."

"Nothing is hopeless. Improbable, unlikely, but never hopeless."

"Yeah, well, I wish I had your optimism."

Jim snorted. "So do I."

They were silent for a long, long time.

"So…what now?"

"Now," Jim said, "We wait."

"For?"

"Either for us to die or for some ship to wander along and rescue us. Take your pick."

"Um…I'll take the last one, thanks."

Jim smirked and turned to stare into space. Stretched out in the distance were hundreds of twinkling specks, pinpricks in the sky. He sighed. One of those pinpricks was the star of Montressor. Would he ever get to see it again? And then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw one of the dots move. He started at the motion, leaned over the side of the boat and peered into the sky. Had he been imagining things? But no… no, there it was again!

"What is that thing?" Reynolds asked. He squinted over Jim's shoulder and his drawn expression dissolved into a grin.

"Jim…is that…is that a ship?!"

"I think so!" The two embraced quickly and parted with short, babbling sentences.

"We're going to be saved!" Reynolds clapped. "I don't believe it! A ship actually came this way!"

Jim nodded. "Let's just hope it does come this way."

They made themselves comfortable and watched the light dance its way across the sky. More than once Jim cursed the ship for taunting them as it veered out of sight. But every time the light returned, growing as big as their hopes were. A while later Jim could feel his head nodding, and the light blinked in and out of focus as his eyelids closed. He yawned and his head lolled to his shoulder. He'd barely even gotten into a shallow slumber when Reynolds let out a whoop and shook the longboat.

"It's getting closer, it's almost here!" Jim's head jerked and his eyes slowly followed Reynolds' jabbing finger. At its end a brilliant light blinded Jim's eyes, but when they adjusted their savior finally came into focus.

From the rays cast by its headlights he could make out the large, stark wooden hull of the vessel, and see its glowing sails cutting through the night. He cupped a hand to his ear and heard the slapping of its flag in the breeze. Along with it came the voices of the ship's crew, faint at first, but growing stronger with proximity. And somewhere on deck there was a low thumping noise as people wailed out the words of a bawdy song.

"At least they sound happy." Reynolds muttered.

"Yeah, and let's hope they're friendly. Do you think they can see us?"

Suddenly, there came a cry from the ship. Hands appeared bearing lanterns, followed by faces peering down at the two of them.

"That answer your question?" Reynolds gestured.

"Hello down there!" Someone shouted from above. Jim removed the lantern from its hook and raised it toward the speaker. In the combined light Jim identified the speaker as an angular-faced man around his age.

"Hello to you too! Would you mind giving us a hand? We're kind of stuck out here."

"Hmm…that depends. You two aren't escaping convicts or anything, are you?"

"Um…no."

"You aren't? Well, I suppose it's all right then. Wick, Guri, go open up the bay doors and let in our guests!

A minute later the longboat bay at the ship's bottom opened. From within came the voices of Wick and Guri, inviting them aboard the ship.

"I'm sorry, but our longboats out of energy!" Reynolds called. "Could you please come and get us?"

There were groans from the ship, but a longboat was sent. The two climbed into the tiny boat, and the creature at the controls identified itself as Wick. He extended a scaly hand for the two to shake, beady eyes glittering in amusement. Soon the entire party was back aboard the ship and the two were checked for weapons by a large, grizzled, spine-backed creature that introduced itself as Guri. After they were deemed harmless Jim and Reynolds were lead on deck by Wick. Awaiting them was the man Jim had seen from the longboat. The man had his arms crossed and was tapping his foot impatiently, but his face betrayed a warm smile. When Jim approached him the man extended his hand and offered Jim a warm, callused handshake.

"Name's Gregory Redd," The man grinned, "Captain of The Red Death. And who might you two be?"

Jim knew he was going to like the captain just by looking at him. He wasn't dressed in the stiff garments of most traditional captains; he wore a baggy, un-tucked, pinkish-orange shirt and long green pants, finished off with rather shoddy looking buckle shoes.

"Um, I'm Jim Hawkins, captain of the RLS Destiny and this is Reynolds, my first mate."

Gregory shook Reynolds' hand, and then turned a curious eye to Jim. "You're a captain? Well unless that shoddy longboat out there is your vessel, I'd say something bad happened to your real ship. It wasn't that wreck out there, was it?"

"No, that was a ship whose goods we were salvaging. We'd just finished the job when we got ambushed by pirates and our ship and crew were taken."

"Pirates, eh? Well, that's a nasty bit of luck. And I suppose no one knows you're out here, right?"

Jim nodded.

"I thought as much. Academy graduates are usually smart enough to avoid places like Trocil."

"Hey, we only accepted this job because…wait…how did you know I went to the Academy?"

"Well for starters your uniform is standard issue to Academy alumni. That and the fact that all RLS ships are academy ships. You must've ranked pretty high in your class to get one of those."

Jim smiled slightly. "Well, yeah…but hey! How do you know so much about Academy procedures?"

"Eh…well, let's just say that I've had quite a few run-ins with Academy folk in the past. They're an aggressive bunch, I'll tell you that. Have a nasty way of policing the shipping channels by some of bigger planets…but enough about that. Now tell me, is there anywhere special you were hoping to go?"

"I've got find my ship." Jim said. "I'm not going home without it."

"Determination, eh? I like that in a person. But you know the odds of you finding your ship now are zero to none. This part of space isn't very populated, but there are plenty of places to hide, even for a galleon."

"But it's only been a few hours! They couldn't have gotten that far."

Gregory tipped his hat and scratched his hair. "Yes, but still-"

"Actually, Jim's got a point." Reynolds interjected. "By the time we got to Trocil we had just enough energy left over to make it about halfway home. Unless they were heading toward Crescentia, they wouldn't have had enough energy left in the sails to get very far out of the belt."

"You came here all the way from Crescentia?" Reynolds nodded.

"My, then you're really out of your neck of the woods." He scrunched his face; reddening his cheeks and making his freckles stand out.

"So getting from here to halfway to Crescentia would take about…five days. Now, assuming they weren't heading to Crescentia- unlikely because the police would have spotted them right away- the nearest planet within five days distance is Ulor."

"Ulor? Now why does that name sound familiar?" Reynolds scratched his chin. He glanced at Jim who shrugged in response.

"Ulor," Gregory offered, "The Outlaw Planet."

"I've still never heard of it." Jim muttered, but Reynolds slowly nodded his head and furrowed his eyebrows.

"Yeah, yeah, I remember now…this was a question on our Etherium History test. Ulor was the only planet that remained neutral when the empire was formed. Empire laws don't apply there, so a lot of fugitives go there to avoid the police."

"It's not the nicest planet in these parts, but if your ship is anywhere it would have to be there." Gregory said.

Jim nodded. "Alright then, Ulor it is. Can you take us there?"

"Well…we could, but-"

"Please? It's on the way, after all."

"It is, but we have to deliver a shipment of…well, we just have to deliver something, and if we stop at Ulor it's going to set us back a bit."

"Well, can you at least take us part of the way? We can take a longboat for the rest."

Gregory snorted. "And risk being a boat short in an emergency? I'm sorry, but that just won't do. However…I don't think my client would be too upset if his shipment was a little late…after all, his letter didn't sound that urgent. So perhaps I can take you after all."

Jim grinned and started to reply, but Gregory raised a finger to silence him.

"I can take you under one condition. No wait, make that two. First of all, you're going to work for your keep. Can you cook?"

Jim nodded. "Good, you can assist Guri in the kitchen. What about you?" He asked, turning to Reynolds. "What can you do?"

"Well…I'm pretty good with guns…maybe I could help maintain the ones on your ship?"

Gregory arched an eyebrow and rubbed his chin. "Guns, eh? Well now…guns. You know, I might have a special assignment for you. Yes, yes, I think I do…"

Reynolds and Jim exclaimed glances, and the former waved a hand gently by Gregory's face. "Um, pardon me sir, but what was the second condition you were talking about?"

"Second condition? Oh, yes! Whatever you see on this ship, you two mustn't breath a word of it to anybody. Anybody. Especially anyone official-looking who's asking too many questions. I won't bother with detailed threats, but let's just say that I have friends in low places that would be more than happy to keep you from temptation. Permanently. Am I making myself clear?"

Reynolds bit his lip and glanced at Jim, who widened his eyes and shrugged. Slowly the two nodded.

"So you both agree? Excellent! Wick!" The large creature slithered over and hissed at the captain.

"Wick, kindly show these gentleman to their quarters. Give them some spare clothes and a bit of food, and then find something to keep them occupied."

Wick nodded. He turned and beckoned the boys to follow with a thick, scaly hand. Before they left the captain tapped him on the shoulder and whispered, "Wick, when you're done, show the red haired one to our cargo hold. See if he knows anything about our shipment and set him to work cleaning the lot."

Wick flicked out his tongue and nodded. He twitched his tail in the direction of a door.

"Follow me." He hissed, and they did.

"This is where the crew stays." He said as they entered the door. Cots were placed irregularly around the room bunk-bed style. Wick directed them to two vacant ones in the back of the room.

"This is where you'll be sleeping. I'll see about fetching you some spare outfits from the crew, but don't be surprised if they don't fit properly. And as for food, I'm sure you'll be able to find the galley on your own. If you're hungry go ask Guri for something"

"Um, thanks a lot sir." Jim said.

"Hmph." He smirked and started to leave the room.

"Food, thank goodness!" Reynolds began, "God knows I was starve-"

Suddenly something latched onto his arm. He yelped and pulled back, realizing that the object was in fact Wick's tail. He turned and saw him staring back at him, remnants of his earlier smirk still on his face.

"Cap'n wanted me to show you to the cargo hold. Best get it done now, so you know what you'll be doing for the rest of the day."

"Oh, um…okay, but…would you mind letting go of my arm?"

Wick snorted but released his grip. Reynolds sighed in relief and tossed a Jim a helpless glance as he followed the creature out.

'Wonder what they want him for?' Jim thought. He felt the urge to follow, but decided against it. After all, being nosy wouldn't have made a good impression on their rescuers. Besides, Reynolds would tell him all the details the next time they were alone, so it was just a matter of patience.

He examined his jacket, wincing at the grimy state of the costly attire. He shrugged it off and dropped it onto the bottom cot, feeling much cooler now that he was free of the thick fabric. A few moments later a large slug-like creature descended into the room and began pulling duffel bags from below the cots. He rummaged through a few and pulled out random clothing items, which he gave to Jim.

"You take care of those." He said. "Crew won't like it, you go around messin' 'em up."

"I'll try to." Jim said. He quirked an eyebrow at a few of the clothing articles as they were handed to him. A 6-sleeved shirt with no back, pants at least three sizes too big, a nightshirt that looked like it had been cut from curtains, and a few other things that were obviously meant for different species and tastes. He accepted them gratefully, however, as well as the ones that were for Reynolds.

"You go down to galley when you finished, gotta help Guri down there." The creature burbled. Jim nodded and thanked it again, and it wriggled back up the stairs. Once it was gone he quickly discarded the rest of his uniform and slipped into one of the roomier pairs of shirt and pants. He was instantly grateful for the belts that accompanied both, for without them he would have gotten lost within the folds of the outfit. When he was finished changing Jim made his way onto the deck where he was directed to the galley.

When Jim entered, Guri was slumped down in a chair peeling potatoes with one massive foot resting atop the bin. He took one look at Jim, grunted and went back to his chore.

"Um, hello sir." Jim said, twisting the fabric of his sleeve. "The captain said I was supposed to help you?"

"Hm." Guri raised a claw and gestured toward a chair on the other side of the barrel. Jim took a seat and saw the amount of potatoes still waiting to be peeled. He had to suppress a groan as he picked up a knife and a spud and set to work. He hadn't set foot in this type of kitchen since his adventures on the Legacy, and he wasn't exactly thrilled to be in one again. He looked at Guri, who was going steadily through his pile with stoic silence. Jim coughed, but Guri didn't look up. He sighed and went back to his work. Today was going to be a long, long day.