Sorry the update took so long! This is a short chapter, with not much in it plot wise - but the explanation is coming up soon! Thanks!

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It was early the next morning that their transport ship docked at the Montressor Spaceport, but already it was bustling with assorted denizens of various trades - some of them respectful, and others not so revered.

Jim came off the transport, dressed in his clean pressed uniform, with a smile plastered on his face and an unnatural hop in his step.

Nik followed behind, wearing a lavender dress and a broad grin. "I told you not to drink that last cup of coffee, didn't I?"

"Yes, yes, you did, now don't rub it in. Where in the world am I going to find a bathroom here? A clean one, preferably."

She chuckled. "Just stop in any bar or inn, I'm sure they're bound to have one. And while you're taking care of that I'll order you another cup of coffee."

"Why you little-" He turned around quickly - too quickly, and she ran right into him.

"Oof!" The collision didn't even budge him, but Nik ended up almost flat on her back.

He took a step forward to offer her his hand, but she motioned him away. "Don't step on my dress!"

"Sheesh!" Jim took a step back, helped her up, and watched as she examined her hem.

"Just because I don't look good in this dress doesn't mean I don't like it."

Jim sighed. "Nik, it looks great on you. I'm not the only one that thinks so - that guy on the transport thought you looked cute too."

"Oh no." She waved a finger at him. "You said 'you look cute', but he said 'your butt looks cute.' There is a difference."

Jim laughed quietly as they continued on. "I don't think so."

"So you're saying if some everyday floozie said to you, 'hey handsome, your butt looks cute', you'd say 'thanks!'?"

Jim smiled. "Well I guess when you put it that way.but I certainly wouldn't knock him like you did that guy. I figured you were going to get us kicked of the transport."

Nik stuck her tongue out at him as they stopped in front of a halfway respectable looking pub. "Hurry up and go, Jim. We don't want you to be late to your first day on the job."

"Aren't you coming in with me?" He asked.

She wrinkled her nose. "What?"

Jim looked abashed. "I mean, into the building not the.oh come on."

He grabbed her arm and pulled her inside. While he was using the facilities, she studied the occupants of the room carefully. Men with large bellies sat with girls on their laps who were wearing less clothes than most of them should have been. Drunken sailors laughed, cheered and fell off their stools at the bar while the bartender poured drink after drink.

"So much for halfway respectable." she muttered.

But there was one man in the corner though.she thought she recognized him, but his right half was covered by shadow. She strained her eyes to see if she could make out his face, but Jim came back before she really had a chance.

"Come on," He grabbed her arm. "Let's get out of here."

She followed him quickly, but for some reason, the sight of that man kept nagging at the back of her mind.

They arrived shortly at the docking berth where Jim's ship awaited his inspection. A skeleton crew of spacers and various workers had readied the ship and were scattered around the deck.

"Mmhmm." Nik said distractedly as she stared up at the tall mast. "What's the name of this ship, Jim?"

"It doesn't have one yet." He shrugged as they made their way to the boarding ramp. He stopped her at the edge of it before she could descend. "Nik." He looked into her strange eyes and his voice trailed off.

"Yeah?" She looked up at him quizzically.

"I know what I want to name it. I really do." Jim tugged on he arm and pulled her up the ramp.

"What?"

"SILVER..." He grinned, pretty much to himself. "I'll name her the SILVER. That's a good name for a ship, eh?" She didn't respond and Jim turned around to see what she was up to.

"Nik!" HE shrieked as he saw her leaning over the short rail that ran the length of the ship. "Watch it! You're not indestructible you know!" He grabbed her arm and tried to pull her away from the rail, to no avail.

It was then that he noticed the expression on her face. Her cat like eyes were clouded over and her features looked as if they'd been chiseled out of pale stone. Her eyes were focused on a spot not far from the ship, but from this vantage point, Jim couldn't make out whatever it was that she saw. It's those eyes...m thought to himself...I wonder what else they see that I can't.

A moment later, Nik snapped out of her reverie and shook her head. "I...I shouldn't be here Jim. I've gotta leave now." She looked down at the hand he had placed on her arm and shook it free. "I don't want to endanger you too."

She took a step away, but he blocked her path. "Now hold it just a moment, Miss Solo, you're not getting away so easily this time. What did you see?"

Nik's eyes flashed. "Nothing, now please let me by."

Jim rolled his eyes. "I'm not as dumb as I look." He brushed a stray strand of hair from his eyes. "Now what was it?"

She glanced down, then leaned against the rail. "Some thing I thought I'd escaped. Or someone. A shadow, that's all it was. Now please let me go, Jim, it's for your own good." Again she tried to slip by, but he blocked her.

"Not until you explain that statement."

Nik opened her mouth to object, but then slumped against the rail. "I -"

Her words were cut off by a cry from the area of the loading ramp.

"Put a hold on that thought, Nik," Jim patted her shoulder as he turned away. "I'll be right back."

As she watched him disappeared into he newly formed crowd around the ramp, Nik sighed. He really did have no idea what he was messing with, and he could end up in a world of hurt. She straightened the sleeve of he lavender dress and stepped towards the ramp. Maybe if she slipped away now she could save both herself and Jim the trouble of sorting out her thoughts..and her past.

Without making a sound, she slipped into the crowd and down the ramp, trying her best not to think of what she was doing. She'd been cornered. The whole day had been a terrible nightmare. The man in the pub, the sight at the dock - the truth would come to light sooner or later, she knew, but better later. And if that meant she had to disappear entirely from the lives of the Hawkins family, she'd do it, no matter how much they'd come to mean to her. It would save then trouble and hurt, and most likely it would keep them out of the danger she posed if they found out the truth.

She paused a few hundred yards away and looked up at the ship, Jim's beloved SILVER.

"Goodbye, James Pleiades Hawkins. I'm sorry it has to end this way...but it'll save you a good bit of trouble in the future..."

Then, with a heavy heart, Nik turned her back on the ship, on Jim, and on the people who had come to mean so much to her in short a time.

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"Nik!" Jim hollered as he peered around the deck. The issue with the screaming crewman had been resolved - he dropped a crate of cleaning supplies on his foot, or what served as his foot - he was far from human.

"Where is she.." He mumbled to himself as he glanced around the ship. "She couldn't have just...." His voice trailed off. "..disappeared. Dang it!" He slammed his fist on the hard wood of the main mast. "I am such an idiot." Jim cursed and set off towards the ramp. As he hurried into the crowd at the spaceport, madly shoving his way through the crowd with no specific idea where she'd gone in mind, he recalled his mother once saying 'Jim, take the time and think things over. Fools rush in, and don't you forget it.'

Jim grinned to himself as he caught sight of a short being clad in lavender ahead of him. "Well, mom, I guess that makes me a blasted fool."

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There you go, chapter six! There's more to come, I'll probably update within the next day or so. Sorry for no pirates in this chapter - but they'll be in the next, that I can guarantee! R&R people! Thanks for reading!!!