Captain Amelia walked on deck. Three years as a Captain and still she had much to learn. Because this wasn't the Treasure Planet Amelia all the fans knew from the movie. No, this was the eighteen year old Amelia. She had learned the basics of how to command a light ship and the few persons that expressed their doubts to her received very quick lessons as to their shortcomings via Amelia's exemplary skills in both armed and unarmed combat. At this particular moment, she was looking about her ship. She smiled as she heard her First Officer, Mr. Arrow, come up from behind her.
"Morning, Arrow," she greeted him happily. "It's about time you showed up, old man."
Arrow smiled at her wry humor. "Relax, Captain, I'm not one to miss our daily inspection," Arrow remarked, just as cleverly.
Amelia was going to counter his witticism when the the lookout bellowed down to her. "Captain! I could do with a sharp set of eyes up here, if yeh could be so kind that is."
Amelia sighed wearily. "Bloody hell, just what am I, Arrow? The Captain or a bloody lookout?" she grumbled to herself. But, despite her grumblings, she still quickly climbed the shrouds up to the crow's nest atop the main mast. "Yes, Mr. Horu?" she questioned a bit stiffly at her eagle-like look out.
"Appreciate you comin' up, Cap'n. Now, if'n you could cast a look up over to the left a few meters from our bowsprit, then say, up about ten meters or so, an' tell me what you see. I think me eyes are playin' tricks 'pon me, so I do..."
Amelia frowned, but looked where her scout indicated and upon seeing what was there, her eyes went wide. Despite what common sense might tell her, there was a girl, a human girl if she knew her species correctly. "My word!" she exclaimed, then she continued looking up. Amelia knew the girl---whomever she was---who was falling had entered the influence of the Legacy's gravity bubble, and was now plummeting precipitiously toward the deck. Amelia---spacer that she was---knew enough that if she and her crew didn't slow her down, the girl's rate of acceleration would kill on impact with the wooden deck.
Amelia set to her task immediately, gazing about, looking for a solution. "Yes, of course! The sails," she exclaimed, grinning. She began screaming orders. "All hands, unfurl the sails...immediately!"
Everybody knew better than ask why. When this Captain looked and sounded as she did now, you did what you were told to do...and smartly. Not a moment after the solar sails boomed, the girl, her shrieks echoing, hurtled down to the ship, pierced the top sail, then was snagged by the main gallant, where she hung on for dear life. Unfortunately for the girl, she was no spacer, and she lost her grip on the sail and thus went screaming down, clawing at sails, rigging or the shrouds themselves until she thumped to the deck in a undignified lump.
The girl groaned, then tried to stand up. She did managed it, but was a bit unsteady at first. She looked about, then spotted the felinid Captain, and looked her straight in the eye. That was, she did before she fainted dead away, slumping to the deck. Amelia noticed the reddish knot on the poor girl's head, and deduced that she must of knocked herself silly.
Amelia moved over to where the girl lie, and barked an order for her crew to stay back in order to let the poor girl get some air. With a practiced eye, the seasoned Captain looked her new arrival over. Hmm, by the looks of her, about sixteen or seventeen years of age. No doubt a bit of tomboy, what with the cut and style of the girl's clothes. The unconscious girl sported short blond hair and Amelia remembered a pair of bright blue eyes.
"Arrow, take her to my quarters, and set her down on my bed," she instructed. "Mr. Dalley? Do go and inform our ship's doctor, if you please."
"Yes, Ma'am!" the young feline cabin boy replied and ran off to fetch the doctor.
"Now, the rest of you...back to work. This ship won't bloody sail herself," Amelia growled, sending her crew back to their positions, while she took the girl's bag and threw it over her shoulder. Once assured that all was as it should be once more, she made her way aft, and up to her cabin, where she found Arrow waiting for her arrival. She dropped the girl's rather light bag, and then ushered Arrow out, so she could undress the girl and get her into bed.
The ship's doctor arrived moments later, and performed his examination. He then returned, and told Amelia that all that was wrong with the girl was that she had herself a rather minor concussion, and would be fine in time.
Amelia sighed whit relief, which was odd, she thought, as she didn't know this girl from the notorious Captain Flint, really. She then remembered, and picked up the girl's bag and saw a name written upon it. "Kitty Petro. We have ourselves a Kitty, eh?" Amelia said looking at Kitty, where she still lie unconscious. "Well, my dear girl, welcome aboard the RLS Legacy."
As soon as Amelia had uttered those words, Kitty stirred and opened her eyes. "Unh..." Kitty groaned.
Amelia stood up from her chair, and moved slowly over to her. "Ah, welcome back to the living, young lady," she said smiling.
Kitty looked up at her and her eyes widened in obvious surprise. She goggled to herself, thinking she had managed it somehow. Wow, did she ever love having this ring! She wondered how many years before Treasure Planet had she appeared before Captain Amelia. She opened her mouth to speak, but Amelia raised her hand to stop her.
"Ah ah. No need to talk, just yet. You've had a rather trying day of things, as well as having concussed yourself," Amelia told her.
Kitty smiled in thanks. She looked over to her bag. "Um, do you think..." Kitty began.
Amelia saw the object of her attention, and gave it over to her. "There you go, girl."
Kitty opened it and took out her cuddly cat toy and gave it a grateful hug.
Amelia raised an eyebrow at this. A teenage girl who still liked cuddly toys was---at least in her own opinion---a relatively rare thing to see. With Kitty now awake, Amelia sat down and began relating to Kitty just what she had occurred. She also informed Kitty just where she was, aboard what vessel, and what rank Amelia was.
Kitty smiled and shook her head in awe. She then said, "You're a Captain of your own ship and you're how old?"
"Why, I'm eighteen, actually. Going to be nineteen come June," Amelia told her, just a bit proudly.
Kitty smiled at that. "Wow, eighteen," she mused to quietly aloud to herself. She had done a lot of research on Amelia after the first time she had sen the movie. Amelia had received her comman when her family had died during a pirate raid when had been only fifteen. Doing the math in her head, Kitty realized that meant that Amelia had been a Captain for over three years now. She remembered reading that Amelia had been a Captain for nearly fifteen years before her foray to Treasure Planet. "Wow!" Kitty said again.
Amelia smiled, the barest hint of pink on her cheeks. "Thank you," Amelia answered back. "You may borrow my bed until you've gotten back on your feet. Then, I daresay we two will go looking for your family and get you to your home."
Kitty smiled sadly, and shook her head. "Don´t bother," she told the surprised Captain.
"Whyever not?" Amelia asked incredulously.
Kitty sniffed, trying desperately not to cry in front of Amelia, but she couldn't prevent a single tear to roll down her left cheek. She then cleared her throat. She then proceeded to tell about her parents and her brother. She told her that she had run away from home, and then had met a woman who gave her the ability to make all her dreams come true.
Amelia raised an eyebrow at that. She was a definite skeptic when it came to magic. Captains were pragmatists for the most part, not prone to believe in fairy tales and all that. "I'm rather afraid you're going to have to prove that to me, my friend...that you know magic, that is."
"Very well, if you insist," Kitty answered, smiling a mysterious smile. "How would you like to be thirty years old for a moment or three, eh?"
Amelia's eyebrows flew up. "You can do something like that?" Amelia asked.
Kitty looked down at her ring. "I've told you already, Captain. I can do whatever I like," she said.
"I see," Amelia said with some misgivings, but gamely lifted up her hand to urge Kitty to give it a try anyway.
Kitty whispered something, which caused the slim gold ring to glow. Amelia gasped as she felt her body suddenly begin to change. When the process finished, she looked over into Kitty's eyes.
"Looking good, Captain," Kitty said, grinning.
Amelia went over to her mirror and stared at her own reflection...only to see that she was now a rather attractive thirty years old. "Whoa!" Amelia uttered quietly, now noticing that her voice had changed a bit too.
"Thank you for your efforts, young lady. Now, kindly change me back, if you please," Amelia commanded.
Kitty did as she was bade to, and back to her normal self once more, Amelia sighed. She looked over at Kitty with a new light of respect in her eyes.
"Very well, then. That was rather amazing, if I do say so myself," Amelia observed with an odd tone in her voice, sitting down at the end of the bed. "Now, Miss Petro---whomever you are---I would like the whole story from you...about how you came to be here, and just how you seem able to make these odd things happen. But first, I'd like for you to explain to me just how you somehow managed to fall some ten meters from seemingly nowhere to land upon my ship...all without any other ships about for you to of fallen off of." Amelia folded her arms before her chest, and gave Kitty a meaningful look, awaiting her answer.