Chapter 16
Kitty made her way to the main deck, then up again on to the bridge deck, finally making her way back to the stateroom she shared with Amelia.
Amelia chance a look up from her desk as Kitty made her way within. "Ah, hello, Kitty," Amelia said by way of greeting, without looking up again.
Kitty shook her head, a bit perplexed. "Might I ask just how you knew it was me?" Kitty asked.
Amelia placed her quill pen down, and looked up at her Second Officer. "That's very simple, you see. Because anyone else would know that to going into the Captain´s stateroom without invitation would garner that person extra duty at best, a few days in the brig at worst."
Kitty just smiled, unphased by Amelia's implicit warning. "So...what do you think of the crew?"
Before Amelia could answer, a heavy knocking of what could only be Mr. Arrow sounded upon the door, then he entered. Arrow looked quite thoroughly disgusted about something. "Begging your pardon, Ma'am...but I think there is some question as to Doctor Doppler's abilities in picking spacers. I have never seen such---" Arrow complained vehemently.
"Yes I know," Amelia interrupted. "They are at best, a ludicrous parcel of driveling galoots," Amelia announced and sighed heavily.
Kitty had to laugh at Amelia's most appropriate choice of words.
"Oh yes, laugh away, young lady," Amelia grumbled, scowling. "I have a bad feeling about this voyage...especially one with this crew aboard." Amelia looked over to Kitty for some sign of continued laughter or saucy comment, but years with Amelia had taught Kitty to make her face nearly unreadable when she wanted to.
Seeing no reason to dwel further upon her fate, Amelia gathered up her journals, chart, and the like and put them away. "Well," Amelia then said looking over to the clock on the wall. "I'm afraid I must be off to inspect a few things. While I'm gone, I'm expecting the both of you to get this ship ship-shape and ready to sail before we launch. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, Ma'am!" both Arrow and Kitty said and saluted her before returning back on deck. All was going fairly well---at least Kitty thought so---until the pirate spacers began to balk at all hard labor they were being forced to do. Kitty took it upon herself to show these scruffy spacers a thing or three.
Kitty moved over to where a groupd of spacers were gathered around a huge, seemingly heavy crate. As she ambled over, they gaver her a look as if she where some sort of troublesome insect. She quickly identified the Mantavore Scroop and the enormously fat Meltdown both trying---with very little success---to lift the crate, even with the assistance of the ship's main mast winch. Kitty chuckled at their ineptness and headed over to where the two sweating unhappy spacers stood glaring first at the crate, then at Kitty.
"Laugh, if you will, feline," Scroop hissed in suppressed fury. "If you can do better then pleasssse sssssshow ussssssss," he growled in his hissing voice.
Kitty lifted an eyebrow in surprise, snorted at their inability to do so simple a task, and bent over to lift the huge crate with the little finger of her left hand. "Mr. Arrow!" she yelled over to him.
Arrow looked over to where Kitty had bellowed, his craggy eyebrows moving up in surprise as this slender felinid holding aloft that enormous crate with a single finger. "Yes, Ms. Petro?" he boomed back.
"Beg pardon, but...just where is this supposed to go, please?" Kitty yelled again, asking for direction.
"Ah, that would be our stores of armaments," Arrow answered. "Kindly store them in the Armory, if you please!"
Kitty nodded her thanks, then moved off toward the armory or weapons locker, where all the weapons were hel secure (at least for a while), whistling a jaunty tune as she balanced the huge heavy crate on the tip of her pinky finger.
The scurulous spacers seemed to be inspired that a seemingly frail girl was showing them up, and gave up whining and complaining, and finished the work of lading the ship. Kitty decided it was time to keep herself close to Arrow. She knew she didn't want to miss seeing Amelia introduce herself to both Delbert and Jim when they came aboard ship.
Amongst her other duties, Kitty kept an eye out for the pair, and smiled when she spotted Delbert chrashing into Jim from behind as he looked up in awe at the RLS Legacy. It wasn't too much longer and the pair came aboard up the gangway. Delbert came up beside Arrow in his ridiculous spacesuit.
"Ahoy, Captain! Everything ship-shape?" he said eagerly, wanting most desperately to appear at least somewhat spaceworthy to this huge confident spacer.
Arrow turned to face the nervous doctor, smiling before answering. "Ship-shape it is, sir. But...I´m not the Captain. The Captain is aloft."
Kitty smiled as she sidled up beside and slightly behind Arrow, as Amelia appeared doing her rather impressive array of somersaults to land on the deck before Arrow and the Doctor. Kitty whispered to Arrow sotto voce, "And to think...she tells me to not show off."
Amelia paused a moment to allow herself a smile of smug satisfaction. "Mr. Arrow, Ms. Petro...I've inspected this miserable ship from stem to stern, and, as usual, it's spot on! Can you two get nothing wrong?"
Arrow bowed, grinning at Amelia's praise, so Kitty took it upon herself to say, "You flatter us both, Captain."
Amelia winked at the two, before heading over toward the Doctor and the look that Amelia directed Doppler's way was absolutely priceless. "Ah," Amelia began, looking over Delbert with a practiced eye. "Doctor Doppler, I presume?"
Kitty found she could only watch in glee, as concentrating on not laughing aloud was about all she could do and still hear what was going on. But, that didn't really matter, as she knew the dialogue of the whole movie by rote. When Kitty finally had recomposed herself, she knew precisely where the conversation had gotten as Amelia had her vise-like grip about poor Delbert's muzzle.
Kitty followed the four of them, walking just behind Amelia and Arrow. Once inside Amelia's stateroom, Kitty walked over to stand beside Arrow, smiling brightly at both Delbert and Jim before she heard the click of Amelia dogging the door behind her. Kitty knew what was about to happen, and couldn't help but fell sorry for poor Delbert. She knew he was in for a real tongue-lashing from Amelia, who was not in the best of moods, no sir. It wasn't bad enough for the good Doctor to be caught talking about treasure maps aloud on deck, no...in addition to that, he had hired a crew that Amelia hated nearly from the first moment she laid eyes upon them.
Kitty cringed, listening to Amelia berate the Doctor...just as she had in the movie. Despite her sympathy for the Doctor, Kitty had to smile when she saw Jim amble over to the open locker, and begin playing with Amelia's belongings. After Amelia had finished chewing out both Delbert and Jim good and proper, she watched as Arrow escorted one angry Doctor Doppler and an equally perturbed Jim Hawkins down to the galley, where Jim would be working.
Amelia sighed heavily, rolling her eyes heavenward a moment...this had been a really hard and trying day so far for the intrepid Captain.
"C'mon now, don´t worry, Amelia," Kitty soothed, moving behind her to gently rub her shoulders. "Everything's going to be just fine."
"Oh, really? That's wonderful. But, just for argument's sake, lets's say it won't. What then?" Amelia asked.
Kitty gently kneaded Amelia's tight shoulders. "Well...then I suppose tht Arrow and I will just have to send you to O.N.O.S."
"O.N.O.S.?" Amelia replied with a question.
"Sure! Remember? That's the 'Overworked Naval Officers Society', Amelia. Gee, you'd really be great there," Kitty gushed, grinning mischievously. "No more voyages or responsibility of any kind ever again. Doesn't that sound great?"
Amelia grunted as Kitty broke up a particular stubborn knot in her shoulders. "Just you try it, Miss, and you'll regret it. That, I promise you, dear," Amelia growled, but not very menacingly. "Before I let you rogues lock me away in that dreadful place, I'd rather lock myself in that cupboard again..."
Kitty chuckled at that, and conjured Amelia's blue tri-corner hat out of nowhere, placing it upon her head. Quite accidentally, Kitty had discovered a weaknees of Amelia's. The year after she had moved into Amelia's home, Kitty had somehow managed to lock Amelia inside a cupboard in the kitchen---purely for fun, of course. Had Arrow not been around to get her out, Amelia might not of made it out alive. Amelia, it seemed, suffered from acute claustrophobia, and being wedged into such confining spaces had resulted in her hyperventilating and sweating in terror. "Don't you worry, Captain, I won't," Kitty said smilling to Amelia.
"I don't care what they all say, Kitty dear, I think your a top-notch girl," Amelia teased, smiling and hugging Kitty before heading back out on deck once again.