CHAPTER 2

STORIES, OLD FRIENDS AND NEW DISCOVERIES

"Come on Daddy, you promised," Whined Maria.

"You said you would read us Uncle Jim's story book to us." Joseph joined in.

I sighed as I lent on the desk of the Legacy's Stateroom, rubbing my eyes to stop the tired feeling that was invading my brain, running a hand through my slightly greying hair as I did so.

"I know I promised Joseph," I said quietly, "But I have a lot of work to do and…"

I glanced down at my children, a fatal mistake when it came to these two.

Maria and Joseph were my two youngest children, and were almost joined at the hip. They did almost everything together. They would look out for each other, read stories together, and it was said that you never saw one without the other.

Maria was slightly older than Joseph, and was, like her mother, Feline in appearance. She had large ears and a small boxy kind of nose, along with brilliant blue eyes and long black hair that went down to half way down her back.

Joseph was the youngest of mine and Amelia's children, and was human in appearance, like me. He was a little shorter than Maria, but was very quiet and shy, like his sister, which was why he went most of his time with her, for she was just the same.

He had short neatly clipped dark brown hair, but the most evident that he was not entirely human was his eyes.

His eyes, like his mother, were a dark emerald green. But they weren't human eyes, for his pupils were slits like a cats.

Although these two were my favourites, I could usually hold off their constant badgering to do what they wanted…unless I looked at them directly.

Which was what I had done.

They gazed up at me, their eyes as big as saucers, their lower lips pouting and quivering slightly.

I cringed as they continued to gaze up at me with their big wide eyes, closing my eyes to try and stop myself from falling for their infamous puppy dog pout.

Then they pulled out all the stops: they whined.

A high pitched whine that could melt the heart of the hardest of all sailors.

Finally I relented and slumped my shoulders. I hated to work anyway.

"Oh fine," I sighed with a smile as I took the book from Joseph, "Come up here then,"

"Yay!" they cried as the climbed up my legs and into my lap as I lay the book on the table.

"Which story do you want to hear then?" I asked, already knowing the one they would choose.

"Treasure Planet! Treasure Planet!" They chorused.

I sighed and opened up the book to the right page as the book began to start playing the images.

"On the clearest of nights," it began as a large ship floated past, "when the winds of the Etherium were calm and peaceful, the great merchant ships with their cargos of Arcturian solar crystals, felt safe and secure.

Little did they suspect that they were pursued by…" a black ship with red sails suddenly flew into view"…pirates!

And the most feared of all these pirates, was the notorious Captain Nathaniel Flint."

"Fire!" the miniature of Flint bellowed as his ship attacked the Merchant vessel, boarding and taking out the crew while Joseph and Maria watched in fascination as the book continued,

"Like a Candarian Zap-wing overtaking it's prey, Flint and his band of renegades, swooped in, out of nowhere. And then, gathering up their spoils…vanished…without a trace."

"OooooH," My children said in awe as I watched their little faces light up with a smile.

"Flints secret trove was never found," the book proclaimed, "but stories have persisted, that is remains hidden. Somewhere, at the farthest reaches of the galaxy.

Stowed with riches beyond the imagination…the loot, of a thousand worlds:"

"Treasure Planet." Joseph and Maria said with the book.

I smiled to myself as I closed the book, remembering the adventure I had with Amelia, Jim and Dr. Doppler. Fighting off the mutiny of the crew, led by the now infamous Cyborg…Long John Silver.

"Didn't you Daddy?" I heard Maria call up to me.

"Say what?" I blinked and looked down at my Daughter with confusion.

"Joseph asked if anyone would ever find Treasure Planet, and I said that they already had found Treasure Planet, and I told him you found it with Mummy didn't you Daddy?"

I smiled down at the innocent six-year-old lovingly.

"Yes we…"

At that moment the door of the Stateroom swung open, my currant First Officer Mr. Trent, a inexperienced Lieutenant, leaning in the doorway, out of breath.

"Captain Dearing!" He panted, "We have a Procyon Minelayer off the Starboard Bow, heading towards us. But here's the thing sir, it's not flying Procyon colours!"

I gently let my children down from my lap before striding over to Trent.

"Pirates?"

Trent shook his head, "No Sir, it's flying the colours of a Empire Civilian."

I looked confused, before nodding and looking back at Maria and Joseph.

"You two, stay here. Don't go outside until I come back ok?"

"But Dad…"

"No buts!" I said quietly, but firmly, placing a gentle hand on Maria's head, "This might be dangerous. If it's all ok, I'll have Mr. Trent come and get you ok?"

The two kids faces brightened up and nodded quickly.

I smiled before calling to for my little pink Shape shifter of a friend.

"Morph, let's go see this ship for ourselves eh?"

"Ship for ourselves!" Morph repeated, before nuzzling both my children's face, much to their delight, before following me out onto the Main deck.

"Mr. Clarpus, can you confirm we have Minelayer off the Starboard bow?" I called up to the lookout.

Clarpus, a part of the same species as Onus, the lookout from my first expedition, nodded at me.

"I confirm it Captain!" he yelled, "We have HUGE Procyon ship approaching!"

I sighed as another crewmember, Morse the Radio operator (Something introduced two years ago) ran up to me, his stalked eyes going up and down from his heavy breathing.

"Captain, we've received a message from the Procyon ship!"

He suddenly began to smile warily.

"Well? What is it man spit it out?" I ordered.

Morse held out a piece of paper for me to read, which went as follows:

Ahoy there Danny-Boy!

What do you think of my new ship eh? Found her adrift in the Lagoon Nebula. Pretty darn good catch, if I do say so myself.

I request permission to come aboard the Legacy if you don't mind. I have something in me junk bays that might interest you.

Introduce me to your kiddies, they might be interested to see this!

See ya in a mo.

Silver.

I glanced in dismay at the Minelayer as it began to draw up next to the ship.

"Well I never thought I'd see the day." I sighed in disbelief.

Silver. Long John Silver. The notorious Cyborg who had mutinied against Amelia, who went 'mysteriously' missing after we had reached Montressor Spaceport and hadn't been heard of since.

I smiled at Morph who was whizzing round my head excitedly at the thought of seeing his old master, squeaking madly.

"Inform Mr. Silver that I will be coming over to his ship Mr. Morse," I said finally, "Mr. Trent, please go get my children from the Stateroom. Tell them, I have an old friend I'd like them to meet."

"Ah, Danny-Boy, It's been a long time! And Morphy too!" Silver bellowed as I stepped onto the Deck of Silvers ship. Joseph and Maria hiding behind my legs at the sight of this gigantic form of a man while the pink blob licked his former master half to death.

"Not long enough Silver," I said with a smirk. The old Cyborg had been a major pain in the ass as far as I had been concerned, and still was actually.

Silver put on a hurt expression at my statement.

"Aww, your not still mad about me trying to take over the Legacy are you?" he asked innocently.

"I won't say the thought crossed my mind," I said quietly.

"And what about those two young un's behind ya eh?" he asked heartily as he bent down to their eye level.

Maria let out a squeak and held Joseph tight as he red laser of Silver's cybernetic eye seemed take in every detail of her small figure.

"I would advise that you don't try scanning my daughter Silver," I said stiffly.

Silver grinned lopsidedly at the two of them, huddled behind me.

"Eh, I don't mean any harm kids," he said jovially, before sticking out his cybernetic arm in a form of a handshake towards them, "The names Silver. Long John Silver. Me and yer Dad go a long way back."

"If that's the way you want to put it," I muttered as Joseph and Maria hesitantly put their tiny hands into his large skeletal one, "You said you had something in your Junk Bays that would interest me?"

Silver stood up and nodded, "Always to business I see," he grumbled, "Very well, if you'll follow me. I'll take you to the Hawkins' Junk Bays."

The Hawkins, as Silver had called it, had once, as I said before, been a Procyon Minelayer. Since the Cyborg had found it, he had stripped it of it's Mining equipment, leaving a large empty space on either side of the main hull for Silver to load up any Junk he would think he could repair, before selling it on at half the normal price.

"I was in the Terran system when I found it," Silver explained as we walked down to the Junk bay, "And before you tell me about the regs when going to that system, don' worry I didn't go to the third planet," he added hastily as he caught my glare, "I found this in a decaying orbit around the fifth planet, what is called…Jupiter that's the one."

"They must have really advanced since I was there last," I mused as I watched Joseph and Maria gaze about the gleaming interior of the Hawkins, "They had barely finished the International Space Station when I lived on Earth."
Silver suddenly paused outside a large door, obviously hesitating at the sound of the Station.

"Funny you should mention that," he said with a small sigh as he pressed a few buttons on the panel beside him.

Joseph and Maria squeaked in surprise as the large door in front of us swung open slowly, making them cling together in fright.

Inside the gigantic space where the Mine laying equipment had been, was now replaced by piles of metal, stacked up to the ceiling. Bits of masts, engines and even a couple of small Longboat hulls, but what I saw in the middle of this mess, sent shivers down my spine.

As I had looked around the bay, I had noticed that a lot of the junk appeared familiar. Solar panels, their usual bluish colour stained by the black of damage, as well as parts of space modules, now ripped to pieces by a explosion, but what was in the centre of the bay was what made my blood run cold.

It was a Earth Space shuttle.

It was a newer class then the ones they had been using when I had been living on Earth. It was more streamlined, and a good deal smaller then the old craft too.

She appeared to have six wings, two on the bow, four on the back. The bow wings and the wings nearest the ground appeared to have completely been blown off, and her usually white hull was as black as the solar panels on her underbelly.

"And you say you found this in orbit around Jupiter?" I called back to Silver as I walked up to the hull in amazement.

"That and a bay full of other junk." Silver said grimly, "This was the largest hunk I could retrieve."

As I approached the shuttle, I noticed some large lettering underneath the windows, covered by a black smear.

My curiosity peaking a gently wiped of the ash, revealing the name of the craft: Enterprise II

I smiled softly to myself, "I guess the Trekkies got to NASA again,"

"What's a Trekkie?" Joseph asked as he came up beside me.

"And what's a NASA?" Maria asked as she joined him.

"I'll tell you some other time," I muttered.

"If I didn't know better," Silver said quietly as he overlooked a nearby pile, "I say this was the work of a Nova Mortar."

"But that's impossible," I stated shaking my head, "Only the Navy's StarHammer class are equipped with Nova Mortars."

"As is the Procyon Armada's Ice-Fist class," Silver muttered as he withdrew a large hunk of metal from the pile.

The Hunk was tattered and broken, but a few pieces of words were legible: nal Space Sta

"My God," I whispered, "They blew the International Space Station out of the sky."

I looked up at the Enterprise II, now lying dormant on in the bay, her windows flashing reds and greens.

"Wait a moment…reds and greens?"

"Silver?" I asked as I climbed up onto the front of the Shuttle, "Does the Shuttle still have power?"

"Aye it do Danny-Boy," Silver nodded, "it's how I found the thing, would've been crushed to a pulp from that Gas giant if I hadn't salvaged it."

I put my hands to the glass, blocking out the light, trying to see into the cockpit.

Inside it was dark, the only light coming from the softly beeping control panel. I could barely make out two shapes in pilot seats. The looked, human.

"Silver? did you check the Cockpit for life?" I asked as I tried to see better.

The Cyborg shook his head, "Nope, couldn' get in," he chuckled, "I'm not as young as I used to be!"

Frowning slightly, I pulled a pistol from it's holster, powering up as I did so.

"Err, Danny-Boy? What are you doing?" Silver asked uncertainty as I aimed my pistol at the largest window.

"I'm sorry Mr. Silver," I muttered as my pistol finished powering up, "But I have to get to those people. Protect my children if you will."

The Cyborg's eyes widened as he realised what I was about to do, before nodding and turning his back to me, shielding Joseph and Maria with his artificial arm.

Aiming the pistol at the large glass window, I turned my head away to shield my face from any stray shards of glass, before pulling the trigger.

The effect was almost immediate. A blast of purple energized plasma suddenly erupted from the end of my pistol, hitting the thick glass and making it shatter like it was a thin as paper, sending shards in every direction.

As soon as I made sure that it was safe, I put the pistol back in my belt, before pushing my way through the remains of the window and into the darkness of the cockpit.

Inside the only light was from the slowly beeping console in front of me.

"Morph, I could use a flash light," I called.

Almost immediately, my little pink friend came through the window, before squeaking a reply and turning into a bright orb of light, immediately lighting up the cockpit.

With a better light source than before, I could now see the two astronauts.

One was a man, around his late twenties, with dark brown hair and handsome features. On his Jumpsuit read: Peter N. Armstrong.

The other was someone…who was actually familiar to me. A woman, around the same age as me, with a slight tanned skin, and long black hair, tied back to keep it out of the way. I couldn't see her eyes, but I knew that they would be a cobalt blue, with flecks of white.

"Well I'll be…Jennifer Amanda Desoto," I breathed.

"Who is she Danny-Boy?" I heard Silver call as he did his best to climb up onto the front of the shuttle, peering into the open window.

"Ooh, She's pretty!" Maria gasped as she climbed onto Silvers good shoulder.

"Yeah, but not as pretty as Mummy!" Joseph pronounced as he joined her.

I smiled as I gently felt for a pulse, "Her name is Jenny Desoto," I called up, "We went to high-school together. I only knew her for a year. The closest thing I ever really had to a friend at the time."

I sighed in relief, both Armstrong and Jenny had strong pulses.

"We have to get them to the Crescentia Hospital," I said, mostly to myself, "Silver, how much would it take to get this wreck to Montressor?"

Silver smiled at my back as I unbuckled Jenny's seatbelts and picked her up slowly, before handing her out to him, "For you Danny-boy, I'll do it for free,"

I smiled gratefully at him as I did the same to Armstrong and pushed him out the window. The man sure was a mystery to me.

"Kids, you go back to the Longboat with Mr. Silver," I said as I got out of the cockpit, "Silver, put our Guests in your, err…finest, accommodation until we reach Montressor."

The old Cyborg smiled as he set down the two astronauts by the door, my children and Morph hovering nearby.

"Aye Lieutenant!" he joked as looked back at me, "I'll make sure they…hang on a moment…what's dat beeping?"

I listened closely. Sure enough, there seemed to be a beeping sound, coming from the cockpit.

"That sounds like it doesn't belong," I said aloud as I peered into the gloom of the now empty cockpit, my right arm clinging onto the window frame for grip.

What I saw made the colour drain from my face.

In the corner, it's warning lights blinking red at a very fast pace, was a Procyon Bomb.

"Oh my God they rigged her to…"

BOOM!!!
I suddenly felt a searing pain shoot up my arm and a blinding white light erupt from the cockpit.

The resulting blast threw me clean across the bay, before landing in a crumpled heap near the door.

"DADDY!!!" Joseph and Maria cried, as more explosions rocked the ship.

"COME ON KIDS!" Silver roared as he picked up my broken body, "THIS PLACE CAN'T HOLD OUT MUCH LONGER!!!"

It took me a moment to realise that now, not only could I not feel my arm, I also couldn't see in my right eye.

"Oh…My God," I mumbled quietly. The Darkness clouded round me as I saw Silver carry me with his good arm and drag Jenny and Armstrong by the scruff of their necks, followed by Maria and Joseph, both crying deeply. Then the darkness totally came, the sound dissipated and the pain…disappeared.