Of course, it started as a story about kidnapping and revenge... It's about pirates, after all.

Prologue

I've never been much of a morning person; I tend to be a tad grumpy until I've had my first coffee, however briefly the effects last these days. But one thing I don't get - as a side benefit of a massive exposure to dark matter over the last eighteen years or so - is a hangover.

I had the mother of all such right now. I groaned and opened my eyes, only to realise I was either totally blind or in complete darkness.

I was also totally naked. And I wasn't alone. There was a body on either side of me, no warmer than I was but definitely alive. I didn't need my working eye to tell me who one of them was, since my hand rested on a shoulder with a familiar wide scar across it that told me Kei was nestled against me.

The naked man lying with his back against my back however… that was a mystery, because I was pretty sure it hadn't been that kind of party the night before...

After a few seconds, I realised I wasn't totally in darkness. There was a thin sliver of light coming from behind me, and it did at least show me a couple of things: firstly, I was lying on the floor of a cell of some type, and from the feel of the vibration in the floor, I was on a spaceship in motion. The room was small, unfurnished, with a metal door. The light came from a small sconce in the wall that would allow just enough light for a low light camera to broadcast our movements to the guard station but not enough to help the average prisoner see what they were doing.

Well, I'm very far from average these days.

Kei was unharmed as far as I could tell, but still out cold. The man… I eased myself out reluctantly from underneath Kei's warmth, and wriggled around slowly so that I could get a better look, although I didn't need much of one: shoulder length silvering hair that had once been close to my own dark wet sand; beard; My height, a little thicker around the middle. An apparently well-preserved sixty-something that I knew full well was considerably under half his actual age. Even if it had been that kind of party, I'd have known something was off. He was my great-something grandfather for Earth's sake. And Kei's for that matter, with an extra great or so thrown in.

Kei was still out, but he stirred as I watched, then opened his eyes.

You can tell a lot about a man - or woman - from how they wake up. Those of us who've lived with a price on their heads for years don't tend to be the types to flail about and launch themselves at whatever unfortunate makes the mistake of waking them up abruptly. We're the ones who learn to wait, to feign sleep, to listen, watch through mostly closed lids and make sure of our surroundings. Do it right and some idiot eventually comes in close to get a curious prod in. And that's when you go for the fool's throat. So I kept my distance and spoke quietly. 'Hannibal.'

'Harlock.' He sat up slowly, winced, and placed a hand to his left temple. I waited until he'd finished his own survey of the room and his gaze came back to mine. 'Funny. I didn't think it was that kind of party…'

Since my last memory was of the three of us sitting in a quiet corner of a shabby tavern on Heavy Meldar - a place usually so devoid of inhabitants you could conduct any business there without much chance of being overheard by anything higher up the evolutionary tree than a wandering tumbleweed - there really was only one explanation. And I was never, ever living this down once I got back to my ship. 'Seems we got careless.'

'Mickied?' he snorted. 'How the hell does that happen? All three of us can metabolise that kind of crap before it does much harm.' He looked over at Kei. 'Is she…?'

'Woke up a few seconds after you did,' I said blithely. I grinned down at her even though she wouldn't make it out clearly. It earned me a weak thump on my arm for my pains. 'It's cute you still think I don't know when you're faking it,' I told her as I helped her to sit up. Given the ambient temperature of the room and the cold floor we had our naked arses on, I put my arm around her and she snuggled against me to still her shivers - some of which wouldn't be down to the cold. Kei's had far less exposure than either I or Hannibal had gotten over the years, and anything strong enough to knock us out was going to make her very sick for a while whilst she threw it off. I looked at Hannibal, feeling only slightly guilty about not offering my other side.

'I'll pass,' he said drily. 'I'm not feeling the cold that much just yet.' He stood up and his bare feet slapped on the metal floor as he walked over to the wall. He pressed his palm against part of it and a bunk slid down. 'Standard configuration on Solar System Fleet vessels of a certain age,' he continued, before I could ask. 'We're in a brig on an old ship.'

I got to my feet and helped Kei to hers. Between us we settled her on the bunk with a blanket around her. Hannibal and I sat on either side of her, letting her draw whatever warmth she could from the pair of us. 'A pre-war vessel?' he nodded. I frowned. 'An old ship but whoever's in charge knew how to take out people with accelerated metabolisms, which means they've had dealings with either you, me or your brother at some point. Don't know about you but I can't recall having been stupid enough to leave anyone I've pissed off this much alive…'

'Your brother's copy?' Kei asked from somewhere on my chest.

'Tends to help himself to the best new shiny toys,' I countered. 'He wouldn't be seen dead in an old junker.'

'An old junker? I'll have you know the Lightning is still one of the fastest ships in the galaxy!' the voice came from a speaker next to the door. I grinned at Hannibal.

'Well the accommodations aren't up to much,' I called out. 'And judging from the vibration, your inertial dampeners are in need of an overhaul, which doesn't fill me with much confidence - ending up splattered against a bulkhead isn't how I plan on going out.'

The door opened letting in far too much light, and all three of us had to shield our eyes, blinking furiously until the afterimages had started to fade. Once they did, we were facing and flanked by three burly brutes in scruffy coveralls, armed with antique but quite obviously well-cared for blasters. One of these gorillas stood aside to allow a smaller man to step forward: a couple of inches shorter than me, probably somewhere in his fifties and unlike me actually looking it. He had curly, greying blond hair and a pencil thin moustache. Gimlet sharp blue eyes looked me up and down with a satisfied smile. He nodded to himself.

'I didn't think you would be quite so easy to capture, senhor Harlock.' His accent was pronounced, but not one I could place. 'Please excuse the facilities - I was instructed to take no chances. Your clothes will be returned to you - we had of course to search you.'

'Of course,' I muttered darkly. 'And I suppose that won't include our weapons?'

He laughed.

'I take it that's a no?' I continued, giving him what Ali calls my best "shit-eating grin".

His answer was a wide grin equally as false as my own. 'Your reputation precedes you, senhor. Yours and the young lady's. The gentleman with you I do not know - a crewmember?'

I knew better than to try bluffing with a "yes". Something about this guy - affable though he appeared, had tripped my internal alarm bell. I let Hannibal take the lead.

'An agent for the Millennial Thieves,' Hannibal offered smoothly. 'We had business to discuss.'

'Name?'

'Alex Schenk. You'll find my ID in my jacket.'

'I'm very sure I will find an ID in your pocket, senhor Schenk…' The twinkle in his eye suggested he was in on a joke no-one else in the room was. He nodded to one of his crew. 'Bring their clothes, and feed them. I'm afraid you'll be our guests for a few days.' He smiled into my face. 'Capitão Harlock. You are, I'm told, a man of honour.'

'Yes.'

He nodded. 'Good. Your parole… your word, then, that neither you nor your companions will attempt to escape, disrupt my ship or attack any of my men. If you agree to behave, I shall have you moved to crew quarters, until we meet with my capitão. Si? We have an accord?'

I inclined my head in agreement and ignored Kei's elbow digging me in the ribs. She'd have to put up with it - in space, we weren't going anywhere. 'On that, you have my word.'

He laughed again and this time the amusement was genuine. I didn't think for a moment he'd mistaken what I'd agreed to. 'Your captain isn't on board?' I asked just before he turned for the door. He turned back and shrugged.

'My captain? No. This is my ship. I command the Lightning. Good day to you, senhors, senhora. Vasco here -' he nodded to one of his hulking gorillas: dark-skinned, black-haired, dark-eyed and muscled like a prize bull '- will see you to better quarters once you are dressed.'

'Do you have a name?' Kei asked. 'You seem to know ours…'

'Yanez, senhora Kei. You may call me Yanez.' He sketched an impressive and rather elaborate formal bow.

All of them marched from the room - the older man with a hitch in his step that I could relate to, that hinted of an old injury. The door shut behind them, but he was as good as his word. Almost as soon as they'd left, the lights came on, and a young woman re-entered carrying a large tray, which she placed on the table that slid out of the wall at a murmured command. She was followed by another crewman - this time a young man, who left our clothes on the floor just inside the door and backed away blushing when Kei stood up to go and claim her portion of them. The woman seemed to be made of sterner stuff, eyeing both myself and Hannibal up with an appreciative gaze, until she caught Kei glaring at her, at which point she gulped and scuttled out as fast as she could, the door irising closed behind her.

'Did you just death-glare that poor girl?' I asked as I pulled on my pants. I threw Hannibal his, since the lazy-bastard gene seemed to run in that side of the family. I'd have argued it had been diluted by now, except for the fact that my twin sons are a pair of slobs who have to be badgered into cleaning up after themselves, and their younger sister's even worse.

'She was staring at you. There might have been drool…'

'So? I'm worth staring at.' I snatched my sweater off the pile and stayed out of arm's reach.

Hannibal chuckled. 'I'll never understand why this family seems to like living dangerously when it comes to their women.' He took a look at the contents of the tray and sighed. 'Oh joy. MREs…So much for feeding us.' He threw one of the pouches to me and I caught it neatly. Kei he handed one to, being the gentleman that he is. 'Interesting situation,' he continued, between mouthfuls. 'That ID's perfectly legit, but he almost called me out on it. There's no way in hell anyone knows I'm anyone else.'

'Maybe it's you he's after?' I suggested after struggling to swallow a sporkful of something supposed to be a chicken casserole. If any part of it had ever been covered in feathers, I've got two working eyeballs… 'I'm getting a weird vibe. I don't think he's a bounty hunter.'

'He's taking us to see another captain,' Kei mused aloud. 'We only know one "captain" who commands multiple ships, and this guy doesn't strike me as one of Hunter's men.'

'Nope.' I stared glumly at another sporkful of pale, anaemic looking mush. 'Too articulate, too smart, and has a sense of humour. Plus the last time we ran into Hunter, he swore he'd have me shot on sight rather than risk his men getting into it with us.'

'Shows how dumb he is,' Kei snorted. 'He'd have to kill an awful lot of people to avoid retribution. Starting with me.' She delved into her own meal, eating daintily but enthusiastically. 'What?' she mumbled through a mouthful, when we both looked at her.

'I still don't know how you can do that.' I shuddered.

'You can't possibly be enjoying that…' Hannibal looked about as disgusted with his pouch as I was with mine.

'You two…' she jabbed her spork in our direction. 'Are spoiled. Neither of you really appreciates what it's like to not know where your next meal's coming from.'

Now that was unfair… I'd had my share of rough times, and she knew it. And I was pretty sure Hannibal hadn't always had the best of luck in his long life. She sighed. 'Don't either of you give me those looks. You were both born wealthy and privileged. You bitch about times like these because you expect them to go away and stop bothering you eventually. Because - how dare they? Don't they know who you are? But what if this is that time when your luck runs out? You can't know.' She jabbed the back of my hand with her plastic utensil. 'Eat, and quit moaning about the food. I need both of you sharp. We've no idea what we're up against.'

Hannibal and I exchanged meaningful looks ™. Which is something that even though we've known each other for a couple of years now is still a little freaky, given that he looks a lot like an older version of myself, to the point where Kei oftens feels the need to point out that it's nice to know I'll age well.

We both know however when we're beaten: we ate.

Captain Yanez was as good as his word. We were escorted - under arms but politely - to more salubrious quarters - and by that I mean that the room we were moved to was about the same size as the brig, but sported two pairs of narrow bunks, a table, chairs and a head/washroom. 'Showers are three doors along on the port side,' the young crewman who'd been staring at Kei's breasts earlier told us. Even though she was now covered up by a clinging, soft, cream cashmere sweater, he didn't seem able to keep his sticky eyes off them, and I was sorely tempted to remind him where to look by means of a slap to the back of the head before Kei did him more permanent damage.

The look on my face must have finally registered, because he gulped, tried for the cheery grin, and when that failed, scuttled out with his tail between his legs. Literally: He was a chthonian.

He didn't lock the door on the way out. Hannibal tested it and hmmphed. 'No locks. Figures - they won't want us barricading ourselves in.'

'Mind games,' I replied. I sat down on one of the folding chairs. 'Rather like putting us all in together. I mean - he knows Kei and I are a couple, keeps us together but no privacy? And I'd probably dislocate something trying it on in one of those bunks.'

Kei sniggered. 'We used to manage…'

'I was younger,' I pointed out. 'Don't let the pretty-boy looks fool you, I'm not as flexible as I used to be…'

She narrowed her eyes ever so slightly at that bouncer, but took her cue from me. I carried enough scars for Yanez and his crew to see I'd taken some punishment over the years. It wouldn't hurt to play up my old leg injury a bit and let them think that a woman, an old man and the slightly-past-his-prime pirate were not as threatening as they might have heard. A long shot, but in our business, you take every angle you can find.

Hannibal took the seat opposite to mine, and drummed his fingers on the tabletop. 'I've never heard of a Captain Yanez…' he mused. 'I thought I knew all of the players in this galaxy.'

'New player?' Kei asked. She sat on the edge of one of the bunks.

'He doesn't strike me as a new player.' I leaned back in my chair. 'Confident but not cocky. And there was something about the way he mentioned his captain…' I looked at Kei, who smiled.

'Sounded like one of our boys talking about you.'

I smiled back. 'In one. So, he's loyal, and whoever he's loyal to earned that. Notice he knew damn well I was being very careful to limit my promise, but didn't care. His captain's someone he thinks can handle us, and do so easily. He knows who I am at least, and you…' I nodded to Kei. 'And again it doesn't bother him. Which tells me his captain has an equally impressive reputation - at least in his mind, and he didn't strike me as the sycophantic type.'

Hannibal folded his arms and smiled. 'You got all of that from a few sentences?'

I shrugged nonchalantly. 'Training and long experience. I wouldn't have lasted long if I couldn't size people up quickly and accurately.'

'And yet… your brother…' he murmured.

I glared at him. 'Not letting that go, are you?' I growled. 'Remind me again at what point you realised yours was batshit insane?'

Kei sighed and stood up with a flounce. 'If you two are going to start arguing again, I'm going for a shower.'

'Not alone you don't,' I said before she could reach the door. 'Affable our host might be, but we were drugged and kidnapped right on our home turf.'

She sniffed, as though annoyed with me for doubting her ability to take care of herself. Which I didn't, but no-one listening would know that.

In the corridor, two crewmen stood guard - or at least, leaning against the walls, one in each direction, looking as though they were just loitering casually. Didn't fool either of us: it's a trick Ali's taught most of the guys on the Arcadia. 'Port?' I asked Kei, trying my best to look as though I can't tell one end of a spaceship from another. She rolled her eyes, took my hand and dragged me off to the left.

Stripped off and under running water, we finally had a chance to talk openly. I defy anyone to lip-read through the steamy haze of hot water pouring - or in this case dribbling - down. 'Ship's in good repair despite that slight vibration,' Kei said quietly as I rubbed her back. 'Crew dress scruffy, but it's as much a front as yours is. Everything's vintage but well cared for. Weapons too. Crew are well trained - almost didn't spot the signals passing between those jokers in the corridors, and those thugs in the brig were anything but. No calluses on the hands of the big red head, did you notice?'

'Actually I spotted the indentations on the sides of his nose where his glasses sit,' I replied with a grin. 'Now for the acid test… did they find your transmitter?'

She ran a hand over her stomach, and pressed against a small scar lost in a silvery line. 'Still there. Any scan should show only the contraceptive implant. Luna and Maji pulled a good one there. You?'

I'd already found the tiny, already healing cut on my right thigh. 'Scratch that. We just have to hope we're not out of range.' Mine was the stronger beacon, mostly because I can hide it against a backdrop of pins and plates from an old injury. But I trusted our crew to be able to track us.

Assuming of course we hadn't already moved out of sub-space transmission range before anyone contacted the Arcadia and told them we'd gone missing. If we had, then we were in big trouble.

'Plan?' Kei asked me, placing her hand behind my head and pulling me towards her for a lingering kiss. Purely for the cameras, if anyone was watching, and if this was my ship, you can be damned sure someone would be.

'For now? We wait,' I said once I came up for air. 'I don't think we're in much danger from anything except the food until we reach their captain, and I did give my word.' The water was starting to cool and I reached for the controls. 'We do have one problem,' I teased, just before I switched off the water.

'Umm?'

'How the hell do I arrange to have these private chats with Hannibal?'

I had to wonder if the poor schmuck on the other end of any monitors would be wondering why Kei had a sudden attack of the giggles as we hit the dryers.

Mostly on a whim, since I didn't really expect anyone to tell me, I stopped in front of the guard who stood between us and the door to our new quarters. 'Excuse me.'

He looked at me, relaxed and chirpy. Not at all the surly attitude I'd come to expect under circumstances like these. But then, I'd been spoiled by Count Lazarus and Hunter, I suppose.

'Yes?'

'Your captain - not of this ship, but the man we're going to see. The one who apparently wants to see me so badly he can't be bothered to just walk up and ask me nicely?'

A shrug. 'Il Capitano says "fetch him"? Capitano Yanez volunteered. 'We fetched.' A huge grin spread across the man's weather-lined face. Wherever he was from he spent far more time outdoors than he did on a spaceship, which was interesting. Out of the corner of my left eye I spotted Hannibal sticking his head around the doorway. The man was almost as nosy as I am…

'Does he have a name?'

This guard turned to his compatriot languishing idly further down the corridor. 'He wants to know Il Capitano's name!' he said this as though it was some kind of a joke, and his friend laughed out loud. 'You do not know?'

I bit back the sarcastic comment on the tip of my tongue. Settled for a shake of my head.

'Surely even in this backwater you have heard the name of the greatest pirate who ever sailed the oceans of space!'

'Is he yanking my chain?' I stage whispered to Kei. 'I thought that was me…'

'You?' More laughter. 'Yes, we've heard of Il Capitano Harlock, but for years, nothing but a story to scare rookies spitless whilst we're on a late shift… A myth, until you came along.' I was looked up and down and this occasioned more laughter. 'They said you were seven feet tall dressed all in black, with fire flashing from your eye and death in your heart. You… not so much.'

I knew that choked snigger from my side and bit my tongue. For years she's been telling me to dress the part, and now she was never, ever going to let me live this down.

'I'm in disguise.'

'Good disguise,' our guard nodded slyly, with a wink to his comrade. 'We're fooled by the scruffy spacer look.'

'Totally,' his companion added, struggling to keep a straight face.

I didn't dare look at Hannibal. And I was never so thankful that Ali wasn't here to share this one. He'd have been dining out on it for months. 'But your captain?' I pressed.

'Our captain? Our captain is the Terror of Andromeda!' he declaimed, almost hitting me in the face with the hand he was gesticulating with. 'Il Corsaro Nero! The captain of the battleship "Thunder". Lord of Relâmpago Azul!'

Now it was Hannibal's turn to make choking noises.

'A name would be nice,' I broke in. 'Before you run out of superlatives.'

He grinned at me, revealing a gap-toothed smile. 'No man alive knows his real name, but we call him Captain Nero.'

'Never heard of him,' I replied brightly, and walked past him and into our tiny room. Kei shut the door behind me and we both faced Hannibal, who looked as though he'd seen a ghost. 'Well?' I asked, when enlightenment seemed not to be forthcoming any time soon.

'Relâmpago Azul.'

I shook my head. It meant nothing to me and I said so. Kei looked equally blank. Hannibal sighed.

'It's Portuguese - an old Earth language, which I think is the native language of that Captain Yanez. It means "blue lightning".'

I sat down rather heavily on the edge of the left hand bunk. 'Oh.'

Kei sat beside me. 'Does that mean what I think…'

'Remember how we were looking for the Deathshadow One?' I asked her. She nodded, 'I rather think her captain just found us…'