Before you read: I know I haven't been updating as frequently as I should, but school and life have just been overly dramatic and tiring. As an apology, this chapter is actually almost 1000 words longer than the longest one ever previously posted. However, that did kinda come at a price, given that I was unable to put any real Jim and Dia alone time since this is the launch of the Legacy. The next one will have some Jim/Dia moments I PROMISE.

The next morning Amelia woke Arcadia up from her light slumber on the floor. With a groan Arcadia was up and getting ready for going to their ship. Amelia had left the room an hour prior to accept Delbert's offer, taking Mr. Arrow with her. They were waiting for Arcadia downstairs.

Dia avoided using her bad arm as much as possible as they walked down to the ship yard where the large vessels were docked.

The R.L.S. Legacy stood tall with a regal nature to it, its three main masts held three separate sails each. The riggings were in fantastic condition along with the entire ship.

"I'll give your friend Delbert this; he knows how to choose a good ship." Amelia remarked as she walked the gangplank to the ship. Arcadia followed behind Mr. Arrow, nearly tripping when she hit the difference in atmos.

"Mr. Arrow, I see our new crew has arrived ahead of us." Amelia commented as she made it onto the deck.

Sure enough when Arcadia reached the top of the plank she found a gangly group of sailors. Many different races awaited her view, even a Garlaxian, a mountainous race with four arms. Out of all those present, one drew her attention standing at the head of the group, most likely the leader of the crew, was a humanoid that was half cyborg.

Her eyes narrowed on his form. A cyborg hired on the crew on a secret voyage for the treasure of a lifetime, when those that found the map were attacked by a crew captained by a cyborg.

"Alright you lot, let's get this ship ready to set sail. I want it cleaned spotless, sails opened, and after you've finished those chores you can call your bunks." Amelia called out, heading towards the Captain's room.

"You heard the Captain, get to work!" Mr. Arrow bellowed out.

The crew grumbled their dislike of the new Captain as they began to split into separate crews.

"And what shall my job be?" Arcadia questioned Arrow as she stood at his side.

"You'll be checking the riggings with the Captain once we're ready to make way." Arrow said with a small smile on his stony face.

Arcadia gaped up at him, "Really?!" She had been waiting for this opportunity for ages. To Amelia, checking the rigging was the most important part of preparation. It was the last chance to find any flaws that may exist. The flaws that could claim sailors' lives.

"Yes indeed, you young rascal." Amelia's sharp voice cut in. She had placed her items into the Captain's quarters and was now watching the crew work.

The two females watched as Arrow ordered the crew around the ship. The entire time, Arcadia was carefully watching as the cyborg walked around, moving the food supplies around. He was supposed to be the crew's cook, but Arcadia had other thoughts to his character.

"Alright, the ship is ready for the final check, if you would be so kind, Captain, Miss Williams." Mr. Arrow called from the main deck.

Amelia turned to Dia and smirked at her, "Ready to follow me? I'll take it easy due to your wound; as well as your limited experience up on the riggings."

Dia spared her a small glare, "No need to be so kind, Captain."

"Oh really then? Full speed it is." Amelia said and before Arcadia could comment the feline was moving swiftly up the mizzen mast.

Dia huffed out and took a breath before following after her far more flexible comrade. They traveled across the beams that held up the sails, down the masts, past the crow's nest, and made sure to look for anything out of place as well. As Arcadia was swiftly following her Captain, she noticed a familiar boy standing on the deck watching.

Jim's POV:

"Ooh! Oh, Jim! This is our ship! The R.L.S. Legacy!" Doppler said as he swept his metal covered arm out towards a grand ship. Jim gazed in wonder at it. He had never been on any vessel even close to the size of the Legacy. He turned to Doppler as they made their way to the piece of wood connecting the ship to the dock.

Doppler had been tricked into buying an ancient metal suit of some sort by a pushy two headed woman. It was huge and managed to make metallic clunking noises with every step he took. Jim rolled his eyes and followed after him.

As Jim stepped onto the boat he accidentally stepped onto a giant slug alien's tail. The thing started speaking in a foreign language, seemingly threatening Jim to a fight. Jim backed off with his hands held up in defense.

"Sorry about that I didn't mean—" But the alien cut him off with another round of noises.

"Allow me to handle this." Doppler said, full to the brim with confidence. He began to make noises that mated the noises being made by the alien. The alien looked at him and started giggling it seemed like before saluting both Jim and Doppler. He pointed in a direction before moving off to continue moving the cargo. Doppler turned to Jim with a grin, "I'm fluent in Flatula, Jim. Took two years of it in high school."

As Doppler began moving to the upper deck to find the Captain Jim followed behind after muttering, "Flatula? Cool."

They soon came across a tall, regally dressed man made of stone. He was bellowing orders to the crew and was striking a very intimidating pose.

"Good morning, Captain. Everything shipshape?" Delbert called to the frightening man.

He turned to look at them with an even more intimidating look, "Shipshape it is, sir, but I'm not the captain. The captain's aloft."

He pointed outwards to the riggings. When Jim looked up there was a feline humanoid running all over the ship in a deep blue jacket along with a red blur following after her. She moved swiftly over the ship and soon took a dangerous leap, landing right on her feet in front of the stone man. Following after her was the red blur. They didn't take the same way down as the captain, but managed to do just fine and landed right next to her.

Jim could feel his jaw drop as he saw Arcadia standing right in front of him.

Normal POV:

Arcadia attempted to keep her breath even as she stood in front of Jim and Delbert. She spared them a grin before Amelia began to question her.

"Did you find anything out of place, Miss Williams?" Mr. Arrow questioned her with astern glance.

Arcadia automatically snapped to attention, "Other than the fact that those ropes probably only have about another year or so of shipping use, and some of the pulleys on the main mast could use a bit more grease, everything was fine."

Amelia then turned to Mr. Arrow, "Mr. Arrow, I've checked this miserably ship from stem to stern, and, as usual, it's spot on...Can you get nothing wrong? And Arcadia, those pulleys were greased enough to last us this voyage, but nice catch otherwise."

Arcadia rolled her eyes as soon as Amelia's head turned to Delbert, but Jim still saw. She heard a small chuckle at her behavior before a large stone handcuffed her upside the head for it.

Jim wore his usual clothing and Arcadia couldn't miss the sparkle in his eyes at the thought of the adventure they were about to ensue upon. She imagined she had the same sort of sparkle in her eyes.

"Ah!" Amelia exclaimed while looking at the strangely dressed dog, "Dr. Doppler, I presume?" Her voice was louder than usual, due to her mocking the poor gullible doctor.

"Uh, um yes. I—" He was cut off as Amelia started knocking on his helm playfully.

"Hello! Can you hear me?" She was still speaking loudly and a grin was stretched across her face.

"Yes, I can! Stop that banging!" Doppler said, both flustered and furious.

Amelia ignored his tone and moved around his suit, "If I may, Doctor, this works so much better...when it's right-way up and plugged in." She did so, plugging in some cord to the back of his suit earning a flustered noise from Delbert. "Lovely. There you go." She said before stepping back to admire her claws in amusement.

"If you don't mind, I can manage my own plugging!" he cried out and waved his suit's cord at her in what he must've thought was a threatening manner.

She ignored him and shook his hand, "I'm Captain Amelia, late of a few run-ins with the Protean Armada. Nasty business, but I won't bore you with my scars. You've met my first officer, Mr. Arrow. Sterling, tough, dependable, honest, brave and true."

"Please, Captain..." Mr. Arrow muttered, looking rather bashful as he always did when the Captain introduced him as such.

"Oh, shut up, Arrow. You know I don't mean a word of it." She said, though the grin on her face said otherwise. "And so I've heard you have already met my apprentice, Miss Williams, correct? Swift, brilliant, honest, loyal and strong yet beautiful."

Arcadia's head probably should have gotten whiplash from the speed at which she turned to her captain. A blush was spreading over her cheeks as she began to stutter, "C-Captain was that really so...so necessary?!"

Amelia glanced at her apprentice with a smirk plastered on her feline face, "Quit that stammering. I don't want my apprentice to appear so flustered by a mere compliment."

"Ahem," Delbert interrupted, "Excuse me. I hate to interrupt this lovely banter, but may I introduce you to Jim Hawkins? Jim, you see, is the boy who found the treasure—" He was cut off swiftly by Amelia's gloved hand wrapping itself tightly around his mouth.

"Doctor, please!" Amelia whispered to him harshly. Arcadia kept her eyes focused on the crew that looked at them suspiciously. "I'd like to have a word with you in my stateroom." She led the way to the captain's quarters of the ship. After everyone had entered Arcadia locked and bolted the door tightly before nodding at Amelia.

Amelia walked to her desk and sat down at her desk, going over her navigational charts. "Doctor, to muse and blabber about a treasure map, in front of this particular crew, demonstrates a level of ineptitude that borders on the imbecilic...and I mean that in a very caring way." She looked up with a small smile to the flabbergasted canine.

"Imbecillic, did you say?" Now he was blushing and appeared to be rather embarrassed, "Foolishness! I've—"

"May I see the map, please?" Amelia cut him off, evidently in no mood for excuses.

Jim held the map out and Arcadia stepped closer to him. She gave the boy a smile before taking the map and tossing it to her captain. "Here you are, Captain." She called. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Jim give her a small glare and she couldn't help the fact that the corner of her mouth lifted into a small smirk.

"Hmmm..." Amelia mumbled to herself, rolling the golden orb in her hands gently. "Fascinating. Mr. Hawkins, in the future you will address me as 'Captain' or 'Ma'am.' Is that clear?" She asked while walking to the vault the Stateroom held.

"Ugh..." The small noise wouldn't have been heard, had Arcadia not been standing so directly close to him.

"Mr. Hawkins?" Amelia pressed again.

"Yes, ma'am." Jim said reluctantly. Arcadia reached over swiftly with a jab of her elbow to his side.

"That'll do." Amelia said curtly before putting the map into the vault and shutting it tightly, "Gentlemen, this must be kept under lock and key when not in use. And, Doctor," She turned to him with a level stare that made Arcadia want to laugh, "Again, with the greatest possible respect...zip your howling screamer."

"Captain, I assure you I—" He was cut off again as Amelia began to talk.

"Let me make this as monosyllabic as possible." Amelia took a seat at her desk and held up her compass in the air, idly, "I don't much care for this crew you hired. They're...how did I describe them, Arrow?" She turned to her first mate, "I said something rather good this morning before coffee."

Mr. Arrow played along with her antics, probably enjoying the fact that his captain was having fun for the first time in ages. "A ludicrous parcel of driveling galoots, ma'am."

She smirked at Jim and Doppler with a highly amused smirk, "There you go—Poetry!"

"Now, see here!" Delbert was once again cut off by Amelia, much to his displeasure.

"Doctor! I'd love to chat – tea, cake, the whole shebang—but I have a ship to launch and you've got your outfit to buff up." She didn't miss the amused smile on Arcadia's features as she faced Arrow again. "Mr. Arrow, please escort these two neophytes down to the galley straightaway. Young Hawkins will be working for our cook, Mr. Silver. Arcadia, make sure things go swimmingly."

Now Arcadia's eyes sharpened. She didn't even trust that cyborg as far as she could throw him.

"What?!" Jim exclaimed, "The cook?"

Arcadia walked just behind Mr. Arrow, her arms held together behind the small of her back as she began to descend the stairs leading to the galley.

"That woman! That....feline! Who does she think is working for whom?!" Doppler exclaimed angrily, making Arcadia's shoulders tense.

"It's my map, and she's got me bussin' tables??" Jim called out, obviously angry with the outcome as well.

Before they could continue walking, both Arcadia and Mr. Arrow had stopped in their tracks and turned to the two passengers.

"I'll not tolerate a cross word about our captain! There's no finer officer in this, or and galaxy." He said in that booming voice of his.

Arcadia kept her glare on them, "Besides, if you're going to be on this ship, you're going to work. It's the Captain's rules. And she's by far better than either of you are seeming to think she is." She kept her eyes forward after that outburst. Never noticing the wince that both Doppler and Jim shared, both were feeling slightly guilty.

"Mr. Silver?" Mr. Arrow called into the dark and dank galley.

As Jim walked closer to Arcadia she leaned over to whisper in his ear. "Jim, watch yourself with this one. I don't trust him." As soon as she had whispered it, she was gone and standing in her normal position.

"Why, Mr. Arrow, sir." He turned around and his brass eye spun around to land on the group in his doorway, "And Miss Williams! A pleasure if I may say so." He then turned to the stiff Jim. "Bringin' in such fine and distinguished gents to grace my humble galley! Had I known, I'd have tucked in me shirt!" He chortled while tucking in his shirt, but only just. He was a dog faced alien, probably close breed to that of Doppler.

"A cyborg!" Jim whispered harshly and Arcadia heard. She turned her gaze to him sharply with a look that said, 'mention nothing'.

"May I introduce, Dr. Doppler?" Mr. Arrow called, pointing to Delbert nervous form, "The financier of our voyage."

Silver glanced over the Doc with his mechanical eye, its red laser zooming all around the suit and making Doppler cover his nether region nervously, "Love the outfit, Doc."

"Well, thank you." He was obviously flustered, making Arcadia smile, "Um, love the eye..."

Silver noticed Arcadia's smile and smirked at her, "Well now! The first hint of a happy young lass in Miss Williams I've had yet ta see!"

Her smile was gone in an instant and instead she glared harshly at the cyborg.

"As fleeting of a moment as it was..." The old man said nervously.

"Uh, this young lad is Jim Hawkins." Doppler pointed to Jim as he stood there, shifting his weight from leg to leg.

The cyborg moved quickly over to Jim, "Jimbo!" He held out a hand that was made from various sharp and dangerous objects and Arcadia was quickly by his side, arms at the ready and a fierce glare on her face. "Uh..." He seemed barely intimidated by Arcadia, however, and offered Jim his real cyborg hand after the parts of his arm whirled and changed around. Arcadia didn't let up her stance however and Jim didn't offer his hand back, trusting Dia's judgment and knowing that this could be the cyborg that had blown up his home.

"Aw, now, don't be too put off by this hunk of hardware." He moved to the counter of the kitchen and he began to chop and slice and dice various items into a bowl, even pretending to cut his own hand at one point. "These gears have been tough getting used to, but they do come in mighty handy from time to time." He added more ingredients before igniting a fire under the pot with his mechanical arm and throwing it into the pot at the middle of the kitchen. He added some salt before taste testing and then dished out two bowls.

"Here, now, have a taste of me famous bonzabeast stew." He handed Jim and Doppler a bowl. Doppler eyed it warily, sniffing it before lapping at it slightly.

He made a sound of content before slurping a bit more, "Delightfully tangy, yet robust."

"It's an old family recipe." Silver said modestly.

"AH!" Doppler cried out as an eye floated to the surface.

"In fact, that was part of the old family!" He chuckled to himself, plucking the eye out and popping it into his mouth, "Oh, ho! I'm just kiddin', Doc."

Arcadia would never admit it, but even she wanted to laugh at that one, but she kept her composure and stood vigilant.

"Uh...yeah, well..." Doppler didn't look like he was going to be eating any more of the stew after that prank.

"I'm nothing if I ain't a kidder. Go on, Jimbo. Have a swig!" He said.

Jim looked at his spoon full of stew warily, concerned about any pranks about to be pulled on him. Suddenly the rounded part of the spoon shifted shape and color to a blob of translucent pink that swallowed the stew.

It continued to grow eyes, making Jim gasp, before it swallowed and the whole spoon matched the head. It slid out of Jim's hand, panted like a dog, then proceeded to morph into a straw and suck up what remained of Jim's stew. Both Arcadia and Jim watched with fascination.

"Morph! You jiggle-headed blob of mischief! So that's where you were hiding!" Silver called out affectionately.

"Wha--? What is that thing?!" Jim asked, watching as it sunk into his bowl, completely stuffed. It flew out of the bowl and nuzzled into Jim's cheek. When Jim held out his finger the shape-shifter changed into a mini Jim and leaned in to look at Jim's face as he did the same to look at it. It flew up in its normal form and licked Jim's cheek before flying to its master.

"He's a morph. Rescued the little shape-shifter on Proteus One. And he took a shine to me. We been together ever since. Right?" The adorable pink blob cuddled into Silver's face as a bell sounded in the distance.

"We're about to get underway." Mr. Arrow announced before turning to the doctor, "Would you like to observe the launch, doctor?"

Doppler seemed ecstatic at the notion, "Would I? Does an active galactic nucleus have superluminal jets?!" There was an awkward pause as everyone looked at him with the same odd look, "I'll follow you..."

"Mr. Hawkins will stay here in your charge, Mr. Silver." Arrow said, holding a hand out to stop Jim from following the doctor. Silver who had been tasting his stew again spit it out and coughed.

"Beggin' your pardon, sir, but—" Silver was cut off by Arrow's strict voice.

"Captain's orders! See to it the new cabin boy's kept busy." Arrow said before turning and leaving without another word.

"Aw, but, no, but—"

"No, you can't—"

Both of them started disagreeing at the same time, and both let out identical sighs before rubbing their eyes in the same frustrated manner. Silver then opened his eyes to look down at Jim.

"So, Captain's put you with me, eh?" He said before circling the boy.

"Yes, she has." Dia said curtly before walking over to Jim and slightly leaning against him to comfort him. She could feel him lean slightly more to her. When he sighed she could feel his upper torso expand and then contract before he pulled away.

"Whatever..." He then began to walk his way around the kitchen.

"Well, who be a humble cyborg to argue with a captain." Silver said before going back to cooking for the crew.

"Yeah." Jim regarded him warily as he reached into a bin, "You know...these purps...they're kinda like the ones back home, on Montressor. You ever been there?" Arcadia saw what Jim was getting at and she studied Silver's expressions carefully, looking for the slightest inclination of lying.

"I can't says I have, Jimbo."

"Come to think of it, just before I left I met this old guy...he was kinda looking for a cyborg buddy of his." Jim seated himself on the countertop and took a bite of the purp.

"Is that so?" Silver asked nonchalantly. If there was any tell tales of lying, Dia never noticed them.

"Yeah. What was that old Salamander's name? Oh yeah. Bones. Billy Bones?" Jim asked him with suspicion oozing out of him.

"Bones?" Silver rolled the name over his tongue once more before declaring, "T'ain't ringin' any bells. Must have been a different cyborg. There's a whole slew of cyborgs roamin' this port."

Arcadia had to give him that one. There were usually at least ten to fifteen cyborgs at a port at any given time.

Arrow's voice could be heard giving the order to launch.

"Eh, off with you two now, watch the launch." He said, addressing the two younger ones, "There'll be plenty work a-waitin' for you afterwards, Jimbo." He said before shoving Jim off of the counter and towards the door gently.

Jim and Arcadia shrugged to each other before heading up the stairs. But Arcadia couldn't get shake the feeling that someone was watching them the entire way.