Disclaimer: I do not own Treasure Planet

Jumping the Ship

For Fox Alder

Jim sent a report to Montressor hoping that it wouldn't be intercepted by Orion or would at least reach them in time. He knew that if there was any detection of what was in that message there was no way that they were going to get off the planet. Cassandra knew deep down that they were on their own. You could only depend on the government to a certain extent, even Captain Hawkins had to acknowledge this. He had no idea what they would do while they were being held hostage in the household of the Duke. They knew if they left it after dinner there would be no way of escaping, that would probably be the perfect time to attack or spark the beginning of their plans. Although with this in mind, they knew that if they went now they would be seen and caught. They had to wait until it got dark and would be able to easily escape into the night. He had informed George who only had a few comments how 'he should've known' and that 'he couldn't wait to strangle the man'. Cassandra could only roll her eyes at his behaviour and head back to her rooms to tell Selina and Diana what was going on. Jim told her that the best time for them to go would be when they were scheduled to have dinner. If they sneaked out the mansion while on their way to dinner they would just suspect them being late. They would be suspected upon nothing but strange manners of those from Montressor.

When she returned to her rooms Selina looked up and blinked. "Where have you been?"

"Look I need to talk to you. Where's Diana?"

Selina sighed. "She's probably in the other room crying her eyes out, poor girl."

"Well she has a good reason to. Diana!" She called.

"Why? What is it?" Selina asked suspiciously.

Diana came out the other room puffy eyed. "Cassandra what is it? What's the matter?"

"When we were attacked...It was Orion. It was Orion that attacked us. When I was on my way to see the Captain I overheard the Duke talking. He was talking about how...Diana that attack was intended to kill you."

Diana gasped and almost fell over if Selina hadn't caught her. "Cassandra!"

"I'm not lying. I swear to you!" She insisted.

"George was right. He saw. He saw the sign of Orion on the ships. I didn't believe him at first but-"

She wept. "Oh God!"

Selina sighed. "I can't believe this. What are we going to do?"

"The Captain thought it would be best for us to escape when dinner was scheduled. It would buy us more time to get back to the ship and get away."

Selina nodded. "Sounds like a good plan. What else did you overhear?"

Cassandra looked at Diana whose face was now drowned in tears. She could see now that it would break her heart if she knew the truth of all of this. She didn't know how she could tell her this easily. She would find out eventually and Cassandra would hate herself for keeping it from her. She didn't know whether she could tell them any more of what she knew. She was too afraid. She didn't want to make Diana feel any more guilty. She didn't deserve to carry all that guilt on her shoulders. She knew her well enough to know that if she knew the full detail of their plan she would take full responsibility of the pain and destruction the war would bring because it would all begin with her engagement to the Duke. She would feel that if she wasn't more strong willed and defied her Grandmother this wouldn't have happened. But if this had happened to another girl she would feel guilty about not protecting that girl from the fate she could've been condemned to. So either way fate had a funny way of treating a person such as Diana. She was someone who was so frail and kind that she didn't deserve this. She deserved more than this and she finally had the chance to escape from this but it came at a terrible price. Cassandra was tempted to lie to her but she already made a promise to herself that she was going to be kinder than that, but she would in turn make the most brutal decision of all.

"I heard that they were going to pin it on Celestri and begin another war for their resources although I have a feeling that...That Diana's father may have been right. That may have been the same reason war was declared on them in the last war."

Diana shook her head. "Why me? Why did he bring me into this and not someone of higher rank if they were going to make an international issue out of this why me?"

"I don't know, Diana. I honestly couldn't tell you."

Selina turned to her and stroked her hair. "Darling what's important is that you're going to be alright? The bright side is you don't have to marry him anymore."

Diana burst out laughing. "You think that's the thing I'm concerned about the most? Not having to marry such a vile man? What about George and Captain Hawkins? If they succeed we will have to go to war. They will have to go to war. I couldn't bare it. You couldn't bare it." She said pointing her finger at Cassandra.

Cassandra shook her head. "No I could not. That is why I know we have to stop them from making this any more public."

"They still need to be held accountable for their actions. I mean they almost killed you, Cassandra."

Cassandra shook her head frantically to stop Selina from finishing her sentence but by the time she had finished Diana was already wailing.

"Well done, Selina." She muttered.

She turned to the window and watched the Duke walk around the grounds with some advisers of his hearing Selina comfort Diana as she quietened down. The Duke stopped one moment and looked up at he window she was staring out of and smirked at her. She turned up her nose and only thought about what a foolish man he was.

~ (***) ~

When the evening came they dressed as they would normally, as if they didn't know anything. They almost pretended amongst one another that nothing was wrong and that they were going to go to go to a fancy dinner. Selina helped Diana into her white, silk dress and pearls. Selina herself was dressed in a bright purple velvet dress with a low cut around the chest area which made Cassandra roll her eyes. She looked beautiful and sexy as usual Even when she was running for her life she still had to wear something revealing enough but was also 'modest enough'. Cassandra decided on a bright green silk dress which actually gave her enough room to run in so at least she was being sensible. Selina was just trying to make a night of it. She smirked it was almost like she was celebrating Diana's sudden freedom from marriage. She felt that should be here department but still she was more focused upon the more important issues at hand of tonight. When the bell went for dinner all three girls looked at one another. They picked up as much as they could and walked out the door. They smiled and nodded to the servants that passed them by but instead of turning in the direction of the dining room they went in the direction of the back entrance.

"Are you sure we're going in the right direction?"

Cassandra sighed. "Yes."

Selina narrowed her eyes. "Are you sure you're sur-"

"Selina not now!" She snapped making her friend smirk.

Cassandra continued down the corridor and then heard a voice. She breathed heavily wondering if they had been caught out. She leaned forward and was about to glance around the corner only to be grabbed by the wrist. She was about to scream when someone covered her mouth.

"Shhh." She sighed with relief seeing it was Captain Hawkins. "Oh. You look lovely."

She gave him a look and instead of thanking him replied. "You scared me half to death."

He smirked. "You're welcome. Come on, we gotta go."

He wrapped an arm around her and for some reason because the feeling of his hand against her bare back made her tingle and whenever he bent low to whisper in her ear he might as well have been kissing her neck she was blushing so much.

"Are you alright?" She nodded quickly.

"I found a transport." George said through the door after staring at Diana for a moment. "Um..."

"Oh George just go start it." Cassandra scolded.

George gave her a look and ran off to start to the engine. She rolled her eyes knowing that this wasn't the best moment to have a squabble between siblings but it was obvious that her brother always thought that at every moment he was being criticised he had to take it that way. Then again she couldn't blame him being this sensitive when you considered their older brother. He was always tormenting him while they were both at school and when she read his letters she couldn't believe that he was talking about Fredrick. She glanced over her shoulder and let the others go first just in case they were caught. In those dresses they weren't exactly going to get very far, she couldn't believe that even though they knew they weren't going to dinner they still felt that they had to dress up. Cassandra on the other hand was more athletic and she had chosen her dress on the account of mobility. She looked back again and saw that everyone was gone and the next second she was being pulled through the doorway by Captain Hawkins. He let go and wrapped his arm around her waist pulling him closer to him. She had her ear pressed against his chest uncomfortably for a moment but could hear his heart pounding in his chest. She pulled away not wanting to think about such things at an inappropriate time.

She jumped into the transport and they rode away through the estate. There was a security checkpoint at the gates where George simply sped up and rammed his way through.

"George!" Diana cried.

Georges smile dropped. "Sorry."

"I was just surprised that's all." She explained clumsily.

Cassandra shook her head. "Can we save the uncomfortable, fumbling lovers talk till we get to the

ship and as far away from here as possible please?"

"Alright Miss Unromantic." Selina teased.

Jim chuckled and patted her knee. "I wouldn't have her any other way."

Cassandra turned to his and his smile faltered a little and felt herself lean forward slightly only to glance in front of them to see if they were there yet.

"How far are we now George?"

"A couple of minutes and we should be there."

She sighed. "For all we know they might be following us." She said glancing out behind them.

"I don't see anyone." Selina murmured.

"Still doesn't mean they're not onto us."

"Alright you two we're here now." George said stopping the transport. Everyone jumped out and rushed towards the ship.

"Mr Crane!" Jim bellowed. Someone appeared over the side.

"Captain?"

"Lower the plank and start the engines! We need to get out of here as soon as possible! No questions that's an order!"

"Yes Sir!"

Jim turned to the others. "We're safe now. Alright?"

At that moment the sound of approaching vehicles could be heard from the distance. Cassandra narrowed her eyes and saw that they were close enough to stop them from getting on the ship and getting away. Or most of them anyway.

"They've lowered the plank lets move."

"We don't have enough time." She murmured.

She felt like her heart was in her mouth. She looked in the direction of the others and then back int the direction of their would-be kidnappers. She remembered something her father told her once after he knew that she wanted to take up his profession. He told her that sometimes the most difficult thing to do was the sacrifice yourself for the crew. He stuck to that rule so far that he was actually willing to leave his children orphans for the sake of the crew...She looked back at the approaching captors and knew what she had to do. After all, she was her father's daughter...She glanced at the gun in Jim's holster and sneakily drew it out and hid it behind her back when he glanced at her for a moment. He probably thought that she was doing something else for a moment and gave him a shy smile. He looked back at her for a moment and smirked. Did that mean...? She shook her head and turned back to what she needed to do. The ship looked a little unsteady and vulnerable to gravity. While the others were climbing on board she waited until Jim had got on only to realise as soon as she was on deck that she was behind him.

"Cassandra come on!"

She saw something holding luggage waiting to be rolled along to somewhere and pushed it against the ship allowing the plank to drop.

"What are you doing?"

She got out his gun. "Buying you time."

She acted before she could explain any further otherwise they would be able to find the time to stop her. She also needed to start working now if her own little plan was going to work. She cut the ropes holding the ship down and by that time they had arrived. She even gave it a little shove not that it was going to help all that much but she had to do something, anything so that they could get away in time. She began to aim and shoot at the guards taking cover behind some cargo. She had remembered her lessons of using a pistol better than she thought, since she was able to hit a few of them. Jim looked over the scene and knew he had to help her. There was no way she was going to get back if she did this alone.

"George. I give you full permission to take control of the ship get the crew back to Montressor."

"But Jim-"

"That's an order your sister and I will get back to you as soon as possible. I promise."

George and James stared at each other for a moment and George eventually gave in and nodded with a sigh. Jim knew he was the only one who was going to be able to save her and he knew that he would be able to trust George to get the girls back in time. He then climbed onto the side and jumped off the ascending ship onto the closest one still docked and climbed down the rope holding it to the dock. He never had to get off a moving ship and was advised not to either and now he knew why. He glanced at Cassandra who was holding her own but that wasn't going to last for long. She was going to run out of ammo soon considering how many times she had fired the weapon. When she leaned out for a better shot she was shot at in the arm making her drop her weapon. She obviously hadn't been taught about how to mind the other gunman along with making sure that she was going to be hitting her own mark. It was kind of defeating the point if she was going to end up getting shot herself. She stepped forwards when she was within clear range and the guards rushed forward and took her. He tried to climb down faster and dropped down but it was too late. They had thrown her into the carriage and drove away.