Disclaimer: I do not own Treasure Planet

The Art of War

For Frigyt

Jim jumped onto the nearest transport and headed straight in the direction the carriage was headed. The wind was pressed against his face and his eyes were stinging because he was going so fast but he didn't care about that. All he could think about was Cassandra right now. Why did she stay? Why did she feel like she had to hold them off? It was true she bought them enough time for a safe getaway but why did she have to stay? Why did she feel she had to be a hero? She shook his head and concentrated on the road. He could ask her those questions later when he rescued her. He hoped that perhaps that it would be the mansion but he knew that would be too obvious, even for someone like the Duke. The fact that Cassandra was able to figure out that he wasn't someone to be trusted in the space of time she had met him was too quick for even the smartest mind in the universe. She wasn't stupid but the Duke was also evidently careless. Although he must know that to put a prisoner in his own household was never a good move.

As he followed them he noticed he had arrived deep in the neck of the woods. He glanced up at the branches crawling over him as if to grab and entangle him in their roots. He glanced around wearily but still kept going. Now was not the time to be scared. He kept his eyes dead on the carriage in case there were any dodgey turnings only not to notice a shadow out of the darkness that would send him falling to the ground.

Jim moaned and rubbed his head. "Damn it..." He murmured. He looked up and still headed the carriage way but it was going to be far away now.

He tried to steadily get to his feet but was pulled up roughly and felt a gun being pressed against the nape of his neck.

"Move or speak and you'll get a shot in the throat. You understand?" The unknown speaker growled.

He nodded stiffly so that he wouldn't entice his attacker. "Good. If you comply you might get out of this alive. Now...Move forward."

He was about to make a comment about him moving contradicting what the man demanded of him but he decided against it knowing that would be the one thing which would get him killed. If there was one thing which annoyed bandits, pirates or highwaymen more than anything were victims who ridiculed their intelligence.

He walked through the forest wondering where he was supposed to go but knew the bandit would probably tell him if he took the wrong turning or not. He would've thought he would be blind folded as well but he wasn't going to ask whether he was going to receive this bonus because he knew it would be both stupid and also would be pushing it again.

"Hey!" Cried out a female voice. Jim jumped for a moment wondering whether it was Cassandra since it sounded like her so much.

Something rustled in the darkness which made both Jim and his captor narrow their eyes in the direction of where the noise was coming from to see what it was and to be ready to jump to action depended on who or what it was. He and Jim exchanged a look silently asking one another as to whether they would become brief allies in whatever it was that was going to appear out of the bushes or whether one of them was going to betray the other and end up being used as bait while the other got away. Jim turned back to where he needed to focus his mind and almost thought that the 'Hey' was a figment of his imagination or him mishearing and some horrible creature was going to appear out of the bushes and devour both of them. Well, it would try to. Jim was never one to go down without a fight. Also he could remember from his training that the best thing to do in this situation was to remain calm otherwise you would definitely end up dead. However he was surprised with what did appear out of the bushes and it was not some horrible creature.

Instead it was quite a rather attractive, older woman. She looked like she was definitely somewhere in her thirties but there was the possibility that she could be older than her looks were indicating. She sounded around this age but he knew this wasn't a good indication to someone's age either. Although there was something familiar about her. She had dark, curly hair which was as wild as another free-spirited girl he knew (which made him smirk since he had a feeling that Cassandra would like this woman) and bright brown eyes which sparkled with intelligence. The same way Cassandra's eyes sparkled in the sun and were as dark as Cassandra's which seemed almost quite similar to Cassandra's except being a different colour. He looked down at her attire and knew immediately that she was a pirate. Now all she needed was some pet sitting on her shoulder and the outfit would be complete. The sword at her waist was the definite indicator that she and this man standing behind him were pirates. Jim tried to maintain his cool and stay calm as he knew it would take a split second for them to realise he was a Space Captain and then he would be in trouble.

She put her hands on her hips and gave the other man and disapproving look. "I thought you were supposed to blind fold him?"

The other man looked at her dumbly. He scratched his head looking a little guilty. "Oh yeah."

Jim glanced over his shoulder to get a good look at him. He was almost a foot taller than Jim and Jim could safely say he was close to six foot. He was bald and looked like he hadn't shaved in weeks and hadn't missed a meal ever due to the huge beer belly almost sticking out of his body.

The man stared down at him threateningly. "What are you looking at shortie?"

Jim raised an eyebrow. "Nothing."

"Really? Cause it looked like you were thinking something I wouldn't like." He replied prodding him with his sword.

"Wow, I would never have thought you as being able to comprehend the thoughts of others let alone thinking for yourself." He snapped.

The man grabbed him roughly. "Why you-"

"Murat stop it!" The woman said firmly. "There's no need to hurt him. Even if he did insult you."

'Murat' sighed and threw Jim aside if he were a rag doll. "I'm sorry I didn't put on the blind fold." He apologised.

The woman rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Never mind. He's here now."

Jim frowned. This didn't sound like he was being mugged. "Did the Duke send you after me?" He demanded.

He watched the woman's reactions carefully. At first her expression was calm and emotionless. She was intending to not give anything away during this exchange. Then she looked like she was about to attack him when he mentioned the Duke. He smirked, she obviously wasn't much of a fan or he had found her out too easily. Although if she was working for the Duke she wouldn't let 'Murat' beat him to a pulp considering that the main aim would be to get rid of him. She seemed like the sort of person that didn't want to waste any time so the second presumption was definitely off the table. They were here for a different reason. They weren't here to simply take whatever he had on him. It was information. But what concerned Jim the most was what end that information was going to be used towards.

"What? The Duke of Orion?" She shook her head. "No. We're-" She stopped in mid-sentence and decided to be careful with what she was going to tell Jim. "I don't think that's important. The important thing is I want to know whether Cassandra Richardson is in any danger."

Jim saw red and stepped forward threateningly. "What does the welfare of Cassandra Richardson mean to you?" He demanded.

The man grabbed his by his shirt. "Hey, watch it twerp." He growled.

Jim struggled to get out of his grip. "MURAT!" She said sharply.

Jim glanced over his shoulder at the same time as 'Murat' who frowned at her. She gave Jim a sympathetic look and sighed. "Let him go."

"Mari-"

"I said let him go." She repeated more firmly.

Murat looked at him and obeyed reluctantly. Jim straightened himself out. "Okay. I'll ask more politely this time. Why are you concerned about Cassandra Richardson?"

"I'd rather not answer that question." She replied curtly.

"Well are you going to tell me something which is going to at least make me less confused about what is going on here. Are you here to harm her-"

"Of course not!" She shouted almost too suddenly.

Jim regarded her with a suspicious eye. "So you're not here to hurt her. So are you here to protect her? That would mean someone hired you."

"No one hired me." She snapped.

Jim narrowed his eyes. Now this lady was definitely growing more and more suspicious at time went by. First she knew who Cassandra was, that she was here and that there was possibility that she was in danger. Knowing those things was enough to regard her with some suspicion at least. Then she didn't want to answer. That was fine, most hired guns didn't want to answer these questions in case things got traced back to their employers and they were always under strict instructions that they didn't let that happen and the simple way of going about doing that was to not answer these questions. But now she claimed no one hired her, meaning that she was here on her own accord. She could simply be lying again, after all she was a pirate but still...There was definitely something about this woman which caused Jim to not be too eager to simplify the whole matter.

"Then how do you know she was here? What are you getting out of this to protect her?" He demanded.

"Why are you so concerned?" She snapped back at him.

"Well I- Well you kno- She's ju-" He spluttered. "Well, why don't you answer me first? Since I was the one who asked first?"

"I told you I can't tell you." She replied tiredly. "Look we can't just stand around here all night. Lets get to the point. Is she safe?"

He sighed submissively. "She was captured by the Duke's men." He admitted.

"What? How?" She asked in a panicked tone.

"She wanted to hold them off, to give everyone else more time to get away but they outnumbered her and she was captured. I tried to go after them but your friend here knocked me off my transporter and now there's no way I'm going to find her again."

The woman smirked. "Says who? We know our way around here and besides I have a pretty good idea as to where she may be."

Jim raised an eyebrow and folded his arms. "Oh? So that makes everything fine. Tell me-"

"Look we can stand around here all night and shout at each other or we can actually go after them and save her."

And on that note she turned around and began walking. Murat followed suit and followed her through the trees. Jim shook his head knowing he had no say in the matter and followed after them.

"So what's your name?" He asked.

"Call me Marianne."

~ (***) ~

Cassandra came to after a few hours of being in a cold, dark dungeon where she was unable to see a thing. At first she wasn't even sure she had regained consciousness as it was pitch black. She wasn't able to see a thing. Not even her own hands. She waved her hand in front of her face to see if she could even catch a glimpse of the movement but there was nothing. She even struggled to hold up her hand as she could feel her wrists had been chained in manacles. She sighed and leaned her back against the wall. She tried to remember what happened and how she had got here. The Duke. The attack on the ship. Trying to get back. Gunfire. She had to hold them back so the others could get away. She smirked, it was just her luck the first time she actually got into any action she had been captured.

The entrance to her cell was opened with a beam of light entering the cell. She put her hand up to her face to stop it from blinding her. There was a figure standing in the door way holding a torch as he approached her.

"Are you comfortable?" A voice slurred from the entrance.

She narrowed her eyes to see whether she could tell who it was. It took until he was only a few step away to be able to read his feature. The Duke walked towards her with an annoyed but satisfied grin on his face.

"As comfortable as a prisoner can be." Cassandra replied in a sarcastic voice.

"Oh good. Now I'm presuming you know about our plans. I wonder though who it was out of all of you who was able to figure it out."

"Well you weren't too good at covering it all up really." She snapped.

The Duke grabbed her back the neck forcing nearly all the air out of her lungs. "Listen to me, you little weasel." He hissed. "I am presuming you want to get out of here alive so you better co-operate unless otherwise. So I would keep such comments to yourself if I were you."

The only other thing Cassandra was thinking about other than hoping that he would let her go was why Diana even considering consenting to marry such a man. She wasn't able to actually get a good look of the Duke to see what he looked like. It wasn't just this man's personality which repulsed Cassandra. He had olive coloured skin but it was grainy and his beard looked brittle and rough. His eyes were were a horrible, dull muddy colour and his features were too sharp and dramatic to be considered attractive. Cassandra was sure some women would find him attractive but only those who fell for the romantic, Byronic types. Ones where you knew he was a devil on sight but you still couldn't help but get all fluttered.

He released her and threw against the stone wall. "I overheard you talking to your advisers and my brother was also able to see the symbol of Orion on your fighter planes even when you tried to paint over it."

The Duke sniffed. "Can't fool a woman eh?" He murmured to himself. "Well not one such as yourself..."

"It wasn't that difficult to see through you if I'm quite honest." She retorted. "You weren't exactly subtle."

He tilted his head slightly and narrowed his eyes. "The warning to not insult unless you wanted to live didn't really seem to sink in did it? Wait a moment. You're Cassandra Richardson aren't you? Huh, well I suppose now its no surprise."

Her eyes widened slightly at him mentioning her mother. What did he know about her mother? "What's that supposed to mean?"

He chuckled. "Well let's just say I know a few things about your mother than you don't."

"I doubt that my mother would ever let someone like you get to know her very well." She spat.

"Well its not a matter of us getting to know one another but me just knowing of her reputation and knowing a few things about her that not many people do know. I could also say the same thing about your father."

Cassandra's eye twitched slightly at the mention of her father's honour and the conversation that she had with Diana long ago about the Celestrial Wars seemed to come flooding back. Cassandra tried to shake this thought about but it was impossible. There was a part of her that wanted to deny that her father would do such a thing. But there was her common sense telling her that since two people had mentioned or hinted at it now that it could no longer be denied. The question now had to be why her father would do such a thing. This was where the problem lied. Cassandra couldn't see why her father would commit such a crime. He was a good man and always would be. He had vigorously taught his children the morals which he believed a person should have whether they were a man or woman and it was the one attribute you should always keep in check. So if this was the same man they were talking about why would he do such a thing? Was he so determined for his children to be more moral than he was so they wouldn't repeat his mistakes?

"You don't know anything about my father." She snapped. "You couldn't even begin to understand a man like him."

"Really?" He replied dryly. "Because I would bet that I probably knew a lot more about your parents than you could ever know. Well, from what you've probably been told anyway. Although that is not why I am here to talk to you, the reason I am here to talk to you is to know what you know."

"You want to start another war against Celestri." She replied.

He nodded. "Yes. Is that all? Well I suppose I don't have much to worry about then." He murmured.

He got up to leave and shouted, "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?"

He sighed and turned around. "Because of what happened in the first war. Honestly."

"Because the natural minerals they found in their earth to build weapons? Celestri has become the most peaceful planet in the system they even import these minerals to other planets. They aren't a threat anymore."

The Duke turned around and looked at her. "You know what? I'm going to give you a little history lesson since you are so ignorant as to what really happened during the Celestial War. Well, it was not the minerals. In fact there aren't any its just a front. The whole thing is a front, they just claimed that because they didn't want to seem like a weak planet so no one would dare invade it. A war was declared and you know the rest what you don't know is the truth. During the war we sent men in to find these so called minerals so we could experiment with them ourselves and we found nothing. Although we did find something. We found the most expensive jewels in the universe on this planet. All produced naturally within the soil of Celestri so they were telling a white lie if anything. When this was eventually discovered people began to question the point in there being a war. It was called off and they were left alone. Now Orion is not happy about that."

"Because you want these riches? Says a lot about your great nation." She replied wittily. "That doesn't make sense in fact I bet you all knew all along."

"Yeah, you're right we did. We also knew Celestri wasn't exactly a weak planet either so we needed someone to back us which was Monstressor. We pulled the same trick as we almost did with you and it worked that time round." He chuckled. "Just not this time. So we're gonna have to think of a better plan. Damn!"

She shook her head. "You're insane."

He looked down at the ground then shrugged his shoulders. "It's all relative to me. Let me ask you something. You think I'm all immoral and everything but have you ever stopped to question your own father's morality?"

She shook her head. "What are you talking about?"

"The things you don't know about your parents. Boy, if you knew...It would open up your eyes wide open."

"Well unfortunately for you I'm not going to bother listening to you." She replied.

"Oh don't be like that. Don't you want to know the truth about your parents?"

"Coming from you its unlikely to be the truth." She snapped.

"Really? Are you sure about that? What if I told you that your father was commissioned to go into the forests and into certain pacifistic communities to find these 'minerals' and to find them at all costs."

A shiver went down her spine and she shook her head. "He would never do that. Ever."

"It sounds to me like you might have heard something like this before from someone else and ever since then you have slowly been questioning yourself along with your father."

"You don't know what you're talking about." She replied through gritted teeth.

"I think I do. More than you."

The Duke turned around knowing it was his time to go. "Well, I'll be seeing you soon. Don't worry, you're going to be very useful to me still."

"Don't hold your breath." She replied.