Chapter 4

Starla's Quest

It was a while later on the ship. Silver and his crew had boarded it quickly, not wanting to get caught by the constabulary, and flew far enough away from Montressor to be sure they wouldn't be followed. When they were a safe distance away, Starla had let herself take a breath. She was shaking a little, mostly because she'd forgotten her jacket at the burning Benbow -she took a moment to mourn that fine piece of leather- and was now only wearing a tight, sleeve-less shirt, and because she was still soaked from the rain. She wrung her dripping hair out, letting it soak the back of her shirt, wanting it to dry naturally. She knew she probably looked like a drowned rat, but she didn't really care.

Starla walked up on deck from the sleeping quarters where she'd left her pack, joining the rest of the crew in Silver's stateroom, where they were having a meeting. Slipping in, she heard Silver addressing the crew. She walked up to the front of the small room, where Silver stood facing everyone from behind a table. That odd little pink blob was floating around him, mimicking him every so often. Silver told Starla he was a morph - a shape shifter. Said that while she was on Montressor Spaceport, they were on Proteus 1. Morph -what an original name- stuck with Silver ever since. Starla rolled her eyes at Morph flying around as she jumped up onto the table, sitting at the edge and wringing her hair out again. She tuned into the conversation.

"- figure out where the kid's staying, and take the blasted thing from him!" One of the crew members was saying. Silver was rubbing his temple, and Starla found herself lost in thought once more. Think Starla, she -ironically- thought to herself. When she and Jim were doing the dishes, they had talked about Treasure Planet. She asked him what he knew about it, and he said he knew all the stories about it, and was one day going to find it. She remembered having to bite her tongue at that. She had almost invited him onto the crew. He's as passionate about travelling as she is, is her age -Jim IS sixteen. Starla made a mental note that she owes herself ten quid- AND he's human. Ugh, it's Christmas. Starla mentally shook herself, hiding the grin that crept onto her face. And there was that kiss… She shook her head, looking up and over her shoulder at Silver.

"Stop," she said loudly, and he looked over at her. She'd cut him off, mid-sentence. Whoops.

"What did ya say, lass?" He asked, giving the girl a light glare - if such a thing exists.

She shook her head. "We don't have to hunt and kill them. They're not stupid – They've probably already figured out that it's a map. That it leads to Treasure Planet. All we have to do is hang around the Spaceport for a while, and wait until a man by the name of Delbert Doppler starts asking around for a crew," she finished, looking hopefully at Silver.

He rubbed his chin, thinking. "It has to work," Starla said to him. "We get ourselves hired as a crew, and get ourselves to Flint's trove."

Silver was still thinking it through, but after a minute, smiled.

"The lass is a clever one, I told ya all. Starla and I will go to the Spaceport, and get us hired as Doppler's crew. We'll get to Flint's trove, get all the treasure we can carry, and then kill 'em all!" He said with a laugh. The rest of the crew laughed and muttered their agreement. Starla let herself have one small moment of sadness over Delbert, Sarah, and Jim. They were, in a way, somewhat friends of hers now. She shook herself. You can't let yourself get attached to anyone, as Silver once told her. Not in the life we lead.

A few days later, Silver and Starla had just arrived on Montressor Spaceport. They had flown down to Montressor in groups -one longboat couldn't hold the whole crew- before finally letting the ship coax off on its own. They would all take different Galactabus' and meet up at a dingy pub on the outskirts of the Spaceport, two days later. Silver and Starla went first to the great crescent, and the latter didn't really care enough to wonder when the rest of the crew would arrive.

She wandered slightly behind Silver, and noted that they looked like a couple of merchants looking for somewhere to stay for the night. The rest of the afternoon passed without incident, and Starla heard no whisper nor saw any sign of Jim or Delbert. Maybe they hadn't figured out it was a map yet.

She went to sleep that night, in the dingy old pub, wondering what Jim's face looked like, when he discovered what he held in his hands.

It was the third day. Silver's crew was all here now, and Starla didn't have much to do, other than walk all day. If she saw any sign of Delbert or Jim, she'd run right back to Silver and tell him. It was easy and boring work, but she was the only one looking for Delbert, as it was difficult to describe the canine in a flattering and recognizable way. Jim would be easy enough to spot, but she doubted Jim would be the one hiring a crew and commissioning a ship. So all through the day, Starla wandered the Spaceport, asking the merchants and travellers if they'd seen him or heard if anyone was hiring a crew for a long expedition.

She was beginning to lose hope as the third day came to its end, thinking she'd never see Jim again, and realizing that their last lead on finding Treasure Planet was dwindling ever smaller.

Starla was standing near a small café, which was closing its doors and windows for the evening, and had begun to walk back to the pub, when she heard her.

A woman, most definitely, with an accent that Starla couldn't place.

"I'd be happy to be captain for this Doctor Doppler, Arrow. I assume he's finding his own ship and crew?" She was saying, talking to someone named Arrow, apparently.

"That he is, ma'am. He's already found a grand vessel, the RLS Legacy, if I remember correctly. He should be able to find a crew around this port very soon. Many men looking to work a sail around here," the man -Arrow- replied to her. Starla walked silently over to the side of the café, to see an extraordinarily thin woman with a definite feline feel to her. She walked with her chin up, definitely a captain. Beside her was Arrow. A boulder of a man… Literally. He walked loudly and within the dying light of day, Starla could see he had a very… Rock-like feel to him. She bit her lip to keep her joyous laugh held in; she'd found him. They discovered the map, and they've got a captain and a ship.

She turned and ran as fast as she could, not bothering to apologize to the aliens she bumped into in her rush to get to the pub. She spotted it after about half a minute of running, a smile playing at her lips the whole while. She slowed her running as she reached the door, and walked briskly up to the bar where she could see Silver was enjoying his pipe.

"That thing will kill you," Starla said to him, breathing heavily and still smiling. Silver looked her up and down before smiling when he saw the look on her face.

"Ya found him?" He asked her, hopeful.

Starla nodded her head, letting out a small laugh. "Oh, I found him."

That night, Starla told Silver and the crew everything she knew. Delbert had commissioned a ship - the RLS Legacy. She didn't know the Captain's name, but she would definitely be recognizable. So would her first mate, Arrow. So they made a plan. Silver would track down Delbert - through Arrow and the Captain, if he had to. He'd trick his way into getting himself and the rest hired as the crew. It would work - Silver's tricks always worked. Delbert would most definitely recognize Starla, so the cover will be the same as always: Silver is her 'adopted' uncle. She'd told Sarah that she was on Montressor looking for her uncle, and had told Jim the same when the two had been doing dishes that day. Could it have only been three days ago? No doubt Sarah would have told Delbert about her, so there was no need to re-explain her cover to anyone. She would tell Delbert she'd escaped the pirates and the fire at the Benbow by running to the nearest home, and she came to the Spaceport looking for somewhere to go. It was there that she'd heard about Delbert looking for a crew, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Starla had a good sleep that night, knowing she'd be on a ship soon. She was most comfortable there. In her dreams, she was the captain she'd dreamed of being. But instead of being a feared pirate, she was a proper captain, like that woman she'd overheard. In the dream she was well respected, and famous for good reasons. It was an odd dream, but even more odd was that Jim was with her. If she was honest with herself, she never wanted to wake up.

But awaken she did. It was late in the morning; she could feel it in her bones. Usually she would wake herself up quite early; growing up on ships does that to you, when there's work to be done. If not, Silver would wake her up. But today she woke up to hear people bustling about outside her room's window - it was definitely late in the morning. Starla jumped out of the small bed and pulled on her boots, then made sure her father's gun was tucked safely away from sight in the back waistband of her trousers, carefully hidden beneath her loose shirt. Her regular tight red one was currently folded and settled in her pack, she was now wearing a loose, off-the-shoulder black one. Looking at herself in the cracked mirror beside the door, she looked like her mother. Starla reached up to gently touch her necklace as her eyes fell shut. I miss you, Mother and Father. She shook the thought from her mind, before smiling at herself in the mirror. Today was the day, she could feel it. She pulled her pack over her shoulders and on top of her comfortably loose shirt -another moment of remembrance for her jacket- and made her way out of her room on the second floor of the pub. She brushed through the tangles in her hair with her fingers as she walked down the stairs, only to nearly walk right into Silver at the bottom.

"Aye, I was just comin' to get ya, lass," he said to her, a great wicked grin on his face. Starla smiled up at him, raising an eyebrow and beckoning him to continue. He did.

"I was up early this mornin', and headed to find this Doppler. Instead, I found the cat and the rock ya was tellin' us about. Captain Amelia and her first mate, Mister Arrow," Silver rolled his eyes, but continued. "I did a bit of finagling, and got us hired. All mornin' I've been at the meetin' with her, discussin' the finer details. Point is lass, we're hired! Come down to this port -" Silver handed the details to her on a piece of paper. "- as soon as ya can, lass. The crew's already there, gettin' things together and ready for the launch." Silver smiled at her then, reaching over to ruffle her hair as he so often did. Starla smiled up at him.

"I need to get back there now. I'll be the cook," he chuckled as Starla rolled her eyes. Silver cooking. Yum. He continued, "Ya can take your time if ya want. Buy some new things for the voyage," he shrugged. She nodded, and gave him a wink and smile.

"I'll be there soon, Captain," Starla said, giving him a wave and walking past him, out into the open air. She began to head towards a shop close by the pub, intending to trade for a new jacket.

Author's Note: I did a bit of changing of the facts for this one. Because it confuses me. Silver says in the meeting with the crew that he finagled and got them hired, yes? And Amelia says to Delbert that she doesn't approve of the crew that he -being Delbert- hired. And yet, when Arrow brings Jim and Delbert down to meet Silver, Delbert and Silver hadn't met yet. Confused? I think yes. So even though it doesn't make much sense, Amelia is going to be the one who hired Silver and them. And I'm not even going to include a chapter where Amelia talks to Jim and Delbert in her stateroom, because it's all in Starla's pov. But hell, maybe I will have Starla there with them and include it. Because Amelia is just so goddamn witty there and I love it. Alright. I'll stop now. Thank you for reading! Reviews are Karen Gillan's accent.

Kisses and cumshots,

Melanie