Delbert sighed as he poured coffee into his mug, taking one of the commercial packets of creme from a container beside the coffee machine and dumping it in. He watched the powder as it seeped into its coffee, spreading in radical swirls before he even stirred it. The near ivory liquid was transformed into a mud brown when he mixed. He then added a good 3 cubes of sugar. He sipped it. Perfect.
But god-damn it he missed Amelia's horrible coffee.
He hadn't had a cup since her visit two weeks ago. She had had to skip the last weekend because the Queen insisted she run night training exercises. Now, by the looks of the letters and occasional communicator messages, she might not come this week, either. He sighed, the dull lull of the Royal Observatory's break-room a threat against his waning sanity. It wasn't like he'd already heard it every day, but before he had something that distracted him from it: Amelia. Amelia and the children. He's always see one or the other when he got home, and more often than not he'd see both. Now he just had the children...and he thanked God for that.
"Helllooo, Dopp-"
"Go away, Kelly." Delbert snapped, glaring. Kelly held up his hands in a "I surrender" position. "Whoa, whoa, calm down dog man. Just saying hello."
"I do not wish to speak with you." Delbert stood, looking down on Kelly. He turned on his heel, starting to walk away.
"Oh, now, wait, wait there Doppler." He jumped in front of Delbert, stopping him with a hand on his chest. He shoved him away lightly. "I have a question for you."
Delbert set his jaw, standing, staring. He might as well listen to the jackass's idiotic attempt at angering him.
"Why is it that when I ask for a connection to that little piece of eye candy you call a wife, you blow me off. But when she goes off to teach a bunch of navy brats how to aim, you don't care that she's banging her first mate?" He was smirking, looking like a common evil villain. Delbert narrowed his eyes, walking towards Kelly, who backed away with each step Delbert took. They walked across near all the lounge, attracting the attention of some of the occupants of the room. Delbert was always so mild, so seeing him cornering Kelly was all too amusing. Or terrifying. Delbert stopped when Kelly was pressed against the wall.
"Kelly, if you ever speak of my wife as if she is a lying, cheating whore again, and I find out," he leaned closer to his face. Uncomfortably close for the both of them, but that was perfect to get his point across. "I will personally stab you in the heart and watch you die. Then you'll end up at the bottom of the ocean...and no one will care." His voice got a eerie whisper. "They'll be glad your pompous, annoying, ass is out of their lives. Your own mother will be glad the bastard of a child she brought into the world is gone."
The look on Kelly's face spoke volumes. Fear, anger, frustration. But most of all the fear. Fear that came when the mild mannered, temperate member of a group seemed to snap. Delbert hadn't snapped, though, oh no. He'd simply decided it was finally time to put an end to the madness.
"Understand?" He hissed. Kelly slowly nodded, swallowing. Delbert backed up, not moving his eyes from Kelly as he walked out of the room.
"FULL EMERGENCY POWER!" Shouted Jim.
"FULL EMERGENCY POWER!" Onyx echoed, running up the rigging and letting down the sails. Minerva was right next to him, glaring.
"That's my job." She growled, crouching on the cross-arm as the ship reeled to the side, nearly throwing Onyx off. He regained his balance and looked at her. "Well I got it done before you, and I had to climb the rigging."
She growled. "Damn you."
"Mhm."
He just went down the rigging, looking out. "FIRE THE CANNONS!" He ordered. They shot the cannons from the distance, and Onyx watched in satisfaction as they hit the hull of the pirate ship. They got closer, and Jim ordered rapid fire of all available weapons into the weak spots. Between their strategic maneuvering and constant firing of weapons, the pirate ship was nothing but rubble within an hour.
"Ahoy!" Jim called to the captain, who was an elderly human man. "Are you all alright?"
The captain nodded, cupping his hands over his mouth. "Aye, Lieutenant Hawkins. We're all just a little shaken up. Thanks to you and your crew, we aren't worse!"
Jim nodded, looking to the side. "Onyx, make sure the pirates lifeboats are collected. Can't have any of those bastards out and about. Someone grapple the Lady J, we'll tow her in to Grandsgov!"
Onyx sat opposite Minerva in a medium sized wooden cabin that was Grandsgov's local clinic. She had her arm wrapped and was looking at the ground.
"Didn't count on reinforcements..." Onyx sighed. Minerva nodded. "Bloody gits, the lot of 'em."
"Never heard more truth in a sentence."
"Meh. Why're you waitin' here with me, eh? Don't you have something else to do, trust fund?" She was looking at him now, an eyebrow raised. Onyx blinked. "Jim told me to wait here."
"Course. What, think I can't handle sitting by myself? Think I need a damn baby sitter?!" She growled, standing, her tail flicking dangerously. Onyx blinked and shook his head. "Calm down, woman. He's meeting with the captain of the Lady J and thought it best someone remained to make sure all the crew was accounted for when we got back on the ship. Right now you're the last one remaining in the infirmary."
"Well, you should have told me that sooner, git." She jumped up and started walking. Onyx sighed and followed, finding his eyes drawn to her swinging hips.
Daaaaaaaaaaaammmnn...
He grinned a bit boyishly, but quickly forced his face back to normal. He couldn't act like that...she was a crew member, not an available female. You couldn't date other members of the navy...and, at any rate, she seemed to have a less than pleasant attitude towards him. Why the hell he even liked her he didn't know...maybe it was her boldness...
Or her hips.
Or maybe her eyes...they were a gorgeous shade of purple...
And her shirt was very tight up top.
His mind fought back and forth as they reached the ship. Looks, personality, looks, personality...damn he didn't know much of anything about her anyhow. He stopped on the deck and looked around. Everyone was in place, waiting for Jim. No doubt they were eager to get back to the academy. It'd take an hour, at most. There would be dinner and time to relax before they had to get up at seven in the morning the next day. Onyx stood on the middle deck, waiting. Eventually Jim joined him, who waved a hand, and they set off.
"So?" Onyx inquired, following Jim to the small stateroom located on the sloop.
"They came out of no where-the pirates. One minute the Lady J was just sailing, doing their daily fishing rounds, next, woosh! Pirates were shooting at them with all they had. We arrived just in time-maybe a half hour after they showed up. They had no warning at all of the ship showing up. They were hiding behind an asteroid." Jim sighed, sitting at his desk. "They think they had some way to see them before they could be seen, but they had no idea how."
Onyx raised an eyebrow. "Did they consider that they were just waiting for anyone?"
"Yeah, but they said they felt that wasn't it. They aren't the only case, either. A few other patrols had similar cases, not far from this area."
"Oh, well good Lord." Onyx sighed. "What do we do, then?"
Jim looked at the map across his desk, then out the porthole behind him. "Hope we can get back to the academy in one piece."
"Attack out of no where? They weren't lying in wait or following them?" Amelia stared at Jim with wide eyes in the mess hall of the academy, a mug of coffee in her hand. The food on her tray lay untouched.
"No, Amelia. They just came out of nowhere. They keep insisting it can't possibly be anything else but some sort of...device. Something that let the pirates detect the Lady J before the Lady J had any chance of knowing about the pirate ship. They were just too perfectly placed..."
"Well hells bells and buckets of blood." Amelia pinched the bridge of her nose. "This is just...frustrating."
"Stressful." Jim added, taking some sort of herb from his pocket and dropping it in Amelia's cup. She smiled softly. "Thank you, James."
"Welcome. They'll help you sleep, too."
She nodded, sipping it. "Mm. Aurora's taught you much."
"Heh. Yeah." He smiled. "I can mix a salve with my eyes closed."
"Good. It'll help you when they ship you out."
Jim furrowed his brow. "Ship me out? But, me and Onyx head the pa-"
"They're going to ship all the younger ones out eventually, James. I figure you might go with me when I get deployed." She looked at him sadly, sighing at the fearful expression on his face. "If the ambassador gets here and signs the treaty, though, no one will have to ship out." She said, smiling slightly. The glint of hope on Jim's face made her feel better.
"Yeah...there's always that." He nodded and smiled. "Maybe it'll work this time."
I hope you all enjoy this. :3 I had fun with it. ^^ Thank you all for the wonderful reviews! I own anything not Disney and all that is not Disney may not be used ANYWHERE else.