Yo-ho! Yo-ho! A pirate's life for meeeeeeh! And we're back with another chapter!
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN TREASURE PLANET! Like at all and it makes me sad...but it's probably for the best.
Anyway enjoy!
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"Alright then, we'll take the main Merchant's Route to the Amber Quadrant, and then we'll take the Reyalis Erutan (Ray-AH-lis E-rut-uhn) path straight into Donoma!" Jim finished drawing the path on the old map, "This way, we'll be there in about a month instead of six-seven weeks!" Amelia nodded impressed with his skills.
They had been in space for almost a week before Amelia had pulled Jim aside to iron out the wrinkles of their voyage. Small stuff like the schedules and safe routes. But as Captain, Jim had to be present. He had left the crew to their work and relaxed into his high-backed chair behind the desk as Amelia made her report.
A soft giggle brought Jim back to reality; he and Amelia looked up at the doorway. Jim scowled. She walked into the office flopped into a chair with a sigh. Turning to him, she smirked.
"Hiya Captain Tightpants!"
Good god she was irritating! She hadn't even been in the room five minutes and she was already pissing him off. Over the past week, Rune had started playing game called 'Let's Piss off the Captain!' She'd even made a little song out of it and she'd sing it whenever he came on deck. She'd pull pranks and he'd be the butt of most of her jokes. Sometimes she'd even sneak into his room when he wasn't there and rearrange everything. And when he said everything, he meant it. One time she'd even gone as far as turning the larger furniture such as the desk, bed and dressers, upside down and pushing it across the room. How she'd done it without alerting any of the crew and himself, he would probably never ever know. As punishment, she'd be given extra chores but that never made her stop.
Rune got up from her chair, walked up to the desk and looked at the map before Jim ripped it out of sight and rolled it up.
"What do you want?" he demanded more heatedly than he should have. But he didn't care. Rune shrugged before tapping the rolled up map in his hands lightly.
"I wouldn't go that way if I were you," she sang. Jim blinked.
"You don't even know how to read! Why shouldn't we go that way?" he snapped. Rune took a step back and Amelia put a firm hand on his shoulder, squeezing lightly.
"Fine if you wanna go that way, let me off on the next planet we pass. I don't feel like dying because of some snot-nosed brat won't listen to an experienced spacer." Rune only managed to throw gas on the fire. Jim puffed out his chest glaring angrily down at Rune's diminutive height. He had not gone through the Academy to be pushed around by a whelp like her.
"I'll have you know that I passed all of my clas-" but Rune interrupted him.
"What you got is a piece of paper! That's it! All those men you have on the deck out there will die if you go that way dammit!" she yelled, her volume making up for her petite stature. Jim's blank expression made her press on.
"I mean do you even know what's in this route? Actually, how old is that map anyway?" Amelia cleared her throat, slightly embarrassed and troubled.
"We're not sure exactly."
Rune paled. For a second, Jim forgot his anger in concern. But her face grew heated after she overcame her initial shock.
"Are, are you CRAZY!" she screeched and tore the map from Jim's hands and unfurled it on the desk, "This map was useless 20 plus years ago dammit! See here?" she pointed to a big orange-blue planet on Jim's route to Donoma, "This was blasted into bits about 10 years back. Something about an experimental bio-genetic weapon gone really, really wrong. There's nothing but a floating wall of rock that could easily crush this ship like a Duékin (Duu-WAY-kinn) Timber Hound would a rock." A shudder passed through Amelia and Jim. With their razor sharp teeth and jaws that could snap the largest redwood tree in half as easy as a tooth pick, the burly Duékin Timber Hound was a force to be reckoned with. Jim did not like the mental image of being crushed to death by floating space rock but Rune continued, "And even if you did manage to get through the rock death trap, you remember about the bio-genetic weapon thing that blew up the planet?" she didn't wait for them to answer, "It's just that things aren't as dead as it would seem. There are things out there, kinda blue-ish people-like things with sharp teeth and wings. And they will eat anything. Probably the people from the busted up planet gone mutant," She finished.
"But if's its impassable, why hasn't anyone updated the maps?" Amelia pondered out loud. Rune shrugged.
"We're going to the quadrant housing the 'Sight of the Sun'," Rune rolled her eyes and made air quotes with her fingers, "They have more important things to do than go map out an area of scientific disgrace and little blue cannibals. For being seriously precise spit-wads with their heads in the clouds, they don't seem too keen on updating a map. Not very get-up-and-go, are they?" Rune jumped up and sat on the desk fiddling with one of her daggers. Jim crossed his arms.
"Well then Rune! What route do you suggest then?" he crossed his arms over his chest, not bothering to hide his skepticism and irritation. She smirked.
"The Lirajari Straight," (Leer-Rah JaaH-Ree) Rune clearly didn't get the reaction she wanted. Jim and Amelia just stared back at her. A lot throaty growl escaped her throat.
"I'm sorry, what?" Amelia blinked.
"Where's the planet of Meresta?" (Muhr-rest-Ah) Jim didn't move and raised his eyebrow inquisitively. She growled again and grabbed the collar of his shirt and dragged him down to meet her eyes. He was bent awkwardly over his desk but she didn't seem to care.
"You know I can't read that Montressor crap! Now where's Meresta?" she released Jim, who took his time straightening out his clothes before pointing at the little green circle that represented Meresta.
"Well at least that's still in the same spot!" Rune chirped happily before moving her index finger around the map, making a connection of some sorts.
"There's Junebug's planet!" Jim didn't even wanna know who 'Junebug' was. Rune was scanning again murmuring under her breath as she went, sitting on the table bent over the map. She grabbed Jim's pen and scribbled out the course he had so carefully charted.
"Hey!" he exclaimed.
"Shush, I'm working…." She trailed off, voice dying as she carefully sketched in a new route on the map. Jim scowled. "The Lirajari Straight is a shortcut that we can take. It'll even shave off a week of the original time." Jim stared at the map.
"Are you kidding me? This doesn't look like a shortcut at all. I mean Amelia, look at this!" he gestured at the wide black ark Rune had sketched onto the paper. Jim was right though. It didn't look like a shortcut at all. It went around several planets and looked twice as long as Jim's original plan. Rune smiled.
"Trust me, I've sailed this route before. There are strong seasonal winds all along here, here and here," she pointed to three planets, "And it's still a month before this Quadrant's Season of Fire ends so we'll have the sun on our side for the return trip too." Amelia snapped to attention.
"That's right! These three planets are mining and smithing providers if I'm not mistaken. We can make port and resupply if the need arises!" Amelia slapped a hand on Rune's shoulder, "Good work Rune!"
"No problem! Work! It's why I was hired!" she beamed at Amelia. The heavy scowl on Jim's face never changed as Rune made her way to the door. Turning back to him, she smiled sweetly "Oi Captain!" she called. Jim glared at her. "Better be thinkin' of better jobs than cabin girl!" she sang in a high sing-song voice before sticking out her tongue out at him like a child and ran off before he could retort.
"That…woman! 'It's why I was hired!'" he mimicked her voice, adding a higher shrilly tone to it and batting his eyelashes, "'You'd better be thinking of a better job for me, the Queen of being a royal pain in the ass!' Gah! She's so frustrating! Seriously I don't even know why I hired her," he slumped back into his chair huffing angrily. Amelia chuckled behind her hand before bringing up the map.
"She does have a way of saying things," Amelia rolled up the map and put it away for later use. Jim sighed and relaxed into the captain's chair. That's right; he was the captain, not Rune. He'd have to keep a calm demeanor but that didn't mean he couldn't make her life on this trip hell. He smirked unconsciously about all the cabin girl chores he'd make her do. Amelia took in his expression but didn't say anything.