Jim stood, with some difficulty, at the navigation device. He wasn't going to punch in the coordinates; they'd kill him the minute they had it and a small sadistic part of him wanted to laugh in Raith's face when he finally saw the ruby. Seriously, how big could this thing be anyway? She was losing money on this venture and he was going to gloat before she put a bullet through his skull.

Another part of him wanted to see it for his own sake. He'd lost so much over this mission and with how close he was to the end of it, it would have all been for naught to not even get to see the damn ruby.

He gazed at the screen solemnly. Now he was a traitor. He'd sworn to protect the Queen and Empire and the Navy's secrets. He should be doing everything in his power to dissuade them from finding the ruby. He should throw himself over the railing. Jim peered over the side of the ship. A fall from this height would kill him instantly. He sat up on the rail and closed his eyes. He started to lean back.

I'm sorry, mom…I should have called…should have asked Silver if I could call you…

Jim whined in pain when claws dug into the back of his neck and he was dragged back over to the navigation screen. Raith spoke quietly, "You don't get to make the decision about when you die, Navy boy. Only I have that power."

She traced the brand over his heart, "Did you forget? I own you. You're mine to dispose of, you have no power anymore."

He swallowed thickly.

Should have thrown myself back in that river and let it drown me...

"Are we close?" Raith hissed in his ear.

"Patience, cat," he snapped back, jerking away from her tickling whiskers.

She growled low in her throat and pressed a finger harshly to one of his wounds. Agony shot from it into the tip of each finger and toe, sending his knees knocking together and blinding white across his vision.

When he could see normally again, he was on the floor in a heap, gasping like a dying fish. Jim looked up in a daze, and Raith smiled back down at him smugly, "Call me 'cat' one more time and I'll peel the skin off your back with a paring knife."

He was hauled back to his feet and stood at the controls.

Jim watched absently as the remaining crew darted around the deck as they sailed while Raith took her place at the wheel. He watched silently, trying to overcome the dizzy spell that threatened to send him back to the floor. One…two…three…with Raith, that's four…what happened to the Zirrelian? There had been a Zirrelian…right?

"I'll ask again, Navy boy, are we close?"

He turned to the navigation screen, "Within a couple miles…"

"What are we looking for?"

Jim scowled, "A ruby."

The venom in her voice made Jim regret his snarky answer the smallest amount, "I swear, Navy boy-"

There was a break in the forest in front of them and the land fell away into a deep crater surrounded by cliffs. Trees grew all the way up to the edge of the cliffs, waterfalls big and small plummeted down into the crater, feeding a lake in the bottom. Almost near the center of the lake was an island. More of those strange stone pillars, big and small, peppered the island.

"I think that's it," Jim stared at the island. He didn't need to check the coordinates.

"Moor us along the cliff, we're taking the longboat down," Raith caught Jim by the back of his neck and he stumbled as he struggled to keep up with her pace. Her crew scrambled to follow, sending out the gravity anchor and running after them.

The atmosphere as they approached the island was tense, apprehensive. Jim peered around them. The cliffs were far taller than they looked from the top, looming up around them like the walls of a massive cage. He wondered how the crater didn't fill with water and overflow, and his eyes landed on several cracks and passageways carved into the rock wall by years of water beating against it.

"Tie off," Raith nearly whispered the command when they'd finally descended to the edge of the island.

Jim was pushed to the front of the group, Raith and her men looking at him expectantly, "Alright, Navy boy, take us to the ruby."

There was no vegetation, no life at all on the island. Everything was cold gray stone. Now that they stood on solid ground, Jim could clearly see that the island was a gently sloping hill. He walked slowly, carefully, eyes darting from pillar to pillar. They were all assortment of sizes, some hugely tall, and others barely reaching his sternum, and they were all scattered almost without any reason or pattern around one gigantic pillar at the crest of the hill.

No one spoke. He figured they could all feel the crushing weight of this place pressing down on their shoulders the same way he could. The only way Jim could even think to explain the feeling was as 'vulnerable'. There were no hiding places, no overhead protection from attack, nowhere to run if they needed to. Who knew what kind of animals lived on this planet. He'd been lucky thus far and hadn't run across anything, but the dark roiling water made him uneasy.

They stopped in front of the center stone column and gazed up at it.

It was smooth all over, just like the ones he and William had found. No writing or marks or anything on it at all that would indicate it was special in any way other than the sheer size of it.

"This it?"

Jim met Raith's gaze, "Yeah…"

At least I think it is.

"Search for the ruby!" Raith snapped at her crew, shoving Jim out of the way roughly. He stumbled back, stopping only when he fell against a shorter pillar several feet away. A whine rose from his throat at the pain that radiated from his back, his legs collapsed underneath him, he crumpled and sat on his knees.

Morph chirped from his pocket. Jim looked down dazedly, "Oh, hey bud…"

His heart broke at the sad way the blob looked up at him. Why did he come with them? He should have just stayed with Silver's crew, Jim was sure he would have been taken care of there…being here with Jim was only going to lead to him getting killed or stuck forever alone on this planet until he died naturally…

No…

Jim couldn't let that happen.

His eyes darted toward the pirates searching wildly around the pillar in the middle. There was a straight shot to the longboat…Jim petted Morph gently as he estimated how quickly he could get to the longboat. There was no one left on the ship, it would be a real struggle, but he could probably sail it on his own…

Jim pushed off the pillar carefully, moving slowly, and his fingers brushed over an oddly shaped divot in the stone. He turned and stared at it. The whole pillar was covered in markings like that. They could have been letters, not that he would have been able to tell what it said, but he really didn't care. None of the other stone columns had even the smallest mark on them, and they certainly weren't this covered in symbols like this one.

His curiosity got the better of him. Jim knew he should have been making a break for the longboat…

He pulled himself up, hands grasping at the stone, eyes moving wildly. Morph squeaked at him and darted out of his pocket to circle the pillar excitedly. There was a carved out hole up near the top, high enough above his head that he couldn't see what was inside. Jim reached into it and felt around.

"Holy shit…" he gasped when his fingers brushed against something cold.

Maybe he could get the ruby and run for the longboat…wouldn't that just be a slap to the face for Raith? Jim almost smiled at the idea.

The Ruby of Opath was enormous, bigger than both of his fists together, and it was heavy . He and Morph stared at their reflections in the perfectly cut faces for a moment. This was it. Sidon and Silver had died for him to hold this…

"You-"

Jim jerked in surprise. He looked over at Raith and her remaining crew. They gazed at him, frozen where they stood, eyes wide and locked onto the gem in his hand. He was filled with dismay; he should have run when they were still distracted. Jim thought about chucking it past them and running to the longboat. What good would having the ruby do them if they were stuck here?

Raith was moving toward him, "You found it!"

How had he forgotten how quickly she could move? Jim stumbled away from her, clutching the ruby to his chest as if it were to be protected. He'd lost so much in the pursuit of this damn thing-

"Give it to me!" Raith snatched at the giant ruby in Jim's palm.

She didn't take hold of it though. Her fingertips brushed the top of the rock and knocked it out of Jim's hand.

It shattered when it hit the stone ground.

No one moved. No one breathed. Everyone just stared at the mess of crimson shards scattered all around their feet.

It was an eternity before one of the crew bent very slowly and picked up a piece of the broken ruby. They turned it over in their hands, their voice filled with disbelief, "Glass?"

Something deep in Jim's chest snapped. He started to laugh, softly at first, but soon hysteria overwhelmed him and he was laughing uncontrollably, tears sliding down his cheeks as he doubled over and clutched his stomach.

"It was glass…we were sent to collect a glass ruby! You've been chasing me around to get a hunk of garbage!"

Raith snapped out of her shock, her voice raising in anger, "Shut up! It- it must be a decoy- the real ruby has to be here somewhere- search for it you useless sacks of flesh!"

Jim staggered a little, dizzy from laughing so much, but he could stop. He'd been through so much bullshit just for the object he'd been sent after to be completely worthless.

"SHUT UP!" Raith screamed. Her tail twitched violently, pupil dilating as she spun around to face him again, back hunched over and talons poised to strike.

Morph was frantically darting around him, pointing and squeaking and trying to get his attention, but Jim couldn't focus on anything. His lungs burned, muscles screamed, dizziness started to make his vision blur.

"SHUT UP!"

She caught him around the throat and squeezed the air out of him and only then did Jim stop laughing.

Raith lifted him into the air and he clawed at her hand weakly.

Her eye alight with rage, spittle flew as she shrieked, "Damn you! Die, you worthless piece of shit!"