Treasure Planet Fan Fiction ❯ Ace of Spades ❯ Scavenged Cargo ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer for all Chapters: I do not own Treasure Planet, Treasure Island, the idea of Eldorado (including the movie) or any of the characters within these masterpieces. I do, however, own Spade.

Summary: She was illegal merchandise, but they didn’t know it. And now, on their way to find Eldorado, Jim and Silver end up dealing with more than what they bargained for. Love, hate and the unearthing of an unforgiveable crime lay in their future.

Ace of Spades
Chapter One – Scavenged Cargo

Darkness…
The girl blinked and slowly wrapped her thin, pale arms around herself, her frail hands grabbing her arms just below the shoulders. As she rocked back and forth, the sound of the heavy chains bounding her wrists and ankles scraping across the wooden floor echoed around her. It was the only sound aside from the low humming of the galleon’s engine that she could hear from inside her confined space.

Where was she? She had no idea, all she knew was that she was not alone in this dark, forbidding place. Every now and then she could hear others, the sound of their bare feet scraping across the floor…even a weak cough could be heard if she were to listen very carefully. They were all in crates, just as she was, and all were bound for the same unknown destination. She had heard men talking about them as they were being loaded onto the ship a couple days before…speaking of how they would be hung if caught with such ‘ill-created cargo’ aboard their ship. Then went on to speak about how they were not just regular androids…

Ill-created? What did that mean? Was there something wrong with her and the others? How could having them onboard possibly get these sailors into that much trouble? What are androids? These questions and more were constantly cycling through the girl’s mind as she sat alone in the darkness, fighting off the general feeling of claustrophobia that constantly tugged at the back of her consciousness.

Things remained the same for her for days. There would be no sound from the crewmen of the galleon until ice-cold water sprayed through the cracks of the crate, which happened about five times a day, on good days. When such events occurred, the girl found herself licking the tar based wood of her crate to get as much of the water as she possibly could before it has a chance to soak up in her clothing, at which point she would sometimes ring out into her mouth. No food came to them, though. Only water. But at this point the girl couldn’t complain, at least they were keeping them alive. Or so she hoped.

On one day, though, the water didn’t come, nor did the sounds of lazar cannon fire cease for what seemed like hours. The crew were shouting, the ship was shaking, and the girl found herself to be trembling with fear as she heard others in the crates around her cry out for help. What was happening? She wished she could see…just for a moment.

“Dump the crates!” a man’s voice suddenly shouted as the loud thumping of boots could be heard coming into the cargo hull. “They are boarding us! We can’t get caught with these miserable creatures on board! Shoot them all and toss the crates into space!”

The girl’s heart skipped a beat as she heard lazars being fired and the people around her crying out, their cries soon dying away as each one was put to death by their unknown captors. A lazar shot through the crate the girl was in. It missed her, and shot another hole through the back of the crate, allowing a small amount of light to enter. She screamed out of pure instinct, which earned her crate two more holes through the side. Her leg was hit by one, and the other slashed through her hand and out through the other side of the crate. She managed to stifle herself through the immense pain long enough to catch the sight of white sparks flickering from her wounds. Sparks, as in from machinery? Her eyes widened just as she felt her crate being pushed across the floor.

Clapping her unwounded hand over her mouth she pressed her eye to one of the holes in the crate and watched as the opened hull leered closer. She shut her eyes when the crate tipped, and as she fell out of the ship she let out a terrifying scream. She heard lazar fire, but none connected with her crate this time.

After a few moments everything was quiet, her body began to float freely inside the crammed space, and the holes in her dwelling allowed crisp cold air to circulate. This, from as far back as she could remember, was the freest she had ever felt in her life.

--

Jim Hawkins stood silently at the docks of the Montressor Spaceport. He was wearing a simple tailored captain’s uniform, the jacket was blue, and the trousers that were tucked into black leather boots were an untainted white. He had graduated with honours from the Interstellar Academy a year before, and was now the captain of his own cargo ship. Yes, a cargo ship. Everyone has to start somewhere, even if they did graduate at the head of their class.

But shipping cargo did not bother Jim, it allowed him to travel all across the galaxy–which was something he adored doing. Jim was still an adventurous young man, and even though he had gotten past his reckless teenaged years, he still craved the thrill of a daring escapade.

This, as a matter of fact, was the reason why he had journeyed to the spaceport. He had no shipments to make, and from the looks of things, there wouldn’t be any shipments anytime soon. Besides, with the promise of seeing an old friend, he had doubts that he would have accepted any jobs at that time; he just had a feeling this was something he couldn’t miss out on.

The sound of awkward steps on the docks came from behind, and the whirling of machinery at work came along with it. Jim perked up, his eyes growing wide as he turned around to face the man that moved slowly towards him. Time hadn’t aged the cyborg in the least, nor had it torn away at his hardware at all. He was just as Jim remembered him. “Silver!”

“Haha! Jimbo!” John Silver opened his arms to catch the boy in a tight bear hug. The old pirate had waited a very long time for his reunion, and he was damn proud to see that the boy had made something of himself, judging by his uniform at least.

An awkward silence fell between the two after the embrace. What could they say to each other? It had been such a long time.

“It has been too long.” Jim said with a small, childish smile. “I was actually starting to think I would never hear from you again.”

Silver chuckled. “My boy, I couldn’t just contact you for any reason! I had to have a zinger of an opportunity for us! Y’know, just like old times.” He winked. “But I’ll be gettin’ to that later. We must be catchin’ up, Jimbo!”

Jim nodded in agreement before turning slightly. “Come on, I have a small ship waiting, we will head back to Montressor.”

Silver nodded and grinned before following.

--

“That’s quite d’accomplishment there Jim.” Silver said before drinking from the cup of ale Sara Hawkins had previously placed before him. “But, I fail to understand why you are just simply shipping cargo. You could be in the navy, boy; doing great things!”

Jim chuckled before resting his chin on his fist. “I know…but I don’t believe the battlefield is for me, Silver.” He said with a small frown as he gazed out through the window of the Benbow Inn. “For so long I have been lusting after something more…another adventure like the one we had five years ago. The closest I could get to it until now was shipping cargo across the galaxy.”

“But it doesn’t match up?” Silver asked.

“Heh, not even close,” Jim answered, looking back at the cyborg with a weak smile.

“Well, that’s good to hear!” Silver boomed, a broad smirk crawling across his fleshy features.

Jim looked at him questioningly. “What?”

“Jimbo, what would you say if I were to offer you another adventure out into space?” Silver asked. “To take you away from all of this–I know, I know. You aren’t doing all that bad ‘ere now, but a break from work, a vacation if I must compare it to that.”

Jim leaned over the table, his eyes flickered with interest. “And where would this adventure lead us?” he asked, cocking an eyebrow.

“Ha, ha!” Silver shoved his hand into his pocket before smacking an old paper map open upon the table top, knocking his mug of ale onto the floor with a clatter. “This here map is from back in ancient times, Jimbo!” he explained. “Back way before we were gifted with carefree space travel; back to when the vast majority of human inhabitants were…” Silver paused and then whispered: “…on Earth.”

Jim’s eyes lowered to the map; it was old, the paper was stained yellow in multiple places, ripped here and there, and the markings on it were hard to see–some of it couldn’t really be made out correctly without a tool to enhance vision. The young captain looked back to Silver, this time with a sceptical look on his face. “Earth? As in, the barren colony planet in the Milky Way Galaxy?” he started to laugh.

“What?” Silver glared at him. “You don’t believe me?”

“WHAT could be of any value in Earth?” Jim asked as his laughter started t die away. “The place is a dump…and it is…wow…at least twenty galaxies away from our own!”

“I knew you would ask that question.” Silver said as he took out another piece of old paper, this time it was a picture, a picture of a solid gold castle. “Eldorado,” the cyborg said simply, “the city of pure gold. Everything…from the stone on the ground to the shingles on the rooftops, made from solid gold.”

Jim stared down at the picture. He had never heard of this place before, he guessed it was one of those old legends that failed to live past the Galactic Wars. “How do you know this place is really there?” he questioned, still unsure. “Why should I risk my life on a savage planet for something I have never heard of?”

“How did we both know of Flint’s Trove?” Silver asked. “Why were we sure it existed? We had a map. And this ‘ere,” he put a finger on the old piece of paper, “is the map to Eldorado. We just have to get to earth…and then…” he ran his finger over the path marked by the map. “We follow the directions.”

Jim sighed and bit his bottom lip as his eyes fell to the map once again. Was it really worth it? It would be an adventure all on its own just to go to the Milky Way…but Earth? He held back a shudder before looking back into Silver’s eyes, his brows slanting inward slightly as a small smirk came across his lips. “Let’s do it,” the young captain finally said. “But, we need to be thoroughly prepared…Earth isn’t a safe place anymore, Silver.”

Silver nodded, grinning with accomplishment. “We’ll take care of that right away then, Jimbo! I want to be out’ta here by tomorrow!”

--

“They are all pirates aren’t they?” Jim asked, crossing his arms as he watched the line-up of rough looking individuals climb aboard his galleon, The Sleeda. His eyebrow twitched in annoyance as he stared at Silver, awaiting a reply.

“Now, don’t be so hard on me, Jimbo!” Silver argued, puffing up his chest in defence. “It was the best I could do, and besides…I don’t think some of them are pirates. Look…there’s a clean lookin’ fellow right there!” he said as he pointed to a random person in the line-up.

Jim cocked his eyebrow at Silver and shook his head. “This will cause us problems later, you know that right?”

“Don’t you worry Jimbo!” Silver said triumphantly. “Leave it all to me when the time comes about!”

“I left it up to you to find a descent crew.” Jim mumbled, smiling slightly as he boarded the ship after the last crew member was on board.

Silver followed in silence, taking one last look over his shoulder at the spaceport. “Better have a good look, lad.” He said. “This’ll be d’last you’ll see of ‘er for a very long time.”

Jim stopped and turned, his eyes glazing over slightly at the spaceport. “She’ll still be here when I get back, so I’m not worried.” He said before turning and heading towards the helm.

“Aye…that she will, Jim.” Silver said under his breath before pulling the ramp on board. “But the problem is…we might never be coming back.

The takeoff was as magnificent as ever, but it was nothing that could amaze Jim, he had seen his sweet Sleeda launch many times before. He stood next to the hired help that steered the ship, his hands behind his back and his eyes wandering the deck. Earth…he had never been there.

“It’ll take us a good month or so to reach our destination,” the hired hand said after a moment. “The Milky Way Galaxy is tucked right out of the way of everything else…you boys sure you want to be wandering that part of space? It is said to be mighty dangerous.”

Jim looked to him with a frown, but then nodded before staring back out at the deck below. “Yeah, most definitely; we are ready to face anything.”


It was nearing nightfall when Jim finally left the helm. He stifled a yawn into the palm of his hand as he climbed down the stairs. The sound of something crashing onto the deck made him jump and nearly fall down the stairs. “What the hell? Silver!”

Silver limped his way out from behind one of the masts. “Jim! Come over here. We’ve found a cargo crate floating about and dragged it aboard.” He said before returning out of sight.

Jim frowned and jogged to the scene, stopping short as he say the old battered black crate that lay surrounded by a dozen of the crew members. “What’s in it?” he asked, stopping next to Silver.

“Haven’t checked yet…but look…” Silver put a finger over one of the two holes burnt into the crate. “It was shot at…”

Jim narrowed his eyes. “Break this thing open, now.” He ordered.

Jim and silver stood back and watched as one of the men tore the side of the crate off with one of his large, lobster-like claws. The limp body of a man, his waist wrapped in a white sheet and his ankles and wrists bound by chains, fell out of the crate and onto the deck. Wires and a sharp piece of metal stuck out from his forehead where one of the lazars had struck him. Another opened wound containing wiring was through his left shoulder.

“A…cyborg?” Jim questioned, looking at Silver.

Silver shook his head. “Nah, this guy was fully robotic…he was a full functioning android at one point.”

“Android? You mean a human who had their brain and heart encased into a body of metal?” Jim asked, staring at him in awe. Silver nodded.

“Hey look! There’s another one!” one of the crew members shouted.

Jim and Silver looked up to see another crate floating dangerously close to the Sleeda. “Rope it! Drag it in!” Jim ordered. “There is something definitely not right about this…”

“Could be a slave operation…” Silver suggested as the other crate was being roped. “Androids, being what they are, are usually enslaved and transported in a way like this; by humans usually.”

“Why only humans?” Jim asked.

“Because, Jimbo, they feel that they deserve to be enslaved for trying to make themselves immortal by becoming less human. They believe they are traitors.” Silver explained, watching as the crate was dumped into the deck.

“That’s ridiculous.” Jim said in disgust. “Open the crate!” he said, noticing that there were more holes in this one.

“Aye, aye Captain!” the lobster creature said before he broke open the side.

This time, a young girl fell out, her eyes were wide open, and her shoulders moving as she trembled in fear. Sparks scattered from the wound on her leg and the one on her hand. Her body was completely wrapped in white cloth, and just like the other, she was bound by chains.

For what seemed like forever, the crew just stood around and stared at her in silence. Jim studied her features, still in shock that she was alive. Her face was round, and her form was thin and slightly curvy; she had creamy white skin, and deep emerald eyes. Her hair was coal black, but was cut in a weird style; the back half of her head had very short hair, while the front half–aside from her messy short bangs–was long and cascaded down her chest.

After snapping out of his trance Jim looked to Silver. “Did you hire on anyone that can act as a Doctor?” he asked, his voice urgent.

Silver blinked and looked from the girl to Jim, nodding. “It was supposed to be a surprise, Jimbo. But come on, let’s hurry below deck.”

Saé: Well, that is it for chapter one! Hope you enjoyed it so far. :3 Also, you can find me on ff.net and DeviantArt under the same name! :3