Author's Note:

This is my very first Treasure Planet fanfic so let's see how it turns out... as it is also the first segment of a five-part series that I have planned if all goes well.

Chapter 1: Ariah Clarke

Ariah Clarke was never the type of lady she was expected to have been. All dressed up and pretty like some porcelain doll for each and every day of an uneventful life. No… among the things she needed, freedom was at the top of her list, and no colourless lifestyle was going to stop her need for adventure.

When she was young, Ariah's mother had always told her that pirates didn't exist. There were worst things in the real world. She also said that all of the adventures, that Ariah should've been voyaging on, should've stayed on her home planet. How drab.

She was free from all of that; now eighteen years of age with a few adventures of her own under her belt. But she had to admit that there were some things of the boring life on her home planet she dearly missed.

The morning was clear in one of Montressor Lunar Spaceport's many inns, well if you could call it a morning anyways. The sunlight from miles away glared between the thin, ratty curtains of an inn's window into a particularly shabby room.

Ariah opened one of her copper-brown eyes, looking at through a curtain of long messy black bangs at the cheap inn room she had slept in.

The young woman pushed the dusty sheets off of her bed and stepped into her dark leather boots. She stuffed the bottoms of her light tawny pants into her boots and tugged the sleeves of her black peasant top back to her elbows.

Ariah cautiously stuck her hand under the dusty bed –hoping dearly to avoid finding anything unpleasant early in the morning- and she pulled out a tattered duffel bag, well worn from many years of use.

From the sack a tiny pink blob emerged, pooling itself around Ariah's few trinkets.

"Morph." Ariah groaned tiredly, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "Where's Silver?" She eased her fingers through her messy bangs. "And the rest of the crew?"

The pink blob blinked the tiredness from his system, registering Ariah's question, and then transformed into a large question mark.

Ariah sighed, looking down at the alien. "You don't know." She stated flatly.

Morph shook his little pink head innocently.

Ariah moaned tiredly in pain, her hangover was starting to kick in. Her crew was extremely hard to keep track of, especially when she had drunken herself unconscious the previous night… it was payday after all, from their last voyage. Ariah grabbed a red bandanna from inside her bag to pushed back her raven-black bangs and tied the rest of her black hair back into a ponytail at the nape of her neck with a spare piece of twine.

Then Ariah realized a possibility, which had happened to her before, unfortunately.

"Did they get another ship to sail?" She asked the blob urgently.

Morph shook his tiny head. Ariah sighed with relief, glad that she hadn't be left behind.

There was a subtle tap at the door. Ariah turned around on her bed as she was loosely lacing up a red vest over her peasant top. Another tap confirmed that someone wanted an answer at the door.

Ariah inelegantly stumbled across the dusty wooden floorboards and opened the grimy wooden door to the room.

A young maid wearing a long pale blue dress with a white apron tied around her waist entered the room. She had lengthy honey-blonde hair tied back in bun under a white bonnet. She looked to be the cleanest thing in the entirety of the inn's area and only about sixteen years of age.

"I'm here to clean the room." The maid said in a small voice, her eyes widened at the sight of the substantial mess in the small room.

Ariah flattened her copper eyes and glanced at the dusty room. The crew had indeed left a gigantic mess. There were large piles of soiled dishes, ripped clothing –including torn curtains- hanging limply over the window, crumbs of leftover food, an upheaval of furniture, and plenty of empty beer mugs.

How was it that her fellow crewmembers could make such a colossal mess in one room?

The eighteen year old was surprised that even in her unconscious state of drunkenness she hadn't notice how raucous her fellow crewmembers had been.

"I dearly hope they are paying you well..." Ariah stated sympathetically.

Ariah walked past the misfortunate maid with both her duffel bag and Morph. Her leather boots lead her down the creaky steps and into the inn's lobby. She was beginning to gain balance back onto her feet as she became more sober, but the painful headache was beginning to annoy her.

"Hey Rye Bread!" An insulting voice yelled out, directed at the lady sailor.

Ariah groaned, wishing she wasn't as hung-over, so she could've taken personally insulter down. The shrill voice echoed painfully inside her now-sensitive ears.

The black-haired sailor turned on the heel of her boot, facing a teenaged alien. He had rubbery aquamarine skin covering his bendy body; his nose was most unusual... like six short tubes protruding from his face. He had a thick brown mop of hair covering one of his bug-like blue eyes while his exposed watched Ariah curiously. The alien was wearing a tight vest with red puffy sleeves and a large collar. Nearly hidden below the tavern table were his legs, clothed in scarlet shorts and dark green stockings, and his large feet encased in a pair of cube-like boots.

"Right..." She glanced at the alien, who was surrounded by a variety of different alien-like creatures. "If I'm 'Rye-Bread' then exactly what does that make you?"

The table of aliens were silent. Ariah casually walked out of the cheap inn. Morph quickly returned the room key and a small sack of coins to the front desk, blew a long raspberry at the teal alien, before returning to Ariah's duffel bag.

Ariah had to admit to herself that the comeback –or lack thereof- was weak, but she'd likely have snappier ones when she had completely sobered up. Ariah wove through the crowds of people, heading towards the docks.

"Hey you're the one who observes the taxis that travel in and out of this spaceport!" Ariah exclaimed, standing at the taxi docks of the Montressor Spaceport. "Can't you honestly remember a large crew of alien sailors going some where?"

"I'm sorry, Miss. Clarke." The stubby brown alien stuttered, his elliptical ears twitching nervously from Ariah's bombardment of shouts. "It's hard enough to keep track of the taxis themselves, likewise the people who hire them..."

"Man!" Ariah groaned in frustration, tempted to pull out her raven-black hair on spot. "I can't believe this is happening!" She hissed at the brown alien. "Don't you have any type of tracking devices installed in your taxis?"

"Well…" The brown alien sighed. "N-Not yet." He stuttered. "They're getting funded and will eventually be installed."

"Ugh, like I care when they're going to be installed, it's not helping me right now!" Ariah turned away from the brown alien and glared at Morph. "You said they didn't get another ship." She shouted at the pink blob.

Morph glared right back, as if to say; "They didn't get another ship; they simply left the Spaceport and now we can't find them."

Unfortunately the crew's spontaneous disappearance wasn't a simple matter…

They're particular crew was one of the many hireable sailor crews on Montressor Spaceport, and at any point in time could they give up another chance for an adventure. It was too much for Ariah to bear.

The young woman sighed, thinking of the possibilities to get the crew back. In conclusion of her thoughts, she decided to do the only rational plan she had... quickly shop around the Spaceport to calm herself down and then return to the docks to wait for her crew.

Ariah dozed off for a couple of hours, while patiently waiting for her crew. She used the small package of the things she had purchased as a pillow while slumbering on a wooden bench at the main docks.

Nearby, Silver and the rest of his crew stepped off of their taxi, which left hastily after they had all exited. They approached the peacefully sleeping girl.

Morph chirped happily at the sight of his master. He sped over and nuzzled Silver's portly cheek.

Ariah awoke upon hearing Morph's chirping and the crew's familiar footfalls.

"Did yeh 'ave a pleasant nap, Sleepin' Beauty?" Silver chuckled heartily.

"It's about time you got here…" Ariah growled. She rubbed the sleep from her copper-brown eyes and stood from the bench.

The young woman stuffed the brown package into her duffel bag and shouldered it, still glaring at the crew.

"Exactly where have you all been this entire time?" She demanded as she quickly came to her senses.

"Just on a little side trip, darling." Silver patted Ariah's shoulder reassuringly and steered her down the winding -always busy- streets of the spaceport with the rest of the crew in tow. "No need for yeh teh mind…"

"So." Ariah stuffed her hands into the pockets of her tawny trousers. "Any idea where we're going now?" She asked with a smile.

"Well, that would be up teh any lunatic who wants teh hire us…" Silver shrugged.

"Well then we might as well stop and smell the roses." Ariah rolled her eyes as she hopped onto the seat of another bench. "It's not like the chance is going to just come up behind us and give us at tap on the shoulder…"

"Excuse me..." A timid alien tapped Ariah's shoulder.

"Yes?" Ariah asked nonchalantly.

"Are you John Silver's crew?" The dog-faced alien asked, he was wearing a long brown-red suede coat, and had a small piece of paper held out in front of his large brown eyes.

"That would be me, sir..." Silver forcefully shoved Ariah off of the bench as he politely introduced himself to the potential customer.

Ariah growled dangerously, picking up herself from the cobblestone street, shouldering her duffel bag and leaning against a nearby wall.

After talking with the dog-faced alien, John Silver turned to his crew.

"Boys." Ariah glared at him coldly; "an' Ariah..." He added bluntly. "We've got another adventure teh go on."

The crew cheered loudly and even Ariah smiled.

Once the crew's cheers calmed down they quickly followed the dog-human's directions to get settled into their new ship; the legendary RLS Legacy...

But then Ariah began to wonder. Why did Silver consider Birdbrain Mary, the only other female sailor –beside her- in the crew, as one of the 'Boys'?

This made her grumpy once more as she realized that Silver perceived her less than the same toughness as the rest of the crew.

But such things were normal and she wasn't likely to take the matter to heart…

Author's Note:

Okay that's pretty much it... for now! If you can spare a few words of wisdom then it would be gladly appreciated.

MG#6