Galaxy Pirates

Chapter 26: Ellie and the Young Captain

The crystal glowed and rang, indicating that it was the morning-time on the ship. Ellie turned it off and sprang up, while Violet was still fast asleep, not obliged to get up so early. Ellie glanced once at her slumbering sister, smiled with love and care, and hastily put on the blue dress Dohta had gifted her long ago while they were still on the Planetary Chaos. She sneaked out of the room so that she wouldn't wake Violet and darted through corridors and stairs up on the deck.

The pirates had already gotten up and worked quite energetically, following the commands of Baxus – the first-mate of the captain. Ellie avoided the encounter with her newly-discovered cousin since she didn't want to waste any minute, and directly accessed the captain's cabin.

Here she was, at the door leading into the room of that mysterious Blood Diamond, depicted on all the posters in every newspaper or vision-device as a black-haired guy with a vicious grin and bloodied hands, the slouch hat shadowing his fiery gaze, and the black coat majestically hung onto his shoulders as if indeed an imperial attribute. Recalling these gruesome images, and also the way she vaguely noticed him on the ship when she was still hiding, shudders ran down her spine – both those photos and that injured man she saw some days ago, emitted the same intimidating vibe of a person who was truly important and powerful... Was he a dangerous ruler like the Divine Emperor and the Intergalactic Government, or was he a star of hope? That she had yet to find out.

She braced herself and knocked on the door with a trembling hand.

"Come in!"

This voice startled her – it was not like anything she had heard before. It sounded deep, stiff, yet playful... She was immediately reminded of the artistic symbol that humans had long created back on Earth in various books, movies, and games: the Joker – a mysterious persona bearing various masks; always playful, yet always serious.

She timidly pulled the door and walked in. The room was lighted with blue flambeaus on walls and illuminated a giant red royal bed, a low table in a corner surrounded by scarlet armchairs, and a writing-table full of different books, manuscripts, crystals, and technical gadgets piled around. In a high scarlet armchair before this table, now sat the familiar tall young man, in quite unfamiliar crimson bath-robe which covered his bandaged chest, and thin black trousers, his feet crossed under the table, covered with red fur slippers. The bloody captain whom she expected, was nowhere to be seen, while this casually-dressed boy with the same black hair and expressive black eyes that she could well recognize, was calmly sipping a hot drink from a big cup, munching strange black cookies he had piled on a plate nearby, and flipping book pages from time to time, humming some 'Juanita' song she had heard nowhere but back on Earth.

While the child stared at him in wonder and stupefaction, the young man sensed her presence and looked up. The cup froze in his hand as he ceased humming, his cheeks growing red as if embarrassed to be caught upon singing in privacy. He gazed at the guest in a stupor like some casual dork who had no idea of what was going on around him.

"Uhm, Captain? S-Sorry for disturbing..."

Ellie remained near the door, a bit frightened that she had thus disturbed him from his affairs, whatever they might be. The young man blinked once, but then quietly posed the cup back on the table, and gave her a warm, polite smile:

"Should I assume I have the honour to be talking to... Ellie Hawthorne?"

"Uhm, yes, my lord_"

"Captain".

"Captain..." she corrected, "Yes, I'm Ellie Hawthrone".

"Aww, now I feel truly embarrassed, tiny señorita. I've been unable to meet you properly yesterday when I got the word from my boys that you had visited our ship, and today morning, you grant me your gracious visit on your own! I feel guilty, accused, and dishonoured – I'm a terrible host and truly, I deserve no forgiveness from you..."