Pieces of the Puzzle

[Admiral Hart]

At a safe distance from the Cove, Hart meandered down to the brig. The escape, and recovery of his men, had gone very well, if, at times, a bit tricky. The only reason Thorn himself had probably not started firing on the ship was to make sure his best friend and first mate was okay. Morgan and Andi had arrived and the ship shoved off scant seconds before their clearance to leave had been denied, and Plunder's Heart had glided silently into the night while Hart was sure Thorn had just discovered T.K.'s little surprise in engineering.

The elder LeValle glared out of the energy bars of the brig. "You thugs won't get what you want. My daughter is....oh my god." She stopped, jaw dropping. "It really is you. And here I believed it when they said you killed yourself after..."

"After your son stole my Clara away from me." Hart snarled. They were alone in the room, and there were no cameras on them. "Where were you going to meet Anton, Drusilda? Tell me and I sell you to your daughter for a reasonable price. Don't tell me, and I cut off your limbs and sell the meat to starving families on Callisto."

"You can't scare me. I know you're too soft to do anything like that. And I'm not going to sell out my son to some low-born..." She was cut off when the bars lowered and Hart unsheathed his rapier. The blade began to hum and glow white.

"Anything that stands between me and Clara will be cut away, Drusilda. You wanna test that theory, or do you wanna see me get angry?" Hart said coldly.

She looked half untrusting, and half afraid. "...fine. You probably won't be able to reach him anyway. He's aboard the Vesuvius. It's a warship with an honor guard. It can tear your pathetic ship apart. I don't know exactly where it is. Somewhere between Mars and Earth. I was supposed to meet him there."

Hart gave her an appraising look before turning the prison back on and sheathing his sword. "Alright. Might as well get comfortable, Dru. You're going to be here a while."

*****

Back on the bridge, Hart made an announcement. "Attention crew. We are on full combat alert for the foreseeable future. We need to find a warship names Vesuvius before it is allowed to return to whereever it came from. This is a top priority mission. Any information any of you finds, intuits, or observes about the location of the Vesuvius must be reported to me immediately. Hart, out."

Morgan shot him a look. "Captain...He's on this ship, isn't he?"

"Yes." Was all Hart replied as he pretended to be very engrossed in a console in front of him.

"Jonah...."

"It's the first lead I've had in sixteen years, Morgan. I'm taking it." Hart said, a finality to his voice that caused the nearby crew to be somewhat surprised.

"...yes, sir." Morgan sighed, obviously concerned about his captain.

[Dr. Andromeda Reyes]

Andromeda sighed thankfully after she'd changed out of that dress, and back into clothes she was more comfortable in. No sooner had she stepped out from behind one of the privacy screens did the med-bay doors open, and a bloody Dane Marek come limping inside.

The doctor didn't even bat an eyelash. The first few months she had been continuously surprised, flabbergasted and upset at the amount of times this man managed to get himself hurt. Now it was just a daily occurance. Their routine was so ingrained, neither one even said a word to each other. She went to go get prepped while Dane shuffled over to the far-left examination bed. She was having serious thoughts about having Hart engrave his name in it, the weapons' specialist was sitting in it often enough.

Andromeda brought a tray of extraction and suture tools over, her hands now covered in white latex gloves. Dane had already helpfully removed his shirt, staring off into the distance and thinking hard about something. No doubt he was trying to come up with a way to help the Captain in this unexpected, out-of-the-blue search.

What on earth was the Vesuvius, and why was it suddenly so important? She had never heard the Captain take on such a serious tone of voice, not in the entire two years that she'd known him. It was more than a little unsettling.

Andromeda finally forced her mind to blank, doing her best to focus on Mr. Marek's injuries. It looked like he'd taken shot-gun shrapnel to the left side of his flank--nothing terribly deep but certainly bloody--and two separate gunshots to his left shoulder and another near his left elbow. The doctor administered local anesthesia, then set about removing the chunks of metal from his flesh. Dane barely flinched, both from being so preoccupied in his thoughts and from the fact that these would not be the first bullets he'd had removed. Not by far. Nor would they be the last.

[Admiral Hart]

The search had been going for days, and there was still nothing to be found. A few false alarms, a few narrow getaways, but, for the most part not a single sign of the Vesuvius.

Until the fourth day.

The ship had stumbled upon it almost by accident, along an old pirate route between the Cove and an old pirate shipyard in Earth orbit, which had long since been abandoned. The Plunder's Heart crested from behind a large, floating piece of a ship's hull and, directly ahead of them, moving on a course with Luna most likely in mind, was a massive black ship, surrounded by smaller vessels, key amongst them being a very familiar blue and white frigate.

"That...that's it!" Hart exclaimed, bolting up from his chair. "Annabelle wouldn't be there unless....Mr. Newman, scan that ship, get in its data banks, do a dna scan, anything. You're looking for Anton LeValle."

The scanner operator nodded, poked at his console a while, looked frustratedly at it, and turned back to the captain. "I'm sorry, Cap'n, but I can't get a reading or a good hack. Whatever or whoever's in that ship, it's using security measures I ain't seen before."

Hart looked like he had been shot. "There has to be a way. I need to know. God damnit god damnit!" He slammed his fists down in front of him, the thack making everyone on the bridge jump in their seats. "There has to be a..."

Morgan could almost see the lightbulb flick on. "Jonah, no. You promised. You promised Andromeda you wouldn't do this."

"This is too important. I am not going to let him get away. I am not going to let that bastard slip through my fingers again." He opened the ship inter-comm. "Cassiopeia Reyes, you are needed on the bridge immediately."

[Cassiopeia Reyes-Hart]

Cassiopeia fidgeted nervously as her sister led the way toward the bridge. Andromeda's whole body was tensed tighter than a bow string, almost vibrating with tension and mounting fury. Cassi herself was just plain scared. The voice that had summoned her up to the bridge hadn't sounded like her beloved Captain Hart. His tone had been harsh, edgy, steely. It had shaken her rather badly. No more than Andromeda's reaction to it, though. Her sister looked about ready to deck someone.

There was no reason to summon her up onto the bridge, unless he needed her for something. And there was really only one reason why anyone would need Cassiopeia, at this juncture.

They finally reached the bridge, and Andromeda strode inside, her hackles raised for battle. Cassi drifted in behind her more slowly, uncertain and afraid. The various crew-men all eyed her with a mixture of curiosity and dread. Even Morgan, standing off to the side, had a surprisingly pitying look in his brown eyes as he watched her creep inside. Then he shifted his gaze to glare angrily at Hart before turning back again. The pity turned to resigned sadness.

And the Captain. Cassi shivered. She had never seen him look so cold, or fiercely determined.

"You can't do this, Hart," her sister started angrily, voice trembling with emotion.

"In case you've forgotten, doctor, this is my ship," Hart replied tonelessly. "I can do whatever the hell I like."

"Damn you!" Andromeda hissed. "You promised me you wouldn't use her like this, you son of a bitch! She's a child, not a God-damned compass!"

Cassi's breathing started to quicken with her emotional turmoil, eyes watering. She didn't like watching people fight, least of all her two most favorite people in the world. That it was over her was even more devastating.

Hart remained impassive in the face of Andromeda's anger. "Either she does this, or I dump you both off at the nearest port and leave you there."

Andromeda gasped, drawing back and her face growing a shade pale, looking as if he'd just slapped her in the face. A wide-eyed Cassi faired no better.

"Jonah, no!" Morgan snarled, suddenly looking furious. Hart summarily ignored him.

Cassiopeia fought past her fear of the pain she knew would be coming, stepping forward. She didn't want to leave the ship. Plunder's Heart was the only real home she'd ever known. The crew was her family. She loved her Captain. She'd do anything for him.

Even if it killed her.

"What do you want me to see," she questioned, tone soft and warbling, but her chin lifted to a determined angle. She thought she might have detected a flash of pride in his clear blue eyes, and somehow that made what she was about to do just a little bit more bearable.

Helpless, Andromeda could only stand back and watch--as did the rest of the crew on the bridge--as Hart stepped closer to her and pulled something out of his pocket. It was an old style photograph, one that had been neatly cut in half. And the half he suddenly handed her had a very attractive man on it, well-groomed brown hair, tanned, very blue eyes. Cassi shivered a little in staring at him. Something about those eyes made her uneasy. It might've just been a trick of the still photograph, but they seemed so . . . cold. And empty.

"This man's name is Anton LeValle," the Captain murmured then. "I need you to tell me if he's on that ship. And where."

Cassiopeia took a deep breath, focusing on the face of the man in the picture. Memorizing every detail, every feature. Then she slowly started to sink down to her knees, her yellow skirt fluttering around her.

"It's probably better if I don't stand up," she murmured, her voice already far away. The edges of her vision started to blur.

Everyone else in the room gasped or gaped silently as Cassiopeia's normally innert, metallic irises suddenly began to move. Her pupils disappeared, and the whole iris seemed to swirl in on itself like two mini whirlpools.

The real world around her fractured into a million chaotic, colorful shards. She let out a slight cry as each of them seemed to stab and rake across her eyes like hot talons, digging mercilessly into her temples, threatening to make her head explode with the sheer amount of pain. Cassi dropped the picture, reaching up to grab at her hair on either side of her head, letting out a high-pitched, screaming wail.

"What do you see?" Hart demanded from somewhere in front of her. She thought she heard Andromeda yelling, but she couldn't concentrate that much past the pain.

"I can't . . . I can't see . . . it hurts!" she whimpered, tears streaming steadily out of her wide-open eyes as they stared unblinkingly at the floor in front of her.

"You can do this, Cassi," Hart growled, seemingly heartless. "Focus! Where is he?!"

She grit her teeth, trying to force the shards to come together to show her what she needed to see. Doing so was like dragging a white-hot needle across her eyes. She slowly managed to piece one part of the puzzle, and then another. And then another. The pain was so intense, she thought she would surely pass out any minute, but somehow she managed to keep going. When the first convulsion hit, she fell back onto the floor, her spine bowing up almost completely off the floor. She let out another high-pitched scream.

"You're gonna kill her!" someone yelled.

"Stay back!" Hart snarled to whomever had thought to intervene. And then, "Cassi? Cassi, tell me what you see!"

She convulsed again, a thin trail of blood leaking out of one nostril.

"He's . . . he's there," she gasped out through her sobs, near-hyperventilating from the pain and the trauma. But she'd finally managed to piece the puzzle together. Her Captain would be happy again, and then nobody would fight anymore. "He's . . . passenger area. Seventh floor. Ninth room to the left. His room. Personal quarters. There's a man standing outside. He has a snake on his shirt."

And then, very slowly, the colors slipped away. The world righted itself again. Visibly shaking, Cassi stared up blearily at the man she'd do anything for, and tried to smile. Hoping she'd done him proud.

And then the world went blissfully black and still.

[Admiral Hart]

Andi was glaring at Hart for nearly a full minute before ordering someone to help her take her sister to sick bay. Jonah knew he had done a horrible thing. He knew it was irrevocable.

And, yet, something inside him still burned. He turned to the rest of his crew and started to bark out orders. "Combat positions, now! Jane, I want you to go in hard and fast. We need to disable the warship first, and..."

"Belay those orders!" Morgan announced. "You're out of control, Jonah. That convoy will slaughter us. We need a plan. Or at least an ace up our sleeve. We can't go in there like this."

"Anton will not escape me, Morgan. You know how long I've waited for this!" Hart snarled.

"Is it worth you killing your friends and family, Jonah?" Morgan snapped back. "Because if we attack now, we're all dead. You included."

Hart stared with impotent rage for a moment before he stalked off to his cabin.

"Jane, head back to the cove. I need to talk to Eight Fingered Willy and see if he can get any weapon to help even this fight out. Newman, I want you and the nav crew to figure out the exact route that convoy's gonna be taking back. We will be hitting it. But we will be prepared." Morgan ordered. "Jane, I have to go talk to the Captain about all this. You and Dr. Reyes are the senior officers until I get back."

"Yes, sir!" She replied, a bit too eager.

***

Hart growled as he stomped into his room, Morgan shortly behind him.

"God damnit, Jo. You know better than this." The First Mate said as he closed, locked, and soundproofed the door.

"He's right there, Morgan. He's right there and I coulda had him! He's so close and..." Captain Hart, the most feared pirate in the solar system, then began to sob. Morgan stepped behind his Captain and wrapped his arms around him.

"I know, luv. Shhh. It's gonna be alright." He said softly.

"I want my Clara back. I want her back and every time I get close I just get torn away and it hurts so bad...." Hart sobbed, turning and burying his face in Morgan's chest. Morgan held his Captain and began to stroke his hair softly.

"Shhhh, I know it hurts. You don' have to do anything. I put Jane and Andromeda in charge. We're gonna do see Eight-Finger Willy and get something we can use to help us out. The crew is scanning the path the Vesuvius is likely to take. We'll get him, and you'll have your daughter back. You just have to wait a bit longer." Morgan said softly.

Hart chuckled a bit despite himself. "You put Jane in charge? The whole crew is going to be topless before the day's out."

"That should cheer you up." Morgan said, smiling.

Hart looked up at Morgan, leaned up slightly, and kissed his First Mate gently on the lips. Morgan kissed back, and when it was over, said, "Can I look my wife in the face and hear her voice for once?"

Hart glanced cautiously to the door. "Someone could..."

"It's locked, Jo." Morgan replied, rolling his eyes. "No need to get paranoid."

Hart pulled away from Morgan, and removed a very fine layer of skin-like plastic from "his" face, revealing a much more delicate, feminine facial structure. Then, "he" removed "his" adam's apple, which was made of the same stuff. Hart removed her jacket, putting it on a nearby chair as she reached onder her shirt at the sides and pulled down thicker strips of the same material, which had been dulling her, admittedly mild, curves.

"Better?" A feminine-voiced Hart asked Morgan. He smiled, nodded, and took Captain Josetta Hart in his arms.

"There's the woman I married." Morgan smiled. "I missed you, darlin'."

"I missed you too." Hart replied, embracing Morgan. "...I...I screwed up today, didn't I? I shouldn't have gotten Cassi involved. I promised not to."

"Aye, you did. But you know you did. Now you have to make ammends." Morgan replied, not uncompassionately.

"...now?" Hart asked, just a bit of a seductive edge to her voice.

"Well, she's probably still out of it now..." Morgan replied, and then the two secret spouses began to kiss much, much more passionately.

[Cassiopeia Reyes-Hart]

Cassi slowly came awake, blinking confusedly up at the bright white lights of the med bay. Her brow furrowed in confusion. Wait, where . . . ?

"Cassi?" Cassiopeia turned to see Andromeda suddenly appear at her side, expression drawn with worry. "Are you alright, sweetheart?"

Cassi did her best to smile reassuringly while Andromeda sifted her fingers through her long blonde hair. "I'm fine," she insisted, ignoring how soft and weak her voice sounded at the moment. She winced a little then in embarrassment, attempting for some lighter stab at levity. "It probably looked scarier than it really was.

Oh geez, Morgan had seen her spazzing out. How humiliating.

Andromeda's golden-brown eyes hardened into frosty shards. "It looked like agony," she bit out, tone hoarse with emotion. "I don't ever want to see you do something like that again," her sister pronounced, tone final. "And if that selfish bastard wants to try and make you--,"

"Please, Andi," Cassi suddenly murmured, expression crumpling. "It was important, you heard him say so," she tried to implore. "You know the Captain wouldn't hurt me on purpose. And I feel perfectly fine now. No harm done. 'Cept maybe a little bit of a headache," she finished, rubbing at one of her temples.

Andromeda just sighed at that, obviously wanting to say more but having taken the hint and deciding to let it be for now. She pulled the blankets farther up to her chin.

"I want you to get some rest," her sister ordered softly. "No getting out of this bed for the rest of the night, and I mean that. Your brainwave patterns were all over the place when we first brought you in here. I don't want to take any chances."

Cassi nodded obediently for once, not wanting to agitate her sister anymore than Andromeda already was. The younger girl smiled when the other bent, pressing a gentle kiss to her brow. One filled to the brim with affection and love. And then Andromeda straightened and turned to leave, pulling the privacy screen closed around the bed that Cassi lay in. A moment later the lights shut off, and Cassi heard the sound of the door opening and then closing again.

The blonde lay in the bed for several moments, carefully testing the low, throbbing ache in her skull. It hurt, but it wasn't unbearable. And the med-bay wasn't so very far away from the bridge.

She needed to check on the Captain, needed to make sure he was okay. She'd never get any sleep otherwise, worrying and wondering what had happened. If she been able to give him what he needed so badly. Cassi took two fortifying fist-fulls of the blanket, then took a deep breath and concentrated on the Captain's face.

A moment later, the colored shards began piecing back together, with Cassi wincing and whimpering slightly from the strain. Apparently the captain was a bit farther away than the bridge. He was in his personal quarters. And Morgan was with him. They were talking. And then the Captain was crying. Cassi gasped a little, her eyes tearing up with him. She was only mildly surprised when Morgan suddenly hugged him, and then started stroking his red hair. Morgan wasn't usually a very physically affectionate sort of guy, after all.

She tensed a little though, the longer they stayed that way. And the air of almost . . . intimacy that was suddenly between them. Warning bells started going off in her mind, but she refused to acknowledge them. It couldn't be. It wasn't possible.

When they suddenly kissed, Cassi's mouth dropped open in pure shock. Her brain numbed over, unable to process any clear, logical thought beyond continuing to watch the bizarre tableau in front of her like a train-wreck, horrified but unable to look away.

When the Captain suddenly pulled away, and then literally pulled his face off, Cassi began to cry. Soft, silent sobs wracked her slender frame as she watched the man she'd held like a father--the man she'd loved and trusted almost more than the sister who had practically raised her and given up everything for her happiness--become a stranger right before her eyes.

Captain Jonah Hart was a woman. And she had been lying to her all along.

And to dig the knife deeper into her heart, Morgan suddenly grinned and wrapped his arms around the slim, redheaded woman lovingly. Spoke several soft, loving words to her. One of which Cassi caught very clearly.

Wife.

And then he kissed her deeply, passionately. With all the love Cassi had naively thought might one day belong to her. Instead it belonged to the stranger who had been hiding in her beloved Captain's face. Cassi forced her eyes to close with a slight cry, forcing the vision to stop. And then she turned and curled into a tiny ball of broken-hearted misery, her whole body wracked with bitter sobs.

And a tiny piece of Cassiopeia Reyes' innocence slowly died away.

[Dr. Andromeda Reyes]

Andromeda stepped into the small office attached to the med-bay, releasing a shaking sigh. She was still so wound up she could hardly think straight. She still couldn't believe that Hart had done this. It went against everything she had known of him for the past two years. He went out of his away to protect Cassi, but today he'd purposefully caused her harm.

And what's worse, from the cold look in his eyes, he hadn't even cared that what he was making Cassi do was an agony for the sixteen year old. Or, if he had, it was so buried beneath his crazed fervor to get ahold of this Anton LeValle that he'd shoved it to the wayside.

Andromeda reached for her datapad, her breath hitching. She tried to study Cassiopeia's lifesign readings but found it difficult to read with the tears suddenly swimming in front of her eyes.

Well what did you expect, old girl? a bitter voice inside of her questioned. He's a PIRATE, Andi, not a socialite. You should have known better. His word is only good until it doesn't suit his purpose anymore. And then you're both expendible.

Either she does this, or I dump you both off at the nearest port and leave you there.

Andromeda grit her teeth against the pain that that simple statement had caused, even hours later. After leaving her job, abandoning her family and fleeing Mars, Cassiopeia wasn't the only one who had felt listless and alone. Though she might stubbornly complain and turn her nose up at some of the more lawless goings' on here, the Plunder's Heart had become her home as well. A sense of stability she'd clung to desparately.

For the first time in two years, Andromeda began to feel the niggling fear of uncertainty once more, her position in this world no longer secure or certain. She had made up her mind, after all, and there would be no deviating from it. If Captain Hart tried to force Cassi to scry again, Hart wouldn't have to throw them off the ship. Andromeda was packing them up and leaving off the first port they came to. She had managed to keep them alive and free for five months before joining this crew, and she had learned so much more since then, from the company she'd kept aboard this ship.

Andromeda blinked her tears away, her golden eyes hard and fierce, her mothering instincts kicking hard to the fore. She had given up everything for her sister once. If backed into a corner, she would show Captain Hart just what his "soft, aristocrat doctor" was capable of.

[Dane]

Dane sat in his room, more specifically in his gun room at a work bench, taking apart a large rifle piece by piece, cleaning it, then putting it back together again, then reaching over and picking up a new one and repeating the process.

Whats with the captain? Mans actin' like a crazed man, this Anton dude must have really got under his skin.

Dane shook off those thoughts and threw off his shirt, damn things getting in the way. From there he continued taking apart his guns, cause from the way things where lookin', he just might need one of them.

[Admiral Hart]

Hart entered the medbay, once again dressed up as a man. "Knock knock?" He said, knocking on the doorframe. Andromeda looked up at him briefly and expressionlessly, then turned away to busy herself with something.

"Hey, Andi." He said sincerely. "We need to talk."

"Talk then." The doctor said brisquely as she continued to work on things which probably were not as important as the attention she was giving them. "I cannot stop you from doing what you want to do. We both know that now."

"I'm sorry, Andi. For what I made Cassi do. I went too far and I realize it now." Hart said, serious again.

"You do not need to apologize. It is your ship and you can do whatever you want on it." She replied coolly and aloofly.

"It will never happen again. I promise." He said, stepping forward.

"Please, Captain. No need to promise. It means nothing anymore." Andromeda replied, still not showing much expression as she continued to sort needles and such.

The Captain looked away, visibly hurt by that. "Anton LeValle stole my daughter from me. He used his government connections to make sure if I ever tried to get her back, I would spend my life in Io. I vowed since that day that I would find him and make him give me back my Clara."

She gave him a stunned stare. "...you have a daughter, sir?"

"Yes." He replied, looking away himself. "I haven't seen her since she was born, but every waking moment of my life I yearn for her back. I remember every little thing about her tiny face." Hart wiped a tear from his face. "So, I'm sorry for hurting Cassi and forcing her into that. I never wanted to hurt her but...I just need my daughter back." Hart turned and started to leave. "I hope you forgive me someday, if you decide to stay on. I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to leave."

She stared down at her hands. " . . . I'm sorry. I didn't know, I . . ." She cleared her throat. "As you know, sir, we don't . . . really have anywhere else to go. This ship is our home. And . . . " Andi then glanced up, with a stare much softer than usual. "It's because of you that Cassi has had any semblance of normalcy in her life, and I don't think I'll ever be able to repay you for that. I just . . . I don't want her to get hurt anymore. She may not show it, but she's hurt far too much in her young years, more than any girl should ever have to."

Hart paused at the door. "You have my word, Andromeda. Anyone who hurts Cassi, and that includes me, will have to answer for it ten-fold. Both she, and you, mean a great deal to me." The Captain then left, his mind a storm, but with one more goal in mind before he rested--there was still one more Reyes girl to apologize to.

[Dr. Andromeda Reyes]

Both she, and you, mean a great deal to me . . . .

Andromeda stared at the space that Jonah Hart had been occupying only a moment ago, not having moved since he'd left it. Her mind was a chaotic jumble, uncertainty and confusion warring with soft sympathy and something that she couldn't deny was coming very close to warm affection.

Do you really think he's going to keep his word, this time? What makes this different than the last time?

Andromeda sighed, but frowned at herself. This time, she answered her own inner monologue, he just shared a very personal piece of himself to me. He was sincere, I know it. Then she made a face, rolling her eyes. And the first time we had this conversation, he asked me what color my panties were right afterward.

She smiled a little then, able to find humor in the long-ago conversation now, as she understood a bit more of Captain Hart's particular brand of humor. He hadn't been serious. He just wanted to get a rise out of her, as she had been doing her damndest at the time to play stern and cold-hearted, not wanting to give any of her fear or anxiety away.

Andromeda's cheeks colored a little. At least . . . she didn't think he was serious.

She scooped up the supplies she'd been tallying, replacing them in their proper drawer. A daughter. How bizarre. Hart had never shown any indication of having a family before now. And suddenly he had a child, one who had been stolen from him. Suddenly things made much more sense than before. Though she couldn't help but wonder who the mother of this mysterious Clara was, and if she was still alive. Or in any way important to the man whom she now had no doubts would never rest until he'd recovered the child that belonged to him.

[Admiral Hart]

"Cassi? No, you just missed her." A crewman said for the fifth time. Captain Hart sighed. It had been like this all day.

On their way back to the Cove, Hart had been searching high and low for the ship's mascot, only to find a series of cold trails and near misses. It was almost as if Cassi was changing her direction at random. Or that she knew exactly where Hart was going to look next and moved directly away from that.

Hart tapped the communicator in his lapel. "Morgan, this is Hart. I'm going to have to have a coordinated search with you. Cassi's using her power to avoid me."

"Maybe you should let her..."

"Maybe I should find her and set things right. Excellent idea."

"Yes, sir." Morgan sighed.

"Alright, I'll keep you posted on where to go. Hart out." Jonah replied, and began his search anew.

[Cassiopeia Reyes-Hart]

Cassi slipped through the halls of the Plunder on bare, silent feet, giving more absent-minded smiles than usual to the various crew that she passed, but not enough to arouse anyone's suspicion. She wasn't much in the mood to smile at present, but her soft-hearted nature refused to allow her to take her grumpy mood out on anyone else. She entered the gym area, giving Ivan--the bear-shaped crewman in charge of this room--a nod of greeting.

Ivan smiled back before going back to repairing one of the broken exercise machines. Cassi drifted over to the towels, fingering a few that were still folded horribly, her thoughts drifting to the last time she'd been in this room, folding them. Her eyes narrowed a little, chest squeezing painfully.

Jonah Hart is a big, fat, horrible liar! she wanted to scream at the top of her lungs. She wanted to turn to Ivan and spitefully spill every dirty secret she'd gleaned from the deceiving snake. She'd had the urge riding her hard all day today, with every crew member she passed.

Hey, did you know? Captain Hart is really a girl. And she's screwing Morgan on the sly. Apparently they're married. Wild stuff, huh?

And yet, something held her back from it. Maybe it was a shred of residual loyalty, a flicker of remembered affection. Or maybe she just didn't want to be the bearer of that angst-fest. She was having a hard enough time dealing with her own knowledge of it. Let alone everyone else freaking out about the Twilight Zone episode her life had suddenly become.

Cassiopeia frowned slightly, her eyes swirling into chaotic pools. Then she scowled.

She was coming here next.

Hart had been looking for her all day, but Cassi was in no mood to deal with her right now. She wasn't ready to face all the pain and anguish she'd managed to bottle deep in her chest, what she hadn't spilled sobbing all night last night into her pillow.

"Thinks look okay in here right now, Ivan," she called, turning and heading for the door, looking as nonchalant as possible. "I'll see you around."

"Sure thing, Cass," he called after her.

Cassi went to the mess-hall next, munching on the sweet-roll that Happy gave her, smirking and rolling her eyes at the portly man's wagging his finger at her and chastising that she would ruin her dinner all the while. And then, before Hart managed to track her down there, she slipped off to the observation deck. She'd already checked there earlier today, it had been one of the deceitful woman's first stops. And had the Captain tried it only two minutes earlier, she might've found Cassi there staring out at the stars wizzing by, trying to make sense of her tattered emotions.

Cassi slowly loped through the doors, sighing heavily.

"Cassi."

She jerked, freezing like a wounded animal, her head snapping up to stare at where Morgan was standing in the center of the room. Powerful, painfully handsome Morgan. Sleeping with Jonah Hart Morgan. Cassi cursed herself for an idiot. She had forgotten to scry on him.

She scowled, fists clenching, and then turned back for the door.

"Cassi, wait!"

She ignored him, for once, pelting back through the door and darting off down the hall. She heard the sound of his boots pounding after her, and put on a bigger burst of speed. Her eyes flickered for a moment, and then she abused her agility and dancing ability to reach out and grab a railing as she passed, yanking herself into another side passage with a half-flip that would have made any gymnast green with envy.

Narrowly avoiding Hart rounding the corner she would've gone down, who had been on an intercept course to catch her.

Cassiopeia landed nimbly back on her feet and took off again. Yet she drew to a halt a few seconds later, breathing hard and staring at the dead-end she'd accidentally come to with wide, stricken eyes. She clenched her fists, teeth gnashing, glaring at the obstacle as two sets of boots finally caught up to her, and then drew to a halt behind her.

"Go away," she bit out slowly, through her clenched teeth.

"Cassi," Hart called, only slightly winded, and her fists clenched harder at the fake, masculine tone of her voice. Liar, liar, liar, liar. "Princess, we need to talk."

"I don't want to talk to you!" she snarled loudly, and had she been facing them, she would have seen identical looks of shock and worry suddenly appear on both Hart and Morgan's faces. Cassiopeia had never so much as raised her voice in the entire two years that they'd known her. "Either of you! Just go away and leave me alone!"

"Cassi, I'm so sorry for making you use your powers yesterday," Hart pronounced then, and--and she not known it for the falsity it was--Cassi would have been immediately softened by the sound of hurt remorse in her fake man-voice. "I would never hurt you on purpose, sweetheart. Not ever."

Cassi began to visibly shake with her bottled up emotions. "You're lying," she hissed.

"Lying? What do you mean by that, Cass? I wouldn't lie to you--,"

"Stop it!" she screamed then, and finally whirled around to face them. Her silvery eyes were narrowed into furious slits. "You're lying to my face right now!" Hart just stared at her, looking stricken, while Morgan's face was drawn into a confused scowl. She sneered at them both, for once heartless to either of them. "I saw you last night," she revealed at last, tone shaking with emotion. "I know what you really are. How you've been lying to everybody all along. I know your secret."

Captain Hart and her First Mate stared at Cassi with identical looks of absolute shock and dumbfoundation on their faces a minute before the redhead glanced at his First Mate and then turned on his heel. Cassi had no more time than to blink before Morgan suddenly lunged for her. Her screaming yelp was largely ignored as the larger man snatched her up off her feet and then slung her over his shoulder like a sack of grain.

Ironically enough, a few days ago she would've liked this scenario.

Instead she squirmed and thrashed in his hold, beating somewhat ineffectually at his back and kicking her legs, but to no avail. The huge arm wrapped around her waist was as strong as steel, keeping Cassi firmly in place as the First Mate quickly strode after the Captain. Who had quickly ducked into one of the guest rooms, holding the door open for Morgan, carrying his quarry in tow. Hart slammed and locked the door shut, reaching into her coat pocket and removing a strange silver device before mounting it on the jamb.

Meanwhile Morgan took a few more steps into the room before finally letting Cassi slip back to her own feet. The sixteen year old immediately backed away from them, into a far corner of the small chamber, eyes sullen and a touch nervous, though she'd die before ever admitting it.

"So, what're you gonna do now?" she taunted bitterly. "Are you gonna kill me to keep me from blabbing? Or maybe cut out my tongue," she decided then. "That's what pirates do, isn't it?"

Hart winced, then stepped closer to her, blue eyes sad and awash with emotion, which Cassi did her best to stay unaffected by.

"No, sweetheart, nobody's gonna hurt you. I just want to talk, preferably in a room where no one else can listen in. I want to explain to you what's going on." When Hart reached out a hand to her, Cassi flinched and drew back, ignoring the haunted flinch of pain that the action illicited from Hart in the process.

"Oh I understand perfectly, what's going on," she snapped. Despite her resolve, her eyes started to water with deeply wounded tears, her heart broken in her silvery stare. "I might be young, but I'm not stupid. You lied to me. You pretended to like me and then all the while you were . . ." she hiccuped, her pained gaze slipping to a highly uncomfortable Morgan before centering on Hart again. "And I . . . I was so stupid I fell for it, and . . . ." A small sob escaped her chest, her face crumpling completely into tortured sorrow. "My parents might have never loved me, but at least they never made me love them back!" she finished in a soft, humiliated whimper.

[Admiral Hart]

"Cassi, sweety, honey," Hart began reaching out for her. "I never meant to hurt you with this. It's just...I have to not be the real me for a bit longer. I has nothing to do with lying to you. I'm the same person I always was."

Cassi flinched a bit from Hart's hand on her shoulder the pirate smiled weakly. "Please, Cassi. Please, trust me. I'm sorry for misleading you...I'm sorry for misleading everyone. There's just..." She sighed. "The person I used to be doesn't exist anymore. She was a sixteen year old actress who faked her suicide and became a pirate. She's can't exist, not until I get...get what I lost back."

"You're probably just lying again. Everything you've ever said is a lie!" Cassi said, stamping her foot and pulling away.

"I know exactly how you feel, Cassi." Hart replied. "To trust someone so completely and think they can do no wrong, and then they just stab you in the back. I know how that feels, because I felt it when Anton LeValle, the man I..." She choked up a little at this point and looked down, making it obvious what she would have said next. "When he stole my baby from me."

Cassi said nothing, but at least the look on her face had shifted from anger and distrust to surprise, curiosity, and sympathy.

"It's hard being a woman and a pirate, Cassi. It's damn near impossible to get the men to respect you, and when you ask for to get on a crew, the first thing they usually ask is, 'what're you gonna be, the whore?' Things have changed a little in the past ten years, but I...Captain Jonah Hart's name has respect to it. It has fear. That respect and that fear will make it galaxies easier to get LeValle. To get my Clara back. And I'm so, so sorry that my charade has made you upset, Princess, because I love you like I love Clara. You're the daughter I never had." Captain Hart brushed a few tears away. "If you hate me now, I understand. But I still love you."

Cassi said nothing. She merely leapt at Captain Hart and hugged her tightly. Hart smiled and hugged her back.

"I forgive you." She whispered into Hart's ear. The Captain smiled.

"I gathered. Now, the ship's been a bit gloomy lately. Would you mind cheering things up a bit before we get to the Cove?" Hart replied after a few minutes.

"No, I'll get right on it, Captain!" Cassi replied and skipped out of the room. When the door closed again, Morgan turned to Hart.

"The secret's going to be out sooner or later, Jo."

The Captain sighed. "I know, Morgan. I just hope it's later rather than sooner."

[Cassiopeia Reyes-Hart]

As soon as the door closed behind her, Cassi's cheerful bounce faltered again, and she slowed to a stop a few feet away. The girl let out a heavy sigh, reaching up to rub at her eyes, sore from so much crying in the past twenty-four hours.

Inwardly she was still a bit confused, but at least she had one solid thing to cling to. The Captain still loved her. Whether Jonah Hart was a he, she or something in between, the deep affection in his voice had been completely genuine. She was a little surprised herself to discover it, but despite everything, Cassiopeia still loved her Captain. Somehow she doubted that would ever change.

Now, she just had to figure out how to deal with the fact that the man she thought she loved was in love with her beloved Captain instead.

Cassi blew out a shuddering breath before resolving to put that whole mess aside for now. Maybe later, she'd be able to properly process that train-wreck. Yet, for now, she was just too darned tired to try. So instead she started moving again, her steps taking on a more familiar, energetic bounce. Somewhere out there, there was a crewman in need of cheering, and as the mascot it was her sworn duty to see to it.

Cassiopeia buried her own pain deep, and put on a bright smile for the others. It wouldn't do to let them worry, after all.