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The frigate had been painted blue and given the palest sails. As such, it looked silly when docked and its crew was often the target of some mean spirited jibes. When it was proven that each of the pirates that sailed on the The Deadly Sin was lethal in surprising ways, the jokes and jokers died down quickly. Out on the open ocean, The Deadly Sin was invisible, quick, and destructively lethal. This was a combination that got the attention of those responsible for keeping order, which began to pursue the ship.
The frigate’s captain took them to a small, uninhabited island he knew. They would make some much needed repairs and restock what supplies they could, while teams scouted the island for anything else useful or interesting. The captain took the ship’s doctor with him to explore, over the doctor’s protests at getting his innards scrambled by the small longboats that took them from ship to shore.
“Gods above, Crossbones, it’s been far too long since we got to do this!” The captain grinned as he looked around.
“Drained of our blood by insects instead of officers?”
Captain Kirk laughed, but trailed off as he saw something strange.
They were on top of a medium hill and could see both sides of the oblong island from their vantage point. Behind them was The Deadly Sin, anchored amidst a hive of working bees and a sandy beach. Before them was the rocky coast that showed which side of the island was hit by the most waves. The tide was out now, but a foaming mass of sea was moving toward the rocky beach. Intrigued, Captain Kirk started that way, his doctor muttering as he followed.
By the time they got to the rocky shore, the sea had calmed and left behind a dark mass of seaweed and other things. Not caring about his personal safety, Captain Kirk dug through the seaweed with his bare hands. Crossbones muttered about sharp objects and death by fever, but neither man was prepared for the hand that shot out of the mass of seaweed that Kirk had moved. The hand landed lightly on Kirk’s face, but he didn’t pull away or brush it off; he simply crouched and stared at where the hand emerged from the seaweed.
Crossbones muttering became full-fledged cursing as he tried to get his captain’s attention. He pulled out his short sword, intending to use it to separate the hand from Kirk without touching either, but hesitated. It was in this pause that Kirk was released, staggering back from his squatting position to swaying on his feet. A face emerged from the seaweed, with greenish skin and dark hair, to look directly at Kirk.
“Jim. Your name is Jim.” The voice was deep and rich, but seemed to be all the man had the energy to say. At Jim’s nod of confirmation, the stranger passed out, slumping gracefully to the ground.
Crossbones turned to Jim, his captain and priority, but Jim was moving to the stranger.
“That was weird. He touched me and I got mental images. I could even hear words, but I couldn’t understand them.”
“Fascinating. Now help me get him out of the seaweed so I can check him over for injuries.”
“Fine, but you should be aware that he didn’t look exactly human in the mental images I received.”
“Don’t care, he’s passed out, probably injured and I am a physician.” Crossbones groused as he pulled away the seaweed, noticing a strange green fluid that kept seeping up. It was when he tried to pull away the large fish half hidden under the mess that Crossbones realized what was off, and Jim smirked at his confusion.
“Yeah, that’s what I was trying to tell you.”
“Since you enjoyed this so much, you can carry him back to the ship.”
“As if I wouldn’t have had to anyway.” Jim said, grin chasing away any hard feelings that might have been caused by his words.
Together, they managed to get the being draped across Jim’s shoulders, as the tail was really flexible. Crossbones followed behind, studying how the narrow yet muscular torso blended seamlessly with the fish scales of the tail. By the time Jim’s bathing tub had been moved from his cabin to the deck and filled with seawater, Crossbones had accepted the merman as being real. He used water-resistant ointments where needed and stitched up a few lacerations, waiting for the merman to wake.
Most of the crew stopped by to take a good look, to notice how the scales looked black in the daylight but multicolored in hues of blue when under salt water. Several of the crew, and not just the women, muttered about how good looking the man was, with his pointed ears and long black hair. Jim got to tell his story several times, his words a soft hum in the background of Crossbones’ work. This was Crossbones calling and profession, so he stayed with the injured man for the rest of the day and all the night too, waiting for the man to wake.
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Crossbones was sleeping out the heat of the day, head resting against his patient’s tub when a splash of water brought him around. The merman was peering over the tub, studying Crossbones with intense eyes. Crossbones woke up quickly and was about to speak meaningless, calming words for easing the distress of a patient who might not speak the same language when he noticed the lack of emotions showing on the patient’s face.
Jim had talked of a man in robes with pointed ears, called Surak. This man had preached on the terror of letting emotions rule the mind and had developed quite a following of people devoted to logic. Some of his followers had traveled the desert, looking for converts, and found a sexless being who lived and thrived in that harsh environment. Mocking the attempts at conversion, the being had cursed this group of missionaries. They had gone from a harsh, dry desert to being confined to the sea, or so Jim relayed of his memories. From the eyes looking at him, Crossbones figured the beings had kept the theory of non-emotionalism even as their world was inverted.
“I thank you for your assistance, Healer McCoy.”
“Right. Forget how you know English, what makes you think that’s my name?”
“Touch telepathy. After my attack I was vulnerable and needed to ascertain if Jim was a threat as quickly as possible. I had to absorb a common language to do so, which also lead to me understanding much of Jim’s surface thoughts. He was concerned that I not harm you, which was how I knew he would not harm me.”
“Obviously you don’t know humans very well; we’re more than capable of protecting our own while hurting everybody else.”
“Does your captain intend to harm me, after having allowed you to nurse me back to health?”
“No, but Jim’s an exception to most rules.” Crossbones shrugged at that. “Anyway, call me Crossbones in front of the other crewmembers, Jim is Captain Kirk and I should go tell him you are awake. What’s your name?”
“Spock.”
“Well Spock, welcome to The Deadly Sin.”
“I second that!” Jim called, almost jogging up to them. “Came to see how it was going, so I guess my timing is as good as always.”
“Patient and doctor are both awake, if that’s what you mean.” Crossbones said.
“So, Spock, as Crossbones said, welcome. You can stay as long as you need, since I have some idea of how you received those wounds. If you want, we can move you to a different part of the ocean, where there might be less of your people, or a different group.”
“Captain, what makes you think my people were involved with my injuries?”
“Crossbones mentioned they looked like knife wounds, not teeth or animal claws. You don’t have to explain, unless it will put my ship in danger, but most of my crew is made up of people that are outcasts in some way.”
Spock leaned back in the tub and closed his eyes, as if meditating on the best way to answer. The water glowed for a second, and when it faded Spock’s tail was split in two, his fins replaced with feet. He stood and stepped out of the tub, legs and feet covered with iridescent scales for trousers. Turning to face the astonished doctor and captain, Spock lifted one eyebrow as he spoke.
“My mother was human, which allows me to acquire legs when needed. My contemporaries do not appreciate this dilution of the Vulcan bloodlines and often show me what a weakness it is.”
“Weakness?” Crossbones heard his voice croak out. “How is the ability to have the best of both worlds a weakness? How is that logical?”
“A perspective most of my kinsmen do not share, Doctor.”
“We, however, are not choosers, nor beggars.” Jim grinned at that but didn’t even get an eyebrow lift out of Spock. “We are pirates, simply because we don’t want to live by societies rules. We take whatever comes our way that might be useful, or even interesting. You, Spock, have already proven to be very interesting, so you are welcome to stay as long as you like.”
“I can be useful as well, since I know more about the ocean and tides than any human. I would also make a useful spy as nobody expects spies to breathe underwater.”
“Boast a little louder why don’t you?”
“I am not boasting, Doctor, simply stating facts.”
“Gentleman, don’t fight; you’re both very pretty. We’ve got two more days of gathering supplies on this island, so why don’t we use that time to get Spock settled in? We’ve got a world to explore.”
“Exploration?” Spock asked. “I was under the impression that pirates were after monetary gains. Many of the pirate ships I have seen have been sunk in the pursuit of more wealth.”
“I’m not adverse to a little gold, these fancy clothes aren’t free, but my preferred booty isn’t gold.” Jim licked his bottom lip and ran his eyes over Spock’s strange new figure. “Or even female.”
“This is why the captain gets his own room while the rest of the ship shares.” Crossbones informed Spock.
“Don’t let him fool you; ship’s doctor has his own room too.”
“Fascinating.” Was all Spock had to say to that, before he was exploring his new home.
sBSbBs