The ship slowed to a stop next to a large port. My eyes hurt from the blinding flash of time travel, making me disoriented. I had no idea what time I was in or where I had ended up. I opened the shutter on the cabin window and looked around at my surrounding, a moon port.

There was a thud somewhere on deck and my cabin door swung open, revealing a young man in a sailor suit. His small mustache twitched as he puffed up with authority

'Ma'am, you're holding up the port. You need to maneuver your ship into the docks and land,' he said this with many wild gestures as if I didn't understand English.

I nodded dumbly and climbed out of the cabin and up to my wheel. I started the ship up and sailed slowly into an empty dock and tied my ship down, so as not to lose it to the vast expanse of space beyond the port.

Another ship pulled in next to me and another and another. I pulled out my binoculars from my belt and looked at the landscape of sails and masts, searching for danger. A glint caught my eye from my right and I turned my head to see a magnificent ship of a cobalt blue pull in. The sails were another metallic shade of blue and the hull had a large plating of steel across it, giving it that expensive pirate look.

I glanced at my own ship, realizing how shabby it must look from many self done repairs, crashes, and sewn up sails. The solar polarity of my sails hardly showed due to such extensive damage.

The people on the blue ship weren't as rich as I had hoped. They were a bunch or rowdy pirates, no doubt that they stole that ship. I could smell their body odor and I could see the moon light reflect from their greasy hair. Their clothing seemed like rags tied together. I looked a little better than my ship. I had knee high boots with scuffed toes, thin grey jeans and a billowy white shirt tinged grey from wear and grime. A belt was wrapped around my waist, holding pirate's tools, a gun and a small sword without a scabbard.

The shirt had belonged to my father, a famous trader in his day. He was given this shirt from a prince as a gift. I missed my father a lot. He had taught me how to sail a boat and even gave my first raft boat.

I was born in the 1718's in a small cabin somewhere in the western hemisphere of earth. Some kin of ours, future kin mind you, came and took us to the 80's for me to be raised a proper young lady. That didn't happen, though, I had become a thief, a rogue, a pirate. I hid my stolen goods in a small box buried under our house. My parents had no idea what I was up to. I felt a lot of guilt when I ran away with my mom's ship. One of my future great, great, great grandchildren came to visit and we whisked away in that ship, a new Saturn 'Moonchaser' built in the 4090's. The ship was a cast off from the production line due to a glitch in the computer. The ship would go to a different time randomly, causing me to get a time watcher so I could track my ship down through the time limbo.

The offspring had left when they met their beloved, leaving me to seek my own fortune of piracy. I wasn't too poor, I had enough to fix my ship in need of repairs, buy food and clothes, though stealing had a thrill to it. I had left my mark across time. I was known as 'Starling the Pirate' among the 3600's and around the 4000's, I became a popular one among the authorities.

I absent-mindedly plucked a long brown hair off the chest of my shirt. A loud ruckus emerged from the blue ship, bringing me out of my thoughts and into reality. I walked to the bow of my ship and checked the hull for damaged. I had hit a space rock on the way here, and I needed to repair my ship before I left.

'Ello' there, young un',' A drunken voice said. The voice came from a pirate on the blue ship. He waved a bottle of rum around, sloshing it on himself and on the blue sheen of the ship. I ignored him and slid off my ship and into the nearby market place. I ordered a repair man to fix the hull of my ship real fast while I got supplies for my journey.

About two hours past and I had stolen a few more gallons of jet fuel and some new clothes. I swallowed my pride and bought a new sword with a few diamonds I had stolen from a booth nearby. The sword beautiful and was as sharp as a razor. With the sword in the old one's place, I gathered my goods and returned to my ship. The hull was fixed and my ship was ready to sail. Aboard my ship, I placed my goods in the cabin and went down into the small brig and placed the fuel with the other canisters.

The drunken pirate had returned to the side of the ship, making calls at me. He was close enough to where I could see his eyes glance down at my side, looking at the sword. He flew off the side and to his captain's cabin, the whole crew as now staring at me. I flung myself to the wheel and started my ship, feeling panicky as the pirates did the same, following me. The ship came close and I hit them with my newly repaired front, denting their ship before I sped off into nowhere. Next to me, my radio picked up a transmission, coming in garbled. I caught some of what he had said, the pirate captain of the blue ship, ''Give'.run'.Some Pirate you are'Lass'

I could feel the ship start to morph as time travel set in, I braced myself against the wheel, holding. The ship was going off on one of its random trips. Hopefully it would take me somewhere quiet so I could rest a while.

Another flash of light, this time it was blue, not white, signaled that I had landed in a new time. Immediately, I crashed into surf, scraping over reefs and onto a beach. About twelve feet from the beach, a hot jungle awaited me.
The sun beat down directly on my boat, the deck growing hotter by the second. I flew down into my cabin and grabbed my lucky pack, an old bag that never filled. I shoved gold, jewels, clothes and food into it. I rummaged under my hammock and pulled out a metal box. I took a key from in my pocket and released the lock, opening the rectangular top. Inside was a small dagger. I slid it in another small sheath at my belt. My belt had many pockets, loops and d-rings to hang things. I packed ammo and some water and left my ship after locking it up and burying the anchor.

I walked slowly across the beach to the jungle. This jungle had trees of many colors. I could feel someone staring at me and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck raise up. This was an island I that I have visited before once. Gangs of young hoodlums from the past and the present came here to trade, to fight, and to establish hierarchies among the oldest and toughest. I had joined one of the bands of ruffians when I had first set out on my own with my time ship. I was a girl, so no one really wanted to choose me to be in with them. A 'holmgang', which is a fight to the death or when ever the other person gets knocked out for more than fifteen minutes, was put together and I had to fight some of the thugs awaiting placement to win a spot among them.

I won every fight. I caused many broken bones and almost killed someone, but they woke up after three weeks in the healing baths near the Multalea Galaxy. I had earned my title as pirate when I was sixteen among and I had pillaged ever since. As a group, we went to less fortunate planets and looted the villages and cities with no bounds. We became rich and I was made captain of my crew, which became named Plankton after a crew member we lost during a looting.

I had led them for a year, but mutiny had struck and I had to fight for my life. I managed to keep all of my personal belongings during the fight and I had fled, stealing the small solar raft.

After a month of searching I had found my mother's ship again in a port near my home planet. I stole the ship back, leaving all the past owner's belongings on the deck and shooting off into no where.

Now, I was back. I knew that the pirates would follow my ion trail so I had to move fast. I slid through the trees, dodging branches and pulling stickers out of my arms every now and then. The trees became so close together, I had to suck my breath in as I squeezed between the wooden giants.

When I could fit no more, I climbed up an old palm and scanned the island for any movement. I could see the other pirate ship anchored next to mine. They didn't care about the ship, I had a treasure. I had many with me. I saw trees shaking with movement. I sat atop the old palm and tightened my boots. I strapped my dagger to my forearm with a bandana I kept in my shirt. I waited.

Two hours had past before I could see the pirates. They tried squeezing through the trees, but mostly just used laser guns to take them down. They all came to my tree. No one could fit through the gap and only the ruffians of the island knew how to get through it.

Suddenly I felt the tree shift. I was pitched forward as the tree fell. I caught myself on a branch and flung myself to the ground.

'There she be!' a pirate yelled.

I got to my feet and belted out of the jungle, pirates on my heels. From my left, I saw a different blur of movement. The gangs of the island had realized the intrusion and came to capture the invaders and torture them for the sheer pleasure of it.

I ran partway up a tree and flung myself on a tall branch and looked down. All of the pirates were captured and being led to the beach for interrogation. A small branch snapped behind me and a hand went around my head, clasping itself on my mouth. I was pulled down the tree and was able to turn around to see my captor.

'Plankton!' I gasped in surprise.
We embraced and exchanged kisses on the cheeks, both smeared in grime and tears, 'I thought'I thought you were dead.'

I hugged him again, burying my face in his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around me and we slowly lowered ourselves to the floor of the jungle.
He had floated in space for a day or so before an elderly couple found him and took him in. They had given him a ride in exchange for some hard labor. He told this to me in a small voice, like he was embarrassed. Plankton paused for a moment, lost in thought.

'Where is the rest of the crew?' he asked. He didn't know what had happened.

'Mutiny,' I said flatly, 'They all went against me. I grabbed my stuff and escaped though. I have no idea what they did after that.'

He hugged me closer, 'We need to go to the beach,' he stood up and pulled me to my feet, 'The captain wants to interrogate you, he doesn't recognize old captain Starling.

I stood up and brushed most of the dirt off my pants and boots. Plankton took a piece of rope and tied my hands gently behind my back. We walked slowly through the woods, talking of times past and what the future could hold for us. The closer we got to the beach, the quieter we got. The captain of the island isn't supposed to allow his mates to fraternize with possible enemies.

The sun burst forth from the trees as we walked out onto the beach. All of the pirates were surrounded by young men with long swords. They had been forced to their knees and tied by the neck with vines and rope. The captain was pacing back and forth, waiting for Plankton.

'Alas, lad! You made it back in one piece. I heard that this girl gave these pirates quite a chase,' the pirates all shot me glares of hatred as the captain spoke, 'Where did you find her?'

'Near the base camp,' Plankton replied.

'Near the base camp? No one but us of this island knows where the base camp is. Who are you, lass?' He stalked towards me and stood in front of me, every inch of him covered in silk and gold.

'Captain Starling of the Plankton crew, sir,' I said hotly.

'Starling? What...they'Your crew said you died. Are you telling me that it was all just some fish tale?' the captain roared.

All at once the young men surround the pirates took off. Each ran into a different part of the forest. Plankton removed the rope from my wrists and we ran to my ship.

He ran to the wheel and waited for me to give him instructions. I realized the pirates have their ship here too. I glanced at the blue ship in all its glamour.

I untied a line and threw myself over. I ran down into their brig and grabbed bags of gold and jewels and vaulted myself across to my ship. The pirates had gotten loose and watched me swing with bags of loot in hand. Loud yelling emerged, urging Plankton and I to move fast. He didn't even need me to tell him when to go.

With a loud blast, we set off again. The time ship flung itself around limbo. We could here the pirates behind us, once again following our trail.

As we sped through time, I climbed to the wheel and put my arm around Plankton. It was just like old times, except back then, we were the chasers.

An orange light appeared and we landed in a familiar dock. Another ship had just left with a large blue blast. I saw a middle aged woman run out to the port shouting a familiar name.

'PHEDRA! PHEDRA!' the lady yelled.

I reacted before I could think. She looked at the ship and stood at the dock, her mouth open. I jumped off the ship and ran up to her. My mom's eyes opened wide and she put her hands on my face and whispered something barely audible.

'Phedra''

We embraced and cried for a few minutes. I told her my story and she couldn't believe what she was hearing. Plankton came off the ship and introduced himself, earning a hug and a sloppy kiss to the forehead.

We all went inside her small house. Now this, this was like old times. Everything was the same. I had arrived at the very moment I had left so long ago. Back to my own bed and my old quiet life. The only difference, I was few years older and wiser.
Pirate indeed.