Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters.

Chapter 12

The moment the map transformed into a blinking line that raced across the horizon the group felt their hearts simultaneously plummet and race uncontrollably.

"Should I close it?" Jim asked in a near panic.

"Close it!" Doppler cried as he lunged towards Jim.

"Just wait a blessed moment, would you!" Amelia ordered as she knocked the doctor's grasping hands away from their cabin boy.

For his part Silver remained still and waited for the axe to drop. This was a tactical error of the worst kind, equivalent to lighting a giant signal fire and waving a white flag, one which was unlikely to be ignored. As his mind raced right along with his thundering heart he suddenly came up with a plan. He turned to face the arguing trio and saw the doctor was still trying to wrest the map away from Jim while the Captain held him off.

"Doctor, if you do not cease and desist immediately I shall have to hurt you." The Captain finally announced in a tone that was not to be ignore.

Doppler backed off and Jim glared at him from behind Amelia's back.

"We need to turn it off! They are probably coming after us as we speak. Look at that thing! A blind nanotoad in a black hole on the far side of the galaxy could see that!"

"We need to find the treasure and for that we need the map." Jim argued.

"Our ship only had two long boats and we crashed one. The remaining boat just returned to the ship so any trackers will be on foot. We will simply out pace them, find the treasure, secure a ship and be on our way." Amelia declared.

"It won't work."

"I beg your pardon?" Amelia asked, fixing Silver with an incredulous look.

"Yer plan. It won't work."

Amelia crossed the short distance separating her from the cyborg in a breath and attempted to stare him down, an act that was absolutely futile seeing as he towered over her.

"If I am not mistaken you yourself approved this plan mere hours ago."

Silver huffed. "Dat plan was dependant on stayin' undiscovered but dat plan's gone out da window now."

"Why would this have changed things?"

"Dis light," Silver gestured to the still glowing and blinking map trail. "Will be visible from da ship. We will be tracked from tha ground and tha sky an 'ave no hope of sneakin' off with Flint's ship without being targeted by da Legacy. We cannot outrun dat ship an' we've lost da element of surprise."

Amelia looked like she was physically deflating as she realized Silver was right, and she stepped back to a more respectful distance, and wracked her brain for a reason the cyborg was wrong.

"Close the map." She ordered when she realized they were sitting ducks.

"No!" Silver countered.

Jim listened to the pirate and waited for an explanation.

"Da only way we stand a chance now is tah retake the Legacy. A smaller craft won't stand a chance against tha galleon nor will we be able tah travel da distance to a safe port without supplies." Silver was looking at Jim as he spoke and he could see the look of defeat crossing the boy's features.

"So we're dead." The boy stated without a trace of emotion.

Delbert collapsed to the ground in a near faint and the Captain and Silver rolled their eyes simultaneously.

"No lad, we're not." Silver said with conviction.

"You have a plan?" The Captain stepped between the cyborg and his cabin boy to ensure his attention was on her.

"Aye, I do."

Across the wide expanse of the field, three miles from where the group of six pirates stood, the bright light flashed continuously on the horizon spanning the distance from one side of the clearing to the other where it disappeared into the trees again.

"What shall we now?" Onus asked.

"If I am correct, we follow that path to itssss origin and find that traitor, Ssssilver." Scroop answered, his eyes never leaving the flashing trail.

"Is that trail coming from the map?" Aquanoggin asked. A murmur of excitement moved through the small group.

"Why don't we go after the treasure?"

"They could close the map at any point and then where would we be? We will trace it back to them, take the map and take care of them once and for all!" Scroop yelled, turning on the small group and fixing them with a terrifying glare. "Get moving."

The pirates looked to one another in trepidation.

"NOW!" The arachnid hissed.

The pirates took off in the direction of the light as Scroop followed with a determined pace. All the work of tracking Silver, the Captain, doctor and the boy was now negated and all they need to do was follow the golden light.

With the Legacy now in position Turnbuckle sighed as he was informed the injured crew were finally situated below deck and he could turn his full attention to their assigned task. He shook his head as he noted he would have baulked at the idea of following an order from Scroop just days before and now here he was preforming the arachnid's bidding.

"Shall I arm ze cannon?" Meltdown asked with barely contained enthusiasm.

Turnbuckle was about to answer in the affirmative when something on the planet's surface caught his eye. Retrieving a spyglass from his pocket, Silver's former first mate zeroed in and focused on the twinkling light that flickered across the end of the very clearing they would be aiming the ships cannon at.

"Vat iz it?"

Turnbuckle passed the spyglass off to Meltdown and took a moment to process what it was he had seen.

To Be Continued …

Hey, sorry for the wait friends. I fell out of the fandom for a bit and it's hard to write when you aren't in the zone. This is a short chapter but I hope it will hold you over until the next one comes. Hope you enjoyed this latest installment and thanks for reading :)