Introducing Rhea Corona! Capricorn. Sixteen years old, today. Currently the youngest person aboard the mighty ship Enceladus. I'm a pirate. (Not just any pirate, but a space pirate.) Or, at least I will be, after today. I can feel it. After ten years on this ship, I will finally be accepted as a full member of the crew. The initiation test usually consists of completing a small solo mission. I can do it. I'm ready. TODAY I become a---!

"Abs'lutely not. 'tis way t'dangerous fer ye."

That is to say, I'll become a pirate if Hyperion, the captain of the X-its (our crew), will finally let me take the test. He is (and the whole crew are, really) a bit over-protective, since I was pretty young at the time I came on board. He still sees me as that runny-nosed kid who can't do anything and doesn't understand most things. But I'm different now! "Aw come ON! I'm an adult now, I can handle it!" (The "whiny teenager" tone doesn't help my argument, much, but I can't give up!)

But today, like every other day, it seems he can't be convinced. "pfft, no way, yer still jus a tot."

As old as Hyperion is, EVERYONE is a tot. (I would never say that out loud.) "Captain, I am only one year younger than the new guy," saying this, I gesture over to Edgar Lott (the stupid-looking guy swabbin' the deck); "I'm better with a sword than he is (though I usually don't use one), and I've completed all my training."

"Pardon me-"

"IN ADDITION, I always get great results during simulations, therefore-"

"Pardon me Rhea, but may I interject?"

"Pete!" So focused was I on my tangent, that I didn't notice Pete had come over. (He is the curly-mustached gentlemen who always seems to be wearing purple and drinking tea.) "You're on my side, aren't you?"

"Actually, I agree with the captain that you are still very young and inexperienced." Hearing this, Hyperion grinned like the kid who got the last slice of cake.

Aw man, Pete you supervised my training! You should know--

"However," he continued, now facing the captain, "I also agree that Rhea is ready for more responsibility..."

After saying that, Pete pulled Hyperion aside and they had a hushed conversation that I couldn't hear.

Well! I'm not sure what he said to the captain, but when they came back over, Pete told me that they had agreed to send me on my first solo adventure!

"Only a small'n." Hyperion added.

"Really?! Woohoo!" I am pretty excited here, so maybe I lost my composure a bit... But this calls for a little victory dance. Adventure! Treasure! Woo! (And I'll be an official pirate, too.)

"Jus' a teeny-tiny missi'n." He reminded, "Even YAR could do it."

"Ahoy!" Upon hearing his name he bounded over to the captain's side. YAR, a rather enthusiastic robot with a sheet of paper taped to his chest-plate with his name written on it; and wearing a maroon bandanna. You couldn't tell by looking at him, but he is the First Mate of this crew. Apparently, he and Hyperion have been together for quite a long time.

As Hyperion and YAR wandered away, chatting, Pete and I went down into the ship to the room with all the maps and stuff. The map room is dim, cramped, and kind of musty; so I don't often go in there. It was originally a pretty big room, but as the crew brought in more and more maps, the room filled up to the point now where there's barely any walking space. Since the shelves have been long since filled, piles of maps and other documents occupy most of the floor and are at least as high as my shoulders, in some cases. But it is to be expected, I suppose. The universe is a big place, and one map can't really contain it all. So the inhabited areas (as well as surrounding space and connecting routes) are divided into reasonably-sized regions. Usually one "official" regional map contains about one (average) Planetary system worth of space, and includes a small diagram to indicate its relation to other surrounding regions. (These official maps are made by the Universe Association, but we'll get more into that, later.)

In addition to that, you'll sometimes find "official" maps of whole galaxies, but these lack detail and are only good for getting your bearings in a very general sense. And, of course, individual planets have their own little maps, sometimes with an unnecessary amount of detail. (Though these aren't made by the UA, they sometimes bare an "Approved by the Universe Association" seal... And I have no idea what the perks to having this seal are, or the downside of not having it.) There are also a wide variety of non-official maps made by map enthusiasts. These range from simple maps of satellites to full-blown attempts at mapping the entire universe. Such large-scale maps are never dependable, so don't buy them; but some non-official maps are very good, and in a lot of cases are better than the UA's version. Part of the reason for this might be because space is constantly changing (planets die, space stations change location, new civilizations pop up, a previously uninhabitable satellite might get terraformed and turned into a resort, etc.); and updates to maps have to go through a long approval process and can take up to a year for the new version to come out, whereas non-official maps only require the time it takes to draw and print them. (This also makes them harder to find, but if you're not looking for a specific map, you'll encounter plenty.) Of course, there's also a chance that your non-official map would be completely unreliable, since a novice may have drawn it. But still, many map enthusiasts feel that their non-official maps are "how maps SHOULD be done."

And then there are those who believe that the Universe Association is part of some big conspiracy, but I don't know anything about tha-- Woah, tangent! (Sorry about that, it's just that I've purchased one too many crap maps.) Uh. Yeah, so, for pirates who travel a lot, you end up having lots and lots of maps. And since Hyperion never throws anything out, a lot of these are probably way out of date. Anyway, we were in the map room.

Already spread out on the table was a map of a region near where we are. (Since we're currently drifting through open space, there's not a map for this region.) This area is several regions away, but not too far off. So, Pete took out a sheet of paper and quickly scribbled out a supplementary map (basically, just a bunch of squares with region numbers written in them), to indicate our relative position to the new region. Then, he began placing markers on the two maps, as he explained the mission: "Listen carefully, Rhea. Here is where we are currently," he placed a ship-shaped marker on his map. Adding another marker several blocks away he continued, "and this is the region in that map over there, and where your mission will be."

"Yaaaay," I'm so excited!

"Ahem, pardon me, now you'll have to travel for a bit through open space, but right here is the edge of a galaxy," He drew a squiggly line to indicate where it is, "go around that, please. And your destination is right over here," Saying this, he pulled over the "official" map, (which, upon closer inspection, seemed empty) and marked a spot on it. "Technically, it is open space, but this map is for what used to be a small fuel station. Back when space travel was still fairly new and ships didn't have the storage capacity that they do today, there were a lot more fuel stations like these scattered around. But these days, ships can hold a lot more at once, so these small fuel stations were replaced by the giant docks you're used to."

"Hey Pete, what does this history lesson have to do with my mission?" I ask, feeling just a bit impatient.

"Oh, pardon me," he apologized, sipping his tea. "Though the fuel station is gone, among the rubble you are sure to find a small chest of treasure."

"But what's it doing in a place like that?"

"Ah, well, the owner of this old station was once a Pirate himself. The day the station closed came rather unexpectedly, so it is said that he was unable to take any personal effects with him."

"What the hell happened that he had to leave so quick?!"

"Language, dear. Apparently, a representative of the Universe Association came and told him that they had purchased that region for construction of something or other, and demanded that he vacate 'their' property. After that, they did a poor job of demolishing the station, and didn't bother to clean up the mess. Ah, and the supposed construction never occurred."

"Highly suspicious."

"Quite."

"So my mission is to go get that abandoned treasure?" I ask, just to clarify. But I wouldn't mind a mission of kicking some sense into that UA guy, either.

"Yes, but there's is a chance the chest is no longer there... Or that there was never any treasure to begin with. Don't worry, though, even if you can't find anything valuable, just bring back something to prove you found the station."

"Gotcha!" I throw up a sloppy salute and prepare to leave.

"Ah, pardon me!" He called me back, "I can't stress this enough, Rhea, but do not venture into that near-by galaxy. The patrol force there is a particularly difficult group. As long as you stay in open space, though, they can't come after you.

"I know, I'll be careful." I give Pete a quick hug and dash off to prepare for my mission.

While I run a quick system check on my "personal space-travel unit" (it's totally a space scooter), I go down the list of the things I plan to bring with me: "Map? Check. Navigational doohickey? Check. Spare change of clothes? Check. Ray gun? (Just in case.) Check. Snacks? Check. Journal? Check." Since everything seems to be here, I shove it all in my bag and put on my space suit. As I finish stuffing my hair into the helmet, the diagnostics tool beeps to indicate it's finished. There doesn't seem to be any problems, so I unplug that and put it in my bag, as well.

I exchange some last goodbyes and well-wishes with the crew and then hop on my scooter, firing it up. And with that, I putt away, out of the ship's hatch and off into space. My mission starts now! ... ... ... Uh. I just realized that I didn't bring a communication device with me. If something happens, it could be bad, but I'm not too worried. Anyway, it's too embarrassing to go back and say I forgot something. So I'll just go on without it!

The journey so far is rather uneventful. (Read: Boring.) I don't see any ships along the way and there's really not much to see, aside from far off twinkles and the upcoming galaxy that grows a little bit larger as I draw near. But I'm supposed to avoid that, so I won't be getting much closer. It's still pretty far off, but at least it's something to look at.

Eventually, I make it to the target region without incident and start looking around for what's left of this fuel station. Out of the corner of my eye, I catch the glimpse of what looks like some scrap metal floating around. "That's it, I guess," so I scoot over to have a look. No wait, that sounds boring. I don't scoot over, I ZOOM over, excitingly! ... On my scooter. No, my on AWESOME SPACE SCOOTER!

So yeah, anyway, lots of scrap metal over here. There's also a larger piece that looks sort of like it used to be a locker. Even if I had the combination to it, it looks like it's been banged up so badly that it wouldn't open anyway. Looks like this is a job for my RAYGUN. I haphazardly blast the locker a few times until it looks like I can pry the door off. Looking inside, I expect to immediately see some sort of treasure, but at first I see nothing. Then, laying in the bottom of the locker, I see........... Underwear. That is all that is in this locker, just one pair of -filthy- underwear. These are not even fit to cover one's booty, much less be considered booty themselves. There is no way I am bringing these back to the crew. That would require touching them. I am glad though, that I am wearing my space helmet; because I can only imagine the horrendous stench attached to such a pair. Ugh, enough of that, back to the search.

Looking around a bit more, I find what looks like sort of a chunk of the office portion of the station. Searching it for the chest of treasure will require actually going inside, so I turn off my scooter and drift in through a big gaping hole where I guess a wall used to be. Once inside, I hit the floor. I guess the artificial gravity is still somehow active. (Could have used a warning or some sort.) Since it's all pretty banged up and there's rubble every where, there's actually not a lot of walking room. Really, it's more like I have to crawl through most parts. A lot of these old scraps are piled up in a way that could collapse any time. Crap, I hope I don't get trapped in here.

While I continue searching, let's run down the list of other stuff I forgot to bring with me (besides the earlier-mentioned communication device): MP3-Player for the boring trip back and forth, flash light to see into all these dark nooks and crannys, a pencil to write in my journal with, and a way to haul the treasure back (if it's too big to fit on the scooter with me). Also, even though I thought to bring snacks, I didn't stop to think that I can't actually eat anything while I'm wearing the helmet. And if I take it off, I'm pretty sure I'll die or something.

"Good going, Rhea!" I think to myself, "Heh, though I guess you don't have to be smart to be a pirate, or they wouldn't have even let Edgar on the ship." While I'm chuckling to myself, and shuffling through a low crawlspace, I bang my knee on something. I can't see it very well, but while I'm feebly pummeling and cursing the offending object, I notice that it is sort of chest shaped. Feeling the object more calmly I notice that it is VERY chest shaped. Attempting to lift one side, I confirm that it is rather weighty for its size, but not so heavy that I can't carry it out to the scooter. I also notice the distinctive jingle of metal things coming from inside. Could it be filled with treasure? Quite possibly!

When I'm almost to the exit, I hear things starting to collapse behind me. If this isn't the treasure, I won't be able to get back in to search more. At least, not safely. Since the chest looks to be locked, I decide not to try and open it. If I were to blast it with my Ray gun, there will be a big mess to haul back, and I'd probably lose some pieces on the way. May as well just wait until I get it back to the ship, before cracking it open. I'm pretty confident that it's filled with gold, though. So I strap it to my scooter, fire it up and start heading back.

Rummaging through my bag, I find an old gel pen buried under my snacks; and decide to set the scooter to auto pilot and write a few entries to pass the time. First I write about how my day has gone, so far, and then I revise the "my first time in space" essay that Pete assigned a while back. (He made everyone write one, even the captain!)

So, the scooter putts onwards, as I scribble thoughts down, and the occasional buffeting causes my treasure to jangle. I note down that it's a satisfying sound to hear. At one point, I glance up and wonder if that galaxy isn't closer than it was on the way up here, but I shrug it off as my imagination, and return to my journal.