"This time will be different," I growled at my oppenent. I drew my cutlass and lunged at the slightly shorter wolf. The stab only went though the air; the wolf sidestepped to my left. The hilt of his cutlass struck my right shoulder; I released the weapon as I fell to the ground. A painful kick in the ribs, forced me onto my back.

"Ha! And double ha," the wolf triumphly boasted, "Once again, I, Don Karnage has won."

"So you have, my liege." I quietly spoke, "You still are the better fighter, but one day I will best you and earn your trust as a pirate... and protege."

That nightmare kept me up for weeks. I was becoming restless, slowly being drivin crazy by the feared pirate, Don Karnage. It was strange, I had no connection to the dead pirate, but yet he haunts my dreams. Ever since I left the hospital, those nightmares were destroying my sanity. The kidnapping of Captain Sara only amplified the power of the nightmares.

The Captain of the Space Pirates had been kidnapped and vanished without a trace. Days after her disappearance, the Space Pirates rate of successful plunders nosedived. It wasn't like my first time of looting and running, but while the captain went on missing, I just couldn't focus on the task at hand.

I sat on the edge of the captain's chair, staring out the window of the Vulture's Revenge. "Retreat." I softly repeated over and over.

"It never gets any easier, does it?" the helm man asked. The responce wasn't what he wanted to see. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the glimp of the hilt of my Cutlass. He recoiled in pain, placing his hands near his right temple. "What did I do to deserve that?"

"You ask too many questions." I growled. I returned the Cutlass to the loop on the left side of blue uniform. "Besides I have a more important question, Helm." he let out a sigh of relieve and answered my question before I asked it. Pirate Cove was approaching fast. "I'm going down to the Flight Deck to see if Mech has finished the repairs on my plane."

Helm waited until I had left the brigde before making his remark, "I swear, with each day without Captain Sara, the crankier and more crazed his attitudes gets." The hatch creaks open and his face went pale, "I know... 'get the rope when we dock'." The door creaks shut.

Down on the flight deck, Mech was hussling back and forth between a squad of damaged planes on the fight side and a single plane at the back of the flight deck. He froze with fear when he saw me approaching my P-21. "Rage, the planes will be ready by the next time we go."

I placed my hand on his shoulder and guided him towards the front of the flight deck as the Vulture's beak opened. "You can take your time on repairing the others' planes, I have something special in mind with my plane. I want the other time shifter installed on my plane. And I don't care if Sara said that her plane was the only one that will have one." I gave one of my toothfilled, wolfish grins. "Because we have a second and I'm the captain. So don't forget it." I took my hand off Mech's shoulder and walked off the beak and onto the land that was consealed within the confinds of the ancient volcano.

Pirate Cove wasn't much to look at, but for the Space Pirates it was home. Sara had brought them here in 1999 and it seemed to model after the never found Pirate Island. It seemed so strange that no one found the island. It was like no one wanted to find it... or some one had and kept it a secret.

So many secrets, so little to work with. I had my own little secrets that no one seemed to figure out. I was quite rare amoung the community, being human. I was a social outcast, hated, loathed, and contantly being attacked. One such attack left me hospitallized for a week.

I had met the pavement of New Suzette City in the worst way possible. 30 MPH and under the weight of my motorcycle. I had skin graphed on my left leg and a blood transfusion to replace the blood lost. However, I never did find out who donor was. The hospital bill was so great that I lost everything. Everything except for a biwing which I had to learn to live in. It wasn't long after that when I bumped into Sara.

For a captain, she didn't look the part. Dressed in a black vest with white undershirt, tan shorts and well worn black boots, the grey she-wolf resembled more like a lackey than a leader. Clipping wings isn't the best way to bump into any pilot, let alone a Space Pirate. Crashing into the sea, my plane simply sank. It wasn't meant for water landings, breaking apart in mid air didn't help either. Both of us survived, somehow, long enough to be rescued by her crew.

It peeved Ax, her First Mate and wingman, when he had to lend me his plane, but for some strange reason Sara enjoyed flying with me as her wingman. It was like she was training me to be a pirate or something.

July 5, 2001

It was any ordinary Thursday, except there was nothing to do. No plundering, killing, or kidnapping was planed for that day, I was tired of retreating. Even the simpliest job was a major task for an inexperience captain. So I grabbed my board and chute and went out to do some wind surfing. Just I was about to set sail I had a better idea. The worse part of summer was weeks away and I haven't gotten sunburned. I don't waste time tanning; I perfer burning.

I wasn't lying in the sun for five minutes when I ducked back inside the cove. My body had burned, healed, and began itching. The itching skin drove me into a mad frenzy. I began yalling, screaming, and cursing as I quickly began scratching my skin. But it wasn't enough, so I began rubbing my body against the rough surface of the ground. My actions had alerted the attention of the entire Space Pirate crew. They had to dog-pile on me in order to stop my wild behavior long enough to inject a sedative.

I was resting comfortablely, or I would have been if I was more aware. I was strapped down to a gerney and was being watched by two guards. However, it was at this time I underwent a transformation, starting at the site of the skin graphs. The nightmare took hold of my vulnerable state.

"This time will be different," I growled at my oppenent. I drew my cutlass and lunged at the slightly shorter wolf. He sidestepped, but this time I was ready for it. I dropped the cutlass and shoulder rushed him. Don Karnage was completely taken by surprise. The force of the collision knocked him against the wall. He stumbled towards me; a fast punch to the gut and a knee to his face sent him to the floor.

"Ha! And double ha," I mocked, "Once again, I, Don Karnage has won."

"YOU!!!" he laughed, "You think you can be me. Hmm... you have the uniform, but not the look. That can be fixed." He fanished and the whole battle field darkened.

"Okay, who turned off the lights?!" I tried to move, but for some reason I couldn't. I wasn't being held down, more like being held up. I was drifting somewhere and someone was yelling my name.

"Chester, wake up!" Mech yelled into my ear. "You have to get up, we've found Captain Sara."

I shot out of the gerney, not noticing that I was wearing a paper gown. When I began asking out her condition and her location, Mech began laughing loudly. I moved toward Mech, who began to grab his sides. I passed a mirror and my face grew red with embrassment. "If you think you can stop laughing for a moment, Mech, go get a change of clothes for me." Mech continue to laugh as he walked away stopping every few steps to catch his breath. "Well, Don Karnage, you can keep a threat. And I thought you were just a mere image in my mind only there to cause me misery and suffering." I glanced at the mirror again, "And the people I have the misfortune of being around do nothing more than embrass me with backless hospital gowns." Mech returned with my uniform. He left it on the counter closest to the door and left. I quickly changed and dumpped the paper gown into the trash. "So much for that, now unto more pressing issues." I turned towards the mirror, "I'll deal with you later."

Back on the flight deck, I focused my attention on the remains of a plane. It belonged to Sara, but it looked like it hadn't been flown in years. Was that posible? I felt stupid, of course it was posible. Sara's plane had one of the time shifters, but the control were severel rusted over. I walked over to my plane, and noticed that the second time shifter wasn't installed.

"Mech, I thought I ordered you to install the other time shifter in my plane!" I yelled at him.

"There was no room for it. But it is installed in a plane that you can use. But it's not here, you'll have to fly there." I began tapping my foot. "I can take you there. Sara told me were this plane was and I had to see it for myself. You aren't gonna believe what plane it is. Wait until you see it, you are just gonna love it." He jumpped into the rear seat of a nearby two-seater. "You won't be disappointed."

I climbed into the front seat, "For your sake, Mech, I better not be disappointed."

The plane taxied over to the hydrolic lift. The plane was lifted to the upper level of the Vulture. Still facing the rear of the large air carrier, Mech engaged the small rocket boosters that were on both sides of the aged biwing. I slammed against the seat, pinning my tail between my body and the seat; I holwed in pain.

Once clear of Pirate Cove and the boosters were dropped, I turned around and slapped the stupidity out of Mech. "Next time you do that, give me some warning! You can be such a pain in the tail."

"There will be something you'll need to know before we reach our objective... it's about Sara and her secrets. She's not quite as she seems; like you, she spent many years learning all she could about the Great Pirate Captain, Don Karnage. Unlike you, she managed to find Pirate Island."

"She found it!!!" I cheered. "I knew she was hidding something."

"There's more," Mech continued. "She believed that she was related to him. However, the birthdate of her mother, Donna, was not consistent with the era in with Don Karnage lived. Donna was born in the 1940's; Don Karnage died in 1939."

"How did he die?!"

"You use to learn all you can about him, but you don't know how he died." Mech laughed. "Okay, on his thiry-fifth birthday, it was reported that he flew straight toward an unknown anti-pirate weapon. Needless to say, he was blown out of the sky. But the strange thing is that, he was attacking the cliff guns... alone."

"Hmm..." I hummed, "that is quite strange. Of all the things he would do by himself, attacking the cliff guns weren't one of them. But, didn't the Air Pirates take out the cliff guns?"

"Back in 1937, that attack was historical. Shortly after the attack, the guns were replaced. But I guess you knew that." Mech changed the subject. "If you look over the left wing, you can see Pirate Island."

Pirate Island wasn't much of an island; it was more like a volcano. Normally, a think cloud cover would mask the ancient pirate hideout, but there was not a cloud in the sky. It was the perfect hideout - who in their right mind would ever look in a volcano?

The back enterence was the only open enterence. It was large to say the least, about one-half the width of the Vulture's Revenge. A small, falling apart dock creaked and moaned with the slightest movement of the water. Needless to say, the dock fell apart, when our small biwing pulled up.

"People call me 'crazy'," I laughed, "and I think I have an idea that is crazy enough to work. Since most of the back enterence is falling apart, it would be best if we just fly. There has to be a landing zone near the main enterence."

"I was waiting for you to say that!" Mech chuckled. "And for you to admit that you are crazy was the icing on the cake." His mild chuckling turned to wild laughter by the time we landed on the upperdeck of the fabled Iron Vulture. "So are you ready for this?"

I was totally speechless, I nodded my head and followed the laughing loon of a comrade down to the interier of the old air carrier. Despite the fact that the Vulture was designed to land and float on the water, half of the first level was filled with water. "Let me guess, Hacksaw opened the Bombbay Doors after Karnage's death?"

"Yep." Mech glared at the water. "He wanted to wash the Iron Vulture and no one stopped him. Luckily, nothing was damaged. Want to drain this pool?"

I quickly turned to face Mech, "This old thing still works!?"

Mech rolled his eyes, "Are you dumb? Yes it still works. Granddad would hate himself if he left this place inoperable. He is one of Don Karnage's Air Pirates."

"I know already, but tell me, what are we doing here? Where is the plane that I'm to use to go find Captain Sara? Or, are we here so you can talk about Rachet all day long?"

"I would love to take about the days of long ago, but this is vital. You are about to go to the year 1939. Under no circumstance are you to get involved in anything that will happen. Including saving Don Karnage. History must run its course. You are only there to save Sara and return to the present. I don't want to know what would happen if you changed history."

"Reminding me of Don Karnage," I interjected, "I can't go there looking like his carbon copy." I paused, "With the exception on the left ear, of course."

"Give me some credibility here." Mech groaned, he tossed a plain brown jacket towards me, "Sara left this flight jacket for you when she thought you were ready to assume the responsiblity as her First Mate. All along she was training you, she hated fling with Axe. She knew something was gonna happen to her and Axe would take over as captain. That's when she bumped into you. While waiting for us to rescue her, she nursed your injuries and gave you her coat. It was the same style as Don Karnage's, but the coat lacked one thing," Mech pointed to the missing top right button, "You are missing the gold button; the other's were gold painted. Odds are that the uniform you are wearing once belonged to Karnage, but were removed or stolen sometime after his death."

I wasn't paying much attention to Mech while unbuttoning the captain's coat and replaced it with the brown flight jacket. There was a shoulder patch on the left shoulder resembling the Air Pirate's Ensign. My attention shifted aimlessly until Mech walked over to a plane that was poorly hid under an old dusty sheet. He yanked the sheet off the plane; I dropped my jaw.

"I knew this would catch your attention. This CT-37 is identical to the feared pirate Don Karnage's. With the exception of the White number one on the rudder, it's perfect. The engine was modified so you won't have to worry about stalling in steep climbs."

"Perfect." I whispered as I walked around the plane. I paused every other step to admire the painstaking detail of every inch of the rebuilt triwing. After one lap around, I used the wings like a latter and pulled myself up to the cockpit. The second time shifted was installed and seemed ready to go. "So this is the surprise you were telling me about! Clear the prop! I'm off... to save Sara."

The engine roared to life and the plane moved towards the beak which was opening. Mech had engaged the vertical props of the Vulture, bringing the air carrier out of the water. Pushing the steering wheel forward, Mech had pointed the Vulture's nose down. With a loud splash, the CT-37 hit the water for a moment before taking to the sky.

"To engage the time shifter, press the last four of your social followed by the pound sign. You have to be careful with that plane, if you lose it or it gets destroyed, you and Sara won't be able to come back to this time. Don't engage the shifter until you are about haveway between here and Louie's, that way you won't unexpectedly crash into a plane when you arrive back in the past. Take care and come back in one piece."

"Thanks for the vote of convidence and don't worry about a thing." I broke contact with Mech. "Not to worry, all I have to do is to save Sara... and Don Karnage." I began laughing maniacally as the time shifter engaged. With a bright flash and a loud bang, the triwing vanished. Along with it, the hopes and dreams of a different tomorrow.

To be continued....

Next installment entitled, To Kill A Pirate Captain