Captain Blade was reclining in a plush velvet chair in the Captain's quarters on the Raven, a glass of chilled white wine held loosely in his right hand, his left was hung gracelessly over the arm of the chair. Music blared from the record player in the corner, Queens of the Stone Age. Miss Blimey wandered causally into the room and sat across from Blade.

"Hi doll," Blade greeted her.

"Cut it Blade, I know you're in trouble again, so just tell me what you've done this time and we'll get you out of it," stated Miss Blimey.

"Hey, hey, hey, relax doll, It's all under control, don't worry about it," replied Blade.

"You're infuriating! It's not under control at all if you have to put a bounty on my head so I will come and find you!" challenged Miss Blimey.

"Oh that, I thought we'd moved on from that situation," replied Blade.

"No, we haven't," sighed Miss Blimey. "What am I going to do with you Blade? You keep popping up in my life, causing havoc and then disappearing."

"Uh, yeah, sorry....." Blade trailed off.

"So what happened?" continued Miss Blimey.

"It was these guys see, we were playing cards nice and casual like and then we started playing for ships" explained Blade.

"Because you were drinking that Gounisque wine again?" asked Miss Blimey.

"Ah, yeah and I lost" replied Blade.

"So who has your ship?" asked Miss Blimey

"Dr Mean" replied Blade

"But you sent him after me you twat! Why couldn't you just buy it back from him?" asked Miss Blimey.

"Well, he wouldn't take a cheque from me, and I thought if I sent him after you that you'd kill him and then.... problem solved!" finished Blade

"So you didn't really want to see me, you just wanted me to save your ship?" sighed a slightly disappointed Miss Blimey.

"No, ah no it wasn't like that!" justified Blade, "I knew you'd come after me when you'd finished off Mean"

"Oh really" smiled Miss Blimey, "but now we still have the problem of getting your ship back"

"Sorry doll" apologised a very sheepish Blade

Miss Blimey got up and kissed Blade gently, barely brushing her lips across his. "Don't worry" she said, "we'll get it back".

She then ran from the room and up to the helm to where Betty hates Veronica was staring stonily at the sea.

"So?" asked Betty H.V.

"We have to get his ship back," answered Miss Blimey sternly.

"I don't know what you see in him, honestly," replied Betty hates Veronica.

"Neither do I," admitted Miss Blimey and began to plot her course to find Dr Mean once again.

Continued in Part 4........