Ellis Family Smuggling (for AnimeFanGirl)

[PirateLife]

Jack Ellis almost couldn't believe he was doing this. When he had become a smuggler, that had been a result of him choosing his own path, blazing a new way forward, and he had never intended on getting his family involved. Of course his family had mostly figured it out, and given the neighborhood that they came from, it wasn't terribly surprising when someone set out in a life of crime anyways.

Still, Jack had carved out a place for himself. He had established trade and smuggling routes all across the galaxy, he had made contacts almost everywhere one might want to have them. He didn't trust everyone he knew, but he did have uses for everyone.

The life of a smuggler was far from safe, and so when he first got that message from his sister about bringing his little niece with him on smuggling runs, he thought it was some sort of a joke, but she was being serious! He was about to just tell her no, but he looked at the crime statistics from his home sector and... things had actually gotten worse since he was a kid. It was literally starting to get safer to be a galactic criminal than it was to sit around near his childhood home, and given some of his niece's new "friends", the life expectancy of the 14 year old was probably not going to be beyond 20, maybe not beyond 15.

Jack had never wanted to make this a family business, but after thinking about it all night, he sent a gruff reply to his sister telling her that he'd think about it if she agreed that he would have full control of the girl's education and discipline from here on out. If he said jump, Mia, his niece, shouldn't ask questions, she ought to do it or get punished. He had a feeling that perhaps his sister was being a bit too soft with the girl, and Jack had gone through a large number of ship hands in his time.

Some of those ship hands got their money and went on to bigger and better things, some had gotten busted through carelessness, some had gotten too scared by this new life and had run off the first chance they got after a real fight, and one of them had gotten herself killed. Jack found that those who lasted a long time and graduated onto bigger and better things were those who understood discipline, he had come to prefer ex-military to be his assistants and co-captains, so he had no idea why he'd just accepted a teenage girl to be his new ship hand, but perhaps if he could create the discipline, she'd follow along.

Although Earth was his home, he didn't like to stay at Earth docking ports for a long time. The security on Earth could be sticklers for rules and the longer he stayed, the more likely someone was to figure out about his checkered history. He hoped his sister was ready to say a quick good-bye to Mia. It wasn't nice, but that's life.

He walked around his cargo ship, The Black Wing, and made sure that there were no damages and that the people refueling his ship wouldn't try to screw him over. He'd already offloaded a little bit of cargo soon after arriving, and fortunately that seemed to go off without a hitch, and so now he was just walking around his ship waiting for his sister and niece to arrive.

[animefangirl]

Mia had grown up hearing stories of her uncle Jack, but as far as she could remember she had never met him. Maybe when she was little, but if that was the case she had no recollection. So, when her mother informed her the previous night that she was going to be working under him as a ship hand she had been less than thrilled about the idea. The resulting fight was epic, the two screaming at one another until the wee hours of the morning but in the end Mia didn't really have a choice. Her mother made it clear she was going with her uncle even if the woman had to physically drag her there kicking and screaming.

Since her mother knew her so well, Mia hadn't been let out of sight all night either. So she didn't get a chance to slip away and hide out until her uncle had to leave her behind. Which had honestly been her first thought for a way to avoid all of this. Now that she was calmer she actually could admit to herself that it may be exciting, she had never left Earth and never thought that it was even a possibility for someone like her. Of course she knew her uncle was a smuggler, her mother had made that clear since this could be dangerous, but the danger aspect and the illegal bit didn't bother her.

There was no way that she was going to admit that though. That would be like letting her mother win and she wasn't in the mood to let that happen so she was focusing on the whole 'you have no choice' aspect. The two headed out early the next morning to meet up with her uncle and Mia was actually cooperating for the moment. That was entirely to save her image though. She didn't doubt for a second that her mother would in fact drag her along if she refused to cooperate, and she wasn't yet stronger than her mother so that would be embarrassing.

Instead she just trailed behind the woman with a pissed off look on her face. Her hands shoved into her pockets and her whole attitude pretty much screamed 'leave me alone'. Had she any idea just what her uncles intentions were as far as turning her into a disciplined soldier type she would have reconsidered how cooperative she was being but she was as of yet in the dark.

Soon enough they reached the cargo ship and Mia took a moment to look it over. It was going to be her home for the foreseeable future. Now that the moment was upon them she was a little bit nervous about this. Leaving Earth to join her uncle in a smuggling business was a pretty big deal. Her mother, Nicole, wrapped an arm around her shoulders and steered her over to a scruffy looking man with brown hair. Mia looked him up and down the same way she had appraised the ship, though she kept her opinion to herself.

"Thank you, Jack, I really appreciate you taking her. I think this could be really good for her" Nicole said after greeting her brother, gratitude clear in her eyes since she really had been worried that Mia was going to end up getting herself killed if she joined one of the many gangs in the area. For her part Mia kept quiet for now and just watched, trying to size up this uncle that she was meeting for the first time.

[PirateLife]

When Jack saw his sister, he felt happy. He usually liked to think of himself as a cold, calculating man who just tried to stay away from his dangerous and non-prosperous home other than to drop off the occasional cargo (which to be honest some of his more dangerous cargoes might be part of what made this area what it is today), but there was still a part of him that was loyal to family almost to a fault, even when it meant picking up an entirely inexperienced ship hand.

Jack actually did give his sister a quick side hug, but then he said in a gruff voice, "Yeah, well, I needed a new ship hand anyways, the last one went and purchased his own ship a week back and it's hard to take care of all on my own." Jack actually encouraged his ship hands to go out and find success of their own volition, and his former ship hand was now a mercenary, but Jack could only say good for him.

He looked at his niece, Mia. He had already left Earth a few years before she was born, although that had been before he had his own ship. He had really had very little contact with the girl over the last few years, but she was still family, and although the girl probably didn't want to admit it, she did look so much like her mother when she had been 14, which honestly wasn't much younger than she had been when Jack left home.

He looked at Mia and awkwardly stuck out a hand as if unsure what was the correct way to greet one's niece. "Good to see you, Mia. Are you ready to leave soon?" He didn't want to make his sister rush her good-byes, but he really didn't like to stay on Earth too much longer than necessary.

[animefangirl]

Nicole didn't blame her brother for staying away. It took time to become successful in any business venture and she had their mother to look after her so she hadn't needed him. Still, it was good to see him and her whole demeanor relaxed when he hugged her. It seemed to her in that moment that everything was going to be okay. Which she knew was silly, but she couldn't help feeling that way.

"Uh huh, keep playing the tough guy, I know better" She teased him gently before she turned her attention to her stubborn daughter. Mia just stood aside and watched as they greeted one another, actually a little bit interested when her uncle said that his previous ship hand got their own ship. Maybe she could do that too, eventually. It would be a hell of a lot more interesting than sticking around here anyway. Still, she wasn't quite ready to play nice so when he held his hand out to her she just gave him a 'look' in response and kept her own hands in her pockets.

"Yeah, whatever. Lets get this over with" She said, her attitude clear in her tone and she turned away from her mother without so much as a word to head towards the ship. Nicole just sighed and shook her head, not having expected Mia to give her a heartfelt goodbye but it still stung to be so thoroughly rejected like that. "Good luck" She said to her brother, not attempting to force Mia to stay and say goodbye properly.

[PirateLife]

Jack shook his head as he saw his niece walk away from her mother like that. This cookie might take even longer to crack than he'd thought, but to be honest even though Jack had left Earth of his own volition, he wasn't entirely happy about it either. Still, even the brash young man that had a lot to learn who left Earth all those years ago at least gave his mother a proper good-bye before he boarded that ship and blasted off to go lightyears away.

Jack looked back to his sister and said, "It's always good to see you, Nicole. If you need money or anything, just send me a message and I'll help you out."

He almost wanted to beat Mia's little butt right now for dissing her mother like that, but instead he just shook his head and before he got on the ship, he said, "Deep space gives you a lot of time to think about things, I'm sure you'll get a better good-bye message from her before too long."

And after he had said his own good-byes to Nicole, he slowly boarded the ship, not sure whether he should dread or anticipate the long upcoming journey to his next destination with his moody niece. It would be well over a week before they arrived at their next destination.

[animefangirl]

Mia had mixed emotions about leaving honestly. A large part of her was pissed off that this was more or less being forced upon her, but there was a tiny part that was starting to open up to the idea of taking an adventure. For now she was just angry with her mother so she walked off and then boarded his ship where she immediately started to explore.

Nicole just watched her daughter walk away then looked up at her big brother when he offered to help her out if she needed it. "Thank you, Jack. I'll be fine, you're already giving me what I need most. Look out for her, she's a good kid under all that attitude" She said, hugging him once more then she said goodbye and headed back towards the town. Her heart hurt but she knew this was the best thing for Mia.

Meanwhile Mia had managed to find her way to the bridge and she started to look over the controls. She of course wanted to mess with them and see what happened but she wasn't that stupid. With her luck she'd end up crashing the damn ship or something. For now she was more or less calm, but how long that would last was entirely up to how Jack decided to handle her.

If he pushed too hard she was going to push back, which would make the already long journey they were about to take seem even longer no doubt.

[PirateLife]

When Jack was finished saying good-bye to his sister, he boarded the ship and began to look around for Mia, he saw that she was on the bridge of the ship, and it had taken him a long time to get all the controls adjusted just the way he wanted, and readjusting them could have effects ranging from inconvenience to probable death by major crash, so he wasn't at all happy to see the girl standing so close to them, and he hurried up to the cockpit and said, "Well Mia, you and I are about to spend a lot of time together, and 90% of the time I don't even care what you do, but for that 10% of the time that I do care, I expect immediate obedience, because there can be pretty catastrophic results if you don't." He wondered if perhaps he talked a bit too severely to his own niece, but that was the same introduction he'd given his last few ship hands and most of them had turned out successful and to a degree even became friends once they accepted that he was in charge, so he wasn't about to drop that spiel yet.

"First rule, whatever I say, do it. You can ask questions later, but when I say to do something, just do it right away. Second, do not touch any controls on this ship unless I explicitly tell you to do so or we will both die a fiery death. Third, keep a low profile whenever we have to spend much time in a port, I'm not going to sugarcoat it, we will usually have some contraband on this vessel for whatever systems and planets we're visiting, and the last thing we need is to draw unneeded attention. Fourth, if you break any of those rules, you take whatever punishment I decide is fair. Understood?"

Admittedly, Jack knew very little about dealing with teenage girls, and in the past, most of his crew members who would last responded well to his aggressive and demanding approach, but Mia didn't really have anywhere else to go, so she'd have to either get on board or be put on board.

[animefangirl]

Mia actually jumped slightly when Jack suddenly started to speak, not even having heard him come into the room. She tried to hide that and just turned to give him an unimpressed look when he began to outline how he saw things going. The way he phrased it immediately put her back up and she crossed her arms and popped one hip out in universal 'attitudy teenage girl' fashion. "Yeah, that's not likely to happen. I'm not some little soldier that's gonna jump to it when you speak." She immediately argued, more or less for the sake of arguing.

The fact that he'd said 90% of the time he'd leave her alone actually did please her. It was just that 10% of immediate and unquestioned obedience that she was objecting to. As far as she was concerned that was asking too much. The bit about the 'catastrophic results' did get her attention but like all teenagers she had the habit of thinking that she was indestructible so she thought he was just being over dramatic.

When he went on to outline the rules about the controls and how to act at port she just gave him a blank look, not agreeing or disagreeing. That would be too cooperative. She couldn't help but be a little excited by the idea of the two of them sneaking contraband across interstellar lines though. That sounded like it would be a rush. Though that probably wasn't the best way for her to be thinking about it since it was likely she'd be less cautious than she should be if she were out for an adrenaline rush.

"You can't punish me, you're not my mom!" The protest was immediate and vehement when he got to that part. Her mother had neglected to share that bit and it was pretty obvious she was not pleased. Which was to be expected. "look, I'm only here 'cause Mom would've dragged me if I didn't come on my own. You don't have to worry about me I'll just mind my own business and then next time you come this way you can dump be back with her and tell her it didn't work out. Easy." She tried, it being her turn to sound demanding as she outlined how she felt this was going to work.

[PirateLife]

Jack shook his head. Not all of his assistants were immediately thrilled about his conditions, but most were not so immediately hostile to them. Jack just sat down and began to lift the ship off the ground. He certainly didn't like her attitude and he expected that he would soon have to give this girl a red bottom. That usually wasn't how he punished his assistants (with a few exceptions), usually it was through solitary confinement or docked wages, but with his young niece, he felt like he had a different plan that would be ideal, and he thought that maybe getting up into space would be a better place to enforce his ideas of punishment.

For now, he didn't feel like arguing and he wasn't going to punish her just yet. He did not plan to dignify her complaints with a response. He just said, "Sit down in that chair over there, and watch all the readouts. If any of them break their normal patterns, tell me. Once we're out of Earth's gravity well, I'll give you some cleaning supplies. Some of these control panels could use some cleaning."

[animefangirl]

Mia really was not a happy teenager at this point. Not only had her mother forced her into this, making her leave her 'friends' and everything she knew to go into space with an uncle she had never met, but now that uncle was threatening to punish her if she did not immediately jump to at his word. None of this was sitting well with the stubborn teenager and so she was pretty quick to argue with him about it. The fact that he chose not to respond to anything that she had to say was just another point of contention and she scowled at him when he just started to fiddle around with the controls.

"Hello, you just gonna ignore me?" She asked, drawing out the hello a little just to be obnoxious. When he just told her to take a seat she once again scowled at him but this time she did obey. Mostly because she had the feeling that if she wasn't sitting when he took off she'd go flying and that was a less than appealing thought. So, the teen flopped down in the chair and put on a seatbelt, looking over at the readings when he mentioned them. "How am I supposed to know if they break their pattern?" She asked, without really thinking about it. It appeared that she could be cooperative, as long as she was distracted or interested in what she was being asked to do. So that was something at least.

"Great, now I'm Cinderella?" She asked sarcastically when he mentioned her cleaning, that not an appealing thought of course. No teenager liked to clean, and Mia was thinking that he was going to ask her to do grunge work like that the whole trip and that was going to make for a very long and boring trip. The teen still thought that he would just end up getting tired of her and dumping her back on earth after this run though, so she was thinking that if she could just get through the next week or two then all of this would just be a really weird vacation.