Treasure Hunt

**Treasure Hunt** is the twenty-fifth *TUGS: The Bigg City Chronicles* story.

## Plot

Captain Star tells the readers about the Great Depression and the effects it had on Americans. These effects were felt greatly in Bigg City Port and the Star Fleet found themselves with less work. The Z-Stacks manage to stay afloat through illegal means, especially due to Prohibition and this gave them business but their luck would soon run out.

Captain Zero tells his tugs about a special cargo that has to be collected at night which he refers to as "treasure". As Zorran is undergoing overhaul, Captain Zero puts Zak and Zeus in charge of the job.

Later, Zeus collects and docks a cargo ship that ran aground on some rocks and was only fit for salvage. Zeus goes to see Burke and Blair and they agree to take the ship along with some old stores the Z-Stacks have thrown out.

Captain Zero arrives home late after his car breaks down and the mechanic is unable to get spare parts at present, meaning a long walk home. His abusive wife, Ursula, is cross with him and tells him to sort his own dinner as she heads out to work. Captain Zero sighs sadly, due to the toxic marriage and he's trapped and Captain Star suspect this toxic marriage led to Captain Zero treating his own tugs harshly.

The Star Tugs are resting after a very short day, which has become routine. Then, Grampus comes over as the Bridge Cafe has been giving him a sleepless night again. Sunshine wonders why a cafe would give someone sleepless nights, which the Star Tugs are unsure of but Hercules is thoughtful.

That night, the "treasure" ship arrives, and The exhausted Z-Stacks (with the exception of Zob, who never stooped to such low levels) work for hours. There are a few crates, which they put on a barge next to the quay. Zak and Zeus intend to collect the barge the next morning, unaware that they've placed their barge next to the barge with the empty stores.

Early the next morning, Burke and Blair come to collect the wrecked ships and the stores. The two scrap dealers express their hopes that Captain Star will finally sell O.J. for scrap due to the depression before setting off for the breaker's yard.

Zeus is pleased to see that Burke and Blair have collected the ship and the old stores but is horrified to see that the crates have gone missing. Zak is also horrified and both go to confront Burke and Blair. At the breaker's yard, they grab the nearest barge and leave without saying "thank you".

The Star Tugs have finished their jobs for the morning but Captain Star tells them there are no more jobs for today. Ten Cents then gets the idea of pretending to give out like Captain Star does, but they have to come up with the silliest ideas possible. Soon, the Star Tugs are having fun and as he eats his lunch, Captain Star finds it amusing.

Zak and Zeus discover that the crates aren't the "treasure" at all, but the old stores they had left for Burke and Blair. Zak panics over what Captain Zero will say if he finds out, but Zeus comes up with an idea.

Back at the Star Dock, the Star Tugs are still giving out silly orders and even Captain Star joins in. Then, Zeus arrives and tells them about the missing "treasure". The Star tugs are skeptical about helping Zak and Zeus out of their mess. Hercules agrees to help as a deal that the Star Fleet can get more work. When Ten Cents asks why knowing that Zeus won't keep his promise, Hercules explains that Zeus was being cagey about what was in those crates. The Star Tugs start to search around Bigg City Port to find the "treasure". Eventually, Ten Cents concludes that Burke and Blair might have taken the "treasure" along with Zeus' scrap.

Ten Cents' hunch was correct, and they manage to retrieve the "treasure" from the two scrap dealers. Zak and Zeus are relieved to see the "treasure" until Top Hat shows up with the Coast Guard team and the "treasure" is revealed to be alcohol for the Bridge Cafe, which is a speakeasy. Not only do Zak and Zeus get arrested for smuggling but Captain Zero has found out and yells at them.

Soon, the Bridge Cafe is shut down and a crackdown on speakeasies in Bigg City with Captain Zero being slapping with a heavy fine for supplying them whilst Zak and Zeus are dry-docked for a year. The Z-Stacks and Captain Zero comes to the conclusion that they should give up illegal activities. Then, Ten Cents comes by and offers the Star Tugs' help whilst Zak and Zeus are dry-docked. The Z-Stacks are grateful for this.

From that day forward, the Z-Stacks only seek legal contracts and become a lot friendlier towards the Star Tugs to the point where any competition was more of a game. Zorran even lets Big Mac and Warrior win.

Unfortunately, Zak and Zeus are disgusted to see the Stars and Z-Stacks becoming friends, to which Ursula agrees. Ursula reveals that she was a barmaid at the Bridge Cafe and blames her husband for not getting extra tugs to help as letting Captain Star make go soft in the head. Zak and Zeus realise that Ursula is right and that they're "just pawns in some game of chess". Ursula then proposes a plan for a hostile takeover where they overthrow Captain Zero, kill Captain Star and sell the other Z-Stacks and the Stars for scrap. Zak and Zeus agree to this. Little Owl overhears, but doesn't report it as she thinks they'll mess it up. Captain Star then tells the reader that it would have been better if Little Owl did care.

## Characters

* Captain Star
* Ten Cents
* Big Mac
* O.J.
* Top Hat
* Warrior
* Hercules
* Sunshine
* Grampus
* Captain Zero
* Zorran
* Zebedee
* Zak
* Zug
* Zip
* Zeus
* Zob
* Zilly
* Captain Lucky
* Little Owl
* Porter
* Peeper Pipes
* Davy Jones (does not speak)
* Cappy
* Snowy
* Jacob Burke and Ebenezer Blair
* Mr. Jebediah Broke
* Ursula Zero

## Voices

### Official

* Simon Nash as Ten Cents
* Sean Barrett as Big Mac, Hercules, Zebedee, Blair and Captain Zero
* Ian James Corlett as O.J.
* John Baddeley as Top Hat and Puffa
* Chris Tulloch as Zorran
* Shaun Prendergrast as Zak
* Nigel Anthony as Zug and Burke
* Lee Cornes as Grampus and Peeper Pipes
* David Menkin as Porter

### Fan chosen

* Peter Dickson as Captain Star
* Jeff Bennett as Warrior
* Michelle Creber as Sunshine
* Tara Strong as Zip
* Richard White as Zeus
* Christian Bale as Zob
* Matt Frewer as Zilly
* Lenore Zann as Little Owl
* Paul Dobson as Cappy
* Anya Taylor-Joy as Snowy
* J.K. Simmons as Mr. Broke
* Dawnn Lewis as Ursula Zero