5 1/2 Years Ago
Jack stood at attention while he waited in side of Admiral Derek's office. When Admiral Derek walked in Jack promptly gave him a salute. The Admiral was a slim fox like Jack, but was 10 years older which made the Admiral 40. He was mostly good looking, except for around his left eye were the fur had not grown back correctly were the scar was to the left of his eye. Every one knew the Admiral prided him self on looks, his fur was well cared for, his tail was always perfect, and his uniform was all ways sharp and well cared for. He had all his medals cleaned to the point were they shined.
“At ease Captain.” Derek said as he sat behind his desk. “Do you know why I called you here?”
“I assume it has to do with my next test flight Sir.” Replied Jack.
Derek opened up a folder he had on his desk. “Yes, Project Hermes. How much do you know about this new ship?” Asked Derek.
“The Hermes is a new prototype, she is a small reconnaissance ship for scouting missions. Her outer hull is made of an experimental material that cant be detected be sensors, She is the fastest ship ever built, and has an experimental drive called the infinity drive, that can instantly take the ship from one place to another.” Said Jack.
“Correct, and since you are the best test pilot we have, im intrusting you with this very important mission. This mission comes from the top, and is to never be talked about out side of this room. Even with your copilot, no one can know. Do you understand?” Asked Derek.
“Yes Sir!” replied Jack.
The Admiral showed Jack the folder. “i need you to jump the Hermes behind enemy lines to this location. It is believed that the enemy is mass producing weapons for there battleships there, and if they are it could mean that they are getting ready to attack.” Said Derek.
“But Sir, it is against the treaty for any of your ships to enter there territory. If were caught it could restart the war.” Replied Jack.
The Admiral seemed to get angry for a second. “I know that, you just need to do what your told. The people higher up are aware of what can happen, but this ship should be undetectable, wich makes her perfect for this mission, and the perfect test for her to.” Said Derek.
“Sorry Sir, Ill do my duties as requested of me Sir.” Said Jack.
“Very good. Your co-pilot is waiting for you out side, I want the two of you to report to the Hermes immediately. Your dismissed.” Said Derek.
Jack gave a salute. “Yes Sir!” he said as he turned and left through the door. In the corridor he saw a young wolf who was probably in his early 20's, his furr a lite grey. The young wolf approached Jack and shook his paw.
“Im Ryan and im going to be your co-pilot for this test flight.” Said Ryan.
“Nice to meet you Ryan, Im Jack” Said Jack as the two started to head down the corridor on there way to the Hermes.
“So any thing I should know about this test flight?” Asked Ryan.
Jack didnt like holding back information but he had no choice. “Nope, just going to be a standard test flight.”
CHAPTER 1
PRESENT
The Mercury took a good few seconds to come out of her spin and fly a straight line again. Not to far behind the Mercury the passenger liner which was severely damaged from chunks of planets and moons was hit by the shock wave which tore it apart like it was nothing, sending parts and debris flying away at high speeds. The pieces from the once large passenger liner were now little pieces of deadly debris heading towards the Mercury.
Jack turned off the annoying alarm as he asked Lucy for a damage report. “The starboard engine has been completely torn of from the Mercury, as for the infinity drive the computer needs to test and recalibrate to the energy converter, should take about a minute for the systems to be ready.” Said Lucy.
The sound of debris from the passenger liner hitting the Mercury made Jack jump as he maneuvered the Mercury the best he could around the larger debris that could destroy the Mercury. He looked over at Jesse with half a smile. “Just a minute and we will be out of here, just hang on tight.” Jack said to Jesse. The sound of the Mercury's hull getting pounded grew louder and more constant by the second.
“Lucy open the port injectors up by 20%” said Jack
“Jack the engines are all ready at 110% if we open up the injectors any more the ship...” Lucy was cut off by Jack.
“Lucy I all ready know the engines can handle it for a short time, so just do it!” replied Jack.
The Mercury lurched forward as it had a sudden increase in speed, with the port engine glowing brighter than normal. Inside the Mercury Jack could here the lone engine whining to stay past full power. Jack looked over at Jesse and said. “well that gives us another ten seconds before we run out of time.”
The Mercury began to shake as she was over come by the outer edge of the shock wave. Slowly she feel deeper into the shock wave, small debris pelting the Mercury's hull. Jack checked his read out and saw that the infinity drive was still off, and that they had run out of time. Creaks and moans grew louder as the hull off the Mercury reached its stress limits. Several of the ships AFT hull platting broke lose from the Mercury.
Just as Jack thought the Mercury was going to come the information screen popped up showing the infinity drive was ready. Jack slammed his paw down on the button and in a split second the Mercury stopped shaking. Out the cockpit window all the starts had changed, the Mercury had jumped to a new location in nice calm, open space. Jack sat back into his chair with a sigh, as he did there was a loud pop and the port engine turned off.
“Jack the port engine has been shut down by a safety program, until the engine has had enough time to cool down. Estimated time till engine start up is 10hrs 20 minutes.” Said Lucy.
Jack looked over at Jesse who was just staring out the front window. “Well that was a close one” Said Jack in his normal layed back voice.
Jesse continued to stare out the window. “What just happened?” she questioned.
Jack laughed. “nothing, the Mercury just jumped from one place to another instantly.”
Jesse looked at him. “Thats not possible, nothing can do that.”
Jack patted the the ships control board. “The Mercury can, only ship ship than can. She cant travel faster than the speed of light like other ships, but she can out run any ship at sub light speeds, and when in trouble can jump to somewhere else.”
Jesse stared at Jack with a non-believing look. “how come no other ships have this technology, but a no buddy like u does?”
Jack thought before he responded “how I got the mercury is non of your bussnese, and second, the reason no other ships have this technology is cuz there is an inherent flaw in the design that could cause the inter universe to implode on it self.”
Jesse just stared at Jack in shock.
After a second Jack gave a small laugh and said. “ Im just jokeing, its perfectly safe, but again, im not telling u why I have the Mercury, or why she is the only ship that can jump like that.
Jesse looked a bit upset. “Your a jerk, you know that?”
“Hey!” snapped Jack. “this jerk saved your life, you should be dead by now.”
Jesse narrowed her eyes “i was doing just fine on my own.”
Jack looked at her like she was crazy. “Fine? You were doing fine? How were u doing fine on a ship that was drifting around a star that exploded. You weren't! So till u start talking like a normal person im going to go to my quarters and get some rest.” Jack got up out of his seat and walked over to the hatch going to the stern section, opened it and walked half way through the hatch. “by the way, every thing behind this hatch is my quarters, so u just stay in that seat, and dont touch any thing.” Jack stepped all the way through and closed the hatch.
Jesse was a bit startled, but became more startled when she noticed a poster hanging on the hatch that Jack had just gone through. The poster had a picture of Jack on it with the words “WANTED, Jack Roland. Reward 1,000,000 Credits.” Jesse had seen these posters posters in the port when she was boarding the Serenity with her boyfriend. She had even seen Jack mentioned in the news a few times. Every one of those times was about small ships found adrift with all hands on board killed by Jack. Jesse was now scared, but at the very same time very exited.
CHAPTER 2
5 ½ YEARS AGO
The Hermes left her berth as she made her way into open space. Jack carfuly piloted the Hermes past other docks and slips were other prototype ships were docked or under construction. All the ships they passed were small like the Hermes, some were larger, but there were two large ships at the center of this ship yard. Jack new nothing about them exept that they both were the size of a destroyer, and that there project name was called Gemini. Most people didnt know that they were there due to the fact that the more top secret a project was the closer it was to the center. The reason Jack knew that they were there was because the Hermes was also kept in the center.
Thinking of these things made Jack proud that he was such a great pilot that he was trusted with so much, at the same time it worried him. Jack looked over to his right to see Ryan at the copilot seat, to Jack it made no sense for Ryan to be here, He was young and had very little eperince with testing prototype ships. The more Jack thought about it the less it made sense, the Hermes was very top secret, yet here was Ryan.
“there she is.” said ryan breaking Jacks train of thought.
“Theres what?” Asked Jack.
“The Ares.” Said as he pointed forward.
Jack looked out ahead and saw the Ares. The Ares was massive. She was the largest battleship ever built, not to mention the largest ship ever. There was no ship that could defeat the Aries one on one, as far as Jack was aware, it would take nothing short of a fleet of ships to take her down.
“I bet it would be crazy to serve on a battleship.” Said Ryan.
“Its not that bad.” said Jack.
“You have been on a battleship before?” asked Ryan.
“ Yea, I served on the Zeus for four years.” said Jack.
Ryan got a little wide eyed. “You werent on board when she went down, were you?”
Jack nodded “I was.”
“But there were only 20 survivors out of 500.” said Ryan.
“It was 19 out of 535, most of them young like me....and of course you must know Admiral Derek was in command of the Zeus and was a survivor to.”
“yea every one knows, it was because of his actions from that day that got him promoted to Admiral and was given command of the Aries.” Said Ryan.
“Derek is not as great as people think, he is a coward.” Stated Jack “but enough of that its time to test the Infinity drive. Ryan start the jump procedures.”
Ryan flipped a few switches. “ready.”
“Well here's to hoping the Infinity drive really works and we don't just implode.” Said jack.
“What?” said Ryan.
Jack smiled as he he the activation switch and the Hermes disappeared from where she was.
CHAPTER 3
PRESENT
Cyrus slowly opened up his eyes to the sight of a blindning light. "My eyes!" Pain shot through his muzzle as he said that. From some where he couldnt see he heard another voice. "Dont move to much, You were in a pretty bad explosion." The memories slowly cam back to Cyrus as he remembered what had happened. Slowly the the light became dimmer till every thing was back to normal lighting, but his vision was still pretty blurred. He began to rub his eyes then relized he could he could only see the left paw. "I cant see out of my right eye." Cyrus could now see the outline of the other person. "Well that makes sense since your eye is beyond repair. Eventualy the blood in the eye will fade away, but so will all the color. So you will be able to keep the eye but it will all ways be a greyish white. He felt him self die alittle bit inside.
There was a loud metal thud as a shape rushed in through the hatch. "how is he doc?" Cyrus got a little worried and his tale twitched, he was sure he knew who the newcomer was. The doctor spoke up. "He is going to be in lots of pain for quite some time, but he will be fine with some rest." The new comer stepped right up to Cyrus. "Great! now i get the chance to kill him my self." Cyrus was grabed by each side of his shirt collar as he was dragged of the cott and shoved back up to the bulkhead. He thought he heard something crack as pain shot through his body. Now Cyrus knew exactly who it was. "Mars! Please dont, i didnt do any thing!" Again Cyrus was thrown against the bulkhead as Mars kept a tight grip on him. "Thats exactly why im going to kill you. You did nothing like all ways. The baby cant do the most simple of assiments with out of screwing up. Then this time you let one of my best guys get killed! You know how easy it is to replace a coward than a real fighter?"
A whimper entered Cyrus's voice as he did his best to show he was submiting. "Mars i tried my best but some tiger came out of no where and attacked us." The pressure on Cyrus's cheast increased as Mars got closer. "One against two! Do you know what we do to the weak? We kill them!" Mars pulled out his side arm and thrust the barrel up against Cyrus's head as Cyrus whimpered out loud. Cyrus heard the hammer of the gun click makeing him squeze his eyes shut. Then the room was filled with the loud clear sound of a new voice. "Mars! Release him now!" Mars didnt flinch or move he kept the gun tight to Cyrus. "He is weak! He must die before he screws up and gets more killed." Again the new voice was loud and clear. "Mars! i said now!" Mars muttered under his breath as he holstered his gun. He leaned in and whispered into Cyrus's ear. "Your lucky your the old mans favorite. But dont think for one second your safe, he cant be around all the time." Mars released Cyrus as he tossed him into the bulkhead, causeing Cyrus to collapse to the deck. Mars walked towards the hatch he had come through. "Diego, why in the world do u let that pet of yours live?"
Diego didnt answer the question, he just let Mars leave. "Get on your feet boy." He said looking down at Cyrus. Cyrus just whimpered. "I said get on your feet boy, act like a man." Slowly Cyrus struggled to get up to a standing position, but never bringing his gaze up high enough to look Diego in the eyes. All Cyrus could see was his torso down. Diego was a wolf in his late 60s that liked to wear parts of a very old torn military uniform. Over it was a long coat that was not to diffrent from Jacks exept that Diegos was torn and had gold and some red trim on the dark blue fabric. "Im sorry, im so sorry." Diego looked at Cyrus. "Ive told you to never apoligize. Real men live with there mistakes and never say there sorry. But Mars is right. You have never done what it takes to do the simpleist of things. How hard is it to kill some one?" Cyrus looked down. "For once i built up the stength to hit a man, I beat Jack pretty good." Diego looked away from Cyrus. "That is totaly diffrent. Jack had hurt you before so it was easy for you to hurt him. You must be ready to hurt and kill those who have never done anything to you. Even if its a child."
Cyrus's heart sank, he didnt want to hurt any one, especialy a child. He wanted to make Diego proud of him for all he had done for Cyrus. "I will make you proud of me." Diego looked back at Cyrus. "That remains to be seen, but i dont disaprove of you ethier. There is much that you have learned, and there is still much more that you must learn." Diego grabed Cyrus by the muzzle and made him look him in the eyes. He then started to carefully rubbed the fresh scar over cyrus's right eye. Cyrus whimpered slightly as Diego continued to talk. "Let this be a reminder to you that life is not easy or fair. If you want to survive you need to learn your place and how to fight for what you need. Dont ever let any one stand in your way. Now go and get some rest." Cyrus nodded and walked out of the room and down the corridor.
A few minutes later he reached his quarters and walked in closeing and sealing the hatch behind. He crawled into his bed to sore to get under the covers or to remove his cloths. So he just layed there thinking how badly he wished Draco was with him instead of off the station for another day. "Draco i need you." Cyrus whimpered as he fell asleep.
CHAPTER 4
5 1/2 YEARS AGO
It was like nothing Ryan had ever seen before, one moment he was looking at the starts out of the cockpit, then with no warning like a snap of the fingers all the stars were in diffrent positions. He had been expecting a light show or something visual to tell him the ship had jumped, but there was nothing, the ship had just gone from one place to another like it never happened. The only way ryan knew they were realy some where new was because there was a giant nebula not to far of in the distance. "I see a claw, what do you see?" Jack looked at Ryan for just a second before checking his displays again. As far as Ryan Knew this was just a test flight so he was just relaxed, while Jack was focused on makeing sure enemy sensors wernt detecting them. "What are you talking about?" Ryan laughed. "You know you see a cloud your nebula and you have to say what it looks like." Sighing Jack looked up for a second to look, then a small chill ran down his neck. "I see Beta's Nebula." Ryan looked at Jack now. "The Beta's Nebula of myths?"
Jack went back to adjusting switchs. "That nebula is any thing but a myth, for a hundred years ships have flown into or to close to that nebula and have never been seen again." When Jack looked back to Ryan he could tell he was confussed about something. "I thought that Beta's Nebula was deep in Asura territory?" Jack paused for a moment. "Yea it is, were going to test the sensor aray on a planet not to far from here." Ryan looked pissed. "We cant be here, if we are found it could start a full out war." Jack snapped back in a military manner. "Orders are orders. We are told to do this, so its exactly what we are going to do." Pissed off Ryan pushed himself back into his chair. "I have a bad feeling about this." Jack gave a small smile. "I dont see any thing to worry about. Just make sure every thing is working right and they will never know we were here." Jack set course, as Ryan ran system test to make sure every thing was working right.
The next 45 minutes went by very slow for the two, as the Hermes stayed a distance from the planet she was scaning. Ryan fliped a few switchs on his controls. "Im not detecting any thing that could be a weapon on this planet, just a few small military bases." Looking out at the planet Jack relaxed back into his chair. "run one more sweep then we will get out of here." That made Ryan smile. "About time, i cant wait to get out of here." Then out of the corner of Jacks Eye he saw a red light turn on on the controls. "whats tha..?" Jack was cut off as a panel behind Ryan exploded sending the cover flying. Fire belowed out of the hole as sparks went flying. Ryan throu him self out of his chair as he grabed the fire extingusher. Jack ran a system check on every thing else. "What the hell was that?" Ryan didnt look back as he extsingushed the fire. "The energy resistor for the sensors over loaded. "Were throwing off alot of energy till i can get it fixed." Jack knew what he was saying, the Hermes had gone from being nothing on sensors, to being the most detectable ship out there.
Ryan took off his pilots jacket so he was just in a short sleeve shirt. "I can fix it but it will take a few minutes." Jack looked back to answer, but as he did he saw the bands of fur that had been dyed around his upper arms. Seeing this made Jack more pissed then he had been in years. The bands of dyed fur were a tradition for the people that lived on Sergio V, It was this planet the Zues was attacking durring the battle of Sergio when she was shot down from orbit. Ryan was from a people that Jack was once at war with and because of them lots of people that Jack knew had been killed. "You bastard!" Yelled Jack. Ryan jumped back caught off gaurd. "What? What the hell?" Jack pointed right at him. "You are from Sergio V, its because of you that so many people died." Angered Ryan snapped back. "For crying out loud i was a kid when it happened, i had nothing to do with that battle." This didnt calm Jack down. "But your father or brother probly was. Your all responcible for the murder of 516 people." Ryan had had enough. "Im nothing like them, if i was why would i join the Coalition Military?" Before Jack could respond a hail of bullets tore through the top of the cockpit and into the deck, then the sound of more tearing through the aft storage compartment. Jack grabbed the throttole and threw it all the way forward and the Hermes went flying forward. "Sit your ass down and dont touch any thing." Barked Jack. Quickly Ryan got back into his seat. "Im a part of this crew!" Jack turned the yoke and pulled back as he avoided a fighter comeing straight at them. "Not while im in command of this ship."
Ryan clutched onto the arm rest as Jack weaved the Hermes trying to avoid incomeing fire. "I knew this was a bad idea, we dont even have any damn weapons." Jack reached over by Ryan and turned a few switchs. "What are you doing?" asked Ryan. Jack never looked at Ryan. "Im opening the injectors to 130%, that should get us out of there accurate gun range quickly." That worried Ryan. "No the ships engines cant handle that, they will over load and blow us up." It didnt worry Jack in the least. "Those damn bullets there fireing at us tend to have the same effect. Dont they?" Ryan couldnt argue that. "Is the Infinity drive ready yet?" Asked Ryan. "No." Jack replied back. Then there was the sound of bullets as they tore through the port engine and into the cargo hold, followed by the sound of the ships engines slowing to half speed. Ryans layed back into his chair. "Well were dead." Jack noded. "yup. But that doesnt mean we cant go down with out of a fight." He pulled back on the yoke and the Hermes did a back flip so that it was now faceing the ships that were behind it. After a few seconds the Hermes cancelled out its backwards momentum and started to move forward in the new direction it was faceing. Then it became aprarent to Ryan what Jack was doing, He was flying straight at the lead fighter.
"Jack!" Ryan said as bullets tore into the bow, and one shot went through the starboard cockpit window. Air went rushing by Ryan as it was sucked into space, untill a steel door raised up to cover and seal the window. The distance between the two ships quickly grew smaller untill Ryan relized the end had come. Then Jack grinned. "So shall we atempt fate again and see if we implode and crash?" Ryan looked at Jack. "Does that mean?" Jack nodded as he hit the Infinity drive button. A second later the lead fighter flew the space the Hermes had just been.
CHAPTER 5
PRESENT
Diego slowly made his way through the corridors with a limp in his left leg, an injury he had gotting 23 years ago during a battle. Most the people he passed would just agnolege him with a nod but would never speak to him, for fear of angering him. He aproched a large opening that lead into a very large room that had once been a cargo hold but had been converted into a commons area for all people to gather and have fun. The lighting was kept a bit dimmer than in other parts of the station, while in the dance area diffrent colored lights flash. Straight across from Diego was the bar were a server was pouring drinks for customers, off to left was the dance floor were people were danceing, includeing strippers. To the right was a fight arena for people to blow off steam and practice there skills. Diego continued straight across the room as he made his way through the crowd.
Before Diego got half way there an ovesly drunk fox walked right into Diego almost falling over. The fox looked up at Diego and spoke with a slur speach. "Hey! whaaatch weere youur goinz limpy." Diego took a very deep breath as he looked the fox in the eyes, then down to his legs, and back up to his eyes. One thing Diego did not tolerate was people mentioning his limp. Before the fox new what was happening Diego had pulled out his pistol and discharged it into the fox's leg takeing muscle and bone with it. In pain the fox fell to the ground crying out in pain, as every one in the commons area stopped what they were doing to see what was going on. Diego took a look around at every one, all of whom quickly went back to what they were doing.
Favoring his left leg he stepped over the fox as he continued up to the bar with ease this time. Sitting down at the bar he waived the bar tender over, who came pretty quick leaveing a slightly anoyed custemer behind. "I'll have the usaul Henery." The bar keep nodded as he poured the shot. "Of course mister Cortez, only the best of what i got for you." Diego took the shot and drank it with out of giveing of the slightest hint of how strong it realy was. He turned and looked at the tiger that was hunched over its drink. "Mars i need to talk to you about Cyrus." Mars continued to look down at his glass. "There is nothing to talk about." Diego shook his glass and the bar keep refilled it. "Your right about Cyrus, he is going to get more killed if he wont man up. I want you to take the kid and train him in any way necisary till he learns being nice wont help him in life. He must learn that he needs to fight tooth and claw for his life. Just dont kill him in the procces." as Diego finshed talking he threw back his shot and took a step away from the bar. "And whats to stop me from killing him?" Asked Mars. Diego began to walk away as he spoke. "Because i know you would rather see him in pain and suffering instead of just killing him."
Mars let Diego walk away as he finished his drink and stood up. He realy wanted to see Cyrus dead, but Diego was right, he would rather see him suffer. Anoyed at the fact of how well Diego knew him he took his glass and hurled it behind the bar letting it smash apart takeing some drink bottles with it. For now there was just one thing Mars wanted, and that was the touch of a female body. As he looked around he spotted his favorite girl across the room giveing a jackle a lap dance. People stepped out of Mars way as he made his way across the room, people knew not to get in his way. In seconds he had reached her. "Your mine now!" He said as he grabed her arm dragging her off the jackle. She cryed out in pain as his claws dug into her. The jackle jumped to his feet. "Hey! I paid for her, she is mine." Mars ignored him as he started to shove her towards the back rooms. Before he made it a few steps he felt the jackle grab his shoulders. "I said that i paid for her, she is m..." He was cute off by Mars swinging around and punching him in the muzzle, wich made cracking sounds. The jackle feel back into his seat in pain but before he could react Mars grabbed him on each side of the head and dug his thumbs into his eye sockets. In torment the jackle kicked and screamed but it didnt help him as Mars pressed harder untill blood started to bleed from his eyes.
Pleased Mars thew the jackles head back as he walked away letting the jackle squirm and twitch in the seat. Again he grabbed the girl and quickly forced her to the back rooms. Mars shoved her to the floor of the first open room he found and closed the door as he began to have his way with her.
CHAPTER 6
5 1/2 YEARS AGO
After the Hermes had jumped back to the ship yards Jack transmited all the information they had scaned and a quik report on how the Hermes was found.There was a loud clunk sound as the Hermes docked in her slip, and the green light on the consol lit up letting Jack know that the aft hatch had conected to the station. Jack got out of his seat then opened the cockpit hatch. "Im am never going to work with you again. The last thing i want is a copilot that might decide to kill me." Jack continued back towards the Aft hatch. Ryan quickly folowed. "Why the hell would i kill you? Do you realy have some sort of grudge against any one that is from Sergio because they tried to protect there world from ocupation?" Pissed Jack grabed the aft hatch and pulled it open. As he stepped into the station he saw Derek and a few Marines waiting in the corridor. Jack rasied his voice as he walked closer to Derek. "You know that i will never serve with any Sergions. So why the hell was he on my ship?" Derek looked at both Jack and Ryan. "Dont worry it will never happen again." As Derek finshed speaking two marines step forward and each took one of Jacks arms, while another two did the same to Ryan.
Jack looked at Ryan who was trying to resist and wound up getting hit in the back of the head with a rifle, wich got Ryan to stand still. "What the hell is going on Derek!" Derek looked at Jack as he spoke. "The two of you are under arrest for the thieft and damage to military property. Then for takeing military property into enemy territory that could easily start a war." Now Jack was more pissed than before. "What are you talking about Derek, you were the one that sent us on that mission." Derek gave Jack the faintest smile. "I dont know what your talking about Jack. If there was a mission I would of been well aware of it. Burt there wasnt wich means you have commited several acts of treason, wich are all punishable by death." It all made sence to Jack now, Derek had sent Jack on a mission that never existed, that way if something went wrong only Jack and Ryan would be to blame. "You fucking liar, when they find out that this is all because of you..." Jack was cut of by Derek before he could finish. "Im not the one that went rouge and stole the Hermes, am I? You two, take Jack and Ryan to the holding cells to await execution."
Ryan and Jack were both hand cuffed behind the back and lead away by two of the marines, while the other two escorted Derek back to his office. Jack struggled alittle to test the restrants but he could tell there was no way out with out of the keys. After the effects of being hit with a rifle wore off Ryan spoke. "Why would Derek do this to us?" Jack didnt bother looking at him. "Im still not talking to you."
PRESENT
Jack piloted the Mercury as quickly as he could through a hail fire. There was lots of confussion in Jacks mind, he had no idea why he was sending the Mercury head long into the burst of flames instead of away. He just felt deep down that this was something that had to be done and that nothing else mattered. Every time he made a correction to the ships heading he made sure to be very careful because he knew that one wrong move would be certaint death. Sparks flew from the controls all around Jack and all around he could hear the ships hull tearing apart as hull plates tore free and the engines began to fly apart. All around was hell, the hell he was flying towards, the hell that was happening to his ship, and the hell that his ship had become. It all became to much for Jack to handle, and before Jack could do any thing there was a firey explosion that tore up through the bow of the Mercury. The bow of the Mercury was twisted and torn like a tin can, as the front of the cockpit was torn apart and riped from the ship. With out of the front of the cockpit Jack was sucked out into space and consumed by fire.
Jack bolted up from his sleep nearly falling out of his bunk, sweat dripping from his forehead. The sound of Lucy's voice startled Jack causeing him to jump again. "Your doing that thing you tend to do again." Jack wiped his forehead. "What? Have nightmares?" Lucy responded in her jokeing way. "If thats what you call wakeing up and screaming like a girl." That made Jack smile. "Ive never done that and you know it." Lucy went back to her normal voice. "So was it the same dream?" Jack leaned back against the bulkhead. "Yea, the details are all ways diffrent, but the Mercury always blows up and then I die." Lucy tried to sound sad. "Aww dont do that, unless you plan on transfering my program to another ship." Before Jack could respond to that an alarm started to blare through the Mercury. "What is that?" Shouted Jack. "Im detecting two ships closeing on our location." Replyed Lucy. Jack Jumped out of his bunk. "What kind of ships?" Lucy paused for a second before she responded. "There transponders identify them as Coilition Military." Jack took off running for the cockpit.
CHAPTER 7
5 1/2 YEARS AGO
Many thoughts were raceing through Jacks mind, most of wich were how he would never get to see his son. Then Jack had had it, he wasnt going to go down with out a fight, not after every thing he had been through. Jack stoped walking and turned around to confront the gaurd that was escorting him. "Whats wrong with you marine? If im the enemy why dont you just shot me?" Ryan was shocked. "What the hell are you do.." The marien cut him off. "Those arnt my orders now move." Jack didnt move. "Im the enemy so kill me now chicken or ill kill you." Jack made a quik move to make the marine think he was going to attack when he knew the marine would just shot him in self protection. It worked the marine quickly raised his gun and pulled the trigger while the other marine just watched. But things didnt happen the way Jack had planed instead of being shot Ryan had hurled him self in front of Jack and takeing the bullet instead. Both marines were distracted and confussed as they watched Ryans body hit the deck as blood began to pool.
Jack used the distraction as he ran straight into the first marine causeing both of them to go into the bulkhead. Luckily for Jack the marine had absorb the impact, but unfortanite for the marine the steel bulkhead cracked open his head killing him. Both Jack and the bleeding body of the marine fell to the deck. The other marine who Jack had now landed by moved his rifle towards Jack. Before he could shot, Jack quickly kicked the marine in the knee cap wich made a cracking sound as it bent back the wrong way causeing him to cry out and fall to the deck next to Jack. With his hands still cuffed behind his back Jack lurched himself closer to the marine. Before the marine could stop Jack, Jack bit down on the marines neck and his mouth was quickly filled with the taste of blood. The marine jercked around wich just made it easyer for Jack to tear open his jugular. Slowly Jack felt the life leave the marine till he just layed still.
Realesing his hold on the marine Jack rolled over and felt his way around the marines belt till he found the keys to the cuffs. Once he had realesed him self he quickly ran over to Ryan and did the same. He rolled Ryan onto his back and checked Ryan for injuries. Luckily for Ryan it was just a shot through the shoulder. "Ryan what the hell was that all about? Why would you do something so stupid for me?" Ryan replied a bit weakly. "I joined the Coilition so that i could help people, not to kill." For once Jack actualy didnt dispise Ryan, then Jack relised that maybe he had been wrong about Ryan, Maybe he was diffrent than most other Sergions. Jack helped Ryan up to his feet. "Well if im going to get out of here alive i guess im going to need a copilot, and right now your the best man for that job." That actualy made Ryan smile. "So i guess that means that you plan on takeing the Hermes and actualy makeing your charges officail." Jack smiled as he picked up a rifle from the deck and began to walk back to the Hermes. "Why not?" Ryan put presure onto his shoulder wich was still bleeding and made a grunting sound as he followed Jack.
They rounded a corner wich brought them to the corridor that dead ended at the hatch the Hermes was docked at. "Im going to run up and make sure the Hermes is empty, then get the engines ready." Said Jack. Ryan nodded. "Sure, ill be there in a second." Jack ran up ahead to the Hermes while Ryan continued along holding his shoulder. When Jack got to the hatch he slowly opened it and peaked in side. The lights were still dimmed in side, so he slowly enetered with his rifle at the ready. He made his way forward to the cockpit and found no one. Jack leaned over the controls and restarted the engines. Once he finished he made his way to the aft hatch again and opened it up all the way for Ryan. Just as the hatch reached the full open position there was a loud bang. Jack quickly looked up to were ryan was standing not more than 20 feet away. Something was wrong Ryan wasnt moveing any more, then there were two more quick bangs that made Jack jump in his skin. It all seamed like slow motion for Jack as he watched Ryan collapse to his knees, and then fall back over to his side. With Ryan down on the deck with blood pooring out from his back, Jack could now see Derek standing at the end of the corridor with his pistol raised at where Ryan had been standing.
Seeing Ryan gunned down in front of him by the most horrible person Jack knew was to much to handle. He tightened his grip on the rifle as he prepared to run out at Derek gun blazeing, but just before he could Dereks two marines joined his side and all three began to shot at Jack. Out gunned Jack threw him self into the Hermes as he kicked the hatch close. The sound of bullets hitting the hatch quickly stopped. Jack jumped to his feet and ran to the cockpit, and after throughing in a random distanation Jack hit the Infinity button wich caused the Hermes to jump. Part of the docking arm that had conected the Hermes to the station was caught in the Hermes Infinity sphere and was transported along with the Hermes.
There was the quick rush of air being sucked out of the staition where the docking arm had been, But before Derek could loss his balance the emergency bulkhead door closed and sealed off that end of the corridor. As the rush of air stopped Derek walk up to Ryan, and looked down at him. Every thing to Ryan was fadeing away, sound, vision, pain, and thought, But he was still aware of Dereks presence over him. "I just regert.." He paused as he coughed up blood then continued. "That we didnt kill you over Sergio V..." Then every thing faded away from Ryan till there was no more. Derek gave the body a hate full look and gave it a kick. "Get that out of here now!" He barked as he turned and walked away.
PRESENT
Jack came flying through the hatch to the cockpit and took his seat while turning off the alarm. Then right before his eyes the battleship Aries and its escort destroyer dropped out of FTL speeds and slowly came to a stop infront of the Mercury. As Jack watched all the guns on the destroyer trained onto the Mercury as all the doors along the Aries opened up revealing the AA Guns tucked inside. "Lucy please tell me the engines are back on line." Pleaded Jack. Lucy replied softly. "There still off line for 2 hours with no way to over ride." Jack just sank into his chair as he the relization that he had finaly been caught sank in. The view screen in the center control panel chimed letting Jack know that he had some one trying to contact him. "Lucy remember what we talked about?" Asked Jack. Lucy never replied wich Jack took as a yes. He then flipped a switch that completed the conection and the face of Admeral Derek appaered on the screen.
"Jack stand down, you are under arrest for the theift and damage to militay property, piracy, the murder of LT. Ryan, and countless others." Siad Derek. Jack laughed at that. "So your still telling your self that lie I see." Jack leaned back in his chair. Derek played his part perfect like all ways when he talked like he was realy telling the truth. "Jack we take enemys to the Coilition very seriuse, in five minutes your ship will be brought into the Aries hanger bay and you will be taken into custidy." The image of Derek disapeared from the monitor. Jack sighed as he pivited his seat around and started to walk toward the aft section, as he walked through the hatch he saw the poster he had torn down from a station he had visited showing what the reward was up to on him. He paused in the hatch way for a second. "Was it worth it?" He asked Jesse. She waited for a second before she responded. "No..But it will be once i get the money." Once again Jack remembered why he didnt let people on his ship, you cant trust any one. He closed the hatch behind him as he went to the aft section to await the boarding party.