Jack was sitting in his chair on the bridge when Shin-To made his way in. "Hello, sir." Jack turned around to see who entered.
"Hello, Shin-To," Jack said as he used the controls to start the maximum turn around.
"We are turning back? What happened to Papeldon?" Jack looked to the right of the sky and smiled.
"I have a hunch that we need to start heading back to Feminae," Jack said as he never took his eyes off the course. Shin-To looked confused, but he knew better than to question Jack. He had been with him from the beginning. He was his father's Safety and Controlman, which is basically just ensuring the crew's overall safety in dire situations. They met when Jack was a small boy on the planet Turian. Jack's father came home from the war and Shin-To, being a prisoner of war, followed him back. They helped Jack's father work on the big cruiser and occasionally accompany him on a couple of runs.
Shin-To was being groomed by Jack's father to be the ship captain, but Jack came into his own and always reveled at a situation to prove his father wrong. At the age of fifteen, he was the youngest to ever gain his pilot license on his home planet. Many organizations sought to employ the services of the youngling, but his father had forbidden it. He never believed that his son would be happy as a corporate drone—someone who lives his life off numbers and figures. His father's last trip was a cargo drop off to Tyrionia, a remote planet engulfed with 95 percent water on its surface. He crept into Jack's bedroom one day, as Jack and Shin-To laid resting, and woke up Jack.
"Jack." His father whispered. "Come now, boy. An adventure awaits us." He looked over at Shin-To and closed his eyes as he contemplated the thought. He walked over to the bedside of the reptile that the family had grown to love and shook him awake. "Come, Shinnie." Jack's father said as Shin-To jumped to alert.
Jack was rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, trying to comprehend what was happening. "Dad… What are you doing?" He looked over at the clock. "It's not even five clicks past sundown." He explained, still rubbing his eyes.
"Jack!" Shin-To was snapping his fingers all around his face. "Jack!" he snapped again. "You still with me?" Jack shook his head like he was shaking the memory out of his sight. "Why are we heading back to Feminae?" Jack stared at him and studied his eyes; he knew. Jack remembered all of it. When it started all the way up to now. He has never seen Shin-To this happy or his eyes as vibrant in all these years. "How are you, my old friend?" Shin-To asked as he felt worried. "Have you not been sleeping again? Is it the whiskey?"
Jack put up his hand to stop the loveable reptile. "I don't know. I slept about four hours last night. I'm fine." Shin-To took the co-pilot's seat beside Jack.
"If this is about Tyrionia, Jack, you know that wasn't your fault." Shin-To stared out into the opened space. "You had a tough decision, and when faced with such a decision. You had to decide the life of the crew or the life of your first love." Shin-To explained, his s's becoming less slurred as he talked to Jack.
"We have been through a lot, haven't we, Shinnie." Shin-To looked at Jack and smiled.
"No one has called me that since your father." The door started to open to the bridge. Jack turned his gaze from the windshield and whispered to Shin-To. "
You want to go to dad's old spot? You know the one." Jack said as Shin-To nodded.
"Yes. A very much needed oasis." About five different people started coming in to operate the cruiser. None of them noticed Jack and Shin-To as they made their exit. They all had a course already set for the return back to the Mandorian system.
"Jack…" Shin-To seemed like something was weighing on his mind. Jack turned and looked at his old friend.
"Shinnie, I know…" Jack shot his face down at the ground and put on his smirk.
"You know what, my friend?" Shin-To questioned. "You know I don't read your species too well."
Jack looked up at Shin-To and smiled. He took a toothpick out of his jacket pocket. That old army green denim looking jacket. He threw the pick in the corner of his mouth. "I think that is why we are such good friends," Jack added. Shin-To then looked down and smiled.
"Perhaps… What do you think you know, Jack?"
Jack stopped and rounded the corner that led down to the old captain's quarters. When Jack took over the ship, he converted it into a library. Jack, being in information, thought it would be wise to
have to date source of information. "I know the way you and Rige look at each other when you think I don't see." Shin-To looked somewhat embarrassed at the moment. "I also see the happiness in both of your eyes." Shin-To looked up at Jack in surprise. "One I haven't seen from you since you returned to ur home with our father. And excitement and passion I haven't seen from Rige since the day we saved her from the pirates."
He cocked his head and tried to study Jack's mannerisms in hopes that he could see where he was going. He could never read ack's face, one of the people in the galaxy that Shin-To couldn't analyze to a full extent. "She is a daughter to me, Shinnie," Jack said as he bent down in the storage space of the old quarters. There Jack unlocked an old door that led straight down. The door creaked as it popped open. Shin-To shook his head in understanding. "And no matter what you think, you will always be my family. My brother." Jack said as he motioned for both of them to go deep down.
They made their way down the old ladder and settled into an out of date cockpit. "I love her." The reptile said as they sat in the adjoining chairs. Jack shook his head as he leaned back to check behind the old steering wheel. He was struggling around, trying to find something.
After a few minutes and a couple of grunts later, Jack arose with a bottle of scotch. "Dad told me of this bottle," Jack said as he wiped the dust off it. "He said that I should open this on my last mission in this ship." Shin-To looked confused and worried.
"Jack, this isn't your last mission." He said as Jack popped open the bottle to much delight. From the old gunning cockpit, you could see the universe. The stars and the way they lit up just to illuminate the sky—the black abyss that was the course of navigation for the ship and her crew.
"Jack. This isn't your last mission." Shin-To reiterated. Jack took the first swig and passed the bottle to Shin-To.
"Shinnie, do you ever want more?" Shin-To took a swig as he watched Jack intently. "Have you ever just wanted to leave this game that we play and settle down?" For the first time ever, Shin-To could see where a conversation with Jack was going.
"The queen of women?" Shin-To questioned as he handed Jack the bottle. Jack looked over at him and blew off the notion.
"Say her name," Jack said as he took a swig.
"Ade?" Shin-To said. Jack looked out towards the stars and closed his eyes as he swallowed the scotch down.
"No," he said. "The one you think I let die." He finished. Jack passed the bottle back to Shin-To and looked at him in the eyes. Shin-To noticed the water in Jack's eyes.
"I didn't say you let her die, Jack." Jack held the bottle tight.
"Say her name." he insisted. Shin-To nodded as he snatched the bottle back.
"Cornitha." He took a deep swig.
"Would you believe me if I told you I saw her again?" Jack was looking out to the stars again. Shin-To took another swig of the scotch. He inspected the bottle, swirling it around.
"Most things about you, Jack Oliver Brim, do not surprise me." Jack smiled at the mention of his last name. "The whisky is a cover. Your heart and your soul are gentle." Shin-To went on to mention. "The way we lost your father. The business you keep and the friends you do not have." Jack turned and looked at him in the eyes. "You are simply lonely." He finished.
Jack motioned for the bottle and snatched it as soon as it got to his hands. "When did you see her last?" The reptile finally asked. He sat the bottle between them and looked over at the stars as he had the entire time.
"Two full moons ago on Cerion. We were phishing for some information on a new gang leader among the people." Jack coughed. "We ended the mission early because I told the crew there was nothing connecting anyone to the rival gang." Shin-To picked up the bottle and took a swig. "Do you remember that on the third day, I went off to recon a desert area by the badlands?" Jack asked, never taking his eyes off the stars.
"Yes. Rige and I held the ship's location until you returned." Shin-To answered. "The official report states you were gone three days." He finished. Jack smiled and folded his arms to lean back in his old chair.
"What the report doesn't tell you…. After about five clicks into the recon, I saw her." Jack said. "She and about two bodyguards were walking into a hut, barely visible to the eye." Shin-To was still trying to study Jack's face. "After my initial shock, I made my way to the hut. All the logic in me was telling me she was up to no good. But, my heart was telling me she needed me to save her." A calm quiet came over Jack's voice.
"Jack? Shin-To? Are you there?" Rige's voice came over the intercom. Jack opened his eyes, and Shin-To shot up.
"We are here, Rige. What is it?" Shin-To shouted into the void.
"Shin-To is Jack with you?" Rige asked. "Yes," Shin-To answered. "We need both of you on the bridge. An incoming ship is requesting both of your presence." Jack looked at Shin-To and squinted his eyes in suspicion.
"We will be right there."
"Who do you think it is, Jack?" Shin-To asked. Jack shook his head in complete confusion.
"Maybe the Sciders." He said. "We do owe them for a couple pieces of information." He finished. They made their way to the bridge. On the way there, Shin-To couldn't help but remember the thing Jack said before opening the old bottle of scotch. "Open this on my last mission." It kept ringing around in his head. This wasn't his last mission… They have only been in the game for a decade. People feared them, respected them, paid them for almost nothing. And now this random ship wanting to talk with Jack? These are the moments that Shin-To wished he could read Jack Oliver Brim.
"Okay… How far off are they?" Jack asked to the room as he entered it. There was a humanoid looking alien over at the screen. "About five minutes until they are within range." Rige looked over at Shin-To. She could tell that something was weighing on his mind.
"What are your orders, captain?" A cadet asked from the gunnery seat. Jack looked out into the black abyss. It wasn't the same scenery as before; down in the old cockpit, the stars seemed less bright somehow.
"Standby," Jack said. Rige slowed the speed of the cruiser down in anticipation of
the incoming ship.
"Size of the ship is comparable to the Cavalier," Rige informed them.
"How close to her is the ship?" Jack asked. Rige looked on the screen to see if she could make out an exact estimate.
"It's almost identical in every way, sir." She answered back. Jack thought about the repercussions of attacking a ship of that size. He looked over at Shin-To for a sign of wisdom. Shin-To shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.
"Jack, we have no clue what the intentions of this person are."
"As soon as we are in range, bring up the communications," Jack said to Jean, who was off to the side by the switchboard. She didn't say a word but nodded in agreement. Jack sat down in his captain's chair and awaited the possibilities of who could becoming. Shin-To walked over to his side and placed his hands on his shoulders.
"Let me get you some coffee." Jack looked up at him and shook his head no.
"Thank you, old friend." Shin-To sat down, beside Jack, but slightly to the back. Rige looked back and smiled. She couldn't help but feel protected with him behind her.
"Jack, connection establishing," Jean said. The screen popped up, and there sat a woman with a scar on her face from her chin to her the bottom of her nose. Red hair that fell and covered a part of her face. The one eye that wasn't covered by the red hair could see the green soul that sat in her body.
"Jack." She said in a very alluring voice.
"Hello, Cornitha," Jack said as he looked back to see the reaction of Shin-To. Rige looked back at him too.
They both caught each other's eye, and in a sudden moment of intuition, Shin-To broke the silence. "I see the grave can't hold you." Cornitha looked at him and smiled.
"How are you, old man? Still doing Jack's bidding?" Shin-To gritted his teeth and kept his gaze on the screen.
"ENOUGH!" Jack shouted. "What do you want?" She laughed at the question.
"Jack… What did I tell you the last time I saw you?" Jack looked around the room.
"If I ever stepped foot on Cerion again, you would destroy the Cavalier and her crew. Save me for last and make sure I watched her perish." He finished. Ade's face turned bright red. She couldn't help but think this was all her fault. If she hadn't called on Jack and his crew, they wouldn't have had to stop on Cerion. That must have been why Jack was acting so weird. He was trying to avoid being seen.
"Hello, Rige." She said as she turned her gaze slightly to the left of Jack. "How is piloting training coming?" Rige looked at her in contempt. She never did like the woman; something always screamed evil about her. At this moment, she was being proven right.
"Now that reunions are over. What do you want?" Jack insisted. She looked around, trying to find something.
"Jack… No whisky?" she asked. "Have the dreams stopped? You know the ones where you leave me to die on a planet with nothing but water?"
She shook her head. "Anyway, I'm here to deliver on my promise." She said. "But, all these emotions of seeing all the old crew again has me nostalgic. Tell you what. Jack, I want you to board the Arch, alone, with all your data on the Papeldonians, and I will leave your crew without their captain, but unharmed." She finished. You could see the fire in Jack's soul light up. He was sitting in his chair slouched, with his chin in his hand. "Oh, that brooding demeanor." She added. "I'll tell you what. I will give you ten minutes to discuss this with your crew. I know how important tough decisions are to you." She blew him a kiss, and off the screen went. No one said anything for about thirty seconds after the screen went black.
Jack stood up and turned to face his friends. "Listen up.." Everyone turned their attention to the captain that they so desperately loved. "I am going onto that ship….." he was interrupted by all noises of people groaning.
"Jack, there is no good to come of this." Shin-To inputted.
"Shinnie. This is your ship now. Captain. Get these guys back to Feminae. From there, work with Rige and Ade on what comes next."
Ade pushed her way to the front of the bridge. "What do you think you are doing?" she yelled. She slapped his face. "You cannot leave me." She was overtaken by some sort of feeling she had never felt before. She then tried to gain composure herself. "I didn't call for Jack Brim's crew… I called for Jack Brim and his crew." She finished.
He grabbed her hands and brought them down to his side. "Good things come to those who wait." He handed her his father's knife. "May it bring you all the luck that it has brought me." Rige stood up and walked over to him. She didn't say a word; she just wrapped him in a hug. "I won't be long sport." He said. "The Cavalier needs you now. You need to navigate her through the stars." He finished. Tears started running down her face. At this moment, she felt as if she was losing her father all over again. She was.
Jack Brim started to make his way to the door as he stopped, looked over at Ade, and winked. The door closed, and their captain, their leader, disappeared as fast as it seems as he made his way into their lives.
There the three stood amongst everyone else in the middle of the bridge. Tears streaming down their faces and their hearts sank into their stomach. "What would Jack do now?" Ade asked. Shin-To and Rige looked at each other and wondered the same question.
"He'd get his crew to Feminae."