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Jason

Jason started to regain consciousness, he registered a sharp pain on the top of his head, and a brightly lit room when he opened his eyes. He wiggled his toes and fingers and everything seemed to work. He looked down and noticed that he was wearing a hospital gown.

"Oh?" he said out loud, no one around to hear him anyway. He couldn't quite figure out what was going on, and he felt groggy, like he was on heavy pain medication. He didn't have time to ponder though, two men wearing white clothing came through the door not far from the end of his bed a few seconds later. 'This is starting to remind me of the psych hospital' Jason thought to himself, the idea more than a little worrying. The two men helped him out of bed, and into a wheelchair, Jason giggling at that silly name again.

They pushed him out of the room, and down a number of hallways, everything was very white, Jason thought to himself, whatever drugs he was on were clouding his judgment. He looked up at the man walking next to him, he spotted an insignia on his shoulder. 'These guys are military.' Jason thought.

They soon came to doorway, one of the men pushing him inside, it was a big square room, fairly dark, and with another room in the middle, the smaller room's walls made of glass nearly all the way around, apart from right at the bottom and right at the top. So they were more like big windows than walls, and it was much brighter in there. 'Observation room' Jason groggily thought. The white clad man steered him towards, and then into the smaller room, he and his partner lifting Jason out of the wheelchair, and depositing him into a chair, with a small table in front of him, and a man seated in another chair on the other side.

There was a woman in a lab-coat right behind the man sitting opposite, and two soldiers wearing cams and with guns in either corner of the room behind the seated man. He thought he recognized the man sitting down, his face looked familiar, and Jason tried desperately to fight past whatever was making him groggy to think. Suddenly it came to him.

"Briggs." He said out loud.

"You remember me?" the man called Briggs asked.

"Yes." And then Jason thought about it. "No... not really." He conceded. "I think I'm really angry at you, but i.. I can't remember why." Jason saw Briggs turn to the woman standing just behind him and say something quietly to her, he caught a few words, 'amazing,' and 'amount of drugs.' After a few more seconds of heated discussion, and a nod from the woman, Briggs turned back to him.

"What can you tell me about Super Cruisers?" he asked. Jason had no idea what he was talking about and said.

"Super Cruisers?" puzzled and groggy.

"Your Super Cruiser, the Judgment."

Suddenly Jason felt something, a horrible feeling, it felt like something was inside his head, and it quickly became unbelievably painful, the pain cleared his mind for a moment and it all his memories came flooding back.

"Briggs!" he yelled, fighting through the increasing pain and standing up. Briggs and the woman looked like they were seeing a ghost. "You rat bastard! You gassed me!" Jason now almost overcome with pain, his head felt like it was going to explode. "What did you do to me?" He yelled, struggling to stay on his feet, then, he felt it, that familiar rage, that special kind of fury that he had only felt a few times before. His mind was clear again, although the pain hadn't subsided, in fact it was still growing. "I said I was going to kill you!" he said, pointing and grinning wickedly. Briggs stumbling backwards, a look of complete terror on his face.

Jason moved, faster than anyone could see, he clenched his hand around Briggs's throat, and pushed, sending Briggs flying backwards, but he didn't let go of his throat, and it was ripped clean off of his neck as his body flew backwards, clipping one soldier and knocking him down. Faster than a supercomputer, he saw the other soldier starting to aim his weapon around, Jason lunged sideways, driving his shoulder into the man's chest, he heard a satisfying crunch as ribs snapped and the man went sprawling. An overpowering wave of pain hit Jason right then, making him stumble, but ultimately only driving his fury even higher, he saw the first soldier getting to his feet, he was still a threat, Jason leaped towards him, aiming a punch at his head, another wave of pain hitting him just before the blow landed, and it landed far softer than he intended. But it was still a substantial hit, and blood spurted from the soldier's nose as he dropped to the ground, out cold.

Jason spun again, seeing the woman, a tan Liger, she was holding the clipboard up to her face, and her eyes were wide with fear, 'no' he thought, 'she's no threat, and I have no quarrel with her.' Dropping to his knees, before the pain in his head did it for him, he felt the pain grow even higher, and even he, in his enraged state couldn't last for long. 'Fuck' he thought, grasping at his head with his hands, he realized that there was something there, it felt like metal, there was a piece of metal in his head! And another wave of pain hit him, and he roared in agony, he vaguely noticed all the lights going out as he did this, and he fell onto his side, still clutching his head, and curling up into the fetal position, trying desperately to stay conscious.

He lost any perception of time, and he could vaguely remember screams, and someone carrying him, and a voice, over and over the voice spoke, talking, but not really saying anything.

Sympathy for the Devil part 2

The first thing he became aware of was that he was shivering, but he wasn't cold, and he was laying flat, his arms out to the side, but it wasn't on the ground. He tried to make sense of what his eyes were seeing. It was fairly dark, but there was some soft light coming from somewhere above him. he turned his head and looked to the side, noticing that his arm was strapped to the surface he was lying on, he was a prisoner, and he was strapped onto a bed-like platform, that was about twenty degrees below vertical, so he was looking forward, not up. He gradually felt the different parts of his body. His brain was starting to speed up now and things were becoming clearer, he remembered getting gassed in that 3D imager, and then he could remember getting pushed through a hospital somewhere, and then Briggs was there, and he attacked him, and those two guards, and there was something metal in his head. He couldn't move his arms and he desperately wanted to feel his head, to see if it was really there or he imagined the whole thing. 'This is bad' Jason thought idly to himself, 'If that was real. I've just attacked and killed at least one man, a Colonel.' That guard, whose ribs he broke, could have died from the injury too. Now he was strapped to a bed in a dark room with no one around. 'Yep, this is bad.'

About ten minutes later, a man wearing formal military dress entered the room. As he approached and entered the soft light Jason saw his face and recognized him.

"Commander Willis." He said out loud, then paused before asking. "How did I know that?" Mostly to himself, the man seemed to consider this.

"You know me?" he asked.

"I've never seen you before in my life." Jason said, not really sure.

"But you know my name?"

"I also know that you're the Battlecom aboard the Athena, which is the battle-station above Crenna, and the head of Battlegroup 4, my Battlegroup." Jason said, bewildered at his own words. It must have showed, because the man paused for quite a while as he seemed to consider something.

"An interesting development. Tell me, what's the last thing you remember?" Jason thought about lying, but he doubted it would do him any good, so he went with the truth.

"I remember being in a hospital, and I was drugged, then I was put in a small bright room, and Briggs was there, and then he said something about the Judgment and then my head felt like it was going to explode, and I attacked him, and the two guards, and there was a woman there, but, I didn't hurt her. Then the pain in my head got worse and I collapsed, and I heard screaming, and I feel like I've been in pain for a week." The man was considering this for awhile. Then Jason remembered the piece of metal he felt on his head. "Oh, and just before I collapsed I felt something metal in my head." He said, while trying to tilt his head down for the Commander to see. "Is it real?"

"Yes it's quite real." The man answered, apparently he didn't seem to feel the need to fill the gaps for Jason. The man stood there for a few more moments before turning around and beginning to walk towards door, calling out, "I will be back soon." As he went.

Once he was out of sight Jason really started to think about his situation, barely able to get past the massive headache he had. He tried to think back to the hospital, and what had happened. He felt bad that he had injured those two guards, and he knew he should feel bad about killing Briggs, but the asshole had it coming as far as he was concerned.

Why had he freaked out like that, it was right after Briggs has said Judgment, suddenly, Jason remembered the Judgment, it was a super-cruiser, it was his super-cruiser. But that didn't make any sense, he was remembering being on board the ship, he was the Commander of it, he had been the Commander for years.

"What the hell is going on." He wondered out loud as he explored more of his memories about the Judgment. He could remember his quarters, how to operate all the different consoles on the bridge, all the names of his officers and most of his crewmen. Then he remembered the crusader ambush, they were outnumbered and outgunned, there was crusaders on board, he had fought with them, he had been injured, after that he didn't remember anything.

Over the next five minutes he explored more and more of these memories he had never experienced, places he had been, things he had done, he could remember being trained as an officer, he was startled when he remembered his 40th birthday. 'These memories aren't mine.' He reasoned with himself.

Soon the Commander came back into the room, again approaching him and saying. "Jason, what can you tell me about project Phoenix?" Suddenly everything made sense to Jason, he recalled that project Phoenix was an experimental program that took the memories of dying soldiers, and could then implant them into another, very much alive persons mind. He had been implanted with another person's memories. He thought about his name, and he was rewarded with two separate answers, Jason, and Dan.

"Dan, that's who was put in my head."

"Yes, Jason, you have been implanted with the memories of one Sup-Com Dan Levinsworth."

"Why, why did Briggs do this?"

"That I can't answer completely, he was acting on his own when he incapacitated you and had the procedure performed, this was not sanctioned by the military. However, his records indicate that he sought to make you more controllable."

"That makes sense, project Phoenix works on the subconscious mind, but why can I consciously remember everything then?"

"That, Jason, is a mystery, the scientists I just spoke with think it may have something to do with you not passing out when the trigger words were said, you should have been rendered unconscious immediately, we aren't sure why you didn't, but we think that because you were conscious, the memories unfolded into your waking mind."

Jason took a few moments to absorb all this information. "So that piece of metal in my head is part of the procedure?"

"No, actually, that piece of metal is part of a bio-interface device, Briggs decided for some reason that he would fit you with that at the same time, perhaps just because he already had your head open."

"Bio-interface device?"

"The technology allows the user to communicate and control wireless computer systems, however it didn't work as well as was hoped during trials, and the program was abandoned a few months ago."

"Anything else in my brain I should know about?"

"No, just those two things."

"Okay, so I have a dead Commander's memories, and I can control wireless systems, what happens next? Am I going to be held here or moved somewhere else?"

"Held? Jason, you were drugged and had something actually altering your mind when you attacked the Colonel, not to mention the fact that he had just gassed you and played with your brain against your will. We won't be holding you prisoner."

"Oh. Hey, what happened to those two guards I attacked? Are they alright?"

"One suffered a number of broken ribs, and a fragment penetrated one of his lungs, but he survived, the other just suffered a broken nose and a bit of headache. I would like to thank you actually, for not injuring Dr Zeehvs, despite your condition you still managed to stop yourself from attacking her. I saw the footage and the look on your face myself."

"Umm okay, if you say I'm not responsible for what I did, then can you let me down from here?" shaking around in his straps for emphasis.

"Soon Jason, I need to go and fill out the correct forms before I can legally release a prisoner." Turning around and starting to walk away. Jason began wondering about what he was going to do now, and what the military would want him to do, he had all the memories of an officer, and from what he knew about the Phoenix project from Dan's memories, the procedure was final, those memories couldn't be removed. The whole thing was overwhelming to consider, and that was leaving out the fact that he could apparently connect to computers via his brain now.

About an hour later the Commander returned, with a small group of people, a couple of soldiers and two people who were wearing jumpsuits. He recognized them as crewmen from Dan's memories.

The two crewmen operated some controls out of Jason's sight and then he heard the Commander say.

"Brace yourself." Just as the straps holding him to the surface retreated, and he slid down the two feet to the floor, fast. His feet hit the floor and he realized a little too late that his legs were like jelly, his momentum causing him to roll forwards, and smack his head on the floor.

"Ow!" he called out, the two soldiers laughing off to his right and the two crewmen looking around the doorway also laughing. The soldiers came over and each lifted an armpit, pulling him to his feet, where he managed to stand after a few seconds. The Commander motioned for him to follow and he started walking after him, his legs warming up a bit and by the time he got outside of the room they were almost back to normal.

He followed the Commander through a number of corridors and passages, Jason would have been utterly lost, but Dan had been here many times, reassuring him with unsolicited memories every now and again as he saw various things. Soon they came to a window, looking out Jason could see the planet, Crenna. 'Amazing' he thought as he gazed out of the viewing glass.

He realized the Commander hadn't stopped and had to hurry to catch up, his legs still not working as well as he would like. Another few doorways later the Commander stopped at a counter, and there was a tray on it. As Jason got a bit closer he realized that it was his stuff in the tray.

"Colonel Briggs removed these from you." Said the Commander. Jason stepping closer and picking up the tiny ear-piece, using the tips of his, now quite long, nails to manipulate the tiny struts that poked out from it, forcing them back into the shell, before raising it up to his ear, and pressing the tiny button causing the tiny struts to spring out, firmly locking it in place, without being uncomfortable or blocking his hearing.

"A fascinating design." He heard the Commander say from off to his left. "And the only one our engineers could decipher. The power sources in those two." Pointing at the small round shield emitter, and the backpack. "Completely stumped them, they are listed as a flight enabling backpack, and a personal shield emitter. But the engineers couldn't even turn them on."

"They work in conjunction with the wrist computer, which is coded to my electromagnetic signal, they are also voice activated, Sarah, the AI at my house, can turn them on and off too."

"I see, I do hope that even after this ordeal, you are still willing to help us develop this technology."

"How about you give me a week, at least, to think about it."

"Fair enough. Sergeant, see that this man gets back home."

"Yes sir." Came the reply, the Sergeant tapping Jason on the shoulder and motioning for him to follow, Jason quickly clipping the shield emitter to his shirt, and grabbing the backpack, just carrying it, as he followed the Sergeant.

A few corners later, and an elevator ride down, they reached the docking bay. They wound their way to a small shuttle, and the Sergeant ushered him inside, Jason sitting down in one of the seats in the empty shuttle. Apart from him there was only a pilot. After a few minutes the pilot turned around and said.

"We're just waiting on one more passenger sir."

The man saying sir to Jason made him doubt the pilot knew who he was, but he did wonder who the extra passenger was. About five minutes later he found out. As the Captain stepped through the hatch and sitting down across from Jason.

"Didn't expect to see you here James."

"Didn't expect to be here if I'm honest." The Captain filled him in on what had happened as the shuttle undocked and started heading down to the planet. Starting with Sarah raising the alarm, and then how Briggs' men ambushed and arrested them, and how they spent the next three days in lockup before the Commander's men assumed control of Fort Hope and realized what had happened. And finally how he was being debriefed just now. Saying that he and his men were up for a commendation.

"So I hear Briggs is dead, you do that?"

"I might have." Jason replied, sheepish.

"Asshole had it coming if you ask me."

"That's exactly what I thought." Replied Jason, laughing.

"What exactly happened to you? I'm sure it's more interesting than getting locked in a jail cell for three days."

"Yeah you could say that." He lowered his head and showed the Captain the smooth piece of metal that replaced a section of his skin. "Briggs gave me this, and a bunch of other stuff."

"What the hell is that?"

"A bio-interface or something, lets me control systems with my brain, but I haven't figured it out yet."

"And the other stuff?"

"That, James, is a long story for another time. Right now I feel like I could sleep for a week, so I'm going to do some of that." Jason laying back and trying to catch a bit of sleep before facing the next couple of problems facing him. Quickly falling asleep, but he was woken up an annoyingly short time later by the Captain.

"Hey, Jason, wake up, Hey!" the Captain finally stirring him.

"I'm awake, I'm awake." Jason replied, groggy.

"We're here Jason." Jason quickly waking up and taking stock, the shuttle was on the ground and the hatch was open, and he could see the bottom of the rocky outcropping his house was built into through the open door. He got to his shaky feet and stepped out, James following him, thanking the pilot before he stepped out.

As the house's sensors picked up that it was him Sarah's voice came over his earpiece.

"Jason! Your back!"

'She seems excited,' he thought to himself. "Yeah, I'm home Sarah." He said, walking as he spoke. "I hear that you sent the captain and his team to try and save me. Thanks Sarah."

"You're welcome Jason." Came the response, in a very happy tone. The next thing he knew, the door had opened, but he was still about twenty meters away. And then he saw a black blur running at him, he realized it was Jack just as the agile Feline jumped through the air, tackling him and wrapping his hands around his neck, and his legs around his waist. Knocking him backwards, his tail shooting out instinctively and pressing against the ground to stop him falling over backwards.

"I see your feeling better."

"I missed you so much, when you didn't come back me and Sarah were really worried."

"Sorry Jack, a crazy military guy gassed me."

"Yeah, you look like shit." Jason laughed with the feline as he regained his balance and began walking towards the house again, with Jack still hanging from him.

Harbinger

Jason

After entering the house, Jack still wrapped around his torso, he headed straight for his bedroom, but moving slowly enough not to make any of the soldiers arrayed around his lounge smirk. He doubted there would be any love making, he was too tired, then again, if anyone could motivate him it was Jack. Once the bedroom door closed behind him he said. "I guess I have a lot of explaining to do." Jack leaned out a bit from Jason's shoulder, moving his face over and pulling Jason into a tender kiss, after a few seconds Jack broke off and said.

"Take your time." Making Jason smile. Moving onto the bed, where Jack released his grip and fell the few inches onto the mattress. Jason laying down next to him.

"It can't really wait." Jack looked a little worried at this.

"What's wrong Jason?" he asked, losing some of the joy that previously occupied his face. Jason had to think for a while, to come up with the best way of explaining it.

"The guy, who gassed me, he was interested in my brain, and he well, he implanted the memories of another person into it." He waited for Jack to react.

"What do you mean?" Jacks face quite concerned now.

"I, uhh, I have another person's life in my head." Jason gave the confused feline some time to grasp this. Jack lay still, for quite a while before he said.

"Why would anyone do that?"

"I think he wanted to control me, by putting a military man's life into my head, he thought I would follow orders."

"So, there's a soldier, in your head. How does that work?"

"His name was Dan." Jason offered, feebly.

"And the man who wanted to control you? Obviously it didn't work, did it?"

"Uh, no, you could say that." Replied Jason, hoping he could avoid telling Jack that he killed Briggs. Jack considered this for a while.

"He's dead, isn't he." It wasn't a question.

"Yes, he's dead Jack." Jack was silent for a few seconds before saying.

"The guy attacked you, and played with your brain, sounds like the asshole had it coming." Making Jason smile.

"Yeah, I guess he did." Jack seemed to be processing it all, and Jason waited patiently.

"So, Dan is it? Who was he?"

"He was a Commander aboard a super cruiser called the Judgment, it was destroyed about six months ago, Dan survived just long enough for the scientists to gather his memories, I just happened to show up when they were ready to be put into someone, apparently I'm not supposed to have all of his memories consciously, but I do."

"It must be hard, trying to deal with two sets of memories."

"It's not too bad, but that's not all they did."Jason tilting his head down so Jack could see the small flat piece of metal that replaces part of his skin, running flush with the top of his head.

"What's this?" Asked Jack, moving his hand up, and feeling it gently with a finger.

"It's a transmitter, it's supposed to let me access computer systems with my brain. The guy who put Dan inside me fitted it at the same time." Jack went quiet for a while, Jason wondered how he could be dealing with this all this so well, maybe he didn't give him enough credit.

"Anything else I should know?" Asked Jack, looking at him and smiling.

"I don't think so, but, I think I might be able to teleport, a bit." Jason said it like a joke. Jack letting out a small hum noise, smiling and leaning in to kiss Jason, a little while later he said.

"It really wouldn't surprise me anymore Jason." And resuming the kissing. As it started getting more intense Jason said.

"You're very understanding you know." The Feline humming in response.

"Yeah, I know." And kissing Jason even more passionately.

Jason could hear something, a female voice, as he started to wrestle himself conscious he heard

"Jason, Jason wake up, there is a man named Commander Willis trying to call you, he says it is important." Jason yawned and then said.

"Uhh, patch voice please Sarah." Sarah piping the Commander into his earpiece. Jason heard the click and said. "Hello? Commander?"

"Yes, Jason, it's Commander Willis."

"What can I do for you Commander?"

"Actually, I was wondering whether you would allow me to come and pay you a visit."

"Uhh, sure, when?"

"I'll be there in an hour."

"Ahh, okay, see you then." He heard the other end of the line click as it disconnected.

'He probably wants something.' He thought to himself. Sitting up, Jason caught a whiff of himself, 'Whoa, that's not a nice smell, Better have a shower.' Jason got out of bed and made for the bathroom, stepping into the shower. As Jason was working the water along his skin, he started running his hands across his head, and he suddenly remembered the transmitter, 'whoops' he thought, 'probably should have thought about that before I got in.' gently feeling around the edges, but it seemed waterproof enough, so he continued washing himself.

Once he had finished washing, dried off, and put some clean clothes on, Jason headed out of the bedroom. He made his way to the kitchen, where he saw Jack talking to the similarly dark furred Liger called Pirelli, on the other side of the central bench, he also saw the Captain, leaning in his usual spot, on Jason's right as he entered from the hall. As he got closer the Captain noticed him and said. "Jason." Loudly enough for the other people in the room to hear. "I didn't think you would be up so early."

"Yeah, I got a call from Commander Willis." Walking over to the FSU to find something to eat.

"Oh? What was it about?" asked the Captain, curious.

"He wanted to come for a visit, actually."

"Really? When?"

"He said an hour, but that was fifteen minutes ago." He was facing the other way and so didn't see the Captain look a little shocked, and then hurry off into the lounge. Jason was surprised when he turned back around, plate of bacon and eggs in hand, and the Captain was gone. 'Commander Willis is the single highest ranking officer for several hundred light years.' He thought to himself, referencing Dan's memories.

Jason didn't feel the need to impress him though, and sat his plate down and began eating. About a minute later he heard Pirelli say 'cya' to Jack, and then saw him head into the lounge, probably called in there by the Captain. Jack then strolled over towards him. "Morning sleepyhead." He said.

"Morning you." Jason replied warmly. Jack sitting down next to him as Jason continued to eat his food.

"Remember how you promised to show me your 'secret lab'?" asked Jack.

"Sure do, you want to see it now?" replied Jason, knowing full well the answer, shoveling the rest of the food on his plate into his mouth.

"Mmmhmm" came the response. Jason quickly finished chewing and stood up.

"C'mon then, let's go." He said, grabbing hold of Jack's hand and walking backwards towards the bedrooms. He strolled towards his bedroom, still holding the Feline's hand. He saw a flash of curiosity spread across Jack's face as they walked straight by it, heading for the dead end, at the end of the hallway. When they got close Jason tapped his earpiece and said "Sarah, stairs." He watched Jack's eyes go wide as the whole section of wall started moving. When it had moved all the way back, revealing the stairs, Jack said.

"Wow, it's so quiet."

"Mmm, good for sneaking past soldiers and sleeping boyfriends." Teased Jason. Receiving a punch and a chuckle from the feline. Jason led the way down into the stairs and asked Sarah to turn the lights on when he couldn't see any further. Dim lights now illuminating the way, they reached the bottom of the stairs and emerged into the wide space of the 'secret lab.' Jack took a step past Jason and looked around for awhile.

"It's uhh, not as sinister as I imagined." Joked Jack, poking Jason in the side. Jason just laughing. "Those doors are huge!" Jack said, amazed, staring at the colossal blast doors that sat at either end of the room. "What's through that door?" asked Jack, pointing towards the other exit.

"A tunnel, leading to a ladder, with a hatch leading outside at the top."

"Secret escape tunnel?" asked the feline, smiling and giggling.

"Haha, yeah." Jack walked around, looking at all the various benches. He got to the bench where Jason had left his cannon. 'Hmm I should probably give it a name.' He thought idly as Jack examined it.

"Isn't this the gun you used on those crusaders when you were saving me?" he asked.

"Yeah, that's the one."

"Is it safe?"

"At the moment, yeah, it doesn't work unless it's plugged into the backpack, which is on our bedroom floor I think." Jack picked up the powerless gun, turning it over and scrutinizing it.

"You know how you said that when you used it at the school, that you had never tested it?"

"Yeah."

"What would have happened if it exploded or something?"

"Hmm, best not to think about that." He replied, Jack putting the gun back down on the bench, turning around and facing him.

"Well, thanks again, for saving me." Said the Feline, pulling him into a hug and planting a kiss on him.

"Anytime." Replied Jason, and returned the kiss. "There is this big shot military guy coming around soon, and the Captain is probably wondering where we are."

"Ok then, let's go." And they made their way, still holding hands, back into the main house.

Sarah alerted him that someone was approaching the door. He got her to display the video and he recognized the Commander. "Sarah, door." The heavy front door un-hitching in the center and sliding apart, just as the Commander made the final few strides towards it. "Jason." Said the man, nodding, and stepping through the doorway.

"Commander." Jason replied. As the Commander stepped though he saw a lounge room filled with soldiers saluting him, returning the gesture and saying, "As you were men." Willis noticing the kitchen was empty and gesturing over to it, wordlessly asking Jason if they could talk over there. Jason just nodded and walked towards it. When they arrived Jason turned around and asked.

"I'm probably not going to like this, am I?"

"No, you're not." Jason was somewhat surprised at the man's bluntness, he gestured for him to sit, pointing at the row of stools against the central bench. And as the Commander moved towards them Jason asked.

"Drink?"

"A beer, if you have any." Jason didn't bother replying, just pressing the buttons on the FSU to get a beer out. Once the panel slid away he grabbed the beer and twisted off the cap, walking back to the bench and handing it to the man. The Commander accepted it and took a large swig. Jason seating himself on a stool on the adjacent side of the bench, so there was just a corner of it between them, and waited for the man to speak.

"I know I said I would give you a week, but it seems we no longer have the luxury of time." The man paused, taking another large drink from the bottle. "A few hours ago, the Damnation and her entire supporting fleet, bar a single frigate, where destroyed." Jason quickly scanned Dan's memories to work out the implications.

"Fifteen thousand." He said out loud, in shock as he worked out how many furs had been in that fleet.

"Yes, quite, but it gets worse. The single frigate that escaped, the Firefly, has sent word ahead, and reported that they were attacked and decimated by an enormous Crusader fleet. The Damnation and her supporting craft were outnumbered ten to one, and that fleet is heading this way." It all started to sink into Jason.

"How long?" he asked, mind racing.

"They do have better weapons and superior numbers, but they are slow, the Firefly suggests that we have three weeks until they arrive." Jason put his elbows down on the surface of the bench and pressed his face into his hands. "I see you understand the gravity of the situation." The Commander commented at his actions.

"Dan's memories are filling the gaps, yeah."

"Mm, the entirety of the Athena battlegroup is returning to mount a planetary defense, what's left of it anyway, we only have three full fleets now. The Judgment's fleet is only at half strength, and its missing a super-cruiser, and the Damnation is now completely gone. Distress calls and messengers have been sent out to the other battle-groups, but it's unlikely any of them will arrive in time to help."

"So what your saying is, that I've got 3 weeks, or less, to upgrade our entire battle-group, or we will all be destroyed."

"Essentially, yes."

"You really don't pull any punches do you Commander? Alright, let me think about this for a minute." Jason's mind racing, tearing through all of Dan's memories about the various ships and their systems. "Commander, when will our ships start arriving?"

"The first fleet will be here in 4 days, one arriving each day after that." Jason stood up and went to fetch a data pad, finding one, he started writing a list, containing a number of components and raw materials he would need for the upgrades. A few minutes later when he was done, he handed it to the Commander.

"I need to know how much of these things you can have here within the week, and how much by the week after, after that it will be too late."

"Here?"

Jason used Dan's memories of the planet to work out the best place for what they were going to do. "There's a section of farmland to the east big enough, that's where I'll need the stuff."

"What else?"

"I'm going to need someone to teach me how to use this." Jason said, pointing to the transmitter embedded in his scalp. "And Commander, I need to know yesterday." Jason stood up and went to find Jack, He heard Willis begin relaying the information on the data pad to someone before he even made it out of the room.

Jason found Jack in their room, relaxing and staying out of the way, as Jason had said that there would probably be a load of people with the Commander.

"Hey, Jack."

"Hey, Jason." Jason went down and sat down next to him on the bed.

"That bad huh?" Jason just nodded, and after a few seconds.

"There's a massive fleet of Crusaders on the way. They'll be here in three weeks." Jason saw Jacks eye's go wide. The pair silent for a moment.

"What are you going to do Jason?" as a reply occurred to Jason he couldn't help but laugh. "What could possibly be funny?"

"Because Jack, I'm going to try to save the world." Leaving the Feline speechless for a moment. Before he couldn't help but giggle. The pair sat there laughing for a good while.

"Well, if anyone can do it Jason." Leaving the sentence open.

"I'm worried though Jack, I don't know if I can do this one." Jack just hugged him. Making Jason feel a little better. "Thanks Jack, you have a way with words." Making the Feline laugh and punch his arm.

"Better get going then you oaf, you've got a world to save." Jason sighed, the task ahead daunting, and any number of things out of his control could doom it to failure. Without even considering the hundreds of things he could mess up.

"Right." He said, standing up. "I'll be in the lab, if anyone comes looking for me send them down, I'll leave the door open."

"Sure thing." Jason then walked out of their bedroom, and towards the stairs, the sliding wall already moving to let him pass, 'Sarah must have been listening.' He thought, marvelling at how quickly she was learning, and giving him an idea.

"Hey, Sarah." He said as he walked. "If I built a strong enough amplifier, do you think you could interface with the battlestation's computer in orbit?"

"The adaptive algorithm you embedded in my code allows me to learn to interface with new devices, so given some time, certainly."

"Great, that will speed things up a bit." He said as he entered the wide open space of the lab.

Ten minutes later the amplifier was nearly finished, Jason using his flight backpack for most of the components, a wing pole would act as an antenna and the power source inside it would amplify the signal enough to reach easily into orbit, but it would quite possibly cook anyone within a few meters of it, so he would have to put it on the top of the cliff. Grabbing the pack he folded the slightly modified wing down so he could take it up the stairs.

When he got to the kitchen he saw the Commander was still there, as he approached the man looked up from the three data pads on the surface of the bench, 'Where did those other two come from?' Jason wondered idly.

"Ahh Jason, I was just about to come and find you, here is the projected supplies we can have here over the next two weeks." The man holding out a data pad. Jason grabbed it with his free hand, and looked at the screen, it was more or less what he had guessed. "Walk with me." He said to the Commander, placing the pad down on the bench , and walking towards the front door.

"Where are we going?" the Commander asked, as he followed.

"The roof." Jason replied, raising his hand and pointing up.

"What's that for?" the Commander asked, referring to the pack in Jason's hand.

"Great, big, antenna." Replied Jason, emphasizing each word. "Your battle-station is going to be meeting my AI real soon, you might want to tell them." The Commander not even considering he was joking, speaking into the small transmitter strapped to his wrist and warning his crew.

As they rode the elevator up. The Commander said. "We have someone who worked on the bio-transmitter project on the way here."

"Already?" the Commander nodding in response.

"Damn, we might survive the coming storm yet Commander." Jason joked, smiling. When they got to the top Jason walked to the centre of the grassy area and placed the pack on the ground. Pushing it into the ground and propping the Antenna up with one of the heavy outdoor chairs. Moving back towards the Commander, Jason asked "Everything looking good Sarah?"

'System diagnostic checks out Jason.' She replied in his earpiece.

"Okay..." he said out loud, moving in closer to the Commander and putting one arm around his shoulders.

"What are you..." the man started to say, but was interrupted when Jason said. "Shields on." The barely visible purple barrier encompassing both of them.

"Oh." Finished the man.

"Hit it Sarah." The AI firing up the pack's power supply. The whole device seemed to be encompassed by a slight purple glow and happily nothing exploded. "What's the news Sarah?"

'I am receiving signals from all over the planet, and also from the battle-station in orbit.'

"Nice, what does the shield telemetry say? Is there any drain?" asked Jason, wondering if the shield protecting himself and the Commander was the only thing stopping them from being turned into piles of goo.

'Negative, there is no drain in excess of the normal power consumption, and my outdoor sensors read negligible radiation emissions from the device.'

"Good." Jason said. "Shields off." And the protective purple barrier dissipating.

"Did you really just build a signals array capable of punching through the atmosphere in fifteen minutes?" asked the Commander, as the pair headed back towards the lift.

"Most of it was already built. I just had to modify it a bit." Willis nodding in response, sure that it hadn't been that easy.

"How's that interface coming Sarah?"

'Their signals are encrypted Jason, it will take me at least half an hour to access all of their systems.'

"But you can have communications and maybe their database sooner?"

'Yes, I will inform you when I have accessed those systems.'

"What did she say?" asked the Commander, unable to hear Sarah's responses.

"Half an hour, less for comms and your database." He took from the Commander's appalled look, that he didn't think that his super advanced security systems being hacked by an AI, from the surface, in under thirty minutes was very amusing, Jason just laughed and thought, 'that's my girl.'

As they walked back into the main dwelling Jason said. "From those materials estimates there isn't going to be enough to build hardly any mega weapons."

"What's your plan then?" Jason lifted his shirt slightly and tapped the small circular object clipped to the top of his pants.

"Shields!" he answered, grinning like a madman. "The systems use less raw materials, and they are faster and easier to manufacture. But that's relative of course."

"How strong will they be?"

"Pretty damn strong. If you have any heavy weapons in the area that aren't doing anything, I could give you a demonstration with this one."

"Now?"

"Why not? My hands are tied until Sarah gets into your systems, and even then the real progress won't be made until I learn how to use my interface."

"How heavy a weapon?"

"What have you got?" The Commander grinned at the question, obviously he enjoyed the thought of something exploding.

"How about a missile from one of our stealth bombers?" Jason thought about this for a while.

"From Dan's memories of those, I think this little thing could take two, maybe three consecutive hits." The Commander seemed to consider this for awhile.

"What if we got the media involved?" Jason mentally rejecting the idea at first, but then realizing that it might be a good thing."

"When are you going public with the attacking fleet?"

"Later today, but if people think that there is some brand new shield technology on the way, and that their favourite crusader slayer is making them, you could save a lot of people from panicking."

"I agree, set it up, but just one missile, I would rather not be proven wrong on this one." This time the Commander was the one laughing.

"You'll be wearing the shield when the missile hits it?"

"Uhh, yeah, maybe I wasn't clear."

"Media will absolutely love this." The Commander uttered as he started keying his wrist transmitter, Jason nodding and letting the man go and set it up.

Fast Talker

Ten minutes later the Commander approached him. "It's all set up, the bomber will be here in about five minutes to pick us up and take us to the site. Media will probably be there before us." Jason nodding, slightly nervous. Not so much about the missile, he was confident that the shield would hold, but he didn't really want to go on camera.

The bomber arrived, setting down a little up the road. He and the Commander jogged over to it, and climbed into the hatch that had opened. Inside he found four men, two pilots, sitting in front of the front windscreen, another crewman sitting in front of a display against the far side as he entered, and one more crewman sitting on one of the benches that ran either side of the hull, running about two meters towards a bulkhead. He thought you could probably fit about eight more people in here if you needed, fifteen if people stood. He sat down across from the crewman on the seats.

"Are we really going to be firing a missile at you?" the man asked. Jason nodded in response, smiling. The man shook his head. "Crazy bastard." Jason wondered why the man hadn't saluted or even acknowledged the Commander's presence, remembering through Dan that bomber crews weren't usually ones for procedure and etiquette. The bomber took off, heading out to the east, probably to the farmlands where the ships would be refitted later this week.

A few minutes later they were coming in to land, hovering down into the middle of a very large field. Jason jumped out, and the bomber took off again, heading towards the quite large gathering of people, about a kilometre away. About a hundred meters short of them, the ship dropped to the ground again, and Jason could see the figure of the Commander hop out, and walk towards the gathered media.

"Hey Sarah, patch one of those live feeds audio through to my earpiece."

'Just a moment.' Came the reply, and then he could hear another voice. It sounded like the same female Liger who he had watched do the special on him nearly two weeks ago.

'We're just seeing the ship arriving carrying the hero from the school, dropping him in the middle of this field and then dropping off who appears to be, oh my, it appears as if Commander Willis has exited the craft, he is the Commander of the Battle-station in orbit, and the highest ranking military officer assigned to Crenna, for those who don't know.'

Jason watched as the Commander scaled the small hill the crowd of reporters and cameramen where gathered on.

"Turn it off Sarah, don't need to hear his speech." The sound of the news feed cutting out.

"Shields on, acoustic blocking active." 'Wouldn't want to forget that,' he thought to himself, as the world around him went silent, and he could only hear the sound of his own breathing. About thirty seconds later his earpiece crackled and he heard the Commander's voice.

"All set over there Jason?"

"Good to go Commander."

"Anything you want to say?"

"No, not really, I'm just thinking about how cool this is going to look."

"Roger that, good luck, Zeus, this is Willis, mission is go, execute when ready." The bomber had taken off high up into the air, for the best possible picture for the news. Jason could imagine the ultra high definition cameras pointed towards the ship showing a missile being launched. The silence was killing him, he was looking into the air trying to spot the incoming missile, about five seconds passed and still nothing. Then it was there, he saw the smoke trail appear, and as it got close he tried not to pull a face on camera.

Then it struck, hitting him dead bang on the top of the head, the air instantly lit up around him, blinding him momentarily, the surface of his shield rippling with the strain, but no noise came though, it was a strange sensation, and then he felt the ground shift beneath him, as the explosion dug a pit under him. The explosion dissipated and the world went dark as the smoke cloud blocked out the sun. For about five seconds he couldn't see a thing, and then the cloud began to thin out, and as it gradually got lighter, Jason found himself at the bottom of a crater about ten meters wide, and three meters deep. 'I'll look dead on camera.' He thought to himself as he hurried to climb out. Scaling the slight incline of the crater without too much trouble, and as he reached the top he could see the gathered people start pointing and cheering. He took a few steps forwards from the crater and raised his arm, waving towards the cameras. Smiling broadly.

"That was great Jason." He heard the Commanders voice over his earpiece. "Couldn't have looked better, now, I think these nice people are going to want to ask you a few questions." Jason sighed, this was the part he was really worried about. He saw the bomber coming in to pick him up, he turned off his acoustic blocking, and jumped onto the side of the ship, leaning out of the doorway hanging on with one hand, as it took off, again, and then dropped him near the crowd. As he approached the crowd he noticed the Commander motioning him to come and stand next to him, on the highest part of the hill. Jason strode over, waiting until the last minute to deactivate the shield, just to show off.

Once he was standing right next to the Commander, the man slapped him on the shoulder and congratulated him. Jason did his best to look like he was as excited as the Commander. And then the man quickly gave the media a brief description of him, Willis ran through the school incident, where Jason valiantly put his prototype weapons to good use, saving a school full of children, and how since then he had been working hand in hand with the military to apply this technology to their soldiers, and ships.

'Okay, not a complete lie' he thought to himself.

"This little demonstration was organized to illustrate the huge leap in our weapons and defensive systems that Jason's technology is going to usher in." Willis was winding up his intro. "Does anyone have any questions for Jason?"

'What a silly thing to ask.' Jason thought, as just about every reporter on site started talking all at once trying to get their question heard. Eventually one reporter made herself heard over the rest, it was the same Liger he had been listening to just before, the one who had done the special on him. "Jason, how have you managed to develop this technology where so many others have failed?" He had to think fast, he couldn't just say it was because building things came naturally to him because he was really smart.

"I had a very strong motivation to develop these systems."

"And what where they?" the Liger still holding the floor asked.

"Well, two main ones, the first, was so I could keep the people I love safe, the second." He paused briefly. "My father was a weapons engineer aboard the Calcutta, he died a hero, protecting people, and I may not have been around for the start of this war, but I'm damn well going to end it. So no one else has to lose their parents, or their husbands or wives." Jason surprised himself with how much passion he managed to spit that out with.

The crowd was silent, the Liger the only one managing to recover enough to ask any more questions.

"Is it true that you are only 18 years old?"

"Yes, that's correct."

"Going back to the incident at the school, who was that black feline that you carried out in the footage?"

"He, is a very close friend." Said Jason, choosing his words carefully.

"I see, how long do you think it will take you to upgrade our current vessels with your new technology?"

"A matter of weeks, it has to be." Jason emanating an aura of seriousness that even the cameras couldn't help but show.

"What do you mean by that?" asked another reporter. Jason turning to Willis, before saying.

"I think Commander Willis can answer the rest of your questions, Commander." Tilting his head towards the man, and stepping out of the limelight. Getting out of sight of the cameras, although he couldn't really leave till the Commander was done.

Once he was safely away from the commotion. He tapped his earpiece and said. "Sarah, are you finished interfacing with the Battle-Station yet?"

'Apart from weapons and external sensors, yes.'

"Good work, download everything you can about the shields, weapons, and engines for every current class of ship."

'Will do Jason.'

"Oh and could you patch me back into that news feed please?" his earpiece almost straightaway playing the audio, he felt a little bit silly since he was only fifty meters away, but if he got any closer he would attract attention.

'The fleet is three weeks away.' He heard the voice of the Commander say. 'The exact size of the fleet has yet to be determined, but it is large, and it is coming here. All of the ships in our battle-group, and many from other battle-groups, are returning here at emergency speed, for a refit with Jason's systems, once those systems are in place, our ships will be nigh invulnerable to attack, as Jason demonstrated, and the crusader's fleet, regardless of how big it is, will be repelled.'

After a few more questions he heard the reporter starting to wrap her live feed up. "There you have it, Jason, a brilliant engineer, a courageous hero, and a victim of the war, working to end it once and for all, for his friends, and yours."

After that it crossed back to a news desk, and he tapped his earpiece and it turned off.

The Commander came and found him, hiding in a ditch on the other side of the hill, the Commander sliding down a couple of feet, coming to a rest next to him.

"That was amazing Jason, where the hell did that come from?"

"I dunno, I just did it."

"That was the best damn speech I've ever heard! People are going to be sleeping a whole hell of a lot better tonight because of you."

"That was the idea."

"I should probably let the recruitment centers know that they are about to get flooded with a wave of volunteers."

"That wasn't my intention." The Commander considered it for a while.

"Let's call it a happy accident then, c'mon, let's get you home media star." Jason just frowning at him, and standing to follow.

They made it back to the house in good time. The bomber picking them up and dropping them off one final time. One of them muttering something about being a goddamn taxi as they disembarked. Jason tried not to laugh, and strode towards the door to his house. He stepped inside, and he saw all the soldier sitting in the lounge, their eyes fixed on the screen on the wall to his left. Only the captain, who was sitting closest to the door, even turned to look, registering Jason, then returning his attention to the screen. As Jason moved further into the lounge he could see the screen, and it was him on it, standing in the middle of the field, and the sound of the Commander came over the speakers as he said 'mission is go, execute when ready.' Jason realizing he was about to get hit with the missile.

The picture on the screen switched to a very zoomed in picture of the bomber, and he saw the missile fire out, straight for a few feet, then arcing downwards, the picture swapping to a broader view, and he watched it soar down towards the ground, when it started to get close, the picture swapped again, back to the medium zoom picture of him, about a second went past, then a white flash came from the top of the screen impacting the top of his head and erupting into a big explosion, expanding almost to the edges of the screen. The picture remained the same as the explosion dissipated and left the thick black smoke cloud. After a few seconds the cloud had risen enough to give a view of where Jason had been standing, which was now a crater. He heard some murmuring over the speakers as people behind the camera thought he was gone, then he saw the top of his head emerge from the lip of the crater, and a giant cheer erupted from behind the camera, shortly followed by the cheers and whoops from the soldiers in his lounge room, they didn't seem to care that he was standing there. He saw himself step all the way above the crater, then wave towards the cameras, the picture zooming in and showing him with a big smile on his face.

The room went silent again, as the footage showed him being picked up and brought towards the cameras. He watched as he came to stand next to the Commander, turning his shield off just before he came to a stop. Then he watched the Commander give the long winded intro, and the focus was on him again as the reporters arms waved around trying to get themselves heard. Eventually the Liger posing the question and everyone else realizing that she had made it stick going silent. Then he watched himself give his speech.

'Wow, that was really good.' He thought to himself. As he handed the interview back over to the Commander and walked out of the picture, he then watched the Commander talk for a few more minutes, about the crusader fleet. And then the story was wrapped up by a reporter that he didn't recognize.

After that the screen turned off, the story over, and the Captain stood up and said.

"Nice speech, is there anything you can't do?" Jason smirked, and then said.

"Knitting has always been a challenge." The Captain and a few of the soldiers who heard bursting out laughing. Jason saw movement off to his right, and spotted Jack heading over to him, the Feline hugging him and saying.

"Knitting huh?" both of them chuckling. "And, just a very close friend?"

"What would you have preferred me to say?" Asked Jason, teasing slightly.

"Aren't you comfortable calling me your boyfriend?" asked Jack, trying to act serious.

"You know we are cuddling in a room with eleven soldiers in it, yeah?" Jack just laughing in response.

"I'll let you get back to saving the world then I guess." he said, before releasing his grip on Jason, planting a kiss on him and slinking away.

Fear and Forget

About ten minutes later Sarah announced that there was someone approaching the door.

"Ahh, here is our bio-Interface expert now." Said the Commander, loud enough for everyone to hear. Sarah opened the door and Jason found himself standing face to face with possibly the person he least expected to see.

I apologise for the weird formatting regarding the chapters and their locations, but I didn't intend to break this story up into parts when I wrote it. I'll come back through all these once i've uploaded it all, and correct these sorts of issues.