Badasses Of The Multiverse: Book 4: “The Jock, The Nerd, The Bounty Hunters, And The Crazy Chicks.”

Chapter Five: “The Midnight Bounty Hunter.”

By Paul Cousins.

Copyright Disclaimer: All copyrighted places, characters, items, and events, within the story, are held by their current owners. No profit is being made on this work of fiction.

(_)

Reality, and unknown alternate Earth. Date, unknown. Place, unknown. Time, evening, before sunset.

The next thing the brothers knew, they were standing on a dirt narrow road.

As they looked around, they saw they were on a dirt the road lead out from some forest, and into a prairie as far as they could see.

They also noticed that it was close to sunset, with the temperature already being in the low sixties Fahrenheit With the sun setting on the prairie side of the landscape.

Stan stated, “Any ideas where we are?”

Lewis pocketed his reality device, as he said, “No landmarks. So, no clue. But, if we cannot find shelter soon, we are going to need your lighter to build a fire tonight, while we try to find whomever the device sent of to find, for help.”

Stan replied, “That works for me.” He then pulled out his zippo lighter. Next, he tested it, to make sure it work. After which, he pocketed it.

Lewis then looked over at the sunset, lowing over the prairie landscape, with the sun low enough that it was save to look at.

Lewis commented, “At least the view of sunset is nice.”

Stan turned towards the sunset, and looked out at the landscape. He agreed, “Yea. It is.”

Suddenly, as they were looking at the prairie, a two horse draw, wooden, four wheeled wagon, with three grown men on it, two in the front, on the bench, and one in the back bed, barreled out from forest, towards the brothers.

Lewis and Stan heard the wagon, as they turned around.

They had just enough time to jump out of the way, off the road, in the same direction, to their left side.

Unfortunately, their presence spooked the horses into turning the opposite way, to the horses' right side, and into a small ditch.

Stan and Lewis quickly stood up, and turned their attention over to the wagon.

Lewis said, “Those people may be hurt.”

Stan replied, “They we need to offer our help, and apologize.”

The brothers walked over to the wagon, and the three men, as Stan said, “Sorry about that. We would be more than happy to help you get you wagon back on the road. And if any of your are hurt, let us know. And we will do what we can to help you.”

As they watched the men got out of the wagon, stood on the ground, and looked out them.

The three men wore pants, and shirts, and leather vests.

And they did not appear to be injured, though they looked upset, as two of them pulled out knives, and the other one pulled out a pistol.

One of the men with a knife, asked, in english, “Where the hell did you to come from?”

Stan stated, “Long story.”

The man whom addressed the brothers stated, “You are not going to live to tell it.”

But, before anyone could react, there was gunshot here in the distance, from the forest. The bullet hit the man that had address the brothers, in his head. The man dropped his knife, as he fell to the ground, dead.

The brothers turned to see a who had taken the shot. They saw man galloping towards them, while firing a rifle at the three men whom were about to attack the brothers.

The man rode on a black horse, with a black saddle. He was dressed all in black. Black shirt, black leather vest, black pants, black belt, black gunbelt, black boots, black long coat, and black cowboy hat.

He was a fair skinned man with black hair that went to his shoulder blades, and was tied with a smile black string, into a ponytail. Along with this, he had a well kept, full beard.

The rifle he was using was a Winchester Model eighteen ninety-two, fifteenth round, level-action rifle.

As his horse galloped towards them, the man quickly used his rifle to put two bullets into the heads of other two men that were intent on harming the brothers, killing them before they even hit the ground.

Soon after, the man started to slow down his horse, until he stopped right in front of the teenage boys

As he got off his horse, he walked over to the boys, and the brothers go a closer look at him.

The man also had a revolver holsters on a gunbelt, on his right hip, while he had a large knife sheathed in a scabbard on his gunbelt, on his left hip.

The man then holstered his rifle in a black leather holster located on his back, over his long coat. The holster was head up by being attached to the coat.

When the man in black finally reach the boys, the man came to a stop, as he looked at them up and down from a second.

The man in black then stated, in english, “Thank you for stopping them. My horse was starting to tire. I did not expect them to steal that wagon in mid-chase.”

Stan thought, 'Those men were planning to kill us. So, I don't mind them being killed. But, we need help. Let's see if he can help us.' Stan requested, in english, “Glad to be of help. Could you help us get to a town?”

The man replied, “Sure. If you are willing to give me some help.”

Lewis stated, in english, “It depends on the help.”

The man said, “Well fortunately, the bounties on these three men pay either dead or alive.”

Lewis asked, “What did they do?”

The man answered, “They are both thieves and murderers. You are both lucky to be alive.”

Lewis replied, “Then, thank you for saving us.” He thought, 'Better them dead, than us.'

The man replied, “You're welcome.”

Stan inquired, “So, what do you need us to do?”

The man asked, “Do you know how to drive a horse draw wagon?”

Stan stated, “Let me guess, you want us to haul your bounties into town for you, in the wagon.”

Lewis commented, “You will find us to be quick learners. Though, we do not know how to work horse. But we are more than willing to learn.”

The man responded, “That will be fine. And I will be with you. So, that you should be fine. I will even help you get you a room at the local hotel, I occasionally use.”

Lewis inquired, “How far is the nearest town?”

The man replied, “Half a mile back through the forest. If we work hard, we will be there right before dark.”

Lewis stated, “Okay.”

The man commented, “From your clothing, I am guessing that you are not from around here.”

Stan stated, “No. We are not. I am Stan Lowe. This is my brother, Lewis Lowe. By the way, where are we?”

The man answered, “Well, Stan and Lewis, welcome to the Western Territories of the United States of America.”

The brothers looked at each other, as Stan said, “Western Territories? We are in the old west of the U.S.”

The man hid his smile, as he listened to the brothers.

Lewis asked, “Which reality?”

Stan said, with concern in his tone of voice, “Who cares? This is serious. This is clearly not a John Wayne western reality. This is a gritty, Clint Eastwood style western reality. We could be in some serious trouble here. We might want to leave.”

Lewis countered, “Maybe we are where we need to be?”

Stan inquired, “You think our device works like that?”

Lewis replied, “The device might have sent us to this guy.”

Stan shrugged, as he said, “Worth finding out.”

The brothers then look over at the bearded man. They saw that he had been watching and listening to them.

Lewis commented, with concern, “I think he listened to everything we said.”

Stan said, with worry, “This could be trouble.”

The bearded man chuckled. He then stated, “You two remind me of someone I use to know. A man that liked to joke around, in the most intense of situations.”

Stan asked, “What happened to him?”

The man coyly replied, “He brought the universe to its knees. And he then wisely retired, before the universe could reply.”

Lewis said, “Now, that is an interesting man.”

The man agreed, “He most certainly is. I will be right back.”

The man then walked over to the wagon and two horses attached to the wagon.

After a minute of inspecting the horses and wagon, he looked back up at the brothers, while said, “Well, the horses are fine. And so is the wagon. Also, this ditch is not too deep. We can probably get these two horses to pull the wagon out of the ditch.”

Stan responded, “Sounds good. Let's get this done before it gets dark.”

The man complimented, “I like your attitude, Stan. Here is what we need to do...”

The beard man then directed the two brothers, as he helped the brother get what he needed to be done.

(_)

Ten minutes later, the two horses, and wagon were out of the ditch, and on the road, pointing into the forest.

Also, after they checked to make sure the men were dead, the bearded man in black leather, and the two brothers, had piled three bodies into the back of the wagon, with Stan and Lewis sitting up front, on the wooden bench.

Once everything was ready, the bearded man spent a few minutes explaining to control the horses.

Since they are in a wagon, and taking it slow, with the bounty hunter right beside them, on his own horse, to the brother's right side. With all of them making their way down the road.

The bounty hunter believe that at long as he was present, this job would not present any trouble for amateurs, such as the two brothers.

Currently, Stan had the reigns to the horse. With Lewis sitting to Stan's left side.

As the bounty hunter, on his black horse, trotted down the road, he turned to his left side, and towards brothers. He asked, “Are you boys doing okay?”

Both brothers turned to the man, as Stan said, “Yes.”

Lewis responded, “Yes. But, we never got your name?”

The bounty hunter responded, “I am known as the Midnight Bounty Hunter. You can call me, Midnight.”

Lewis replied, “Nice name. It is explains the clothing.”

Midnight cracked a grin, as he said, “Yes. It does.”

Stan inquired, “So, why do you call yourself, Midnight?”

Midnight answered, “Because, I prefer to work at night, especially during the summer months, when I cannot stand the heat of the day.”

Stan replied, “Works us. And, I agree with my brother. I find your name kind of cool.”

Midnight said “Glad to hear it. Now, let us take this easy, and get back to town.”

Midnight then made his horse slowly trot forward, into the forest.

The brother turned to face ahead of the bounty hunter, as Stan used continued to use the reigns to make the two horses pull the wagon forward, right behind the Midnight Bounty Hunter.

(_)

Fortunately, the Lowe Brothers and Midnight made is back to the nearby town, without any problems.

Around two hours after the Stan and Lewis had first arrived in the area, Midnight had turned in the bounties to the local sheriffs office. Along with the bounties, Midnight also dropped the wagon and two horses that were with the wagon, off at the Sheriffs office, so they could be returned to their rightful owners.

Afterward, Midnight took his horse to a local stall, and he wiped down his horse, and took off his saddle, carrying it with him, as Midnight lead Lewis and Stan a local hotel in the small town.

By then, it was dark.

After checking Midnight after check in, with each of them getting a room, Midnight kept one of the three keys. He then gave a key to Stan, and a key to Lewis.

Next, Midnight dropped his saddle off in his hotel room. After which, the three individuals went into the dining room of the hotel to order some supper and drinks.

When they reached the dining hallway, the brothers and Midnight sat at a table.

The room itself was half full. Though, the people present, from the customers, to staff, were civil, with most of them being polite.

The dining area was also a bar, with a bar counter set across the room from where Midnight, Stan, and Lewis, sat at their table.

Each of them had a bottle of warm bottle of beer to drink. Along with cooked steak and a warmed up serving of canned beans, to eat.

All of this was being paid for by Midnight, for the brothers help in catching the three bounties.

As they enjoyed their dinner, Midnight commented, “Well, I get the feeling that you boys are running from someone.”

Stan snorted.

Lewis sarcastically stated, “Who aren't we running from?”

Midnight inquired, “You boys don't have any bounties on you?”

Both brothers tensed up.

Midnight casually said, “Don't worry. I don't take bounties on children. Besides, something tells me that you boys are not criminals.”

Stan stated, “We are not criminals. We are idiots, whom solved a math problem we shouldn't have. And the person whom put the bounty on us wants what's in our head.”

Midnight chuckled for a bit. He then said, “Sorry. You just remind of that guy, again. Anyway, you were saying.”

Stan stated, “We are looking for help.”

Midnight asked, “What kind of help?”

Lewis said, “Well, we know who is after us. That is likely the only thing we know for sure. Our parents keep a boat of secrets from us. And then those secrets came to visit while they were out of town. And our parents never prepared us for this... Well... We...”

Stan jumped into the conversation, as he stated, “What my brother is trying to say is that, sadly, we don't know how to fight. At all. We are book smart, and somewhat street smart. But, we don't know how to fight. The kicker is that we found out, after this mess started, that our parents are real badasses. And they didn't teach us the first thing about hand to hand combat, nor use of a gun.”

Midnight smiled, as he offered, “Those problems I can fix. Tomorrow morning, around ten, I will start teaching you two the basics of how to fight, and how shoot.”

Lewis asked, “Thank you. Though, why are you helping us?”

Midnight answered, “Because you need help. And you both remind me of some of the best times of my life.”

Lewis said, “We are grateful for you generosity.”

Stan replied, “We appreciate you gratitude.”

Midnight said, “You are welcome. Still, I am guessing you may have some other questions for me. Such, as the fact, from your clothing, you are from a more sophisticated place.”

Stan responded, in an uncomfortable tone of voice, “Yea. We probably need to mention we don't have any of the local money.”

Midnight commented, “That will not a problem. You need my help. And I will help you. Also, before you ask. The answer is, no. I am not going to ask you to bounty hunt and kill for me.”

Lewis inquired, “That is a relief. Also, where is the outhouse? Toilet paper? Bathhouse? Where and how do we wash our hands at night? Also, we need to know where to get our clothes washed? As these are our only change of clothing.”

Midnight answered, in a casual tone of voice, “Don't worry. I will answer all your questions after dinner.”

(_)

A few hours later, after the brothers got their answers from Midnight, they headed for their hotel rooms, in the second story of the hotel.

Meanwhile, Midnight stated he would be up for a few more hours, while he spent some time with his friends.

As the brothers walked down the hallway to their rooms, which were across from each other, Lewis said, “We got lucky that we found Midnight.”

Stan agreed, “True. We are going to learn some things, tomorrow. Looks like your theory was correct.”

Lewis smiled, as he stated, “Yes. It is nice being a genius.”

Stan replied, “You got that right.”

By then, they made it took their rooms. As they pulled out their keys, locked, and opened the doors to their rooms, Stan turned to face his brother. He said, “Good night brother.”

Lewis turned to brother, as he responded, “Good night brother. See you in the morning.”

Stan replied, “You too.”

Both of them turned and walked into their rooms, closing and locking their doors behind them.

(_)

The next morning, around ten, after the brothers met up with Midnight for a late breakfast, Midnight took them to a field, about fifty yards town. The field had a small dirt berm at the end of it, facing away from the town.

Midnight had his rifle holstered on his back. His revolver holstered on the right side of his waist. And his knife sheathed on the left side of his waist.

Between them and the dirt berm, Midnight set up a soap box, on its side, making it stand three feet high. He then set some empty beer bottles, and bean cans, onto of top box, in a row, facing them.

After Midnight was done setting up the targets, he walked back to the boys, about thirty feet from the soap box.

When Midnight reached the brothers, he pulled out a couple of boxes of ammo from his black long coat, which he set by them, on a small rock.

Then, Midnight pulled out his six round revolver, with his right hand. He point the end of the barrel away from them, and to the ground, with his right trigger finger resting on the trigger guard. Also, the hammer of the revolver was not cocked back.

Midnight turned to face the two brothers. He stated, “Today, I am going to start off by teaching you how to use a revolver. Next, we will move to using a rifle. And finally, I will teach you some of the basics to hand to hand fighting.”

“This pistol is a Colt M eighteen ninety-two. It can hold up to six forty-one Long Colt rounds. It loads from the side. It has open iron sights. It had a double-action trigger. So, you don't have to manually pull back the hammer, every time you want to fire. Just pull back the trigger, and the hammer will cock back, fire, and rotate to the next round.”

Midnight then continued in a more serious tone of voice, “Now, the first lesson gun safety is to treat every gun as if it is loaded. And always point the end of the barrel of the gun away from everyone. Pointing the end of barrel at the ground is a good choice. A second choice is the sky.”

“Also, when you are holding a gun, with no intention of immediately firing it, rest you trigger finger. Your index finger, against the trigger guard. Do not rest it against the trigger itself.”

“In addition, if you do not plan to fire a weapon in your hand, do not have the hammer cocked back. If the hammer is cocked back, you can slowly uncock the hammer. I will show you how to do this, later.”

“I cannot stress enough, if you do not follow these basic safety rule, you might get yourself, or someone else, either seriously harmed, or killed, by accident.”

“The second rule in handling a firearm is to immediately check to see if the firearm is loaded, before you handle it. While always keep the end of the barrel pointed away from everyone. For example, this is a side loading revolver. Here is how you open it.”

Midnight showed the boys how to open the cylinder to his revolver, while he kept the revolver's barrel pointed away from them.

Midnight soon closed the cylinder, and set it in place. He pointed his pistol back to the ground.

Midnight went onto say, “If you want to discard the rounds in it, just hold it up the cylinder, while it is open.”

“The third lesson of gun safety is to only pull your firearm, if you intend to use it. And only point a gun at a person you intend to kill.”

“The fourth lesson is know your weapons. Know, how to fire it. Know how to adjust to the recoil of the weapon. Know what your ammo can and cannot do. And know how to keep, and maintain the weapon in proper working order.”

“The fifth lesson is never take an untested weapon onto the battlefield. Do you understand?”

Stan said, “Yes.”

Lewis commented, “I believe so.”

Midnight said, “Good. Now, we will move on to aiming with open iron sights.”

Midnight kept the end of the barrel pointed at the ground, away form them, as he held it in his right hand. He continued to rest his right trigger finger against the trigger guard.

Midnight then used his left index finger to point at the pointed end of the top of the gun barrel. Next he pointed at the back of the barrel, were there was a two points, with a small groove between them.

Midnight stated, “When you aim a firearm with open iron sights, like this, the way to aim is to look at the target in the distance, with the top of the pointed end of the bar lining up with the two points on the back, until the grove is full, and all three points are level with each other. With the three points making a solid line directly at your intend target.”

“And you when you want to fire a weapon, the easiest way for someone new at this, is a two-handed approach. Where you eye you use to fire with, you use the hand on that side to grip the firearm and hold it nearly straight. Also, grip the pistol firmly. And be careful in the placement of your thumb, so it does not hit the hammer. You then, hold you other hand, at the bottom of the grip. Like this.”

Midnight then showed them the two-handed fire position, as he continued, “With the thumb of the hand covering your main firing hand, being place downward, instead of above. With the thumb of main firing hand resting over the thumb of the other hand.”

“See the placements of my hands and thumbs?”

Lewis said, “Yes. I will keep that in mind.”

Stan stated, “Yes. I won't forget.”

Midnight relaxed his stance, as he inquired, “Good. So, who wants to go first? Keep in mind, these weapons can be loud. And they have a bit of a kick.”

Stan stated, “I would prefer to go first.”

Lewis offered, “That is okay. You go first.”

Stan replied, “Thank you.”

Midnight handed pistol to Stan.

Stan took the two-handed approach he was just shown. He like up the sights and fired.

He missed, and the recoil caught him a bit off guard. But, he finally hit on of the bottles on his third try.

After a few reloads, and a couple of time replacing the targets, it was Lewis' turned.

Midnight and Stan found that Lewis was a natural when it came to using the revolver. While it took a little practice for Stan to use the pistol.

After Midnight was sure that both teenage boys had a handle on the use of his revolver. He then moved onto teaching them how to use a rifle.

Midnight found both of them to be naturals when it came to using a rifle.

(_)

An hour later, Midnight moved from firearm instruction, to hand to hand combat techniques.

After Midnight holstered his weapons, he stated, “When you are fighting someone hand to hand, always remember that the whole point of such combat is to take the other guy down as fast as possible. But, always try to avoid such fighting. Relying on a firearm us a better option.”

“Also, if you don't have a gun, and the person you are facing does not have a gun, but the person is bigger and tougher than you, then run. Until you find a way to have an advantage over him, or her.”

“Now, let us start with the very basics. This is how you make a proper fist.” He then made a fist with his right hand for a few seconds. Before he relaxed his right hand, while he continued, “Never put you thumb on the inside of you fist. And don't put it over the front of you knuckles. Instead, put it at the bottom of you knuckles.”

Midnight then spent the next hour teaching the boys the basics in fighting hand to hand.

(_)

An hour later, Midnight had finished teaching Stan and Lewis the basics of hand to hand combat. And Midnight found that both brothers picked up the basics fairly quickly.

Considering it was close to lunch time. Midnight stated it was time to take a break, so they could have some lunch. He then took the boys back into town, so they could get something to eat.

The three individual soon reached the town. They walked between two buildings, in a dirt alleyway, and onto the dirt main street of the town.

As they entered the main street of the town, which was a dirt road, like all the roads in the town, they did not noticed a person to their right side, whom in a rocking chair, by the front of a building, they passed by. The person wore a long coat, and a broad rimmed fedora.

It was then that they noticed there was no one else around.

Midnight came to a stop, as he said, “Something is off, boys. Be on your guard.

The brothers immediately came to a stop, behind Midnight, as all three of them looked around.

Lewis commented, “Did we just walked into an ambush?”

Then, someone to their right side, behind them, said, “Hands up!”

All three of them raised their hands, as they turned to clockwise, towards the voice to their right side, behind them.

They then saw Cad Bane, standing beside the front of a building, next to the rocking chair, with both his blasters drawn, and pointed towards them.

A few seconds later, six other alien bounty hunters came out of the hiding spots, with their weapons pointed at Lewis, Stan, and Midnight.

Midnight said, in a sad tone of voice, “Well, boys. I am sorry, but they got the drop on us. I don't think I can help you out of this situation.”

Stan stated, “That is alright, Midnight. You already gave us more help than we could have hoped for. Still, this is turning into one hell of weekend.”

Midnight pointed out, “It's a Tuesday.”

Lewis deadpanned, “Not for us.”

Stan said, “Brother, you do realize we are in now in a space-western? In the purist sense of the term.”

Lewis responded, “I know. It would be cool, it if weren't for the fact we are being captured.”

Cad turned to Midnight, as he asked, “Do those two ever shut up?”

Midnight shrugged, as he responded, “Actually, I find what they say to be humorous. They remind me a man I knew. Though, I know where you are coming from. And it is an acquired taste. And they will stay quiet, if you tell them to do so.”

Cad said, “I will keep that in mind.”

Lewis looked over at Cad, as he asked, “So, who are you? Besides your great taste in clothing, and hats, we know nothing about you.”

Cad Bane smiled at Lewis' compliment. He introduced himself, “The name is, Cad Bane. I am from what you call the Star Wars reality. I was one of the leading bounty hunters during the Clone Wars.” He thought, 'That was an interesting briefing from my Peacekeeper contact, after Scorpius' speech. Still, it was informative.'

Stan stated, “Sorry. We only saw the six movies. But, when we get out of this, we will be looking into the various Clone Wars series, to find out more about you. Though, from what I have seen of you so far, you are clearly one hell of badass.”

Cad continued to smile, as he commented, “Thank you. I almost had you before.”

Stan agreed, in a casual tone of voice, “You almost did. But, then no one expects death from above by a small army of badasses. I know some of those girls. I know some of the abilities of a few of those girls. Trust me. You're robots were outclassed.”

Bane responded, “True. My mistake was coming along with idiot droids. And I do not make the same mistakes twice. So, I just contacted a few of the other bounty hunters after you, and we teamed up. And there is plenty of wealth for everyone from the bounty.”

“That is not considering we are also getting a bonus for bringing in both of you. And I am in this for the long term planning. I look forward to that sweet bonus. And since Scorpius doesn't want you harmed. Bringing you in unharmed will only add to my reputation with her.”

Midnight eyes narrowed as he listened to Cad Bane, but he did not say a word.

Bane continued, “And I must say, the locals here have been very reason. After we locked the local law keeper in his own jail, we told everything that we were not here for them. In response, they quickly disappeared inside their businesses and homes.”

Lewis requested, “I am glad you are taking such a practical approach to this matter. I do have one minor request. Please, don't kill our friend here.”

Cad pointed out, “I am not being paid to. So, as long as he smart, and reasonable, he will remain breathing.”

Midnight commented, “I am reasonable.”

Cad smirked, as he said, “Good.” Cad then walked out onto the street, away from everyone else, as he kept his blasters trained on Midnight, Stan, and Lewis. As Bane walked, he continued to turn to face the three people he was holding at gun point.

Midnight, and the Lowe brothers did not take their eyes off of Cad Bane.

When Bane reached the center of the street, he came to a stop. He holstered his right blaster pistol. Then, he reached under his open coat, placed his right hand on the his reality device, on the right side of the belt, around his waist.

Bane ordered, “Alright team, and you boys, over here... And not a trick, man in black, or you're dead.”

Midnight simply nodded in response, as the boys slowly walked towards Bane.

A few seconds later, Bane's team, and the boys were right by him. He then used his reality device to return to Scorpius command carrier, at the proper time and place.

After they disappeared, Midnight said, “Good luck.” He then thought, 'I might as well get something to eat. And this day was looking so nice beforehand. At least I have a poker game to look forward to, later today.'

He then turned, and headed for the hotel.

(_)

Reality, Farscape Reality. Location, Peacekeeper Space. Place, The Peacekeeper Armada. Time, eighteen hours after Scorpius gave her speech to the bounty hunters. Local time on the flagship was late morning.

It has been thirty minutes after Cad Bane has captured the boys.

On board the Flagship commander carrier, Cad Bane, along with Stan and Lewis, were escorted by Peacekeeper guards into Scorpius' office.

Meanwhile, Cad Bane's team waited elsewhere in the ship for their part of the bounties.

The door to Scorpius' office slip open, with the group entering Scorpius' office.

A few seconds later, after the group had entered the room, the door slip closed.

Standing in front of Scorpius's desk was Cad Bane, on the left side, the Lowe Brothers on the right side, with Stan being furthest to the right side. And four guards were standing behind the three individuals.

Scorpius was sitting in her chair, behind her desk, as she looked at the group in front of herself.

As Scorpius looked up at them, she gave them a casual smile. She stating, in english, “Now, what do I see before me?”

Cad smirked, as he casually replied, “A job well done. ”

Scorpius responded, “Exactly.”

Cad stated, “As you can see. I bought both your bounties alive, and unharmed.”

Scorpius said, “Yes. You have. And I am quite pleased with you, Cad Bane. I could not have asked for a better manner, in how you accomplished this job. You, and your subordinates, will get the bounty, along with the bonus, to split equally among you.”

Bane realized something, as he inquired, “That will be fine. Also, I see you know of me?”

Bane thought, 'Even if the bounty is split equality. I will still have plenty for myself. But, I need to know what Scorpius knows about myself.'

Scorpius thought, 'So, he is more interesting in what I know about him. Then, the bounty and bonus. That shows his intelligence is greater than his greed. That is good to know.'

Scorpius answered, “I believe information is a powerful tool. And to be honest, I felt of the tens of thousands of bounty hunters I hired, you would likely be one of the top one hundred that would accomplish this mission.”

Cad complimented, “Thank you, for thinking so highly of me, Scorpius.”

Scorpius replied, “Yes. And this is what I call, punctuality, Bane. I can see much potential for future business dealings, between the two of us.”

Cad continued to smile, as he said, “That is what I was hoping for.”

Lewis turned to Scorpius, as he casually spoke up, “Hi professor. Sorry about the way we left last time, but Annie made a convincing argument to leave.”

Cad Bane dropped his smile, as he turned to look at Lewis. Though, he remained silent.

Scorpius turned to Lewis, as she calmly responded, “Quiet alright, young Lewis. I freely admit that Annie can be quite persuasive. And I see I did misjudge the situation from before. Also I wish to have... As you human say, a do over.”

Lewis said, “That works for me.”

Stan kept a neutral expression, as he looked over at his brother, whom was beside him, to his left side. He then turned his attention back to Scorpius and Cad Bane.

Cad Bane looked over at Scorpius, then towards the brothers. He asked, “You are teacher and students?”

Stan stated, “Yes. Why do you think she wanted us handled with kid gloves?”

Cad replied, “Point taken. Not that it matters. As long as, I, and my team, are paid.” Bane then turned his attention back to Scorpius.

Scorpius turned to Bane, as she said, “Don't worry, Bane, we will get to your reward, soon enough. I am a woman of my word. And you, and your subordinates, will be much richer within the hour.”

Bane thought, 'Even with the bounty and bonus divided up, I will be quite wealthy. And this will be a wonderful start for me getting back into the game, on a much grander scale. Still, there is one matter.'

Bane commented, “Scorpius, as long as you pay like this, I am more than happy to work for you. But, I do have one proviso.”

Scorpius inquired, “And that would be?”

Bane stated, “I did some digging, after one of your servants told me that one of my old rivals was back, and traveling the multiverse. And I did some checking around, and I found that person is now more powerful than she has ever been.”

“I even bumped into her a few days ago, but fortunately, she clearly paid me no mind, and she likely thinks I am beneath her for her to worry about. Which works for me. I think we both know whom we are talking about. I just don't want to say the name in front of witnesses.”

Scorpius thought, 'At yes, Annie. You clearly have been paying attention, and you likely realize the same Annie as the boys mentioned is the Annie you fought a few times.'

'I have seen that Clone War series, and Bane, you are truly one of the best at your job. As you have just proven by bringing in the boys without a scratch on them. And you are clearly not as brash as you once were, when you were younger.'

Scorpius stated, “I know who you are talking about. And I fully understand the hesitation to speak her name. But, please get to the point.”

Bane said, “After much experience, I have decided that I will not take any assignments to hunt down, nor fight force users, and the like.”

Stan thought, 'He has got to be talking about Annie. But, what is the connection between them?'

Lewis thought, 'He is likely talking about Annie. I wonder how their two pasts are related?'

Bane continued, “I like a challenge, but age and time have taught me that I have limits. Besides, my rival knows me too well, and I would be at a disadvantage in every way against her. And I prefer to enjoy my new wealth.”

Scorpius agreed, “I fully understand where you are coming from. I will honor your request. And I will keep that in mind, should I have any jobs in mind for you.”

Bane replied, “Thank you. And now to get my rewards, and leave for a much deserve celebration of my return to the game.”

Scorpius turned to the guards, as she ordered, in english, “Two of you, please escort Bane to the rest of his team. We will be organizing their new found wealth, very soon.”

Bane said, “Thank you.”

Bane then turned and started walking towards the door to the room, with two of the four guard following him out of Scorpius' office. With the door sliding open when the Bane and the two guards reach it. And the door slid closed a few seconds after they exited the room.'

After the door to her office shut behind Cad Bane, and two of the guards, Scorpius turned to the boys. She stated, “Now, you two are going to get cleaned up, and get some fresh clothes, in your assigned quarters. Which will be decent, and away from the randomness of the brig. Actually, they are VIP level quarters, which you will share. I want you both in the same place.”

“Though, I do need to know what your day and night schedule is right now?”

Lewis stated, “We were about to have lunch, before we were taken.”

Scorpius said, “Perfect. The ship clock is late morning. So the time adjustment for you both will be fine. I will have some food brought to you that I think you will like. Given, I know your eating habits. That should not be a problem.”

Stan replied, “We trust you on that point.”

Scorpius responded, “Glad to hear that, young Stan. We will discuss your math formula, and how to build a prototype device, based off of the formula, at supper tonight. All three of us will be having dinner at my private dining suite. And the dining suite offers a lovely view of space. Currently, the dining suite is facing towards a section of the fleet, offering a wonder vista for looking out at the fleet.”

Lewis stated, “We look forward to it. I believe we have much to discuss on the issue.”

Scorpius commented, “I agree. I appreciate that fact that you have changed your minds on discussing the matter.”

Lewis answered, “Yes. We have.”

Stan said, “I have a minor request on the clothing issue.”

Scorpius asked, “And that is?”

Stan requested, “We want to keep our jackets.”

Lewis commented, “Yes. We do.”

Scorpius responded, “I understand. And that will not be a problem.” She then turned to the guards, as she ordered, “Guards, please escort these two boys to the quarters I had arrange for them. And also, off them replacement clothing. And allow them to keep their personal effects.”

One of the guards responded in Sebacean.

Lewis said, “Thank you. And see you at dinner.”

Scorpius responded, “I look forward to seeing you then, as well, young Lewis. Which will likely be in seven or eight of your human hours. I cannot give a more specific time because running a galactic nation can eat away at one's time.”

Stan commented, “The curse of leadership.”

Scorpius said, “Exactly. To to show there are no hard feelings. You will be allowed to keep your reality device.”

Stan replied, “Thank you.” He thought, 'With that field on this ship. That device won't work at all. Still, it is nice to have.'

The brothers then turned, to face the guards. Next, the guards lead Lewis and Stan out of the room, and towards their new quarters.

Scorpius watched her students leave, with the door sliding closed behind them.

Scorpius then activated the intercom on her desk. She stated, “Commander Meka, Cancel the bounty for the brothers. They are now in our custody.”

Over the intercom, Commander Meka replied, “Yes Grand Chancellor.”

Scorpius requested, “Also, bring a security detail with Cad Bane and his team, when you present them with their treasure.”

“While, I am sure Bane knows better, I want to make sure that none of Bane' team members get to greedy, that shots will be fire.”

“Explain to them that I will not tolerate such counterproductive violence on this ship.”

“And include, the bonus, which they earned. That will be double what we presented to them.”

“Along with that, now that I think about it, also have an accountant team accompany the security team. They will help divide the bounty equally among Cad Bane, and his team. And I want you to have each of their portions put into small cargo containers. I don't want any of them accusing us of cheating them.”

“Next, inform me when Cad Bane, and team have left this ship.”

“Finally, begin compiling a list of those bounty hunters, including Cad Bane, whom have shown the most potential in their initiative in accomplishing this mission. I think the top thousand will do. We will use them at our freelance pool for future multiverse assignments of this nature.”

Meka responded, “I will rely you wishes immediately, Grand Chancellor.”

Scorpius pressed the button to cut the communication. She then leaned back in her cushioned chair, as she thought, 'Things worked out better than I had hoped they would. And I have so much to look forward to, at diner, tonight.'

(_)

Two hours later, the brothers were in the large living room of new quarters. Which was, by the brothers standards, the VIP class quarters that Scorpius said it would be.

Their quarters were well furnish. The quarters had two bedrooms, with conformable beds, a nice bathroom, and living living room, which doubled for a dining room. There was no kitchen area, but the brothers guessed they could send out for food with through the communications system.

They would have to ask Scorpius about it later. For the moment they would just make do.

Fortunately, when they first got to their quarters, they were both presented with plates of tasty food, along with glasses, and two large pitchers of water, with lots of ice in the pitchers. So, the brothers were fine until they talked to Scorpius at dinner that evening.

Both brothers had already taken a shower in their bathroom, and gotten cleaned.

Though, before they got cleaned up, the guards pointed to their new clothing to wear. The clothing was standard black and red peacekeeper clothing to wear.

As they now wore their new clothing, they found the clothes fit them well.

Their clothing had been replaced, except for Stan's jacket, Lewis' short white coat, their tennis shoes, and their personal effects, including their reality device. Even though they knew the device did not work on the ship, Lewis kept it close to him at all times, just in case.

Currently, the brothers were sitting across from each other, on two cushioned, leather couches, with a small coffee table between them. The room moderately illuminated, as they talked to each other.

Stan stated, “I cannot believe, after everything we have been through, in the last two days... Dear lord, it has only been two days since this madness started for us?... Still, I cannot believe you are sucking up to our professor like that.”

Lewis pointed out, “We are prisoners. Let's at least using the good graces we have, with the professor, will be to our advantages.”

Stan conceded, “I will give you that one.”

Lewis said, “Everyone we talked to has said we cannot be stop Scorpius. That we will eventually have to get her what she wants.”

Stan stated, “I remember what John said. That the only way to convince her to stop, is to convince she does not want it.”

Lewis responded, “Exactly. And I am willing to listen to the voice of experience on this.”

Stan said, “You have a point. And I see where you are going. I will play ball with you, for right now. If nothing else, should we stay in one place long enough, our parents will eventually catch up to us, with Annie likely in tow.”

Lewis replied, “True. So, let us see how this plays out. Because, I have be looking forward to working on electronics, again.”

Stan conceded, “I hate to say it, but so am I. Though, we will just make sure the prototype is small enough to have a kill switch that we can turn off at a moments notice.”

Lewis stated, “Yes. We play this smart. And we treat this prototype with the same respect we would a nuclear weapon.”

Stan replied, “My thoughts, exactly.”

Lewis said, “Besides, Scorpius let us keep our reality device.”

Stan pointed out, “That is because it doesn't work here. And the fact that if things go to hell, our professor would rather have us escape, than be kill by accident. She knows she can find us in the multiverse, so us escaping is a small matter. And she found us in a short time span, to boot. For us. And from the pleasant mood our professor was in, during our conversation, I get the feeling our escape was not that long for her, either.”

Lewis replied, “Point taken.”

Stan gained a wicked smile, as he suggested, “Now, let's figure out how to work these computers in here, without breaking them.”

Lewis returned Stan smile, with his own wicked grin, as he responded, “I like a challenge. Besides, we have nothing else to do.”

(_)

At that moment, inside Scorpius' office, Scorpius sat in her desk chair, as she watched and listened to the brothers entire conversation, from small cameras and microphones that were hidden through out their new quarters.

Scorpius calmly thought, 'Their plans are all understandable. But, since they are welling to help, I will an eye on them.'

'And Stan is correct. Annie's. Or should I say, their reality device is just a fall back plan to make sure they are not seriously injured, nor killed, if something happens. Which, given the common understanding of Murphy's Law, means that something will likely happen. And one can only plan and prepare for so many insane outcomes, and eventualities.'

'Though, I must some day thank John for teaching myself a new level of crazy when it comes to being prepared. I was good before, but after I sparred with him, I was even better for it, in the end.'

'Still, on the matter of the boys. These are two genius, teenage boys. I am going to have to get them some movies, and books, to keep them at least mildly entertained when they are not working, or there could be problems. With one, or both of them doing something stupid, out of boredom. Right now, they are just trying to figure out how to work things in their assigned quarter. But, if their boredom continues, they might try something else, that will likely get them into serious trouble.'

'Still, that is a minor issue that I can easily solve.'

'I just have to be patient, and treat this situation with the delicate care it deserves. And in doing so, I will soon have everything I want.'

(_)

Reality, Old West Reality. Place, the small town Lewis and Stan visited. Time, several hours after the Lowe brothers were taken by Cad Bane, and his bounty hunter team.

It was sunset when Ed, Bob, Annie, Violin, and John, teleported in a dirt alleyway between to buildings.

Ed quickly pocketed her reality device, as she suggested, “Now, let us see where we are.”

All five adults walked out onto the dirt road of the main street of the town.

As they looked around, John commented, “I would say we are in an Old West reality. Sometime in the late nineteenth century, in the midwest, U.S.A.”

Violin said, “I agree.”

Bob stated, “I am from the midwest of the U.S., and I concur. So, how are we going to find the boys?”

John turned to Annie, as he requested, “Annie, I am not joking here, when I say, please use the force.”

Annie turned to John, as she said, “Since you asked so nicely, John, I will.” A few seconds later, Annie commented, “I do not sense the boys here. But, I do sense they were here.”

Ed stated, “Then, I think I made a mistake. I focused on any help they would get. Not the boys themselves.”

Bob shrugged, as he replied, “Things happen, dear.”

Annie stated, “But, we do know that the boys like found help from here. So, we just need to find out who here helped them. And from there, we will have a lead to find the boys.”

John looked around the town, as he said, “This could be a needle in a haystack.”

Violin stated, “Oh come. It is kind of obvious, any type of person that could help the boys would likely stop to get a drink, and would be mobile.”

Violin then use her right hand pointed at a two story building nearby, that was a hotel, as she continued, “That means said help would likely go to only hotel in town. Which likely has a bar in it. Lewis and Stan would stand out. It is possible that someone saw them, and may point us to their mysterious benefactor.”

Bob turned to Violin, as he complimented, “Good thinking, Violin.”

Violin turned to Bob, as she smiled at him. She said, “Thank you, Bob.”

Ed commented, “The hotel it is, then. We will head to the bar counter, and see what the bartender, staff, and patrons, have to say.”

The five adult then turned, and started walking towards the hotel.

(_)

Five minutes later, the five adults entered the bar, inside the hotel. After they did so, they walked up to the bar counter.

John looked at Bob, as he lamented, “To bad, in small towns like this, iceboxes haven't hit is big yet, in this time period. Or, I would be ordering a cold beer.”

Bob turned to John, as he questioned, “True. But, how do you plan to pay for it?”

John conceded, “Point taken.”

Bob said, “Besides, we have more important matters to deal with. Like finding a lead on where Stan and Lewis have gone too.”

Violin, Annie, John, Ed, and Bob then heard someone behind them say, “Scorpius, has the boys.”

John thought, 'I know that voice. But, from where?'

The five adults looked behind them to see a fair skinned man with long black hair, in a pony tail, wearing a black hat, and black long coat, with his back turned.

The man was sitting at a nearby table, with three other men.

The five adults then saw the three men that the man was with.

All four men were clearly sharply for their the time.

They were playing poker, with cards in their hands.

In a clockwise rotation, from the black haired man, the first man was a dark skinned man who looked like he had not shaved his face in a few days. The second man was an older fair skinned man with a thick, full beard. The third man was a younger fair skinned man with a clean shaven face.

The black haired man, whom was speaking to them, had his back turned to them, as he faced the three men at his table. The black haired man looked at the cards in his hands, as he continued, “If you want them back, I believe you are going to need my help. I just need a minute here to finish. And then I need to go upstairs, to get cleaned up, and change my clothing.”

Bob said, “As long as you have answers. And you are not wasting our time. We can wait a few minutes.”

The black haired man replied, “Good.”

The black haired man looked around at the other three men sitting at his table. He threw in some money, as he stated, “I call.”

After everyone showed their cards, he won the hand. Next, he set his cards down, as he said, “Bowler, Hawkes, Bret, it was a pleasure playing with all three of you, gentlemen. You may divide my money amongst yourselves. I have a feeling I won't be needing it any more.”

As the black haired man stood up, the dark skinned man started to collect the man's cash and divide it up amongst himself, and the two other remaining players. He said, “Midnight, you are my kind of player.”

The older, bearded player stated, “I consider it a privilege to have played you, Midnight. You show a lot of potential, and I hope to meet you for another hands of cards, someday.”

The younger, fair skinned man recommended, “Try to stay out of trouble, Midnight.”

As the man started walking their way, Violin noticed the three men at the table. She whispered to Bob, “Are those three, who I think they are?”

Bob looked at the faces of the three men. He softly replied back. “I think so.”

Bob looked over at Violin. He could tell that Violin was starting to slip into fangirl mode, as she quietly said, “I would almost kill to play a few hands with them. Even if I lose all my money, it would be worth it.”

Bob softly teased, “Go ahead. You are a pretty girl. I don't think they would mind.”

Violin snorted, “You are one to talk. I have seen your female form, you are almost as hot as me.”

Bob smiled, as he replied, “Don't tempt me.”

John overheard them, as he requested, “If you girls do so, please get me their autographs.”

Violin replied, “I would love to, John. But unfortunately, even I know we do not have time. I wish we did. But, we don't.”

John complimented Violin, “That is very mature of you.”

Violin smiled at John, as she responded, “Thank you, John.”

John returned Violin's smile, as he replied, “Any time, kiddo.”

By then, Midnight came to a stop in front of the five adults standing at the bar counter. The five adults could see that he also had a full, well groom, black beard.

Bob thought, 'I miss my beard.'

Midnight said, “This way.” He then turned and headed out of the room.

As the five adults then followed Midnight out of the dining area.

While they walked up the stairs, Midnight looked ahead of himself, as he said, “I met the boys yesterday. And I have grown quiet fond of them in the short time I knew them.”

Bob asked, “What happened?”

By then, they reached the second story of the hotel. Midnight turned and walked down one of the hallways, as he answered, “Early this afternoon, they were kidnapped by bounty hunters. The leader mentioned being hire by Scorpius.”

John asked, “How do you know of Scorpius?”

Midnight coyly answered, “All in good time.”

By then, they reached the door to the room that was Midnight's. Midnight pulled out the key to the door.

Midnight then unlocked the door, and opened it. He invited them in, “Come inside.”

After all six adults were inside, Midnight closed the door behind him.

Midnight then went to his saddle bags, and pulled out some clothing, along with a pair of scissors, and a folded straight razor.

Midnight then walked behind a large privacy screen, with those items. Behind the screen, there was a table with a mirror, with a water pitcher, and water bowl on it.

From behind the privacy screen, Midnight began to use his scissors, to trim his beard, as he stated, “Before we leave, I need to sell my horse, and find somewhere safe to store more clothing weapons, and possessions.”

Annie stated, “That should not be a problem.”

Ed asked, “So, who are you?”

Midnight answered, “Just a man enjoying his retirement. But, as you can guess, I am not from around here, myself.”

John stated, “The fact you know, Scorpius, proves that. Let me guess, you are a Sebacean whom use to be a peacekeeper.”

Midnight began to use his straight razor to shave, as he answered, “Yes. I was a peacekeeper officer. I disagreed with the direction the peacekeepers organization was going, under Scorpius' leadership. Though, some things had changed for the better. Scorpius respects loyal not only to herself, but to those that lead an honorable service to the peacekeepers. She know allows people to resign after ten years of loyal service. I resigned my commission, and I left.”

Midnight then folded the razor, and picked his scissors to beginning cutting his hair. He then continued, “I had a reality device, and traveled the multiverse for a while, until I ended up in this area, about a decade, or so ago. It was then that my reality device broke. And with no way to repair it, I was stuck here.”

Bob thought, 'I always feared that would happen to us. That is why we bring tools kits, with knowledge on repairing a reality device, and keep multiple reality devices with us, when we travel.'

Midnight went onto say, “But, it wasn't all bad. I found I liked the wide open spaces, and clean air.”

Violin commented, “And you went, native.”

Midnight stated, “Exactly. English was not that hard for me to learn. And I found most of the people here to be nice, as long as I was polite. I then applied my skills as a peacekeeper, to being bounty hunter. And I have made a nice living from it. Also, I found I like poker, in this area and time.”

“My only problem was the summer months, when I had to stay in the shade, to prevent overheating, and dying from Sebacean heat delirium. But, that was not to serious a problem. I just started working at night, and I made that my motif. For the most part. That is how I got the nickname, the Midnight Bounty Hunter. And I kept it.”

John commented, “I have to admit, that is a cool nickname.”

While smiling, Midnight replied, “I know. Anyway, even if you find a way to teleport directly to Scorpius' command carrier, you will still trip every alarm on the ship.”

“Though, getting onto the ship will not be hard. I know peacekeeper command codes that even Scorpius, as Grand Chancellor, does not know. And besides, we have time. Since becoming a woman, and pure Sebacean, Scorpius has calmed down a lot. She is actually more dangerous now, then when she had health problems, and a temper, as a hybrid.”

“She even got rid of the aurora chair.”

John said, “That is nice to know.”

Midnight agreed, “Yes. It is. And as such, she will not harm the boys, unless the brothers do something stupid. Knowing them, I think they will at least play along. So, we have time.”

Ed stated, “I believe you are correct. Considering, Scorpius was also their highschool physics teacher.”

Midnight took off his clothes, as he commented, “I am not surprised that Scorpius would use time dilation tricks to accomplish both her jobs. And maybe other jobs, as well. Maybe even a vacation, or two. Knowing her, she could use a vacation. Though, I wonder what makes the boys so special, for her to go so far out of the way to capture them.”

John stated, “Scorpy still has that wormhole fetish, and she had taken it up a notch. To a new multiversal level. And the boys are the keys to her plans.”

Midnight put on his fresh clothing, as he said, “That explains it then.”

A few seconds later, Midnight walked from behind the privacy screen, and the five other adults saw who Midnight really was.

In his peacekeeper, officer's uniform, retired peacekeeper captain, Meeklo Braca, looked back at the five adults whom were staring at him, in surprise. Braca's face was clean shaven, and his hair trimmed back to where it had been during his days as a peacekeeper.

Braca asked, “So, how do I look?”

Annie deadpanned, “Just great.”

Violin said, “And the hits just keep on coming.”

John greeted, “Nice to see you again, Braca.”

Braca replied, “Nice to see you to, John. I am glad you are here. I say we now have a fighting chance.”

John complimented, “I am glad for the vote of confidence.”

Violin asked, “Still, you were Scorpius second in command. What really happened to cause you to leave?”

John joked, “Yea. What caused the divorce?”

Braca stated, in a sad tone of voice, “He changed in more ways than one. And instead of being a scientist and leader of armies. She has seized control of the peacekeepers and become somewhat of a politician.”

John agreed, “Yea. That would do it.”

Braca said, “I am glad you agree. So, we will need a peacekeeper transport to get onto Scorpius' command. We cannot teleport directly there. She will be immediately alerted to our presence. Fortunately, I can provide both the a dealer for a small ship, and the command codes enter the Scopius' flagship. The only question is payment for the ship.”

Ed offered, “If you can get me to the ship, I can hack its computers.”

Annie made a counter offer, “Forget that. I will use my mind trick to get a ship. We just need to make sure the person is male, and likes women. That mind trick, and a little T&A from me, and he will give us a ship.”

John looked over at Annie, as he commented, “You have been a woman, way too long.”

Annie giggled, a little, in response to John's comment.

Bob stated, “Okay, everyone. Let's help Braca get what he needs done here. Then, we are heading to Braca's home reality, to the peacekeeper planet of his choosing, to find a ship. Then, we are going to rescue our boys, and deal with Scorpius, in one fell swoop.”

Braca turned to Bob. He grinned at Bob, as he complimented, “I like your attitude. Let us make that happen.”

The other five adults returned Braca's grin, as all six of the group heading out of the hotel room, and towards their plans on rescuing Stan and Lewis Lowe.

(_)

Farscape Reality. Peacekeeper Space. Around a week after the brothers were recaptured by Scorpius.

It was sunset on the area of city planet that Braca had taken them to. The retired peacekeeper captain stated the Peacekeeper Space Fleet was stationed near the planet.

The weather was dry, and warm, but not hot.

After finishing what they needed to do in the Old West reality, Ed loaned Braca her reality device, to take them to this peacekeeper planet, at the proper time and place.

When Braca thought of the time, he thought of the best opportunity to rescue Lewis and Stan Lowe.

When the reality jump was complete, Braca immediately returned it to Ed. With Ed putting her reality device into one of her pockets.

It was then that they got something to eat, and then went shopping for a few items, for their mission.

That was two hours ago, and the were on the last errand, before looking for a peacekeeper shuttle.

Currently, the three men of the groups were standing, as they waited outside of a women's clothing store, for the three women of the group to come out.

Bob thought, 'I am so happy that Ed didn't make me go in there, with them.'

The men soon overheard the three women of the group, as the women were walking out of the door.

Or, more specifically, two of the women convincing the third to come out onto the street.

Inside the door of the store, they could hear Annie stated, “Listen. I admit. I am having second thoughts about this plan. I promised myself, I would never get into this situation.”

Ed pointed out, “You mentioned using T&A in this plan. And your normal clothing just does not do your figure justice.”

Annie replied, “I was joking.”

Ed then stepped into the street, she was holding a bag, as she stated, “Annie, I have your clothes right here. You can change clothes after we buy the ship.”

Violin walked out onto the street, as she said, “I don't understand, Annie. You had no problem wearing a bikini. What is wrong with what you are wearing right now?”

Annie responded, with a bit of desperation and worry in her tone of voice, “That is on a secluded, tropical island, while being among friends. This is out in public.”

Violin admitted, “You have a point there. Be happy that you hair works the way it is for your new clothing.”

Annie coldly warned, “Touch my hair, and you will die.”

Ed stated, in a motherly tone of voice, “Annie, you are making a scene. Just grit your teeth, and step outside. The first three seconds are the hardest. It gets easier after that.”

Annie concede, “Fine.”

Annie then stepped out to the street.

Annie wore a black cloth midriff shirt, with skintight black leather pants, black sexy lace-less boots, and a black belt, which she had her lightsaber strapped to.

And Annie's clothing showed off her curves in every way possible.

John commented, “Hard to believe she use to be a man.”

Bob cautioned, “I know. And I am not one to talk. Still, just a reminder gentlemen, she can force chock us. So, let us be polite.”

John replied, “I am always a southern gentleman.”

Braca stated, “I have always tried to act as a professional, no matter what I am doing.”

Bob responded, “Good. By the way, thanks for the credits for the outfit.”

Braca said, “No problem.”

John inquired, “Are you sure those credits cannot be traced? I would not put anything passed, Scorpy.”

Braca answered, “Absolutely. They are from the hidden accounts from which I plan to buy the shuttle from.”

Bob questioned, “What about identification, and records? You, of all people, know how thorough Scorpius is with information retrieval.”

Braca smirked, as he commented, “Yes. I worked for Scorpius, for years. Who do you think he, or now she, had create all those fake records for her personal agents?”

John cracked a grin, as he replied, “Good point.”

By then, the three women had walked up to the men.

Annie warned, “Not one word. Especially, you, Bob. You know I can arrange for you to be in this situation.”

John noticed that Braca had a confused look on his face from Annie's comment. He leaned over and whispered in Braca's right ear.

Braca's eyes widened, as he looked after at Bob. He then looked over at John, whom just nodded.

Bob responded, “Annie, you have nothing but my sympathies.”

Annie let out a breath, as she said, “Let's just get this over with.”

(_)

Half an hour later, at a nearby spaceport, Violin, John, Ed, and Bob watched from a distance, as Braca and Annie haggled with a starship seller, over a slightly used peacekeeper transport shuttle, that the three adults were standing beside, on a landing pad.

The side hatch to the shuttle was open.

John quietly commented, “At least I am not crossdressing this time.”

Bob whispered, “We fans like to pretend that clam episode never happened.”

John agreed, “You are not alone. So, do we. But, how bad was that event from your point of view?”

Bob answered, “Almost as bad as DS9, Profit and Lace.”

John winched, as he replied, “Ouch.”

Violin commented, “Personally, I found those two episodes to be very funny.”

Ed looked at Violin, as she thought, 'And people call me, crazy.'

(_)

Meanwhile, by the transport shuttle, the middle-aged male, Sebacean, whom was a used spaceship salesman, was negotiating with Annie and Braca.

Braca flatly stated, “Ten thousand, and not a credit more.”

The salesman countered, “Twenty-five thousand. And I am being generous.”

Annie spoke up, in the best fake, demure tone of voice she could muster, “I think you can go lower.” She then thought, 'Actually, from what I sense from your emotions, you can go a lot lower. You Sebaceans are so close to your human cousins that your emotions are almost identical.'

The used starship salesman looked over at Annie.

Annie had to fight the urge to force chock the salesman, as she felt the man's lustful emotions, while he mentally undressed her.

From the look on the man's face, even Braca could tell that the man clearly liked what he saw.

Annie thought, 'Now, to turn on the charm, and force mind tricks.'

Annie smiled in a seductive manner, as she used her the force mind tricks, while she calmly said, “As my friend was saying, I think ten thousand is more than fair. Won't you agree?”

The seller replied, “Yes. I believe so.”

Annie asked, “Then, we have a deal?”

The seller answered, “Yes.”

(_)

Ten minutes later, after the transaction was over, and the seller had left, the Bob, Ed, John, and Violin walked up to Annie and Braca.

As all five of them turned to looked at the shuttle, John commented, “The piece of junk joke, concerning this ship, is just too easy to say.”

Bob replied, “Agreed.”

Ed pointed out, “The important points are, does this ship run? And is it safe to fly?”

Braca stated, “I took a look around it, and inside, before I even talked about the price. I even did an air pressurization check, along with checking to make sure the life support, engines, and other systems are in working order. Even its fuel tanks are nearly full. The emergency rations and water bottles are in the ship, and I believe have not expired. And the restroom works, and has toiletries.”

Annie said, “Okay. I need to check my clothing. Ed, can I have my clothes bag.”

Ed handed Annie the bag with her original clothing in it.

Violin teased, “But, I liked you in that outfit, Annie.”

Annie turned to Violin, as she stated, “Violin. Don't tempt me. I am not in the mood. And I expect privacy for the next few minutes.”

She then walked into the up the steps on the hatch, and into shuttle, by herself.

A few minutes later, Annie came out of the shuttle, wearing her old clothing and robes.

Her lightsaber was clipped to her belt, as she used her arms to carry her new clothing out of the ship.

Annie walked a few feet from the group, as she dumped her new clothes into a pile on the ground.

Then, to everyone else's surprise, Annie used force lightning from her fingers, on both hands, to burn and destroy her new clothing. Within seconds the items were turned into ashes.

After Annie stopped the lightning, she turned to the face group. As she walked passed them, and back into the shuttle, she smiled, while she said, “I feel much better now.”

When Annie came to the top of the steps, she stopped at the entrance to the ship. She turned to face the other adults. She explained, “Ah, yes. The force lightning. I never told anyone that I could do that now. As many of you have guessed, I am a lot more powerful than I have ever been. And my skills in the force are better than ever.”

“Though, you can relax. I only use force lightning to vent my rage in a quick constructive manner. I can now see why Palpatine used it so often. It is quite fun to use. But, I have found that as long as I don't use force lightning on people, I do not risk falling to the dark side of the force.”

Violin stated, “That is a relief to know.”

Bob commented, “If Kyle Katarn can use force lightning without falling to the dark side of the force. So, can you, Annie.”

Annie smiled in their direction, as she said, “Thank you for the vote confidence. And I have to admit that Kyle has a cute butt.”

Ed realized something, as she accused, “You played the Dark Forces games? Haven't you?”

Annie smile turned into a smirk, while she focused on Ed. She replied, “Yes. I have to admit that the reborn is an interesting concept. And I found Kyle, at the end of those game series, with the beard, force powers, and personality, to be a wonderful mix of Obiwan, and Han Solo.”

Bob thought, 'The thought of Darth Vader playing Star Wars computer games from Earth is insane. But, I have to ask.' He inquired, “What other Star Wars games have you played?”

Annie stated, “The early flight simulators. I found the original Knights of the Old Republic game to be entertaining. And even I didn't see that plot twist towards the end of the game. And... Well about, Force Unleashed. Though, I will tell you right now. For my reality, I did not have an apprentice, as Vader. So, he must be from an alternate reality, when compared to my home reality. And my force powers are not that powerful.”

“Though, I admit, I have sometimes fantasized using the force to pull down a Star Destroyer from space, onto the ground. But, even now, I am not that powerful.”

Ed, Bob, John, and Violin all looked at Annie, with mild states of shock, at the way she so casually talk about playing video games based off of her home reality. In some cases, the games she played had cameo appearances of her old male self.

Annie just giggled innocently at the expressions on Ed, Bob, John, and Violin's faces. She then turned, and happily made her way into the shuttle.

Braca turned to Bob, as he stated, “I am starting to see why you tread carefully when it comes to Annie.”

Bob turned to Braca, as he replied, “Braca, you don't know the half of it.”

Ed suggested, “Let's get inside. And who is going to be the pilot?”

Braca stated, “I will. Who is the best pilot among you?”

Bob said, “Actually, Annie is the best pilot.”

John agreed, “While I am a pretty good pilot. Annie is the best pilot here.”

Violin commented, “Yea. You are good Braca. But, Annie is better.”

Inside the ship, Annie overheard the conversation. She turned around, and stepped right outside of the door to the shuttle, as she looked at the other adults. She stated, “I am fine with Braca being pilot. I will be the co-pilot.”

Braca said, “Thank you, Annie. And being co-pilot will help take your mind off of what just happened.”

Violin complimented, “That is a good way of looking at things.”

Annie said, “I appreciate you comments, Braca.”

Brace replied, “You're welcome.”

Annie then walked back inside the ship, with the other five adults entering the ship, behind her.

When they were all inside the small shuttle, they made their some of the seats. Fortunately, there was plenty of seating for everyone.

A minute later, everyone was seated, with the hatch to the ship closed, and sealed.

Up front, in the cockpit, Braca was piloting, in the left chair, with Annie in the co-pilot's seat, in the right chair.

There were four rows in the ship. Two seats per row. With an aisle running down the length of the ship.

In the middle two seats were Ed, and Violin. With Ed on the left side, and Violin on the right side.

With John and Bob sitting in seats, on the third row. With Bob on the left side, and John on the right side.

Bob turned to John, as he asked, “Since you are the only one with an idea of the what exact Earth calendar date is here, when the boys were taken. Because, we made sure to run parallel with when Scorpius took the boys. At least that is what we hope the boys did the same, when they were taken back to this reality. How long as it been, since we last came here?”

John looked at the Peacekeeper calendar clock on a small readout, in the middle of the cockpit. He turned back to Bob, as he answered, “A week and two days since we left. And my gut tells me that the boys are right now, in this reality, with Scorpius, on her command carrier. Though, I plan to return five minutes after I left my ship.”

Bob complimented, “Intelligent thinking. And I doubt my sons are in trouble just yet. They know when to play ball, and buy time.”

John replied, “Let us hope so.”

Braca worked the controls of the ship, as he stated, loud enough for everyone to hear him, “Okay. Pre-flight checks have been completed. Everyone, prepare for take off. We should reach the fleet in about four human hours.”

A minute later, the transport shuttle took off into the sky. The ship was soon head away from the orbit of the planet they had just left, as the shuttle head for the peacekeeper fleet.

(_)

Meanwhile, at that moment, on the Peacekeeper flagship command carrier, in one of the many labs, Stan and Lewis Lowe were directing the peacekeeper scientists and technicians, whom were present.

The lab room itself, was a large room, with a theater level above it, with windows looking down into the lab.

For the last week, the Lowe brothers, and their team had been building a small, prototype multiversal gate system.

In addition, Stan and Lewis wisely chose not to make any attempts to escape Scorpius and the Peacekeepers.

The only major draw back was the language barrier. Due to the brother unique minds and DNA, to be on the safe side, Scorpius refused to inject them with translator microbes. And the brothers agreed with their teacher.

Though, all of Scorpius' tests on translator microbes showed they were safe even for gender benders, or those that could become gender benders. Scorpius own change of gender was proof of that.

Fortunately, Scorpius from a simple solution. She had the terminals in the lab translated to english. And the teams could understand the brothers, and type their responses on a computer, which would be translated to the brothers' native language.

Scorpius told her subordinates that this as just another security measure.

Though, the Lowe brothers were making an effort in learning Sebacean, and given their super-genius intellects, they were already showing marvelous results. But, it would still probably take them another week to successfully speak, read, and write, Sebacean, in a fluent manner.

The brothers were wearing peacekeeper casual clothing. Black pants, shirt, socks, underwear. But, they both wore their tennis shoes. Along with that, Stan wore his varsity jacket, and Lewis wore his short, white, long sleeved, lab coat.

The brothers were currently sitting down, as they used various tools to make the final adjustments to their first prototype gate system, on this end. With the adjustments on the other end, in another reality, already completed.

While they did so, Scorpius walked into the room. She was in her usual black armor, with her cap, nor cape.

Scorpius approached the brothers, near the gate. The gate, and base, was eight feet tall. The gate itself was ring shaped, with six feet wide diameter. The ring and the base were one feet in depth. There were also steps made into the base, that lead up into the portal, and to show which side was to be use to enter the portal from.

As Scorpius walked towards the brothers, the boys noticed her.

The brothers set down their tools, and stood up, as they face Scorpius. Stan stood to Lewis' right side.

While Scorpius smiled, she came to a stop in front, a few feet from Stan and Lewis. She greeted them, “I see that things are progressing well.”

Lewis said, “Yes. They are. Would you care for an explanation of what is going on? Including safety measures?”

Scorpius responded, “Of course. While my other duties have prevented myself from participating in this project more, I do enjoy such update.”

Scorpius thought, 'I wish I could spend more time on their project. I already did enjoy creating inventions. And I still do. I just presently no long have the time to do so. Though, I was able to handle multiple jobs. So, I probably can find the time, if I think about. But, that is a matter to contemplate for another time.'

Lewis stated, “We have made great strides in the last week. For example, what you are looking at is half of the prototype, which is a marriage of the reality portal technology that you shared with us, and the hyperspace gate technology of our home reality.”

“The other half is on a remote planet, in an alternate Star Wars reality, with a breathable atmosphere. But, the planet is uninhabited by lifeforms, except for some rodent like species, and plants. The other end of the portal is connected to an enclosed base, with robots monitoring that side.”

Scorpius asked, “What makes this different from the portals I already have?”

Lewis smirked, “Simple. Your portals are temporary, and burn a lot of energy, because there is no portal on the other side, to create a feedback circuit, to feed energy from, to maintain the portal. On the other hand, this is a bridged network. Like you wanted. Two different gates connecting across the multiverse.”

“Once the gates come on, they are powered by the frictional energy coming from breaking reality. This is due to their being two gates, creating a basic energy circuit, like electronics use. This is how the hyperspace gates in my home reality work. Only, instead of opening through full realities, the hyperspace gates just open through dimensional planes on in the same reality.”

Scorpius understood what Lewis was stating. She replied, “So, you already solved the energy problem.”

Lewis said, “Yes.”

Stan commented, “But, that is also the main danger, and the main problem.”

Scorpius inquired, “How so?”

Stan explained, “The feedback on the energy is a lot more than is needed to maintain the portal. It can build up very quickly. This is what caused the gate explosion in our home reality.”

Scorpius asked, “If this gate got out of control, how big an explosion from the feedback be?”

Stan stated, “Actually, there will be two explosions. One for each side of the gate system. The feedback explosions would happen on both sides of the gate at once, because it a loop. The reason, in our home reality, the gate explosion is only talked about on the Earth side, was the moon was nearly destroyed by the gate, and it damaged the Earth, as well.”

“But, the other explosion was in the middle of nowhere, with only a few people harmed, or killed on that side. Still, from this gate system, each, of the two explosions, would be equal to a one kiloton bomb of TNT. The explosion on this side would seriously harm, or kill everyone in this section of the ship. But, the explosion would not destroy your entire ship.”

“Yet, that is where the our safety measures, we invented, and installed, come in.”

Scorpius questioned, “What are your safety measures?”

Stan said, “At this stage of the project, We have three fail-safes. Given we have only worked on this for a week, that is all we could come up with.”

Scorpius pointed out, “Three fail-safes are a fine to start. Even I had to learn how to prepare simple plans, before I moved on to more complex plans.”

Stan agreed, “Yes. Our first safety measure is system to drain the feedback energy from the gates, and into the ship electrical systems. We, and our team, did some math. Your ship can safely bleed off an energy of a gate this small, without a problem. We just need you to power down some of your generators, and reroute some of the electrical systems. I am sure the technicians can find the right balance.”

Scorpius stated, “That will not be a problem. Any other problems with this feedback draining system?”

Stan answered, “One drawback. We have to power the feedback drain system from the ship's energy grid. This is because we are not sure how the feedback energy will happen. It might be constant. It might spike. We don't know. As such, having the feedback system feed off the feedback, which is currently an unreliable energy source, would be a bad idea.”

“This might have been the design flaw that caused the hyperspace gate explosions in our home reality. They built the feedback drain system into the gate, without properly testing and calibrating the systems. And there was an energy spike, which caused a cascade effect on the electronic system, that caused the gate explosions.”

“Though, we intend to do everything in our power to prevent that from happening here.”

“But, given we tied this feed back system to both the normal energy grid and the emergency grid, if power failed on both systems, we could have a gate explosion.”

Scorpius said, in a comforting tone of voice, “One can only prepare for so many outcomes. But, your precautions seems adequate. But, what other precautions do you have?”

Stan stated, “The next fail-safe is a software shutdown of the gate. But, that would take time, which would allow the feedback to still build up, as the main systems power down. Once the gate closes, without the extra energy from the gate, increasing the feedback, the feedback will drain very quickly on its own, without any explosions.”

“Though, due these software systems is not calibrated, nor properly timed, yet. If we do an emergency gate shutdown, we have a slow shutdown both sides at the same time. Or, one side will shutdown, and the other will still had an open portal, that will become unstable, acting like a gravity vacuum, sending things to another destination in the multiverse.”

“Where, when, and what reality, would be unknown. But, give everything we had seen with reality travel, like attracts like. So, the destination the person ended up, would be similar to where that person came from.”

Scorpius responded, “I can see the logic of what you are saying. But, why do you call it a, gravity vacuum, instead of a gravity well?”

Lewis answered, “Because, gravity magnet, sounded worse, and gravity well, was already taken. I say this is a gravity vacuum because it is not a true gravity well. Whomever designed the portals did a thorough job of solving very dangerous, yet simple problems.”

“One such such problem that was solved is that only solid objects being the only thing allowed through the power. Well more solid than normal air. We can get mist, and water, to go through, without bottling it. But, that is beside the point.”

“Another problem that has been solved is that particles, by themselves, are not allowed to pass through these portal, while solid objects are. Even I am not sure how that works. Though, this is a very good feature to have. It prevents a normal atmospheric vacuum to be created, where one side is a dense dense atmosphere. While the other side is a less dense atmosphere, or god forbid, hard vacuum of space, where the more dense atmosphere reality started having their atmosphere sucked into the portal, which can decompress a ship, or quickly contained the atmosphere. Though, I have only read about it. I don't know about you, but decompression is a horrible way to go.”

“On a similar matter, portals also do not allow ambient temperature differences, gravity, or radiation to pass through the portal. This means if someone accidentally opens a portal on a very environmentally hostile area, like the surface of a star, they will not immediately be vaporized, and eventually destroy their planet by a combination of heat, radiation, and a massive gravity well, which would have otherwise maintained the portal open, long after the gate was destroy.”

“This even applies to kinetic forces, as well. You can detonate a nuke the other side of the portal, and you won't feel the effects, in the slightest, on this side of the portal.”

“Fortunately, the fail-safes in the portal designs prevent all these problems, and more, from happening.”

“Still, if this portal does become unstable, it will start sucking in solid objects, but it will not decompress the area. So, we won't suffocate, due to how well this portal technology was originally designed.”

Scorpius commented, “Yes. Chang's researchers did a wonderful in designing such technology. I have to commend those humans for their skills, brilliance, and intelligence.”

Lewis thought, 'The professor mention someone named, Chang again. And it cannot the Chang I know.'

Meanwhile, Stan thought, 'I wonder who this Chang is, that Scorpius occasionally mentions? I have heard Scorpius mention this person in passing, a few times. But, I have no answers. The only Chang I know is a member of the Serenity crew, in my home reality. And I doubt that it is him. Nor, his sister, Daiyu.'

Scorpius inquired, “And these gates are even quiet. Still, given these gates are of a slightly different design, will a gate left open on one side eventually close on its own?”

Stan answered, “Yes. Without the feedback circuit, the gate will slowly close within a few minutes, to ten minutes. We are not yet sure of the exact amount of time that it will take to close.”

Scorpius responded, “That is still a short enough span of time for one to not worry about. And what is your final contingency plan to prevent a gate explosion?”

Lewis stated, “If we cannot shut the gate down fast enough, to prevent a gate explosion, we have explosives located inside the base of each gate, on both ends of the portal. An explosion on one of the gates would destroy the gate, and automatically close the gate on that end.”

“Though, we measured the power of the explosion so that almost nothing else would be destroyed, except for the lab. Also, if we were trapped in here, we could just blow the other gate, and take our chances with the unstable portal for a few minutes.”

“So, what do you think, professor?”

Scorpius responded, “I think you both have thought out you precautions very well. Will the reality protection field cause problems with this experiment?”

Lewis answered, “No. This used a different method of reality travel than your field protects against. Though, we have to open the original gate from this side, and thread it to the other side. Because you informed us that your field protects from both teleportation, and portals coming into the ship. But, it only prevents teleportation out. It does not prevent creating a portal from this side, to another destination. Where a person can come and got from here, as they please.”

Scorpius said, “Yes. That is a flaw. But, only a minor flaw. Now, when will this prototype be ready for its first trial?

Scorpius thought, 'That is likely how Chang was originally able to use her portals from the Tower, to other locations in the multiverse. Though, Chang later had reality devices that negated the reality protection field.'

'But, it is clear that Annie, and others do not have access to that technology. Or, Annie got her reality device from a source that did not have direct access to Chang's technology. Or, they had early versions of Chang's reality devices.'

Lewis stated, with a bit of excitement in his tone of voice, “We are almost ready, right now. We were just making the final adjustments on the software and electronics. It will only take a few more minutes. Our tests show opening the gate will not release any dangerous energy.”

“And we are just waiting to see if you would show up, when you usually do. Which has been the case.”

Scorpius complimented, “I appreciate that. I am ready to see you results right now. Though, take your time.”

Lewis said, “Thank you”

The brothers then went to prepare for the test of their prototype gate system.

(_)

A few minutes later, the brothers and their team completed their adjustments of their prototype.

The brothers then walked to their computer terminals, which were tied into the gate system.

Stan offered, “Why don't you do the honors, Lewis.”

Lewis replied, “Thank you, Stan.” He then loudly stated, “Everyone clear the area around the gate. We are doing our first test.”

As soon as their team had were out of the way of the gate, Lewis press a key to activate the multiversal hyperspace gate. He said, “Getting synchronized signals for power up of gate on both sides. With this one side being the side that threads the connection. Gate opening in five. Four. Three. Two. One.”

A second later, it started as a small dot in the center of the gate. It then quickly grew to a multicolored, swirling, rainbow vortex, which encompassed the circular, six feet wide, gate.

Lewis smiled, while he commented, “Now, that is a thing of beautiful.”

Even Stan grinned at their achievement, as he agreed, “Yes, brother, it is.”

Scorpius smiled at the sight before her, as she thought, 'And this is the type of leadership that gets results.' She asked, “Are you planning to send anything in?”

Stan stated, “Not for right now. We just want to test stability, and how long we can maintain the gate, until we shut it down for the evening.”

Lewis said, “If things work out, we will start sending inanimate objects back and forth. Along with probes, to study the inside of the gate, to make sure it is safe for organic living creatures to pass through safely. Our math says yes, But, we are playing it safe. If those tests work fine. Then, we will move up to sending plants and animals.”

Stan commented, “With luck, in a month, or two, we will have people traveling back and forth to the other location.”

Stan thought, 'Instead, of using reality devices to go back and forth. Which is, what our team has been using. Which you have banned us from personally using. As least you gave us some movies and books, from our reality, that we like, to keep us from becoming to bored on our off time. Still, it would be nice to get out of this ship.'

Scorpius complimented, “That is very wise of you, both. For the time being, I think I will stay here, and watch.”

Lewis offered, “We are more than happy to have you here.”

Scorpius stated, “Then, I shall stay here for a while longer.”

(_)

A few hours later, as Ed and Bob's crew flew to the peacekeeper fleet, Braca was piloting, with Annie in the co-pilot's seat, of the transport shuttle.

In the middle two seats were Ed, and Violin.

And in the third row, everyone was listening to John and Bob, as they bickered between each other.

As the crew listened to John and Bob's discussion, Violin thought, 'And they call me childish.'

John said, “Listen, Bob. We can't both be the Han Solo of the group.”

Bob replied, “Of course not. I will be the Han Solo of the group. You will be yourself, John Crichton.”

John inquired, “What is that suppose to mean?”

Bob stated, “You haven't figured out by now. John, I have seen your series. You are far more badass than Han Solo ever was. And more crazier to boot. Han wished he had your skills for crazy planning. Solo was many things, but he was not a genius. And look at your friends. Instead of Chewy, you had Dargo, whom became a much better, more well rounded person than Chewy ever was. Also, you didn't have to deal with the twins, or the drama from family connections of those two.”

Annie spoke up, “Bob has a point there.”

Bob turned to Annie, as he replied, “Thanks Annie.”

Bob turned to John, as he went onto say, “Moya and Pilot are far cooler than the Millennium Falcon and C3-PO ever were. Instead of just one cute R2-D2. You have an army of far cuter DRDs, that have a nice sense of humor about them. Especially, 1812. I am happy to see that little bot still around Moya.”

Violin said, “I second those motions.”

Bob commented, “And that is not all. You have a nice temptress, Chiana. You had your own Obiwan, known as, Zhaan. Rygel is basically the Yoda of hedonism. And best of all, you had a hot, intelligent, sane, badass woman to pine over. Do you have any idea how rare a combination is in the multiverse? Trust me. It is very, very rare.”

Ed spoke up, “No argument there.”

Bob continued, “I have met only two other women, besides Aeryn, that I would say fit that combination completely. That is Zoe of the Serenity crew, and the spacetrucker, V.T. of the Cowboy Bebop reality. And John your rogues gallery puts most of Star Wars shame. No offense Annie, but outside of raw power and combat skills, Scorpius has you beat in every other category.”

Annie stated, “No office taken. You are correct on that matter.”

Bob requested, “So John, all I am asking is you just be your badass self. And when the time comes, you bail our asses out when we need you too.”

John as slack jawed for a few seconds, as he thought about what Bob had told him. He then stated, “Oh lord, your right, Bob. I just never really thought it about way.”

Bob looked over at John, in John's eyes, as he flatly stated, “Yea. You thought you were, Dorthy Gale. Well, you are not. You are, John motherfucking badass Crichton. You made the greatest galactic powers of your reality kneel before your awesomeness. Now, act like the badass we all know you are.”

John responded, “Alright. I will do my best to live up to your expectations.”

Bob replied, “I know you will.”

Braca stated, in a tone that carried over everyone else, “I forgot how lively this type of living can be. Anyway, we should be at our destination in about half an hour.”

(_)

Half an hour later, the crew of the shuttle saw from the front window, as they came within visual sight of the Peacekeeper fleet.

Braca looked at instruments in his cockpit dashboard. He said, “I am getting a signal from the flagship. Keep quiet, while I talk to them in Sebacean.”

Violin quickly asked, “What if this doesn't work?”

Ed pulled out her reality device, as she commented, “Emergency reality jump.”

Violin replied, “Got you.”

Everyone became quiet, as Braca turned on the communications. He spoke up Sebacean, “This is a peacekeeper shuttle, on route to the Command Carrier flagship.”

The person on the other end, stated in Sebacean, “And state you identification code, and priority code.”

Braca then stated the fake codes he had for both requests.

A few seconds later, the other end of the line stated, “You are clear to proceed to shuttle bay sixteen. You guidance system has been updated to display your course. Do not deviate from your course.”

Braca said, “Roger that.”

Braca then turned off the communications. Next, he checked the updated guidance system, and he altered his course, to allow his shuttle to fly onto the path that he had been provided with.

Ed asked, “Did they buy it?”

Braca answered, in english, “Yes.”

Ed questioned, “Good. Now, is everyone okay with me staying my plan, for when we get there?”

John said, in a casual tone of voice, “I was wondering when someone would mention that little detail.”

Without turning his head, Braca commented, “I am surprised you didn't offer up a plan by now, John.”

John responded, “You know how my plans turned out, Braca. One time I set an entire planet on fire. Later, I literally nuked a secret meeting between the major powers, which sparked a galactic war. And finally, I nearly destroyed the galaxy itself. If not the universe. So, do you really want me to come up with a plan?”

Braca flatly replied, “No... I suppose not.”

Bob stated, “Don't worry guys. Ed is good with plans. They only screw up half the time.”

Annie turned back, down the aisle, to face the group, as she spoke up, “Yes. But, when her plans do fall through, they are epic screw ups.”

Ed turned to looked at Annie, as she stated, “That is the last time I tell you my secrets, girl friend.”

Annie just stuck out her tongue at Ed, for a few seconds.

Bob thought, 'I better keep this from getting out of hand.' He requested, “Dear, would you please tell us your plan?”

Ed replied, “Since you asked so nicely, I will. Well, my plan centers around my hacking abilities, and Annie's ass kicking abilities. Over the years, I have made it a hobby of learning alien software code. That includes Peacekeeper software. I cannot speak your language, but I can read and write it.”

Everyone looked her.

Bob spoke up, “Trust me. It is a lot better than her previous hacking hobbies.”

Braca continued flying the ship, as he stated, “That is a tall claim.”

Bob stated, “She is one of the best hackers in the multiverse. When she was a kid, she used to hack planetary networks, just for fun. But, she didn't do anything harmful. For the most part, all she did was leave his signature in their networks, just to prove she could do it.”

“Now, every few years, the Federation of my reality, not the Star Trek Federation, along with the Bajoran government of the Star Trek reality, hires Ed here to see if she can hack her way into their networks. The longest it has ever taken her was twenty minutes.”

Ed commented, “Actually, nineteen minutes, and twenty-three seconds.”

Bob said, “Ed here, one time, got into a computer hacking contest with another brilliant hacker, Motoko Kusanagi, of the Ghost in the Shell, Stand Alone Complex, reality. The contest ended in a draw. Between Motoko's cybernetic enhancements, and Ed's natural super-genius.”

Ed stated, “I still say I could have beaten Motoko if I had slept better the previous night.”

Bob responded, “Yes. I agree, dear. Still, on the battle before us, the questions, on the matter on Ed's abilities, that you should have, are. How long will it take for her to get into Scorpius' computers systems? And how big a repair bill we wish to leave Scorpius with, after we leave?”

Violin complimented, “I can see why your both are married to each other. I like the way you both think.”

Ed replied, “Thank you.”

Bob commented, “I appreciate that.”

Ed said, “Anyway, I could likely teach Scorpius a thing or two on network security. It will likely only take me a few minutes to hack my way into the ship's computer banks. And here is the plan.”

“Everyone, but Annie, goes with me to the nearest computer terminal. Just by me time to hack my way in. Meanwhile Annie, stays with the ship, with her reality device. The reason for this is Annie, you are our plan, b. Protect the ship. Because, if my plan does now work, we are going to have to escape back out on this our ship here.”

“I will hack my way into the computers. When I do, I will first look at the schematic of the ship, for a few minutes. So, I can find the boys. Braca will be with us, because he knows the layout of the ship, and once we have found our sons, he will know the quickest route to the boys. And Violin, you are with us, because we might need you to open some doors for us.”

Violin commented, in a casual tone of voice, “Got you. That should not be a problem.”

Ed stated, “After I find the boys, and how to get to them. I am going to shut down the field preventing reality jumping, shut down the power grid, and shut down the emergency power. Everything goes down, except for lighting, life support, artificial gravity, and atmospheric shields.”

“We need to see, and we need to breath. And I don't want to accident depressurize the ship, due to a few shuttle bay doors being open when power goes out. But, everything else will be down. That includes their communications, so they cannot call for help. And their weapons system, so we can escape.”

Braca commented, “And with the power out, they will not able to organize resistance against us. As such, we will not have to fight as much. And any fighting will be much easier.”

Violin spoke up, “Especially for Annie.”

Annie replied, “True. And that is nice to know.”

Braca said, “Still, if we have to escape back on this ship, we probably still have to deal with a few prowlers. But, I believe I can pilot this ship well enough to avoid being destroyed, until we are out of the field, and we can reality jump.”

Annie spoke up, “If you don't make it, Braca. I am sure I can pilot this thing fine.”

Ed went onto say, “Exactly, Annie. That is another reason I want you by the ship.”

John deadpanned, “I have noticed you have no mentioned my part of your plan, yet.” He continued, in a more serious tone of voice, “What do you want me to do?”

Ed answered “John, when the four of us go after the boys, I need you to find Scorpius, and keep her busy.”

John swiftly replied, “I am not sleeping with her... No matter how hot she has become after being turned into a woman. Besides, I am married.”

Annie halfheartedly stated, “No one is asking you to, John. Besides, I would think that Scorpius has better standards than you.”

John snapped, “Hey.”

Annie giggled a little, from John's reaction to her comment.

John said, “Still, how am I suppose find Scorpy in a mile long ship?”

Braca suggested, “Well, you are a very recognizable person, John. Just leave your weapon with Bob and Ed. Then go to a guard, with you hands up, introduce yourself as, John Crichton. Then, tell that person that you want to speak with Scorpius. The only question, how long it will take you to be escorted to Scorpius?”

Everyone was shocked speechless at Braca's plan.

Braca noticed their silence, as he commented, “I have been caught in the middle, between Scorpius and John, for years. You think I didn't learn a thing or two from them, during that time.”

Bob thought, 'Braca sounds like a guy stuck in the middle of a love triangle... Best not to touch that one with a ten foot pole.'

Ed stated, “John, just find Scorpius, and stall her for about ten minutes. Then, escape back to the shuttle. If something happens, and the field is down, we will teleport to you. If not... Bob.”

Bob pulled out his reality device and handed the device, across the aisle, to John.

John took the device, and put it in his right, side pants pocket.

Ed stated, “That is your emergency exit. But, don't use it, unless you have too.”

John stated, “I understand.”

Ed went onto say, “If the reality field does come down, and if we cannot get back to you, Annie. I am relying your force senses to tell you when it is a good time to leave.”

Annie replied, “That works for me. And thanks for the replacement reality device you gave me.”

Ed stated, “You're welcome. If the field stays up, you will know through the force to wait for us. If the field is down, when we find the boys, we teleport to quickly get John, then we all teleport to Annie, and finally we all leave, together. If Annie is overwhelmed, and the field is down, she can teleport out. Unfortunately Annie, if you are overwhelmed, with the field still up, you might be screwed.”

Annie stated, “As long as you hurry, I do not see a problem, Ed.”

Ed responded, “Thank you. Is everyone clear on their role?”

Violin replied, “Yep.”

Bob said, “Of course.”

John said, “Sure.”

Annie commented, “I have heard worse plans that have worked out for the best.”

Braca responded, “Sounds like a good plan, to me.”

Violin spoke up, “Braca, I have a question.”

Braca offered, “Go ahead, Violin.”

Violin asked, “How did you know which one of these ships is the flagship?”

Braca answered, “The identification numbers on the sides of the ships. I can see them from here.”

Ed stated, “I don't see the numbers.”

John commented, in a halfhearted manner, “That is because our human eyes are deficient.”

Bob mentioned, “Crackers Don't Matter.”

Ed replied, “Oh, thanks honey.”

Bob said, “No problem.”

Annie stated, “Don't feel bad about it. I cannot see the numbers yet either. I never could get the knack for using the force to enhance one's vision.”

Violin commented, “I can see the numbers now that I know what to look for. And I can even read them.”

Braca commented, “That is interesting. But, that is a matter for another time.”

Violin replied, “Agreed.”

Braca then continued to follow the path he was cleared for, as they approached the Peacekeeper flagship.

(_)

A few minutes later, as they flew closer to the Peacekeeper Commander Carrier flagship, Ed requested, “Annie. Can you sense the boys in that ship?”

Annie answered, “Yes. But, I cannot sense where exactly they are.”

Ed replied, “At least, it is a start.”

John spoke up, “Annie, could I have your honest opinion on something?”

Annie replied, “Sure. What is it?”

John asked, “Which do you find cooler, you Imperial Star Destroyers, and Super Star Destroyers? Or, Peacekeeper Command Carriers?”

Annie admitted, “That is a hard call. I use to think Star Destroyers were imposing, but these Command Carriers are in a class of their own. It guess it is like what you want in a car. It is a matter of personal preference. But, I don't want to be on the wrong side of either of those types of ships. Which is exactly what we are doing.”

John agreed, “You got that right.”

Bob commented, “As long as they are not shooting at us, we are fun.”

Annie replied, “Point taken.”

(_)

A minute later, they saw through the front window, that were entering the shuttle bay they were assigned to, Braca stated, “We will be landing in a minute. Get ready.”

John pulled out pulse pistol.

Braca used his left hand on the controls, as he used his right hand to pull out his pulse pistol. Braca had kept his pulse pistol with him during his years as retirement. It was half fueled, and still was in working order.

Bob pulled out his revolver.

Annie unhooked her lightsaber, but she did not yet ignite it.

(_)

A few minutes later, inside shuttle bay sixteen, of the flagship, the technicians and guards watched as older transport shuttle pass through the large open shuttle bay doors, and the atmospheric protect field, that kept the air inside the ship from being sucked out into the vacuum of space.

Less than a minute after the shuttle entered the bay, the shuttle found an open space to land.

A few seconds later, the hatch opened, they watched as Annie jumped out, while igniting her red lightsaber.

Annie landed in a defensive stance, ready to deflect any energy attacks directed at her, or her companions.

John was the second one to come out, with his pulse pistol at the ready.

Braca and Bob were right behind John. With Ed and Violin bringing up the rear.

What happened next surprised everyone.

Bob, John, and Braca, knew better than to fire first, because they each knew that doing so would draw fire towards them, in a situation where they had no cover, except for Annie's lightsaber, and force skills.

Annie did not go on the offense, because she providing cover for the other five members of her team.

Meanwhile, the peacekeeper technicians and guards looked at the intruders.

All of the peacekeepers recognize John Crichton and Annie.

Or, more aptly, the galactic threat level renegade, and the walking death machine that kicked security's ass, on the ship, last week.

Also, a few of them recognized, Braca.

The peacekeepers then looked at each, then back at the new group.

And as if a starter pistol went all, all the peacekeepers, even the guards, immediately turned, and ran from the intruders, as they swiftly evacuated the shuttle bay.

Within seconds, the room was cleared, without a shot being fire.

John turned to Annie, as he stated, “You really do know how to make an impression.”

Annie turned to John, as she smirked, as she replied, “You're just jealous.”

Bob pointed out, “No red shirts among that crowd.”

Violin replied, “You got that right. These guys are a lot smarter than stormtroopers ever were.”

Annie said, “Oh the stories I could tell you.”

Violin commented, “I bet. You know this situation is kind of reality ensuing.”

Everyone in the group turned to look at Violin, as John asked, “How so?”

Violin answered, “Think about it. Take for example the Dark Force video games. Especially the later games, like Jedi Outcast. If the enemies knew ahead of time what Kyle Katarn was capable of. They would not attack him. They would run away from him. Like we just saw here. It is clear the folks here know you two as, crazy awesome lunatic, and god mode Sue. And they ran.”

John replied, “Hey.”

Annie said, “Hold on a minute.”

Violin responded, “Don't feel bad. I am about in the same category as you two, given I inherited my mothers abilities. It is just that I am not a violent person.”

John commented, “I use to not be a violent person, until this section of the galaxy started passing me around like the town bicycle.”

Annie admitted, “I have always been adventurous.”

Ed commented, “Who cares? Where is the nearest terminal?”

Braca used his pulse pistol, in his right hand, to pointed away from the group, and towards a direction to their left, as he stated, “Over here.”

Braca then lead Ed, Bob, Violin, and John away from their small ship, as Annie stayed to guard their shuttle, and possible means of escape.

(_)

A minute later, the five adults reached the closed door to a hallway.

Braca stated, “The nearest computer terminal, with the proper clearance to do what you need to do, is down this hallway, passed this door.” He pressed a button by the side of the sliding metal door, to open it. But, the door stayed shut. Braca said, “Frell. They likely sealed all the doors and hatches, on their way out of the room.”

Bob commented, “Of course they would lock the doors behind them. The very fact they ran shows they are far more intelligent than most people in their position, in the multiverse. Braca, you need to realize that your people are at least somewhat genre savvy. If for any other reason than having to deal with John for all these years.”

Braca turned to Bob, as he conceded, “You may have a point there.”

John lips curled into a wicked grin, as he said, “I admit that I inspire people. I may have missed my calling as a motivational speaker.”

Ed stated, “Either way, we need to get the door open.” She turned to Violin, as she ordered, “Violin, please remove that door.”

Everyone backed away from the door, as Violin walked up to the door.

Violin rubbed her hands together, as she commented, “Anyone else find it humorous that the cute young girl of the group is doing the heavy lifting?”

Bob commented, “I find it very funny. I am just polite enough not to laugh about it. Now, please open the door, Violin.”

Violin smiled, as she commented, “Only because you asked nicely.”

Violin then gripped into the doors, in the middle, on each side. Her fingers pushed through the metal like it was tinfoil.

When she had a full grip on the door, with both her hands, she pulled back, and the door came with her.

As second later, she lightly dropped the ripped off door onto the ground, away from the group.

Violin then check her hands and fingers for any cuts, or bruises. She found none.
As if the strong door had been made of tinfoil to her.

While, Ed and Bob knew about Violin's abilities. John and Braca did not, with both of them showing surprise on their faces as they watched, the slender young woman display the incredible among of raw physical strength, to accomplish her feat.

John thought, 'I am so happy that girl is not a violent person.'

Braca thought, 'I thought when Ed stated that Violin would take care of the doors. She would pick the locks. Not tear the doors off of the walls. And her hands appear uninjured. Violin is a lot stronger, and tougher, than a Scarran. I am glad she has such a pleasant personality, of she could be trouble.'

Braca verbally commented, “Now, I know why you brought along for this mission.”

Bob shrugged, as he replied, “Don't worry. Violin here is a lovely girl, that does know her own strength.”

Violin turned to them, as she stated, “Yes. Learning not to accidentally harm people with my super-strength, was one of the first lessons my mother, and my stepfather, taught me.”

Ed commented, “Good parenting is a wonderful thing. Now, which was is that terminal?”

Braca help his pistol up, as he walked passed the group, to check the other side of the door. Braca found the hallway was clear.

While Braca entered the hallway, he stated, “This way.”

The other four adults followed Braca into the hallway.

(_)

Five minutes later, on the command deck of the Peacekeeper Flagship Commander Carried, Commander Meka, in her peacekeeper officer's uniform, stood at her post, in command of the flagship.

A female subordinate officer swiftly walked up to Meka. The subordinate said, in a calm tone of voice, “There has been an, intruder alert, issued in shuttle bay sixteen.”

Meka turned to the her subordinate, as she inquired, in a professional, even tone of voice, “What happened?”

The subordinate answered, “Six individuals broke into the shuttle bay, using a transport shuttle.”

Meka asked, “Has The Grand Chancellor been notified?”

The female officer replied, “No, Commander.”

Meka questioned, “Why not?”

The subordinate explained, “The manner in which they have to using drain the prototype gate, of its energy, is interfering with subsystems in that area of the ship. Including communications.”

Meka ordered, “Then, send someone to personally inform the Grand Chancellor.”

The female subordinate looked at a lower ranking male officer, whom was standing at a nearby computer terminal. The male officer had overheard Meka' conversation. He noticed his high ranking officer was looking at him. He turned to the female officer, nodded once, turned towards the doors of the room, and swiftly left the command deck.

The female subordinate then turned back to Meka. With Meka looking back at her subordinate.

Meka inquired, “Have the intruders been identified?”

The female officer answered, “Yes. We have identification on three of the six intruders. You are not going to like who they are. First, Annie is back. With her is, John Crichton, and retired captain Meeklo Braca.”

Meka was silent for a few seconds. She then asked, “What do the others look like?”

The subordinate answered, “All of them look like Sebaceans. But, with the human, Crichton, here. You never know. The first is a young, a fair skinned woman with dark blue hair. The next is a slight only woman with red hair and tanned skin. The third person is a man, who is much older than the first two. He has white hair and has fair skin.”

Meka thought over the description of the intruders. She then remembered, as she stated, “The one with white hair, and the one with red hair are a married couple. They are Stan and Lewis' parents. The blue haired girl is a friend. It is imperative we do not kill any of them. Because, in doing so, we may ruin the Grand Chancellor's plans.”

“Still, we have the advantage. We know who they are, and who they are after. They are not here to damage the ship, nor harm the crew. So, we can play this safely, until the Grand Chancellor gets here to give her orders on the situation.”

The subordinate replied, “Understood Commander. What would you prefer us to do?”

Meka inquired, “Were the doors the shuttle bay, and the adjoining areas to the shuttle bay, sealed from the rest of the ship?”

The female officer answered, “Yes. As personal evacuated, they locked several doors behind them. But, security cameras show the dark blue haired woman is literally opening the doors, and ripping them from the walls, with her bare hands.”

The subordinate standing next to Meka, overheard Meka mutter, “I forgot about that.”

Meka then focused back towards the face of the female officer, as she asked, “Where are the intruders now?”

The female officer answered, “Annie is staying by the transport shuttle they came in. The other five are together, and they were last seen going down a hallway.”

Meka ordered, “Inform personnel that we are dealing with a delicate matter. I want security teams ready to go after the intruders, but leave them alone, for right now. If personnel are engaged by the intruders, security teams are to use only stun weapon on the intruders. None of them are to be killed. None of the security teams are to attempt to capture them. Also, do not trap the intruders. And should they response with a lethal intent, security teams are to fall back, as needed.”

The subordinate asked, “And Annie?”

Meka ordered, “Leave Annie alone. No one enters shuttle bay sixteen. Also, close the outside doors to shuttle bay sixteen.”

The female officer inquired, “So, you intent to try to contain Annie?”

Meka answered, “No. My reasons are completely different than that. But, do not worry. Things will work out. Now, relay my orders.

The female officer responded, “Yes, commander.”

The female officer turned and had Meka's orders relayed.

As the female subordinate turned back to Meka, Commander Meka inquired, “Now, what are casualties, so far?”

The female officer answered, “None, so far, commander. When personnel saw Annie and Crichton. Everyone ran.”

Meka smiled, as she ordered, “Find out everyone whom ran, and make a minor commendation in their records for showing their intelligence.”

The female officer responded, “Yes commander. Any other orders?”

Meka answered, “No. Now, we wait for the Grand Chancellor to come, and take over the situation.”

A minute later, the Grand Chancellor had not yet arrived on the command deck, when the power suddenly shutdown, with emergency lighting coming on.

Meka deadpanned, “Now, what?”

(_)

Thirty seconds earlier, in shuttle bay sixteen, Annie was standing guard, by her ship, with her ignited lightsaber in her right hand. She then noticed something happening to the large, open doors, that let into space.

Annie then watched as the two, large, metal, shuttle bay doors, that lead out to space, began to close.

Annie mentally cursed, 'Damn it. There is nothing I can do. I cannot leave the ship unguarded. I will just have to hope for the best.”

A few seconds after the outside shuttle bay doors fully closed, the power went out, and emergency lighting came on.

Annie mentally deadpanned, “What wonderful timing.”

(_)

Five minutes ago, Ed and Bob's group had made it to a computer terminal, in a security room, near shuttle bay sixteen.

Ed sat in a chair, at the keyboard, as she looked at the computer monitor of the terminal, in front of her. She then began to work her magic in hacking the ship's computer network.

The other four adults stood by, and watched Ed work.

Thirty seconds later, Ed stated, “I am somewhat disappointed in the security systems on this ship. I would think Scorpius would have better firewalls.”

Braca stated, “Scorpius has complained about network security in peacekeeper software for years. But, the software is fault tested, and it takes years to make stable updates which meet peacekeeper standards. I guess she is still working on upgrading such software.”

Bob commented, “The pitfalls of bureaucracy.”

Braca stated, in a slightly sarcastic tone of voice, “Don't even get me started.”

Ed looking over various ship schematics, records, and sensor reading.

A few seconds later, Ed stated, “I found the boys. They are in a lab not far from here. Though, I am getting some screwing readings from where our sons are at, and the surrounding sections of the ship.”

Braca questioned, “What type of readings?”

Ed stated, “Mostly power fluctuations in the electrical grid.”

Brace commented, “That is not normal. Still, it could be a number of things. Since there is not an evacuation order, which could extend to even this part of the ship, I would not worry.”

Ed replied, “Good.”

Bob said, “It is an alien spaceship. I not worried about strange readings. I am just glad we found our sons. And knowing them, they are probably working on that formula the Scorpius tricked them into solved.”

Ed agreed, “That is very likely. Also, records state they have only been here for a week.”

Bob commented, “They cannot get into that much trouble in a week.”

Ed responded, “I agree. I am now working on finding the reality protection field generators...”

After a few more keystrokes, and the computer informing Ed of something. Ed stated, “We got a problem, the reality field generator is on an independent power system, and works on a standalone computer. I cannot shut it down.”

John said, “They we will fall back to plan, B, and escape on the transport shuttle.”

Ed stated, “Exactly. Now, to do the rest of our plans. This will take a few minutes.” She then started typing commands, to turn off the power grid, and emergency power, except for life support, artificial gravity, atmospheric shielding, and lighting. She then entered the command into the computer network.

Suddenly, power went out, as emergency lighting kick in.

As Ed stood up, she said, “Now, we should be able to move more freely, with communications cut.”

John commented, “I guess I got to go see Scorpy. I always hoped I would never have to see her, again, in this lifetime.”

Bob stated, “We all got to do things we don't like.”

John agreed, “True.” He then carefully handed his pulse pistol, Winona, to Bob.

Bob put his revolver into his left hand, as he gripped the pulse pistol with his right hand.

John requested, “Don't lose her.”

Bob replied, “Don't worry. I won't.” He thought, 'I am surprised that John is actually doing Braca's plan for him. Not that I am going to get in the middle of that mess.'

Bob then holstered John's pulse pistol in his gunbelt holster, with his own revolver still in his hands. It was a tight fit, but Bob's holster held the pulse pistol in place.

Bob then changed hands to where he held his revolver with his right hand, and his trigger finger was resting against the trigger guard.

Violin turned to John, as she said, “Good luck.”

John replied, “Thanks.” He then turned, and walked out of the room, as he left to look for the Scorpius.

A few seconds later, Ed stated, “Now, let's go get our kids. They are this way.”

Ed was careful, as she began to lead the way, out of the room, and down different hallway than John had taken, with the other three adults following behind her.

(_)

A minute before the power outage.

Inside the gate lab, Lewis, Stan, Scorpius, and their research team continued to monitor the open gate system.

As Lewis stood by Stan and Scorpius, he looked at the monitor readout, at a nearby computer terminal, for a few seconds. He then turned to his brother, and teacher. He stated, “The readouts state that gate, at both ends, are still stable. With no problems for the past few hours. Also, the time dilation between to two points is stable. With fluctuations of only a second, or two, back and forth. The feedback drain working better than we could have hope. I think we did it.”

Scorpius looked over at the brothers, as she smiled at them. She turned back to the swirling gate, as she said, “You boys have done better than I had hoped. And in record time. Mark this day, because you have brother created history. You will be remember in annals of peacekeeper history.”

Stan stated, “Thank you for that.”

Suddenly, a peacekeeper officer came running passed the large open, sliding metal doors of the room.

When the officer reached Scorpius and the brothers, he immediately stopped, as he stood at attention.

Scorpius asked, in a calm tone of voice, “What is it?”

The officer stated, in Sebacean, “Grand Chancellor, Commander Meka needs you on the bridge, immediately. There has are intruders in the ship. Unfortunately, the energy drain system is effecting communications, which is why I was sent down here to inform you.”

Scorpius said, in Sebacean, “That is quite alright. Please, go inform, Commander Meka that I will be there in a minute.”

The officer replied, “Yes, Grand Chancellor.” He then turned, and ran out of the room.

Scorpius turned to the brothers, as she said, in english, “Duty calls.”

Lewis said, “Good luck.”

Just as Scorpius was about to turn around, the power went out, with emergency lighting immediately coming on.

Scorpius, Stan, and Lewis' eyes all went wide.

Stan and Lewis rushed to their personal computer terminals need the open gate, while Scorpius swiftly inquired, with concern in her tone of voice, “Is emergency power off, as well?”

Lewis cursed, with worry in his tone of voice, “Damn it. Yes. It is. And I don't know why. Fortunately, these computers are still working, because they are tied directly to the gate system, and pulled electricity from it, directly, with a power adapter.”

Stan stated, in a serious tone of voice, “Starting emergency gate shutdown procedures, right now.”

Scorpius complimented, “Good, thinking, young Stan. How long is it going to take to fully shutdown the gate?”

Stan answered, “As we informed you. The shutdown will take several minutes. Both sides of the gate have to be powered down at the same levels, at the same time. If they are not, they could create an unstable portal, when one gate closes, with the open gate becoming unstable, as the end of that gate shifts to another destination.”

Lewis mentioned, “Also, someone has to stay here to monitor the shutdown. There is real chance the feedback will build up to an explosion before the gate fully shuts down. In that case, the person has to send the signal to the other gate to be destroyed, and risk being sucked into an unstable vortex for the next few minutes, before the gate on this end fully closes.”

“Though, the person might be able to outrun the gravity vacuum, if the person can get out of the room, quick enough, before the gate fully becomes a gravity vacuum.”

Stan said, “Good idea. Still, the only three people that are qualified to do this, are the three of us. And you cannot do it, professor. So, it is one of us. I which case, I will do it.”

Lewis countered, “No, you won't. I will do it.”

Scorpius spoke up, “At touching as it is for you both to display how much you love each other. I suggest you decide very quickly.”

Stan asked, “Why?”

Scorpius stated, “Any second now, the large doors are going to close on their own. They are on a battery. If the power is out to long, they automatically seal themselves. This was in case an experiment got out of control, and the accidentally killed the power for the area. The doors were designed to close, to protect the rest of the ship from an explosion.”

Lewis stated, “I fully understand the logic behind it. Though, I am not happy about it.”

Stan said, in a sarcastic tone of voice, “Just great.” He looked over at their team, as he ordered, in a loud, serious tone of voice, “Everyone out! Drop what you are doing! And leave immediately for another section of the ship!”

As the team started to leave the room, the two large, thick, metal double doors started to close towards each other.

Lewis stated, “Professor, go do your job. We will handle things here.”

Scorpius said, “Good luck to the both of you.” She then turned, and calmly walked out of the room.

The brothers watched as their teacher left their sight, as she exited the lab, and turned down a hallway.

The brothers then looked at each other, as Stan offered, “Last chance to leave.”

Lewis replied, “We have gone this far together. I am not bailing on you, yet.”

Stan responded, “I appreciate that brother.”

Lewis then suggested, “Besides, if we needed to, we might be able to climb to those windows, that are thirty feet up from us.”

Stan looked at the theater windows, then back at Lewis, as he complimented, “Good idea. Though, I knew I forgot something in the project manifest.”

Lewis inquired, “That being?”

Stan answered, “A ladder.”

Both brothers laughed as the doors to their lab then shut completely together. Trapping them inside the lab with the powered prototype gate they were desperately trying to shutdown.

(_)

Five minutes later, John was walking the hallways, looking for someone to surrender too.

As John continued walking, he thought, 'No one around. Not a guard when you need one. Maybe I should just head up to Scorpy's office, by myself. I believe I remember where it is. Though, it has been a few years, since I have been to her personal office. And that is if it is in the same place, as Scorpy's old command carrier. Knowing her, for security reasons, I doubt she kept her new office in the same location on this ship.'

John then turned and walked down another hallway for another minute. Still, there was no one in sight.

John mentally wondered, 'This is getting ridiculous. I think Annie and I may have scared them off more than I thought. This reminds me when I used my reality device, a few years ago, to check out the Black Lagoon anime series.'

'Sure, I won't watch my series, because there is a real chance doing so will finally shatter what is left of my fragile sanity.'

'Still, the Black Lagoon series was an enjoyable series to watch. Also, I have to admit, even before the upgrades, those women were terrifying. Especially, the Bloodhound. She really did earn her, dreaded, status.'

'Though, I think that Annie and I, given our well earn reputations, have eclipsed her status of being the dreaded, when it comes to this situation. So, I might as well start heading for where I think Scorpy's office is. It is clear I am not going to find a guard to surrender to, because they know me too well.'

Just as John turned the next corner, whom he saw watching away from him, about twenty feet away, surprised him.

John stated, out loud, “You have got to be kidding me.”

The figure in dress black, except for her exposed, white haired head, stop walking, as she immediately recognized John's voice.

The woman turned around and did a double-take when she saw, John. She asked, in a confused tone of voice, “John?... What are doing here?”

John hesitantly replied, “Well... Long story about that. Anyway, you are looking good, Scorpy.”

Scorpius calmly said, “Thank you, John. Yet, I do not understand why you are here. I thought we had an understanding. I leave you, your family, and your friends, alone. And you leave me, and the Peacekeepers, alone.”

John responded, with sadness in his tone of voice, “I fully agree. It was a wonderful arrangement. If it helps, we turned down the brothers, when first they came to us. Unfortunately, I owed a favor to Darth Vader, herself. And she called in that marker. If it wasn't for that fact, you would have never seen me, again. And as much as I hate to admit it, Annie is one notch higher in the badass meter than you are.”

Scorpius admitted, “I have seen the Star Wars movies, and I must admit that you are correct, John. Though, you should be careful, John. Vader has been know for altering deals.”

John deflated, as he replied, “I know.” He then inquired, in a more hopeful tone of voice, “So, no hard feelings?”

Scorpius said, “None taken. I see that you are not here by choice. I will leave your family and friends alone. And I will try to not have you seriously harmed.”

John responded, “I appreciate that. Listen. We just want the boys. I will try to keep the damage to a minimum.”

Scorpius quipped, “That would be a first, John.”

Both adults laughed at the Sebacean's joke.

As the two of them calmed down, Scorpius stated, “Given your situation, John. I will allow you to take the first move. Good luck.”

Scorpius then turned and walked away from John. She continued calmly walking down the hallway, until she turned again, and was out of John's sight.

John thought, 'Damn, Scorpius has mellowed since her gender change... Just like Annie... I like it. Still, since I am clearly know going to be able to stall, Scorpy. I might as well head back to the shuttle bay, and join up with Annie. So, we can wait for the rest of the team to show up.'

John then turned, and headed back the way he came, as he retraced his steps. So, he could make his way to shuttle bay sixteen, without dealing with any seal doors. It soon became real easy, once he found the trail of doors that Violin had been tearing open, and he used those wholes to backtrack to the shuttle bay.

(_)

Elsewhere in the flagship, Bob, Ed, Violin, and Braca made it to the large closed metal doors that constituted the entrance to lab, where they believed the brothers were.

While they looked at the large doors, Violin asked, “Why are the doors shut?”

Braca winched, as he stated, “I forgot. When the power goes out, for security measures, labs like this have their doors automatically shut, via a battery powered system.”

Ed said, “This could pose a problem.”

Bob inquired, “Do you think the boys would stay in there? Or, leave for another part of the ship?”

Ed answered, “I don't see any why they would leave. They don't know we are here. Or, eve if they know there are intruders here. They do not know it is us.”

“So, they could just be hiding in there, because it is safe. Now, the question is. How do we get in... The answer... Violin.”

Violin stepped up to the large metal double doors. As she sized them up, she commented, “They are kind of big. And probably thick. I am not sure if I can open them.”

Bob commented, “It won't hurt to try.”

Violin responded, “Okay.”

Violin punched her fingers into one of the metal doors, creating holes in the doors that went up to the middle of her forearms. She then tried to pulled back, but the door would not budge.

Violin removed her hands from the doors. She rubbed her uninjured hands, as she stated, “It won't budge. It is too big, too heavy, and too thick, for me to move. I pushed just over a foot into the door and I didn't didn't reach the other side. And if I try to go any deeper, I will not be able to have any leverage with my arms.”

Violin turned to the group, as she suggested, “Braca, you said these doors are on a battery system. Can Ed here hack the doors open?”

Braca said, “No. While the mechanisms to doors are directly connected the batteries, and they trigger when the emergency power is cut off. The electronic controls to the doors are still on the main power grid, and not tied to the batteries. These types of doors are intentionally designed that way, just to prevent someone from shutdown the main power gird, and trying picking the electronic locks.”

“In other words, the main power grid has to be on to open the doors.”

Violin cursed, “Damn.”

Ed stated, “There had to be another way in. What about crawling through the ventilation system?”

Braca stated, “No good. Ventilation ducks going in and out of secure areas are intentionally made to be to small to crawl in, even for a child.”

Bob calmly requested, “Braca, you know this ship design better than anyone else here. Just take a moment and think if there is another way into this lab.”

Everyone stayed quiet for a few seconds, as Braca thought about a possible answer to their current problem.

Then, Braca's eyes went wide, as he smiled. He stated, “Yes. I believe there is. Labs like this had an upstairs theater room, with windows looking into the lab. And the sealed doors to that room are the same as the type of doors that Violin here has been opening with no problems.”

Ed politely said, “Then, please lead the way.”

Braca replied, “Follow me. It will not take long to reach the stairs to that theater room.”

Braca then started walking in a direction, down the hallway, towards a stairway, to the left side of the large metal doors, with Ed, Bob, and Violin following right behind him.

(_)

At that moment, inside the lab, Lewis and Stan were at their computer terminals, trying their best to shutdown the gate system, without causing a gate explosion.

As the brothers read the readouts, Stan cursed, “Damn it! The gates are not closing fast enough. The energy build up is too fast. While it will take the gates six minutes to close, we will have a gate explosion in five minutes.”

Lewis stated, “Looks like we are going to have to do the final fail-safe.”

Stan commented, “Yes. We will have to blow the other gate, and just ride out the unstable portal on this side. I just don't like blowing up our work. It is so cliché.”

Lewis agreed, “No arguments there. But, as least we have time to get ready, before we destabilize the portal on this side.”

Stan replied, “True. We need to look around and find someway to tie ourselves down. Look around for something we can use as anchor points, and to tie us too.”

The brothers quickly looked around.

Lewis stated, “We got plenty of extension cables we can use for rope.”

Stan used his right hand to point to the wall, which was only ten feet from their computer terminals, and twenty feet from the right side of the gate. He said “And there are metal handholds bolted to that wall, which we can use as an anchor points.”

There were for metal handholds side by side, in wide, three foot spans. The handholds were veritably attached to the wall. With the handholds being, u, shaped, with curved bars being one inch thick, with both ends being bolted to the wall. And the outer rims of the handholds were big enough for human adults to fully grip. Though, not big enough to stick their forearms into.

Also, each side of where the metal handholds were attached to the wall were bolted twice. With four bolts in all, for each metal handhold.

Lewis commented, “I suggest we use two of the handholds each. And we tie ourselves to the middle of the cables we use, around our waists. Then, we double knot and tie each end of the cable we have to both the handholds we are using. Also, leave enough slack, so we can hold on to the cables, and the cables will not bite into our waists.”

Stan replied, “Good idea. I will be the one to push the button to send the destruct signal to the other gate. But, we need to hurry. We got four minutes, with change.”

Both brothers rush over to some electronics that were not in use and unplugs some long power cables. They then dragged those cables over to the handholds by the wall.

As they tied the middle of the cables around their waists, Lewis stated, “I did some calculations in my head. Given how close we are to the gate, that gate gravitation pull of that gate from the distance is going to be around two times as much as Earth's gravity.”

“But, the good news is that the area of gravity pull will dropped off quickly. Right outside the doors and walls, will likely be equal to one and a half times Earth's gravity. Though, several feet from the other side of the wall outside, gravity will dropped off to normal levels.”

Stan stated, “I never was able bench press twice my own weight, on Earth standard gravity. Let along maintain that much weight for a number of minutes. Though, I have come close a few time.”

Lewis commented, “Neither, have I. Though, I am as strong as you. But, I guess there is a first time for everything.”

Stan stated, “A few pulled muscles I can live with.”

Lewis said, “Same here. Let's do this.”

Stan replied, “Agreed.”

As the brothers tied the first knots on one end of their cables to the dual pair of handholds, that each of them were using, with each of them using two of the four handholds by the wall, Lewis commented, “But, being this close the event horizon, we are going to be in for a wild ride for the next few minutes.”

Stan tied the other end of his cable, to his second handhold, as he winched. He requested, “Please. Do not compare the gate are standing by to a black hole.”

While Lewis tied the other end of the cable to the second handhold he was using, he said, “Sorry. It just slipped out that way.”

Stan commented, “Don't worry about it. Anyway, I did some figures, myself. I believe we will have about thirty seconds after the blast, before the gate on this side fully destabilizes. Still, I am going to have get to the terminal, give the signal, and run back here. Be ready to grab hold of me, if I cannot knot the other end of this cable in time.”

Lewis replied, “Not to worry. If that happens, I got you. Now, let's start this rodeo.”

Stan nodded, and went to his computer terminal. As he looked at the readouts, he stated, “The good news is we got two minutes, and change, until a gate explosion. Okay, sending self-destruct signal to the other gate in. Three. Two. One.” He then pressed the enter key. Next, he quickly ran back to the handholds, as he tied up the other end of his cable to the handholds, with him being tied down to the right of his brother, when facing the wall, his brother and himself, were bound too.

Stan finished just in time, as both brothers watched as lightning starting to arcing out around the sides of the circular gate, from both ends, as the gravitation pull of the gate began to increase. Still, the gate itself remained intact.

Within thirty seconds, the gravitation pulled was equal to two times Earth's gravity, but the forces the gravity sudden stopped at that intensity.

The pull of the gate soon swept the brothers off their feet, leaving them hanging in the air, towards the vortex in the center of the gate.

Small items, that were not very heavy, started to be sucked into the gate.

The brothers each gripped an end of the two cables they were using, to prevent the cables from biting into their waists.

They also worked through the muscle and joint strain of suddenly becoming two times heavier.

Lewis winched, as he stated, “This is going to be a long few minutes.”

Stan grunted. He then suggested, “Just clear you mind, and work through the pain.”

Lewis replied, “I am trying.”

Stan said, “If that doesn't help. Think of happy thoughts. Like that dark blue haired girl in Tokyo.”

Lewis inquired, “I thought you didn't like, Violin.”

Stan replied, “Oh, I admit that Violin is attractive. Just... There was something was... Off about her.”

Lewis responded, “Now, that I think about it, I will concede that point to you. Still, I wonder what her Tokyo was like, when her parents were around her age?”

Stan agreed, “Good question.”

(_)

At that moment, on the command deck, emergency power was manual restarted, and the computer systems are already rebooting, with the computer terminals, and sensors, being the first things to come online.

The same female officer as before turned Meka, as she stated, “Commander, we have a gravity well warning in one of the labs. It is two gravities above standard.”

Meka rolled her eyes, as she inquired, “Is it the one where the humans are conducting their experiments?”

The officer replied, “Yes, Commander.”

Meka questioned, “And the doors to the lab are already sealed.”

The officer stated, “Affirmative.”

Meka ordered, “As soon as communications are back online, order an evacuation of that section of the ship. Also, prepare for evacuation of the ship itself, if the gravity well increases in strength. We will not have another starburst incident.”

Just then, Scorpius walk into the room, she had overheard Meka's orders, as she stated, “Cancel those evacuation orders. The situation is being handle.”

As their Grand Chancellor entered the commander deck, all the Peacekeepers immediately stood at attention, as they face her.

Scorpius came to a stop, a few feet from Meka. She ordered, “At ease. And continue with their duties.”

Everyone then relaxed, as they went back to their duties.

Scorpius turned to Meka. She saw Meka looked back at her. Scorpius explained, “The brothers are implementing a fail-safe on their gate system, which is temporally creating an artificial gravity pull counter to the ship's artificial gravity pull. The gate will likely close on its own within a matter of few hundred micros, with the gravity then normalizing, as before.”

Meka replied, “That is a relief to know.”

Scorpius said, “Yes. It is. Now, we have much to do. And little time to do it in. Status report. What is offline.”

Meka answered, “As of this moment, main power, weapons, communications, security functions, and most of the data network. Also, the intruders behind this are...”

Scorpius interrupted her, “Yes. I would guess they are Bob and Ed Lowe, the brothers' parents. I already met John Crichton on the way here. By the way, he is not here by choice. Annie is putting him up to it. And since that is the case, Annie is likely present as well.”

Meka stated, “Yes. Though, we are not sure where all the intruders are. We do know that Annie is here. And she is guarding the transport they came in. Also, there is a young, blue haired woman here with super-strength whom has the ability to ripped the seal doors out of the walls.”

Scorpius commented, “That would likely be, Violin. Anyone else?”

Meka cracked a grin, as she answered, “Yes. Braca has returned, and he is with them.”

Scorpius smirked, as she inquired, “So, it is today. I have looked forward to this. Anyway, what has your response to the intruders?”

Meka responded, “I have ordered that they are to be avoided, and left alone. There is no point in wasting lives of our crew in a no win situation.”

Scorpius said, “A wise assertion of the situation. Have their been any casualties?”

Meka gave Scorpius a genuine smile, as she stated, “There have been none, Grand Chancellor. When personnel first saw them, they ran and locked the doors behind them.”

Scorpius complimented, “Good. I see I left the care of this ship and crew in good hands. Carry on with your plans.”

Meka replied, “Thank you, sir.”

(_)

A few seconds later, right outside the upstairs theater, to the lab the Lowe brothers were using, Violin ripped open the seal doors.

As Bob, Ed, Braca, and Violin walk into the theater room, they noticed they suddenly got slightly heavier in the room.

Violin inquired, “No fat jokes intended. But, in all sincerity, does anyone feel heavily in here. If with my super-strength, I noticed it.”

Bob commended, “I do, as well. It is notable. But, not painful, yet.”

Ed said, “Same here.”

Braca stated the obvious, “There there must be a problem in the lab.”

They all rushed over to the windows looking down at the lab. Each window was three feet, by three feet, paned windows, which were made of some type of clear plastic.

As they looked down, they saw that the gate was sucking everything not bolted down to the floor, or walls, in the lab. With the brothers having tied themselves to the wall, while they held on the cables holding them for dear life, as their bodies hung in midair.

Ed quietly said, “Oh no, they built a gate... And it has destabilize... I did this when I shutdown the ship.”

Bob said, in a comforting tone of voice, “Ed, you could not have known this would happen. Still, we have to get them out of there.”

Violin suggested, “Since we have no rope. We will just have to do the quick and dirty method. I could break one of the windows. Fall down beside them. Then, use my super-strength to pick both of them up, and then jump back up here.

Braca stated, “That would not work. The the gravitational pull will suck you into the gate, as you fall down. And even if you made it to the floor, there is too great a risk of you slipping, and being sucked into the gate.”

Violin frowned, as she conceded, “You're right.”

Braca commented, “Though, he you try to create handholds, on the wall, as you slowly make your way down, or up when you get the brothers. But, this will take time. And since there is no want to anchor you, there is a real chance you could slip, and be sucked that way. And still, you would have to rescue one brother at a time. Because, by the time you down to them, they wold be to tired to hold on to you.”

Violin continued to frown, as she stated, “That also sounds too risky”

Bob begged, “There must be something we can do.”

Violin replied, “If you got an ideas, Bob. I am more than happy to listen to them.”

Bob had no idea in this case, and instead he remained silent.

(_)

At the moment, in the lab below the four adults, the Lowe brothers were doing their best to hang on for their dear lives.

The gate continued to spit out lightning, as the gate crackled with energy.

The brothers firmly held onto the cables that tied them to the wall. They stood had enough strength to hold on, with their bodies currently being two times their weight, compared to the level of gravity on Earth.

With the brothers' feet danging in the air, Lewis commented, “Stan, if it makes you feel better, I have our reality device with us, in my pants pocket.”

Stan replied, “That is nice to know. Not, that it is going to do us any good.”

Lewis responded, “True. But, I think we only got another few minutes of this.”

Stan stated, “That is what I figure, as well. We just go to hold on.”

Lewis said, “No problems there.”

Suddenly, the brothers started hearing creaking sounds coming for the wall behind them.

They looked to see that the bolts holding the handholds they were tied to were start to crack.

Stan commented, “You know. I admire the professor for buying only quality products. Like this cable holding us in place. But, I have a distinct feeling this ship was built by the lowest bidder.”

Lewis replied, “Some things are a constant, no matter what reality.”

Stan agreed, “That is so true.”

Within a few seconds, one of handholds anchoring Lewis broke, leaving only the other handhold anchoring him.

Lewis stated, “I am a goner any second.”

Stan demanded, “Grab my cable!”

Lewis responded, “No. These handholds can barely support one of us. Let along two.”

A second later, the other handhold gave way, causing Lewis to start to fall towards the gate.

Lewis suddenly felt himself stop.

Lewis looked up to see that Stan had let go of his cable with his left hand, and caught Lewis' cable.

Stan strained at the extra weight he now held on to, plus his own weight. But, he held firm, as he looked at his brother. He stated, “You go. I go. Now, get up here, before I lose my grip!”

Lewis immediately started to climb up his cable. Within seconds he reached Stan. With his right hand, he grabbed Stan's cable, and with his left hand, he grabbed Stan's left wrist.

Stan let go of Lewis' cable, with some mild relief. He then change his grip, on his left hand, to grab Lewis' left wrist as well.

A couple of seconds later, both them heard a familiar creak.

They looked up just in time to see one of the two handholds still anchoring them both, break, leaving only one last handhold holding them. And the last handhold was beginning to creak, as well.

Lewis stated, “For what its worth. I would done it all over again.”

Stan replied, “Same here. Try to hold on to me!”

Lewis responded, “I will!”

A second later, the last handhold broke, causing them to fall into towards the gate, as the portal pulled them in with its gravity.

As they got closer to the gate, they turned, to where both of them were facing each other, as they tightly gripped each other.

A second later, they entered the lightning eruption vortex, in the center of the gate.

While they were being pulled through the multicolored vortex, both brothers could see each other, as they tried to hold on together, but the tidal forces within were to great. At first they slipped out of each others grasp, which they quickly grabbed the others cable, only to be forced to let go of the cables, as they were pulled further apart.

A split second later, they lost sight of each other, as they fell through the energy tunnel.

(_)

From the theater room above, Ed, Bob, Violin, and Braca watched Lewis and Stan be sucked into the vortex of the gate.

The group just stared down at the gate for several seconds, before long they saw the gate shrink to a pinprick, and then close completely. As the gate closed, gravity slowly decreased as the gate closed, until it returned completely to normal.

Ed softly said, “My children...”

Bob quiet stated, “No. No. No. This is not happening...”

Violin look over to see the shell shocked expressions on Ed and Bob's faces. She thought, 'They could crack any second. This is the last place we want that to happen. I got to say something to them... Wait minute...'

Violin stated, “Ed, Bob, you boys are fine, and still alive. I know where they are at. Remember what Akira and Futaba told us. I am sure the boys have yet to run across my reality, in the past, at that time. That means they will eventually get there.”

“And Akira and Futaba both said the brothers acted fine, when they were there. So, relax. This is a failed, screwed up rescue... Which is pretty much par for course when John is involved, but there is still a good chance we can find your boys alive, and well.”

The Lowe parents looked up at Violin, as they thought over at what she said. Both of them cracked a small smile.

Ed said, “Thank you for the reminder Violin.”

Violin replied, “You're welcome.”

Bob stated, “Let's get out of here, and see if we can find out exactly when and where they are, then bring them home.”

Braca stated, “I know the quickest way back to Shuttle Bay Sixteen.”

Braca swiftly turned and walked out of the room, as he lead the way. With the other three adults quickly following him out of the room.

(_)

Ten minutes, and a few ripped out doors, later, the four adults made it back to shuttle bay sixteen.

While they approached the shuttled, they saw both Annie, and John were standing next to each other, as they were looking back at them. They saw that Annie had her lightsaber deactivated, and though, she still held her lightsaber in her right hand.

When the four adults came to a stop in front for Annie and John, Annie asked, “Where are the boys?”

Ed admitted, in a disappointing tone of voice, “We screwed up. We will explain, later.”

Annie replied, “I am sure it will be interesting explanation.”

John commented, “Well, I got some good news. Scorpy is not pissed off about all this.”

Annie stated, “With us two here, her ship is still in one piece, and her crew are not dead. She is probably counting her blessings.”

John replied, “That is very likely.”

Bob stated, “Everyone, as fun as it is to talk about this. We need to get out of here, right now. We can talk, after we escape.”

Annie commented, “Well, we got a problem with that.” She used her deactivated lightsaber, in right hand, to point at the large, metal bay doors to outside the ship, which were currently closed.

As the group look over at the closed bay doors, Bob inquired, in a slightly humorous tone of voice, “If I asked you why you don't use the force to open it, would you have a good answer?”

Annie could not help but crack a grin, as she said, in a humorous tone of voice, “Yes. But, I think it would make you feel better to know your boys asked me that same question, in this same situation.”

Bob agreed, “That is nice.”

Suddenly, emergency lighting switched to normal lighting.

Braca turned to the group, as he stated, “This is not good. With normal power has been restored, it is safe to say that the weapons systems are back online, as well.”

John asked, in a sober tone of voice, “So, who is going to stay behind, to open those doors? And try to take down the weapons systems down, again?”

Braca holstered his pulse pistol, as he stated, “I have to stay. I know a few more command codes that will open the bay doors and temporally shutdown the defense systems, including the defense screens and weapons, for a few minutes.”

John looked over at Braca, as he stated, in a polite tone of voice, “Well, Braca. After everything you have done for us, you have proven yourself a far better person than I thought you were. Good luck.” He then extend his right hand.

Braca shook John's right hand, with his own right hand. Both had a firm grip on the others hand, as Braca said, “You to, John. After my time with humanity, on Earth, I see now why Scorpius has developed a fondness for humanity. Because, so have I.”

As they broke their handshake, John replied, “I am glad to hear it. After all this, you are welcome on Moya, any time you want.”

Braca said, “I will remember that. And thank you.”

Bob commented, “I will not forget you help today, Braca.”

Ed said, “Thank you for helping my kids. And helping us. We owe you much.”

Annie remarked, “I want you to know, Braca, for your help, you are in my top five favorite bounty hunters list.”

Bob stated, “Trust me. Coming from her, that is high compliment.”

Braca lightly chuckled.

Violin step towards Braca, and leaned up to whisper in his right ear.

As second later, Violin took a few steps back from Braca, while she smiled.

Braca looked at Violin, with a mild amused expression on his face. He inquired, “You would do that with me?”

Violin continued to smile, as she said, “After today. Yes.”

Braca returned Violin's smile, as he commented, “I should be a hero more often.”

John grinned, as he said, “Yea. It does have its perks.”

Brace look at over at the group, as he stated, “Well, I hope to see you, later.”

Braca then turned around, and started running towards door to the hallway, that lead to the nearby computer terminal, which Ed had originally hacked, when they had first arrived on the flagship.

As they lost sight of Braca, Bob turned to John, while he said, “Oh yea, John. Here.”

Bob swapped holding his revolver to hold it in his left hand. He then used his right hand to pull out John's pulse pistol, from his holster, and hand the pulse pistol to John.

As John gently grabbed his pulse pistol, and holstered it, he said, “Thank you.”

Bob swapped his revolver back into his right hand, as holstered his pistol. He replied, “No problem.”

Annie clipped her deactivated lightsaber to the right side of her belt, as turned around, and walking up steps of the hatch, and into the transport shuttle.

When Annie reached the entrance to the ship, she turned back to the others, as she stated, “Come on guys. The ship is leaving now.” She then ducked inside the ship.

Ed said, “It is best not to keep that woman waiting.”

John commented, “You don't have to say that again.”

Violin stated, “I call shotgun.” She the briskly walked up the steps, at a normal pace.

Bob said, “Let's get in there, before that young woman does something foolish.”

Ed cracked a grin, as she stated, “Good idea.”

Ed, John, and Bob, then followed Annie and Violin into the ship.

Bob was last inside. When he cleared the hatch, and he was fully inside the ship, he press a button on a panel, on the interior wall, to his right side, by the entrance to the ship.

Over the course of the next few seconds, the hatch the lowed upwards, and sealed the ship.

With all of them inside, Annie turned to the group, as she stated, “John. You are co-pilot. You know this technology, and your skilled pilot in your own right.”

Violin did not complain, as she volunteered, “I will see in a third row seat, and the married couple can sit together in the second row.”

Ed and Bob turned to Violin, as Ed said, “Thank you, Violin.”

Bob stated, “We appreciate that, Violin.”

Less than half a minute later, the group were in their seats.

Annie and John were up front, in the cockpit, with Annie on the left side, and John on the right side. Ed and Bob in the second row, with Ed behind Annie, and Bob behind John. With Violin in the third row, behind Bob.

Annie had already powered up the engine to the transport, got the ship to hover in the air, and she turned the ship around to face the shuttle bay doors.

John turned to Annie, as he joked, “You know, if those doors don't open, this is going to be a real short trip.”

Annie rolled her eyes for a few seconds, as she used her left hand to reach across the aisle, and lightly backhand the front John's right shoulder.

A few second laters, both Annie and John looked out the front window of the ship to see that the shuttle bay doors start to open.

Annie smiled, as she complimented, “Looks like Braca did it. Now, let us hope we don't run into any prowlers on our way out.”

As the doors opened wide enough transport to fit through, Annie gunned the engines, and quickly flew the transport out into space.

Annie stated, “I don't sense any immediate danger, so let's just get out of here. I will let you know when the force tells me that we can use one of our reality devices to teleport out of here.”

Ed pulled out her reality device, as she stated, “Thank you, Annie. I will do the jump for us. Though, it is unfortunate that Braca had to stay behind, so we could escape. I hope he is not tortured, nor killed.”

John commended, “I won't worry too much about, Braca. Scorpius will not immediately kill him. Nor, will she torture him, unless he decides to be a jerk. So, he has time to figure a way to survive. And when comes to survival, Braca could have not have had a better teacher than he already had. And that teacher was Scorpius herself. There is no need to rescue him. I am sure he will figure something out on his own.”

Ed said, “That is nice to know.”

A few seconds later, Annie turned to the group, as she stated, “Okay. The force it telling me that we can reality jump.”

The group stood up, as they got closer together.

Ed stated, “I am taking up back to our home on Mars, to get some rest, and work on the next part of our plan on rescuing the boys.”

Annie said, “We looked forward to some rest.”

John agreed, “So, do I.”

Violin stated, “I could go on for a few more hours.” She said Annie frown at her. She continued, “Though, I could use some sleep.”

Bob commented, “It will be nice to sleep in my bed, tonight.”

Ed replied, “You and me both, honey.”

A second later, Ed thought of where and when she wanted to take them. The place was home for the night, after the boys left, an hour after they returned their spaceship to its hanger in the spaceport.

Ed then pressed the red button on her device, and all five adults disappeared, as the jumped to another reality, leaving an empty transport ship behind, to drift in space.

(_)

Meanwhile, at that exact moment, on the Peacekeeper Flagship Command Carrier, in a security room, near shuttle bay sixteen, Braca look up from his terminal, as he heard footsteps coming nearer.

Braca held up his hands, as he thought, 'Looks like I am about to meet my old teacher, soon enough.'

A second later, a security team burst into the room. All the guards were in full black armor, and domed helmets.

As they pointed their stun weapons at Braca, the retired captain mentally noted, 'Those are stun weapons. It looks like they want to take me in alive. Well, I am more than happy to oblige.'

The lead guard stated, “Surrender, or die.”

Braca swiftly responded, “I surrender. Please, escort me to Grand Chancellor Scorpius. I am sure she wants to see me, as much as I want to see her.” He sarcastically mentally added, 'It is always fun meeting the ex... Oh frell, I have been around John too long.'

(_)

Ten minutes later, Braca was lead by two female guards, in black armored suits, and black domed helmets, into Scorpius' office.

His wrists cuffed behind his back, as he left inside the office, by the two guard, with the door sliding closed behind them.

As they came to a stop, ten feet from Scorpius' desk, the two guards were flanking Braca, to his right and left sides.

Braca looked in front of him, to see that Scorpius was standing in front of her desk, looking at her former second in command, with a puzzled expression on her face.

Scorpius casually commented, “Hello Braca.”

Braca calmly replied, “Hello Grand Chancellor Scorpius.”

Scorpius complimented, “Braca, you are always the professional. No matter the situation. I always respected you for that. And to be honest, when I was a hybrid, with a temper, I envied your emotional self-control. I wish the things that are about to happen to you could be done in a much more dignified manner. But unfortunately, that will not be the case.”

Braca flatly said, “After crossing you, I knew full well that I would be killed if I was captured. And I am prepared to die.”

Scorpius cracked a smile, as she responded, “You are not going to die, today. Still, I have to ask. Since you know me, so well. Why did you betray me?”

Braca stated, “You were my teacher. I admired the strength you had in your convictions. How could you expect anything less from me?”

Scorpius said, in a calm tone of voice, “And that is the final lesson, my student. You have gained my full respect. Still, I have plans for you. It will likely surprise you to know, but I already knew the events of today, long before they happened. But, we will get to that in a few moments.”

“I must say, when you resigned your commission, over nine cycles ago, I knew it would be difficult to find an assistant as skilled as you had showed to be me. But, as luck would have, an assistant, just as skill as you, appeared out of nowhere.”

Suddenly, Braca heard the door open and close behind him.

As he heard foot steps approach them. But, he did not dare take his eyes off of Scorpius.

Scorpius greeted, “Ah Commander Meka. Right on schedule.”

From behind him, Braca here a feminine voice say, “You said it yourself, Grand Chancellor. You admire punctuality. And as per your orders, the transport ship with, the intruders on board, was allowed to escape. As soon as, sensors showed the intruders had left for another reality, I sent a retrieval squad to reclaim the ship.”

Scorpius replied, “Thank you, Commander. If I killed the brothers' parents, I would never be able to get them to cooperate with myself.”

She turned back to face Brace, as she said, “Now, retired Captain Braca, let me introduce you to your replacement. Commander Meka.”

Meka then walked around to stand right beside Scorpius.

When Braca got a good looked at Commander Meka, his jaw dropped in surprise.

In height, Meka was only slightly shorter than Braca. She was also several years younger than he was. And she was quite beautiful. Her hair was cut short in the style of many female, peacekeeper officer. She wore a well fitted peacekeeper officer's uniform, that did nothing to hide her slender, yet athletic curves.

But, those were not the attributes about Meka that surprised him.

For Meka had black hair, and fair skin. And her face, and eyes, were still very familiar to Braca.

As Braca mentally collected himself, he thought, 'Meka liked like she could be my young sister. Which could only mean... Oh no...'

As Scorpius and Meka saw realization dawn in Braca's eyes, Meka smirked. Meka said, “It is nice to see the old me, again.”

Scorpius grinned wickedly, as she commented, “Isn't time travel a wonderful thing.”

Braca asked, “How? And how much of the future did you know?”

Scorpius stated, “To be honest. Not much. I did not even find out about the Lowe brothers, nor the hyperspace gate technology, from your future counterpart. And this was intentional on my part. I believe that one should not know too much of one's future. I did not wish to create a paradox. So, I did not send any informative messages to myself, in the past. All I sent back was you. After you were processed, and your loyalty to myself was restored.”

“I must say, I received a good laugh, when Meka here, or should I say, the you that you are about to be, first appeared right here, in front of me, while I was sitting at my desk, nine cycles ago. And she came to me only one solar day after you had resigned your commission. Meka explained who she was. She also had a brief record message from me in the future. Afterward, I make reinstated you as, Meka, and promoted you to Commander. And you were again, my second in command. And it has been a wonderful arrangement for us. Hasn't it, Meka?”

Meka continued smirking, as she replied, “Yes, it has. With occasionally benefits in the bed as well. I must say. The Grand Chancellor is a genius in all forms.”

Scorpius continued, “True. Though, we try not to make a habit of that. Now Braca, I did know about the events of today. And I do know a little more about the future. But, not much. I am sure you will be happy to hear that I can confirm that the Lowe brothers are still alive and well. Though, I have no clue where and when they are in the multiverse.”

Braca commented, “Yes. That is comforting to know. Still, that is likely the only comforting part to come out of this situation.”

Meka said, “Actually, you have much to look forward to. Starting with some wonderful rest. That month asleep was quite peaceful. And this body is so enjoyable.”

Braca turned to Scorpius, as he questioned, “Was I always this annoying with my prisoners?”

Scorpius replied, “You had your moments.”

Meka commented, “I cannot be angry at myself. It is just not right.”

Braca sarcastically thought, 'Great. And I thought John lead an interesting life. I wonder if he had days like this... Knowing him, that is likely... Still, Scorpius knew everything about my actions, long before I decided to take them. There is nothing left to do, but make the best of the situation.'

Braca complimented, “I must say, Scorpius. You played me. You played me, well. Even John Crichton could not have have imagined on outcome like this. Does your magnificence know any bounds?”

Scorpius replied, “Apparently not. Anyway, you know what the vat process is. You know what is going to happen to you.”

Braca turned to looked at Meka, as he replied, “I am looking at the results right now. Meka, are you just a puppet? Or, do you have any free will left?”

Meka responded, with a bit of annoyance in her voiced, “I have plenty of free will. Scorpius... I mean the Grand Chancellor, would not let me be second in command, if I did not have the free will to sometimes question her actions. And I have, on a few occasions.”

Scorpius spoke up, “That she has. On two occasions, it became a screaming match, due to how to reallocate resources, with millions of people's lives on the line. And given the stakes of those situations, I admired Meka's stubbornness on such matter. On one of those occasions, I even relented, and did as Meka suggested. And both of those incidents worked out for the better for everyone.”

Braca inquired, “So, what are you going to program my mind with?”

Scorpius answered, “Don't worry, Braca. I am not to brainwash you too much. Just basic loyalty, along with mental comfort in your new gender, and being more flexible with relationships... Well more so than you already are. And while you will be loyal, you will not be some, yes woman. You will still have you opinions, and you will still have the desire to voice them when the situation calls for it.”

“Also, I have found that super-soldier formula also works just as well on Sebacean as it does on humans. As I learned first. You will be stronger, faster, have more stamina, and be a little more physically tougher. Also, you will be a few years younger, and maintain your youth for a very, very long time. And finally, you can look forward to a promotion to commander when you get out of the vat process. You have so much to look forward to.”

Meka said, “Though, from your point of view, I know you will feel little comfort from my words, right now. But, I am quite happy, and pleased with my life as presently is.”

Braca replied, “You are correct.”

Meka responded, “Well, since I am the you that will be, we both know that you will eventually change you mind, and accept you situation, because I already have.”

Braca inquired, “I have one question. Scorpius, how big is your vat processing center? I hope you learned from Chang's mistakes.”

Scorpius answered, “Do not worry. I only keep about a dozen vats on this ship. And I rarely use them. And on those times I do, they are only used in special cases. Most of whom are volunteers which exceptional service to the Peacekeeper cause, whom have been wounds in the line of duty, and are willing to accepted the gender trade offs for the added physical benefits, which allow them to continue their duty as peacekeepers.”

Braca asked, “And what about the women?”

Scorpius responded, “I was able tweak the first formula, the gender change formula, to where it will not effect the gender of women, but its regeneration proprieties will work on women, as well. Though, my scientist are still trying to figure out why the second formula, the super-soldier serum is deadly to men. But, those are only minor drawbacks.”

Meka said, “As you can see, the Grand Chancellor, understands the concept of taking all things in moderation. Actually, the two guards here have been processed. So, we do not need to worry about our secrets getting out.”

Scorpius said, “See you in a month, Braca. Or, should I saw, Meka. After we make sure you are healthy, and loyal, we will send you back into the past, to resume your duty, as my student. And friend.” She turned to the females guards, “Guards. Take Braca to the vat processing room, so he can be immediately process, with the programs I have already sent to the technicians and doctors in that section of the ship. And remind the personnel there to keep me apprised daily on Braca's health and progress.”

Braca did not fight, as he turned around, with the guards escorting him out of the room.

After the door slid closed, Scorpius turned to Meka, “Commander, this afternoon, I would like for you to reinstate the bounty on the brothers. Make sure to contact, Cad Bane, and the others on the list we are preparing, for the freelancers we plan to retain for future work.”

Meka responded, “I will start on it as soon as I am finished here.”

Scorpius then invited her, “Good. Also, this is not an order. But, would you care for dinner, and some fun, tonight?”

Meka smiled at Scorpius, as she replied, “Sure. I look forward to such fun with you.”

Scorpius turned Meka's smile, as she said, “Yes. Such fun is always entertaining, with you.”

Meka responded, “Thank you, my friend.”

To be continued.

(_)

Author's Notes:

In this chapter. I wanted to do a few present a few things, that I had not yet had a chance to do in my anthology of insanity.

I got to write about a western reality, during the old west. And if you noticed the cameos, you can see how connected this western reality is. Especially, given who those cameos know. It is a very large epileptic tree.

And while the Lowe brothers do not know a number of series. They know that some fictional realities are real. And they are genre savvy enough do know the difference between a John Wayne style western, and a more gritty, and dangerous, Clint Eastwood style western. And they act accordingly.

I enjoyed how I present the Midnight Bounty Hunter, and how he taught Stan and Lewis a few lessons on gun safety, on how to use firearms, and hand to hand combat. It is not much, but the brother are better off than they were.

Gun safety is no joke. If you want to learn how to use a firearm. First, learn about gun safety, and how to properly, and safely, use a firearm.

And I liked the reveal on who the Midnight Bounty Hunter, and Meka are.

I must say, Braca is a surprisingly versatile, and interesting character to work on.

And after watching the Farscape series, and the Peacekeeper mini-series, a few times. I came to a feel that Braca, and Scorpius had a very unique friendship. It was more than just a subordinate to his officer. But, it was not deeply intimate. I felt more like a relationship between a student and a teacher. And I played along with the vibe, with much of the scenes, on how Braca felt about Scorpius, and his conversations with Scorpius at the end of this chapter.

In addition, I got the opportunity in this chapter to show what would happen, in a situation, where a badass team breaks into a spaceship with a competent crew aboard the ship.

The crew immediately recognized some of the members of the bad as team were. And instead of foolishly fighting, they fled, with them locking several doors behind them.

With the leaders of the ship ordering a hands off approach to the intruders.

And in true Farscape fashion, this intrusion turns into the most screwed up rescue mission possible. With the would-be rescuers being the cause brothers becoming lost in multiverse.

And the Ed and Bob's team even lampshade this, as they are heading in their shuttle, to Scorpius' flagship. With John refusing to be the one to come up with the rescue plan, because of how often his plans cause unintended, mass destruction.

Though, after Lewis and Stan disappear, Violin does point out to Ed and Bob that the brothers are not completely lost, and they are fine.

And from the hints I already gave, early in the story, you likely already know where, when, and what reality, the brothers ended up.

Until next time. Have fun.