Chapter Five: Reliving the Nightmare
Jack blinked furiously, her head screaming with the mother of all headaches. Squinting painfully, her eyes came to rest on the foggy interior of her cryo-tube. Reaching out weakly, she wiped a clear swath and strained to see what had awakened her.

In the aisle of the cryo-cabin, all hell seemed to be breaking loose. Pressure jets of air shooting in all directions from release valves, emergency lights whirling up top. And the high pitch whine of the emergency system tearing through her brain.
" Fuck no" whispered Jack, refusing to believe what she was seeing. "Please not again."

Reaching up, she pulled on the release lever and fell to the floor when the tube spat her out. Getting shakily to her feet, she noticed the tube she had used to lever herself to her feet was empty.

Where'd he go? she thought.

Not realizing that a man she had known for a brief time had asked himself the very same thing about five years ago. Grabbing a spare flight suit, Jack stumbled out into the hall and made her way to the cockpit while fumbling on the suit. Over the sirens she could hear the voices of Wolff and Keller, and it sounded as if they were fighting about something. Entering the cockpit, she took in the sight of Wolff and Keller standing nose to nose staring each other down.

" What the fuck is going on?!" she shouted, holding one palm to her temple.

" Jim? You okay?" asked Sheela, who had come to stand behind Jack, staring bewilderingly at Wolff.

Blinking once, Wolff turned to regard her and smiled jovially at her.

" No problem, babe."he said. " Just a little difference of opinion."

" Can somebody shut that fucking thing off?" asked Copper as he stumbled into the room clutching his head.

Jack joined Copper in a sigh of relief as the strident noise ceased. Then flinched again as the booming voice of Fuller came from the doorway.

" Is there room for one more, or is this little party by invitation only?"

After getting everybody settled down, Wolff and Keller explained what had happened. Keller had been automatically roused by the ship computer because of his status as team commander. It seemed as if an unauthorized course change had been enacted and he was summoned to investigate. He found Wolff at the helm and it was he who had overridden the original course setting. Then Wolff stepped in and said that he had tried to change their course and the ship 'his' ship began to resist setting off alarms and rousing Keller.

" But why change course, man? You not thinking of a little sabotage, now, are ya?" asked Reid who had come to lean against the wall next to Jack. Combining his suspicious gaze with those of the rest of his team, except for Jack who only looked confused.

Ignoring him, Wolff swung his gaze to Jack locking eyes with her.

" Think, Jack what do you suppose I was trying to do?"

After a couple of seconds of staring at him with a confused frown, Jack's face went lax with a horrified realization of what he was implying.

" Are we still in the path?" she blurted out, as she rushed to the navigational console and started bringing up the starcharts and system maps.

" What path?!" shouted Keller, exasperated at Jack's peculiar behavior.

" There!"called Jack, directing visual feed to the larger screen of what she'd found.

" That path, deadglow."muttered Wolff, with a slight smirk.

Everyone gaped as the screen depicted their original course, which had them headed straight into the biggest asteroid belt most of them have ever seen. The belt ran around one whole side of planet T2, which was their destination and they all turned to stare at Wolff, then Jack too, as she came up to stand beside him.

" I think a little explanation is in order, don't you think?" asked Fuller, raising one questioning brow at the pair, who only looked at each other and smiled in understanding.

>end of ch.5<

Chapter Six: The Deadlands

Gasping, Sheela stood at the edge of the loading ramp and tried to pierce the gloom beyond. She watched worriedly as Wolff strode off into the impenetrable dark Jack and Keller following, both with night vision goggles.

She then hastened to fasten her breather to the small O2 canister clipped to her waist and went to help the others with the unloading. Acknowledging Fuller's repeated caution about leaving the light, Sheela climbed into the mini-loader, a smaller version of the dock loaders yet almost as powerful, and she got to work.

Slowly, the lighted perimeter of base camp went up and Sheela found herself asking herself why she had gotten herself into this. Wolff was not the first man to take her to mistress, but as the days went by she found herself liking that man more and more. Love never entered her mind, but she knew she cared a great deal In fact, she was now wondering to herself what was taking him so long.

Just then, Layla and Dayna came to stand beside her loader looking up at her.

" Yes?" asked Sheela, wary of women who were not in the same profession as she, remembering the days back on Earth all too well.

" Ummm yeah," said Dayna, as if embarrassed. " Hate to bother ya, but do you think you could teach us how to operate one of these?"

A slow smile of relief spreading over her beautiful face, Sheela laughed, unbuckled, and dropped down out of the loader.

" Sure." She said. " I'd be honored to and to tell you the truth, I could use the help." Grinning like errant little children the three ran to uncrate the two other mini-loaders, collecting Mara on the way.

Frowning at their antics, Reid snorted derisively and went back to punching holes for the fenceposts that Fuller was bringing in. Turning to Copper and Fuller, Reid raised one hand to indicate the four giggling women.

" Will someone please tell me why," he asked, exasperatingly. " women always have to go to the john together? Can you, please?"

Copper and Fuller glanced at each other, then burst out into loud, shouting laughter at the ridiculousness of Reid's current gripe.

" Well?" asked Reid again, obviously at a loss as to why they were laughing.

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Wolff walked silently, his gloom piercing eyes picking out possible hangups for the worker drone that led the way. Glancing at Jack, he saw that Keller had taken up walking behind her, obviously shielding her from any back attacks that may come. Guiding the drone past some boulders, Wolff glanced at the transmitter on his wrist and saw that they were coming close to the site of the wreck.

Right then, the chittering of the creatures rose in volume and Wolff spun to see that Keller had stumbled and was out of the sphere of light cast by the drone. Before he could decide to help the sucker or not, Jack sprang to Keller, hauled on his arm 'till he fell behind her, into the light while she simultaneously blasted the hammerheaded creature which had launched itself at him. Dropping and rolling back into the light just as another one of the monsters was blasted in midair as it jumped at her from the side.
Twisting, Jack peered up at Wolff until his glowing gaze came back to hers.

" You alright?"

" Yea, thanks" she said, rising to her feet and dusting off her hands on her thighs.

Without warning, Wolff grabbed Keller from behind, with his shiv pressed firmly against the smaller man's nervously working throat.

" The next time you endanger anyone of us with your stupidity, I'll ghost you myself and serve you up to those bastards." He whispered softly, in Keller's ear.

" Get the fuck off me." Hissed Keller.

" Do you understand me, fuckmeat?"

" y'Imam!" gritted Keller. " you just gonna stand there?"

Shrugging disinterestedly, Jack turned back to the drone and readjusted its aborted course.

" Wolff's right," she said. " we warned you to be more careful."

Smiling in amusement, Wolff released Keller with a little shove toward the drone.

" Fuck yeah, I'm right." He growled, returning to take back control of the drone.
Smiling down at Jack as she handed back the control, he gave a shake of his head and laughed once aloud.

" What?"

" Nothing." He answered. " Nice moves back there, kid."

"Thank you," she beamed, unused to praise from him. " but I had a good teacher."

" Damn right, you did. Let's go." He said, starting up the drone again, he started off.

Turning back to Keller, he raised one sardonic brow.

" You coming, Keller? Or do you wanna just wait here for us?"

Laughing raucously at Keller's disgruntlement, Wolff turned and trudged off. Never seeing the look of pure hatred that came over Keller's features and Keller never seeing how Jack noticed it and seemed to be taking mental note of it.

>end of ch.6<
Just me 'til the ocean waves...