And so with the planning skills of Light Yagami I now publish this chapter that has been swirling around inside my messed up head for far too long now.Much of this chapter was heavily inspired by both Battlestar Galactica and Caprica. Both are excellent, if Dark TV shows. Speaking of which, you should all go watch them right now.

“I’m gonna kill him,” Spitfire said pacing; “I’m gonna fucking KILL HIM!”

Dane sighed from the arm chair, “You were in love with him a few weeks ago.”

“At this point I don’t know what it is!”

“Come on, he still has two hours before Sunday is over,” Gin said.

“Oh, two hours. You know I would have thought he would have been back by lunchtime at least and at most dinner time but this?! He promised he’d be back!”

“Just keep your panties on girl. I’m sure he’s just taking his time. He promised not to go looking for any trouble and with the Shadowbolts gone that shouldn’t be too hard.”

The ringing of a phone stopped the conversation.

Spitfire looked over at the thing sitting on the coffee table, “I have a bad feeling about this.”

She picked it up, “Hello?”

Everyone waited in silence for a few brief seconds before Spitfire hung up, “He’s been arrested.”

***

Jett grinned. Jail wasn’t so bad. Hell if he had to take a shower here he’d purposely drop the soap and dare someone to try something; if that myth even held any air that is. He sat in his cell on the bench. Surprisingly for such a primitive civilization the jail cells were rather nice. Carpeted floors with a padded bench/bed with a sink and a toilet that even had a curtain around it for privacy.

He was alone on his side of the room. This guard station wasn’t very big so there were only about six cells here in the back with the front desk in the other room and armory across from it. And across from Jett in the other three cells were Starry Skies, her leg in some magical cast, the dragon ball z looking character who seemed relatively unharmed though he now wore an angry scowl, and the white haired guy who had a bandage on his forehead and looked ready to commit murder.

Charger was at the hospital with some rather nasty injuries. Jett smirked. Good.

“What are you smiling about?!” Starry Skies spat from across the room, glaring daggers at him through the bars of her cell.

“Nothing you need to concern yourself with,” Jett smiled.

“You’re smiling because you hurt Charger isn’t it?!”

He grinned, “That’s very good! You clever little thing!”

The guard sitting at the desk at the far side of the room looked up, “Be quiet!”

The blue haired Shadowbolt stood up, “You’re going to suffer for what you did to him.”

Jett turned, “I’m sorry, who the fuck are you?”

“Dusk you annoying fuck.”

“That’s cool,” Jett said, “My name is Jett, nice to meet ya.”

“As soon as we get out of here, you’re dead!”

“I’m sorry but you tried to run me over with a car and… look how that turned out,” he grinned.

“Yeah well my boot and that piece of shit car are two different things!” Dusk yelled.

“Hey! Be quiet!” The guard yelled.

“You know this whole feud is really none of your fucking business so how about you sit your childish ass down and shut the fuck up.”

“It became his business when you attacked Charger!” Starry Skies screamed, “An attack on any one of us is an attack on all of us!”

“You know, criminal organizations operate under the same credo. I wonder what that says about you!”

“I don’t know what kind of person handle’s their breakup by beating up their rival and their ex! Oh wait! He wasn’t your rival because he’s so much better than you!”

“And I don’t know what kind of person gets others involved in their shit and then tries to run their ex over with a fucking car!” Jett laughed, “And if you recall properly, which is probably too hard for a stupid fuck like you to do, you’re cock with legs started this whole thing!”

“Oh shut the fuck up! Your stupid attitude got your own ass beat! Not that you didn’t deserve it!” she spat.

“So I deserved to get my head kicked in because you cheated on me and I got upset about it?!” Jett laughed, “Wow. Hands down the best use of logic I have ever seen. Bravo!”

“Keep talking shit and there will be consequences as soon as I’m out of this cell,” Dusk growled.

“Hey! Shut the fuck up Hairspray! None of this concerns you!”

“At least I don’t whore myself out to that Spitbitch captain of yours!” Dusk grinned.

Jett twitched, “Excuse me?! Spitfire is worth a hundred of all you crazy fucks!”

“Bullshit!” Dusk laughed, “Fuck, you really are on her like a lost puppy dog! She doesn’t even deserve the Wonderbolts!”

“Why the fuck are you even bringing her up?!” Jett asked.

“Well if we’re on the subject of past relationships,” Starry Skies grinned, “Let’s discuss the one you have with your CAPTAIN. I bet you’re fucking her too but she wasn’t good enough so you wanted this.”

Jett scoffed, “I can safely say she’s a lot sexier than a witch like you! And bring her up one more time and I’m gonna come through these bars and fucking kill you,” he said before turning to Dusk, “and beat you to death with her body.”

“If she’s so much sexier then why did you date me then?! I think you’re a womanizing little cock bag!”

“That’s it!” Jett stood up and gripped the bars and began to pull them apart. Starry Skies and Dusk reeled back as the groan of the metal filled the room. The guard at the other end of the room stood up and ran to the bars.

“Uh, s-sir I’m going to have to ask you to stop bending the bars,” he said uneasily.

Jett stopped, “As soon as I kill me some Shadowshits across the hall.”

“Sir if you don’t stop your time will be extended!”

Jett sighed, “Fine.”

He released the bars, leaving them bent out of shape, and walked back to his bench.

“Pussy,” Dusk laughed.

In an instant the android’s energy weapon was out and aimed at the shadowbolt, “Doesn’t mean I can’t fucking shoot you from here!”

All hell broke loose. Starry Skies and Dusk started screaming with their hands up while the Guard ran to grab his rifle and aimed it and the android yelling at him to lower his weapon.

“Get him to stop pointing that damn thing at us!” Dusk yelled at the guard.

“Hey, hey, hey! Put it down!” The guard yelled, “Now! Put it away!”

Jett cocked his head, an angry sneer on his face. His eyes darted from the guard back to the Shadowbolts in his line of fire before he regained control of himself and lowered his arm.

“Are you fucking CRAZY?!” Starry Skies screamed at him.

Jett said nothing and returned to his bench, the weapon still out.

Dust was visibly shaken, “He’s crazy…”

“Well?! Are you fucking INSANE?!” Starry Skies screamed, “Were you just gonna fucking KILL us?! You CRAZY-”

The sound of the weapon going off as well as the impact of the bolt on the concrete wall just to the left of Starry Skies head was heard.

“Shut the FUCK up!” Jett yelled, smoke coming from the gun.

Silence filled the room until a guard walked in and came up to Jett’s cell, “You’re being released on bail.”

Jett didn’t even bother to open the cell door once it was unlocked and simply walked through the gap in the bars.

“Looks like your bitch wants you back, robot boy!” Skies called out with a half laugh, half snarl in her voice. Jett instantly turned around and was at the bars of her cell, one hand grabbing Skies by the collar, the other had his blade weapon equipped and was pressing it against her throat.

“If you come near me again… If I ever see in my line of sight ever again… If your DNA shows up within a fifty meters of me… I’ll take this blade... and stab you to fucking death with it.”

He released her and retracted the weapon before leaving the room leaving the room silent.

He entered the main lobby to see Spitfire, Dane and Gin. Spitfire had her arms crossed and did not look too pleased.

“I gave you the fucking weekend, Jett,” she said with venom, “And you go out and get yourself arrested?!”

Jett sighed, “You know this was my second time getting hit by a car this year so I think I deserve some leeway.”

Spitfire blinked, “Wait? What? You were hit by a car?”

“Do you not see my shirt?” he said turning. The cut up sides as well as the shredded back and torn up front of the shirt came into view. Jett lifted it up exposing heavy neon blue bruises under it.

“Geez,” Dane said, “How much hydraulic fluid is that?”

“I don’t know. Repair systems have been working on it all night. It was worse earlier. There was some red in there too.”

“Well at least that’s working correctly,” he sighed, “I’m gonna have to manufacture a service pod for you if this shit keeps happening.”

“Yeah well it’s not like I went looking for the car to run me over.”

“What happened?” Spitfire asked.

“Was walking back to the base, took a route away from people just to be safe and then those fucks came around the corner and plowed me into the wall,” Jett grinned, “So I ripped the car apart and broke Charger’s fucking wings. I was about to beat Skies’ head in with a pole but your guard stopped that from happening.”

“So basically you could charge them with attempted murder and they could do the same to you,” Gin sighed.

“I think self-defense could be pushed a little in this case,” Jett grinned.

“You put a person in the hospital,” Spitfire said.

“Oh, I’m sorry!” Jett rolled his eyes, “I guess I should have just let the person who tried to kill me twice already just get away with it.”

“What was the point in it? You’d already won.”

“No I didn’t. I don’t need that fuck in my business anymore. So I decided to win all the other battles that would come after.”

“And what about Starry Skies?” Dane asked.

“I hope she fucking tests me because I am looking for an excuse to kill her,” Jett grinned.

“Yeah there’s definitely something wrong with you,” Gin said, “You were never this homicidal even with your memories.”

“Come on,” Dane said, “When we get home we’re figuring out just what the fuck is wrong with you.”

***

Ajax frowned, “Well?”

Kana sighed, “I got it. I got every single byte of data possible out of that signal.”

“Good. Glad something worked to get you well again.”

“… I’d rather not talk about that right now… But on to the signal. I managed to hack into the remaining data and get everything from inside the engineering section.”

“Really? How long have you been at this?”

“A few hours.”

Ajax cocked her head. A hidden transmission was wired into her communication centers.

>>>SHE IS LYING.

<<<HOW LONG HAS SHE REALLY BEEN UP?

>>>FORTY TWO HOURS.

>>>OKAY.

“There’s something else too,” Kana said.

“What is it?”

“I figured out who saved the ship.”

“Who was it?”

“Flight Captain Daniel J. Halsey. The Admiral’s son.”

***

Jett was lying down on a stretcher type structure inside a large tube like machine. Inside the tube was smooth with a screen above his face. He sighed.

Outside in one of the hangers run by Dane the rest of the group sat looking at a computer monitor.

“When did you find time to build this?” Jett asked from inside the machine.

“When you were busy making your man cave downstairs,” Dane replied.

A beeping signaled it had something. Dane walked up the console and hit the soundproofing on the machine.

“Well?” Spitfire asked.

Dane looked over the data and sighed, “Internally, there’s nothing wrong with him. However there is an anomaly here in his memory systems that has me a bit worried. It’s a large group of files that’s taking up a lot of processing power, power that would normally go to behavioral and emotional centers. Basically, his head shunted power away from nonessential things to process all this incoming data. It’s these files as well as his old memories that should be accounting for his more than homicidal behavior.”

“But?”

“But they’re not.”

“What?”

“Even with this extra data he would only be more irritable and more prone to anger than normal. Nothing that would account for sociopathic tendencies. So something else is really fucking with him.”

Spitfire frowned, “Well this isn’t the first time he went psycho on some people.”

“Yeah but we know what his problem was then. You. Remember? That and he just let out years of built up hatred for those guys all in that one fight. This? I think her cheating on him was just an excuse for him to beat some people up.”

“And how’d you draw that conclusion?”

“Because I know the bastard. Look, just talk to him and work your strange woman magic on him and get him to spill the beans. The sooner the better because we can most likely expect a law suit from that ‘accident’ earlier.”

“Alright,” she sighed, “What are you going to be doing?”

“Reading law books. If we’re going to court over this then I’d rather know what I’m doing.”

“Hold on, we don’t even know that they’ll sue us anyway.”

“If you got your ass beat by an angry android robot from the other team would you just sit there and be like, ‘Oh, you tried to fucking kill us but it’s okay! Come on, let’s make like pink fluffy unicorns and fuck around in the flower patches!’ No? That’s what I thought.”

“Fine, go study your damn law books. I’ll figure out what’s going on in this guy’s head. Again.”

“That’s the fuckin’ SPIRIT!”

Dane hit the soundproofing and pulled Jett from the machine. The android rubbed his head and stood up.

“So? What’s the verdict?”

Dane blinked, “Nothing I can help you with at the moment. Spitfire?”

Spitfire sighed under her breath, “The things I do for love.”

Dane turned, “Now if you’ll all excuse me, I’m off to the Canterlot Library.”

“For?” Jett asked.

“You assaulted four people. I need to prepare a defense.”

“Oh… that… WAIT! You’re gonna be my lawyer?!”

“Yes… Does that bother you?”

Jett blinked, “Well I’m fucked.”

Spitfire stifled a giggle before grabbing his hand, “Come on Robot boy. Let’s head out of here.”

***

Ajax was worried. This girl looked like she hadn’t slept in days. Oh wait…

Her friend was obviously dealing with some kind of guilt but focusing it all onto this one project and getting all this information out of a damn signal echo? Maybe she was onto something here. Focus the guilt of the survivors onto something else useful for the fleet.

Oh wait, back to the topic at hand.

“Here, right here,” Kana said, “That fire starts back up again.”

Ajax frowned and moved her avatar so she ‘looked’ over her friend’s shoulder at the screen.

“I thought you said that whoever went down there put the fires out and saved the ship.”

Kana sighed, “Yeah. But right here, damage control systems are almost entirely gone. If that fire continues to spread like it is in frame one two four zero six five three then it hits the remaining fuel lines and destroys the ship.”

“So how exactly did that ship get out of there?”

“Right here. The Admiral’s son finishes preparing his program… and then does this…”

***

Jett and Spitfire walked along the cliff side overlooking the valley floor below. It was a beautiful sight. The hills and plains, the trees and rivers made it just so serene. The little town down below looked so quaint and added to scene. It was so beautiful it looked like something out of a Bob Ross painting. It was almost romantic…

Spitfire was at Jett’s arm, her head leaning into her shoulders. They walked along silently until Spitfire spoke up.

“What’s eatin’ at you Halsey?” she asked softly.

Jett frowned, “Hmm?”

“Come on now. I know you too well now. Something is bothering you.”

“How do you know? For all you know I’m just processing all my recently reacquired memories.”

“Maybe…” she replied walking with him, “But that’s not it. So come on, Jett, what’s wrong?”

He sighed and laughed slightly, “I can’t hide anything from you, can I?”

“We’ve been together now for almost eight months. None stop contact almost. So tell me, what is it?”

“I’ve lost my memories before. Last time it was just a minor few days but this time it was more. I lost everything and yet… even though I remember it, it’s as if I was a different person.”

“You weren’t though. It’s been said that a person is the sum of all their memories and experiences but… I don’t know. I know you’re a person of science; you live in a world of rational and verifiable things but… I like to believe in the idea of a soul.”

Jett frowned, “A soul?”

“Yes, a soul. I like to think all people have them. Even you…”

Jett scoffed, “Me? How can I have a soul? I’m just the sum of a bunch of atoms and molecules strung together to perform complex calculations that make up personality subroutines. How could something like that have a soul?”

Spitfire smiled, “Because even though you lost your memories, even though you had no idea who me or anyone else was, you were still you. I have no doubt in my mind that that person who jumped out of that hospital window, that person who even then was afraid of a little T and A, that person who just talked to me about pointless things, was you. Even if you don’t have your memories, you’re still you. If everything else stays the same then how are you a different person?”

Jett sighed but a small grin escaped him, “I can already see that if I continue this line of conversation I’ll lose. One thing about you that hasn’t changed is you’re as tenacious as ever.”

“Damn right.”

He sighed again and frowned, “Do you remember when we first met? Those early weeks? Around with I got hit by that car?”

“Yeah, how could I ever forget?”

“Well what if I woke up in that hospital bed, only I wasn’t me? What if I died in that accident and something else asserted itself and took my place? Would we be having this conversation now?”

“What are you talking about? I don’t understand.”

“You wanted to know what was bothering me… well here it is. I was never meant to be an android…”

***

June, 2400. Interplanetary Space. Near Venus. UEG ICARUS.

A convoy of transport vessels moved through the dark blackness of space. Behind them was the bright burning orb that was the sun; and hidden in that brightness were the planets Mercury and Venus. The transports carried back with them several squadrons of fighter pilots returning from training exercises in the inner planets. A few months of shore leave were ahead and everyone was looking forward to it.

“Come on Danny! You sure you don’t want to hit up the city with us?” Leland asked from the seat across from his.

“Sorry guys but I promised my sister I’d be home during shore leave,” Dan responded crossing his arms looking out the window.

“Really Dan?” Ezri asked.

“Hey come on. I hardly ever get to see Cat anymore ever since my mom got her when my father got deployed,” he replied turning his head.

“Alright, alright, go see your little sister. But when you’re done, meet us in Vegas,” She replied, her subtle yet sly grin left nothing to his imagination.

“It’s a deal.”

“So did they ever figure out that problem with the rear vertical stabi-” a loud explosion echoed through the ship. The entire transport shook and the lights dimmed red. Several nearby conduits blew out.

An automated voice activated, “Warning. Hull Breach. Hull Breach. Warning. Hull Breach. Hull Breach…”

“What the hell was that?” Leland asked standing up looking around the room. Other pilots on the leisure deck were just as disoriented.

“All Decks this is the Captain speaking, evacuate the ship immediately. We have lost atmospheric stabilization and we’re venting fuel into space. Get to your designated escape pods and shuttle craft,” The captain’s voice came over the intercom.

Dan moved to the window and looked out. A large fire was visible several decks below him. One of the engines just two decks below on a gimbal was on fire, “We just lost our port engine!”

“Oh my god.”

“All personnel on Deck 2 you’re atmosphere has been compromised. You have two minutes before automatic atmospheric venting. Evacuate your deck immediately,” the voice returned.

Pilots began heading out of the room in a frenzy.

“Dan come on! We’ve gotta get the hell outta here!” Ezri said standing up and heading towards the Jeffries tubes that led towards the hanger bay. Leland was right behind her.

“Yeah in a second!” Dan called.

He looked out the window at the other ships. The transport at the far end of the convoy was suddenly engulfed in fire as an explosion ripped through it. Smaller explosions trailed along the outside hull until they reached the engineering section where the rear of the ship detonated in a spectacular blast. The remains of the ship’s bow rocketed forward as they broke apart.

“Halsey come on!”

“Yeah! I’m coming!” He stood up and quickly ran after his friends and followed them down the service hatch.

“Warning. Reactor Overload in progress. Core breach in Five minutes Twenty Six seconds. Warning. Reactor Overload in progress…”

Outside the ship the other remaining vessel in the convoy was burning, suffering from severe damage. Several small gunships, stripped of all armor and other ‘nonessentials’ streaked towards the convoy at high speeds. They were armed to the teeth and left no doubts about their purpose. On their hulls were the insignia of a hammer smashing the Earth to pieces. Meanwhile inside the dying Icarus something was happening.

“Warning, reactor overload in progress. Three minutes forty six seconds to detonation.”

“Danny! Come on!” Ezri practically screamed at him from down the hallway.

“Yeah just go on ahead. I’ll get there!” Dan said stopping at a computer terminal. The ship had severe structural damage and was in an uncontrolled counter clockwise spin from the explosion.

“You better be right behind us!” Leland yelled.

“Alright! Computer, how many shuttles have launched?” Dan asked.

“Two Shuttles and Three Esca-” The computerized voice was cut off by a loud bang followed by the ship shaking rather violently.

“What the hell was that?”

“Weapon impact,” the computer replied.

“From what?”

“Two gunships approaching 7:00.”

Dane tapped several icons on the screen and pulled up a remaining camera. Behind them were a group of small, heavily modified shuttles converted into gunboats. Raptors.

“How long until they get here?” Dan asked nervously.

“They already are… Shuttle Twenty Three destroyed… Escape pod Seven destroyed… Shuttle Fifteen destroyed…”

“Danny come on!” Ezri called, her voice echoing down the hallway from the hanger deck.

The ship shook from another impact.

“Computer, exactly what’s wrong with the reactor?”

“Axillary power systems failed to activate after the first explosion. Fire suppression and damage control were not switched over to the main power grid. Destabilization of fusion reaction in underway. Overload in Three minutes.”

“… I can do that…”

“Danny get your ass to the hanger deck!” Leland’s voice screamed.

Dan closed out the display and looked down a side corridor that led below decks. He grinned.

“Sorry guys, but I think I forgot something down in main engineering. I’ll be back! Keep everyone inside the ship until I give the okay signal!”

“What? What the fuck are you talking about?!” Ezri called.

“Just keep all the shuttles and pods inside and ready to launch! I’ll be back!” He turned and took off running down to the engineering section of the ship.

Leland turned to Ezri. Her face hid nothing as all the worry she was feeling crept onto her face.

“Come on,” Leland said, “Let’s do as he says.”

She gulped, “Okay…”

The two ran back to the hanger deck. They approached the airlock and boarded one of the shuttles. Passengers were already inside as a pilot rated to fly the craft was at the controls.

“Stop, stop, stop!” Leland yelled.

The pilot looked up, “What?!”

“We need to get on an open channel,” Ezri said approaching the console and bringing up the communications systems, “Attention! All ships, hold your launches. Repeat, hold your launches.”

“Why the fuck are we holding?” someone asked. The ship shook.

Ezri frowned, “Computer, identify!”

“Weapon impact.”

“Weapon impact?!”

“Affirmative. Blast pattern consistent with Type Three ship to ship missiles.”

Leland turned, “Type Three?”

“The only people that use that are…”

Meanwhile down below Daniel Halsey pried open the engineering section doors. Fires lit up the area while bodies littered the floor. A nearby airlock had several blast marks on it. He ran across the deck towards the main engineering console. He began tapping icons.

“Alright, computer. Transfer damage control, to main power grid and reroute auxiliary power to primary systems.”

“Unable to process request.”

“Elaborate.”

“Power couplings one, four, and five are offline.”

Dan sighed, “Figures.”

He turned and grabbed a repair kit and headed for the service hatches again, “Computer, cut power to power couplings one, four, and five.”

Meanwhile up on the hanger deck, Ezri and Leland had problems of their own.

“Shuttle one five power down your engines!” Ezri yelled.

“Fuck you! We’re getting off this ship! If you all want to stay and burn, be my guest!” a voice replied.

“You do not have clearance! Abort your launch.”

The voice just scoffed, “Computer, blow-out hanger bay doors on hanger one five, Lieutenant Authorization one five seven delta one two!”

“Computer belay that order!”

“Unable to comply.”

The ship shuddered lightly, “So long!”

Leland looked up at the screen as one of the few remaining external cameras fed the shuttle a shot of a small craft rocketing away from the burning Icarus only to watch machine gun rounds riddle the main windows, blowing the atmosphere into space along with a collection of bodies.

Ezri sighed, “Hurry Daniel.”

Daniel Halsey ran back into the engineering deck, “Alright! Computer! Transfer damage control to main power grid and reroute auxiliary power!”

“Confirmed.”

“Seal off fuel tanks, one, two and three. Switch over to back up systems and remaining fuel tanks. And stabilize that damn reactor!”

“Confirmed.”

Daniel looked over the readouts on the console, “Computer, those ships are not carrying armor are they?”

“Confir-” A loud explosion behind him cut off the computer. Daniel turned. A heavy fire was burning, cutting off his escape route.

“Computer. Bring point defense lasers online.”

“Unable to comply. Insufficient power.”

“I don’t care! Take it from everything you have to! Engines! Hell, take it from life support if you have to! Just get those lasers online!”

…

“Unable to comply.”

“State reason!”

“Over heating in main processors due to fire in close proximity to main engineering fuel lines.”

Daniel turned and stared at the inferno behind him.

“Damage control?”

“Minimal,” the computer replied.

“What happens if I let that fire run?” he asked.

“Fire will ignite fuel lines and Icarus with be destroyed. Please state course of action.”

He glanced back at the fire and then at the console. There was one way out of it. He opened his jacket and removed a photo. Leland and Ezri, smiling and laughing at a local fair. In the center was him, smiling along with them, with a small girl hanging onto his neck. He looked grinned and looked back up at the flames.

“Computer… prepare to activate weapons systems. Please inform all ships when it is safe to leave.”

He turned and looked at the console and then at the airlocks.

“Computer, if I put that fire out, will you be able to transfer power to weapons?”

“Affirmative.”

“Alright then.”

“May I inquire about your intended actions?” the computer asked.

“No computer you may not,” Daniel laughed as he prepared the necessary measures.

He turned, “Alright then.”

He glanced back at the photo in his hands, “Sorry guys. We’re not getting out of this one. Not together.”

“Computer! Seal off the engineering deck!”

“Sealed,” the computer said as blast doors lowered.

He stared long and hard at the photo, “There must be way out of here…”

He laughed, “Goodbye… Computer! Blow out all engineering airlocks! Flight Captain Authorization Apollo Six Pegasus Four Two Theta One!”

“Command confirmed.”

Daniel grinned as a loud series of bangs rang throughout the engineering section followed by a loud rushing of air as the captain was sucked out of the room with the atmosphere into space.

Fifty two seconds later, weapons systems activated and began burning the enemy gunships around the last surviving Icarus as the shuttles and escape pods launched.

***

Mars. 2403.

Vice Admiral George Halsey stood looking into a medical room. The reinforced glass windows would stop an armor piercing round from a rail gun if needed. In the center of the room, on a table, was a small black haired boy.

The Admiral held up a small picture in his hands. A similar, older looking, black haired boy with a small group of people was smiling back at him.

“Admiral are you sure you want to do this?” a smooth voice asked.

A slender yet beautiful woman in casual military garb stood before him.

“Yes Ajax, I’m sure I want to do this.”

“George,” Ajax sighed, “I know how you feel about this right now but… this isn’t right.”

“How could you possibly know what I’m feeling right now?” he snapped, “How can you even quantify my loss?”

“George I know how much Daniel meant to you but… I don’t think this is what he would have wanted his father to do.”

“Ajax,” George turned, “I want-no I need my son back.”

“So you’re gonna put his memories, or what little could be recovered after being in a vacuum for so long into this?”

“He’ll be the same. Everything will be fine!”

Ajax sighed, “No it won’t…”

“How do you know that?! The process is modeled off of how we create A.I.’s like you!”

“Yes but I’m not the person I was based off of!”

“Well that’s why this procedure was modified! It will work! He’ll be perfect! The perfect replacement! The perfect copy…”

The Admiral looked back into the picture. Ajax sighed and turned her avatar around.

“You can’t copy a soul…”

With that last statement she vanished, leaving the broken man to his thoughts.

***

Present day.

Spitfire’s mouth was wide open. Never in her entire life would she ever dream of something as… disturbing, convoluted, and… wrong as what she had just heard.

“I’m a copy, Spitfire,” Jett smiled sadly, “A replacement.”

“B-but… I thought you were just part of your dad’s project.”

He laughed, “That’s what I thought too… Until I got smacked upside the head again recently and I got MY memories back… as well as some of HIS.”

He turned and started pacing.

“I’m just a copy of a person named Daniel Halsey. A replacement for a broken man’s lost son. A replacement for a heartbroken girl’s older brother. A replacement. I suppose that’s why Cat didn’t like me for all those years and why that Woman who I suppose was my mother called me Daniel all the time. And I suppose that’s why things never seemed quite right until I got my fuckin’ arm cut off.”

“Jett…” Spitfire said, “I’m so sorry…”

“Sorry? What do you have to be sorry about?!” He laughed, “No! You see it wasn’t your fault you became friends with a copy of another person! In fact, the only thing your responsible for is getting yourself to Earth so you could meet me!”

“Jett, I’m sorry. None of us had any idea! I’m sure if you just talk to Dane or someone else about it they’d-”

“No! No… no… You see, they wouldn’t understand. You see this isn’t just about me being a copy anymore. You see, everything about me was supposed to be him. Even my fucking personality! You see, I don’t even know if this is me or just someone else ranting on! I don’t even know who’s at the fucking controls anymore!”

“Jett…”

“Now do you see what I needed to think about?! I don’t know WHAT I am anymore! I don’t even know if Jett Halsey is even a real person! I don’t know if I’m just doing or saying the things HE would have said! Oh! And here’s something ironic. Daniel Halsey’s call sign, when he was flying his fighter, was Jett. How fucking weird is that?”

Spitfire frowned, “So you’ve been aiming all this anger and frustration at whoever happens to piss you off?”

“I don’t know what I’m doing anymore,” he laughed, “You see the thing is, I’m programmed with his personality. Or at least I was supposed to be. I was never meant to develop on my own, to be my own person. I was always meant to fill the void left by someone else. Who was I supposed to be? And better yet, how are all of you going to deal with this?”

“… What?”

“For all you or I even know, you could be friends with Daniel Halsey and not Jett.”

And then it hit her. What if this wasn’t the person she thought she was talking to? What if all he really was was a copy of his older brother? What if that personality she’d come to love… was never his to begin with? All those experiences? All those life and death moments? All those little moments alone together? What if they weren’t alone? What if it was always someone else behind the scenes pulling at the strings? Subconsciously or not… it was something to think about.

Jett turned, “Now you see it. This… thing that’s me may be nothing more than an abomination.”

Spitfire looked up at him, “I… I don’t know what to say.”

“For once I think we have something in common,” he replied, “I think though, you know me better than I think she ever could.”

He turned and began walking back towards the hanger. Spitfire turned and called after him.

“Are you angry at your dad?”

Jett turned, “No… not angry. I suppose all he did was just what any grieving person with his resources would do. Bargain and try to get back what he lost. No… what I’m angry about is never having the opportunity to know who I could have become, be it the next Stephen Hawking or Joseph Stalin. Because for all the infinite good or bad that I could have become, it would be better to be a king in hell than to be a copy in heaven.”