Prologue

April, 2354-Abandoned Research Facility, Taltus III

Hearing his breathing pattern growing erratic, he looked down at the oxygen mix reading on his wrist; it was orange...a few minutes ago it had been green. Not good. He was running out of air. What kind of person builds a science station to create artificial ion storms and then abandons it creating a hazard for passing starships? A colossal asshole, that's who...that's what Bev would say. He laughed and then clenched his eyes shut briefly. Oh God, don't think about her...or Wesley. Just focus.

He scrambled forward on his hands and knees, through the control tunnel, scraping them raw through the flimsy environmental suit. At this point, he didn't care. He just had to get to the power conduit on the other side of the control room.

Jack Crusher, you dumb sonofabitch, you should have listened to the captain and beamed back up to the ship once you discovered that this goddamn facility was responsible for the storms. We could just blow the thing sky high from orbit. Jean-Luc is not going to be happy with me.

"Lieutenant Commander!" T'Pel the science officer shouted from behind him. "The situation is now beyond our control, and the captain has ordered us to return to the ship before the ion storms present an unacceptable risk to the Stargazer."

Too late for that, T'Pel and you know it. "You may be right," he called back at her, though not stopping his crawl forward. "But we've come this far...and if we can shut this generator down, we shut down the ion storm too."

"Your plan may not be illogical, but it is foolhardy," she shouted.

"Foolhardy? That's a new one...illogical- I've definitely heard that one before," he murmured. Come on, Jack. Focus.

Just then a plasma relay pipe exploded right next to his ear, and he fell forward on his faceplate with his hands trying futilely to covering his head. The pain was excruciating, and for a matter of dizzying seconds everything sounded as though he was submerged underwater. A moment later the sounds normalized and he felt a stream of blood trickle from his left ear. The wall next to him was now on fire, and T'Pel wouldn't be able to follow him through the tunnel. And if the science officer was still calling to him, he couldn't hear a damn thing with his ear now messed up.

He was up on his feet and staggering forward out of sheer will. The fire was making it too hot to concentrate, and he glanced behind him to find that part of the walkway had disintegrated. Oh well, not going back that way. He could see the far wall up ahead of him as the fire surrounded him making him feel faint. Run, Jack, he thought he heard Beverly's voice say, and he did run as fast as he could. Leaping a large gap in the walkway, he almost slipped and fell, but somehow stayed upright, and reached his goal. The main control panel glittered in front of his smoke-filled mask.

His head snapped to the side as he heard shouts from below. His eyes caught on a half-broken utility ladder and he was elated to see that there was another way back down to the main level.

He heard the shouts again and looked down in the direction of the ladder.

"Jack! Jack!"

He laughed again, now feeling giddy and lightheaded from the lack of oxygen. It was Jean-Luc. "Jean-Luc, buddy," he muttered, beginning to work on the panel. "Always ready to risk your ass for me, even when I mess up." He yanked at an isolinear chip and a bolt of blue lightning shot out to zap his hand. "Ah!"

"Jack! This whole place is unstable. We've got to beam out," Jean-Luc was shouting again from below. Glancing down he could see T'Pel was with him as well. She was setting up a three pronged amplification device, Picard had brought with him. Picard was waving for him to drop what he was doing. "He's going to try and boost our transport signals so we can beam out of here. Just let me get this right, Jean-Luc, and then we can get out of here. Almost there, Jean-Luc," he tried to yell down, but his voice was so hoarse he couldn't project his words.

He heard a clanging below him and could see Picard was trying to climb upward to get him. He heard Jean-Luc grunt with the effort, as the broken ladder dangled underneath him as he held on tightly. "I'm sorry about this, Jean-Luc. I should have listened to you."

"You're damn right you should have, now come down from there Jack, that's an order!" He could see Picard out of the corner of his eye starting to pull himself up onto the walkway. That was when it happened. The explosion came from an unstable short in the control panel, and blew the innards of the control center outward. The explosion sent him spinning to one knee on the deck. Picard was suddenly at his side, lifting him up

Jack tried to thank his friend, but he'd been hit by shrapnel from the explosion, and a dribble of blood down his chin was the best he could manage, because his voice was hardly above a whisper.

He heard a sob, and realized it hadn't come from him...it was Jean-Luc, and he was crying for the first time since he'd known him. Dimly, Jack felt Picard move behind him and wrap his arms around his midsection. He looked down then and saw the jagged piece of metal protruding from his own waist. Picard was holding him together. He heard the transporter beam, and then he was lying in his back.

"Where..." he whispered.

"We're back on the ship, Jack," Picard's voice wavered. Jean-Luc' s hands were still pressed on his stomach, holding his intestines together. Medical staff tried to move him out of the way, but he fought to stay with Jack. Because they both knew it was over.

"Promise me," whispered Jack. His eyelids fluttered. "Tell Beverly I didn't suffer. Tell her I will love her forever."

"Yes, Jack, of course. Of course, I promise."

2367 In a distant solar system...

He heard the hiss as the case opened above him and gas escaped from the rejuvenation chamber. It hurt his lungs to breathe at first, but then the sharpness warmed into a ball of life in his chest. He coughed once, twice and then sat up feeling the cold fresh air on his cheeks. His "friend" was there, as promised. "Well, looks like I'm still alive," he said hoarsely.

"Or maybe you should say you're alive again...except you're not quite you anymore." his associate said with a cool grin.

He squinted in the bright light. "But how do I look?"

Pots the trader grunted and leaned back putting his boots up on the chamber. He held up a small mirror in his grubby hand. "You look just like him...you got what you paid for alright."

"Ha ha...I'm an exact replica of Jack Crusher-risen from the dead...I love it!"

"As long as I get my cut of the profits I don't care if you love or hate it," said Pots. "Now come on, we've got a lot of preparing to do, if you're going to pull this off. The Boss wants to talk to ya."