Wow, thanks for the warm welcome back. I'm glad that this story is moving again, and I hope that I won't be the only one getting the writing bug. Let's see some new stories out soon.

A question was asked about the holster. No real importance for it at this time, I guess that I just wanted to see SARAH nagging Jack and that was the first thing that I could think of that he would do habitually, take off his belt and gun holster and leave it on the table. I don't think that we've ever actually seen him fire a gun…have we? Hmmmmmm, something to think about.

I own nothing here except for the hours and hours of lost time on the metro as I write my chapters. Slight spoiler alert. For those of you who are interested in reading Eureka Vol. 1, written by the executive producer, there are spoilers to that story in here. It's a decent read for a graphic novel. Please also note that due to the violence/death in this and possible later chapters I have changed this stories rating to M.

Chapter 10

Jo paused a moment, before turning her attention to the trunk at the foot of her bed. Walking over to it, she knelt down, pulled out the pieces of her rifle and began to assemble it. Once assempled she stared at it in her hands and sighing sadly, murmured to herself, "Looks like it's just you and me again." She closed the lid to the footlocker, gun still in her hands and looked up. For a moment Zane could have sworn that her eyes locked on him, when suddenly she and the room blurred, and he found himself staring down at her now dressed in full combat gear and protective purple eye wear. She quickly raised her weapon, pointing it at something unseen over his shoulder, yelled "Hit the deck," and fired.

As Zane hit the floor he realized that the scene around him had shifted completely and that they were no longer in Frankfurt Germany. Instead, he discovered they were standing in a mountainous desert with automatic gun fire exploding all around them. Well, he mused, not standing so much, as he and the rest of Jo's team crouched, huddled, or crawled towards cover as they returned fire. Jo was positioned near the front of the group, and was taking shelter behind a small boulder as she attempted to lay cover fire so that other members of her team could get in the clear. He heard the man on the other side of Jo yell for everyone to take cover as the rocky ledge about 50 yards away erupted again with automatic gun fire. As Jo quickly reloaded her weapon with a swift precision that few could have duplicated, Zane realized that the man who was giving the orders was Captain Branegan from her previous memory.

As she began to return fire he heard her mutter to Branegan, "It's Afghanistan, what kind of cover do you expect?"

They both turned and peered slightly over the top of the boulder and just as quickly ducked back down to avoid flying bullets. "So much for the in and out mission," she said to him.

"Army intelligence," he quipped back, "don't you just love it?" He turned back to get a quick head count of the team behind him, and Zane heard a quiet squawk coming from his earwig as he received a transmission. "Howell and Andrews only managed to get two of the charges in place before all hell broke loose," he said as he relayed the transmission to Jo. "They're going to have to get 10 more relayed in order to close this road permanently." Grimacing slightly he nodded towards a small grouping of rocks about 20 yards from their position. "I need you to hold down the fort while we lay the final charges. If we don't finish this quickly we're going to have some company, and not the friendly kind."

Jo stared over at the rocks he indicated and shook her head. "There's a better grouping just a little higher up the cliff. I need to get some height on them; take 'em out from above."

"We can give you a few seconds to get in place and then it's on you."

She nodded and scooted towards the other side of him ready to make her move. She scowled at him as she waited. "Of all days to not let me bring my grenade launcher," she said as she marked the steps to the first stage of cover.

Branegan lifted his weapon, aiming it at the edge of a large grouping where he could see the edges of a dark cloth sticking out from behind the boulder. "Don't get dead," he told her as he gave the order in his mouthpiece for the team to fire.

As the air around them exploded in rifle fire Jo sprang to action and Zane quickly got to his feet and followed. He ran after her in a zig-zag fashion, relatively certain that memory bullets couldn't actually do any damage to him, but unwilling to test the theory.

She quickly gained ground up a small path barely big enough for her boots, up the side of the relatively steep cliff and hauled herself into the small opening of a cave that she had spotted. It had a small niche big enough for her to see the opposite side of the canyon walls and her team down below. As Zane crawled into the opening she was already setting up her rifle and scope to create her snipers nest.

Giving the green light to her team her headset, she opened fire and began to pick the insurgents off, one by one. Zane could barely see the glint of the automatic weapons that they had, but Jo seemed to know exactly where they each were hiding, and before long she had picked off five of the targets.

Down below her team mates scurried behind rock formations, putting down charges, he imagined. He could see four of her squad members moving to various positions as they wired small packages of C-4 to the rocks. Off to her left movement caught her attention as a small dust cloud bloomed into the air showing a large moving truck heading in their direction. "Captain," she said into her mike, "we've got company coming."

"ETA," he asked her.

"Five minutes," she warned him as she fired again.

"Give us three more and then get your ass out of there, Lupo."

"That's affirm," she said into the mike and gauging the speed of the approaching truck reloaded her weapon and began firing rapidly at a particularly large cropping of rocks where she had seen movement.

Zane could see the dust cloud that heralded the arrival of the truck and likely reinforcements getting closer as Jo provided cover fire long enough for her team to fall back to a fortified position. Zane watched as she confirmed that her team was out of harm's way, but rather than follow she kept up the sniper fire, and continued to gauge how close the truck was getting.

"Move Jo," Zane said worriedly as he watched her unreadable face. "Why aren't you moving?"

"Just a little closer," he heard her whisper to herself.

"Lupo, we're in the clear, move your ass."

"The truck is almost here. I won't get a shot like this from the ground," she argued.

"We're getting reports that the truck is heavily armored. If they have a rocket launcher on that thing we'll have to dig you out of that cave- do you copy Lupo," Branegan told her.

Zane watched the indecision cross her face for just a split second then she grunted. "Affirm."

"On my mark you move it," he said into her ear piece, aAnd through it Zane heard him give the signal to run.

Her team laid in a barrage of cover fire, but the approach of the truck and its reinforcements made the remaining insurgents braver and they began to return fire. Bullets made pinging noises and bounced off the rocks as Zane quickly followed Jo back down the side of the cliff as they half ran, half slide down the side of the steep hill. She was yards away from her team when he saw her arm jerk and her body recoil. Zane nearly stopped in his tracks as he realized that there was a copious amount of blood dripping down her arm and that she'd been shot. She faltered for only a moment but kept on running, and even managed to get a few shots off with her rifle aimed awkwardly as she stumbled down the path.

She made it to the same small grouping of rocks where she had begun and signaled visually to her team- truck arrival 1 minute.

Zane could hear her earpiece squawk to life as Branegan checked in with her. "You ok?"

"It's nothing," she lied, "I just caught a ricochet." She pulled out a purple bandana from one of her pockets and deftly did a field dressing over her sleeve to slow the blood as Zane managed to slide down to the rock next to her. "Zigged when I should have zagged."

"Good," Branegan said back into the headset, "because our orders have changed. The Brass wants the trucks contents destroyed. Apparently the insurgents have gotten their hands on a new weapon that was being field tested further to the north. They took out an entire squadron to get their hands on it. The Brass isn't saying what it is, but apparently it's more than your standard rocket launcher. They want us to appear like we're falling back, allow the truck to come through and then blow the pass behind it and then take out the truck. We're to hold it here and if needed call in for a precision airstrike."

Jo glanced back at the glinting metal that heralded the approach of the truck, gauging their approach. "We should go in from the left," she told Branegan.

Zane shook his head as he too looked back at the approaching truck. "Jo this is insane."

"On my mark," he told his team into his headset, and Jo and the others watched the truck approach.

As the truck began to exit the small valley, Branegan gave the go ahead and the world erupted into chaos. The C-4 detonated with a huge blast shaking the ground that they stood on and seemed to block the sun with the dirt and debris that filled the air. As he blinked, Zane realized that Jo and the rest of her team had already leapt up from their positions and began to converge upon the truck as the driver and other insurgents were distracted by the chaos. The sounds of gun fire filled the air and Zane lost track of who was where in the battle.

The truck's front two tires were blown out as the driver tried desperately to make a break once he realized that he was trapped and the windshield exploded as bullets broke through. From the back left side came the sound of shouting voices and a large shoulder rocket launcher appeared. Zane ran forward scanning the crowd looking for Jo and spotted her just as the man with the rocket did. The insurgent took aim, screamed a curse as he was hit and with his last breath fired at Jo.

Time seemed to slow as he watched the rocket head for Jo in slow motion knowing that he wouldn't get there in time. He heard someone else yell and suddenly Jo was thrown to the ground as another person fell on top of her seconds before the rocket hit just where she had been standing. Debris flew from the impact and Zane rushed forward, and saw Jo roll a much wounded Captain Branegan from atop her. Blood poured from wounds on his neck and back, and burns covered a great portion of his lower legs.

Jo's look of shock and horror made Zane drop to his knees next to her as she yelled for a medic over the sounds of the continuing gun battle. Her own hands were scorched and a small trickle of blood fell from her lips as she grabbed Eric's face turning it towards her calling his name. His eyes focused on her for a moment before they fluttered closed and his head dropped limply to the ground.

Jo sat in stunned silence as the teams medic dropped down to his knees beside her and quickly took the captains pulse, before slowly sitting back and grimly shaking his head announcing that he was gone.

Zane sat watching Jo as the announcement was made, and though her eyes were bright with tears she would not let them fall. He reached out his hand towards her shoulder but before he could reach her the scene blurred and began to change again.

So side note from a harried Author. Reasons why you should never trust spell check, my fellow readers. When you spell check names and you aren't paying attention, and the computer asks you if a name is spelled correctly and you say correct all, make sure that it is actually correcting the name. Turns out that "Captain Branegan" is actually "Captain Bragen" in the book. So, call it creative license, call it a change in the alternative timeline, your choice. But for continuity sake I'm keeping my spelling of the good Captain. Much more to come. Thanks for all the reviews and suggestions of the memories that you are hoping to see. I am taking all suggestions under advisement and have a very long path of memories yet to come. Don't worry.