I do not own any part of the Tenchi Muyo franchise. I often reference people, places, and things. I do not own those either. I only own my OC Jack Giri.
WARNING: This chapter contains death and violence.
Chapter ten: A way back.
The next morning Jack woke up and began cooking breakfast for the crew. Mashisu was the first one to the kitchen. "So I see you decided to wear a shirt today." Mashisu said with an amused yet devious smirk as she stopped in the doorway before walking over to the coffee pot and pouring herself a cup of coffee as she leaned against the counter and took a sip as she watched him. She saw he was wearing the uniform Seto had special made for him with the exception of the long overcoat which was draped over a chair at the table. She then noticed the large caliber revolver that he had strapped to his chest as she looked slightly surprised and curious. She knew it was some sort of a gun but she was not familiar with earth weapons.
"Yea, didn't want perverse your imagination." Jack said dryly. Mashisu chuckled. "In your dreams, more like make me want to throw up." Mashisu said with devious sarcasm as she closed her eyes with a smirk before taking another sip. There was than a pause before Mashisu began to speak again. "So are you worried about getting back to Jurai? The ship is too damaged to safely hyper jump, and I did some inventory last night. It would seem there isn't enough food to last the journey back." Mashisu said calmly as she watched him from overtop her cup as she waited to see how he would react.
"We will make it back, I have no doubt. This is greatest crew the galaxy has ever known." Jack said with casual confidence. Mashisu looked surprised for a slit second before her face went back to casual analysis. "That's a bit bold don't you think?" Mashisu asked nonchalantly before taking another sip of her coffee. "You forget who we work for. We were both handpicked for this job, and I trust Seto's judgement in picking you." Said Jack, never taking his eyes off the food he was cooking.
Again Mashisu looked surprised but this time it was harder for her to hide it and for face to return back to its normal hardened appearance, but she eventually managed. Mashisu had purposefully been a bitch to him and challenged his authority and yet he seemed not to care, even seemed to hold her in high regard. "I see… And Kiriko?" Mashisu asked calmly before another sip of coffee. "I handpicked Kiriko, as I will the rest of the crew. What is not known will be learned." Said Jack. Mashisu shot Jack a suspicious sideways glance as she drank more coffee. She wasn't sure what he meant about that last part.
"As far as the food shortage, I will not be eating for the rest of the trip." Said Jack as he finished up his cooking and made two plates, one for Kiriko, and one for Mashisu. Mashisu was very surprised by this, so much so that she spat her coffee out. Jack tuned his attention to her as he raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong Mashisu?" Asked Jack. "But Sir were you not enhanced when you came here? And wasn't that not long ago?" Asked Mashisu with surprised alarm. "Yea, and?" Jack asked with a raised eyebrow. "Due to the enhancement procedure your body can not go that long without food, and since it hasn't been long since you have gotten enhanced you will need food all the more." Mashisu said with concern. "Don't worry about me Mashisu, I will be fine. Though I thank you for your concern. I did not know you cared." Jack said with a pleased smirk as he handed her a plate of food. Mashisu just looked at him in confused wonder.
Just then Kiriko walked into the Kitchen. "Good morning." Said Kiriko as she forced a smile. She didn't really like being around Mashisu. "Good morning Kiriko." Jack said before handing her a plate. Kiriko looked around and saw that there was only enough food for herself and Mashisu. Then she looked at her plate and then at Jack with confusion as Mashisu had begun to eat but she somehow didn't seem pleased. "You ate without us?" Kiriko asked with confusion and some sadness. "No." Jack said casually before going over to the table and picking up his coat and through it on as he walked out the room. He didn't want to give either woman the chance to say anything more to him.
Kiriko than looked at Mashisu with confusion as she shoveled food into her mouth with a somewhat irritated look on her face. "Food supplies are low so the captain said that he will not be eating anything else till we get back to Jurai." Mashisu said between bites. "What!? But he can't do that!" Exclaimed Kiriko. "It is pointless to tell him otherwise. Surely you must know that." Said Mashisu before taking another bite, her face still holding a look of irritation. kiriko just looked down as she looked sad.
As the girls ate Jack went back to the bridge and sat in his command chair as he looked out into the vast emptiness of space. There was no real need for him to be there at the time, he himself did not know how to pilot the ship. For that he needed the girls, plus as of now as well as for most of the journey the ship had been on auto pilot. As he sat there he began to ponder the situation. Mashisu had seemed quite irritated with him when he told her that he would not eat. He wondered why she cared but ultimately decided the why did not mater. They were by no means friends at this point in time but despite her rough exterior and aggressive demeanor Jack highly doubted that she was heartless. People are evil by nature, but not heartless. To Jack it was obvious that there was something in her past that made her feel she had to act the way she did, the same with most everyone else.
As he pondered another thing occurred to him. Their ship may have been damaged and they may have been low on food but there was no real reason those problems couldn't be solved. A quick call to Seto or Airi and he could get some reinforcements to bring some food and help then get back to Jurai. He wondered why Kiriko, Mashisu, or himself hadn't thought of that earlier but before Jack had time to act upon this there was an explosion as the ship began to shake and red flashing lights and a warning alarms quickly filled the bridge. "Great…" Jack said with a groan.
Meanwhile Kiriko and Mashisu were eating breakfast in awkward silence. Kiriko was sitting at the table, trying to ignore the fact that Mashisu existed whist Mashisu stood in the same spot that Jack had left her. As she ate she wondered why she cared what happened to him. While she rationalized that it was simply because if he died she could be out of a job but she didn't really believe that was the case.
Just then an explosion was heard as the ship began to shake. "Oh great!" Mashisu exclaimed with a growl as she set her plate down and rushed off to the bridge as Kiriko fallowed after. Once on the bridge both girls took their seats and got to work. "Main thrusters are down." Said Kiriko. "Shit! This this isn't good." Sid Mashisu before turning to Jack. "Captain I have identified the ship attacking us! It's the Daidalos captained by Tarant Shanks." Exclaimed Mashisu. Just then a flashback played through Jacks head. "Beware the pirate called Tarant Shanks." Kamachi's voice said in his head as he remembered when she had told him that.
There was than another explosion as the ship shook again. "Captain our haul has been breached where being boarded!" Mashisu exclaimed as she looked at her readouts. "Are there any weapons in this room?" Asked Jack. "Negative. The armory is in sector 9, where the pirates are." said Mashisu. "Kiriko you still have that gun I gave you?" Asked Jack. "Yea I do." Kiriko said with a nod.
Jack than stood up as he pulled the Beretta M9 from his thigh holster and handed it to Mashisu who looked at the strange earth weapon with confusion. "If anyone enters the room, shoot them on sight." Said Jack. "What are you going to do?" Mashisu asked with alarm. "What do you think?" Jack said in a dark rhetorical tone before going to leave the room. "I'm going with you." Kiriko said as she stood up. "Thanks Kiriko but this is personal. You stay here." Jack said before running out the room as Kiriko looked worried. Meanwhile Mashisu tried to figure out the strange earth gun and it went off in her hand, firing a round into the ceiling. "Ahh!" Mashsu yelled with shock and alarm.
As Jack made his way down the hall he pulled out his 454 Casull Ruger Super Redhawk revolver as he headed to go face Terrant. It didn't take long for Jack to encounter a group of three pirates who were decked out in battle armor. Jack quickly ducked around a corner before they saw him and as they got closer Jack popped out from around the corner, fanning the hammer on his revolver he quickly fired three shots with each round easily penetrating their thick armor.
Jack continued down the hall when he heard footsteps coming down a hall that he had just passed. Jack spun on his toes and flicked his wrist to the side as he fired another shot, blowing the pirates head clean off. Jack continued along his journey to find Tarant Shanks and ran into two more pirates that rounded the corner. Running head long Jack fired off two more shots, sending each pirate flying back as the bullets hit them square in the chest. Once at the end of the hall where he killed the last two pirates Jack stopped to reload and decide if he would take the left hall or the right hall.
His decision was soon made for him when he heard a voice from the left. "Are you the one they call Jack Giri?" Said the voice in a dark tone. Jack turned with surprise as he had just finished reloading to meet the owner of the voice. As he looked Jack saw a man with tanned skin, short silver hair and piercing grey eyes. As he looked into those eyes he could see that they were hungry with the lust of the kill and hate. "I am he. Are you the one they call Tarant Shanks?" Jack said in a powerful yet casual manner as he never broke eye contact.
"My answer is the same as yours." Tarant said with a chuckle. "I have heard great things about you. Pirate hunter, the dog of lady Seto. You have made quite the name for yourself." Tarant said with a hint of amusement. "I am just a man, the same as everybody else." Said Jack. "I am not interested in your false modesty. I'm only interested in killing you." Tarant said with a smirk as he raised his gun and aimed it at Jack's head. Jacks eyes sharpened as they became cold, dark, and deadly. "Yes! That is the look I was hoping for. You must be something else to have caught the attention of that whore lady Seto." Tarant spat with venom dripping from his wards.
Tarant slowly began to squeeze the trigger but before he could pull it all the way Jack shifted to the right as he flicked his revolver up and shot the gun from Tarant's hand. Tarant clutched his hand on instinct and as he looked up he saw Jack flying towards him a split second before his fist collided with his face, sending Tarant flying back and skidding across the floor as he landed.
Tarant clutched his face as he looked to see Jack slowly approaching him before stopping a little over a foot away. "I should kill you simply for what you said about lady Seto." Jack said coldly as his eyes were dark and held a look of death within them. Tarant began to laugh with insanity. "She really must be something special to you! Tell me Jack, did you fuck her?" Tarant taunted with venom. Jacks face did not change as he lifted his gun and fired a shot into Tarant's knee as it blew apart, splattering blood everywhere.
Tarant screamed in agony as Jack watched coldly without a hint of remorse. He fully intended to make him suffer. Jack watched him scream for a few more moments before firing a shot into his other knee. Tarant screamed louder as Jack simply watched as the blood drained from the tattered remains of his legs as it covered the floor.
Jack was about to fire another shot into Tarant's right shoulder when laser blasts came zooming by his head. Jack looked to see a small army coming to Tarant's rescue. Jack returned fire as he retreated back behind the wall. Along the way he took a few hits but his suit created a force field that deflected the shots. Once behind the wall Jack reloaded and returned fire as two men began to drag Tarant away. "This isn't over Jack! I will get you and that Bitch Seto!" Tarant yelled with an intense hatred as he was dragged to safety.
Jack had managed to take down a few but they had gotten away. Jack sighed as he went to pull out his sapphire sphere to call Kiriko to see if they were ok but it seemed that the sphere had somehow took a blast and was heavily damaged as black smoke rolled off of it. Jack sighed before holstering his revolver and placing the ruined sphere back into his pocket.
Jack made his way back to the bridge where he nearly got his head blown off by Mashisu as he entered but he was quick enough to duck out the way as the bullet shot passed the side of his head. "Sorry sir!" Mashisu exclaimed as she saluted him while trying to hide the gun behind her back. Her face held a look of fear and guilt like she knew she was about to get thrown out the air lock for that little mistake.
Jack didn't care and simply looked down at the dead bodies on the floor. It looked like they took out five pirates who tried to enter the bridge. Jack didn't say anything as he went to sit in his command chair but he was proud of them. Mashisu watched Jack with confused surprise at the fact he didn't go off on her for nearly killing him. Kiriko also watched but her face held a look of concern.
Mashisu slowly walked over to Jack as she held the gun out to give back to him. "Here…" Masisu said quietly as she looked away, trying not to look guilty. "Keep it. You will need it more than me." Jack said with an exhausted smirk as he looked up at her. Mashisu looked surprised before looking at the gun. "So did you find Tarant?" Asked Mashisu. "I did." Said Jack with a slight nod. "What happened?" Kiriko asked with concern. "I wounded him but he got away." Jack said sounding tired. "Are you alright? Maybe you should go lay down." Kiriko said with concern. "No I'll be fine." Jack assured her with a weak smile.
Both girls looked at each other than Back to Jack. "Why do I feel like there is more to the story?" Mashisu asked sounding a bit like a suspicious mother. Jack reached into his pocket and pulled out his ruined sapphire sphere. "My sphere got ruined in the fight. I hope our coms are working or we won't have any way to call for help." Jack said casually as he could. Mashisu went to her controls to check as she set the gun down at her station. "Shit! Their down!" Mashisu exclaimed as she slammed her fist down on her controls. "We will be alright." Jack assured them as he leaned back in his seat to rest. Kiriko and Mashisu looked at each other with a look of uncertainty.
As things calmed down the group continued along their journey and Jack sat thinking. Thinking about what had just happened, what he had done and what made Ryoko different from Tarant. Jack realized that he had acted in anger and went a bit far by torturing Tarant rather than just killing him, though Jack did not feel guilty. In truth he took delight in what he had done. And while he wanted to feel guilty for what he did he did not for he felt Tarant was an evil man who needed to be punished and that was why he took such delight in what he had done. Jack then remembered Ryoko and that she had done many evil things as well. This made him wonder if he would have been so willing to do to her as he had done to Tarant. Jack realized that at the time when he had found out about her people hunting operation he probably would have. But even still at that time there was something different in her eyes. Her eyes seemed to lack the pure evil hatred of Tarants. Jack also knew something else about Ryoko, that she felt remorse for what she had done. Tarant didn't. In short Jack found that Ryoko was redeemable while as of now Tarant was not.
"I'll be in my room if you need me." Jack said as he got out his chair. Little did he know that Kiriko was watching the security footage of his encounter with Tarant. As Jack stood up Kiriko watched him with concerned sadness as many things went through her head, too many to comprehend at the moment. She was hurt that her dear friend was capable of such cruelty.
Just as Jack turned to leave they came upon the wreckage of a large ship. "Captain wait!" Called Masisu. As Jack turned he saw the wreckage of the large ship. The ship resembled that of a luxury cruise liner rather than any sort of military vessel. "What is that?" Asked Jack. Masisu than began to work at her controls for a moment before responding. "The ship is called Heaven's star. It is a cruise ship for the wealthy. Think of it as a luxury hotel and casino traveling through space." Said Mashisu as she turned to him. "The name sounds kind of blasphemous, but I understand the concept, we have similar things back on earth except they travel on water." Jack said casually. "It appears to have been attacked by pirates." Commented Kiriko.
As they got closer they could see hundreds maybe even thousands of dead bodies floating amongst the wreckage. Both Kirko and Mashisu looked disturbed while Jack just looked on calmly. "Who could do such a thing?" Kiriko asked with appalled sadness. "Evil hearts Kiriko. Evil hearts." Jack said casually with an under tone of bitterness.
"What do we do captain?" Asked Masisu. "Let's head on board and search for any survivors. Maybe we can also find some supplies." Said Jack. "Yes captain." Said Mashisu as she prepared the ship to dock.
They flew their ship into the wreckage and set it down inside somewhere inside what used to be the larger Ship's cargo hold. "I'm picking up signs of life on level 13." Said Kiriko as she looked at her readouts. "Prepare anything we may need." Said Jack.
Jack and Mashisu waited for Kiriko by their ship's main entrance while Mashisu explained something to him. "Being as you are from a technologically inferior planet you are probably not aware that you won't be needing any sort of a space suit. Thanks to your nano machines it is possible to survive in an atmosphere with no oxygen. For a short time at least." Mashisu informed him. "Normally I would make some kind of comeback about you calling my planet inferior but since you put it like that…" Jack replied with just a small hint of indignant sarcasm. Masisu just chuckled.
Just then Kiriko arrived with a stretcher, which looked like a hovering metal table with some padding which was curved to cradle the shape of a human body. She wasn't pushing it, instead it was fallowing her around. Jack assumed it was some form of a robot since it could hover and fallow someone around on its own. "Ready to go?" Asked Jack. "Ready." Kiriko said with a nod.
The group of three set off as Mashisu lead, Jack was in the middle and Kiriko was in the back. It was dark and hard to see. Masisu pulled a small grey ball from her pocket and tossed it into the air as it began to float, illuminating a bright light. The cargo hold was mostly empty with the exception of a bit of floating debris.
Jack was amazed by the small device but he had something else on his mind at the moment. "So explain to me why we are able to walk around freely without floating away. Considering we are technically in the vast of space since we are in the middle of the torn apart cargo hold." Jack asked. "The nano machines create a small gravitational field when our bodies are near objects. This allows us to stand on an object or surface even when in zero gravity. It also helps the user to run up walls. Not that you can just go standing on walls and ceilings, so don't even try it. Wouldn't want you to get hurt." Said Mashisu as she said the last part in a tone that Jack couldn't tell if she was being sarcastic or if she was begrudgingly admitting that she actually didn't want to see him get hurt. Jack supposed it was the latter since earlier she seemed upset when he said that he wouldn't eat the rest of the trip.
The trio soon came to a large electronic sliding door which was locked due to the fact that the ship had no electricity. Jack looked up as he examined the size of the door as he wondered how they would get passed it. He was then startled by the sounds of crunching metal and looked to see as Mashisu forced her fingers into the crack where the two halves of the sliding door met and began to force it open with nothing but her hands. Jacks eyes widened at her strength but then he remembered that the enhancement gave people super strength so that would also mean that he would be able to do that once his body had become fully adjusted to the enhancement.
Once the door was open they walked into the ship as Mashisu lead the way. "We will have to be quick about this, we can survive in zero gravity for a little while but not forever." Said Mashisu. "So how long exactly do we got?" Jack asked as he raised an eyebrow at her. "About 30 minutes." Mashisu said as she glanced back over her shoulder at him. Meanwhile Kiriko fallowed them as she was feeling a little jealous and left out as she watched Jack talk with Mashisu but she told herself that she had to get over her jealousy issue. As they continued Kiriko remembered the video of Jack shooting Tarant and the cold look in his eyes and remembered that she would have to have a talk with him later.
As they made their way through the abandoned ship it reminded Jack and kiriko of those underground catacombs where Ryoko had her people hunting operation as there was blood and dead bodies everywhere. Kiriko was highly disturbed by the scene as she gagged a few times at the sight and smell. Mashisu was also disturbed but she appeared more visibly angered while Jack seemed uncaring.
"You know you can go back if you can't handle it. Me and the captain can take care of things ourselves." Mashisu said as she looked back at Kiriko as she gagged. Kiriko gritted her teeth as she turned to glare at Mashisu. "I can handle it just fine!" Kiriko said defiantly. "Well good, wouldn't want to have to leave you behind." Mashisu said with heavy sarcasm and a devious smirk as she glanced back at Kiriko. "Here is an idea, how about you two go find the survivor while I go look for supplies." Jack said sounding bored as he began to walk off by himself. "Wait! What if you get lost?" Mashisu shouted with irritation and an undertone of concern. "I'll be fine Mashisu." Jack said dismissively before disappearing into the darkness. "Stupid man." Mashisu grumbled to herself as she gritted her teeth.
Jack went off by himself and as he walked he thought about how again Mashisu seemed concerned about his wellbeing. She was a strange one indeed. Maybe she simply had the need to feel dominate. Or maybe it was all a type of behavior she adopted to hide from the pain inflicted upon her in her life. Either way she seemed to care what happened to him and he would be sure to figure her out some day.
As Jack walked into the darkness he didn't need a light, due to his military training he was able to make his way around in the dark fairly well. After a bit of walking he eventually found the kitchen. It looked like a normal large restaurant type kitchen. Unlike what he had seen of the rest of the ship thus far there were no dead bodies and it was blood free. It was totally abandoned and just screamed ghost ship. As he began to walk around the kitchen he heard a banging noise coming from inside the freezer. Considering Kiriko had said she had only picked up signs of life in the one area of the ship Jack pulled out his revolver as he cautiously approached the large freezer door.
As he opened the door something jumped out at him. Jack rolled back as he fell onto the ground, causing the creature to jump over top of him. As Jack hit the ground her rolled back onto his feet and turned around to face the nasty snarling beast. The monster looked like a giant slimy pink warm about the size of a large dog with four long bony legs, three clawed feet, massive sharp teeth and a long tongue. The creature went to lunge at Jack again but Jack began firing shots into it causing it to let out a high pitch scream. Despite the fact it still tried to come at Jack and it took three shots to take it down.
Once the beast was down Jack examined it and found that its blood appeared to be black as he stuck his fingers into it, though it was hard to tell in the darkness. Either way its blood smelled like rotting flesh. "Hmm… Must be a creature that feasts on death." Jack thought out loud as he flicked the blood from his gloved fingers and stood back up.
Jack than returned to his task of searching for food as he entered the freezer. He found a badly mutilated dead body that the creature had been feasting on but he also found what he had been looking for, crates upon crates of food.
Meanwhile Mashisu and Kiriko had reached their destination. As they entered the large room it appeared to be a large ball room for dancing and fancy parties. Like the rest of the ship the room was littered with bodies and blood except this room was much worse with so many bodies one could not even see the floor.
Again Kiriko wanted to puke but she steeled her nerves knowing that present company would not let her get away with such a thing and would ridicule her for such weakness. Said company of Mashisu was even more disturbed and angered by what she saw but she didn't show her angered face to Kiriko. "Let's just get what we came for and get out of here." Mashisu said with a hint of disgust as she glanced back at kiriko. Kiriko nodded as Mashisu pressed a button on the watch she was wearing and the floating orb that acted as a floating flashlight flew off and began scanning for signs of life.
After a few minutes of searching the orb began beeping a frantic sounding noise and flashing a blue light, indicating that it found its objective . Kiriko and Mashisu walked over and amongst the pile of bodies was a young boy who appeared to be around 10 years old. He was unconscious and had a bit of blood on him from laying amongst the bodies but other than that he was alright. "Help me get him on the stretcher." Said Mashisu as she bent down to grab his upper half while Kiriko bent down and grabbed onto his legs.
Just as they got the boy on the stretcher they heard the sound of something moving amongst the bodies and sounds of the tearing and crunching of bone and flesh. Turning they saw two of those same creatures that Jack fought just a few moments ago. "Shit! Death warms! Run!" Exclaimed Mashisu as they both took off running with the boy in tow was the hovering stretcher fallowed them.
A few short moments later on the way back to their ship they ran passed Jack who was carrying a few wooden crates filed with food. Jack looked in surprised as he watched Kiriko and Mashisu running away screaming. "Run!" Exclaimed Kiriko. "Wait! Don't you idiots have guns!?" Jack shouted with irritation. Upon being reminded that they had guns Kiriko and Mashisu came to a stop and puled there weapons as they turned and opened fire. It took all the ammo they had but they were eventually able to stop the charging beasts.
Once the monsters were down both girls had the decency to look embarrassed at their blunder. Jack simply sighed. In truth he had expected as much from Kiriko but he had hoped better of Mashisu. It was looking like that dominant tough girl act was just that, an act. "Well you took them down. You had to be reminded not to be cowards but you did it." Jack said dryly. "Hey give me a brake it's been a while sense I seen combat! I had a cushy place on a ship where nothing ever happens!" Mashisu exclaimed defensively while Kiriko continued to look away embarrassed.
"Wait, how did you find those in the dark?" Asked Kiriko as she noticed Jack was holding a few crates. "Military training. I can't see perfectly in the dark but I can see better than most people." Said Jack. Mashisu said nothing as she stood with a hand on her hip and her gun in the other as she looked away but she wondered if earth was really as inferior as everyone said. "Anyways let's get out of here." Mashisu said sounding quite bored as she did her best to appear as though she had regained her composure. "Well than hold these. I'm still weak from my enhancement." Jack said sarcastically with a devious smile as he handed the crates to Mashisu. It was true his body still ached but he had stopped wearing that girdle about a day or so ago.
Mashsiu just grumbled to herself as Jack and Kiriko walked off without her before fallowing them back to their ship. As Jack fallowed Kiriko back to the ship he glanced down at the kid on the stretcher and couldn't help but feel something was wrong.
After returning to their ship Jack and Kiriko went back out to get a few more crates of food. As they carried a few more crates back each, Kiriko turned to Jack with a face of despair. "Jack can I ask you about something?" Kiriko asked sounding quite sad. "Sure Kiriko, what's wrong?" Jack asked with concern. "Well it's just that… Well I watched to footage of your encounter with Tarant Shanks…" Kiriko said sadly as she looked away, unable to look at her friend. "Kiriko please just say what you have to say." Jack said with compassion. He knew what was on her mind but he wanted her to be able to say what she had to say freely instead of always being so timid.
Kiriko's face turned sadder and slightly painful. "I didn't think you could be so cruel Jack. It pained me to see you do that… You had no remorse or compassion…" Kiriko said sadly as she looked down. "Kiriko I already told you that I'm not like you... I can be an extremely cruel individual. That I will admit freely. But the truth is that people like him need to be punished." Jack said unapologetically though he felt bad for scaring Kiriko.
"And what about Ryoko? Does she need to be punished as well? Or maybe you don't have what it takes to punish her because she is a woman?" Kairiko asked in a strong accusing tone. Jack glanced over at her with a raised eyebrow. "If I don't have what it takes because she is a woman than does that not mean that I am not as bad as you are accusing me?" Asked Jack. Kiriko looked away again in embarrassment and shame, unsure of where that came from. "I'm sorry… I didn't mean…" Kiriko stammered out. "It is ok Kiriko, there is no need to explain yourself my dear friend." Said Jack.
Kirkio looked at him with surprise as she heard him call her his dear friend but it had warmed her heart none the less. "I had wondered that question myself, and I came to one conclusion. That there is a difference as of right now between the two. Ryoko shows remorse for her sins. That means that there is hope for her." Said Jack. "And Terrant? You said 'as of now', does that mean there is hope for him? "Kiriko asked curiously. "…There is hope for everyone Kiriko." Said Jack.
Kiriko was intrigued by this statement but was unable to inquire further as they had reached their ship. On the ship Mashisu was attending to the little boy in the med bay while Jack and Kiriko were dropping off the crates of food in the Kitchen. After that they went to go check on her and the child.
Mashisu looked back as she watched Jack and Kiriko enter before returning to the task of whipping the dried blood from the boy's face. "How is he?" Asked Jack. He is stable. Still hasn't woken up yet, as you can see." Said Mashisu. Jack noticed that Mashisu tried to appear unhappy about her task but also noticed that she seemed to take great care in it. Again it was probably just part of her hard act that she put on.
Just than the boy woke up and began to cry as he wrapped his arms around Mashisu's neck. She looked surprised at first but then gladly returned the hug. "There there, your safe now." Mashisu said in a warm and comforting voice which surprised both Jack and Kiriko as it was totally against the nature that she had showed them.
Just then the kid turned to look at Jack with cold dead eyes. As he looked into the eyes of the child he knew that his earlier bad feeling was correct. Jack walked over and grabbed ahold of the child, tearing it from Mashisu's grasp as he forced the kid down on the bed, all while drawling his revolver from its chest mounted holster. The other occupants in the room were too shocked by what they were seeing to even attempt to stop him. The child began to cry as Jack pressed the barrel of the revolver against his head. Jack than pulled the trigger as a loud shot was fired.
Mashisu sat there stunned for a moment before her face twisted with rage. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?" Mashisu roared as she shot up, about to grab Jack by his throat till she noticed that he was pointing at something. Mashisu stopped and looked to see that while there was some blood from the killing of what was believed to be a child there was something much more prevalent. Inside the skull of the child was a mix of brain mixed with wires and electronics. Mashisu looked in horror at what she saw and watched as smoke rolled out of the open skull.
"I'm sorry Mashisu, he might of once been a child, but now he is just a machine." Jack said sadly with sympathy as he placed a hand on her shoulder and looked into her eyes. "It's one of those things that we saw them making…" Kiriko said in a cold distant voice, referring to when they had stumbled onto Ryoko's people hunting operation.
Mashisu looked from the body to Jack with a look that told that her blood was cold as ice before it twisted in anger once again. Mashisu smacked Jack's hand from her shoulder before storming out of the room. Jack and Kiriko watched her leave as they looked at her with sympathy.
Once Mashisu had gone Jack turned to Kiriko. "How did you know?" Asked Kiriko. "Two reasons. The first is that every living person has a soul, and that is something that you can sense once you know how. It's a presence you can feel, and I could not sense the boy's presence. Second is when he looked at me his eyes were cold and dead. They had no life in them." Jack said somewhat distantly. "Oh…" Kiriko said with sad awe.
"Anyways we need to get rid of the body. Probably has some sort of a tracking device in it." Jack said as he looked back at the body that was laying on the bed. Kiriko nodded before they set out the task of throwing the body out the air lock.
Meanwhile Mashisu went to her room and went into the bathroom to wash her face. Once finished she dried her face and looked in the mirror as she examined the scarred side of her face. After a moment she gently began run her fingertips across the damaged skin. It was truly a face she hated and she despised herself because of it. A hideous monster. She knew that she wasn't the friendliest person but for the first time in a very long time that she couldn't even recall she felt wanted when that child… Machine, hugged her. Taking one last look at her face she gripped the edges of the sink as she began to cry quietly to herself as she hung her head in pain.
Once the body had been thrown out the air lock Jack turned to face Kiriko. She had handled the situation quite well but he knew that she must be disturbed. "I'm… I'm sorry you had to see that Kiriko… I know you must think I'm a monster…" Jack said in a sad distant voice as he looked away. "No… I… I understand. You had to act fast and any attempt to warn us could have given it time to attack. And… I'm sorry for accusing you of cruelty when it came to Shanks." Kiriko said in the same tone as she held her hands in front of her as she also looked away.
"Kiriko… I won't deny that I of myself am a monster. I know that there is no good in me that doesn't come from god." Jack said as he turned back to her. Kiriko looked up at Jack with curiosity as she looked into his eyes but before she could figure out what to say Jack turned and walked away, leaving Kiriko alone with her thoughts.
Not long after the crew set back out for Jurai before having dinner. The dinner table was silent but not awkward between two members of the crew but it was clear that something was even more off than usual with a certain spiky hair blonde member of the crew. Kiriko did not say anything to her as she really didn't like Mashsisu and Jack did not say anything to her either. Not because he didn't like her or that he didn't care but because he knew that directly asking someone like Mashisu what was wrong just wasn't how you handled the situation. After dinner the crew went their separate ways to go do whatever it was that they were going to do.
It was late as Mashizu stepped onto the bridge, for she could not sleep . As she did she saw that it was dark and Jack wasn't sitting in the captain's chair but was sitting in a chair up at the front of the bridge as he leaned back in the chair with his feet up on the control board and was smoking on a large cigar as he read his bible that sat in his lap. As she got closer she could hear the song "Same kind of crazy as me" by Cody Jinks playing on a small speaker in the control board. She did not know the song and assumed it was a song from his home world.
"What are you doing?" Mashisu asked in a monotone voice. "Reading my bible." Jack said in a low voice after letting out a breath of smoke, not even turning his eyes upon her. "I didn't realize you were religious." Mashizu said casually. "Religion is for losers, relation is for followers of Christ." Jack said before taking another puff of his cigar. "Is that so?" Mashisu asked in a lot almost disbelieving and defiant tone as she blinked a few times as she examined him.
Jack than turned his chair to face her. "I'm sorry about earlier Mashisu." Jack said honestly. "Its fine." Mashisu said sismissively as she blinked a few times. "Tell me Mashizu, are you afraid?" Jack asked in a low tone as he let out a breath of smoke as he looked at her. "No." Mashisu said as calmly as she could but Jack picked up on a slight crackle in her voice that indicated that she was lying. Jack examined her for a moment before blinking slowly a few times then turning away from her as he took another drag of his cigar. "I can tell when people are lying to me Mashisu. It is ok that you are afraid. Not only of death but by whatever else it is that haunts you." Jack said in a low and compassionate voice. Upon being called out Mashisu went rigid as a board.
"I do not fear death, for I know that there is no true death. It is funny, people have always searched for immortality, and though the society that which we live in has come so close, it still fears death. But it has always been in vain, for we have always had immortality, just not in this life." Jack said in a soft and wonder filled voice as he examined his hand.
"What are you talking about? You sound like some crazy cult member." Mashisu questioned in a dark tone. "Christianity without the holy spirit is indeed just another cult, as is every other religion. "Holy spirit? What are you babbling on about?" Mashisu questioned.
Jack than tuned to look back at Mashisu. "The holy spirit is the part of god that is all around us, the part that you can feel." Said Jack as he looked deep into her eyes. His gaze was strong and powerful and yet, somehow not intimidating, even calming. Mashisu paused for a moment as she looked at him, finding herself somewhat intrigued as well as a little lost in his eyes. "…You said that we already have immortality." Mashisu said in a somewhat curious and soft tone as she looked away for a moment.
"When we die we don't simply cease to exist. We have souls that will exist for all eternity, either in heaven or hell." Said Jack. "And what dictates weather we go to heaven or hell?" Asked Mashisu in a humoring tone. She really didn't think she believed anything that he was saying but she found herself intrigued none the less. Jack simply looked at her for a moment as he took another drag of his cigar before responding. "Weather you know god or not. If you have accepted him into your soul as your lord and savior." Jack said as he stared deeply into her eyes. As he looked into her eyes they were not filled with any anger or hate, not even their usual coldness. Or at least, there was no hate or anger directed at him. But still he could tell there was bitterness and pain deep within her heart.
Mashisu scoffed. "And you believe all of this?" Mashisu asked in a somewhat ridiculing tone as she placed a hand on her hip. "Every, single, ward." Jack said as he narrowed his eyes with a powerful gaze. "Whatever… I'm out of here." Mashisu said before turning around and beginning to walk out but was soon stopped when Jack started speaking again.
"Mashisu, before you go, I just want you to know that I wish not to force anything upon you. You are free to believe what you will. And I will not judge you regardless. And I do not wish for us to be enemies, for I have nothing against you. And though we may not get along I still see you as a valued member of my crew and would like it to stay that way." Jack said in a strong worm voice.
Mashisu froze as she listened to what he had to say. And even though she would not let it show, it warmed her heart. No one had ever said such kind things to her before or had been so accepting. "Thank you sir." Mashisu said in a strong and sincere voce before walking out. Jack watched her leave from the corner of his eye before going back to his cigar and bible. He thought he saw a tear roll out the corner of her eye and down her cheek in the dim light as she made her way out but he couldn't say for sure.