Same disclaimer as before. I don't own the characters or likenesses. No affiliation with the WWE/F.

Lita chased after Regal as he walked down the hall away from the crew. "What the fuck do you mean the inspection starts at eight?"

"Well, I don't see why we should let this little inconvenience stop our business," Regal confessed with no change to his voice.

Lita growled. "Regal, you asshole, do you understand what you are asking my crew to do? You are asking them to shrug off a huge loss so you can poke and prod at us!"

Regal turned on her. "Captain Dumas, I see no need to postpone this evaluation. I'll begin by examining the medical facilities, then a basic tour of the ship, and finally a run through of a code red emergency."

"Code RED?" Lita asked. "You mean what they just went through tonight? You can't just use what they did tonight and just fire my ass for gross incompetence?"

Lita was suddenly aware that the crew was standing behind her in support.

Regal cleared his throat. "I can't do that because I would be required to count the entire day. And that would require me to court marshal your entire crew for an incident involving Miss Jacqueline burning my head with a cigar and kneeing me in my genitals which your crew did nothing to prevent."

Lita turned to Jackie. "You did that?"

Jackie nodded.

Lita turned to the rest of the crew. "And you just let her?"

They all nodded as well.

"Good job," Lita said. Then, to Regal "You can't make an exception? Just this once?"

Regal looked appalled. "Young lady, if I make an exception for you I am going against my code of ethics. You'll just have to move on with your lives."

"I agree," Stephanie moved away from Lita's crew to join Regal. "There's no need to let this interfere with anything."

Tori's mouth fell open. "What in the hell? Chris dies and you're supporting REGAL?"

Stephanie nodded. "I happen to agree with the Commissioner." She approached Lita and whispered into her ear, "It should have been you out there." Then she turned and walked away.

Eight AM came too soon for the crew. Lita arrived on the bridge to address the others, minus Trish.

"Last night, we lost a dear friend and a powerful captain. Christopher Jericho was taken from us abruptly. And, as upset as we are, I can't do anything to postpone the inspection. I'm planning a eulogy for the day after tomorrow. Until then we just have to go on with our lives. There's nothing I can do."

"There's something I can do!" Jackie threatened, beginning to stand up.

Lita held out her hands in a "stop" gesture. "Jackie, don't make things worse for us right now. We just get through this and we're okay."

Jackie paused, then sat back down.

"Now, just go along with whatever Regal says. I know he's an asshole, but he's an asshole who decides our futures right now."

Everyone nodded solemnly. "Where is he right now?" Edge asked.

"Inspecting the medical facilities. I want everyone back here at eleven for the inspection, no exceptions. We have to get him out of here as quickly as possible. Now, go do whatever you have to do," she said.

As the crew began to leave, Edge lingered a bit. "Lita, can I talk to you?"

Lita nodded, "Let's go to my room."

Once the two were back in Lita's quarters, she let the façade she was keeping up fade a bit.

"Lita…last night…I just…"

"I understand Edge," Lita assured him. "I get it. You're upset, I can understand."

"If I had just fired off one more round during the Spiral…" he pounded his fist against the wall.

"You'd be dead. Edge," Lita told him. "You can't blame yourself, you had nothing to do with his death. The fact remains that he flew for me, so I should be the one who died."

"DON'T SAY THAT!" Edge yelled at her. "Don't say that." He placed his hands on her shoulders. "You can't even suggest something like that."

"I'm not suggesting it," Lita said, not seeming to accept the touch but not pulling away either. "It's the truth Edge. I should have flown, not him."

Edge pulled her closer to him. "No. No, that's not true. You shouldn't feel like that. He made his choice to fly. I was out there, I should've had his back." Edge then got a bit bolder and wrapped his arms around her back, holding her tightly.

"Edge…this isn't right," Lita whispered. "Not this, not now."

"Then pull away," he told her. "Tell me to let go."

"I…I," Lita stammered. "I don't want to. Why are you doing this?"

Edge's breath was hot on her skin. "I can't help it. It…it…"

"It just feels right," Lita stammered as tears began to fall down her cheeks once more.

The two were so unaware of the rest of the world that they didn't even hear the door slide open. Nor did they hear Matt's shocked gasp as he saw them embracing, Edge running his hand across her back.

Matt growled deep in his throat before leaving them alone again.

Stephanie stood in Chris's old room, the open bottle of Don Perignon clenched in her fist. She took another deep swig from it and wiped the steady stream of tears from her face. It should have been that bitch! She should have been out there! She should have…should've….

"FUCK!" Steph yelled as loudly as she could. "Fuck it all!"

She heard a voice outside her door. "Steph? It's…Shane…Hurricane?"

"Go away, I don't wanna talk to anyone."

"Stephanie, please just let me talk to you. Look, Jackie once gave me a great bit of advice, don't drink to forget, drink to remember."

Stephanie glared angrily at the door. "I'm not drinking!"

"Of course not, you're just holding that half empty bottle of champagne for no real reason."

Stephanie looked over towards the door. "Grant access to Shane Helms."

Shane entered the room and looked at her. Her hair was disheveled, and her eye makeup was completely gone from her crying jag. She was sprawled on the couch and looked as if she'd been wasted for a very, very long time.

"Stephanie, you look awful."

Her look was sarcastic. "How am I supposed to look? I lost the man I was in love with last night. Forever, because some bitch decided she didn't wanna risk her life."

Shane shook his head. "Stephanie, Chris told her not to fly for the safety of the entire team."

"I don't care," Steph snapped. "She should have died. Why didn't she stop him?"

"It's hard to stop Chris when he decides to do something. Lita didn't want him to do the LionSault, not even Jeff'll attempt that one."

"Chris is still dead," Stephanie argued through clenched teeth.

Shane sat down beside her and tried to ease the champagne from her grip. "Well, this isn't going to bring him back. You still have a job to do."

Steph held on tighter to the bottle. "Go to hell, Helms."

Hurricane sighed. "That isn't the solution Stephanie, and you know it."

Stephanie finally released the bottle and fell into Shane's arms. She cried violently, heaving and gasping. She swore anytime she got the chance, burying herself deeper into Hurricane's shoulder.

Rob Van Dam found himself in the fitness room, beating mercilessly on a punching bag. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. His thoughts were in sync with his beating on the bag.

"What the hell's your problem?" Rob didn't even stop when he heard Austin's voice behind him. "You act like it's some big deal It was just Jericho and we all know he was a moron."

Rob still didn't turn around.

"Will you look at me when I talk to you son?"

Rob finally turned around. "Let me alone Austin. There was a time I looked up to you. Now, you're just a…you're just an ass-clown."

He returned to his bag, once more beating it to death.

"And this," Trish told Regal, "is our sick bay. We keep the injured here when they need special attention."

"Thank you very much Miss Stratus. Everything here seems to be in working order."

"I try Commissioner."

"And you do an excellent job." Regal checked another box off on his list before turning to Shane. "Where are we headed next?"

"The hangar. We're supposed to inspect the condition of the ships."

Regal reached up and felt the burn mark still on his forehead. "I think we'll just pass them on that. I trust Miss Jacqueline is a competent mechanic."

Shane shrugged his shoulders. "Whatever you say."

As they were leaving, Tori entered the room. "Trish, I need you to look at something. My shoulder got jarred again when I took that big hit. I just need you to check on it."

Trish approached the taller woman and cautiously placed her hands on the shoulder. "Roll it."

Tori obeyed. Trish moved so she was standing facing Tori's right side. "Roll it."

Tori did.

Trish moved around to Tori's back. "Roll it."

Tori winced. "I can't."

"Can you move it at all?"

"Well, let me try…" Tori slowly raised her arm, then shot her elbow back, nailing Trish in the face.

"What the FUCK?" Trish yelled.

"I saw you thrusting your tits out at Regal. We are less than twenty- four hours removed from the loss of our captain in battle, and you're in here prancing around for those two ASSHOLES!"

Trish rubbed her nose. "Well, you didn't have to hit me so hard!"

"Trish, with how hard your head is, I had to. I wanted to make sure you got the message." Tori tossed at her before leaving.

Later that day, Regal approached Lita. "Well, Captain, it appears that your ship is in working order, and your crew is very…"

"Talented?" Lita suggested.

"In a way…yes…" Regal gave in. "We have only to run through that code red situation and you all pass."

Lita stared him down. "Are you sure you won't give us three days to put this behind us? We're less than twenty-four hours removed from this."

"Captain Dumas, you misunderstand. I'm not testing your crew."

Lita smiled. "You mean?"

"Yes, Captain. This test is purely for you. We run you through a simulated code red and see what happens."

Lita's face fell. "Oh, alright. Well, I guess we should…start…"

Finding herself in front of the simulator screen once more, Lita tried not to hyperventilate. "I'm ready."

Regal smiled at her. Behind him, Rob was shooting her a thumbs-up, Jackie was flipping Regal off while he couldn't see it, and Jeff had the guns by his head. Lita nodded, smiled, and tried to convince herself she was really as ready as she claimed to be.

"Now, we just need someone to fly the sim…any volunteers?"

Matt stepped forward. "I'll do it. Since I can't fly anywhere else."

Regal gestured for Matt to step into the recreation of a cockpit. Matt did, and the door closed behind him.

Lita adjusted her earpiece. "Alright, let's get started. We have a code red situation, I want safety to be our top priority out there."

"Roger that," Matt responded. The ship on the screen took off and Lita crossed her fingers.

"X-Treme One, be very careful. There's a major break in formation right in front, don't let them lead you too far in. Take advantage of it, but don't get cocky."

"Read you Red," Matt took the ship into the approaching horde.

"Okay, I don't wanna try a Twist of Fate right now…too risky. Is there anyway to risk a one man Poetry in Motion?"

There was a second of silence. "I think I see a way. If I have enough room I should be alright."

Lita looked over the positions on the screen. "Slowly X-Treme One. Don't let them know what you're doing."

Matt positioned himself carefully, and Lita's heart jumped when she realized it was going to work. The ship was just about to enter firing range when she heard Matt's frantic voice.

"Too many…I can't… Red I can't! Malfunction! Malfunction!"

"Matt!" Lita yelled. "Get the fuck out of there!"

"I can't. No steering…Oh God, Lita!"

The ship on screen exploded.

Lita fell to her kneed, head in her hands. "Noooo…" She slowly began rocking back and forth. "No…"

Matt exited the sim and looked at her. "What happened?"

"I…I…screwed up again." Lita said in an almost monotone voice.

"Oh Red…" Matt sighed. "Maybe…maybe you're just not right for the job." With this he looked at Edge. "Even if it just feels right."

Edge looked like he was about to jump Matt right there and then and rip his head off. Rob grabbed his shoulder and held him in place.

Matt looked at Regal. "It's been so traumatic with her lately."

Regal nodded. "I understand Matthew, and I could take that into consideration."

Lita stood up, slowly. "Thank you."

"I said I could. But I won't. It's not fair, you understand?"

Jeff's voice broke the silence. "What are you saying?"

"I am saying that with my authority, I hereby relieve Lita Dumas of her duties as Captain of this vessel. I also order her to return the main base to be tried for gross incompetence leading to the death of a superior officer."

Jaws dropped all around the room. Hurricane and Stephanie, who had just entered the room, looked at the shock on the faces of the crew. Stephanie looked at Lita's crushed face and wanted to think "Good. Bitch got what she deserved."

But she just couldn't.

The shock on Lita's face finally gave way to anger. She growled and jumped at Matt. "YOU SET ME UP FOR THIS! YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

Austin wrapped his arm around her waist and held her back. "She's violent. Dangerous. I think she needs to be contained."

"Lock her in Jericho's old quarters," Shane instructed. "She'll come back with us tomorrow."

As she was being led off, Lita locked eyes with Stephanie. Finally she simply said, "You were right. It should have been me last night."

"What the hell is going on here?" Hunter demanded as he watched Austin drag Lita towards Jericho's quarters. He hadn't wanted to watch the inspection itself, he found it frankly boring. He was here to be the trophy husband.

Austin shrugged. "Kid's been relieved of her command. She went for Matt Hardy's throat and Regal ordered her contained.

"Contained?" Hunter asked.

"Matt set me up!" Lita yelled before Austin's hand covered her mouth. She bit down as hard as she could, causing Austin to let her go for a second.

She ran to Hunter and grabbed ahold of him. "They set me up to fail a test. Now I'm being tried for gross incompetence. You've gotta do something!" She screamed as Austin grabbed her, tighter than before. "HUNTER, PLEASE!"

Hunter watched Austin drag the girl off. Then he headed for Matt's room.

"So you understand Matt, what you did was necessary," Shane was explaining to the older Hardy. "When you told us about Lita's little infatuation with Edge…well, that was the last straw. Romance between captain and crew is always frowned upon out here."

Matt nodded in hesitant agreement. "What's going to happen to her?"

"She won't be in deep trouble. The case will never fly in court. She'll just be repositioned some where they can keep an eye on her."

"What about command of this ship?"

"Regal's going to run things until we decide that," Shane assured him. "Thank you so much for your help Matt. Couldn't have done it without you." He left Matt alone with his thoughts.

But before Matt could even begin to think, his brother entered the room. "Did you set her up? Were you that angry with her that you set her up?" Jeff demanded from his brother.

Matt nodded slowly.

"Then fuck you Matt," Jeff said before leaving him again.

Hoping to get some privacy, Matt ran his hand down over his eyes and groaned. He'd only done what had to be…

Before that thought could finish, Hunter was in his room and had him pinned to the wall. "WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO HER?"

Matt gasped for air in the older man's tight grip. "Shane asked me to help get her fired."

Hunter picked Matt clean up off the ground and slammed him into his small coffee table. "You listen to me. That kid was good. Now she's screwed all because you felt threatened."

"Like you've never done anything similar." Matt accused. "I seem to remember someone dumping Chyna right before she flew a level 19."

Hunter tightened his grip. "And you're saying I was right?"

"No," Matt answered, running on sheer adrenaline. "I'm saying that you're trying to substitute Lita for Chyna in order to not repeat your mistakes. And that in the process you've managed to become infatuated with the bitch. Well, she's a whore. She was sleeping with me, in all likelihood she was fucking Jericho, and now she's moved on to Edge. So you'd just be another in a long line of pretty boys she's used once and discarded."

Hunter let go of Matt's throat. "She didn't fuck Jericho. The only woman fucking Jericho was my wife."

"Why'd you let it happen?"

"I just didn't care enough about the marriage to stop it. It was a set up, the whole thing. We both knew it from the start. And now she's moved onto that Hurricane kid. I don't really know that it bothers me."

Matt took his chances at sitting up. "Lita grounded me. She kept me from flying. Then I find her in there with Edge…she'd moved on so quickly."

"Did you ever think Edge was consoling her over losing Jericho?"

"WHY DIDN'T SHE COME TO ME?" Matt demanded.

"Because from what I've seen and heard you've been an asshole to her because she did her job. Not the person she'd want to see in an emergency."

Hunter sighed and left the room. After a second, he stuck his head back in. "Oh and Matt, I'm not infatuated with her."

Matt just looked at him.

"I'm in love with her."

"Well, Commissioner, I can understand why you had to do that to Lita," Trish batted her eyelashes. "She's always seemed like a loose cannon to me."

Before Regal could comment, Tori burst into the sick bay again. "You wanna talk loose, let's talk loose. I've slept around in my day, granted. But never for power or prestige and never with someone as gross as the boys you've fucked."

"That's kind of strange to hear coming from X-Pac's former fuck toy!" Trish shot back, ignoring Regal and Shane.

"You don't get it, do you? This whole thing reeks of a set up! I mean, for all we know, these guys killed Jericho."

There was a long, uncomfortable pause.

Trish suddenly smiled. "And who do you think was the woman on the inside?"

Tori backed off in shock. "You're shitting me."

"Nope. I told them every little plan, every little conversation, EVERYTHING. And they promised me a cushy office job back at the main base."

"You killed Jericho?" Tori asked.

"Oh, heavens no," Regal inserted. "We simply sent him away for awhile. And you'll be joining him very soon."

Tori ran.

She heard footsteps come after her as she tried to get to Jericho's old room. She had to tell Lita…

Shane tackled her from behind, driving her right shoulder into the ground as he took her down. Tori screeched in pain, grabbing for her shoulder as Shane stood up again.

"Well, Dr. Stratus," Shane smirked, "looks like she'll need to be treated."

"That's gotta be painful, injuring that shoulder again," Trish gave an evil little smile. "I'd better give her something to knock her out."

Tori felt a needle enter the back of her neck, and then there was nothing.

"She said it herself," Stephanie told Hurricane. "She admitted it should have been her."

"Stephanie," Helms tried to steady his voice to reassure her.

"But, she said it. In all this I never thought that maybe, just maybe, she's been blaming herself for his death. I never even stopped to consider that she was beating herself up with guilt. I've been too busy feeling sorry for myself to realize that she's going through just as much as I am. And now with Matt betraying her, being locked up. I can't even…."

Shane stroked her hair. "It's going to be okay Steph," he whispered.

"But it won't. I could have stopped them from locking her up. I should have stopped them. She wasn't to blame. I am a horrible person."

"No you're not. You're just hurting."

"That's no excuse. No excuse at all…I'm horrible"

Hurricane reached down and tilted Stephanie's chin up so he could look into her eyes. " You are beautiful. And smart. And strong. Intriguing. I couldn't use enough words to describe you." He hesitated only a second before leaning in and kissing her.

To his surprise, she kissed back.

Maybe it was only because she needed someone that night. Maybe it was so she could for a few hours forget what had happened. Maybe she needed someone so she could pretend he was Jericho. But for whatever the reason, Stephanie McMahon Helmsley slept with Shane Helms that night.

Lita was sitting on Jericho's bed the next morning when she heard the door to his quarters slide open. She stood, hoping it was someone there to get her out.

Instead it was Matt.

"How are doing?" He asked.

"Is this my punishment Matt? Is this what I get for being better than you and for trying to protect the lives of the crew?"

"You got too good, Red."

"Don't call me Red ever again. What was the point in all of this? Did you prove what you wanted to, that you're the dominant one in our relationship?"

"You're not being fair,"

"I'M NOT BEING FAIR?" Lita finally exclaimed. "I'm not the one who punished you for a stupid reason! You almost killed Edge, that's why you were punished."

"And you did kill Jericho. That's why you're being punished."

Lita sat back down on the bed. "Leave now, before I have to add first degree murder to my list of charges."

Matt looked at her. "You're not in that much trouble. Shane says the case will never hold up in court, you'll just be reassigned."

"Matt, get out of here, now."

"Commissioner, can we talk?"

Regal recognized Jackie's voice and didn't even turn around for fear of what he'd see.

"Commissioner, the only I hate more than someone telling me not to drink and smoke is when someone doesn't listen to what I'm saying. So turn around and face me, or I'll MAKE YOU."

Regal turned, slowly. "Yes Miss Jacqueline?"

"Look, in the past two days I have put up with some serious shit. One captain is dead, the second one was set up by her boyfriend and is being held against her will. Now my best friend on this ship is missing and you're either gonna tell me where she is or I'm gonna give you an even better reason to court marshal me!"

"Your best friend?"

"Tori you stupid asshole."

"Haven't seen Miss Tori since she went to talk to Trish about a shoulder injury."

Jackie looked skeptical. "She voluntarily went to see Trish about an injury?"

"It was a very bad injury. Her shoulder I believe."

Jackie still looked unsure. "You're telling me, she went to a woman she didn't even trust enough to make cereal without burning it to treat a severely injured shoulder?"

"It must have been very sore."

An hour later, Jackie was outside Jericho's old quarters. "Listen Red, there's something going on here, and I don't like it. Only problem is, I can't get any proof from out here."

From the other side of the door, Lita whispered back to Jackie. "Not much I can do in here."

"What are you talking about? You have the main system access in there."

"I can't access it without Jericho's password."

"Well, it's Jericho. Think about it. I've gotta go."

Lita heard Jackie run away. When she was alone, she sat down at Chris's computer and turned it on. The password prompt appeared. "Here goes nothing."

LIONHEART

ACCESS DENIED. The words were accompanied by little dancing pictures of Jericho flipping her the bird.

"Dammit. This could take awhile."

"Matt?"

After having been abused enough in the past two days, Matt was ready to not answer Edge. Then, remembering that Edge could take a torture soul turn at any time and recalling the damage he'd done to his own brother Christian, he wisely decided to turn around. "Yes?"

"I can stand you almost killing me. I could put up with you acting like an asshole towards Lita. But this…this is just…"

"Look, I've heard it enough from everyone. Every single person on our crew is ready to kill me."

"Oh, I'm not ready to kill you Matt. Killing you wouldn't answer anything."

"Really? And sleeping with my girlfriend would?"

"WHAT?" Edge looked at Matt like he was some kind of moron. "I have never slept with Lita."

"But you would."

"Yes, I'd have to be blind, deaf and dumb to not wanna sleep with her. You have a sexy girlfriend, other guys wanting to sleep with her comes with the territory."

"I saw you with her the day after Jericho died. You were hugging her and rubbing her back."

"Because she's my friend and she just went through a very rough time. Between fighting with you and the inspection and losing Chris she was having a rough time. I wanted to console her. That's what friends do."

"Well, you're a very very good friend then."

Edge turned his head a bit, then smiled at Matt. "Matt, like I said, I'm not going to kill you." He suddenly grabbed Matt by the collar of his uniform. "I can do worse things if I keep you alive for them."

STEPHANIE.

ACCESS DENIED.

"Hunter?"

Hunter looked at Stephanie and knew something was going on. "There's something I have to admit to you."

"You slept with Jericho for…oh roughly two or three years, and now you're sleeping with the Helms kid."

Stephanie blinked. "Yes."

"I knew."

"Oh, okay then. I guess there's not really that much more to talk about."

"Yes there is."

DIRTY SLUT.

ACCESS DENIED.

ASS-CLOWN.

ACCESS DENIED.

Lita was about ready to give up figuring out Jericho's code. There were just too many possibilities…

DIRTY SKEEZY DISGUSTING BRUTAL BOTTOM FEEDING TRASH BAG HO.

CONNECTING.

Lita let out a loud "WHOOP!" as she watched the main interface appear on screen. Then, something caught her eye. A small icon with the word "RED" under it. She double clicked.

A video of Jericho appeared on the screen. "Red, if you're watching this right now, it means I'm gone. And if I haven't erased it yet…well, that means you've got your work cut out for you.

"For the past several months I've been getting ultimatums from the Alliance that if we don't join of our own free will, they'll make us join. I told them each time we'd fight them to the last, and each time they told me the same thing. So, I was aware that we were in danger out here. I also knew they had a plant, so I couldn't mention anything to you.

"Lita, I made you my second because I want you to keep us out of Heyman's Alliance. Shane, Regal, they both want us in. Steph's not involved, she's been alerting me of situations for months. But it stands that you have to watch the crew. I have confidence in you. If it looks like I'm dead, trust me, I'm very much alive, and they have me. Stop them Red, before it's too late."

The video stopped. Lita gasped at what had just been presented to her. She closed the video and opened the file of every security camera on board. She opened the files for the sick bay and started fast forwarding.

She watched and listened in horror as Trish, Shane, and Regal admitted everything to Tori. Lita began quickly opening and closing camera files, watching the chase.

When the tape ended, Lita ran for the door. "Open!" she ordered.

"Voice not recognized."

"Dammit! Regal removed my voice from the files!" Lita slumped against the door.

"Open," she heard from the outside.

"Limited Access. State name."

"Stephanie McMahon Helmsley."

Lita stood up and watched Stephanie enter the room. "Look, I don't like you much Lita, that's no secret. But no matter how long I keep blaming you for Jericho's death, it won't bring him back…"

"But," Lita tried to break in.

"Let me finish. Now, I just struck a deal to get you your ship back. If you want it. It may take some time."

"Steph, we don't have time. The Alliance has Jericho. Somehow they captured him when his ship was destroyed."

Stephanie looked at her. "Are you sure?"

"Come over here," Lita led her to the computer and replayed the fight in the sick bay.

Stephanie inhaled deeply. "That's it. We take down Regal. Now."

"That's right." Hunter answered from the doorway. Let's go."

The sirens in the building started going off wildly. "Code Red situation? Now?" Lita asked, looking at the flashing lights. She ran to Jericho's window and looked outside. "It's those guys from last night."

"Regal's after someone else," Stephanie observed. "He's going to take your whole crew." She gasped. "Oh God. Hurricane."

Lita spun around and headed back out the door, followed by Stephanie and Hunter.

"So, this arrangement you made," Lita started. "Why would you do this if you hate me?"

"I'm getting something out of it myself," Stephanie explained. "Hunter made me an offer I can't refuse."

"What are you getting?"

"If we live through this I'll explain."

Regal directed the crew to the hangar. "We're seriously short handed tonight, so I'll expect everyone to carefully follow my instructions. Good luck."

The crew headed for their ships, except for Matt. Regal looked at him, "Why aren't you flying? I've revoked your grounding!"

"I just…something feels wrong about this."

"Well, Mr. Hardy, you'll just have to make your decision of where your loyalties lie."

Matt still hung back and watched Regal leave the hangar.

"Hey, where the hell do you think you're going?" Austin asked as he obstructed the group's path on their way to the bridge.

Hunter sighed. "We're not letting the Alliance take over."

"And how the hell are you gonna do that?"

Hunter stood nose to nose with Austin. "Like this," he said as he head butted Austin. "Get to the bridge, NOW!" he yelled at Lita and Steph.

The two girls ran past the now fighting boys, heading straight for the bridge.

Tori groaned as she woke up. She tried to bring her hand to her head and found herself strapped to a bed in the sick bay. Then she remembered her scuffle with Shane, and the whole plan she'd overheard.

And she couldn't do a damn thing about it.

Struggling against her bonds, Tori decided that Shane McMahon was going to be disemboweled very soon.

Lita and Steph ran for the bridge at top speed. They were only stopped by two very large obstructions.

"Trish," Steph growled. "I don't think it's been long enough since I've seen you."

"Stephanie, you wouldn't be undermining Mr. Heyman's authority, would you?"

"That's exactly what I'm doing," Stephanie said as she pushed herself into Trish's face. "I think you're all forgetting that I own his ass."

"Doesn't matter. All your guys have more loyalty to him than they ever will to you. What do you say to that?"

"I'd say…'Run Lita!'" Steph yelled as she slapped Trish across the face.

Lita took off as a cat fight broke out.

"Why are you defending her?" Austin asked Hunter after he had dropped him. "You could have had it made. You and me, back together again, just like old times."

Hunter wiped the blood from his mouth. "Old times sucked." He stood back up and punched out at Austin.

Austin countered Hunter's punch with one of his own. "We had it all Hunter. Fame, fortune, and more power than we'll ever see again."

"Yeah," Hunter sneered, "and all we had to do was be complete bustards and leave all of our friends."

"When did you get so self righteous?"

"When I fell for someone again."

"You stupid bastard. Still upset over Chyna? You're better off without her."

"I can't believe that. I can't. I've changed since then." Hunter swiped at Austin again.

"You haven't changed. You can't change."

"I can and I did!" Hunter snarled as brought his knee up to meet Austin's gut. "I need people in my life."

"We had each other, your father in law, and your wife. That's all we needed."

"I needed something else. I needed someone who actually loved me. You act like you don't even need your wife."

"I don't! I don't need anyone. I face the world alone. DTA." Austin growled.

"You really wanna know why I'm defending her?" Hunter was gasping for breath.

"Yeah."

"Because I love her."

"You're completely pathetic. I don't need love."

"Then you're the pathetic one," Hunter commented as he slammed his fist into Austin's jaw, knocking him out cold.

"Alright Gentlemen, standard formation now."

Jackie watched the boys line up according to Regal's orders. "What the hell are you doing? They're sitting ducks out there like that!" She started heading for Regal when Shane reached around her and held a gun to her head.

"Now, Jackie," Shane said. "We don't really require your services at this time, so kindly SHUT YOUR MOUTH!"

Another voice entered the equation "LET HER GO!"

"You have always been a bitch!" Stephanie yelled as she laid into Trish.

"Yeah," Trish agreed, "but what pisses you off is that I'm better at it than you." She pushed Stephanie off and got to her feet.

"No," Steph was breath hard now. "I'm pissed that you're a traitorous whore." She ran at Trish, attempting to spear the other girl and pin her to the wall of the ship.

Trish countered, spun Stephanie around, and bulldogged the other woman into the bottom of the ship. Steph rolled over, groaning in pain.

"Now who's the dominant female?" Trish asked as she mounted Stephanie and began slapping her over and over again. Suddenly, she felt someone lift her up and throw her against the wall.

"I am," Tori answered her as she rolled out her shoulder. "Finish her off Steph."

Stephanie approached Trish slyly, while rubbing her forehead where it had hit the floor. "Well, well, well…Trish. How long is it since you've been spanked?"

Lita stood in the doorway to the bridge, breathing hard as she stared down Shane and Regal. "LET HER GO, NOW!"

"Miss Dumas, you aren't really in a position to be making any demands, are you?" Regal asked, smugly.

"Don't start with me. You're a traitor Regal. I know you and Shane are working for Heyman and that Trish has been feeding you information for months."

"And what are you going to do about it?" Shane asked. "I've got a gun to your friend's head…" he slumped to the ground.

And Matt was standing behind him wielding a steel pipe. "Now you don't." He pried the gun from Shane's fingers and tossed it to Lita.

Regal looked at him. "I thought you were out there?"

"Nah," Matt looked over at Lita, "I'm grounded for two weeks, remember?" Lita noticed Matt had the deadeye symbol painted on his face.

Lita smirked. "Glad you finally came around, Matt." She marched to Regal and grabbed him by the shirt. Looking him dead in the eyes she growled:

"Give me back my ship."

Regal gulped. "Computer, recognize voice patterns of…" He let loose a shaky breath "CAPTAIN Lita Dumas."

Lita ripped Regal's earpiece out and placed in her own ear. She then punched Regal in the jaw and knocked him away from her before proclaiming, "Gentlemen…THE BITCH IS BACK."

There were screams from every one of the boys. "I'm glad you're so excited, now get the fuck out of there. It's a trap, I'll explain when you get back here."

Stephanie entered the bridge followed by Tori who was dragging a gagged Trish along behind her. They were then met by Hunter who, in between shallow breaths, informed them that Austin "is handcuffed and blindfolded somewhere in the ship."

"Where'd you get handcuffs?" Jackie asked. She looked at Stephanie. "Okay, right, second thought I don't wanna know."

The crew assembled themselves on the bridge with all the captives locked in the storage hold. "So explain what's going on?" Shane asked.

"I just did," Lita sighed. "The whole thing was a set-up and we were duped into it. Jericho's supposedly alive and well, we just have to track him down."

"Uh…how?" Jeff asked.

"I've got Jackie working on that right now."

"You mean working on Regal, right?" Tori pressed harder on the ice on her shoulder.

"Right."

"What do we do now?" Edge asked.

"We figure out what's going on. And we stop fighting among ourselves." Lita ordered. "And I'm taking control of my ship again. Now, go get some sleep."

Lita watched Hurricane and Stephanie look at each other and knew there wouldn't be much sleep between those two tonight. She wondered how Steph could sleep with someone else after finding out that Jericho was alive.

Supposedly alive, she corrected. And right now, Stephanie needed someone, no matter who, just so long as it was someone to comfort her. Hell, she was happy enough to help Lita. Speaking of which.

"Hey, Hunter?" Lita called. "I just wanted to know…what did you offer Stephanie that made her change her mind?"

Hunter smirked. "Well, Steph and I finally came clean about our romance lives. She told me she was sleeping with other people and I told her I knew."

"So?"

"Well, I decided to give her the one thing that would make all of it better."

"That being?"

"A divorce."

Lita was silent. Then, "What about all that power you're giving up?"

"I could care less right now. Right now, I have to focus in on what I want."

"And that is?"

Hunter leaned in close enough that Lita could feel his hot breath on her lips. He smirked at her in a way that made her stomach tingle. She fought to control her breathing as she looked at Hunter. He looked so dangerous and breath takingly beautiful at the same time. Matt never looked like that. Hunter finally broke the awkward silence with a simple answer.

"Take a wild guess Red."