Rip gathered us all on the main deck. He showed us a message from some timeship called the Acheron that was stranded. "And we care about this chick, why?" Mick asked a surprisingly good question.

Rip explained, "We don't, but the Acheron's computer will contain the current intel on Savage's whereabouts. Gideon, set a course for the Acheron's position in deep space." He turned from where he was looking out the window to face us gathered around the main console.

Yes, Captain.

"Deep space? I had no idea we had the ability to explore the unknown realms of the galaxy. Astonishing." Stein said amazed, time travel versus space travel which is more astonishing?

"No. What's astonishing is that we're acting as roadside assistance for the people who's chasing us." Jax said vexed by the idea.

Snarted pushed back against the plan, "Doesn't it seem suspicious, this distress call just happened to reach us?"

"How do we know it's not a trap?" Kendra questioned.

"It's a little too convenient to not be a trap." I added voicing my suspicion, the omega in me wanted to keep my barely formed pack away from such a risk.

"We don't, but what we do know is that Savage's trail has run cold. And unless Gideon can upload the data from the Acheron's computer…"

"I'm in." Mick said, interrupting Rip.

"You are?" Snart asked Mick pointedly.

"The sooner we end Savage, the sooner I get back to where I belong." Mick said testily, someone's bitter. I noted that Mick's bond to us, as a pack as tentative a pack as we were, was fraying.

"Prison?" Stein asked.

"Any prison on Earth's better than this one, Professor." Mick said seriously.

"Gideon." Rip called.

Yes, sir.

"Engines to full throttle," he ordered.

Of course, Captain.

"Professor Stein, Mr. Jackson, would you care to join the boarding party?" Rip asked.

"A chance for an extra-vehicular docking maneuver? What could be more exciting?" Stein said excitedly.

"Well, I could think of a few things." Jax said vaguely exhaustedly.

"Let's get this thing started." Mick grumbled.

"Miss Kane. I leave the ship in your hands while we're gone." Rip directed at me.

"Wait what?" Ray asked incredulously.

Ignoring him, "Are you sure you want to head right into a trap?" I asked Rip.

"Captain's log. Stardate 837.9. We're awaiting word from the away team aboard the Acheron." Ray narrated like he was a Star Trek captain

"I hate to break it to you, but you're no Captain Kirk. You're Picard." Kendra said.

"He's no captain at all," I said from my perch on the console, "and I'm regretting letting him play in the Captain's chair.

Ray looked at me plaintively, "But Picard was cautious, pontificating, sort of sexless," he said to Kendra.

"Well, tell that to Vash. And for the record, Picard was way hotter than Kirk." I rolled my eyes at Kendra's response.

A chime sounded from the console "I'd like to speak to Acting Captain Chloe Kane."

I turned to the screen, "That has a nice ring to it," I preened. I hopped off the console before directing my attention to the screen. "And you are?" I asked.

"I'm the man holding your crew hostage." He said

"Captain Kane, I've informed Mr. Valor of the fiery retribution you'll rain down upon him if we are not released immediately." Rip said.

"Mm." The guy said before he punched Rip and slammed him against the console, "I'm gonna make this real simple. You surrender your ship, and I'll drop you off unharmed at a place and time of your choosing. You've got 10 seconds to decide."

"Or else what? If you want the Waverider for yourself, there's no way you'll fire on us." Ray said so not helpful and extremely naive I glared at him.

"Perhaps, but right now, I've got my sights set on your captain's head," the guy said threateningly.

"How problematic..." I started.

"Ten... nine…Eight…" he started counting.

"You see I'm not particularly inclined to give in to your demands," I said viciously shoving down my omega instincts that wanted to give in to protect the pack.

Ray looked at me alarmed, "You're bluffing, right?"

"Seven…"

"No," I said, favoring my tactical training to plot a way to retrieve the rest of the team from the pirates.

"You don't know Kane, and how she survived the 'Imperiex' onslaught." Rip said loud enough for us to hear him through the open channel.

Alarms started blaring and the ship lurched, "Uh, Gideon?" Sara asked.

Captain Hunter programmed me to execute certain protocols in response to specific keywords.

"What does that mean in English?" Snart asked imperiously.

Strap yourselves in. We are on the move and preparing to fire.

We all quickly turned and strapped ourselves into the nearest seat. The ship moved and Gideon fired on the Acheron.

"What are you doing, Gideon?" Snart said sharply

Just a warning shot to let them know we mean business.

"My partner's on that ship." He snapped back.

There's a hull breach in the aft portion of the ship, and the pirates have taken out the telemetry controls.

I moved quickly from my seat to the Captain's chair, "hand over the controls, Gideon," I ordered.

"What are you doing?" Kendra asked snapping out of her seat startled at my sudden move.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" I snapped at her, "I'm piloting the ship manually." Hopefully it's not much different from the batmobile.

"Where are you guys going?" Kendra asked as Snart and Sara rose from their seats and moved towards the door.

"To deal with the hole in the ship." Sara said fiercely.

A transmission popped up on the screen next to the front window. "Rip, tell your crew to let us board, and I will happily save them. But either way, we are taking the Waverider," the pirate said angrily. Not a chance in hell.

"Take the damn deal, Rip." I heard Mick say in the background. I didn't pay it much mind more focussed on flying the ship.

"A captain never surrenders his ship. Besides, you'll never catch Captain Kane. She once outran Kanjar Ro himself." Rip smirked, that had better not be another surprise, I thought darkly.

Engaging protocol now, Captain.

"What protocol Gideon?"

Ray, Kendra, and I ran to the room where the hull breach was. I swore when we got to the sealed door that separated us from Sara and Snart. "Thanks for stopping by," Sara said through the window.

"We're gonna get you out of here. Just hang tight." Ray said after looking at the status display by the door.

"Is there another option?" Sara asked.

I eyed them, "Depends how do you feel about potentially getting stuck in the door?"

"It doesn't particularly appeal to me," Snart drawled.

"I'll keep it in mind as a last resort then," I said.

Snart looked at me seriously, "Don't mean to rush you, Chloe, but it's getting cold in here. Normally I wouldn't complain, but…"

"Can't you just open the doors, Gideon?" Kendra said.

The bulkhead is designed to remain shut until the breach is sealed.

"Well, that's not happening from in here." Snart snapped.

Kendra started "How much time do we have until…"

"We're dead?" Sara finished for her.

"What if we don't have to seal the breach from in there?" I asked absentmindedly as I rolled around an idea in my head. "Ray, can your suit handle a space walk?"

"How's it going out there?" Kendra said worriedly as she looked out the window into space, and I overlooked the center console.

"Good. By which I mean utterly terrifying. I'll have the breach sealed in two more minutes," Ray said.

"Okay. How's your oxygen level?"

"Uh, I think the technical term is "lousy."

"How bad is lousy?" I asked.

"Just two more minutes. You got this." Kendra said optimistically.

"Come in if you need to," I cut in, "because if you pass out while you're out there then not only do you die so do Sara and Snart," why is it that I'm the only one on this team that has fully functioning brain and tactical training.

"Ray, don't go nodding off on me" Kendra said worriedly.

"No, I wasn't. I was just resting my eyes for a second," Ray said tiredly.

"Ray, I was serious about taking that break if you need it. We don't need to lose anyone that includes you."

"You've got to stay with me, Ray. Just stay focused on my voice, and keep talking." Kendra started a conversation trying to keep Ray awake by semi flirting with him.

"About what? Anything. Like, um, what was your first pet's name?"

"Slinky."

"Is that a cat?"

"Burmese python. Yeah, I'm allergic to cats and dogs. Pretty much anything without scales."

"Okay, then, enough about pets. Um, what's your favorite color?"

"Don't have one."

"Who doesn't have a favorite color?"

"It's kind of like having a favorite Beatle."

"No, everyone has a favorite Beatle."

"Not me. Wouldn't be fair to the other three."

"Okay, fine, enough about pets, and colors, and Beatles."

"It's a good thing we never went for that drink. This space date is going terribly."

"Ray? Are you still with me, Ray? Ray? Are you there? Ray?"

"Ray you better not be dieing on us," I said furiously.

"I'm sorry. It's all I have left." Ray gasped over the comm

"Ray, are you there?"

It seems that Mr. Palmer patched the hole in the hull, allowing Mr. Snart and Ms. Lance to escape the engine room.

"Damn it, Ray. Gideon, can you pilot the suit to bring him back on board?"

"Okay, as soon as he's on board, I need you to close the cargo bay and seal the airlock, Gideon." Kendra said as she ran out.

"You kids need a moment?" Snart snapped.

"You okay?" Sara asked as we walked into the cargo bay

Mr. Palmer nearly died.

"Welcome to the club," Snart said sarcastically, "Gideon, what's happening on the Acheron?"

Funny you should ask. I just received a message from Mr. Rory. It seems he escaped capture and is now returning to the Waverider.

"Told you. Those pirates picked the wrong guy to mess with." Snart said triumphantly.

We walked towards the jumpship loading dock from the cargo bay. "Since when does Rory even know how to fly the jump ship?" Ray asked as he fiddled with the chest plate on his suit.

"How did he even find us?" Kendra added.

Actually, I did the flying. He received quite a beating at the hands of the pirates.

"He escaped on his own?" I asked this sinking feeling in my gut, "What about the rest of the boarding party?"

I have no news on the rest of the boarding party. That's him now.

We stopped at the split in the hall looking towards the opening door waiting for Mick to walk through.

"You okay, Mick?" Snart asked.

Mick looked back over his shoulder instead of responding, "Boys! Ship's all yours!" Unfamiliar men started filing into the hall, they took positions, their weapons pointed at us.

"You son of a bitch." Ray said I didn't know he could curse.

"What are you doing, Mick?" Snart asked.

"I'm getting us home. Are you in?" He responded.

Snart walked forward pulling his gun, he looked between us and Mick standing with the pirates."Yeah. Time to choose a side, I guess. Chosen," he quickly shot towards Mick.

"Bastard! Go! Get them! Go! I'll get the time drive." Mick yelled before running off. I winced as I felt the tentative pack bonds Mick had made snap.

The pirates quickly ran towards us firing their weapons rapidly, we ducked around the corners. They followed us around the corners where we were able to ambush them because they couldn't see us. We clashed with them, dispatching them as quickly as they could trying not to let them pass us. Gideon alerted us to the fact that Mick was heading to the time drive, Sara broke away to intercept him followed shortly by Snart. Ray, Kendra and I were able to deal with the rest of the pirates in short order. We raced to the engine room where Snart held Mick at gunpoint.

We were all gathered in the Captain's study. Ray spoke first, "Okay. I'll say it. Why don't we just drop him off back in 2016?"

Snart looked directly at Ray and answered him, "Because my sister lives in 2016. And your sister, and your wife." he said gesturing in turn to Sara and Stein.

Jax looked at Rip and asked, "So what exactly are we talking about here? Leaving Rory in the brig until we take down Savage?" He continued looking around at the rest of us.

"No, no, no, no, the brig is unsuitable for long-term incarceration." Rip made clear.

Sara stated tensely "Leaving him free run of the ship is not an option."

"I'll handle it." Snart said looking down.

"By handling it, you mean murder?" Stein asked disapprovingly.

"I said I'll handle it."