A Trip Back to Unfamiliar Homes
You could feel the absence of Jack Brim all over the room. If it is the tears that were cascading to the floor or the unbearable silence that fell upon the room.
"What just happened?" Ade broke the silence.
Shin-To had never taken his eyes off the lift door. "We lost our captain." He said. "His last order was to get to Feminae, and that is what we are going to do." Rige fell to her knees and collapsed her head into her hands. Shin-To never noticed that she was falling apart; instead he walked to the lift door and out of the bridge.
Ade kneeled down and helped Rige to her feet. Everyone's eyes was pasted towards the empty spot in space where the enemy ship had been. They say you never really understand how much you love something until you lose it.
Shin-To had made his way all the way back to the old hideout, where Jack and he had just shared a drink. "His last mission…. Drink this on your last mission?' He was hurt, and he was seeking answers, answers that seemed unexplainable. He sunk into the old seat, where not even an hour ago, Jack sat. He reached down and found the old bottle. It was almost gone but had enough to quench the old reptile's thirst. This was the first time in over fifteen years that he would have to face an adventure without his brother, his friend. Shin-To closed his eyes and drifted off into a drunken slumber.
He knew no one would find him here. Well, one person would, but he is gone. The blackness that would encompass him was closing in around him, and he could start to feel the same weight that Jack must have felt on his shoulders every day.
Ade had finally helped Rige to her feet and consoled her enough to the point of reality. She had lost her savior, her father, her friend. "Young one…" Ade threw out into the night. What else was there to say? What could be said to her at this moment?
"Where is Shin-To?" she finally found a breath in between tears. Ade looked at her eyes, those black eyes that never show emotion, doing nothing but oozing fear and loss.
"Little one, come with me to my quarters." Rige was still looking at the lift. It wasn't twenty minutes ago it took away Brim. Ade helped Rige down the long corridor and to the room, hopefully, to find some peace and sanity. The thought of Jack being gone had not really caught up with Ade yet, and if it had, she wouldn't be able to recognize it for what it was.
As the two made their way back to the room, the bridge was silent. Jean was at the control board, searching around for anything to break this moment of torture. She saw her fellow shipmates, some crying, some speechless, but all missing their faith, their captain.
"How long until we reach the destination of Feminae?" Jean asked to the room. A couple of beeps started to make their presence known. No one dared answered, though. It didn't take long for the room to gain quiet silence again. Jane looked around the room. She slammed her hands down on the control board, "WELL!?" she proclaimed to the room. "GOD DAMN IT…. I ASKED A QUESTION."
"Five days until arrival, mam." The man at the beacon radar station said very quietly. Everyone was staring at her. She had this presence about her now. Usually a timid girl with pretty looks and a calm demeanor. Now she had veins sticking at her head, leaning over the control board.
"Get us there." She said as she calmly walked out of the room. She got to the hallway and picked up the pace of her run. She was frantically trying to make it to the quarters of Ade or Rige or anyone. She looked calm and collected on the outside, but on the in she was a little girl screaming for help. She got to the door, Rige's door, no one was there. Her mind was screaming at her, for the first time in a long time, she had no orders, she had no direction. She bolted towards the other direction, hopelessly looking for someone to talk to, plan with, and know what their next move should be.
She got to a door and knocked. She could hear someone sobbing from the inside. "Rige… Rige, it's me, Jean." The door started to open.
"Hello," Ade said as she motioned for Jean to enter.
She watches Ade's face as she enters. There was something different about her now, something Jean couldn't put her finger on. "Rige, are you okay?" She looked down at the alien as nothing more than a sister. She was worried; she wanted to know she was okay.
Rige looked up and her and through the blackness of her eyes and the tears hanging from them, "No." she said firmly. Ade looked at Jean and frowned. Jean made her way over to Ade and placed her hands on her.
"And you, your highness?"
"Jean, you seem to be highly educated. You have a presence that the rest of the crew respects." Jean took her hand off of Ade. "Shin-To is nowhere to be found. Can you get us back to the planet of Feminae?"
Jean looked over at Rige and noticed how helpless she looked. She had only seen this on her face once before. The time that Jack brought her to the med bay after being saved from a pirate. That girl was almost completely gone now, saved by Jack. Jean shook her head and looked back at Ade. "I guess I'll have to. When you find Shin-To, send him to the bridge." Jean walked out of the room, leaving the two alone again.
Ade turned around and noticed that Rige was now up, staring out the window. "Little one." Rige wasn't sobbing. She was just standing there, looking out into the blackness of the night sky. Ade moves closer. She extends her hand and tries to place it on her shoulder. Before the hand could hit the shoulder, Rige turned around. Ade saw something in those eyes. Those black, lifeless eyes. "Are you okay?"
"He's gone." She turned back out and faced the window. "He saved me all those years ago. And just like that, he is gone. And why?" Rige turns back and has an insane smile on her face. "Do
Do you know? You." Ade looks worried. "If it were not for you, Jack Brim, the closest thing I have to a father would still be here right now."
"I'm sorry, little one."
Rige walked towards the desk and pulls out a bottle, and poured a glass. "Don't call me that anymore."
Ade shook her head. "I am sorry." Ade turned around and walked out of the room.
Shin-To was waking violently, jerking his head. Had this all been a dream? Hopefully, he wandered down here and found the stash that Jack Brim had left behind. He shook his head and rubbed his eyes.
"SHIN-TO. Wherever you are, we need you on the bridge." Jean's voice announced over the intercom. He didn't nudge at the call of his name, nor did he move when she pleaded him to come to the bridge. He sat there and stared out the old cockpit window at the black abyss where his brother was taken.
As he closed his eyes and thought on the subject of what Jack would do, he pictured him sitting next to him. "Hey, Shinnie." Shin-To couldn't believe it, it was Jack.
"Jack. I can't do this. I can't be you." Shin-To took a swig from the almost empty bottle.
Jack extended his hand as if to ask for the bottle. Shin-To obliged and handed it to him. "I'm not asking you to be me. No. I'm asking you to be better. Be Shin-To. Get these people, your people back to safety. You know how Cornitha is. Don't worry about me. I'm a stubborn son of a bitch. I survive." Shin-To smiled.
"Give that bottle back." Shin-To grabbed it from Jack as he smiled and winked. They both looked into each other's eyes. The dream that was now Jack Brim and the reptile that was hoping to hang on to his brother for a little longer were searching each other's eyes for an answer.
"You have to go now, Shinnie." Jack's ghost says. Shin-To looks over at his eyes, and a tear falls from the corner.
"I love you, brother." The ghost says as he disappears when Shin-To opens his eyes. Shin-To places the empty bottle on the floor and gets up. "I love you too." He makes his exit and his way to the bridge.
Jean stands at the helm of the ship as they make their turn around. "Keep her steady," Jean says to the young red-headed boy at the wheel, who has taken over for Rige. Jean looks out into the black abyss of the big ship that she was now in control of, and she wondered if this were truly the end of the great space crew of the Cavalier?