It Ain't Easy...

[Jack Ryder]

Jack took off his lab coat and covered her, picking her up, he moved her to a nearby bench seat. "Dominus... all of them will certainly pay for this." he said coldly as he walked over to the central console and adjusted some controls. "I wonder how fast the Tigris is with dad's new power core system installed? If I were to detonate the starbase's central power core... normally it would take out an entire system if it exploded, considering it's about the size of 100 starship cores."

[Kinsey Calhoun]

“Hopefully it is. I’m not ready to see if containing an explosion is one of my limitations.” Kinsey said as she joined him at the console. “Ever.” Kinsey added before he could even suggest they attempt it for purely scientific reasons.

[Rebecca Talon]

Silent Rebecca stared down at the blood on her hands. "Do it." She had said so low that it was nearly inaudible. " Do it," she said again louder still staring at her hands. "This ends now. Kinsey the two of us can contain it... and if not, at least our families are safe."

[Jack Ryder]

"Aye." Jack said with a solemn nod of his head. "The pod can take a lot of abuse, tech beyond our time... but if we fock it up... hey future selves of us didn't warn us that we did." he looked up from the console controls. "Ahem... This is Professor Jackson Ryder to all near Starbase H... Python. The core will be exploding momentarily... if you value your lives, you'll leave the system post haste."

"Jack? What in the hell are you doing?" Nick said over the comm.

"Oh creating the equivalent to exploding a small sun." Jack replied as he worked the controls. "The pod just materialized and materialized inside the Starbase's reactor so... everyone has oh... minutes before it goes completely unstable. Maximum warp now dad."

"You too kid..." Nick said firmly.

"Oh we don't use warp... but understood. We'll rally at the point you planned at in case this went south." Jack said as he reached out telepathically to his father, hopefully not for the last time. "Hey... if we don't get a chance... dad... I love you."

"Love you too son. Always was proud of you." Nick replied before the comm went out.

"And... there go the comms... EM fields are going to be wonky around the system for a little while, station is like a massive antenna and once the core blows, even subspace will be a bit knackered around here." Jack said as he looked at the monitors on the central console. "No big change, whole bloody sector was unstable anyway... what's one small system that's goin' to be 'fun' to navigate?"

Jack took a deep breath and held Kinsey and the twins close as the redline on the monitors got closer, praying that the pod's navigation would take them as far as they needed to go.

"May the Iljuna be with us." Jack whispered.

[Rebecca Talon]

Rebecca kneeled in the center of the pod, her eyes closed and arms outstretched as she focused on the ijulna, and the tiny pod. She felt more than sensed Kinsey.

It was getting hard to concentrate... It felt like she was being ripped apart from the inside. The energy from the detonation slammed and thundered against her field. The law of thermodynamics meant that it had to go somewhere, and she was the lightning rod.

Blood tricked from her tear ducts, nose, and ears. The eyeballs glowed red behind their lids, and static discharges arced off her blackening finger tips. Still she remained motionless dipping everything into her connection with the ijulna that protected them.

[Jack Ryder]

Jack opened up a panel on the central console and plunged his hand inside. "You got us this far Aunt Becca... I'll take us the rest of the way." he mentally manipulated the vortex of space time within the central core of his time pod. "You aren't the only one who has a connection to the universe." he could feel every neuron firing as he made connections, adapted the flow of space around the pod. "Kinsey... " he said as his eyes began to glow. "When the monitors read normal space... cut the link." he shakily handed her his multitool. "I'm feeding the blast energy directly into the vortex that powers this thing... but I doubt I will... be conscious to stop the flow."

[Kinsey Calhoun]

The glow of Jack's eyes didn't surprise her. She'd sensed something in him but always attributed it to his mixed heritage and his telepathy, she'd ask him about it later. Kinsey took the tool and turned her attention to the monitors.

"Almost there." Kinsey called over to him.

[Jack Ryder]

"Oh this is going to bloody hurt..." Jack said as he gave it a final push that shot the pod out into normal space, sucking in the last of the explosion. He looked at his hand as it crackled with energy. "I think I sent Python into a rift... what was left of it at least... " he looked at Kinsey and shook his head slightly. "I think... I think I also managed to get the habitat section to normal space before everything went 'boom'... I'm not sure... " he slumped against the console. "Close the connection Kinsey... any more energy comes in, we'll be creating a new big bang."

[Kinsey Calhoun]

Kinsey closed the connect and rushed over to him.

"Are you alright?" She inquired taking his weight and brushing his hair from his face. It had longer since he'd been taken from Terra Alpha.

"Daddy can you do that again?" Mackenzie inquired with a grin as she looked up from the monitors.

"No." Kinsey said sternly.

[Jack Ryder]

"Oh sure... " Jack chuckled as he ran his hand through Kinsey's hair. "I've been delaying that for years... ever since I knew what I was, it was always possible." he said, his thoughts still a bit jumbled. "Now I know why we were instantly attracted to each other." he touched Kinsey's face and sighed as he slumped a bit. "Mackenzie... be a dear... and comm the Tigris. We need to get J'Larin to the morgue and Sandoval needs a medic... "