Everyone on the board the Aegis was abuzz with activity and purpose. Captain Tsing and the landing party came on board and they were in pursuit of Mr. Night and his small, but fast ship.
Like bees swarming around a hive, the Aegis crew move with singular purpose, while Caine stands at the centre of it all, his eyes glued to the view screen. Locked into a direct course for the Jupiter refinery, the Aegis Cruiser follows the shuttle.
Caine paces back and forth across the bridge, like a caged animal, his eyes guarded but wild. "Mr. Nesh, keep us close. Mr. Wise, that pacing isn't helping." Captain Tsing says, alert and focused but with a steady calmness.
Caine stops his pacing and watches the view screen as they approach the eye of Jupiter. An opening in the massive hurricane forms, allowing the shuttle to enter the atmosphere. The cruiser follows deeper into the eye of the hurricane, which doesn't quite touch them due to the manufactured vortex holding back the storm.
"Captain Tsing!" Caine warns as the storm closes in on them.
"They're closing the vortex! Shields up!" Captain Tsing orders. "Accelerate to full."
Mr. Nesh, the pilot pushes the cruiser forward as the vortex closes and the swirling gas clouds surround the ship. The ferocious storms batters the cruiser, threatening to destroy it.
"We've lost all Nav-com, Captain!"
"Grav-drive not responding!" Chatterjee says, as the ship continues to take a beating. The shields weaken from the turbulent storm raging just outside the ship.
"Shields failing!"
"Get us out of here, Nesh!" "Damn it."
Motionless, Caine stares at the closing vortex, however inside his world is collapsing, the air from his lungs is sucked into the, now closed, vortex. Again, he is drifting helpless through the vacuum of space while Jupiter is in mortal danger, save that his heart is in searing pain, not his lungs.
The noise and commotion from the crew fall away and all that is left is beating of his own heart, and the sound of his own blood rushing through his veins. Just as Caine is ready to collapse under the weight of his loss, a voice pierces the through his chaos. With a measured calm, Stinger's gravelly, yet, melodic voice speaks. "I know because of who and what you are," Stinger leans in close, speaking in a low voice only Caine can hear, "you're unable to say this... so I'll say it for you. You lied in the commonwealth because you're a Hunter... who's been searching for one thing his whole life. You survived so long without it, the fact that you may have found it terrifies you, but not as much as the fact that she's down there... buried in several tons of hurricane. And if you wanna see her again, then you take my advice... you get down there and you start digging".
Caine's jaw clenched as he hears his former commanders words. A stranger may not have noticed his demeanor, the rigid stance or the eyes glistening as he fought for control, but Caine's mentor, the closest thing he had to a father figure, put into words everything Caine was unable to express for himself or even to himself. He had kept such a tight rein on his emotions for so long, for fear of being vulnerable, that at times he forgot what it was to feel, what it was to want something. Now, he was finally able to admit that he wanted something, more than even life itself. And nothing was going to stop him from saving the woman he loved.
YOU ARE READING
Jupiter Ascending /Caine Wise
FanfictionWe know Jupiter's story. Now here's Caine's. Written with more Caine backstory, some added or extended scenes. Author's Note: I'm not going to bore you with a lot of notes. But I just thought I would warn you this is the first thing I've written o...
