Frustrated, anxious and nauseating, that's how Jason felt as he continued to stare at the same three walls and buzzing red door of the cell that he had been incarcerated in for just over a week. At least he thought it was just over a week; the only way of telling the time had been by studying the guard's routine.

His mind had been going dangerously into overdrive. With very little to do, it had caused him to dwell on himself. Being overly critical of his actions and his decisions, occasionally it would leave him with a sense of pride, but mostly with a sense of anger and frustration.

They say hindsight is a wonderful thing, but for Jason, it had been anything but. His arrogance had cost and blinded him from those key people around him. The injury that almost caused Aurora to lose her life and the cluelessness that caused Donnelly to lose hers had been at the forefront of most of his thoughts and every time it did, it caused him to loathe himself.

Today was the day that he would be shipped to Io, the volcanic moon orbiting Jupiter, to spend the remainder of the war with other military personnel who had been jailed for several different crimes that they had committed... or not. Yet, Jason longed for this moment, away from the confined space of his cell and his over-enthusiastic mind.

"Inmates!" A call could be heard echoing through the corridors of the brig. "Stand up against the wall."

Jason stopped his pacing up and down his cell, immediately following the instructions to stand at the wall. As he did, he felt his arms being drawn together like two opposite magnetic fields. He hated the feeling of being controlled, and even with all his strength, he could not separate his arms apart.

He chuckled to himself, smiling at the irony of his thoughts. He hated being controlled, yet that was exactly what he and the other Blue Ravens had endured as puppets for General von Striken.

In a few hours, Jason would either be free from the strings that controlled him, or he would forever be at the mercy of the puppet master. He had to be alert now, to focus on the now instead of reliving the past. The past would not be going away and he would have plenty of time to chastise himself in the future.

"Inmate 12, stand away from the door."

Jason did as he was told, as three armed fully armoured guards stood in front of the red buzzing doorway. He wondered if he could take on all three. As he sized up each one, he could tell that they were well trained and physically capable but he would likely be able to incapacitate two easily through his speed and capabilities. With his arms bound, however, the third would prove difficult, and would likely have the time to fire his weapon at Jason before he could engage in combat with him.

As the military police officers entered the cell, Jason scolded himself once again. It was that type of arrogance that had got him into this situation. Aurora Pendergast, his closest friend, was as capable as he was, and if it hadn't been for the horrific injury on Loki, she would have likely been recruited by the Blue Ravens or some other SOR unit too. Jason had never appreciated her or respected her in the way she did to him, and as a result, her career had stalled and their friendship had faltered.

Jacqueline Donnelly was also as capable, in fact, more so. She had not only been his lover, but his mentor, and yet he had seen her mentally snap and also outmanoeuvred by General von Striken and his subordinates. With all her abilities and intelligence, she was the one in Jason's arms dead on the planet Loki.

Donnelly was a hero. She had fought an unwinnable war and had given her life for a just cause while Jason had stood in her shadow. Now Jason would take her mantle and continue to fight, yet his arrogance, his pride, and his sense of heroism would all need to be sacrificed to succeed.

Today he would need to become the very antagonist he had spent years fighting against.

Escorted out of his cell, Jason felt sick to the stomach with the thoughts of what he was planning and what it meant. With the three officers keeping their distance from him, he walked passed the other soldiers who guarded the brig. Days ago, they had looked to him as a hero as he came down from the gates of the final stronghold, and in potentially a few hours they would look at him as an enemy of the confederate and blight to society.

If everything went to plan.

Escorted through the corridors of the Athena, Jason was glad to see the back of Loki. His time in the intergalactic war with the aliens from Tau Ceti would start and end on this planet and it had brought him nothing but misery. He had hoped that the corridors of the Olympus class carrier would have celebrated his exit, but instead, they were empty, cleared by the military police as if he was some menace to civilization.

The trip to the hanger had been uneventful and anyone who had seen him, shackled like a criminal, looked upon him with disdain. Yet the looks, the disappointment and the anger were nothing compared to what he felt inside for the USM and the Human Confederate; how they preferred to turn a blind eye to the corruption that had weaved its way into the heart of its infrastructure like a parasite.

Chaperoned onto the transport vessel, the guards strapped Jason into his seat, putting him in securely for the several days flight to Io. As Jason swung his head around to the left, he chuckled to himself as he saw the dishevelled Kagasawa sat next to him. As he heard his previous superior officer swear to himself underneath his breath, Jason used the opportunity to laugh at the man's misfortune.

Guards sat opposite them, strapping themselves in for the flight, and despite being armed, Jason knew they would not be able to react in time should he wish to kill Kagasawa.

It would be futile though, it would not achieve anything of note except a brief feeling of retribution, but most importantly, it was not what Donnelly would have wanted.

Jason turned away from his nervous counterpart. He had more important things to contemplate other than the unnecessary desire for revenge.

The doors of the transport vessel hissed to life as they gradually closed, slowly hiding the Athena and the war Jason had fought in for the last couple of years. As the lights in the vessel flicked on, all Jason could see was the cold hard gaze of the helmeted guard opposite him, and as the engines whirled into life, the lights flicked to red, leaving the compartment darkened and gloomy.

They could feel the ship lifting from the carrier hanger, adapting gradually to the weightlessness of space outside of them. Taking a glimpse towards the cockpit of the vessel, Jason could see the vessel swing around from the busyness of the flight hanger to the emptiness of space. Feeling the sudden inertia shift, he knew their journey to Io had begun and his career and time in the USM had just ended.

For a couple of hours, the journey had been uneventful, except for the occasional glimpse of one of the escort vessels swinging passed the cockpit. It was almost silent apart from the shuffle of clothing, the hum of the engine and the occasional sporadic discussions between the guards.

Jason was one of six prisoners, but none of them spoke, all likely contemplating what their time on Io would entail. With Kagasawa's occasional glances toward Jason, he knew that the ex-Captain was extremely intimidated by him. With his nervousness and continuous shaking of his legs, it was likely that he was considering the various ways Jason could end his life.

Instead, Jason thought of the tasks ahead and wondered how long it would be before they reached the navigational point where they would jump to FTL and head back to the Solar system. It couldn't be too long now, it was time to brace himself.

Unexpectedly his weight shifted behind him causing the straps keeping him in place to press unconventionally against his chest. The bizarre feeling of experiencing a G force in a weightless environment had put, not only him on edge, but all the other people sitting within the vessel. Glimpsing out into the cockpit, he saw the fighter escort accelerate quickly away from the transport and as they did so, he could see the guards all communicating frantically with each other.

The muffled sound of weapons fire could be heard through the reinforced armoured shell of the transport, yet its intended target could not be seen. With Jason desperately trying to gain a view of the hostiles, he hoped that they had not inadvertently entered a Ceti trap.

Violently shuddering as a projectile hit the transport bulkhead, Jason reverted to his controlled breathing, eager to maintain a level head while a couple of others around them were starting to lose theirs. He did not fear death, like some of the others, but he did fear the unknown, and the lack of visibility to the outside engagement was keeping him on edge.

Another shudder, this time more aggressive than the previous, yet this time the lights deactivated and the cockpit instruments dulled to nothing. Looking out the cockpit once more, the stars appeared to be spinning around the ship, but the increased pull against the bulkhead suggested that the transport was now in a perpetual spin, gradually pulling itself to the right and towards the nothingness of space.

The guards immediately switched on their headlamps, providing some glimpse into their predicament, but as they unstrapped themselves from their seats, Jason could feel an uneasiness in his chest as the air was becoming harder to breathe and as goosebumps started to appear on his skin, he knew the power and backup generator had both been deactivated.

He was grateful he could not hear the anxiety of two of the prisoners further up the ship as they panicked aware their lives were about to come to an end. Immediately, a guard injected something into them causing them to relax and become a husk of themselves, but as a huge clunk and thud could be heard at the rear of the ship, the anxiety remained, yet this time all weapons were focused towards the rear exit.

The enemy was about to breach, Jason could feel it, but how this would end would depend on who was on the other side of the door. With the guard's weapons raised, floating aimlessly in the transport hull, it would be moments before all hell broke loose.

The door swung open angrily, behind it, a huge burning white light left the guards and prisoners disorientated leaving them unaware as a small device floated between the clueless guards.

At that moment, Jason wished his reactions had been slightly quicker. As the grenade detonated it burst out a spurt of light causing his nerves to freeze and his eyesight to dim. He could hear the muffled sound of laser fire, but he knew the guards were as incapacitated as he was, impaired by the efficiency of the stun grenade just thrown into the ship.

As his eyes struggled to adapt to the impairment caused by the grenade, Jason could feel his chest feeling tighter as he attempted to grasp any air that was left in the vessel. Hearing the muffled clunks of magnetic boots ramming the service of the transport ship, he felt helpless as his nerve endings burned.

Blinking to regain his eyesight, his vision briefly returned, blurred by the impairment, but enough to see the humanoid figures in dark black armour standing over him. Each blink appeared to help briefly, but with his breath struggling, he knew it would be only a matter of time before his vision would once again fail him.

Eyeing the two armoured soldiers standing over him, he did not recognise the armour, it looked sophisticated like that of a Blue Raven and it was human. Robust, efficient and deadly, the armour looked intimidating but as the two soldiers turned to each other, Jason let out a small gasp of satisfaction seeing the name engraved on the side of the taller and bulkier of the two soldiers.

Turner

As Elijah Turner turned away to focus on the other prisoners, guards and pilots, the second soldier leant down towards Jason, injecting something into his bloodstream. He could feel his breathing smooth and ease, but his consciousness was gradually fading.

Before his mind slipped into nothingness, the hand of the soldier rested on his, bringing him one final bit of comfort. He smiled once more as he saw the name tag of the soldier standing over him before his mind eventually slipped into the black.

Pendergast.