[ WP ] Write the third episode of non-existant series . Make us curious about what happened before episode 3 , and what happens after .

Jason's fingertips trailed over the supple leather of the armrests on the chair that had belonged to the man he had come to respect more than anyone else in the universe. He felt the eyes of the bridge crew on him and his mouth firmed into a line and Jason forced himself to turn and sit, straight backed, as the captain had. He turned his head to the frightened looking girl at the navigation console. `` Lieutenant Cleves, set our course. It's time to go home.'' 
 
 He felt the tension in the room raise and he looked around the bridge. `` It's time,'' he said simply. Then looked up, as he usually did when addressing the ship's AI. `` Merlin, give me a channel to the ship.'' 
 
 `` Aye sir.'' The calm tenor voice used by the only true Artificial Intelligence ever connected to a naval vessel answered him after an appropriate - and laboriously learned - moment had passed, the channel opened. 
 
 `` This is Captain Langstrom. As most of you know, we have completed repairs with the aid of the Falvan, and we are as ready for battle as we will ever be. What you are probably not aware of is that Lieutenant Cleves has completed the calculations for the jump to take us home.'' Commander - no *Captain* Langstrom let that settle in for a moment. `` We will be attacking the Thiernan fleet within a few hours. I want you to know how proud Captain Daikyn was of you all and how proud I am to serve as your captain. We began this mission so many months ago as a purely human crew, as part of a purely human conflict, and we have learned so much, met so many new peoples. Our horizons have been broadened and no longer can humanity continue as if we are alone. We can not afford to let the Thiernan's Theocrat end our chance to take our place among the universe's peoples, or ignore the life out there. Whatever happens, we have created a data packet that will be beamed to High Command as we enter the Sol system. In the event of our destruction, that same data package will be routed back to the Falvan.'' Jason did n't add that at ordinary transmission rates it would take well over a millennium to arrive. He also frantically wished he had something suitably noble to say. What was it the noble captains said to their crews in all the trids? `` I want you all to know that it has been an honor to serve with you. Make ready for jump in five.'' 
 
 Jason cut the transmission and heaved a deep sigh. He looked Celene in her battle armor, even here on the bridge in orbit around her home planet and smiled crookedly. `` I've never given a pre-battle speech before.'' 
 
 He carnivore's teeth showed as she smiled broadly. `` You did well enough, and it is a thing that get's better with practice.'' She patted her sidearm, `` My marines need no such speeches to bolster their courage, but it is well to know their commander thinks of them before casting them into the teeth of the enemy.'' Her smile faded, `` Though, this new battle plan of yours may not give us the chance to cast much more than invective at the enemy.'' 
 
 Jason shrugged, `` It'll depend on if the core holds up, and if Merlin can time things well enough.'' At last, he sat back in the chair and and sighed again, `` If not, you'll get your chance, I assure you.'' Jason almost pitied any of the Theorcrat's marines that tried to board his ship. Celene and her fellow Fomazhat were fast, tough and almost absurdly deadly in close quarter fighting. He glanced at the chronometer counting steadily down on the main viewscreen. `` Alright, places everyone! Countdown to jump in five... four... three... two... one...'' Lieutenant Cleven activated the jump drive that had made all of this mad adventure possible and reality reached through the top of Jason's head and pulled the world inside out. 
 
 
 
 Feeling like a rubber band that had been pulled taut and snapped back, Jason stood. Three seconds had passed and the *Intrepid* was 38,732 light years from where it had begun. `` Tactical!'' He snapped as data from the Sol system rolled in. Of course, any data they observed from several million miles beyond Pluto's orbit would be outdated, it could tell them how many ships were active in system. 
 
 On the viewscreen, icons appeared as the Tactical officer processed data and he and his computer assistants marked Thiernan ships along with projected courses. `` Sir,'' McPherson said, tapping his console, `` Looks like *God's Ascending Glory* is in the dockyards off Io. As of forty-seven minutes ago, she was powered down and operating on a skeleton crew.'' 
 
 Jason's smile would have done a Fomazhat proud. `` That's our first target. Primary targets are going to be their heavy ships, we take out their ability to pummel the planet, we take out their ability to support the occupation. Mark em' up in descending order.'' Jason looked up, `` Merlin on my mark, you have the helm. Take us to Red Alert.'' 
 
 He took a deep breath. `` Mark.'' 
 
 Reality bent. It was n't as severe this time and a heartbeat later *Intrepid* was at the shipyards of Io, and the three kilometer long battlecruiser *God's Ascending Glory* lay to dock, unshielded against the guns of the ship one sixth it's size. Intrepid had oriented in the jump to point it's forward broadside at the battlecruiser and Merlin and *Intrepid's* gunners went to work. 
 
 Most human spacecraft intended for battle were armored against energy, kinetic, and missile payloads. However, the energized plasma cored bores of the Traillian cannons sent molten tendrils of battlesteel floating into the freezing vacuum of space as *Intrepid's* augmented armaments package unleashed the full power of it's fifteen power cores. Jason could actually see the massive ship shudder from the impacts of the weapons and seventeen seconds after they had jumped, *Intrepid's* fire penetrated the power core of the largest battlescuiser humanity had ever built. 
 
 It did not explode all that satisfactorily. It was, after all powered down, but it did shred the center of the ship, rendering it a wreck. As soon as the power core blew, Jason felt reality twist again and they were twenty thousand miles from their previous position, alongside one of the Theocrat's destroyers. Weapons fired again, and missiles flashed as *Intrepid* savaged the unshielded hull, for the destroyer had just begun putting all power to the engines in order to come to the rescue of the beleaguered *Glory*. 
 
 Thermonuclear fire turned the black of vacuum to the surface of the sun as the destroyer *Tahiro* fired back, but it was unfocused fire and *Intrepid's gunners blasted *Tahiro's* engines, leaving her stranded in space. Missiles leapt from *Tahiro's* launch tubes and found themselves converging on empty space as *Intrepid* winked out of existence again. 
 
 Jason heard someone on the bridge vomiting as reality warped around them again and again. His ship, guided by the most advanced AI humanity had ever produced winked in and out of existence, dancing from ship to ship, appearing just long enough to hammer an unshielded side, or launch a salvo of missiles. Trusting Merlin to get them out in time, the crew of *Intrepid* launched nuclear warheads as ludicrously short range, overwhelming shields and frying systems on enemy ships, only to disappear before the blastwave arrived. Then reappear before the stunned crews could do anything about it. 
 
 It seemed to go on for an eternity. *Blink. * Fire. *Blink. * Fire. *Blink*. Fire. 
 
 In just over an hour, a single light cruiser destroyed more enemy vessels than the entire Conglomerated Nations Navy had in five years of warfare. Jason took a shuddering breath as he surveyed the wreckage. Silence reigned on the bridge, the ragged panting of the officers only serving to underscore the quiet. Jason licked his dry lips and managed to croak, `` Status?'' 
 
 `` All enemy ships detected disabled sir.'' Merlin answered. 
 
 Celene stared at Jason with wide eyes, her slitted pupils narrow lines, `` Captain... this is... This changes everything.'' 
 
 Jason nodded. `` We have a chance now.''
