Beginning of a Journey

Standing in the cargo hold of the ship, Ken stares at the door. Beyond that door lies the only woman he ever loved. And, now, all he has of her is a pouch in his hand and the capture he has in his pocket. His eyes begin to tear up just as he is startled by a noise behind him. He turns to see Mike Chen moving some boxes around.

"Are you alright, John?" Mike asked him.

For a quick moment again, he is startled to be called John. This is something he needs to get accustomed to quickly. "Yes, I'm fine. Where am I staying?"

Mike looks startled himself for a moment, realizing he never got the chance to show John around the ship. "Sorry 'bout that. Let me give you the tour." Mike motions towards the gantry leading to the top of the ship. "Come this way and we'll take care of that right off."

Ken follows Mike up the gantry and finds that they are just in front of the galley. Mike points Ken into the galley and follows him in. "Here we have the galley. We have standard protein in all of the colors of the rainbow. You're welcome to this space anytime. Forward," Mike points toward the bridge, "we have the bridge. It is off limits to passengers. And aft," Mike starts walking to the back of the galley, "we have the engine room, also off limits. And, here to the left, we have the path to the passenger rooms." Mike heads down the steps, Ken following.

"Over to the right, here," Mike points right, "we have secondary cargo storage. If you have anything there, or in the main cargo hold, please call one of the crew. We prefer that we know who is rumaging around the cargo. And over here to the left," Mike points left, "we have the passenger rooms. We have two other passengers joining us. But, please help yourself to any of the open rooms. If you have any questions, I'll be in the main bay for a while yet. If you're hungry, help yourself to some food. Breakfast will be in about seven hours." Mike turns and heads to the cargo bay.

Ken moves on towards the rooms and finds the second room on the left open. He slides the door shut behind him and and lays down on the bed. As he settles himself on the matress, he realizes there is something in his hand. Lifting his hand, he sees the pouch that Jessica gave him. Instantly, it reminds him of the capture in his pocket. Just as he reaches towards his pocket, the ship starts to shake terribly as it lifts off the ground. Grateful that he is in the bed, Ken resists the urge to get sick as this ship is horribly shaky. After several minutes, the shaking dies off as they must be in open space and headed to their destination.

Having forgotten once again there was something in his hand, Ken raises his hand again and sees the pouch. And, again, he reaches for the capture in his pocket, successfully this time. He pulls it out and slides it open. There on the paper-thin screen, he sees Jessica's smiling face. He can't help but smile as she begins to speak.

"Hello, Ken. I'm sorry that I won't have time to say any of this to you in person. But, necessity is driving our lives at this point. It has taken us so long to organize this. The Alliance has been watching all of us much more carefully since they put you in that cell. A few of us have been sympathizers for the Independants for some time now, including me. I hope you'll forgive me for not telling you. I knew you were for the Alliance and I was afraid. But, now that you have seen first hand what we all suspected, I feel I must tell you this now. Unfortunately, I cannot leave the planet with you. Hopefully, when the war is over, they will relax their scrutiny of us and we will be able to go where we wish.

I will try to find a way to get away from here and get somewhere we can be together. I fear that might be some long time down the road. I do hope you won't forget about me." She looks off the side of the capture, someone apparently talking to her. "Oh, yes, can't forget about that, can we?" She looks back at Ken, "I should tell you where you are going and the plan from there. You are headed to Independant territory. They have agreed to take you in for as long as they are able. The ship you are on is headed to Hera. They have a base there near Serenity Valley. From there, they will take you somewhere else. We do not know where. In the event that they question me or the rest of us, we will not know how to find you."

"I guess that just leaves your identity. As I hope to have told you before you board the ship, your identity comes from my brother-in-law. He was a good man and would be proud to have helped you in this way. And, in case I forgot to tell you, I was able to move much of your money into an account under his name. So, you shouldn't have any trouble getting around and staying ahead of the Alliance."

She starts to cry as she begins talking again, "Ken, I want you to know something. I want you to know that I love you. I have never been able to tell you. I was afraid I'd let slip my affiliation with the Independants and either have you not love me or put you in danger. I just hope it is not too late to be telling you. I sincerely hope that we can be together in the future. Look for me always, Ken, for I will be looking for you."

The capture goes blank and Ken stares at it for several moments before turning off the light and falling asleep for the night.

One Final Goodbye

Ken and Jessica rush down to the street and quickly enter the new vehicle. Once inside, Ken notes there is another man aside from the driver. This man is sitting in the rear compartment with them. He is clean shaven and relatively young. This new man also seems to know what is going on with Ken. Just when Ken gets settled into his seat, the vehicle starts moving and the stranger begins talking, "Hello John, I'm Mike Chen."

Ken is almost startled by being called "John" by this stranger. He almost forgot that it was his new name. He nods curtly to Mike saying, "Hello."

Mike turns to Jessica, "We seem to be just on schedule. Things appear to be moving smoothly, Jessica."

She smiles, "Good, as long as this last leg goes as planned, we should be free and clear."

This trip is considerably shorter to Ken. He is not sure how much has to do with actual distance travelled. His stay with Jessica in her hideout allowed him time to regain himself and regain his composure. The appear to be approaching one of the smaller spaceports in the city. Their current path takes them towards a small ship near the edge of the landing field.

The vehicle stops near the loading dock of the small ship, an early Firefly class from Ken's recollection. However, Ken was never very good at identifying ships. He, Mike Chen, and Jessica emerge from the vehicle. Mike moves on towards the ship and starts talking with a man standing in the cargo hold. Jessica pulls out the small pouch of items she showed Ken during their brief respite.

Mike calls from the ship, "We're ready to go as soon as you board, John. But, please make it quick before the Alliance figures out what might be going on here."

Ken turns to Jessica who has stepped close to him. She hands him the pouch. Expecting her hand to fall away, Ken notices that she is holding his hand and the pouch. He looks up at her and sees tears forming in her eyes. He reaches his free hand up and wipes them from her cheeks. "Will you be ok?" Ken asks.

She reaches her other hand around Ken's waist and pulls him to her. He puts his arms around her and they embrace for a long moment. When they finally release each other, she looks at him as she says, "I will miss you Ken, always." Just then, he puts his hand on her cheek softly. She reaches up to him, pulling him down to her. They kiss, pouring the emotions they have never shared into their caress. In this moment, they finally realize how much they have meant to each other all of these years.

Just then, a yell from across the way, "John! Let's get a move on here!" The yell startles the both of them, breaking their embrace.

Flustered, Ken tries to stammer out something but the words will not come. He wants to ask her to come with him. She sees the look in his eyes and knows what he is trying to say, she answers him without hearing the question, "I cannot Ken. I have to stay here to be sure you get away. And, I don't know where they are going to be taking you." She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a capture. She hands it to Ken. "Don't look at it now. But, it's something for you to remember me."

He puts it in his shirt pocket to keep it close to his heart. "I could never forget you, Jessica."

"You had better go. They're going to leave soon. I will try to find you, Ken," she almost yells as the engines of the ship start.

He grabs her for one last hug before heading off to the ship, "I will always look for you, Jessica!"

He boards the ship and sees her waving to him. He waves back just before the doors close him from her. And for the first time, he finds himself truly alone in the verse.

Evasion

Ken has started to relax some as their vehicle moves through the streets of Lu'Weng. He remembers the first time he came to Shinon and to this city. He was coming to start learning at the medical academy. The city is a beautiful city with hot springs everywhere. In those first years, he spent a lot of time sitting at one of the springs near the campus thinking of the future. Never did any of his dreams resemble the situation he currently found himself.

After what seemed to Ken to be days, they stopped in front of an elaborate, tall building. Jessica steps out of the vehicle and beckons for Ken to follow. After he exits, the door is closed and they speed off into the distance. Jessica turns to enter the building and seeing that Ken isn't moving turns back to him.

"What's wrong, Ken?" she asks, a worried look on her face.

He breaths deeply for the first time since they pulled him out of his cell. He looks back at her, "I'm fine. For the first time in a while, I feel good." He smiles, looking at the building, "Where are we now?"

She starts to lead them into the building speaking back at Ken, "This is my new place. I moved here just a few weeks ago. This was the only way I could plan this. We won't be here long. Someone else will be here in a bit to pick us up." They have been moving through the building as she speaks, approaching a door on the left side of the hall. "Here we are," she says as she opens the door.

They step into a sparsely decorated space. There seems to be only the essentials needed to live and keep up the appearance of normalcy in the outside world. She offers him the one cushy chair to sit. He shakes his head in denial, "No, I cannot. I might not get up it's been so long since I've seen something that comfortable."

"Ok, how about something to eat, then? I know you haven't had any good meals these last two years," she says.

His eyes bug out of his head. "Two Years!?! Has it been that long?"

"Yes, Ken, it has. I'm sorry that it took me so long," she says looking saddened for the first time tonight.

Figuring he would need the consoling, he is shocked to see her face, "Don't worry about me." He moves to give her a reassuring hug, "I did not realize that much time had passed. I had only the meals they gave me to tell time. And, I know they didn't always feed me on time. I'm glad that you came." He holds her as tightly as he can manage.

"Thank you," she says as she wipes away the few tears that had formed. "Let me get you something to eat."

He lets her go and watches her disappear into the next room. A moment later, she returns with a small plate of sandwiches and a pitcher of water with two glasses. The sit in silence as they eat. When they finish, Jessica gets up and goes into another room, coming back with a box.

"These are some things you will need to get out of here. We had to create a new identity for you. Luckily, fortune can shine and dim in the same moment. If you'll look at the ident card, you'll find your new name and some important information," she says.

He looks over the ident card for a moment when he comes across the name, "Who is John Obielson?" He sees a look of saddness come over her again.

She considers his question and feels it would be better if he knew the truth. "John was my brother-in-law. He married my sister, Kay, and they were happy together. He was a wonderful man and we became close friends." She starts to cry but continues with her story, "He was in an accident and died a few months ago. He survived in the hospital for three weeks before he passed. I went to see him when I could. On my last visit, near the end, he talked to me alone. He knew about you and how much you mean to me. He said that if it would help get you out, that I could use anything he had access to obtain. And, much as it pains me, he also said that I could use his identity to help get you out. He felt it was the least he could do to help someone that meant so much to me. It was also his contacts that helped organize your escape and your travel off this world to somewhere safe." She looses all control and falls completely into tears.

He grabs hold of her again, trying to make her feel better. But, he knew that he could not. He knew how hard it was to give him the ident card and relive John's death. Despite all of those things, he held her anyway in the hopes that it might help. After a few minutes, she starts to calm down and regain her composure.

She looks at the time, "Oh my, we have to hurry. There are a few more things you need to know before we go. I was able to transfer much of your money away during the trial using the access card you gave me. I was able to put it into a new account under John's name. So, you should have access to it. I had to use some of it to pay people to help, I hope you don't mind. I can pay you back if you like."

He smiles broadly at this statement, "Are you kidding? You just helped me to freedom. And, now you tell me that I have means to maybe survive. And, you're worried about having taken some part of my money to get me out. That is just the silliest thing I've ever heard."

She smiles half-heartedly at him and continues, "We are going to get you off world as soon as the next group comes. We are going to a spaceport and you have been booked passage to Ezra. It is a decent kind of planet and relatively neutral in the war. The rest of it you can read as we travel and figure out as you go along." She gets up from the chair and looks outside the window. She turns to Ken, "They are here, are you ready to go?"

"I am as ready as I am going to be. Let's go," he says as they leave her apartment.

Incarceration

Several months have gone by since that fateful day that led Ken to his current situation. For more days than he has been able to keep a record, Ken has been left alone in this small, dark room. His meals have been handed to him on a plate that is passed through a small slot at the bottom of the door. He gets two meals a day. This has been his only contact with the outside world. For Ken, he has lost track of whether it is ever day or night. He has also lost all meaning of time. For, on some occasions, he has not been fed for two days. But, since his only method of determining time is the meals he is fed, he never knew how much time had passed.

His time alone has also allowed him to think on many things. In particular, he has thought considerably about the war. He has wondered if it is necessary. He has also wondered if it was the Independants that started the conflict. The propaganda he last heard told that the Independants started fighting for no reason. And, at the time, he believed what he heard even though he had seen some evidence to the contrary. But, the government was always there to help people and he believed in government. However, since his incarceration, he has had a new outlook.

No truly just government would allow him to be imprisoned for following his conscience as he did. And, if they did not come to his aid, it is very likely that they could have started the war as the Independants say. What he could not figure out in his time here, was what the government did that started the war. On this subject, he would think. Sometimes, he would think on it for days at a time, trying to see it from every angle. However he mulled it over, he still could not find the reason.

______________________________________________

Months later still, Ken continues his routine of eating when they give him food, sleeping when he needs it, and thinking the rest of the time. Things are progressing much as they always do for him when he starts hearing strange noises from outside his door. Having not listened much to the noises around him, he is having trouble discerning what he is hearing.

After several minutes, he can tell that the something making the noise is touching his door. It sounds of a high pitched, but quiet whine. The noise gets louder as his ear rests on the door when the pitch changes slightly. The change startles him and he runs to the other side of the cell.

His reaction was timed just right as a small piece of the door, just above where his ear was pressed to it, falls inward and what looks like a drill follows it through the newly formed hole. The drill leaves the hole in the door and a bright light shines through it, searching the cell. The light moves away and then a shadow closes the hole. Ken cannot tell what has blocked the hole again.

Then he hears a voice, "He looks to be ok."

Another voice, a woman, responds, "Ok, open the door."

The door opens and a flood of light comes into the room. Ken is blinded for an instant before he can cover his eyes with his sleeve. He has not seen so much light since he was locked in the cell. Suddenly, he feels strong arms grab him under each arm. He tries to struggle but is quite weak. He is again blinded by the light as they pick him up off the ground. The hands holding him keep him restrained as another hand, much softer, takes his cheek.

She speaks softly to him, "It's ok Ken. It's Jessica. You are going to be fine. We are going to get you out of here."

Her soft voice, missing from his life, calms him right down. He tries to open his eyes to find that they have turned off their flashlights, which allows him to see. When he fully opens his eyes, her beautiful face sits in front of him with the most glorious smile he has ever seen. He looks into her eyes and sees a pain and joy he has never seen before.

The moment is short lived as her face turns suddenly serious. "Come on, we have to get you out of here." She turns to the men holding Ken, "Let's go. We are on the clock."

They move swiftly through corridors that seem to Ken to have been from another life. He remembers them, but only vaguely. He has lost track of where they are going when suddenly he feels a rush of wind. When he opens his eyes again, he finds that they are outside the building and that there is a vehicle there apparently waiting for them. Jessica opens the door as the men get Ken into the car before entering themselves. Jessica follows them and closes the door. The vehicle starts to move very quickly. But, Ken knows that they are at a military facility and they would never let him out.

He hears some loud clicks and looks over to them. He sees a new compartment in the car that should not be there. Jessica looks to him, "Get in Ken. You'll only have to be in there for a little while. I'm sorry it's cramped after what you've been through. But, it's the only way we can get you outside the gates."

Ken looks at her for a moment, wondering now if she is telling the truth. He is about to protest when she smiles at him again. He can see in her eyes that she means him no harm. He quietly moves into the very small space as they lock it above him. From this space under the car, he can feel every bump in the road as they move along. After a few minutes, he can feel the vehicle slowing and then coming to stop. He cannot hear anything that is happening outside. The vehicle is still for what feels like a long time to Ken before it starts moving again.

After a few more minutes, the hatch to his new cell is opened. He looks out to see Jessica's smiling face again. A hand from one of the men reaches in to help Ken out of the space. As he is climbing out, he asks, "How long were we stopped?"

One of the men answers in a kindly voice, "Just two or three minutes, about the norm for a gate checkpoint."

Sitting in the seat again Ken says, "Wow, it felt a lot longer down here."

Jessica puts a hand on his arm saying, "I'm sorry about that."

Ken puts his free hand on top of hers, smiling for the first time that he can remember. "It's ok, I understand. Thank you." He suddenly thinks of the General. "Where are we going? You won't be able to hide me from Him long."

She puts her free hand on his cheek again, "Don't worry about it, Ken. Everything has been taken care of for us. You will be safe."